PART I.—EARLIER OF ISAIAH (CH. 1-35.) SECTION I.—THE GREAT (Isaiah 1:1-31.). Isaiah 1:1 TITLE OF THE WORK. It is questioned whether the title can be regarded as Isaiah’s, or as properly belonging to the work, and it is suggested that it is rather a heading invented by a collector who brought together into a volume such prophecies of Isaiah as were known to him, the collection being a much smaller one than that which was made ultimately. In favor of this view it is urged (1) that the prophecies, as we have them, do not all "concern Judah and Jerusalem;" (2) that there is a mistake in the title, which Isaiah could not have made, none of the prophecies belonging to the reign of Uzziah. But it may be answered, that, in the scriptural sense, all and Jerusalem, prophecy "concerns Judah and Jerusalem," i.e. the people and city of God; and, further, that it is quite impossible to prove that no part of the "vision" was seen in the reign of Uzziah. There are no means of knowing whether Isaiah collected his prophecies into a volume himself or whether the collection was the work of others. In either case, the existing title must be regarded as designed for the entire work. All the earlier prophecies—those of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah—have some title introducing them. The vision (comp. Obadiah 1:1; Nahum 1:1). The term is probably used in a collective sense, but is also intended to suggest the intrinsic unity of the entire body of prophecies put forth by Isaiah. As prophets were originally called "seers" (1 Samuel 9:9), so prophecy was called "vision;" and this latter use continued long after the other. Isaiah the son of Amoz (comp. Isaiah 2:1; Isaiah 13:1; Isaiah 37:2; etc.; 2 Kings 20:1; 2 Chronicles 32:32). The signification of the name Isaiah is "the salvation of Jehovah." The name Amen (Amots) is not to be confused with Amos (’Amos), who seems to have been a contemporary (Amos 1:1). Concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The prophecies of Isaiah concern primarily the kingdom of Judah, not that of Israel. They embrace a vast variety of nations and countries (see especially Isaiah 13:1-22; 15-21; Isaiah 23:1-18; Isaiah 47:1-15.); but these nations and countries are spoken of "only because of the relation in which they stand to Judah and Jerusalem" (Kay), or at any rate to the people of God, symbolized under those names. Jerusalem occupies a prominent place in the prophecies (see Isaiah 1:8, Isaiah 1:21; Isaiah 3:16-26; Isaiah 4:3-6; Isaiah 29:1-8; Isaiah 31:4-9, etc.). In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah (or Azariah, as he is sometimes called) reigned fifty-two years—probably from B.C. 811 to B.C. 759; Jotham sixteen years—from B.C. 759 to B.C. 743; Ahaz also sixteen years—from B.C. 743 to B.C. 727; and Hezekiah twenty-nine years—from B.C. 727 to B.C. 698. Isaiah probably prophesied only in the later years of Uzziah, say from B.C. 760; but as he certainly continued his prophetical career tin Sennacherib’s invasion of Judaea (Isaiah 37:5), which was not earlier than B.C. 705, he must have exercised the prophet’s office for at least fifty-six years. The lowest possible estimate of the duration of his ministry is forty-seven years—from the last year of Uzziah, B.C. 759, to the fourteenth of Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:5). The highest known to us is sixty-four years—from the fourth year before Uzziah’s death to the last year of Hezekiah. Isaiah 1:2-6 GOD’S AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. The groundwork of Isaiah’s entire prophecy is Judah’s defection from God. God’s people have sinned, done amiss, dealt wickedly. The hour of vengeance approaches. Punishment has begun, and will go on, continually increasing in severity. National repentance would avert God’s judgments, but the nation will not repeat. God’s vengeance will fall, and by it a remnant will be purified, and return to God, and be his true people. In the present section the indictment is laid. Judah’s sins are called to her remembrance. Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. "A grave and magnificent exorilium! All nature is invoked to hear Jehovah make complaint of the ingratitude of his people" (Rosenmüller). The invocation is cast in the same form with that so common in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:1), and seems to indicate familiarity with that book. The idea extends widely among sacred and other poets (see Psalms 1:3, Psalms 1:4; Micah 6:1, Micah 6:2; AEsch; ’P. V.,’ 11. 88-92). The Lord hath spoken; rather, the Lord (literally, Jehovah) speaketh (so Lowth, Cheyne, and Gesenius). The speech of Jehovah follows in verses 2, 3. I have nourished and brought up children; literally, (my) sons I have made great and high; i.e. I have raised Israel to greatness and exalted him among the nations. Notwithstanding their disobedience, God still acknowledges them as his "sons." They have rebelled against me. The verb used is generally rendered in our version "transgressed" (see Jeremiah 3:13; Hosea 7:13; Amos 4:4); but it may also have the stronger sense here assigned it. Lowth translates, "revolted from me;" Gesenius, "fallen away from me;" Cheyne, "broken away from me." Isaiah 1:3 The ox … the ass. The ox and the ass are probably selected as the least intelligent of domesticated animals (so Jerome, Rosenmüller, and Gesenius). Yet even they recognize their owner or master. Jeremiah contrasts the brutish stupidity of Israel with the wise instinct of animals that have not been domesticated, as the stork, the turtle-dove, the crane, and the swallow (Jeremiah 8:7). Israel doth not know; i.e. does not acknowledge its Master and Owner, pays him no respect, does not recognize him as either Owner or Master. My people. Compare the formula, so frequent in Exodus, "Let my people go" (Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1, Exodus 8:20; Exodus 9:1, etc.). Israel was God’s people by election (Genesis 15:13), by covenant (Exodus 19:5-8; Exodus 24:3-8), by pardoning grace (Exodus 33:12-17). Despite all their backslidings, he had not yet cast them off. They are still "his people" in Isaiah from first to last, standing in contrast with "the nations, "or "the Gentiles, "among whom they are to be "set as a sign" (Isaiah 66:19). Doth net consider. Gesenius translates, "doth not consider thereof;" Cheyne, "is without understanding." Bishop Lowth retains the words of the Authorized Version. The meaning would seem to be, "My people doth not consider me, cloth not reflect on my relation to them as Lord and Master." Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation. These are the words of Isaiah, not of Jehovah. The prophet, having delivered God’s message in verses 2 and 3, proceeds to impress and enforce it on the people by remarks of his own. He begins with a lamentation over their wickedness and impenitence; "Ah sinful nation!" or "Alas for the sinful nation! "the nation called to be holy (Exodus 19:6; Le Exodus 20:26, etc.), but sunk in sin and wickedness. How sad their condition! How almost hopeless! Laden with iniquity; literally, heavy with guilt. But our version well expresses the sense. As the psalmist says, "My sins have gone up over my head, and are like a sore burden, toe heavy for me to bear" (Psalms 38:4; cf. Matthew 11:28). A seed of evil-doers. Not descendants of evil-doors, but "an evil-doing seed, "or "race" (σπέρμαπονηρόν, LXX.; comp. Isaiah 14:20; Isaiah 61:9; Isaiah 65:23). Children that are corrupters; literally, sons that do corruptly. It is not their corrupting of others, though that might follow, but the corruption that was in themselves, which is spoken of. The corruption was both moral and doctrinal (see verse 21). In corroboration of the fact, see 2 Chronicles 27:2. They have forsaken the Lord. Not by renouncing his worship, which they still continued (see verses 11-15), but by reducing it to a formality. The people "honored him with their lips, while their hearts were far from him" (Isaiah 29:13). They have provoked to anger; rather, despised (Revised Version), or scorched (Kay, Cheyne), or rejected with disdain (Lowth), in allusion to their disobeying his commandments (see verses 21-23). The Holy One of Israel. This title of God is a favorite one with Isaiah (see Isaiah 5:19, Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 10:20; Isaiah 12:6; Isaiah 17:7; Isaiah 29:19, Isaiah 29:23; Isaiah 30:11, Isaiah 30:12, Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 37:23; Isaiah 41:14, Isaiah 41:16, Isaiah 41:20; Isaiah 43:3, Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 55:5; Isaiah 60:9, Isaiah 60:14), and is very rarely used by the other sacred writers. We find it thrice in the Psalms (Psalms 71:22; Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:18); once in Kings (2 Kings 19:22), but then in the mouth of Isaiah; twice in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1-19:29; Jeremiah 51:5); and once in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 39:7). According to Isaiah’s conception of God, holiness is the most essential element of his nature (see Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah 6:7). They are gone away backward; literally, they are estranged backwards; or, as Bishop Lowth paraphrases, "they are estranged from him; they have turned their back upon him." Instead of looking to God, and following after him, they "followed a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2)." Isaiah 1:5 Why should ye, etc.? Translate, Why will ye be still smitten, revolting more and more? or, Why will ye persist in rebellion, and so be smitten yet more? The Authorized Version does not express the sense, which is that suffering must follow sin—that if they still revolt, they must still be smitten for it—why, then, will they do so? Compare Ezekiel’s "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 18:31). The whole head … the whole heart. Mr. Cheyne translates, "Every head … every heart;" but Lowth, Gesenius, and Ewald agree with the Authorized Version. The prophet personifies Israel, and means to say that the whole head of the nation is diseased, its whole heart faint, or "prostrate with languor" (Kay). The head and heart represent respectively the intellectual and moral natures. Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head (comp. Job 2:7). From top to bottom, the body corporate is diseased throughout—there is no soundness in it (cf. Psalms 38:3, Psalms 38:7)—all is one wound, one livid bruise, one festering sore. Note the use of the singular number in the original. They have not been closed; literally, they have not been pressed; which is explained to mean (Aben Ezra, Kay) that they have not had the matter formed by suppuration pressed out of them. Neither bound up; i.e. not bandaged, Neither mollified with ointment; rather, with oil. On the treatment of wounds and ulcers with oil m ancient times, see ’Hippocrat; De Ulceribus,’ § 4; Galen; ’De Compos. Medic.,’ § 2; and comp. Luke 10:34. Recent medical science has revived the practice, and wounds of all kinds are now frequently treated with nothing but carbolic oil. The general sentiment of the entire passage is that there has been no medical treatment of the wounds of any kind; they have been left to themselves, to spread corruption over the whole body—no attempt has been made to cure them. Isaiah 1:7 Your country is desolate. Metaphor is now dropped, and the prophet describes in strong but simple language the judgments of God, which have already followed the sins of the nation. First of all, their land is "a desolation." It has been recently ravaged by an enemy; the towns have been burnt, the crops devoured. There is nothing to determine who the enemy had been. Knobel supposes the Edomites and Philistines, who invaded Judaea in the time of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:17, 2 Chronicles 28:18), to be intended; Rosenmüller suggests the Israelites under Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:21-24); while Mr. Cheyne supposes the devastation to have been wrought by the Assyrians under Sargon. If we could be assured that the prophecies of Isaiah are arranged in chronological order, we should either have to accept Rosenmüller’s view, or to suppose some invasion of Judaea to have taken place in the later years of Uzziah of which no mention is made by the authors of Kings and Chronicles; but it is impossible to be certain on what principle Isaiah’s prophecies are arranged. The mention of "strangers" is in favor of the enemy having been actual foreigners, and therefore not the Israelites. Your cities are burned with fire. The common fate of cities taken in war. In the Assyrian sculptures we often see the torch applied to them. Your land. Mr. Cheyne translates, "your tillage." Adamah means "soil" or "ground" generally; but here no doubt denotes the ground which bore crops. Strangers devour it; i.e. "foreigners" others than the sons of the soil—not necessarily persons of a different race, but still probably such persons. In your presence; before your eyes, as you look on—an aggravation of the affliction. It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers; literally, it is a desolation, like an overthrow by strangers. The near approach to repetition displeases moderns, who conjecture (1) that zarim, strangers, has another meaning, and should be here translated by "inundation" or "deluge" (Aben Ezra, Michaelis, Lowth); or (2) that it is a wrong reading, and should be altered into sodim, a word not very different (Ewald, Cheyne). But "the return to words whose sounds are yet lingering in the ear" is characteristic of ancient writing, and a favorite practice of Isaiah’s (Kay). The translation of the Authorized Version may therefore stand. Isaiah 1:8 The daughter of Zion. Not "the faithful Church" (Kay), but the city of Jerusalem, which is thus personified. Comp. Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:5, where Babylon is called the "daughter of the Chaldeans;" and Lamentations 1:6; Lamentations 2:1, Lamentations 2:4, Lamentations 2:8, Lamentations 2:10, where the phrase here used is repeated in the same sense. More commonly it designates the people without the city (Lamentations 2:13; Lamentations 4:22; Micah 3:8, Micah 3:10, 13; Zephaniah 3:14; Zechariah 2:10; Zechariah 9:9, etc.). As a cottage; rather, as a booth (Revised Version; see Leviticus 23:42). Vineyards required to be watched for a few weeks only as the fruit began to ripen; and the watchers, or keepers, built themselves, therefore, mere "booths" for their protection (Job 27:18). These were frail, solitary dwellings—very forlorn, very helpless. Such was now Jerusalem. As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Cucumber-gardens required watching throughout the season, i.e. from spring to autumn, and their watcher needed a more solid edifice than a booth. Hence such gardens had "lodges" in them, i.e. permanent huts or sheds, such as those still seen in Palestine. As a besieged city. Though not yet besieged, Jerusalem is as if besieged—isolated, surrounded by waste tracts, threatened. Isaiah 1:9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom. Lowth and Cheyne prefer to divide the two clauses differently, and to translate, "Except the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant, within a little we should have been like Sodom." The "remnant" is that of the few godly men who still inhabit Jerusalem. The comparison of Jerusalem with Sodom is made again in Isaiah 3:9, and is carried out at some length by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:44-57). It implies a condition of extreme depravity. Isaiah 1:10-15 THE PEOPLE’S PLEA NO EXCUSE, BUT AN OF THEIR GUILT. The prophet supposes the people, by the mouth of their rulers, to meet the charge of rebellion with an appeal to the fact that they maintain all the outward ordinances of religion, as required by the Lawn and are therefore blameless. This draws from him a burst of indignant eloquence, which the Holy Spirit directs him to put, mainly, into the mouth of God (Isaiah 1:11-15), denouncing such a pretence of religion as an aggravation of their sin, and characterizing their whole worship as an "abomination." Isaiah 1:10 Hear the word of the Lord; i.e. "Do not speak to no purpose, but hear." The rulers are supposed to have begun their plea, but the prophet stops them. Ye rulers of Sodom. Having said in the preceding verse how nearly Jerusalem had suffered the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, the writer grows more bold, and proceeds to give Jerusalem the obnoxious names. Her "rulers, "literally, judges (katsin in Hebrew corresponding to kadi in Arabic), are "rulers of Sodom;" her people are the "people of Gomorrah." There is as much wickedness, though it may be not the same wickedness, in "the daughter of Zion" at the existing time, as in the cities of the plain when God destroyed them. The law of our God. Not the Levitical Law, though the word used has generally that sense, but the "instruction" or "direction" that was about to be uttered (comp. Psalms 78:1; and see below, Isaiah 2:3 and Isaiah 51:4). See Mr. Cheyne’s note on the passage. Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Cui bono? What good end do they serve? "Thinkest thou that I will eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats? "(Psalms 1:1-6:13). God "delights not in burnt offerings." From the time of Samuel he had declared, "Behold, to obey is better then sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). David had said of him, "Sacrifice and meat offering thou wouldest not; burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin hast thou not required" (Psalms 40:8, Psalms 40:9); and again, "I will not reprove thee because of thy sacrifices, or for thy burnt offerings, because they were not always before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goat out of thy folds; for all the beasts of the forest are mine, and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Psalms 50:8-10). Not, of course, that either David or Isaiah desired to abolish sacrifice, or had any commission so to do; but they were, both of them, anxious to impress on men that sacrifice, by itself, was nothing—that self-dedication, self-renunciation, true devotion of the heart, with its necessary concomitant obedience, must accompany sacrifice, for God to be pleased therewith. The sacrifices of a people such as is described in verses 21-23 could not but be an offence to him. Saith the Lord. The phrase employed is unusual, and almost confined to Isaiah, occurring elsewhere only in Psalms 12:5. Isaiah uses it again in verse 18, and also in Isaiah 33:10; Isaiah 41:21; and Isaiah 66:9. It is explained to be emphatic, implying that this is what God says, and will say, concerning the matter in hand, once and forever (Kay). I am full of the burnt offerings of rams; rather, I am overfull, satiated, wearied with them. Barns formed a part of the required sacrifice on all great occasions, as at the Passover (Numbers 28:19), at the Feast of Weeks (Numbers 28:27), at the Feast of Tabernacles (Numbers 29:13, Numbers 29:17, Numbers 29:20, Numbers 29:23, Numbers 29:26, Numbers 29:29, Numbers 29:32, Numbers 29:36), at the Feast of Trumpets (Numbers 29:2), and on the great Day of Atonement (Numbers 29:8). They were commanded as the sole sacrifice for a trespass offering (Le Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 5:18). Under David were offered on one occasion "a thousand rams" (1 Chronicles 29:21); and the occasions where seven rams formed the legitimate sacrifice were many. Unaccompanied by a proper frame of mind, each such offering was an offence to God, displeased him, wearied him. The fat of fed beasts. The fat was always regarded, both by the Hebrews and the Greeks, as especially suitable for sacrifice. It was burnt upon the altar in every case, even where the greater part of the victim was consumed as food (see Le Isaiah 1:8, Isaiah 1:12; Isaiah 3:3, Isaiah 3:10, etc.; note particularly the expression in Le Isaiah 3:16, "All the fat is the Lord’s"). "Fed beasts" are those which were kept separate in stalls or sheds for some time before the sacrifice, and given food in which there was nothing" unclean." The Paschal lambs were required to be thus separated and fed for four days (Exodus 12:3, Exodus 12:6). I delight not in the blood. The blood, "which is the life" (Le Isaiah 17:14), was to be sprinkled on the altar in every sacrifice of a victim. This sprinkling was of the very essence of the sacrifice (Le Isaiah 1:5; Isaiah 3:2, Isaiah 3:8, Isaiah 3:13; Isaiah 4:6, 17, 25, 30, etc.). Bullocks … lambs … he-goats. These, together with rams, constituted all the sacrificial beasts of the Hebrews. Isaiah 1:12 When ye come to appear before me. Mr. Cheyne translates, "to see my face;" but most other commentators (Gesenius, Delitzsch, Ewald, Kay) regard the phrase used as equivalent to that employed in Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16; and the passage as referring to that attendance in the temple at the three great annual festivals, which was required of all adult male Israelites. The requirement of the Law was still observed in the letter, but not in the spirit. They came with no true religious object. Hence the question which follows: Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? This was not what God had enjoined—a mere bodily attendance, a trampling of his courts with their feet, when their hearts were far from him. Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations. The command is net "Bring no more oblations, "as though the daily oblation was to cease; but "bring no more oblations that are vain ones, "i.e. empty and unreal—mere forms, without the proper corresponding spirit. The "oblation" spoken of is the minchah, or "meat offering," cf. Le Isaiah 2:1-11; Numbers 28:12-31, which was a cake of fine flour mingled with oil, and generally had incense joined with it, which explains the nexus of this clause with the following one. Incense is an abomination unto me. God had commanded the use of incense in worship, as he had commanded burnt offerings and oblations (Exodus 30:1-8, Exodus 30:34-38; Le Exodus 2:2; Exodus 16:12, Exodus 16:13). But incense symbolized prayer (Psalms 141:2); and if no heartfelt prayer accompanied its use, it was emptied of all its significance, and became hateful to God—a mere form, and consequently an "abomination." The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. The weekly festival of the sabbath, the monthly one of the "new moon, "and the annual "assemblies" or "solemn feasts" (2 Chronicles 8:13), were the main occasions of Jewish worship. As at this time conducted, God could endure none of them; all were tainted with the prevalent unreality. The construction of the passage is highly rhetorical, and indicates great excitement of feeling. Kay translates it literally, "New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot—it is ungodliness—even the solemn meeting." The authors of the Revised Version also suppose an aposiopesis. The solemn meeting. The word thus translated is applied only to particular days in the great festival seasons, as to the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35; Nehemiah 8:18), and the seventh day of the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:8), or else to days specially appointed for religious services by civil authority (2 Kings 10:20; 2 Chronicles 7:9; Joe 1:14; Joe 2:15). The meaning thus is, that even the very highest ’occasions of religious worship were abused by the Israelites of the time, and made an offence to God. Isaiah 1:14 Your new moons. (For the ceremonies to be observed at the opening of each month, see Numbers 28:11-15.) Your appointed feasts. The "appointed feasts" are the great festival-times—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. They do not include the sabbath or the "new moon, "with which they are, both here and elsewhere (1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 31:3), contrasted. They are a trouble unto me; literally, an encumbrance (see Deuteronomy 1:12). Isaiah 1:15 I will hide mine eyes, etc. A time comes when the wicked are alarmed, and seek to turn to God; but it is too late. "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me" (Proverbs 1:28). When ye make many prayers; literally, multiply prayer. Full of blood (comp. Isaiah 1:21). Actual bloodshed may be pointed at, as the murder of Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:21), and the fate which befell Isaiah himself, according to the tradition, would seem to show. But cruelty and oppression, producing poverty and wretchedness, and tending to shorten life, are no doubt also included (comp. Micah 3:10, Micah 3:11). These were the special sins of the time (see verses 17, 23). Isaiah 1:16-20 THE OF GOD— OF LIFE. God, having put aside the worthless plea of outward religiousness made by his people, goes on to declare, by the mouth of his prophet, what he requires. First, in general terms (Isaiah 1:16), and then with distinct specification (Isaiah 1:17), he calls on them to amend their ways, both negatively ("cease to do evil") and positively ("learn to do well"). If they will really amend, then he assures them of forgiveness and favor; if they refuse and continue their rebellion, the sword will devour them. Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean. The analogy of sin to defilement, and of washing to cleansing from sin, has been felt among men universally wherever there has been any sense of sin. Outward purification by water has been constantly made use of as typical of the recovery of inward purity. Hence the numerous washings of the Levitical Law (Exodus 29:4; Le Exodus 1:9, Exodus 1:13; Numbers 19:7, Numbers 19:8, Numbers 19:19; Deuteronomy 21:6; Deuteronomy 23:11; etc.); hence the ablutions of the priests in Egypt (Herod; 2.37); hence the appropriateness of the rite of baptism; hence the symbolical washing of hands to free from complicity in blood-guiltiness (Matthew 27:24). "Wash you, make you clean, "could not be misunderstood by the Israelites; they would know that it was a requirement to "wash their hands in innocency" (Psalms 26:6; Psalms 73:13), even apart from what follows. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Not "hide it, "for that was impossible; but remove it altogether - in other words, "cease from it." "Cast off all the works of darkness;" get rid of evil, to begin with. So much is negative. Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well. Now comes the positive; first, in the general form" learn," etc.; which resembles the apostle’s "Put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12). Then follow the particulars. Seek judgment; or, seek out justice; i.e. endeavor to get justice done to all men; see that they "have right." Relieve the oppressed. So the LXX; the Vulgate, the Syriac, and the Chaldean Versions. But the word translated "oppressed" is thought by many to mean "oppressor" (Kimchi, Gesenius, Cheyne). This is certainly its meaning in Psalms 71:4. Translate, tighten the oppressor; i.e. correct and chasten him. Judge the fatherless; rather, do justice to the orphan (Cheyne); see that he is not wronged—be his champion. Plead for the widow; i.e. plead her cause in the courts; or, if judge, and she have no advocate, lean towards her, as if her advocate. The widow and the orphan were taken under God’s special protection from the time of Moses, and constantly commended to the tender care of the righteous (Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 27:19, etc.). Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together. God has from time to time permitted man to reason with him (Genesis 18:23-32; Exodus 4:1-17; Job 23:3-7; Micah 6:2); but it is difficult to see that there is any "reasoning" or "controversy" here. Mr. Cheyne translates, "Let us bring our dispute to an end." Though your sins be as scarlet … like crimson; i.e. "open, evident, glaring." Or there may be an allusion to their blood-guiltiness (see Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:19). They shall be as white as snow. Comp. Psalms 51:7, which is completely parallel, whether it was written before or after. There can be no better image of, purity than snow (comp. Job 9:30; Lamentations 4:7). As wool. A weaker illustration than the preceding one, but needed for the parallelism. (The resemblance of falling snow to wool is noted in Psalms 147:16.) Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient. Rosenmüller explains this as equivalent to "if ye be willing to obey" (cf. Ezekiel 3:7); but perhaps it is better to give each verb its separate force: "If you consent in your wills, and are also obedient in your actions" (so Kay). Ye shall eat the good of the land; i.e. there shall be no invasion; strangers shall not devour your crops (see Isaiah 1:7); you shall consume them yourselves. "The good of the land" is a common expression for its produce (Genesis 45:18, Genesis 45:20; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 9:36; Jeremiah 2:7). Isaiah 1:20 If ye refuse and rebel; i.e. "if ye neither consent in will, nor obey in act, "antithetical to the two verbs in the first clause of Isa 1:19. Ye shall be devoured; or, ye shall be eaten. The same verb as in the latter clause of Isa 1:19. With the sword. The metaphor is not a common one, but occurs in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 46:10, Jeremiah 46:14) and Nahum (Nahum 2:13). The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. A weighty ending, indicating the certainty of fulfillment, Jehovah, who cannot lie, has spoken; the result will assuredly follow. Isaiah 1:21-23 ISAIAH’S LAMENT OVER . The exhortation to amendment has been made—the results have been set forth; the temporal reward has been promised; the temporal vengeance, unless they amend, threatened. Time must be allowed the people for the prophet’s words to reach them, and do their work upon them, i.e. either soften or harden them. Meanwhile, Isaiah reflects on the condition of Jerusalem, and the unlikelihood of its rulers turning to God in consequence of his preaching. Isaiah 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! Not here an idolatress, but one that has left her first love, and turned to other attractions. Faithful once to her lord her spouse (Cant; passim), she has now cast him off—she is an adulterous wife, she no longer obeys or loves her husband. It was full of judgment; righteousness, etc. "She that was full" (Revised Version). Under Solomon (1 Kings 3:9-28) and again under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:5-11). It is not clear when the systematic perversion of justice by the rulers began. Perhaps it originated in the latter part of Uzziah’s reign, when the royal authority was weakened by being divided between Uzziah and Jotham (2 Chronicles 26:21). But now murderers (see the last note on Isaiah 1:15). Isaiah 1:22 Thy silver is become dross. Primarily, "thy great men have deteriorated." From pure silver, they have become mere dross, the vile refuse of the smelted ore, only fit to be cast away as worthless. But per-Imps there is some further reference to all that was once precious in Jerusalem; there had been a general deterioration—all the silver was now a debased metal of no value. Thy wine mixed with water. A parallelism; but (as so often happens) a weakened iteration of the preceding sentiment. Isaiah 1:23 Thy princes are rebellious; i.e. "rebels against their true King, Jehovah." Companions of thieves. Leagued with those who are engaged in filching away the inheritance of the widow and the orphan by chicane in the law courts (see above, Isaiah 1:15-17; and compare the Homiletics on Isaiah 1:16-20). Gifts … rewards; i.e. "bribes, "given and taken on the condition of their perverting justice (comp. Jeremiah 22:17; Ezekiel 22:12; Micah 3:11; Micah 7:3). They judge not the fatherless, etc. They dismiss the orphan’s complaint without hearing it, and are so noted for perversion of justice that the widow does not even bring her cause before them. Isaiah 1:24-31 THE OF GOD’S . It is foreknown to God that Israel will not repent. He therefore fulminates his judgment; which, however, is still conditional, so far as individuals are con-corned. His vengeance will fall upon the land; but the result will be twofold. Destruction will come upon the unrighteous and the sinners (Isaiah 1:28)—they will be "consumed" (Isaiah 1:28), and "confounded" (Isaiah 1:29); but there will be some on whom the punishment will have a purifying power, whose dross it will purge away, and whom it will convert to God (Isaiah 1:25, Isaiah 1:27). From these will rise up a new Jerusalem—a "city of righteousness," a "faithful stronghold" (Isaiah 1:26). Isaiah 1:24 The Lord, the Lord of hosts. In the original, Ha-Adon, Jehovah Sabaoth—i.e. "The Lord" (or "Master" of men and angels), "the Self-Existing One of the hosts of heaven"—i.e; their God, the only proper object of their worship. It gives peculiar weight and significance to this prophecy, that it is introduced by a triple designation of the Divine Being. The Mighty One of Israel. A very unusual designation, only found here and, with the modification of "Jacob" for "Israel, "in the following places: Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Genesis 49:24; Psalms 132:2, Psalms 132:5. God’s might would be shown alike in his vengeance on his enemies, and in his purification of a remnant to serve him. I will ease me of mine adversaries; literally, I will comfort me; i.e. I will rid myself of them, and so obtain the only comfort that they will allow me to receive from them (comp. Ezekiel 5:13, "I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted"). Isaiah 1:25 I will turn my hand upon thee; rather, I will bring back my hand upon thee; i.e. I will once more put forth the "strong hand and mighty arm, with which I brought thee out of Egypt" (Psalms 136:12), and will work another deliverance—the deliverance of Israel out of captivity. Purely purge away thy dross; literally, will purge away thy dross like borax, which was used as a flux in purifying the metal. The prophet continues the metaphor of Isa 1:22. And take away all thy tin; rather, thy had—the alloy with which the "silver" had become mixed. Isaiah 1:26 I will restore thy judges as at the first (see Exodus 19:25, 26). In the early times there was no bribery, no perversion of justice (Jeremiah 2:2, Jeremiah 2:3). God will bring back a time when the nation will renew its first love, and be as it was in the days of Moses and Joshua. Thy counselors. The city of righteousness; or, of justice. The prophecy may have been fulfilled in part by the earthly Jerusalem under Zerubhabel, Ezra, and the Maccabees. but is mainly fulfilled in the heavenly Jerusalem—the Church of God, the true Israel. The faithful city (comp. verse 21). Certainly the post-Captivity Church was "faithful" to Jehovah, in the way of acknowledging him, and him only, to be God, to a very remarkable degree, and in strong contrast to its inclination during pro-Captivity times. Isaiah 1:27 Redeemed with judgment; rather, delivered through judgment; i.e. God’s judgment shall have the effect of "delivering" a remnant, who shall build up Zion once more, and dwell in it. Her converts; i.e. those of her children who turn to God, shall be delivered through God’s righteousness, i.e. through the righteous vengeance which he executes upon the unfaithful nation. Some, however, understand both clauses to mean that the penitent remnant shall "deliver their own souls by their righteousness" (comp. Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:20; Ezekiel 18:27, etc.). Isaiah 1:28 Transgressors … sinners … they that forsake the Lord (comp. Isaiah 1:2 and Isaiah 1:4). These are scarcely distinct classes—rather different names for the ungodly. All of them, by whatever name they were called, would perish "together." Isaiah 1:29 The oaks which ye have desired are, primarily, the "green trees" under which images were set up (2 Kings 17:10), but perhaps represent also any worldly attractions which draw the soul away from God—as wealth, or power, or honors. In the day of suffering, sinners are ashamed of having been led away by such poor temptations as those to which they have yielded (comp. Romans 6:21, "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?"). The gardens. Kay suggests "idolatrous pleasure-gardens as those at Daphne, near Antioch, "which is a reasonable exegesis. Such were probably to be found wherever Astarte, or the "Dea Syra," was worshipped. Isaiah 1:30 Ye shall be as an oak, etc. Contrast the case of the godly, whose "leaf shall not wither" (Psalms 1:3). Isaiah 1:31 The strong (literally, the strong one) shall be as tow; i.e. weak and powerless (comp. Judges 16:9), utterly unable to resist the Divine fiat when it goes forth. The maker of it. An extraordinary mistranslation, since po’al never means anything but "work." His own acts would light the fire by which the "strong one" would be consumed and perish. "Nec lex justior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arts perire sua." The vision of Isaiah which he saw. The modern theory, that the prophetical gift was a mere "presentiment, "or" insight, "closely akin to that by which clear-sighted men of all times and nations have been able, in many respects, to forecast the coming course of events, is not very easily reconcilable with these words, "the vision of Isaiah which he scow." As a commentator whose freedom from the shackles of tradition is beyond dispute observes, "With Isaiah, it" (i.e. prophecy) "is not a mere presentiment; it is a calm and settled conviction, based on a direct revelation, and confirmed by a deep insight into the laws of the Divine government". Isaiah "sees" that which he announces. It is placed distinctly before him, as that which is about to be. He no more doubts it than he doubts that which is presented to his bodily vision. Hence it may be concluded— I. That the prophetic inspiration was absolutely convincing to those who were favored with it, and precluded all feeling of doubt. II. That it was wholly different in kind from that power of prevision which all men more or less possess, resting, not upon grounds of reason or experience, but upon an inward spiritual conviction that the substance of the prophetic announcement had been communicated to the prophet by God. Isaiah 1:2, Isaiah 1:3 God’s arraignment of his people. God claims his people’s willing obedience on three grounds. 1. They are his children. 2. He has made them great. 3. He has exalted them to eminence among the nations. I. As HIS , they are bound to love and serve him, to be grateful to him for his manifold mercies, and to yield him entire obedience. He is the Author of their being; he sustains their life; he feeds them, supports them, gives them every blessing which they enjoy. In return, what less can they do than love him unfeignedly, serve him truly, and obey him implicitly? Earthly children are bound to act thus towards their earthly parents: how much more God’s children towards their heavenly Father! II. AS RAISED BY HIM TO POWER AND , they are yet more bound to serve him. Every gift of God to us increases our responsibilities, lays us under a more stringent obligation to make a due return to our Benefactor. Israel was increased from a family into a nation, was multiplied in numbers, given a land flowing with milk and honey, raised from the bondage of Egypt to an independent and commanding position. Each step in their progress constituted a demand on them for greater love, profounder gratitude, more exact observance of every Divine commandment. III. As EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS, they are at once called upon for additional thankfulness, and required to manifest to the heathen that God’s favor has not been bestowed on them by mere caprice, but with some reference to their capacity of profiting by it. "A city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). Eminence of whatever kind calls upon us for increased exertion. Noblesse oblige. If men are bound to serve God in the lowest walks of life, still more are they bound to serve him when he has "raised them out of the dust, and lifted them out of the dunghill, that he may set them with princes, even with the princes of his people" (Psalms 113:7, Psalms 113:8). And as with individuals, so with nations. Eminence among the powers of the earth calls on them to set a good example—to "let their light shine before men, "to make a decided profession of religion, and to carry out their profession in their acts. Israel, however, had acknowledged none of these obligations. They had "rebelled against God, "turned away from following him, cast his words behind their back. More dull than either ox or ass, they had refused to "know God, "to have him in their thoughts, to "consider his operations" (Isaiah 5:10). Have not multitudes of Christians also followed their example? They too are God’s children (Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1, etc.), created by him, regenerated by him, adopted by him in his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. They too have been raised by him to greatness, increased from a "little flock" to hundreds of millions, "carried on eagles’ wings" (Exodus 19:4), borne safely through the storms of centuries. And they have been exalted among the nations of the earth, given the chief place, manifestly elevated above both Jews and heathen. Must not Christians, if they rebel, if they refuse to "know God" or "consider ’him, expect the same terrible punishments as overtook the Israelites, or others similar to them? "If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26, Hebrews 10:27). "It is fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Hebrews 10:31). Isaiah 1:4-9 The prophet’s enforcement of God’s charge. God’s words are so weighty, that they may well be few; the preacher’s enforcement of them must needs be, comparatively speaking, lengthy. Isaiah, in addressing his erring countrymen, aimed at producing in them— I. OF DIN. For this purpose, he begins with an array of seven charges (verse 4), varying, as it were, the counts of the indictment: (1) they are a sinful nation; (2) they are laden with guilt; (3) they are a race of evil-doers; (4) they are children that act corruptly; (5) they have forsaken Jehovah; (6) they have scorned him; (7) they have estranged themselves from him, and, as it were, turned away from him and gone backward. The first four are general, and seem to be little more than rhetorical variations of one and the same theme. We may learn from them that rhetorical variation is allowable, nay, proper, since different words catch hold of different persons, rouse them, touch them to the quick, are effectual to the producing of repentance. The last three charges are particular, and to some extent different, each exceeding the last in heinousness, and thus rising in the way of climax—desertion, insult, complete estrangement. Metaphor is then called in to work on the imagination, and through the imagination on the conscience: the nation is depicted as a diseased and stricken body, a mass of sores and corruption (verses 5, 6). II. FEAR OF . Undoubtedly fear is a low motive in religion—some think it altogether an unworthy one. But while human nature remains such as it is, while the mass of men are incapable of being stirred by the higher motives, appeal must be made to the lower ones. The prophet, therefore, reminds his people of God’s judgments in the past (verse 7), threatens them with further judgments in the future (verse 5), and ends the paragraph by suggesting that his people have barely escaped the most terrible of all judgments—a destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:11-14 The outward form of religion, without inward piety, an offence to God. It is strange how deeply ingrained the idea is in man, that formal acts of worship, outward acknowledgment, ritual, ceremonial, pageantry, constitute religion, and will be accepted by God in lieu of the inward devotion of the heart. Heathenism was full of the notion. Plato tells us that the Greeks thought they might commit any number and any kind of sins or crimes, and obtain pardon for them at the hands of the gods, if they offered sufficient sacrifices (Plato, ’Rep.,’ 2. § 7). It is evident that the Jews of Isaiah’s time were possessed with a similar idea. They "tried to compensate for their unrighteous lives by sumptuous—perhaps extravagant—performance of ceremonial observances" (Kay). So did the Pharisees of our Lord s day. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith." "Ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer" (Matthew 23:23, Matthew 23:14). And do not professed Christians too often do the same? Is not "saying prayers" too often made a substitute for private devotion, and "going to church" for the true public worship of God? Nay, is not attendance at the Holy Eucharist itself sometimes allowed to become a mere form? Alas! Isaiah’s warning voice is needed as much by Christians as by Jews. He tells us that the outward form of religion, without inward piety, is not only not pleasing to God, but is an offence unto him. It is so— I. As A LOW AND OF GOD. To imagine that God will be content with external observance is to suppose, either that he is unable to read our hearts or that he does not care how we are in our hearts disposed towards him. It is thus either to question his omniscience or to deny his moral nature. A good father does care whether his sons render him a mere formal obedience or are heartily bent on obeying him through love and gratitude. Only one unworthy of the name is careless upon the point, and content so long as that which he commands is done. II. As A SPECIES OF . "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" was our Lord’s denunciation of those who paid tithe of every minutest vegetable, yet were without mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23). The outward acts of religion—prayer, praise, observance of fast and festival, attendance at sacraments, and the like—constitute a profession of certain inward feelings—love, gratitude, faith, reverence—and, if these are absent, the performance of the acts is deceptive and hypocritical. It is to make a pretence that we are what we are not. It is bad enough if it is done to deceive men; but it is worse if we think thereby to hoodwink God. God hates hypocrisy, and is revolted by the conduct of such as "honor him with their lips, while their hearts are far from him." III. As A OF THINGS SACRED. The observances of religion have something sacred about them. They are either suggested by nature or formally ordained by God for a holy use; and, if practiced in an irreligious, or even in a non-religious, spirit, they are desecrated. It is a mockery to bend the knee and repeat the words of formularies while our thoughts are straying to other matters, as business, amusements, gaieties—it is emptying things holy of their holiness, and bringing them down to a lower level. We injure ourselves by so doing, we scandalize the truly religious, we give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. Better not to "tread God’s courts" at all than to do so without a reverent and prayerful spirit. God will not listen to the prayers of the wicked. Sinners sometimes think that they may persist in sin as long as they like, because they can at any time turn to God, ask his forgiveness, obtain pardon, and be saved. But Scripture is very full of warnings that this is not the case. There is "a sin against the Holy Ghost, "which "shah not be forgiven to men, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (Matthew 12:32). There is a persistence in sin, which "quenches the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Men cannot turn to God whenever they please. The "accepted time" passes away, and they find it impossible to turn to him in true faith and penitence. They may "say prayers, "but they do not really pray. And God shuts his ears against such prayers (see, besides the present passage, Job 27:8, Job 27:9; Proverbs 1:28; Jeremiah 11:11; Ezekiel 8:18; Hebrews 6:4 6; Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 John 5:16). No return to God’s favor without amendment of life. The outward show of religion, which the Israelites maintained, vain and futile as it was, seemed to indicate that they were not wholly irreclaimable—they did not desire to break altogether with God. The prophet, therefore, assumes that they would wish to know the way by which they may remove God’s anger, and enter once more into favor with him; and he proceeds to point out that the one and only road open to them is to amend their ways—to reverse their course of life. This amendment consists in two things: one negative, the other positive. I. : IN CEASING TO DO EVIL. This is the first thing needed. Men must break off their sins, put away the iniquity of their doings, resolutely determine that the works of darkness shall be done by them no more. The works will be different in different cases. To one man they will be impure acts and words; to another, falsehood, deception, equivocation; to another, profanity of speech; to another, drunkenness; to another, intemperate anger, and so on. To the Israelites at this time, or at any rate to their chief men, who are here specially addressed (Isaiah 1:10), the evil-doing most common, and to which they were most prone, was cruelty and oppression. The chief men acted as judges, held courts, heard complaints, determined causes; but, instead of seeking to do justice between man and man, they sought merely to advance their own interests by means of the office entrusted to them. They accepted bribes from rich suitors to determine law-suits in their favor; they leaned in their judgments against the weak and the defenseless. They were probably a clique, who enriched themselves by playing into each others’ hands, and ousting weak persons from their properties and estates by legal artifices. All this whole system of evil-doing they were required, first of all, to put aside, before they could hope that God would look upon them with anything but anger and reprobation. II. : IN TO DO WELL. Negative goodness is not enough. God expects each man to glorify him by good actions. Those who have gone astray must not only retrace their steps, but must enter resolutely on the path of virtue. They must "set themselves in some good way." And this must be especially done in the matters wherein they have failed. The Jewish judges had failed in their task of administering justice—they had given unjust sentences, favored oppressors, dealt hardly with the widow and the orphan. Hence the prophet’s exhortations to them are "Seek out justice; correct the oppressor; right the orphan; plead the cause of the widow" (Isaiah 1:17). And so it must be with all the varieties of evil-doers. Each must be exhorted to the virtue which is the opposite of the vice that he has indulged in. Each must labor, if he really seeks restoration to God’s favor, to do deeds the very opposite of those which he did formerly. If he was a drunkard, he does well to become a total abstainer; if a glutton, to chasten his flesh by fasting; if impure, to give him-serf to the reclaiming of outcasts; if niggardly, "to sell all that he has and give to the poor;" if violent, to suffer wrong, and turn his cheek to the smiter. From the nature of amendment, the prophet proceeds to its consequences, which are likewise twofold, consisting in— I. THE OF THE SOUL. Here much is kept back which is revealed later, as (1) the mode whereby the soul is cleansed, or in other words, the doctrine of the atonement, which appears in Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah 53:6; (2) the necessity of laying hold of the atonement by faith (Romans 3:25; Romans 4:5, etc.); and (3) the immediate removal of the guilt of sin, when God justifies us, and the gradual removal of its taint, as he sanctifies us. But the declaration of the fact of our cleansing is directly made, and made with the utmost plainness: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow," etc. The cleansing will be entire, complete, thorough. Snow will not be purer than the redeemed soul, which "the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed from all sin" (1 John 1:7). II. A REWARD, TO THE SOUL ITSELF, WHICH GOD’S FREE GRACE WILL BESTOW. Here still more is kept back. The reward held out is merely temporal: "Ye shall eat the good of the land." Ye shall live in peace and prosperity, under your own vines and fig trees, and enjoy the fruits of the earth, which God in his bounty gives you. Not a whisper of the eternal reward—the blessedness reserved for man in heaven, the bliss which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive." Probably the Israelites of Isaiah’s day were too gross and sensual, too much wrapt up in material things, to have been stirred to action by anything so distant and intangible as the heavenly life, even if they could have formed the faintest conception of it. Here, again, "God has provided better things for us" (Hebrews 10:1-39:40), and given us a motive for exertion far beyond any that was presented to his ancient people. The grievousness of the sin of oppression in God’s sight. The Israelites of Isaiah’s time were guilty of many heinous sins, as we see by later chapters. They were idolaters (Isaiah 2:8), haughty (Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:17), wanton (Isaiah 3:16), covetous (Isaiah 5:8), drunken (Isaiah 5:11), perverse (Isaiah 5:20), vain (Isaiah 5:21). But of all their sins, none seems to have so much offended God as their oppression of the poor and weak. The prophet refers to it over and over again (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:21, Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:5, Isaiah 3:12, Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:23, etc.), He denounces it in the strongest terms (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:23). He represents it as an especial offence to Jehovah (Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:7). The reasons would seem to be— I. BECAUSE IS A BREACH OF TRUST. To oppress another we must have authority over him, and all authority is committed to man by God, as a trust. "Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11). God entrusts us with power over others for their benefit and for our own moral training. He puts us in his place, to act for him, to be his instruments: "By me kings reign, and princes decree justice" (Proverbs 8:15). Abuse of our position is breach of trust; it is to use the power God has committed to us for a purpose the very opposite to that which he intended. It is flagrant rebellion against him. II. BECAUSE IT IS CRUEL AND INHUMAN. "’Tis excellent to have a giant’s strength, But tyrannous to use it like a giant." Weakness naturally makes an appeal to our emotions of pity and compassion. To injure the defenseless, to hurt, crush, ruin the poor and the weak, instead of being their champion, is to be wanting altogether in manhood. It is to be at once unjust and cowardly. Oppressors have always been the objects of general hatred and condemnation. Rameses II; Nebuchadnezzar, Tarquin, Nero, Bajazet, have left an evil memory behind them, which will continue while the world endures. Oppressors are of various kinds. Some are emperors or kings, some princes, some judges, and other public personages. But there is far more oppression in private life titan in public. Slave-owners, and still more, slave-drivers, are apt to be fearful oppressors, making the lives of hundreds a burden to them. Even employers of free labor are often oppressors, when they take advantage of competition to beat down wages below the rate at which life can be sustained in decent comfort. Masters often act oppressively towards their servants, heads of schools towards their pupils, even parents towards their children. Of all the evils "done under the sun, "there is none more widespread than oppression (Ecclesiastes 4:1), and none more hateful. III. BECAUSE IT GOD’S OF JUSTICE. To be just is of the very essence of God’s nature. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). Exact justice is what he deals out even to the feeblest, the weakest, the most contemptible of his creatures. And he "has made man upright" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). He has implanted in man a sense of justice, the reflex of his own attribute, and made him to be self-condemned if he transgresses it. God’s law of conduct, "Do unto others as thou wouldst have them do to thee, "is a law of strict, equal justice, and if carried out would put an end to all oppression and wrong. Thus, when men oppress their fellow-men, they disobey both God’s inward and his outward law; nay, more, they outrage him by showing contempt for one of his highest attributes. The purifying power of punishment. Great national judgments, such as that which Isaiah was sent to announce, have a purifying effect in three ways. I. THEY ALARM A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PERSONS, AND INDUCE THEM TO QUIT THEIR SINS. The careless and indifferent have their attention excited and their fern’s aroused by the dangers which manifestly threaten all, and the calamities which naturally fall on some. The class of waverers, who would fain be on the side of good, but continually fall away when temptation assails them, find their power of resistance strengthened by the perils of the time, which render sinful enjoyment insecure, and bring home to them the certainty that there is retribution in store for sin. Even among pronounced and habitual sinners there are apt to be some whom the novel circumstances of the time startle and induce to "consider their ways." It is an undeniable fact, that of such penitents a certain proportion repent with extreme earnestness, and become examples to the flock, advancing with the same impulse and fervor in the way of godliness as they formerly advanced in the "way which leadeth to destruction" (Matthew 7:13). II. THEY THE OF THE BETTER , AND RENDER THEM MORE AND STRICT IN THEIR CONDUCT. Men are aware, under ordinary circumstances, that they may at any moment be summoned to meet their Judge. But they do not commonly realize the possibility. It is one of the effects of great national judgments—war, pestilence, famine—that they force on men the consideration of the peril in which they stand, and compel them to contemplate death as near, and their own speedy demise as probable. They lead men’s thoughts to existence beyond the grave, and encourage them to prepare for the great change which death will make in their condition. They break in upon the placid calm of everyday life, which laps so many souls in an elysium of unconsciousness, and remind men of their Lord’s solemn injunction to them: "Watch" (Mark 13:37). III. THEY GIVE FOR THE OF THE HEROIC VIRTUES, AND HAVE THUS AN AND ON THE BEST MEN. There is more room for self-devotion in times of national calamity than under any other circumstances. Thousands are thrown upon the charity of their neighbors. The suffering which exists is at once quasi-universal and extreme. Much danger has to be encountered in its relief. The best men at such times give themselves up wholly to the task of alleviating their neighbors’ woes. Singly, or in bands, they go forth, fling themselves into the thick of the struggle, and do their best to relieve the general distress and misery. Whether they succeed or whether they fail in their object of helping others, they do not, cannot fail in one thing—the improvement of their own characters. Their "dross" is certain to be "purged away" by their unselfish efforts, and the pure metal of their virtue to shine forth ever more and more, as time goes on, free from all alloy of pride, or vanity, or self-seeking. Affliction has also a purifying effect on the individual. "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth," etc. Thus only can "patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4). Thus only can faith be tried (1 Peter 1:7) and strengthened. Thus only can "the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings" (Philippians 3:10) be known and realized. But this branch of the subject lies outside of Isaiah’s teaching in the present chapter. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 1:1-9 Jehovah arraigns his people. I. THE BASEST OF SINS. He, the Father, has been faithlessly forsaken by ungrateful sons. This is the worst form of ingratitude. "Filial ingratitude! Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand For lifting food to it?" (’King Lear.’) It has been said that The wretch whom gratitude once fails to bind, To truth or honor let him lay no claim, But stand confess’d the brute disguised in man." But the brutes are grateful; while Jehovah’s sons seem to have neither memory nor understanding. Man, by his nature, if he does not rise above, must sink below, the level of the beast. There is nothing more hateful, then, because more radically amiss and evil, than ingratitude. It is, great men have said, the sum of guilt and evil, worse than any taint of the blood, more odious than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, II. THE PEOPLE HAVE ADDED TO . They have forsaken, reviled, "gone backward" from him. This is a climax of sin. Our passions are ever in movement; there is no stagnation. Insensibility to God’s goodness soon leads to antipathy, antipathy to active hatred, and this to open revolt. "Be ye thankful." The neglect of the heart and its proper attitude to God is certain to lay us open to every sin. The greatest physical pests of the city, and not less its moral corruptions, may be traced to neglect. Some "covenant" of God made known to us in natural or in spiritual law has been broken; hence sin and sorrow, and hence alone, as the prophets ever teach. III. HEAVEN AND EARTH OF MAN’S GUILT. The whole language and style call up to mind the court of justice. All human events form part of a drama, of which God and the angels are spectators. We in all our thoughts and deeds are surrounded by a great cloud of spectators. The great solid mountains, for example, seem the very symbols of those fixed laws by which our actions must be judged. Napoleon in Egypt called his soldiers to reflect that "forty centuries were looking down upon them from the pyramids." By a similar figure, Micah summons the people to trial in the presence of the mountains (Micah 6:2); the Deuteronomist appeals to heaven and earth to listen to his words (Deuteronomy 32:1). So does a psalmist (Psalms 1:1-6.) represent Jehovah as demanding the attention of earth from east to west. All our acts run out into a universal significance. IV. THE OF RUIN. The people have run the whole course of sin, have left no stone unturned in the attempt to defeat Jehovah; and lo! the result. The body corporate is one mass of disease and wounds, fresh and bleeding. The land is devastated and fire-scarred. Barbarians are devouring it; it reminds of awful Sodom’s ruin. Jerusalem, indeed, is as yet unscathed; but she stands alone in the midst of the dread silence. Like "a booth in the vineyard, a hammock in a cucumber-field, "is she? Thus, when appeals to the car have been repeatedly neglected, God paints the truth upon the field of vision. If we heed not the voice, we must feel the weight of the hand, of the Lord. Yet there is still a spark of hope. Jerusalem is all but, yet not quite, a Sodom or Gomorrah. There is still a remnant of people left. Thank God, while there is life there is hope. At the very moment when we are tempted to say of the ruined nation, the broken life, "All is lost!" a voice is heard, "All may yet be restored!"—J. Isaiah 1:10-17 This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION II. OF GOD’S UPON HIS PEOPLE (CH. 2-5.). Isaiah 2:1 TITLE OF THE CHAPTER. It is generally allowed that the heading belongs, not to this chapter only, but to a section of the work, beginning here and ending at the close, either of Isa 4:1-6. or of Isa 5:1-30. It is probable that the section was originally published separately. Isaiah 2:2-4 OF THE LAST DAYS. The resemblance of this prophecy to Micah 4:1-3 is so close as to necessitate the conclusion either that one of the two prophets copied from the other, or that both copied from an earlier document. The latter view, which is that taken by Rosenmüller, Maurer, De Wette, Meier, and Mr. Cheyne, seems preferable. Isaiah 2:2 In the last days; literally, in the sequel of the days; but generally used of a remote future (Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14; Deuteronomy 4:30, etc.). The mountain of the Lord’s house; i.e. the Church, the true Zion, which is to be the antitype of the existing Zion, and is therefore given its material attributes. Spiritually, it would be a "mountain," as "a city set on a hill," which "could not be hid" (Matthew 5:14); and again, as occupying a position from which it would command the whole earth. In the top of the mountains; rather, at the head of the mountains; i.e. with pre-eminence over them. The metaphor is drawn from the common physical fact of a high mountain range culminating in a single supreme eminence. So Mount Hermon towers above the rest of the Antilibanus, Demavend over Elburz, Rowandiz over Zagros. The "mountains" above which the true Zion shall tower are the kingdoms, or perhaps the religions, of the earth. All nations; literally, all the nations; i.e. "all the nations of the earth" (comp. Psalms 72:11). Shall flow; or, stream. A constant accession of converts from all quarters is intended. These are represented as continually streaming upward into the holy mountain of God’s house. Isaiah 2:3 Many people; rather, many peoples. Shall go; or, set forth. The prophet means to represent the nations as encouraging one another on the way. There is no jealousy among them, for the "mountain" can hold them all. He will teach us. The nations feel their ignorance of God, and their need of "teaching." God alone can teach them concerning himself (Romans 11:33, Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 2:11); and "he will teach" them, either directly, as the Incarnate Son, or indirectly through those whom he has appointed to be "teachers" (1 Corinthians 12:28). Of his ways; i.e. "some of his ways," not "all of them;" for at present "we know in part" only (1 Corinthians 13:9), and the greater portion of his ways are "past finding out" (Romans 11:33). The "ways" here spoken of are, no doubt, rules for the conduct of life, which are practically inexhaustible. God, however, will teach every man, who honestly seeks to learn, enough to enable him to "walk in his paths." Out of Zion shall go forth the Law; rather, instruction, or teaching. The word (torah) is without the article. The instruction intended is that of the Church of God. Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge among the nations. This is clearly not yet fulfilled. How God shall ultimately "judge among the nations," or rather "between nation and nation," is a mystery which only the future can reveal. It has been supposed that "by his providential retributions he will decide those international questions out of which war ordinarily springs" (Kay). But it would seem to be at least as likely that he will bring the nations to such a pitch of wisdom and moderation, that they will voluntarily discard war, and agree to decide any disputes that arise by means of arbiters. The arbiter would then, like other judges, represent God, and "by him decree justice" (Proverbs 8:15). Shall rebuke. Rosenmüller translates, "Arbiter pacts sit;" Cheyne, "shall arbitrate." Here again, as in Isaiah 2:3, "people" should be "peoples." They shall beat, etc. On a sudden call to war, nations "beat their ploughshares into swords, and their pruning-hooks into spears" (Joe 3:10). They will do the reverse "in the latter days," when God shall have "made wars to cease" (Psalms 46:9) and "speak peace unto the nations" (Zechariah 9:10). Isaiah 2:5-11 THE OF THE PRESENT WITH THE FUTURE. Having shown to Israel the vision of a far-distant future, when holiness and peace would reign upon the earth, and "the mountain of the Lord’s house" would draw all men into it, the prophet returns to things as they are—first exhorting Israel to "walk in the light of Jehovah’ (Isaiah 2:5), and then showing how far they have withdrawn from the light; (1) by magical practices (Isaiah 2:6); (2) by commercial greed (Isaiah 2:6, Isaiah 2:7); (3) by ostentation and luxury (Isaiah 2:7); (4) by idolatry (Isaiah 2:8). Such being the case, punishment must come—mean and great must be equally brought low (Isaiah 2:9)—the people must fly to their cave-fastnesses (Isaiah 2:10), and hide themselves; they must be humiliated to the uttermost (Isaiah 2:11). Isaiah 2:5 O house of Jacob. "House of Jacob" is the common expression in Isaiah, instead of "house of Israel" (see Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 10:20; Isaiah 14:1; Isaiah 29:22; Isaiah 46:3; Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 58:1). It has no particular force, merely signifying "Israelites." Come ye, and let us walk. The same words as those of the "nations" in verse 3, "Come ye, and let us go up." As the nations will invite each other "in the last days," so the prophet now invites his countrymen to walk with God. Isaiah 2:6 Therefore; rather, for. The prophet, in calling upon Israel to "walk in the light of the Lord," implies that they are not so walking. He then proceeds to give the reasons of this. They are not, "for God has forsaken them, or, cast them off." The first reason is because they be replenished from the east (Revised Version, "they be filled with customs from the east); i.e. they have adopted a number of Syrian, Assyrian, and Ammonite superstitions; e.g. high places, images, and "groves," the burning of their children in honor of Moloch, the use of divination and enchantment, etc. (2 Kings 15:4; 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Kings 16:4; 2 Kings 17:10-12, 2 Kings 17:16, 2 Kings 17:17, etc.). Most of these practices reached the Israelites from Syria, though many had their origin either in Assyria or Babylonia. Soothsayers, like the Philistines. The "diviners" of the Philistines are mentioned in 1 Samuel 6:2. By the word here employed, it would seem that they foretold the future from observations on the clouds and the general appearance of the sky. During the reign of Uzziah, the Israelites had been brought into closer contact with the Philistines than usual, through his conquest of several of their cities (2 Chronicles 26:6). They please themselves in the children of strangers; literally, strike hands with the children of strangers (comp. Job 27:23). This is thought to refer to striking hands upon a bargain (Cheyne), and to be an allusion to the commercial activity of the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 16:6). But perhaps it does not mean more than familiarity. Isaiah 2:7 Full of silver and gold. The results of the commercial activity—not evil things in themselves, but probably acquired by sharp dealing, and leading to undue softness and luxury. The Law had given a warning against "greatly multiplying silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:17). For the fact of the vast abundance of the precious metals in Judaea at this time, see 2 Kings 14:16; 2 Kings 20:13; 2 Chronicles 32:27; and compare Sennacherib’s inscription on the Taylor Cylinder. Full of horses … chariots (comp. Micah 5:10). There is no reason to believe that the Jews or Israelites ever possessed (unless it were under Solomon) any considerable cavalry or chariot force. But from the time of David horses and chariots were imported for convenience and for show by the kings, the princes, and the nobles (see 2 Samuel 15:1; 1 Kings 4:26; 1 Kings 10:28, 1 Kings 10:29; 1 Kings 22:31; Ecclesiastes 10:7). Like the silver and the gold, they were signs of luxury and ostentation. Isaiah 2:8 Full of idols. The historians declare that both Uzziah and Jotham maintained the worship of Jehovah and disallowed idolatry (2 Kings 15:3, 2 Kings 15:34; 2 Chronicles 26:4; 2 Chronicles 27:2), so that we must regard the idol-worship of the time as an irregular and private practice. (It is, perhaps, alluded to in 2 Chronicles 27:2; and the fact of its prevalence is stated in Amos 2:1; Micah 5:13.) Perhaps Bishop Lowth is right in regarding it as mainly a continuation of the old private teraphim worship. Isaiah 2:9 And the mean man boweth down, etc. So Ewald and Kay; but most other commentators render, "Therefore shall the mean man be bowed down, and the great man brought low, and thou shalt not [or, ’canst not’] forgive them" (Rosenmüller, Lowth, Gcsenius, Knobel, Cheyne). The transition from narrative to threatening comes best at the beginning of the verse. Isaiah 2:10 Enter into the rock. The limestone rocks of Palestine are full of extensive caverns, to which the Israelites often betook themselves in times of danger (see Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 22:1, etc.). The prophet exhorts them to flee thither now, but without stating what exactly is the peril (comp. Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 2:21). Hide thee in the dust. Not "the dust of humiliation" (Kay), but "the dust of the earth" (Genesis 2:7), put here for the earth itself, as in Isaiah 2:19. For fear of the Lord; rather, from before the terror of Jehovah. Some awful manifestation of Jehovah’s power is intended, its nature being still kept back and shrouded in darkness. Isaiah 2:11 The effect of the judgment which, in Isaiah 2:9, was said to be the humiliation of high and low alike, is here declared with special reference to the high-minded and proud, whom it will humble more than others. The Lord alone shall be exalted; like a lofty and strong tower (comp. Isaiah 12:4; Isaiah 33:5). Isaiah 2:12-22 THE OF THE DAY OF THE LORD. The prophet, now, having announced that God is about to visit his people in anger (Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 2:11), proceeds to describe in highly rhetorical language the visitation itself, (1) as to its object, which is to bring down all that exalts itself against God (Isaiah 2:12); (2) as to its scope—it is to be upon trees, mountains, hills, towers, walls, ships, pleasant pictures, idols (Isaiah 2:13-18); (3) as to its practical effect, which will be to alarm and terrify, to make men fly and hide themselves, and to produce contempt of the idols in which they have so long trusted (Isaiah 2:19-21). Isaiah 2:12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one; rather, For the Lord of hosts shall have a day upon everything. The passage is exegetical of "that day" in the preceding verse. A "day"—or time—is certainly coming which shall be emphatically "the Lord’s"—a day on which he will descend to judgment. Proud … lofty … lifted up (comp. Isaiah 2:11). "The ideas of eminence, pride, and opposition to God melt into each other in the Old Testament" (Cheyne). And he shall be brought low; rather, that it may be brought low (so Gesenius and Cheyne). Isaiah 2:13 Upon all the cedars of Lebanon. It is usual to take this metaphorically; and no doubt men are often compared to trees in Scripture (Psalms 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8; Job 8:16, Job 8:17), and "cedars of Lebanon" especially are symbols of the great and proud ones (Ezekiel 31:3). But it has been well observed that either all the details of the description in the text must be taken literally, or all of them metaphorically, and that the mention of such objects as "ships of Tarshish" and "pleasant pictures" pleads strongly for a literal interpretation. The day of the Lord was upon the cedars when Sennacherib "with chariots upon chariots came up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof" (Isaiah 37:24); and similar devastation accompanied, it is probable, the other invasions of the Assyrians. Upon all the oaks of Bashan. The "oaks of Bashan" are celebrated also by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 27:6) and by Zechariah (Zechariah 11:2). It is quite likely that the Assyrians cut timber in Bashan, as they did in Lebanon and Amanus. Isaiah 2:14 Mountains … hills. It is Sennacherib’s boast that he "came up to the height of the mountains" (Isaiah 37:24). Isaiah 2:15 Upon every high tower. Uzziah and. Jotham had, both of them, paid much attention to fortifications, and had especially "built towers," both at Jerusalem and in other parts of Judaea (2 Chronicles 26:9, 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4). Isaiah means to pour contempt on these indications of "trust in an arm of flesh," and to say that they will be of no avail when the time of calamity arrives. Every fenced wall. "On the wall of Ophel" Jotham had "built much" (2 Chronicles 27:3). Hosea (Hosea 8:14) and Micah (Micah 4:11) also notice the trust of Judah in her fortresses, and threaten their destruction. Isaiah 2:16 All the ships of Tarshish. "Ships of Tarshish" meant originally "ships built to sail to Tarshish;" but was used by the later writers for ships of a certain class or size (1 Kings 22:48; Psalms 48:7; Ezekiel 27:25). Tarshish was Tartessus, in Spain, and voyages thither were regarded as long and dangerous (Herod; 1.163). Consequently, the ships which were built for the Tartessian trade were of unusual size and strength. Uzziah had "built [i.e. rebuilt] Elath," in the eastern arm of the Red Sea, early in his reign (2 Kings 14:22), and no doubt maintained a fleet there, as Jehoshaphat had done (1 Kings 22:48). Elath remained in the possession of the Jews till the reign of Ahaz, when it was taken by Rezin, and restored to Edom (see ’Speaker’s Commentary’ on 2 Kings 16:6). Upon all pleasant pictures; Revised Version, all pleasant imagery. The exact word hero translated "pictures" does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament; but a cognate word is not uncommon. From the passages in which this cognate word occurs (especially Le Isaiah 26:1; Numbers 33:52; Proverbs 25:11; Ezekiel 8:12), it is concluded that works of art, of some sort or other, are intended. More than this can scarcely be determined. Dr. Kay thinks the term to include "sculptures and fresco-paintings." Mr. Cheyne translates "all delightful works of imagery." The sentiment is that the judgment of God will fall on the most valued contents of palaces and grand houses, no less than upon the forests and the mountains, the fortified places, and the national navy. All wilt be involved in one sweeping destruction. Isaiah 2:17 The loftiness of man. This verse interrupts the sequence of the thoughts somewhat awkwardly. It is a sort of refrain (see Isaiah 2:11; and for the use of refrains in Hebrew poetry, see Exodus 15:1, Exodus 15:21; Psalm evil. 8, 15, 21, 31), and perhaps comes in for rhythmical reasons, to the detriment of the sense. Isaiah 2:18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish; rather, and the idols shall utterly pass away. While the visitation shall fall only partially on the other objects precious to Israel—the cedars, the oaks, the terraced mountains and hills, the strongholds, the ships, and the works of art—the idols shall be wholly swept away by it. It is impossible to say what visitation exactly was in the prophet’s mind; but if we may suppose that the Babylonian captivity came within the range of the prophetic vision, we must pronounce the prediction to have received a very remarkable fulfillment in this matter, since that calamity did put an entire end to the idolatry of the nation. Isaiah 2:19 They shall go into the holes of the rooks, etc.. On the abundant caves of Palestine, see note on the former passage. To shake terribly the earth; literally, to affright the earth. It is not said in what way he will affright it. The cognate Arabic verb has the meaning "to shake;" but it is not clear that the Hebrew one has ever this sense. Isaiah 2:20 In that day a man shall cast, etc, When the idols disappoint their worship-pets, and prove to be unable to save them, they are treated with scorn and ignominy. The African beats his fetish on such occasions. The Israelites would fling theirs to the moles and the bats. Idols of silver … idols of gold (comp. Exodus 20:23; Psalms 115:4: Psalms 135:15; Isaiah 30:22; Isaiah 31:7; Hosea 8:4; Hosea 13:2). A passage of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 2:19) shows that sometimes the main bulk of the idol was of stone, which was overlaid with a coating of one or other of the two precious metals; but it would seem that ordinarily the entire image was either of gold or silver (comp. Exodus 32:4, Exodus 32:24; 1 Kings 12:28). No doubt it was thought that the god worshipped through the image was more honored, and therefore better pleased, by the more costly material. Which they made each one for himself; rather, which they (i.e. the manufacturers) have made for him. Idol-making was a trade, as we see by the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 19:24-27). To the moles; literally, to the dig-holes. The metaphor must not be pressed. They would throw the idols into holes and corners, pits and caverns, where moles and bats might be expected to be the only visitants. Some idea of the blindness implied in any regard for idols may have prompted the imagery. Isaiah 2:21 To go into; or, as they go into; i.e. "as they make their escape, they shall fling the idols away." The clefts of the rocks (comp. Exodus 33:22, the only other passage of Scripture where the word occurs). The tops of the ragged rocks; rather, the rents, or crevices. The idea of hiding themselves from the awful majesty of God is kept up throughout (cf. Isaiah 2:10 and Isaiah 2:19; and see also Luke 23:30). Isaiah 2:22 Cease ye from man. This verse is regarded by many as a late marginal note, which has accidentally crept into the text (Diestel, Studer, Cheyne). It is omitted in the Septuagint, and interrupts the sequence of Isa 3:1-26. on Isaiah 2:1-22. somewhat awkwardly. If retained, it must be regarded as an appeal to Israel on the part of the prophet to give up their trust in man, whence had flowed all their other errors. Whose breath is in his nostrils; i.e. "whose life is a mere breath; who, if he ceases to breathe, ceases to live." For wherein is he to be accounted of? or, for of what account is he? Surely, of no account at all. Isaiah 2:1-4 Hope and fear to be both called out as motives by the preacher. Already in the first chapter Isaiah has appealed to both motives, and while for the most part denouncing Israel’s sins, and declaring their coming punishment, has taken care to intersperse among these warnings announcements of a more cheerful character (see particularly verses 9, 19, and 25-27). Now, being about to devote almost two whole chapters to denunciations, he prefaces them with one of the most glorious and joy-inspiring of all his prophecies, thus setting forth a light which not all the gloom of the succeeding sections can wholly obscure, but which casts some portion of its radiance into their darkest places. The reasons for thus intermingling light and darkness, joy and sorrow, warning and promise, would seem to be— I. ON ACCOUNT OF THE OF GOOD AND EVIL IN THE WORLD. Tares are always mingled with the good seed. In no nation, in no state of society, is the whole mass utterly corrupt. There is always "a remnant" (Isaiah 1:9). Nay, more—in no man is the character wholly evil, absolutely without redeeming points, altogether wicked. The preacher has to take care lest he "break the bruised reed," or" quench the smoking flax" (Matthew 12:20). He must tenderly nurture what there is of good in a corrupt society or character; and this can only be done by comforting announcements, cheerful views, words of’ promise. On the other hand, never is there any state of society or human character without some defilement of evil, some darker shades, some blemishes (to say the least) and imperfections. Never, therefore, can the preacher dispense with the motive of fear. Never must he give himself up wholly to "speaking smooth things," else will he assuredly "prophesy deceits" (Isaiah 30:10). II. ON ACCOUNT OF THE DOUBLE DANGER OF DESPAIR ON THE ONE HAND, AND OVER- ON THE OTHER. If all that is preached is denunciation of sin, declaration of God’s wrath against sinners, and threatenings of his vengeance, the soul may be made sad whom God has not made sad—the timid may be scared, and the penitent "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow" (2 Corinthians 2:7). Nay, absolute despair may be produced, and the soul lost which we sought merely to rouse. To prevent such a result, it is needful constantly to set forth, not only God’s judgments, but his mercies; not only his wrath, but his loving-kindness. On the other hand, if these alone are set forth, if his justice is ignored, if the severity of his judgments upon sinners is concealed, a feeling of overconfidence is apt to be produced, and then carelessness and general laxity of life follow. The wise preacher will steer clear of both dangers, will avoid alike Scylla and Charybdis. He will make his appeal in all cases to both motives, but will dwell upon the one or upon the other, as the circumstances of the case require. If he has reason to suspect over-confidence, which is the more usual peril, he will enlarge on the "terrors of the Lord;" if, on the contrary, he has to deal with tender consciences and souls too timid and distrustful, he will choose topics of a cheerful character, and make his comfortable assurances preponderate over his warnings. Isaiah 2:6-8 National judgments the result of national sins. God’s dealings with Israel are to be viewed as a pattern of his dealings with nations generally. He has not two standards of right and wrong, or two rules of action under like circumstances. He is "no respecter of persons." As he dealt with his own peculiar people, so will he deal, so has he always dealt, with the other nations of the world. I. EVERY NATION HAS ITS . God proved Israel during the space of above seven hundred years by the laws which he gave them, and the circumstances in which he caused them to be placed (Exodus 15:25; Exodus 16:4; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2, Deuteronomy 8:16; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1, Judges 3:4, etc.). He chastened them by foreign enemies, comforted them by deliverances, warned them by his prophets, afflicted them by famine and pestilence, gave them "times of refreshing." So long as there was any hope of their repentance and reformation, he bore with them, forgave their transgressions, prolonged their time of trial, "destroyed them not." It was only after all the resources of his mercy had been exhausted, and there was "no remedy" left (2 Chronicles 36:16), that the destruction fell, and the nation ceased to exist. And so it was with the other nations of the earth. God raised them up, set each a work to do, gave them laws, if not by revelation, at any rate through their conscience, and proceeded to "prove them," whether they would work his will or no. Each fell in its turn because it rebelled against God, and persisted in its rebellion, until God could suffer it no more. (See the example of Assyria in Isaiah 10:5-19.) II. THE IS CARRIED ON PARTLY BY THE OF FAVORS. Peace, prosperity, good seasons and rich harvests, a succession of capable monarchs or ministers, and, again, success in war, victories, conquests, and the wealth that sometimes flows in through conquests, are, all of them, blessings which God bestows on nations with the object of trying them. Will they be thankful? Will they make a good use of the favors granted them? Will they maintain their equanimity, and not, like Assyria, be unduly puffed up? The discipline of prosperity is exceedingly trying; and under it nations almost invariably wax wanton and proud. Israel was thus tried in the times of David and Solomon, and also under Uzziah and Jotham (2 Chronicles 26:6-16; 2 Chronicles 27:3-6). Assyria underwent the probation for many centuries, from the time of the king contemporary with Ahab to the great blow received under Sennacherib. Egypt in early days, and Rome in later ones, had even longer periods of unmixed prosperity, and became proportionally "lifted up." It is rarely, indeed, that we find any nation improve under this kind of probation. Almost invariably there is a rapid change for the worse. III. THE IS FURTHER CARRIED ON BY THE OF . God has many arrows in his quiver, many plagues whereby he can punish nations, as he showed in Egypt (Exodus 7-12.); but three of these stand out from the rest as the especial instruments of his wrath—the sword, famine, and pestilence. (See 2 Samuel 24:13; 1 Chronicles 21:12; Ezekiel 34:17. In Ezekiel 14:12-21, "four sore judgments" are mentioned; but "the noisome beast" is clearly not on a par with the other three.) On the employment of the sword to chastise Israel, see Exodus 22:24; Le Exodus 26:17-33; Judges 3:8, Judges 3:12; Judges 4:2; Judges 6:1; Judges 13:1; 2 Kings 17:20; 2 Chronicles 36:17; of famine, see Leviticus 2 Chronicles 26:19, 2 Chronicles 26:20, 26-29; Deuteronomy 28:22-24; 1 Kings 18:1-18; Joe 1:4-20; Joe 2:3-11; of pestilence, see Numbers 16:46-49; 2 Samuel 24:15; Ezekiel 14:19; Ezekiel 38:22. Of these three, famine and pestilence are the minor scourges, and are employed to warn, to terrify, to arouse; war has sometimes the same object, but is especially used to destroy. War destroyed Assyria (Nahum 3:2-15), Babylon (Jeremiah 1:2 -37; Jeremiah 2:1 -58; Daniel 5:30, Daniel 5:31), Media, Egypt (ibid; Ezekiel 3:11-13), Persia (Daniel 8:3-7, Daniel 8:20, Daniel 8:21), Greece, Rome. War is still God’s last, most terrible scourge, and will remain such until the happy time, described by Isaiah in verses 24, arrives. The terrors of the day of the Lord. Every visitation of man by God is typical of his coming to judgment. "That day" is, in its deepest and truest sense, the day whereon Christ shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. Of "that day and that hour knoweth no man" (Matthew 24:36); and the terror is increased by the mystery. The prophet sees God descend to judge Israel. The particular features are local; but through them may be discerned without much difficulty the characteristics which are recurrent, and which belong especially to the last and great day, viz.— I. OF THE PROUD. Earthly distinctions come to naught when the earth itself comes to an end. Rank, titles, dignities, fail. The "mean man" and the "great man" (Isaiah 2:9), the highest and the lowest in earthly rank, are upon a par, when all have to appear before their Judge. And spiritual pride is equally brought low. None but must then feel himself a miserable sinner, a suppliant for mercy at God’s feet, with hope only through the merits and intercession of the incarnate Son. "The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:17). II. OF THE OF HUMAN WORKS. Towers, walls, palaces, are shattered and overturned at the great seasons of national judgments, and will fall with a crash everywhere at the final judgment-day. The great navies of the world will perish in the "fervent heat;" the works of art, the "pleasant pictures," and all the "delightful works of imagery," will shrivel like parchment scrolls. The accumulated civilization of millennia will be brought to naught. Egypt’s pyramids and temples, Persia’s palaces, Greece’s lovely fades, Rome’s amphitheatres, Christendom’s magnificent cathedrals,—all will totter to their base and be overthrown. Nothing will stand that human skill, contrivance, energy, has constructed; all will disappear, and— "Like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wrack behind." III. OF GRAND OBJECTS IN NATURE. The taint of man’s sin has passed upon nature itself. Pride and vanity have employed natural products for self-glorification; the precious metals have been prostituted to sinful uses; selfishness has turned natural beauties into private property, and either made a gain of them, or jealously secluded them from the intrusion of ordinary humanity. Therefore Nature, as she now is, has become unfit for the habitation of man in his regenerate condition; and "the first earth" has to "pass away," and to be succeeded by the "new heaven and new earth" of the Apocalyptic vision (Revelation 21:1). What the exact amount of change will be, we do not know. Many features of the existing earth may remain—pure snowy summits that the foot of man has never trod; blue glacier caves that have escaped his prying eyes; deep forest glades preserved from the desecration of his presence by thorny jungle or impenetrable wealth of undergrowth; but much of that with which man is most familiar will disappear—perhaps all that could recall acts or thoughts of sin—and the "new heaven and new earth," that God will create, will to such an extent supersede the old, that "the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind" (Isaiah 65:17). IV. GENERAL ALARM, OF THE SINNER AND THE WORLDLY. They of Israel fled into "the holes of the rocks, and the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty" (Isaiah 2:19). At the last day, "men shall say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us" (Luke 23:30);" Hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Revelation 6:16). The brightness of his presence will be intolerable to those who have "loved darkness rather than light; ’and they will desire, at any rate, to flee from it. Alas! flight will be impossible, concealment will be impossible; no rocks will offer hiding-places to the ungodly from the presence of God. One only refuge is possible that to that men must have fled before, with the heartfelt, earnest cry- "Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee!" BY E. JOHNSON The golden age. I. THE BLESSED OR GOLDEN AGE A SUBJECT OF EARLY . It is believed that we have in these verses a very ancient oracle, first delivered by the earlier prophet Joel (see Joe 3:10), and from him repeated by Isaiah and Micah (Micah 4:1-4). An eternal hopefulness lived in the heart of the great prophets, like a light shining in a dark place, amidst all the scenes of national sin and depression. What has been said of true poetry is to be said of prophecy—it is the "light that never shone on sea or shore; the inspiration and the poet’s dream." II. A REVIVAL OF WILL USHER IN THE GOLDEN AGE. The mountains were earliest seats of Divine worship, both amongst Jews and Gentiles. One of the seats of the great god of the Greeks, Mount Lycaeos in Arcadia, commanded, Pausanias tells us, a view over nearly the whole Peloponnese. Zion was a small and lowly mount, but it is to become a peak that shall overtop all mountains, the "joy of the whole earth" (Psalms 48:2), unrivalled in the majesty of its Divine associations (Psalms 68:16). The Gentiles will make pilgrimages to this holy mountain. All this poetically describes the commanding influence of true religion. 1. The revival of religion means the revival of morality. When the conscience is really awakened, the inquiry will ever be—What must we do? What are the ways and paths of God? What are the principles of a true, a just, and a blessed life? 2. It means social unity. In the vision the Gentiles are seen converging with the Jews to one point—to Zion. The more deep religion is, the more do men feel that truth is but one, thought one, spiritual worship one. The love of God solves all differences in itself. 3. True religion is a self-diffusive power. It goes forth like light, like heat, like a fame and rumor insensibly stealing through the air. III. JUSTICE AND PEACE WILL BE THE EFFECTS OF TRUE . We can clearly see that it is so from the course of history. With the progress of Christianity, the administration of justice within the sphere of each nation has become milder, because more thoughtful, more respectful of the value of the individual life. Not only so, the idea of international justice has gained ground. Whatever a certain school of Politicians may say, conscience does gain ground in the dealings of nation with nation. Wrong cannot be done to the weak without censure. Nations as well as individuals are more alive to the voice of public opinion, and more sensible of shame. In our own time, "justice" has again and again been the watchword of our politics, and has gained attention and overcome the clamors of the bellicose and the sneers of the cynical. Let us-be thankful for these things. Best of all, peace and its occupations replace war and its waste, as true religion prevails. In this beautiful picture, or slight sketch of a picture, we see the soldier going back to his fields, that he may turn the murderous steel into the hoe, the share, the pruning-knife, while the arsenals and military schools are closed (see the touch added by Micah 4:4; cf. Psalms 46:9; Hosea 2:20; Zechariah 9:10). It is the picture of an ideal and a future, not yet nor soon perhaps to be converted into an actual present, except in the delightful world of holy dreams which makes the best of our life. But for every one who works and lives in the true Christian spirit, the picture ever more nearly tends to coincide with the reality. IV. OF THIS AMONG THE . Doubtless a large collection might be made of passages of similar scope from the lore of other nations. Best known are those from the Roman poets. Virgil, like Joel (Joe 3:10), reverses the imagery. When right and wrong are confused, wars prevail and all manner of crimes. The plough receives no honor; the fields run to weeds, because the farmers have gone to serve as soldiers, and the curved sickles are turned into the rigid sword (’Georg.,’ 1.506, sqq.). So Ovid: in time of war the sword is apter than the plough; the toiling ox gives way to the war-horse, while hoes and rakes are turned into javelins (’Fast.,’ 1.697, sqq.). He further sketches the picture of peace bringing back the ox to the yoke, and the seed to the ploughed land. For "Peace nourishes Ceres, and Ceres is the foster-child of Peace." We must reserve the further pictures of the perfection of the golden age in the Gentile poets until we come to Isaiah 11:1-16. In their way they, too, recognized that so happy a state of things could only be brought about by religion—by the returning of men to obedience to Divine laws. V. MODERN LESSONS. Let us "come and walk in the light of the Eternal." In that light the hideousness of war and of the national discords, which lead to it, are clearly seen. No sound understanding can ever look upon war as other than an occasional and dread necessity. Preaching against war may do a certain good. But practically to walk in the light and lead others to it is better. All sides of the subject need to be better understood by the popular mind. The most serious fallacies prevail. Were the energies now employed in preparing for and carrying on war devoted to exploring, breaking up, and cultivating new regions, how truly blessed the result! In fighting with the stubbornness of nature man may find an outlet for all his pugnacious energy. The poets should sanctify their art to glorifying the ideals of peace rather than those of war. None can read these lines without being enkindled— "Ah, when shall all men’s good Be each man’s rule, and universal peace Lie like a shaft of light across the land, And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, Thro’ all the circle of the golden year?" (Tennyson.) And let every earnest toiler in whatever sphere for the good of man, for the glory of God, take these words to heart— "Unto him who works, and feels he works, This same grand year is ever at the doors." J. Isaiah 2:5-10 Purgation by judgment. The blessed age cannot yet come in. If we suppose the prophet to have been reading the previous oracle as a sabbath lesson out of the elder prophet Joel’s scroll, he adds the exhortation, "Let us walk in the light of Jehovah!" Then a sudden pause. For he calls to mind the present corrupt condition of the nation. They cannot pass over to that new and happy condition of things as they now are. Peace can only be the fruit of righteousness. God cannot impart blessings for which the heart makes no room. I. THE REASONS OF DIVINE . The nation’s practices and fashions are inconsistent with the religion of Jehovah. 1. Wizardry, magic, soothsaying, and augury prevail. These are distinctly heathen, Philistine, practices. The Law repudiated every kind of magic (Leviticus 19:26; Exodus 22:17). Such arts are described under various names in Deuteronomy 18:10, Deuteronomy 18:11. The principle was in every case the same—the attempt to gratify human curiosity and desire by unlawful means. Modern "spiritualism" springs from the same root. The path of true science is above-ground and full of light; that of false science is subterranean and dark. The methods of sound knowledge may be explained to all. The worker of good comes to the light, and hates occult procedure which can give no account of itself. The magical spirit still works against true Christianity, which is the "light of the Eternal." Christian ministers become magicians if they teach that changes can be wrought or blessings secured by the mere administration of sacraments; or by the mere repetition of a formula, such as "I do believe, I will believe;" or by the artificial putting on of a particular frame of mind. Obedience, not the mimicry of it, purity, not the representation of it, is required by God. 2. Ill-gotten wealth and luxury. The people were immoderately money-loving. Like Tyre, they heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the mire of the streets (Zechariah 9:3). "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay." The excess of accumulation ever does mean the waste of manhood. A nation is only healthy when the vigor of its masculine intellect goes to promote the ulterior ends of existence. Those ends are spiritual. Wealth should be prized for the sake of leisure, and leisure for the sake of culture. When leisure hangs heavy on the business man’s hands, it is a sign that he has been overtrained in one direction. ’Tis a sad failure to be found fit only for grinding at the money-making mill. Such a man cannot enjoy wealth when he has got it. We need a larger conception of the true conduct of life. Men often lose more morally in their rest-time than they can recover in their worktime. No unjust trading can produce real prosperity. England has gained by every act of righteous policy, such as the abolition of the corn-laws, the slave-trade. Whatever is gain to the health of the national conscience is permanent. Every just act is a tonic to the soul. 3. They are full of the materials for war, Their reliance is on horses and chariots. When a nation places confidence on physical force only, it is another symptom of moral enervation. How often has this been seen in history! The very existence of a great armed force is a constant provocative to war. It breeds a martial imagination and a bellicose spirit. National jealousies are roused, and the slightest occasion may set a continent aflame. The people must learn that Jehovah delights not in the legs of men, i.e. in serried battalions, and that in proportion as they lean on armies they are faithless to God. They must learn to say, "Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy" (Hosea 14:3). 4. They are full of idols. This is perhaps the worst feature of their state. The prohibition of idols is grounded in the nature of our thought. The idol defines and narrows what ought to be left indefinable. The Phoenician and other idols introduced into Israel brought down the Divine to the forms and dimensions of the human being, and all human passions the most sensuous could be projected upon them. And when man sees only his idealized self before him in the sculptor’s work, he falls to self-adoration. It was quite otherwise with the grand music and religious poetry of the prophets and psalmists. Lofty poetic images by their very vagueness and suggestiveness lead the mind to the truth beyond and behind them. High music and poesy we ever need in worship; but too definite forms fetter the flight of the devout imagination. In general idolatry means self-love, and must ever be antagonistic to pure religion. "Thus man lowers himself, becomes unworthy to appear before Jehovah, and belong to his people." And judgment is inevitable; there can be no escape from it now! II. TERROR AT THE OF THE JUDGE. "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, fleeing before Jehovah’s terror, and the splendor of his majesty." The soul living in falsehood as its element shrinks away from the coming truth which must annihilate it. Men’s fears represent to them at last their follies and their sins. "Like bats and vermin hurrying from the sudden light. Our sordid vices far from God would take their flight." The eyes that were not cast down in prayer, the mien of profane impudence that laughed at Heaven, are now shriveled, prone in the dust now before the lonely sublimity of the eternal Holiness. Those who made naught of God must learn that naught can exist which does not exist in God. "At last we hear a voice upon the slope Cry to the summit, Is there any hope? To which an answer peals from that high land, But in a tongue no man can understand; And on the glimmering limit far withdrawn, God makes himself an awful rose of dawn." The day of judgment. Here follows a grand picture, in which a few simple thoughts are set. I. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH. This stands for any and every epoch of clearer light which reveals the relative worth of things. False estimates of life and its objects have become by custom fixed. The imagination has been under a delusion. A false idea of greatness and goodness has become so fixed that nothing but a revolution will subvert it. The criticism of words may be defied; but the criticism of facts, of results,—against this there is no appeal. There is no reversal of the judgment of events. A great day of judgment was, for example, the French Revolution of a century ago. The falsehood of generations was then expiated in blood. Social institutions which were bad, inhuman, yet which those who had grown up in them regarded as impossible to alter, were effaced in that terrible outpouring of the wrath of God. The sense amidst great wrong that the judgment of God cannot long be delayed, is expressed in the common saying, "Things must take a turn before long." In the life of the individual, every stopping-point or turning-point at which a false way of life terminates, may be viewed as a day of judgment and a day of Jehovah. II. THE DAY BRINGS WITH IT A SHOCK TO HUMAN . The prophet piles up images to represent the reversal of all human ideals of greatness and loftiness. The gigantic trees of Lebanon and Bashan, the mountains and hills, the towers and the high ramparts, the tall ships sailing Tarshish-wards (Psalms 48:8), the turrets of villas and houses of pleasure, draw down upon them the violence of the storm. The vast and lofty in nature and in works of art are not of more value in the eyes of God than the small and lowly. They are hints of the greatness of the spirit, and if we give such objects an independent greatness, we are suffering from an illusion. The greatness and the beauty are in the seeing mind. There is not so much to be seen of the work of God in a mountain as in a moth. "Life apparent in the smallest midge is marvelous beyond dead Atlas’ self." The palaces, the streets of a great city, are signs of the human soul and its greatness, but not the truest signs. It is a common error to look for the tokens of a people’s greatness in their buildings and mechanical achievements. But from what source does material creation and production come? That is the ultimate question. Our works of art are works of the flesh and of pride, or works of the spirit wrought in humility and the love of truth. A few such works in plastic stuff of stone, or on canvas, or in poetic words, endure through all change. That which is untrue must fall sooner or later beneath the criticism of God and be exposed. And in the downfall of human works the eternal God is again manifested in his supreme greatness and glory. It is our own false imaginations which hide him from us. III. THE OF THE IDOLS. For the idols cannot help their worshippers, who must run to hide themselves. Yet at first they cling to them. But soon in alarm they cast them away into any corner, any refuse-heap, any filthy haunt of bats and moles. "To cast to the bats" is as proverbial an expression in the East for throwing clean away as rejected rubbish, as "throwing to the dogs" with us. There comes a time when men will be willing to get rid of their most precious objects so that they may but save themselves. A secret terror haunts the false conscience, which in moments of clear revelation of truth rises to an acme and becomes a panic. The true heart longs for more of God’s light, the false can only exist behind an artificial veil or screen. In every time larger light is appearing, truths for the conduct of life are coming into currency; in short, the Divine Critic of our life is making his censure felt. Alas for those who rush into any cave at hand, plunge into obscurantism rather than face the worst, which thus faced will prove the best! IV. THE MORAL. "Cease ye from man." If in any such day of revelation all the proud ideals of human society may be discovered false, and cast aside as worthless; if the time of revelation shows that we have been resting upon rotten shams; if we have an uneasy consciousness that it is always so;—how vain is all confidence in human wit and work! The bitter words seem to cast contempt upon every species of beast and satisfaction. A poet of our time has written a great work to show that "our human speech is naught, our human testimony false, our fame and human estimation words and wind" (Browning,’ Ring and Book’). But how can we cease from man? We can only know the true and the eternal through some form of human experience. The answer is—Man merely as man, an independent fact, is naught; he and all his pass away. In living for himself as if there were no truth, no good, beyond, he becomes a lie. If we see man only we see the false; if God working in and through man and his history, we find the true in the false. Working through the false shows of sense, we may reach the spirit of things, the mind of God. We leave our hold on the fugitive human fact, false if we try to stereotype it, that we may plant our foot on the constant. The Divine "Truth is forced To manifest itself through falsehood; whence divorced By the excepted eye, at the rare season, for The happy moment, truth instructs us to abhor The false, and prize the true, obtainable thereby." BY W.M. STATHAM Real religious revival "Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." Here is the tide of national feeling, no longer on the ebb, but on the flow. God is "to teach them his ways, and they are to walk in his paths;" for they have found out that pleasure gained by sin is peace bartered. Elevation of the truest kind is to be theirs now. This is the image of their uplifted state. They are to go up to the mountain of the Lord’s house—the consecrated height of holiness and peace. I. THERE IS OF LIFE. "Come, let us go." It is no mere fashion, or custom, or compulsion of obedience. Life always says, "Come." I read delight here. For what we enjoy we invite others to see. When we ascend to the mountain-top, and see the winding river, like a streak of silver, and the village-dotted plains, we cry "Come!" to others, that they too may delight in the loveliness of the scene. So an earnest Christian not only says "Come!" because of the urgency of the salvation, but also because of the beauty and blessedness of religion. "Oh taste and see," he says, "that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." II. THERE IS SACRED . "Let us go up." For religion is intensified in its experiences by mutual faith and joy. The interaction of mind on mind and heart upon heart in a great congregation is wonderful. "Let us go up." And beautiful were those spectacles in Hebrew history, when the pilgrims went to tabernacle or temple. "Thither the tribes go up," The festal caravans met each other from distant parts, as they merged at last into one common road to time-beloved Jerusalem. At the Feasts of Pentecost and Passover, as in the days of our Savior, the interest felt in these upgoings to Jerusalem was both human and Divine. Old friends met again, whilst youths and maidens set eyes for the first time on the city and temple of their fathers. On their way they sang the songs of Zion, till in noblest worship the gathered tribes lifted up their praise to the Lord God of Israel. III. THERE IS SUBLIME . "Many shall go," Yes, and in these Christian days, Greek and Jew, bond and flee, have been united in one common song of deliverance. Missionary societies have founded Churches and schools on well-nigh every shore. "Many shall corns." Verily, unto Christ shall the gathering of the people be. "All nations shall call him blessed." How verified the words have been! "For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 2:1-5 The promised future: a missionary sermon. I. THAT DIVINE TRUTH WILL KNOW A TIME OF . The "last days" (Isaiah 2:2) may be distant days, may be "afar off" still, but they are coming; we are steadily advancing to them. The "mountain of the Lord’s house" may be low down today, but it will rise; it may be but as a hill of sacred truth obscured among the mountains of error. But God’s high purpose shall surely be fulfilled in time; the day will dawn when they who gaze upon the spiritual scenery of the world will see Zion lifting up its head far and high above all those little hills into which the proud peaks of falsehood will have diminished. There is a power that can raise the hills and that can "thresh the mountains" (Isaiah 41:15). II. THAT ITS POWER SHALL HAVE THE WIDEST . "All nations shall flow unto it." The river of human thought, faith, hope, shall set in a strong current to this high mountain. Divine truth shall not only gain a formal triumph over the idolatries, superstitions, infidelities of the world, but human hearts everywhere will rejoice in its salvation. III. THAT ONE SIGN OF ITS AND WILL BE A SPIRIT OF INQUIRY. (Isaiah 2:3.) Men will be convinced of the hollowness of their old faiths; of the unsatisfying character of their present pleasures; of the insufficiency of the light in which they have been walking to lead them into wisdom and blessedness. And they will turn to the one and only source of illumination and joy; they will say, "Let us go up," etc. (Isaiah 2:3). The hungry heart will cry out for the Bread of life; the thirsting soul will pant for the living streams. When men have round—and are they not finding more and more largely?—that the errors into which they have wandered are but ashes in their mouth, they will seek and they will accept the bountiful provision which awaits them in the "Father’s house," in the gospel of the grace of God. IV. THAT ONE RESULT OF IT WILL BE THE OF THE SPIRIT AND OF THE OF PEACE. (Isaiah 2:4.) The love of war, the institutions of war, the readiness to have recourse to war, the pride and glory in military achievements which even Christian nations are not ashamed to own,—this will disappear as the will of God takes its due, its exalted place among mankind. The sword will give place to the ploughshare, not only in the use of the nation’s metal, but in the honor and estimation of the people’s mind. And instead of a country wasting its strength and lavishing its energy in the cultivation of the science and in the construction of the enginery of war, it will devote its mental power to the acquisition of those arts which heal and bless and raise. V. THAT ONE TO ITS COMING WILL BE FOUND IN OUR OWN . (Isaiah 2:5.) If we would be sure of the dawn of this blessed future, let us take our part, however humble it may be, in the work of enlightenment; let us walk in the light of the Lord. It is the critical and the censorious whose faith fails them; it is they who have no bright visions of a coming day of glory; they are only conscious of the clouds, and see no light in the far horizon. But those who study the will of God as revealed in his Word, who make haste to keep his commandments, who live the Master’s life, and illustrate his Word by deeds of helpfulness and love,—it is they who have the assurance in their hearts that "the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established, "that the day will come when truth will be crowned, and "universal peace" shall "Lie like a shaft of light across the land, Thro’ all the circle of the golden year." For it is The wisdom of walking in the light. The prophet inserts a parenthesis which evidently expresses the deepest and strongest feelings of his heart. He is oppressed with a sense of the folly of those who deliberately go astray in the darkness, when they might walk on in the light of Divine truth toward the goal of human blessedness; hence his fervent exclamation, "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us," etc. I. THE TRUTH OF GOD THE LIGHT OF THE HUMAN SOUL. Light is "that which makes manifest" (see Ephesians 5:13). And as the sunshine makes clear to us our own persons, shows us all surrounding nature, and enables us to find our way to the objects of our desire, so the truth of God (1) enlightens us as to our own selves, revealing our spiritual nature and our actual character; (2) shows us the relation in which we stand to our fellows and to our Divine Maker, revealing to us human life and human destiny; and (3) enables us to walk in the way of eternal life, becoming that which pleases God, and doing that which is right and good in his sight. II. THE SUPREME WISDOM OF WALKING IN ITS LIGHT. Well may the man of God exclaim with even passionate earnestness, "Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." For: 1. It is the one right course to take; any other must be one of error and of sin. 2. It is the path of progress, leading up to heights of strength, prosperity, sanctity. 3. It is the way to abiding joy; other paths, though they may open temptingly enough and may promise keen delights, will conduct ultimately to sorrow, shame, and death. This way, in which the light of the Lord leads us, may be entered upon with spiritual struggle (Luke 13:24), may be attended with much self-denial (Matthew 16:24); but it is a path of purest and noblest joy (Romans 5:11; Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:4; 1 Peter 4:13), and it ends in everlasting glory (1 Peter 1:3, 1 Peter 1:4).—C. Isaiah 2:6-21 Retribution and its results. In this noble prophetic passage, as charged with poetic grandeur as it is full of religious zeal, we have our thought directed to— I. Two HEINOUS SINS WHICH BELONG TO EVERY AGE AND CLASS. They are these: 1. Disobedience. The divination to which reference is made (Isaiah 2:6) is expressly prohibited in the Law (Deuteronomy 18:10-12); alliance with strangers (Isaiah 2:6) is also forbidden (Exodus 34:12; Dent; Exodus 7:2); the multiplication of silver and gold and of horses (Isaiah 2:7), however unobjectionable it may seem to us, was disallowed to the Hebrew nation (Deuteronomy 17:16, Deuteronomy 17:17). The Jews would be under strong temptation to disregard these prohibitions; many of the lower ambitions of our nature would urge them to transgression. But the clear, unmistakable "Law of the Lord" pronounced against these things. And as every fact, both of a brighter and a darker kind, admonished them "to obey the voice of the Lord their God," they were "verily guilty" in their disobedience. God requires of men, of every age and land, that they should obey him. He will accept nothing of any kind as a substitute (1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 7:21). Our ignorance of his purpose in commanding is no excuse for our disregard of his will. How can such little children as we are expect to fathom the wisdom of the Infinite Father? When we set our poor judgment against his perfect knowledge, our mistaken wishes against his holy will, we fall into the most serious sin. Our obedience is to be intelligent and not mechanical, cheerful and not grudging, instant and not tardy, or it will not be obedience at all. 2. Idolatry. This sin, so grievous in the sight of God, is found in one of three forms. (1) In its most gross and degrading form, as in Judaea at this period (verB. 8, 9), when both the "mean" and the "great" prostrated themselves before the image made with hands; or (2) in the less gross but still degrading form of superstition in "Christian" rites; or (3) in that which constitutes its essence, viz. the giving to the creature the thought, the affection, the energy, which are due to the Creator. In this last form we are all under condemnation. We withhold from him whose we are and to whom we owe ourselves and all we have, the devotion and the tribute which we reserve for our neighbors or expend upon ourselves. This is essentially idolatrous. II. DIVINE . Here are four features of it. 1. It begins in the withdrawal of Divine favor, "God forsakes his people" (Isaiah 2:6). He ceases to make the light of his countenance fall on them; their prosperity wanes, their joy diminishes, their power declines. 2. It may well be dreaded as certain to arrive in time. "Therefore thou wilt not forgive them" (Isaiah 2:9). God cannot and will not pardon the repentant, and those who are disobedient or idolatrous may count on the coming of his judgments as the most certain of all future things. 3. It is such that the boldest may well shrink from it. "Enter into the rock, and hide thee … for fear of the Lord," etc. (Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 2:19). (1) When God makes the sins of a man’s life to bring forth their natural and fitting fruits (intemperance, dissoluteness, dishonesty, etc; working themselves out in penury, disease, contempt, etc.); (2) when God causes special enormities to be followed by extraordinary calamities; or (3) when he makes the hardened sinner to confront death, judgment, and eternity;—then does he come as One who is in "the glory of his majesty, shaking terribly the earth;" then does he manifest his will and his power in such wise that the boldest and most fearless may well shrink and shudder at his appearing. However valiant sin may show itself while the righteous Lord delays to speak and strike, there is an hour coming when it will "call to the rocks to hide it, and to the hills to cover it," when it will tremble and cower at the touch of the hand of the Holy One. 4. It is that which nothing can escape. (1) No man. "The day of the Lord … every one that is proud," etc. (Isaiah 2:12); not only the humble, but the haughty; not the defenseless only, but the strong and well fortified, even those who think themselves most secure, will feel the keen edge of the avenging sword (Isaiah 2:17). (2) Nothing. The cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, the mountains and the hills, the treasure-laden ships and the pleasant pictures and even the trusted idols,—all shall feel the blow of the mighty hand; nothing too high or too strong to be beyond its reach (Isaiah 2:13-18). III. THE ISSUE. The end of Divine judgment is: 1. The humiliation of that which is false and evil. The idols which had been so honored are to be cast to the moles and to the bats (Isaiah 2:20). When God appears in judgment there is a great reversal and overthrow. That which was first becomes last; that which was highest in esteem becomes the object of derision and contempt. 2. The exaltation of the Lord himself. "The Lord alone shall be exalted," etc. (Isaiah 2:17). And, though we do not gain the thought from these verses, we may add: 3. The salvation of the penitent and the faithful. There is one Rock in which, if we seek its gracious shelter now, we shall then be able to hide, and in whose shadow we shall be safe;" for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."—C. Trusting in man. I. OUR STRONG . We are very strongly tempted to "put our trust in man," to "make flesh our arm;" for: 1. We see signs of strength in man. And that which is visible has most influence on our human nature. "If a man loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20). In like manner we far more readily trust the man who is before us with visible signs of health, riches, power about him, than any unseen force which may really be more reliable. 2. Human affection invites trust in man. There are loving hearts around us, enclosing our spirits in the embrace of their affection; it is natural to us to respond to their kindness, and to offer them the full confidence of our souls. We love those who love us; and whom we love we trust. 3. Confidence is often directly offered to us and urged upon us. Those who wish—perhaps for their own purposes—to secure our confidence in them know how to employ successful arts to win our assurance. They virtually say to us, "Trust me, I will ensure your good, I will lead you in the path of honor, of enjoyment, of prosperity;" and it is all too likely that their blandishments or their importunity will prevail. 4. Trust in man is contagious. We find our fellows on every hand, in every circle, leaning the whole weight of their well-being upon the arm of men, confiding wholly in their friends and neighbors, risking everything on their integrity; and what others do we are tempted to do also. The frosts may have been very few and the ice may seem very thin, but many are skating on its surface, and we think that where they have gone we also may go with impunity. II. OUR WISDOM IN ITS . 1. We should never trust man absolutely. We are to "cease from man;" he is "not to be accounted of" in such way as to be worthy of our implicit trust. Of this we may assure ourselves if we will remember: (1) His liability to mistake. The cleverest, the most learned, the most thoughtful, the most esteemed, are wrong in some things, are often found wrong in great and grave things; there is no man whose judgment is always sound. (2) His spiritual insecurity. The man who is held in highest regard may be overtaken by a storm of temptation in which even he will make shipwreck. Men have fallen on whose security their companions counted with unbounded certainty. Before the friend whom we honor above all others, there may prove to be a course which will end in spiritual declension, or even in moral degradation. The painful facts of life pierce our theories while they break our hearts. (3) His physical fragility. "Man, whose breath is in his nostrils." Hale, strong, capable of noble work to-day, he may be brought down to utter weakness and incapacity to-morrow; nay, before the sun goes down he may have drawn the last breath of life! This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 3:1-7 GOD’S UPON . The general denunciations against Israel of the two preceding chapters are here turned especially against Jerusalem. God will deprive her of all her superior and more honorable classes (Isaiah 3:1-3); and will give her "children" for her rulers (Isaiah 3:4). There will be continued oppression, and the rise of an insolent and undutiful spirit (Isaiah 3:5). Those fit to bear rule will refuse to do so (Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7). Isaiah 3:1 The Lord, the Lord of hosts (see note on Isaiah 1:24). The stay and the staff; rather, stay and staff. Neither word has the article. The latter is the feminine form of the former; and the intention is to announce that all support of every kind is about to be withdrawn. The whole stay of bread … of water. Mr. Cheyne agrees with Hitzig and Knobel that this clause is probably a gloss on the text, subsequently introduced into it, and a gloss which (lid not proceed from a very enlightened commentator. The "stay" and "staff" intended are certainly not, literal "bread" and "water," but the powerful and respectable classes enumerated in the two following verses. If the words are Isaiah’s, he must have intended them to be taken metaphorically. Isaiah 3:2 The mighty man, and the man of war; or, hero and warrior. The first rank is given to those distinguished in war, as being held in the highest esteem, and perhaps as actually, under the coming circumstances, the men of most importance to the country. It is thus implied, as later (Isaiah 3:25, Isaiah 3:26) it is expressly taught, that the impending visitation will be a terrible invasion. The judge, and the prophet; literally, judge and prophet. The judge holds his place as one of the highest officers of the state (see Isaiah 1:26); the prophet holds a lower position than might have been expected, on account of the writer’s humility. The prudent; rather, the diviner, as the word is translated in Deuteronomy 18:14; 1 Samuel 6:2; Isaiah 44:25; Jeremiah 27:9; Jeremiah 29:8; Ezekiel 13:9; Micah 3:7; Zechariah 10:2; or soothsayer, as in Joshua 13:22. Isaiah arranges the classes, not so much according to the order in which he values them, as to that in which they were valued by the people. The ancient; i.e. "the elder," as the word is translated commonly. The "elders" had an ascertained position in the state under the monarchy (2 Samuel 5:3; 2 Samuel 19:11; 1 Kings 8:1; 1 Kings 20:7; 2 Kings 6:32, etc.). Isaiah 3:3 The captain of fifty. "Captains of fifties" were scarcely at this period "civil officers" (Cheyne). They represent simply the lowest grade of officers in the army (2 Kings 1:9, 2 Kings 1:11, 2 Kings 1:13). Honorable. The same expression is used again in Isaiah 9:15. It occurs also in 2 Kings 5:1-27. I and Job 22:8. The cunning artificer. "All the craftsmen and smiths" in Jerusalem were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar in the captivity of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:14; cf. Jeremiah 24:1). They were among the most valuable of the population, in time of war no less than of peace, since on them depended the construction and repair of the military engines which were regarded as of so much importance (2 Chronicles 26:15). The eloquent orator; rather, the expert enchanter (comp. Ecclesiastes 10:11; Jeremiah 8:17). Isaiah 3:4 I will give children to be their princes; rather, youths than "children." The extreme youth of the later kings of Judah at the date of their accession is very remarkable. After Hezekiah, only one was as much as twenty-five years old when he came to the throne. Jehoahaz was twenty-three (2 Kings 23:31); Amon, twenty-two (2 Kings 21:19); Zedekiah twenty-one (2 Kings 24:18); Jehoiachin, eighteen (2 Kings 24:8); Manasseh, twelve (2 Kings 21:1); and Josiah eight (2 Kings 22:1). Thus this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. And babes shall rule over them; literally, puerilities shall rule over them; i.e. the youths shall behave in a childish way. Isaiah 3:5 And the people shall be oppressed, etc.; rather, shall oppress each man his fellow, and each man his companion. This would be no new thing (see Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:21, Isaiah 1:23), but perhaps might be more widely spread, having passed from the upper classes to the lower ones, as is usual with vices. The child; rather, the youth. Shall behave himself proudly; or, insolently. The respect for age inculcated by the Law (Leviticus 19:32) shall disappear. Youths shall set at naught the counsel of the aged. The spirit of Rehoboam shall prevail over that of Solomon, with the usual result—rashness, recklessness, and failure. And the base, etc. Respect for station shall likewise disappear. The dregs of the people shall grow insolent towards those above them in the social scale; and thus the old social order shall be inverted. Isaiah 3:6 When a man shall take hold of his brother. A new departure. In the general anarchy described (Isaiah 3:4, Isaiah 3:5) it will be felt that something must be done. A man will take hold of his brother (i.e. his fellow) in his (i.e. the latter’s) father’s house, where he lives in seclusion, and say to him, "Thou hast clothing", "thou must be our ruler; let this ruin" (i.e. "this ruined state") "be under thy band." This ruin; literally, this stumbling-block (see Zephaniah 1:3; and compare the uniform translation of the kindred noun mikshol (Leviticus 19:14; Psalms 119:165; Isaiah 57:14; Jeremiah 6:21; Ezekiel 52:20; Ezekiel 7:10, etc.). The Jewish community is meant, which was full of stumbling itself, and might well cause all those to stumble who came into contact with it. Isaiah 3:7 In that day shall he swear; or, lift up his voice—speaking with emotion (Kay). I will not be an healer; literally, a binder-up (comp. Isaiah 1:6); "I will not undertake to heal the calamities of the state." In my house is neither bread nor clothing; i.e. "I am not a wealthy man; I have no stores laid up; I am quite unfit to be the people’s ruler." Make me not; or, ye shall not make me. The decently clad man entirely declines to be advanced to the helm of the state. Isaiah 3:8-26 THE CAUSE OF THE SHOWN TO BE THE SINS OF . 1. The sins of the men. (Isaiah 3:8-15). These are declared to be partly sins of speech, but mainly sins of act (Isaiah 3:8). Of sins of speech the only one specified is the open and shameless declaration of their wickedness (Isaiah 3:9). Under the head of sins of act are enumerated (1) childishness and effeminacy; (2) irreligion and leading people away from God (Isaiah 3:12); (3) oppression of the poor and afflicted (Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15). The enumeration of the sins is mixed with exhortation and comment in such a way as to give rise to the conjecture that we have here, not the original prophecy as the author penned it, but a later "summary" of several prophetical discourses, which summary itself is "a little fragmentary" (Cheyne). Isaiah 3:8 Jerusalem is ruined; or, has come to ruin—the "perfect of prophetic certainty" (Cheyne)—(comp. Amos 5:2, "The virgin of Israel is fallen"). Their tongue and their doings. Sins of the tongue are denounced in the Old Testament as well as in the New, though not, perhaps, so frequently (see Exodus 20:7; Exodus 21:17; Exodus 22:28; Exodus 23:1, Exodus 23:2; Psalms 31:18; Psalms 94:4, etc.). To provoke the eyes of his glory. This is an unusual metaphor. God’s glory seems here to be identified with himself, as being of his very essence; and thus "provoking the eyes of his glory" is simply provoking him to look on them with anger. Isaiah 3:9 The show of their countenance doth witness against them. This is not in itself a sin, but it is a sign of frequent and habitual sin. Vice, long indulged in, stamps its mark upon the countenance, giving men what is called "a bad expression"—a guilty and hardened look. It does not require a skilled physiognomist to detect at a glance the habitual criminal or sensualist. They declare their sin as Sodom. Not only does their countenance betray them, but, like the Sodomites (Genesis 19:5, Genesis 19:9), they boldly and impudently declare their wicked purposes beforehand, and make no attempt at concealment. Hypocrisy has been said to be the homage that vice pays to virtue. Where there is none, where vice has ceased to shroud or veil itself, a very advanced stage of wickedness has been reached. They have rewarded evil unto themselves. They have "received in themselves the recompense of their error which was meet" (Romans 1:27). Their sins have at once marred their countenance and injured their moral nature. Isaiah 3:10 Say ye to the righteous. The mention of the fact that the men of Jerusalem have permanently injured their moral natures by sin, and thus "rewarded evil to themselves," leads the prophet to declare at this point, parenthetically, the general law, which extends alike to the evil and the good—that men receive in themselves the recompense of their deeds. The righteous raise their moral nature, become better, and, in becoming better, become happier. "It is well with them, for of the fruit of their doings they eat." The wicked deprave and corrupt themselves, lower their moral nature, become worse than they were, and, in becoming worse, become more miserable. "Woe unto them! with them it is ill; for the achievement of their hands is given them." Isaiah 3:12 As for my people. Return is now made to the sins of the dwellers in Jerusalem, and the first thing noted is that the people suffer from the childishness and effeminacy of their rulers. The rulers are called "oppressors" by the way here, the sin of oppression being dwelt on later (Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15). Here the emphatic words are "children," "women." Children (see Isaiah 3:4). The rulers are "children," or rather "babes"—foolish, capricious, cowardly. It is not clear that any prince in particular is meant; rather, by the plural form, the upper class generally seems to be intended, as in Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23, etc. Women; comp. Herod; 8.88, where Xerxes says that "his men have shown themselves women, and his women men;" and see also Virg; ’AEneid ’— "O vere Phrygia, neque enim Phryges." The rulers were womanly, i.e. weak, wavering, timid, impulsive, passionate, and are therefore called actual "women." There is no allusion to female sovereigns. They which lead thee cause thee to err; or, they which direct thee lead thee astray. Professing to point out the right path, they led men away from it. Destroy the way; literally, swallow it up, or obliterate it. Isaiah 3:13 The Lord standeth up to plead. The great sin of the time was oppression of the poor by the rich, and especially by the rulers (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:21). In noticing this, the prophet, to give more weight to his denunciation, introduces Jehovah as standing up, and coming forward on the popular side, to plead the people’s cause, and remonstrate with their oppressors. There is great force in this sudden entrance on the scene of Jehovah himself, as Pleader and Judge. And … judge the people; rather, the peoples. Primarily, Israel is God’s care; but he does not stop at this point. All the nations of the earth are also under his protection. Isaiah 3:14 The ancients … the princes. These were the chief oppressors. They delivered the judgments, and it was by them that justice was perverted. Jehovah therefore enters specially into judgment with them. For ye have eaten up; rather, So ye have eaten up. Jehovah is supposed to address the unjust judges. He reproaches them with having "eaten up," or rather "scorched up," his vineyard, i.e. Israel (comp. Isaiah 5:1-7), and taxes them with having still their ill-gotten gains in their houses. "So ye," he says, "have thus acted—ye whose duty it was to have acted so differently." Isaiah 3:15 What mean ye? i.e. "What has come over you?" or "What strange perversity has possessed yon?" (Kay). That ye beat my people to pieces, etc. The strongest possible expressions are used to mark God’s abhorrence of the oppression to which the poor were subjected. Under the Law, he constituted himself the champion of such persons (see Exodus 22:22-24). 2. The sins of the women. (Isaiah 3:16-26.) These may be summed up under the three heads of pride, wanton manners (Isaiah 3:16), and love of dress and ornament (Isaiah 3:18-23). It was natural that, with increased commerce (2 Kings 14:22; Isaiah 2:16) and more frequent communication with foreign nations, such as Assyria (2 Kings 16:7-10) and Babylon (2 Kings 20:12, 2 Kings 20:13), there should be an increase of luxury, and quite in accordance with Eastern ideas that the luxury should particularly show itself in the dress and adornment of the women. The Egyptian remains show an advanced state of luxury among the women at a time anterior to Moses; and in Assyria, though the evidence is less abundant, we find also indications of a similar kind. The Jews, whose regard for their women was high, are not likely to have been behindhand in the gallantry which shows itself in heaping ornament and the newest appliances of civilization on the weaker sex. Isaiah 3:16 The daughters of Zion. It is over-fanciful to go beyond the plain meaning of the words here, and suppose allegory. "The daughters of Zion" are the female inhabitants of Jerusalem. Are haughty; or, proud—like the men (Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 2:17). Walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes. Mr. Cheyne translates, "ogling eyes." Both actions indicate the desire to attract men’s attention, and are shameless and immodest. Walking and mincing as they go; i.e. taking short steps in an affectedly childish way. Making a tinkling with their feet. This meaning is generally accepted, though not very certain. It has been suggested that the anklets which they wore (Isaiah 3:18) had silver bells attached to them. Isaiah 3:17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a seal. Thus destroying their beauty by producing baldness (comp. Isaiah 3:24; and for the meaning "smite with a scab," see Le Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 14:1-32:56). Isaiah 3:18 The bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet; rather, of their anklets. Anklets were worn by the Egyptian women from the time of the twelfth dynasty. They were, in general, plain rings of metal, but appear to have been sometimes set with precious stones. No bells appear attached to any; but bells were known in Assyria from the time of Sennacherib. Their cauls; margin, networks. The marginal rendering is probably correct (comp. LXX; ἐμπλόκια). Network caps to contain the hair seem to be intended (so Kimchi, Saadiah, Jarchi, Rosenmüller, Kay). Mr. Cheyne prefers "wreaths worn round the forehead, reaching from one ear to the other." Round tires like the moon; rather, crescents. Flat ornaments in metal, like a young moon, generally worn suspended round the neck (see Judges 8:26, where the same word occurs). Isaiah 3:19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers; rather, the ear-drops, and the armlets, and the veils. Earrings were worn from very ancient times by both the Assyrians and the Egyptians. The ring had frequently a pendant hanging from it. Men wore armlets in Assyria, and both men and women in Egypt (Lepsius, ’Denktamer,’ pt. 3. pl. 1). Yells have always been regarded in the East as almost a necessary part of female attire. Isaiah 3:20 The bonnets; rather, the headgear. It is quite uncertain what this was, since we have no representations of Hebrew women. Egyptian women commonly wore a mere fillet with pendant ends. The Hebrew word here employed is used in Exodus of the head-dress of the priests (Exodus 39:28). The ornaments of the legs. These are explained as chains connecting the two anklets together. The head-bands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings; rather, the girdles, and the scent-bottles, and the amulets. Scent-bottles and jars for holding sweet-smelling unguents are among the most frequent toilette articles recovered from Egyptian tombs and Assyrian palaces. Amulets have been worn in the East from very ancient times, and are still trusted in as much as ever. They frequently take the form of ornaments. Isaiah 3:21 The rings; literally, seal-rings, or signet-rings. Such were known in Egypt from the time of Joseph (Genesis 41:42), and probably earlier. It would seem from the present passage that their use was not confined to men. Nose-jewels. Actual nose-rings are not represented in any of the ancient remains; and the use of them seems to be confined to very barbarous communities. Probably the "nose-jewels" here mentioned were ornaments depending from the forehead and touching the upper part of the nose, Isaiah 3:22 The changeable suite of apparel; rather, the festival robes (Revised Version), or the full-dress suits; i.e. those worn upon grand occasions, and then put off and set aside. The mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-pins; rather, the upper petticoats, the wraps, and the purses. An inner and an outer tunic or petticoat were commonly worn by females of the higher class in the East. The inner tunic was a simple linen vest; but the outer was generally of a better material, and richly ornamented. Outside this, a sort of wrap, or cloak, was worn occasionally (see Rth 3:15). Purses were, no doubt, carried by wealthy persons of both sexes; but their mention in this list does not seem very appropriate. Perhaps toilet-bags of some kind or other are intended (see 2 Kings 5:23). Isaiah 3:23 The glasses; rather, the mirrors. In ancient times these were not made of glass, but of some metal which took a high polish. Most commonly, the material seems to have been bronze. Many such mirrors have been found in Egypt, a few in Assyria, in Etruria a considerable number. They are of small size, intended to be carried in the hand, and have for that purpose a metal or a wooden handle, which is sometimes highly artistic. The fine linen; rather, the muslin robes. Sedin, the Hebrew word used, is probably a corruption or analogue of sin-don, the Greek name for Indian fabrics. It is only used here and in Judges 14:12, Judges 14:13; Proverbs 31:24. The hoods, and the vails; or, the turbans and the scarfs. The word translated" hood" is nearly the same as that which designates the head-dress of the high priest in Exodus (Exodus 28:4, Exodus 28:37, Exodus 28:39; Exodus 29:6, etc.) and Leviticus (Le Leviticus 8:9; Leviticus 16:4), which seems to have been a "turban" (see note on Exodus 28:4). The other word, here translated "vail," occurs only in this place and So Leviticus 5:7. Its exact meaning is uncertain; but it can scarcely be a veil; since "veils" have been already mentioned (Leviticus 5:19). Isaiah 3:24 Instead of sweet smell; literally, spice (comp. Exodus 35:28; 1 Kings 10:10, etc.). Stink; rather, rottenness, as translated in Isaiah 5:24 (compare the cognate verb in Leviticus 26:39). Instead of a girdle a rent. So Lowth and Kay; but most moderns prefer the meaning given by the Septuagint and Vulgate, "instead of a girdle, a rope." The word used occurs only in this place. Instead of well-set hair baldness (compare above, Isaiah 5:17). By "well-set hair" seems to be meant "hair arranged with such exactness and order as to look like a work of art." The exact arrangement of the hair is very remarkable, both in the Egyptian and the Assyrian sculptures. Instead of such elaborate attempts to improve their looks, the daughters of Jerusalem would soon pluck their hair out by the roots, or shave it off, in mourning. A girding of sackcloth (comp. Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 3:31, etc.; and for the adoption of the custom by women, see 2 Samuel 21:10; Joe 1:8). Burning instead of beauty. This meaning is now generally acknowledged, the sense of "burning" being borne out by the cognate verb used in Proverbs 6:28; Isaiah 43:2, and the cognate noun used in Exodus 21:25. The" burning" intended is probably branding by a barbarous enemy. Isaiah 3:25 Thy men; rather, thy people; i.e. the inhabitants of Jerusalem generally. Note here the first distinct statement that the coming visitation will be one of war. Isaiah 3:26 Her gates. The sudden change of person is common in Oriental poetry. Shall lament and mourn. On account of their destruction, which would be very complete (see Lamentations 1:4; Lamentations 2:9; Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 2:13). Conquerors could not do more than break breaches in the walls of a town, but they carefully destroyed the gates. Being desolate; or, emptied—plundered of everything, and so far "cleansed" from her abominations. Shall sit upon the ground. In deep grief (see Job 2:13; and comp. Isaiah 47:1; Lamentations 2:10). So in the coin of Vespasian, the captive Judah (Judea capta) sits upon the ground. Many steps in the decay of states. Ruin does not often come on states at once, even when God has determined on it. There are many steps in the fall of a great nation. I. OF A OF GREAT AND WISE MEN. (Isaiah 3:2, Isaiah 3:3.) One of the first marks of decay is a falling off in this succession. When the intervals between one great man and another lengthen; when wise men, capable of giving the state good counsel, grow rare; when mediocrity everywhere prevails, and no one steps forth conspicuous by marked superiority to his fellows;—then it may at once be proclaimed that decline has set in, and that the nation is verging towards its fall. The great and the wise are the salt which preserve society from corruption. Without them all goes wrong; the pulse of the national life slackens, energy disappears, foreign aggression is weakly resisted, a general debilitation becomes apparent in every part and function of the body politic. No state can long resist the insidious malady, which, like atrophy or anaemia, steals gradually over the entire frame, exhausting it and bringing about its dissolution. II. ACTIVE FOLLY IN THE RULERS. (Isaiah 3:4.) When the great and the wise fail, government necessarily falls into the hands of the incompetent. If not "children" in age, they will be "babes" in respect of policy and statecraft. So long, however, as they are willing to follow the traditions of the past, to work upon well-known lines, and carry out established practices, no very great harm can arise. But they are seldom content for many years to act thus. A childish desire seizes them to attract attention, to exhibit their power. Hence they plunge into active follies, wild schemes of aggression and conquest, or imprudent and unsuitable alliances, as that of Ahaz with Tiglath-Pileser (2 Chronicles 28:16, 2 Chronicles 28:20). The state is brought into difficulties and entanglements, and the wisdom is wanting that should have seen a way out of them. One embarrassment follows another. Unexpected circumstances arise, and it is not perceived how they should be met. The unwisdom of the good is perhaps as fatal as the folly of the wicked (e.g. Josiah’s uncalled-for resistance of Pharaoh-Nechoh, 2 Kings 23:29), and leads to great disasters. Meanwhile other causes are at work, which advance the general confusion and accelerate the final catastrophe. III. OF AMONG THE PEOPLE. (Isaiah 3:5.) Society is based upon the principles of justice and mutual good will. While states prosper, it requires no extraordinary virtue in men to deal justly by their neighbors, and act towards them in a friendly spirit. But when the times are out of joint, when there is general impoverishment and distress, it is no longer easy to be amicable or even just. "Every man for himself!" becomes the cry; the spirit of selfishness is evoked and runs riot; "the people" (no longer the "rulers" or the "judges," Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 1:23) "oppress every one another, and every one his neighbor" (Isaiah 3:5). This indulgence of the selfish spirit acts as a solvent—loosens the bonds which have hitherto held society together, and goes far to reduce the united mass, in whose union was its strength, to a congeries of atoms. IV. OF RESPECT FOR AGE OR SOCIAL RANK. (Isaiah 3:5.) The disintegration of society tends to place all the atoms upon a par. While the social order was maintained, and the whole society felt itself one, the parts knew their need one of the other, and recognized their respective positions of inferiority and superiority. But with the loosening of the social ties comes naturally a general self-assertion. In a physical chaos atoms are of equal value, and why not in a disintegrated society? Hence the young in such a state throw off their allegiance to the old; even sons cease to respect or obey their fathers, and daughters their mothers. The humbler classes of toilers for daily bread no longer look up to their more favored brethren, but rather view them with jealousy and hatred. Class is alienated from class, and the tendency to a complete dissolution of society aggravated. V. NEGLECT OF THEIR CIVIL DUTIES ON THE PART OF THE WELL-TO-DO CLASSES. (Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7.) Noblesse oblige. In a distracted state of society, it is especially incumbent on those whose means place them beyond the reach of want, and allow them ample leisure, to come to the relief of their neighbors by undertaking those civil duties and offices on which the welfare of the body politic depends. But it is exactly at such times that we find this class of persons most inclined to ignore this obligation, and withdraw wholly from political life (Isaiah 3:7). Some, like Plato, justify themselves under the plea that nothing can be done to save society, and that they may be excused for taking refuge under the first shelter that offers while the storm rages and exhausts itself. Others plead the vulgarizing effect of active political life, and claim the right of keeping their superfine humanity free from the smears and stains which mixture with the crowd would bring upon it. On one excuse or another, or not infrequently without condescending to make any excuse, the upper classes in a distracted state stand aloof, neglect their civil duties, and refuse all the calls that are made on them to come to the rescue, and do their best to save the "ruin" that is tottering to its fall. Isaiah 3:9-11 The law of retributive justice not mechanical, but moral. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments is sometimes preached in a way that is, if not offensive, at any rate unsatisfactory. God is made to deal with men as not even judicious parents would deal with their children—viz, for so much obedience, so much bestowal of pleasure or indulgence; for so much disobedience, an equal award of pain and punishment. But this is certainly not the doctrine of Holy Scripture. Scripture represents the reward of well-doing as "eternal life," and this "eternal life" is the vigorous energy of all that is good in the man himself, sustained and strengthened by the Spirit of Christ in the soul, and accompanied by happy feelings of love and trust and thankfulness. "Eternal life" begins in this world, and is only carried out to perfection in the next. It is, in the main, a state of feeling-consciousness of being at one with God, consciousness of communion with him. It admits, no doubt, of exaltation from without, as here by the special shedding of Divine influences upon the soul, and hereafter by the transcendent blessing of the beatific vision; but it is principally in the man himself. It is a condition of mind, not a set of external circumstances. And so with ill-doing and its consequence, "eternal death." Men make their own misery by their deeds. They "receive within themselves the recompense of their errors." They mar their moral nature; they refuse to hold communion with God; and then, thrown back upon themselves, and having nothing within them pleasing to contemplate or to be conscious of, they find themselves wretched—they have created their own hell. Isaiah 3:16-24 The share which women have in producing the ruin of a nation. The influence of women upon men was intended to be helpful (Genesis 2:20), purifying, and refining. Woman is naturally more pure than man, more modest, more retiring, more instinctively right in her moral judgments. Good women exercise an extraordinary influence over the best men, who continually consult them in the most difficult crises of politics and diplomacy. They read men far better than men read one another, and are excellent counselors on many of the most important occasions. But as the power for good which they wield is great, so is their power for evil. Corruptio optimi pessima. Bad women are far worse than the worst men; and the ruin of a state is always partly, sometimes mainly, caused by its women. The sins of women chiefly noted by Isaiah in this passage are: 1. The vanity and love of admiration which show themselves in excessive attention to dress and ornament. 2. The wantonness and immodesty which sometimes characterize their conduct. 3. The pride and haughtiness which under certain circumstances they display. All these are corrupting influences in a state, and help forward its decay and ruin. I. VANITY AND LOVE OF , AS SHOWN IN TO DRESS AND . The desire to please is not in itself wrong, and attention to dress within certain limits is to be commended. A woman does not prove herself perfectly virtuous by being a sloven. But there is an attention to such matters and a quasi-devotion to them which is plainly excessive, and which has often the most injurious consequences. A tone of frivolity is engendered by much consideration of matters so trivial, which unfits a woman for dealing with the difficult problems of life and action. The management of her household and the training of her children, which are the principal duties, at any rate, of married women, are apt to be neglected by the woman of fashion, who dresses five times a day, and passes half her time at her toilet-table. Serious inroads are made upon a husband’s means, sometimes to the extent of actual ruin, by the extravagance of those who cannot bear to see any one better dressed than themselves. Selfishness, worldliness, littleness, are impressed on the character, all higher aims being set aside, and nothing sought but the admiration of the other sex. II. AND often follow on the love of admiration and grow out of it. A woman who courts admiration forgets the reserve which becomes her sex, and is tempted to enhance her charms by an indecorous display of them. Once let the limits of modesty be overstepped, and one defense falls after another. Facilis descensus Averni. Wanton glances (verse 16) are succeeded by immodest words, and these lead on to immodest deeds; and at last every barrier is thrown down, and the world sees a Messalina or a Lucrezia Borgia. General immodesty in the women of a state is of infrequent occurrence; but where it occurs, is an almost certain indication of approaching social dissolution. The most flagrant instance is that of Rome. There, from the time of the establishment of the empire, the disorders of married and domestic life were excessive. "A kind of rivalry in impurity grew up between the two sexes; and there were more seducers than seduced of the female sex". "In Rome the women, deprived of all moral support, became just what the men made them, and so sank with them incessantly deeper and deeper". Historians generally, ascribe the fall of the Roman empire to no cause more than to the corruption of the Roman women. III. PRIDE AND are not natural vices of women; but, when developed, they attain vast proportions, and lead on to great calamlties. Jezebel and Athaliah in Old Testament history, Amestris and Parysatis in Persian, Tanaquil in Roman, are examples of the power of women for evil, when they step out of their sphere, assume to direct the policy of states, dispense life and death, and lord it over the people of a kingdom. In such cases their haughtiness outdoes that of men, and provokes a more intense feeling of dissatisfaction and resentment. Revolution often follows, or in any case disaffection towards the government; and an additional element of danger is introduced, which becomes fatal under certain circumstances. Altogether, it would seem that women have quite as much influence as men towards producing the ruin of states, and are quite as responsible for political catastrophes. BY E. JOHNSON Verses 1-7 A picture of anarchy. The words carry on the sense of the closing saying of the preceding paragraph, "Cease ye from man." I. THE RULERS OF THE PEOPLE REMOVED. Government is one of the necessities of human life. Hence the rulers are spoken of as "staff and stay, staff of bread and staff of water." Even bad rulers are better than none, so that they may be described as main props or supports of life. In the same way says Ezekiel, "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem" (Ezekiel 4:16; Ezekiel 5:16). To see how truly good government may be thus described, let us remember that, by timely and wise legislation, bread and other necessaries of life have been cheapened and secured to the people. With good government men may be well fed and prosperous even in unkindly lands, while through evil government once fertile plains (like the Roman Campagna) have become wastes. II. THE NERVE AND OF THE NATION BROKEN. A nation needs heroes, men of courage for the battle-field. It needs men of discretion and integrity for the seat of justice and the bar. It needs men of religious faith and insight as prophets and teachers; and in every department, military, civil, ecclesiastical, scientific, there is a constant demand for able and honest men. There is to be a dearth of them in Jerusalem. The false leaders to whom the people have looked up, the idol-prophets and the magicians, are to be taken away along with the true. "Children" and "baby-boys," the prophet caustically says, shall become the princes and rulers of the nation. Ahaz was quite a young man; his "weakness of character and foolish humors would have been quite sufficient, in the sixteen years of his reign, to put the whole kingdom out of joint." The picture may remind us that men of intelligence and virtue are the great necessity in every time. If in the state statesmen are not being bred, and in the Church weak and illiterate men swarm, it is a sign of most certain moral weakness and decay. III. ANARCHY THE RESULT. 1. In private life. Good neighborhood is broken up, for it must rest on the common recognition of law and custom; and what if these be subverted? Age and rank no longer command respect. The beardless boy affronts the hoary head, the churl would level the gently born with himself. Nothing is more odious than the leveling temper of troublous times; for the fine gradations of rank are part essentially of a system of higher culture. 2. In public life. So extreme is the need of guidance and rule, that private proposals will be made to almost any seeming respectable man to take up the reins of government. But none will be found willing to govern "these ruins," or to be chief of so mere a rabble. We may use the picture as an allegory of the soul. When sin has set our being at variance with itself, and all our confidence and self has failed, we may be glad to find any yoke that we may creep beneath. Yet this may be denied. Those who, in the rebellion of lust and self-will, have sought to be "lords of themselves," may find a heritage of woe entailed. "The soul would never rule. It would be first in all things; but this attained, commanding for commanding sickens it."—J. Isaiah 3:8-15 The reasons of judgment. In man’s sufferings they must own they are subject to the reasonable rule of him who is eternal Reason. I. TO THE DIVINE RULE. In word and deed. 1. In current talk, writing, speechifying, it is difficult to detect where the falsehood lies. It consists in the suppression of certain important sides of truth, and in putting forward interested, partial views of things. The literature of a people cannot be sound, if it be sunk in greed of gold and luxury as Judah had been. The hollowness consists in the reference of everything to a low standard of value. Not until a great preacher, prophet, or writer—a Savonarola, a Latimer, a Carlyle—arises to shed the splendor of eternal truth upon our ways, do we discover how false and mean they have been. 2. We find we have "provoked the eyes of God’s majesty" by our way of life. What hard-heartedness and brazen defiance of humanity and morality is brought to light from time to time, when some reformer directs attention to an abuse! Men cynically "make fortunes" out of the flesh and blood of their fellow-creatures. Have not in our time the cries of factory children, and over-toiled seamstresses, and drowning sailors, and "gutter children" gone up into the cars of the Lord of hosts? Isaiah is modern as well as ancient, for the Word he delivers is eternal. II. THE NEMESIS OF EVIL, THE OF GOOD. 1. Wickedness is suicidal. "Woe to their soul, for to themselves they did evil!" Here lights the deepest curse, here rankles at last the arrow; in the soul! Dante sees in hell (c. 12.), in three circles, those who have wronged their neighbor, their God, and themselves. But every species of wrong works out its woe in self. "Man can do violence To himself and his own blessings; and for this He in the second round must aye deplore With unavailing penitence his crime. Whoe’er deprives himself of life and light, In reckless banishment his talent wastes, And sorrows there where he should dwell in joy." Men may afford the loss of property, of a limb, of health; but not of love, not of the soul. The denial of love, or the waste of it, means the loss of the soul. 2. Goodness is self-rewarding. Often is the good man compared to a tree, bringing forth fruit by a law of nature, according to its kind and in its season. There is strict and beautiful sequence in life and character. No curse, no blessing, "causeless comes." The bitter fruit we bring forth comes from interference with the Divine nature God has given us. It is said that wanton Arabs sometimes "Foil a dwarf palm Of bearing its own proper wine and oil, By grafting into it the stranger-vine, Which sucks its heart out, sly and serpentine, Till forth one vine-palm fastens to the root, And red drops moisten the insipid fruit." Such is sin and sin’s result on the being; a parody and mockery of that sound and true life so beautifully presented under the image of a tree in the first psalm. III. MISRULE. There has been weakness and effeminacy in high places. And this is often more mischievous than strong and open violence. A vast growth of vicious and interested passions springs up in the neighborhood of a weak court. It is the opportunity for many bad men to exert their ambition. A powerful will generally works some good at the head of affairs, even though its wielder be not a good man. But feebleness is always baneful in public life. Everything is uncertain when the purpose is vacillating, and no settled principle exists. The feeble ruler will be swayed by every gust of caprice, by every personal influence that attacks his ear, every passion that enslaves his heart. Several of our kings—John, Richard II; the Charleses—have been examples of this. The country may be compared to a beautiful vineyard which the rulers have been appointed to keep (Isaiah 5:1-7). They have trampled it down and despoiled it, and have "ground the sufferers’ faces." The image is taken from the mill, where a substance is worn down until nothing is left. The contemporary prophet Micah uses still stronger language (Micah 3:2, Micah 3:3). The rulers flay the people, and cutting them in pieces, cast them, as it were, into a caldron. Unhappily this picture has its counterpart today in many Eastern lands. The women of the harem practically rule and devour the people in their greed. Personally, the description may be applied. God has entrusted to each of us a garden or vineyard to keep. Diligence and faithfulness will have their reward. For sloth, neglect, waste, and abuse, God will enter into judgment with us.—J. Verse 16-Isaiah 4:1 The women of Jerusalem. The habits and the morale in general of the court and the aristocracy are a sure index of the state of the nation. Fashion guides, but is in a measure controlled by the general opinion. Wanton pride and luxury in high places bespeak a general want of moral tone. I. THEIR PRIDE. The picture is minute and scathingly satirical. The daughters of Zion walk with "necks held up." II. THEIR . The "rolling eyes" are often mentioned as characteristic of Aphrodite or Ashtoreth, the unchaste goddess of sensual love. III. THEIR FINERY AND LUXURY. A complete catalogue of articles of personal adornment is given. The instinct for dress and decoration, so strong in women and so graceful if followed with moderation, easily passes beyond the bounds, and becomes an offence and vice. IV. THE REVERSE OF THE PICTURE. The perfumes will be exchanged for a stench, the waistband for the rough cord of poverty, the abundance of flowing hair will be replaced by repulsive baldness. "A brand instead of beauty!" Their husbands will fall in the war. There will be melancholy groups gathering at the public place, the gates; and in vain will they, once lapped in luxury, seek the protection and the honor of the marriage state (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:36). One of our poets has called up the picture of Venice and her women in old days of mirth and folly, which may be compared. "As for Venice and her people, merely born to bloom and drop, Here on earth they bore their fruitage—mirth and folly were the crop. What of soul was left, I wonder, when the kissing had to stop? Dust and ashes!" Only the "sweet and virtuous soul" can give to woman an immortal charm, and ensure her from corrupting and being corrupted.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The revealings of the face. "The show of their countenance doth witness against them." We are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Just as the countenance reveals the state of our physical health, so do thought and character manifest themselves in the face. All our nature, with its complexity of being, has yet a subtle and mysterious oneness, and the tone of the mind and the inclination of the heart are made manifest, not alone in speech, but in look and gesture and manner. In the simple language of the holy Book, there is a show of the countenance. I. MEN CANNOT PREVENT SELF-. As the New Testament says, "They that be otherwise cannot be hid." There is no concealment in nature. The hidden seed springs up even in the cleft of a rock. There is always some damaging witness waiting for an evil man. As the snow reveals the footsteps of the beast of prey, as the wind of the desert drifts the sand from the body that is buried in it, so sin will surely be found out. A bad man’s face is a tell-tale of levity and scorn and shame. If God is not in the heart, the light of his presence will not be in the countenance. II. MEN CANNOT LONG ACT A PART. Nature is against insincerity. You cannot forge her handwriting. You cannot make your artificial rock so that it shall remain unknown beside hers. No. And it is so with voice and face. Hypocrisy drops unconsciously its mask. The same words are spoken differently by sincere and insincere men. We read of hollow laughter. So there is hollow exhortation which does not exercise inspiration over our hearts. So men cannot twist their countenances into false witnessing. There is a blatant iniquity about the wicked which cannot be concealed by long effort. "They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not." III. MEN CANNOT AVERT . "Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves." They create their own inquisition-chamber. Memory is their misery. No theories of unaccountability can live. Excuses there are none. The conscience tears them to pieces like a spider’s web. Life is personal and accountable. We all feel that. "Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him." Reward, then, is not always blessing; it is harvest of golden sheaves or gathered tares, according to our planting. Verily a light from within fills the countenance even of godly men. The prayer is fulfilled. "Cause thy face to shine upon us." "Who is the Health of my countenance, and my God"—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 3:1-8 National and spiritual anarchy. We have a vivid picture here of— I. ANARCHY. 1. Its cause is found in national rebellion against its rightful Lord. "Their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory" (Isaiah 3:8). Sin, both in word and deed, draws down the righteous indignation of God, and, under his just administration, the penalty of iniquity is paid. 2. Its signs are seen in: (1) The loss of all fitting leaders (Isaiah 3:1-3). Those who constituted "the stay and the staff" are no longer found in positions of authority; those capable of ruling, those qualified to direct and to advise, those who have learnt political sagacity by long experience,—these are not to be obtained; they have been deported, or they have withdrawn, or they are no more trained. (2) The consequent elevation of the incapable (Isaiah 3:4). Those hold the high offices of state who are utterly incompetent to fill the lasts they have accepted. (3) The presence of injustice and confusion (Isaiah 3:5). Instead of all doing that which is conscientious and right as between man and man, every one seeks to overreach his neighbor; fraud and violence are the rule rather than the exception; and instead of the natural subordination of the younger to the elder, there is insolence and presumption. (4) The absence of unselfish patriotism (Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7). They who are in a position to render help refuse to do so, untruly and unworthily excusing themselves. 3. Its issue. (Isaiah 3:8.) "Jerusalem is being ruined (is ruined); Judah is falling (is fallen)." Bad as things are, they are not at their very worst; there remains a darker and sadder catastrophe yet to complete the destruction; and that, viz. dreary exile for the people and depopulation for the land, will soon arrive. II. ANARCHY. We trace the same cause here as in the case of the ruined nation. 1. Its cause is in rebellion against God, and his consequent high displeasure showing itself in just and appropriate penalty (Isaiah 3:8). 2. Its signs are found in: (1) The dethronement of the soul’s true authorities: conscience, which directs us what we ought to do; reason, which leads us in the path in which it is wise to walk; pure affection, which draws us toward the objects we do well to love (Isaiah 3:1-3). When sin does its work within, these powers which were meant to rule are supplanted by unworthy rivals. (2) The enthronement of the unfitting (Isaiah 3:4). As unsuited to govern a human soul are the rude, uncultured appetites and passions of our lower nature as are "children" and babes to rule over the great affairs of state. (3) Internal struggle and insubordination (Isaiah 3:5). The animal appetites asserting themselves unduly and violently against spiritual aspirations and holy principles, and doing them dishonor. (4) Appeal, without response, to our better nature (Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7). It is one of the last stages in spiritual demoralization when an earnest, strenuous challenge is made to that which is left in the soul of the heavenly and Divine, and it makes no response, or none, but a miserable resort to that which is false. There is little hope left then; the last sparks are expiring: 3. Its issue. (Isaiah 3:8.) A human spirit in such a state is hastening fast to utter and irretrievable ruin. It is in the very act of falling; it is coming to the ground, to be utterly humiliated and broken. It may be perhaps that on earth a soul is never in such complete ruin but that it may be repaired. Yet there are those who have fallen into such disorder that it may be said that the last destruction overhangs them. To such the Master’s warning words may well be uttered (see Luke 17:31, Luke 17:32); for they must flee for their life, not losing a moment in starting, nor looking behind them when on their way.—C. The path of sin and the rest of righteousness. I. THAT SIN CANNOT BE . "The show of their countenance doth witness against them" (Isaiah 3:9). Whether Isaiah’s words point to the unconscious revelation of sin is uncertain, but they clearly suggest the fact. The evil that is in men’s hearts is shown in their countenance, whether they wish to conceal it or whether they take a shameful pride in it. The thoughts that flit through the mind, the passions that burn within the soul, the sins that defile the inward man, are written, line by line, on the visage, and "may be known and read of all men." Are there not those whom we have to look upon in the inter, course of life "whose eyes are full of adultery," or whose cheeks are stained with intoxication, or whose features are drawn together with cruelty; those who, instead of "bearing in their body the marks of the Lord Jesus, "carry with them the signs of Satan’s service? It is a fact which may well make the guilty wince and hesitate before they continue, that, by the operation of God’s righteous laws, the sin which at the beginning they would fain hide in the depths of their own soul, will at length be written on the tablet of the body, and "the show of their countenance will witness against them." II. THAT SIN, IN ITS LATER STAGES, SCORNS TO BE FROM VIEW. "They declare their sin …they hide it not" (verse 9). In the further stages of iniquity there is no attempt, for there is no desire, to hide the wrong thing from view. Shame gradually declines until it passes away, and in its place there grows up a horrible pride in sin. Men come to gloat over that from which they ought to shrink with utmost sense of humiliation; they "glory in their shame" (Philippians 3:19). This is eminently true of acts of rapacity and fraud; it also applies to sins of direct ungodliness and of self-indulgence. III. THAT SIN IS ALWAYS WORKING TOWARDS RUIN. "Woe unto their soul; they have rewarded evil unto themselves" (verse 9). "Woe unto the wicked," etc. (verse 11). Sin sometimes prospers long; the "sinner may do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely we know … that it shall not be well with the wicked" (Ecclesiastes 8:12, Ecclesiastes 8:13). Nor is it well when the end comes (see Psalms 73:1-20). 1. Sin tends to temporal ill-being, to penury, to sickness, to early death. 2. Sin tends to isolation, to the withdrawal of confidence and affection on the part of the good and worthy, to dishonor, and even degradation. 3. Sin must inevitably lead to spiritual deterioration and, if it be persisted in, to spiritual death. "The wages of sin is death." 4. Sin finally conducts to condemnation and exile from the home of God. Alas! for the soul that is impenitent, that seeks not Divine mercy, that does not return on its way to the living God and to his righteousness. There is a world of meaning in that one small word which constitutes here such a significant sentence "ill." IV. THAT MAY REST SECURE IN HOPE. (Verse 10.) It may seem ill to the righteous; "weeping may endure for a night." He may find himself inclined to sigh, "All these things are against me" (Genesis 42:36). But "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." The converse of all that applies to the ungodly is true of the godly. Righteousness (1) tends to prosperity here; (2) begets trust and love; (3) results in moral excellency—the good man finds that honesty, purity, truthfulness, sobriety, kindness, etc; issue in spiritual increase, in a harvest of inward good, and he "eats the fruit of his doings;" (4) conducts at last to the heavenly land, where he who does the will of God "is recompensed at the resurrection of the just."—C. Isaiah 3:12-15 Penalty, natural and supernatural. We learn— I. THAT THE NATURAL RESULT OF FOLLY IS TO BE BY THOSE WHO HAVE NO RIGHT TO RULE. 1. The nation suffers this penalty. As with Judah now (Isaiah 3:12), so with each and every country in its turn and in its way. Unmanliness, frivolity, wickedness among the people, will be reflected in the sovereign power. A nation that lives supremely for material enrichment, or for military conquest, or for pleasurable excitement, must expect to see upon the throne—in the government—men who will represent their evil genius, who will pamper their evil tastes, who will "cause them to err" more wildly, and "destroy them in the way of thy paths." Action and reaction are here as everywhere; the folly of the people expresses itself in the weakness and perversity of the ruler, and these qualities on his part tell in their time and measure upon them. 2. The Church endures the same evil. Unspirituality, discord, unbelief, laxity in the Christian community, will certainly issue in a degenerate ecclesiastical authority, and the ruler, using or abusing his opportunity, will lead astray and destroy. 3. The individual finds the same natural law operating on him and on his life. By his folly he allows passions instead of principles, impulses instead of convictions, men instead of God, to be his rulers, his "oppressors;" and these cause him to err; they pervert the way of his paths. II. THAT THEY WHO ARE GUILTY OF MISRULE AND MUST LOOK FOR THE OF GOD. (Isaiah 3:13-15.) "The Lord standeth up to plead," "to judge the people." He confronts and confounds those who have wronged and oppressed his people. If the usurper, the tyrant, the oppressor, the debauchee, the misleader of the nation (the Church), should not meet with the resentment and feel the blows of those whom he has wronged, he must lay his account with the facts that God takes note of all that passes in our human communities, that he holds those who are in power responsible for the effects of their administration, that he regards with severest indignation those who abuse their trust, that he will visit them in his own time and way, here or hereafter, with proofs of his Divine displeasure.—C. Isaiah 3:16-26 The vanity of vanity. The graphic pen of the prophet brings before us the thoughts— I. THAT THE LAST AND SADDEST SYMPTOM OF DECLINE IS FOUND IN WOMANLY FOLLY. "Moreover … the daughters of Zion," etc. (Isaiah 3:16). Corruption may have spread far and done much evil work in the community, but there is hope for the city or the Church so long as the wives and the mothers, the daughters and the sisters, retain their moral and spiritual integrity. When that is gone all is gone. Purity and worth find their last retreat under the domestic roof; if they be driven thence they are doomed to die, and with them perish the prospects of the land. II. THAT PRIDE AND VANITY IN WOMAN ARE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. His prophet here condemns them "because they are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks" (Isaiah 3:16); he also describes, evidently in the spirit of strong reprobation, the various articles and instruments of vanity (Isaiah 3:18-23). Here are denounced the two sins of pride and vanity—the overweening estimate of self, and the foolish desire to excite the attention and the passing admiration of others. To be blind to our own defects and, at the same time, to magnify our own excellences, thus gaining and exhibiting a sense of our own goodness and importance quite beyond the measure of our deserts,—such pride is hateful to God (Psalms 18:27; Psalms 101:5; Proverbs 6:17; 1 Peter 5:5). And vanity is nearly as offensive as pride. To be studying, by every art, to attract the notice of our fellows, and to be peevishly, nervously anxious to secure their praise, instead of seeking first the approval of God and then the commendation of our own conscience,—this is sinful in the sight of the holy and the true One. We may safely say— III. THAT THESE ARE NOT ONLY HEINOUS AGAINST GOD, BUT IN THE SIGHT OF MAN. 1. Those who assume a worth to which they are not entitled, and hence walk arrogantly before the world, do not receive the tribute of honor which they claim; they only excite derision and contempt. 2. They who, by meretricious ornamentations of their person or their style, endeavor to draw to themselves admiring observation, only succeed in provoking the smile of pity or disdain. IV. THAT IN MAN OR WOMAN WILL MEET ITS DOOM IN THE DAY OF DIVINE PENALTY. (Isaiah 3:24-26.) This will involve: 1. The removal of the sources of frivolous delight. These "the Lord will take away" (Isaiah 3:18). For how brief a day do the pleasures of sense last! How soon the sun goes down on the trivialities and temporalities with which the sons and daughters of men amuse themselves and waste their time! 2. A visitation answering to the folly (Isaiah 3:24). Sin finds itself paid in its own coin. 3. The sorrow which comes with a sense of desolation (Isaiah 3:26). The "arm of flesh" will fail; the human admiration and attention will soon pass. And if the esteem of the wise and the favor of God have been unsought, there is nothing left; everything is in ruins.—C. The mission of famines. The words "stay and staff" are by the prophet referred to the two necessaries of life, bread and water. The judgments of God, in the older time, often came in the form of famine and drought; famine as the result of the drought. It was necessary, and it still is necessary, that men should be made to feel their entire dependence upon God for little things as well as great, for common everyday necessities as well as for special days’ gifts and mercies. The necessaries of every day seem to be our right; famine-times remind us that they are always direct Fatherly providings. Entering into covenant with Noah, God promised that "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease, "But the promise concerned the earth as a whole, and cannot be applied to particular portions of it. Seeding time has always been kept; harvesting work has always been done. Where man has not come to aid the operations of nature, God has provided seeding times and seeding ways for himself. In desert districts, where tribes wander, and corn cannot be grown, God makes two plants grow freely, whose fruitage is a harvest of necessaries for the people. Local and temporary failures there have been; but they have been due to special causes acting but locally over certain districts; terrible oftentimes for the sufferings they cause, when men are isolated from their fellows, but ameliorated when men dwell together in brotherhood, and the overplus of one land can be used to supply the deficiencies of another. The chief causes of harvest failure are lack of rain, destruction of growing crops by caterpillar and locust, and war which prevents the proper seeding of the fields. A special cause of famine in Egypt was the failure of the Nile-flood. I. GOD USES FAMINE TO KEEP UP MEN’S ON HIM. A tale is told of a widow woman who had lived for many years rent free in a cottage, through the good will and kindly arrangement of the owner. She lived in it so long that she came to think the place was her own, and quite forgot her dependent condition; so far forgot herself, indeed, as to send a message to her landlord threatening to leave the house if some repairs were not at once attended to. It might have been good for the poor woman to let her feel homeless for a while, so that she might learn to value her mercies. But we, like her, are in great danger of presuming on the goodness of God. We also get the feeling of a right to the things which God freely and graciously bestows. We call them ours. And then the temporary loss of them wakens us to thought; humbles us in the dust; calls upon us to look on the fields, and say, "They are God’s, not ours;" and on the sunny skies and genial rain, and say, "They are God’s, not ours." "Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." II. GOD USES FAMINE AS AN AGENT FOR . NO man is able to say of any particular famine, it must be a punishment; but we have a perfect right to say, famine may be a punishment. When God would visit David’s sin in numbering the people for his own vain-glorious purposes, he offered him a choice which included" seven years of famine for thy land." In the reign of Ahab the violent adoption of Baalism was visited by a terrible famine for the humbling of the willful king. And still we must keep hold of this truth—all outward calamities may be visitations of Divine wrath. It settles nothing to say that pestilence follows on man’s disobedience of sanitary laws; and famine results from deficient government and hindered commerce; and wars spring out of national ambitions. That is all quite true, but we thus deal only with "second causes." God is still the First Cause. We, at least, will not push God out of the world he has made. We will trace his working everywhere. And just as we know he orders our personal circumstances so that they shall be chastisement and correction for our personal mistakes, willfulnesses, and transgressions, so we will be sure that the sins of cities, communities, and nations bring judgments and corrections by public calamities; famine may be the hand of the Almighty raised to smite and humble sinful peoples. III. GOD USES FAMINE TO KNIT THE LANDS IN . In the older times of famine in Egypt, other nations and tribes were compelled to visit that land to secure their supplies of food, and so everybody became interested in the preservation of peace and kindly relations. The common distress made even hostile tribes forget their enmities. In the present day it is essential to the well-being of every nation that universal peace should be preserved. Every country is interested in keeping a free way for the world’s ships over the oceans. War is a calamity. The strong men who are slaughtered on battle-fields, ought to be toiling at the harvests, growing the world’s food, carrying it from laud to land, or making the things which should supply the world’s ever-varying and multiplied needs. We are dependent, as nations, on one another, and our mutual dependence ought to culture a spirit of brotherhood. England cannot grow from her soil, as at present cultivated, the supply of all her people’s needs. Heavily laden grain-ships bring the bounty of other lands for our relief week by week throughout the year; and so intercourse is maintained. We get to know and respect each other; we even, in a sense, sit down at each other’s tables; we eat bread and salt together, and so are bound to one another in eternal amity, as are the desert tribes. We eat bread from America, and Russia, and Hungary, and Egypt, and other parts, and at the common feast we cultivate the common brotherhood. And it may be further said, nothing binds men together and breaks down prejudices and enmities like a common trouble. How we are drawn together when a common woe lies upon our town, or upon the community to which we belong! Mutual sympathy and mutual sacrifice make us feel that God has "made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth;" and that brothers of the one family, whose Head is the everlasting Father, may well be brotherly and kind. In conclusion, gathering up what has been illustrated and enforced, it may be shown that (1) famine makes a public testimony for the one, living God; This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ The existing division between Isaiah 3:1-26. and 4. is scarcely satisfactory. Isaiah 3:1 of Isaiah 4:1-6. belongs to the minatory portion of the section beginning with Isaiah 2:1 and terminating with Isaiah 4:6, and so stands connected in subject with Isaiah 3:1-26; which is wholly minatory; whereas the remainder of Isa 4:1-6. (Isaiah 4:2-6) is consolatory, consisting of a series of promises. Isaiah 4:1 is also for-really connected with Isaiah 3:1-26. by the vau conjunctive, while the absence of any such link at the opening of Isa 3:2 indicates the commencement of a new paragraph at that point. Isaiah 4:1 Seven women shall take hold of one man. This verse has been well called a "companion picture to Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7." As there, in the evil time of God’s judgment, the despairing men are represented as" taking hold" of a respectable man to make him their judge, so now the despairing women "take hold" of such a man and request him to allow them all to be regarded as his wives. There has been such a destruction—men are become so scarce—that no otherwise can women escape the shame and reproach of being unwedded and childless. Our own bread will we eat. They do not ask him to support them; they are able and willing to support themselves. To take away; rather, take thou away—the imperative mood, not the infinitive. Our reproach. Children were regarded as such a blessing in the ancient times that to be childless was a misfortune and a subject of reproach. Hagar "despised" the barren Sarai (Genesis 16:4). Her "adversary provoked Hannah sore, because the Lord had shut up her womb" (1 Samuel 1:6). Compare the lament of Antigone, who views it as a disgrace that she descends to the tomb unwed. Among the Jews childlessness was a special reproach, because it took away all possibility of the woman being in the line of the Messiah’s descent (comp. Isaiah 54:1-4). Isaiah 4:2-6 As the present prophecy (Isaiah 2-4.), though in the main one of threatening and denunciation, opened with a picture that was encouraging and comforting (Isaiah 2:2-4), so new it terminates with a similar picture. The evangelical prophet, like the great apostle of the Gentiles, is unwilling that any one should be "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." He will not separate the mercies of God from his judgments. Isaiah 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord, etc. Some see in this passage merely a promise that in the Messianic times the produce of the soil would become more abundant than ever before, its harvests richer, and its fruitage more luxuriant. But in the light of later prophecy it is scarcely possible to shut up the meaning within such narrow limits. The "Branch" of Isaiah can hardly be isolated altogether in a sound exegesis from the "Branch" of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15) and of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12). Now, the "Branch" of Zechariah is stated to be "a man" (Zechariah 6:12: note that the word used for "Branch" is the same as Isaiah’s, viz. tsemakh), and the "Branch "of Jeremiah is a King (Jeremiah 33:15). Moreover, Isaiah uses a nearly equivalent term (netser) in an admittedly Messianic sense. Although, therefore, there is some obscurity in the phrase, "Branch of Jehovah," it would seem to be best to understand Isaiah as here intimating, what he elsewhere openly declares (Isaiah 11:1-5)—viz. the coming of the Messiah in the latter days as the ornament and glory of his people. Be beautiful and glorious; rather, for beauty and glory; or, for ornament and glory; i.e. for the ornament and glorification of Israel. And the fruit of the earth. It is argued with reason that the two clauses of this verse are parallel, not antithetical, and that as we understand the one, so must we understand the other. If, then, the "Branch" is the Messiah, so is "the fruit of the earth"-which may well be, since he was "the grain of wheat" which "fell into the ground and, lied, and so brought forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Excellent and comely; rather, for majesty and beauty (comp. Exodus 28:2, Exodus 28:40). Unto the escaped of Israel; i.e. "to those who shall have our-rived the great calamity, and become citizens of the restored Jerusalem." Dr. Kay well remarks that "the prophecy was adequately fulfilled only in those who ’saved themselves’ from the generation which rejected Christ. That remnant was the germ of the Catholic Church, made such by being incorporated into the true Vine" (’Speaker’s Commentary,’ note at loc.). Isaiah 4:3 He that is left … he that remaineth. Equivalent to the "escaped" of the preceding verse. Shall be called holy. Strikingly fulfilled in the filet that the early Christians were known as titter, "holy," or κλητοὶἅγοι, "those called to be holy," in the first age (Acts 9:13, Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41; Acts 26:10; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1, etc.). Perhaps, however, more is meant than this. The early Christians not only were called, but were "holy." Even Gibbon places the innocent lives of the early Christians among the causes of the conversion of the Roman empire. Every one that is written among the living. A register of the "living," or "heirs of life," is here assumed, as in Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 21:27, etc. It is a "book," however, out of which names may be "blotted" (Revelation 3:5). Isaiah 4:4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion (see Isaiah 3:16-24). Sin must not be merely repented of and pardoned; it must be put away. There could be no Jerusalem, in which all should be "called holy," until the moral defilement of the daughters of Zion was swept away. Purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst (comp. Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:3). It is possible, however, that the murder of infants in sacrifice to Moloch may be in the prophet’s mind. Ahaz "burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen" (2 Chronicles 28:3). Manasseh did the same (2 Chronicles 33:6): and the practice was probably widespread among the people long before Isaiah’s time (see Psalms 106:38; Isaiah 57:5). By the spirit of burning; or, by a blast of burning; i.e. a fiery blast which shall destroy everything (comp. Isaiah 1:31). Isaiah 4:5 Upon every dwelling-place ("over the whole habitation," Revised Version). Mr. Cheyne translates "upon the whole site," and takes the "site" to be especially the temple. Makon seems certainly never to be used for anything but "God’s dwelling-place" (Exodus 15:17; 1 Kings 8:13, 1 Kings 8:39, etc.; 2 Chronicles 6:2, 2 Chronicles 6:30, etc.; Ezra 2:68; Psalms 33:14; Psalms 89:14; Psalms 97:2; Psalms 104:5; Isaiah 18:4; Daniel 8:11). Perhaps, however, every dwelling-place of God, i.e. every Christian Church, is intended. On these, and on all Christian assemblies, there will rest a new presence of God—one which he will have "created;" recalling that of the pillar of fire and of cloud which rested in the wilderness on the Jewish tabernacle (Exodus 33:9; Exodus 40:34-38, etc.). A cloud and smoke by day. The "pillar of the cloud" is never said in the Pentateuch to have been one of" smoke;" but Sinai "smoked" when God descended on it (Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:18), and the psalmist speaks of a "smoke" as issuing out of God’s nostrils (Psalms 18:8). In the poetry of Isaiah," smoke, no less than "cloud," symbolizes God’s presence (see Isaiah 6:4). Upon all the glory shall be a defense; rather, as in the margin, a covering. Over all the glory of Zion, its purged temple and its purified assemblies, the presence of God shall rest like a canopy, protecting it. Isaiah 4:6 And there shall be, etc.; rather, and it (i.e. "the canopy") shall be a tabernacle, or bower, a shelter from the sun’s heat by day, and from storm and rain both by day and night. The metaphors need no explanation. The glories of the restored Church. Three principal glories are here noted by the prophet as belonging to "that day"—the day of judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem for their manifold sins, and of restoration and re-establishment of the mountain of God’s Church at the head of the mountains (Isaiah 2:2). These are— (1) the coming of Messiah in person for ornament and glory, for majesty and beauty, to be the admiration and delight of his people; (2) the purity and holiness of the persons who constitute the restored Church; and (3) the continuity of the presence of God with his Church from the time of its re-establishment, and the security consequent upon his protection. At all periods of its existence, the Church will do well to bear in mind that these are its special glories, and to make each a subject of frequent thought and meditation. I. THE COMING OF MESSIAH TO FOUND HIS CHURCH LIES AT THE ROOT OF ALL. The glorious "Branch"—the new shoot of the house of David (Isaiah 11:1)—which sprang from the old stock, and grew up "like a tree planted by the water-side, which bringeth forth its fruit in due season, the leaf whereof shall not wither" (Psalms 1:3), had first to come and to dwell with man, and to reveal himself, in his glory and majesty and beauty, as the perfect moral Being, the pattern Man, after whom all should shape their lives, before a holy Church, a Church of" saints," could be set up on earth, or men could know in what true holiness and righteousness consisted. The "Branch" came, "beautiful and glorious, excellent and comely," "the chiefest among ten thousand" (So Isaiah 5:10), "his eyes as the eyes of doves" (verse 12), "his lips dropping sweet-smelling myrrh" (verse13), "his countenance as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars, his mouth most sweet," yea, he himself "altogether lovely" (verses 15, 16); and the earth saw what it had never seen before—absolutely perfect humanity. Nor was this the whole. He who set the perfect pattern made also the perfect atonement; "washed away the filth" of sin (Isaiah 4:4); "purified to himself a peculiar people" (Titus 2:14); made holiness possible to man, who was "very far gone from original righteousness," corrupt, "sold under sin" (Romans 7:14). Thus the first glory fitly introduces the second. II. THE OF THOSE WHO ARE TRUE MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH, "Holiness becometh God’s house forever" (Psalms 93:5); "Without holiness shall no man see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Christians are holy by profession, by call, by obligation; if they will, by life and act. Not, indeed, holy in the highest sense; not as they ought to be; not "as he is holy" (1 Peter 1:15); for "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). But still "holy" in a real sense; ever striving to be holy, ever repenting, ever seeking and obtaining forgiveness, ever washed afresh in the blood of Christ, which "cleanseth from all sin" (1 John 1:7). The unholy, who "persist in sin" without striving against it, are no true members of the Church of Christ, but false pretenders to membership, "strangers to Christ’s covenant, and aliens from his commonwealth" (Ephesians 2:12). The real Church is "holy," as it is called in the Apostles’ Creed; deriving its holiness ever from him who is its Life, from whom it receives continually fresh supplies of grace, and fresh power to resist temptation. The holiness of the Church is thus dependent on the presence of God with it; and the second glory leads naturally to the consideration of the third. III. THE OF GOD WITH HIS CHURCH, AND HIS OF IT. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," is the most precious promise of the New Testament. Christ is with his Church (1) in her sacred buildings, when common prayer is made (Matthew 13:19) and sacraments are administered; (2) in her synods, when doctrine is formulated and false teaching exposed and condemned (Matthew 18:17); and (3) in the secret chamber of each one of her members, when approach is made to the throne of grace, and confession poured forth or prayer offered to God through Christ. In this presence is the Church’s sole trust. Without it she would be powerless against the world, and against Satan. With it she may contemn all attacks. Satan can do her no harm, for "the gates of hell shall not prevail against her" (Matthew 16:18). The world cannot hurt her, for he who is her Protector" has overcome the world" (John 16:33). Safe under his protection, nestling under the shadow of his wings, she is safe both by day and night; whether the scorching fire of persecution seeks her destruction, as in the early times, or whether, as now, the murky night of agnostic criticism closes around her and endeavors to affright her with its shadows. BY E. JOHNSON Glimpse of future prosperity. There will come a day when the cleansing fire will have run its course through the spiritual field, consuming the tares. The impurity of licentious luxury will have been washed away, the stain of blood effaced from Judah’s rulers (Isaiah 3:14; comp. Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 6:13; Matthew 3:11). Then, and then only, can the glorious day come in the vision of which the prophet exults. I. OF . "The shoot of Jehovah will be for adornment and honor." Erit germen Domini in magnificentia et gloria. The rich fertility of the land is compared to a new sprouting growth, caused by the creative energy of God. When the Spirit of God is felt to he operative in the life of a people, then, and then only, can its life be both strong and beautiful. See, again, this thought in Isaiah 28:5: he will be as a "crown of glory and diadem of beauty" to the residue of his people. "Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures" (Isaiah 30:23). "In that day the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of Jehovah, and shall water the valley of Shittim" (Joe 3:18). "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt They shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God" (Amos 9:13-15). "I will sow her unto me in the earth" (Hosea 2:23). Glowing pictures! Israel’s golden age ever is in the future. And for all who "hope in God," the "good old times," the "Saturnian reign," is coming again. Magnus ab integro sceclorum nascitur ordo. The hard oaks shall again sweat with the dewy honey; our sweetest dreams become a solid fact. "From me is thy fruit found" (Hosea 14:8). II. OF . The one condition is personal holiness. "Every relict in Zion, and every one remaining in Jerusalem, will be called a saint; every one who has been written among the living in Jerusalem." Profound thought! the holy man alone is the living man. Matter is death; spirit is exemption from the rule of matter. Holiness is victory over matter—in its lower form, fleshly cleanliness; in its higher, the purity of self-consistent truth that will not mix with what is alien to itself. III. VISIBLE GLORIES. Upon every home on Mount Zion, and every place of prayer, there will be the cloud by day, and the fume and splendor of flaming fire by night; over all the glory a protection. "Wherever there is true spiritual exaltation and majesty, there is around it a covering and protection which keeps the world away from it." "There’s a divinity doth hedge a king." We cannot constantly bear the splendor; we need the cool calm commonplaces of life to resort to when our eyes are wearied with the glare of highest truth. And we may find the "calm retreat, the silent shade" of religious life no less welcome than the mount of glory and of vision. From the storm and rain we may find a refuge in the "secret place of the Most High."—J. BY W. Depopulation and its doctrine. This passage belongs to the two concluding verses of the last chapter; but as it is the most striking of the three, we may allow it to be our starting-point in gleaning the thoughts which the whole scene suggests. These are— I. EXTREME WROUGHT IN THE OF. GOD. The land is stripped by war of its male population (Isaiah 3:25); those who gather at the gates bewail the humiliation under which they smart, the privation to which they are reduced. "Her gates shall lament," etc. (Isaiah 3:26). Jerusalem can no longer stand in her strength and honor; she is prostrate in weakness and in her shame; desolate, she sits upon the ground. Such is the havoc which war has made, that the virgin daughters of the land, instead of waiting modestly to be addressed, go out in numbers to find themselves husbands under any unnatural condition, so that the reproach of perpetual virginity and childlessness may be somehow removed (text). In the righteous rule of God, sin ends in utter desolation. It may be the history of the nation, as in this instance. Its stages are these: departure from the will and Word of God; luxury and corruption; effeminacy and weakness; strife and defeat; exile, poverty, loneliness, attempts to gratify hope and ambition by unnatural and pitiable methods. But this may be the experience of the individual. "Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate" (Psalms 34:21). Sin is likely, if indeed it is not sure, to lead down to this sad estate. It manifests itself in folly and, through folly, conducts to loss, privation, loneliness, desolation. And the last scene of all is one like this of the text; it resorts to unnatural and wholly unsatisfactory means to fill its heart and restore its life. II. A ORDERED IN THE OF GOD. The abnormal circumstance suggests the normal. In the absence of such a scourge as that of ward and for this our sin is entirely responsible—there would be found to be a virtual equality in the number of the sexes. For nearly every son of man a daughter is born into the world. Surely this points to the Divine intention that man and wife should dwell together in bonds of conjugal affection. It places no stigma on single life, but it indicates the purpose of our kind Creator, that one human heart should comfort and sustain another, with reciprocated love and complementary succor, along the path of human life. It says to those who have ears to hear it that polygamy is not according to the Divine will; that the celibacy of a class, or order, or community is not of Divine appointment; that the home where one husband and one wife dwell in undisturbed and ever-deepening attachment—the providing hand of the one clasping the dispensing hand of the other—is the realization of the Divine design. III. AN PLANTED BY THE HAND OF GOD. Similar passages (Genesis 30:23; 1 Samuel 1:6; Isaiah 54:1; Luke 1:25) suggest that the "reproach" which the women desired to have removed was that of childlessness rather than that of virginity. Jewish women, we know, earnestly desired to be mothers; they may have cherished the hope that of them the Messiah would be born. In any case it was an honorable ambition. The real reproach rests with those who wish to be childless that they may be saved the anxieties, responsibilities, and labors that devolve on the faithful mother. There cannot be a more desirable or excellent aspiration for the parent to indulge than that of so training her (his) children that they shall become men and women whom the Lord will love, and for whom the Church and nation will give thanks.—C. Isaiah 4:2-4 Restoration. It is uncertain whether-there is a secondary allusion here to the coming of the Messiah; but it is certain that, in its primary sense, the passage refers to the condition of Judah after the return from exile. Treating it in this latter signification, we learn— I. THAT THE END OF DIVINE IS HUMAN . (Isaiah 4:4.) The Lord would "wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion … by the spirit [or, ’power’] of judgment." It may be that the righteous Ruler, as such, is bound to make penalty follow sin, whatever may be the consequence to the individual transgressor. But it is clear that, in the exercise of his judicial function, God seeks moral and spiritual renovation. He desires that the nation (the man) which is humbled and afflicted, shall be purified by the fires through which it (he) is passing. In the midst of the flame the offender may hear the voice from above saying, "Put away thy sin; return unto me; enter a new path; live the better life of righteousness, purity, devotion" II. THAT THE NEW AND BETTER LIFE WILL BE AN HOLY ONE. (Isaiah 4:5.) "He that is left in Zion shall be called holy." Whether by him "that is left in Zion" we are to understand those that were never carried into captivity, or those that have returned, is of no importance; the reference is to Jews who have undergone humiliation and suffering, and who have been cleansed and purified thereby. These shall be possessors of life in its excellency and reality—"written among the living." Before, existence was nothing but existence; enlarged and ennobled by "the spirit of judgment," it has become Ire; and it "shall be called holy," because it has become holy. After a genuine repentance (national or individual) there comes a profound and enduring sanctity of spirit and of life. Old sin is abhorred, strenuously striven against, sedulously shunned. New graces and virtues are carefully cultivated and daily illustrated (see 2 Corinthians 7:10, 2 Corinthians 7:11; Psalms 51:7-11). III. THAT THIS NEW LIFE WILL BE NOT ONLY TO GOD, BUT EVEN IN HIS SIGHT. (Isaiah 4:4.) The "branch of the Lord" i.e. the outgrowth of piety from the fallen nation, shall be "beauty and glory;" the produce of the land (fruit of the earth), the worth which springs up from the restored nation, shall be excellency and ornamentation. The Holy One of Israel will not only accept the new national life thus presented to him; he wilt regard it with distinct, Divine satisfaction. And that which is pleasing in his sight will be attractive and excellent in the esteem of men. National and individual renovation is not only a thing which God accepts and acknowledges, worthy of our sanction; it is much more than that. It is beautiful, comely, even glorious. Here is: 1. Encouragement to the fallen. Let the nation, or the Church, or the individual soul which has fallen, which has felt the blow of the Divine hand, and which is understanding the Divine summons, rise and be renewed; there is a future before it of acceptable service, of beautiful and admirable excellency. 2. Inspiration for the devout worker. Let communities or let souls be reduced by sin and brought very low; let the judgment of God be heavy upon them; it is far from hopeless that they may rise again; from the fallen trunk may spring a living branch, beautiful to the sight and fruitful in every good word and work.—C. Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 4:6 Divine protection. In strong, poetic terms the prophet intimates— I. THAT GOD TAKES A DIVINE IN HIS PEOPLE. We know from other Scriptures that the Lord’s portion is his people (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 32:9; Psalms 47:4). Here the people of God are spoken of as "the glory" of the Lord (Isaiah 4:5). There are aspects in which it must appear to us the extreme point of Divine condescension to use such terms of his redeemed ones. But there are other aspects in which we can see that they are not altogether inappropriate. God’s ancient people were, and his regenerated children are, the witnesses and instances of his glorious redemption. Redeemed from political or spiritual bondage, they rejoice in a blessed freedom; raised from dark depths of misery and despair, they sing the psalms of joy and hope; purged from vanity and folly, they walk in the ascending path of heavenly wisdom. II. THAT GOD HIS PEOPLE HIS DIVINE . "Upon all the glory shall be a defense." As in the old desert days the tribes of Israel were led by the pillar of cloud by day and all the night by a pillar of fire, so shall the Divine Leader guide his people in the path which is still before them (Isaiah 4:5). From the burning heat and from the pelting storm there shall be found a covert for those who put their trust in him. God’s promised defense extends: 1. To his people in their various relationships; whether gathered in the family "dwelling-place," or met in their sacred "assemblies," or, we may add, whether journeying in that solitariness of spirit with which we must all. be familiar (Galatians 6:5) along the path of life;—that is, in their domestic, ecclesiastical, and individual relations. 2. To his people in the checkered experiences of their career. God will be their defense from (1) the perils peculiar to prosperity (pride, selfishness, contemptuousness, worldliness, etc.)—there shall be "a shadow in the daytime from the heat;" and (2) the dangers incident to adversity (sullenness, rebelliousness, moroseness, despair, etc.)—there shall be "a covert from storm and from rain." III. THAT THESE DIVINE ARE ON OUR AND PRAYER. God speaks peace unto his people, "but let them not turn again to folly" (Psalms 85:8; see Ezekiel 33:13). The Divine promise proved good in this particular instance just so long and so far as the conditions which were implied were faithfully observed. God’s promises are "exceeding great and precious," and we may "live thereby," if we will. But we must not fail (1) to walk in the way of his commandments, nor (2) to plead his Word in expectant prayer; if we do, we shall fail to enjoy in its fullness the defense of the "almighty arms."—C. BY R. TUCK Immortality in a continued race. "Take thou away our reproach." This verse has been much misconceived. Its figures are Eastern, and their interpretation depends on our knowledge of the condition and sentiments of Eastern women. It is simply a forcible description of the calamities brought upon a nation by continued war. The men were to fall by the sword; and the slaughter was to be so great that the number of women should far exceed the number of men who should survive. Now, to be unmarried and childless is an occasion of the greatest reproach in the East; from the Jewish standpoint this was not only a great sorrow, but a great shame, implying, as was then thought, some sin of which it was the chastisement. And there was a yet deeper sentiment concerning childlessness which needs to be taken into account. Immortality was, in those older days, thought of as a family rather than a personal privilege. A man lived on, lived again, in his descendants. LaRuge says, "In its most ancient parts the Old Testament knows no other genuine life than that on this earth, and thus no other continuation of living after death than by means of children. To be childless was, then, the same as being deprived of continuance after death. It corresponded to the being damned of the New Testament." In their distress and wretchedness the young women who had minced and flirted through Jerusalem with their gay clothing and fine trinkets, contrary to their natural modesty, would become suitors to the men, and under the hardest conditions seek the name and credit of wedlock, to be free from the reproach that would otherwise be their portion. Kimchi, the Jewish commentator, says this happened in the days of Ahaz, when Pekah, the son of Remaliah, slew in Judaea one hundred and twenty thousand men in one day. The widows which were left were so numerous that the prophet said, "Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas" (Jeremiah 15:8). The idea that man’s immortality is the continuance of the race has been revived and set attractively before the people in modern poetry and literature; and though it is only a small piece of the truth concern-inn man’s future, a mere beginning in the revelation of man’s immortality, we need not hesitate to recognize it as a partial truth, and to set before ourselves those views of the responsibility of our present lives which it suggests. We know that "life and immortality" for the individual have been "brought to light by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ," and in this failer and higher and more satisfying revelation we heartily rejoice; but still we may learn something by occupying for a moment the older standpoint. I. THE OF A NATION IS ITS AS A FREE PEOPLE. This is illustrated by the anxiety of Eastern kings to secure heirs to their thrones and continuance to their dynasties. Divine judgments cut off kingly races, as that of Saul, Omri, etc. Divine promises assured that David’s and Solomon’s kingdoms should endure forever. Nations, as such, have no immortality in a future state. II. THE OF A IS ITS IN . "One generation passeth, and another cometh," and in a very true sense the next generation is the old one restored, under somewhat varying conditions. The genius of a generation is immortal only in the generations that follow it. III. THE OF A MAN IS THE FAMILY HE STARTS. This explains the ambition to "found a family," which is not merely man’s monument, but the man himself living again, and living on through the ages. He puts his personal impress upon his children, and the children’s children keep alive the idiosyncrasy of the parent. Illustrate from the Abrahamic race, which is, in a sense, the immortality of Abraham. IV. THE BEARING OF SUCH A VIEW OF . It fills with seriousness the position of all parents. "What manner of persons ought they to be," if they are thus to be perpetuated? A nation must be righteous if it is to be worth continuing. A generation must be physically and morally healthy, if its impress on the coming generations is to be a blessing. The father, the mother, must bear pure, true, worthy characters if their family is to be an honor. He who seeks an immortality in his race is bound to see to it that he only perpetuates goodness, integrity, truth, faith, and all things that are noble. From this lower position the preacher may easily advance to argue how much more solemn life has become for us now that nobler views of the future are revealed by him who came forth out of the eternal mysteries, and has passed again within them, that we might henceforth read our earth-lives in the light of that sublime personal immortality which he has disclosed.—R.T. The Divine and human Messiah. This verse has been explained as a promise merely of the renewed fertility of the earth in God’s day of restorings. That explanation is not, however, deep enough. It does not recognize how characteristic it was of the ancient prophets to refer to local and historical circumstances while their minds soared away to those Messianic pictures, which local incidents only suggested. The constant thought of the prophets was the ideal age and ideal person of Messiah, anti we are right in detecting the expression of that thought everywhere, This verse may be regarded as introducing the person by whom the Church is to be delivered and saved; and the terms employed appear to bear an intimation of his Divine and human natures. The figure of the" Branch" suggests his divinity (comp. Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12). The figure "fruit of the earth "suggests his humanity. That this may have been the thought of the prophet is indicated by the adjectives which are used. "Beautiful and glorious" are adjectives of admiration applied to Messiah, regarded as the "Branch." "Excellent and comely" are adjectives of appreciation and relation to us, and are applied to him regarded as the "fruit of the earth." I. THE DIVINE MESSIAH CAN BE A OF GOD. Illustrate from the way in which our Lord constantly urged that he only spoke the words given him by the Father, and only did the works of the Father. II. THE HUMAN MESSIAH CAN BE IN WITH MEN. Illustrate the "High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." In view of the troubles and distresses which Isaiah pictures, and which Messiah is to rectify, it is evident that he must he divinely strong if he is to master, heal, recover, cleanse, and bring on restored blessings; and it is equally evident that he must be human, to sympathize with and come helpfully near to those whom he would bless and save.—R.T. The roll of the living. "Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem." For the figure of "Jehovah’s book," or the "book of life," see Exodus 32:32; Psalms 56:8; Psalms 69:28; Malachi 3:16; Daniel 12:1; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 21:27. Matthew Henry says, "Those that are kept alive in killing, dying times were written for life in the book of Divine providence; and shall we not suppose those who are rescued from a greater death to be such as were written in the Lamb’s book of life?" We have a further description of them, which really explains their being on the roll; they are "called holy." Now, God never calls people what they are not. In olden times names were always significant, and expressed the personality to which they were applied; thus Jacob was called Israel, because he was a "prince." We have, then, two answering views of the godly man. Here he is "holy;" in heaven his name is in the "book of the living." Following this out in a meditative way, we dwell on— I. THE ’S PRESENT . In some sense he is "holy," for God calls him "holy." Illustrate the following senses in which we may be called "holy," even while we tarry amidst the human frailties: 1. Holy, as separated from self-service and the world’s service. 2. Holy, as consecrated to God’s service. 3. Holy, as called to pursue holiness. 4. Holy, as in some measure actually holy. 5. Holy, as standing, in the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. II. THE ’S ETERNAL . Name is among the living ones. Illustrate: 1. The necessary permanence of all goodness. Evil can die; good can never die. Eternal life is in everything and every one who is good. 2. God rewards holiness with immortality. That is the "crown of life." Upon all goodness God’s special favor and protection rests. 3. The holy are the natural citizens of the heavenly, which is the secure eternal home. How, then, can our names be written in the book of life? Illustrate (1) the way of regeneration; (2) the way of consecration; (3) the way of sanctification. If, through grace, we are numbered among the holy here, then one day the great voice will speak to us out of the heavenly and say, "He that is holy, let him be holy still."—R.T. Christ’s purified Church. We are often addressing the truths revealed in Christ Jesus to the individual, but perhaps we unduly neglect their bearings on the Church as a whole which Christ has founded in the earth; those relations in which Christ himself stands to the Church, as the kingdom over which he is now actually ruling. It would be well for us distinctly to apprehend this truth, that the gospel only completes its work when, having renewed the individuals, it has also brought them into a fellowship of love and service one with another. The revelation which is made in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a revelation of our common sonship to God, and so of our common brotherhood one with the other. We can only reach to feel or to keel) the fall joy of our sonship through realizing and living out day by day our brotherhood. The best brothers are the best sons, I. SOME OF CHRIST’S CHURCH are given us in the passage now before us. The Church is composed of those who are "escaped of Israel;" those, that is, who have come out from the world, and are separate; who have escaped through the rescuings of Divine mercy; who have been "plucked as brands from the burning." The bond uniting them together, and securing upon them the Divine blessing, is no personal peculiarity, no extraordinary goodness or attainment of their own. It is not that they, differing from all others, have been without sin, but that the Lord has redeemed them from sin; the mark of the Lord’s rescue must be upon them all. They are the left ones, the preserved ones, the escaped ones, the monuments of Divine mercy. But the description should keep us from a serious mistake. They are not merely delivered ones; they are escaped ones, that word conveying the idea that their own energy has been put forth, their own will was in the escape. The hand of the angel was indeed upon them, but they also themselves hasted forth, and fled from the spiritual Sodom. II. The text describes the OF CHRIST’S CHURCH. "Shall be called holy." The name thus put upon the Church is that of its most necessary and distinguishing quality. The term does not imply that each member has attained this holiness, but that each one has it in his heart as his great aim, and makes it, in his daily life, his great pursuit. "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." We are "called to be saints," and the central idea of holiness is not absolute purity, but separation from sin, and unto God; separation from the world, from self-seeking, self-indulgence, self-serving, from all forms and features of evil; and separation unto everything that is righteous and lovely and of good report. This, then, is to be the one distinction of the members of Christ’s Church—the one thing which they are to maintain by their union together; their consecration unto God to the doing of his will; the choosing of what he will approve; the following whithersoever he may lead. The man who thus, in heart and life, is set on God, is in his measure a holy man, a saint. The Church which, in its collected life and labor, is thus set on God, is also in its measure a holy Church, made up of "saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus." The members of Christ’s Church may properly be described as "a peculiar people." Not odd, but peculiar; as an angel from heaven would be if he dwelt among men; peculiar, as Christ was when he went to and fro among the people of Judaea. Nowadays we too often find the Church striving to rub away all the marks of her peculiarity. The question asked by those who have been "called to be saints" is—How near may we go towards the world? To what extent may we yield to its enticements? What of common earthly luxury and self-indulgence may we have without absolutely imperiling our eternal safety? While the Church asks such questions even in secret, and by its conduct and spirit rather than by its language, it is proved to be fallen—and falling—from the Divine standard. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."—R.T. Isaiah 4:4-6 Christ’s gracious dealings with his Church. In this passage they are presented under three forms: (1) as cleansings, (2) as guidings, (3) as preservings. I. CHRIST IS EVER WORKING WITH A VIEW TO THE AND OF HIS CHURCH, so that it might be presented at last "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." That work of cleansing demands more constant watchful-fullness, care, and toil than we are wont to imagine. It requires that the Church, as a Church, shall pass again and again under Divine chastenings. We recognize how much the Lord does for us, as individuals, by the perplexities and disappointments and sorrows of our lives, but we do not so readily or so fully admit that such experiences are also needed for our Churches. Uninterrupted prosperities as surely imperil the life of the Christian Church as of the Christian man. Indulgences in sin hurt Churches. The neglect of Church duties, the spirit of idle contentment, growing tendency to self-satisfaction, disregard of holy living, and the encroachments of the worldly spirit, all hurt and spoil the Church. Under the influence of such things the light of the Church will as surely wax dim as the candle in a foul atmosphere; the witness of the Church will become fainter than a whisper; the unity of the Church will be broken up, and its work will lie about it untouched, The descriptions of the seven Churches of Asia given in the Book of Revelation accurately present the conditions into which Churches still fall. Losing their first love. Yielding to the enticements of the world. Weakened by false doctrine. Deadened by the evil influence of unworthy members. Proud of outward prosperities. Lukewarm in Christian service. Surely the hope of the Church lies in this—Christ is willing to be in the midst of her in the power of his cleansing, correcting, and restoring grace, and he is actually dealing with her as a spirit of purifying. He is ever washing away the fast-gathering "filth of the daughters of Jerusalem, and the blood of her sins from the midst thereof." In accomplishing this work of cleansing, it may sometimes be needful that our Lord should deal severely. The operations of his grace will sometimes appear as a "spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning." II. OUR LORD ALSO DEALS WITH HIS CHURCH WITH A VIEW TO ITS AND . He would have his people grow in grace and wisdom and knowledge, reaching ever further into the mysteries of revealed truth, and making ever holier and wiser expressions of their renewed spirit in all the spheres of their life and activity. Journeying through the wilderness of this world, through the wilderness of truths, and through the wilderness of Christian duties Christ is ever near now, as he was in the olden days to wandering Israel. Then a cloud-pillar, looking dark against the bright sky by day, and flashing out like flame against the dark sky by night, kept Israel in mind of its ever-present Guide. [Now, without the help of such outward symbols, in inward manifestations to trustful hearts, Christ reveals his presence as our Shepherd, leading us on, now into scenes of conflict, now up paths that are rough and stony, and sometimes into "the green pastures, and beside the still waters." The power of a Church to hold fast the" truth once delivered unto the saints, "and yet to receive whatever new forms of truth God may be pleased to unfold from his Word, lies in this presence of Christ with his Church, as a Teacher and Guide, as a "spirit of judgment." III. CHRIST DEALS WITH HIS CHURCH WITH A VIEW TO ITS AND ITS DEFENCE. He not only cleanses and teaches, he also keeps. "Upon all her glory shall be a defense." We may lovingly submit to all his chastenings and corrections, for over all the glory of his cleansing shall be his defense. It shall never be destructive. We shall be kept through it all. We may wait on all Divine teachings, and go forth to all Christian duties; perils may be round about us, but over all the glory of his guiding there shall be a defense. God shall keep us safely. His "mountains are round about Jerusalem from henceforth, and even forevermore." He does not mean by his dealings to remove the candlestick out of his place, only to make the flame burn clearer and brighter. He is but keeping it safe until the great time of removals, when it may take its place, and shine forever among the lamps of the heavenly sanctuary.—R.T. Isaiah 5:1-7 ISRAEL REBUKED BY THE PARABLE OF A . This chapter stands in a certain sense alone, neither closely connected with what precedes nor with what follows, excepting that it breathes throughout a tone of denunciation. There is also a want of connection between its parts, the allegory of the first section being succeeded by a series of rebukes for sins, expressed in the plainest language, and the rebukes being followed by a threat of punishment, also expressed with plainness. The resemblance of the parable with which the chapter opens to one of those delivered by our Lord, and recorded in the three synoptic Gospels, has been frequently noticed. Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my Well-beloved. The prophet sings to Jehovah a song concerning his vineyard. The song consists of eight lines, beginning with "My Well-beloved," and ending with "wild grapes." It is in a lively, dancing measure, very unlike the general style of Isaiah’s poetry. The name "Well-beloved" seems to be taken by the prophet from the Song of Songs, where it occurs above twenty times. It well expresses the feeling of a loving soul towards its Creator and Redeemer. A song of my Well-beloved. Bishop Lowth translates "A song of loves," and Mr. Cheyne "A love-song;" but this requires an alteration of the text, and is unsatisfactory from the fact that the song which follows is not a "love-song." May we not understand the words to mean "a song concerning my Well-beloved in respect of his vineyard?" Touching his vineyard. Israel is compared to a "vine" in the Psalms (Psalms 80:8-16), and the Church of God to a "garden" in Canticles (So Son 4:12; Son 5:1); perhaps also to a "vineyard" in the same book (So Son 8:12). Isaiah may have had this last passage in his mind. My Beloved hath a vineyard; rather, had a vineyard (ἀμπελὼνἑγενήθητῷἠγαπημένῳ, LXX.). In a very fruitful hill. So the passage is generally understood, since keren, horn, is used for a height by the Arabs (as also by the Germans, e.g. Matterhorn, Wetterhorn, Aarhorn, etc.), and "son of oil" is a not unlikely Orientalism for "rich" or "fruitful." With the "hill" of this passage compare the "mountain" of Isaiah 2:2, both passages indicating that the Church of God is set on aft eminence, and "cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). Isaiah 5:2 He fenced it. So the LXX; the Vulgate, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Rosenmüller, Lowth, Kay. Gesenius, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne prefer to translate, "he dug it over;" while the Revisers of 1885 have suggested, "he made a trench about it." The word occurs only in this place, and has no cognates in Hebrew. And gathered out the stones (comp. Isaiah 62:10). In the stony soil of Palestine, to collect the surface stones into heaps, or build them into walls, is of primary necessity for the improvement of the land. Conversely the stones were put back, and scattered over the land, by those who wished to "mar" it (2 Kings 3:19, 2 Kings 3:25). Planted it with the choicest vine (comp. Genesis 49:11; Jeremiah 2:21). The sorek seems to have been a particular kind of vine, reckoned superior to others. The etymology of the word indicates that it was of a deep red color. Built a tower (comp. Matthew 21:33). Towers had to be built in gardens, orchards, and vineyards, that watch might be kept from them against thieves and marauders (see 1 Kings 17:9; 1 Kings 18:8; 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4, etc.). Made a wine-press; literally, dug a winepress. The excavation was made to contain a vat, above which was the "press," worked by men, who wrung the liquor out of a great bag containing the grapes. (See the Egyptian rock-paintings, passim, where the operation is represented repeatedly.) It brought forth wild grapes. The natural, not the cultivated fruit, a worthless product. Isaiah 5:3 The prophet’s "song" here ends, and Jehovah himself takes the word. As if the story told in the parable had been a fact, he calls on the men of Judah and Jerusalem to "judge between him and his vineyard." Compare Nathan’s appeal to David by the parable of the ewe lamb (2 Samuel 12:1-4). Isaiah 5:4 What could have been done more? Comp. 2 Kings 17:13 and 2 Chronicles 36:15, where God is shown to have done all that was possible to reclaim his people: "Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets;" "And the Lord God of their fathers sent unto them by his messengers, rising up early, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy." Isaiah 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you; rather, and now, I pray you, let me tell yon. The address is still smooth and persuasive up to the word "vineyard." Then there is a sudden change; the style becomes abrupt, the tone fierce and menacing. "Let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: break down its hedge, that it be grazed on; destroy its wall, that it be trampled underfoot," etc. The hedge … the wall. Vine-yards were usually protected either by a hedge of thorns, commonly of the prickly pear, or else by a wall; but the rabbis say that in some cases, for additional security, they were surrounded by both. God had given his vineyard all the protection possible. Isaiah 5:6 I will lay it waste; literally, I will make it a desolation (comp. Isaiah 7:19, where a cognate term occurs). Active ravage is not so much pointed at, as the desolation which comes from neglect. There shall come up briers and thorns. The natural produce of neglected ground in Palestine (see Proverbs 24:31). The "thorns and briers" symbolize vices of various kinds, the natural produce of the human soul, if God leaves it to itself. The words are scarcely to be taken literally, though it is probably true that "no country in the world has such variety and abundance of thorny plants as Palestine in its present desolation". I will also command the clouds. Here at last disguise is thrown off, and the speaker manifestly appears as Jehovah, who can alone "command the clouds." The "rain" intended is probably that of his gracious influences. Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard, etc. The full explanation of the parable follows immediately on the disclosure in Isaiah 5:6. The vineyard is "Israel," or rather "Judah;" the fruit expected from it, "judgment and righteousness;" the wild grapes which alone it had produced, "oppression" and the "cry" of the distressed. His pleasant plan;: literally, the plant of his delights; i.e. the plantation in which he had so long taken delight. He looked for judgment, etc. Gesenius has attempted to give the verbal antithesis of the Hebrew, which is quite lost in our version— "Er harrete auf Recht, und siehe da Unrecht, Auf Gerechtigkeit, und siehe da Schlechtigkeit." Isaiah 5:8-24 THE SIX WOES. After the general warning conveyed to Israel by the parable of the vineyard, six sins are particularized as those which have especially provoked God to give the warning. On each of these woe is denounced. Two have special punishments assigned to them (Isaiah 5:8-17); the remainder are joined in one general threat of retribution (Isaiah 5:18-24). Isaiah 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house. This is the first woe. It is pronounced on the greed which leads men to continually enlarge their estates, without regard to their neighbors’ convenience. Nothing is said of any use of unfair means, much less of violence in dispossessing the former proprietors. What is denounced is the selfishness of vast accumulations of land in single bands, to the detriment of the rest of the community. The Jewish law was peculiarly inimical to this practice (Numbers 27:1-11; Numbers 33:54; 1 Kings 21:4); but perhaps it is not without reason that many writers of our own time object to it on general grounds. Till there be no place; literally, till want of place; i.e. till there is no room for others. A hyperbole, doubtless, but marking a real national inconvenience. That they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth; rather, that ye may dwell by yourselves in the midst of the land. The great landlords wished to isolate themselves; they disliked neighbors; they would fain "dwell by themselves," without neighbors to trouble them. Uzziah seems, by what is said of his possessions (2 Chronicles 26:10), to have been one of the greatest sinners in respect of the accumulation of land. Isaiah 5:9 Either something has fallen out in the first clause of this verse, or there is a most unusual ellipse of the verb "said" which our translators have supplied, very properly. There seems to be nothing emphatic in the words, "on mine ears" (see Isaiah 22:14; Ezekiel 9:1, Ezekiel 9:5; Ezekiel 10:13). Many houses shall be desolate. The greed of adding house to house will be punished by the death of those who have so sinned, and the extinction of their families, either through war, or through a more direct divine judgment. Isaiah 5:10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath. The greed of adding field to field will he punished by the curse of barrenness, which God will send upon the laud. Dr. Kay-calculates that ten acres (Roman) of vineyard ought to yield upon the average five hundred baths (or four thousand gallons) instead of one bath (eight gallons). An homer … an ephah. The "ephah" was the tenth-part of a "homer" (Ezekiel 45:11). Corn lands should return only one-tenth part of the seed sown in them. Isaiah 5:11 Woe unto them that … follow strong drink. We have here the second woe. It is pronounced on drunkenness and revelry. Drunkenness is an infrequent Oriental vice; but it seems to have been one whereto many among the Jews were at all times prone (see Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 23:29-32; Ecclesiastes 10:17; Hosea 4:11; Isaiah 28:7, etc.). Even the priests and the soi-disant prophets erred through strong drink and were swallowed up of wine" (Isaiah 28:7). That rise up early in the morning. Great banquets were held by the "princes" and "nobles," beginning at an early hour (Ecclesiastes 10:10), and accompanied by music of an exciting kind (Amos 6:5, Amos 6:6), which were "continued until night," or rather, "into the night" (Revised Version), and terminated in general drunkenness, perhaps in general licentiousness. (See Proverbs 23:27-30 and Hosea 4:11 for the connection of inebriety with whoredom.) Two kinds of intoxicating liquor seem to have been consumed at these banquets, viz. ordinary grape wine, and a much stronger drink, which is said to have been "made of dates, pomegranates, apples, honey, barley, and other ingredients," which was known as shekar (Greek, σίκερα), and is called "strong drink" in the Authorized Version. Till wine inflame them; or, the wine inflaming them. Isaiah 5:12 The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe. It is difficult to identify the Hebrew instruments of music with modern names; but there seems to be no doubt that the kinnor was a sort of harp, and the khalib a sort of pipe. The nebel, generally rendered by "psaltery," but hero and in Isaiah 14:11 by "viol," was a stringed instrument played with the fingers (Josephus); perhaps a lyre, perhaps a sort of dulcimer. The toph, here translated "tabret," and elsewhere often "timbrel," was most likely a tambourine. All four instruments had in the earlier times been dedicated to the worship of Jehovah (1 Samuel 10:5); now they were employed to inflame men’s passions at feasts. They regard not the work of the Lord. The "work of Jehovah" is his manifestation of himself in history, more especially in the history of his chosen people (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 92:4; Psalms 111:3, etc.). A pious Israelite was ever marveling at all that God had done for his nation (Deuteronomy 32:7-14; Joshua 24:2-13; 1 Chronicles 16:12-22; Ezra 9:7-9; Nehemiah 9:7-31; Psalms 68:7-28; Psalms 78:10-72; Psalms 105:5-45; Psalms 106:7-46; Psalms 136:5-24, etc.). The men of Isaiah’s generation had ceased to care for things of the past, and devoted themselves to enjoying the present. Neither consider, etc. (comp. Isaiah 1:3, "My people doth not consider"). The verb used is not, however, the same in the Hebrew. Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity. "Are gone" or "have gone" is "the perfect of prophetic certainty" (Cheyne). The prophet sees the captivity as a thing that had already taken place. It as an appropriate punishment for drunkenness and revelry to be carried off into servitude, and in that condition to suffer, as slaves so often did, hunger and thirst. Because they have no knowledge; or, unawares, without foreseeing it (so Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Ewald, Delitzsch, Cheyne). Their honorable men; literally, their glory, for "their glorious ones"—the abstract for the concrete. Are famished; literally, sons of famine; i.e. "starvelings." Their multitude; or, their noisy crowd (Kay)—the "throng of voluptuaries" who frequented the great banquets of Isa 5:11, Isaiah 5:12. Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself; rather, hath enlarged her desire (comp. Habakkuk 2:5). "Hell" here represents the underworld, into which souls descended at death, not yet perhaps recognized as comprehending two divisions, but regarded much as the Greeks regarded their Hades—as a general receptacle of the dead, dark and silent. Hades (Sheol), not viewed as a person, but personified by poetical license, "enlarges her desire" and "opens her mouth" to receive the crowd that is approaching the crowd of those who in captivity succumb to the hardships of their lot. Their glory; literally, her glory—the glory, i.e; of Jerusalem, which is especially in the prophet’s thoughts. "Her glory, and her crowd, and her pomp, and he that is joyful in her, shall go down" into the sheol that gapes for them. Isaiah 5:15 And the mean man, hall be brought down; rather, so the mean man is brought down; i.e. in this way, by the Captivity and the consequent sufferings and deaths, both high and low are brought down and humbled, while God is exalted in man’s sight. The future is throughout spoken of as present (comp. Isaiah 2:9, Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:17). Isaiah 5:16 God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness; rather, the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness; i.e. by executing this righteous judgment on Jerusalem the holy God shows his holiness. Isaiah 5:17 Then shall the lambs feed. Dr. Kay takes the "lambs" to be the remnant of Israel that survived the judgment, who will feed freely, cared for by the good Shepherd; but the parallelism so generally affected by Isaiah seems to require a meaning more consonant with the later clause of the verse. Most commentators, therefore, expound the passage literally, "Then shall lambs feed [on the desolated estates of the covetous]" (see verses 8-10). After their manner; or, after their own guidance; i.e. at their pleasure, as they list (so Lowth and Rosenmüller). And the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. Goim, i.e. nomad tribes, shall consume the produce of the wasted fields once possessed by the Hebrew grandees. Ewald proposes to make the verse immediately follow verse 10; but this is not necessary. The occupation of their lands by wandering tribes, Arabs and others, was a part of the punishment that fell on all the nobles, not on those only who accumulated large estates. Isaiah 5:18 Woe unto them, etc. We come here to the third woe, which is pronounced against those who openly pile up sin upon sin, and scoff at God. These men are represented as "drawing iniquity with cords of vanity," i.e. dragging after them a load of sin by cords that seem too weak; and then as "sinning with a cart-rope," which is a mere variant expression of the same idea. Mr. Cheyne quotes from the Rig-Veda, as a parallel metaphor, the phrase, "Undo the rope of sin." Isaiah 5:19 That say, Let him make speed, etc. Instead of trembling at the coming judgment of God, which Isaiah has announced, they pretend to desire its immediate arrival; they want to "see it." They walk, not by faith, but by sight. At the bottom of this pretended desire there lies a complete incredulity. The counsel; or, purpose, as in Isaiah 14:26. Of the Holy One of Israel. They use one of Isaiah’s favorite titles of God (see note on Isaiah 1:4), not from any belief in him, but rather in a mocking spirit. Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good. This is the fourth woe. There are persons who gloss over evil deeds and evil habits by fair-sounding names, who call cowardice caution, and rashness courage, niggardliness thrift, and wasteful profusion generosity. The same men are apt also to call good evil; they brand prudence with the name of cunning, call meekness want of proper spirit, sincerity rudeness, and firmness obstinacy. This deadness to moral distinctions is the sign of deep moral corruption, and fully deserves to have a special "woe" pronounced against it. That put darkness for light. "Light" and "darkness" symbolize good and evil throughout Scripture (1 Samuel 2:9; 2 Samuel 22:29; Job 29:3; Psalms 112:4; Proverbs 2:13; Ecclesiastes 2:13; Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 6:22; John 1:19; Acts 26:18; Romans 13:12; 1 Corinthians 4:5, etc.). They are sometimes mere synonyms, as here; but sometimes they express rather the intellectual side of morality. Bitter for sweet. More symbolism, but of a rarer kind. Jeremiah calls wickedness "bitter" (Jeremiah 2:9; Jeremiah 4:18), and the psalmist calls the judgments of God" sweet" (Psalms 109:1-31:103). But the terms are not often used with any moral bearing. Isaiah 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes. The fifth woe. Self-conceit is the antithesis of humility; and as humility is, in a certain sense, the crowning virtue, so self-conceit is a sort of finishing touch put to vice. While a man thinks humbly of himself, there is a chance that he may repent and amend. When he is "wise in his own eyes," he does not see why he should change. Isaiah 5:22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine. The sixth woe seems at first sight a repetition of the second. But there is this difference, that the drinkers in the present verse do not succumb to their liquor, or remain at the banquet all day, but proceed to the business of their lives, attend courts and judge causes, but with brain obfuscated and moral vision bedimmed, so that they are easily induced to pervert justice on receipt of a bribe. The sixth woe may be considered to be pronounced rather upon their corruption than upon their drinking, and so to be really quite distinct from the second (comp. Proverbs 31:4, Proverbs 31:5). Isaiah 5:23 Justify the wicked; i.e. "decide his cause in his favor," declare him to be right, and his adversary wrong. For reward; or, for a bribe. Take away the righteousness of the righteous; i.e. "declare him to be in the wrong by deciding his cause against him." Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, etc. A general judgment is now pronounced against all the forms of wickedness enumerated—a judgment of ruin or destruction. It is expressed by a mixed metaphor, or "combination of two figures," the former taken from the burning of stubble and withered grass by the farmer when he is cleaning his fields, the latter from the natural decay of a blossoming plant or tree. In either case the destruction is complete, but in the one it arises from an external force, fire; in the other from an internal failure of vitality. The ruin of Israel would include both; it would be brought about by an internal cause, their corruption, and an external one, God’s anger. As the fire devoureth the stubble; literally, as a tongue of fire eats up stubble. "Tongue of fire" is an unusual phrase, occurring in all Scripture only here and in Acts 2:3. But it well depicts the power of fire to lick up clean all that comes in its way. Isaiah elsewhere notes the analogy, making it the foundation of simile (Isaiah 30:27). And the flame consumeth the chaff; rather, and as dry grass sinks down inflame. The withered grass of pastures was burnt by farmers to improve the after-growth (Lucan, ’Pharsal.,’ 9.182). Their root shall be as rottenness (comp. Hosea 9:16). The root is the last thing to decay. When that fails, the case is desperate. Judah’s "root" did not utterly fail (see Isaiah 11:1); but the present warning is to individuals and classes (verses 8, 11, 18, 20-23), not to the nation. Their blossom shall go up as dust; i.e. their external glory shall crumble and waste away. Because they have cast away the Law. All the sins of Israel had this one thing in common—they were transgressions of the Law of God as delivered to them by Moses, and enforced upon them by the prophetical order. Despised the word; or, the speech. Imrah is rarely used by Isaiah. It does not refer to the written "Word," but to the declarations of God by the mouth of his prophets (see Isaiah 28:23; Isaiah 32:9). Isaiah 5:25-30 THE NATURE OF THE COMING . Hints have been already given that the judgment which is to fall on the nation is a foreign war, or a series of foreign wars (see Isaiah 3:25; Isaiah 5:13). But now for the first time a terrible invasion, in which many nations will participate, is clearly announced. At first the imagery is obscure (Isaiah 5:25), but it soon grows more distinct. "Nations" are summoned to the attack; a vast army comes, and comes" with speed swiftly" (Isaiah 5:26); then their array is described (Isaiah 5:27, Isaiah 5:28); and finally their ravin is compared to that of lions, and their success in catching and carrying off their prey is prophesied (Isaiah 5:29). In the last verse of the chapter the prophet falls back into vaguer imagery, comparing the roar of the invaders to the roaring of the sea, and the desolated land to one seen under the gloom of a preternatural darkness (Isaiah 5:30). Isaiah 5:25 The threats of this verse are all vague and general, for there is no reason to suppose that the phrase," the hills did tremble, "refers to an actual earthquake. That there was an earthquake in the reign of Uzziah is, indeed, clear from Amos 1:1; but it was probably a thing of the past when Isaiah wrote this chapter, and he is spiking of the future. A "trembling of the hills" is, in prophetic language, a commotion among the chief men of the land. He hath stretched forth his hand. Again the "perfect of prophetic certitude." Their carcasses were torn; rather, were as refuse (comp. Lamentations 3:45). There would be many slain, and lying unburied, in the streets of Jerusalem. For all this, etc. (comp. Isaiah 9:12, Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 9:21, and Isaiah 10:4, where the same words are used as a refrain). The words imply that God’s judgment upon Judah will not be a single stroke, but a continuous smiting, covering some considerable space of time. Isaiah 5:26 And he will lift up an ensign. Mr. Cheyne translates, "a signal," and would so render the Hebrew word in Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 62:10. But "ensigns" or "standards" were in use both among the Egyptians and among the Assyrians before the time of Isaiah, and are, therefore, likely to have been in use among the Hebrews. The standards, however, of this early period were not flags, as Jarchi supposes, but solid constructions of wood or metal, exhibiting some emblem or other. God lifts up his standard to draw the nations together, indicating thereby that they are to fight his battles. And will hiss. "Hissing" is said to have been practiced by bee-keepers to draw their bees out of the hives in the morning, and bring them home again from the fields at nightfall (Cyril, ad loc.). God will collect an army against Israel, as such persons collect their bees (comp. Isaiah 7:18). From the end of the earth; i.e. "to bring them from the end of the earth." The nations are, or at least many of them are, extremely distant, as Elamites from the Persian Gulf (Isaiah 22:6), and perhaps Medes from beyond Zagros. They shall come; literally, he cometh; showing that, though the nations are many, they are united under one head, which here is probably the Assyrian power. With speed swiftly (comp. Joe 3:4). The reference is not so much to the speed with which the Assyrians marched, as to the immediate response which they would make to God’s call, Isaiah 5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble. None shall lag behind on the march, none fall and be disabled. None shall slumber. They shall scarcely give themselves time for necessary repose. Isaiah 5:28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. The special weapon of the Assyrian soldiers is the bow. From the king in his chariot to the light-armed recruit just pressed into the service, all fight mainly with this weapon, more particularly in the earlier times. Swords and spears are also known, but comparatively little used. Their horses’ hoofs … like flint. Hard, strong, and solid, as was most necessary when shoeing was unknown. Their wheels like a whirlwind. Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:24) is represented as boasting of the "multitude of his chariots;" and both the sculptures and the inscriptions of Assyria show that the chariot throe was numerous, and was regarded as more important than any other. The king always went to battle in a chariot. For the comparison of the rush of chariot-wheels to a whirlwind, see below, Isaiah 66:15; and comp. Jeremiah 4:13). Isaiah 5:29 Their roaring shall be like a lion; rather, like a lioness, which the Hebrews appear to have regarded as fiercer than a lion (see Genesis 44:9; Numbers 24:9; Habakkuk 2:11). The Assyrian armies probably advanced to the combat with loud shouts and yells (see Jeremiah 2:15). Yea, they shall roar; rather, growl. The word is different from the one used previously, and may express the "deep growl" with which the lion springs upon his prey (see Dr. Kay’s note, ad loc.). Shall carry it away safe. Sennacherib says in one of his inscriptions, that he carried off to Nineveh 200, 150 captives on his first expedition against Jerusalem. Isaiah 5:30 Like the roaring of the sea. Not content with one simile, the prophet has recourse to a second. "The noise of the Assyrian army shall be like that of a raging sea;" or, perhaps, "After he has carried off his prey, the Assyrian shall still continue to growl and threaten, like a stormy sea." If one look unto the land, etc. If Israel turn its gaze from Assyria to its own land, it sees nothing but a dark prospect—darkness and distress, all light shrouded amid clouds and deep obscurity. The text and the construction are, both of them, uncertain; but the general meaning can scarcely be other than this. God’s care for man, and man’s ingratitude. Three times has God made himself a vineyard upon earth, planted a plantation of choice vines, endued by him with the capacity of bringing forth excellent fruit, fenced his vineyard round with care, cleared its soil of stones, pruned its superfluous shoots, hoed out the weeds from between the vine-stocks, bestowed on it all possible tendance, and looked to see a suitable result; and three times has the result, for which he had every right to look, not followed. I. THE FIRST —THE WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD. Man was placed in a world which God saw to be "very good" (Genesis 1:31); he was endued with excellent powers; he was given dominion over the beasts; he was bidden to "increase and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28); he was guarded from a thousand dangers; he was fenced round by the Almighty arms; God’s Spirit "strove with him" (Genesis 6:3), chastened him, warned him, spoke through his conscience, and showed him the right path to walk in. What more could he have done to his first vineyard, that he did not do to it? Yet the time came when he "looked upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12); looked for the fruits of what he had done; looked for "judgment and righteousness." And what did he find when he looked? "The wickedness of man was great in the earth; every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). "The earth was corrupt before God; all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth …. the earth was full of violence" (Genesis 6:11, Genesis 6:12). The vineyard that should have brought forth grapes had brought forth wild grapes. God’s care for man had been met by man with ingratitude towards God; and it only remained that God should take vengeance, and lay his vineyard waste, and so vindicate his justice. II. THE SECOND —THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. This is the vineyard whereof Isaiah especially speaks. God planted his second vineyard, Israel, on the "very fruitful" upland of Palestine—"a land of corn and wine, of bread and vineyards, of oil olive and of honey’ (2 Kings 18:32); "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein they might eat bread without scarceness, and needed not to lack anything; a land whose stones were iron, and out of whose hills they might dig brass" (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). He fenced his vineyard round with laws and ordinances morally, as with mountains and deserts topographically; he cleared out from it the stones that marred its soil, the wicked nations—"stones of offense"—that once dwelt amid his people; he planted it with choice vine-stocks, the children of "faithful Abraham;" he built a tower—Jerusalem—in the midst of it, and made therein a wine-press—the temple—where he would have the gifts and offerings of the people, their good works, laid up in store; and he then "looked that his vineyard should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." Oppression, wrong, robbery, murder, the form of religion without the power, covetousness, drunkenness, vanity, impurity,—these were what his eyes beheld when he cast them on his chosen people, who were "a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that were corrupters" (Isaiah 1:4). Greater benefits than those bestowed on the first vineyard had been met by a deeper ingratitude; and now the time was coming when the second vineyard would be laid waste, withered up, and utterly "ruined" (Isaiah 3:8). III. THE THIRD —THE CHURCH. God has yet planted a third vineyard, which he calls "his Church" (Matthew 16:18), the assembly of his "selected ones." He has not fixed it in any particular land, but has given it the whole fruitful earth for its habitation. Yet has he fenced it round, and separated it off from the rest of mankind by laws and rites and ordinances, which are peculiar, and made it a world within a world, a society within a society. He has gathered out from it the stones of many heresies; he has planted it with choice vines, the "chosen vessels" whom his grace has from time to time converted from unbelief to the true faith; he has given it for its "tower" of strength himself, and for its "wine-press" the book of life, in which he records its good deeds. And now, what is the result? Has his constant, tender care awakened the gratitude which it ought to have awakened? Has his Church brought forth such fruit as might have been anticipated? Is it not to be feared that even now his eye, resting on his third vineyard with its searching gaze, looks for something which it does not find—demands "grapes," and sees little but "wild grapes?" Isaiah 5:8-17 The appropriateness of God’s punishments. Many of the punishments of sin follow in the way of natural consequence, and these are generally acknowledged to be fitting and appropriate; e.g.— I. IS BY WANT. "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Labor naturally produces wealth, or at any rate value of some kind; and those who work the hardest naturally acquire the most. The idle cannot complain if they have few of this world’s goods, since they have made no efforts to obtain them. They are fitly punished for their waste of time in sloth by the want of those good things which they might have procured by diligence in toil. The wise man will not give indiscriminate relief to the poor and needy. There is much poverty which is the simple natural result and suitable punishment of idle "loafing" habits. II. IS BY LOSS OF MENTAL POWER, AND IN SOME CASES BY A MALADY. The drunkard voluntarily confuses his mental faculties, and suspends their healthy operation, each time that he indulges in the sin whereto he is addicted. What can be more appropriate than that he should be punished by a permanent diminution of his intellectual vigor, a loss of nerve, promptitude, and decision? He also deranges his bodily functions by causing an undue flow of blood to the brain, and an undue excitement of the nerves whose connection is so close with the cerebral tissues. It is most natural and most fitting that such ill treatment of these delicate tissues should result in permanent injury to them, and cause the dreadful malady known to medical science as delirium tremens. The drunkard "receives within himself" a most appropriate "recompense of his error" (Romans 1:27). III. LUST IS BY A DISEASE. The nature of the subject here is such as to preclude much illustration. But what can be more appropriate than the punishment of the most foul and filthy of sins by a disease which is foul and filthy and loathsome, alike to others and to the object of it? The body marred and scarred, the blood infected, the whole constitution undermined, form not only a just, but a most fitting, punishment of one, the peculiarity of whose sin is that he "sins against his own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18). In the case of Israel special national sins were punished by special judgments, also peculiarly appropriate; e.g.— I. THE GREED WHICH JOINED HOUSE TO HOUSE AND FIELD TO FIELD was punished by an invasion which caused the destruction and ruin of the annexed houses (Isaiah 5:9), and the desolation of the annexed estates. The ruin of the vineyards was such that it was scarcely worth while to gather the produce, the continued devastation of the corn lands such that the harvest did not nearly equal the seed corn. Nomad tribes pastured their flocks on the over-large estates, and the so-called owners derived little or no benefit from their acquisitions (Isaiah 5:10, Isaiah 5:17). II. DRUNKEN REVELRY was punished by the captivity of the revelers, who were carried off as slaves into a strange land, and there experienced the usual fate of slaves, which included bitter experience of hunger and thirst (Isaiah 5:13). The dole allowed the slave was seldom more than sufficient to keep body and soul together. His drink was water. Kept to hard labor on imperial palaces and other "great works," he lost all cheerfulness, all lightness of heart, all love of song or music. Asked by his taskmasters to "sing them one of the songs of Zion," he declined sadly; the harp of his revels was "hung upon the willows" of Babylon (Psalms 137:2-4). God’s judgments upon other nations have often had the same character of appropriateness. Egypt, whose great sin had been pride (Ezekiel 29:4), was condemned to be "the basest of the kingdoms" (Isaiah 5:15); never destroyed, but always subject to one people or another—Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks. Rome, the most cruel and bloody of conquering states, was made a prey, first to bloody tyrants of her own race, and then to a succession of fierce and savage northern hordes—Goths, Huns, Vandals, Burgundians, Heruli, Lombards—who spared neither age nor sex, and delighted in carnage and massacre. Macedonia, raised to greatness by her military system, and using it unsparingly to crush all her rivals, is ruined by being brought into contact with a military system superior to her own. Spain, elevated to the first position in Europe by her colonial greatness, is corrupted by her colonial wealth, and sinks faster than she had risen. States formed by conquest usually perish by conquest; governments founded on revolution are, for the most part, destroyed by revolution. The retributive justice which shows itself in the world’s history does not consist in the mere fact that sin is punished, but rather in the remarkable adaptation of the punishment which is dealt out to the sin that has provoked it. Isaiah 5:25-29 Wicked men used by God as instruments for working out his purposes. The psalmist declares the wicked to be "God’s sword" (Psalms 17:13). In a later chapter Isaiah calls Assyria "the rod of God’s anger" (Isaiah 10:5). Nothing is more clearly set forth in the prophetical writings than the fact that— I. NATIONS ARE RAISED UP BY GOD TO THE NATIONS THAT ARE HIS ENEMIES. 1. Assyria was "the axe" with which God hewed down offending peoples (Isaiah 10:14), "the rod’ wherewith he smote them. God exalted her, in order that she might "lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps" (Isaiah 37:26). This was her raison d’etre, the purpose of her existence (Isaiah 37:26). She was sent against one openly wicked or "hypocritical nation’ after another, and given a charge "to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire in the streets" (Isaiah 10:6). 2. Babylon was raised up for the castigation of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:7), of Egypt (Ezekiel 29:19, Ezekiel 29:20; Ezekiel 30:10-26), and of Judah (Jeremiah 25:9). 3. Media and Persia were raised up to work the will of God upon Assyria and Babylon (Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2; Jeremiah 51:11, etc.). 4. Greece and Macedon were raised up to punish Persia and Media (Daniel 8:5-8); and so on. Each of these nations was ungodly—full of impurity, pride, selfishness, greed, cruelty. Yet God made use of them for his purposes, and does not scruple to call their rulers "his servants," "his shepherds," "those who performed all his pleasure" (Isaiah 44:28; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 27:6, etc.). II. BAD MEN ARE EXALTED TO POWER TO BOTH NATIONS AND . Samson, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar seem to have been rather instruments for punishing nations and states. But such men as Joab, Jehu, Hazael, effected God’s purposes mainly with respect to individuals. God made use of them, and of their sinful tempers, to execute vengeance upon certain special offenders. Jehu was anointed king by God’s prophet to punish Jezebel and the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:2-26; 2 Kings 10:1-11). Fired by ambition, he rushed into crime, and "the blood of Jezreel" was afterwards avenged upon his house (Hosea 1:4). But for Joab the crimes of Abner and of Absalom would probably have gone unpunished. He may be viewed as God’s instrument to requite their ill deeds; but as he punished the one treacherously and the other against his king’s commands, their blood, or at any rate that of Abner, "returned upon the head of Joab" (1 Kings 2:33). Hazael’s case is like that of Jehu, only not set before us with such distinctness. He was "God’s sword" to the wicked Benhadad; but not thereby excused. God turns the wickedness of men into particular channels, making it effect his ends; but it is wickedness none the less. BY E. JOHNSON The parable of the vineyard. I. NOTICE THE ART OF THE PARABLE. It has been remarked, "A proverb finds him who a sermon flies." Pictures from nature are acceptable to all, especially of that nature which is familiar to the imagination of the listener. Through the imagination we may glide into our listener’s heart and conscience. The truth comes with much more power when it is made to glance from an object intermediate between the mind and its naked reality. A great secret of teaching is to leave the learner much of the work to do. Here, as he looks upon the bright picture drawn by the prophet, the wrappings of the parable gradually fall aside, and the truth itself stands out. II. THE PICTURE OF THE . The close touch of accuracy suits the parable. Then follows a short song. 1. Situation of the vineyard. It lay on "the horn of Ben-Shamen," i.e. son of fatness; on a fertile height. The Roman poet sung that the vine loves the open sunny hills (Virgil,’ Georg.,’ 2:113). The description is of fruitful Canaan, flowing with milk, honey, and wine. We may think of the beautiful slopes of the Rhine. 2. The care expended on the vineyard. It had been fenced, the stones had been cleared from it, and it had been planted with the choicest vines. Some take the word rendered "fenced" in the sense of digged about, thoroughly digged. The watchtower had also been set up in the midst of the field, a post of observation and of guard against the jackals and the foxes in the ripening time. 3. The thankless soil. The vine-dresser’s hope is deceived; for, instead of the true grapes wild ones only appear, or, as the LXX. render בךבםפחבע, thorns. Gesenius and others think the plant meant is the monk’s-hood or nightshade, which produces berries like the grapes in appearance, but poisonous. If we compare the story in 2 Kings 4:39-41, also Deuteronomy 32:32, Deuteronomy 32:33 ("vine of Sodom, grapes of gall, bitter clusters"), this will seem probable. The Arabs call them wolf-grapes. The idea is caught by one of our poets when he sings of "Dead Sea fruits that tempt the taste, And turn to ashes on the lips." III. . 1. Jehovah’s appeal. It is an appeal to memory and to conscience. What more could God have done? Israel had been selected for special service and fruitfulness—had been fixed in a fertile land, her life and worship centered in the holy city. What was that city now? A scene of order, morality, good government? Alas! a "den of thieves," a scene of misery and anarchy. Instead of the genuine grapes of a national life strong and pure, the poisonous berries of luxury and vice. Such must be the result where man grafts his own pride or folly upon the stock of conscience. 2. Jehovah’s denunciation. The thick thorn fence shall be removed, and the vineyard shall, become a prey to every trampling beast and invader. The hand of the pruner and the digger shall be stayed, the clouds shall suspend their gift of rain. Every protection and every blessing shall be withdrawn, and the thankless nation shall earn its appropriate wages. Having deserted God, God will now desert her. So must it ever be with the nation and the individual. Unless there is a constant disposition to redress discovered wrong, to reform manifest evil, the doom must be felt. "Thy vineyard shall be wasted, thy candlestick taken from its place" (Revelation 2:5). 3. The reason of the judgment. In poignant language, by the use of paronomasia, or play on words, the prophet announces the ground of the Divine decision. He waited for Mish-path, i.e. Might, and behold Mispath, i.e. Might; for Zedakah, i.e. Exactness, and lo Zeaqach, i.e. Exaction. A bitter intensity suggests this form of speech. IV. . In our sinful miseries God is calling us to account. Our life-failure, whose fault is it? Does not Nature pour her beauty around us, instruct us from childhood, fill our sense and fancy with wonder and joy? Does not the world of men afford us a daily school of experience? Is not every suffering a pruning-knife, every change of life like a cleaning of the ground from weeds and stones? If our lives turn out selfish and vicious, where does the responsibility lie? Where, except in the secret fault that may poison all God’s good? "Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round Parents first season us. Then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws. They send us bound To rules of reason. Holy messengers; Pulpits and Sundays; sorrow dogging sin; Afflictions sorted; anguish of all sizes; Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in! Bibles laid open; millions of surprises; Blessings beforehand; ties of gratefulness; The sounds of glory ringing in our ears; Without, our shame; within, our consciences Angels and grace; eternal hopes and fears 1 Yet all these fences, and their whole array, One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away." ― J. Isaiah 5:8-10 Woe to the covetous. To understand this passage we should bear in mind the truths connected with real property as a condition of national well-being. I. THE OF LANDED IN ISRAEL. According to the Law, each of the twelve tribes was to have its landed possessions, and each particular household was to have its definite portion of the land belonging to the tribe; and this was to be an inalienable heritage. Among an agricultural people it is most necessary that each family should thus have a fixed foothold on the land, a home, a center of toil and acquisition; and that thus its members should be firmly bound to their native land and to their fellow-countrymen. In a conquered land, again, it was equitable that the fields should be divided among those who took part in the burdens of war, and who desired to cultivate the conquered land in peace. In many passages of the Law we find the impress of this institution of real property. In the year of jubilee every man was to be restored to his patrimony (Leviticus 25:13). The land was never to be sold, because in fact it belonged to Jehovah (Isaiah 5:23), and the people were but his stewards. In the interesting case of the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1-11), who had died in the desert, we find it laid down that the children, or nearest relatives of one who had died without coming into his portion, were to possess it in his stead. Again, the men of Reuben and of Gad refused to go to war until every man of them had received his inheritance (Numbers 32:16, sqq.). And Moses agreed to their conditions. In the same book we read the direction, "Ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance" (Numbers 33:54). The land, it will be seen, was considered as in tenure from Jehovah himself, the only landlord. And how attached an Israelite would become to his ancestral estate, is seen from the story of Naboth, who will not give up his even for a better one, and at the king’s request (1 Kings 21:3, sqq.; 2 Kings 9:10, 2 Kings 9:25, sqq.). The virtues of patriotism struck deep root in this relation to the soil of Palestine. These facts help us to understand the moral and national evils springing from selfish greed, which threatened this institution of property, of which the prophet here complains. II. THE VICE OF . The root of the vice is a thorough-going selfishness. The rich men use the means at their command unjustly to absorb the land into their own possession. The result must be the hopeless misery and degradation of the mass of the people. An instructive parallel to the state of things described by the prophet is to be found in the history of Sparta, at the time of the great lawgiver, Lycurgus. Plutarch tells us that the disorders which he found existing in the state arose in great measure from the gross inequality of property, and from the long avarice and rapacity of the rich, who had thus added house to house and field to field. The lawgiver, therefore, redistributed the whole territory of Sparta. In Roman letters we-read allusions to the habit of forming latifundia, or "broad farms," with its unsocial consequences. "How far," indignantly exclaims Seneca, "will ye extend the bounds of your possessions; not content to circumscribe the area of your estates by the sowing of provinces? The broad acres own one lord; the people crowd into a narrow field. The courses of bright streams flow through private estates; great rivers, bounds of great nations, from the source to the mouth, all are yours. And this is nothing unless you have girdled your broad farms with seas; unless across the Hadriatic, the Ionian, and the AEgean your bailiff reigns; unless islands, domiciles of great dukes, are reckoned amongst the commonest of things. Shall there be no lake over which the roofs of your villas hang not? no stream whose banks are not covered by your buildings?". In his beautiful ’Deserted Village,’ Goldsmith says— "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay." Too well we know what inappeasable discontent and seeming incurable misery has been begotten in Ireland of past selfishness and injustice of the few. Surely it is the part of every patriotic Christian man to forward all legislation which throws open God’s land to tillage, and breaks up selfish monopolies. III. THE OF . 1. Its folly is exposed. One would think, from their conduct, that these grasping men desired to dwell alone amidst a waste! But, as the old agricultural poet of Greece says, "The man who frames ills against another frames them against himself, and ill counsel turns out worst for him who devised it. The all-seeing eye of Zeus looks upon these things, and they escape him not". Judgment gets the better of injustice when it comes to the final issue, and the fool who suffers from his avarice knows it to his cost. Like a wronged woman, she passes through the city, bewailing the manners of the people, clothed in mist; for men see not her approach, and know not that she is the cause of their calamities, who have driven her forth by her unjust deeds. Those, continues the poet, who do right by the strangers and the natives of the land—their city flourishes, the people blossom therein; and peace, the nourisher of youths, prevails through the land. To them far-seeing Zeus appoints no bitter war; famine and curse are unknown. The earth produces abundance, the trees drop fruit and honey, the fleeces are heavy on the sheep; and mothers bear a noble offspring. But often a whole city suffers from an evil man, who is a sinner and devises haughty plans. Pestilence and famine come from the hands of the Supreme upon men; the houses are thinned and the people perish. These are close analogies to the great thoughts of our prophet. 2. The appropriate punishment. Those who have grasped at more than their right will find the coveted good dwindling in their hands, or, like a Dead Sea fruit, turning to ashes on their lips. One bucket only will be obtained from the "yoke" of vineyard; one bushel of corn from a quarter’s seed. Thus may we find in nature a profound Scripture, a record and a testimony of Divine law not to be gainsaid. In this day of science perhaps we fix our thought too exclusively on the dependence of man on Nature. There is another side of truth equally important—the dependence of Nature on man. In moral energy, in compliance with the laws of right, we become more and more the masters of Nature, and she smiles back upon us with an aspect of recognition and blessing. In the sloth of our spirit and its corruption from truth we can no longer win the sympathy of the earth; and her groaning aspect reflects and represents a guilty decline of the soul These troths are general; only experience can teach where and how they must be modified in their application.—J. Isaiah 5:11-16 Mirth and mourning. I. -SEEKING. A scene of habitual dissipation is depicted by the prophet. 1. Wine and music are used, not legitimately, to relax the tension of the overwrought mind, but to dispel thought altogether. Sensuous pleasure is made an end and object, though it can never be healthy except in succession to work. "They rise early in the morning to follow the wassail; late into the night are heated by wine." "Guitar, and harp, and tambourine, and flute, and wine is their revel." How wise were the teachings of Plato on the use of music as a means of influence over the mind! He would not permit the employment of "effeminate and convivial’ airs in his ideal state, the lax Ionian and Lydian. He would have only two kinds of tunes; those which represented the tones and accents of the brave man engaged in action, and those which chimed with the devotional and peaceful mood; in short, the tones which reflect the temper of brave men in prosperity and adversity. Makers of harps and dulcimers, and other more elaborate instruments, were not to be maintained in the city. These hints are perhaps too little attended to in our day. Yet there is modern music, e.g. that of the Italian opera in general, which tends to enervate the soul. Rather should we choose to listen to the strains of the great German masters, Beethoven, Handel, Mendelssohn. These men inspire us with lofty moods and religious thoughts. Avoid mean and brainless music, whether so-called secular or sacred. 2. Blindness to the thought and work of God. The most glorious privilege we can enjoy is that of intellectual vision of Divine work in nature and in mankind, the loftiest pleasure that of intellectual sympathy with the Divine mind. But the sensuous pleasure excludes the spiritual. Do men consider what they lose by dimming their perceptions and confusing their intelligence in these lower indulgences? Not on wine and soft music is that "vision and faculty Divine" nourished, by which the prophet and the worshipper enter into the scene of holiest enjoyments, of enrapturing revelations. The operation of the Eternal in the soul and the world goes on silently and secretly, and we need the "purged ear" that we may listen to his voice, the unclouded eye that we may note events which flow from his causation. II. THE OF . 1. Captivity comes suddenly upon these revelers, and they wander forth "unawares," like those who rub their blear eyes after a night’s debauch. They cannot understand what has happened to them. They talk of "strange misfortunes," of inexplicable calamities. But they have an explanation. The decay of a family, or of a class, or of a nation, is as much the result of Divine law as any other form of decay. In exile and suffering men pay the long-due debt for their voluptuous indulgences. The "nobility is spent with hunger, its revel-rout dried up with thirst." The music has to stop. The voice of Jehovah may be heard saying, "Take thou away from me the voice of thy songs; for I will not listen to the melody of thy viols? (Amos 5:23). Those that have put far from them the evil day, lying on ivory couches, luxuriously feasting, singing to the viol, drinking from the flowing bowl, anointed and perfumed, reckless of human suffering around them, shall pass into exile, and darkness and desolation shall reign in the once bright and crowded hall of banqueting (see Amos 6:1-14.). 2. With equal suddenness death shall come upon them, Hades opening its jaws to swallow the uproarious rout of revelers, as in old days the rebellious crew of Korah (Numbers 16:32). There is meaning in the phrase, "The unexpected always happens." To the thoughtless and unprepared it does. But to the thoughtful watchers of the ways of God, and those that meditate on his truth, it may be said that the expected happens, even as the harvest season in nature. III. THE OF MAN AND THE OF GOD. Deep in the prophetic conscience lies this thought—human pride means contempt of God, and human pride needs lowering that God may receive his proper place in men’s thoughts. The Gentile poets in their way reflected this teaching. The man whose thoughts aimed at rivalry with the gods, the man who gave way to hybris, or insolence, was certain to be a mark of Divine displeasure. Cast down to his proper level of weakness, the power of the Eternal makes itself known, in an "awful rose of dawn," upon the conscience of mankind. It is suffering alone that awakens the conscience, and brings sharply to light that dualism of good and evil in the will which we contrive to confuse in thoughtless hours. And only by this internal revelation do we learn to think of One who is sanctity itself, and whose sanctity we, through life’s purging fires, must be brought to share, or perish in the sins we have chosen, the lives we have lived in.—J. Isaiah 5:18-24 Analysis of sin. I. THE VAIN AND WANTON MIND. A singular image is used. Men are described as drawing down upon themselves, as with stout and strong ropes, the burden of sin and guilt. Such is the effect of their mocking jests and speeches. Dramatically, the hearers of the prophet are represented as exclaiming defiantly, "Let his wrath hasten, let it speed, let us see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it I" Amos alludes to the same spirit of the time, of scoffing contempt of the signs and omens of a dread future. "Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah to what end is it for you? the day of Jehovah will be darkness, and not light" (Amos 5:18). Idly do they dream that thus they put far away the evil day which is close at hand (Amos 6:3). "The evil day shall not overtake nor prevent us!" they persist in saying (Amos 9:10). In idle and willful minds superstitions about words are deeply lodged. By insisting that a wished event must take place, they think to bring it about; by repeating of something dreaded, "It shall not happen," to avert it. But mere words have no magic in them. As the incoming tide had no respect for the commands of King Knut’s followers, so neither can the tidal march of moral forces be stayed by defiance or incantations. But our words and wishes have a powerful reflex effect upon our own moods. And this denial in words of God’s truth must in time quite harden the conscience and blind the inner eye for them. We may shake our fist at the growing thunder-cloud, but it will not disappear. We may try to quell a demand for reform by obstinate clamors of, "It shall not be!" but only the more surely will it proceed to accomplishment. II. OF MORAL . This is a further step in the climax and progress of evil. It is indeed a serious reflection—how far we may succeed, by acts of depraved will, in shutting out the light that would stream in upon the mind, or in quenching the light within. Both are at once involved in the sin against intelligence. This is, indeed, the sin against the Holy Ghost—the sin that cannot be forgiven. How solemn are the words of the prophet elsewhere: "It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged away from you till ye die" (Isaiah 22:14)! Another serious question is, how far words may influence thought, and the habit of saying false things disable the mind from seeing the true. South has some powerful sermons from this text, entitled "The fatal force and imposture of words." Though an absolute falsehood cannot live, adulterations of the truth may and do obtain a wide currency, just as adulterations of meat and drink in the half-dishonesties of trade. Every truth comes to us in a certain guise of falsehood; no form of language or other expression is adequate to clothe it. By insisting on the form as if it were the content, the outside as if it were identical with the inside, the part as if it were the whole, we commit ourselves to falsehood rather than to truth. The essence of social falsehoods seems to be in maxims which make the spiritual subordinate to the material. In times of physical comfort and prosperity this is always our danger. We mistake the means of living for the ends. We rest in pleasure, comfort, wealth, instead of making these the temporary standing ground of the spirit, whence it may proceed to higher levels and nobler ends. III. SELF- FOLLY. We never see the full effect of sin, of heart-untruth, until it works itself out in the imagination, filling the mind with a fatuous self-complacency in its own weakness and blindness. The man thinks himself "wise," "intelligent," who, to the piercing gaze of the prophet, is clearly a fool. He thinks himself’ a hero, whose best exploit is to shine at a drinking-bout, and a mighty man because he can play his part at the wassail, says the prophet with keen irony. Meanwhile they are deep in bribery. They would rob the poor of his honesty, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from them. There are towns and villages where we may now see on a small scale all those evils which the prophet exposed in Jerusalem. Evil examples, old and bad custom have so long had their way that a true standard of living seems no longer to be visible. Yet the moral tone may be restored, if there be but one man who will live like the prophet, like a Christian, salting the community by a quiet and continuous witness for rectitude, for the truth of God, and the soul. IV. THE END OF THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER. In a powerful picture the end is depicted as the end to which all that is empty and worthless refuse must come. They are like stubble before the devouring tongue of fire, like blazing hay sinking down in light ashes, like a root struck with decay and rottenness, like flying powdery blossom. Evil is naught, and ends in naught. Those whose "honor has been rooted in dishonor" must perish with the perishing of their root. The decline of once great nations and cities historically proves the prophetic truth. A "name and a shade" is left of Assyria, Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome. But one thing cannot perish: it is the "doctrine of Jehovah, the Word of the Holy One of Israel." And in some "remnant" that Word ever does live, to breed new life in other scenes and ages. The truth, while it slays the rebels, gives immortality to the faithful; "born again, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed."—J. The unappeasable wrath of Jehovah. I. "OUR GOD IS A FIRE." Whether to burn and destroy the moral refuse of a people, to chasten and refine its remnant and elect, he is revealed as the pure Flame. The Gentiles had a deep sense of the national significance of fire, as the pure element not to be united with aught foreign to itself. In their simple way, the hymns of the Veda to Agni, the god of fire, betray this feeling; and, again, the idea, in Greek and Roman religion, of Hestia or Vesta, on whose altar the fire was kept ever burning, who "refused to wed," whose priestesses must be virgins. II. WAR THE SCOURGE OF GOD. Deep has been the sense also of this truth. There is an obscure perception in the minds of men that war, with its attendant horrors, comes as a retribution. Attila the Hun was spoken of as the "scourge of God." To have seen a fair city black with smoking ruins, and corpses lying in its streets, is to have read with ineffaceable impressions the lesson that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." There are moments when the solid base of things seems trembling beneath our feet, the "eternal hills" as floors trembling beneath the awful tread of the Eternal as he "cometh to judge the earth." III. THE OF . It seems as if it could not be exhausted, so vast is the mass of guilt to be purged away. A protracted war, a dragging famine, a prolonged season of ruin, seem, as we say in common speech, "interminable." The broad blue heaven, that seemed in sunny days as a benignant hand outspread above mankind, wears the expression of a stern and relentless frown. Long scores must be followed by long payment. The guilt of centuries cannot be wiped out in a day. Divine judgment may require even the obliteration of a whole people. But the individual may be saved. At no time are Jehovah’s "mercies clean forgotten." In the saddest times, the repentant heart pierces through the gloom to the sanctuary and heart of him who slays to make alive, who by means of war reconciles to himself in Christ Jesus.—J. Isaiah 5:26-30 Foreign invasion. This powerful picture points to the threatened Assyrian invasion. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION III. ISAIAH’S VISION OF GOD UPON HIS THRONE (Isaiah 6:1-13.). Isaiah 6:1-4 THE VISION OF GOD SEEN BY ISAIAH. It is thought by some that this vision, and its sequel, constitute the original call of Isaiah to the prophetical office, and in order of time precede all the other contents of the book. But the position of the "vision" in the book is strongly against this view. Prophets who relate their original call naturally place it in the forefront of their narrative (Jeremiah 1:10; Ezekiel 1:1). It is quite possible, as Bishop Lowth says, that this was "a new designation, to introduce more solemnly a general declaration of the whole course of God’s dispensations in regard to his people, and the fates of the nations." The vision itself may profitably be compared with Ezekiel’s first vision, which it much resembles (Ezekiel 1:4-28). Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died. The year B.C. 759, probably. We cannot determine from the phrase used whether the vision was seen before or after Uzziah’s death. I saw also; rather, then it was that I saw (comp. Exodus 16:6). The Lord. Not "Jehovah," as in Isaiah 6:3 and Isaiah 6:5, but "Adonay," for greater reverence. Sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. The imagery is, of course, taken from the practice of earthly kings. Elaborate thrones were affected by the great monarchs of Egypt and Assyria. Solomon’s throne was perhaps even grander than any of these (see 1 Kings 10:18-20). It was placed at the summit of "six steps," so that its occupant was "high and lifted up" above all his courtiers. His train. Not his train of attendants, but "the skirts of his robe." Flowing robes were commonly worn by great monarchs. Filled the temple; or, the palace. The same word is used in Hebrew for both. Dr. Kay supposes the prophet to be "in vision gazing on the actual temple—to see its veils drawn aside, and instead of the Shechinah enthroned on the cherubim, to behold the King of glory, enthroned on high, the fringes of his royal robe filling the temple, so that no human priest could minister there." But, as Mr. Cheyne observes, "palace is more in harmony with the picture than temple." It is the heavenly palace of the King of kings into which the prophet’s gaze is allowed to penetrate. Isaiah 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims; rather, above him were standing seraphim. The "seraphim" are introduced, not as well known, with the article, but without it, as unknown. The word means "fiery ones," and is supposed to denote the burning love of the blessed spirits spoken of. They appeared to the prophet as standing above the King as he sat upon his throne—"standing" to show their readiness to minister; but why "above him" is not so clear. Perhaps, simply, as those that stand are "above" those that sit; perhaps as ready to fly through infinite space at the bidding of him who was seated in his palace, as it were upon the ground. Their form, as seen by the prophet, appears to have been human, and only distinguished from ordinary humanity by the wings. Thus, though in name they resembled those other "fiery ones," which had punished the Jews in the wilderness (Numbers 21:6-9), there is nothing to show that Isaiah in any way connected the two. Each one had six wings. Gesenius is mistaken in saying that there are at Persepolis any six-winged figures. The Persians not infrequently represented their genii with four wings; but no six-winged figures have been found, so far as I know, among the Persian remains. With twain he covered his face, etc. The general idea of the six wings was probably rapid flight, the carrying out of God’s behests "with speed swiftly." But, in the Divine presence, the wings were applied to a different use. One pair veiled the seraph’s head from the intolerable effulgence of the Divine glory; another concealed the feet, soiled in their various ministrations, and unmeet for the all-pure presence; the third pair alone sustained the seraph in mid-air, as he hovered in readiness to depart on any errand on which Jehovah aright send him. Isaiah 6:3 One cried; rather, kept crying (comp. Revelation 4:8, "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy"). But the prophet scarcely goes so far; he describes only his vision—they did not rest while the vision was vouchsafed him. Holy, holy, holy. The Church on earth has taken pattern by the Church above; and the "Trisagion" is ever being repeated in one part of the earth or another without ceasing: "Thou continuest holy, O thou Worship of Israel." There is no attribute so essential to God as this. It is for his holiness, more than for anything else, that his creatures worship him. The triple repetition has been understood in all ages of the Church as connected with the doctrine of the Trinity. Holy is he who has created us, and bidden us worship him in the beauty of holiness Holy is he who has redeemed us, and washed away our sins, and made us by profession holy! Holy is he who day by day sanctifies us, and makes us in very deed and truth, so far as we will permit him, holy! The whole earth is full of his glory. Even in heaven the seraphic thoughts are turned to earth, and its relation to its Divine Creator is made the subject of angelic utterances. The lesson which they gather from their contemplation, even under all the miserable circumstances of the time, is a cheering one: "The whole earth is full of God’s glory." Men, whether they will it or not, are working out God’s purposes, advancing his designs, accomplishing the ends that he desires (see Homiletics on Isaiah 5:25-29). Isaiah 6:4 The posts of the door moved; rather, the bases of the thresholds shook (compare Revised Version). The shout of the seraphs shook the very foundations on which the thresholds of the gates of heaven rested—a testimony to the energy with which it was uttered. At the voice of him that cried; i.e. "at the voice of each and all." The house was filled with smoke. "Smoke" is sometimes the mere sign of the presence of God, as in Isaiah 4:5; but more often it indicates his presence in anger or judgment (see Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:18; Revelation 15:8). Here there had been no smoke at first, and we must suppose it, therefore, a sign of the anger which finds vent in verse 9-12. Isaiah 6:5-7 THE SEQUEL OF THE VISION—THE PROPHET’S SENSE OF . The vision of God in this life, whether natural or ecstatic, cannot but produce in the beholder a deep feeling of his unworthiness. God "is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity;" even "the heavens are not clean in his sight" (Job 15:15). Man, being never wholly purged from sin while on earth, cannot but shrink from contact with the absolutely Holy. Hence Isaiah’s cry (verse 5); and hence, to comfort him, the symbolic action of the seraph (verse 6) and his encouraging words (verse 7). Isaiah 6:5 I am undone; literally, cut off, destroyed (comp. Isaiah 15:1; Jeremiah 47:5; Hosea 4:5, Hosea 4:6, etc.). God once said himself, "There shall no man see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). Men expected to die even when they had seen angels of God (Genesis 32:30; Judges 6:22, Judges 6:23; Judges 13:22). How we are to reconcile Exodus 33:20 with this passage, Job 42:5, and Ezekiel 1:26-28, is uncertain. Perhaps the ecstatic sight was not included in the "seeing" of which God spoke to Moses. I am a man of unclean lips. A man must be indeed" perfect" never to offend in word (James 3:2). Isaiah felt that he had often so offended. His lips were not "clean" in God’s sight, and if not his lips, then not his heart; for "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34). I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Men catch up the phraseology of their time, and use wrong forms of speech, because they hear them daily. "Evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Isaiah 6:6 A live coal; or, a glowing stone, as Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne understand. The tongs … the altar. The presence of an altar in the heavenly dwelling, with the usual appurtenances, is assumed (comp. Revelation 6:9; Revelation 8:3). The altar is, no doubt, an altar of incense, and of gold, not of stone; but the incense is burnt upon stones heated to a glow, and it is one of these stones which the angel takes with the golden tongs of the sanctuary (Exodus 25:38). Isaiah 6:7 He laid it upon my mouth; literally, he caused it to touch my mouth; i.e. "he touched my mouth with it." He brought it into contact with that part of him which the prophet had recognized (Isaiah 6:5) as the seat of impurity. Thine iniquity is taken away. By the contact the prophet’s impurity is purged, and he is freed from it. The symbolical net showed (1) that sin could be purged; (2) that the highest angelic nature could not, alone and of its own force, purge it; and (3) that the purging could come only from that fire which consumes the incense that is laid upon the altar of God. Dr. Kay suggests that this fire is "the Divine love." Isaiah 6:8-13 THE PROPHET WITH A SPECIAL MISSON. We do not know what special call Isaiah had had previously. Perhaps he had been brought up in the "schools of the prophets." Perhaps, when the "word of the Lord" came to him, he had accepted the fact as sufficient call. Now, however, he had, in vision, a clear and distinct call and mission (verses 8, 9). He was told to "go," and instructed as to what he was to say (verses 9, 10). As before (Isaiah 1-5.), while in the main he was to denounce woe, he was still to proclaim the survival of a remnant (verses 10-12). Isaiah 6:8 Whom shall I send?. Such questions enable those who wait in the courts of heaven to show their zeal and readiness. Who will go for us? Some explain the plural pronoun as used of the Almighty and those with whom he is consulting. But he does not really "consult" his creatures (infra, Isaiah 40:14; Revelation 11:1-19:34), nor do his messengers do his errands for them. The plural form is best explained by the light which Isaiah 6:3 throws on it, as indicative of the doctrine of the Trinity (comp. Genesis 1:26). Isaiah 6:9 Hear ye indeed … see ye indeed; literally, In hearing hear … in seeing see—with the force of "Listen and bear; look and see;" "Attend, "that is," with the outward souse, and catch all that sense can catch, but without perception of the inward meaning". This is what they would do. Isaiah is bidden to exhort them, in grave irony, to do it. Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat. Isaiah is commanded to effect by his preaching that which his preaching would, in fact, effect. It would not awaken the people out of their apathy, it would not stir them to repentance; therefore it would only harden and deaden them. The words have a national, not an individual, application. Shut their eyes; literally, besmear their eyes; or, seal them up. Such sealing has been employed by Oriental monarchs as a punishment. And convert; i.e. "turn to God." Our translators have used the word in an intransitive sense. Isaiah 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? Either, "How long am I to continue this preaching?" or, "How long is this blindness and callousness of the people to continue?" Isaiah assumes that he has not heard as yet God’s final purpose; that there is some merciful intention kept in reserve, which is to take effect after the close of the period of judgment. The cities … the houses; rather, cities … houses. An entire desolation of the whole land, and extermination of its inhabitants, is not prophesied, and never took place. Nebuchadnezzar "left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen" (2 Kings 25:12; Jeremiah 39:10). Even when the great mass of these persons went into Egypt and perished there (Jeremiah 44:11-27), a certain number escaped and returned to Palestine (Jeremiah 44:14, Jeremiah 44:28). The land; rather, the ground, the soil. Isaiah 6:12 And the Lord have removed men far away. The Assyrian and Babylonian policy of deportation is pointed at. Pul had attacked the kingdom of Israel ten or twelve years before Uzziah’s death, and had perhaps made the Assyrian policy known, though he had allowed himself to be bought off (2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 15:20). And there be a great forsaking; rather, and the desolation be great; i.e. till a great portion of Judah be depopulated. Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, etc.; rather, and should there still be in it a tenth; i.e. should there still remain, after the great deportation, a tenth part of the inhabitants, "this again shall be burned up," i.e. shall be destined to further judgment and destruction. The trials of the Jewish nation under the Persian, Egyptian, and Syrian monarchies may be intended. As a teil tree, and as an oak, etc.; rather, as the terebinth tree and as the oak—trees which shoot up again from the stock after being cut down; or, as the prophet expresses it, "have a stem in their destruction." So to Judah shall remain, after all, a "holy seed," which shall be its "stem" or "stock, "and from which it shall once more "take root downward, and bear fruit upward" (Isaiah 37:31). The vision of God. Sight is a thing of degrees. The healthy eye sees with infinite shades of distinctness and indistinctness, according to the amount of light which is vouchsafed it. The diseased eye has an equal variety of gradation in its powers of seeing, owing to the variations in its own condition. And it is with our spiritual as with our natural sight. The vision which men have of God varies infinitely with varying circumstances—from extreme dimness up to perfect distinctness. Amid this infinitude of gradation, depending mainly on the internal condition of the visual power, three main varieties, depending on the circumstances under which the spiritual sight exerts itself, may be distinguished. I. THE NATURAL VISION OF GOD IN THIS LIFE. This is, even in the best men, dim and unsatisfying. "Now we see through a glass darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12). We have to look within us and without us; and, among the confused shadows of things, as sight and memory and imagination present them to us, we have to piece together a conception of that mysterious and inscrutable Power which alone exists of itself and has brought all that is beside itself into existence. How should not the vision be unsatisfactory? Agnosticism denies that any conception which we can form can possibly bear any resemblance at all to the reality, if there be a reality. Agnosticism, to be consistent, ought not to go so far, but should content itself with saying that we cannot tell whether there be a resemblance or no. Some conception, however, of God all men form who reflect at all; and there is so much likeness among the conceptions of men of all times and countries as to point to some basis of truth underlying them all as the only conceivable ground of the similarity. The conceptions differ less in their essential character than in their vividness and their continuousness. Most men "see God" dimly and rarely—by snatches, and as through a cloud or mist. A small number have a somewhat clearer and more frequent vision. To a few only is it given to "set God always before their face," and to see him with something approaching to distinctness. II. THE VISION OF GOD IN THIS LIFE. It has been the privilege of some great saints to be lifted up from earth into that condition which is called ecstasy, and while in that state to have a vision of God. In ecstasy Moses saw "the glory of God" from the "cleft in the rock" on his second ascent of Sinai (Exodus 33:18-23; Exodus 34:6-8). In ecstasy Isaiah now saw him. In ecstasy Ezekiel saw him "by the river of Chebar" (Ezekiel 1:26-28). So St. John the divine beheld him in the island of Patmos (Revelation 4:2-11). The exact nature of such visions we do not know; but it is only reasonable to suppose that they were, to those favored with them, revelations of God more distinct, more vivid, more satisfying, than any which belong to the ordinary course of nature, even to those which are vouchsafed to the "pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8). They fall short in respect of duration; they are transient—some of them, perhaps, momentary. But their vividness seems to have so impressed them on the beholders as to have given them a quasi-permanency in the recollection, which made them possessions for life, and gave them an undying influence on the character. III. THE VISION OF GOD IN ANOTHER LIFE. What this is no tongue of man can tell. "Eye hath not seen," etc. We know only what the Word of God declares. "Then shall we see him face to face; then shall we know even as we are known," (1 Corinthians 13:12). That this vision transcends even the ecstatic one is reasonably concluded, from its being the final reward of God’s saints—the beatitude beyond which there is none other (Revelation 22:4). But it is scarcely reverent to speculate on a theme so far above human imagining. Even Bishop Butler seems to overstep the just limit, when he supposes the beatific vision to include the contemplation of the scheme of the universe in the mind of him who contrived it. We shall not know what the beatific vision is until we are admitted to it. Perhaps it will not be the same to all. Probably, as on earth "the eye sees that which it brings with it the power of seeing," so, in the world beyond the grave, the vision of God will stand in a certain correlation with the seeing faculty of the beholders. All will "see his face," but all will not be capable of receiving from the sight that which it will convey to some. There are degrees of happiness in the next world no less than in the present. If we would derive from that blessed sight all that God intended man to derive from it, we must in this life cultivate the power of "seeing God" and delighting in the contemplation of him. Man’s unworthiness brought home to him by nothing o much as seeing God. The natural man is, for the most part, very well contented with himself. He does not deal much in self-scrutiny, and is not often troubled with twinges of conscience. If at any time be has any misgivings, he compares himself with other men, and readily persuades himself that he is quite as good, or even very much better than his neighbors. "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are," is his self-satisfied utterance; or, if he is not quite so arrogant as this, at any rate he thinks himself "quite good enough"—as honest, industrious, liberal, moral generally, as he needs to be. Occasionally he may be startled a little out of his self-complacency by coming in contact with persons of a different stamp from himself, whom he sees to have a different rule of life, a different conception of their duties to God and man. But it is seldom that he wakes up to any true conviction of, in until in some way or other, there is revealed to him some "vision of God," some conception of the true nature of that pure and holy Being who has made and rules the universe. Once let him open the eye of his soul and see God as he is—perfectly pure, holy, just, immaculate—and he cannot but be driven by the contrast to recognize his own weakness, wickedness, impurity, unrighteousness, deeply engrained sinfulness. Some conviction of sin must flash on him. Well for him if it be deep and strong! Welt for him if it brings him, first to confession (Luke 18:13), and then to earnest, heartfelt prayer for pardon! God’s seraph will then haply bring him such a "burning coal" from the altar before the throne of God as he brought to Isaiah, and convey to him the assurance that, for the merits of Christ, his "iniquity is taken away, and his sin purged." Isaiah 6:11-13 The loving-kindness of God shown in his judgments. "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and flat thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me," says the psalmist (Psalms 119:75). No doubt, at last God must simply punish the obdurate and impenitent; but for the most part he sends his judgment upon men in mercy, either to turn them from their sins, or to refine and improve their characters. I. EVEN WHEN GOD SIMPLY , IT IS IN LOVING- TO MANKIND AT LARGE. When a nation, like Israel, as distinct from Judah, has persisted in evil-doing for centuries, in spite of warnings, teaching, remonstrance, knowledge of the truth, its case is hopeless—"there is no remedy" (2 Chronicles 36:16). The blow that then falls upon the nation is penal and final—the requital of its ill desert. But if the blow is dealt to the nation itself in mere justice, it is also struck for the benefit of all neighboring nations, in mercy. It warns them from their evil ways; it says to them, in a voice which they can scarcely fail to hear, "Take heed, lest ye too perish." II. MOST OF GOD’S ARE , SENT TO TURN MEN FROM THEIR SINS. "We have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us" (Hebrews 12:9) when we had done wrong, and strove thereby to deter us from evil. So God acts with his children. So he chastened Judah, bringing calamity after calamity upon her, until at last there was a "remnant" which truly turned to him, and became the germ of the Christian Church. So be has chastened many a nation besides. So, too, he chastens individuals, sending on them sickness, and poverty, and loss of friends, and other misfortunes, to check them in a career of sin, and cause them to pause, and reflect, and tremble at his mighty hand, and humble themselves under it, and change their course of life. In this way he chastened David by the loss of Bathsheba’s first child, and by the revolt of Absalom and Adonijah; Hezekiah by war and sickness; Solomon by "adversaries" at home and abroad. Of this kind again are the natural punishments which he has attached to sins, the natural tendency of which is to deter men from them. III. ONE CLASS OF HIS ARE TRIALS, SENT TO PROVE MEN, AND THEREBY TO PURIFY THEM AND RAISE THEM TO GREATER . "Every branch in me that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2); "The trying of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:3). Christ himself, we are told, was in his human nature "made perfect through suffering." The discipline of affliction is needed for forming in us many of the highest Christian graces, as patience, resignation, forgivingness, mildness, long-suffering. The sons of God are taught to expect a chastening which shall be "for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 6:1-13 The prophet’s call and consecration. There are turning-points in life which give a meaning to the whole of its after-course. A light may be given to the ’mind at such moments by which it may have to steer its course for years. In moments of despondency the man of God will fall back on memory, and encourage himself by the recollection that, having once received and followed Divine guidance, that guidance will not desert him in the future. Such was this moment in the history of Isaiah. Life stood before him like a crowded picture; he foresaw the difficulties with which he would have to contend, yet that picture did not dismay him. "Like Christ from the first beginning of his Messianic labors, he thought of the end, nor did he shrink flora the image of death, so that the fact as it came nearer only confirmed what had Dot seemed strange from the beginning" (Ewald). It is the sense, not of our own faithfulness, nor of our own means, but of a Divine destiny working in and through us that must be our support in weak and lonely hours. To feel that we are moving against the course of the sun, even in the midst of external comfort or popular applause, is to be weak and unnerved; while a stern yet sweet joy fills the soul in the prospect of duty and danger, in which, though we seem to fail, we must be victors forever. Every true man has his hours of prophetic revelation; and well for him whose will is strong, and who abides by the truth of that revelation through good and through evil report, unswervingly to the end. I. THE VISION OF THE DIVINE MAJESTY. 1. Its date is fixed in memory. "The year that King Uzziah died." Dates are the resting-places of memory and fancy, around which accumulates the lore of our years. The accessions and the deaths of kings, battles, peaces, revolutions, acts of parliament that wrought weal for the people,—such are the dates of nations. And every soul has its epochs—birth, youthful events of pleasure, love, struggle, defeat, success; and for each there must be more to him than the events recorded in the calendar. The most "uneventful" year, as we speak, is eventful for the hidden sphere of many a spirit. How hint and poor are our public memorials of history compared with those private recollections which are written in the invisible ink of memory! Let us own that history means, first and foremost to every one of us, the history of our own spirit. By a Divine providence the fragment of an Isaiah’s, a Jeremiah’s, an Ezekiel’s autobiography is preserved through the ages, to remind us that the inner life, the contact of God with the soul, is our real concern, our deepest interest. Between the two dates on the tombstone that will mark our entrance into the world, our passage from it, what a record must lie, stored in the archives of eternity—of visions beheld, of voices heard, whether obeyed or disregarded! "In the year that King Uzziah died." 2. It is a vision of the sublimity of God. Seated on a high, exalted throne, God in this image is conceived under the analogy of the Ruler. Father and Ruler—such is the Bible view of God; his rule based upon his fatherhood, his fatherhood imparting benignancy and tenderness to the sterner character of the Lawgiver of the universe. But here the Father seems for the moment absorbed in the awful Sovereign, whose throne is in the heights of heaven, his footstool earth. It is only his skirts that are visible to the awe-struck gaze of the prophet. Amidst the most magnificent scenes of external nature, the Alps or the Andes, we may gain a passing soul-expanding vision of the Highest—still only part revealed, but much more hidden. The verdure bejeweled with flowers, the forests glancing with the luster of dazzling birds of plumage,—these may represent the vesture of the great King, hinting an unutterable beauty on which none can look and live. And so in the inward or moral world. In the history of a people or of a man there are moments when God, in the still more impressive might of his holiness, sweeps by, an awakening and a purifying Spirit. Or in higher moments of devotion we may gain a momentary glimpse of that pure love, so full of terror yet so full of blessing, which burns at the core of things, and whose light is reflected in the light of every human conscience. Yet these are partial revelations, like that to the prophet; glimpses of the skirts of Jehovah’s majesty, tastes of a "burning bliss" which in its fullness could not be endured. It is this sense that there is a beauty all around us, ready at any moment to break into glowing manifestation, were not our mortal eyes too dim to look upon it; an eternal music from which this "muddy vesture of decay grossly closing us in" protects us, which otherwise might paralyze by its thunderous tones;—it is this sense which does, or which should, impress an habitual reverence upon the mind. We should all be able to look back upon moments of our history when we have seen in the inner chamber of the mind something of what Isaiah saw, and to cherish the recollection as a lore never to be forgotten. For if we have never known a time when we were reduced into insignificance in the presence of God, and felt that he was all and we were naught, and that the best tradition about God must be hushed into silence before what we personally know of God, we have missed an elementary lesson which, when once obtained, adds weight and worth to all our after-experience. 3. The seraphs and their song. "Seraphs stood high around [or, ’above’] him." It is impossible to gain a true notion of the seraphic figures without consulting works of art. Like the cherubim and the griffins and the sphinxes, their origin is in the remotest fore-time. All these were, in fact, among man’s earliest efforts to represent to himself in visible art the Divine power which he felt to be working in and through nature; in the flash of the lightning, the thunder’s roar, the might of the blast, and all those mysterious sounds and sights which usher in the changes of the year. As this is the only place where the seraphim are named, their character must remain for the most part speculative. Similar winged figures are, however, found in Oriental sculpture (such as those in the British Museum) as attributes of a sovereign. And we can hardly be wrong in considering them as appropriate signs of Jehovah’s sovereignty over nature in the vision of Isaiah. Wings in art-figures generally denote the wind. If, then, we compare the passages in the Old Testament whence Jehovah’s power is described as revealed in storm and wind, e.g. Psalms 18:10 ("He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind") or Psalms 104:3, Psalms 104:4 ("Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; who maketh his messengers spirits, his ministers a flaming fire"), we may gain a fair understanding of what is meant. The stormy winds at the turning-points of the year reveal force—the force of the omnipotent Creator. And at the same time, the Creator is concealed behind, as well as revealed in, these expressions of his might. And so the seraphic figures are seen by the prophet doubly veiled by their own wings—in face and feet. For we can neither look upon the face of God nor follow the viewless track of his footsteps. As the noble verse of Cowper aptly expresses it— "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm." We shall not be far wrong if we find this truth symbolically set forth by the six-winged seraphic figures of the prophet’s vision. But the wind is full of music as well as of might, and the seraphs give utterance to a solemn song, which falls into two members, sung antiphonally by these celestial choristers. "One called to the other," just as the priests in the temple-music below. Profound and weighty is the burden of this alternate chant— "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts! The fullness of the whole earth is his glory!" How shall we think of the holiness of Jehovah? As height, like that in which the seraphs sing—a nature and a life so "far above" our base and groveling ways? Alas for us, if we do not ever recollect in our worship that, high as yonder empyrean above this "dim spot that men call earth," distinct as the clouds in fleeciest white from the stagnant and foul spots below, are the thoughts of Jehovah above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways! Shall we think of holiness as separation? Woe to us if we know not that purity, which, like the flame, retirees to wed with ought that is alien to itself; which, like the light, divides and discriminates the evil from the good wheresoever it comes! The thrice-holy God is none other than the supremely pure Intelligence, the perfect chastity of Love. But the infinite glory as well as the holiness of Jehovah is celebrated. It is the "fullness of the earth," teeming with life, throbbing with mysterious forces, covered with a rich robe of rare embroidery, holding rich treasures in her keeping; which embodies to our thought the nature of God in its vast extent, just as the pure sky represents the intensity of that nature as a principle of holiness. Silent and inaccessible as sun and stars, he is yet near to us in the throbbing of great nature’s heart—nay, of our own. "Speak to him, then! for he hears, and spirit with spirit may meet; Closer is he than thy breathing, nearer than hands and feet." "God in all"—this was the thought of Paul the apostle, as of Isaiah the prophet. Incarnate in the flower and in the stem, vocal in the "sound of many waters," or in the tinkling of brook or murmur of zephyr; there is nothing in the world in which he is not revealed. "Thou art, O God, the Life and Light Of all this wondrous world we see! Its glow by day, its smile by night, Are but reflections caught from thee: Where’er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are thine." 4. The yoke of God. A loud cry is heard even above the hymn of the seraphim, and it causes the thresholds to tremble. The thunder was among all ancient nations listened to as the voice of God. It is the natural expression of supreme and irresistible power, before which man, in the last height of his own intelligence and power, must bow. Instantly the smoke soars from the altar, and the temple is filled with smoke. Worship is man’s answer to God’s voice—the answerer his conscience, the answer of his heart. Nor can we truly worship without the sense of being face to face with unutterable mystery. For behind the most glorious visions remains he "whom no man hath at any time seen, nor can see;" at the heart of the thunder is that Divine emotion which must slay us were it fully discharged into our souls. The rising smoke may fitly typify that sacred silence, the "offspring of the deeper heart," in which our worship should begin and end. II. THE PROPHET’S . 1. The effect of the revelation on his mind. First, there is the sense of utter weakness. When the true glory of the spiritual world bursts upon us, it seems as if we must die. Every difficulty conquered brings us a new sense of strength; every human being we have fairly faced in the consciousness of our own manhood we may reduce to our own level; for one man is virtually the peer of every other, the world over. But who can look and live in the presence of the white intense light of the pure and burning Spirit of God? Already, like Abraham (Genesis 18:1-33.), the man feels himself as if reduced to "dust and ashes;" or, like Moses, that he cannot see the Eternal and live, but must shelter himself in a cleft of the rock, and hide behind the hand of God (Exodus 33:1-23.); or, like Manoah, forebodes a deathful doom as he gazes into the mystic altar-flame (Judges 13:1-25.). In Greek and other Gentile legends we read of children receiving a nightly birth of fire as the condition of immortality, the meaning of which was that none but those destined to divinity could endure the fiery ordeal Profound enigma of our nature! That we to whom has been imparted the longing for life eternal, the dim consciousness of an undying destiny, should yet know moments when we seem on the verge of "dusty death." But the man whom God calls to be mighty in word and deed must pass through the whole gamut and scale of human emotion, from the lowest mood of self-distrust to that of loftiest confidence in God. No note must be left unstruck in our own heart, if we are to make it sound in the conscience of others. There is, besides, the consciousness inefficiency. The very calling which already glimmers before Isaiah’s mind as his is that for which he finds himself unfit, lie is to be a nabi, a prophet; that is, a man of fluent lips and pure, through which the streams of Divine eloquence are to flow. Alas! how can this be? For he is a "man of unclean lips," and will not the truth be muddied passing through them, and so cease to be truth? All this is a typical experience. The man who has never felt unfit will never be fit for any great thing. Jeremiah, at his call, felt that he was "a child;" and Moses that he was "slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10); and John fell at the feet of the Son of man "as one dead," brain and hand paralyzed, before he took up the pen that glowed with apocalyptic fire. Who is the fit man for God’s ends? The self-confident man? It depends on what we mean by "self-confidence." Appearances deceive; the show of strength is not the same thing with strength itself, nor the demeanor of weakness a certain index of inefficiency. To read our own hearts is our business. And heart-experience may teach us that absolute confidence in our resources bodes humiliation, while trembling self-distrust may hint that something is to be done by God through us. "Do the very thing you are afraid to do," is in certain moments the voice of conscience and of God. So it proved in this instance. 2. Purification and pardon. One of the burning beings flies to the prophet’s side, bearing a herded stone (for such seems to be the meaning of the word ritzpah) forming part of the altar, and detached without difficulty from it. With this he touches the lips of the trembling seer, saying, "Lo! this hath touched thy lips, and so will thy guilt depart, and thy sin may be atoned for." More meaning can be condensed into a symbolic action than into any mere words. Fire is the enemy of all impurity; and the idea of a fire-baptism as the means of cleansing is deeply rooted in the lore of olden time. In this respect it seems nearly allied to the sprinkling of blood. And just as when Moses sprinkled all the people with the sacrificial blood, or the priests sprinkled the altar and other sacred objects, one drop seemed sufficient to diffuse ceremonial cleanness on the object on which it fell, so the mere touch of the hot coal or stone is enough to signify the completeness of the purification. It is not the quantity of the fiery element, but the quality, which does the work. A small spark may kindle a mass of fuel, or, falling on the hand, spread a keen pain through all the nervous network of the body; so a glimpse of God, a touch from his hand, may change the mood of our being for a lifetime. It may set up a glow which shall not die down till all that is selfish, sensual, base, in us shall lie in ashes. The sense of guilt lies deep in the mind; and never is it so clear and keen as in moments of bodily sickness or mental depression. The moment when we are tempted to say, "I cannot help it," there rises up the thought that there is help in God, and therefore that we are not helpless. No sooner does the cry of weakness, the complaint concerning the unclean lips, escape Isaiah, than the eternal evangel, in all its supernatural strength to heal, comes homo to his heart. For this is the eternal gospel’ in its essence, whether borne by lips of seraph, prophet, or Son of God: "Thy guilt will depart, thy sin may he atoned for." And in those blessed moments when we grasp this message in its fullest meaning, and believe it in its inmost truth, the heart is set free, and, despite present fetters and prisons in which fact or fancy holds us bound, we know that it will not ever be thus. Then, indeed, the yoke of duty becomes easy, the burden of toil, for the sake of the love which pardons and emancipates, light. 3. The call to service. Again the august and dominant voice of the Eternal is heard: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" A ready answer, full of devotion, full of self-abandonment, comes from that lately overwhelmed heart: "Here am I; send me." Out of weakness Isaiah has been made strong, and there is no hesitation now. There is "triumph lingering in his eyes, wide as of some swimmer’s who descries help from above in his extreme despair." The foolish imprudence which cries, "Here am I; send me," without having calculated the cost of the enterprise and the extent of the resources, is not that of Isaiah. Still less is the unfaithful trifling with one’s powers and opportunities under the excuse of modesty, or the delight in dreams of action rather than in action itself, seen in him. We see some men rashly staking their future on the cast of a die, impetuously crossing a Rubicon; others lingering on the brink, or moving superstitiously in a fancied circle, beyond which seems to lie the frowning impossible. And we see a third class who have learned the Divine magic of the word "obey," and who alone move safely and with high heart to ends greater than their dreams. The servant’s readiness, his quickness of eye and ear, is what we need. Can we allege that we have never seen our vision, heard our call from the unmistakable voice? If the plea he sound, then our mistakes and aberrations cannot be charged against us. But can we maintain such plea so long as there is any meaning in the words" truth" and" duty?" Truth is ever beckoning to us, duty’s low clear voice is ever sounding, though the paths to which they guide lie but dimly before. The call to act is for us all; the call to act greatly but for God’s elected few. Let us not mistake our wishes for Divine commands, nor in vanity create a destiny which is only our own fiction. Still less let us treat impressions which have seized us and shaken us with awe, and against which reluctant flesh and blood have struggled, as dreams to be set aside and fancies to be overcome. If, after straining eye and ear, God seems to leave you through wide tracts of life’s way to struggle with your ignorance and to work out your problems unaided,—be it so. This is your call. If otherwise you are the subject of strong and extraordinary impressions, reaching into the reality behind the shows of things, hearing with open ears where others know but confused sounds,—be it so. Your call is more direct. If only we will not indulge the blindness of those who will not see, the deafness of those who stop their ears, the proud weakness of those who hate to obey, all may be well. III. THE MISSION. 1. It will be thankless and disappointing. Isaiah is to go and waste, as it seems, his eloquence upon dull ears, upon intelligences sealed up, and hearts that are proof against religious feeling. The light of truth as it streams from him will encounter rocks that will not melt in the sun, natures that can neither be softened nor sweetened. It is the height of a preacher’s joy when every word comes back to him a silent echo from the conscience of the people; and his day of mourning is when he feels himself to be speaking in a valley full of dry bones, or before beings who seem to have life and conscience, set are but as specters of men. In his best moments it seems that all the eloquence is in the people, and he is "gathering up in a mist" from them that which he is to "return upon them in a flood." In other moments of discouragement it seems that he is alone in the world, with a sublime cry upon his lips, now become meaningless, because there are none to whom it has a meaning. We know the legend of St. Antony preaching to the fishes; and, indeed, it seems better to talk with the dumb creatures whom we can win to silent sympathy, than to a people which "does not consider." The company of the ox or the ass seems better than that or men who have become as "stocks and stones, and worse than senseless filings." The preacher and teacher will know these trials, and let him recollect that it is pro uncommon experience. We find its pathos repeated in different ways in all the great prophets, in John the Baptist, the "voice in the desert," and in Christ himself. Ate we to cease crying when the echo ceases? Rather let us go on until we hear once more the truth coming back to us. Let us believe that what is true to us in our inmost heart will one day be true for all the world. One of our great countrymen said that he was wont to iterate the same statement again and again until he heard it on the tongue of common talk; and this was a statesman to whom the people owed the greatest material blessings. The test of truth is not the way in which it is received, but the immediate reflection of it in our own mind. 2. The gloom of the time will deepen. "How long, O Lord?" The answer describes a prophet shut in by clouds and mist, or overhung by some all-pervading pall of gloom. Sin is to go on working out its waste, until there be an empty and depopulated land; Things bad begun to make themselves strong by ill." And there are times when evil must be left to gather to a head and run its full course. It may even be the part of the prophet to hasten it on its way. But when we say, "Things are getting worse and worse," let us remember that beyond the worst remains the best, and after last returns the first; for God is the principle of an inexhaustible and unconquerable life. 3. The gleam of hope. There is now visible at the close a gleam on the dark horizon, denoting a coming dawn. A section, an elect few, a tenth, will survive these coming disasters. The fire of judgment and purification, of which the burning seraphs are symbolic, must wither the goodly branches of the national tree, and leave the stem all blackened and charred. Still the stump will remain with its root still fastened in the earth. "Just as the trunk of terebinth or oak, deeply and ineradicably sunk in the earth, bears constantly new shoots, an image of eternity and immortality, springing from an inward "rejuvenating power," so with the spiritual life of the nation and the individual. Here, then, we see how the deepest seriousness and sadness is yet compatible with undying hope. (1) The nation that hopes in the Eternal can never perish. That terebinth root lives on; all fresh developments of Christianity spring from its undying life. (2) The man who hopes in the Eternal shall be saved. He may, he must, pass through the fire of trial; but if he endure to the end, he shall be saved. Amidst his ashes he will discover fresh life; for there is hope of the tree, and hope of the man, that though felled, he shall rise again. (3) Holiness is the secret of life. It is health, it is the sanity of the mind which has made truth its portion, God its delight, and his service its eternal choice.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The call of God. "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." The symbol of the seraphim had been on the prophet’s head, and the voice of the Lord had come to his conscience and his heart. The live coal had touched his lips. Prophets, apostles, teachers, must be sent of God. Other qualifications are appropriate and excellent, but this is indispensable. I. THE DIVINE QUERY. "Whom?" Then God takes thought about Divine government in human history. Just as Nature expresses, in all her forms of beauty, his skill and care, so in grace God is observant of character, and watchful for the wisest means. He knows the secret places of grace and genius, and he can call them forth at the appropriate time. Isaiah now; Paul in the great epoch to come. II. THE HONOR. "Whom shall I send?" Here we have the sublime election to privilege, so far as responsibility is concerned, which, rightly considered, explains God’s calling of Jews then, and Jews and Gentiles now. It is not an election to salvation, but to a status of honor and influence in witnessing for him. "Send!" Then God is the great Father of all human spirits, not willing that any should perish. The Jewish Church was a city set on a hill to enlighten others; the salt to save the world from death and putrefaction. III. THE QUICK . There is no hesitation. "Here am I." Men should fulfill their own prayers. They ask for grace and strength to work and give. Let them inquire within whether they cannot turn supplication into consecration. "Here am I." How few say that! They look round and exclaim, "Send others!" "Send reel" says the prophet, fulfilling the commission which makes him the great evangelic spirit of the Old Testament.—W.M.S. BY W. "I saw … the Lord," writes the prophet. These simple, strong words suggest to us— I. THE VISION WHICH IS . "NO man hath seen God at any time," our Lord declares; and his declaration is sustained by the philosophic truth that he who is a Divine Spirit must be invisible to mortal eye. So far as our apprehension by sense is concerned, God must remain, to every human being, "the King eternal, immortal, invisible." Himself, in his own essential nature, we cannot look upon. II. THE VISION WHICH IS . God has, on some few occasions, granted special and particular manifestations of himself—such that those to whom they were vouchsafed might say, without impropriety, that they had "seen the Lord." Of this kind were the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-22.), the vision granted to Moses on the mount (Exodus 34:5, Exodus 34:6), that of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19), this one narrated in the text, those of the Apocalypse. In these cases there was a manifestation of Deity in Some form, temporarily assumed, cognizable by the senses, and bringing the soul into close communion with the Eternal One himself. III. THE VISION WHICH IS . It is something more than poetry to think and speak of God as being in the various objects and operations in nature. It is something deeper than fanciful sentiment, and truer than Pantheistic thought, to say that "nature is the robe of God." For his power is immanent in all living things. The forces of nature, which are working everywhere and in all things, are, in truth, the out-workings of his own Divine hand, in constant and regular, and therefore in measurable and reliable activity. When we watch them, we do well to feel that we are near to him; they are directly suggestive of him, and we ought not to be able to regard them with interest without reaching and resting in him of whose presence and skill and love they continually speak to us. IV. THE VISION WHICH IS . There are two manifestations of Deity which stand by themselves, the latter being transcendently the greater and more gracious of the two. 1. One was in the visible Shechinah: which remained the constant symbol of the presence of Jehovah for many generations; there in the midst of the camp, visible to any eye that looked within the veil, but only to be seen by one man on one great day in the sacred calendar. 2. The other was found in him who was able to say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." They who looked on him in the days of his flesh, and who heard his voice, might say with peculiar meaning, "I have seen the Lord." And we, before whose eyes a once-crucified Savior has been conspicuously upheld (see Galatians 3:1), and who, in him, have presented to our spiritual vision the holy and loving One, infinitely’ worthy of our reverent affection, may also say, with profound truthfulness, that we too "have seen the Lord." V. THE VISION WHICH IS . There are certain exceptional experiences which God grants to us now, when he comes very near to us and reveals himself to our souls. It may be on the occasion of some outward incident, the apparent nearness of death and the future world, or the passing of some intimate friend or relation into the unseen realm, or the powerful presentation of the truth by some faithful minister of Christ, or it may be the sudden illumination of the Spirit of God apart from all special circumstances whatsoever; but there are times in individual history when God comes to us, when he makes his person, his claims upon us, his grace to us in his Son, and with these, our highest, eternal interests, to assume to our souls their true, their grand proportions. Then is it well, indeed, for us so to act that we can thereafter say," I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision."—C. Isaiah 6:2-4 A sermon from the seraphim. Taking the seraphim of this prophetic vision as symbols of the "highest creaturely intelligences," we gather from the text— I. THAT THE BECOMES THE HIGHEST CREATED BEINGS. "With twain [of his wings] he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feel." Of the six wings each seraph possessed, four were used to indicate their sense of unworthiness in the near presence of God; two only were in readiness for active service. May we not fairly infer that, as we go upward in the order of intelligence, we become more impressed with the majesty and greatness of the Divine, and consequently with our own littleness? Elevation in rank does not mean diminution, but increase in reverence of spirit and in homage of worship. The higher the intelligence, the deeper the sense of lowliness, and the fuller the devotion of power in the attitude and act of adoration. II. THAT THE LIFE IS LARGELY SPENT IN ACTIVE SERVICE. "With twain he did fly." The seraphim are represented as so equipped as to be ready for the most prompt and speedy service. The heavenly life may be one of sacred song and peaceful rest; but it certainly is also one of joyous, holy activity. It will be the very crown of our blessedness that, unclothed of all that hampers and impedes, and clothed upon with those celestial organs which fit for fleetest and strongest service, we shall do the King’s behests with untiring wing, with unflagging energy, with unfading love and joy. III. THAT THE HAVE A KEEN OF THE DIVINE. . "Holy, holy, holy," etc. It is significant enough that, in this ascriptive utterance, only one of the attributes of God finds a place. The repetition of the epithet marks the fullness and clearness of the thought, as also the intensity of the feeling. In Jesus Christ we rightly magnify the grace and mercy, the gentleness and considerateness, of the heavenly Father to whom we are reconciled through him; but we must see to it that we do not so dwell on the more gracious aspects of the Divine character as to lose sight of, or even dwarf his other and opposite attributes. As we draw near to the heavenly world we must take the celestial view, which is one of a deep and strong conviction of his perfect purity, of his stainless holiness, of his utter and eternal hostility to every shade and taint of sin. IV. THAT THE HIGHEST SEE ALL THINGS IN THEIR TO GOD. "The whole earth is full of his glory." Those who will receive no more helpful and decisive teaching than that of science and philosophy fall short of this; they come to the irreverent conclusion that the heavens and the earth declare the glory of those only who have studied their secrets and discovered their laws. But the highest, the heavenly intelligences find God everywhere and his glory in everything. The psalm of the seraphim declares that "the whole earth is full of his glory." And we as we ascend in mental power and spiritual worth, shall let all earthly things speak to us of God. The multitude of all created things and of all living creatures will speak of his power; the intricacy and delicacy and adaptation of all things will tell of his wisdom; the vast and measureless amount of happiness scattered over all the earth’s surface and even in its depths will sing of his beneficence; the sorrow and the death which are beneath its skies will chant the righteousness of his holy rule; the upward struggle and the better life, which grow clearer and stronger age by age, will beat’ witness to his regenerating goodness. All things will speak of God, the whole earth will be full of his glory.—C. Spiritual agitation. The passage depicts the prophet in a condition of great mental agitation; his state may suggest to us— I. THE ALARM OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT UNDER THE OF THE DIVINE . Anything which brings us into close contact with the unseen world powerfully affects our spirit and produces an apprehension for which we may not be able to account. 1. Any visitant, real or imaginary, from the spiritual realm fills us with fear (see Judges 6:22; Judges 13:22; Job 4:15; Daniel 10:8; Luke 1:12; Luke 2:9). We have not the slightest reason to apprehend any act of hostility from such a being, and may be said to have a positive interest in knowing that such as they are do exist and do concern themselves in our welfare. But there are few men who would not be considerably agitated if they believed themselves to be in the presence of a disembodied (or unembodied) spirit. 2. We are affected with lively apprehension when we think ourselves to be on the confines of the future, the spiritual world. 3. The conception of the near presence of the Lord himself awakens the greatest disquietude of soul. So was it with Isaiah now. "Woe is me! I am undone," he exclaimed. So was it with Peter when the miraculous draught revealed the presence of his Divine Master. "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord," was his prayer. And whenever we are brought into such a spiritual condition that we are ready to say, "Surely God is in this place," whenever the hand of the Lord is felt to be upon our souls and his voice to be manifestly addressing our hearts, we are awed, agitated, even alarmed, with a peculiar and inexpressible apprehension. II. ITS IN OUR HUMAN GUILT. We may not be able to explain our alarm at the nearness of any created being from the other world, but we can well understand how it is we are affected as we are under the consciousness of the divine presence. It is that our littleness is abashed at the presence of Divine majesty, our ignorance in presence of Divine wisdom, our feebleness in presence of Divine power. But this is not the explanation of our alarm. It is found in the fact that when we find ourselves before God we are conscious that a guilty soul is in the near presence of the thrice-holy One (see verse 3). The clue to our agitation is in the words, "I am a man of unclean lips;" "I am a sinful man." There is a twofold reason why sinful men should be alarmed at the felt presence of God: one, that all sin by its very nature shrinks and cowers in the conscious presence of purity; the other, that the guilty human soul knows well that it is the province, and is in the power, of the righteous God to inflict the penalty which is its due; and it knows that the rightful penalty of sin is sorrow, shame, death. III. ITS DIVINE REMOVAL. (Verses 6, 7.) Under Divine direction one of the cherubim took a live coal from that altar of sacrifice which God had caused to be built for the purging of the sins of the people, and with the coal he touched the "unclean lips" of which the prophet had made confession and complaint; so was his "iniquity taken away," and, we may conclude, his spirit calmed. The removal of that spiritual agitation which comes to our soul when we realize that our guilt is in the full view of the Holy One can only come from God himself. We may bless his Name that he has made such ample provision for this gracious purpose. 1. He has provided the sacrifice and the altar; that is found in him who is the Propitiation for our sins, in the cross of Calvary. 2. He has provided the messengers of mercy; these are found in those faithful servants who carry the gospel of his grace on the wings of their ardent love. 3. He has provided the means by which the sacrifice and the soul are connected, and the virtue of the one is made to touch and heal the other; this is found in that living faith by which the Lamb of God takes away our sin, and our soul, "being justified by faith, has peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."—C. On God’s errand. Our thought is naturally divided into— I. THE DIVINE DEMAND. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" 1. There are some demands God makes of us all. He requires that we should hearken when he speaks; that we should be especially attentive to his Son (Matthew 17:5); that we should accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior, Friend, Exemplar; that we should honor him before the world. 2. There are other demands he makes of most of his children. That they should actively engage in the work of extending his kingdom; that they should suffer some kind of persecution for his sake. 3. There remain some demands he only makes of a few. Work requiring specially hard toil, or particular preparation in study, or unusual tact and versatility, or exceptional powers of mind or body. Then he says, "Whom (of all my servants) shall I send; and who will go?" II. THE . "Here am I; send me." In order to say this wisely and rightly, there must be: 1. Thorough devotedness; half-heartedness will never succeed on such errands as these. 2. Special qualification, by native faculty or favorable antecedents. 3. Freedom from other and more pressing obligations. These conditions being fulfilled, all the highest considerations—the will of Christ, the pitiful necessities of the sons of want and sorrow and shame, the example of the noblest, the recompense of the righteous—combine to say, "Go, and the Lord be with you."—C. Isaiah 6:9-13 The shadow of sacred truth. We may view these words in— I. THEIR ASPECT. Thus regarded, they point to: 1. Painful and guilty obduracy. The prophet should speak, but the people would disregard; all that was froward and perverse in them would repel and reject the Divine message; their reception of the truth would only end in spiritual deterioration and greater moral distance than ever from deliverance (Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:10). 2. Protracted impenitence and Divine judgment (Isaiah 6:11, Isaiah 6:12). 3. Long-lingering mercy ending in partial restoration (Isaiah 6:13). But we shall gain most from these verses by regarding them in— II. THEIR ASPECT. The ninth and tenth verses have the most direct and serious bearing on our condition now. They suggest to us that sacred truth not only sheds a bright light, but casts a deep shadow where it falls. 1. It casts the shadow of solemn responsibility everywhere. When a greater than Moses legislates, and a wiser than Solomon speaks to us, we have more to be responsible for than they who received the Law from Sinai, and they who lived under the reign of the son of David. From those to whom much is given will much be required. 2. It casts the shadow of a heavy condemnation on those who reject it. "Of how much sorer punishment," etc. "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment," etc.; "This is the condemnation, that light is come," etc.; "He that knew his Lord’s will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes." 3. But the special lesson from our text is that it casts the shadow of spiritual deterioration on those who refuse it. "Make the heart of this people fat … shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes," etc. The apparent sense of these words cannot be, and is not, the one that should be accepted. They cannot possibly be meant to signify that God desired his prophet deliberately and intentionally to cause moral obtuseness, spiritual blindness, in order that the people of Judah might be prevented from repenting and so from being saved. Such a thought not only outrages every reverent idea of the Divine character, but flatly contradicts the most express statements of the Divine Word (see Ezekiel 18:23; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; James 1:13). There is one sense of which the words are susceptible, and which is in accordance with the plainly revealed character of God; it is that the prophet was to declare such truth as would actually result in spiritual blindness, and therefore in incapacity for repentance and redemption, Now, it is the solemn duty of the minister of Christ to do the same thing continually. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION IV. WITH THE SYRO- WAR (Isaiah 7-10:4). Isaiah 7:1-9 THE GIVEN TO AHAZ AT THE TIME OF THE SYRO- WAR. The Syro-Israelitish war is touched on both in Kings and Chronicles. In Kings the alliance between Rezin and Pekah is distinctly declared, as also the fact that they conjointly besieged Jerusalem (2 Kings 16:5). From Chronicles we learn that, before the siege, Ahaz was twice defeated with great loss, once by the Syrians (2 Chronicles 28:5), and once by the Israelites (2 Chronicles 28:6). He was probably, therefore, reduced to great straits at the time when Isaiah received directions to seek an interview with him, and communicate to him a comforting message from Jehovah. Isaiah 7:1 In the days of Ahaz. The reign of Ahaz covered, probably, the space between B.C. 743 and in B.C. 727. The march on Jerusalem appears to have fallen somewhat late in his reign. Rezin the King of Syria. Rezin is mentioned as King of Damascus by Tiglath-Pfieser II. in several of his inscriptions. In one, which seems to belong to B.C. 732 or 731, he states that he defeated Rezin and slew him. Pekah the son of Remaliah (see 2 Kings 15:25). Pekah had been an officer under Pekahiah, the son and successor of Menahem; but had revolted, put Pekahiah to death in his palace, and seized the crown. It is probable that he and Rezin were anxious to form a confederacy for the purpose of resisting the advance of the Assyrian power, and, distrusting Ahaz, desired to place on the throne of Judah a person on whom they could thoroughly depend (see Isaiah 7:6). It was not their design to conquer the Jewish kingdom, but only to change the sovereign. Toward Jerusalem; rather, to Jerusalem. The allies reached the city and commenced the siege (2 Kings 16:5). Could not prevail against it; literally, prevailed not in fighting against it. Isaiah 7:2 It was told the house of David. Before the actual siege began, news of the alliance reached Ahaz. It is said to have been" told the house of David," because the design was to supersede the family of David by another—apparently a Syrian—house (see note on Isaiah 7:6). Syria is confederate with Ephraim; literally, rests upon Ephraim. Under ordinary circumstances the kingdoms of Syria and Israel were hostile the one to the other (see 1 Kings 15:20; 1 Kings 20:1-3; 1 Kings 22:3-36; 2 Kings 5:2; 2 Kings 6:8-24; 2 Kings 8:29; 2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 13:3, 2 Kings 13:22, 2 Kings 13:25). But occasionally, under the pressure of a great danger, the relations were changed, and a temporary league was formed. The inscriptions of Shalmaneser II. show such a league to have existed in the time of Benhadad II. and Ahab. The invasion of Pul, and the threatening attitude of Tiglath-Pileser. It had now once more drown the two countries together. On the use of the word "Ephraim" to designate the kingdom of Israel, see Hosea, passim. His heart was moved; or, shook. If the two kings had each been able separately to inflict on him such loss (see the introductory paragraph), what must he not expect, now that both were about to attack him together? It is not clear whether Ahuz had as yet applied to Assyria for help or not. Isaiah 7:3 Thou, and Shear-Jashub thy son. The name Shear-Jashub, "a remnant shall return," may have been given to Isaiah’s son by revelation, as Ewald thinks it was; or Isaiah may have given it to testify his faith both in the threats and in the promises of which he had been made the mouth-piece. The command to take him with him on the present occasion was probably given on account of his name, that the attention of Ahaz might be called to it. The conduit of the upper pool is mentioned also in 2 Kings 18:17. It was probably a subterranean duct which brought water into the city from the high ground outside the Damascus gate. Ahaz may have visited it in order to see that it was made available for his own use, but not for the enemy’s. Isaiah 7:4 Take heed, and be quiet; or, see that thou keep quiet; i.e. "be not disturbed; do not resort to strange and extreme measures; in quietness and confidence should be your strength" (see Isaiah 30:15). The two tails of these smoking firebrands. Rezin and Pekah are called "two tails," or "two stumps of smoking firebrands," as persons who had been dangerous, but whose power of doing harm was on the polar of departing from them. They could not now kindle a flame; they could only "smoke." The son of Remaliah. Pekah seems to be called "Remaliah’s son" in contempt (comp. Isaiah 7:5, Isaiah 7:9), Remaliah having been a man of no distinction (2 Kings 15:25). Isaiah 7:6 Make a breach therein. The word employed means properly "making a breach in a city wall" (2 Kings 25:4; 2 Kings 2:1-25 Citron. 32:1; Jeremiah 39:2; Ezekiel 26:10), but is used also in a metaphorical sense for injuring and ruining a country (see especially 2 Chronicles 21:17). The son of Tabeal; or, Tubal. "Tab-ill" appears to be a Syrian name, founded upon the same pattern as Tab-rimmon (1 Kings 15:18), rite one meaning "God is good, "the other "Rimmon is good." We cannot, however, conclude from the name that the family of Tabeal was monotheistic (Kay), for El was one of the many Syrian gods as much as Rimmon. Isaiah 7:7 Thus saith the Lord God; literally, the Lord Jehovah, as in Isaiah 28:10; Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 48:16, etc. It shall not stand; i.e. "the design shall not hold good, it shall not be accomplished." Rezin and Pekah have planned to set aside the issue of David, to which God had promised his throne (2 Samuel 7:11-16; Psalms 89:27-37), and to act up a new line of kings unconnected with David. They think to frustrate the everlasting counsel of God. Such an attempt was of necessity futile. Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, etc. Syria and Ephraim have merely human heads—the one Rezin, the other (Isaiah 7:9) Pekah; but Judah, it is implied, has a Divine Head, even Jehovah. How, then, should mere mortals think to oppose their will and their designs to God’s? Of course, their designs must come to naught. Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, etc. If this prophecy was delivered, as we have supposed, in B.C. 733 (see note on Isaiah 7:1), sixty-five years later would bring us to B.C. 669. This was the year in which Esar-haddon, having made his son, Asshur-bani-pal, King of Assyria, transferred his own residence to Babylon, and probably the year in which he sent from Babylonia and the adjacent countries a number of colonists who occupied Samaria, and entirely destroyed the nationality, which, fifty-three years earlier, had received a rude blow from Sargon (comp. Ezra 4:2, Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:10, with 2 Kings 17:6-24 and 2 Chronicles 33:11). It is questioned whether, under the circumstances, the prophet can have comforted Ahaz with this distant prospect, and suggested that in the present chapter prophecies pronounced at widely distant periods have been mixed up (Cheyne); but there is no such appearance of dislocation in Isaiah 7:1-25; in its present form, as necessitates any such theory; and, while it may be granted that the comfort of the promise given in Isaiah 7:8 would be slight, it cannot be said that it would be nil; it may, therefore, have been (as it seems to us) without impropriety added to the main promise, which is that of Isa 7:7. The entire clause, from "and within" to "not a people," must be regarded as parenthetic. Isaiah 7:9 If ye will not believe, etc. Translate, If ye will not hold this faith fast, surely ye will not stand fast. Full faith in the promise of Isa 7:7 would have enabled Ahaz to dispense with all plans of earthly policy, and to "stand fast in the Lord," without calling in the aid of any "arm of flesh." Distrust of the promise would lead him to take steps which would not tend to "establish" him, but would make his position more insecure (see 2 Kings 16:7-18; 2 Chronicles 28:16, 2 Chronicles 28:20). Isaiah 7:10-16 THE SIGN OF . The supposition that there was a considerable interval between Isaiah 7:9 and Isaiah 7:10 (Cheyne) is quite gratuitous. Nothing in the text marks any such interval. God had sent Ahaz one message by his prophet (Isaiah 7:4-9). It had apparently been received in silence, at any rate without acknowledgment. The faith had seemed to be lacking which should have embraced with gladness the promise given (see the last clause of Isa 7:9). God, however, will give the unhappy monarch another chance. And so he scuds him a second message, the offer of a sign which should make belief in the first message easier to him (Isaiah 7:11). Ahaz proudly rejects this offer (Isaiah 7:12). Then the sign of "Immanuel" is given—not to Ahaz individually, but to the whole "house of David," and through them to the entire Jewish people. "A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, whose name shall be called Immanuel; and before this child shall have grown to the age of moral discernment, God’s people will have been delivered, and their enemies made a desolation" (Isaiah 7:14-16). The exact bearing of the "sign" will be best discussed in the comment upon Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah 7:10 The Lord spake again unto Ahaz. As before (Isaiah 7:3, Isaiah 7:4) by the mouth of his prophet. Isaiah 7:11 Ask thee a sign. Asking for a sign is right or wrong, praiseworthy or blamable, according to the spirit in which the request is made. The Pharisees in our Lord’s time "asked for a sign," but would not have believed any the more had they received the sign for which they asked. Gideon asked for a sign to strengthen his faith (Judges 6:37, Judges 6:39), and received it, and in the strength of it went forth boldly against the Midianites. When God himself proposed to give a sign, and allowed his creature to choose what the sign should be, there could be no possible wrong-doing in a ready acceptance of the offer, which should have called forth gratitude and thanks. Ask it either in the depth, or in the height above; i.e. "Ask any sign thou wilt, either in hell or in heaven"—nothing shall be refused thee. Isaiah 7:12 I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. Ahaz, who has no wish for a sign, because he has no wish to believe in any other salvation than flint which will follow from the realization of his own schemes, finds a plausible reason for declining to ask for one in those passages of the Law which forbade men to" tempt God" (Exodus 17:7; Deuteronomy 6:16). But it could not be "tempt-tug God" to comply with a Divine invitation; rather it was tempting him to refuse compliance. Isaiah 7:13 O house of David (comp. Isaiah 7:2). It is not Ahaz alone, but the "house of David," which is on its trial. Men are conspiring to remove it (Isaiah 7:6). If it will not be saved in God’s way, it will have to be removed by God himself. Is it a small thing for you to weary men? i.e. "Are you not content with wearying men; with disregarding all my warnings and so wearying me? Must you go further, and weary God" (or, "wear out his patience") "by rejecting his gracious offers?" My God. In Isaiah 7:11 Isaiah had called Jehovah "thy God;" but as Ahaz, by rejecting God’s offer, had rejected God, he speaks of him now as "my God." Isaiah 7:14 Therefore. To show that your perversity cannot change God’s designs, which will be accomplished, whether you hear or whether you forbear. The Lord himself; i.e. "the Lord himself, of his own free will, unasked." Will give you a sign. "Signs" were of various kinds. They might be actual miracles performed to attest a Divine commission (Exodus 4:3-9); or judgments of God, significative of his power and justice (Exodus 10:2); or memorials of something in the past (Exodus 13:9, Exodus 13:16); or pledges of something still future. Signs of this last-mentioned kind might be miracles (Judges 6:36-40; 2 Kings 20:8-11), or prophetic announcements (Exodus 3:12; 1 Samuel 2:34; 2 Kings 19:29). These last would only have the effect of signs on those who witnessed their accomplishment. Behold. "A forewarning of a great event" (Cheyne). A virgin shall conceive. It is questioned whether the word translated "virgin," viz. ’almah, has necessarily that meaning; but it is admitted that the meaning is borne out by every other place in which the word occurs m the Old Testament (Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Psalms 68:25; Proverbs 30:19; Son 1:3; Son 6:8). The LXX; writing two centuries before the birth of Christ, translate by παρθένος. The rendering "virgin" has the support of the best modern Hebraists, as Lowth, Gesenins, Ewald, Delitzsch, Kay. It is observed with reason that unless ’almah is translated "virgin," there is no announcement made worthy of the grand prelude: "The Lord himself shall give you a sign—Behold!" The Hebrew, however, has not "a virgin," but "the virgin", which points to some special virgin, pro-eminent above all others. And shall call; better than the marginal rendering, thou shalt call. It was regarded as the privilege of a mother to determine her child’s name (Genesis 4:25; Genesis 16:11; Genesis 29:32-35; Genesis 30:6-13, Genesis 30:18-21, Genesis 30:24; Genesis 35:18, etc.), although formally the father gave it (Genesis 16:15; 2 Samuel 12:24; Luke 1:62, 83). Immanuel. Translated for us by St. Matthew (Matthew 1:23) as "God with us" (μεθἡμῶνὁΘεός). (Comp. Isaiah 8:8, Isaiah 8:10.) Isaiah 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat. His fare shall be of the simplest kind (comp. Isaiah 7:22). That he may know; rather, till he shall know (Rosenmüller); i.e. till he come to years of discretion. Isaiah 7:16 The land, etc. Translate, The land shall be desolate, before whose two kings thou art afraid. The "land" must certainly be that of the two confederate kings, Rezin and Pekah, the Syro-Ephraim-itic land, or Syria and Samaria. "Desolate" may be used physically or politically. A land is "desolate" politically when it loses the last vestige of independence. Isaiah 7:17-25 THE DANGER TO JUDAH FROM ASSYRIA. The perversity of Ahaz, already rebuked in Isaiah 7:13, is further punished by a threat, that upon him, and upon his people, and upon his father’s house, shall come shortly a dire calamity. The very power whose aid he is himself bent on invoking shall be the scourge to chastise both king and people (Isaiah 7:17-20). The land shall be made bare as by a razor (Isaiah 7:20). Cultivation shall cease; its scant inhabitants will support themselves by keeping a few cows and sheep (Isaiah 7:21), and will nourish themselves on dairy produce, and the honey that the wild bees produce (Isaiah 7:22). Briers and thorns will come up everywhere; wild beasts will increase; cattle will browse on the hills that were once carefully cultivated to their summits (Isaiah 7:23-25). Isaiah 7:17 The Lord shall bring upon thee, etc. The transition from promises to threatenings is abrupt, and calculated to impress any one who was to any extent impressible. But Ahaz seems not to have had "ears to hear." From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; i.e. from the time of the revolt under Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:16-24)—an evil day, which rankled in the mind of all true Judaeans. Even the King of Assyria. The construction is awkward, since "the King of Assyria’ cannot well stand in apposition with "days." Hence many take the words for a gloss that has been accidentally intruded into the text (Lowth, Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, Cheyne). Others, however, see in the grammatical anomaly a grace of composition. Isaiah 7:18 The Lord shall hiss (see Isaiah 5:26, and note ad loc.). For the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt. The "fly of Egypt," like the "bee of Assyria," represents the military force of the nation, which God summons to take part in the coming affliction of Judaea. The prophetic glance may be extended over the entire period of Judah’s decadence, and the "flies" summoned may include those which clustered about Neco at Megiddo, and carried off Jehoahaz from Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:29-34). There may be allusion also to Egyptian ravages in the reigns of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon. In any general review of the period we shall find it stated that, from the time of Sargon to that of Cyrus, Judaea was the battle-ground upon which the forces of Assyria (or Assyro-Babylonia) and Egypt contended for the empire of western Asia. The desolation of the land during this period was produced almost as much by the Egyptian "fly" as by the Assyrian "bee." The "rivers of Egypt" are the Nile, its branches, and perhaps the great canals by which its waters were distributed. The bee that is in the land of Assyria. The choice of the terms "bee" and "fly," to represent respectively the hosts of Assyria and Egypt, is not without significance. Egyptian armies were swarms, hastily levied, and very imperfectly disciplined. Assyrian were bodies of trained troops accustomed to war, and almost as well disciplined as the Romans. Isaiah 7:19 And rest; or, settle. In the desolate valleys. Gesenius and Vance Smith translate "the precipitous valleys;" Mr. Cheyne, "the steeply walled valleys." But the cognate word used in Isaiah 5:6 can only mean "waste," which supports the rendering of the Authorized Version. The exact word used does not occur elsewhere. Upon all bushes; rather, upon all pastures. Isaiah 7:20 Shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired; rather, with the hired razor; i.e. the razor that Ahaz will have hired (2 Kings 16:8). The metaphor well expresses the stripping of the land bare by plunder and exaction (comp. Ezekiel 5:1, Ezekiel 5:12, and 2 Chronicles 28:19-21). God would use Tiglath-Pileser as his instrument to distress Ahaz. By them beyond the river; or, in the parts beyond the river. "The river" is undoubtedly the Euphrates, and they who dwell beyond it the Assyrians. By the King of Assyria. Once more a gloss is suspected, as in Isaiah 7:17. The meaning would certainly be sufficiently plain without the clause. The head … the hair of the feet … the beard. These three represent all the hair on any part of the body. Judah is to be completely stripped. Isaiah 7:21 A man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; literally, two ewes. A stop having been put to cultivation, men shall return to the pastoral life, but shall not possess more than two or three head of cattle apiece, the Assyrians having swept off most of the beasts. Tiglath-Pileser, in his inscriptions, mentions his carrying off homed cattle and sheep to the amount of many thousands from the countries which he overran or conquered. Isaiah 7:22 For the abundance of milk that they shall give. The small number of the cattle will allow of each having abundant pasture. Hence they will give an abundance of milk. He shall eat butter; rather, curds—the solid food most readily obtained from milk (comp. above, Isaiah 7:15). Curdled milk and wild honey should form the simple diet of the remnant left in the land. It is, of course, possible to understand this in a spiritual sense, of simple doctrine and gospel honey out of the flinty rock of the Law; but there is no reason to think that the prophet intended his words in any but the most literal sense. Isaiah 7:23 A thousand vines at a thousand silverlings. By "silverlings" our translators mean "pieces of silver," probably shekels. "A thousand vines at a thousand shekels" may mean either a thousand vines worth that amount, or a thousand vines rented at that sum annually (comp. Son 8:11). The latter would point to vineyards of unusual goodness, since the shekel is at least eighteen pence, and the present rent of a vineyard in Palestine is at the rate of a piastre for each vine, or 2½d. The general meaning would seem to be that not even the best vineyards would be cultivated, but would lie waste, and grow only "briers and thorns." Isaiah 7:24 With arrows and with bows. Only the hunter will go there, armed with his weapons of chase, to kill the wild animals that will haunt the thickets. Isaiah 7:25 On all hills that shall be digged; rather, that shall have been digged in former times, whether for corn cultivation or for any other. There shall not come thither the fear of briers (so Ewald and Kay). But almost all other commentators translate, "Thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers," etc. The briers and thorns of the East tear the clothes and the flesh. It shall be; i.e. "each such place shall be." For the sending forth of oxen; rather, for the sending in of oxen. Men shall send their cattle into them, as alone able to penetrate the jungle without hurt. Supplementary Note Note on the general purport of the Immanuel prophecy. Few prophecies have been the subject of so much controversy, or called forth such a variety of exegesis, as this prophecy of Immanuel. Rosenmüller gives a list of twenty-eight authors who have written dissertations upon it, and himself adds a twenty-ninth. Yet the subject is far from being exhausted. It is still asked: (1) Were the mother and son persons belonging to the time of Isaiah himself, and if so, what persons? Or, (2) Were they the Virgin Mary and her Son Jesus? Or, (3) Had the prophecy a double fulfillment, first in certain persons who lived in Isaiah’s time, and secondly in Jesus and his mother? I. The first theory is that of the Jewish commentators. Originally, they suggested that the mother was Abi, the wife of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:2), and the son Hezekiah, who delivered Judah from the Assyrian power. But this was early disproved by showing that, according to the numbers of Kings (2 Kings 16:2; 2 Kings 18:2), Hezekiah was at least nine years old in the first year of Ahaz, before which this prophecy could not have been delivered (Isaiah 7:1). The second suggestion made identified the mother with Isaiah’s wife, the "prophetess" of Isaiah 8:3, and made the son a child of his, called actually Immanuel, or else his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:1) under a symbolical designation. But ha-’almah, "the virgin," would be a very strange title for Isaiah to have given his wife, and the rank assigned to Immanuel in Isaiah 8:8 would not suit any son of Isaiah’s. It remains to regard the ’almah as "some young woman actually present," name, rank, and position unknown, and Immanuel as her son, also otherwise unknown (Cheyne). But the grand exordium, "The Lord himself shall give you a sign—Behold!" and the rank of Immanuel (Isaiah 8:8), are alike against this. II. The purely Messianic theory is maintained by Rosenmüller and Dr. Kay, but without any consideration of its difficulties. The birth of Christ was an event more than seven hundred years distant. In what sense and to what persons could it be a "sign" of the coming deliverance of the land from Rezin and Pekah? And, upon the purely Messianic theory, what is the meaning of verse 16? Syria and Samaria were, in fact, crushed within a few years of the delivery of the prophecy. Why is their desolation put off, apparently, till the coming of the Messiah, and even till he has reached a certain age? Mr. Cheyne meets these difficulties by the startling statement that Isaiah expected the advent of the Messiah to synchronize with the Assyrian invasion, and consequently thought that before Rezin and Pekah were crushed he would have reached the age of discernment. But he does not seem to see that in this case the sigma was altogether disappointing and illusory. Time is an essential element of a prophecy which turns upon the word "before" (verse 16). If this faith of Isaiah’s disciples was aroused and their hopes raised by the announcement that Immanuel was just about to be born (Mr. Cheyne translates, "A virgin is with child"), what would be the revulsion of feeling when no Immanuel appeared? III. May not the true account of the matter be that suggested by Bishop Lowth—that the prophecy had a double bearing and a double fulfillment? "The obvious and literal meaning of the prophecy is this," he says: "that within the time that a young woman, now a virgin, should conceive and bring forth a child, and that child should arrive at such an age as to distinguish between good and evil, that is, within a few years, the enemies of Judah should be destroyed." But the prophecy was so worded, he adds, as to have a further meaning, which wan even "the original design and principal intention of the prophet," viz. the Messianic one. All the expressions of the prophecy do not suit both its intentions—some are selected with reference to the first, others with reference to the second fulfillment—but all suit one or the other, and some suit both. The first child may have received the name Immanuel (comp. Ittiel) from a faithful Jewish mother, who believed that God was with his people, whatever dangers threatened, and may have reached years of discretion about the time that Samaria was carried away captive. The second child is the true "Immanuel," "God with us," the king of Isa 8:8; it is his mother who is pointed at in the expression, "the virgin," and on his account is the grand preamble; through him the people of God, the true Israel, is delivered from its spiritual enemies, sin and Satan—two kings who continually threaten it. Isaiah 7:1-7 The designs of the wicked, however well laid, easily brought to naught by God. It would be difficult to find a scheme, humanly speaking, more prudent and promising than that now formed by Rezin and Pekah. They had each measured their strength against that of Ahaz singly, and had come off decided victors from the encounter. What doubt could there be of success when their arms were united? And success would be a matter of the greatest importance to them. It would enable them to form a compact alliance of three considerable warlike nations against the aggressive power which was threatening all Western Asia with subjugation. It would put an end to the perpetual little wars in which they had been for centuries wasting their strength, and weakening themselves for resistance against an alien conqueror. But God speaks the word: "It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass;" and the promising scheme drops through, ends in disaster. Rezin, its framer, instead of triumphing over Ahaz, is himself attacked by Tiglath-Pileser; his territories are invaded, his capital besieged and taken, his people carried away captive, and himself slain (2 Kings 16:9). Pekah, Rezin’s aider and abettor, is then exposed to the full brunt of Assyrian invasion, is attacked, defeated, loses cities and provinces, and, though not slain by the Assyrians, is left so weak and so disgraced, that he is shortly dethroned by a new usurper, Hoshea, who murders him for his own security (2 Kings 15:29, 2 Kings 15:30). The "house of David," threatened with removal by the confederates, escapes the crisis unhurt, and continues to occupy the throne of Judah for another century and a half, while the kingdoms of Syria and Israel fall within a few years, and their inhabitants are deported to far-distant regions (2 Kings 16:9; 2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 15:26). We may learn from this— I. THE MADNESS OF GOD. Syria and Ephraim were confederate against Judah. They knew that Judah was in an especial way God’s people. They designed to set aside the house of David. They knew, or at any rate Ephraim knew, that the throne belonged to the descendants of David by God’s promise. Thus they set themselves against God knowingly. They thought their wisdom would be greater or their strength superior to his. But thus to think is utter madness. The "foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:24). In vain do "the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (Psalms 2:2-4). God had only to put it into the heart of the King of Assyria to make an immediate expedition, and all the fine schemes of the confederates, which needed time for their execution, came at once to naught, and were confounded. The would-be allies were crushed separately; their victim escaped them; and "the house of David" outlasted both their own. II. THE WISDOM OF FULL TRUST IN GOD. When once God had sent him the message, "It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass," Ahaz might have rested securely on the promise, and have been content simply to "stand still and see the salvation of God." But he can only have had a weak and imperfect trust in Isaiah’s words. He must bethink himself how he may escape his foes; he must bring in another to help him besides God. Accordingly, he "goes to Assyria." He takes the silver and gold out of the royal palace and out of the temple treasury, and sends them to Tiglath-Pileser, with the offer of becoming his servant (2 Kings 16:7, 2 Kings 16:8), and he probably flatters himself that he has done well, and owes his escape from Rezin and Pekah to himself. But he has really taken a step on the downward path which will conduct the house of David and the people of Judah to ruin. He has placed himself under an idolater, and paved the way for new idolatries (2 Kings 16:10-16). He has helped to sweep away two states, which, while they continued, served as a breakwater to keep the waves of invasion off his own kingdom. He has called in one, who, from the true point of view, has really "distressed him, and strengthened him not" (2 Chronicles 28:20). How much wiser would he have been to have accepted God’s promise in full faith, and not supplemented it by his own "inventions" (Ecclesiastes 7:29) God would have found a way to help him and save him, which would have involved no such evil consequences as those which flowed from his own self-willed action. Isaiah 7:11-14 Rightful and wrongful asking for signs. To ask for a sign is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as indicative of want of faith, and therefore as an offence to God: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign" (Matthew 12:39), "This is an evil generation; they seek a sign" (Luke 11:29). "Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given to this generation" (Mark 8:12). "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 1:22). On the other hand, it is sometimes spoken of without any dispraise, and seems to be viewed as natural, rightful, even as a sort of proof of faith. Ahaz, in the present passage, is bidden to "ask a sign, and is blamed for refusing to do so. His refusal "wearies" God (Isaiah 7:13). The disciples ask our Lord, unrebuked," What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Matthew 24:3). Hezekiah asks Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?" (2 Kings 20:8; comp. Isaiah 38:22). Can any tests be laid down whereby the right and the wrong may be distinguished in this matter? We think that some may. I. IT IS RIGHT TO ASK FOR A SIGN. 1. When a person comes forward and claims our obedience as a Divine teacher or leader. Moses anticipated that his countrymen in Egypt would refuse to listen to him if he presented himself to them without credentials, and was given at once the power of working certain miracles as signs that he was commissioned by God (Exodus 4:1-9). As soon as Jesus came forward to teach and to preach, he was asked, not unreasonably or improperly, "What sign showest thou?" (John 2:18), and responded, without blaming those who asked him, by a reference to the greatest of his miracles, his resurrection. The apostles were authorized to work miracles as signs of their Divine mission. 2. When we have an invitation from God through his accredited messenger, as Ahaz had, to ask a sign. 3. When we feel that much depends on our decision in a practical matter—e.g. the lives of others—we may humbly ask, as Gideon did (Judges 6:36-40), that God will, if he so please, give us some external indication, or else such strength of internal conviction as will assure us what his will is; only in such cases we must be careful to make our request conditional on its being acceptable to him, and we must be ready, if it be not granted, to act in the matter to the best of our ability on such light as is vouchsafed us. II. IT IS WRONG TO ASK FOR A SIGN. 1. In a captious spirit, with an intention to cavil at it, and (if possible) not accept it. This was the condition of mind of the Pharisees, who would not have believed even had Christ come down from the cross before their eyes, as they asked him to do (Matthew 27:42). 2. When we have already had abundant signs given us, and there is no reasonable ground for doubt or hesitation as to our duty. This was the case of those Jews who still "required a sign" (1 Corinthians 1:22) after the Resurrection and Ascension. 3. When we ask for it merely to gratify our curiosity, as Herod Antipas just before the Crucifixion (Luke 23:8). 4. When we arbitrarily fix on our own sign, and determine to regard the result, whatever it be, as a sign from heaven. This is the case of those who choose to decide a practical matter by sortes Virgiliance, or sortes Biblicae, or any other appeal to chance. They are not entitled to ask God for signs of this kind, or to regard such signs as significant of his will. To trust to them is not faith, but superstition. Jesus our Immanuel. I. REASONS FOR THIS. 1. None but Jesus was ever born of a pure virgin. 2. None but Jesus was ever "God with us." 3. None but Jesus ever knew truly "to refuse the evil and choose the good." II. DUTIES FLOWING FROM THE BELIEF. 1. If Jesus is "God with us," we must obey him. 2. If Jesus is "God with us," we must trust him. 3. If Jesus is "God with us," we must strive to imitate him. 4. If Jesus is "God with us," we must continually worship and pray to him. 5. If Jesus is "God with us," we must love him. III. IN THE BELIEF. 1. The Divinity of Christ, since he is "God with us." 2. His humanity, since he is conceived and born of a woman, and eats earthly food. 3. His love and pardoning grace, since he is "with us," not against us; on our side, not our adversary. 4. His atonement for our sins, since without atonement he could not pardon. Isaiah 7:17-20 Our pleasant vices whips for our own backs. Ahaz has made up his mind to "hire" the keen razor that lies beyond the far waters of the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia and Assyria Proper. He means to meet the danger which he sees to be impending, by his own wisdom and in his own strength. His ally, Tigiath-Pileser, "the great king, the King of Assyria" (2 Kings 18:28), shall crush the hosts of Pekah and Rezin, save Judah and Jerusalem from harm, nay, perhaps exalt Judah to the position which was his before Israel revolted under Jeroboam. But God has decreed otherwise. He will endorse Abaz’s scheme to a certain extent; he will employ the sword of Tiglath-Pileser to destroy Rezin (2 Kings 16:9) and chastise Pekah; but he will then make him a scourge to chastise Ahaz himself. The razor hired by Ahaz shall shave Judaea as clean as Samaria, exhausting the land utterly, and leaving it with comparatively few inhabitants. Ahaz shall find that he is not really "helped" by his ally, but only "distressed" and injured (2 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 28:21). In all this we have a specimen of one of the ordinary modes in which God works out his will. He "hoists us with our own petard," scourges us with the whip which we have ourselves made for another purpose. Ambition brings men into places where they are fain to cry, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Avarice indulged makes them grudge themselves the slightest enjoyment. Successful plotting deprives them of all feeling of security, putting their lives and liberties into the power of those who may at any time betray them. The attainment of the highest position at which they have ever aimed leaves them a prey to ennui and disappointment. Rebekah’s plan for the advancement of her favorite son succeeds; but it deprives her of her son’s society for a great part of her life. Absalom’s rebellion against David raises him to the throne, but brings him to an untimely end within a few months. Judas carries out his scheme of betrayal with complete success, and in consequence of his success hangs himself, In our youth we forge those fetters of habit which make us miserable in our old age. We plan, and scheme, and build castles, and laboriously achieve the accomplishment of our plans to a certain extent, with the result that we are Utterly dissatisfied, and would like to pull all down and begin again. "Our mischief falls on our own head, and our wickedness on our own pate" (Psalms 7:16). God turns our wisdom into foolishness, and crushes us beneath the structures that our own hands have erected. BY E. JOHNSON The prophet comforts the king. I. THE OUTLOOK. The kings and chieftains of Palestine were in dread of the great Assyrian power. Under the weak rule of Ahaz Judah had sunk very low, and the King of Damascus, with the King of Ephraim, think it a favorable opportunity to attack the little kingdom, and so strengthen themselves against the Assyrians. "Far down to the gulf of Akaba the shock of invasion was felt. Elath, the favorite seaport of Jehoshaphat and Uzziah, was made over to the Edomites" (2 Kings 16:6; 2 Kings 15:37). Jerusalem was now threatened, and a usurper was to be placed on David’s throne (Isaiah 7:6). II. THE ALARM OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. (Isaiah 7:2.) News is brought to the palace "Aram encampeth in Ephraim;" the junction of the forces of Syria and Israel had taken place. A shivering fear, like the wind swaying the trees of the forest, passed over their hearts. The court went forth to inspect the fortifications and the waterworks, and came to "the end of the conduit of the upper reservoir, upon the path to the fuller’s field"—a well-known spot (cf. Isaiah 36:2; 2 Kings 18:1-37.). III. THE MEETING WITH ISAIAH. At this spot the prophet, with his son, stood before them. It seems that by Divine intimation the prophet had called the boy Shear-Jashub, which means "Remnant-shall-be-converted," reminding us of the hope of his calling (Isaiah 6:1-13.). He would look upon the boy as a living pledge, not only of conjugal affection, but of Divine promise for a nobler Israel. See how he dwells upon the thought in Isaiah 10:20-22. Inspired by this confidence, he now addresses the king. IV. COMFORT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED. "Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, and be not faint-hearted." A calm, collected mind is a match for any danger. Agitation and fear magnify the ill; stout resolve reduces it to its true proportions. The worst is ever in our own fancy. "Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived; But what torments of grief you endured From evils which never arrived!" The timid king sees a fiery mass of war rolling towards him; the stout heart of the prophet contemptuously defies the two kings as "two stumps of smoking firebrands." If we would comfort men, we must, like the prophet, tell them to draw upon the resources God has placed in the soul: intelligence, prudence, self-reliance, and self-help. There is no true self-trust which is not at the same time a trust in God. IV. THE DEEPEST SOURCE OF AND COMFORT. What are the heads of the Syrian power and of Israel’s power against Judah’s Head, the Lord? Damascus and Samaria will rear their fronts in vain against Jerusalem, if Jerusalem only trust in Jehovah. (Ewald supposes that the words," Judah’s head is Jerusalem, and Jerusalem’s head is Jehovah," have fallen out of the text, Isaiah 10:9.) Only have confidence. There is a play upon words in the original which we might represent in English by: "Fear not, fail not;" or, "Firm in faith is free from scathe; "or," If ye confide not, abide ye shall not." 1. Confidence, presence of mind, is a duty in times of danger. 2. It may be gained, if we will fall back upon God as our Leader and Defense. "The Lord is on my side: I will not fear what men shall do unto me."—J. Isaiah 7:10-17 Faith triumphing over doubt. Faith in the Eternal personified in the prophet, to whom all things desirable are to be hoped for, all things to be hoped for are possible; and distrust, the weakness of mere flesh and blood, represented in the timid Ahaz. Such is the illusion of appearances. The outwardly kingly man is the coward; the real king of men is the plain-looking prophet. I. THE OF FAITH. In the Name of Jehovah, Isaiah bids the king ask a sign from above—a sign "going deep down to hell or high into heaven." Truth should be its own evidence to every mind; intuition is better than proof. Isaiah has seen and listened to God in the depths of his own spirit, and no sign in the air above or in the earth beneath can give him more assurance than he already possesses. Would any man but listen and look, he should find the shrine, the oracle, the Shechinah, in his own heart. Within that awful volume of the heart, it may be said, lies the mystery of mysteries. Yet not to all is it given to read therein clearly; all other reading, even in dead tongues, is easier. "Happiest they of human race To whom our God has granted grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch and force the way!" The duller eye, untrained to such visions, needs the large bold characters of the visible sign. "It comes in with its palpable meaning to aid human weakness. The prophets complained of the craving for signs, yet were compelled to comply with it. Men trust their senses more than they trust the ghostly and majestic shape of abstract truth; and the appeal to the ear, as the Roman poet said, produces but a sluggish movement in the mind compared with the appeal to the faithful eye. We must all confess ourselves weak; needing to see before we can believe, instead of believing that we may see. Yet such incidents as this may remind us that there is a Spirit to help our infirmities, and restore its poise to the mind unhinged by doubt. When Midian threatened Israel in the days of old, God’s voice was heard by Gideon: "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Yet the heart of the hero still quailed. "O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of?" (Judges 6:12, sqq.). Again the voice came: "Go and save Israel: have not I sent thee?" And again the diffident reply: "O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor, and I am the least in my father’s clan." Then the sign is asked for and granted; the fire, bursting from the rock, consumes Gideon’s offering. God, in the strength of an almighty wisdom, "reasons together" with men. In our day it is equally hard to "hold on and hope hard in the subtle thing called spirit;" and we crave as urgently for signs, though not of the same kind. II. THE EXCUSE OF . The king alleges that he dare not "tempt Jehovah." True, this was a deep reproach of old against Israel’s temper. At Rephidim, in the wilderness, Moses stigmatized the demand of the people for water by this phrase, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:2). There lay the canker of guilty skepticism. In a general way the same thing is seen in our time, in the impatient demand that the difficulties of the great problem of the universe shall be cleared up to our private satisfaction. Who gave us the right thus to interrogate and cross-examine him whose works, as a whole, witness to his goodness and love? God did not copy our puny schemes in this construction; nor does he manage the universe as we manage a business, an expedition, the government of a state. "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God," means—You shall not weigh him in the scales of your finite intelligence, nor call upon him to execute your wishes as if they were the same as his holy will. So difficult is it to distinguish the plea of honesty and humility from that of dishonesty and disbelief, it looks as if Ahaz might be right, and Isaiah wrong; the latter too bold, the former more reverent. Scripture may be made to mean anything and everything; the right heart alone reads the right meaning for particular time, place, and person. While it is the mark of presumption to "tempt God," it is the symptom of unbelief when proffered light and help are refused. III. THE OF FAITH. With a rebuke of the king’s spirit, charging him in effect with despising the goodness and tending to weary the patience of God, the prophet proceeds with his unasked-for message. What are we to learn from the expression, "wearying God?" All such poetical figures of Scripture have their deep meaning. To despise the riches of God’s forbearance, to grieve his Spirit, to quench his Spirit,—these are ways of pointing out and stigmatizing that indifference and coldness to the true and Divine which may be a worse symptom than open hostility. We may either neglect to ask Divine guidance, we may disobey it when we have it intimated, or we may refuse its proffer. Perhaps this last state of mind is the worst. It shows the heart to be already prepossessed and biased. Ahaz was, in fact, under the influence of his false prophets and soothsayers. But why should he decline to hear at least what Isaiah had to say? He should have recognized that there were "two sides" in the great question at issue. Ahaz then warns us against listening to ex parte counsels. He who will only attend to the flattering echoes of his own wishes, is like him who trusteth in his own heart and who proves a fool. From Isaiah, again, the lesson comes back of faithful perseverance in our word and work, in spite of indifference, which threatens to blunt our edge and paralyze our energy. When a matter is on the conscience, let it come forth, "whether men will hear or whether they will forbear." We calculate consequences too much; and while few have the courage to risk danger by preaching unwelcome truth, perhaps fewer still have the faith in its worth to insist on pressing it upon reluctant ears. IV. THE SIGN FROM JEHOVAH. 1. It will be of mixed import. Partly it will confirm previous expectation, and partly it will intimate what had not been expected. It proclaims a happy event which Ahaz had not looked for, but also a calamity which he might have averted had he possessed greater faith and truth. Mysteriously, our wishes or fears have some creative influence on our future. "Omens follow those who look to them," whether for good or evil. "Man is his own star; and the soul that can Render a perfect and an honest man, Commands all light, all influence, and all fate; Nothing to him falls early or too late. Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still." (Beaumont and Fletcher.) 2. The Immanuel. In a dark saying the prophet opens his mouth. "Lo! haalmah" (the maiden, she who is no longer a girl, nor yet an old woman) "will conceive, and bear a son, and then call his name With-us-God." Time is thus hinted at; it will be soon, perhaps in a year’s time. Also the certainty and the joy of deliverance, as the boy’s name betokens. It is the very rallying cry of Israel: "God with us." We must have a watchword in every noble cause, that shall condense its purport and sound the tocsin to every true aspiration and energy within. So the Crusaders shouted "Dieu le veut!" at the preaching of Peter the Hermit; so were English warriors heartened in the olden days by the cry of "England and St. George!" Notice how this phrase echoes and re-echoes—"Immanuel, God-with-us"—in Isaiah 8:8, Isaiah 8:10 (cf. Isaiah 9:6). Every great. man raised up from time to time among us in politics, in religion, to deliver, to lead, to counsel, is, in his way, an heroic reflection of Israel’s Messiah. To prophetic faith and hope a Messiah, a Deliverer, is ever at the doors. If the Eternal lives and reigns, and fulfils himself by the agency of men, we need not fear that when the hour strikes, the hero, with all the credentials of his anointing, will appear. 3. Speedy help. "Jehovah shall help thee, and that right early," is a chronic promise. When the boy is approaching years of maturity and of judgment, his food will be curds and honey; that is, before he comes to manhood, Ephraim and Damascus will be discomfited, and a new "golden age" will have set in. No more is known about any particular youth of Isaiah’s time to whom the mystic prediction could refer than is known about the illustrious boy of Virgil’s prophetic Eclogue, who was to restore good King Saturn’s reign (Ecl. 4.). It is a misunderstanding of the nature of prophecy when we try to fix its forecasts to place or time. A prophecy is never fulfilled as we expect. It refers to a world not bounded by our horizons, and to a history which does not fall into our time perspective. This ideal Immanuel was destined yet to float before the pious hope of the nation for many centuries, till it was united with the real in the person of Jesus. 4. The chastisement that must precede prosperity. The great Assyrian conquest and the desolation it brings must come, in punishment of the unfaithfulness of the royal house, and the estrangement of the nation from Jehovah’s ways. It is only after long trial in the fire and thorough regeneration that prosperity can come. It is a doubtful picture of the future, in which rays of glory strike athwart dark masses of gloom. Such is ever our outlook, whether for personal history, as for Isaiah in the preceding chapter, or for a nation, as here. Never has the hope of Christ been wanting, never the promise of his coming died out; and never proclaimed without the intimation of woes and tribulations first to come. Christ’s own forecasts of the future (see the closing chapters of Matthew) present the like half-veiled, half-revealed perspective. We must ever look out upon the coming time with confidence or with mistrust, according as our hearts are stayed, like Isaiah’s, upon Jehovah, or weak, because trusting only to the arm of flesh, or to the irrational dreams of superstition, like Ahaz.—J. Isaiah 7:18-25 War-pictures. I. HOSTS. The armies of Egypt and Assyria are compared to swarms of bees. As the bee-master calls to his winged slaves with a peculiar sound, so at the call of Jehovah the swarms of Israel’s foes will come on, with swords that sting, and settle down in the low-lying pastures of the land, in the rock-clefts, the hedges of thorn, and the pastures. (For the image of the bees, compare Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:1-29.) In Joe 2:1-32. we find a splendid picture of locusts as pictorial of an invading army. II. . Another striking image. The land, devoured by strangers, will be like a man clean shaven from top to toe of all his manly ornament of hair and beard. Like a keen razor will be the sweeping penal judgment of Jehovah on the holy laud. The rich vineyards will disappear. No pruning nor digging will go forward. Briers and thorns, quick usurpers of the neglected corn-fields, will flourish, and the courts of the houses will be weed-grown (cf. Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 32:13). Here and there will be seen a cow and a sheep or two, grazing as on a great common or desert. The farmer will disappear, or will return to the wild nomad life, living on the produce of his few cattle and on honey. Thorns and thistles will replace the vines, and the hunter will wander with bow and arrow where once the husbandman had been seen busy with spade or plough. The hoe will cease from its work, for, alas! with hope of fruit the "fear of thorns and thistles" has ceased; and the ox and the sheep will find free pasture everywhere. We have seen Landseer’s two striking pictures, "War" and "Peace," in the National Gallery, and can feel their pathos. To look out from peace and plenty upon a perspective of smoke, bloodshed, and desolation is that to which the prophet calls the king. Yet amidst the gloom appears the figure, mystically hinted, of the young Messiah. And, indeed, it was in the midst of down-trodden Galilee, over which armies had so often tramped, that Jesus appeared, and adopted the holy and comforting mission of the Messiah as his own (Luke 4:1-44.).—J. BY W.M. STATHAM No faith, no fixity. "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." Faith is older than the Law. It is, in fact, the eider principle of all Divine teachings. Believe. "For he that cometh to God must believe that he is." Moreover, it is a living principle. It is not a cold precept, but is vital with trust and confidence. I. THE . It is very wonderful, and very distinct. See the succeeding (Isaiah 7:14): "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Well, therefore, has Isaiah been called" the evangelical prophet," seeing that we have in his words the revelation of an immaculate Messiah and a suffering Messiah. II. THE GENERAL . That we are not "established" unless we believe is a principle, not only of particular but of universal application. We must believe in each other to have commerce established. Home itself is never secure without mutual trust, and there can be no established character in religion unless we have that faith without which it is impossible to please God, and which gives vital energy to all other graces. III. THE . "If ye will not believe." Here is the responsibility of the soul. And doubtless we are responsible for our beliefs. We are to weigh, to judge, to consider, to prove all things. "Judge, I pray you," says God in this same Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 5:3), "betwixt me and my vineyard." The condition must be absolute. It is not a threat; it is a statement of that which cannot be other than so. If I do not believe that corn will grow, I shall not plant it. If I do not believe that God is able and willing to save, I shall not be amongst those who believe to the saving of their souls. If I do not believe that spiritual aid will be given to perfect my. graces, I shall not pray for it. "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established."—W.M.S. BY W. The establishing power of faith. The practical force of this prophetic utterance is found in the final words of it: "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9). We may see in them a declaration expressly personal. They intimate to Ahaz that if he, the present King of Judah, does not put his faith in the minister and in the message of the Lord, his kingdom and his power will suffer loss. 1. His faith was sorely tried. "His heart was moved as the trees of the wood by the wind" when he heard that two powerful monarchs were confederate against him (Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 7:2). It required no little faith to accept, without reserve, the assurances of Isaiah (verses 4-9). 2. But he had solid ground on which to build his hope. The history of his country should have made it perfectly practicable to believe that, whatever the Lord had decided upon, all the hosts of heathendom would be unable to withstand. 3. His human fears proved too strong for his religious convictions. 4. The prophet warned him that with the failure of his faith would come material loss. This minatory prediction was only too painfully fulfilled. Elath, a port on the Red Sea, was lost to the kingdom (2 Kings 16:6); great numbers of the people were slaughtered (2 Chronicles 28:6); many captives were carried away (2 Chronicles 28:8); Judah became tributary to Assyria (2 Kings 16:8, 2 Kings 16:9). "The Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz" (2 Chronicles 28:19). He was not established; he was enfeebled and humiliated. The lesson which the passage, particularly these final words, conveys to us is this, that WHEN FAITH FAILS, POWER DEPARTS; that faith is the one sustaining power which will establish us in the spiritual position to which we have attained. We look, therefore, at this broad principle applicable to every one. 1. As Christian men we enjoy an excellent estate. We are "kings and priests unto God;" we are made to "sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." "Now are we the sons of God," and all the joys and privileges of sonship are ours. 2. But our position is threatened by powerful adversaries. There come up against us the foes of our race—worldly allurements, fleshly indulgences, incitements to spiritual pride and unbelief, temptations to fall into selfishness or into untruthfulness, etc. 3. Only a living faith will uphold us in our integrity. We must have the faith which (1) enables us to realize the nearness of the living God; (2) makes spiritual realities and successes seem to our souls the great things they are; (3) brings near to our hearts the future world, with its judgment and its reward; (4) calls down from above, by believing prayer, Divine direction and support. Without this living faith, we may expect the enemy to overcome us; with it, we may hope to be established in our high and blest estate.—C. Isaiah 7:10-13 Sin and duty in regard to signs. The passage is interesting for this among other reasons, that Ahaz is charged with guilt for declining that course the resort to which became the national sin (1 Corinthians 1:22), and for using words which were afterwards employed by the Savior himself in repelling the attack of the evil one (Matthew 4:7). We are, therefore, reminded— I. THAT THE WORTH OR OF AN ACTION DEPENDS LARGELY ON ITS . The Jews who sought a sign from Christ were rebuked by him for so doing (Matthew 12:38, Matthew 12:39). Ahaz is reproved for not asking for one on this occasion. The circumstances of the two cases made all the difference. In the ease of the Pharisees, abundant miraculous evidence had already been granted, and they demanded a work of a particular kind after their own fancy; in the case of Ahaz, he deliberately refused the special privilege which God offered him. That which is right and wise under certain circumstances may be wrong and foolish under others. Many things which are proper to youth are improper to age, and vice versa; language which is devotion on the lips of the half-enlightened would be irreverence in the mouth of the children of privilege. Clearly instructed by God, the Israelites were simply obedient and courageous when they expelled the Canaanites from the country and occupied their land, but an invasion of another’s territory and expulsion or slaughter of its inhabitants without such express authority from above would be a crime of the greatest magnitude; etc. II. THAT WE DO WELL TO SHRINK AND FROM GOD. Honestly; for an insincere profession of doing so is of no account. Ahaz probably used this as a mere pretext with which to cover his real unwillingness to have the will of God unmistakably revealed. And earnestly; for to tempt God is a serious sin and a calamitous mistake. We do tempt him when we neglect our duty as citizens of this world or as travelers to eternity, or when we deliberately run great risks, whether bodily or spiritual, unwarrantably presuming on God’s interposing power or inexhaustible grace. III. THAT WE SHOULD ACCEPT THE LOWER AS WELL AS THE HIGHER WHICH GOD OFFERS US. A sign such as Jehovah offered Ahaz was a privilege of a lower order than the exhortation of his servant Isaiah. A miracle which appeals to the senses and the imagination is not so high and pure an influence as a sacred truth which appeals to the conscience and the reason. Yet it had its own value, and was not to be disregarded or declined. We should fear God, should exercise faith in Jesus Christ, should serve our race, first stud most because it is our sacred duty so to do; but we may well be animated and impelled by other and less lofty considerations—by the fear of offending God, by the hope of gaining his favor and his reward, by a desire to win the gratitude of those we serve, by a wish to please those to whom we are related. The superfine purity which will not be moved by any but the very highest considerations does not suit our human nature, and is not sanctioned in the Divine Word. IV. THAT THE OF A LONG- GOD MAY BE OUTWORN BY OUR . "Will ye weary my God also?" (verse 13). Much is said in Scripture of the patience of God. He is "slow to anger, and of great mercy" (Psalms 145:8). We read of "the riches of his forbearance and long-suffering" (Romans 2:4). And they who are honestly trying to please and serve him may count on his considerateness, though their efforts be imperfect and their mistakes be many. But they who pertinaciously refuse his yoke, and stubbornly go on their own way when he is calling them to walk in his paths, may find that it is only too possible to "weary him also," and to bring down irreparable evil on their souls.—C. The presence of God. We naturally ask the question—In what ways is God ours? "Immanuel;" in what respect is he one of whom we can say that he is "God with us;" how and where is his presence to be found and to be felt? There are many answers to this question; there is— I. THE ANSWER OF SACRED POETRY. That the presence of God is seen in the results of his Divine handiwork, in the foundations and pillars of the earth, in the "meanest flower that blows," in the varied forms of life; that it only needs a true imagination to see him in all the objects and scenes of his creative power; that "every bush’s afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes." II. THE ANSWER OF . That his presence is in all-surrounding nature, in which he is immanent; that though all nature does not include Deity, the Divine power is present in all things, sustaining, energizing, renewing; the "laws of nature" are the regular activities of God. III. THE ANSWER OF NATURAL . That he is with us in his omnipresent and observant Spirit; that he fills immensity with his presence, being everywhere and observing everything, and taking notice of every human soul; that the Infinite One is he who cannot be absent from any sphere or be ignorant of any action. IV. THE ANSWER, OF THE EARLIER . That his presence is in his overruling providence; that God is with us, not only "besetting us behind and before," not only "understanding our thought afar off," but also "laying his hand upon us," directing our course, ordering our steps (Psalms 37:23), making plain our path before our face, causing all things to work together for our good, defending us in danger, delivering us from trouble, establishing us in life and strength and joy (see Genesis 39:2; 1 Samuel 3:19; 1 Samuel 18:12; 2 Kings 18:7; Matthew 28:20). V. THE ANSWER OF THE LATER . That his presence was in his Divine Son. The time came when the words of the text proved to have indeed "a springing and germinant fulfillment;" for a virgin did conceive, and bring forth a Son, and he was the "Immanuel" of the human race, God with us—that One who dwelt amongst us, and could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." They who walked with him and watched his life, and who understood and appreciated him, recognized the spirit, the character, the life, of God himself. In his mind were the thoughts, in his words the truth, in his deeds the principles, in his death the love, in his mission the purpose, of God. When "Jesus was here among men," God was with us as never before, as never since. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 8:1-4 THE SIGN OF MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. The sign of Immanuel was recondite. In its more spiritual sense it appealed to faith in an event far distant. Even in its literal import, it was not calculated to cheer and encourage more than a few, since neither the maiden nor the child was pointed out with any distinctness. A fresh sign was therefore given by God’s goodness to reassure the mass of the people—a sign about which there was nothing obscure or difficult. Isaiah himself should have a son born to him almost immediately, to whom he should give a name indicating the rapid approach of the spoiler, and before this child should be able to utter the first words which childhood ordinarily pronounces, "Father," "Mother," Damascus and Samaria should be despoiled. Isaiah 8:1 Take thee a great roll; rather, a large tablet. The word is the same as that used for "mirror" in Isaiah 3:23. Write in it with a man’s pen; i.e. "write upon it with the pen used by ordinary men"—in opposition to the implements of an engraver. The tablet was probably to be hung up to view in a public place (comp. Isaiah 30:8), so that all might read, and the writing was therefore to be such as was in ordinary use. Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. These were the words which were to be written on the tablet, which was to be otherwise left blank. They would naturally excite curiosity, like the strange names placarded in modern streets. The name is literally, "Plunder speeds, spoil hastens." It has been imitated by Goethe in his "Habebald-Eilebeute" (’Faust,’ Acts 4. sc. 3). Isaiah 8:2 And I took unto me; rather, and I will have taken for me. It is still God who is speaking. Uriah the priest. Probably the high priest of the time, mentioned in 2 Kings 16:10-16, as the ready tool of Ahaz at a later date. Though a bad man, he may have been a trustworthy witness to a fact. Zechariah. Perhaps the father of Abi or Abijah, Ahaz’s queen (2 Kings 18:2; 2 Chronicles 29:1). It would serve to call public attention still more to the tablet, if it bore the names of two such eminent persons as witnesses. Isaiah 8:3 The prophetess. It is not necessary to suppose that the wife of Isaiah must have uttered prophecies because she is called "the prophetess." Titles were given in the East to the wives, daughters, etc; of officials, which merely reflected the dignity of their husbands, fathers, etc. Even Miriam seems to be called a "prophetess" (Exodus 15:20) from her close relationship to Moses, rather than from any supernatural power that she had. In the Mishna, a priest’s wife or daughter is called "priestess" (Cheyne). Call his name. There is no reason for doubting that the name was actually given. Other Israelites had such names as Jushab-hosed (1 Chronicles 3:20), Haah-ashtari (1 Chronicles 4:6), Romamti-ezer (1 Chronicles 25:4), Machnadebai (Ezra 10:40), and the like. Assyrian names were even longer; e.g. As-shur-bel-nisi-su, Asshur-kinat-ili-kain, etc. In ordinary parlance, names of this type were commonly shortened, "Shalman-eser’ becoming "Shalmau" (Hosea 10:14), "Sennacherib Jareb" (Hosea 10:6), and the like. Isaiah 8:4 My father … my mother. "Abi," "Immi," would have been among the first utterances of childhood—simple sounds, combinations of primary vowels with labials, corresponding in easiness of utterance to "Pappy," "Mammy," rather than to the expressions of the text. A child commonly utters such sounds when it is about a year old. The riches of Damascus. The position of Damascus lay in the direct path of the main trade that was carried on between the West and East, which was conducted by the merchants of Tyro chiefly, and passed from the Syrian coast by way of Damascus and Tadmor to Nineveh and Babylon. This commerce greatly enriched the cities lying upon its route. "Damascus," says Ezekiel, addressing Tyre, "was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool" (Ezekiel 27:18). The "palaces of Benhadad" seem to have been noted for their magnificence (Jeremiah 49:27; Amos 1:4). The spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria. Scripture does not record the fulfillment of this prophecy, which makes the same Assyrian king carry off the spoil of Samaria and the spoil of Damascus, fixing also the time of the carrying off as within a few years of the time when the prophecy was given. But the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser himself supply the deficiency. They state that this monarch "sent the population, the goods of the people of Beth-Omri, and their furniture to the land of Assyria;" after which he "appointed Husih (Hoshea) to the dominion ever them," and fixed their annual tribute at two talents of gold and a thousand talents of silver. Isaiah 8:5-10 THE FLOOD OF WILL PASS FROM SYRIA AND SAMARIA INTO JUDAEA, BUT WILL THERE BE . Syria and Samaria were barriers, breakwaters, so placed as to stem the tide of invasion, and be a defense to Judaea against Assyrian attack. When once they were overwhelmed, the waters would have free course, and the submersion of Judaea was certain. It might be delayed by the Divine favor, and would be, so long as the people, or even a remnant of them, remained faithful, but only through the might of the name Immanuel, "God with us." Isaiah 8:6 Forasmuch as this people. It is a question which people is intended, Judah or Israel. Ewald supposes Judah, and draws the conclusion that there was a strong party in Jerusalem which favored "the son of Tabeal." Dr. Kay does the same, but understands the charge against Judah to be, not that it sympathized with Rezin, but that it fell into the same sins. Other commentators suggest that Israel is the people intended (as in Isaiah 9:16), the sense being carried on from Isaiah 8:4, where the word "Samaria" is suggestive of the Israelite people. Refuseth the waters of Shiloah. The "pool of Siloah" (Nehemiah 3:15) was the tank or reservoir at the southwestern foot of Ophel, which is supplied with water by a narrow conduit cut through the limestone rock for a distance of 1750 feet from the "Pool of the Virgin" on the opposite side of Ophel, in the Kedron valley. This pool itself is fed from reservoirs under the temple area, which have not yet been fully explored. It is probable that Isaiah uses the expression "waters of Shiloah" in a general sense for the streams, springs, reservoirs, conduits, which supplied the temple, and were connected with its service. "Refusing the waters of Shiloah" would then be, without any violent metaphor, refusing the temple service and worship, which was exactly what the Israelites had done from the time of Jeroboam. That go softly. In contrast with the "waters of the river, strong and many," of the next verse. They who refused the mild and gentle government of Jehovah should experience the impetuous and torrent-like rush of the Assyrian armies. Rejoice in Rezin; rather, rejoice with Rezin; i.e. sympathize with him, rejoice when he rejoices. Isaiah 8:7 The waters of the river, strong and many. "The river" is, of course, the Euphrates, as in Isaiah 7:20. In its lower course the Euphrates often overflows its banks, and inundates the adjacent districts, causing vast damage to crops, and some-limes threatening to break down the walls of cities. It is scarcely likely, however, that Isaiah had any acquaintance with this fact. His experience would probably have been limited to the "swellings of Jordan" (Jeremiah 12:5; comp. Joshua 3:15). All his glory (comp. Isaiah 10:12, Isaiah 10:16, Isaiah 10:18, etc.). He shall come up over all his channels. A graphic description of the swelling of rivers in the East. These, when they are low, contract their waters from the many channels, in which they ordinarily flow, into some one or two, leaving the others dry. The first effect of a flood is to fill all the channels, after which it may proceed further and overflow the banks. Isaiah 8:8 And he shall pass through Judah; rather, he shall pass on into Judah ("He shall sweep onward into Judah," Revised Version). The Assyrians will not be content with invading Syria and Samaria; they will "pass on into Judaea." It is not clear whether this is to be done immediately by Tiglath-Pileser, or by one of his successors at a later date. There is reason to believe from Tiglath-Pileser’s inscriptions that he used the territory of Ahaz for the passage of his armies as those of a vassal king, but did not ravage them. He shall reach even to the neck. The Assyrian attacks on Judaea shall stop short of destroying it. The flood shall not submerge the head, but only rise as high as the neck. This prophecy was fulfilled, since it was not Assyria, but Babylon, which destroyed the Jewish kingdom. The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land. The Assyrian armies shall visit every part of the land. The sudden change of metaphor is in the manner of Isaiah (see Isaiah 1:30, Isaiah 1:31; Isaiah 5:24, Isaiah 5:30, etc.). O Immanuel. On the importance of this address, as indicating the kingly, and so (probably) the Divine character of Immanuel, see the notes on Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah could not speak of the land as belonging to his own infant son. Isaiah 8:9 Associate yourselves. It is impossible to obtain this meaning from the existing Hebrew text, which must be translated, "Be angry," or "Rage" ("Make an uproar," Revised Version). The prophet passes from the consideration of the opposition offered to Jehovah by Israel, Syria, and Assyria, to a general consideration of all the nations of the earth. He challenges them to the combat against Jehovah, and confidently predicts their defeat. O ye people; rather, O ye peoples (compare the corresponding expression in the next clause, "All ye of far countries"). Isaiah 8:10 Take counsel together; literally, devise a device; i.e. form some plan, even the cleverest possible, against God’s people, and the result will be utter failure. It shall not stand (comp. Isaiah 7:7). For God is with us. In the Hebrew, ki ’immanu-El, "for with us (is) God" words declarative of the true meaning of the name which God had made a sign to his people (Isaiah 7:14). It was his being "with them" that could alone save them from their enemies. Isaiah 8:11-16 THE GROUNDS OF ISAIAH’S . Having declared his absolute confidence, not only that the attack of Pekah and Rezin will fail (Isaiah 8:1-4), but that Assyria also (Isaiah 8:8), nay, that all the nations of the earth (Isaiah 8:9) will fail, and bring destruction upon themselves, if they "devise devices" against God’s true people, the prophet explains the ground of his confidence by relating a special "instruction" which he had received from God some time previously, he had been bidden to separate himself from the mass of his countrymen in thought and feeling, and to cling only to Jehovah, who would "be for a Sanctuary" (Isaiah 8:14) to his own, but "for a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence" to all others. Isaiah 8:11 For the Lord. Mr. Cheyne regards this passage as "a short oracle, complete in itself," and entirely unconnected with what has preceded. But the initial ki, "for," is in that case inexplicable. Spake thus to me with a strong hand; literally, with strength of hand—i.e. laying a strong grasp upon him; and, as it were, constraining him to attend (comp. Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:14, Ezekiel 3:22, etc.). That I should not walk in the way of this people. Isaiah was bidden not to "follow a multitude to evil" (Exodus 23:2). It was not merely idolatry against which he was warned, but the whole spirit and tone of the society of his day. He was not to entertain their suspicions, or to hope their hopes, or to fear their fears. He was to take a line of his own, to fear God and him only; then God would be "for a Sanctuary" to him. Isaiah 8:12 Say ye not. The transition from the singular to the plural is noticeable. It implies that Isaiah did not stand alone, but had followers—a "little flock," it may be—but still enough to give him the support of sympathy (comp. verse 16). A confederacy; rather, treason, or conspiracy (see 2 Samuel 15:12; 1 Kings 16:20; 2 Kings 11:12; 2 Kings 12:20; Jeremiah 11:9; Ezekiel 22:25, etc.). The command is, not to call a course of conduct treasonable simply because the people generally so call it. Jeremiah was charged with treason for preaching the hopelessness of offering resistance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 26:8-11). Those who opposed an Assyrian alliance were probably now taxed with treason. To all them to whom; rather, everything which. Translate the entire clause thus: Call ye not conspiracy everything which this people shall call conspiracy. Neither fear ye their fear. They feared man (Isaiah 7:2). Isaiah and his disciples are commanded to fear no one but God. Isaiah 8:13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts. God was sanctified by being believed in (Numbers 20:12). They who feared Rezin and Pekah, despite of God’s assurances that their design should fail, did not believe in him, and so did not "sanctify" him. Isaiah 8:14 He shall be for a Sanctuary (comp. Ezekiel 11:16, "Yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary"). A sanctuary is "a refuge" (Psalms 90:1; Psalms 91:9), and something more. It is a holy refuge, a place which is a refuge because of its holiness. Its material counterpart in the Mosaic system is, not "the city of refuge," but the altar (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28). Both the houses of Israel; i.e. "the two reigning houses of Samaria and Judaea," both of which were Israelite. Both the "houses" would ultimately forsake Jehovah, and find in him a "Snare" and a "Rock of offense." Isaiah 8:15 Many among them (so the Vulgate, Ewald, Delitzsch, and Knobel). But most others translate, "Many shall stumble thereon,"i.e. on the stone and the rock (Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Vance Smith, Kay, Cheyne). Fall, and be broken. The effect of stumbling against a stone (Matthew 21:44; Luke 20:18). Be snared, and be taken. The effect of being caught in a gin (Psalms 9:15, Psalms 9:16). Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony, etc. The words are still those of Jehovah, addressed to his servant Isaiah. God commands that the prophecy shall be written in a roll, which is then to be carefully tied with a string and sealed, for future use. Seal the Law; rather, the instruction—the advice given in verses 12-15 (comp. Daniel 12:4). Isaiah 8:17, Isaiah 8:18 ISAIAH DEFINES HIS OWN AND THAT OF HIS . It is questioned whether something has not fallen out between Isaiah 8:16 and Isaiah 8:17. The transition is exceedingly abrupt, undoubtedly; but perhaps not more abrupt than elsewhere in Isaiah and the prophets contemporary with him. The Divine "instruction" comes to an end in verse 16; and Isaiah might have been expected to comment on it, or enforce its teaching; but he does neither. He simply states what his own attitude will be under the coming calamity (verse 8). He will "wait for the Lord and look to him" (verse 17), and consider himself and his children as doing a work for God in being "signs" (verse 18)—signs to which the rest of Israel may look, and from which they may derive sufficient hope and confidence to carry them through the dark time which is approaching. Isaiah 8:17 I will wait upon the Lord; rather, I will wait for the Lord; i.e. "await the time of his relenting" (see Isaiah 30:18; Isaiah 64:4, etc.). That hideth his face from the house of Jacob (compare the threats in Deuteronomy 31:17; Deuteronomy 32:20). The light of God’s countenance is to the spiritual what that of the sun is to the material world. All life, health, joy, happiness, proceed from it. This light was now to be withdrawn for a time on account of the people’s sins. But Isaiah would "wait" for its reappearance. Isaiah 8:18 I and the children … are for signs. Isaiah’s children seem to have been "for signs," especially in respect of their names. Shear-Jashub meant "A remnant shall return" (Isaiah 10:21), and thus held out two hopes; one that a remnant of Israel would return to God and become his true servants, another that a remnant would return from the captivity that had been prophesied (Isaiah 5:13). Maher-shalal-hash-baz—"Plunder speeds, spoil hastens"—was a "sign" of a different kind. Primarily, his name referred to the spoiling of Damascus and Samaria (verses 3, 4); but it may further have indicated a time of general disturbance, plunder, and ravage. It is not quite clear in what respects Isaiah was a "sign." Perhaps he, too, in his name, which meant "(Our) salvation is Jehovah"—certainly also in his symbolical acts (Isaiah 20:3), and possibly in the firmness of his faith, which never wavered. From the Lord of hosts; literally, from by the Lord of hosts—an expression like the French de chez. God had supernaturally appointed the sign in one case (verses 1-4), but in the other two had merely brought them about by the secret working of his providence. But the prophet treats all three as coming equally from him. Which dwelleth in Mount Zion. Hero, again, is encouragement. God has not quitted Zion. The Shechinah still rests between the cherubim in the holy of holies. While this is so, God is still with his people (Immanuel). Isaiah 8:19-22 ISAIAH LOOKING TO GOD AND THE WORD RATHER THAN TO . WILL BRING ISRAEL TO GOD. Isaiah returns, in verse 19, to the consideration of his disciples. In the terrible times impending, they will be recommended to have recourse to necromancy; he urges that they should look to God and the Law. He then further suggests that, in the coming affliction which he describes (verses 21, 22), men will generally turn for relief to the same quarter (verse 20). Isaiah 8:19 Seek unto them that have familiar spirits. In times of great distress the Israelites seem always to have been tempted to consult those among them who pretended to magic and divination. So Saul in the Philistine war resorted to the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7-20); Manasseh, threatened by Esar-haddon, "used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards" (2 Kings 21:6). Israel generally, oppressed by Syria and Assyria, "used divination and enchantments" (2 Kings 17:17). There was the same inclination now on the part of many Jews. The vexed question of the actual powers possessed by such persons cannot be discussed within the limits of a footnote. It has, moreover, already been treated in the present Commentary, in connection with Leviticus 19:31. Wizards that peep, and that mutter; rather, that chirp and mutter. Tricks of the ventriloquists, probably, who disguised their voices, and represented that they were the voices of ghosts (comp. Isaiah 29:4). The natural speech of some tribes has been compared to the "chirping of birds". Should not a people, etc.? Very abrupt and elliptical Isaiah means to say, "Do not attend to them; but answer, Should not a people," etc.? For the living. This may either mean "instead of the living," or "on behalf of the living seek to the dead?" or, Would not that be plainly preposterous? Isaiah 8:20 To the Law and to the testimony. A sort of watchword or battle-cry, to be used by the faithful when God’s enemies assailed them. Compare Gideon’s cry (Judges 7:18), "For the Lord and for Gideon." If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them; rather, Surely they will speak according to this word, when there is no dawn for them; i.e. when they are plunged in darkness (Isaiah 8:22) and distress, and see no prospect of better days, surely they—the people generally—will rally to this cry, and repeat it, "For the Law and for the testimony." They will not always trust in necromancy. Isaiah 8:21, Isaiah 8:22 are supposed by some to be cut of place, and to belong properly to the description of the Assyrian invasion, given in Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 8:8. But this bold solution of a difficulty is scarcely to be commended, there being no limit to its use. An order followed in all the manuscripts should not be disturbed, if it gives any tolerable sense. Such a sense can, it is thought, be found here by regarding the two verses as exegetical of the last clause of Isa 8:20—"when there is no dawn for them." Isaiah 8:21 They shall pass through it. "It," which is feminine, must mean "the land." The Jews left in it shall wander about it (comp. Isaiah 7:21-25), seeking pasture for the remnant of their cattle. They shall fret themselves; rather, they shall be deeply angered (Cheyne). And curse their king and their God. As the causes of their sufferings. And look upward. Not in hope, but in rage and defiance. Isaiah 8:22 They shall look unto the earth. For necessary nutriment, or simply as the place to which downcast and despairing eyes are turned naturally. They shall be driven to darkness. So Kay, who thinks the Captivity is meant; but it seems better to render the whole passage, with Mr. Cheyne, "They shall look to earth, and behold, distress and darkness, gloom of affliction, and thick darkness driven (upon them)." The darkness is spoken of as if it were a thing palpable, like rain or snow (comp. Exodus 10:21). Waters of Shiloah. The waters of Shiloah issued from the rock where God had set his Name and fixed the symbol of his presence. They were a copious supply, ever welling forth from an inscrutable source for the refreshment and delectation of Israel. Their overplus irrigated numerous gardens in the valley at the base of the temple bill, and made the desert "blossom like the rose." Shiloah is the same as "Shiloh" (Genesis 49:10), and "Shiloh" means "sent," or "he who is sent." Hence we may view as "waters of Shiloah"— I. THE OF THE TEMPLE AND ITS RITES, which God sent to Israel by the hard of his servant Moses for their refreshment and delight—a stream of living water to those who accepted the truths which the temple rites embodied or symbolized; a "river" which "made glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High (Psalms 46:4). II. THE OF THE , whom God continually sent, "rising up betimes and sending" (2 Chronicles 36:15), of which Isaiah said primarily, "Lo, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1)—these waters representing the truth of God which he was commissioned to preach. This teaching welled forth from the true "Rock;" for it was "the Spirit of Christ" which inspired the prophets, and made them ever approximate more and more toward the standard of evangelical teaching which was to be set up later. The prophets’ doctrine was for the refreshment and comfort of the Jews primarily; but its influence was felt beyond the limits of Judaism. In many a pagan wilderness the superfluous waters flowing, from this source created gardens, where blossoms bloomed, which, without the "living water" of revealed truth, could never have come into being. III. THE OF THE EVER-BLESSED SON, the true "Shiloh"—sent by the almighty and most merciful Father to redeem the world and reconcile it to him. He is "the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1); "the Well-spring of wisdom" (Proverbs 18:4); the inexhaustible and inscrutable Source, to whom all may come freely and drink (John 7:37). His doctrine doth "drop as the rain," and his speech doth "distil as the dew" (Deuteronomy 32:2); he gives to all men to "take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). From depths unsearchable in the nature of him who is "the Rock of our salvation" flow forth rivers of living water, cleansing, purifying, refreshing, satisfying the soul. He washes us once, in a material way, in baptism; he washes us ten thousand times spiritually, as often as he cleanses us from sin; he gives us to drink of a water that is henceforth to us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). True "waters of Shiloh" are these. All may "take of them freely." The fountain is absolutely inexhaustible. Nor are its benefits confined to those only for whose sake especially it was given—baptized members of the Church; they flow on to others also. Great are the uncovenanted mercies of God. The child Christ was proclaimed to be "a Light to lighten the Gentiles," no less than "the Glory of his people Israel" (Luke 2:32). And so it is. The stream of Christian teaching flows on from the Church into the world, if not with sufficient force to create a garden, at any rate so as to bring forth amid the arid wastes many a green plant, many a blooming flower. The washing of atonement is extended, we confidently believe, to thousands who are not formally within the covenant. And the flow of the water will never cease. Even in heaven there will be "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb" (Revelation 22:1), of which the saints of God will drink eternally (Revelation 22:17). Isaiah 8:12, Isaiah 8:13 The fear of man and the fear of God contrasted. These two fears may be compared (1) in respect of their grounds; (2) in respect of their results. I. IN THEIR GROUNDS. Our fear of man rests upon our apprehension of the power of man to do us hurt. Men may injure us (1) in our reputation, (2) in our property, (3) in respect of those who are near and dear to us, (4) in respect of our persons. A certain fear of the supreme civil power in the state under which we live is natural and proper; it is one of the elements which bind society together, and could not cease to exist without disadvantage. Malefactors are restrained by it (Romans 13:4); and even the mass of well-meaning men are strengthened in their good intentions by the knowledge that there is a human authority above them which notes their conduct and will punish any serious departure from the rules of right behavior. So far, then, the fear of man has a sound basis. We also naturally, and almost necessarily, fear our enemies, if they are powerful, whether public or private, our fear being proportional to our belief in their power and malignity. It is this ground of fear which is apt to be unduly influential upon us, from our exaggerated notions of what man is able to effect. We too often forget that man can do nothing but what God permits (John 19:11), that he is absolutely impotent against God, who can shatter his designs, or strike him with sudden death at any moment. Again, we do not always bear in mind the fact that man can only injure us in respect of temporal things, his utmost punishment being to "kill the body," whereas God’s power extends beyond the grave. The fear of God has for its ground a double apprehension or conviction: (1) our belief in his power, and (2) our conception of his absolute holiness. These grounds are unassailable, and admit of no exaggeration, so that we cannot fear God too much, though we may fear him in a wrong way. If God’s character be misconceived, if he be viewed as malignant or even as revengeful, then our fear of him, being based upon a Wrong ground, may lead us astray. Such was the δεισιδαιμονία of too many in the ancient world, whose deities were objects of fear, but not of love. II. IN THEIR RESULTS. The fear of man has no good effect except upon evil-doers, and upon those who but for such fear might become evil-doers. These it may in some degree restrain. But if, so far, it may have a good result, it is apt in other ways to have results that are anything but good. 1. Fear of man causes the morally weak to follow the bad example of the wicked, who would otherwise ridicule or even persecute them. 2. Fear of man makes feeble and oppressed classes servile, untruthful, cowardly. 3. Fear of man induces many to keep back their honest convictions, and even applaud the evil courses which in their heart they condemn and dislike. 4. Fear of man has in some cases led to an absolute denial of God and of Christ, making men renegades to their religion, and professors of a creed which they detest. 5. On the other hand, fear of man may sometimes cause men to be hypocrites, to pretend to a faith and a piety which they do not possess, if those who have power over them require it. Hence the fear of man is so often condemned in Scripture (Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 1:8; Ezekiel 3:9; Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4; 1 Peter 3:14, etc.). The fear of God, if it be of the kind called above δεισιδαιμονία, may harden men in sin, or lead them to despair of God’s mercy; but if it be the true fear of God, that is to say, if it have an element of love in it, the results cannot but be excellent. 1. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalms 111:10); it restrains from evil in early life (Proverbs 16:6); it deepens into awe as time goes on; it produces hatred of sin (Proverbs 8:13); it becomes "a fountain of life" (Proverbs 14:27). 2. They who grow up in the fear of God acquire a solidity and strength of character that nothing else can give; they have a firm foundation on which to rest; they "do not fear what flesh can do unto them" (Psalms 56:4); they are truthful, manly, brave. And, further, they are reverent. The fear of God checks over-familiarity, begets reserve, produces silence. "Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God," etc. (Ecclesiastes 5:1, Ecclesiastes 5:2). 3. Though "perfect love casteth out fear" (1 John 4:18), yet "the fear of the Lord endureth forever" (Psalms 19:9). There is no age, however advanced, that can dispense with it; for no man in this life is ever "perfect in love." The beloved apostle even represents the fear of God as continuing in heaven. They that stood on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and sang the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, before God’s throne, exclaimed, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name?" (Revelation 15:2-4); and again, when the "great voice of much people was heard in heaven, saying, Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God, and the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia, a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye saints, and ye that fear him, both small and great" (Revelation 19:1-5). Waiting for God. "Waiting for God" is submitting ourselves to his good pleasure in respect of time, being content that he should settle the question, "How long?" and looking still to him from first to last, however extended the term during which our "waiting" has to continue. It is important that we wait— I. . "I waited patiently for the Lord," says holy David, "and he inclined unto me, and heard my calling" (Psalms 40:1). A thousand years are with God as one day, and one day as a thousand years—"our age is even as nothing in respect of him" (Psalms 39:5). It is, no doubt, hard for man to be patient, not to weary in well-doing, not to fret at what seems to him useless and unnecessary delay, not to desire to expedite matters and bring about the accomplishment of any end which seems to him good at once. But God’s ways are not as our ways. God is never in a hurry. God tries his people by delay, and forms in them the temper of patience, and "lets it have its perfect work" (James 1:4). God knows that we "have need of patience" (Hebrews 10:36), and makes our life a discipline of patience, that so we may be the more conformed to his image. II. . It is not enough to wait patiently, unless we also wait cheerfully. "Rejoice in the Lord always," says the apostle; "and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). We should do the will of God "from the heart." If he makes our cross to be one of waiting, we should feel that waiting is what we need, what is best for us; and we should be thankful that God deals with us so lovingly as to lay this burden upon us. III. . All waiting is a trial of faith. God "hides his face from us." Will he ever cease to do so? Will he ever again cheer us with the light of his countenance? He does not grant our petitions. Will he ever grant them? Our ghostly enemy continually suggests these questions, endeavoring to undermine and destroy our faith and trust in God. It is our part, with Isaiah, to defeat him by continually "looking for God" and resting upon him. We must "have him always before our face;" hold fast by him, cling to him, look to him, and pray to him "without ceasing" for support and strength during the whole weary time of waiting, or our faith may fail, and our trial prove too much for us. We must, therefore, also wait— IV. ; i.e; with continued earnest supplication to God, both for the end that we desire and for his help while he keeps us waiting. His help alone will keep us patient, cheerful, and faithful during the time that our trial lasts, and render it the blessing that he intends it to be to us. Seeking for the living to the dead. The necromancy of ancient times was a system of appeal to the dead on behalf of the living. The shades or ghosts of dead men were supposed to be brought up from Hades by the necromancer, who compelled them to answer his questions, and was supposed to make their answers useful to the living. A system not very dissimilar has prevailed of recent years in many parts both of England and of America, whereby "spirits" are believed to be brought into communication with living men for the presumed benefit of the latter. To all such cases the reproach of the prophet would seem to apply: "Should men seek for the living to the dead?" What help is it likely that the dead can give more than the living, even if they can be communicated with, which must always be doubtful? Why appeal to them when we do not know whether they can hear, nor whether, if they hear, they can render aid? We can usually appeal for the living to the living, who can certainly hear, and in most instances can help to some extent. And there is one living One on whom it is always possible to call, who always hears, and can always help if he sees fit. Thus every form of necromancy is folly, since (1) we have no assured ground for believing that any good can result from it, and (2) we can resort to One who is certainly able to do all and more than all that we require. BY E. JOHNSON Symbolic utterances. THE PROPHET’S POPULAR METHOD. He wished to inspire hope in the people as well as in the king—to expel the panic fear of the two northern kings, and impress the expectation that the two capitals of these kings would themselves be taken and sacked. The way in which he set about this was simple yet remarkable. 1. He took a large tablet, and wrote therein in "popular characters," i.e. in large text, distinct from the literary character, perhaps a character half pictorial, the words "Hasten-booty, Speed-spoil," or "Booty-quick, Spoil-speed." In those days there were no newspapers, no puffing placards staring from the walls, and books were only for the learned. This was suggestive to write up a sentiment or suggestion like this for the public eye. To this day in the East, if you ask the people their reason for believing this or that, their answer will be, "Is it not written? Men did not write books to deceive us." To write this pregnant phrase was, then, to impress it on the popular imagination. "Go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever" (Isaiah 30:8). "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it" (Hebrews 2:2). Then, to fix the solemn act of putting up the tablet in memory, he takes two witnesses—Uriah the high priest (2 Kings 16:10), and Zechariah, perhaps "mayor of Jerusalem" at the time. 2. Next, he gave this same mystic name to a son born about the same time, so that the boy might be, as it were, a "living epistle" by means of his significant name, "known and read of all men," and keeping alive in their hearts the hopeful prophecy of his father. Before the boy can lisp his parents’ names, that prophecy will be fulfilled, and the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the Assyrian king. (1) The lessons of the teacher need to be addressed to the senses of the multitude. The sign for the eye, the parable for the imagination, the illustration which "strikes," the epigram and "winged word" which fastens in the memory,—all may be pressed into the service. (2) Pith and condensation should be studied. A sermon is not wasted if the text sticks, or if a single pregnant saying has lodged itself in the mind, as a seed to stir and quicken thought to purpose.—J. Isaiah 8:5-15 God with us. The prophet looks out on the troubled prospect as on a deluge, amidst which the ark of promise carrying the elect, the remnant, the Church of the faithful and chosen, is seen riding. I. . 1. The foreign sympathies of the people. Tired of the inefficient reign of Ahaz, they watch for the approach of the two northern kings with interest. They have forgotten their patriotism, which once rallied round the house of David as a political and spiritual center. The "softly flowing brook of Siloah" by Jerusalem was symbolic of that house. ’Twas the river that made glad the city of God, the holy place of the Highest’s dwelling (Psalms 46:1-11.). Small was it compared with the great flood of Nile or Euphrates, but mild and gentle. "Nile, with its monstrous crocodile and behemah, might be the image of the cruel Egyptian rule; and mighty Euphrates, with its frequent overflowings, that of the Assyrian power and of its swift extension." As in ancient folk-lore dragons were supposed to haunt the waters, so the Assyrian power was like the daemon of the great river (cf. Isaiah 27:1). 2. The wave of Assyrian conquest. Onward it will come, a magnificent flood, to punish, to purify. The Assyrian king, with all the "pomp and circumstance of war," an awful array, will, as the river breaking its bounds and overflowing all banks, rush into Judah, overflowing and rolling, till the flood reaches to men’s necks; or, as with the outspread wings of the flying dragon, the foe will cover all the breadth of the land—land of the passionately hoped-for Immanuel. II. HOPES. The name of the Messiah, "God with us," acts like a charm on the troubled spirit of the seer. His discourse suddenly becomes a bold menace against all heathendom. 1. Material power defied. Let the nations rage and let them—despair! Let them fit out their armaments and—despair! exclaims the prophet. Let them form their plans—they shall be broken; speak their words—they shall not stand. For "with us is God!" What magic in a name, in a phrase! Carrying our thought forward through the centuries, we recall what powers were defied, what wonders wrought, what force reduced to impotence, what counsels reduced to folly, by the magic of the Name of Jesus. Yet it is not the mere name, but the reality denoted by the name, believed and felt to he operating through the human spirit, which is the source of energy. 2. Personal inspiration Idle had been these defiances, if the prophet did not know of a secret warranty for them in his own breast, in his own spiritual record. "Thus said Jehovah unto me in the ecstasy." He had heard a voice which all could not hear, and had cleared his vision in a light not vouchsafed to the vulgar. It was a discriminating light. He was taught to see that not all the multitude called rebellious was really such, nor all that it feared was really to be dreaded. The allusion is somewhat obscure. Probably under the guise of fear the people were secretly rejoicing, and meditating the dethronement of Ahaz. The language strikes a side-blow at the pusillanimity of the time. The prophet has learned that Jehovah is the true Object of fear; that noble and steadfast reverence which, a mighter passion, expels the feebler and baser. "Fear him, ye saints, and you will then Have nothing else to fear." If this condition be fulfilled, Jehovah will be found an inviolable Sanctuary, a Shelter from all coming trials. We find the same thought in Ezekiel 11:16. He will be a "little Sanctuary" to the fugitive and dispersed among the nations. Fleeing from the pursuer, men laid hold of the "horns of the altar." These things are to us a parable. Religion is the spirit’s asylum from all distress. In times when the newspaper teems with war, revolution, rumors of dread, or the evils of social life seem intolerable, we may go into our chamber, shut to the door, pray to our Father in secret, flee to the steps of the altar that slopes through darkness up to God, and lo! a new scenery unfolds, and from the secret place of the Most High fear vanishes, and reverential contemplation reigns in the spirit. III. SOLEMN . He who will ever prove an Asylum to the faithful and an Altar of refuge, will be to the faithless a Stone of stumbling, a Rock of offence, a Trap, and a Snare. We know how these thoughts were applied to the coming Christ, and how they were fulfilled. Set "for the fall and rising again of many in Israel," and for the "revealing of the thoughts of many hearts," he is to them that believe precious "a Stone, a tried Stone; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." 1. The Name of God is an object of dread or of delight to us according to the state of our own affections. 2. Truth is a touchstone. Either we recognize in it the "pearl of great price," and are willing to sacrifice all to possess it, or it is like a certain stone of which Plutarch tells, found in the river Inachos, which turned black in the hand of the false witness. Truth seems like falsehood to the debased imagination and depraved will.—J. Isaiah 8:16-22 The helplessness of superstition. Here a mass of thought is found, struggling for expression as the new-lighted fuel struggles into flame. I. THE ORACLE SEALED. ’Tis time to make an end. Let what has been written remain, rolled up and sealed and kept, until the day when those taciturn letters shall find their tongue and burst into flame. And, indeed, every true thing may be said to be "written down for the time to come, forever and ever." It may be lost sight of for a time, but only to be recovered. For though the records of human thought, nay, the human mind itself, is a palimpsest, oft scribbled over, the eternal writing of God upon the conscience is indelible, and will be seen, despite willful blindness and pedantic glosses. The testimony we bear is first and last for the eyes of God. The Roman poet (Hor; ’Ep.,’ Ephesians 1:20) seems to dread the fate of oblivion for his verse at certain moments—cannot brook the thought that his roll shall be packed into its case and left unread. But such was not to be the fate of the poetry of Horace, nor of any true poetry. God can read through the closed pages of true lives, and faithful utterances find audience in the court of angels, in the hails of eternity. II. PLEDGES OF FUTURE GOOD. "I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me are signs and omens in Israel on the part of Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth on the Zion-mount." His own name meant "God’s salvation;" those of his children, as we have seen, "The remnant will return" (or, "be converted"), and "Hasten-booty, Speed-spoil." For the soul that is strong in faith is also strong in hope, and it makes its own omens, or finds omens where others can see none. III. MAGICAL . The wizard, the magician, the "medium," as he is now called, was in great vogue in the days of Ahaz. Just as at modern séances, these media would imitate the supposed voices of ghosts in some low chirping or muttering tone. What keener satire could be launched against such practices than that of the prophet! It is indeed turning to the dead, instead of to the living and the true God. Where the taste for truth is spoiled, the appetite for the extraordinary and marvelous springs up; and men will fall headlong into the greatest follies, provided they flatter their self-conceit, though wide awake to their interest, and keen to detect the impositions of others in general. IV. TOO-LATE . The language is condensed, the thought fused in a mass. But the meaning seems to be—too late will the weak and wicked apply to the true oracles they had forsaken for the false. "In extreme distress, and afflicted with the pangs of starvation, the man rushes as a maniac through the land, curses in the moment of his terrible distress and exasperation his god and lord whom he vainly and slavishly served, and directs his eyes upwards to the true God. But when he looks down to the earth again because he had discerned no light above, he sees there the most dreadful darkness and distress, without any ray of light, without any hope breaking through it, and thus he is hunted forth again into the darkness to perish therein (cf. Job 15:22, Job 15:23; Job 18:5, Job 18:13)" (Ewald).—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Waiting and looking. "And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." There is life in a look. It is so true that the eye is the window of the soul, even as speech is the door of the soul. "Look unto him, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," teaches us how the whole nature of man can concentrate itself in a look. I. DARK HOURS. The Lord "hides his face." This expression is used, because the face is the expression of character and feeling. It reveals our emotions of love and anger, of confidence and distrust. To hide it, is to turn away in disgust, in sorrow, in shame. God is ashamed of his people Israel, whom he had set apart for his glory. A hidden face is a terrible punishment. The child feels that, and longs for the returning smile of approval and love. How beautiful is the prayer, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us!" II. DIVINE . "I will wait upon the Lord." Not with hurried petition does the prophet come, but with an attitude of soul that shall show depth of desire and earnestness of purpose. Prayer is a sign of renewed life. We cannot long continue to ask for blessings that we do not really desire. Hypocrisy soon fatigues, even where it is not found out; and our poor human nature, sinful as it is, wearies of subterfuges. In waiting upon God we have the surest evidence that our penitence is sincere and our faith vital. III. VISION. "I will look for him." Men look for so much, and not for God. For human approval, for earthly success, for ambition’s tinsel crown. In looking for God his Savior, the prophet is looking for all that the house of Jacob needs. It is a wistful eye that we read of here. Anxious, but yet hopeful. Some had "sought unto familiar spirits, and wizards that peep and mutter;" and it seems as if the world had not yet grown wise enough to forsake all that kind of seeking today! "Should not a people seek unto their God?" asks the prophet; and in every age those who look alone unto him have never been disappointed. When the eyes are opened, and the heart is full, even if the lips be not eloquent, God can read deep meaning in the earnest gaze of faith; and he will return and bless his people Israel, according to his Word.—W.M.S. BY W. Orders of service. We may serve God in more ways than one. There is— I. SERVICE. We may conclude, from 2 Kings 16:10, 2 Kings 16:11, that Uriah the priest (2 Kings 16:2) had no real interest in the service of Jehovah; that he did what Isaiah requested of him with an indifferent, if not a positively reluctant mind. We may be "requisitioned" by the great King in the long warfare he is conducting. He who is rebelliously refusing to place his intelligence, his spiritual nature, his resources, at the command of the Divine Savior, need not be surprised if he finds himself constrained to serve his generation against his will. By violent excesses sinful men have made their own cause odious; by shameful cruelty, calling out heroic endurance, they have made the cause of truth most honorable in the eyes of men. God can make the wrath and the foolishness and even the stubbornness (e.g. Pharaoh) of men to praise him. II. SERVICE. The little infant was a "sign" to the prophet and the people; it rendered a service in its own way, but it must have been an entirely unconscious one. It is a painful, and should be a preserving thought, that when we do wrong we "know not what we do,"—how heinous is our offence, or how large and long will prove to be its issues. On the other hand, it is a pleasant and inspiring thought, that when we are doing right, in our several spheres and according to our various powers and opportunities, we do not know what service we are rendering. It may be one much more highly esteemed than we imagine at the time (see Matthew 25:37-40). It may be one that has far more valuable and lasting results than we could possibly calculate. Especially is it true of the little child, that he is unconsciously serving his kind. The infant in the family has a softening, sweetening, humanizing influence of which it knows nothing, but which is very beautiful and valuable. Ever and everywhere will it be found that "the little child shall lead them whom no other force will either draw or drive." III. SERVICE. This is: 1. Intelligent. Whatever the exact significance of "writing with a man’s pen" (verse 1), it is suggestive of the double truth that, in working for God, we should (1) put out all our powers in their fullness and in their maturity, and should (2) speak (or write) words adapted to the capacity of those whom we address. Many who seek to serve throw away their opportunity, because they do not the fitting as well as the excellent thing; only too often "the best is the enemy of the good." 2. Prudent. (Verse 2.) The prophet placed his prophecy beyond reach of cavil by securing two unexceptionable witnesses, one of them being the more convincing because his sympathies were on the other side; his testimony, therefore, none could challenge. Though conscious of the most complete integrity, it is often wise and well to be fortified by the evidence of others. Prudence as well as zeal has its place in the catalogue of Christian graces. 3. Faithful. It was no smooth message which the prophet was to deliver (verse 4). The very name of the child was to be a standing threat of impending evil (verse 3). Not only he who now speaks for God, but every Christian man, is bound to render this faithful service; his words and his life are to testify against the vice, the levity, the worldliness, the ungodliness, of his age; they are also to bear witness to the excellency and beauty of unselfish and loyal service.—C. Isaiah 8:5-8 The false standard and the fatal issue. The cardinal error into which Israel fell was that of judging by appearances instead of by the reality. The "softly flowing waters" of the Davidic kingdom seemed far less reliable than the "strong and many waters" of Syria and of Assyria, and therefore Ephraim trusted in the one and Judah in the other of these great "powers." But they were utterly misplacing their confidence. Those waters that "went softly" and seemed so strengthless, were the river of God, and held healing virtues in their waves; these strong, tumultuous rivers which seemed so mighty contained no remedy for the stricken and declining nation. Often has it been proved that it is not the apparently insufficient which is to be despised, and as often that it is not the apparently irresistible which is to be trusted. I. THE FALSE . The world has always been witnessing illustrations of this error. The history of the Hebrew nation supplied many such: Noah and the mocking world that laughed at him; Abraham and the Canaanites; Moses and Pharaoh; David and Goliath; Joseph and his persecuting brethren; Elijah and Ahab, etc. The apparently weak man (or nation)had the strength of the Divine arm to sustain him (it); the apparently strong one was essentially weak and unreliable. We may see the same thing in: 1. Christianity itself, which in its first beginnings was a "softly going" stream as compared with the strong tumultuous waters of Jewish fanaticism and Roman militarism. 2. Divine truth, which sometimes goes so softly that it may almost be said of it that "there is no speech nor language, its voice is not heard;" that it "does not strive nor cry," etc; as compared with the complicated organizations of men. 3. Holy love, which flows on unseen, unheard, "like subterranean rivers," as compared with noisy vehemence and untempered zeal. 4. The promises of God, which flow so quietly and graciously through the sacred Scriptures from the beginning even to the end, as compared with the pretentious securities of worldly wisdom. If we wish to know whether we may commit the keeping of our soul, or even of our earthly interests, to those men who (or those things which) offer themselves to our choice, we must not be satisfied with the shows and semblances; we must look to the heart of things; we must ask whether there is soundness, rectitude, within; we must ask, above all other questions—Have they the approval of God with them, and the power of God behind them? For without that the strong river is to be shunned, and with that the softly going stream is to be sought. II. THE FATAL ISSUE. 1. Roman imperialism passed away, dragging down many thousands with it in its fall. 2. Splendid but corrupt organizations have overflowed the land, even as the "waters of the strong river" were to cover Immanuel’s land, and beneath their deathful influence multitudes have perished. 3. Rampant zealotry has slain its thousands, not only of those whom it ruthlessly assailed, but of those who wielded its weapon, and were partakers of its evil spirit. 4. Earthly properties and possessions have buried innumerable souls beneath their destructive weight. It is a fatal thing to trust that which is not worthy of our confidence: for that on which we lean falls on us and slays us; the river to whose waters we resort, instead of fertilizing and saving, floods and drowns us. The peril here is one which threatens the Church as well as the world. The overflowing river "fills the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel."—C. Isaiah 8:9, Isaiah 8:10 The impotence of ungodliness. We learn— I. THAT SIN APPEARS IN ASPECTS. There were four aspects, not to say elements, of power in these world-kingdoms—confederation, preparation (gird yourselves), consultation (take counsel together), authority (speak the word). Sin, which is the great enemy conducting a long campaign against the Church of Christ, certainly seems as superior in strength to its present foe as did these great kingdoms of the East to Judah and to Israel; indeed, far more so. Sin has on its side: 1. Vastly preponderating numbers. 2. Rank and authority. 3. The greater material resources, including military power and money. 4. Ancient tradition and inveterate habit. 5. An apparently impregnable seat; it is defended by the strong fortresses of worldly interests, animal appetite, spiritual pride, moral indifference. II. THAT THE EYE SEES ITS UTTER . "Ye shall be broken in pieces;" "it shall come to naught;" "it shall not stand." Under the shadow of the first promise we see the head of the serpent bruised (Genesis 3:15). At the feet of the prophet we see the "little stone" "break in pieces and consume all these (earthly) kingdoms," itself "standing forever" (Daniel 2:44). Standing at our Master’s side, we "behold Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). With apostolic hope, we look on the time when Christ "will have put down all rule, and all authority, and power," all his enemies being "under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:25). The world-power shall be utterly broken, and on its ruins shall rise "the kingdom which cannot be moved." III. THAT OUR IS IN THE OF THE SAVIOR. "For God is with us." We may rejoice to reckon our trophies already gained; we may point, with congratulation, to the growing intelligence and enthusiasm of the army of the Lord; we may hail signs of decay in ancient, enfeebled systems; but this is our confidence: we have with us, working m us and for us, the Holy Spirit of the Divine Redeemer: "For Immanuel"—C. Isaiah 8:11-15 Our personal relation to God. It is clearly insufficient to know that we are on the same side as that of the majority of the good. The voice of God’s people is not always his voice; their way not always his way (Isaiah 8:11). They may call for "a confederacy" when he disapproves of it. They may cry "peace" when he sees only present confusion and future disaster. They may be shaken with fear when they ought to be calm and trustful (Isaiah 8:12). They may be full of complacency when they ought to be overwhelmed with shame. We shall not be to God that which he demands of us, except we come into distinct, direct relation to himself. I. THAT GOD ACTS UPON US WITH POWER. "The Lord spake with a strong hand" (Isaiah 8:11; see Ezekiel 3:14). The Divine impulse was one that the prophet felt he must not resist. Not that it was absolutely irresistible, but one that a faithful man knew that he must not hesitate to obey. God often acts upon the soul of men with strong and urgent power to constrain or to restrain. He approaches and influences us thus by (1) his Divine providence; (2) one or other of the privileges he has provided for us; (3) his Holy Spirit. II. THAT GOD HIMSELF IS THE TRUE REFUGE OF THE HUMAN SOUL. (Isaiah 8:13, Isaiah 8:14.) Here is: 1. Our duty. We are to fear God, to pay a reverential regard to his will, to shrink from that which grieves him, to "dread" his wrath. 2. Its recompense. "He shall be for a Sanctuary." In him, as in a pavilion, we shall hide. He will either deliver us from trouble by saving US from our enemies or in trouble, by granting us the sustaining grace which makes us "more than conquerors" in the midst of it. If we who are his "saints" will but "fear him" with obedient reverence, we shall then "have nothing else to fear." "How was it, lovers of your kind, Though ye were mocked and hated, That ye, with clear and patient mind, Truth’s holy doctrine stated? In God as in an ark ye kept; Around, and not above you, swept The flood till it abated." III. THAT TO RESIST GOD IS TO WALK IN THE WAY OF WRONG AND RUIN. God is, to the perverse and the rebellious, "a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense" (Isaiah 8:14). God must be everything to us, for life or death. If our relation to him is not to us the fountain of everlasting joy, then it will be to us the source of unspeakable sorrow. The rejection of his truth and of himself will be our sin on earth, our condemnation in judgment, the subject and source of our remorse and retribution in the long hereafter. Our God is One whom it is infinitely worth while to make our Friend, and One whom we must not make our Enemy, if we have any love for ourselves, any interest in our own destiny.—C. Isaiah 8:16-18 The teacher’s distress and his consolation. Those who have taken positions of prominence or of influence in the Church of Christ have to bear their own peculiar burdens as they are gladdened with their own especial joys. The teacher of Divine truth, in whatever particular sphere he may be engaged, whether it be a high or a humble one, is subject to his own discouragements and encouragements. If we ask what are— I. HIS SPECIAL TRIALS, the answer to that question is this: Apparent failure in his work, with all the sorrows such discomfiture involves. It is an intensely bitter experience for a human soul to pass through. What can be more distressing to one who earnestly longs for, and is striving to promote, "the kingdom of God," than to look on and see faithful labors break down and issue in nothing? Such was the keen sorrow of Isaiah. It seemed to him as if God were "hiding his face from the house of Jacob" (verse 17); for the people would not welcome his truth, would not walk in his ways, would not trust in his mighty power. So was it with the preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5-8), and with the psalmist (Psalms 119:136), and with Elijah (1 Kings 19:10), and with Paul (Galatians 1:6; Galatians 3:1; Philippians 2:21; Acts 20:29, Acts 20:30); and so was it with the Master himself (John 6:66, John 6:67). The human teacher at such times is grievously troubled, for he is apt to conclude (1) that God may be dissatisfied with his testimony; or (2) that he himself has not been as wise or as faithful as he might have been; or (3) that those whom he has been addressing have incurred serious guilt. But let us ask what are— II. HIS . They are such as these: 1. There are disciples who learn the truth and love it. "Bind up the testimony … among my disciples" (verse 16). Isaiah was not without some who received his word, and for whom he could pray that it would be engraven on their hearts. Elijah and Paul had their disciples; the Master, we know, had his. If we will look further, we shall find that there are fruits, on the bough, though many branches be barren; good results are not invisible, though they are not so apparent as we could wish. 2. The God of all truth is with us, and his ear is open to our appeal. "I will wait upon the Lord" (verse 17). All hearts are in his hand; he is earnestly desirous of blessing his children; his promised aid is a strong assurance. 3. The human teacher is the organ of Divine truth. "I and the children are for signs and wonders … from the Lord of hosts" (verse 18). Even their very names were significant of some truth which came from Jehovah himself. Everything about the prophet, down to his children’s names, was ordered from above. The prophet only taught that which he was inspired to teach, and the truth of the everlasting God must ultimately prevail. God will not let the words of him who speaks faithfully "fall to the ground" (1 Samuel 3:19). Even as the word of him who was "the Truth" should never pass away, so shall the words of his faithful disciples abide, doing their work in unsuspected places and in unimagined ways. The truth we have received from the Lord of hosts may long be hidden, but it will not be lost.—C. The confession of ungodliness, etc. The prevalence of the evil and sinister arts of necromancy is exceedingly significant. The attempt to supply knowledge for the living by appealing to the dead (Isaiah 8:19) has been made in every latitude and longitude, in every age, in every condition of society. What is the significance of this fact? We have here— I. THE OF AND ITS . When men have thrown off their allegiance to God, when they have denied the existence of their Creator, when they have explicitly refused to seek and to serve him "in whom they live and move and have their being," they may imagine themselves to be free from all spiritual bonds; but they are miserably mistaken. They forsake a homage which is honorable and a service which is ennobling, to fall into a superstition which is contemptible and degrading. So closely, so inseparably is man associated with the spiritual world, that, try how he may, he cannot escape from it. He that will not serve God must honor demons or consult spirits, or engage in some "cultus" which is discreditable to his intelligence and injurious to his moral nature. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 9:1-7 THE OF ISRAEL SHALL END THROUGH THE BIRTH OF A CHILD. The section of the prophecy commencing with Isaiah 7:1 terminates in this glorious burst of glad and gracious promise. The gist of the whole section is: "Israel shall not suffer from Pekah and Rezin; her oppressors shall be Assyria and Egypt, more especially the former; Assyria shall overwhelm her, crush her, lay her low; she shall remain awhile in gloom and darkness; but at length the darkness shall be dispelled; a ’great light’ shall shine forth, first in the north, then over all the land; ’the rod of the oppressor’ shall be broken; a Child shall be born, who shall bear marvelous names, and shall rule over the full kingdom of David in justice and righteousness forever." God has spoken, and God will perform this. Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when, etc. Our translators have misconceived the construction, and consequently missed the sense. The first two clauses, which they run together, are entirely separate and distinct. Translate, Nevertheless there shall be no (more) darkness to her who was in affliction. As at the former time he brought contempt upon the land of Zebulon, etc. Contempt was brought on the more northern part of the Holy Land, first when it was overrun and ravaged by the Syrians (1 Kings 15:20) under Ben-hadad, and more recently when it bore the brunt of the Assyrian attack (2 Kings 15:29) under Tiglath-Pileser. At the first … and afterward; rather, at the former time … in the latter time. The contrast is between two periods of Israel’s history, the existing period and the Messianic. And afterward did more grievously afflict her. This is altogether wrong. Translate, So in the latter time he hath brought honor on the way of the sea. The perfect is a "prophetic perfect," and the reference is to the honor that would be done to the northern districts, "the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali," by the Messiah dwelling there (comp. Matthew 4:14-16). The way of the sea; i.e. the district about the sea of Tiberias, called "the sea of Kinnereth" (equivalent to "Gennesareth") in Numbers 34:11, and "the sea of Galilee" in John 6:1. Beyond Jordan; i.e. the tract east of the sea and of the upper Jordan, where the five thousand were fed, and where our Lord was transfigured. Galilee of the nations. The name "Galilee" seems to have been given to the outlying circuit, or zone, on the north, which was debatable ground between the Israelites and their neighbors (see 1 Kings 9:10; Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:32). The word means "circuit," or "ring." Though claimed as theirs by the Israelites, it was largely peopled by "Gentiles." Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness (comp. Isaiah 8:22). All the world was "in darkness" when Christ came; but here the Jews especially seem to be intended. It was truly a dark time with them when Christ came. Have seen; rather, saw. The "prophetic" preterit is used throughout the whole passage. A great light. "The Light of the world," "the Sun of righteousness," "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, "first broke on man in that northern tract" by the way of the sea, "when Jesus came forward to teach and to preach in "Galilee of the Gentiles." For thirty years he had dwelt at Nazareth, in Zebulon. There he had first come forward to teach in a synagogue (Luke 4:16-21); in Galilee he had done his first miracles (John 2:11; John 4:54); at Capernaum. "Upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim," he commenced his preaching of repentance (Matthew 4:13-17). The "light" first streamed forth in this quarter, glorifying the region on which contempt had long been poured. Isaiah 9:3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy. Dr. Kay defends this reading, and supposes a contrast of time between this clause and the next; he renders, "Thou didst multiply the nation" (i.e. in the days of Solomon and again in those of Uzziah) "and not increase the joy; but now," etc. The objection is that the verbs are all in the same tense, the simple preterit, and that there is nothing in the original corresponding to "but now." Almost all other recent commentators accept the solution offered by the Masoretic reading (לו for לא), which makes the passage simple and easy: "Thou hast multiplied the nation; its joy thou hast increased; they joy before thee," etc. According to the joy in harvest. "The joy in harvest" was to the Jews the joy of the Feast of Tabernacles, or in gathering (Exodus 23:16), held when the last fruits were brought in. But the prophet is perhaps taking a wider view, and thinking of the many harvest festivals prevailing throughout Western Asia, all of them originating in gratitude to the Giver of all good, and many of them comprising manifestations of joy more jubilant than those habitual to his sedater countrymen. Isaiah 9:4 Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, etc. The coming of the Messiah sets the Israelites free, removes the yoke from off their neck, breaks the rod wherewith their shoulders were beaten, delivers them from bondage into the "glorious liberty of the children of God." Not, however, in an earthly sense, since the Messiah’s kingdom was not of this world. The "yoke" is that of sin, the "oppressor" is that prince of darkness, who had well-nigh brought all mankind under his dominion when Christ came. His oppressor; literally, his task-master—the same word which is used of the Egyptian taskmasters in Exodus 5:6. As in the day of Midian. The "day of Midian" is probably the time of Israel’s deliverance from the Midianite oppression by Gideon (Judges 7:19-25). The special characteristic of the deliverance was, as Dr. Kay well observes, "that it was accomplished without military prowess by a small body of men selected out of Israel, selected expressly in order that Israel might not vaunt itself against the Lord, saying, My own hand hath saved me (Judges 7:2)." Isaiah 9:5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise; rather, for all the armor of him that armeth noisily (Knobel, Vance Smith); or, perhaps, "every hoof of him that trampeth noisily" (Gesenius, Cheyne). The noun and participle, which are cognate words, occur only in this passage. And garments, etc. Translate, And every garment that is rolled in blood, shall be for burning, even fuel for fire. All military accoutrements shall be committed to the flames, that the reign of peace and justice may commence (comp. Isaiah 2:4; Psalms 46:9). Isaiah 9:6 Unto us a child is born (comp. Isaiah 7:14-16, where the promise of "a child," "a son," is first made—a child who was, like this Child, to be "God with us"). The government shall be upon his shoulder. The word translated "government" (misrah) occurs only hero and in Isaiah 9:7. It is probably to be connected with sat, "prince," and Israel. Government was regarded as a burden, to be born on the back or shoulders, and was sometimes symbolized by a key laid upon the shoulder (Isaiah 22:22). Vizier means "burdened." The Latin writers often speak of the civil power as borne on the shoulders of magistrates (Cic; ’Orat. pro Flacc,’ § 95; Plin; ’Paneg.,’ § 10). As God, our Lord governed all things from the beginning; as man, he set up a "kingdom" which he still governs—upon the earth. His name shall be called. It is perhaps not very important whether we view what follows as one name or several. Isaiah does not really mean that the "Child" should bear as a name, or names, any of the expressions, but only that they should be truly applicable to him. Wonderful, Counselor. It has been proposed to unite these two expressions and translate, "Wondrous Counselor" (compare "wonderful in counsel," Isaiah 28:29). But Dr. Kay is probably right in saying that, if this had been the meaning, it would have been expressed differently. Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Delitzsch, and Vance Smith agree with Dr. Kay in taking the words separately. Wonderful. The Messiah would be "wonderful" in his nature as God-Man; in his teaching, which "astonished" those who heard it (Matthew 7:28); in his doings (Isaiah 25:1); in the circumstances of his birth and death; in his resurrection, and in his ascension. "Wonder" would be the first sentiment which his manifestation would provoke, and hence this descriptive epithet is placed first. As the Word, as Wisdom itself, as he who says, "Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am Understanding" (Proverbs 8:14), he is well named "Counselor." None will ever seek his counsel in vain, much less repent of following it. The mighty God; rather, perhaps, Mighty God; but the difference is not great, since El, God, contains within itself the notion of singularity, which is given to ordinary nouns by the article. The term El, God, had been previously applied to the Messiah only in Psalms 45:6. It denotes in Isaiah always (as Mr. Cheyne observes) "divinity in an absolute sense; it is never used hyperbolically or metaphorically." The Everlasting Father; rather, Everlasting or Eternal Father. But here, again, there is a singularity in the idea, which makes the omission of the article unimportant; for how could there be more than one Everlasting Father, one Creator, Preserver, Protector of mankind who was absolutely eternal? If the term "Father," applied to our Lord, grates on our ears, we must remember that the distinction of Persons in the Godhead had not yet been revealed. The Prince of Peace; literally, Prince of Peace. A "Prince of Peace" had been long shadowed forth, as in Melchizedek, "King of Salem," i.e. "of Peace;" and again in Solomon, "the peaceful one;" and Isaiah himself had already prophesied the peacefulness of the Messiah’s kingdom (Isaiah 2:4). Compare the song of the angels at our Lord’s birth (Luke 2:14). If the peacefulness has not vet very clearly shown itself, the reason would seem to be that our Lord’s kingdom has yet to come into the hearts of most men. Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. The Messiah’s kingdom shall ever increase more and more; there shall be no limits to it; ultimately it shall fill the world (comp. Matthew 28:18, Matthew 28:19). The continual spread of Christianity tends to the accomplishment of this prophecy. Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom. That the Messiah is to sit on the throne of David, suggests, but does not absolutely imply, his Davidic descent. That descent is, however, announced with sufficient clearness in Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10. To order it, and to establish it. A gradual establishment of the kingdom would seem to be implied, such as is taught also in the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven. From henceforth even forever. The kingdom is to be both universal in respect of extent (see the first note on the verse), and in respect of duration eternal. The zeal; or, jealousy. God’s jealousy of his own honor, which is bound up with the prosperity and final triumph of his people over all their enemies, will assure the performance of all that is here prophesied. Isaiah 9:8-21 THE PROPHET RETURNS TO THREATS AND , CHIEFLY TO THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. The remainder of this chapter, together with the first four verses of the next, seems to have formed originally a distinct and separate prophecy. The passage is a poem in four stanzas, with the same refrain at the end of each: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." A somewhat early date has been assigned to the prophecy, as; for instance, "some period in the reign of Jotham" (Cheyne); but the internal evidence only proves that it was written before the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians. Isaiah 9:8 Jacob … Israel. These words do not show that the prophecy is directed against the kingdom of Israel only. "Jacob" designates Judah rather than Israel in Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 2:5, Isaiah 2:6; and the expression, "both the houses of Israel," in Isaiah 8:14, shows that the term "Israel" embraces both kingdoms. Tim distinctive names by which Isaiah ordinarily designates the northern kingdom are "Ephraim" and "Samaria." Isaiah 9:9 Even Ephraim; rather, especially Ephraim. The prophecy is no doubt mainly directed against the northern kingdom. That say in the pride and stoutness of heart; rather, in the pride and stoutness of heart, wherein they say. Isaiah 9:10 The bricks are fallen down, etc.; i.e. we have suffered a moderate damage, but we will more than make up for it; all our losses we will replace with something better. Bricks were the ordinary material for the poorer class of houses in Palestine; stone was reserved for the dwellings of the rich and great (Amos 5:11). Sycamore wood was the commonest sort of timber, cedar the scarcest and most precious, having to be imported from Phoenicia (1 Kings 5:6; 2 Chronicles 2:3; Ezra 3:7). Cut down. The Israelites probably alluded to damage done by Tiglath-Pileser in his first invasion. The Assyrians were in the habit of actually cutting down trees in foreign countries, in order to injure and weaken them; but the present passage is, perhaps, rather intended to be figurative. Isaiah 9:11 Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him. "Against him" means "against Ephraim," or the kingdom of Israel. "The adversaries of Rezin" could only be the Assyrians; but these seem precluded by the next verse, which mentions only "Syrians" and Philistines." Hence many critics accept the variant reading of several manuscripts sarey for tsarey—which gives the sense of "the princes of Rezin" (so Lowth, Ewald, Houbigant, Weir, Cheyne). Isaiah 9:12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; or, the Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west. The Semitic races regarded the world as looking to the rising sun, and used for the east the preposition signifying "in front," for the west that signifying "behind." Syria seems to have been hostile to Samaria until the league was formed between Rezin and Pekah, and may have become hostile again after Pekah’s death (2 Chronicles 28:23). We read of a Philistine invasion of Judah in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 28:18), but not of their attacking Israel. Still, it was as easy for them to attack the one as the other. They abutted on the territory of Israel towards the southwest, as Syria did towards the north-east. For all this his anger is not turned away; since Israel continued impenitent. It would have ceased had they repented and turned to God (see Isaiah 9:13). His hand is stretched out; not to save, but to smite. Isaiah 9:13 The people. The people of Israel, as distinct from the people of Judah. The particular judgment announced in Isaiah 9:11, Isaiah 9:12 is clearly to fall on them. Neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. Israel had set itself to seek after Baal from the time of Ahab (1 Kings 16:31). The reform of Jehu (2 Kings 10:28) had gone but skin-deep. Baal was still "sought to," rather than Jehovah, when the final judgment came (2 Kings 17:16; Hosea 2:13). Isaiah 9:14 Head and tail, branch and rush; i.e. the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest. The "branch" intended is the "palm branch," at once lofty in position and the most glorious form of vegetable life (Psalms 92:12; So Psalms 7:7, Psalms 7:8, etc.); the "rush" is the simple "sedge" that grows, not only low on the ground, but in the "mire" (Job 8:11). The same expression occurs again in Isaiah 19:15. Isaiah 9:15 Some suppose this verse to be a gloss, or marginal note, which has crept into the text; but it is too pointed and sarcastic for a mere gloss. There is no reason to doubt its being Isaiah’s. Having spoken of "the tail," he takes the opportunity of lashing the false prophet, who claimed to be among the "honorable," but was really the lowest of the low, worse than his dupes, the true "tail" (comp. Isaiah 28:7; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 30:10). Isaiah 9:16 The leaders of this people cause them to err (comp. Isaiah 3:12). Both the peoples were led into idolatry by their rulers, but Israel especially. Jeroboam, the first king, introduced the calf-worship, and his successors from first to last persisted in his sin. Ahab added the still grosset idolatry of Baal. Those who held high position under the kings were equally bad examples to the people (see above, Isaiah 1:2:3). Are destroyed. First, morally corrupted and debased, then physically given over to destruction—slaughtered by Philistines, Syrians, and Assyrians. Isaiah 9:17 The Lord shall have no joy in their young men. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy" (Psalms 147:11). He can have no joy or delight in evil-doers, or idolaters, or in those whose speech is profanity. Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows. The widow and the orphan are objects of God’s tenderest love and compassion (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 14:29; Isaiah 1:17, etc.); but when the wickedness of a land provokes him to send any one of his "four sore judgments" upon it, the widow and the fatherless must suffer with the other inhabitants. God pities them, doubtless, but his justice and his righteous anger force him to restrain his pity, and carry out his judgment in spite of it. Every one is an hypocrite; or, corrupt; compare, "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalms 14:3). A certain allowance must be made for the natural hyperbole of strong feeling. Every mouth speaketh folly. The word translated here (and generally) "folly" is rendered "villany" in Isaiah 32:6 and Jeremiah 29:23. Its proper meaning seems to be "lewdness’ or "profligacy." Isaiah 9:18 Wickedness burneth as the fire; i.e. the contagion of wickedness overspreads a whole nation in the same rapid way that fire spreads over a field of stubble or a forest. They shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke; rather, they—i.e; the forest thickets—shall be whirled upward with the uplifting of smoke. The burning thickets shall mount up with the volumes of smoke into the air, and hang there as a murky but lurid pall. The flames of wickedness give no light to a land, but lunge it in heavy, hopeless gloom. Isaiah 9:19 Is the land darkened; rather, burst up (συγκέκαυται, LXX.). The root used occurs in Arabic in this sense. It is not used elsewhere in Scripture. The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. Though the general ravage, devastation, and desolation of the laud, with its buildings, its trees, and its other vegetable products, is included in the image of the fire devouring the thorny brakes and tangled thickets of a dense forest, yet the threat is intended still more against the Israelite people, who were the true "fuel of the fire," since the ravage would go on until the land should be depopulated. No man shall spare his brother. We have here a new feature. Not only shall foreign enemies—Syrians and Philistines—dew, up Israel, but the plague of civil war will also be let loose upon them (comp. Isaiah 9:21, and see 2 Kings 15:30, where we find that Pekah fell a victim to a conspiracy headed by Hoshea). Isaiah 9:20 He shall snatch; rather, one shall devour. A man, i.e; shall plunder and ravage in one quarter, and yet not be satisfied; then he shall do the same in another, and still desire more. "Increase of appetite shall grow by what it feeds on." There shall be no sense of satiety anywhere. The flesh of his own arm. In a civil war, or a time of anarchy, each man is always "eating the flesh of his own arm"—i.e. injuring his neighbor, who is his own natural protector and defender. Isaiah 9:21 Manasseh, Ephraim. These two are mentioned as the two principal tribes of the northern kingdom. It is not to be supposed that civil discord was confined to them. Probably there was a general disorganization. Still, all the tribes would at any time willingly unite "together against Judah" (see 2 Kings 15:37; 2 Chronicles 28:6-8). The significancy of the names of Christ. Five names of the Redeemer are here declared by Isaiah, in addition to the name given him in Isaiah 7-8; viz. Immanuel. Names of Christ are always worthy of the deepest and most attentive consideration, for each reveals some portion of his nature, each exhibits some aspect of him, so to speak, which is distinct from other aspects; and it is only by meditating upon all, that we approximate to a full and complete conception of his manifold excellences. Very specially worthy of consideration are the five names here put forth, which may be viewed either separately or in their connection. And first separately— I. THE NAME OF "." 1. Wonderful is the Son in his eternal relation to the Almighty Father, an unchanging relation of mutual love and tenderness, differenced by the fact of derivation, and the sense on the one hand of bestowal, and on the other of acceptance and dependence. Wonderful, wholly transcending our utmost reach of thought, is that eternity of pre-existence which he enjoyed with the Father and the Holy Spirit, not only before the world was, but before it had pleased the Divine Nature to bring into existence any other being besides itself. 2. Wonderful, again, is he in that repeated act of creation, so clearly assigned to him (John 1:31; Hebrews 1:2), whereby he brought out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3) the entire existing universe—angels and archangels, principalities and powers, cherubim and seraphim; matter arranged and unarranged; sun, moon, stars, planets, satellites, nebulae; man, animals;—all of them "the work of his hands," created by him out of non-existence. 3. Even more wonderful is he in his dealings with the children of men—in his patience with them, his regard for them, his mediatorial office towards them, his inward revelation of himself to them, his constant presence with them, his sacramental communication of himself to them, all unworthy as they are. 4. Wonderful is he in his life on earth, which even unbelievers cannot but admire; wonderful in his triumph over death and the grave; wonderful in his ascension into heaven in the sight of men; wonderful in his appearances to St. Paul and St. Stephen; wonderful in the might wherewith he still sustains his Church, so that even the very "gates of hell" cannot prevail against it. II. THE NAME OF "" As the "Loges," or "Reason," no less than the "Word" of God, the Son was identified by the ancient Fathers with the "Wisdom" of the Book of Proverbs, of whom it is said, "I Wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge …. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding …. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him" (Proverbs 8:12-30). He was thus, in some sort, the Counselor of the Triune Synod which presided over the world and directed all its affairs. But, further, he was the Counselor of man. The Loges was "the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9). Our natural reason and conscience come from him, for he has implanted them in us, to counsel us aright. All revealed light is also from him, for he is the Word and the Truth. He counsels us from within, by the inward monitor who tells us what is right; he counsels us from without, by his apostles, his evangelists, his Church, his living ministers. Do we lack wisdom generally? let us ask of him, and he will pour light into our souls. Do we need counsel on any special matter? Let us take it to him, and he will show us the wisest and best course. III. THE NAME OF "MIGHTY GOD." The Son of God is himself God, and if God, then certainly "mighty"—nay, "almighty." What the Messiah was to do, could be done by none less than God. He was to redeem mankind; he was to vanquish death and sin; he was to triumph over Satan; he was to be a meritorious Sacrifice. "God with us" had already been declared to be one of his names (Isaiah 7:14). Now he is announced as "God the Mighty One." It is to the last degree uncritical to compare this assignment of so august a name, coming from the mouth of an intense theist, with the ascription of Divine titles to the Egyptian kings by themselves, or by their subjects, when both king and subjects were polytheists. Isaiah could not have intended to call a mere man "God;" he must have recognized, as David had done (Psalms 45:6), that the Messiah would be more than man, would in some way or other be a partaker of the Divine nature. Jeremiah did the same when he announced the Messiah as "Jehovah our Righteousness." The prophets may not have been aware of the doctrine of the Trinity, but they could conceive an incarnation of God. The name of "Mighty God" in Isaiah’s list must be accepted as a distinct announcement of the true Divinity of the Messiah, just as the words "child" and "son," which had been previously applied to him (verse 6), were announcements of his true humanity. IV. THE NAME OF " FATHER." When the Messiah is called a "Father," we must understand the word as meaning primarily "Protector." So Job was a "father to the poor" (Job 29:16), and Eliakim a "father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 22:11). The idea of protection, however, implied in "Father" does not exhaust the connotation of the word. It contains also the notions of "Creator" and "Preserver, "of one whom we are bound to love, honor, and obey. "Have we not all one father?" says Malachi. "Hath not one God created us?" "If I be a Father," says Jehovah by his mouth, "where is my honor?" The Messiah was to be "Father" in all these senses. As the Second Person in the Holy Trinity, he created man; as "God with us," he preserves him; as the typical Man, the Head of the redeemed human race, he will ever keep and protect him. The prophet calls him "Everlasting Father," first, to show that he is no mere human protector, like Job or Eliakim; but also, further, to indicate by an additional phrase his Divinity, since God alone is "everlasting," or "eternal." His people are assured by the epithet that he will never cease to be their Protector, will never desert them, or weary of interposing for them. No; "he ever liveth to make intercession for us" (Hebrews 7:25). He is "Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last" (Revelation 1:8). He "will not fail us, nor forsake us" (Deuteronomy 31:6). V. THE NAME OF "PRINCE OF PEACE." So long as there is evil, there must be war between good and evil. The Messiah is "Prince of Peace," "especially, because he comes to convert the world;" to "turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" to destroy sin, and "bring in everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9:24). When there is universal righteousness, there will be universal peace. Certainly, the time is not yet come. The Prince of a peaceful kingdom, whose servants may not seek to advance his kingdom by violence, has not annihilated evil, has not swept all the wicked from the world. And so the fight goes on; evil men still stir up wars and tumults, and good men are forced to resist them. But the "Prince of Peace" shows his power and justifies his name, (1) in the peace that he introduces into the hearts that love him; (2) in the peace found wherever the Spirit of Christ prevails, as in pious households, in brotherhoods and sisterhoods, in assemblies of Christian men like our convocations, etc.; (3) in the comparative peace that obtains in Christian lands, the growing desire for peace and hatred of war, the readiness to resort to arbitration, and the like. Taken in connection, the five names would seem to teach (1) the mysteriousness of Christ’s nature, which lies at the very basis of Christianity, and upon which all else is built; (2) the wisdom of his teaching, which makes him our only safe "Counselor;" (3) the power which he has, as "Mighty God," to accomplish all his designs in his own good time; (4) the love which leads him to exert this power continually in the protection of his Church; and (5) the peaceful condition to which he will in the end bring his Church, when its probation is accomplished and he comes to reign over it as its visible King. The names begin in the past, advance to the present, and end in the far future. They first bespeak our reverence and awe, the foundations of religious feeling. They then call forth our trust, showing Christ to us all-wise, almighty. They end by eliciting our love towards him as a protecting "Father," who will at last conduct us to perfect peace. Persistent impenitence brings repeated chastisements. One would naturally expect that so weak a creature as man, when chastised by the Divine anger, would readily and at once "humble himself under the almighty hand of God," accept the chastisement as deserved, and entreat for mercy and forgiveness. But, weak as he is, man is unwilling to acknowledge his weakness, and, faulty as he is, dislikes nothing so much as acknowledging his faults. God’s judgments he will net allow to be judgments, but attributes them to any cause but God; as, for instance, (1) to his own mistakes; (2) to accident or chance; (3) to fate; (4) to some combination of circumstances not likely to recur. God brought upon Israel four great chastisements, placing intervals between them, so that after each they might have repented and turned to him, had they so willed. But they would not. These chastisements were— I. THE UNDER TIGLATH-PILESER. This was a comparatively "light affliction," as God’s earlier judgments commonly are. It fell, not on the whole land, but only on a portion—"the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali;" and it resulted in the loss, not of national life or national independence, but only of a province or two not very highly valued. "Galilee of the Gentiles" was overrun and annexed by Assyria; but Ephraim and Manasseh, the great tribes which formed the heart of the nation, were untouched. Still, the invasion was a warning which a wise nation would have taken to heart. When dismemberment begins, it is apt to be continued; each fresh act of spoliation is easier than the last. And the aggressor is encouraged by his success, and tempted to repeat his aggression. But Israel was not wise. She consoled herself by "pride and stoutness of heart," making light of her losses, and boasting that she would easily repair them (verse 10). Her pride and impenitence provoked God to inflict a second chastisement. II. THE AND SYRIAN ATTACK. Of this we know no more than what is told us in the present chapter. Attack was made "before" and "behind"—from the east and from the west. Jehovah "joined the enemies of Israel together" (verse 11), and caused them to make a combined, or at any rate a simultaneous, invasion. Both enemies were formidable, and Israel was unable to meet either with her full force. Consequently they were successful, and "devoured Israel with open mouth." Could not this second chastisement arouse the nation from its mistaken feeling of security, and bring it to cast itself down before God? Alas! no. The people "turned not to him that had smitten them, neither did they seek the Lord of hosts" (verse 13). The result was that a third chastisement fell. III. THE ANARCHY AND . Hostility to the kindred tribe of Judah lay at the base of Israel’s existence as a nation, and was cherished by statesmen as a patriotic feeling. But it was impossible to keep the feeling as closely confined as statesmen would have wished. Within Israel itself one tribe grew jealous of another; and, under the diminished strength of the central authority caused by the external troubles of the time, jealousy led on to open conflict, "no man sparing his brother" (verse 19). As Rome perished by her own strength, when faction became arrayed against faction in the forum and the field, so it seems to have been with Israel. Internal quarrel supervened upon foreign attack; and the weakened state, when a fresh assault from without came, necessarily succumbed to it. Repentance, even at this advanced hour, might have caused God to avert the danger and turn the current of Assyrian conquest in some other direction; but once more, there was no submission, no sign of any change of heart. And at last the dread fiat went forth for Samaria’s final destruction. The fourth and last chastisement was— IV. THE OF SAMARIA, AND AWAY OF ISRAEL INTO , BY THE UNDER AND SARGON. The same instrument, Assyria, was employed for the first chastisement and the last. Shalmaneser, the successor of Tiglath-Pileser, towards the middle of his short reign, having "found conspiracy in Hoshea"—who-had murdered Pekah and succeeded him—"came up throughout all the land of Israel, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years" (2 Kings 17:5). At the end of the three years the city fell, about the same time that Sargon, having murdered Shahnaneser at Nineveh, caused himself to be proclaimed supreme ruler of the Assyrian empire. Sargon, following a recognized Assyrian practice, deported the principal part of the population, and settled it partly in Upper Mesopotamia, partly in the cities of Media (2 Kings 17:6). The life of the nation thus came to an end. God had borne with it for two centuries and a half—tried it, tested it, sent it prophets and seers (2 Kings 17:13), chastened it, corrected it; but all in vain. Notwithstanding all that he could do and did, "they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, and rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, and left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger" (2 Kings 17:14-17). Nothing, therefore, remained but to "remove them out of his sight"—to sweep them away with the besom of destruction. The fate of Israel is a warning, primarily, to nations; but also, secondarily, to individuals. God lays his chastisements on them too, for the purpose of bringing them to repentance. If they resist and are impenitent, he follows up blow with blow. If they remain obdurate, he breaks their pride and crushes them. BY E. JOHNSON Vision of future glory. In bright contrast to the preceding gloomy outlook, bursts the enrapturing view of future glory on the prophet’s soul. I. FOR PAST . Not forever is the land to lie darkened. A great light of deliverance is to appear. The prophet’s glance rests on the northern and eastern portions of the kingdom of Ephraim. They had been conquered by Assyria, and the people carried away captive (2 Kings 15:29). But "as the former time brought shame to Zebulon and Naphtali, the latter also bringeth honor towards the sea, beyond the Jordan, towards the heathen-march." The depopulated land will bask in the sunshine of restored prosperity. Assembling "before Jehovah," i.e. in his sacred place, they will rejoice as at a harvest ingathering, or at a division of spoil after victory. For the Assyrian yoke will be broken, and crushing will be the defeat of the foes of the nation, like that of Midian in days of yore. Every trace of war and barbarity will be placed under a ban, and be destroyed by fire—the boot that had clanked on the heel of the foreign soldier, and the red battle-garment. II. THE KINGDOM OF PEACE. The pledge of its establishment is the promise of the wondrous Child. 1. His names. Not only Immanuel, God with us, is he to be called; but other names bespeak his attributes as a great Prince. Wonderful Counselor: against whose deep providence no plots can contend, and conspiracies of short-sighted craft will be in vain. Hero-God: invincible in battle. Everlasting Father: maintaining and fostering his people, educating them by law and by love. Prince of peace: who will cause wars to cease to the ends of the earth. "The empire is peace," was the noted word of a potentate of one time, that charmed the ear for the moment, only to deceive men’s hopes. None but the Messiah can assure peace to the nations, as nothing but the fellowship of the truth and of justice can disincline the nations to war. 2. The nature of his government. It is for "endless wealth." It is to resume, in the deepest and best sense, the well-remembered glories of David’s kingdom. It is to be supported, not by countless battalions ("The Lord delighteth not in the legs of a man"), but by "justice and righteousness henceforth and forever." Its spread will include the spread of true religion. Hence it may be confidently expected that the "zeal of Jehovah," the ever-burning energy of Divine love, will bring to pass these happy results. "The great Shepherd reigns, And his unsuffering kingdom yet will come." —J. Isaiah 10:4 Oracles concerning Samaria. I. ITS PRIDE. (Isaiah 10:8-12.) The word of menace is to fall like a heavy weight upon the nation, a "burden" especially to be felt by the kingdom of the ten tribes (cf. Zechariah 9:1). It has been made tributary to the Assyrians, yet imagines it will recover its former power by violence and predatory raids. In their bravado they exclaim, "Though the bricks fall down, we will build with freestone; and though sycamores are felled, we will make cedars spring up instead!" To punish this insolence, Jehovah has armed its smaller enemies against it—Syrians in the north-east, Philistines in the south-west; and severer judgments are to follow. The cup is not yet full; the avenging hand is still stretched out. The strophe gives us a picture of infatuation, leading to obstinate resistance and incurring accumulation of punishment. We may be reminded of that fine picture in Homer of Ate, the spirit of error or bewilderment, who with soft feet walks above men’s heads, and who would lead all astray to their ruin (’Iliad,’ 19.91, sqq.). Yet neither the nation nor the individual falls a prey to such temptations without guilt, though where the guilt begins it may be difficult to trace. The temper of insolence and bravado is a symptom of this aberration creeping on. What need have we to pray that the "eyes of our mind may be opened," that we may never have the light of discernment between the "spirit of truth and the spirit of error" put out in our bosom! II. ITS . The nation "turns not to him that smote it." It hears not the rod and who hath appointed it. Suffering either changes the disposition and bends the will upon new objects, or it rouses the temper to determined perseverance in the evil course. Men must know the time to retreat and turn back no less than to go forward in a given course. For, as patient continuance in well-doing is blessed with highest promises, the harshness of the impenitent heart treasures up against itself a store of wrath. In this case a visible destruction has come upon Israel. A day of battle has taken place; "hexad and tail, palm and rush," officers and privates in the army alike, have been cut off. For the leaders of Israel have proved misleaders, and their blind followers have perished. And the prophet represents Jehovah as looking sternly on, neither rejoicing in the youth of the nation, nor pitying its disasters. Suffering unrelieved by pity, woes over which Heaven frowns rather than expands with infinite smiles of hope,—such things follow impenitence and willfulness. III. ITS . We say flagrant, and this word exactly fits the prophet’s description: "Wrong burning like fire, devouring thorn and thistle, and kindling the thickets of the forest, so that they curl up in columns of smoke." Covetousness devours and ravages like a famine or a pest. Every one begins to devour his own arm in insatiate greed; that is, one tribe its brother-tribe. Not content with mutual rapacity, Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, the two turn against Judah. And so again and again the deep warning reverberates: "His anger is not turned away; his hand is stretched out still." IV. AND THE FINAL ISSUE. Here the prophet seems to turn to Judah. As one of Jehovah’s noblest attributes is that of Father of the fatherless, and as justice is his delight, so nothing can more darkly designate offense against him than the spoliation of the widow and the orphan. Here, then, the climax of denunciation is reached. And the prophet has now only to hint the future judgment and overthrow. What will they do in the day of visitation? What refuge will be open? What retreat in which a false glory may be hidden? They will cringe as prisoners, and as slain they will fall Better to have the troubled heart, which nevertheless finds its refuge in God, than the reckless self-confidence which invites his anger. Poverty of spirit—against this no prophetic doom is hurled; and adversity with honesty is no real adversity, for the hand of Jehovah is here stretched out, not to smite, but to help.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The dawn of gospel day. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." The glory which God revealed then through the prophet was but a prelude to that greater glory which the Incarnation made manifest. So much so that these words are used in Matthew 4:16, and relate to Jesus leaving Nazareth and coming to Capernaum, upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, that so the prophecy might be fulfilled. I. THE GREAT . History attests that of which prophecy foretells. There was moral darkness. Look at Corinth—so much so that to Corinthianize was to play the wanton. Look at Ephesus. Look at Rome, with its lust and license; its terrible realism in the cruel sports of the amphitheatre, stained with the massacre of beasts and with the gladiators’ blood. Think of the intellectual darkness, when even the city of philosophy, proud Athens, erected an altar—which was a monument of its failure in the search after wisdom—"to the unknown God." II. THE SOMBRE SHADOW. "The land of the shadow of death." This language does not apply alone to the article of death itself. Every hopeless sorrow is a shadow of the grave. Death reigned supreme over human thought. There was no "looking forward" which could comfort the weary heart of man in its bereavements and griefs. Over city and throne, over the groves of philosophy and the gardens of pleasure, the same shadow brooded. So that the gloom came not alone when life drew near to its close, but the long dark shadow fell over all the pursuits and hopes of human life. As we think of all this we shall understand what the prophet means by a "great" light. For the wondrous glory of the Savior’s revelation of "life and immortality" none of us can overestimate. It changed the face of society, and turned the weeping eyes of a weary world to glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. III. THE WELCOME LIGHT. Light makes all things beautiful. And light from "above" transfigures the lot of man. It turns his afflictions into momentary tribulations, and makes him to look, not on’ the things which are seen and temporal, but on those which are unseen and eternal. It is related, therefore, to human life as well as spiritual life. Heaven is not only "the rest that remaineth;" its spirit pervades the entire sphere of our earthly history. Everywhere that blessed light shines; and whilst it makes us patient and hopeful in adversity, it gives cheerfulness to our pursuits and sacredness to our friendships—inasmuch as we are his disciples who said, "Let not your heart be troubled … I go to prepare a place for you."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 9:1, Isaiah 9:2 Great light in deep darkness. In wrath God remembers mercy; be makes us to "sing of mercy and of judgment." He "will not always chide, nor keep his anger forever." Even unto disobedient and perverse Israel he will manifest his Divine pity, his redeeming power. Respecting this promise we may note— I. ITS . This, in the literal and primary sense, is involved in no slight obscurity (see Exposition). The difficulty in determining the period when these regions saw the light of liberty and plenty after the time of darkness and desolation is painfully suggestive of the fact that it is a very difficult thing to find any instances of a nation that has once lost its place and power recovering its position. Even those which have had the best opportunities of so doing have failed to use them; witness Egypt, Greece, Rome. It seems as if nations could "find no place of repentance." The fact may well stir every patriotic feeling in our breasts, and make us resolute to infuse into all our laws, customs, institutions, the purifying and preserving influences of Christian truth. II. ITS SUPREME . (Matthew 4:15, Matthew 4:16.) Undoubtedly this passage finds its culminating fulfillment in the advent and the work of Christ. "That was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlighteneth every one." 1. The era when Jesus was born was one of peculiar darkness. Ignorance, vice, superstition, violence, fanaticism, unbelief, despair,—these abounded as never before. 2. He became the Light of the world. (1) His truth illumined the dark valleys of error; (2) his life shed a bright light on the life of man; (3) his redeeming death opened and made clear to all mankind the way of return and restoration to God. III. ITS IN THE ERA. 1. Among peoples. Many are the communities, larger or lesser, which, found in gross darkness, have been enlightened by the gospel of the grace of God. Beside the various European nations and our own islands, there are such places as Greenland, the islands of Polynesia, Madagascar, etc. 2. In individual men. Down into the human soul, into the mind dark with unbelief or crusted over with worldliness, or blinded by prejudice and consequent misconception, or beguiled and led astray by evil passion or some strong, spiritual hallucination, there has shone the light of Christian truth, a "healing ray from heaven;" and he that walked "in the shadow of death" now dwells in the light of God, and will dwell in his glory. (1) We may all open our hearts to its shining; (2) we have the fatal power of closing them if we choose; (3) we are all invited to reflect and multiply its beams.—C. Spiritual empire. "And the government shall be upon his shoulder." I. THE WHICH LAY OUTSIDE THE PURPOSE or THE SON OF GOD. For what end was that wondrous Child born, that holy Son given? He came not to restore a fallen human dynasty. The most ardent and eager hopes of his countrymen were directed to the overthrow of the Roman power and to the re-establishment of the kingdom of David in all, and more than all, its pristine glory. Jesus Christ distinctly disavowed any such purpose as this. His kingdom, he said, was not "of this world." II. THE EMPIRE WHICH HE CAME TO . We shall see what and how truly great this was if we consider: 1. In what condition Christ found the world when he came. He found it (1) with its mind full of fatal error—the favored people having sunk into a dreary, withering formalism, and the whole Gentile world into idolatry or unbelief; (2) with its heart full of pride, selfishness, and hatred; (3) with its life full of unrighteousness and impurity. 2. What he came to accomplish in regard to it. He came to undo all this; to expel this blighting error; to uproot this pride, cruelty, and selfishness; to abolish this iniquity and enormity; to plant and nourish in the mind and heart and life of man the beautiful and admirable opposites of all this—truth, humility, love, righteousness; and so to exercise a beneficent and transcendent power, and so to take the government of the world upon his shoulder. 3. The only way by which he could gain his end. Christ knew that the one way to exert this renovating power, to wield this victorious influence, was by winning the world’s devotion to himself through his own dying love. Therefore he deliberately entered and determinately pursued the path which led to Gethsemane and to Calvary. Lifted up before the eyes of a wondering and believing world, he would draw all men unto himself, and thus to truth, to holiness, to God. 4. The extent to which he has succeeded. In spite of the miserable corruptions which have dishonored and enfeebled his Church, and in spite of the languor and inactivity by which large periods of its history have been marked, we find that (1) error is dying and truth reviving under every sky; the heathen temple is being closed; the hoary systems of misbelief, pierced and penetrated by modern science and assailed by Christian truth, are shaking to their fall; (2) pride is being humbled; (3) philanthropy—a pitiful, generous, self-sacrificing regard for the unfortunate and the abandoned—is taking the place of hard-hearted indifference; (4) the Prince of Peace is being honored where the god of war was once worshipped. (5) Righteousness and purity are returning to human life. Slavery, lust, drunkenness, profanity, are not yet dead, but their death-warrant has been signed and they are doomed to die. The thought of Jesus Christ is taking possession of the human mind; his principles are reaching and regulating human life; his Spirit is changing the human world; the government is being laid upon his shoulder. (1) Let us rejoice in the growing power of that Son that was born to our race. The empire of the Caesars, of the Pharaohs, of the Napoleons, is nothing but a memory, a history; the rule of Jesus Christ is a benign, a mighty, a growing power, an abiding, and extending influence. That is a fruitless, sapless stump; this is a tree of life, bearing all manner of fruits, "and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." (2) Let us take care that we are among the subjects of his spiritual realm. His is the future of the world; to be separated from him is to lose the heritage, to forfeit the citizenship which will soon be the one thing worth possessing. (3) Let us recognize the true wisdom; not to strive after outward grandeur In this attempt we may fall and be bruised or even broken, or we may succeed and be satiated and thirst again. The true wisdom is found in shedding a sweet and sanctifying influence over all whom we can reach and bless.—C. The wonderful Lord. "His name shall be called Wonderful." And well may he have been named Wonderful, whose words, whose works, and whose love were such as those of Jesus Christ. We look at— I. THE MARVEL OF HIS . 1. It struck his contemporaries with awe and with astonishment (see Matthew 5:28, Matthew 5:29; Matthew 13:54; Matthew 22:22). 2. It strikes us with wonder still. That a Jew, brought up at Nazareth, receiving a very slight education, having no intercourse with men of other nations, acted upon by the narrowing and stiffening influences which were prevalent and powerful in his land and time, should teach as he taught about (1) the fatherhood of God; (2) the spirituality of Divine worship and sacred service; (3) the openness of the outcast and the abandoned to return to the favor and likeness of God; (4) the spiritual and universal character of the kingdom of God; (5) the needfulness of the child-spirit and of humility for entrance into the kingdom of truth and righteousness; (6) the attainment of life through death, etc.;—all this is not only surprising, marvelous; it is positively unaccountable on any other theory than that God dwelt in him and he in God. II. THE WONDER OF HIS POWER. 1. This also excited the astonishment of his contemporaries. 2. It calls forth our reverent admiration still. We wonder and adore as we realize that (1) he compelled the earnest attention of his countrymen; (2) he has commanded the attention of all the ages and of most of the peoples ever since; (3) he has been, and is regarded as the Savior, the Lord, the Friend of millions of individual souls, and has brightened, comforted, transformed innumerable human lives; (4) he has produced a manifest change—often amounting to a revolution—in the sentiment, the principles, and the institutions of mankind. III. HIS -PASSING LOVE. (See Ephesians 3:19.) 1. On one occasion, at least, the people were powerfully impressed with the fervor of his love (John 11:36; see also John 13:1). 2. The love of Christ is far more astonishing to us who can better recognize its greatness. Now that the facts of the Incarnation and the purpose of his sufferings and his death have been illumined by the teaching of the Divine Spirit, we know how surpassingly great, how wonderful, were (1) his sacrificial love to our race—not sparing himself, but delivering himself up for us all, and pursuing that path of sacrifice even to the very end; (2) his distinguishing love to the individual soul. So that, with Paul, every one may say, "He loved me;" may, indeed, say, "He loves me"—is seeking my salvation, has borne with my sin and shortcoming, extends to me his pardoning love, is dealing patiently and tenderly with me, is leading me by the right and wise way to the heavenly city.—C. Chief counsels of Christ. "His name shall be called Counselor." If we approach Jesus Christ as a Divine Counselor, i.e. as One that has unerring wisdom to impart to us respecting the chief good of human life, the secret of true success, the way to reach the goal and secure the prize, we shall find from him these principal counsels— I. THAT IF WE WOULD FIND THE TRUTH WE SEEK WE MUST COME AS A CHILD TO ITS SOURCE. Into the "kingdom of God, "which is the kingdom of truth and joy, he tells us emphatically and repeatedly we must enter as a little child, that has everything to learn, and is willing to be taught by its heavenly Father, by its one great Teacher. II. THAT NOT HUMAN HONOR AND WORLDLY WEALTH, BUT THE AND THE FAVOR OF GOD ARE THE TRUE OBJECTS OF PURSUIT. (See Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20; Luke 12:15; Luke 4:4; John 5:44; John 14:23.) III. THAT NOT BY SELF-, BUT BY SELF- ARE OUR REAL SECURED. (See Matthew 10:37-39; John 12:25.) IV. THAT IN CLOSE AND LIVING UNION WITH HIMSELF WE ATTAIN OUR HIGHEST . The chief counsel of Christ was that, with our sins, our sorrows, our struggles, our aspirations, we should come into intimate union with himself, the Savior, the Friend, the Master, the Leader, of mankind. In clearest, strongest, tenderest tones he says ever to us all, "Come unto me; abide in me; follow me; and ye shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of Life."—C. Christ in relation to time. "The Everlasting Father." If we take the words in their literal rendering, "the Father of Eternity," we gain a meaning which is more consonant with the scriptural teaching respecting the Messiah, the Son of man. He is One who has much to do with eternity; he is an (or the) Eternal One. This attribution to Jesus Christ suggests to us— I. THE BRIEF SPACE OF TIME WINCH HIS LIFE AS A MATTER OF HISTORY. Only "a little while" had they the Light of the world with them. Parts of three years, a space of time to be counted by months,—this was all the interval between his coming and his going; it was a lightning-flash between the long spaces of darkness. II. ITS LONG LOOK. It looks back (1) through all human history: for all the lines of national life (Hebrew, Roman, Grecian, etc.) converged and met at his birth; all that had existed had been leading up to, had been preparing for, his advent; (2) to the remotest ages, even to the beginning. "Before Abraham was, I am;" "He was before all things;" "In the beginning was the Word." III. ITS LONG FORWARD LOOK. The scribes and Pharisees thought, when they saw him die on the cross, that his would be but an ephemeral career; that his influence would quickly die, and his name be soon forgotten. But we know that (1) he has commanded the attention of the world for eighteen centuries; (2) he has been by far the greatest Power therein; (3) he is now recognized and honored by his Church as its living, reigning Lord; (4) he will appear as its Judge; (5) he will be forever the Object of our heavenly worship and service. He is the "Father of eternity." Therefore: 1. Let us reverence him while we trust and love him. Our Friend with whom we have such happy fellowship is One in very closest connection with the Divine; he is the "Father of eternity, "though manifested in time, and with us for so brief a day. 2. Let us trust him while we work for him. We may be disappointed at the smallness of results, at the apparent distance of the goal; we may be impatient in spirit, and we may be hurried or even unchristian in the methods we adopt, in the weapons we employ. Let us be steadied, calmed, righted, as we remember that he whom we serve is not one who is shut up to a few years or decades, or even a few centuries, in which to work out his mission of love; he is the "Father of Eternity;" he is Lord of all future time; he will cause his Word to be fulfilled; we may patiently wait, while we earnestly and faithfully work.—C. Christian peace. "The Prince of Peace." Before considering what is the peace which is distinctively Christian, it may be well to remark: 1. That the first, incidental result of the coming of Christ is not peace, but discord (see Matthew 10:34-36). The first consequence of the introduction or the revival of Christian truth is persecution. For this the Christian faith is not responsible; it is due to the fact that error is so blind, bigotry so pitiless, sin so cruel. 2. That everything is not gained for Christ when a superficial smoothness has been secured. It will take much more than a cessation of "war," a dismantling of forts and a disbanding of troops, to arrive at the peace which is of Christ. It is a Christian poet who writes— "I love no peace which is not fellowship, And which includes not mercy; I would have, Rather, the raking of the guns across The world." Better, in Christ’s name and in his cause, the stern and even the sanguinary struggle which seeks to establish righteousness than the hollow peace which is satisfied with slavery, serfdom, or servility. 3. That the peace which the Messiah came to bring was not that of the conquering sword, but the prevailing Spirit; that which is won, not on the battle-field, but in the depths of the human heart—first in the heart of the Son of man himself, and then in the souls of all the children of men. Of this spiritual rest which the Prince of Peace imparts, we may say that it includes— I. PEACE WITH GOD. Sin separates between us and our Divine Father; it produces condemnation on his part, dread on our part; it ends in an unnatural and deplorable alienation. In Christ is mercy, restoration, peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God," etc. (Romans 5:1; see Romans 8:1). II. INWARD REST. Sin is the great disturber, the constant troubler of the human heart. It is the source of all disorder, and therefore of all distress. It casts down that which should be uppermost—conscience, reason, holy aspiration, etc.; it enthrones that which should be in subjection—passion, self, temporal interests, etc. The Prince, of Peace secures to the human soul its right condition; he restores the true order; he redresses, re-establishes, revolutionizes; he "makes all things new" within. And when the spiritual nature is thus reset, all its powers taking their proper place and discharging their rightful functions, there is a "great calm" within; they who repair to the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, have "rest unto their souls" (Matthew 11:28-30). III. SOCIAL CONCORD. Christian love (John 13:34, John 13:35), Christian magnanimity (Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:18-20); Christian reconciliation (Matthew 5:25), Christian generosity (Romans 12:10; Ephesians 5:21; Philippians 2:3), Christian courtesy (1 Peter 3:8; 1 Peter 5:5), Christian patience (1 Thessalonians 5:14),—these are the conditions and the sources of true and abiding peace among men.—C. Isaiah 9:8-12 The evil spirit of defiance. The spirit which is here rebuked is that of a guilty defiance of God. Jehovah had visited Israel with the signs of his displeasure—had humbled and impoverished her. What attitude should she now assume? That of humility and amendment? Nothing was further from her mind. She would contend in her own strength against her fate, against the Lord who had abased her; she would show to him the futility of his correction. The bricks might be fallen down; it was of no consequence—they would build with hewn stones. The sycamores were felled; it was all the better—they would put cedars in their place (Isaiah 9:10). They would, in their proud independence, convert Divine chastisements into a national advantage. Thus they breathed the very spirit of defiance. Respecting this arrogant temper, we mark— I. ITS COMMON COURSE. 1. First comes some serious departure from God or from his service on the part of the nation, the Church, the family, or the individual man. 2. Then comes the Divine correction. This may be in the form of prophetic, or parental, or pastoral rebuke, or of some serious reverse in temporal affairs, or of bodily sickness, or of painful bereavement. 3. Then comes the resentment and revolt of the human will against the Divine. Instead of hearkening, heeding, and repenting, the nation (or the individual) determines to act in a spirit of defiance. In its (his) own strength, it will rise above its present circumstances; it will make good its position; it will brave the worst perils; it will endure extremest hardships, the greatest losses; it will turn its fallen bricks into massive stones that will not fall; it will exchange its feeble sycamores that are cut down for strong cedars which the wildest gales will spare. II. ITS GUILT. The guilt of cherishing such a spirit is of a very aggravated character. 1. It goes beyond the ordinary sin of inattention. To be heedless when God is speaking, by whatever voice he may address us, is surely iniquitous enough; but to act in deliberate defiance of the Almighty is, by many degrees, worse. 2. It amounts to a positive rebelliousness on the part of the human will against that of the Divine. It is man resolving that, with his puny strength, he will match himself against his Maker and will prevail. It is sin which Contains the elements of insubmission, determined opposition, arrogance. III. ITS FOLLY. In the case of Israel it was to be followed with fearful penalty. That guilty nation was (1) to be pressed on every hand by its enemies (Isaiah 9:12); (2) to be devoured by them (Isaiah 9:12); (3) to be prepared for still impending miseries: "For all this," etc. (Isaiah 9:12). The nation (or the individual) that indulges in this evil spirit of defiance will find, in time, what a disastrous mistake it (he) has made. For the defiance of God (1) shuts out immeasurable good—whoso hearkens when God reproves, and, heeding his voice, returns in penitence to his side and his service, begins an upward path which leads to the heavenly hills; but it also This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 10:1-4 The prophecy begun in Isaiah 9:8 terminates with this stanza, which contains a warning against injustice and oppression, addressed to Israel and Judah equally, and accompanied by the threat of a "day of desolation," when those who have refused to make God their Refuge will have no resource, but to go into captivity with the "prisoners," or to perish with the "slain." A foreign conquest, accompanied by slaughter, and the deportation of captives, is not obscurely intimated. Isaiah 10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees (comp. Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:20, Isaiah 1:26; Isaiah 5:23, etc.). The perversion of judgment from the judgment-seat is the sin rebuked. It was certainly prevalent in Judah, it may also have been practiced in Israel. And that write grievousness, etc. Translate, and unto the writers that enregister oppression. The decrees of courts were, it is clear, carefully engrossed by the officials, probably upon parchment, every outward formality being observed, while justice itself was set at naught. Isaiah 10:2 The poor … the widow … the fatherless. These were the classes who were the chief sufferers by the perversion of justice (comp. Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23). They were exactly the classes for whom God had most compassion, and whom he had commended in the Law to the tender care of his people (see note on Isaiah 9:17). Isaiah 10:3 What will ye do in the day of visitation? "The day of visitation" is the day when God reckons with his servants, and demands an account from each of the work done in his vineyard, being prepared to recompense the good and punish the bad (comp. Hosea 9:7). It is oftenest used in a bad sense because, unhappily, so many more are found to deserve punishment than reward. The desolation which shall come from far; rather, the crashing ruin (Cheyne). It is sudden, and complete destruction, rather than mere desolateness, that is threatened. Previous prophecies, especially Isaiah 7:17-20, had informed the Jews that it was to "come from far," "by them that were beyond the river." To whom will ye flee? The prophet speaks in bitter irony. Is there any one to whom ye can flee? any one who can protect you from the wrath of God? Ye well know there is no one. Where will ye leave your glory? With whom will ye deposit your riches, your magnificence, your jewels, your grand apparel? You cannot save them. They will all make to themselves wings, and "fly away like a bird" (Hosea 9:11). Isaiah 10:4 Without me. That this is a possible rendering of the word used seems proved by Hosea 13:4. But here it scarcely suits the context. God does not speak directly, in the first person, elsewhere in the entire prophecy (Isaiah 9:8-10:4), but is spoken of in the third person throughout, as even in the present verse, where we have "his anger," "his hand." It is better, therefore, to give the word its ordinary meaning—"unless," "except." Have they anywhere to flee to, unless they shall crouch amid the captives that are being carried off, or fall amid the slain? In other words, there is no escape for them; they must either submit to captivity or death. For all this, etc. Even when the two kingdoms were destroyed, and the captivity of both was complete, God’s wrath was not fully appeased, his anger was not wholly turned away. Both peoples suffered grievous things in their captivity, as appears from the Book of Daniel (Isaiah 3:1-26; Isaiah 6:1-13.) and other places. It took seventy years for God’s anger to be appeased in the case of Judah (2 Chronicles 36:21), while in the case of Israel it was never appeased. Crushed beneath the iron heel of their conquerors, Israel ceased to exist as a nation. Isaiah 10:5-19 SECTION V. OF WOE UPON FOREIGN NATIONS (Isaiah 10:5-23) ASSYRIA, AFTER BEING GOD’S TO PUNISH ISRAEL, SHALL HERSELF BE IN HER TURN. The wicked are a sword in the hand of God (Psalms 17:13), wherewith he executes his judgments; but this fact is hid from them, and they imagine that they are successful through their own strength and might. So it was with Assyria (Isaiah 10:5-14), which its long career of victory had made proud and arrogant above measure. God now, by the mouth of Isaiah, makes known his intention of bringing down the pride of Assyria, and laying her glory in the dust, by a sudden and great destruction (verses 15:19), after she has served his purposes. Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian; literally, Ho! Asshur. "Asshur" is the nation personified, and is here addressed as an individual. The transition from Isaiah 10:1-4 is abrupt, and may be taken to indicate an accidental juxtaposition of two entirely distinct prophecies. Or Assyria may be supposed to have been in the prophet’s thought, though not in his words, when he spoke of "prisoners" and "slain" in the first clause of Isa 10:4. The rod of mine anger (comp. Jeremiah 51:20, where it is said of Babylon, "Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy the kingdoms"). So Assyria was now the "rod" wherewith God chastised his enemies. The true "staff" in the hand of Assyria, wherewith she smote the peoples, was "God’s indignation." Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation; or, against a corrupt nation. Israel in the wider sense, inclusive of Judah, seems to be intended. The people of my wrath; i.e. "the people who are the object of my wrath." Will I give him a charge. In 2 Kings 18:25 Sennacherib nays, "Am I come up without the Lord (Jehovah) against thin, lace, to destroy it? The Lord (Jehovah) said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it" (compare below, Isaiah 36:10). It has been usual to consider Sennacherib’s words a vain boast; but if God instructed Nebuchadnezzar through dreams, may he not also by the same means have "given charges" to Assyrian monarchs? To take the spoil, and to take the prey; rather, to gather spoil, and seize prey. The terms used carry the thoughts back to Isaiah 8:1-4, and to the symbolic name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And to tread them down; literally, to make it a trampling. "It" refers to "nation" in the first clause. Isaiah 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so. "Assyria," i.e; "does not view the matter in this light—is not aware that she is merely God’s instrument in working out his will. On the contrary, it is in her heart to destroy the nations for her own advantage, and she imagines that she is doing it by her own strength." Isaiah 10:8 Are not my princes altogether kings? One mark of the superiority of Assyria to other countries was to be seen in the fact that her king had not mere officers, but vassal kings under him. Hence the title "king of kings" assumed by so many Assyrian monarchs. While conquered territories were by degrees and to a certain extent absorbed into the empire and placed under prefects (see the ’Eponym Canon’), an outer zone of more loosely organized dependencies was always maintained by the Assyrians; and these dependencies continued ordinarily to be administered by their native monarchs. These are the "princes" who were "altogether kings." Isaiah 10:9 Is not Calno as Carehemish? A further proof of superiority, and ground of confidence, lay in the further fact, that the strongest cities had, one and all, succumbed to the Assyrian arms, and been laid in ruins to punish them for offering resistance. Six such cities are mentioned—Calneh, probably Niffer, in Lower Mesopotamia; Carchemish, on the right bank of the Euphrates in Lat. 36° 30’ nearly; Hamath, the "great Hamath" of Amos (Amos 6:2), in Coelesyria on the routes; Arpad, perhaps Tel-Erfad, near Aleppo; Damascus, and Samaria. Calneh was one of the cities of Nimrod (Genesis 10:10), and, according to the LXX; was "the place where the tower was built." It may have been taken by Tiglath-Pileser in one of his expeditious into Babylonia. Amos (Amos 6:2) speaks of it as desolate in his day. Carchemish (Assyrian Gargamis) was a chief city of the Hittites, and has been called "their northern capital." Long confounded by geographers with Circesium at the junction of the Khabour with the Euphrates, it has recently been proved to have occupied a far more northern position, and is now generally identified with the ruins discovered by Mr. George Smith at Jerabis or Jerabhs. It was conquered by Sargon in B.C. 717, when "its people were led captive, and scattered over the Assyrian empire, while Assyrian colonists were brought to people the city in their place; Carchemish being formally annexed to Assyria, and placed under an Assyrian governor". Hamath was originally a Canaanite city (Genesis 10:18). By the time of David it had become the scat of an independent monarchy (2 Samuel 8:9, 2 Samuel 8:10), and so continued until its reduction by the Assyrians. We find it leagued with the Hittites, the Syrians of Damascus, and the Israelites against Assyria about B.C. 850. About B.C. 720 it was taken by Sargon, who beheaded its king, and probably reduced it to ruins. The name remains in the modern Hamah, where many curious inscriptions have been recently dug up. Arpad was attacked by Tiglath-Pileser in the early part of his reign, and reduced to subjection. It revolted in conjunction with Hamath from Sargon, and was severely punished (’Ancient Monarchies,’ l.s.c.). Is not Samaria as Damascus? This mention of Samaria among the subjugated and ruined cities may undoubtedly be prophetic; but the connection with Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad all of them towns reduced by Sargon within the years B.C. 720-717—points rather to the verse being historical, and would seem to indicate that the date of the entire prophecy—verses 5-19—is subsequent to the capture of the cities, and so not earlier than B.C. 716. Isaiah 10:10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols. "Found" here means "reached," "punished … subjugated." It is quite in accordance with Assyrian ideas that the conquered countries should be called "kingdoms of the idols" (literally, "no gods"). The Assyrian monarchs regarded their own gods as alone really deserving of the name, and made war very much with the object of proving the superiority of their deities over those of their neighbors. Hence their practice of carrying off the idols from the various cities which they conquered, or else of inscribing on them "the praises of Asshur." And whose graven images; rather, and their graven images. Did excel. In preciousness of material or in workmanship, or both. The Assyrians went near to identifying the idols with the gods themselves. Those of Jerusalem and of Samaria. The chief Samaritan idols were the golden calves at Dan and Bethel; but, in addition to these, "images and groves were set up in every high hill and under every green tree" (2 Kings 17:10), images of Baal, and Ashtoreth, and perhaps Beltis, and Chemosh, and Moloch. Even in Judah and in Jerusalem itself there were idols. Ahaz "made molten images for Baalim" (2 Chronicles 28:2). The brazen serpent was worshipped as an idol at Jerusalem until Hezekiah destroyed it; and probably, even after the reformation of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4), many Jews retained privately the images, which he required them to destroy (2 Chronicles 31:1). Isaiah had already declared, speaking of Judah rather than of Israel, "Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made" (Isaiah 2:8). Isaiah 10:11 Shall I not … so do to Jerusalem and her idols? The speaker ignores the fact of any difference in kind between the religion of Judaea and that of the neighboring countries. He speaks as if he knew nothing of any religion without idols. No doubt Assyrian ideas on the subject of the religion of the Jews were at this time, as they were even later (2 Kings 18:22), exceedingly vague and incorrect. Isaiah 10:12 Wherefore; rather, but. The final result shall be such as "the Assyrian" little expected. When the Lord hath performed his whole work. The "work" assigned to Assyria was the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and a share in the trial, punishment, and discipline of Judah. The last task seems to have been the humiliation of Manasseh, which brought about his repentance (2 Chronicles 33:11-13). Soon after this the troubles began which led to her destruction. I will punish. The sudden change from the third to the first person is harsh and abnormal, but not without parallels in other passages of Isaiah (see Isaiah 3:1-4; Isaiah 5:3, Isaiah 5:4, etc.). The fruit of the stout heart; i.e. the actions, language, etc; which flowed from the stoutness of heart—such language, e.g; as that of verses 8-11 and 13, 14. Of the King of Assyria. The menace is not leveled against any one particular king, as Sargon, or Sennacherib; but against the monarchy itself, which from first to last was actuated by the same spirit, and breathed the same tone, of pride, selfishness, and cruelty. (See the royal inscriptions, passim, which become more revolting as time goes on.) Isaiah 10:13 For he saith. Neither this speech nor that in Isaiah 10:8-11, nor again that given in Isaiah 37:24, Isaiah 37:25, is to be regarded as historical in the sense of being the actual utterance of any Assyrian monarch. All are imaginary, speeches, composed by the prophet, whereby he expresses in his own language the thoughts which Assyrian kings entertained in their hearts. I have removed the bounds of the people; rather, of peoples. Assyrian monarchs take as one of their titles "the remover of boundaries and landmarks". And have robbed their treasures. The plunder of conquered countries is constantly recorded by the Assyrian monarchs as one of the most important results of each successful expedition. It is not infrequently represented in the sculptures. I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. The passage is obscure; and many different renderings have been given. Perhaps the best is that of Mr. Cheyne, "I have brought down, like a mighty one, those that sat on thrones." Abbir, however, the word translated "a mighty one," as often means "a bull" (see Psalms 22:12; Psalms 50:13; Psalms 68:30; Isaiah 34:7; Jeremiah 1:11). Isaiah 10:14 My hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; rather, of the peoples. The Assyrians are fond of comparing their enemies to birds; but the exact metaphor here used does not, I believe, occur in the inscriptions. The nations’ treasures are like eggs found in deserted nests, which the hunter gathers without any, even the slightest, risk. All the earth. Oriental hyperbole. Assyrian monarchs often say that they "have subdued all the races of men," or "carried the glory of their name to the ends of the earth," or "overthrown the armies of the whole world in battle." Peeped; rather, chirped (see note on Isaiah 8:19). None of the inhabitants offered even such feeble resistance as a bird makes when its nest is robbed. Isaiah 10:15 Shall the axe boast itself? Here the prophet takes the word, and rebukes Assyria for her folly in forgetting, or not perceiving, that she is a mere instrument, like an axe, a saw, a rod, or a stuff. The saw … him that shaketh it; rather, him that moveth it to and fro. The action of sawing is alluded to. As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up; rather, as if a rod were to move them to and fro that lift it up. For Assyria to assert herself as if she were independent of God is like a rod attempting to sway the hand that holds it. It is a complete inversion of the natural order of things. Or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Translate, or as if d staff should lift up that which is not wood; i.e. "as if a staff should take action and lift up its holder, who is not wood, but flesh and blood." Isaiah 10:16 Therefore shall the Lord … send among his fat ones leanness. A continuation of Isa 10:12, showing what the nature of Assyria’s punishment shall be. The prophet expresses it by two images—first, that of a wasting sickness; and secondly, that of a fire. The first image expresses that gradual decay of national spirit which saps the vital strength of a nation; the second is more suited to denote some external attack under which the weakened nation should succumb. There are traces, in the later history of Assyria, both of increasing internal weakness through luxury and effeminacy, and of violent external attacks culminating in the combined Median and Babylonian invasion, before which her power collapsed. Isaiah 10:17 The light of Israel. A new name of God. The idea on which it is based may be found in the Psalms (Psalms 27:1; Psalms 84:11), and again in Isaiah (Isaiah 60:19). God enlightens his people, cheers them, comforts them spiritually, as the light of the sun enlightens, cheers, and comforts men physically. Christ, as true God, is "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9). Shall be for a fire. As the same material fire which gives light, warmth, and comfort may burn and destroy, so the spiritual light, finding fit material, scorches and consumes. The fire which devours Assyria is to be kindled by God. His Holy One; i.e. "the Holy One of Israel" (see Isaiah 1:4). It shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers. The destruction of Assyria shall resemble that of Israel, in which Assyria was the instrument (Isaiah 9:18). It shall be as complete, as terrible, and as final. In one day. Scarcely "in one battle" (Cheyne); for the destruction of Assyria was effected by many battles, many sieges, and much exhausting ravage. "In one day" rather means "at one and the same time," "within a brief space." It is not to he taken literally. Isaiah 10:18 Forest … fruitful field. "Forest" and "fruitful field" (carmel) are sometimes united together, sometimes contrasted. Literally, they denote wild and cultivated woodland. Used symbolically, as here, they are not so much intended to designate different parts of Assyria’s glory, as to convey the idea that the destruction will be universal. Both soul and body. Here metaphor is suddenly dropped, and Isaiah shows that he is speaking of the Assyrian people, not of the land or its products. Their destruction, wicked as they were, would be one both of body and soul. As when a standard-bearer fainteth; rather, as when one that is faint fainteth. Utter prostration and exhaustion is indicated, whichever way the passage is translated. Isaiah 10:19 The rest of the trees; i.e. these that escape the burning—shall be few; literally, a number; i.e. so few that their number shall be apparent. Isaiah 10:20-34 FOR THE IN ISRAEL. The destruction of Assyria shall be followed—how soon, is not said—by the return of a "remnant of Israel," not so much to their own land, as to God (Isaiah 10:20, Isaiah 10:21). The remnant, however, shall be but a remnant—judgment shall have overtaken the balk of the people (Isaiah 10:22, Isaiah 10:23). Still, there is reason for the faithful to take courage and be of good heart; Assyria will shortly receive a check (Isaiah 10:24-27)—when her armies swoop upon Jerusalem, God will swoop down on her (Isaiah 10:28-34). Isaiah 10:20 In that day; i.e. "at that time"—the time of the destruction of Assyria. The remnant of Israel (see Isaiah 1:9). Isaiah had indicated his firm belief in the existence of this faithful remnant and its return, in the name which he had given to his son, Shear-Jashub (see note on Isaiah 7:3). The escaped. Those who escape from the destruction to be caused by the Assyrian invasion. Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them. We are told in the Second Book of Chronicles (Isaiah 28:23) that Abaz "sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which smote him"—and we know that he also trusted to Tiglath-Pileser, who "distressed him and strengthened him not" (2 Chronicles 28:21). Among the "remnant" there shall be no such mistaken confidences. But shall stay upon the Lord; i.e. "shall put their trust in God; and him only". Isaiah 10:21 The mighty God (comp. Isaiah 9:6). The name is not, however, Messianic in this place. Isaiah 10:22, Isaiah 10:23 These verses are exegetical of the term "remnant," and bring out its full force. The promise had been made to Abraham that his seed should be "like the sand of the sea for multitude" (Genesis 22:17). This promise had been fulfilled (1 Kings 4:20); but now the sins of the people would produce a reversal of it. It would be a remnant, and only a remnant, of the nation that would escape. Judah would have to make a fresh start as from a new beginning (see Ezra 2:64). Isaiah 10:22 The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness; rather, the consummation (Daniel 9:27) determined on is one that overflows with righteousness (comp. Isaiah 28:22). The prophet means that God is about to visit the land in such a spirit of severe justice that it cannot be expected that more than a remnant will survive the awful visitation. Isaiah 10:23 The Lord … shall make a consumption; rather, a consummation—a final and decisive end of things. Even determined; i.e. "determined on beforehand." In the midst of all the land. "Throughout the entire land," not merely in some portions of it. Isaiah 10:24 O my people … be not afraid. God now addresses those who are faithful to him among the people; they have no need to fear—he will bring them safely through all the coming troubles. He shall smite thee; rather, if he smite thee; or, though he smite thee. After the manner of Egypt; i.e. as the Egyptians did in the oppression that preceded the Exodus. The yoke of Assyria was heavy even upon the nations that submitted to her. She claimed to march her armies through their territories at her pleasure, and probably pressed men and cattle into her service. She exacted a heavy tribute, and otherwise "distressed" her many vassals. Isaiah 10:25 The indignation shall cease; rather, there shall be an end of wrath; i.e. "my wrath against Israel shall come to an end"—Israel having been sufficiently punished. And mine auger in their destruction; rather, and my anger shall be to their destruction; i.e. to the destruction of the Assyrians. Isaiah 10:26 The Lord … shall stir up a scourge for him; or, lift up a scourge over him. Isaiah uses the metaphor of the "scourge" again in Isaiah 28:16, Isaiah 28:18. It is rare in Scripture, though common among the Greek and Latin writers. According to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb (comp. Isaiah 9:4). The "slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb" was that great destruction of the Midianites which was begun by the three hundred under Gideon, and completed by the men of Ephraim, whereof we have an account in Judges 7:19-25. Its counterpart in Assyrian history would seem to be the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, as related in 2 Kings 19:35. As his rod was upon the sea. An allusion to the drowning of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea. This was a nearer parallel to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army than the slaughter of the Midianites, since it was wholly miraculous. By "his rod" we may understand the rod of Moses, endued by God with miraculous powers (Exodus 4:3, Exodus 4:4; Exodus 14:16, Exodus 14:27). After the manner of Egypt; i.e. "after the manner of his action in Egypt." Isaiah 10:27 The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing; literally, before the oil; i.e. "the Anointed One"—primarily Hezekiah, "the anointed of the Lord" (2 Samuel 19:21; 2 Kings 11:12; Lamentations 4:20) for the time being, but with a further refer-once to the Messiah, who breaks all the bands of the wicked asunder, and casts away their cords from him (Psalms 2:2, Psalms 2:3); and who is represented by each prince of the house of David, as he was by David himself. Isaiah 10:28-32 This graphic portraiture of the march of an Assyrian army on Jerusalem is probably not historic, but prophetic. Isaiah sees it in vision (Isaiah 1:1), and describes it like an eye-witness. There are at present no sufficient means of deciding to what particular attack it refers, or indeed whether the march is one conducted by Sennacherib or Sargon. Sargon calls himself in one inscription "conqueror of the land of Judah" (Layard, ’Inscriptions,’ Isaiah 33:8), and the details of the present prophecy, especially verse 9, suit the reign of Sargon rather than that of his son, so that on the whole it is perhaps most probable that some expedition of Sargon’s is portrayed. Isaiah 10:28 He is come to Aiath. "Aiath" is probably Ai (Joshua 8:1-28), with a feminine termination. It lay about three miles south of Bethel, which had become Assyrian with the conquest of Samaria. If an Assyrian army mustered at Bethel, it would naturally enter Judaean territory at Ai. He is passed to Migron; rather, he has passed through Migron. "Migron" is mentioned as a village in the territory of Gibeah of Benjamin (1 Samuel 14:2); but the Migron of this passage must have been further to the north. He hath laid up his carriages; i.e. "has left his baggage-train." Michmash was about seven miles nearly due north of Jerusalem. The heavy baggage might conveniently be left there, especially as it was difficult of attack (1 Samuel 14:4-13), while a lightly equipped body of troops made a dash at Jerusalem. Isaiah 10:29 They are gone over the passage. The "passage of Michmash" (1 Samuel 13:23)—the deeply sunken valley, called now the Wady Sutveinit, between Michmash (Mukkmas) and Geba (Jeba). They have taken up their lodging at Geba; or, at Geba they rest for the night. Having crossed the wady, they bivouac on the crest of the hills enclosing it on the south. Ramah … Gibeah of Saul. Ramah is, no doubt, Er-Ram, a village on an eminence, as the name implies, about six miles north of Jerusalem, and on the direct road from Beitin. Gibeah of Saul is thought to have occupied the site of the modern Tuleil-el-Ful, two miles nearer Jerusalem. It is certainly a distinct place from Geba. The inhabitants evacuate these two places during the night. Isaiah 10:30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim. Gallim and Laish must have been villages between Geba and Jerusalem; but it is impossible to fix their site. Anathoth (now Aaata) obtains mention in Joshua as a city of refuge in the territory of Benjamin (Joshua 21:18). It was Jeremiah’s birthplace (Jeremiah 1:1). Gallim was the birthplace of the man who became the second husband of Michal, Saul’s daughter. Laish is not elsewhere mentioned. Cause it to be heard unto Laish; rather, hearken, O Laisha. Isaiah 10:31 Madmenah …Gebim. These are, like Gallim and Laisha, villages otherwise unknown. They must have been within a mile or two of Jerusalem, towards the north. Their inhabitants fly as the Assyrians approach. Isaiah 10:32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; literally, yet that day (is he) at Nob to halt. The Assyrians pitch their camp at Nob, the priestly city destroyed by Saul (1 Samuel 22:19), 1 which was evidently within sight of Jerusalem. Major Wilson’s conjecture, that it occupied the site of the later Scopus, is probable. Isaiah 10:33 The Lord … shall lop the bough with terror. A check to the Assyrian arms is intended, but of what nature is not clear. The "lopping of the bough with terror" might indicate a panic, such as that which seized the Syrians and made Benhadad II. raise the siege of Samaria (2 Kings 7:6, 2 Kings 7:7). But the expressions used later on," hewn down," "cut down," "shall fall," rather imply a defeat. Isaiah 10:34 He shall cut down; or, one shall eat down; Jehovah being, no doubt, intended. Lebanon (comp. Ezekiel 31:3, "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon"). Here the comparison is enlarged, and Assyria appears as Lebanon itself with all its cedar woods. By a mighty one; rather, a glorious one (comp. Isaiah 33:21, where the word here used—adir—is an epithet of Jehovah). God is man’s only sure Refuge in the day of calamity. "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof" (Psalms 46:1-3). So sang the psalmist, and so Israel and Judah felt, so long as they clung to the worship of Jehovah, and served him, and strove to keep his laws. As their fidelity wavered, and they grew cold in his service, and allowed themselves to be attracted by the sensuous religions of the nations around them, their trust in Jehovah departed, and they could no longer look to him as a Refuge. Whither, then, should they look? Should it be to the gods of the nations? or to foreign alliances? or to their own strong arms and dauntless hearts? I. FALSE GODS NO SURE REFUGE. Ahaz at one time "sacrificed to the gods Of Damascus which smote him" (2 Chronicles 28:23), thinking to obtain help from them; but "they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel." Other kings of Judah and Israel trusted in Baal, or Chemosh, or Moloch, or Beltis, or Ashtoreth. But none found any of them a" sure refuge." Indeed, how should false gods help, when they are either fictions of the imagination, mere nonentities, or else evil spirits, rebels against the Almighty, cast down by him from heaven? If the former, they can have no power at all, for how should something come out of nothing? If the latter, they are powerless, at any rate against God, who has proved their inability to resist him, and could at any time annihilate them by a word. II. THE KINGS OF THE EARTH NO SURE REFUGE. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them" (Psalms 146:3). Hoshea trusted in Shebek of Egypt (So), Hezekiah in Tirhakah, Zedekiah in Pharaoh-Hophra; but all were equally disappointed. Even Ahaz obtained no real advantage from his appeal to Tiglath-Pileser, who "distressed him, but strengthened him not" (2 Chronicles 28:20). Foreign aid is always a poor thing to trust to; for the foreigner necessarily consults mainly his own interest, which he may find to conflict with ours at any moment. Let all go well, and an obligation is incurred, which it may cost us more than we bargained for to repay. Let things go ill, and we experience perhaps the fate of the horse when he called in man’s aid against the stag. In the best case, foreign powers can help us only against man, not against God. They can never be a "sure refuge." "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22). III. MEN’S OWN STRONG ARMS AND STOUT HEARTS NO SURE REFUGE. Better certainly to trust to these than to false gods or fickle princes. In many a strait, these will help us a long way. But let there come a time of serious trouble, of overpowering hostile force pressing upon a nation, or deep grief or dangerous sickness upon an individual, and their weakness and insufficiency is at once shown. In the one case, the strong man has met with a stronger, and all his struggles do but add to his sufferings. In the other, the heart and hands fail when the call is made on them. The stalwart frame is bowed down with grief or illness; the heart is "withered like grass" (Psalms 102:4), or become "like wax that is melted" (Psalms 22:14). Man discovers under these circumstances that he has no strength an ’himself,’ and, unless he can find an external, refuge, is lost absolutely. Happy they who at such times can feel with David, The Lord is my Rock, and nay Fortress, and my Deliverer; nay God, nay Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of nay salvation, and nay high Tower" (Psalms 18:2). "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Psalms 23:1-4). Assyria, a notable example of pride and its punishment. History furnishes no better example of pride and its punishment than that of Assyria. The pride of the Assyrians is equally apparent in Scripture and on the native monuments. I. ASSYRIA’S PRIDE AS SHOWN FORTH IN . 1. In Rabshakeh’s embassy 2 Kings 18:19-35) Rabshakeh not only scoffs at the military power of Judaea and Egypt, but ridicules the idea that Jehovah can deliver Jerusalem if the Assyrians attack it. "Hearken not unto Hezekiah," he says, "when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?" 2. In the words by which Isaiah expresses what was in the heart of Assyrian kings, in Isaiah 10:8-11, Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14, and Isaiah 37:24, Isaiah 37:25. II. ASSYRIA’S PRIDE AS BY THE . Here we may note: 1. The titles assumed by the kings, which are such as the following: "the great king ", "the powerful king," "the king of kings," "the lord of lords," "the supreme monarch of monarchs," "the favorite of the great gods," "the illustrious chief who is armed with the scepter and girt with the girdle of power over mankind," and the like. 2. The contempt poured upon adversaries, who are "wicked people," "impious heretics," "enemies of Asshur," "traitors," and "rebels." 3. The claim to a series of uninterrupted successes, without notification of a single defeat, or even check, as ever suffered by the Assyrian arms. Their pride forbids the monarchs to allow that they ever experience a reverse. III. ASSYRIA’S . The downfall of Assyria is sudden, strange, abnormal. She seems at the zenith of her power, stretching out her arm on the one side to Ethiopia, on the other to Lydia and the coasts of the AEgean, when, almost without warning, her glory suffers eclipse. A wild nation from the north, previously almost unknown, invades her land, devastates her fields, threatens her towns, destroys her material prosperity. Scarcely has this visitation passed by, when she is attacked from the east. An old enemy, long contended with and long despised, has in some wonderful way increased in strength, and assumes a menacing attitude. She trembles, but she puts on a bold face and confronts the danger. Summoning to her aid the forces of her subject allies, she retires within the strong walls of her capital city, and there awaits attack. But the chief of the subject allies deserts her standard, leagues itself with her main enemy, and joins in the siege of Nineveh. After a stubborn defense the city falls, and with it the empire, which has lasted nearly seven centuries. The downfall is strange, sudden, tragic, astonishing. Scripture alone reveals its cause. Scripture puts it before us as God’s doing—his judgment on Assyria’s pride, his predetermined and distinctly predicted punishment. Because "the axe boasted itself against him that hewed therewith, and the saw magnified itself against him that moved it" (Isaiah 37:15), "therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, sent among Assyria’s fat ones leanness, and under her glory kindled a burning like the burning of a fire," and she was consumed, "soul and body," and ceased to be a nation. The warning may well be taken to heart by modern countries, which set themselves against God; by modern scientists, who in the pride of their intellect deny God; and by the irreligious generally, who practically deny and defy him. Blessings through the anointing. Blessings come to men "through the anointing" in a twofold way: (1) indirectly, through the anointing of Jesus; (2) directly, through their own anointing. I. THROUGH THE OF JESUS. The anointing of Jesus was that complete sanctification of his human nature by the Holy Spirit, which resulted from his most close and perfect union with the other Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, whereby his human nature was never left an instant without the Spirit’s gracious influence, but was ever, as it developed itself, sanctified in every part to the highest degree possible. 1. Hence comes to us the blessing of having a perfect Pattern, and that a personal one. Abstract standards of virtue are all more or less imperfect, and are weak to move us; they create no enthusiasm; they draw forth no love. We need a personal standard—an example whom we may imitate, a master whom we may admire, a friend whom we may cherish in our heart of hearts. Ancient philosophers told men who were striving to be good, to look out for the most virtuous man whom they could find, and then imitate him. But every merely human model was imperfect; each led his followers more or less astray. It is our happiness to have a perfect Model—a real Person; One whose character is so clearly depicted that we cannot mistake it; One whom we may feel to be indeed a Friend; One whom we may at once revere and love. 2. We have, further, through the anointing of Jesus, the blessing of a full and complete satisfaction and atonement for all our sins. No atonement for the sins of others could be made but by a spotless sacrifice. Jesus was spotless, "through the anointing." It is thus "through the anointing" only that we have our perfect confidence in reconciliation having been made for us, our sins blotted out, and our pardon obtained from an offended God, who will receive us in his Son and for his Son’s merits. II. THROUGH MEN’S OWN . "We have an unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20), if we are Christians at all, and through that unction obtain more blessings than we can enumerate; as (1) comfort and encouragement from him who is "the Comforter" (John 14:26), who encourages humble souls, and cheers up those who are depressed, and infuses hope into those who are ready to despair of their salvation; (2) strength from One who is stronger than man, who can enter into our hearts, and give us the power both to will and to do of his good pleasure; (3) release from the bondage of sin through the "free Spirit," who is able to overcome Satan, and release us from slavery to evil habits, and make us free and willing servants of God; (4) light and knowledge of the truth from him who is "the Spirit of truth," among whose gifts are wisdom, and knowledge, and faith, and discerning of spirits, and prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:8-10); (5) holiness from "the Sanctifier," the Holy Spirit—the "Spirit of holiness" (Romans 1:4). The anointing of the Holy Spirit once received through the mercy of God, naturally and almost necessarily, unless we grieve and vex the Spirit by our perversity, abides in us (1 John 2:27), and teaches us, and guides us, and strengthens and sustains us, and purifies our hearts and lives, and enables us to grow in grace, and press on ever towards the mark of our high calling in Christ, and become more and more conformed to the image of him to whom God gave not his Spirit "by measure" (John 3:1-36:84). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 10:5-15 Assyria the rod of Jehovah. I. A WARLIKE POWER MAY BE THE PENAL OF . Assyria is here described as the "staff of Jehovah’s anger," the "rod of his wrath," appointed to march against a people who have excited the Divine indignation. As he plunders and spoils, and proceeds on his devastating way, he may be in effect like Attila, the "scourge of God," destined like a wholesome tempest to purify the moral air of a corrupt age, and to prepare for a better sanitary state. II. YET HE WHO IS BUT AN OF ANOTHER WILL MAY IGNORE HIS OFFICE AND WORK. The Assyrian’s thoughts are bent on destruction. His motive is personal ambition. In haughty pride he not only overvalues his power, but mistakes its nature. His courtiers, he vaunts, are equal to kings. All foreign lands without distinction are to meet the same doom from him. As the heathen kingdoms of the north have been subdued by him, powerful and many as the gods had been, so the little kingdom of Judah, with its few gods or idols, will not be able to withstand him. As a heathen, the Assyrian recognizes, though in a mistaken way, the power of religion as the mainstay of a state. The idols or fetishes are to him the signs of a real supernatural power residing in the nation. III. DIVINE OF VAIN-GLORY. When Jehovah executes his judgments at the right time, this insolent pride will be punished. 1. Its folly exposed. The prophet reads the heart of the vain-glorious conqueror. He is saying to himself, "It was the strength of my hand, it was the clearness of my own intelligence, that accomplished these victories, that cast down my powerful foes. I was like a boy pillaging a deserted nest." 2. Its fallacy rebuked. It is as it’ the axe should boast that it does the work of the hewer, or as if the saw were to brag against the sawyer, or the staff were to boast that it swings the hand of him who holds it—that the lifeless instrument raises the living hand. How deeply do these thoughts run through the lore of Israel down to Paul, who uses the image of the potter and the clay in a similar manner! Says Lord Bacon, "It was prettily devised of AEsop; the fly sat upon the axletree of the chariot-wheel, and said,’ What a dust do I raise!’ So there are. stone vain persons, that whatsoever goeth alone or moveth upon greater means, if they have ever so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it." But "All service ranks the same with God— With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first." —J. Isaiah 10:16-23 Judgment and conversion. I. FIGURES OF . The Assyrian is viewed under the image of a stout, well-fed body, into which a wasting disease comes by. Divine judgment. Again, that judgment is depicted as a flaming fire, kindling and devouring thorns and making a swift end to the towering beauty of the forest trees, the smiling pleasantness of the fruitful field. The remnant of the host will soon be counted "on one’s fingers," as a boy might count the still standing stems in a wood devastated by the fiery element. The decline of a sick man, lastly, may represent the falling away of a nation’s power. At best, what is humanity but a flower fading in its pride? As we read in the ’Prometheus’ of AEschylus, "Its strength, is it strong; its beauty, is it fair? What hope have they, these dying briers, living one day long? How like a dream they go, this poor blind manhood, drifted from its end!" And in the light of moral disapproval, of Divine judgment, a declining nation seems to be under a blight, whose ravages cannot be checked. Where are the ancient civilizations, Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome? Their root was long ago cankered, and their blossom went up as dust. The explorer, digging out a statue here, or there deciphering an inscription, helps us to construct the picture of cities that were magnificent poems in stone, of a life to which no secret of pleasure or of power was denied. Were such heights in vain reached for mankind? Were yonder works of mighty kings the efforts of giants who fought against God? Rather let us say that it is he who both raises up and sets down—raises up to illustrate the greatness of the spirit of man, his breath; casts down to show the bitterness of human pride and the vanity of human ambitions. As we survey the remains of the "cloud-capp’d towers and gorgeous palaces" of Nineveh and Persepolis, we are reminded that all earth’s splendor is but a dream, from which we must again and again awake anew, to find in the spiritual the only eternal; in the right the only enduring throne of potentates; in the sweet happiness of millions, not in the multitude of armed men, the mirror of God’s will on earth. II. THROUGH . It was false reliances that corrupted Judah and Israel As faith in the true objects of faith is nothing but strength, so the illusion which tempts us to trust where there is nothing in reality to lean on, must betray us. Men under such illusions will confide in their deadly enemy as a bosom friend; will invite the point of the weapon aimed at the heart; will "stay themselves upon them that smite them." We are limp, drooping creatures. Rare is he who walks with head quite erect, with eye undauntedly fixed on the unseen, with heart bound up in principle alone. If we crave countenance in our foibles, much more in our serious projects. And never was there craze, weakness, silliness, or sin, for which abettors may not be found. Never have we so sought confirmation in views that should never have been entertained, but the hour of disenchantment has come, soon or late. The reed breaks, the cistern leaks; the soft foundation gives, and the ominous crack appears in our dwelling. And then we return to "stay ourselves on the Holy One of Israel with faithfulness." Or so the prophet forecasts the effect of his people’s disenchantment. "The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the Hero-God." He the only Head, the only Battle-leader, as the only Prince of Peace, will be found again in the day of adversity, at least by a few. As in the olden time but a few were saved in the ark from the great flood, so from these overflowing judgments which are to descend, a few, though only a few, will be able to escape. A public end and decision of these controversies between Jehovah and his people is to be made, and it cannot be delayed nor averted. 1. To the prophetic consciousness it seems, at any epoch, that "the whole world lies in wickedness," and that the righteous are but a very small remnant. 2. Historically, such a view seems to hold good. At critical epochs, England has probably been saved by the virtuous, the Christian, the self-denying few. 3. But history is too profound for any mortal reading or rendering. If nations have passed away notwithstanding that they had a core of true hearts among them; if Israel still remains, though her lamp has been removed from its stand, there is, doubtless, a deeper meaning in the prophet’s words. It is the "remnant" which has given us our Hebrew Scriptures. From the caldron of suffering, exile, external sorrow, came forth the fine gold of the great prophet of the Captivity, and of many of the psalmists. Every nation that leaves noble and Divine thoughts for the possession of mankind forever; every individual who, out of the wreck of life’s mistakes, bequeaths some legacy of truth to posterity, fulfils in a way the prophecies of the recovery of the remnant.—J. Isaiah 10:24-34 The mighty laid low. I. AGAINST FEAR. Let not Judah fear the Assyrian, who, like the Egyptian in the days of yore, wields over her the rod of the slave-driver. In a short time, the hot tide of Divine wrath will pass from Israel, and the Assyrians will in turn feel it. The scourge that was laid in the ancient time on the back of the Egyptian oppressor will be brandished over the heads of the Assyrians. Their burden will fall from Judah’s shoulder, from Judah’s neck the yoke. The proverb says, "A youth is ruined by fat," and so will the swollen bulk of the Assyrian body melt away. There is a play in the Hebrew on the words "yoke" and "youth." The prophet in a word-picture paints the onward march of the great host. Swiftly he comes on, spreading trembling and causing flight before him. Panic-struck clamors sound through the vales, and from hill to hill the alarum is given. Fugitives pour in through the gates of the city. Already the invader is at Nob, near Jerusalem, and has his hand lifted on high, as it were, to smite the sacred hill with a fatal blow. Then suddenly his own crown is cleft by the hand of Jehovah; the lofty crested warriors fall as the trees in the forest before the woodman’s axe. This Lebanon of warlike spears, this moles lelli, is prostrate before the "majestical One" whose seat is on Zion. II. GENERAL LESSONS. There was an anointed king in Zion, the representation of Jehovah’s majesty, then; there are spiritual forces, representative of Divine might and will, ruling in the world now. There were moments of prophetic insight in which the hollowness of worldly might, the doom of kingdoms that were not kingdoms of righteousness, were clearly seen. Them are such moments now. What is force without justice, numbers without principle? One breath from the lips of eternal Truth shall suffice to drive them away. All that has fixed the eye of the people in fascinated terror, filled their ears with tumult, their hearts with commotion, dismayed, not the prophet. He seems to look above, his feet securely planted upon a cliff, on the boiling surge below. There is a hand that can stay these waves, a voice that can command, "Thus far and no further; here shall thy proud billows be stayed." Then shall these hosts become such "stuff as dreams are made of," these onward-rolling columns melt into wreaths of cloud, become thin air, and "leave not a wrack behind." "The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!" Our cares and troubles may be to us personally as the invasion of an Assyrian host. If we would know the prophetic confidence, we must live the prophetic life; the ear attent, the heart obedient—"fixed, trusting in the Lord." Nothing can bring us peace, lift us out of the degradation of fears that unman, but faith in our principles. They must triumph in the end; in them alone is strength, freedom, victory.—J. BY W. The helplessness of man under the wrath of God. The anger of the Lord is here expressly declared against the oppressor. We are again reminded: 1. That God judges those who are in authority over men; that however these may be placed above the reach of human justice, they will not escape Divine retribution. 2. That God especially requires an account of our treatment of the suffering and the dependent. Whoso wrongs the widow or the orphan must expect a fearful reckoning with the pitiful and righteous One (Matthew 18:6). But the special truth which is provided for us in this passage is the utter impotence of man, and the certainty and severity of his doom when God "arises to judgment." We learn— I. THAT SIN IS MOVING ON TO A DAY OF DIVINE . "The day of visitation" (Isaiah 10:3) is sure to come. The desolation that is in store may have to "come from far;" it may be out of sight now; it may come "as one that travelleth," may be hidden by intervening days and weeks; but it is on its way. Not more surely does the sun move to the western sky, does the spring move toward the summer, does youth move toward manhood and manhood toward age and death, than does sin move on to a day of wrath, of Divine visitation. All sin takes this sad course; not only such daring and presumptuous sin as that of the text—cruel wrong at the hand of those appointed to administer justice—but all departure from the revealed will of God, and also the deliberate and persistent refusal to enter his service. II. THAT IN THAT DAY SIN WILL LEAN IN VAIN ON ITS OLD . Not only will national alliances fail the nation which God is visiting with his displeasure, but all the supports and consolations with which individual souls have surrounded themselves will prove to be of no avail then. "To whom will ye flee for help?" (Isaiah 10:3). What human arm will arrest the uplifted hand of God? Of what avail then human friendships, abundant "resources," magnificent estates, royal or princely patronage, the devices of the cunning counselor? How will these be brushed away by the tempest of his holy indignation! III. THAT SIN WILL THEN BE EXPOSED TO A PENALTY. 1. Irreparable loss. "Where will ye leave your glory?" (Isaiah 10:3). Our earthly treasures, our bodily powers, our worldly honors and positions,—these are things which God’s punitive providence will take away from us; and where is the custodian to whose hands we can confide them? Who will receive them from us and restore them to us? 2. Spiritual bondage. "They shall bow down under the prisoners," or "bow down among the captives" (Isaiah 10:4). Sin leads down to a cruel bondage. Evil dispositions, bad habits, shameful lusts, "have dominion over us" (Romans 6:16). 3. Spiritual death. "They shall fall under the slain." We add the welcome truth, not stated or even hinted here, but elsewhere revealed— IV. THAT THERE IS AN REFUGE NOW FOR THE AND SPIRIT.—C. Man in his folly and God in his righteousness. We have a graphic picture here of— I. MAN IN HIS FOLLY. Under the dominion of the folly which is born of sin, man. 1. Indulges in designs which are beyond his strength. (Isaiah 10:7.) It is "in his heart" to do much greater things, often to work much greater wickedness, than he has power to execute. Under sin, men indulge in great-and even gross self-exaggeration; guilt is an infatuating thing. 2. Looks with dangerous complacency on his little triumphs. (Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 10:9.) He has the "stout heart" and the "high looks" (Isaiah 10:12) which come from a consciousness of success, and which are the sure precursors of further folly. Few men can stand even the smaller triumphs, and still fewer the greater ones. When a man finds himself indulging the spirit of complacency he had better question himself severely, for he is walking on a "slippery place." 3. Attributes to himself what is his only in a very slight degree. (Isaiah 10:13; vide 1 Corinthians 4:7.) Man can only work with the materials which he has received from God, under the conditions which God determines, within the limits which God imposes. "All our springs are in him." The attitude of arrogant authorship is as preposterous as it is offensive. 4. Comes to hasty and ignorant conclusions. (Isaiah 10:10, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:14.) The blind Assyrian ignorantly associated the idols of other lands with "the idols of Jerusalem." He was either ignorant of Jehovah’s Name, or he placed him on a level with other gods. He was going forth in a blind confidence that should be rudely shaken, that should be completely shattered. Man in his guilty folly assumes many things to be true which are absolutely false; he fails to make inquiry, and his ignorance utterly and fatally misleads him. And there is nothing in regard to which this is so true as the nature, the character, and the will of God. 5. Is blind to the end and issue of his doings. "He meaneth not so," etc. (Isaiah 10:7). Under the sway of sin man moves along a path which he thinks will lead to honor, enjoyment, success, triumph; but "the end of that way is death." Selfishness has its own purpose in view, and confidently reckons on achieving its end; but behind or above it is a Power which it is unable to resist, and which turns it to another anti very different end. II. GOD IN HIS . Everywhere present, sleeplessly watching, mightily interposing, is the righteous Ruler of all. 1. He punishes his own people when they go astray. "I will send him against a hypocritical nation," etc. (Isaiah 10:6); "When the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion" (Isaiah 10:12). Judgment often "begins at the house of God," with the people of God. Whom the Lord loves he chastens. God has a gracious purpose in his visitations; he desires and designs repentance and restoration, but he does not spare. He speaks of his own people as "the people of his wrath" (Isaiah 10:6). Let no "Christian nation, "or" Christian Church," or Christian man wrap itself (himself) up in imaginary security. God may have a rod in his hand even for Judah as well as for Assyria. 2. He will overwhelm with humiliation those who impiously oppose themselves to his holy will. (Isaiah 10:15-19.) 3. He will use the ungodly as instruments in his hand of righteousness and power. (Isaiah 10:5-7.) Sennacherib should be the rod with which the hand of God would smite. God can make and will make the wrath and the ambition of men to serve the high purpose which he has in his mind. Thus he used Pharaoh, Cyrus, Pilate, and many others, who thought that their own aims were the ultimate issue that was being wrought out. (1) How unspeakably humiliating is the involuntary tribute God may compel us to render! (2) How immeasurably preferable is the willing service he invites us to offer!—C. Isaiah 10:20-23 Departure and return. The passage suggests— I. THAT THOSE WHO KNOW GOD WELL MAY BE INDUCED TO FORSAKE HIM. Israel had been well taught of God; had been carefully and constantly instructed in Divine truth; had received some lessons which might well have been deeply planted in the mind. Yet Israel forsook Jehovah; ceased to trust in his delivering arm, and sought alliance with Assyria. So we, who should know much better, forsake the Lord, of whose power, faithfulness, and love we have learned so much. Instead of finding our joy and our heritage in his service and friendship, we resort to the fascinations of a seductive world; instead of relying on his promised succor, we have recourse to human help or to material securities. II. THAT EVERY EARTHLY REFUGE PROVES TO BE . Resting on Assyria, Israel was only "staying upon him that smote them." The staff on which they leaned proved to be a rod that bruised them. So has it been, again and again, with national and political alliances. So is it with our individual confidences in earth rather than in heaven. The material securities fail us; the ship sinks, the bank breaks, the mine is exhausted, the company is defrauded and has to be wound up, trade declines, and our earthly prop is gone. The human help we built upon disappears; our friend sickens, or he is killed in the fatal accident, or he is himself stripped and helpless, or he is estranged from us and discards us. Our hope becomes our disappointment, our pride becomes our shame; we have been staying on that which smites us (see Jeremiah 17:5; Psalms 118:6-9; Isaiah 31:1). III. THAT GOD AWAITS THE RETURN OF HIS PEOPLE TO HIMSELF. "They shall stay upon the Lord;" "The remnant shall return unto the mighty God" (Isaiah 10:20, Isaiah 10:21). Not only was God not unwilling that his people should return unto him, but he sent them their adversity in order that they might see their folly and incline their hearts unto himself. 1. God is grieved at our departure from himself, but he is willing to welcome us back. 2. He sends the adversity which is suggestive of our return. When the dark hour comes, when the soul sits desolate, when our heart is wounded by the very hand which we hoped would help and heal us, in that day may we hear the voice of the Father we have forsaken, calling to us and saying, "Return unto me;" "I will heal your backslidings, I will love you freely."—C. Rout and re-establishment: Divine interposition. I. THE OF POWER ON THE SIDE OF SIN. The prophet gives a vivid description in Isaiah 10:28 -38 of the triumphant march of the Assyrian. Everybody and everything yields at his approach; opposition melts before him; his adversary is in his power; already his hand is on the prize he seeks. Sin often seems to be on a march that is irresistible, and to be secure of victory. Numbers, wealth, learning, rank, riches, custom, habit,—the most powerful forces make up its conquering host. Must not truth, virtue, piety, capitulate at its summons and leave their treasures to its impious hands? So was it with sin generally when the Savior appeared, to lift up the standard of the cross against its power. So has it been, again and again, with the forces of superstition, skepticism, vice, ungodliness, as these have assailed some Church of Christ or some servant of God. II. ITS ARREST AND BY DIVING POWER. Irresistible as the invading army seemed, its victorious course should be arrested and its confident anticipations dashed (verses 26, 33, 34). The hand of the boastful warrior, outstretched in scornful threatening (verse 32), should be smitten down and hang helpless. The smiter should himself be scourged, the proud palm disbranched, the great forest felled. Arrogant impiety should be humiliated, and "by the way that he came he should return." So has it been and thus shall it be, on still more serious and critical occasions, God will say to the spiritual adversaries, "Thus far … and no further." He will raise up the prophet—the Samuel, the Elijah, the John, the Paul, the Luther, the Wesley—or he will introduce the spiritual awakening and moral power which will encounter and defeat the worst efforts of sin and wrong, and impending defeat shall be changed into glorious victory. III. THE RE- OF . (Verse 27.) The burden shall be removed from the shoulder, the yoke taken from the neck; there shall be comfort and freedom for the people of God, that they may walk again in the paths of righteousness, that they may serve again in the vineyard of the Lord. We learn three lessons: 1. That successful sin may well hesitate on its way and tremble for the issue. However appearances may favor it, and though the spoils may seem already in its hand, there is a Power to be reckoned with which will arrest its march and consume its hopes. 2. That threatened uprightness may be reassured. It need not be afraid of any Assyrian (verse 24), if it continue in or return to its spiritual integrity. God’s love for the faithful will remain; his indignation toward the erring who are the penitent will cease (verse 25). 3. That the removal of sinful servitude must be contemporary with the acceptance of holy and happy service. (Matthew 11:28-30).—C. BY R. TUCK The Divine avenger of the poor. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 11:1-9 A RENEWED OF MESSIAH AND OF HIS KINGDOM. This chapter is closely connected with the preceding. With the final destruction of Assyria, which, being cut down, sends out no shoot (Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34), is contrasted the recuperative energy of Israel, which, though equally leveled with the ground (Isaiah 9:18, Isaiah 9:19), shall spring afresh into life, and "renew its youth." The recovery is connected—or rather identified with the coming of Messiah, whose character is beautifully portrayed (Isaiah 11:2-5). An elaborate description of Messiah’s kingdom follows (Isaiah 11:6-10)—an expansion of the briefer one in Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 2:4. Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. The blasted and ruined "stem" or stock of Jesse, cut down, and for ages hidden from sight, shall suddenly put forth a sprout—a young green sapling, tender vet vigorous, weak seemingly, yet foil of life (comp. Job 14:7-9, "There is hope of a tree, if it he cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not crease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant"). "The stem of Jesse" must mean the house of David, for there is but one Jesse (Ishai) in Scripture—David’s father. A Branch shall grow out of his roots. That which is at first a sapling gains strength and grows into a "branch" (see Isaiah 4:2, where the word used, though different, is synonymous). Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (comp, Matthew 3:16; Luke 2:40; Luke 4:1, Luke 4:14, Luke 4:18; John 3:34, etc.). The human nature of our Lord required, and received abundantly, the sanctifying and enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit. These influences were not in him transient or occasional, as in too many men, who more or less "resist the Spirit," but permanent and enduring. They "rested upon" him; from first to last never quitted, and never will quit, him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The influences of the Holy Spirit are manifold, affecting the entire complex nature of man (see 1 Corinthians 12:8-11). Here, three pairs of graces are set forth as specially manifested in the Messiah through the power of the Spirit: (1) "Wisdom and understanding," or intellectual and moral apprehension (εὐσυνεσία) the ability to perceive moral and abstract truth; (2) "counsel and might," or the power at once to scheme and originate, and also to carry out thought into act; (3) "The knowledge and the fear of the Lord," or acquaintance with the true will of God, combined with the determination to carry out that will to the full (John 4:34; Luke 22:42; Hebrews 10:7). It is needless to say that all these qualities existed in the greatest perfection in our blessed Lord. Isaiah 11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding. This rendering of the original, though defended by Dr. Kay, is quite without support from any other passage where the same word is used. Modern writers almost all translate, either "the breath of his nostrils shall be in the fear of the Lord" (Herder, Ewald, Meier, Cheyne), or "a sweet savor shall he find in the fear of the Lord" (Gesenius, Delitzsch, Rosenmüller, Knobel). He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes. "God sooth the heart." Our Lord "knew men’s thoughts" (Matthew 9:4, etc.), and therefore did not need to "judge according to the appearance" (John 7:24). Thus his judgments were always righteous. Isaiah 11:4 With righteousness shall he judge the poor (comp. Isaiah 32:1, "A king shall reign in righteousness"). It would be characteristic of the Messiah’s rule that the poor should be eared for, that oppression should cease, and judgment be no more perverted in favor of the rich. There is an intended contrast between the Messiah’s rule in this respect, and that of the princes of Judah (Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 10:1, Isaiah 10:2). Christian countries still, for the most part, follow their Lord’s example in this particular, if in no other, having judges that are incorruptible, and tribunals that are free from any leaning against the poor. Reprove; or, plead (as in Job 16:21). The meek of the earth; rather, the humble, or afflicted. Low condition, not meekness of spirit, is what the word used expresses. He shall smite the earth. A slight alteration of the text produces the meaning, be shall smite the terrible one (comp. Isaiah 29:20), which improves the parallelism of the clauses. But there is no need of any alteration, parallelism in Isaiah being often incomplete. The Messiah at his coming will "smite the earth" generally (see Malachi 4:6, and comp. Matthew 10:34, "I came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword"), and will also especially chastise "the wicked." The rod of his mouth … the breath of his lips. "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). The sayings of Christ pierce the conscience and penetrate the soul as no other words that ever came from a human mouth. In the last day words from his mouth will consign to everlasting life or to everlasting destruction. Isaiah 11:5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, etc.; i.e. "righteousness shall be ever with him, ever ready for active use, ever (as it were) bracing him for action." Assuredly, he was "righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Psalms 145:17). Faithfulness (comp. Ephesians 6:14, "Having your loins girt about with truth"). Isaiah 11:6-9 Messiah’s kingdom, when fully realized, shall be one of perfect peace. "They shall neither hurt nor destroy in all his holy mountain." Primarily, no doubt, the passage is figurative, and points to harmony among men, who, in Messiah’s kingdom, shall no longer prey one upon another (see especially Isaiah 11:9). But, from the highest spiritual standpoint, the figure itself becomes a reality, and it is seen that, if in the "new heavens and new earth" there is an animal creation, it will be fitting that there harmony should equally prevail among the inferior creation. Human sin may not have introduced rapine and violence among the beasts—at least, geologists tell us that animals preyed one upon another long before the earth was the habitation of man—but still man’s influence may prevail to eradicate the beasts’ natural impulses and educate them to something higher. Already domestication produces an accord and harmony that is in a certain sense against nature. May not this be carried further in the course of ages, and Isaiah’s picture have a literal fulfillment? Jerome’s scorn of the notion as a poetic dream has about it something harsh and untender. Will not God realize all, and more than all, of love and happiness that poets’ dreams can reach to? Isaiah 11:6 The wolf … the leopard … the young lion … the bear are the only ferocious animals of Palestine, where the tiger, the crocodile, the alligator, and the jaguar are unknown. That the Palestinian bear was carnivorous, and a danger to man, appears by Lamentations 3:10; Daniel 7:5; Amos 5:19. A little child shall lead them. Man’s superiority over the brute creation shall continue, and even be augmented. The most powerful beasts shall submit to the control of a child. Isaiah 11:7 The lion shall eat straw (comp. Isaiah 65:25). There is nothing impossible in this. Cats are fond of some kinds of vegetable food. Isaiah 11:8 The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp; rather, by the hole—near it. The "asp" is probably the Coluber Naje of Egypt, whose bite is very deadly. The cockatrice den. The "cockatrice" is another deadly serpent, perhaps the Daboia xanthina (Tristram, ’Natural Hist. of the Bible’). Isaiah 11:9 My holy mountain. As the Jewish Church is always bound up with the "holy hill of Zion," so the Messianic one receives the designation of "the mountain of the Lord" (Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 30:29; Micah 4:2), or "the holy mountain" (Zechariah 8:3). What was physically true of the type is transferred to the antitype, which is "a city set upon a hill" in a certain sense. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord (romp. Habakkuk 2:14; Joe 2:28; Matthew 28:1-20:29). A fruitful knowledge, guiding and influencing conduct, seems to be intended (see below, Isaiah 54:13, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children"). As the waters cover the sea; i.e. "as the ocean covers and fills the bed prepared for it." Isaiah 11:10-13 THE JEWS AND SHALL BE INTO MESSIAH’S KINGDOM. It is characteristic of "the evangelical prophet" that he dwells earnestly and frequently on the calling of the Gentiles (see Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 19:22-25; Isaiah 25:6; Isaiah 27:13, etc.). The prophecies to Abraham had repeatedly declared that "in him," or "in his seed," "all the families of the earth should be blessed" (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4); and some of the psalmists had echoed the glad sound and spoken of God as worshipped generally by "the nations" (Psalms 117:1; Psalms 148:11). But the idea had taken little hold upon the chosen people generally; and was practically new to them when Isaiah was inspired to preach it afresh. To render it the more palatable, he unites with it the promise of a great gathering of the dispersed Israelites from all quarters to the banner of Messiah, when it is set up. Isaiah 11:10 There shall he a root of Jesse. The "root" of this place is the same as the "rod" and "branch" of Isaiah 11:1. The "rod" springs up out of a "root," and is inseparably connected with it. Which shall stand for an ensign of the people; rather, of the peoples. The "rod" shall lift itself up, and become an ensign, seen from afar, and attracting to itself the attention of "the peoples" or "nations" generally. The Acts and Epistles show how speedily this prophecy was fulfilled. Greeks, Romans, Galatians, Cappadoeians, Babylonians (1 Peter 5:13), saw the ensign, and sought to it. His rest shall be glorious; rather, his resting-place; i.e. his Church, with which he abides forever (Matthew 28:20). The Shechinah of his presence makes the Church "glorious" (literally, "a glory") throughout all ages; but the glory will not fully appear till the time of the "new heavens and new earth" (Isaiah 65:17; Roy. 21; 22.), when he will dwell visibly with it. Isaiah 11:11 The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover, etc. The first recovery was from the servitude in Egypt. Isaiah now foresees that there will be a dispersion of the Israelites through several distant lands, instead of a mere transference of them from one land to another, as in Jacob’s time (Genesis 46:1-29). God, who brought them out of Egypt, will likewise some day "set his hand" to recover them from the various countries through which they will have been dispersed, and restore them to their own land once more. The first fulfillment of the prophecy was undoubtedly, the return from the Babylonian captivity. A secondary fulfillment may have been the gathering of so many Jews from all quarters into the Christian Church (Acts 2:9-41). It is possible that there may be ultimately a further fulfillment in a final gathering together of Israel into their own land. From Assyria. Assyria is placed first because already the bulk of the Israelites, as distinct from the Jews, had been carried into Assyria by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29) and Sargon (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11), and were captives there at the time when Isaiah wrote. The transportation of Israelites to the other places mentioned was subsequent to his day. Egypt … Pathros. There was a great migration of Jews into Egypt in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 43:7; Jeremiah 44:1), and a steady influx for some generations under the early Ptolemies. There was also a second large migration in the time of Onias. The Jewish element in Alexandria for some centuries both before and after Christ was very considerable. Pathros was probably a portion of Upper Egypt, perhaps the Phaturite nome, which was the district about Thebes. It is mentioned as the residence of certain Jews in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:1, Jeremiah 44:15). From Cush. "Cush" here may he either the African or the Asiatic. It is slightly in favor of the African that we hear in the Acts of an Ethiopian eunuch who was a Jew in the service of Candace, Queen of the African Ethiopia (Acts 8:27). And it is against the Asiatic that it was so remote. It adjoined, however, upon Elam. From Elam, and from Shinar. "Elam" was the fertile tract of alluvial land to the east of the Tigris, between that stream and the mountains, parallel with Babylonia. Its capital was Susa, and in Isaiah’s time it was an important country, frequently at war with Assyria. Shinar was an ancient name of Babylonia (Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1-9). The word is used also by Daniel (Daniel 1:2) and Zechariah (Zechariah 5:11). Some regard it as meaning "the land of the two fleers." From Hamath. (On this town, see note to Isaiah 10:9.) From the islands of the sea; i.e. the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean. During the Maccabee period, there was a gradual spread of Jews over the Western world. Alliances were made with Rome end Sparta (1 Macc. 8:1; 12:2-21; 14:20-23, etc.), and Jews became familiar with both Greece and Italy. St. Paul finds numerous Jews at Rome, and in almost every city of Greece. Isaiah 11:12 He shall set up an ensign for the nations (comp. Isaiah 11:10). Christ is the Ensign. God sets it up to draw the nations to his standard. The outcasts of Israel … the dispersed of Judah. "Outcasts" is masculine, "the dispersed" feminine. The meaning is, "He shall gather together the outcasts and dispersed of both Israel and Judah, both male and female." Isaiah 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart. In the kingdom of the Prince of Peace there shall no longer be quarrels or jealousies among the members. Old feuds shall be put aside; the northern and southern tribes shall agree together, and there shall be peace and harmony throughout the entire Church. Adversaries of Judah. If any such remain among the Ephraimites, Divine vengeance shall "cut them off," that there be no open disturbance of the harmony. Isaiah 11:14-16 THE UNITED CHURCH SHALL TRIUMPH OVER ITS ENEMIES. TO ITS UNION GOD WILL REMOVE. Israel’s most persistent enemies had been the border-nations of the Philistines, the Edomites, the Arabs, Moab and Ammon. These are now taken as types of the enemies of the Church, and victory over them is promised (Isaiah 11:14). A further promise is made that physical difficulties shall not prevent the return of the Jewish exiles from distant countries (Isaiah 11:15, Isaiah 11:16). Isaiah 11:14 They shall fly upon the shoulders of the philistines. It is not to be supposed that actual war is intended. The subjects of the Prince of Peace will not draw the sword. But the Church will for many centuries be confronted by enemies, and must contend with them with legitimate weapons. It is this warfare of which Isaiah now speaks. The united Church will be strong enough to assail her enemies on all sides, and will "swoop" upon the border country of the Philistines like a bird of prey. They shall spoil them of the east; or, the Beni Kedem. The phrase is commonly used in an ethnic sense of the nomadic Arabs inhabiting the deserts east of Jordan, beyond the Ammonite and Moabite country, from whose raids Palestine frequently suffered (see Jeremiah 49:28, Jeremiah 49:29; Ezekiel 25:4, Ezekiel 25:10). Isaiah 11:15 The Lord shall utterly destroy; rather, shall lay under a curse (Aquila, ἀναθεματίσει). The tongue of the Egyptian sea. Either the Gulf of Suez or that of Akabah. God shall do away with those obstacles which keep the nations apart and prevent ready intercourse. Both gulfs are thought to have extended anciently considerably further inland than they do at present. With his mighty wind; rather, with the might of his breath (in fortitudine spiritus sui, Vulgate). Shall he shake his hand. A gesture of menace (comp. Isaiah 10:32). Over the river. "The river" (hun-nahar) is, as usually, the Euphrates, the great river of Western Asia. And smite it in the seven streams; rather, and smite it into seven streams; i.e. divide its waters among seven channels, so that it may be readily forded, and cease to be a barrier. Dry-shod; literally, in their shoes; i.e. without taking them off; Isaiah 11:16 There shall be an highway. This is the object in view—the free and unhindered passage of his people from the various regions where they are scattered (Isaiah 11:11) to their resting-place in Palestine. Isaiah 11:1-5 The spiritual nature of Messiah’s perfections. It was certainly not from Isaiah that the Jews derived their notion that the Messiah would be a mighty temporal prince, the leader of armies, who would break the yoke of Rome from off their shoulders, and give them dominion over all the nations of the earth. Isaiah does, indeed, announce him as a King (Isaiah 32:1), and could do no less, since he was indeed "King of kings, and Lord of lords." But he ever puts forward his spiritual character, his influence over men as a Teacher, his moral and mental excellences. Messiah’s qualifications for his high office (as here enumerated) are— I. HIS OF WISDOM. "Wisdom" here may be that transcendental quality whereby God "established the heavens" (Proverbs 3:19; Proverbs 8:27); or possibly that still more recondite faculty which Jehovah "possessed in the beginning of his way, before his works of old" (Proverbs 8:22). Being distinguished from "understandings" "counsel," and "knowledge of God," it must apparently be supra-mundane and abstract—a power of which it is difficult for man to form a conception. Its sphere cannot be human life or mundane affairs, but the purely intellectual world of supra-sensuous ideas and concepts. II. HIS OF . By "understanding" seems to he meant moral intelligence—the power of appreciating the moral character, and judging aright the moral conduct of others. Our Lord possessed this quality in the most eminent degree, never misjudging the character or conduct of any one. His unerring insight gave him an absolute fitness to be the final Judge of men, but was far beyond what is needed by any earthly ruler or king. III. HIS OF THE SPIRIT OF COUNSEL. Here, no doubt, is a quality of which a temporal ruler has need; but it was not as a temporal ruler, or for the most part in temporal matters, that our Lord’s counsel was given. The maxims of his lips were not maxims of worldly policy, but such as these: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;" "Take no thought for the morrow;" "Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor," and the like. He counseled men for their spiritual rather than for their worldly good, with a view to a spiritual and not a temporal kingdom. IV. HIS OF MIGHT. "Might," or ability to execute his designs, is, again, a quality of high value to an earthly ruler; and had our Lord used his might for earthly ends, he might easily have been all, and more than all, that the Jews expected. But he ever restrained himself from any exhibition of physical strength, or power of organization, or even of persuasive eloquence, exhibiting his might only for spiritual cuds, in miracles of mercy, whereby he sought to win men’s souls to himself, or once and again in miracles of power, shown forth as evidences of his mission. V. HIS OF OF GOD. None could know God’s will so well as he, who "was in the beginning with God, and was God" (John 1:1). Partaker from everlasting of his Father’s counsels, the instrument whereby the Father worked in bringing all things into being (Hebrews 1:2), he had sounded all the depths of that nature which he had in common with the Father, and knew even as he was known. This was spiritual knowledge of the highest kind, and enabled him to be man’s perfect spiritual Guide, capable of setting before him the true and "perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2) as none other ever was, or will be, capable. VI. HIS OF THE FEAR OF GOD. "Fear" in the Son is doubtless so mingled with love as to be something very different even from the fear which the angels feel, when they veil their faces before the throne. But the words "Father" and "Son" imply authority and submission, awfulness and reverence. And the human nature of Christ had the same experience of the "fear of God" as belongs to his perfected saints, whether in earth or heaven (Psalms 19:9; Psalms 34:9; Ecclesiastes 12:13, etc.). "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name?" Messiah’s "fear" brought forth that perfect obedience which made him "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26), and constituted him at once our perfect Pattern and our meritorious Sacrifice. Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12 God’s mercy in bringing the Gentiles into his kingdom. In the old world, when "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth," God sent forth a fierce destruction, and swept away the entire human race, excepting eight persons. After the Flood he promised, of his own free grace, that he would never so destroy mankind again (Genesis 9:11-15). But it was open to him to have sent upon the world some other equally severe visitation, and to have once more rid the earth of "a seed of evildoers." The general corruption of the Gentile world, when Christ came, was excessive. It is scarcely possible that the corruption of the antediluvians can have been greater. As a modern historian sums up his account of heathendom at the coming of Christ, "Corruption had attained its full tide at the commencement of the second century. Vices gnawed at the marrow of nations, and, above all, of the Romans: their national existence was more than menaced; the moral sickness had become a physical one in its effects—a subtle poison penetrating into the vitals of the state; and, as before in the sanguinary civil wars, so now the lords of the world seemed minded to destroy themselves by their vices. Men were denuded of all that was really good, and, surrounded on all sides by the thick clouds of a blinded conscience, they caught with wild eagerness at the grossest sensual enjoyments, in the wild tumult of which they plunged to intoxication". Or take St. Paul’s account of the condition of the heathen when he began his preaching: "As men did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, deceit, debate, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:28-32). Yet, instead of destroying this polluted race, God had compassion on them, and went out of his way to seek them. I. HE LIFTED UP CHRIST TO THEM AS AN ENSIGN FROM AFAR. By the manifestation of Christ’s character in the Gospels, he set them up a Pattern which they could not but admire, which drew them irresistibly by its purity and loveliness, made them hate themselves, and brought them low on their knees before his footstool. II. HE OFFERED HIS GOSPEL FREELY TO THEM FROM THE FIRST. "Go, disciple ye all nations, baptizing them;" "Preach the gospel to every creature;" "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." There was no limit, no favoritism; no offer of salvation only to those who had acted up to their previous light. III. HE RAISED UP A SPECIAL TEACHER, , TO BE "THE APOSTLE OF THE ." What impression Christianity would have made on the Gentile world without St. Paul, or some one similarly qualified, it is difficult to say. Conceivably, it might have taken merely the dimensions of a Jewish sect, which believed that the Messiah had come. St. Paul, raised up for the purpose, lifted it above the sphere of Jewish controversy into world-wide consideration. Teaching personally at Antioch, at Ephesus, at Athens, at Corinth, at Rome, disputing with philosophers, converting members of Caesar’s household, he gave it a position among the religions of the world which could not be ignored by later educated inquirers. The apostle of the Gentiles spread Christianity from Syria to Rome, perhaps to Spain, and gave it that hold upon the attention of the educated classes which secured, under God’s blessing, its ultimate triumph. The Church’s triumph over its enemies. The Church of God will always have its enemies, both internal and external, and its external enemies will from time to time gather their hosts, and unite themselves together, and threaten it with destruction. Great was Israel’s peril, and great her fear, when her enemies "consulted together with one consent, and were confederate against her: the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also joining them, and helping the children of Lot" (Psalms 83:5-8). Yet the danger passed, the confederacy failed, the various nations were "confounded and troubled; they were put to shame and perished" (Psalms 83:17). So it is with the Church. Our Lord has promised that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18); and consequently its enemies labor in vain to effect its destruction. The Church may have confidence— I. SINCE CHRIST IS HER HEAD. She is "his Church," "built by him," "upon a Rock," i.e. himself; purchased by him with his own blood; loved and cherished and purified by him, that she may be presented to him "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing"—his city, his body, his bride. II. SINCE SHE HAS A SURE WORD OF PROMISE. 1. In the statement, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). 2. In the passage concerning the gates of hell. 3. In the clear declarations of the apocalyptic vision, which show her ultimate triumph. III. SINCE SHE HAS PASSED THROUGH PERILS AS GREAT AS ANY THAT CAN ASSAIL HER. 1. The peril of the imperial persecutions. 2. The peril of the barbarian invasions (Goths, Huns, Vandals, etc.). 3. The peril of Mohammedanism. 4. The peril of the dark ages. 5. The peril involved in unlimited private judgment. 6. The peril of the French Revolution. Half a score of times has she seemed on the point of succumbing; bat each time that she is struck to the ground, she rises, like Antares, refreshed and reinvigorated. BY E. JOHNSON The coming of the Messiah. I. HIS ORIGIN. "From Ishai’s worn stem a shoot will sprout forth, and a green branch burst forth from his roots." From the stock of David, now fallen very low, the coming Deliverer will arise in all the vigor of youth. Seldom does the great man come but of some pure and generous strain of blood. Like some stream which, long hidden underground, reappears again in the daylight, or some vein of precious ore, recovered after some extensive "fault," so it was believed the royal race and the spiritual prowess of David might be obscured for ages, but must be illustrated before the world again. As God saves and blesses the world by means of great men, so in a measure is this true of houses, families, tribes, and nations. There is a principle of providential selection running through life. Though men be of one blood in all their tribes, it is not to be denied that there are different qualities in that blood. Hence noblesse oblige, and great endowments make great expectations and imply great responsibilities. The thought of the seeming extinction, yet destined revival of David’s house, may remind us of the imperishableness of the germs of good. David’s house was never restored to the throne in the visible sense. Yet the memory of David persisted, begot hope, inspired patience, and was gradually converted into one of the mightiest of spiritual forces in the conscience of the nation. An idea may pass through many changes of form, but it dies not so long as the faith and passion of the heart in which it sprung are living. II. His SPIRIT. In the religious mode of thought a true temper of the mind is to be traced to Divine inspiration, no less than the great physical or mental ability. What meaning lies in our common expressions, "a gift," "an endowment," "a talent," "an influence!" None of them but is deeply religious, if we trace them to their primary felt significance. Upon this chosen one there "rests the Spirit of Jehovah." And three characters, in the iterative idiom of the Hebrew, are given of this spirit. It is that (1) of wisdom, (2) of courage, (3) of reverence. The qualities of the statesman, the soldier, the man of God. "His breathing is in Jehovah’s fear." There can be no simpler nor stronger expression of a man thoroughly "animated," as we say, by religious principle. And (4) he has the attributes of the just judge. Prompt to redress the injuries of the oppressed and suffering, his rule of conduct is not the pleasure of his eyes and ears, but the eternal equity of him who is no respecter of persons. As the consequence of thus vitally living in communion with God as in the common and necessary air he breathes, he possesses irresistible strength. His mere word of judgment smites the earth more powerfully than the despot’s scepter, while his mere breath destroys the wicked like a pestilence. In a word, it is a sublime picture of moral majesty. This King needs not the weapons of ordinary warfare. He has a better defense of his throne than swords and spears, a better battle-array than the suit of armor. Justice and faithfulness themselves are his best, his only preparations. III. THE OF HIS RULE. There will be a marvelous growth of peace and prosperity. The progress of true culture is marked by the subduing of savagery. The wild animals change their nature and become harmless to mankind. Wickedness is ferocious; men’s untamed passions are like the wolf, the bear, and the deadly serpent. There will be no sin nor sinners in Zion, because the knowledge of the true God wilt be all-diffused and all-inexhaustible as the ocean. To what state of life do these predictions refer? To the advent of Christ and his kingdom? Certainly; and yet when Christ came, not only did not universal peace set in, but the light of Zion and the glories of the sacred city were quenched in blood. And Christ himself opened up a gloomy perspective of the future in his closing prophecies. Where, then, and when this scene of bliss? Let us content ourselves with believing that the prophecy refers to some state to us unknown. Earth will be earth, and not heaven. This heaven is in the soul first; there we dream of it, nay, we realize it as we listen to the prophet’s glowing words, and believe that but a step may carry us into a world where it is realized by all. The prophecy is already fulfilled for us if God has made a heaven of hope in oar hearts.—J. Isaiah 11:10-16 Judah and the nations. I. HONOR TO THE ROOT OF JUDAH. The scion from the ancient trunk will be honored far and wide among the heathen, because of those virtues already described in the preceding section. It will be a banner to which they will flock, a center of light and living oracles. II. OF THE REMNANT. The mighty hand of Jehovah will be stretched forth to gather the scattered ones from all the four quarters of their dispersion. When the banner is raised, the heathen will own its power and the captives will be released. III. UNITY. The two great tribes will remain side by side, but then enmity will cease. The recent destruction of Samaria had been caused by that enmity; which ceasing, it will be found that union is strength, and the nations will submit on the West and East. And those great threatening neighbors, Egypt and Assyria, will feel the weight of Jehovah’s hand and the punishment which the word of his mouth inflicts. And as the great river is smitten into seven fordable streams, the company of pilgrims will flow back, a way made for them by the hand of their God, as in the days of their forefathers, and the exodus from Egypt. The scion from the old stump may be taken as a figure of the revival of true religion in times of decay. And such revival means the union of long-sundered hearts, the recognition of an internal unity among all the faithful, the restoration of influence, and the dismay of the ungodly world.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The rest of Christ. "And his rest shall be glorious." This chapter commences with the full Messianic strain. "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse;" and the music swells, in the Hebrew rhythm of thought, into a sublime prophecy of the reign of Christ. This "root of Jesse" is to be "an ensign of the people," and "to it shall the Gentiles seek." We are thus led to understand the words, "his rest," as applying to the triumph of the Savior. I. MANY IDEAS OR FORMS OF REST ARE . They are connected with mere military conquest. There is the peace of subjection, or there is the peace of compromise, or there is the peace which belongs to the desert and the wilderness, when they are simply let alone. But Christ’s peace is his own beautiful peace of nature. "My peace I give unto you." His rest is not artificial. It is the rest of holy expectation. He sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied. II. THIS GLORY IS AS WELL AS PRESENT. It "shall be glorious." The golden age of the gospel is in the future. "From henceforth expecting;" "He must reign." It will be a glorious rest. For truth will conquer error. Right will conquer might. Love will have victory over all forms of division and hate. It shall be; for Christ hath spoken it. It shall be; for he has all power in heaven and earth. It shall be on spiritual grounds; for the mightiest moral force ever and always triumphs in the end. III. THIS REST OF CHRIST IS OUR REST TOO. We have not only received forgiveness through the cross, but newness of life as well. We have rest now, not in its fullness, but in its ideal; for we have the mind of Christ. We have within us the kingdom and patience of Christ; we are one with the Father through Christ. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."—W.M.S. BY W. Characteristics of Jesus Christ. The expression of the prophet, "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him," has a very close correspondence with the New Testament references to Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:16; Luke 4:1, Luke 4:14, Luke 4:18; John 3:34). This full possession by our Lord of the Spirit of God revealed itself, and is still found, in these particulars which the prophecy indicates. I. His PERFECT PIETY. In him dwelt the "fear of the Lord" without measure (Isaiah 11:2), and he "delighted in the fear of Jehovah;" "the fear of Jehovah was fragrance to him" (emended readings for, "and shall make him of quick understanding," etc; Isaiah 11:3). He could say, "I delight to do thy will … yea, thy Law is within my heart" (Psalms 40:8). To reverence, to please, to obey God, to consult his will and be subject to it, was the law of his life and the refreshment of his spirit. II. His OF THE BEST AND HIGHEST. In "him was the spirit of wisdom and understanding." He distinguished at once the false from the true, the glittering show from the genuine good, the passing pleasure from the abiding joy, the fictitious gain from the invaluable heritage, the vanity of earthly honors from the blessedness of the Divine favor. Christ saw all things on which he looked in their actual and essential nature, and in their true proportions. Hence— III. HIS AS OUR GUIDE. In him was "the spirit of counsel" (see Homily on ’Chief counsels of Christ,’ Isaiah 9:6). IV. His OF THE DIVINE AND OF THE FUTURE. Fallen, degenerate man, with conscience defiled and reason depraved, could know nothing certainly of these two supreme subjects: he wanted, urgently and imperatively, one who had "the spirit of knowledge" in him, and could tell him distinctly and finally, not what he guessed or what he hoped, but what he knew. This Jesus did. He revealed the Divine Father unto men (Matthew 11:27; John 1:18; John 10:15). And he made known to us the truth as to the future; he brought life and immortality out into the light (John 5:28, John 5:29; John 11:25, John 11:26; 2 Timothy 1:10). V. HIS OF THE HUMAN HEART. He judged men, "not by the outward appearance," not "by the sight of his eyes or the hearing of his ears," but by looking down through the coverlet of the flesh, through the armory of speech, into the secret chambers of the soul. He not only saw through the fig tree, but through the flesh, and knew Nathanael’s simplicity of spirit "He knew what was in man" and knows now, discerning the hollowness of some men s pretensions, appreciating the excellency beneath some men’s doubts and diffidences. VI. HIS . (Isaiah 11:4.) He had one measure for the rich and the poor, for the mighty and the meek; he showed unvarying kindness towards the humblest, and he showed a constant readiness to receive those who were enriched with worldly wealth, or endowed with social honor. The testimony of his enemies was true enough; he "regarded not the person of men" (Mark 12:14). Such is the genius of his gospel—"the common salvation" (see 1 Corinthians 3:11; Galatians 3:28; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 6:8). VII. HIS . (Isaiah 11:4, Isaiah 11:5.) Christ, in his righteousness, demanded the spiritual service of all men, and he condemned all that withheld it. He showed himself the determined enemy of evil. 1. He denounced it in scathing terms when he was with us (see Matthew 23:1-39.). 2. He announces himself as the Judge of all, who will punish the impenitent according, to their, deeds (see Matthew 25:1-46.) VIII. His . (Isaiah 11:5.) Having loved his own, he loved them—to the end. He "never leaves nor forsakes" those who serve him. Throughout our fidelity to him his love to us is constant; in the time of our slackness or departure he visits us in his faithfulness with his kind correction, in order to attach us to himself, or to call us back to his side; in the hour of our suffering he makes good his presence of Divine support; when everything earthly fails us, the faithful Promiser will fulfill his word, and receive us to himself, that we may dwell in his glory.—C. The intensive and extensive power of the gospel. I. THE POWER OF DIVINE TRUTH. More power is needful (1) to act on any living thing than on lifeless, inert matter; (2) to act on a sentient creature than on life without sensation; (3) to act on intelligence and will (on man) than on the irrational and irresponsible animal; (4) on man sunk into the lowest moral condition (with seared conscience, mastering passions and habits fixed in vice) than on one who has not yet chosen his course, or who has been trained in the ways of virtue. The very highest instance of power with which we are familiar is that spiritual influence which transforms those who have gone furthest away from God, from truth, and from righteousness—those who are to the moral world what the tiger, the lion, or the asp is to the animal world. The gospel of Jesus Christ has this power. With such wonderful intensity does it work on those on whom its truth is brought to bear, that it redeems and renews the worst, so changing them in life and in spirit that it may be said of them that the wolf dwells with the lamb, etc.; so transformed do they become, under its benignant influence, that the most innocent and helpless have nothing to fear, though they be placed completely within their power (Isaiah 11:8). 1. Individual instances abound of the conversion of notorious drunkards, of savage prize-fighters, of shameless courtesans, of ribald atheists, of those who were abandoned by all, and who abandoned themselves to hopeless sin, of men who were the terror of their tribe or of their district, etc. Therefore we need not and we should not despair of those who are living amongst us, and who are at present a long way off from truth and righteousness. The gospel of Christ can change the very nature of these—can tame the most ferocious, can raise the most fallen, can liberate the most enslaved, can make beautiful the most deformed of the children of men; it can do so by the power of the truth and of the Spirit of God. 2. Families, societies, communities have undergone as complete a transformation. II. THE RANGE OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. (Isaiah 11:9.) What a vast void would there be if the waters were withdrawn! Into what profound depths should we look down! What mighty stretches of sand and clay and rock would be disclosed! What lengths and breadths are covered, what depths are now filled up by the abounding waters of the sea! As containing the element of life to millions of living creatures, as supplying a highway for the nations of the earth, and as providing scope for the ambition, courage, and enterprise of man, what a grand sufficiency do we see in the waters of the ocean! So shall it prove to be with Divine truth. There shall be seen to be a sufficiency, in the gospel of the Savior, to cover the entire earth, to meet the wants of the whole population of the globe. No land so remote, no clime so rigorously cold or scorchingly hot, no interior so impenetrable, no barbarism so rude, no prejudice so inveterate, but that the gospel of Christ shall cover it with its benignant power. 1. Let us rejoice in the earnest of its fulfillment; great things have been already done towards the realization of this glorious estate. 2. Let us resolve to have our share in its execution (1) as a Church, and (2) as individual souls, to each of whom God has committed some word to be spoken, some work to be done.—C. The leading of a little child: Sunday school sermon. "And a little child shall lead them." The reduction of the fierceness of wild animals to such tameness that a little child may lead them is a very beautiful, poetical picture of the transformation of the worst of the wicked to the excellency of the Christian spirit. We may, without impropriety, allow these words to suggest thoughts on the way in which the regeneration and perfecting of human character is brought about by the leading of the little child. God is training us all; we are all at his great school. Christ is the great Teacher; the Word of God is our "book of reference." But there are other sources of instruction at his command. Of these is the family life which he has instituted, and where we may all learn most valuable lessons. We may consider how we are led by the little child—leading sometimes from bad to good, and at other times from good to better things. The little child sometimes leads— I. FROM THE FAR OF WRONG TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. We have often read of the dissipated, or ungodly, or unbelieving parent, who has separated himself (herself) from all sacred privileges, and, it may be, gone far in forbidden paths, when all other influences have failed, being led by the soft, pleading accents of the little child to the safe precincts of the home, or to the services of the sanctuary, or to the path and practice of sobriety, and so to the kingdom of Christ. Sometimes it is not the living voice, but the remembered pleadings of the departed child coming from the other side the veil, which lead the distant wanderer to "come to himself," and then to "arise and go to the Father." II. FROM OUTSIDE INTO THE KINGDOM. And this: 1. As a model. When the disciples were discussing amongst themselves which of them should be the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus Christ took a child and set him in the midst of them, and said that, except they were wholly changed and became as little children in their spirit, they could not so much as enter that kingdom at all. It is the child-spirit which introduces us into the kingdom of Christ. They who are kept outside by difficulties which they cannot solve, and they also who are excluded from faith and peace by a sense of unworthiness from which they cannot rise, need but to have the simple, unquestioning spirit of childhood; they need but to realize that they are God’s very little children, and should take his word even as they expect their own little ones to take theirs, and they will "come in" and be blessed. 2. As a motive. We are moved by many motives, and our serious decisions are usually determined by more considerations than one. There are many strong and urgent reasons why a man should yield himself to God; but if all these fail to move him, let him remember the little child (children) beneath his roof for whom he is responsible, who will almost certainly imbibe his spirit, and grow up to be such as he is; and for his (their) sake, if not for his own, let him live the life which is right and worthy and wise. III. ON, IN THE KINGDOM, TOWARD THE GOAL AND THE PRIZE. 1. The little child continually reminds us of those graces which our heavenly Father looks to see in us. As we are pleased with the docility, the trustfulness, the obedience, the affection of our children, and are pained when we witness the reverse, so is he affected by our attitude towards him. 2. The little child leads us into the field of Christian usefulness. The Christian Church saw the little child ignorant, unenlightened, neglected, in danger of growing up to manhood far from truth and God, and it let him put his hand into its arm and lead it into the school where it should receive the knowledge and the influence which it needed. And the child having thus, by its very weakness and simplicity and necessity, led the Church into the school, it is for the Church to lead the child into the ways of heavenly wisdom, into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, into the path of usefulness and holy service.—C. Isaiah 11:11, Isaiah 11:12 The refuge of the remnant. Allusion is here made again to "the remnant" (see Isaiah 10:20-22), who are spoken of in the following verse (Isaiah 11:12) as "the outcasts" and "the dispersed." The remnant of a thing or of a community is not the choice part, but rather that which is left when everything (every one) else has been chosen—the shapeless scraps which remain when all else has been selected and appropriated; the broken-off ends which are flung aside as of no account; the scattered men who fall out of rank, dispirited or disabled, etc. It signifies that which is of least regard among men. The remnant of Israel was that part of the community that was left when kings had lost their throne, and nobles their nobility, and priests their function, and the country was wasted. However despised and rebuffed of man this remnant might be, it should still have a place in the thought and in the purpose of God. He would remember it, would "recover" it, would "gather it together," would manifest his favor toward it in the eyes of all the nations. We may let God’s treatment of the remnant of Israel remind us— I. THAT HUMAN SOCIETY ALWAYS ITS , those of very small account in its estimate. We can always find, if we look for them, those who seem to be abandoned, to be helpless, to have "no future," to be beyond recovery; those for whom there is nothing but resignation, if not, indeed, despair; those whose cause no man espouses, and who do not expect to be recovered or restored. Of these are: 1. The hopelessly sick—those who inherit a constitution or receive injuries which disqualify them for the battle of life, and place them at the mercy of the community of which they are members. 2. Those who have broken down—who went up eagerly to the battle and struck some good stroke, but have been sore wounded; who have overtaxed their strength, and who find themselves unnerved and incapable, obliged to resign their duties to other hands, their post to other aspirants. 3. Those who have mistaken their calling—who have pursued a line of action beyond their capacity, or for which they were not fitted; who have, consequently, been halting and stumbling all along their course, and have come into ill repute and condemnation. 4. Those who have been signally unfortunate—who have embarked all their resources in one scheme which has broken down, or who have entered into some most serious (perhaps the supreme human) relationship which has proved to be a disastrous mistake; whose heart is well-nigh broken, and whose hopes are quite blighted. II. THAT THESE ARE THE OBJECTS OF DIVINE REGARD. Some of these are near to us; they are the poor whom "we have always with us," living hard by us, worshipping in our sanctuaries, walking in our streets. As we have opportunity, we should assure them that they must not take the negligence or disregard of man as in any way indicating the mind of God. As the human mother lavishes the wealth of her tenderness and love on that one of her children who is the frailest and the most dependent of her family, so does the Divine Parent care most for those of his children who are most in need of his special kindness. Was it not the "little ones" i.e. the weak, the disregarded, the despised, the unbefriended, whom our Lord treated most graciously, and whom he specially commended to our sympathy and succor (see Matthew 12:20)? Unto such, if they are his disciples, he will multiply his favors, and on them pour out his richest and most abounding grace. There are "remnants," "outcasts," of another kind—those who have gone down in the battle of temptation; who are bowed down with a sense of shame and dishonor, and who are cast off by their fellows as worsted and useless. Is there any hope for them in God? Yes, there is ample room in the promises, because in the heart of the Divine Savior, for these. In his thought they are not remnants to be flung into the fire; driftwood on the river of fate, for which there is nothing but to be carried down the stream and cast over the cataracts; disinherited sons for whom there is nothing better than to forget the family to which they belong, and make themselves happy with the husks in the far country. No; in the heart and in the hope of Jesus Christ these are gold for his crown; they are ships that, with chart and compass, may yet sail gallantly down the river of life, and out into the shoreless seas of a blessed immortality; they are sons and daughters that will be most warmly welcomed beneath the Father’s roof, and seated at the Father’s table. In this best sense may the remnant be restored.—C. Isaiah 11:13-16 Conditions of victory. These verses probably point to the time when all Israel shall be gathered into the fold of the gospel, and when" their fullness" shall contribute largely to the conversion of the Gentile world (see Romans 11:1-36.). But we may take a more practical view of the subject if we regard it thus; we have pictures of— I. PRESENT ANARCHY. The people of God everywhere dispersed, the theocracy broken up, the temple destroyed, the Law unobserved, the heathen triumphant,—all this a vivid picture of the "kingdom of God" in a state of dissolution: truth unrecognized, commandments disobeyed, conscience perverted, the Divine will disregarded, God himself unknown in the world. II. THE OF THE DIVINE KINGDOM. The restoration of Israel as depicted here, whether it be to their own land and their ancient institutions or whether it be to their true place in the spiritual purpose of God, may speak to us of that grand consummation of human hope, when the kingdom of our God shall be re-established upon earth; when that kingdom, which is not the enforcement of any ecclesiastical regime, or the observance of any rules of diet or of devotion, but "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17), shall take the place of" the kingdom of this world," which is iniquity, unrest, and death. III. THE OF ITS . These are threefold. 1. The disappearance of fratricidal strife. (Isaiah 11:3.) What Judah and Ephraim were in old theocratic times, that neighboring Churches or Christian comrades have been to one another all through these "Christian centuries." Sadly must the Lord of love have looked down on his heritage, the purchase of his sorrow and his death, and have seen the envies and the jealousies, the hatreds and the cruelties, which have marked and marred the intercourse of his disciples. No progress of his blessed kingdom can be expected in any community when they whose relations should be beautified by concord are all disfigured by enmity and strife. Let Christian Churches cease to hope for any results from their preaching or their praying, so long as bitterness blights the heart, and contention characterizes the Church (see Matthew 5:24). There is no effort, there is no sacrifice, which it is not worth while for any Christian society to make in order that it may wrench out "the root of bitterness" which, while it remains, will neutralize all devotion, and make all zeal to be "nothing worth." 2. Active co-operation among the people of God. "They [Ephraim and Judah together] shall fly … they shall spell … they shall lay their hand," etc. (Isaiah 11:14). Their united forces were to prevail over the bands of the enemy, and to secure victory on every side. So shall it be in the spiritual campaign. It will be when all the Churches of Christ unite, not indeed in any one visible amalgam, but in well-concerted action, joining heartily against the common foe, going out together against ignorance, unbelief, ungodliness, vice, indecision, and all the long train of sin; it will then be found that the enemy will be subdued, and victory be secured. 3. Divine energy working on the side of truth, (Isaiah 11:15, Isaiah 11:16.) As the Lord interposed on behalf of Israel in one deliverance, and would do so in another, by his overcoming might making the pathway from Egypt and the highway from Assyria, so will he interpose on behalf of the spiritual forces which are doing his work in the world. He will make that possible and practicable which seems impossible and impracticable; will enable the champions of his cause to go where it seems hopeless for them to penetrate, and to conquer where victory seems utterly out of reach. Therefore (1) let prayer be earnest, (2) let the heart be hopeful, (3) let effort be energetic and persistent.—C. BY R. TUCK Christ the Branch. "But a shoot shall come forth from the stem of Jesse, and a fruitful sprout shall grow up from his roots" (Henderson’s translation; see Isaiah 4:2). The idea is of a sucker springing up from a hewn stump. The word used (netser) is singularly suggestive of despised Nazareth, with which place the early life of Messiah was associated, and of which it could jeeringly be said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Wordsworth remarks on the sublime contrast in this prophecy and the foregoing," The mighty and haughty worldly power of Assyria—the type of impiety and antichristianism—will be hewn down, like a great forest, in the pride of its strength and glory, never to rise again; but the spirit of prophecy here reveals, that when the house of David seemed like a tree hewn down to a stump in the earth, then a sucker would spring up from the stump, and a branch shooting forth from its roots would bear fruit and overshadow the earth. And so it came to pass. At a time when the house of David seemed to be reduced to the lowest estate, when the Virgin was a poor maiden in a village of despised Galilee, then by God’s miraculous agency the Branch sprouted up from the hewn-down stump, and grew up into a mighty Tree, and brought forth much fruit, and received the world under its shade." It has been cleverly suggested that "the cedar of Lebanon, the symbol of the Assyrian power, was to be cut down, and, being of the pine genus, which sends forth no suckers, its fall was irretrievable. But the oak, the symbol of Israel, and of the monarchy of the house of David, had a life remaining in it after it had been cut down, and the rod or sucker that was to spring from its roots should flourish once again in greater glory than before." We fix attention on the sentiment entertained respecting suckers, which are usually despised, thought to be weak and frail things, from which nothing of value is ever to be expected. I. THE OF CHRIST’S LOWLY . Born into a poor family, at a time when David’s race was at its lowest humiliation; born, as one crowded out by the hurry of life, in the courtyard of an inn; brought up in a despised village. There were but a few gleams of glory resting on his infancy. Angels heralded the tidings, of his birth; Magi offered worship to him at the Bethlehem cottage, But Herod would, if he could, have broken off that sucker, almost ere it began to show its greenness. It would take a great power of imagination to picture a splendid career and a world-wide renown for that poor Bethlehem babe. "He came to his own, and his own received him not" II. THE HOPE OF CHRIST’S EARLY YEARS. We need not accept the strange and foolish legends of Apocryphal Gospels concerning the infancy and childhood of Jesus. We have one all-sufficient historical incident, presenting the boy of twelve years, and convincing us that a wonderful manhood was in its unfolding. His mother observed much, and pondered over many things in her heart, and the story of Christianity has verified every hope which that good mother cherished. III. THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST’S GROWTH. The sucker became strong, grew into a branch, began to put forth branches of its own, became a tree whose beauty attracted the attention of all men. Two passages suggest illustration and detail: "And the Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him;" "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." Other suggestions come from the statements, "All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers;" and, "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." Intelligence, submissiveness, obedience, were the beautiful features of his child-time—the splendid promise of after-years. IV. THE AMAZING OF CHRIST’S FRUIT. When the sucker came to bearing-time, it altogether surpassed the old tree of David. Illustrate its fruitage (1) of holy example; (2) of wise teaching; (3) of gracious healings; (4) of heroic sufferings; (5) of eternal triumph over sin. Moral and spiritual fruitage answering to the needs of thirsting and hungry men. Fruit which was the "Bread of life." The despised tree of David at last sent forth a sucker, which swiftly grew into a tree, whose leaves were for the healing of all the nations, and whose fruit was for the spiritual quickening of a world that was "dead in trespasses and sins."—R.T. Christ’s enduements by the Spirit. The prophetic conception of Messiah is of a man, specially endowed and fitted for his mission by God’s Spirit. The figures that help prophetic vision are David, endowed with the spirit of rule and of song; and Solomon, endowed with the spirit of wisdom. And the New Testament bids us think of Christ as having the Spirit, not by measure, but without measure—the fullness of God dwelling in him (Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9). Compare the beginning of our Lord’s sermon at Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Luke 4:18). The point suggested is that God’s enduements are always in precise adaptation to a man’s work. Here, in relation to Christ, the "qualities are arranged in three pairs, but all spring from one Source, the Spirit of Jehovah, which rests permanently upon him. They are (1) moral and intellectual clearness of perception; (2) the wisdom and bravery which befit a ruler; (3) a knowledge of the requirements of Jehovah, and the will to act agreeably to this knowledge" (Cheyne). Christ was a Teacher, Healer, Example, Savior, Head of a spiritual kingdom. As fitting him for these positions and offices, he was endued with— I. WISDOM. The special gifts of the ruler, as called to judge difficult, complex cases. In its highest form implying comprehension of the secret things of God. II. . Or keen, quick discernment; the sagacity which discovers the right thing to do, and the right word to say, in all human relationships. III. COUNSEL. The power to form wise plans; the clear purpose which fits a king for the exercise of sovereignty. "He shall know how to administer the affairs of his spiritual kingdom in all the branches of it, so as effectually to answer the two great ends of it—the glory of God, and the welfare of the children of men." IV. MIGHT. The ability to carry plans into execution. With men we often find a divorce between the skill to plan and the power to execute. V. FEAR OF GOD. The disposition which keeps us ever anxiously watching for, and resolved to do, God’s will. The reverence and faith which is the beginning of all wisdom. Illustrations of each may readily be found in the life of the Lord Jesus; and it may be urged that all these enduements brought him the power that lies in righteousness—the power (1) to wither all evil; (2) to nourish all good.—R.T. Isaiah 11:3-5 The principles of Messianic rule. These are exemplified in the actual administration of the head of the Messianic kingdom. The picture presented here is designed to be in sharp contrast with that of the unjust judges referred to in Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 2:14, Isaiah 2:15; Isaiah 10:1, Isaiah 10:2. The figure of clothing one’s self, or being clothed, with moral attributes is not infrequent in the Scriptures. The girdle is mentioned as an essential part of Oriental dress, and that which keeps the other garments in their proper place and qualifies the wearer for exertion. The rules, or characteristics, of the Messianic or spiritual kingdom may be illustrated under the following headings. I. AS BEFORE GOD. The absolutely right is to be sought; and it will be found in what (1) God is; (2) what God commands; (3) what God approves. Matthew Henry says, "He shall be righteous in the administration of his government, and his righteousness shall be his girdle; it shall constantly compass him and cleave to him, shall be his ornament and honor; he shall gird himself for every action, shall gird on his sword for war in righteousness; his righteousness shall be his strength, and shall make him expeditious in his undertakings, as a man with his loins girt." Compare the kingdom ruled by considerations of righteousness with the kingdoms ruled by considerations of expediency. II. EQUITY BETWEEN MAN AND MAN. The determination that every man shall get his due, and bear his due. Many cases arise in which strict justice must be toned by consideration of circumstances. In view of human infirmity, the equitable must sometimes be put instead of the right. III. OF THE WICKED. The strong hand on the wrong-doer is ever an essential of good government. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 12:1-6 THE SONG OF OF THE UNITED CHURCH. On each of her deliverances the Church is hound to praise God. In some parts of the Church it is customary on every such occasion to sing a "Te Deum." The ordinary Israelite hymn of praise appears to have been the hundred and thirty-sixth psalm (1 Chronicles 16:34, 1 Chronicles 16:41; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 2 Chronicles 7:3; Ezra 3:11; Jeremiah 33:11; 1 Macc. 4:24); but on extraordinary occasions special thanksgivings were sung (Exodus 15:1-21; 1 Samuel 7:1-17:18-29, etc.). Isaiah is now inspired to give a pattern song, suitable for the Church to sing when she is reunited, enlarged, and restored to favor. Isaiah 12:1 In that day. In the day of deliverance and restoration. Though thou wast angry; literally, because thou wast angry. Kay understands an actual hank-fullness for the severe discipline, which had checked them, and not allowed them to glide on smoothly to ruin. But perhaps the idiom is rather that of the passage, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25), where it is only the last clause that expresses the true object of the thanksgiving. Comfortedst; rather, hast comforted, since the effect continued. Isaiah 12:2 God is my salvation (comp. Psalms 27:1; Psalms 38:22, etc.). The employment of the abstract "salvation" for the concrete "Savior" is extremely common. The Lord Jehovah; literally, Jah Jehovah—a combination which occurs only here and in Isaiah 26:4, where it is again used as an encouragement to perfect confidence and trust. Is my strength … salvation. This is quoted from the song of Moses (Exodus 15:2), which the prophet has throughout in his thoughts. Isaiah 12:3 With joy shall ye draw water. The prophet interrupts the song to give a comforting promise. The "salvation" granted to the Church shall be as an inexhaustible well, from which all comers may draw continually. Compare our Lord’s promise to the woman of Samaria in John 4:14. Isaiah 12:4 Declare his doings among the people; literally, among the peoples (comp. Psalms 9:11; Psalms 77:12; Psalms 107:22; Psalms 118:17). It is always regarded as one of man’s chief duties to testify of God’s goodness to others. Here Israel is called upon to publish God’s mercies and great deeds to the Gentiles. His name is exalted. God is in his Name, and his Name expresses his nature. As there is nothing so exalted in all the universe as God, so there is no name so exalted as his Name. Hence his Name is protected by an express commandment. Isaiah 12:5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things. This is another quotation, very slightly modified, from the song of Moses, in which these words were part of the refrain (Exodus 15:1, Exodus 15:21). This is known; rather, let this be known; i.e. publish it—noise it abroad. Isaiah 12:6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; i.e. raise a "cry" that may be heard far and wide—a cry that shall be a "shout" of rejoicing. The wool translated "inhabitant" is feminine, and designates the entire community or Church that dwells on the holy hill. For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. The crowning glory of the Church is the presence of her Lord in the midst of her a presence continuous ("I am with you always"), efficacious (John 15:4-6), yet invisible (1 Peter 1:8). The Church is ever to proclaim this presence and rejoice in it. Christian thanksgiving - its principal characteristics. There is so much allusion in this thanksgiving song to the "song of Moses," that Isaiah cannot but be supposed to intend some comparison between the two. The occasion, however, of their utterance is so different, and their scale and method of construction so far apart, that it is difficult to draw out in detail any comparison between the two that would not appear forced and unnatural. Moses’ song is a burst of gratitude for a particular temporal mercy; the Church’s thanksgiving is a constant outpour of thanks and praise for continuous spiritual benefits. The song may, therefore, better be considered in itself, as a model to be borne in mind, and in its main points followed, by the Church in all ages. We may regard separately (1) its form; (2) its matter; (3) its tone and spirit. I. THE FORM FOR . The form employed by Isaiah is poetical. His song consists of two stanzas—one of six, the other of seven lines. The lines are of nearly equal length, varying, however, between three and four feet. The predominant foot is the iambic; but there is an admixture of anapaests and trochees. The details of the form are unimportant, and not readily transferable from poetry so peculiar as the Hebrew to the poetry of modern times and countries. What is mainly important is the simple fact of the thanksgiving being a poem. It does not, of course, bind the Church to express thanksgiving in no other way, but it is a strong argument for the predominant use of poetry for such expression. And the instinct of the Church, has been in accordance. From the first she has made the Psalms of David her especial "book of praise." She has found in other parts of Scripture a number of canticles framed upon the same Hebrew model, and has adopted them into her services. She has accepted from one of her noblest saints the glorious poem of the "Te Deum." She has found one hymn of praise, worthy of frequent use, in the Apocrypha. And further, she has been prolific herself of hundreds and thousands of sacred songs, written in a score of languages, and in more varieties of meter than can be counted, with which her members delight to praise God in the congregation. II. THE MATTER FOR . Thanksgiving is for blessings or benefits received; and the main matter for thanksgiving must always be a mention, more or less full, of the particular blessings or benefits for which the thankfulness is felt. Moses in his "song" dwells at some length on the passage of the Red Sea by Israel, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s host which followed (Exodus 15:1, Exodus 15:4-10, Exodus 15:12). The Church, according to Isaiah, commemorates her deliverance from the wrath of God (verse 1), her possession of salvation (verse 2), and the presence of the Holy One of Israel in her midst (verse 6). In her deliverance are included all the spiritual benefits of the past, in her salvation all the joys and blessings of the future; in the presence of the Holy One is her continual actual delight and happiness—a delight and happiness that words are feeble to paint. What is most remarkable in Isaiah’s representation is the absence of all reference to temporal blessings. The spiritual benefits absorb all the thought and attention of the Church’s members, and are alone celebrated in their song of rejoicing. III. THE TONE AND SPIRIT REFER FOR . Thanksgiving may be formal, cold, and perfunctory, or it may be heartfelt, warm, and full of earnestness. Isaiah’s thanksgiving song is a model of hearty, zealous, earnest praise. It expresses (1) gratitude for past favors; (2) joy in present salvation; (3) confidence and trust in God’s protecting care for the future; (4) anxiety to make known his mercies and cause his Name to be praised more widely; (5) admiration of his works; (6) adoration of his majesty. The abruptness that characterizes it is a sign of vehemence; the repeated calls upon others to join in indicate a strong craving for sympathy. Altogether the tone resembles that of some of the later psalms, which were, perhaps, written about the same period (see Psalms 113:1-9; Psalms 117:1-2; Psalms 134:1-3; Psalms 149:1-9). BY E. JOHNSON A hymn of praise. Some critics say that the language and the tone of thought are so different here from that of Isaiah, that the hymn cannot be from his pen. The theory seems probable enough that a copyist or reader, who beheld with joy a fulfillment of the words in Isaiah 11:15, Isaiah 11:16, on the deliverance from the Babylonian exile, supplemented the oracle with these jubilant words." I. THE FULL HEART SEEKS RELIEF IN SONG. If burdened with the sense of guilt, it must have its litany of grief and deprecation. Pain in the mind, the sense of lonely suffering, readily translates itself into the image of the anger of God. As Madame de Stael justly remarks, "When we suffer, we easily persuade ourselves that we are guilty, and violent griefs carry trouble even into the conscience." And when the suffering ceases, it seems as if a cloud had passed from the sky, and the anger of God were allayed. He who had been the Judge now appears as the Savior; the heart that had been trembling as the bruised reed is now strong as if the feet were based on eternal rock. Awhile dejected in the extreme, "writing bitter things against itself," presently it is filled with boasting and triumph in the sense of possessing God, nay, of being possessed by God. There is a long gamut of religious feeling; in critical moments the heart may run through every tone in the scale. In the simple life of feeling the religious spirit expatiates. The habit of flower, of bird, of child, opening to the sun, singing in the spring-time, is the reflection of that of the soul. We do not suffer our memories of a long and dreary winter to mar our enjoyment of the genial breath, the odors, sights, and sounds of spring-time. Nor should the sense of the long struggles, doubly wintry seasons of the hiding of God’s face from the soul, linger in those moments when the Sun of righteousness returns with healing in his wings, and salvation is for the present a fact, no longer a hope. II. THE FITNESS AND BEAUTY OF . To withhold thanks from an earthly benefactor, whose hand has extracted us from a state of peril or need, is to show a deformed soul. To seal the fount of joyous religious expression, is the way to have presently nothing to express. For if expression follows naturally on feeling, so the cultivation of religious expression tends to form and to enrich the feeling itself. Nothing artificial is recommended; but it is well to recognize that sentiment, no less than thought, remains poorer than it need be without training and tillage. This psalm probably belongs to the period to which the last section of the psalter belongs; they are songs of deliverance, songs of return from exile, as those which immediately precede them refer to the dispersion. If the latter soothe us by the profound insight into suffering and sympathy with the soul in its seeming loneliness and exile from God, no less, maybe, the psalms of the return educate us in hope, reminding us that we are on our way to God, that our spiritual exile draws to its close, and "every winter yields to spring."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM A religion of blessedness. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Religion is not only safety, it is blessedness—the very highest blessedness. We are not to be ever in fear and trembling about "our state," but to remember that "perfect love casteth out fear." A really religious man finds that he cannot do without the gospel as satisfying his entire being. He is not religious because he "ought to be," or must be, to be saved; he is religious because also it is truest joy. I. WATER MUST BE DRAWN. Certainly. The wells of truth are deep and clear, but we must come hither in one sense to draw. It is quite true that the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well said to the Savior, "Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw," and that Jesus told her the water he should give her should be in her "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." But at the same time, we must remember that Jesus spake a parable about "the treasure hid in a field." The ideas are both true. For the Christian there is a hidden blessedness, but it needs discovering by the Word and the Spirit of God. Every quiet meditation, every prayerful perusal of the sacred page,—this is a drawing of water out of the wells of salvation. II. WATER WILL BE DRAWN. Not "must be," but "will be." You cannot command "pleasure;" you can "duty." You can make the child or the man read Scripture, but only life within will lead them to draw water "with joy." The art-student loves to wander in the foreign galleries and to gaze upon the highest ideals of art. We listen to music so differently when we love and delight in it. And a quickened soul loves religion for its own sake. III. WATER MUST BE WHEN DRAWN. We can "give" the cup as well as drink of the cup. It is the water that is so precious, not the wooden cup or the golden chalice that contains it. It is not new "theories" and "views" and "opinions" that are precious, but the Word of the living God, which is the pure water of life, and of which whoso drink shall live; for the written Word all leads to the living Word—Jesus Christ, the Savior of men. IV. THE MANY WELLS ARE FED BY ONE . History or prophecy; Gospel or Epistle; precept or promise; the record of Paradise lost, in Genesis; or the story of Paradise regained, in the Apocalypse;—all these are filled from the same Divine fountain. It is the Spirit that testifies of Christ; for "the testimony of Jesus" is the theme of history and "the spirit of prophecy." Many wells! Yes; but "all my springs are in thee."—W.M.S. BY W. Reconciliation with God. These words may have— I. A . The Jews might have taken these words into their lips after the discomfiture of Sennacherib, or, with fuller meaning later on, after the return from captivity and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 6:15, Nehemiah 6:16). Other nations, after retributive sufferings and signal deliverances or restorations, may appropriately use this reverent language. II. THE IN THE OF MANY AN LIFE. 1. There is spiritual declension. A man has been living professedly in the service of God, but his devotion has been dying down, his obedience has been growing lax, his usefulness has been diminishing and may have come down to nothing. 2. Then comes Divine correction. God speaks to him in chastening love; he sends the affliction that is intended to awaken him from his half-heartedness in the service and cause of Christ. 3. Then comes conviction and amendment on his part; a return to the higher and worthier life he lived before. 4. And then the chastisement is removed. (Psalms 103:8, Psalms 103:9.) God’s anger is visibly, sensibly, consciously "turned away;" the heavenly Father "comforts" him with his loving favor; and there follows: 5. The grateful and joyous song of praise. III. THEIR IN THE OF EVERY GOOD MAN. In the case of every one who enters into the full heritage of those Messianic blessings which are the subject of prophecy in this chapter, there will be found: 1. A sense of Divine displeasure; reason enough for saying, "O Lord, thou art angry with me." The word "anger’ in its honorable sense is certainly referable to the Divine mind. We are not to identify the faulty irritation of which we are too often conscious with the "anger" which is here and elsewhere applied to the Supreme. That feeling, at once holy and painful, which a faithful father feels towards his son when he has done something which is shamefully wrong, is the feeling, deepened, refined, ennobled by divinity, which the heavenly Father and righteous Ruler feels toward us when we sin against him and against his holy Law. We may call it by that name which is most significant or appropriate to our own thought, but, however it may be denoted, it becomes us to recognize the fact, to be affected and to be afflicted by the fact, that God, the holy and loving One, feels towards those who have willfully broken his laws or who deliberately reject his overtures of mercy, a serious Divine displeasure. He is pained, grieved, angry. He blames us, he condemns us, he holds us to be deserving of retribution. 2. The removal of God’s wrath. Two things are needed for this: (1) repentance and (2) faith (see Acts 20:21); the turning of the heart, and therefore of the life, from selfishness and sin; and the cordial acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Propitiation for our sin and the Sovereign of our soul. Without these we have no right to look for the turning away of God’s anger; with these we may be perfectly assured of it. 3. An abiding sense of the Divine favor. "Thou comfortedst me." God’s "comfort" is not always simultaneous with the exercise of his mercy; there may be an interval of no short duration between the act of Divine forgiveness and that blessed sense of reconciliation which we call "assurance of salvation" (Psalms 32:1, Psalms 32:2, Psalms 32:7, Psalms 32:11). Let no one despond because he does not find himself possessed of inward peace and sacred joy as soon as his heart turns to God and to his salvation. Let such a one continue to ask, to seek, to trust, to hope, and in due time the light will shine into the soul. It does not always come as the lightning-flash—one moment the blackness of darkness and the next a dazzling light—but often as comes the returning day; first a few streaks of morning, then the darkness turning into gray, then the deepening light as the hours advance, at length the full brilliancy of noon. 4. A life of songful gratitude. "At that day," and through all remaining days, until the night of death shall usher in the endless morning of immortality, the comforted heart will say, "O Lord, I will praise thee."—C. The greatness of God’s goodness. We have in these words the very exuberance of holy feeling. They refer us to— I. THE SUPREME ACT OF GOD’S . "God is my Salvation." He has been wonderfully gracious to us in bestowal—in the gifts of our being, of our spiritual nature with its varied capacities, of our physical nature with all its organs of activity and enjoyment, of our human relationships, of a rich and beautiful dwelling-place, etc. But his greatest kindness is felt by us to be in deliverance, in that which is called "salvation." Here, again, there is an ascent in the scale of Divine goodness; for higher than salvation from trouble, from sickness, from death, from personal captivity or political servitude, stands salvation from sin; and in the Messianic era this spiritual deliverance reaches its highest point; for it includes not only the negative side of rescue from present evil, but also the positive side of enrichment with corresponding good. It embraces: 1. Redemption from sin—its penalty and its power (its thraldom and its defilement). 2. Restoration to God—to his favor and to his likeness. 3. The hope of a higher and endless life in another world. II. THE OF HIS GIFT IN . He "forsakes not the work of his own hands." Having redeemed us from the power and condemnation of sin, and lifted us up into the state of sonship and heirship, he sustains us in our new and blessed life. "The Lord Jehovah is our Strength." He imparts the needful strength for maintenance in our course by (1) the privileges of the gospel; (2) the discipline of his holy providence; (3) the direct influences of his own Spirit. III. THE OF OUR HEARTS TO THE DIVINE LOVE. 1. The gratitude which finds utterance in sacred song. "The Lord … is my Song" (see Psalms 119:54). The Christian man should carry in his heart such a sense of God’s redeeming love that he should be always ready to break forth into praise; his life should be a song of gratitude for the salvation of the Lord. 2. The confidence which excludes anxiety. "I will trust, and not be afraid." (1) Many are the occasions of human fear and anxiety—the honorable maintenance of the family; the preservation of our personal integrity, both moral and spiritual; the faithful discharge of duty in the post we have undertaken to fill; the adorning of our Christian profession; our passage through the gateway of death, etc. (2) We are wholly insufficient of ourselves to meet these, and to triumph over them (2 Corinthians 3:5). (3) But, confiding in God, we may go forth without anxiety, assured of his Divine help (Psalms 27:1; Psalms 56:11-13; Psalms 118:6-8; Hebrews 13:5, Hebrews 13:6).—C. The joy of Christ’s salvation. These words of prophecy must have been peculiarly precious to those who first heard them. They sound very musical to us, but they must seem more melodious still to the Oriental ear. We know that water is an invaluable thing, but it is only they who have lived or traveled in tropical countries that appreciate all that is meant by burning drought or by refreshing streams. And as words gather sweetness and excellency to the ear as they become associated with that which we most prize, so we may be sure that the words "water" and "wells" had a most inviting sound to the people of Palestine, and that this passage had (as we should say) a "golden ring" in the hearing of the Jews. It may bring before us the joy which springs from the salvation of Jesus Christ in the several stages of our experience. I. AND MOST BLESSED PEACE. It is said that the most exquisite sensation that mortal man enjoys is experienced in the sudden cessation of excruciating pain. Similarly we may truly say that the most profound satisfaction of the soul is felt in a blessed consciousness of the removal of Divine condemnation; in other words, in a sense of forgiven sin. The "peace of God" not only "passeth understanding," but it is a truer and a deeper calm than any other which is born of outward circumstance or human favor. This frequently passes into— II. THE JOY WHICH RISES INTO HOLY RAPTURE. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God … and not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1, Romans 5:11). The sense of God’s fatherly love, the conviction that sin, condemnation, death, hell—all the really evil and harmful things—are left behind forever, and that before us is an ever-ascending path of wisdom, righteousness, and joy, will awaken in the soul a rapturous delight compared with which the excitements and delectations of earth are very poor affairs. III. THE JOYOUS OF THE SOUL ALL ITS COURSE. With joy we "draw water." In the activities that are distinctively Christian we find a positive delight—a source of satisfaction which does not injure, but ennoble; which does not pall and fade, but abide and deepen. In the course of our Christian experience we have: 1. The joy of praise; of pouring forth our trust and gratitude in strains of sacred song, "singing and making melody in the heart." 2. The joy of fellowship; holding glad communion with the heavenly Father, with the Divine Friend of our spirits; holding reverent and rejoicing intercourse with him both in social worship and in the hour of solitude; having, also, happy and heart-gladdening "fellowship one with another." 3. The joy of hope; the eager anticipation of a blessedness and glory which will follow the strife and suffering of this present time. Learn (1) the folly of refusing this heritage of joy; (2) the serious and mischievous mistake of giving a joyless impression of Christian service.—C. Isaiah 12:4-6 Exultation and activity. There is a jubilant strain throughout these verses; not, however, without a sense of some sacred duty to be performed. We learn— I. THAT THE CHURCH OF CHRIST MAY WELL SPEAK IN THE ACCENTS OF . The terms of the prophecy do not seem to be satisfied with anything less than Messianic blessings; they fit perfectly the estate to which Christ has called us; they belong to that "kingdom of heaven" of which the Son of man had so much to say (see Matthew 13:1-58.). The Church may exult in that: 1. God has done such great things for her, in (1) the large and long preparation, through many ages, for her redemption; (2) the supreme act of Divine revelation in the person of his Son; (3) the wonderful sacrifice of himself he made on its behalf (2 Corinthians 8:9); (4) the lofty privileges to which he has summoned it—holy service, affectionate sonship, eager-hearted heirship. 2. God himself, the mighty and victorious One, is dwelling in the midst of it. "Great is the Holy One." If the family is proud of its honored father, the army of its invincible captain, the nation of its illustrious sovereign, how much more shall the Church exult in its almighty and victorious Lord! He is great in all the elements of greatness—in external majesty, in intrinsic excellency, in overcoming energy, in transcendent beauty, in the everlasting character of his kingdom. II. THAT DOES WELL TO PASS SOON INTO HOLY AND . Blending with these accents of triumph, and harmonizing with them, is the voice of exhortation,’ the summons to useful activity "Praise the Lord;" "Call upon his Name;" "Declare his doings;" "Be this known [let this be known] in all the earth." Jehovah s greatness could only be known among the nations by the united and continuous testimony of the people of God. The glories of his grace, as they shine in the face of Jesus Christ, are to be beheld by all peoples; but they must be reflected from the lives and published by the lips of his faithful servants. It is the privilege and the duty of the Church to carry the knowledge of his Name and truth to the utmost ends of the earth. It is well to rejoice, "to sing for joy," to indulge in pious exultation; it is better to act in such a way that neighboring nations (cities, districts, streets, homes) shall draw from the wells of this great salvation the waters of eternal life; better, both because (1) we communicate blessing thereby, and because (2) we gain increase of spiritual worth by so doing.—C. BY R. TUCK Holy joy in God. In each national history there is some one surpassingly great event. A Thermopylae for Greece; a Leipsic for Germany; a Moscow for Russia; a Waterloo for England. The Jews had one great event, supreme in its influence on their national life. By his relation to that event God would even be known. "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." All other deliverances, accomplished afterwards, were treated but as reminders of this. All songs of thanksgiving, sung over subsequent redemptions, were modeled after the "song of Moses," of which the chorus was sung by tens of thousands, led by the timbrels and dances of the women, on the further shores of the sea. And there was much in that event which fitted it to hold such a place in the thoughts of generations. It was the deliverance which, once and forever, assured the world of the fact that God—the One, living, and true God—was the God of the Jewish race. One can hardly imagine the excitement and the triumph of that time. The mightiest nation of that day roused itself, in a paroxysm of furious revenge, to pursue and to destroy what it regarded as a crowd of fleeing slaves. What hope could there be for such a multitude, when the king himself, a host of armed warriors, prancing horses, mighty chariots, pressed on after them; when the pathless waters of a great sea waved and rolled before them, and the mountains hemmed them in on the further side? If we were reading common human history, such a story could only have ended somewhat in this way: "And the frightened crowds of fugitives were pressed on and on into the pitiless waters, or were ruthlessly cut down and slain by the advancing hosts." But we are reading a page out of sacred history. There are the words, "Stand still, and see the salvation of God;" and, behold, those waters are arrested in their flowing; they roll back in swelling heaps; the ocean bed lies bare; and those "slaves" step steadily across the strangest pathway ever made for mortal feet to tread. Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen dash boldly forward into the way that was not made for them. The Red Sea was bright with the banners, and flashed with the shields of warriors; and then—dragging wheels, softening sands, hurrying waves, and the pride of Egypt is broken: "Pharaoh’s chariots and horsemen hath he cast into the sea." God was magnified that day, magnified in deliverance, and magnified in judgment. He was that day the Salvation of his people, and they stood upon the shores of that flood, uniting in one triumphant shout, and saying, "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." The verses preceding the text allude to this scene. The spiritual blessings of Messiah’s reign are described under the figure of this passage of the sea. From all spiritual scatterings and bondages and captivities, Messiah shall bring his people. The text is part of a song to be sung by the spiritually ransomed—a song formed, partly, upon the model of that older song of Moses. We gather from it that a spirit of humble and trustful joy in God is the proper spirit for redeemed souls to cherish. I. REASONS FOR A SPIRIT OF HOLY JOY IN GOD. Too often the somber sides of Christian experience are dwelt on, and young people take needlessly dark notions of the pious life. The model of the Christliness is not the calm sister of mercy, but the self-denying mother, the gentle, thoughtful, active elder sister, the strong man, whose bright face and cheery words and sinless laugh can kindle the gladness of those around him. The Bible is full of song. Its face can, indeed, settle into the severest gravity, into the sternness of righteous indignation, into a tenderness of sympathy; but the face of the Bible can also break into smiles. Ripples cross ripples, and waves leap over waves, on the surface of its sea; it can waken our faculty of song, it can fill our life with its joy in God. It is well, however, for us to distinguish between "happiness" and "joy." It would be true to say that religion does not promise happiness, it promises joy. It would even be true to say, that religion does not promise happiness because it promises joy. "Joy" is so much deeper, so much more satisfying and blessed, that he who has it will never ask for happiness. Observe the distinction in the meaning of the words. "Happiness" is pleasure in something that may "hap," or "happen;" pleasure in things outside us—in circumstances, in excitements-and so it cannot be abiding and unchanging. All days cannot be sunny. All lives cannot be painless and sorrowless. All circumstances cannot please. He who wants happiness has to depend on the variable conditions of a sin-stricken and, therefore, sorrow-filled earth. Mere happiness too often proves only "as the crackling of thorns under a pot." But "joy" means "leaping out," pleasure that gushes forth from a fountain within us, in streams ever refreshing the desert circumstances around us, and making them "blossom as a rose." Pleasure that beams out its holy rays, as from a central sun of bliss dwelling in our heart, and gilding everything about us, making the very light brighter, the clouds to scatter, or to be flushed with crimson glories, and turning even the night to day. The Christian man has no security of mere happiness. He must share the common mingled heritage of sunshine and shadow, health and sickness, friendship and loss, pleasures and disappointments, success and failure. But he may be secure of joy. "He that believeth on me," said the Lord Jesus, "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And close by our text we read, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." The one great reason for joy is stated to be that "God is become our Salvation." We joy in God (1) as the unchanging One; (2) as the almighty One; (3) as the all-loving One; (4) as the redeeming One. It is, we have seen, a memory of deliverances which calls forth into expression the trustful joy of our text. And what have we to say of gifts bestowed, sicknesses healed, broken hearts comforted, bondages of evil broken up? We keep the word "salvation" too exclusively for the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God; we want it to include all the multiplied and ever-repeated deliverances and rescuings and recoverings of God. Matthew Henry says, "God is my Salvation; not my Savior only, by whom I am saved, but my ’Salvation,’ in whom I am safe. He shall have the glory of all the salvations which have been wrought in me, and from him only will I expect all the future salvations I may need." The salvation of God’s ancient people was not the deliverance from Egypt only, but that together with a thousand other deliverances scattered over their history. And so we joy in God because he saves us from all our bondages. He saves us from pride, from inward lusts, from outward evils. He saves us from greed, and covetousness, and clinging to the world, and envyings, and backbitings, and unforgivings, and failing charity. Souls can never sing that have such fetters on them; but he proclaims "liberty to the captive, and opening of the prison to them that are bound." II. THE WHICH A SPIRIT OF HOLY JOY IN GOD WOULD EXERT ON , AND ON THOSE AROUND US. In ordinary life the men of sanguine, hopeful temperament are usually the successful men. Despondent, doubting men accomplish but little. The invigorating of hope makes men mightier than their difficulties. It is the same in Christian life. Doubt and fear hinder. Hope cheers. Joy puts song into work. Ought a Christian to live in a minor key? Songs pitched thus will never cheer himself, or any one about him. Joyful Christians are a joy to themselves, and to all around them. The homes are brightened by them; the children learn to watch their faces, and to listen for their words; our Churches rejoice in the sunny-souled members. Everybody is glad in the man whose very presence seems to say, "Sing unto the Lord a new song." Such Christians let us all seek to be. "Ye pilgrims on the road To Zion’s city, sing; Sing on, rejoicing every day In Christ th’ eternal King." R.T. Faith and fear. "I will trust, and not be afraid," in this expression reminds us (1) of our liability to fear, and (2) of the power of faith to overcome fear. I. OUR TO FEAR. 1. As dependent creatures. 2. Because of the great mysteries of existence that are around us—mysteries of God; of self; of sin; of providence; of judgment; of the future. 3. In view of the possibility of our own failure from goodness. II. THE POWER OF FAITH TO FEAR. Trust can (1) keep hold of the promises; (2) see satisfying visions or God himself. He who is "for us is more than all they that can be against us." "This faith—this simple believing trust in God—will keep the soul in quietness in view of all the mysteries, and of all the dark possibilities of life and death. When reason is at fault, when wisdom gropes for the way and falls into the ditch, when strength trembles and sinks into feebleness, faith keeps the heart in quietness and confidence. Whence has it this power? Because it rests on Divine declarations, deeper and wider than natural laws; on Divine promises, surer than the hills; on Divine power, stronger than gravitation and the sweep of ten thousand worlds; nay, on a Divine Person, in whom all faithfulness, power, and love forever dwell" (Dr. A. Raleigh).—R.T. The wells of salvation A very expressive image in a hot country. Wells are treated in contrast with cisterns, which only store the drainage of the ground. Wells are fed from springs and storehouses treasured in the heart of the earth. Inside Carisbrooke Castle is a deep well, which ensured constant supply for the garrison, however closely the castle might be besieged. Salvation is like a well; forth from it ever comes "living water." It is not like a man-made cistern, which only holds a limited quantity, and is apt to fail in the supreme hour of need. There may be a reference to the custom associated with one of the great feasts. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles—some say on each day—the Jews used to bring water in a golden pitcher from the fountain of Siloam, and pour it, mingled with wine, on the sacrifice on the altar, with great rejoicing. Illustrating the joy of finding fresh and living water in hot countries, "it is said that while the French engineers were boring for water in the African desert, the Arabs looked on in silent wonder, until they saw the precious stream actually gushing forth, and then their joy knew no bounds; and sweet and precious as the cooling waters are now to the weary laboring child of the desert, so precious were they to the people to whom the words of the prophet were originally addressed; and the promise to them of an indefinite supply of that element would be highly appreciated by them, and well calculated to inspire their gratitude and joy." The idea of the text may be thus given: Out of the wells of salvation in God, who is the Fountain of all good to his people, you shall draw water with joy. Matthew Henry suggests three good topics for meditation. 1. God’s promises, revealed, ratified, and given out to us in his ordinances, are wells of salvation; wells of the Savior (so some read it), for in them the Savior and salvation are made known to us and made over to us. 2. It is our duty by faith to draw water out of these wells, to take to ourselves the benefit and comfort that are treasured up for us in them, as those that acknowledge all our fresh springs to be there, and all our fresh streams to be thence (Psalms 87:7). 3. Water is to be drawn out of the wells of salvation with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction. It is the will of God that we should rejoice before him, and rejoice in him (Deuteronomy 26:11); be joyful in his house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7), and keep his feasts with gladness (Acts 2:46)." Like well-water, salvation is— I. EVER FRESH. And so ever pleasant. II. EVER . Fullness for whosoever will. Compare cisterns, or wadys of deserts. Salvation is a perennial fount, a "perpetual tide; it flows for you, for me, for all." III. EVER FREE. Nobody can seal up this fountain. IV. EVER HEALTH-GIVING. Restoring, requickening. It is healing for the sick, strength for the disabled, life for those "dead in trespasses and sins." What can surpass in power to bring us joy our sense of the fitness and the fullness of the "great," the "common" salvation?—R.T. God’s new name the old one glorified. "Call upon his Name," which is, in Messiah, "Jehovah Jesus," "Immanuel Jesus," or "God with us saving us from our sins." To call upon God’s Name is to publicly give him the glory that is his duo. I. THE OLD NAME IS GOD THE . The God who meets and supplies all ordinary human wants. "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The God or whom Jacob could say, "He fed me all my life long." The God "in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways." "Who giveth to each his meat in due season." "Who crowneth us with loving-kindnesses and tender mercies: who satisfieth our mouth with good things." II. THE NEW NAME IS GOD THE SAVIOR. Who "redeemeth our life from destruction." Who "delivers from going down to the pit." Who "gave himself a Ransom for us." Who brought "deliverance for the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound." Who is "able to save unto the uttermost." Who is "exalted a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins." III. THE NEW NAME ONLY TELLS OF GOD FOR MAN’S SOREST NEED AND SADDEST . He is not just in trouble; he is in sin. Stained with it, bruised with it, degraded by it, in peril through it, made helpless by it. The man in sin cannot save himself; no fellow-mart can save him. The Hero from Bozrah, who speaks in righteousness, alone is "mighty to save" (Isaiah 63:1).—R.T. God honored through his mercies. "Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things." A comprehensive term, summing up all that God had done for his people through the long ages, The Hebrew indicates an echo from Exodus 15:1, "He hath triumphed gloriously." Reviewing God’s wondrous workings, we may regard them from three points of view. I. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO ADMIRE. II. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO STUDY. III. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO FEEL. Because of their graciousness to us as frail, and their mercifulness to us as sinners. The great glory of God is his mercy. Christ is the embodiment of mercy. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works towards the sons of men!" Thy mercy "endureth forever."—R.T. THE BURDEN OF BABYLON. The series of prophecies which commences with this chapter and continues to the close of Isa 23:1-18; is connected together by the word massa, burden. It has been argued that the term "burden" is an incorrect translation of massa, as used by Isaiah and later prophets (Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Zechariah 9:1; Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 1:1); and that "utterance," or "prophecy," would be more suitable (comp. Proverbs 30:1; Proverbs 31:1, where massa is thus rendered in the Authorized Version). But the facts remain that massa means a "burden" in the ordinary sense, and that the prophecies to which it is prefixed are generally (in Isaiah always) of a denunciatory character. The translation may therefore be allowed to stand—at any rate in the present chapter. It is remarkable that Babylon heads the list of the Church’s enemies in the present catalogue. Dr. Kay supposes the term "Babel" to be equivalent to "Asshur-Babel," and to designate "the Assyro-Babylonian Empire." He thinks that "Babel" heads the list on account of Assyria’s position, under Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, in the van of Israel’s adversaries. But neither Isaiah nor any other sacred writer knows of an Assyro-Babylonian kingdom or empire. Assyria and Babylonia are distinct kingdoms in Genesis (Genesis 10:8-12), in 2 Kings (18-20.), in 2 Chronicles (2 Chronicles 20:12.), in Isaiah (36-39.) and in Ezekiel (23; 30; 31.). They had been at war almost continuously for above seven centuries before the time of Isaiah. Assyria had, on the whole, proved the stronger of the two, and had from time to time for a longer or a shorter period held Babylonia in subjection. But the two countries were never more one than Russia and Poland, and, until Tiglath-Pileser assumed the crown of Babylon in 729 B.C; they bad always been under separate monarchs. Individually, I can only account for the high position here given to Babylon by the prophet, on the supposition that it was thus early revealed to him that Babylonia was the great enemy to be feared—the ultimate destroyer of Judah and Jerusalem, the power that would carry the Jewish people into captivity. Isaiah 13:1 Which Isaiah … did see (comp. Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 2:1, etc.). Isaiah always "sees" his prophecies, whether they are of the nature of visions (as Isaiah 6:1-13.) or the contrary. The word is probably used to express the strong conviction that he has of their absolute certainty. Isaiah 13:2 Lift ye up a banner; rather, a standard—"an ensign," as in Isaiah 5:26: Isaiah 11:12. "Ensigns" were used both by the Assyrians and the Egyptians. "Banners," or flags, do not seem to have been employed in the ancient world. Upon the high mountain; rather, upon a bare mountain—one that was clear of trees, so that the signal might be the better seen from it. God’s army having to be summoned against Babylon, the summons is made in three ways: (1) by a signal or ensign lifted up on a high hill; (2) by a loud call or shout; and (3) by waving or beckoning with the hand. The whole description is, of course, pure metaphor. That they may go into the gates of the nobles. Either that they may enter into the palaces of the grandees in Babylon, or that they may take the towns of the tributary princes. Isaiah 13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones. The pronoun "I" is emphatic—"I myself." Not only will an external summons go forth, but God will lay his own orders on them whom he chooses for his instruments, and bid them come to the muster. All who carry out his purposes are, in a certain sense, "sanctified ones" (comp. Jeremiah 22:7; Jeremiah 51:27; Zephaniah 1:7, etc.). Here the Modes and Persians are specially in. tended (see Isaiah 13:17). For mine anger; i.e. "for the purpose of executing my anger." Even them that rejoice in my highness; rather, my proudly exultant ones (Cheyne, Rosenmüller, Gesenius). AEschylus calls the Persians ὑπερκόμπους; Herodotus, ὑβριστάς (1. 41). The high spirits, however, natural to gallant soldiers on going out to war, rather than any special haughtiness or arrogancy, are intended. Isaiah 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains. I do not know why Isaiah should not have been "thinking of his geography" (Cheyne). As soon as the Greeks knew anything of the Persians, they knew of them as a mountain people, and attributed their valor and their handy habits to the physical character of their country (Herod; 9. ad fin.). Jeremiah connects the invading army which destroyed Babylon with mountains, when he derives it from. Ararat (comp. Genesis 8:4), Minni (Armenia), and Ashchenaz (Jeremiah 51:27). At any rate, the mention of "mountains" here is very appropriate, both Media and Persia being, in the main, mountainous countries. A great people; or, much people—not necessarily of one nation only. The host of the battle; rather, a host of war; i.e. a multitude of men, armed and prepared for war. Isaiah 13:5 They come from a far country (comp. Isaiah 46:11). Both Media and Persia were "far countries" to the Hebrews, Persia especially. There is no indication that they knew of any countries more remote towards the East. Hence the expression which follows, "from the end of heaven"—the heaven being supposed to end where the earth ended. Isaiah, like the other sacred writers, conforms his language on cosmical subjects to the opinions of his day. Even the Lord. With a most effective anthropomorphism, Jehovah is made to march with the army that he has mustered (verse 4) against the land that has provoked his wrath—i.e. Babylonia. The weapons (comp. Isaiah 10:15; Jeremiah 1:1-19:25; Jeremiah 51:20). To destroy the whole land. Many critics would render ha-arets by "the earth" here. It may be granted that the language of the prophecy goes beyond the occasion in places, and passes from Babylon to that wicked world of which Babylon is a type; but, where the context permits, it seems better to restrict than to expand the meaning of the words employed. Isaiah 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand (comp. Joe 1:15); literally, the expression used in both passages is a day of Jehovah. The idiom would not, however, allow the use of the article, so that the phrase is ambiguous. "The day of Jehovah" is properly "that crisis in the history of the world when Jehovah will interpose to rectify the evils of the present, bringing joy and glory to the humble believer, and misery and shame to the proud and disobedient" (Cheyne). But any great occasion when God passes judgment on a nation is called in Scripture "a day of the Lord." "a coming of Christ." And so here the day of the judgment upon Babylon seems to be intended. It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Isaiah is thought to quote from Joel (Joe 1:15) here; but perhaps both prophets quoted from an earlier author. Shaddai (equivalent to "Almighty’) is an ancient name of God, most rarely used by the prophetical writers (only here, and in Ezekiel 1:24; Ezekiel 10:5; Joe 1:15), and never elsewhere by either Isaiah or Joel. It has generally been said to mean "the Strong One;" but recently the theory has found favor that it meant originally "the Sender of storms," from the Arabic sh’da—jecit, effudit. However this may be, the word is certainly used in the later times mainly to express God’s power to visit and punish, and the present passage might perhaps be best translated, "It shall come as a destruction from the Destroyer (k’shod mish-Shaddai yabo’)." Isaiah 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint (comp. Jeremiah 1:1-19:43; Ezekiel 7:17; Zephaniah 3:16). There shall be a general inaction and apathy. Recently discovered accounts of the capture of Babylon by Cyrus show a great want of activity and vigor on the part of the defenders. Every man’s heart shall melt (comp. Deuteronomy 20:8; Joshua 2:11; Joshua 5:1, etc.). The general inaction will spring from a general despondency. This statement agrees much better with the recently discovered documents than does the statement of Herodotus, that, safe within their walls, the Babylonians despised their assailants, and regarded themselves as perfectly secure. Isaiah 13:8 They shall be afraid; rather, dismayed. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; literally, they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows. They shall be amazed; rather, look aghast. Their faces shall be as flames. I know no better explanation than that of Dr. Kay, that a sudden transition is intended flora despondency to extreme excitement. Isaiah 13:9 The day of the Lord (see the comment on Isaiah 13:6). Cruel; i.e. severe and painful, not really "cruel." To lay the land desolate. As in Isaiah 13:5, so here, many would translate ha-arets by "the earth," and understand a desolation extending far beyond Babylonia. But this is not necessary. Isaiah 13:10 The stars of heaven … shall not give their light. Nature sympathizes with her Lord. When he is angry, the light of the heavens grows dark. So it was at the crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 27:45); so it will be at the end of the world (Matthew 24:29). So it is often, if not always, at the time of great judgments. The constellations; literally, the Orions. Kesil, the Fool, was the Hebrew name of the constellation of Orion, who was identified with Nimrod, the type of that impious folly which contends against God. From its application to this particular group of stars (Job 9:9; Job 38:31; Amos 5:8), the word came to be applied to constellations in general. The Baby-Ionians very early marked out the sky into constellations. Isaiah 13:11 I will punish the world for their evil. Here the prophecy certainly goes beyond the destruction of Babylon, and becomes a general warning to the wicked of all court-tries. Each country is to feel that its turn will come. Punishment will fall especially on the unjust, the proud, and the haughty (comp. Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 2:11-17, etc.). Isaiah 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold (comp. Isaiah 4:1). Population shall he so diminished that man shall be the most highly esteemed of commodities. The more scanty the supply of a thing, the greater its value. The golden wedge of Ophir; rather, pure gold of Ophir. Ophir is mentioned as a gold-region in 1 Kings 9:28; 1 Kings 10:11; 1 Kings 22:48; 1 Chronicles 29:4; 2 Chronicles 8:18; 2 Chronicles 9:10; Job 22:24; Job 28:16; Psalms 45:9. Its locality is uncertain. Gold of Ophir appears to have been considered especially pure. Isaiah 13:13 I will shake the heavens (comp. Joe 3:16; Haggai 2:7; Matthew 24:29). In general, this sign is mentioned in connection with the end of the world, when a "new heaven and a new earth" are to supersede the old (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; Revelation 21:1). Isaiah may, perhaps, pass here from signs connected with the fall of Babylon to those which will announce the last day—each "day of the Lord" being, as already observed, a type of the final and great day (see the comment on verse 6). Or, possibly, the allusion may be to some "shaking" by God of a supra-mundane kingdom as preliminary to his passing judgment on Babylon (so Dr. Kay; comp. Isaiah 24:21). Isaiah 13:14 It shall be as the chased roe. When the visitation comes on Babylon, there shall be a loosening of all ties between her and the subject nations. Her armies shall disband themselves, the pressed soldiers from foreign countries deserting, and hastening with all speed to their several homes. A flight of the foreign traders and visitors may also be glanced at. As a sheep that no man taketh up; rather, as sheep with none to gather them. Isaiah 13:15 Every one that is found … every one that is joined unto them; i.e. all the population, both native and foreign. Isaiah 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces. In the barbarous warfare of the time, even children were not spared (see Psalms 137:9; Nahum 3:10; Hosea 13:16). When a town was taken by assault, they were ruthlessly slaughtered. When spared, it was only to be dragged off as captives, and to become the slaves of their captors in a foreign land. Assyrian sculptures often illustrate this latter practice. Their wives ravished (comp. Lamentations 5:11; Zechariah 14:2). Isaiah 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. Isaiah’s knowledge that the Medes should take a leading part in the destruction of Babylon is, no doubt, as surprising a fact as almost any other in the entire range of prophetic foresight, or insight, as set before us in Scripture. The Medes were known to Moses as an ancient nation of some importance (Genesis 10:2); but since his time had been unmentioned by any sacred writer; and, as a living nation, had only just come within the range of Israelite vision, by the fact that, when Sargon deported the Samaritans from Samaria, he placed some of them "in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings 17:6). The Assyrians had become acquainted with them somewhat more than a century earlier, and had made frequent incursions into their country, finding them a weak and divided people, under the government of a large number of petty chiefs. Sargon had conquered a portion of the tribes, and placed prefects in the cities; at the same time planting colonists in them from other parts of the empire. That, when the weakness of Media was being thus made apparent, Isaiah should have foreseen its coming greatness can only be accounted for by his having received a Divine communication on the subject. Subsequently, he had a still more exact and complete communication (Isaiah 21:2). Which shall not regard silver. The Medes were not a particularly disinterested people; but in the attack on Babylon, made by Cyrus, the object was not plunder, but conquest and the extension of dominion. The main treasures of Babylon—those in the great temple of Bolus—were not carried off by Cyrus, as appears both from his own inscriptions, and from Herodotus. Isaiah 13:18 Their bows (comp. Jeremiah 1:9, Jeremiah 1:14). Both the Medes and the Persians were skilled archers. Herodotus tells us that every Persian youth was taught three things—"to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth". At Persepolis, Modes and Persians are alike represented as carrying bows and quivers. AEschyius regards the contest between the Persians and the Greeks as one between the arrow and the spear. Isaiah 13:19 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. The "glory" of Babylon consisted: 1. In her antiquity. She had been the head of a great empire long before Assyria rose to power. 2. In her origination of literature, architecture, and the other arts, which all passed from her to Assyria, and thence to the other nations of Asia. 3. In her magnificence and the magnificence of her kings, which provoked the admiration of the Assyrians themselves. As time went on, she grew in wealth and splendor. Perhaps it was granted to Isaiah to see her in ecstatic vision, not merely such as she was in the time of Sargon under Merodach-Baladan, but such as she became under Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest of her kings, who raised her to the highest pitch or glory and eminence. The beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency. The Kaldi appear to have been originally one of the many tribes by which Babylonia was peopled at an early date, From the expression, "Ur of the Chaldees," which occurs more than once in Genesis (Genesis 11:28, Genesis 11:31), we may gather that they were inhabitants of the more southern part of the country, near the coast. The same conclusion may be drawn from the Assyrian inscriptions, especially those of Shalmaneser II.—the Black Obelisk king. The term never became a general name for the Babylonian people among themselves or among the Assyrians; but, somehow or other, it was accepted in that sense by the Jews, and is so used, not only by Isaiah, but also by the writers of Kings and Chronicles, by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Habakkuk. As when God overthrew Sodom. Equally sudden and complete as that destruction. Isaiah 13:20 It shall never be inhabited. This part of the prophecy did not receive its fulfillment till many centuries had gone by. From the time of Cyrus to that of Alexander the Great, Babylon was one of the chief cities of the Persian empire. Alexander was so struck with it, and with the excellence of its situation, that he designed to make it his capital. It first began seriously to decline under the Seleucidae, who built Seleucia on the Tigris as a rival to it, and still further injured it by fixing the seat of government at Antioch. But it had still a large population in the first century after our era (Josephus, ’Ant. Jud.,’ 18.9, § 8); and is mentioned as a place of some consequence in the time of Trajan (Die Cass; 68.27), and even in that of Severue (Die Cass; 75.9). But after this it went rapidly to decay. Under the Sassuntans it disappears from sight; and when Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelfth century, visited the spot, there was nothing to be seen of the mighty city but those ruins of the Kasr, or palace, which still arrest the traveler’s attention. The site had become, and has ever since remained, "without inhabitant." Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there. A superstitious feeling prevents the Arabs from encamping on the mounds of Babylon, which are believed to be the haunts of evil spirits. Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. The nitrous soil of the Babylonian mounds allows them to produce nothing but the coarsest and most unpalatable vegetation. The shepherds consequently do not feed their flocks on them. Isaiah 13:21 Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there. It is not quite clear what particular wild beasts are intended. Those actually noted on the site of Babylon are lions, jackals, and porcupines. These sometimes make their lairs in the ruins. Doleful creatures; in the original, okhim. What animal is meant we cannot say, as the word occurs only in this passage. Mr. Cheyne translates it by "hyenas." Owls shall dwell there; literally, daughters of the owl (as in Le Isaiah 11:16; Deuteronomy 14:15; Job 30:29; Jeremiah 1:1-19:39; Micah 1:8; and infra, Isaiah 34:13; Isaiah 43:20). Mr. Rich says, "In most of the cavities of the Babil Mound there are numbers of owls and bats." Sir A. Layard," A large grey owl is found in great numbers, frequently in flocks of nearly a hundred, in the low shrubs among the ruins of Babylon". Satyrs shall dance there. The word translated "satyr" is, etymologically, "hairy one," and ordinarily means "a goat." Some have supposed "wild goats" to be here intended, but they are not found in Babylonia. The translation "satyr" is defended by many, who think Isaiah might draw upon current beliefs for some features of his description. Dr. Kay gives "baboons," since the Moko—a kind of baboon—is known in Babylonia. Isaiah 13:22 Wild beasts of the islands. In the Hebrew, iyyim, which means "wailers" or "howlers," probably "jackals." The Revised Version gives "wolves." In their desolate houses; or, in their castles (Cheyne). And dragons; i.e. "serpents." These have not been observed recently; but one of our old travelers notes that "the lande of Baby-lone," in his day, "was fulle of dragons and grote serpentes, and dyverse other veney-mouse ecstes alle abouten". Near to come. About one hundred and eighty years elapsed between the utterance of this prophecy and the fall of Babylon—a short period in the lifetime of a nation. Isaiah 13:1-18 The fall of Babylon a type of the general punishment of the wicked. Scripture deals with history altogether in the way of example. Whether the subject be Assyria, or Syria, or Egypt, or Babylon, or even the "peculiar people of God," the object is to teach men by the facts adduced what they have to expect themselves. In Isaiah 10:1-34. Assyria, here Babylon, is held up as a warning to sinners. The absolute certainty that punishment will overtake them at God’s hands is the main lesson taught; but, beyond this, something is also taught concerning the method and (so to speak) economy of the Divine punishments; as, for example, the following:— I. THAT GOD BY MEANS OF , WHICH ARE PERSONS. God has two sets of instruments—natural agents, such as storm, lightning, blight, pestilence, etc.; and intellectual and moral agents, or persons. It depends entirely on his own will whether he will employ agents of the one kind or of the other. In dispensing good to man he employs largely natural agents, "making his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). But in punishing men he seems to make use, to a greater extent, of persons. Now he raises up a tyrannical and oppressive king, like Rameses II. or Nebuchadnezzar, to carry out his sentence of suffering; now he allows a democratic assembly to establish a reign of terror in a sinful ]and; anon he uses the arrows of savage hordes, or the guns and bayonets of disciplined hosts, to chastise an offending people. Once only has he ever used his power to strike with sudden death on a large scale, and even there he employed a spiritual agent; it was "the angel of the Lord," who "went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and fourscore and five thousand" (2 Kings 19:35). II. THAT THE ARE FOR THE MOST PART QUITE THAT GOD IS USING THEM. We are told this distinctly of Assyria. "I will give him a charge … howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so" (Isaiah 10:6, Isaiah 10:7). And it was, no doubt, equally true of Babylon. The "hammer of the whole earth" (Jeremiah 1:1-19:23) did not know that she was being used to "break in pieces the nations, and to destroy kingdoms" (Jeremiah 51:20). She too "meant not so," but was only seeking her own aggrandizement. Even the Medes and the Persians, though "called from a far country to execute God’s counsel"(Isaiah 47:11), were unconscious of their call-blind instruments in the hand of Jehovah, as much as if they had been an army of locusts. But this only shows the power of God the more, who can make not only good men serve him, but had; not only angels, but devils. III. THAT GOD’S COME AND TAKE MEN BY . Neither Assyria nor Babylon bad much warning of their fate. Each seemed well-nigh at the zenith of its power when the final blow came. "I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon," says Jehovah, "and thou wast not aware"(Jeremiah 1:1-19:24); and again we are told, "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed" (Jeremiah 51:8). God’s punishments are apt to come, even on individuals, suddenly. When a man says to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," then comes the sentence of God, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:19, Luke 12:20). Job’s example is an extreme one (Job 1:13-19); but modified instances of men crushed by quick blows of unexpected calamity are within every one’s experience. Destruction comes upon God’s enemies generally "at unawares" (Psalms 35:8). IV. THAT ON FINDING THE OBJECTS OF DIVINE , MEN ARE FILLED WITH TERROR AND . The terror and despondency of the Baby-Ionians are strongly marked in the descriptions both of Isaiah and Jeremiah; e.g. "Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: and they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrow shall take bold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another" (Isaiah 13:7, Isaiah 13:8). "The land shall tremble and sorrow … The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight; they have remained in their holds … they became as women" (Jeremiah 51:29, Jeremiah 51:30). Some such feelings come upon all who are conscious that the hand of God is laid upon them, not for chastisement, but for punishment. V. THAT DIVINE SELDOM STOP AT THEIR OBJECTS, BUT PASS ON AND AFFECT OTHERS ALSO. Partly, this would seem to be inevitable from the interconnection of man with man, and of nation with nation; but partly, also, it appears to be the result of the Divine will, which is set on punishing sin, and wherever it finds sin must punish it. Let Israel have to be punished for certain sins, Judah will be found to have committed the same sins; Judah must therefore participate in the punishment. When God arises to judge one nation, he, in a certain sense, arises to judge the whole earth; there must be equity in his dealings. If he has punished Babylonia, and Egypt is as bad, he must punish Egypt; if Egypt is no worse than Ethiopia, he must punish Ethiopia. The sin of Sodom brought destruction on all the cities of the plain—that of the Canaanitish nations on them, and on many of their neighbors. A Jehoram provokes God by his idolatry, and is deservedly smitten (2 Kings 9:24). An Ahaziah, far less guilty, but still guilty, shares his fate (2 Kings 9:27). The punishment of Babylon led on to the punishment of the "world for its evil" (Isaiah 41:11), and to such a general depopulation of Western Asia as made a man more precious than the gold of Ophir (Isaiah 13:12). VI. THAT DIVINE ARE OFTEN AND FINAL. It was said of Assyria, "There is no healing of thy bruise" (Nahum 3:19). And a similar finality attaches to most judgments upon nations. Babylonia, though she made some desperate efforts to throw off the Persian yoke, never recovered herself. Egypt, a few years later, sank finally under foreign dominion. The ten tribes lost their separate existence after their captivity, and became merged in Judah. Judah’s nationality was obliterated by Titus. The history of the world is a history of nations whom God has punished for their sins by final destruction. And the punishment of individuals, too, is often final. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram "went down quick into hell" (Numbers 16:30). Uzzah was smitten with sudden death for touching the ark (2 Samuel 6:7). Ananias and Sapphira tell dead for uttering lies (Acts 5:5, Acts 5:10). The question of punishments in another world is not here at issue. What the example of Babylon teaches is, that God’s punishments, so far as this world is concerned, are often final. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 13:1-22 Oracle concerning Babylon. I. OF THE OF JEHOVAH. On the bare mountain the banner is upraised, and with loud cry and commanding gesture of the hand a host of warriors is summoned from all sides. As in verse 26, Jehovah is viewed by the poet as a mighty Battle-Leader, Lord of hosts. His voice is heard, "I have given commission to my anointed ones, have called my heroes for my work of punishment, my proudly rejoicing ones!" And then a noise is heard in the mountains as of a great multitude, for Jehovah is mustering his forces from the remotest parts, and preparing with the weapons of his wrath to destroy the earth. A cry of terror will be heard through the land; men’s hands will droop, their hearts will melt, for the day of judgment is near. Horror will be depicted on every face. The lightning, the fire that burns up the stubble (Joe 2:6), will be flashed back, as it seems, from the amazed eyes. In prophetic thought every great epoch of calamity and ruin is a judgment, a "day of Jehovah." For wrath and clemency are the two opposite sides of the unity of his being and character. No spring-time is ushered in without storms; no epoch of fruitful manhood is gained without struggles, within or without; no mischief departs from society, no false power is overthrown, without violence. Well for us if, stayed by religious faith, we can see the day of Jehovah shown amidst the darkest times, and when nations are perplexed with fear of change to be able to say, "The Lord reigneth." If he is a living God, then his will must be felt in political change. Nothing good can pass away; only falsehood must be overthrown. II. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH. Its description is borrowed: 1. From the most fearful phenomena of nature. The stars are hidden, the sunrise is overclouded, the light of the moon is withdrawn. A universal trembling seems to fill the air, while the earth would bound from its place. So close is the sympathy of the human spirit with nature, its dark or bright aspects seem to be the aspect of the God of nature in wrath or in kindness to man. 2. From the most fearful scenes of war. In a few bold lines the picture is struck out. Fugitives are seen flying in every direction, like frightened gazelles, or like a flock of sheep without its shepherd. Those overtaken are pierced by the spear, or struck down by the sword. Children at the breast are dashed to pieces, houses plundered, women outraged. More horrible is the spectacle of a battle-field than that of Nature in her wildest uproar. It is the opening of the hell in the heart of man. 3. Its moral purpose defined. There is, then, some light to be found even here. The God of justice and holiness is "searching home for evil on the face of the earth, and for the guilt of the unrighteous." "Ever and anon some bright white shaft Burned thro’ the pine-tree roof-here burned and there, As if God’s messenger thro’ the close wood screen Plunged and replunged his weapon at a venture, Feeling for guilty thee and me." The thought that God holds inquisition for evil and evil-doers is deeply stamped in Bible lore. There are heresies which he cannot and will not tolerate. They are not identical with what some call heresies. These are often departures from our fashions of life and of thought; but it is only disagreement with him and his law of inward right that is the condemnable dissent. Again, it is his object to bring down the pride and arrogance of the haughty. How deeply marked, again, is this thought of overstepping our proper limits as the essence of sin, from the Fall onwards! It is fixed in the word "transgression." The "lust to seem the thing we are not" is at the root of display, of ambition, of domineering over others. The prophets saw in the bloated dominion of great states like Egypt and Assyria the effects of these unbalanced lusts, which must sooner or later topple the tyrants into ruin. And thus the purpose of judgment resolves itself into that of sifting mankind—to make the people "rarer than fine gold, and men than Ophir’s treasures." When ill weeds are cleared away, there is a chance for good plants to flourish; and when a mass of human evil has disappeared, room is made for something of another quality, to renew the tradition of the Divine in man. III. THE FINAL . (Isaiah 13:17-22.) Here is a picture of the Medes—a horde of savages, who despise civilization, and who will pour in upon Babylon, as in later days Attila came with his hosts to tread on the necks of the Romans. The dread memory of the cities of the plain can alone furnish a parallel to what will be seen on the site of Babylon. Where now the sounds of luxury and mirth are heard in proud palaces, soon not a nomad tent will be pitched, nor a shepherd’s fold; but only the cries of wild creatures will be heard, and satyrs hold their obscene dances. This magnificent picture of the overthrow of human greatness and pride springs, let us observe, from conscience. And none can study such pictures or visit the ruins of ancient cities without a quickening of the pulse of conscience. Such glimpses as we can gain of ancient life in. those proud cities of the Orient bear out the views of the prophet. It was a life which overpassed life’s restrictions, and which ended in death. Mournful is the inscription on Sardanapalus’s tomb, "Let us eat, drink, and love; for the rest is of little worth." We may learn the lesson that, when men so speak of life, they have abused it; and while we believe that there is a sacredness in human life and in the grand products of human life, this is only so as long as they reflect the purposes of God. Out of such scenes as those the prophet depicts, a solemn voice seems to speak, declaring that human life and glory are held cheap in comparison with those profound and, from us, half-hidden, half-revealed ends towards which the whole creation moves.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Mental depression. "Faint." A common experience enough this. Some people pride themselves on the speciality of their experiences, just as they consider their physical ailments to be altogether peculiar and unique. Faint! Who amongst us does not understand that? Why, we do not know. Care is like the atmosphere; its pressure is enormous, but the thing itself is invisible. "Light as air," some say; but many temperaments could say, "heavy as air," which depresses all the nerve-functions of the body. Faint! We like to know not only that it is common, but that greatly heroic spiritual natures have felt it! Read at your leisure Luther’s letter where he says of the evil one, "He lies closer to me than my Catharine," and where in one part of his diary he is so desolate and disheartened that he suggests, if God wishes the Reformation to go on, he must come and take it in hand himself. Faint! If lousy men feel it, women feel it sometimes more—thinking about the children; having the worry of household management; finding it so difficult to preserve elevation of thought amid the cares of common life. I. WE ARE FAINT IN OUR TO REACH OUR OWN IDEAL OF THE DIVINE LIFE. Our ideals have been beautiful. They have charmed our meditation, inspired our purposes, I am not speaking of spiritual excitements or emotions, No, my friend! Rather quiet and meditative hours. When we verily and indeed feel that piety is more than safety, when we feel that we would not do without religion if we could, we are fulfilling all the noblest aspirations within us. And these have been noble. In gazing on the image of Christ we have desire to be conformed to that image. But our condition here, you say, is one in which we have to do with such mean things—it is such a battle to live at all! Mean things? No, my friend. Nothing is mean that Christ can shine through. We can dignify common life, or God would not have given us common life to dignify. Christian life is beautiful, but it is difficult. It is detail that casts down men and women too. When we read Stanley’s last journey through the dark continent, we find a week’s desolation is crowded into ten lines of print; but it must have been very wearisome sometimes, and now and then all seemed nearly over. Yet the motto was "Onward!" You may have an idea or two—but try and write a book. It is completeness that tries. You may have looked at the Christian life with aesthetic admiration. But now you are in it. God help you, as he will. Be diligent. Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. Hope to the end. The ideal shall be realized some day. Not destroyed. You will be without fault before the throne. II. WE ARE FAINT IN TO THE MORAL STATE OF THE WORLD. Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he gazed on the city that was doomed, for its own denial and rejection of himself. We are not one whit nearer solving the mystery of moral evil. No one can give us the why of sin. Some of the Germans have tried hard at a philosophy of that, but have failed. It cannot be educational only, or we should never have the sense of guilt. But here it is, and we have it in ourselves. Even now sin exists, if it does not reign. And here it is around us everywhere. We have a mighty Savior, and we want men to love him, to trust him. But they are often so besotted, so blinded, so hardened, that they prefer their slavery. What wonder we are faint-hearted! You tell us that Christ is the same in heaven that he was on earth—the same in all sensitive care and love and desire. Yes. And I believe that the world’s sin grieves him still—pains him always. "Ye crucify the Son of God afresh" is not to be frittered away as a mere metaphor! What did Christ say after his ascension to the persecuting Saul? "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Not "My Church" merely. The Head felt with the members. Fainti spoke of great men just now. Did not Moses shatter the tables of the Law in sad and bitter disappointment? Did not Paul find fickleness in his converts? Did not the Judaizers hamper his work? Did not some of his companions desert him? Was not sin still mighty within him, as well as around him? But Christ, the Conqueror of sin and death, was his Lord. The Holy Ghost gave him inner might. III. FAINT IN TO THE OF SORROW. We need it. But "no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous" Faint! You may have left one at home who used to come and drink of the brook by the way at church, who is frail and ill now. You remember some who have had a dire discipline of trial through kith and kin, who have cast the crown of honor into the dust. You would not think much of them if they had not been cast down. Superficial people who say, "Make an effort!" "Cheer up!" only worry the nerves; they-do not really ease trouble, because we cannot be "merry" with a heavy heart. You must lift up with a wise hope, a real trust, a child’s confidence. "Show us the Father," then we can endure; then we can "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." But you say, "Faintness depresses us." Mind what you say, because you reveal character. It is just like saying, "Music must always be made for me; I won’t be made sad; I won’t enter an atmosphere of depression." Human hearts cannot always smile. Faint people must be in a world like this, but it will be only for a season; it will lead them to him who can raise up, who will lay beneath them his own everlasting arms, who will "not destroy," Never. "Chastened, but not destroyed"—tested, but not destroyed. At such times do not rest in "moods" or feelings, but look out of yourselves to Christ, IV. WE ARE FAINT IS TO OUR OVER OTHERS. We had hoped so much to send such bright rays over the dark sea from the lighthouse of our faith; to give the emerald beauty of a new spring to so many sterile places. We have not been such guides, such comforters, as we hoped to be. And the fault has been, not in lack of doing, but in want of being. To live has not been Christ. We have not been watchful enough either, against inimical forces in our fields. The Red Indians come when we are asleep or on a journey, and stamp out our corn. We are "faint" too because arrest will so soon be laid on our powers. But is it not right to rejoice that we have been able to do some good? Certainly. We have been unprofitable servants at the best, but it would be not only unreal, but wrong, to forget what God may have accomplished through us. Paul said, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." We are not as the men of this world, cast down into the loss of joy and hope—and in despair. No, it is only for a season. We are Christ’s. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."—W.M.S. BY W. The burden of the Lord. "The burden of Babylon" (see Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 17:1; Isaiah 19:1, etc.). The use of the word "burden," to signify a message and its subsequent expansion into the phrase "the burden of the Lord" (see Jeremiah 23:33), suggest to us— I. THAT TO ALL MEN BELONGS THE SACRED DUTY OF THE OF GOD. The term here used may simply signify this—the bearing of the Word of God to those for whom it was intended. This is a work which belongs to every filial son, to every faithful servant. Possessed of it ourselves, and experiencing its exceeding preciousness, we are to convey it to all who are in need of it. We can all carry to the souls of men "the will of God concerning them in Christ Jesus, "his Divine desire that they should turn from all iniquity, should believe in his Son, their Savior and Lord, and should follow him in every path of purity, integrity, love. II. THAT ON SOME MEN THERE THE PAINFUL DUTY OF FROM GOD. This was notably the case with the Hebrew prophets. They were frequently commissioned to convey unpleasant, unpalatable truths to men and nations, such as few cared to announce and none liked to receive; e.g. the message of Moses to Pharaoh, of Nathan to David, and of Elijah to Ahab; such, also, as these "burdens" to Babylon, Moab, Egypt. The faithful parent, teacher, minister, has often a message to make known which is a burden in this sense; it is that which is likely to weigh heavy on the heart of him that receives it; it is (1) the condemnation by the Righteous One of some form of sin and wrong; (2) it is the purpose of him who is the True One to visit persistent folly and impenitence with the marks of his Divine displeasure both in the body and in the spirit, both here and hereafter. III. THAT ON THOSE IN WHOM IS THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, SACRED TRUTH BESTS AS A BURDEN, from which they can only be delivered by faithful utterance. So was it with the Savior himself (Luke 12:50); and so with the prophets (Psalms 39:3; Job 32:18; Jeremiah 20:9); and so with the apostles (1 Corinthians 9:16). So should it be with us. We ought to feel burdened with a sense of the sin and sorrow of the world, together with the fact that we have in our minds the knowledge of those truths which are divinely suited to destroy that sin and to disperse that sorrow. This is "the burden of the Lord," resting on the man in whom is much of the Spirit of Christ—a burden which will only be lifted from him when he has spoken his most earnest word and done his most devoted work, to teach, to heal, to save.—C. Isaiah 13:2-5 The kingdom of God. These stirring, eloquent words of the prophet describing the gathering of the hosts at the summons of Jehovah speak to us of— I. THE BREADTH OF THE DIVINE CLAIM. All things, all nations, are Jehovah’s; all these hosts that are to be gathered together are "my sanctified ones;" they are "my mighty ones." They did not know him, but, notwithstanding, God claims them as belonging to himself. He does claim all nations and peoples as his own; not only those who own their allegiance, but those also who are ignorant of his Name, and are worshippers at other shrines. II. THE OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE. God has his purposes (1) regarding the various nations of the earth. He had a certain work for his own people, Israel, to accomplish. But his "wise designs" covered a far wider area than any Holy Land; they embraced Syria, Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Egypt, Rome, Greece, etc. He arranged for them a part to play in his great redemptive scheme. But though this large aspect is a true one, and Isaiah, in prophetic vision, heard the "noise of a multitude … like as of a great people, a noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together," coming "from a far country," yet is it equally true, and it is a truth of at least equal value, that God has his purposes (2) respecting each humble individual life. The Christian minister has the right, without special vision, to declare to every man that God has a purpose to be fulfilled in his particular life, and that he is marshalling events and mustering "forces" in order that it may be carried out. It ought to raise our estimate of the sacredness and value of the life God has given us to live on the earth when we remember that "every man’s life is a plan of God," and that by it he desires and designs to accomplish some especial end. III. THE OF DIVINE POWER. 1. We understand that God has unlimited power over unresisting, inert matter. 2. We have a larger view of his omnipotence when we realize that he controls all sentient life, making every living creature to praise and serve him. 3. Our thought rises far higher as we consider how he is directing the activities of his obedient children, his voluntary servants, in all worlds. 4. We reach the largest and loftiest conception of Divine wisdom and power, in marvelous cooperation, when we dwell on his overruling energy. Jehovah so turns the selfish and ungodly projects of kings and armies to his own Divine account, that he can speak of Medes and Persians as "his sanctified ones," or as those set apart by him for this especial work; that he can represent them as "rejoicing in his highness" when they were eagerly bent on their own purposes; that he can designate them "the weapons of his indignation." (1) We little think how, under Divine interposition, we are contributing to one cause when we are absorbed in another. (2) How immeasurably preferable is the service which is voluntary and conscious to that which is involuntary and unconscious! It is only the former which gives pleasure to the Supreme, and which will secure approval and reward for the human worker.—C. The day of the Lord. We may truly speak of every day as a "day of the Lord." For when does the morning come on which we cannot say, "This is the day which the Lord has made’ (Psalms 118:24)? Every day brings with it fresh tokens of his presence, new proofs of his power. The refreshment and invigoration of sleep, the provisions of the table, the enjoyment of the hearth, the activities of outward life, the continuance of mental power, etc.,—do not all these daily mercies make each returning portion or’ our time a "day of the Lord?" But there is a peculiar sense in which the time of special visitation is to be so regarded. For that is the day on which— I. GOD REVEALS HIS TO US AND HIS IN US. We are in danger of imagining that God has withdrawn into a remote solitude, in which he takes no heed of the passing events of his outlying creation; that he is too great and high to concern himself with our "poor affairs." It is a conception unworthy of him and most injurious to us. When God "arises to judgment," so that it is as if all visible nature were disturbed and disordered (Isaiah 13:10, Isaiah 13:13), and the hearts of men are filled with consternation (Isaiah 13:7, Isaiah 13:8), "in the day of his fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:13), these false imaginings are scattered, and God is found and is felt to be a God at hand and not afar off—a God who has much to do with us, and with whom we have everything to do (Hebrews 4:13). II. GOD REVEALS HIS TO US. Such events as these (Isaiah 13:9-11) are "terrible things in righteousness." The anger or "wrath" of the Lord (Isaiah 13:9, Isaiah 13:13) is thus revealed "against all unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). God is "destroying the sinners" (Isaiah 13:9) in order that he may set his seal against the sin which they have committed; he is humbling the proud that their "arrogancy may cease" (Isaiah 13:11), and that human haughtiness may receive his powerful condemnation. In such a "day" as this, the Lord is making his thought concerning iniquity very clear to the children of men. III. GOD HIS POWER TO US. Sin is apt to think itself triumphant; it is arrogant, haughty (Isaiah 13:11); it says, "Who is the Lord?" etc. (Exodus 5:2); it says, "How does God know?" (Psalms 73:11); it says, "Let us break asunder the bands of the Lord" (Psalms 2:3). In "the day of the Lord," the nation, the confederacy, the individual man, sees that human bands are nothing but thinnest thread in the hands of almighty power. Then man knows his nothingness in the presence of his Maker; his spirit is subdued (Isaiah 13:8), and he acknowledges that God is greater than he (Daniel 6:26). IV. GOD ATTESTS HIS AND HIS . God has given many promises to his people that he will appear some day on their behalf. Often his coming seems to be long delayed (Revelation 6:10). But "in the day of the Lord" this his Divine word is redeemed; then the enslaved nation is freed from its bondage; then the persecuted Church is delivered from its oppressor; then the wronged family or the injured man is saved from the wrong-doer, and walks in peace and in prosperity. Hence the many utterances of thanksgiving for the "judgments" of the Lord. The outpouring of his wrath, which seems "cruel" (Isaiah 13:9) to the guilty, shows itself to his suffering people as the long-awaited proof of his fidelity to his word and pity for his people. 1. Let the afflicted wait in hope; their cause will be espoused, their prayers heard and answered. 2. Let the guilty tremble; the day of the Lord will come, a day of darkness and confusion, a day of terror and overthrow for them; even when they may be most confident of continuance in power and sin, the coming of God in judgment may be "at hand."—C. The price of a man. The aim of the prophet is to show the extent of the disaster which, in the indignation of God (Isaiah 13:5), should overtake the guilty city. One feature of the ruin should be wholesale slaughter (Isaiah 13:15). And the result of this would be a terrible reduction of the male population. Men, usually so prevalent, so "cheap" in Babylon, should become scarce and precious; so precious should they be that it might be said, speaking figuratively, that a man would be more precious than gold, even than "the golden wedge of Ophir." What might thus be affirmed of man, in figurative language, in the day of God’s wrath, shall become true of man, in simple fact and truth, in the day of Divine grace. Under Christ the day will come when the worth of a man shall be felt to be wholly irreducible to terms of gold and silver; that "no mention shall be made of pearls" when it is attempted to form an estimate of the value of a human spirit. I. UNDER THE AND OF SIN WE HAVE SADLY LOWERED OUR OF . 1. Men have treated their fellows as nothing worth. They have either treated their sufferings with callous indifference, or they have looked on their neighbors as related in no other way than through the wages market; or they have actually bought and sold them—their sinews, their intelligence, their honor—for so much gold. 2. Men have pitifully undervalued themselves. They have acted as if they were nothing better than intelligent machines for making money, or than creatures capable of so much enjoyment, or than office-holders who might attain to certain dignities for a few passing years. II. UNDER CHRIST THE VALVE OF A HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN RAISED. Jesus Christ by his teaching, by the illustration in his own person of what a Son of man can be, by the great purpose of his life and death, has liked up to an altogether different level our conception of mankind. Now, we know: 1. That God made every man for himself—for his layout, his friendship, his likeness, his service. 2. That God is earnestly desirous that every child o! his, however far he may have wandered from his side, should return to the Father’s home (Luke 15:1-32.). 3. That for every child of man a Divine Savior suffered and died (Hebrews 2:9). 4. That before every man who will accept Jesus Christ as his Redeemer there is a holy life on earth and a blissful, glorious immortality. Instructed, inspired by these high truths, we have come, or are coming, to look on every human spirit as possessed of a value which money does not in any degree represent, which cannot be told in "golden wedges." It behooves us all (1) to recognize our own individual worth, and to act on that true Christian estimate; (2) to recognize in everyone around us, into whatsoever depths of evil he or she may reclaimed and restored, and who may become inexpressibly dear to the Father and Savior of men.—C. Isaiah 13:19-22 The overthrow of evil. The minuteness of detail with which this prophecy has been fulfilled goes far to prove that holy men of old did speak "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The prediction is profoundly interesting in this light; it is also instructive as foretelling the entire extinction of a world-power which, at the hour of utterance, appeared to rest on immovable foundations. There are great powers—national, ecclesiastical, dynastic, institutional, social—which are as Babylon in Isaiah’s time, and which need to be extinguished for the happiness and well-being of the race. Respecting the overthrow of evil, we see— I. ITS OR . How utterly impossible, or at least how hopelessly remote, must the day of Babylon’s overthrow have seemed to the Jews in the time of the prophet! To those of a scoffing spirit, or to the constitutionally incredulous or despondent, the words of Isaiah doubtless seemed visionary, if not altogether wild and vain, So vain may seem to us now the-hopes which are held out of the fall and ultimate extinction of existing evils—the despotic empire; the usurping and corrupt Church; the huge, wasteful, war-inciting military and naval organizations; strongly entrenched social habits which dishonor and enfeeble the community; venerable systems of erroneous belief which have lasted for centuries and deluded millions of minds, etc. It seems to us desirable, beyond all reckoning, that these things should receive their death-blow, and should be numbered among the things of the past. But how can we venture to expect their defeat and their disappearance? All strong things are in their favor; the majority of mankind favor them; pecuniary interests, deep-rooted habits, social customs, inveterate prejudices, powerful societies, are sustaining them. How hopeless it seems that powers so fortified can be successfully assailed and absolutely demolished! II. ITS ARRIVAL IN DUE COURSE. Babylon did fall; it was taken and re-taken and taken again, and finally deserted, until it became what is here foretold. Every evil thing shall share its fate. Everything which exalts itself against God, everything which is hostile to the truth, everything which is actually harmful to mankind, shall one day be defeated and destroyed. As the little living seeds dropped into the crack of the huge temple become the upspringing plants which push their way through the strong masonry and at length overturn the tall columns and the massive walls and lay the whole structure on the ground; so the seed of Divine truth, inserted in the temple of error, of vice, of tyranny, of idolatry, of iniquity, shall spring and grow, and thrust and overturn, until the frowning walls have fallen and the structure of sin is a harmless ruin. The great Babylon of sin itself shall one day lie waste and have no inhabitant. III. ITS MORAL. 1. It is a wretched thing to be on the side of wrong. First and most of all, because it is the wrong side we are espousing, and it ought to be an insufferable thing to us that we are thinking, speaking, working on behalf of that which is evil in the sight of God and hurtful to the truer interests of man. But also because we are certain to be defeated in the end. 2. It is a blessed thing to be engaged on the side of righteousness. First and most, because it is the cause of God, of man, of truth, on which we are leagued; and also because we are sure to win at last. The wise and the good may meet with many a check, but they will gain the victory; the unholy and the evil-minded may snatch many an advantage, but the end shall be a miserable disaster, an utter overthrow, a dragon-haunted desert. Let us see to it that we are fighting on God’s side, and, once sure that we are, let us strike our blow for truth and wisdom, confident that, however strong and high stand the towers of sin, its citadel will be taken, its day will descend into darkness, its million-peopled streets become a doleful desert.—C. BY R. TUCK The Lord’s sanctified ones. This term is used of an army, regarded as being consecrated by the sacrifices which were offered at the beginning of the campaign. The assertion made by the prophet is that the Persian army was not really consecrated to Ahura-Mazda, but to Jehovah. Whatever might seem to be the bet, the fact really was that the Persians would fulfill Jehovah’s will and carry out Jehovah’s judgments, A "sanctified one" is, properly, one separated from self-interests and from other people’s concerns, in order that he might carry out God’s will. "Set apart by the purposes and providence of God, disengaged from other projects, that they might wholly apply themselves to something God would have clone: such as were qualified for that to which they were called, for what God employs men in, he does in some measure fit them for." We learn from this expression, and its connection, that we too may be set apart for God, we may be the Lord’s sanctified ones; and yet, on the one hand, the fact may be unrecognized, or, on the other, the fact may bring to us impulse and honor and the unspeakable joy of service. I. SET APART FOR GOD WITHOUT OUR KNOWING IT. As of Cyrus, the Lord’s anointed, it is said, "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." But in this ease there can be no proper rewards, since the will of the man is not in harmony with the Divine will. God may use his creature man, just as he uses clouds and winds and waves, to fulfill his purposes, and there is no more to be said about it. We are the Lord’s tools, his rod, his staff. Willingly or unwillingly man must do the Lord’s bidding. II. SET APART FOR GOD WITH OUR OWN GLAD CONSENT. Then we come into the position of willing, loving servants; and then there can be rewards which take three forms. Such willingly sanctified ones (1) are honored with yet further and higher trusts; (2) are personally cultured by the doing of their life-work under such conditions; and (3) are sure to receive, now in their hearts, and by-and-by in some open manner, the Master’s "Well done, good and faithful servants," the smile and the word of gracious approval. And such rewards are altogether independent of the particular character of the work for which we are set apart. It may be most trying and painful work, even work of judgment or retribution. No matter; the Divine recognition is ever of willingness and faithfulness. God rewards the true man, not the particular form the man’s service must take.—R.T. This expression is employed for that crisis in the history of the world when Jehovah will interpose to correct the evils of the present. Such great crises are called "days" in antithesis to the ages of Divine long-suffering. In Christian thought the term is associated with the coming day or time of judgment, and mainly with that in view we dwell on the words. Isaiah was one of a class of prophets to whom God disclosed, in visions, the scenes of the ever-nearing future. Maybe in the quietness of their homes, as they meditated on the condition of the world, and the purposes of God concerning men, they were rapt in vision, and, with various degrees of dimness or of dearness, they saw pass before their entranced view, now the scenes of battle and bloodshed, now the scenes of famine and pestilence; now they beheld the desolation of those nations that oppressed their own people—Nineveh and Babylon buried out of sight, Tyre a place for the fisher’s nets; and now they seemed to hear the wild shout of the foes of Israel, as they burst through into the sacred city; and soon, in smoke and flames, they watched her very temple perish. And yet again, in dimmer lines, as though further on in the march of ages, they seemed to see the last great scene of human history—a world arraigned, the thrones set, the books opened. These visions often prostrated those prophets in the intensity of excitement; but they were given to them that they might set them on record, for the sake of their own people and the whole Church of the redeemed, that we all might learn to live in the view of that future, with the infallible decisions of the future ever in our thought, and reminding us that "he which soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." There is much that is most solemnizing in the expression, "the day of the Lord," if we read it from the Christian standpoint, and see it to mean the day of the Lord Jesus. I. Our LORD has HAD: 1. His day of humiliation, when he stepped down from his heavenly throne, laid aside "his most Divine array," and entered our world as the poor man’s babe, born in a stable, laid in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn. 2. He has had many a day of toil, and patience, and pleading, and prayer among men. Year after year he tarried in the flesh, proving his Divine power to save, and winning men to himself by the tender sacrificings of his love. 3. He has had a day of suffering and anguish for men. "Behold, and see if there ever was sorrow like unto his sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted him" for our sakes. 4. He has had many a day of inviting grace, when, in the power of his Spirit, he has called us to yield ourselves unto him; when, in the leadings of his providence and the ministry of his Word, he has cried, "My son, give me thy heart;" "Come unto me … and I will give you rest." He has had many a day of patience, of waiting, of long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. II. BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD, THE DAY OF DAYS, IS YET TO COME. 1. The day of the Lord’s glory, when the multitudes of the redeemed shall crown him with many crowns—shall crown him Lord of all. 2. The day of the Lord’s vindication, when he shall break down the rebellion of lost souls with the proofs of his forbearance and the memory of his repeated calls. 3. The day when the "wrath of the Lamb" must be revealed, and he shall come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of his Son. There must be an end of this dispensation of redemption, there must be a closing up of it; there must be the "day of the Lord." For us all that day cometh as a thief in the night. III. THE OF THE DAY OF THE LORD. The Scriptures do not satisfy our questionings upon the terms of decision on that day. So far as we can gather, there will be a general term, and a more particular one. The more general term may be thus expressed: "No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." "Condemned already," because ye believe not on the Son of God. The more particular term is thus expressed: "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." How these are to fit into each other it is beyond any human power to explain, because the Bible does not afford us the means of explanation. We can, however, settle two separate facts very clearly. Our life, in its minutest acts, carries eternal issues. Everything we do, beyond its bearing on our present character, has its bearing on our eternal destiny, because on our eternal character. And we are tested by our relation to Christ. The test of the great coming day is first this—In Christ, or out of Christ. The answer to that settles all else—whether you shall be in the fold or out of it, in the everlasting peace or out of it, in heaven or out of it.—R.T. God as El Shaddai. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 14:1-23 THE OF ISRAEL, AND HER SONG OF TRIUMPH OVER BABYLON. The destruction of Babylon is to be followed by the restoration of Israel, with the good will of the nations, and by their exercising rule over their late oppressors (Isaiah 14:1, Isaiah 14:2). In this time of rest and refreshment they will sing a song of triumph over Babylon. The song extends from Isaiah 14:4 to Isaiah 14:23. It consists of five stanzas, or strophes, each comprising seven long lines, after which there is a brief epode, or epilogue, of a different character. This epode is comprised in Isaiah 14:22 and Isaiah 14:23. Isaiah 14:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. God’s purpose of mercy upon Israel requires, as its preliminary, the destruction of Babylon, and may be considered as the final cause of that destruction. His desire to have mercy on Israel soon is the reason why the days of Babylon are not prolonged (see Isaiah 13:22). Will yet choose Israel. The Captivity was a rejection of Israel from their position as a favored race—God’s peculiar people; their restoration was a fresh "choice" of them out of all the nations of the world, a free act of grace on his part; to which they had no claim or right whatsoever. And set them in their own land; or, on their own ground. The land that once was theirs, but which they had forfeited by their disobedience, could only become "their own" again by a fresh gift from God. The strangers shall be joined with them; rather, the stranger shall join himself to them. On the return from the Captivity, there would be an influx of proselytes from the nations, who would voluntarily join themselves to those whom they saw favored both by God and man (comp. Esther 8:17). Though the Jews did not commonly seek proselytes, they readily received such as offered themselves. A further fulfillment of the prophecy took place when the Gentiles flocked into the Church of God after the coming of Christ. Isaiah 14:2 And the people shall take them; rather, peoples shall take them. The heathen nations among whom they have dwelt shall rejoice at the restoration of Israel to their own land, and even escort them in a friendly spirit to their borders (comp. Ezra 1:4, Ezra 1:6; Nehemiah 2:7-9). Some shall go so far as voluntarily to become their bondservants in Palestine. They shall take them captive, whose captives they were. This can scarcely have been intended literally. The Jews were at no time a conquering people, nor one that set itself to "take captives." The true meaning is that Jewish ideas shall penetrate and subdue the nations generally, and among them those with whom Israel had dwelt as captives. The Jews did become very powerful and numerous both in Assyria and Babylonia about the first century after Christ, and Christian Churches were early formed in Mesopotamia, Adiabene, and even Babylon. Isaiah 14:3 The hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve (comp. Isaiah 47:6). We have no detailed account of the Babylonian, as we have of the Egyptian, servitude; but it was probably well-nigh as grievous. A few, of royal descent, might be eunuchs in the palace of the great king (2 Kings 20:18; Daniel 1:3), and hold offices of trust; but with the bulk of the nation it was otherwise. Psalms 137:1-9, has the plaintive ring which marks it as the utterance of a sorely oppressed people. And there are passages of Ezekiel which point in the same direction (see especially Ezekiel 34:27-29). Isaiah 14:4 Thou shalt take up this proverb; rather, this parable, as the word is translated in Numbers 23:1-30, and Numbers 24:1-25.; in Job 26:1; Job 29:1; Psalms 49:4; Psalms 78:2; Ezekiel 17:2; Ezekiel 20:49; Ezekiel 21:5; Ezekiel 24:3; Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6; or "this taunting speech," as our translators render in the margin (see Cheyne, ad loc.; and comp. Hebrews 2:6). The golden city. There are two readings here—madhebah and marhebah. The latter reading was preferred anciently, and is followed by the LXX; the Syriac and Chaldee Versions, the Targums, Ewald, Gesenius, and Mr. Cheyne. It would give the meaning of" the raging one." Madhebah, however, is preferred by Rosenmüller, Vitringa, and Dr. Kay. It is supposed to mean "golden," from d’hab, the Chaldee form of the Hebrew zahob, gold. But the question is pertinent—Why should a Chaldee form have been used by a Hebrew writer ignorant of Chaldee and Chaldea? Isaiah 14:5 The staff … the scepter. Symbols of Babylonian power (scrap. Isaiah 10:5). Isaiah 14:6 He who smote the people; rather, which smote the peoples. The participle translated "he who smote" refers to "staff" or "scepter." With a continual stroke; i.e. incessantly, one war following another without pause or stop. He that ruled, etc.; rather, which ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that held not back. Isaiah 14:7 At rest … singing. The first result of the fall of Babylon is general peace, rest, and quiet; then the nations, recognizing the blessedness of the change, burst out into a song of rejoicing. The peace did not really continue very long; for Persia took up the role of conqueror which Babylon had been forced to drop, and, under Cambyses and Darius Hystaspis, produced as much stir and disturbance as had been caused by Babylon; Still, there was an interval of about eleven years between the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and the expedition by Cambyses against Egypt. Isaiah 14:8 Fir trees …cedars. We may detect a double meaning here—one literal, the other metaphorical. Literally, the trees of Lebanon and the other mountain ranges would be spared, since, while both the Assyrian and Babylonian kings cut timber in the Syrian forests for building purposes, the Persians had no such practice; metaphorically, the firs and cedars are the kings and nobles of the countries (comp. Ezekiel 31:16), who likewise had a respite. Since thou art laid down; rather, since thou liest low. The first stanza here ends, and the second begins with the next verse. Isaiah 14:9 Hell from beneath. The Hebrew Sheol corresponded nearly to the Greek Hades, and the Latin Inferi. It was a dismal region in the center of the earth, whither departed souls descended, and where they remained thenceforth. There were various depths in it, each apparently more dismal than the preceding; but there is no evidence that it was considered to contain any place of happiness, until after the return from the Captivity. The prophet here represents Sheol as disturbed by the advent of the Babylonian monarch, and as rousing itself to receive him. The great ones of the earth, and the kings, who are kings even in Hades, and sit upon thrones, are especially moved by the occasion, and prepare to meet and greet their brother. Personal identity and continued consciousness of it after death are assumed; and the former earthly rank of the inmates seems to be recognized and maintained. It stirreth up the dead. Hell in the aggregate—the place personified—proceeds to arouse the individual inmates, who are called rephaim—the word commonly translated "giants" (Deuteronomy 2:11, Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 13:12; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12, etc.), but meaning properly "feeble ones." The shades or ghosts of the departed were regarded as weak and nerveless, in comparison with living men (compare the Homeric εἴδωλακαμόντων). All the chief ones; literally, the he-goats (comp. Jeremiah 1:8; Jeremiah 51:40; Zechariah 10:3). Raised up from their thrones; i.e. "caused to rise up from their thrones," and stand in eager expectation of what was about to happen. Isaiah 14:10 Art thou also become weak as we? rather, So thou also art made weak as we! (On the supposed weakness of the dead, see the comment on Isaiah 14:9.) Isaiah 14:11 The noise of thy viols. (On the fondness of the Babylonians for music, and the number and variety of their musical instruments, see Daniel 3:7, Daniel 3:10, etc.) The word here translated "viol" is more commonly rendered "psaltery." (On the probable character of the instrument intended, see note on Isaiah 5:12.) The worm is spread under thee, etc.; rather, beneath thee is spread the maggot, and the worm covereth thee. The thought of the grave brings the thought of corruption with it. For cushion and for coverlet the royal corpse has only the loathsome creatures which come with putrescence. At this point the second stanza terminates. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer! Babylon’s sudden fall is compared, with great force and beauty, to the (seeming) fall of a star from heaven. The word translated "Lucifer" means properly "shining one," and no doubt here designates a star; but whether any particular star or no is uncertain. The LXX. translated by ἑωσφόρος, whence our "Lucifer." The subjoined epithet, "son of the morning" or "of the dawn," accords well with this rendering. How art thou cut down to the ground! One of Isaiah’s favorite changes of metaphor. It is a favorite metaphor also to which he reverts—that of representing the destruction of a nation by the felling of a tree or of a forest (comp. Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 2:13; Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34, etc.). Which didst weaken the nations; rather, which didst prostrate the nations. The word used is one of great force (comp. Exodus 17:13; Job 14:10). Isaiah 14:13 For thou hast said; rather, and thou—thou saidst; i.e. weak as thou art now shown to have been, it was thou that didst dare to say. I will ascend into heaven, etc. (comp. Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14; Isaiah 37:24, Isaiah 37:25). Isaiah represents rather the thoughts of the Babylonian monarch than his actual words. The Babylonian inscriptions are full of boasting egotism; but they do not contain anything approaching to impiety. The king may regard himself as, in a certain sense, Divine; but still he entertains a deep respect and reverence for those gods whom he regards as the most exalted, as Merodach, Bel, Nebo, Sin, Shamas. He is their worshipper, their devotee, their suppliant. The Babylonian monarchs may have believed that after death they would mount up to heaven and join the "assembly of the great gods"; but we scarcely know enough as yet of the religions opinions of the Babylonians to state positively what their belief was on the subject of a future life. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation. The early commentators explained this of Mount Zion, especially on account of the phrase, "in the sides of the north," which is used of the temple-bill in Psalms 48:2. But it is well objected that Mount Zion was a place of no grandeur or dignity or holiness to the Babylonians, who had made it a desolation; and that no Babylonian monarch would have desired to "sit" there. Moreover, the "mountain" of this passage must be one which is "above the heights of the clouds" and "above the stars of God," which the most imaginative poet could not have said of Mount Zion. A mythic mountain, belonging to the Babylonian theosophy, was therefore seen to be intended, even before the times of cuneiform decipherment (Rosenmüller, Michaelis, Knobel). Now that the Babylonian inscriptions can be read, it is found that there was such a mountain, called "Im-Kharsak," or "Kharsak-Kurra," which is described as "the mighty mountain of Bel, whose head rivals heaven, whose root is the holy deep," and which "was regarded as the spot where the ark had rested, and where the gods had their seat". In Babylonian geography this mountain was identified, either with the peak of Rowandiz, or with Mount Elwend, near Ecbatana. In the sides of the north. Both Elwend and Rowandiz are situated to the northeast of Babylou—a position which, according to ancient ideas, might be described indifferently as "north" or "east." Isaiah 14:14 I will be like the Most High (comp. Isaiah 47:8). It is a mistake to say that "the Assyrians gave the name of God to their monarchs" (Kay), or, at any rate, there is no evidence that they did. Nor does any king, either Assyrian or Babylonian, ever assume a Divine title. There is a marked difference in this respect between the Egyptian and the Assyro-Babylonian religions. Probably Isaiah only means that Babylonian monarchs thought of themselves as gods, worked their own wills, were wrapped up in themselves, did not in heart bow down to a higher Power. Isaiah 14:15 Thou shalt be brought down; rather, thou art brought down (comp. Isaiah 14:9-11). The sides of the pit; or, the recesses—the "lowest parts" of the pit. With those words the third stanza terminates. Isaiah 14:16 They that see thee. Dr. Kay well observes that "here the scene of the parable is changed back to earth. The corpse of the mighty conqueror is lying unburied." Shall narrowly look upon thee. Like the inhabitants of hell (Isaiah 14:10), those of earth also shall scarcely believe their eyes. They shall look close to see if it is indeed the great king that is slain. Isaiah 14:17 That opened not the house of his prisoners; literally, that loosed not his prisoners homewards. The long imprisonment of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar (thirty-six years, 2 Kings 25:27) is an illustration; but perhaps it is rather the retention in captivity of the entire Jewish people that is brought to the prophet’s cognizance. Isaiah 14:18 All the kings of the nations, etc.; i.e. the other kings, speaking generally, died in peace, and had an honorable burial, each one in the sepulcher that he had prepared for himself as his final abode or "house" (comp. Isaiah 22:16). The care taken to prepare tombs was not confined to Egypt, though there obtaining its greatest development. Among others, the Persian kings certainly prepared their own sepulchers; and probably the practice was general. Isaiah 14:19 But thou art cast out (see Isaiah 14:13). Again "thou" is emphatic. Translate, But thou—thou art cast out. The Babylonian monarch did not rest in the tomb which he had prepared for himself. His body was "cast out"—left, apparently, where it fell in battle. If there is allusion to any individual, it is probably to Belshazzar (Daniel 5:30). Like an abominable branch. As a shoot from a tree, which is disapproved, and so condemned and cut away. As the raiment of those that are slam. The garments of the slain, soaked in blood (Isaiah 9:5), were useless, and were consequently flung away or left to rot uncured for. So was it with the corpse of the great king. That go down to the stones of the pit. This clause is thought to be misplaced. It deranges the meter and damages the sense. Corpses were not interred on fields of battle in the East (Herod; 3.26). They were left to be "trodden underfoot." It is best, with Ewald and Mr. Cheyne, to transfer the clause to the commencement of the next verse. Thus the fourth stanza is relieved, and the fifth properly filled out. Isaiah 14:20 If we make the alteration suggested in the preceding note, this verse will begin as follows: "They that have gone down to the stoner of the pit, with these thou shalt not be joined in burial"—a repetition certainly of the first clause of Isa 14:19, but with amplification, and with the reason appended. Thou hast destroyed thy land; i.e. "brought ruin on it by displeasing God, and causing him to visit it with a judgment." The seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned; rather, shall not be named forever (comp. Psalms 109:13). The meaning is that they shall have no seed, or, if they have any, that it shall be early cut off, and the whole race blotted out. Pretenders rose up under Darius Hystaspis, claiming descent from Belshazzar’s father, Nabenidus; but the claim is characterized as false, and a false claim would scarcely have been set up had real descendants survived. Isaiah 14:21 Prepare slaughter for his children. Belshazzar had "wives and concubines" (Daniel 5:2), and therefore probably children. The magnanimity of Cyrus may have spared them; but neither Cambyses nor Darius Hystaspis had the same merciful disposition. As soon as there was seen to be danger of Babylon revolting, they would almost certainly be put to death. For the iniquity of their fathers (comp. Exodus 20:5). The destruction of their posterity was a part of the punishment of the fathers. That they do not rise; i.e. "that they do not recover themselves and become great monarchs once more, and once more build great cities, "such as those which they were famous for Babel, Erech, Accad, Calneh, Ur, Sepharvaim, Borsippa, Opts, Teredon, etc. It was as city-builders that the Babylonians were especially celebrated (Genesis 10:10; Daniel 4:30; Herod; 1:178, etc.). Isaiah 14:22, Isaiah 14:23 These verses constitute the epode of the poem. Their main object is to make it clear that the punishment about in fall on Babylon comes from none other than Jehovah, whose Name occurs twice in Isaiah 14:22, and emphatically closes Isaiah 14:23. The lines are much more irregular than those of the strophes, or stanzas. Isaiah 14:22 And cut off from Babylon the name. It is not quite clear in what sense her "name" was to be "cut off" from Babylon. One of the main masses of ruin still bears the old name almost unchanged (Babil), and can scarcely be supposed to have lost it and afterwards recovered it. Perhaps "name" here means "fame" or "celebrity" (comp. Deuteronomy 26:19; Zephaniah 3:20). Son and nephew; rather, son and grandson, or issue and descendants. The same phrase occurs in the same sense in Genesis 21:23 and Job 18:19. Isaiah 14:23 A possession for the bittern. Some water-bird or other is probably intended, since the word used is joined in Isaiah 36:11 with the names of three other birds, and is also certainly a bird’s name in Zephaniah 2:14; but the identification with the "bittern" is a mere guess, and rests on no authority. And pools of water. The swampy character of the country about the ruins of Babylon is generally noticed by travelers. It arises from neglect of the dams along the course of the Euphrates. Ker Porter says that "large deposits of the Euphrates water are left stagnant in the hollows between the ruins". Isaiah 14:24-27 A FURTHER OF FROM ASSYRIA. From the distant prospect of an ultimate deliverance from the power of Babylon, the prophet turns his gaze to a nearer, if not a greater, deliverance. The present enemy is Assyria. It is she who has carried Samaria into captivity, and who now threatens the independence of Judah. Deliverance from her has already been promised more than once (Isaiah 10:16-19, Isaiah 10:25-27, Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34); but apparently the people are not reassured—they still dread the foe who is so near, and who seems so irresistible. God, therefore, condescends to give them a fresh prophecy, a fresh assurance, and to confirm it to them by an oath (Isaiah 14:24). The Assyrian power shall be broken—her yoke shall be cast off (Isaiah 14:25); God has declared his purpose, and nothing can hinder it (Isaiah 14:27). Isaiah 14:24 Hath sworn. This is the emphatic word—the new thing in the prophecy. God but seldom declares his purposes with an oath—never but in condescension to the weakness of his creatures, who, though they misdoubt his word, can feel the immutability of an oath (Hebrews 6:17), and yield it the credence and the confidence which they refuse to a bare assertion. As I have thought … as I have purposed. A reference to the prophecies previously given in Isaiah 10:1-34. So shall it come to pass; literally, so it hath been—a striking instance of the "preterite of prophetic certainty." So shall it stand; literally, as I have purposed, that shall stand. Isaiah 14:25 I will break the Assyrian in my land. This is referred by some critics to the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib’s army, and regarded as a proof that the scene, of that destruction was Judaea. But it is possible that a disaster to the forces of Sargon may be intended (see the comment on Isaiah 10:28-32). His yoke shall depart from off them (comp. Isaiah 10:27). The Assyrian yoke, imposed by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 16:7-10), and (according to his own inscriptions) again by Sargon, was thrown off by Hezekiah, who "rebelled against the King of Assyria, and served him not" (2 Kings 18:7). It was this rebellion that provoked the expedition of Sennacherib, described in 2 Kings 18:13-16; and it may be this rejection of the yoke which is here prophesied. Isaiah 14:26 The whole earth … all the nations. Blows struck against Assyria or Babylonia affected all the then known nations Each, in its turn, was "the hammer of the whole earth" (Jeremiah 1:1-19:23), and a check received by either caused world-wide disturbance. No sooner did one subject nation recover her freedom, than an electric shock ran through all the rest—plots were laid, confederacies formed, revolts planned, embassies sent hither and thither. The complete destruction of Assyria involved a complete change in the relations, not only of the principal powers—Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Elam, but even of the minor ones—Philistia, Edom, Moab, Syria, Phoenicia, Ammon. Isaiah 14:27 His hand is stretched out; literally, his is the outstretched hand, which is more emphatic. Isaiah 14:28-32 THE BURDEN OF . The Philistines had suffered grievously at the hands of Judah in the reign of Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6), and had retaliated in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18). It would seem that after this they were invaded by Tiglath-Pileser, who penetrated as far as Gaza, which lie took and made tributary, as he also did Ascalon. Tiglath-Pileser died shortly before Ahaz, and the present "burden" seems to have been uttered in connection with his death. Isaiah warns Philistia (equivalent to "Palestina") that her rejoicing is premature; Tiglath-Pileser will have successors as powerful and as cruel as himself, and these successors will carry destruction and ravage over the whole land. Isaiah 14:28 In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. These words introduce the "burden of Philistia," and shows that it is chronologically out of place, since the prophecies from Isaiah 10:1-34. to Isaiah 14:1-27 have belonged to the reign of Hezekiah. Ahaz appears to have died early in B.C. 725. Isaiah 14:29 Whole Palestina. The Greeks called Philistia τὴνΠαλαιστίνηνΣυρίαν, or "Syria of the Philistines," whence the Latin "Palestina" and our "Palestine." Isaiah addresses the country as "whole Palestine," because, while it was made up of a number of principalities (1 Samuel 6:18), his message concerned it in its entirety. The rod of him that smote thee is broken. This can scarcely refer to the death of Ahaz, since Ahaz did not smite the Philistines, but was smitten by them (2 Chronicles 28:18). It may, however, refer to the death of Tiglath-Pileser, which took place only a year or two previously. Out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice; i.e. a more poisonous serpent (see note on Isaiah 11:8). Shal-maneser can scarcely be meant, since he does not, appear to have attacked the Philistines. Probably Sargon is intended, who "took Ashdod" (Isaiah 20:1), made Khanun, King of Gaza, prisoner, and reduced Philtstia generally to subjection. And his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. The fruit of the cockatrice will be even more terrible and venomous. He will resemble the "fiery flying serpent" of the wilderness (Numbers 21:6). Sennacherib is, perhaps, this "fruit." He conquered Ascalon and Ekron, and had the kings of Gaze and Ashdod among his tributaries. Isaiah 14:30 The firstborn of the poor shall feed. The "firstborn of the poor" are the very poor (Jarchi, Rosenmüller). The refer-once is to the poor Israelites, who will "feed" and "lie down in safety" when Philistia is held in subjection. I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. God kills with famine, man with the sword (see 2 Samuel 24:13, 2 Samuel 24:14). When the Philistines had resisted behind their strong walls till hunger had done its work by thinning their ranks, the Assyrian conqueror would storm their strongholds and slaughter "the remnant." Isaiah 14:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city. Each city of Philistia is hidden to howl and lament. All will suffer; not one will be spared. Art dissolved; literally, art melted; i.e. "faintest through fear" (comp. Joshua 2:9; Jeremiah 49:23). There shall come from the north a smoke. The "smoke" is the Assyrian host, which ravages the country as it advances, burning towns, and villages, and peasants’ cots, and watchmen’s towers. It enters the country "from the north," as a matter of course, where it adjoins upon Judaea. The coast route, which led through the Plain of Sharon, was that commonly followed by Egyptian armies. None shall be alone in his appointed times; rather, there shall be no straggler at the rendezvous. Isaiah 14:32 What shall one then answer, etc.? What answer shall be made to the Philistine ambassadors, when they come to Jerusalem and entreat for aid? Simply this—that God has founded and will protect Zion, and that the poor and weak among God’s people—whether Jews or Philistines—had better betake themselves to the shelter of the "city of the great King." Isaiah 14:4-23 Triumph over enemies. The "taunt-song" of Israel, as it has been called (Cheyne), like the "song of Deborah" in the Book of Judges (5.), raises the question how far triumph over a national enemy is a feeling that can be indulged with propriety. There can be no doubt that it is— I. A NATURAL FEELING. "The song of Deborah and Barak" expresses the feelings which have usually animated the victors in national contests from the beginning of the world to the present day. The poems of Homer show us the great warriors of the heroic age giving the freest possible vent to their passions of scorn and hatred on such occasions. The heroes of Germany and Iceland indulge in the same strain. North American Indians are said to have been equally outspoken. The "natural man" would, beyond all question, on every occasion of the kind, give free and unfettered expression to his feelings of triumph and delight, nor would he see any reason for checking his feelings, or making any effort to moderate them. There is also a good side to the feeling, inasmuch as it is— II. WITH TO GOD FOR . In the song of Deborah and Barak, and again in the song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-21), this is very marked. "Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel" (Judges 5:2, Judges 5:3). "The Lord is my Strength and Song, and is become my Salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his Name" (Exodus 15:2, Exodus 15:3). "Sing ye to the Lord, for he bath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:21). It is not their own valor, or strength, or prudence, and warlike skill that the Hebrew leaders vaunt in their songs of triumph, but the greatness and strength and wisdom of the God who has given to them the victory over their enemies. And so the Christian song of joy for a victory has ever been the "To Deum"—"We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord." So long as wars continue, so long as swords are not beaten’ into ploughshares, or spears into pruning-hooks (Isaiah 2:4), it must be right for the combatants to look to the God of battles for aid and countenance and success; and if so, it must be right for them to return him thanks for his aid given, which can best be done by songs of praise and psalms of thanksgiving. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the feeling of triumph is one which ought to be very carefully watched and kept under control, since it is— III. LIABLE TO INTO SELF-. When Assyria was victorious, her song of triumph was as follows: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped" (Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14). There is something of the same spirit in the song of Deborah and Barak: "The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel" (Judges 5:7). "Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song; arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abiuoam" (Judges 5:12). Weak human nature is apt to have its head turned by success, and to attribute the result to its own prowess, instead of the mercy and goodness of God. IV. LIABLE TO INTO SCORN OF, AND OVER, THE ENEMY. Scorn and insult are utterly unchristian, and a Christian "song of triumph" should most carefully avoid them; but they are very dear to the "natural man," and very apt to show themselves in the outpourings of a human heart on the occasion of a triumph. The closing passage of the song of Deborah is of the nature of insult, and so is a considerable portion of Isaiah’s "taunt-song." The "evangelical prophet" was not himself fully possessed of the evangelical spirit. In his time the precept had not yet gone forth, "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44), and men believed it to be natural and right to hate them (see Psalms 139:22). Insult and scorn were but indications of hate, or of hate mingled with contempt for those who had been proved weal;, and so seemed to be legitimately bestowed on beaten foes. But the Christian may hate no man, may despise no man, knowing that each human soul is in God’s sight of priceless value. Consequently, although he may rejoice in victory, and even compose songs of triumph, he is bound to avoid anything like insultation over the defeated. They are his brethren, they are souls for whom Christ died; they may be among those with whom he will hold sweet converse in the world to come. God’s condescension in confirming promises by oath. It is a weakness on the part of man to need any confirmation of a promise which God makes. "God cannot lie" (Titus 2:1-15:18); "He keepeth his promise forever" (Psalms 146:6). When he condescends to swear that his promise shall hold good, it does not really add to the certainty of the thing promised, since the certainty was absolute from the first. But man is so accustomed to misdoubt his fellows that he will even misdoubt God, as though with him were "variableness or shadow of turning." And God, knowing man’s heart and compassionating his weakness, does sometimes, though but rarely, add to his promises, for man’s greater contentment, the confirmation of an oath. After the Flood God covenanted with mankind that he would never again destroy the earth by water (Genesis 9:11), and confirmed the covenant by oath (Isaiah 65:9). On the call of Abraham, he swore that he would give the land of Canaan to his posterity (Genesis 24:7), and afterwards that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. With David he made a covenant, and swore to it, that he would "establish his seed forever, and build up his throne to all generations" (Psalms 89:3, Psalms 89:4). To his own Son he swore, at what time we know not, "Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalms 110:4). And here we find that he condescended to swear to Israel that the Assyrians should "be broken," and their yoke "depart off them." Wonderful condescension of him whose word is truth! Not merely not to punish those who doubt him, but to compassionate them, to make allowance for them, to yield compliance to their weakness, and give them such an assurance as compels their belief. "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, they might have a strong consolation"—a hope on which to anchor their soul (Hebrews 6:17-19). No sure refuge but Zion. When danger threatens men commonly invoke human aid—"trust in Egypt, fly to Assyria"—think to be safe if some great king, or powerful statesman, or important country, will take them under protection. But every such refuge is untrustworthy. States prove themselves" braised reeds" in the time of trouble, "piercing the hand which leans on them" (2 Kings 18:21). Princes disappoint expectation, and show that "there is no help in them" (Psalms 146:3). Statesmen find it inconvenient to redeem the pledges which they have given, and turn a deaf car to the appeals for aid addressed to them. But the ear of God is always open to men’s cries. They may appeal with confidence to him either in— I. THE EARTHLY ZION, his holy mountain, the "city set upon an hill" (Matthew 5:14), in which he has promised that there shall dwell his presence forever. The Church of God, founded upon the sure rock of faith in Christ, is a refuge from the assaults of doubt and unbelief, from the wiles of Satan, from the seductions of evil men. When the great army of unbelief advances, like a smoke from the north (Isaiah 14:31), and threatens to obscure the whole world with the dark mantle of agnosticism, marshalling its hosts with military precision, so that "there is not one straggler at the rendezvous," let men remember one thing, "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people may trust in it" (Isaiah 14:32). The poor of his people, such as feel themselves "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17), may find in the Church of Christ—the Church with which he continues always, "even unto the end of the world"—a refuge, a defense, a rallying-point, from which they may defy the dark host of their enemies. Against the Church the gates of hell shall not prevail. Her Lord is her Defender, and will give her victory over all her foes. The Lord’s people may safely trust in her. Or, if this does not suffice, if (as happens to men in some moods) every earthly stay seems vain, they may go "boldly to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16), and address themselves directly to God in— II. THE ZION—the "heaven of heavens"—the sphere where he sits enthroned above angels and archangels, yet from which he is ever lending an attentive ear to the cry of all his creatures. The earthly Zion is but a temporary abiding-place for individuals; the heavenly Zion is alone their true home. In the heavenly Zion alone are they wholly safe—saved, garnered, gathered in, secure forever. There is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1); there is "the river of the water of life, clear as crystal" (Revelation 22:1); there is the "tree of life," with its "twelve manner of fruits," and its leaves which are "for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). The earthly Zion is but a type of the heavenly; it is on the heavenly that our thoughts should rest, our minds dwell, our spirits stay themselves (Colossians 3:1-3). BY E. JOHNSON Song of redeemed Israel I. THE OF THE SONG. (Isaiah 14:1-3.) The immediate purpose of that awful convulsion of the nations described in the preceding chapter was judgment; but beyond this lies the purpose of mercy. The inspired song of Israel is ever of "mercy and judgment." One loving purpose works, whether through the hiding of the cloud and the storm, or in the manifest brightness of the calm summer day. Whether he makes himself known to us amidst terror and trembling, or in peace and tranquilly flowing hours, "God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world." After the storm comes the still small voice, heard in the sanctuary, echoed in the heart, "Fear not; I am with thee." Jehovah will give his people rest in their land from the cruel sufferings of slavery. The heathen will look on, astonished at the deliverance of Israel, and wilt be convinced that there is a truth in the religion of Israel superior to that of their own. They will escort the people of Jehovah to the sacred place, and there become attached to their service as dependents. To the prophetic conscience it seems that this is but in accordance with the law of compensation. It seems preposterous, nothing less than an invasion of the true order of things, for a community which holds the purest principles to be enslaved to one whose power is built on falsehood. The conscience of the prophet teaches him that as God is right, so there must be a rectification of the world’s wrong. The present first must become the last, and the last first, and the world must be turned upside down, that Israel may obtain and retain her destined lead among the nations. This is a leading ideal of prophecy, and we find it reappearing in the days of Christ. We may, indeed, without straining a point, say that such predictions, born of the profoundest religious convictions, have been fulfilled in the course of our religion. It will hardly be denied that the great spiritual principles summed up in the phrase, "the kingdom of God upon earth" have grown upon the world, have obtained a larger and more commanding recognition with every great change among the nations. Israel, Greece, broke up as nations only to resign their deposit of truth to a larger stewardship; and Rome’s work was fulfilled when she became the vehicle of Christianity to the wide Western world. The forms of Divine fulfillment seen by the prophets in their forecast may not have been always the truest forms, limited as they were by conditions of space and time. The substance and spirit of their message was of eternal truth. II. THE OF THE SONG. 1. The picture of rest from tyranny. The Babylonian oppressor shall be quelled; his lordly pride and wrath shall cease. For the staff of authority wielded by impious hands shall be broken, the tyrant’s scepter dashed from his hand. His part will be reversed; having incessantly smitten the people in his cruel rage, and trodden them beneath Ills feet in the exercise of arbitrary and unchecked power, he will himself be powerless, as all injustice must be, disjoined from physical force. See the critical notes for the discussion of the meaning of the words, and the strong images of violence, inspired by tyrannic caprice and cruelty, which they call up in the imagination. "The oppressor’s scorn, the proud man’s contumely," are enumerated by our great poets among those conditions which tempt men to doubt the worth of existence. Take away the freedom of religious life, the placid enjoyment of old customs of family and social life, from a people, and you extract from them the relish for life. "’Tis liberty, fair liberty alone, That gives the fleeting flower of life its sweetness and perfume." There is no deeper passion, nor one more just, than the hatred of tyranny, m the human breast. If we look at the question from the point of view of the tyrant himself, his lot is odious. Xenophon represents Hiero of Syracuse lamenting to the poet Simonides his unhappiness. He must surround himself with guards whom he cannot trust. Intimate friendship, such as blesses the meanest of his subjects, must be to him denied. He cannot close the sleepless eye of suspicion. Amiable ha may be and sympathetic by nature, yet his heart may not expand in the chilling atmosphere which surrounds him. The cruel necessities of power may even render the lot of the oppressor less enviable than that of the oppressed. The heart of the people in every hind and age cries out against tyranny as an abuse of the moral order, a violence done to the nature of things. And the true prophet, ever feeling in unison with that heart, translating its dim yearnings into articulate oracles, denounces and predicts the downfall of tyranny as inevitable, if the kingdom of Jehovah on earth is a reality. "There remaineth a rest for the people of God." "The empire is peace." These words, once uttered vainly by a potentate in our time, and soon sternly refuted by the roar of artillery from around the walls of his fair city and from a score of battle-fields throughout his pleasant land, contain the policy of the kingdom of the Messiah. Selfishness, ambition, tyranny of individual wills,—these are the most constant causes of restlessness and war. When "all man’s good" shall be "each man’s rule," such evils will be impossible; the "unsuffering kingdom" of the Messiah will come, and the meek will inherit the earth. 2. The sympathy of nature with man. How exquisite is the poetic feeling for nature in the next verses (7, 8)! Like all the imagery of Hebrew poesy, they are full of simplicity, sublimity, pathos. "Now resteth, now is quiet all the earth; songs of jubilation break forth. The cypresses rejoice on thy account, the cedars of Lebanon. Since thou liest low (they say) none will come up to lay the axe against us." The Chaldean used the wood of these trees, of great durability, for his buildings, his besieging apparatus, his ships. A small remnant, heirs of those magnificent trees on Lebanon of the prophet’s time, still stands on the spot. They seem, in their robust and beautiful forms, the very type of human life in the ideal freedom and independence of its growth. There is a strong poetic feeling for the tree in the Hebrew psalmists and prophets. The just man is like the tree planted by the flowing stream, or like the palm flourishing in the desert, the image of outward suffering and deprivation. We all yearn for the sight of the trees. We cannot see their leaves fall in autumn without something of a pang. We hail the returning blush on the beech woods of our own land in the springtime, and the dimly deepening green of the hedgerows. A silent sense of sympathy steals to our heart, as if sickness, old age, and death were illusions, life the only reality. The dimpling reflections of the sunlight on the leaves are as smiles, and as a whisper from the spiritual world the rustle or’ the wind among them. We can understand how in olden time men felt the trees to be oracular, and believed, or half believed them to be tenanted by supernatural beings. A landscape without a tree, like a sea without a sail, is a sight we cannot long endure without pain. Such feelings have undoubtedly a religious meaning and value. As we listen to them and cultivate them, the faith grows stronger that a Divine love and sympathy is stirring at the very heart of things. It is an ill thing if we permit on every occasion our cold scientific conscience to chide us out of such a mood. In the present exalted mood of the prophet, the trees seem not merely to offer a silent sympathy, but to find tongue and to break forth into articulate triumph. Still more boldly, in Isaiah 4:1-6:12, they are conceived as clapping their hands in joy. Here the cypresses and cedars, appropriated by the patriotic eagerness of the prophet, as it were, exult in deliverance from the axe of the alien feller, as he exults in the breaking of the alien scepter. III. LESSON ON THE OF MIND WITH NATURE. Let us not be tempted to idle words in speaking of that high faculty of poetic fancy exercised upon the objects and scenes of nature, and illustrated in this passage. A great spiritual poet of our age—Wordsworth—has taught us religiously to cherish it. We accept the teaching, but not in its exaggerated forms. It has been asserted as a principle of primary and universal import, that "it has pleased God to educate mankind from the beginning through impressions derived from the phenomena of the natural world." A sounder theology and a juster theory of the imagination teaches otherwise. The home, the school, the Church, the state, society,—these are the scenes of our spirit’s training in religion and in morals, for time and for eternity. We cast upon the forms of the external world reflections of sentiments and truths we could not divine from that world. We know the physical cosmos through the moral cosmos, not vice versa. As to poets of the highest order, all have been at home in the grandeurs of the spiritual world, not all have been affected by the forms of nature. This has been especially remarked of Dante. This observation is fixed almost exclusively upon the Divine and human world. And, indeed, it must be admitted that the noblest objects of contemplation are God and man himself. "The universe and all its fair and glorious forms is indeed included in the wide empire of imagination; but she has placed her home and her sanctuary amidst the inexhaustible varieties and impenetrable mysteries of the human mind …. Is it not the fact that external objects never strongly excite our feelings but when they are contemplated with reference to man, as illustrating his destiny or as influencing his character?" (Macaulay). We can find in Nature only what we take to her. The key to her mystical meanings is to be found in the awakened conscience, the heart made pure. Petrarch, unlike Dante, loved the face of nature. But on one occasion, in the midst of a glow of delight in a glorious prospect, he remembered that he had a volume of St. Augustine in his pocket. Opening the book at random, he read these words: "Men go to admire the lofty mountains, the mighty sea-billows, the broad courses of the rivers, the circuit of the ocean, the orbit of the stars; and they neglect themselves." He closed the book and reproached himself. Even the heathen philosophers might have taught him a deeper truth. Doubtless. Socrates said that "trees did not teach him anything, but man." Let us adapt the saying to religious feeling. The trees will yield no oracles but those which have been first heard in the inmost conscience. And if there are times when they seem to whisper of gladness, or to smile and clap their hands for joy, it is because God has already opened a fountain of perennial trust and hope within the soul. Then "fruitful trees and all cedars" will praise the Lord, when the heart is filled with praise. "The outward face of nature is a religious communication to those who come to it with the religious element already in them, but no man can get a religion out of the beauty of nature. Those who have first made the knowledge of themselves and their own souls their care, its glory has ever turned to light and hope. They have read in nature an augury and a presage; they have found in it a language and a revelation’ (Moztey).—J. Isaiah 14:9-23 Song of redeemed Israel: the scene in Hades. I. OF THE TYRANT INTO THE . (Isaiah 14:9-11.) The realm of the departed trembles with the excitement of expectation as the great potentate of Babylonia approaches to take up his abode in those gloomy regions. The shades of departed chiefs and kings bestir themselves, and rise from their thrones in amazement to greet the newcomer. "Hast thou also become weak like us? Art thou become one of us?’ His pomp and splendor is cast down to the lowest depth, the sound of his festive harp is silenced in that joyless place. Instead of his costly rugs, maggots are now his bedclothes, and his counterpane worms. II. IDEAS OF THE . These pictures reach far back into antiquity, and represent a deep and universal belief in the heart of mankind. Sheol among the Hebrews, Hades and Tartaros among the Greeks, the realm of Dis or Pluto among the Romans, are different representations of the same ideas of conscience. But with the Hebrew it is connected more sublimely and simply with the faith in the one supreme and righteous God. 1. It is viewed as a stale of physical exhaustion. In Homer (’Odyssey,’ 11.) the departed are described as faint, helpless ghosts, who recover nor memory and consciousness till they have drunk of the blood poured by Odysseus into the trench. And when his mother has thus revived and has spoken to him— "Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to hind; Thrice through my arms she slipp’d like empty wind, Or dreams, the vain illusion of the mind …. All, all are such when life the body leaves No more the substance of the man remains, Nor bounds the blood along the purple veins." Pale and wan beneath those "nether skies," their lot is in extreme contrast to that of their friends who still "breathe in realms of cheerful day." 2. It is a place of profound sadness and regret. Who can forget the piercing pathos of Achilles’ words when Odysseus hails him as a king among the shades, even as on earth he had been a guardian divinity to his countrymen— "Talk not of ruling in this dolorous gloom, Nor think vain words (he cried) can ease my doom. Rather I’d choose laboriously to bear A weight of woes and breathe the vital air, A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread, Than reign the sceptered monarch of the dead." Oh, how gladly, exclaims Virgil, in describing the suicides in hell, would they now endure poverty and toil beneath the deep sky! But vain the wish; justice forbids, and they must remain confined in the horrid swamp, with its melancholy waters, shut in by the ninefold stream of Styx. A sullen discontent is the mood of others, like Ajax, brooding over the loss of the prize of arms. It is a scene of hopelessness. The descent is easy; but to retrace the steps—the Roman poet admits the possibility only to a few, sons of gods, favored by Jupiter, or inspired by superhuman virtue. Says the gloomy Italian, "All hope abandon, ye who enter here." In the soul, where all these dread events must happen, first and last, what is this weakness, this unavailing regret, this void of hope, but the reaction of powers abused, of passions indulged beyond their proper bound? According to our sowing must be our reaping, and our daily deeds must be reflecting their color upon the wall of the inner chamber of the mind, till it becomes to us either prison or palace, a hell or a heaven. III. THE OF PAST . From the depth of sorrow men learn to measure past blessings, from the lowest point of abject humiliation the height of previous greatness. Two things, in all history, in all legend, in the experience of daily life, impress the imagination, and through the imagination the moral conscience—the rise of the obscure into glory, and the fall of the great into ignominy. Such changes hint at a great law, the principle of which is one, the effects of whose operation are dual and diverse. The King of Babel had been as the morning star, the type of the Orient in all its splendor of intellectual light, heralding the dawn and the onward march of the sun. How true a proposition is it in reference to human culture, "Light comes from the East!" Babylonia was an early center of such culture; and dimly through the records of the past we may there discern all those passions and energies at work in that great kingdom which lead first to external greatness, then to moral corruption, finally to external ruin. The remains of Oriental architecture, as significant to those who understand the ethical meaning of art as a whole literature could have been, speak of a towering ambition, such as the prophet here describes. In no way can we be more astonished at the vastness of the passions of man’s little heart, than in contemplating those colossal tombs and temples and palaces of ancient lands. They seem a visible challenge to time, a defiance of death, an arrogation of divinity and of immortality. To the prophet they, with other accompaniments of despotic power, appeared as the attempt of vain man to measure himself with heaven. The secret thought he detects in the heart of the tyrant is, "To heaven I will ascend, beyond God’s stars I will raise my throne, and sit down on the mount of all the gods, in the extreme north; will ascend to the heights of the clouds, and make myself like the Most High." The north was in ancient thought generally the sacred quarter. Zeus dwelt in Olympus, on the north borders of Greece. Apollo came from the Hyperboreans, the people beyond the north wind. Zion is "on the sides of the north, the city of the great king." And in his epiphany in the tempest, Jehovah comes in majesty from the north. The magnificent heathen would then have rivaled him. He said in his heart as he looked on his palaces and hanging gardens, as he reviewed his troops, as he listened to the echoes of Western alarms, "By the strength of my hand I have done it;" "As one gathereth deserted eggs, I have gathered all the earth" (Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:14). He felt himself to be like a magnificent tree, deftly striking his roots through the whole succulence of the earth, overtopping all other growths, sheltering all fowls in his branches, all beasts, yea, all nations, in his shade. All other trees, the cedar in the garden of God, the fir tree and the chestnut, seemed to envy him (Ezekiel 30:1-26.). And now! Oh, tragic change! his boughs are broken, his branches scattered on the earth, his shade deserted; the birds and beasts remain, but only as haunters of a ruin. "Now thou art east into hell, into the lowest depth." IV. AT PRESENT . 1. The world looks on. "Is this the man who made the earth tremble through and through, who shook the kingdoms to their base? who made the world as a desert, and destroyed its cities, and let not his captives return home?" The scene is changed from Hades; no longer is the monarch viewed even as in the underworld, to which only the buried could pass. It is an outcast corpse the spectators look upon, and no sight could to ancient feeling be more abhorrent, or signify more deeply the curse of a hero’s end. The other kings of the peoples rest each in his magnificent mausoleum; he lies amongst the meanest corpses of those slain upon the battle-field; not even hastily interred in a hole filled with stones, but liable to be trampled underfoot by the victor. He who would have grasped the earth in his ambitious embrace, cannot now find six feet of it to shelter his remains. The lurid light of such an end is cast back upon the beginning. To a prophetic eye false greatness is already smitten by the Divine judgment, the effects of which will be one day the amazement and the horror of men. 2. The prophet reads the moral. Such an end of the waster of lands and fierce murderer of peoples must serve as example and prototype to all times. It is no mere personal, but a dynastic doom. The seed of evil-doers, the tyrant’s progeny, will pass into oblivion; his sons will expiate his offences in a bath of blood, so that the very species of human savages called "tyrants" shall no more be propagated. Every general truth has its particular application to a given time and condition; so every particular catastrophe that fills the nations with amaze is to be traced up to some great central ever-working cause. And for good or for evil, there is organic sympathy in the lives and fates of individuals. If we wrench ourselves not free from the family vice, what can we expect but the family doom? If we are partakers, by the force of custom or example, of the sins of our party, profession, class, we may not be exempt from the moral disgrace which must sooner or later overtake it. V. CLOSING ORACLE. It uses images of the utmost energy and tragic vehemence. Jehovah will root out of Babylon name and remnant, sprout and shoot. It shall become the heritage of "hedgehogs and swamps," shall be swept with the besom of destruction. The doom of great cities—what is it but the doom of individuals "writ large?" In that doom may be seen eternal justice; can we find mixing with it eternal mercy, eternal love? In these scenes of horror on earth, in the reflected miseries of Hades? Must history ever pursue its spiral course, and epicycle upon epicycle of sin and damnation eternally succeed? Let us fall back upon our deepest hopes, and think that the yearning of the creature cannot exceed that of the Creator, and that at the foundation of hell’s floor must still be Divine justice and love. So Dante sang— "Justice the founder of my fabric moved; To rear me was the task of power Divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love." J. Isaiah 14:24-28 Oracle concerning Asshur. The fate of Sennacherib and his host appears to be introduced in order to confirm the solemn oracle just delivered concerning Babylon (see Exposition). I. THE STRONG OF JEHOVAH. He is represented here and in other passages as taking an oath that he will fulfill his Word. But in such oaths he can appeal to no mightier name, he can invoke no power more awful than his own. Homer makes Zeus swear by the Styx, the dark river of the underworld. And Zeus is himself subject to necessity, to fate. But the God of the Hebrews comprises in himself all the associations of woeful necessity, of irresistible fate; in a word, of law, of intelligence at one with will, of will equal to the execution of all the designs of intelligence. Where men are weak it is that the brain is separated from the hand and the foot. The thoughts that rise before them, they either cannot or they dare not translate immediately into fact. A chain of means, of secondary causes, lies between them and their ends. And so we have the great thinkers who cannot act, and the great actors who fail in thought. Magnificent poets, philosophers, dreamers, on the one side; on the other, magnificent conquerors—Alexanders, Napoleons; both stupendous failures. In God are united omniscience and omnipotence—the All-Thinker, the All-Doer. His purposes are equivalent to deeds; his deeds are living and visible thoughts. II. THE DOOM OF THE . (See Isaiah 10:1-34.) The prophetic tense and the prophetic mode of contemplation may refer to the past; so here. The thought is expressed in Jeremiah 1:18, Jeremiah 1:19, "Behold, I will punish the King of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the King of Assyria." The one event was a pledge of the other (Delitzsch). Asshur had been broken in Canaan, had been subdued upon the mountains of the Holy Land, and the people been released from his yoke and his burdens. "Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, The host with their banners at sunset were seen; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay wither’d and strewn …. And the widows of Asshnr were loud in their wail, And the idols were broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!" III. THE COUNSEL OF JEHOVAH. 1. Its contents. It is earth-embracing, and its symbol is the" hand stretched out over all the heathen." Assyria and Babylon destroyed, heathendom must vibrate through all its extent, and totter to its fall. Turning from the particular to the general—for only in this way can we reap the full instruction of such oracles—and standing amidst the ruins of fallen, or on the ground of now shaking empires, we may listen in awe to the ever-living voice of him who saith, "I will shake all nations, till their Desire come." About a thousand years later, and we find Rome shaking beneath that outstretched hand. We may see the mementoes of that shock to-day, in the ruins of the Palatine and the Forum and the Sacred Way. Yet a thousand years, and again she shakes, this time to her inmost conscience, beneath that hand, that voice of judgment. At the Reformation it might seem that the Almighty was about to make a short work in the earth. But a thousand years are in his sight but a day. "The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small." Let us remember that the great cycles of history are repeated in small in the round of each man’s life. The great world, the macrocosmos, is mirrored in the microcosmos, the small world of each conscience. Above every one of us the hand is outstretched—shall it be to bless or to curse? "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." 2. Its inflexibility. Who can break this counsel, who hinder or turn back that hand? And what people or confederacy of peoples, knit in closest alliance of arms and girt with all the furniture of war, can resist dissolution, when once his thought is against them, his hand upraised? "Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us" (Isaiah 8:10). So may the lovers of the truth and the right confidently exclaim, "God is with us." What the superstitious man calls his luck or fortune, what the metaphysician obscurely designates as necessity, or the nature of things, or the supremacy of the moral Law, is to the religious man the inflexible will of a personal Being. The duty, the art, the wisdom, the salvation of life, is in obedience to that will. It is to know that we are here to be acted upon by that will rather than to act from our own self-center. We are "God’s puppets." He gives to men and to nations a certain space Wherein to learn what freedom is, and what its soon-reached limits. Then comes the higher lesson, to know that freedom can only be secured by obedience; that in the choice of the supreme will for our own will, we recover that better freedom in which is strength and peace and stability forever.—J. Oracle concerning Philistia. I. THE . It dates from about the time of the death of Ahaz, and was on his death incorporated with the book. The Edomites and the Philistines, who had given way before the powers of David, had taken advantage of the weakness of Ahaz’s government to invade Judah They had taken possession of several towns in the south of the land (2 Chronicles 28:17, 2 Chronicles 28:18). The Syrians in the front and the Philistines in the rear seemed to threaten and devour the land with open mouth (Isaiah 9:12). But the year of the death of Ahaz brought Hezekiah to the throne, who successfully resisted Assyria and smote the Philistines to Gaza (2 Kings 18:8), not only recovering the cities, but defeating them in their own land. To this eventful time, then, the oracle belongs. II. WARNING TO . 1. The might of the Davidic house. Its symbols are a rod, a staff, a serpent, a cerastes or basilisk, and a flying dragon. The "rod that smote Philistia" was the scepter of David and of Solomon, later wielded by Azariah or Uzziah (2 Kings 15:1-7; 2 Chronicles 26:1), who broke down the wall of Gath and of Gabneh and of Ashdod. But the conflict with Syria and Ephraim had brought the power of Judah low; the rod was broken in pieces. But the power of Judah is no mere rod; a root is the fitting symbol of its inexhaustible vigor. The tembinth oak is not perished when its leafy honors have fallen (Isaiah 6:13), and from the root of Jesse a young sucker shall yet spring (Isaiah 11:1). With this symbol is connected that of the serpent, also widely viewed in antiquity as a chthonic symbol, i.e. as representing the powers supposed to be seated in the heart of the earth. The serpent is a "son of earth," and this significance may be seen illustrated in the story of the appearance of the serpents, which were devoured by horses, to Croesus. The horses symbolized the invading enemy, under Cyrus (Herod; 1:78). The Greek legends of the slaying of a serpent or dragon by a hero, seem in several cases to denote the taking possession of a land—or of a sanctuary—Apollo, Perseus, Bellerophon. If such be the meaning of the serpent here, then, says the prophet, so far from destroying the serpent of Judah, its power in the land, the Philistine will encounter a more dangerous and deadly form of that power. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 15:1-9 THE BURDEN OF MOAB. The present chapter and the next are very closely connected, and may be regarded as together constituting "the burden of Moab." It has been argued on critical grounds that the bulk of the prophecy is quoted by Isaiah from an earlier writer, and that he has merely modified the wording and added a few touches here and there (so Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald, Knobel, and Cheyne). Jeremiah is thought to have also based his "judgment of Moab" (Jeremiah 48:1-47.) on the same early writing. But speculations of this kind are in the highest degree uncertain, and moreover lead to no results of the slightest importance. It is best, therefore, to regard Isaiah as the author of these two chapters. Having threatened Philistia, Israel’s nearest enemy upon the west, he turns to Moab, her nearest foe towards the east. Isaiah 15:1 Because. An elliptical beginning. Mr. Cheyne supposes some such words as "Lament for Moab," or "Alas for Moab!" to have been in the writer’s mind, but to have been omitted through "lyrical excitement." In the night. This is best taken literally. Night attacks, though not common in antiquity, were not unknown. Mesha, King of Moab, boasts that he "went in the night" against Nebo, and assaulted it at early dawn (Moabite Stone, I. 15). Ar of Moab; or, Ar-Moab. An ancient city, mentioned among those taken from the Moabites by Sihon (Numbers 21:28). According to Jerome, it was called in Roman times Areopolis, or Rabbath-Moab. Modern geographers identify it with Rabba, a place on the old Roman road between Kerak and Arair, south of the Amen, where there are some ancient remains, though they are not very extensive. Is laid waste, and brought to silence; rather, is stormed, is ruined. Kir of Moab. "Kir of Moab" is reasonably identified with Kerak, a place very strongly situated on a mountain peak, about ten miles flora the south-eastern corner of the Dead Sea. Isaiah 15:2 He is gone to Bajith; rather, he is gone to the temple. Probably the temple of Baal at Beth-baal-meon is intended. Beth-baal-meon is ’mentioned in close connection with Dibon in Joshua 13:17. And to Dibon. Diboa is mentioned in Numbers 21:30; Numbers 32:3, Numbers 32:34; Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:17; Jeremiah 48:18, Jeremiah 48:22. It was an ancient Moabite town of considerable importance, and has recently been identified with the site called Diban, where the Moabite Stone was found. This place is situated in the country east of the Dead Sea, about three miles north of the river Arnon, on the old Roman road connecting Rabbath-Moab with Hesh-bob. The town seems to have gained in importance from the fact that it was the birthplace of Chemosh-Gad, Mesha’s father (Moabite Stone, 1. 2). Mesha added to its territory (ibid; 1.21). It is extremely probable that it was the site of one of the Moabite "high places," and was therefore naturally one of the places whereto the Moabites, when afflicted, went up" to weep." Over Nebo, and over Medeba. Nebe and Medeba were also ancient Moabite towns. Nebo is mentioned in Numbers 32:3, Numbers 32:38; Numbers 33:47; 1 Chronicles 5:8; Jeremiah 48:1, Jeremiah 48:22. It seems to have lain almost midway between Beth-baal-meon (Main) and Medeba, about three or four miles south-east of Heshbon. Medeba obtains notice in Numbers 21:30; Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:16; 1 Chronicles 19:7. Mesha says that it was taken from the Moabites by Omri, King of Israel, but recovered by himself at the end of forty ’years (Moabite Stone, 11. 7-9). It lay south-east of Hesh-ben, at the spot which still retains the old name—Madeba. It has been suggested that there was at Nebo a shrine of the Baby-Ionian god so named; but this is to assume a resemblance which the facts at present known do not indicate, between the Moabite and Babylonian religions. On all their heads shall be baldness. The practice of cutting off the hair in mourning was common to the Jews (Isaiah 22:12; Micah 1:16) with various other nations; e.g. the Persians (Herod; 1 Chronicles 9:24), the Greeks, the Macedonians (Pint; ’Vit. Pelop.,’ § 34), the primitive Arabs, and the North American Indians (Bancroft,’ Native Races of America’). It was probably intended, like lacerations, and ashes on the head, as a mere disfigurement, Isaiah 15:3 In their streets; literally, in his streets; i.e. the streets of Moab. They shall gird themselves with sackcloth. Another widely spread custom, known to the Assyrians (Jonah 3:5), the Syrians (1 Kings 20:31), the Persians (Esther 4:1, Esther 4:2), the Israelites (Nehemiah 9:1), and, as we see here, to the Moabites. The modern wearing of black garments, especially crape, is representative of the old practice. Every one shall howl. "Howling" remains one of the chief tokens of mourning in the East. It was a practice of the Egyptians (Herod; 2.79), of the Persians (ibid; 8.99; 9.24), of the Babylonians (Jeremiah 51:8), and probably of the Orientals generally. Weeping abundantly; or, running down with tears (comp. Jeremiah 9:18; Jeremiah 13:17; Herod; 8.99). Isaiah 15:4 Heshbon shall cry. Heshbon, now Hesban, lay about twenty miles east of the Jordan, nearly on the parallel of its embouchure into the Dead Sea. It was the capital city of Sihon (Numbers 21:21), who took it from the Moabites. On the partition of Palestine among the tribes of Israel, it was assigned to Reuben (Numbers 32:37; Joshua 13:17); but at a later time we find it reckoned to Gad (1 Chronicles 6:81). We do not know at what time Moab recovered Heshbon, but may conjecture that it was one of the conquests of Mesha, though it is not mentioned on the Moabite Stone. And Elealeh. Elealch is commonly united with Heshbon (Numbers 32:3, Numbers 32:37; Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 48:34). It is probably identical with the modern El-A’al, a ruined town on the top of a rounded hill, little more than a mile north of Hesban. Even unto Jahaz. Jahaz lay considerably to the south of Hesh-ben, probably not very far north of the Arnon. It must have been in the vicinity of Dibon, since Mesha, on taking it from the Israelites, annexed it to the territory of that city (Moabite Stone, II. 19-21). It was the scene of the great battle between Sihon and the Israelites under Moses (Numbers 21:23). His life shall be grievous unto him; rather, his soul shall be grieved within him. The Moabite people is personified (Cheyne). Isaiah 15:5 My heart shall cry out for Moab (comp. Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 16:11). The prophet sympathizes with the sufferings of Moab, as a kindred people (Genesis 19:37), and perhaps as having, in the person of Ruth, furnished an ancestress to the Messiah (Matthew 1:5). His fugitives; literally, her fugitives. The country is here personified, instead of the people, the former being feminine, the latter masculine. Shall flee unto Zoar. Zoar, the "little" town, spared for Lot’s sake (Genesis 19:20-22), is placed by some at the northern, by others at the southern, extremity of the Dead Sea. The present passage makes in favor of the more southern site. An heifer of three years old. Those who defend this rendering refer the simile either to Zest, or to Moab, or to the fugitives. Having regard to the parallel passage of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 48:34), we may pronounce the last explanation to be the best. The resemblance to the heifer will consist in the cries uttered. To ninny critics, however, this idea appears harsh, and the alternative is proposed of regarding Eglath—the word translated "heifer"—as a place, and the epithet, "of three years old," as really meaning "the third." Attempts are made to show the existence of three Eglaths in these parts; but they are not very successful; nor is any instance adduced of a city being distinguished from others of the same name by a numerical suffix. The rendering of the Authorized Version may therefore stand, the comparison being regarded as one of the fugitive Moabites to a heifer in its third year, "rushing along with loud, hopeless bellowings" (Kay). By the mounting up of Luhith. This ascent has not been identified. It should have been on the way from Moab proper to Zoar. The way of Horonaim. On the Moabite Stone Horonaim is mentioned as a town of the Edomites attacked and taken by Mesha (11:31-33). It lay probably south or southeast of the Dead Sea. The Moabites, flying kern their invaders, seek a refuge in the territories of Edom and Judah, weeping and wailing as they go. Isaiah 15:6 The waters of Nimrim shall be desolate. The Wady Numeira is a watercourse running into the Dead Sea from the east, hallway between the promontory called the "Lisan" and the sea’s southern extremity. It is fed by "six or seven springs"—"plenteous brooks gushing from the lofty hills" (Tristram), and boasts along its banks a number of "well-watered gardens." There is no reason to doubt the identity of this stream with "the waters of Nimrim." Their "desolation" was probably caused by the enemy stopping up the sources (2 Kings 3:19, 2 Kings 3:25; 2 Chronicles 32:3, 2 Chronicles 32:4). The hay is withered away. There is luxuriant vegetation in the wadys and ghors at the southern end of the Dead Sea, especially in the Ghor-es-Safiyeh, the Wady Numeira, and the Wady el-Mantara. Isaiah 15:7 The abundance, etc.; i.e. "the property which they have been able to save and carry off with them." This, finding no place of refuge in their own territory, they convey to their southern border, where "the brook of the willows" separates their country from Edom, with the intention, no doubt, of transporting it across the brook. Isaiah 15:8 Eglaim … Beer-Elim. Unknown sites on the borders of Moab, both probably towards the south. The enemy has come in from the north, and has driven the population southwards. A hope has been entertained of the pursuit slackening; but it is disappointed. The enemy causes grief and "howling" in every part of the territory. Isaiah 15:9 The waters of Dimon. It is thought that "Dimon" is here put for "Dibon," in order to assimilate the sound to that of dam, blood. St. Jerome says that in his day the place was called indifferently by either name. If we accept this view, "the waters of Dimon" will probably be those of the Amen, near which Dibon was situated (see the comment on Isaiah 15:2). I will bring more; literally, I will bring additions; i.e. additional calamities, which will cause the stream of the Aton to flow with blood. Lions; or, a lieu. Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 4:7), who is said by Josephus to have conquered the Moabites, or possibly Asshur-bani-pal, who overran the country about B.C. 645. Denunciations of God’s wrath upon sinners compatible with the deepest pity for them. It is sometimes assumed that those who exert themselves earnestly to set before men the severer aspects of religion, who, like Paul before Felix, "reason of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come" (Acts 24:25), must be persons of harsh, stern, and pitiless tempers, devoid of the gentler feelings, or at any rate without keen sympathy with their fellow-men. The advocates of universal salvation claim to be more tender-hearted than their opponents, and brand the latter with epithets denoting a want of humanity and kindliness. But true tenderness and kindness will not lead men to conceal unpleasant truths, but to state them with the utmost clearness and distinctness—to press them upon men, insist upon them, compel attention to them. Their outspokenness is no sign of want of sympathy, but rather an indication of the contrary. It springs froth the deepest love, from the most earnest desire to save souls, Throe great examples may be alleged in proof of this. I. THE EXAMPLE OF ISAIAH. Nowhere do we find more unreserved denunciations of God’s wrath against sinners than in the writings of "the evangelical prophet." All the enemies of God are in their turn arraigned, condemned, and sentenced to the severest sufferings. But can it be said that Isaiah is cold, or harsh, or unsympathetic? No. Far otherwise. His "heart cries out for Moab" (Isaiah 15:5). He "bewails with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah" (Isaiah 16:9); he "waters Heshbon and Elealeh with his tears" (Isaiah 16:9); his "bowels sound like an harp for Moab," and his "inward parts for Kir-Haresh" (Isaiah 16:11). Nor is it only the kindred nation of Moab which draws forth such feelings. A vision of the siege of Babylon causes him to cry out, "Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth; I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. My heart punted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me" (Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 21:4). II. THE EXAMPLE OF ST. PAUL. NO sacred writer is more direct in his warnings against sin, or more plain in his denunciations of eternal death to sinners, than St. Paul. "As many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law: and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law "(Romans 2:12). "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21). Yet what writer shows greater tenderness towards those whom he warns, or a more affectionate concern for them, than the great apostle of the Gentiles? "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved ’(Romans 10:1). "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsfolk according to the flesh" (Romans 9:1-3). III. THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. The tenderness of Christ’ is without a parallel in the history of man. Not only did he die for men, but throughout his life he showed at every turn a love for them surpassing human love. For their sake becoming poor and despised, for their sake unwearied in works of mercy, moved with compassion if he saw them faint or weary, grieving bitterly, even weeping, when he found them impenitent, never breaking the bruised reed nor quenching the smoking flax, on his way to his death of shame praying for his murderers, it is yet he who delivers the warnings concerning final judgment, which are most awful and most impossible to explain away. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 7:19). "As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:40-42). "Then shall he say to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46). "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched’. BY E. JOHNSON Oracle concerning Moab. I. HISTORY or Moan. Zoar was the cradle of the race, the house of the tribal father Lot. While the brother-tribe of Ammon wandered to the pastures of the northeast, Moab remained nearer the original seat. They were confined to a narrower district by the invasion of the Amorites (Numbers 21:26-30; Deuteronomy 2:10, Deuteronomy 2:11). Their long feud with the tribe of Benjamin lasted to the time of Saul. But in the Book of Ruth we have a pleasant glimpse of the intercourse between the people of Moab and those of Judah; and David, by descent from Ruth, had Moabite blood in his veins. Eglaim, a Moabite king, had reigned at Jericho; but a fearful war, the last of David’s, had crushed, almost extirpated, Moab (2 Samuel 8:1-18.; 1 Chronicles 18:1-17.). On the division of the kingdom, Moab fell under the dominion of Israel, and paid its kings an enormous tribute (2 Kings 3:21). On the death of Ahab this tribute was refused, and Moab, in alliance with the Ammonites and others, attacked the kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 20:1-37.). A fearful disaster followed, and Israel, Judah, and Edom united in an attack upon the Moabites, who, deceived by a stratagem, were overcome with fearful carnage. And then, to crown these horrors, the king Mesha, having retreated to the strong place of Kir-Hareseth, was seen by the host of Israel sacrificing his own son upon the wails, as an extreme measure, with a view to obtain deliverance from the gods of the land. From that time we know little of the fortunes of Moab until the date of this prophecy, about a century and a half later, B.C. 726. She had regained the lost ground, and was settled in the territory north of the Arnon, when this disaster overtook her. Ewald thinks that three prophets were concerned in this prophecy, and that it is preserved in Jeremiah 48:1-47, more nearly in its original form. II. THE PATHOS OF MOAB’S FATE. The whole description is characterized by a tone of deep sympathy. The prophet’s heart is torn by sorrow and compassion; it melts with tenderness. The mood is elegiac rather than prophetic. The fragment is unique among the elder prophets; even in Hoses there is nothing quite like it (Ewald). "In a night Ar-Moab is laid waste, destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed." Perhaps the ruins of the capital and the fortress may be identified by antiquarians; perhaps not. But what is more important to us to notice is the pathos of ruined cities. What are they but the speaking symbols of man’s efforts and man’s failures, his soaring ambition, his profound disappointment and humiliation? So the poet in our own time amidst the colossal ruins of Egypt: "I surveyed the generations of man from Rameses the Great and Menmon the beautiful, to the solitary pilgrim whose presence now violated the sanctity of those, gorgeous sepulchers. And I found that the history of my race was but one tale of rapid destruction and gradual decay. And in the anguish of my heart I lifted up my hands to the blue ether, and I said, ’Is there no hope? What is knowledge and what is truth? How shall I gain wisdom?’" (Disraeli). A city is to the passionate fancy of prophet and poet as a living person, a woman glorious in her beauty, and extorting tears from the onlooker in her fall. He sees the people going up to the central temple of the land, not to rejoice, but to weep. Every head is bald, and every beard is torn in sign of mourning for the departed. Figures move about in the market-places, not in holiday attire, but in sackcloth; on the roofs and in the streets universal wailing is heard, and there is beheld as it were a deluge of tears. The hill Heshbon cries, and Elealeh returns a hollow sound, and from far-off Jahaz an echo comes. The heroes’ hearts are paralyzed; they cry out with the women in helpless lamentation. The very heart of the land trembles; it is an earthquake of woe. In sudden calamities, the sudden deaths of individuals, the sudden fall of cities, there is an expression of the mystery of destiny which overwhelms the soul. Goethe, after describing the awful earthquake of Lisbon in 1755, which "spread a vast horror over a world already accustomed to peace and rest," speaks of his own feelings as a boy on hearing the details often repeated. "He was no little moved. God the Creator and Upholder of heaven and earth, whom the explanation of the first article of belief represented as so wise and generous, had, in dealing out like destruction to the just and the unjust, by no means acted as a father. In vain his young spirit strove to recover from these impressions; and it was the less possible, because the wise men and the doctors could not agree on the manner in which the phenomenon should be viewed." Without attempting to unravel the tragic enigmas of existence, it may be welt to note how deep is the abyss of thought and passion in our own hearts opened by the tale of such horrors; and thus to learn something of that Divine sympathy which broods over nature and over men, and to be reminded of those tears shed over Jerusalem, already seen by Jesus in the lurid light of its approaching doom. III. THE OF THE PROPHET. It is expressed in appropriate figures. His heart cries out with passionate yearning towards Mesh. The city of Zoar seems to him as a heifer of three years old, in all the unexhausted fullness of its strength. This is an image of a fair and fertile land, applied also to Egypt and to Babylon (Jeremiah 46:20; Jeremiah 48:34; Jeremiah 50:11; cf. Hosea 4:16; Hosea 10:1). The roads are filled with fugitives, weeping and raising the cries of death and despair. At Nimrim, the "fair waters," the springs have been filled up with rubbish, and will probably be a waste forever. The greenness of the spot has vanished beneath the hand of the conqueror, and the fugitives, with their savings and stores, are seen hurrying across the brook of the willows into the territory of Edom. From south to north, from Eglaim to Beer-Elim, there is wailing, there is wailing! Dimon or Dibon’s (perhaps the Arnon) waters are full of blood. And yet a further perspective of evil opens. A lion is to be brought upon the fugitives and the survivors; probably Judah, as this animal was Judah’s tribal ensign (Genesis 49:9). But we must be content to leave the passage obscure. IV. MUSINGS AMONG THE RUINS OF MOAB. The land has been but seldom visited by Europeans, and their descriptions vary; but all agree in stating that the country is covered with an extraordinary number of ruins. Of the language we do not know very much, but the Moabite Stone shows that it was closely akin to Hebrew. Of the religion we know still less. Of what nature was their great god Chemosh, whose worship Sdomon introduced into and Josiah expelled from Judah? Here almost all is conjectural, and imagination has fled course and unchecked play amidst the ruins of Moab. The ruins are symbolic of human greatness, of human diseases and decay. "All things have their end; Temples and cities, which have diseases like to man, Must have like death that we have." The moldering stones sermonize with silent eloquence on the old text, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." They remind us of man’s short life and long hopes. He builds for a thousand years, though he may have but as many months to live. Thus, bearing their witness to the aspiration for immortality, the passion to create the beautiful that—hall not die, venerable ruins of remote antiquity have a lofty spiritual expression. "There is given Unto the things of earth, which time hath bent, A spirit’s feeling; and where he hath leant His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power And magic in the ruined battlement, For which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower." They remind us, by contrast of that which falls not into ruin—the edifice of God in the human spirit; the shrine not to be found on the mounts of Moab or of Judah; the jiving altar on which the fire goes not out from age to age; the element in life which abides forever, when this world and the lust thereof hath passed away.—J. BY R. TUCK Moab a national type. Of late years attention has been directed to Moab, through the discovery of what is known as the Moabite Stone, which contains the earliest inscription we have wholly in alphabetical characters. This stone was found at Diban, about three miles north of the central part of the Arnon. Its inscription remarkably confirms the Scripture record. The original territory of Moab seems to have been divided into three portions: 1. What was known as the "land of Moab"-the open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho, reaching to Gilead on the north. 2. The "field of Moab"—upland undulating plains, extending from the precipitous mountains overlooking the Arabah and the Dead Sea on the west, to the Arabian desert on the east; from the deep chasm of the Arnon on the north, to Edom on the south. 3. The "Arboth-Moab," or dry tropical regions in the Arabah on the east of the Jordan. The peculiarity of Moab, so far as indicated, seems to have been that for many years it had been undisturbed and prosperous, not affected by invasions or famines; and so, lacking experiences of calamity and suffering, social and moral evils had so grown that at last terrible and almost overwhelming Divine chastisements seemed necessary; and these would cause unusual grief and distress. The Prophet Jeremiah indicates the special characteristic of Moab in a very striking passage (Jeremiah 48:11): "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." A contrast is suggested between the national experiences of Israel and of Moab. Israel had known no easy restful periods in her history; she had been "shaken loose or unsettled every few years by some great change or adversity—by a state of slavery in Egypt, by a forty years’ roving and fighting in the wilderness, by a time of dreadful anarchy under the judges, by a revolt and separation of the kingdom, and then by a captivity. Moab had been at ease from the first, shaken by no great overturnings or defeats, humbled and broken by no captivities, ventilated by no surprising changes or adversities. He has lived on, from age to age, in comparative security, settled on his lees; and therefore he has made no improvement" (Bushnell). Moab is thus a type of those nations that have long periods of peace and prosperity, and of those families and individuals who have for years few experiences of trouble. From Moab, as a type, we may learn such lessons as these. I. GOD IS IN OUR TIMES OF AND EASE. It is a fact of common human experience that our relations with God are recognized in our times of trouble, but lost sight of in our times of prosperity. It is woe to us when all men speak well of us, and it is woe to us when all things go well with us. Nothing so easily hides God from our view as success attending our own self-endeavors. And yet God is in our times of prosperity, as truly sending them, presiding over them, and working his purpose through them, as he is sending and using times of suffering. No truth needs more constant and varied reassertion than this—God is in prosperity and success. II. SUCH TIMES OF AND EASE ARE TESTS OF . The common sentiment is that troubles alone test us. The truth is, that removal of trouble tests; that holding off of trouble tests; and that bestowments and benedictions test. These, indeed, become most searching tests, under which many of us utterly fail after coming well through our times of tribulation. What is thought of as the inequality of life—the disproportionate allotment of joy and sorrow, success and failure—finds a partial explanation, if we apprehend that a man’s success and case are his moral testings, and that, before God, thousands more fail under life’s prosperities than fail under life’s adversities. Man, looking at Israel and at Moab, would at once say that Moab, in his quietness, was the best off. The issue plainly shows that the lot of Israel was the more desirable. III. SUCH TIMES OF AND EASE DEVELOP FORMS OF EVIL. Not the same forms that are developed by adversities, but more subtle and more vital evils. All those which come out of centering thought on self—involving heart-separation from God; self-conceit; contempt of others; over-estimate of the material and temporal; luxury of self-indulgence; and those aggravated and degrading forms of immorality which attend unchecked civilization and over-swift development of wealth. We know the moral evils of war-times; we fail to estimate the more pervading moral evils of peace-times. IV. SUCH EVILS, SOONER OR LATER, BRING ON SPECIAL DIVINE . As with Moab. When the judgment comes, it needs to be so severe as to seem a gathering up of all the testing sufferings of years. And though it is still only chastisement, it takes a form that looks like overwhelming judgment. In this chapter the prophet seems to be amazed at the terrible character of the Divine judgment on Moab when it did fall.—R.T. National distress. The particular trouble causing such extreme grief was the destruction of the two chief cities of Moab, Ar and Kit. To destroy the capital of a kingdom is to strike the nation at its very heart. Conquerors can dictate peace when the chief city lies at their mercy. Illustrate from the recent German siege of Paris. This chapter vigorously pictures the distress throughout the land when Ar was taken, the rush of people to the border districts, the alarm of those whose property was imperiled, the wail of those who had lost their friends in the strife. Howling, weeping, plucking off the hair, covering with sackcloth, and other signs of despairing grief, were found everywhere; and the cries were all the more bitter because for so many generations Moab had dwelt secure. Here one kind of national distress brings before us that general subject, and sets upon considering— II. ITS BEARING ON THE POOR. They are always the first to suffer from political or international conditions which affect manufacture, trade, or agriculture. Living upon daily wage, and, when thrifty, only able to provide in limited degrees for depressed times, the poor are most dependent on the preservation of peace, security, order, and mutual confidence. Demagogues urge the poor to a disturbance of social relations, with the promise of material advantage. In the interests of the poor themselves we plead that war, disturbance, revolutionary change, never even temporarily serve their interest. So grievous is the effect of political convulsions on the poor, that no class of the community should more intensely demand the knitting of laud to land by commerce and brotherhood, and the correction of social and political evils by processes which do not disturb the sense of national security. Of the poor the words may well be used, "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." II. ITS BEARING ON THE RICH. They are always the aim of attack in lawless times, whether the evil come through aggressive enemies outside the nation, or through turbulent people inside the nation. The one wants "booty," and the other wants excuse for robbery. The rich need national security (1) for the retention of what they have; (2) for the increase of what they have; (3) and for the enjoyment of what they have. National distress becomes especially afflictive to the rich, because by training and association they are unfitted for self-help when their riches are taken away. III. ITS MISSION AS SENT BY GOD. It is often that which we find illustrated in the case of Moab. National distress, circumstances that unite the whole land in a common grief, and in a common sense of helplessness, is the Divine corrective of the evils which attend prolonged peace, security, and luxury. Those evils may be traced: 1. In the sphere of men’s thought. The material is exaggerated, the unseen and spiritual are at disadvantage, and cannot hold their due place and proportion. 2. In the sphere of social life. In prolonged times of peace and prosperity, the separations between classes of society are grievously widened, and there grows up a painful contrast between the few who are unduly rich and the many who are miserably poor. National distress brings rich and poor together, in mutual dependence and service. 3. In the spheres of religion. Like the voyager, men can easily dismiss the thought of God when, for long times together, seas are calm and heavens are clear; but when the skies are black, and the wild waves shake the frail ship, and fear whitens every face, the soul begins to cry for a sight of God and a touch of his protecting hand. We are with God as our little children are with their mothers. They run about and play, taking little heed of her, until the head aches, and the pulse is high, and pain wearies; and then there is nobody in all the world will do but their mother. National distress brings nations back to the thought and love of God. The atheist, the agnostic, and the secularist have their chance when the sun shines; nobody wants such vain helpers when the tempests rage. Then nobody will do but the God of our fathers. IV. ITS SHAME, IF CAUSED BY MAN’S OR MAN’S NEGLECT. And these are too often the immediate causes of national distress. War is almost always the issue of somebody’s willfulness or masterfulness. Nobody would need to go to war if they did not hanker after something to which they had no right, or were not compelled to resist these envious, masterful folk. And such distresses as come by prevailing disease are usually traceable to men’s neglectings of social and family and household duty. God makes even man’s errors and sins serve his purpose, but he never ceases to declare woe unto him by whom the offence cometh.—R.T. Divine judgments in precise adaptations. The point which arrests attention here is that Moab, being so largely a sheep-feeding country, was dependent on its pastures, and these were dependent on the dews, and rains, and fountains, and streams. To a grazing country no greater calamity, no more precisely adapted calamity, could come than is described in this verse: "The waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing." Possibly the mischief was wrought in part by the malicious act of the invaders in stopping the wells and defiling the streams. If one thing more than another is impressed on devout minds by a review of life, it is the marvelous way in which Divine wisdom has found the best, most adapted forms for judgment and chastisement to take. Chastisement sent by the Divine Father is always precisely corrective of the evil which has called for it, and always precisely corrective to the individual and to the particular nation. This general subject may be opened out thus— I. DIVINE HAVE PRECISE AIMS. The aim expressed in general terms is—humiliation with a view to exaltation. II. DIVINE ARE TO SECURE THOSE AIMS. And this decides the form and the degree of the humiliation that is found to be necessary. III. DIVINE ARE ADAPTED IN WAYS THAT MAY ESCAPE PRESENT NOTICE. And this occasions some of the gravest perplexities, and sternest struggles of life. IV. THE OF ALL DIVINE , TO THE OF THEIR PRECISE AIMS, WILL BE THE OF THE FUTURE. It will be our reading of our own history, and. of the world’s history, when we have learned how to read aright.—R.T. The insecurity of worldly possessions. The picture is a striking one. In the national fright, the people are seen picking up what they can of their treasures, and escaping for life to the border districts; learning the lesson that "riches take to themselves wings, and flee away." The word "abundance," in the text, should be replaced by the word "remainder;" and the most probable meaning of the verse is that the Moabites shall carry what they can save of their possessions into the land of Edom. The picture suggests two topics. I. THE OF THE MAN WHO IS RICH IN WHAT HE HAS. Illustrate from riches (1) in land; (2) in money; (3) in houses; (4) in goods. How dependent he is on a thousand things for the retention and use of all! The lesson of Job is that no form of earthly possession can possibly be secure. Land is unlet; money cannot be profitably exchanged; houses get out of repair, and eat up rentals; and goods deteriorate in the warehouses. When ordinary forces leave our property alone, the heavens can send fire; the earth can heave and quake; and by mysterious influences we can be made to learn our lesson, that "this is not our rest." II. THE OF THE MAN WHO IS RICH IN WHAT HE IS. No human and no supernatural forces, here or hereafter, can deprive a man of his possessions in what he is. Character, piety, are beyond reach of moth, or worm, or rust, or storm, or earthquake, or death. It is said of knowledge that a man "only possesses what he understands." It might be said of a man’s wealth that he "only has what he is." When calamities come, the man of character never has to gather his treasures hurriedly together and make off for the border-land. Wherever he is, he has his riches with him. Stripped of all his so-called wealth, he is not deprived of one grain. He holds it all, and his riches none can take away. The Lord Jesus men called poor. He was the only truly and perfectly rich man that ever lived; and such as he was we would desire to be.—R.T. Isaiah 16:1-14 THE BURDEN OF MOAB . This portion of the "burden" is divided into three sections. In section 1 (from Isaiah 16:1 to the end of Isa 16:5) an offer of mercy is made to Moab on certain conditions, viz. that she return to her allegiance to the house of David, and show kindness to fugitive Israelites. In section 2 (Isaiah 16:6-12) she is supposed to have rejected this offer, and is threatened (as in Isaiah 15:1-9.) with severe punishment. In section 3 (which consists of Isa 16:13 and Isaiah 16:14) the time is fixed for the main visitation to fall upon her. Isaiah 16:1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land; rather, the lamb of the ruler of the land—the lamb (or lambs, kar being used collectively) due to the ruler as a mark of subjection. In the time of Ahab Mesha had paid a tribute to Israel of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams annually (2 Kings 3:4). The prophet recommends that this, or some similar, tribute should now be paid to the King of Judah instead. Israel having been absorbed into Assyria. From Sela. Either Moab is regarded as having taken refuge in Edom, and is therefore bidden to send her tribute from the Edomite capital, Sela (equivalent to "Petra"), or "Sela," here is not a proper name, but a collective used to designate the rocky parts of Moab, to which she had betaken herself (as in Jeremiah 48:28). The latter supposition is, on the whole, the more probable. To the wilderness; literally, wildernesswards; i.e. by the way of the wilderness. The enemy being regarded as in possession of the northern end of the Dead Sea, Moab is recommended to send her tribute round the southern end, and so by way of "the wilderness of Judah," to Jerusalem. Isaiah 16:2 For it shall be; rather, and it shall be. The tribute having been paid, Moab will regain some confidence. Her fluttered population will return, and collect at the fords of the Amen, ready to recross it. As a wandering bird cast out of the nest; rather, as a wandering bird (or, wandering birds)—"as a scattered nest" (or, "brood of nestlings"). The daughters of Moab. The population of Moab generally, as "the daughter of Zion" (Isaiah 16:1) is the population of Jerusalem generally. Isaiah 16:3 Take counsel, execute judgment, etc. According to most critics, these are the words of the Moabites, or of a Moabite ambassador at Jerusalem, and are a call on Judaea to give shelter to the fugitives from Moab. Some, however, as Dr. Kay, maintain that the words are the prophet’s, addressed to Moab, calling on her to treat kindly fugitives from Judaea. Make thy shadow as the night (comp. Isaiah 4:6). In the hot land of Moab the sun is an enemy, and "the shadow of a great rock" a welcome refuge. Isaiah 16:4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab. The change of one accent will allow of this passage being translated, Let the outcasts of Moab dwell with thee; and so it is rendered by the LXX; the Syriac, by Lowth, Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewald, and Mr. Cheyne. Delitzsch and Dr. Kay agree with the Authorized Version. For the extortioner is at an end. This seems to be urged as a reason why the protection asked should be given: it will not be for long—the oppressor is about to receive chastisement. He is called "the extortioner," as exacting the utmost possible tribute from conquered lands. Such exaction was characteristic of Assyria (2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 18:14; ’Assyrian Inscriptions,’ passim). The spoiler ceaseth; literally, devastation ceaseth. Isaiah 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established; rather, and there shall be a throne established in mercy. A Messianic vision comes upon the prophet in connection with the disappearance of the oppressor. There shall be one day—he knows not how soon or how late—a throne established in mercy, and "One shall be seated upon it in truth, who. shall occupy the tent [or, ’house’] of David, as one who judges, and seeks justice, and hastens on [the reign of] righteousness." Isaiah 16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab. A new section commences. Moab has not accepted the offer of mercy made in Isaiah 16:1-5, and is therefore denounced afresh. Her "pride" prevented her from renewing her subjection to the house of David, and therefore it is her pride which is specially condemned. His lies shall not be so; rather, of no worth are his boast-tags. The result will not correspond with them. Isaiah 16:7 Every one shall howl; rather, the whole of it shall howl; i.e. the entire nation collectively (comp. Herod; 8:99; 9:24). For the foundations of Kir-Hareseth shall ye mourn. The word here translated "foundations" is elsewhere always rendered "flagons" or "flagons of wine" (2 Samuel 6:19; So 2 Samuel 2:5; Hosea 3:1). And this rendering is more agreeable to the context than "foundations," since it is the loss of the products of the soil which is threatened in the next three verses. "Kir-Hareseth" is probably the same place as the "Kir-Moab" of Isaiah 15:1. It was one of the principal cities of Moab (see 2 Kings 2:25). Isaiah 16:8 The fields of Heshbon (see the comment on Isaiah 15:4). The whole of the Mishor, or Belka, on the edge of which Hesbdn stands, is cultivable and capable of producing good crops. The Moabites stored water in reservoirs (Son 7:4), and made their country a garden. The vine of Sib-mah. "Sibmah" is mentioned in Numbers 32:8 and Joshua 13:19 among the towns of the Reubenites. According to Jerome (’Comment. in Esaiam’), it was less than half a mile distant from Heshbon. Jeremiah follows Isaiah in lamenting the destruction of its vines (Jeremiah 48:32). The lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof. "The lords of the heathen" are probably the Assyrians, who made a practice of destroying the fruit trees in an enemy’s country, for the mere purpose of doing mischief. It is wanton to discard this very satisfactory sense for the strange one that "the choice plants have broken down—i.e; made drunk—the lords of the heathen" (Cheyne). The rendering of the Authorized Version is supported by Gesenius, Ewald, Rosenmüller, Meier, dud Dr. Kay. They are come even unto Jazer; rather, they (the vines)reached to Jazer; i.e. the vine of Sibmah was cultivated as far as Jazer. Jazer lay about twelve miles north of Heshben, in the territory of Gad (Numbers 32:35). It is probably identified with Es Szir, which is in the required position, and retains a trace of the name. They wandered through the wilderness; rather, they strayed into the wilderness; i.e. the cultivation was pushed eastward into the actual midbar, or desert. Her branches are stretched out; or, her offshoots are spread abroad; i.e. the young shoots or slips are taken by the cultivators and spread further and further. They are even carried across the Dead Sea, and planted on its western shore. Mr. Cheyne supposes the prophet to refer to the "vineyards of En-gedi" (song of Solomon Isaiah 1:14). Isaiah 16:9 Therefore I will bewail (comp. Isaiah 15:5, and see the Homiletics on that verse). With the weeping of Jazer. "With tears as genuine as Jazer’s own" (Kay). O Heshbon and Elealeh (on the close connection of these two cities, see the comment on Isaiah 15:4). For the shouting, etc.; rather, for on thy summer fruits and on thy harvest a shouting is fallen. The "shouting" intended is that of the invading enemy, which replaces the ordinary joy-song of the vintagers (see Isaiah 16:10). Isaiah 16:10 The plentiful field; Hebrew, Carmel. The word carmel seems to designate "garden," or "orchard ground" generally, without reference to the degree of fertility. It is generally rendered by our translators "fruitful field," which is right, if we regard "fruitful" as equivalent to "fruit-producing." No singing … no shouting. Those who have heard the vintage-songs in the north of Italy and elsewhere will appreciate the sadness of this silence. The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses. Wine-presses were in or near the vineyards. They consisted of two vats, or two reservoirs cut in the rock, one above the other, with a passage of communication between them. The grapes were placed in the upper vat or reservoir, and were crushed by the naked feet of the vintagers. Sometimes as many as seven persons "trod the wine-press" together. It was usual for them to sing as they trod (Jeremiah 25:30; Jeremiah 48:33). I have made their vintage shouting to cease. The prophet is the mouthpiece of God. Accidentally, as it were, he here betrays the personality which is behind him. It is not he, but God, who has caused the invasion which has reduced the vintagers to silence. Isaiah 16:11 My bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab; i.e. they shall vibrate with thrills of grief (Kay). Isaiah 16:12 When it is seen that Moab is weary; rather, when Moab shows himself, and has wearied himself. The heathen "thought to be heard for their much speaking" (Matthew 6:7). They endeavored to weary their gods into granting their prayers (1 Kings 18:26), and frequently sue-ceeded in wearying themselves. On the high place. "High places" (bamoth) were common to the Moabites, with the other nations of Syria and Palestine. Mesha, in his inscription, speaks of having rebuilt a city called "Beth-Bamoth" (Isaiah 1:27), which must have been a "city of high places;" and he even calls the stele which he dedicates to Chemosh, whereon his inscription is written, a bamah, or "high place." That he shall come to his sanctuary … but he shall not, etc.; rather, and has come into his sanctuary, that he shall not prevail. Isaiah 16:13 This is the word, etc. The third and concluding section begins here. This prophecy, Isaiah says, is one, not now delivered for the first time, but existent previously. How long previously, he leaves quite vague. Isaiah 16:14 But now. "Now"—an addition has been made to the prophecy. Isaiah is authorized to announce that in three years’ time, counted as strictly as possible, the judgment pronounced shall fall on Moab; her "glory" shall be turned into shame, her "multitude" shall be cut off, and only a "remnant" shall be left, weak, small, and powerless. As the years of an hireling. Counted with the utmost exactness. A hireling would not consent to serve a day longer than his contract bound him, nor would his master consent that he should serve a day short of it. With all that great multitude. We have no means of accurately estimating the population of Moab. The entire area of the region which the Moabites inhabited seems to have been not more than fifteen hundred square miles. The greater part of it was, however, exceedingly fertile; and we are, perhaps, justified in allowing it a population of two hundred to the square mile, which is about that of Germany. This would give three hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom the adult males would be seventy-five thousand. Feeble; literally, not powerful; i.e. very much the contrary, very weak. Moab seems to have offered a very slight resistance to Asshur-bani-pal. Isaiah 16:1-5 God’s offer of mercy to the sinner. Scarcely ever does God punish sin by a sudden unannounced visitation, or without previous warning to the sinner of what is coming upon him. And this warning is almost always accompanied by an offer of mercy. God has "no pleasure in the death of him that dieth" (Ezekiel 18:32); he "would not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). And therefore he warns men. He warned even the ungodly world before the Flood by the preaching of Noah; he warned the Ninevites by Jonah; he now warned the Moabites by Isaiah; he warned the Jews of later times by John the Baptist, by his Son, by the apostles. And all equally in vain. How often do we not see in cases of this kind— I. THE OFFER MADE. Sometimes by an inward awakening of the conscience, more often by preaching or teaching from without, the sinner is startled, alarmed, made to see his sin and feel his danger. Mercy is offered to him, if he will repent and amend; a course of conduct is placed before him by which he may recover himself. But the course is unpleasing; it involves pain and trouble. Pride has to be humbled in the dust, confession and restitution have to be made, pet sins have to be surrendered, self-denial has to be attempted, often the whole course of the life hitherto lived has to be altered, and a new departure made from a new beginning. To the natural man this seems hard, as to Moab the resumption of a tributary position; it seems intolerable, impossible, not to be thought of. And, after a longer or a shorter struggle, the second stage is reached— II. THE OFFER SPURNED. The sinner desires mercy and forgiveness, but he will not consent to pay the price. Immediate suffering, though not of any great severity, seems harder to beat’ than the prospect of future intense suffering. Or perhaps he flatters himself that the future suffering may be escaped. He thinks that he may repent later; or he doubts whether God will punish so severely as he has threatened; or he even doubts whether there is any God at all. On one ground or another he spurns the offer made him—puts it aside, ceases to think of it, practically rejects it. And then comes the final result— III. THE OF THE OFFER . Punishment may be in this life or in the next. That of nations must be in this life; that of individuals may be in either, or in both. Usually—it is in both. Our sin finds us out. Unpleasant physical consequences follow upon most sinful indulgences. Others bring loss of character and of men’s respect. Others, again, lead to poverty and earthly ruin. All are liable to be followed by never-ending regret and remorse, feelings as painful as any known to man. Further, the consciousness of ill desert cannot but arouse a fear of judgment to come—a fear which, as death approaches, becomes often a constant agonizing dread. To all this has to be added the punishment that in another world awaits those who have spurned God’s offers in this—punishment shadowed out to us in Scripture under the images of the "undying worm," and the "fire that never shall be quenched." It is surely worth while for sinners to ask themselves whether the enjoyment which they derive from their sins is really of sufficient value to them to compensate for all this weight of after suffering. Would they not act more prudently, as welt as more virtuously, if they accepted God’s offer of mercy as soon as it is placed before them, and forsook their sins at once, and repented and turned to God? BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 16:1-6 The King in Zion. "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion" (Psalms 2:1-12.). The destined Ruler of the world, he shall spread the wing of his mild government and protection over the nations in their harassment and despair, as now over Moab. 1. THE CALL TO THE . They have fled into Edom, as far as to Petra, near Mount Hor. It was a region surrounded by rocky cliffs. Sela itself means rock or cliff. Between Petra—whose ruins the Arab guide of Seetzen said he must weep over every time he saw them—and Jerusalem lies a desert, through which the tribute flocks must pass. 1. Demand of tribute. "Send ye the lambs of the prince of the land from Sela desert-wards to the mount of the daughter of Zion." In former days Mesha, the King of Moab, was said to be a "sheep-master," and he rendered a yearly tribute of a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool, to the King of Israel till the death of Ahab (2 Kings 3:4). What was then sent to Samaria must now be sent to Jerusalem. Under the form of this demand is signified an appeal to the people of Moab to submit to the house of David as their Girly hope of safety. Spiritually, the appeal may be construed as the call to nations and to men to submit to the spiritual rule of the Messiah, as anointed King and Savior of the world. 2. Effect of the summons. The "daughters" of Moab, i.e. its cities and villages, are seen in commotion. They flutter about, like birds driven from their nests, at the fords of the Arnon, Moab’s chief river. The first effect of the "long-drawn trumpet blast" is fear and agitation. The name of Judah is a spell of terror; the hand of Jehovah is felt to be held out and to be shaken in menace over the nations, and they become like women (cf. Isaiah 19:16). He demands of their flocks and their merchandise. Will they obey? In obedience only will be their salvation. Will these trembling fugitives, seeking escape on the banks of Arnon, hear the timely voice of counsel? How readily do these historical pictures suggest a spiritual application! The first impression of the Divine voice is that of fear; next there is hesitation; next the critical choice, acceptance of the Divine offers, or recalcitration and refusal. The merciful God, the Savior of men, would gather us fugitives from the world’s troubles to his arms. Shall we run to him as a strong Tower and be safe, or seek by perilous paths another course, only to rush upon fresh woes? "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." II. THE REPLY OF MOAB. 1. They appeal to Zion for counsel and arbitrament. The powerful neighbor and suzerain is asked to intervene between the contending parties as an umpire, so that the unjustly oppressed may be succored. And here is a sublime image of the Judge and Protector. May he be "a shadow like night at high moon." In our cold northern clime our poets chiefly borrow images from the wintry season to represent distress. We speak of the wintry frost of calamity, the cruel wind, the snows of adversity, etc. Not so the Hebrew; to him the hot season is typical of all that is most cruel in physical or mental suffering. Hence, by opposition, the shadow of the great rock, or the shadow deep as night, remind of all that is most grateful in deliverance and repose. Of a great man it is proverbially said, in the East, "Like the sun, he warmed in the cold, and when Sirius shone, then was he coolness and shade." And in the Sunna seven classes of good men are enumerated, whom "the Lord will overshadow with his shade, when no shade will be like his" (cf. Isaiah 30:2, Isaiah 30:3; Isaiah 32:2). So may the outcasts be hidden, the wanderers faithfully protected, and Zion throw her regis over the land of Moab, and guard it from the spoiler. 2. They extol the government of Judah. "Oppression has ceased, the spoiling is at end, the tormentors have vanished from the land." We see what good administration is in the light of the bitter experience of tyranny and its attendant evils. Notice the strong images of harsh rule: pressure, applied so as to press out the marrow from the bones of the people, as it were; preying and spoiling (cf. Isaiah 10:6); trampling and treading down of the multitude of the poor. These tyrants exhibit all "the proud man’s scorn, the oppressor’s contumely." Iniquity is their pastime, their game. They "watch for it, they lay snares and gins for good men, as the hunter does for wild beasts. The liberty of speech is denied, and men are made offenders for a word" (Isaiah 29:20, Isaiah 29:21). They are faithless to the faithful, they break treaties, they despise cities, they regard no man (Isaiah 31:1, Isaiah 31:8). Nature seems to mourn beneath the infliction, and society and commerce languish. The highways are deserted of the merchant and the traveler. The glories of Lebanon, the loveliness of Sharon, the fruitful glades of Bashan and Carmel, are dishonored, and seen to weep in sympathy with man. Is there a more odious offence on God’s earth than the tyrant—than despotism and all its horrible selfishness? "Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless myriads mourn." But these things have passed, are passing, or shall pass away. A new era dawns with the establishment of the throne of David. This throne is symbolic of: (1) Grace, or graciousness. The word stands for all that is good in principle, benevolent in purpose, benign and healing in administrative effort. No king truly rules except Dei gratis, by the favor of God, nor is kingly unless he illustrates the benignant spirit of the Divine rule. (2) Faithfulness, or truth. He is the extreme opposite to those treacherous covenant-breakers, who have made tyranny odious and contemptible. His words are kingly because true, and the expression of a truthful character. The character of the liar and the hypocrite sullies the crown more than any blot. (3) Justice. "A judge both seeking right and expert in justice." A burning zeal in his temper for the right, and the habit of making it prevail. Such are the signs of Messianic times—the dawn of God’s kingdom upon earth. The tent of David which had fallen and been ruined is indeed raised up again, and built as in the days of old (Amos 9:11). And it shelters a king in whom the ideal of Jehovah is realized. III. REBUKE OF MOAB. It seems best to take what follows as the utterance of the prophet, pursuing the thread of meditation. We have heard what Moab might have said, and should have said; but alas! her accustomed pride and haughtiness will be her bane. Her insolence and insincerity are also stigmatized, as in Jeremiah 48:30, Jeremiah 48:31, "I know his wrath, saith the Lord; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not effect it. Therefore I will howl for Moab, and will cry out for all Moab; my heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-Heres." Some take the words as given from the throne in reply. "If Moab continues to show so little penitence, it cannot be assisted; and therefore the prophet, however it grieves him, must leave Moab to her further chastisements" (Ewald). It seems intended that we should look upon Moab’s language here as insincere, and therefore unacceptable. We may remind ourselves of the spiritual lesson, "God draws near to the lowly, but recognizes the proud afar off." It is pride which keeps us aloof from blessings that might be had by stooping; it is pride which makes us blind to opportunity, insensible to the bitter lessons of experience, and lays us open to further chastisements.—J. Isaiah 16:7-14 Lament over Moab. I. MOAB’S SELF-. "Moab will wail for Moab; everything will wail." In her misery and distress, she reflects on her beauty. A fair land is like a fair maiden, and her desolation excites the like poignant self-pity. "I know not a greater grief," said Dante, "than to recall the happy time in the midst of distress." The picture of Moab’s former happiness. The vineyard and all its gladdening associations represent the endearing charms of the land. These are no more to be enjoyed in the smitten and drooping fields of Kir-Hareseth and Heshbon. Once a splendid vine threw its noble branches and its trailing shoots far over the borders of the land to the north, to Jazer, near the Dead Sea. The lords of the heathen have beaten it down. II. THE PROPHET’S WITH THE LAMENT. He, too, will bewail the noble vine of Sibmah; he will water Heshbon and Elealeh with his tears, as he thinks of the wild uproar that fell upon the midst of the harvest of fruit and corn. In the irony of grief he uses a figure of speech very expressive. The hedad was the shout raised by the treaders of the grapes. It was a mighty heaven-rending cry, giving forth in full volume the joy and thankfulness of the rustic heart of the tillers (cf. Jeremiah 25:30). There was another shout of different import, one that fell like a knell upon the ear—the yell of a swarming host of invaders, of Jeremiah 51:14, bursting in upon the summer fruits and the vintage (Jeremiah 48:32). Then, instead of the rich flow of the trodden grape, there will be "the red rain that makes the battle-harvest grow." The silence of desolation succeeds to the sounds of rejoicing. There is a silence "more dreadful than severest sounds." It is the silence of scenes once thronged with life, and resounding with cheerful songs and cries. The prophet, as he muses, finds "Remembrance wake with all her busy train, Swell at his heart and turn the past to pain." Joy and exultation is withdrawn from the fruit-fields, and in the vineyards there is no jubilation or shouting; no treader treads wine in the presses, and the shout of the vintagers is at end. "The sounds of population fail; No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale …. Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen, And desolation saddens all thy green." The prophet’s inmost heart is touched, his feelings vibrate like the strings of a harp at the sound of Moab’s woes. In like manner Jeremiah compares his heart to the flute. The poet and the prophet are indeed organs of the world’s sorrows. And indeed these sorrows turn to music even at the worst, when interpreted by the heart of him who is in sympathy with the universal and eternal love. They are "tears most sacred" which are "shed for others’ pain," and athwart them the rainbow of hope seldom fails to glimmer. So here. III. A GLIMPSE OF HOPE. He sorrows over Moab, because Moab does not know the living God. But "when Moab, in the pressure of the further calamities of the future, again appears, as now in his idol-temple, or wearies himself, vainly wringing his hands, and in utter despair, then he wilt be ashamed of his god Chemosh, and learn true humility in Jehovah." So Ewald, who thinks that the last words, necessary to complete the sense, have been lost. Like the priests of Baal calling upon their god from morning to noon, and saying, "O Baal, hear us!" and when there was no voice, nor any that answered, leaping upon the altar, crying and gashing themselves with knives, so will the Moabites, in the extremity of their despair, appeal to Chemosh. What is more sad in the life of superstition than this passionate resort to any means, however irrational, to wring a favor from the deities of special shrines and sanctuaries? As if the true help were not ever near; as if, that being neglected, there could be hope elsewhere! Calvin observes, "While idolaters have their ordinary temples and places of worship, if any uncommon calamity befalls them, they go to another temple more sacred than the rest, expecting that there they will be more abundantly favored with the presence of their god. In like manner, the Papists of the present day, when they are reduced to any uncommon danger (for this fault has existed in all ages), think that they will more readily obtain their wish by running to St. Claude, or to Mary of Loretto, or to any other celebrated idol, than if they assembled in some neighboring church. They resolve that their extraordinary prayers shall be offered up in a church at a great distance. It is in this sense that the prophet applies the term sanctuary to that most highly celebrated among the Moabites, and says they will go to it without any advantage." One cannot help thinking of those melancholy pilgrimages to Lourdes, that focus of superstition in our own times. So do men continue to hew out to themselves cisterns that hold no water; and so necessary still is the living word of prophecy, to remind the world that only in a genuine spiritual relation to the Eternal, only in a faith and worship which is independent of place, because ever fixed in the heart, can true comfort and help be found. IV. OF THE . It is the word spoken long ago by Jehovah concerning Moab. And now he speaks to solemn effect, that in three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be disgraced, together with all the multitude of the great; only a very small remnant will be left. The days or years of the day-laborer or hireling, are those strictly measured, neither more nor less (so in Isaiah 21:16; cf. Isaiah 20:3). "Of working time the hirer remits nothing, and the laborer gives nothing in." The statement is to be taken in its exactness. As the laborer knows that his time is appointed, and may look for an end of his toil when the shadow comes (Job 7:1, Job 7:2), as life itself must surely come to its close (Job 14:6), so with the long-suffering of God, so with the iniquity of nations and men, so with every abuse and oppression; nay, so with every nation and institution. "They have their day and cease to be; But thou, O Lord, art more than they." "After the lapse of almost three thousand years," says Barnes, "every successive traveler who visits Moab, Idumaea, or Palestine, does something to confirm the accuracy of Isaiah. Towns bearing the same name, or the ruins of towns, are located in the same relative position he said they were; and the ruins of once splendid cities, broken columns, dilapidated walls, trodden-down vineyards, half-demolished temples, and fragments broken and consumed by time, proclaim to the world that those cities are what he said they would be, and that he was under the inspiration of God." And how powerfully come back to us from such scenes those "truths which wake, to perish never!" Amidst the gloom the word of prophecy shines as a light in a dark place. Its voice prevails overtime; imparts warmth to the heart amidst the rigors of Providence; calls to mind with its persuasive strain long-slighted truths; teaches that while "Trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay, As oceans sweep the labor’d mole away," the state or the individual that is possessed of moral strength may be blessed in poverty; that there is a good which is not dependent on the fertility of a land, or the strength of its fortresses—which will survive the desolation of its fields, the downfall of its kings, the overthrow of its idols.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM A harvest failure. "I have made their vintage shouting to cease." Why? Because the harvest is fallen. In the vineyards there is no shouting, for all the fruits are blighted and withered. Thus is it with every harvest which is evil. Men expect much, and lo! it often comes to nothing. The glory departs if God is forgotten. I. WE LIVE FOR THE FUTURE. Few live in the present hour alone. Some amass property, looking forward to days of retirement and ease; some go to far-away fields of war to gather the laurels of victory, and to win what the world calls fame; and some seek stores of intellectual wealth, so as to secure the far-off coronet of scholarship and learned renown. But the harvest fails. Jealousy and envy do their work; and the ambassador is recalled, or the mind becomes feeble; through weariness or weakness the anticipated victory becomes a defeat. Somehow or other, either through events without or experience within, when God does not live in the heart and his glory is forgotten, the vintage fails. II. WE LOOK FOR JOY IN HARVEST. That is the time for music and joy, or, as the prophet says, for singing and shouting. It is a time of stretched-out branches and purple groves. And God intended us to have joy in harvest. All innocent pursuits end in blessing, if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. But if not, then there is dullness and gloom and failure; for the Lord of harvest is not there. The vintage fails, because he is the true Vine, and we are the branches, and every branch separated from him is cut down and withered. III. WE LOOK FOR FRUIT AS WELL AS LEAFAGE. That is a remarkable sentence, "The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses." Nothing but leaves! What a significant sentence! Everything seemed to promise well. There was the tender green of spring and the rich foliage of summer, but no blossoms hide under the luxuriant foliage. So it is with all mere convictions and resolves, with all passing sensations and excited feelings. We need ever to remember that the end of religion is fruit. Fruitful service, fruitful sacrifice. And without these, whatever else there be, the vintage fails.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 16:1-4 The wisdom of the weaker. The prophet counsels Moab to "make submission meet" to Judah (Isaiah 16:1), and to show her such kindness in the day of her distress (Isaiah 16:3, Isaiah 16:4) as will be remembered in the day when prosperity and power will be again her portion. I. THE WISDOM OF THE WEAKER . 1. Submission to the greater power under its lawful claim. "Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land"—pay the tribute which is due, and which will be accepted as an offering appropriate for the weaker to present and for the stronger to claim. In those days it was generally acknowledged that "might was right, "and that the stronger potentate might properly exact tribute from the weaker, rendering a certain protectorate in return. Even in these days, when there have been happily established some ideas of international righteousness, it is generally acknowledged that a strong nation cannot afford to have a small province in its immediate neighborhood in a condition of absolute independence of it. It considers that it has a right to claim its submission, receiving protection in return. It is undoubtedly the wisdom of the weaker community, in every realm, to submit itself to the stronger, to make terms with it, to give what it demands and accept what it offers. 2. Kindness to the greater power in the day of its trial. (Isaiah 16:3, Isaiah 16:4.) A shortsighted policy would advise rebellion, would recommend that the hour of its neighbor’s depression should be used to strike a mortal blow and throw off the yoke; but very often a deeper wisdom and a truer sagacity will perceive that the strong power will bend, but cannot be broken—that the day will come (Isaiah 16:4) when it will shake off its oppressors and regain its supremacy, and that, therefore, the right course to pursue is to render every possible kindness in its dark and distressing hour, being a shadow from the heat, a refuge for the outcast, a home for the exile. Be quite sure that your rival or your enemy is attacked with a mortal sickness before you defy him, even on the low ground of policy; on the higher ground of rectitude, render aid to the nobler power when it is stricken down, and your magnanimity shall not be forgotten in the day of its revival. II. THE WISDOM OF THE WEAKER MAN. This corresponds closely with that of the community. 1. Meet at once every claim that is honestly preferred. It is, no doubt, right to resist claims that are unjustly made. The judge, the magistrate, is an authority ordained of God, and to his tribunal we may appeal. But if we cannot dispute a claim that is made, we do well to "send the lamb," to pay the tribute at once. Otherwise we open the sluices through which many waters of suffering will flow in upon us (see Matthew 5:25). 2. Gain the favor of the stroker in the day of her distress. A foolish man will rejoice over the great when he fails—will say, "He is become one of ourselves," and will treat him with indignity. A wise man will only welcome such a day of discomfiture because it enables him to offer succor to the unfortunate, to open wide the door of his hospitality, to be a shadow from the heat to him on whom the scorching rays are falling; and the time will come when he who is thus helped will be able to offer welcome recompense, and in return for the temporary shelter will "receive to everlasting habitations" (Luke 16:9). III. THE WISDOM OF THE HUMAN SOUL IN ITS TO CHRIST. This is: 1. To meet his righteous claim; not, indeed, to send a lamb to Zion, as in ancient days, for such offerings he asks not of us. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Humility of heart; faith in the Son of God, the Divine Redeemer; the presentation of our heart and life to his holy service; the offering of the obedient and submissive spirit;—this is the tribute to bring to his feet. And also: 2. To show kindness to his people. Our Lord is urgent with us that we should show kindness to all them that bear his Name, especially to the weak, the poor, and the despised, the downcast and the outcast, the "little ones" of his flock. Any deed of love we may do for any one of them will be accounted as an act of kindness shown direct to the Lord himself (Matthew 25:34-40).—C. The foundations of power. On what foundation does power rest? What will secure it to those who have gained it, or into whose hands it falls? We look at the foundations of— I. HUMAN . The throne of Judah was to be restored, and it should be "established in mercy" or benignity. He that sat upon it should "sit in truth," "judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness;" i.e. engaged in the administration of justice, endeavoring to act justly, and acting, not with a troublesome delay, but with an appreciable promptitude. These are the two foundations on which sovereignty rests everywhere and always—benignity and justice. The throne may rely on centuries of unchallenged rule, may be fortified by venerable tradition and ancient laws, may be guarded by many thousands of muskets; but it does not stand on any secure basis, it is certain to be ultimately overthrown, if it is unjust in enactment or harsh in execution. Righteousness, justice between man and man, between class and class, between sect and sect—a broad and unbroken impartiality; this great virtue, and its most excellent handmaid, benignity—kindness in manner, sympathy shown to the unfortunate, consideration for the poor and unbefriended;—these are the pillars on which alone human sovereignty will be secure. It has been well said by an English statesman that "justice and mercy are the supreme attributes of Deity, but all men everywhere comprehend them; there is no speech nor language in which their voice is not heard, and they cannot be vainly exercised" with the millions of mankind. II. THE RULE OF CHRIST. Jesus Christ claims to be Sovereign of the world. "Thou art a King, then?" said the astonished procurator. "Thou sayest that I am a King," replied the Son of man. And his word has been justified by the event, for he is ruling now over vast multitudes of human souls. On what does his power rest? On these foundations—righteousness and mercy. 1. He, the Lord of truth, of holiness, of love, has a right to the homage of our minds, to the assent of our conscience, to the unmeasured gratitude and devoted love of our hearts. 2. He, who is full of kindness, of forbearance, of tenderness, of beneficent bestowal and gracious purpose,—he will continue to reign over those who have willingly bowed beneath his spiritual sway. "In mercy shall" his "throne be established." III. . Men covet power; they do well to do so. If they seek it in order that they may exert a precious and helpful influence on the minds and on the lives of others, their ambition is no other than an honorable and laudable aspiration. Its possession by any man must be according to "the ability which God giveth" (the original faculty with which his Creator has endowed him), and according to the favoring circumstances which God has thrown around him. But, these being taken into thought, the power which a man will wield and the duration of its exercise must depend on the measure of these two great moral qualities, benignity and righteousness. In mercy—in kindness, in breadth of beneficence, in readiness and reality of sympathy, in genuineness and greatness of self-forgetting love—shall every man’s throne be established. But he that would sit long on the throne, he that would continue to exercise power with men, he that would retain his influence over men, must be a righteous as well as a genial and gracious man; he must "seek judgment,’ must "haste to righteousness;" he must obviously endeavor to do that which is right between man and man; he must eagerly embrace the opportunity of making the crooked things straight, of restoring that which is wrong, of lifting up that which should no longer be abased.—C. Isaiah 16:6-11 Guilty arrogance and commendable compassion. I. THE GUILT OF . (Isaiah 16:6.) Moab was proud, haughty, insolent, boastful; she lifted up herself in contemptuous defiance of Judah, of the city of God; and the prophet of Jehovah speaks of her arrogance as a very great offence in ’the eyes of the supreme Disposer. There is nothing which is more emphatically, or more repeatedly condemned in Scripture than haughtiness of heart or spiritual pride; it is a very rank offence in the estimation of the Holy One. And well may it be so; for what can be more pitifully wrong, more utterly unbecoming, than that such puny, ignorant, dependent creatures as we are should assert ourselves against the God from whom we came and in whom we live? It should be remembered that there is not only the arrogance of an idolatrous defiance, like that of Moab, but also, as too often found amongst ourselves, (1) the arrogance of unbelief—the product of intellectual pride; (2) the arrogance of impiety—the daring determination of the soul to live without God, to delay all attention to his sovereign claims until a late hour of life; (3) the arrogance of vice—the reckless resolution to snatch forbidden and unholy pleasure, whatever Divine laws may be broken, whatever human hearts may be embittered and human lives despoiled, whatever penal consequences may be entailed. II. THE DEPTH OF ITS . 1. This is seen in the sadness of the circumstances of Moab. Its inhabitants were "stricken" (Isaiah 16:7) with a crushing blow (see Isaiah 5:1-30.; also Isaiah 5:8). Perhaps the culminating feature is seen in the shouting of the harvest home being exchanged for the shouting of the enemy’s soldiery taking possession of the spoil (Isaiah 16:9). 2. It is also seen in, the signs of prevailing misery. "Moab shall howl for Moab; every one shall howl (Isaiah 16:7). Each one for himself and all for one another; "the people to the city, the city to the provinces." The land should be full of weeping. "Pride cometh before a fall; ’"He that exalteth himself shall be abased." These are specimen-passages, representing a large number and a great variety of Divine declarations that arrogance will have a disastrous end. Of course, the special form which the sin takes will usually determine the particular punishment which will ensue. But there will surely come defeat, humiliation, distress; and of this distress the most intolerable element will probably be a lacerating remorse, in which the soul will smite itself because it yielded not, as it might have done, in the day of opportunity. III. THE OF THE . (Isaiah 16:9-11.) The prophet is so impressed with the deplorableness of Moab’s condition that his heart is powerfully touched on its behalf. He "bewails" for it; his heart "sounds like an harp" for it. Human indignation against sin does well to pass into pity for the sorrow and the ruin which sin entails. This is truly God-like, Christian. "God so loved," with the love of an infinite compassion, this sin-ruined world, "that he gave his only begotten Son." Jesus Christ, when lie beheld the doomed city of David, moved with a tender compassion for its coming woes, "wept over it." Let the holy grace of indignation have its due share in the Christian character; the soul that has it not is seriously wanting: but let it by no means exclude from the chambers of the heart that heavenly guest—Christ-like compassion. Let us have a large and generous pity for the fallen, for the guilty, for those who are suffering the bitter pangs of self-reproach; and let sympathetic sorrow pass speedily into a wise and kind helpfulness, which will lead back from the "far country" of sin and shame to the Father’s home of righteousness and joy.—C. Unavailing prayer. Moab "will come to his sanctuary to pray, but he shall not prevail." There are two kinds of unavailing prayer— I. THE PRAYER WHICH IS TO NON- BEINGS. How pitiable that, as the consequence of the blinding influence of sin, men should have spent so much thought and effort in devotion that must have been absolutely barren of all good result! It is painful to think of the multitude of sacrifices—even human sacrifices—that have been offered up beneath every sky, of the labors that have been undergone, of the pilgrimages that have been made, of the tortures that have been inflicted, of the privations that have been endured, of the observances that have been gone through, and, if last not least, of the prayers that have been presented from full and burdened hearts, that have all been wasted, inasmuch as the devotees have all been making their appeal to an ear that could not hear, to a hand that could not help. II. THE PRAYER WHICH IS TO GOD. It is almost equally sad to think that there must have been, and must be, a vast amount of devotion vainly and fruitlessly directed to the living God. There is (1) the format prayer—the prayer which goeth forth from feigned lips, in which men "honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from him" (Isaiah 29:13); (2) the prayer of pride (see Luke 18:9-14); (3) the prayer of impenitence (Psalms 66:18; Proverbs 15:29; Proverbs 28:9; Isaiah 1:15); (4) the prayer of unbelief (Hebrews 11:6); (5) the prayer of irreverence (Hebrews 5:7); (6) the prayer which is unacceptable by reason of the nature of the request. If we ask God for his interposition in the spirit of vindictiveness rather than of generosity, or if we ask for material enrichment or earthly honors rather than the Divine favor and spiritual progress, we may be asking for that which our heavenly Father will deny in mercy to ourselves. For he may know that the very thing we crave would prove to be the most mischievous thing we could possibly possess. It may be worth our while to look also at— III. THE PRAYER WHICH DOES NOT SEEM TO PREVAIL, BUT WHICH IS NOT . There are many acts of devotion which do not bring any immediate, desired result, but they are far from being vain and fruitless. Such are: 1. The prayers which are not supplicatory at all—those which begin and end in communion; those in which the reverent and loving heart of the human child finds a holy and satisfying joy in holding fellowship with the heavenly Father, the redeemed spirit with its gracious Savior, its unchanging Friend. 2. The prayers which are not answered at the time, but after some patient waiting. 3. The prayers which are answered in a way altogether different from that expected by the soul. As the prophet of the Lord met Naaman’s request in a way which surprised and even angered him, so the Lord himself often meets our requests in a way which surprises and even "offends" us. We should prefer the immediate touch of his mighty hand, renewing, cleansing, enlarging, enlightening. But instead of this, he employs some simple and common instrumentality, or some unpleasant discipline, which brings about the change that ’is to be desired. Thus in Newton’s hymn— "I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith and love and every grace." But instead of "his love’s constraining power" subduing sin and giving rest, come assaults from without and wrestlings within; and when the disturbed and questioning spirit asks, "Why is this?" the answer comes— These inward trials I employ From self and pride to set thee free, And break thy schemes of earthly joy, That thou may’st seek thine all in me." —C. BY R. TUCK Recovering false steps. The word "lamb" in this verse should be rendered "lambs." From 2 Kings 3:4 we learn that the tribute rendered to the King of Israel by Mesha, King of Moab, was a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. At the death of Ahab Mesha refused to pay this tribute, and asserted his independence. In view of the exposure of Moab to attacks from Assyria, this was a false step, and Mesha is here urged to retrace that step, and at once send the tribute as a sign of renewed allegiance. The urgency of the case is shown in the advice to send the tribute round the southern part of the Dead Sea, because the northern end was already blocked by the Assyrians. This introduces the subject of retracing our false steps in undoing the wrongs we have done; stepping back from our willful paths, and beginning once more in the right way. I. THIS IS WORK. Its necessity may be argued from these points of view: 1. It is due to God that we should prove our sincerity by reparation as a sign of repentance. 2. It is due to those whom we have wronged that when we are brought to a right mind we should remove and undo the wrong. 3. It is due to ourselves that we should clear away from memory and conscience the bad past, as far as its evil consequences can be cleared. It is never enough for a man to "cease to do evil;" he is hound to remove, as far as possible, the issues of his past evil; and the intensest bitterness a good man can ever know arises from the fact that he cannot heal the wounds he has made, or check the evil working of the influences he has exerted, or example he has shown. When pleaded with in respect of his intense religious earnestness, John Newton is said to have replied, "How can the old blasphemer be silent?" He felt that life was not long enough, or powers large enough, for the undoing of the wrong wrought by a godless, vicious youth. And, further, if in life we swerve from the paths of rectitude, we shall find there is no going on round into those paths again; we must do one thing—we must go back the bad road we have chosen. II. BUT THIS IS MOST WORK. In either the larger or smaller senses to which reference has been made. And that because: 1. It involves serious self-humiliations. None of us can easily say, "I was wrong." 2. Because it exposes us to the scorn of the unprincipled, who regard all retracing of steps as a sign of weakness, and cannot understand the heroism of conquering the baser self. In the sense of undoing wrong that has been done it is most difficult, because the issues of our words and deeds go on out of our reach. It is as if we dropped poison into the fountainhead of a river, and then in remorse tried to cleanse that fount. It can be done, but away down the valley the poison has been carried, and none can bring back to life the poor dead fish that are borne on the current out to sea. The Apostle Paul never could undo the wrongs of that time when he so bitterly persecuted the disciples of the Nazarene. III. YET THIS IS ALWAYS WORK. It has its special rewards. 1. It satisfies our sense of duty. 2. It rests a conscience which otherwise would ceaselessly reproach. 3. It makes us clean-handed to appear before God. 4. It enables us to receive the assurance of Divine acceptance. 5. It becomes our witness to righteousness. Restitution, reparation, humbly going back the willful way we may have taken, meet gracious Divine response. God surely smiles on the man who is brave enough to set wrongs right, and acknowledge the foolishness of his self-willed way.—R.T. Practical righteousness. It does not seem certain whether this counsel is addressed to Moab in relation to the people fleeing for shelter from the invasion of Sennacherib, or to Israel in relation to the outcasts from Moab. Whichever it be, the point of the counsel is that they should act kindly, considerately, charitably. Righteousness is like "pure religion and undefiled;" it is doing something—"visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction." "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous;" "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Absolute righteousness, as before the all-searching God, is not a human possibility; but Scripture uses the term in reference to men. The psalmist says, "Judge me according to mine integrity, and according to my righteousness which is in me." And our Lord pleaded thus, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." I. MAY BE MERE . A delusion of excited feeling, as it too often is with persons who take up with "holiness theories." The danger of sentiment is that too often it satisfies, and in the pleasant enjoyment of it a man has no care about giving righteousness its due expression. No fruits ever grew on the tree of sentimentality, and its leaves have no virtue for the healing of the nations. II. MAY BE A . It is assumed in our being Christians. It is the state into which we are called. It is guaranteed in our regeneration. Why, then, may we not be satisfied with this profession? Because such righteousness is, at the best, something belonging to a class, and not to the individual; and the only righteousness worth having is something which the individual has for himself alone. III. MUST BE A . "Even as he [Christ] is righteous;" and his righteousness was distinctly conduct, and the spirit of conduct. Righteousness is truth, brotherliness, service, charity, self-denial, purity; it is God-likeness, and God is righteous in all his works. It is well for us to have and to cherish right feelings and good resolves, but the question to ask ourselves is this—If we have the opportunity, do we give these good resolves, do we find for these good thoughts and feelings practical expression? The message sent to David has often been misunderstood and misused. In connection with building the temple God said, "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart." But we forget that David went as far as he was allowed, in giving practical expression to what was in his heart; he made preparations for what he might not himself accomplish.—R.T. Righteousness hindered or hastened. There is a possible reference here to King Hezekiah, and of him it is said that "seeking judgment and hasting righteousness" should be characteristics. The expression, "hasting righteousness," is a very suggestive one. Cheyne translates, "is prompt in righteousness." The following thought may be worked out and illustrated: Establishing righteousness in the earth is God’s purpose, and towards the accomplishing of that purpose—the speedy accomplishment of it—every good man should work. But what are the facts of life, which we cannot fail to observe? I. HAS ACTIVE . They who would dethrone God attack righteousness, which is the spirit and the demand of his rule. II. IS BY STOLID . With whom it is much more difficult to deal than with active opponents. They simply block the way of God’s chariot-wheels. III. IS DELAYED BY THE WEAKLY . Who put no strength into either good or evil. IV. HAS EARNEST . Men and women who strive for it, witness for it, suffer for it. Whose whole lives do but repeat the great cry with which the Book of God closes: "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly;" "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."—R.T. Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 16:10 The sadness of a silent land. These verses bring before us the picture of a country from which, at the proper seasons, there rises no harvest and no vintage song. "Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in its vineyard there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting." In every age and every land the gladness of the people has found expression in the joy of harvest, and no picture of woe, want, and desolation could be so effective as this simple one of the harvest-fields from which arise no song. Meditatively treated, we consider— I. A LAND WITH NO JOY IN IT. That must be a land on which rests no Divine benedictions; and it must be the picture of— II. A LIFE WITH NO JOY IN IT. That must be a life on which rests no Divine smile. We are like the birds, we can only sing in God’s sunshine. Inexpressibly sad is human life without God. "The joy of the Lord is our strength;" but the sadness of agnosticism, atheism, Comtism, secularism, is the all-sufficing proof that these can never take the place of religion for man, who fain would sing for joy. Let such systems prevail, and the song of earth would cease. From the silent, songless land a heart-cry to the great heavens would go, saying— "Oh for a vision! Oh for the face!" R.T. Prayer that may not prevail. The immediate reference of this verse is to the vain and hopeless prayers of Moab, offered in his time of distress to his idol-god Chemosh. Idols are only gods for sunshiny days, when their worshippers want nothing. There is no prevailing to secure help from them when life is full of calamities, and when hearts ache. But the expression reminds us that prayer offered to the true God does not always prevail—at least, prevail to the securing of the precise thing asked for; though this comes about, not by reason of the Divine inability, but by reason of the Divine wisdom and love. Our prayer may not always prevail with Jehovah, for such reasons as the following— I. BECAUSE THE OF HIM WHO OFFERS IT IS WRONG. 1. He may demand, and that God can never allow. 2. He may not have clean hands; and man must put away his evil doings before he seeks God. 3. He may be unforgiving towards his brother; and if we forgive not our brother his trespass, God will heed no prayer from us for the forgiveness of ours. 4. He may fail in that importunity which is before God the sign of earnestness. 5. He may ask with purely selfish intentions—to consume the blessing sought upon his lusts. II. BECAUSE THE PRAYER IS ONLY A CRY OF DESPAIR. Not a quiet, thoughtful turning to God, but only a feeling, "Nobody can help me—let us see if even God can." There is nothing in such a cry to which God can hopefully respond. For prayer to prevail with God there must be some trust in it. III. BECAUSE GOD’S GOOD TIME FOR MAY NOT HAVE COME. Prayer often only seems not to prevail, because the answer is held over until God’s best time has come. And Divine delayings are tests of sincerity and inspirations to importunity. "Though it tarry, wait fur it; it will surely come, it will not tarry." IV. BECAUSE OTHER PRAYERS MAY BE PRAYING AGAINST OUR PRAYERS. Other people’s prayers, and the voice of some things in ourselves. Sodom’s iniquity was crying hard against Abraham’s prayer, and Abraham could not prevail. Jerusalem was crying hard against the Lord Jesus, and his prayer could not prevail. St. Paul’s infirmities of temper were crying hard against his prayer that the thorn in the flesh should be removed; and they prevailed, not Paul, and the thorn stayed piercing on. Here is a hidden secret unfolded. Why have we so often seemed to pray only to feel the heavens like brass above us? We should know if we could hear all the prayers that rise to God, and know how many and how loud are the prayers that plead against us. God weighs them all, and the answer to us is always that which is best, on the whole.—R.T. Isaiah 17:1-3 THE BURDEN OF . The eye of the prophet travels northwards from Moab, and, passing over Ammon as an enemy of small account, rests once more upon Damascus, already threatened in Isaiah 7:1-9, and probably already partially punished. Damascus is seen once more in alliance with Ephraim (Isaiah 7:3), and the two are joined with a new power, Aroer (Isaiah 7:2), which possesses several "cities." Woe is denounced on all the three powers: desolation on Damascus and Aroer; on Damascus and Ephraim, the complete loss of the last shadow of independence. The Assyrian inscriptions point out, as the probable date of the prophecy, the commencement of Sargun’s reign—about B.C. 722 or 721. Isaiah 17:1 Damascus is taken away from being a city. According to Vitringa, Damascus has been destroyed oftener than any other town; but it has a wonderful power of rising again from its ashes. Probably a destruction by Sargon is here intended. Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. That the Aroer of this passage cannot be either that on the Arnon, or that facing Rabbath-Ammon (Joshua 13:25), has long been perceived and recognized. It is evidently a city of the same name lying much further towards the north. Arid it is a city of far greater importance, having "cities" dependent on it. Now, Sargon’s annals tell us of a "Gal’gar," a name well expressing the Hebrew ערער, which was united in a league with Damascus, Samaria, Arpad, and Simyra, in the second year of Sargon, and was the scene of a great battle and a great destruction. Sargon besieged it, took it, and reduced it to ashes (’Records of the Past,’ l. s.c.). There is every reason to recognize the "Aroer" of this verse in the "Gargar" of Sargon’s inscriptions. They shall be for flocks (comp. Isaiah 5:17; Isaiah 7:25). It marked the very extreme of desolation, that cattle should be pastured on the sites of cities. None shall make them afraid; i.e. "there shall be no inhabitants to make any objection." Isaiah 17:3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. Sargon did not destroy Samaria on the occasion of his first capture. But he says that he "reduced it to a heap of ruins" on the occasion of its second capture (’Records of the Past,’ l.s.c.). And the kingdom from Damascus. We do not hear of any King of Damascus after Rezin, who was slain by Tiglath-Pileser about B.C. 732. Damascus, however, reasserted her independence in B.C. 721, and probably set up a king at the same time. In B.C. 720 she was reduced and destroyed. Nothing more is heard of her until B.C. 694—the eleventh year of Sennacherib—when her "governor" is Assyrian Eponym, and she must therefore have been absorbed into the Assyrian empire. The remnant of Syria. This phrase shows that the great blow which struck down Syria—Tiglath-Pileser’s capture of Damascus and slaughter of Rezin—was a thing of the past. Syria was already but "a remnant." Now she was to cease to exist altogether. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel. Ironical. The irony is made apparent by the next verse. Isaiah 17:4-11 A OF WOE ON ISRAEL, WITH THE PROMISE OF A REMNANT. Israel, having united herself with Syria to resist the Assyrians, will incur a similar fate. Her glory will decay, her population dwindle and almost disappear. Still there will be a few left, who, under the circumstances, will turn to God (Isaiah 17:7). But it will be too late for anything like a national recovery; the laud will remain "a desolation" on account of the past sins of its inhabitants (Isaiah 17:9-11). Isaiah 17:4 The glory of Jacob shall be made thin. There is reason to believe that the deportation of the Israelites was gradual. Sargon, on taking Samaria for the first time, in B.C. 722, carried off no more than 27, 290 of the inhabitants. Over the remainder he appointed governors, and required them to pay the same taxation as before. About B.C. 715 he placed a number of Arabs in Samaria, probably deporting natives to make room for them. The continuant of a remnant of Israelites in the land down to B.C. 625 is indicated by 2 Chronicles 34:9. The fatness of his flesh shall wax lean (comp. Isaiah 10:16). Depopulation is primarily intended; but there is, perhaps, also a more general reference to depression, wasting, and misery. Isaiah 17:5 As when the harvestman gathereth the corn. Death is the "harvestman" here, and gathers the Israelites by shocks, or sheaves, into his garner. A great depopulation appears in 2 Kings 17:25, where we learn that lions so multiplied in the land as to become a terror to the few inhabitants. Reapeth the ears. Mr. Cheyne well remarks that the "ears" only were reaped, the stalk being cut close under the ear. This was the practice also in Egypt. In the valley of Rephaim. The valley of Rephaim was the scene of David’s double victory over the Philistines, related in 2 Samuel 5:17-25. It is disputed whether it lay north or south of Jerusalem; but the connection with Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:13-17) and with the cave of Adullam seem decisive in favor of a southern position. A "valley," however (’emek), suitable for the cultivation of corn, in this direction, has yet to be discovered. Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it; rather, yet gleanings shall be left in it. There is no mention of grapes, and it is clear that the "gleaning" intended is that of an olive-ground. As the shaking of an olive tree; rather, as at the beating of an olive tree. The olive crop was obtained, not by shaking, but by beating the trees (Deuteronomy 24:20). The owner was forbidden to "go over the boughs again," in order that a portion of the crop might be left for the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless to glean. In the top of the uppermost bough. Where the sticks of the beaters had not reached. Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches; rather, four or fire apiece on its fruitful branches, This is the average that would be left, after beating, on a good-sized branch. Isaiah 17:7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker. We have evidence of this revulsion of feeling on the part of Israel in the statement of Chronicles that, in the reign of Josiah, offerings of money were made for the temple service by men of "Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel," which the Levites collected and brought to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 34:9). Isaiah 17:8 And he shall not look to the altars. The altars at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-33) may be intended, or the Israelites may have had other idolatrous altars besides these (2 Kings 17:11; Hosea 8:11). Josiah, about B.C. 631, broke down altars throughout all the land of Israel, in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon (?), even unto Naphtali (2 Chronicles 34:5-7). Apparently he had the consent of the inhabitants to this demolition. Either the groves, or the images, Asherah, the word here and elsewhere commonly translated "grove" in the Authorized Version, is now generally admitted to have designated an artificial construction of wood or metal, which was used in the idolatrous worship of the Phoenicians and the Israelites, probably as the emblem of some deity. The Assyrian "sacred tree" was most likely an emblem of the same kind, and may give an idea of the sort of object worshipped under the name of Asherah. The Israelites, in the time of their prosperity, had set up "groves" of this character "on every high hill, and under every green tree" (2 Kings 17:10). Many of them were still standing when Josiah made his iconoclastic raid into the Israelite country (2 Chronicles 34:5-7), and were broken down by him at the same time as the altars. The "images" of this place are the same as those coupled with the Israelite "groves" in 2 Chronicles 34:7, namely "sun-images," emblems of Baal, probably pillars or conical stones, such as are known to have held a place in the religious worship of Phoenicia. Isaiah 17:9 In that day. While a remnant of the Israelites shall repent and turn to God, throwing in their lot with Judah, as it would seem the country generally shall feel the weight of God’s chastening hand, on account of Israel’s former sins and offences. As a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch; rather, as the forsaken tract of woodland and mountain-crest (Kay). The reference is to the condition of the land when it passed out of the possession of the Canaanitish nations. It was then forsaken and desolate. So shall it be once more, when Israel is expelled for the same sins (see 2 Kings 17:7, 2 Kings 17:8). Which they left because of the children of Israel; rather, which men forsook before the children of Israel; i.e. from which the Canaanites fled as the children of Israel advanced and took possession. The writer ignores the long and fierce struggle which the Canaanites made, and looks only to the result—retirement from a desolated country. Isaiah 17:10 Because thou hast forgotten; rather, because thou didst forget. The late repentance of a "remnant" which "looked to their Maker" (Isaiah 17:7) could not cancel the long catalogue of former sins (2 Kings 17:8-17), foremost among which was their rejection of God, or, at any rate, their complete forgetfulness of his claims upon them. The Rock of thy strength. God is first called "a Rock" in Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, Deuteronomy 32:30, Deuteronomy 32:31. The image is caught up by the psalmists (2 Samuel 22:2, 2 Samuel 22:32, 2 Samuel 22:47; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalms 16:1, Psalms 16:2, 31, 46; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 28:1, etc.), and from them passes to Isaiah (see, besides the present passage, Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:29; and Isaiah 44:8). Among the later prophets only Habakkuk uses it (Habakkuk 1:12). Israel, instead of looking to this "Rock," had looked to their rock-fortresses (verse 9). Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants; rather, dost thou plant, or hast thou planted. Forgetfulness of Jehovah has led to the adoption of a voluptuous religion—one of debased foreign rites. There is possibly, as Mr. Cheyne thinks, a special reference to the cult of Adonis. Shall set it; rather, settest it, or hast set it. "It" must refer to "field" or "garden" understood. The later Israelite religion has been a sort of pleasant garden, planted with exotic slips from various quarters—Phoenicia, Syria, Moab, etc. It has been thought permissible to introduce into it any new cult that took the fancy. Hence the multiplication of altars complained of by Hosea (Hosea 8:11; Hosea 10:1; Hosea 12:11). Isaiah 17:11 In the day; or, in a day (Kay). Shalt thou make; rather, thou makest. Each new slip that is planted is forced to take root and grow and flourish at once; the next morning it is expected to have formed its seed and reached perfection. So the harvest is hurried on; but when it is reached, the day of visitation has arrived—a day of grief and of desperate sorrow. Isaiah 17:12-14 A AGAINST ASSYRIA. This passage is, apparently, out of place. At any rate, it is quite unconnected with what precedes, and almost equally so with what follows. Still, it must be borne in mind that, until the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, Isaiah has the thought of the Assyrians, as the pressing danger, always before him, and continually reverts to it, often abruptly, and without preparation (see Isaiah 5:26-30; Isaiah 7:17-25; Isaiah 8:5-8; Isaiah 10:5-19, Isaiah 10:24-34; Isaiah 14:24-27). The present prophecy seems, more distinctly than any other in the purely prophetical chapters, to point to the miraculous destruction of the hoot which Sennacherib was about to bring against Jerusalem. Isaiah 17:12 Woe to the multitude of many people; rather, Ho for the tumult of many peoples! The advance of an army composed of soldiers from many nations is descried. They advance with noise and tumult—a tumult compared with that of "seas that are tumultuous." Under the circumstances of the time, it is reasonable to suppose the Assyrians to be intended (comp. Isaiah 22:6, Isaiah 22:7). The rushing sound of the advance is borne in strongly upon the prophet’s mind, and made the subject of three consecutive clauses. Isaiah 17:13 God shall rebuke them; literally, he shall rebuke them—he who alone can do so. There is no need to mention his name. They shall flee far off. The destruction of the great bulk of Sennacherib’s army in the night was followed, as soon as morning came, by the hasty flight of the survivors (2 Kings 19:36; Isaiah 37:37). And shall be chased. Herodotus says that the Egyptians pursued the army of Sennacherib and slew vast numbers (2:141). As the chaff of the mountains (comp. Hosea 13:3). Threshing-floors were ordinarily placed upon eminences (2 Samuel 24:18; 2 Chronicles 3:1), where the wind had freer course and consequently greater power. Like a rolling thing; or, like whirling dust (Kay). The word used commonly means "a wheel." Isaiah 17:14 Behold at evening-tide trouble; rather, terror, as the word is elsewhere always translated. He is not. That spoil us … that rob us (see 2 Kings 18:13-16). Isaiah 17:6-11 National repentance may come too late to avert national ruin. The crisis of a nation’s fate is brought on by slow degrees, and results from a multitude of acts, each one of which, when once done, is past recall. Up to a certain point there is a possibility of retrieval. "Tout peut se retablir," as a great monarch of our own time said. The modes of action that have brought the state into difficulties may be renounced, or even reversed; and recovery may set in as a natural consequence of such reversal. Or the change of conduct may have appeased God’s anger, and his favor may raise up the nation which he has depressed, to mark his displeasure. Such was the case with united Israel during the period of the judges. Seven times was the nation for its sins "sold into the hand" of a foreign power, its independence suspended, its ruin all but accomplished; and seven times upon its repentance did God raise up a deliverer who restored it to vigorous life and re-established its prosperity. But this process cannot go on forever. A time comes when the sources of national vigor are sapped, when exhaustion has set in, when foreign neighbors have become enormously powerful, and when it would require, not one miracle only, but a series of miracles, to save the state from the consequences of its long-continued misconduct. Then, although the remnant left may perceive its danger, and regret the past, and repent, and put away the evil of its doings, and even reverse its modes of action, turning to God (Isaiah 17:7) instead of turning away from him (Isaiah 17:10), and looking to the Holy One instead of looking to idols and vanities, it may be too late to reverse the fiat that has long since gone forth, or to arrest the destruction decreed and determined on. The remnant may save their own souls, but they cannot save their country. The "day of grief and of desperate sorrow’ comes on, whatever they may do; and the nation perishes in consequence of its past misdeeds, despite its tardy amendment. The Rock of our strength. Irreligious men have many "rocks of strength," or at any rate think that they have many. 1. "Some put their trust in chariots and in horses," believe in "big battalions" as really ruling the world, and think they have only to swell their armies in order to sway the course of events at their pleasure. Tell them that "it is nothing with God to help, whether with many or with them that have no power" (2 Chronicles 14:11); assure them that "it is no hard matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few, and with the God of heaven it is all one to deliver with a great multitude or a small company, for the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of a host, but strength cometh from heaven" (1 Macc. 3:18, 19); and they open their eyes wide with astonishment, and set down the speaker as a dreamy fanatic. 2. Others regard wealth as a tower of strength, a "rock" that will never fail them. Three things alone are wanted to secure complete success in life, and these are "Money, money, money." Their highest idea of perfect safety and security is "the Bank of England." No qualms of fear assail them so long as they have a good balance at their bankers. "Soul," they say to themselves, "thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry ’(Luke 12:19). Tell them that riches make themselves wings, talk to them of failures, bankruptcies, revolutions, and they will laugh you to scorn; theirs are safe, they are quite certain, and that is enough for them. 3. A third class "trust in princes," or great men. They have a patron, a protector, a "friend at court;" and all must necessarily go well with them. Nay, perhaps they have "two or three strings to their bow"—powerful friends belonging to both parties; how, then, is it possible that they should not be secure? Christian men have, on the other hand, but one "Rock of strength," but one Trust, but one Stay, and that is God. God is their "Rock"— I. As BEING FIRM AND . All else is shifting and changing. Men die, even though they be princes or primo ministers. Armies melt away, suffer defeat, mutiny. Wealth becomes the prey of the spoiler, is lost through fraud, or taken away by violence. God always remains the same—firm, solid, substantial; something on which we can count, something that will not disappear, that will not change, that we can rely upon as a sure foundation. II. As BEING A AND DEFENSE. The Israelites looked to their fortified cities to protect them (Isaiah 17:9). The Christian looks to God. God’s strength is such that nothing can prevail against it. He is an absolutely sure Defense, able to save men "to the uttermost." No one that has relied wholly and solely upon God, has ever found his reliance misplaced or his defense fail him. If we make God our Refuge, we place ourselves in an impregnable citadel. He is omnipotent, and therefore ever able to save; he is faithful, and therefore ever willing to save. III. As BEING A SHADOW FROM THE HEAT, A SHELTER FROM THE TEMPEST. God not only protects but consoles, not only saves but comforts. He is "the Shadow of a great Rock in a weary land." When dangers threaten, when calamities come, when we are drooping beneath the noonday heat, or chilled by the pitiless storm, we can rest on him, and he will cheer us; we can make our appeal to him, and he will give us relief and refreshment. It is promised that, ultimately, "God shall wipe away tears from all eyes" (Revelation 21:4). Already he does this to a large extent. Not only is he our Defense and Stay, but he is a "Rock" that "follows us" (1 Corinthians 10:14) through the wilderness of human life, assuaging our griefs, taking away our sorrows, giving us shelter, comfort, satisfaction, peace, happiness. He is himself an ever-present Joy, possessing which, whatsoever happened to us, we should be content. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 17:1-8 Damascus and Israel. The present oracle bids us turn to a different scene—to the famed city and territory of Damascus. It lies in the vast rich plain east of Mount Antilibanus, on the border of the desert. Through the plain flows the river Barada, probably the Abaca in which Naaman delighted. "In the midst of the plain lies at your feet the vast lake or island of deep verdure—walnuts and apricots waving above, corn and grass below; and in the midst of the mass of foliage rises, striking its white arms of streets hither and thither, and its white minarets above the trees which embosom them, the city of Damascus. On the right towers the snowy height of Hermon, overlooking the whole scene. Close behind are the sterile limestone mountains, so that you stand literally between the living and the dead" (Stanley). The river turns what would otherwise be a desert into a rich garden, full of walnuts, pomegranates, figs, plums, apricots, citrons, pears, and apples. I. HISTORY OF . There were traditions of Abraham lingering from early times about the city. Eliezer of Damascus was his steward (Genesis 15:2). But the history is a blank till the time of David. He, being at war with Hadadezer, King of Zobah, encountered Syrians of Damascus, who came to succor his foe, and slew of them twenty-two thousand men. He then garrisoned the whole land with Israelites (2 Samuel 8:5, 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Chronicles 18:5). From Solomon’s time we have hints of enmity between Damascus, whose king appears to have been titularly designated "Hadad," and Israel; also of Rezin, from Zobah (1 Kings 11:23; 1 Kings 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:3). The fourth Hadad, with thirty-two subject kings, marched against Ahab, and laid siege to Samaria (1 Kings 20:1). In the end, the invader became-subject to Ahab (1 Kings 20:13-34). Three years later, Ahab was defeated and slain in his attempt on Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:1-4, 1 Kings 22:15-37). The Syrians of Damascus were encouraged to a second invasion of Israel, and a second siege of Samaria, which was raised in a panic (2 Kings 7:6, 2 Kings 7:7). A new page of history opens with the succession of Hazael to the rule of Damascus, and the struggle against the Assyrians. Probably the dread of the latter led to an alliance between Israel and Damascus a century later. The march of Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel against Jerusalem brings us within the scope of Israel’s view (Isaiah 7:1-6; 2 Kings 16:5). Ahaz placed himself under the protection of Assyria; Rezin was slain, his kingdom brought to an end, and Damascus destroyed, its people being carried captive to Assyria (2 Kings 16:9; cf. Isaiah 7:8; Amos 1:5). II. THE PROPHET’S OF ITS FATE. The fair city will be effaced from the number of those that exist, and will become a heap of fallen ruins. And Israel, which has hung her fortunes on those of Damascus, will share her fate. The very sound of the word Aroer, reminding of the nature of bareness, nakedness, had an ill omen. The strong places of Ephraim, i.e. of Israel, are laid low, and Damascus ceases to exist as a kingdom. And the Aramaeans who do not fall in battle are carried away captive. The fate of Damascus is as pathetic as that of a distressed woman. Cities were in ancient thought generally seen under the ideal of the woman, their beauty as her beauty, their sorrows as hers. Damascus waxes feeble and turns to flee, and fear seizes on her; anguish and sorrow have taken her, as a woman in travail. "The city of praise is gone, the city of my joy!" exclaims Jeremiah (Jeremiah 49:24, Jeremiah 49:25). "Cities have been as lamps of life along the pathway of humanity and religion. Within them science has given birth to her noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom has fought its noblest battles. They have stood on the surface of the earth like breakwaters, rolling back or turning aside the swelling tide of oppression. Cities indeed have been the cradle of human liberty. I bless God for cities" (Guthrie). III. OF ISRAEL AND HER . (Verses 4-8.) 1. Images of national decay. The glory of Jacob wastes, the fat of his flesh grows thin. Necessary and constant in thought is the connection between the flourishing of a land and the blessing of God, the withdrawal of his blessing and the withering of its fruits, the failure of the supply of food. We must believe in this connection without hastily presuming, as superstition does, to detect the exact sin which has called down the displeasure of God. Our poet Tennyson, in some dark pictures of superstition in his ’Queen Mary,’ represents the queen as saying that" God is hard upon the people" because the nobles would not give the Church lands back. And when she exclaims on the "harvestless autumn, horrible agues, plague," the king replies— "The blood and sweat of heretics at the stake Is God’s best dew upon the barren field." Such are the reasonings of bigotry and fanaticism. Then only do we make the proper application of the lessons of suffering, when we visit our own errors with self-chastisement, and stir up the neglected gift, the forgotten talent, in ourselves. Another image is that of the field of corn falling before the mower. Israel is ripe for judgment, as the field of corn for the reaper. On the broad vale of Rephaim, sloping down to Bethlehem, only an ear or two will be seen scattered here and there. That vale may be viewed as symbolic of the great world, and that reaping as prophetic of the day of judgment, when on the white cloud sits one like the Son of man, having a golden crown on his bead, and in his hand a sharp sickle; and another angel comes out of the temple, and cries with a loud voice to him that sits on the cloud, "Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (Revelation 14:1-20.). Few will escape the judgment, and yet a few there will be. At the olive-beating, when it seems, at a superficial glance, that the tree is quite stripped, there nevertheless remain "two or three berries high up at the top; four, five on each of its branches." 2. Redemption of the remnant. This word, "The remnant shall return," is the standing word of promise and of hope for Israel. It contains the "law of Israel’s history." The ring is gone, but the finger remains; the tree is felled, but the root-stump may yet send out suckers; kern the bared harvest-field some gleanings may yet be gathered. And so Israel stands as the type of human life. All is not lost while conscience remains, while will may still exert its energy against evil, and in the reformation of the habits. But there must be this reformation, which begins with a looking up to God. The state of the soul depends on the direction of its gaze. We look where we love, and our looking may produce love. Much has Scripture to say on the moral effect of vision. Sometimes it is equivalent to enjoying: "What man is he that will see good?" And as we do not willingly bend our eyes and keep them fixed upon sights which strike pain to the feelings, the prayer, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding iniquity," is equivalent to the prayer that we may have no relish in evil ways. In the days of repentance men will took up to their Creator. It is when we turn our eyes from our Maker and fix them exclusively on the creature that we forget our dependence. "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;" this is the thought which expresses the foundation of all reverence, the duty of all worship and obedience. As all idolatry means loss of self-respect, so regard to the great and glorious Creator reflects itself in veneration for the nature he has given us, the image of his own. And he is the Holy One of Israel. In every family, every congregation, every state, there must be an existing ideal of righteousness, of truth, of purity. Such ideals are the shadows of the personality of the holy God. If they pass away from the faith and religious imagination of a people, they fall into sensuality and materialism. The first step, then, towards a better life is to look away from self, and from the evil associations which have grown into one’s habits, or into which one has grown, to God as the Supreme and the Holy. Looking up to God will mean looking away from idols. "He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; and what his fingers have made he will not regard, neither the groves nor the images." True religion alone can drive out superstition. Science has not and cannot do it. Men must either be superstitious or religious; for the imaginative faculty demands, and will have, nourishment. The great prophets of Israel, training men’s minds to look up to the great spiritual Source of man and of nature, have taught us lessons that can never become obsolete. But the heathen idolatry referred to should be more closely considered.—J. The prophet on heathen worship. Having described in brief the true religion as a "looking up to God" as Maker and Redeemer of Israel, the prophet with equal expressiveness characterizes the heathen worship around. I. IT IS FOR THE OBJECT OF HUMAN ART. Contemptuous is the reference to "the work of his hands," and "that which his fingers have made"—altars and images. When the spiritual nerve of religion is weakened, the affections fix upon the symbols, forms, and accessories of religion. The soul that has lost its God must have some visible substitute, as a pet, a plaything, an idol. When the meaning of sacrifice is deeply realized and felt, any bare table will suffice for altar. But as the idea and feeling become extinct, all the more will men seek to supply the void by some beauty in the object. The shrine becomes more splendid as devotion becomes more cold. Perhaps the prophet is thinking of the case of King Ahaz. He went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, and there saw an altar’ which so pleased him, that he sent the pattern of it to Urijah the priest, who built one to correspond. And this was a king who "sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree" (2 Kings 16:1-20.). And Manasseh, rejecting the good example of Hezekiah his father, set up altars to Baal, and made a grove, and plunged deeply into all manner of superstition (2 Kings 21:1-26.). The Prophet Hosea pointedly speaks of the tendency in the people generally: "Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin" (Hosea 8:2). The connection of this with luxury is pointed out by our prophet in Isaiah 2:7, Isaiah 2:8. But what strikes him especially with astonishment is the addiction to "art for art’s sake." This has been a cant and, to some extent, a creed in our time. When carried out, it must mean the valuation of human genius and talent regardlessly of the subjects on which, and the ends for which, it is employed. No matter how seusualizing or otherwise debasing to feeling the painter’s or the sculptor’s theme, the cleverness with which he treats form and color, light and shade, is only worth attending to. These doctrines may be carried into the church, which may become a place for mere imaginative and sensuous enjoyment; and people may find they cannot "look up to God" in a building whose lines are incorrectly drawn, or where the latest fashion of ecclesiastical foppery is not kept up. By-and-by it will be discovered that the house of God has been turned into a theatre, containing, it is true, an altar, but, like the altar in the great theatre at Athens, serving for little more than a station of performers. Spiritual worship is extinct with us if we cannot lift up eye, and heart, and hand, and voice to the Eternal with equal joy, if need demand, in the barn as in the cathedral. But how wide-reaching the principle of idolatry! The delight in genius, the admiration for it, may enter into religious feeling as one of its richest elements; it may, on the other hand, be separated from religious feeling altogether, and be the principle of an idolatry. II. IT IS IMPURE AND CRUEL. There is an allusion to the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, and what we know of these deities indicates beings conceived by those worshippers as dark, wrathful, malignant, and lustful. Baal, often named in the plural Baalim, is closely related to, if not identical with, Moloch (see Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 19:5; Jeremiah 32:35), whose terrible wrath was supposed to be manifested in the torrid heat of summer, and who exacted human sacrifices. In great dangers kings sacrificed to this Bel-Moloch their only sons (2 Kings 3:27); and this is sternly denounced in Le Isaiah 20:3. It would seem that Israelites in their declension confounded the nature of this heathen god with that of Jehovah (Judges 11:34; Numbers 25:4). Read the eloquent protest of Mic 6:7, and see how clearly in that animated passage the contrast is made between the merciful and holy religion of Jehovah and the cursed ritual of Baal or of Moloch. "To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with God,"—these are the requirements of true religion. By the side of Baal was Ashtoreth in Canaan (Judges 10:6) and in Syria. The Greeks called her Astarte. At Babylon she was known as Mylitta or Beltis, consort of Bel; and Herodotus describes the darkly superstitious and impure character of her worship, which involved the profanation of women. The religion of Israel knows no goddess; the people itself, when true to their faith, felt themselves to be as a people, the bride of Jehovah, and unfaithfulness to him is a crime analogous to unfaithfulness to the nuptial tie. "Israel my people, I their God," is the symbolic word of the covenant between spirit and Spirit, which religion ever is, in its truth and purity. There are lessons for us in all this. There are ever tendencies at work to degrade and defile the holy ideas of our religion. Sometimes it is wealth, sometimes it is ignorance, sometimes greed and other passions. Men would subdue the spirit of Christianity to their own liking, and bow down, if not to the work of their fingers, to the impure idols of an unchastened fancy. The preacher, the true prophet, must, on the other hand, be ever upholding the purity of doctrine, and exhibit those grand requirements to which the conscience must, however reluctantly, respond. And he must lay it to heart that the purer religion can never be the most fashionable. If the people turn aside to groves and altars more suited to their taste, at least let him make it his one concern to "save himself and them that hear him."—J. Isaiah 17:9-11 Forgetfulness of God and its consequences. I. GOD AS AN OBJECT OF THE SOUL’S . He is the "God of men’s salvation." His Name calls up all those ideas of power, of grace, of goodness, necessary to the Deliverer, the Savior. To acknowledge that such a Being exists is not enough; the eye of the spirit must be turned to him, its gaze fixed upon him, its ear bent towards the place of his holy oracle. Micah says in evil times, "I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." To think of God in his moral relations to us brings confidence and security to the heart. And hence the expressive image of the Rock on which the fortress stands, as symbolic of him, so frequently employed in Scripture (Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, Deuteronomy 32:30, Deuteronomy 32:31, Deuteronomy 32:37; 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 22:2, 2 Samuel 22:3, 2 Samuel 22:32; Psalms 18:31, Psalms 18:46; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 28:1; Psalms 30:1, Psalms 30:2). How much depends in our intellectual life on attraction—the grasp of objects, the remembrance of what they are, the firm hold of principles and truths I Impressions are made upon us as in wax or in running water, without this tension of the will. And how in various ways does Scripture press upon us the need of attention in religious things! "Earnestly give heed," "Remember," "Be mindful," "Look unto the Lord," etc; are all exhortations implying the need of prayer and habitual direction of the spirit to higher things. There can be no clear memory and no confident expectation where the mind has been lax and listless. II. OF GOD. Ephraim, turning away from its true rocky stronghold in Jehovah, will see its own castles lie in ruin and desolation. The estrangement from God is marked by indulgence in pleasure and idolatry. The people planted pleasant gardens, and sowed them with strange grapes; i.e. formed an alliance with a stranger, the King of Damascus. And these new institutions were carefully fenced, i.e. apparently they were established as a state religion. "And the very next morning he had brought into blossom what he had sown. The foreign layer had shot up like a hot-house plant, i.e. the alliance had speedily grown into a hearty agreement, and had already produced one blossom at any rate, viz. the plan of a joint attack upon Judah. But this plantation, so flattering and promising for Israel, and which had succeeded so rapidly, and to all appearance so happily, was a harvest heap for the day of judgment." The closing words of this strophe are impressive: "The day of grief and desperate sorrow;" or, "The day of deep wounds and deadly sorrow of heat." Let us fix on these words. Let us forget Ephraim for the moment, and think of the individual, think of ourselves. The words hint at remorse, which has been called "the echo of a lost virtue." It will come upon all of us in so far as, remembering many things not to be neglected, self-interest, duty to family, Church, country, we have yet forgotten the one thing needful—have not brought all our life’s concerns into that unity which reference to the Supreme Will imparts. Life should be direct and simple; a simple piety can only render it so. There may be mindfulness about many things, distracting us from the central interest. How can it avail us to have remembered to be prudent, to have regarded public opinion, to have taken care to be with the majority, to swim with the stream, and in the end we find that this has been a turning of the back on God, and so an illusion, a misconception of life? For if God be remembered, nothing important will be forgotten; if he be forgotten, nothing is truly seen—attention is beguiled by fantasy, and life becomes the pursuit of a dream.—J. Sounds from afar. In the distance the prophet hears a vague tumult, like that of the sea with its roaring, incoming tide. It is the noise of the invading host. Readers will recollect the powerful passage describing the eve of the battle of Waterloo—the dull distant sound repeated until the conviction flashes, "It is—it is—the cannon’s opening roar!" So does the prophet listen to the uproar of the advancing Assyrians. I. THE POETIC . It is one of sublimity and terror, appealing through the sense of hearing to the imagination, and calling up indefinable alarm and sorrow. He hears in the distance the gathering of a multitude of nations, represented by the imperial name of Asshur. These hosts spread out in long line like the rolling wave, one excited surging mass, threatening to carry everything before it into destruction. Such an image may represent any great movement which seems at any time to threaten the spiritual life of a Church, of a nation. Never was there a time when anxious listeners did not hear such rising sounds in the distance; the statesman trembling for the welfare of institutions, the believer for the stability of faith. Is there just cause for alarm? Let the prophet answer. II. THE OF . Remarkable is the picture of the sudden change. The power of the Divine Word is instantaneously felt. "It costs God simply a threatening word, and the mass all flies apart, and falls into dust, and whirls about in all directions; like the chaff of threshing-floors in high situations, or like dust whirled up by the storm." In the evening the destruction of the Assyrians begins, and in the morning they are completely destroyed. And the oracle ends with an expression of triumph over this portion and lot of the spoiler and the plunderer. LESSONS. 1. The Church, Christianity, religion, civilization, seem in every age to be threatened; yet they are ever safe. Force, numbers, armies, have but the show of strength when confronted with the spiritual world. 2. God is ever in his heaven—cannot and will not desert his place. 3. His judgments and rebukes are the expression of the eternal truth of things, and must prevail.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The gloomy evening. "Behold at evening-tide trouble." We all love beautiful evenings, whether on land or sea. Then, when the clouds of purple and amber across the horizon constitute a royal chariot for the setting sun, we gaze with admiration and delight on the glorious close of day. I. TROUBLE IS NEVER SO SAD AS IN THE EVENING. At morning or midday we have more of strength to bear it; we can brace our energies to fight the battle or to endure the burden. But in the evening, when heart and strength fail, we look for quiet comfort and considerate friends, and the gentle words of love. Trouble in the evening is a pensive sight. But if it be connected with sin, with personal wrong-doing, how bitter a cup it is! Then, when there should be memory of holy deeds and earnest words; then, when we may fairly think of an honorable reputation well earned, and an influence which we may hope, indeed, will be an "after-glow" after we are dead. Yet so it is. Sin has its judgments, which "follow after" even here below. II. TROUBLE IN THE EVENING IS WELL . The prophet says (Isaiah 17:13), "God shall-rebuke them." It is all contained in that. Rebuke! That involves in its utterance conscience and memory, else how could we feel rebuke? We feel all that is meant by rebuke more from some than others. It does not always need words. A little spectacle that recalls some past scene, an old letter, the Visiting of half-forgotten places, the swift rush at times of old memories,—these often have rebukes in them. We have neglected so many never-recurring opportunities, we have scattered so many seeds of evil. But when God, the living God, rebukes us, how can we stand? For he knows our most secret thoughts, and in his book all the life is written. III. TROUBLE IN THE EVENING MAY STILL BE THE LAST ANGEL OF GOD’S MERCY HERE. Even then it is evening, and the light lingers. The Savior’s power to save is still the same. The city of refuge has its gates open. God’s renewing and redeeming grace may yet be ours. Not even then need we despair; for as there is a strain of hope coming for the nation Israel which will occupy us further on in these prophecies, so there is hope in personal life, even in the latter days, if we turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart. The lingering light of evening skill falls on the cross of him who said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 17:1-6 Reduction. In the spoliation and consequent decrepitude of Damascus and Samaria we have a picture of— I. A NATION DENUDED OF ITS POWER. Under the judgments of Jehovah the proud city of Damascus becomes a "ruinous heap" (Isaiah 17:1), the populous towns are pasturage of herds and flocks (Isaiah 17:2), the strong places are reduced to utter weakness like the departed glory of Israel (Isaiah 17:3); under his judgment Ephraim also shall waste away, shall be as barren as the reaped corn-field, shall be reduced miserably like the tree on whose uppermost branches only a few thin berries can be discovered (Isaiah 17:4-6). Under the action of God’s righteous laws, the strong nation is thus reduced by sin, from power to weakness, from pride to humiliation, from wealth to poverty, from populousness to depopulation. And it is always sin which is the true account of the reduction. Violence may be the immediate cause of overthrow, but violence only succeeds when corruption has brought enfeeblement and decline. Greece fell, not by the Roman sword, but by its own inherent weakness. The fall of Rome was due, not to the might of the barbarians, but to the corruption which sapped it of its strength, and thinned the ranks of its citizens. If England falls at some future day, it will not be because some European power has become irresistible, but because luxury will have bred corruption, and corruption have laid it open to the weapon of its foes. Its fatness will become thin, its strength will be seen only on its uppermost boughs; it will fall a prey to the first strong adversary that assails it. II. A CHURCH BEREFT OF ITS BEAUTY AND ITS . Churches do not, usually, suffer loss by the hand of violence. But, by sins of their own, they are often painfully reduced, so that they are as a man whose "fatness has waxed thin," as the field of corn that has been cut, as a tree stripped of its goodly fruit, with nothing left but "two or three berries in the top of the uttermost bough." The enemies which work this waste, which bring this pitiful reduction, are these. 1. Discord within the ranks. 2. The spirit of worldliness, robbing of devotion and therefore of strength. 3. Unbelief, acting as a cancer that cuts off all spiritual nourishment. 4. Inactivity, begetting selfishness of aim, and causing the Church to miss that noble exercise which is the source and spring of all moral vigor. The Church that would not be thus wretchedly reduced must sedulously shun these sources of reduction; that one which has to lament its wasted condition must "repent, and do the first works," and the field shall yet be covered with the precious grain, the tree with its clusters of fruit. III. THE MAN OF HIS OR HIS . individual instances, the words of the text find illustration. 1. When the proud, godless man is brought down from his high position; when of all in which he gloried nothing but a few berries on the topmost boughs are left. Let youth shrink from entering on a course which will certainly have this pitiful end; let those who are pursuing it abandon it at the very earliest hour. 2. When death (the penalty of sin) intimates its approach, when the leanness and fruitlessness of death are apparent, then let a man ask whether there is life in its fullness and fruitfulness awaiting him on the other shore.—C. Isaiah 17:7, Isaiah 17:8 The function of adversity. I. THE OF TROUBLE IN THIS WORLD OF SIN. "That day" was the day of national disaster, and, therefore, of individual distress. In the more settled and durable condition of modern times and Western lands, we are much less liable to suffer from this particular cause. But civilization brings its own perils and its own troubles, and while sin lasts "the day" of sorrow will be continually recurring. How many are the sources whence it may spring! Pecuniary embarrassment; disappointment; the loss of kindred or friends, or (what is worse) the loss of their love and their friendship; humiliation; ill health, and the fear of sudden removal from those who are clinging, and perhaps dependent; a sense of guilt before God; a sense of defeat as a Christian aspirant or Christian workman, etc. II. GOD’S PURPOSE IN SENDING IT. 1. God does send it. (See Amos 3:6.) He directly inflicts it, or he furthers it in his Divine providence, or, at the least, he permits it (see, also, Matthew 10:29). 2. He sends it to draw us to himself. (1) To withdraw us from the inferior and the untrustworthy objects; that a man may "not look to the altars, the work of his hands;" that we may discover, what we are so slow to learn, that all human help and all earthly securities are insufficient and unavailing; that these things of our own devising and constructing, which our fingers have made, break down in the time of our distress, and leave us "naked to our enemies." (2) To draw us to the mighty and the holy One. Our Maker will not want the power to redeem us. The Holy One of Israel will not fail to sanctify to us the evil he has sent us. He draws us to himself that, at his throne of grace, in sacred fellowship with him, we may be drown to penitence, to trustfulness, to prayerfulness, to the consecration or the rededication of our lives to his service.—C. Isaiah 17:10, Isaiah 17:11 The sin and doom of ungodliness. We learn— I. THAT GOD IS WRONGED AND GRIEVED BY OUR NEGLECT OF HIMSELF AS WELL AS BY OUR TO HIS LAWS. Men sometimes mistakenly suppose that their sin is limited by the number of their transgressions of God’s positive enactments. They make a very serious mistake in so judging. Great guilt, indeed, is contracted by the breach of Divine commandment, by setting at defiance the "Thou shalt not" of sacred Scripture. But our obligation strikes deeper far, and, when we flail, our sin includes immeasurably more than this. God deserves, and he desires, and he even demands, that we, his human children, should render to him, himself, all that filial love and fellowship which is due from such beloved and enriched ones to such a gracious and bountiful Father. His charge against us is not merely that we have done numbers of things which he has prohibited; it is that we have lived on through days, weeks, months, years, through whole periods and stages of our life, and have forgotten him, the God of our salvation, have not been mindful of him, the Rock of our strength; it is that we have taken blessings and deliverances from his strong, redeeming hand, and have been content to spend our days in ungodliness, withholding the gratitude, the affection, the submission, the willing and joyous service which a relationship so near as is ours to him, and which benefits so great as are his to us, do emphatically demand. The simple and true answer to the question, "What have we failed to render to our redeeming and our beneficent God?" should cover us with shame and send us to our knees in penitence. II. THAT AN UNGODLY LIFE IS NOT ONLY A , BUT IS ALSO A SUPREME MISTAKE. "Because thou hast forgotten … therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants … but the harvest shall be a heap," etc. The mistake of ungodliness is seen in that: 1. It leaves out and loses all the real nobility from human life—all that which raises man’s nature above the brutes, and connects it with the angelic and Divine. 2. It includes only that which is absolutely insufficient and unsatisfactory. It supplies treasures which the thief can steal, joys which pall and perish, friendships which linger only for a few passing years. It has nothing which fills and satisfies the human soul, made, as that is made, for heavenly wisdom, for holy service, for the worship and the love of God. Its harvest is only a heap of husks, and not the granary of life-sustaining corn. 3. It makes no provision for the time of trial—for "the day of grief and of desperate sorrow," for the day of death, for the day of judgment.—C. The overthrow of the enemies of God. I. THAT THE ENEMIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE ARE THE ENEMIES OF GOD HIMSELF. "God will rebuke" those who come up against his people to spoil and to rob them. Those who assail Israel come beneath his ban, and are subject to his "woe." Jesus Christ taught nothing more plainly or emphatically than that they who befriended his disciples were, in his estimation, befriending him (Matthew 10:40-42; Matthew 25:40). It is equally true that those who oppose his friends and disciples are accounted his own enemies. Woe unto him that puts a stumbling-block in the way of any of his "little ones!" To wrong them is to aggrieve him. II. THAT THEIR WORST SUCCESS IS IN THE HOLY OF THEIR . There is nothing worse that can be said of them than that they are "those that spoil, that rob us." But the worst despoiling is that which robs the wise and good of their highest heritage, of the excellency which they have in Christ—of peace, of joy, of spiritual integrity, of moral beauty, of helpfulness, of hope. III. THAT THEY MAKE THEIR ASSAULT WITH EVERY OF SUCCESS. The enemies of Israel came on with a "noise like the noise of the seas," like the "rushing of mighty waters," i.e. with the dash and daring of those that are bent on carrying everything before them. Sin is often arrogantly confident; it has no belief in the inviolable purity, in the impregnable uprightness, of the people of God. It says with a sneer that every man has his price. It believes that its weapon will pierce any shield, however firm; will slay any soul, however strong. It goes, Goliath-like, confidently to the encounter; the noise of its impudent assurance is in the air. IV. THAT THEY ARE LIABLE TO BE UTTERLY AND . When God rebukes them they "flee far off, and are chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind," etc. "At evening-tide is trouble, and before the morning he is not." So absolutely, so speedily, is the enemy destroyed. Does it accord with our observation that evil is thus suddenly and irremediably cast down? The truth is: 1. That when the fatal blow fails it strikes that which is ripe for destruction. The last blow of the hammer seems to do the work; but, in fact, it succeeds only because all the preceding ones have loosened the particles and made the final stroke effective. So when the decisive judgment comes down from Heaven, it brings irrecoverable ruin because long years of folly and of sin have been preparing for the disaster which ensues. 2. That when God’s judgment once overtakes the sinner, it is often found to be that from which there is no escape or recovery. The empire is hopelessly dissolved; the "house" is utterly ruined; the family is scattered, never to be reunited; the fortune is dissipated, never to be repaired; the reputation is blasted, and no labors or severities can restore it; poverty, shame, death, appear and will take no denial; at evening-tide is trouble, and before the morning the worst has happened. (1) Take care to be on God’s side; be able to say, "The Lord is on my side," or there will be irretrievable disaster at the end. (2) Remember that Christ identifies himself with his friends. True as it is that those who assail his people will be rebuked of him, it is equally true that they who espouse the cause of his disciples will win his approving smile and his large reward.—C. BY R. TUCK The mission of Syria. Discernment of this mission, so far as it bears upon Israel, and carries religious lessons for all the generations, depends on our understanding the history of the times. Two nations, distant from each other, contended for the country which lay between them. Egypt and Assyria both wanted to be universal world-powers. Had the kingdom of David been kept together, it might have effectively resisted both; but when separated under Jeroboam, and encouraged to cherish rival interests, the southern portion naturally inclined to ally with Egypt, and the northern as naturally allied with Syria to resist the encroachments of Assyria. To the view of a prophet of the southern kingdom, Syria was the ringleader of a confederacy against Judah, and so against Jehovah and the Jehovah-worship. And to such a Jehovah-prophet, Syria was the agent in tempting the northern kingdom of Israel to forsake even its show of allegiance to Jehovah, and throw in its interest altogether with idolatrous nations. That is the point on which we now dwell. God carries on his work of grace by means of temptations as well as by means of trials; our testings of faith, virtue, and obedience are just as truly within the overrulings of God as are our afflictions and our cares. This is taught us in the prologue to the Book of Job, where Satan, the tempter, is represented as appearing among the "sons of God," and receiving Divine commissions. Syria may stand for the associations and circumstances which tested the allegiance of Israel to Jehovah; and so for the relationships and conditions of our life, which bring out and prove what really is in our hearts towards the God of our fathers. It is true that God tempts no man in the sense of maliciously enticing him to do evil. It is also true that God tempts every man in the sense of placing him in circumstances under which, while he may fail and fall, he may be confirmed and established in goodness. This view is strikingly supported by a passage in Deuteronomy 13:2, Deuteronomy 13:3. The prophet who uses his gift to persuade men to forsake the Lord God is to be rejected, for by such a prophet "the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." All such tempters, whether they be individuals, classes, or nations, come at last under Divine judgments, as Syria did. Syria tempted Israel- I. BY THE OF ITS WEALTH. Damascus was one of the wealthiest of ancient cities, and situated so as to be an important center of trade. The attraction it proved to Israel may be illustrated by its influence on the luxurious and aesthetical king, Ahaz. Associations of wealthy companions are often serious enticements to youths. The entree of wealthy society makes many a family live beyond its means. The swiftly growing wealth of some business men excites others to grasp at wealth by questionable means. II. BY THE OF ITS . Wealth enabled the expressions and forms of Syrian idolatry to take refined and artistic shapes. These tended to hide the abominations which attend on all idolatrous systems. So, it may be shown in relation to modern times, infidelity offers itself in the garb of advanced knowledge, and immorality appears in the guise of exciting pleasure. Syrian idolatry would have presented but feeble temptation if it had looked as repulsive as it really was. And still we are so often "drawn away and enticed," because Satan can appear to us as an angel of light. Illustrate by the well-known picture "The Pursuit of Pleasure." If Pleasure were not such a lovely siren form, surely the foolish host would not thus vainly pursue her. The practical skill of life is shown in the detection of what a thing is, no matter in what form it may appear. III. BY THE OF ITS . Which seemed to offer security for Israel from the foe which was becoming so dangerously strong. But it was soon proved that Syria was unable to protect itself. Its position exposed it. Its wealth attracted the invader. It was but an arm of flesh, and was powerless when the evil day came. It took Israel away from allegiance to Jehovah and trust in him, and brought on that kingdom, the curse of him who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. As a general application, observe that untried character and untested piety are of little worth. No man can hope to receive the crown of life, save as he is tempted, tried, and proved. That crown belongs only to those who "stand in the evil day."—R.T. The Lord’s remnant. Figuratively here is called to mind the fact that God’s dealings are never wholly destructive; they never utterly desolate; there is always a mitigation, always a spared remnant. The figure used, of the few olive berries left for the gleaner, is a very striking one, if the customs of the olive-growing countries is understood. In Thomson’s ’Land and the Book’ there is a full description. "Early in autumn the berries begin to drop off of themselves, or are shaken off by the wind. They are allowed to remain under the trees for some time, guarded by the watchman of the town’s very familiar Bible character. Presently public proclamations are made that the owners may gather the fruit. And in November comes the general and final summons. No olives are now safe unless the owner looks after them, for the watchmen are removed, and the orchards are alive with men, women, and children. It is a merry time, and the laugh and the song echo far and wide. Everywhere the people are in the trees,’ shaking’ them with all their might, to bring down the fruit. The effort is to make a clear sweep of all the crop; but in spite of shaking and beating, there is always a gleaning left—’two or three berries in the top of the uttermost boughs, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches.’ These are afterwards gleaned up by the very poor, who have no trees of their own." Matthew. Henry well expresses the thought to which this figure directs us: "Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger, and had their lives given them for a prey, and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of God’s courts." God’s remnants are illustrated in the Flood; fate of Sodom; Captivity; Elijah’s time; and siege by the Romans of Jerusalem. Always there has been "a remnant according to the election of grace." This remnant has shown in every age that God’s judgments are never— I. . They are always, and for every one— II. . And they are so mitigated as— III. NEVER TO CRUSH OUT HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.—R.T. Eyes turned to God only. Cheyne’s translation is, "In that day shall the earth-born look towards his Maker, and his eyes shall have regard to the Holy One of Israel." The reference seems to be to those who, after the Assyrian conquest of Israel accepted Hezekiah’s invitation, returned to Jerusalem, giving up their confidence in idols, and looking with single eye to Jehovah, and serving him with sincere hearts. The figure suggests for consideration the possible attitudes of human vision towards God. I. THERE IS THE BLINDED VISION. Two things blind: 1. Ignorance, as illustrated in the case of the heathen. 2. Willfulness, as illustrated in all who are living in sin. The one blindness is a calamity, calling forth our pity; the other is a crime, calling for ore’ indignation. There is also a judicial blindness—the stroke of God upon those who have misused their eyesight, keeping it fixed on vanity, not lifted up to the heavens, "from whence cometh man’s help.’ They who will not see shall not be able to see. II. THERE IS THE DIMMED VISION. Influenced by surrounding atmospheres of (1) thought; (2) social custom; (3) familiar errors. Nowadays men are sadly suffering from dimmed vision. Fogs of prevailing unbelief are for a time half hiding God, and even Christians are troubled lest the dimness should prove to be in their eyes. The evil is only in the medium through which the eye looks. III. THERE IS THE DIVIDED VISION. Which can see both God and self, and trios hard to keep both, side by side, in the field. Of some in the olden times it was said, "They feared the Lord, and served other gods;" and this must be the description of very many in the modern. "Their heart is divided." They cannot see "Jesus only." IV. THERE IS THE CLEARED VISION. Oftentimes cleansed and purified by the medicine of affliction, as in the association of the text. God’s chastisements are his teaching us to see. V. THERE IS THE VISION. Eyes turned to God only. The sign of entire devotement; full consecration. An eye single, and fixed on one object. This one thing I will do, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." Plead the call and persuasion of the risen and living Christ, "Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see."—R.T. God our Rock. Here called the "Rock of thy fortress; ’and contrasting with the fortress-cities, which proved no defense, and the fortress-rocks, in which the refugees had found safe shelter. The city represented man’s power to defend; the rock represents God’s power. According to the circumstances of the age, and in view of the machinery of war then in use, the steep rock was a better safety than the walled city. The figure of God as a Rock is found very early in Scripture, and was perhaps associated with the fact of God’s revealing himself from the mount, or rock, of Sinai. Moses pleads in striking similarity with Isaiah, saying, "Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation;" "Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee" (Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18). I. MAN’S PERILS AS A MORAL BEING. These can be illustrated from the evils and the perils of social and national life. They can be opened out fully under three headings: (1) intellectual; (2) moral; (3) religious. II. FOR SUCH PERILS MAN CAN NEVER PROVIDE . Intellectual safeguards fail before the subtleties of aggressive unbelief. Moral safeguards fail before the uprising swell of passions. Formal religious safeguards fail to satisfy when heart begins to cry. In the dangerous ways of an earth full of temptation and evil, "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 18:1-7 THE HOMAGE OF TO JEHOVAH. Amid the general excitement caused by the advance of Assyria, Ethiopia also is stirred, and stirred to its furthest limits. The king sends messengers in beats upon the canals and rivers to summon his troops to his standard (Isaiah 18:1, Isaiah 18:2). The earth stands agaze to see the result of the approaching collision (Isaiah 18:3); but God rests calmly in heaven while events are ripening (Isaiah 18:4, Isaiah 18:5). When the time comes he will strike the blow—Assyria will be given to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field (Isaiah 18:6). Then Ethiopia will make an act of homage to Jehovah by the sending of a present to Jerusalem (Isaiah 18:7). The time seems to be that immediately preceding the great invasion of Sennacherib, when Shabatok the Ethiopian was King of Egypt, and Tirhakah (Tahark) either Crown Prince under him, or more probably Lord Paramount of Egypt over him, and reigning at Napata. Isaiah 18:1 Woe to the land; rather, Ho for the land! (comp. Isaiah 17:12). Shadowing with wings; literally, either the land of the shadow of wings or the land of the noise of wings, most probably the latter. Allusion is thought to be made to the swarms of buzzing flies, especially the tsetse, with which Ethiopia abounds. At the same time, these swarms are, perhaps, intended to be taken as emblems of the hosts of warriors which Ethiopia can send forth (comp. Isaiah 7:18). Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. The prophet cannot be supposed to have had more than a vague knowledge of African geography. He seems, however, robe aware that Ethiopia is a land of many rivers (see Baker’s ’Nile Tributaries’), and he assumes that the dominion of the Ethiopian kings extends even beyond these rivers to the south of them. His object is, as Mr. Cheyne says, "to emphasize the greatness of Ethiopia." It may be questioned, however, whether the dominion of the Ethiopian kings of the time extended so far as he supposed. The seat of their power was Napata, now Gebel Berkal, in the great bend of the Nile between lat. 18° and 19° N.; and its southern limit was probably Khar-toum and the line of the Blue Nile. Isaiah 18:2 That sendeth ambassadors; rather, perhaps, messengers, as the word is translated in Isaiah 57:9 and Proverbs 25:13. They are sent, apparently, by the king to his own people. By the sea. "The sea" must in this place necessarily mean the Nile, which is called "the sea" in Nahum 3:8 certainly, and probably in Isaiah 19:5. Vessels of papyrus could not possibly have been employed in the very difficult navigation of the Red Sea. Vessels of bulrushes. That some of the boats used upon the Nile were constructed of the papyrus (which is a sort of bulrush) we learn from Herodotus (2. 96), Theophrastus (’Hist. Plant.,’ 4.9), Plutarch (’De Isid. et Osir.,’ § 18), Pliny (Hist. ’Nat.,’ 6.22), and Lucan (’Pharsal.,’ 4.136). They are represented occasionally on the Egyptian monuments. Saying. This word is interpolated by our translators, and gives a wrong sense. It is the prophet that addresses the messengers, not the king who sends them. To a nation scattered and peeled; rather, tall and polished, or tall and sleek. The word translated "scattered" means properly "drawn out," and seems to be applied here to the physique of the Ethiopians, whose stature is said to have been remarkable. The other epithet refers to the glossy skin of the people. A people terrible from their beginning hitherto; The Israelites first knew the Ethiopians as soldiers when they formed a part of the army brought by Shishak (Sheshonk I.) against Rehoboam, about B.C. 970 (2 Chronicles 12:3). They had afterwards experience of their vast numbers, when Zerah made his attack upon Asa; but on this occasion they succeeded in defeating them (2 Chronicles 14:9-13). It was not till about two centuries after this that the power of Ethiopia began to be really formidable to Egypt; and the "miserable Cushites," as they had been in the habit of calling them, acquired the preponderating influence in the valley of the Nile, and under Piankhi, Shabak, Shabatek, and Tirhakah (Tahark), reduced Egypt to subjection. Isaiah, perhaps, refers to their rise under Piankhi as "their beginning." A nation meted out and trodden down; rather, a nation of meting out and trampling; i.e. one accustomed to mete out its neighbors’ bounds with a measuring-line, and to trample other nations under its feet. Whose land the rivers have spoiled; rather, whose land rivers despoil. The deposit of mud, which fertilizes Egypt, is washed by the rivers from Ethiopia, which is thus continually losing large quantities of rich son. This fact was well known to the Greeks (Herod; 2.12, ad fin.), and there is no reason why Isaiah should not have been acquainted with it. Isaiah 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world. From exhorting the messengers to hasten on their errand, Isaiah turns to the nations generally, and bids them attend to a coming signal—an ensign is about to be raised, a trumpet is about to be sounded—let them gaze and hearken; the result will be well worth noting. The imagery is not to be taken literally, but in the same way as the notices in Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 13:2. When he lifteth up an ensign … when he bloweth a trumpet; rather, when an ensign is lifted up … when a trumpet sounds. On the mountains. Wherever the great event took place, the signal for it was given on the mountains of Judea (see 2 Kings 19:20-34). Isaiah 18:4 For so; rather, for thus. The word koh is prospective. I will take my rest, and I will consider; or, I will be still and look on. The rest of God is contrasted with the bustle and hurry of the Ethiopians and Assyrians. God "sits in his holy seat," calm and tranquil, knowing what the result is about to be, and when it will be; he waits while the influences of heat and moisture, sunshine and dew—his own agencies—ripen Assyria’s schemes, impassive, taking no part. Then, suddenly, he takes the part described in the latter portion of Isa 18:5, "cuts off the shoots and hews down the branches." Like a clear heat upon herbs, etc.; rather, while there is clear heat in the sunshine, while there is a cloud of dew in the harvest-warmth; i.e. while surrounding influences are such as must favor the growth of Assyria’s power and pride. Isaiah 18:5 For afore the harvest. God can rest thus tranquil, because he can step in at any time; and this he is about to do, before Assyria reaps her harvest. When the bud is perfect, etc.; rather, when the blossom is past, and the green grape is becoming a ripening bunch. He shall cut off (comp. Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34). The metaphor is slightly varied in this place, to suit the imagery of the preceding clause, where Assyria has been represented as a vine-stock. Formerly her "boughs" were to be "lopped;" now her "branches" and "sprigs" or "sprouts" are to be cut away with pruning-hooks. Isaiah 18:6 They shall be left together unto the fowls. At length imagery is dropped. The vine is shown to be an army, slaughtered all "together," and left a prey to kites and vultures, jackals and hyaenas. Shall summer … shall winter. They will furnish food to the beasts and birds of prey for the remainder of the year. Isaiah 18:7 In that time shall the present be brought; rather, a present. It would not be at all improbable that Tirkakah should, after the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, send a gift to the temple of the Jews, either as a recognition of the miracle as wrought by Jehovah, or simply as a thank offering. Necho sent the armor in which he had fought at Megiddo to the temple of Apollo at Branchidae, near Miletus, as a thank offering (Herod; 2.159). We have, however, no historical record of Tirkakah’s present as sent. Of a people; rather, from a people (compare the next clause, which supplies the ellipse of the preposition). (For the rest of the verse, see notes on Isaiah 18:2.) Isaiah 18:1-4 The contrast of Divine calm with human bustle, hurry, and excitement. When men take a matter in hand wherein they feel an interest, and set themselves either to carry out a certain design of their own, or to frustrate the designs of others, nothing is more remarkable than the "fuss" that they make about it. Heaven and earth are moved, so to speak, for the accomplishment of the desired end; the entire nation is excited, stirred, thrilled to its lowest depths; a universal eagerness prevails; all is noise, clamor, haste, bustle, tumult, whirl, confusion. Assyria’s "noise" is compared (Isaiah 17:12) to the roar of the sea, and the rushing of mighty waters. Ethiopia’s stir is like the sound of many wings (Isaiah 18:1). Even Cyrus, though he has a Divine mission, cannot set about it without "the noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together" (Isaiah 13:4). It is in vain that men are told to "stand still and see the salvation of God" (Exodus 14:13), or admonished that "in quietness and confidence should be their strength" (Isaiah 30:15); they cannot bring themselves to act on the advice tendered. Great minds indeed are comparatively quiet and tranquil; but even they are liable upon occasion to be swept away by the prevailing wave of excited feeling, and dragged, as it were, from their moorings into a turbid ocean. And the mass of mankind is wholly without calm or stability. It trembles, flutters, rushes hither and thither, mistakes activity for energy, and "fussiness" for the power of achievement. This condition of things results from three weaknesses in man: 1. His want of patience. 2. His want of confidence in himself. 3. His want of confidence in God. I. MAN’S WANT OF . Man desires to obtain whatever end he sets himself at once. The boy is impatient to be grown up, the subaltern would at once be a general, the clerk a partner, the student a professor of his science. Men "make haste to be rich" (Proverbs 28:20), and overshoot the mark, and fall hack into poverty. They strive to become world-famous when they are mere tyros, and put fetch ambitions writings which only show their ignorance. They fail to recognize the force of the proverb, that "everything comes to those who wait." To toil long, to persevere, to make a small advance day after day—this seems to them a poor thing, an unsatisfactory mode of procedure. They would reach the end per saltum, "by a bound." Hence their haste. Too often "most haste is worst speed" "Vaulting ambition cloth o’er leap itself, and falls on the other side." II. MAN’S WANT OF IN HIMSELF. He who is sure of himself can afford to wait. He knows that he will succeed in the end; what matters whether a little sooner or a little later? But the bulk of men are not sure of themselves; they misdoubt their powers, capacities, perseverance, steadiness, reserve fund of energy. Hence their spasmodic efforts, hurried movements, violent agitations, frantic rushings hither and thither. If they do not gain their end at once, they despair of ever attaining it. They are conscious of infinite weakness in themselves, and feel that they cannot tell what a day may bring forth in the way of defeat and disappointment. They say that it is necessary to strike while the iron is hot; but their real reason for haste is that they question whether their ability to strike will not have passed away if they delay ever so little. III. MAN’S WANT OF IS GOD. He who feels that God is on his side has no need to disquiet himself. He will not fear the powers of darkness; he will not be afraid of what flesh can do unto him. But comparatively few men have this feeling. Either they put the thoughts of God altogether away from them, or they view him as an enemy, or they misdoubt, at any rate, his sympathy with themselves. Mostly they feel that they do not deserve his sympathy. They cannot "rest in the Lord," and they cannot find rest outside of him. Hence they remain in perpetual disturbance and unrest. Strangely in contrast with man’s unquiet is God’s immovable calm and unruffled tranquility. "The Lord said, I will take my rest" (Isaiah 18:4). None can really resist his will, and hence he has no need to trouble himself if resistance is attempted. "The fierceness of man" will always "turn to his praise." Time is no object with him who is above time, "whose goings have been from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2). In silence and calm he accomplishes his everlasting purposes. Himself at rest in the still depths of his unchangeable nature, it is he alone who can give his creatures rest. As they grow mere like to him, they will grow more and more tranquil, until the time comes when they will enter finally into that rest which "remaineth for his people" (Hebrews 4:9). BY E. JOHNSON Homage of Ethiopia to Jehovah. I. IN . The oracle opens with a scene full of life. Hosts of Egyptian and Ethiopian warriors are seen, like buzzing swarms of flies moving to and fro. Messengers are speeding in papyrus boats to announce the approach of the Assyrians. The Ethiopians are described as a nation "tall and polished," terrible, strong, and all-subduing, whose land rivers cut through. A sense of mystery and greatness hung about this! and from the earliest times—the land of the source of the Nile, opened up by our countryman Spoke and others. The prophet lifts up his voice to this people. A signal will be seen on the mountains, the blast of a trumpet will be heard. There will be symptoms of the Divine presence, restraining, overruling the wrath of men for ends of Divine wisdom. "When wars are carried on, every one sees clearly what is done; but the greater part of men ascribe the beginning and end of them to chance. On the other hand, Isaiah shows that all these things ought to be ascribed to God, because he will display his power in a new and extraordinary manner; for sometimes he works so as to conceal his hand, and to prevent his work from being perceived by men, but sometimes he displays his hand in it in such a manner that all men are constrained to acknowledge it; and that is what the prophet meant" (Calvin). II. THE WAITING OF JEHOVAH. Impressive is the contrast between the noise and stir and agitation below, and the calmness above. Jehovah "will be still"—as the blue sky behind a moving host of clouds, above a surging sea below. In the second psalm we have the picture of him sitting in the heavens and "laughing" at the vain attempts of the enemies of the Messianic kingdom. There are three thoughts here. 1. The repose of God. It seems as if we must ever contemplate him resting from his toils of designing and creating and providing—entered on an eternal sabbath. The consciousness of vast force, sleeping, held in reserve, we must conceive of in God. Hence his stillness amidst our excitement. At times when vague movements are passing through the bosom of society, many voices rend the air with opposing cries, deep questions agitate the heart and conscience of thoughtful men. We long to hear the one infallible voice, to see the signal extended; and yet "God speaks not a word." Perhaps it may be said, a still small voice, saying, "Be still, and know that I am God!" may be heard by acuter spiritual ears. His stillness must be the effect of infinite strength and profoundest confidence. 2. His contemplativeness. He "looks on in his mansion." Not as the Epicureans represented the gods of the heathen, sitting apart, reckless of the weal or woe of men; but intently watchful of the development of things, the ripening of good, the gathering up of evil towards the day of sifting and judgment. In a powerful biblical image, "his eyes are in every place, beholding the good and the evil." And our thought, to be in harmony with his, must in many matters and at many times fall into the mood of contemplation. Instead of seeking to theorize rashly upon the strange mixture of tendencies life at any troubled epoch presents, it were well to possess our souls in patience—to look on and "let both grow together till the harvest." 3. His waiting attitude. "While there is clear heat in sunshine, while there are clouds of dew in harvest-heat," he is waiting "till the fruit of Assyrian annoyance is all but ripe." The heat and the clouds of dew hasten the powers in nature; there are corresponding forces at work in the moral world, seen by him to be working towards certain results. God can wait because he knows. And may not we in a measure compose our souls into that attitude of waiting? Some things we, too, know; about many others we can say, "God knows," and so leave them. Especially so in times or in moods of alarm. In the present case men below see one picture of the future; quite another is seen by God above. To them a vast black cloud is gathering over the horizon; he sees the sun that will presently smite it asunder. They see a fell harvest of woe for themselves ripening; he has the pruning-knife in his hand, with which he will make havoc among the growth. They see an immense host of irresistible warriors; he the birds of prey and the beasts that will soon be feeding upon their remains. Let us think of the immense reserves of force at the disposal of Jehovah. The statesman, in times of alarm, assures a trembling country that the "resources of civilization" are not yet exhausted; yet they have their limit. Behind them lie the absolutely inexhaustible resources of the living and eternal God. Let our hearts be stayed on him, and all will be well. III. THE EFFECT ON . They will bring a tribute to Jehovah Sabaoth, to the Lord of hosts, in his seat on Mount Zion. It is he who has done these things. We find the like impressive picture passing before a prophetic eye in Psalms 68:32: "Kingdoms of splendor come out of Egypt, Ethiopia stretches out her hands to God." The gathering of so glorious a people into the true Church is to be the result of the manifestation of the power of Israel’s God. LESSONS. 1. The providence of God over the Church. "He shows that he takes care of the Church, and that, though he determines to chastise it, still he comes forward at the proper season to hinder it from perishing, and displays his power in opposition to tyrants and other enemies, that they may not overthrow it or succeed in accomplishing what they imagined to be in their powers. In order, therefore, to excite them to patience, he not only distinguishes them from the Ethiopians, but likewise reminds them that God mitigates his judgments for their preservation" (Calvin). 2. The indestructibility of the spiritual life. This must not be confounded with the institutions in which it dwells for a time. But, understanding the "Church" in the spiritual or mystical sense, it cannot perish. Calvin wrote in his day, "The Church is not far from despair, being plundered, scattered, and everywhere crushed and trodden underfoot. What must be done in straits so numerous and so distressing? We ought to lay hold on these promises so as to believe that God will still preserve the Church. The body may be torn, shivered into fragments and scattered; still, by his Spirit, he will easily unite the members, and will never allow the remembrance and calling on his Name to perish." 3. The self-concealment of God. The trial of faith in all ages. Oh that he would show his face, bare his arm, disclose his majesty, exert his power, appear as Judge to end once for all the strifes of the world! But we must learn to say, "God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world." At the proper season he will come forth. "If he instantly cut the wicked down and took them away like a sprouting blade of corn, his power would not be so manifest, nor would his goodness be so fully ascertained, as when he permits them to grow to a vast height, to swell and blossom, that they may afterwards fall by their own weight, or, like large and fat ears of corn, cuts them down with pruning-knives." 4. The unity of religion the prophetic ideal. Mount Zion was its ancient symbol; for us it is not Rome, nor any other city or mount,—it is the human heart, with all its pathos, its faith, hope, and love, its regenerate life and aspirations, it is one spirit universal in mankind.—J. BY W. Isaiah 18:1-6 The patience of power. The most striking and distinctive truth this chapter contains is that of the patience of Divine power, which permits evil to rise and to mature, and which, at the right moment, effectually intervenes. But there are other points beside this; they are— I. THE OF HUMAN . Whatever may be the right translation and the true application of these verses, it is clear that reference is made to a warlike people—a people "terrible" to their neighbors, a people "of command" or "treading underfoot," aggressive and victorious. It shows how far we have fallen from our first estate and from the condition for which we were created, that it does not, strike us as strange that this should be the description of a people; that the number of nations whom it characterizes is so great that we fail to identify the nation which is in the prophet’s vision. Under sin it has become common, not to say natural, that a nation should be "terrible," should be treading down or crushing, and full of commands to its neighbors. But to how much better purpose might the strong peoples of the earth devote their strength! God has made rich provision for the peaceable and fruitful exercise of our largest powers. There are rivers and seas (Isaiah 18:2) for travelling, exploration, commerce; there is vegetation (bulrushes, papyrus), which may be made to carry men’s bodies, or which, by the exercise of human ingenuity, may be made to convey their thoughts to distant lands and remotest times; there is land and there are seeds, there is sunshine and there is dew, which can be made to produce golden harvests that will satisfy man’s wants and minister to his most refined tastes (Isaiah 18:4, Isaiah 18:5); there are birds and beasts (Isaiah 18:6), with whose habits men may become intelligently familiar; there is wealth beneath the soil in precious metals, which can not only be raised and collected to enrich the homes of men, but which can be conveyed, as the tribute of piety, to the house of the Lord (Isaiah 18:7). But, despising and neglecting such materials and such ambitions as these, nations have aspired to rule over others—have perfected themselves in all the arts and enginery of war, have congratulated themselves on nothing so much as in being "terrible" to those on the other side the river or across the mountain range. II. THE OF MAN’S IN THE DAY OF DIVINE ANGER. The destruction threatened (Isaiah 18:5, Isaiah 18:6) probably refers to that of the army of Sennacherib; but if the reference be to some other national calamity, it certainly points to an overthrow, signal and fearful, from which the imagination turns away oppressed. So has it been found, both by individual men and nations, that when God arises to judgment, their feeble defenses are scattered to the winds, and their doom is utterly irreversible by anything they can do to mend it (see Psalms 2:1-12.; 63:17-20; Psalms 92:6, Psalms 92:9). III. THE LESSON OF GOD’S . The result in this case is seen in the bringing of a tribute to the Lord (Isaiah 18:7). If God puts forth his power in overwhelming retribution, it is, chiefly if not wholly, that they who witness it (men or nations) may repent of their own misdeeds or impiety, and may return unto the Lord in penitence, in prayer, in consecration; for the most acceptable "present" that can be "brought unto the Lord of hosts" is the humbled, believing, obedient heart. IV. THE OF DIVINE POWER. (Isaiah 18:4.) The Lord said, "I will fake my rest [I will be calm or still], I will consider in my dwelling-place [I will look on from my habitation] like a clear heat upon herbs, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." God will not be provoked into hurried and impatient judgments; he will retain a Divine composure, he will manifest the patience which belongs to conscious power; the heavens should be as still as on the calmest summer day while evil was working to its bitter end, while sin was advancing to its doom. Here is a contrast to us and here are lessons for us. We, in our finite feebleness, are often impatient in spirit and hurried in action. We are afraid that, if we do not strike at once, we shall not have time to strike at all, or that our resources of retribution will fall, or that our adversary will be out of our reach. God can entertain no such fear and be affected by no such thought. 1. All time is at his command. 2. All resources are in his hands. 3. The men (nations) whom he may find it needful to chastise can never be beyond the reach of his power. Hence his calmness in place of our confusion, his patience in contrast with our feverish restlessness. (1) Let not the wicked presume on Divine disregard; God will put forth his hand in punishment at his own chosen time. (2) Let not the righteous be surprised or disheartened by his delay; he does not count time by our chronometry; he has not the reasons for haste which urge us to immediate action; the hour of his merciful intervention will arrive in time.—C. BY R. TUCK Man’s energy put in place of trust in God. This comes to view in a more precise translation of the passage. The King of Ethiopia, who was nominally also King of Egypt, alarmed by the near approach of the Assyrians, is aroused to the exhibition of great energy, and sends messengers in the light river-vessels to spread the news through the empire as rapidly as possible, and call the troops of all his dependent nations to his standard. Geikie translates, or paraphrases the passage thus: "O land of the buzz of fly-swarms—emblems of countless armies—by the rivers of Ethiopia, which art sending messengers upon the seas, and in swift, light, papyrus boats along all your waters, to gather allies, and muster all the force of your empire: Go back to your homes, ye swift messengers—go back to Ethiopia—the tall and strong race, terrible in war from their rise till now,—the nation very strong and all-subduing, whose land is seamed with rivers! Jehovah, alone, will destroy the invader!" The energy of the Ethiopian king is so far commended, but the prophet urges that in this case it is not needed, for God proposes to take to himself all the glory of driving back the Assyrian invasion. I. MAN’S ENERGY IS CALLED FOR. Whatsoever a man findeth to do he should do "with his might," "heartily." Success in life greatly depends on the strength and vigor in our touch of life’s duties and claims. Energy includes strength of will, decision, promptness, perseverance, power to overcome obstacles and hindrances, and fertility of resources. Energy is the quality most commended in business life; and it is found to make up for the absence of actual abilities. The man of energy compels life to yield him some of its best. It is thought of as a characteristic of American business life, and is illustrated in the man who put together the blackened rafters and boards of his burnt warehouse, and commenced business again before the great fire was fully quenched, putting up this for a sign, "William D. Kerfoot; all gone, save wife, children, and energy." However much this energy may be a peculiarity of individual disposition, it is also subject to culture, and may be nourished into strength by a firm self-mastery of our life and habits. Exercise thyself thereunto. II. MAN’S ENERGY IS WITH ON GOD. Only the weak man fails to make try harmonize with trust. Here the point may be fully argued and illustrated, that the submission which God seeks is no slavish lying down to bear, which is the Islam, or submission of Mohammedanism, but the submission of an active and cheerful obedience, which expects God’s will to be doing rather than bearing, and carries a noble spirit of watching for God and waiting on him, into every detail of life. To suffer and submit is no very great triumph; to carry the spirit of submission at the heart of our work is the sublime victory of Christian life. And just this is the glory of the energy illustrated in the Apostle Paul. To men’s view "beside himself;" his secret this, "To me to live is Christ." III. MAN’S ENERGY MUST NEVER BE PUT IN THE PLACE OF GOD. But just in this the worldly man is constantly failing. "This is great Babylon, which I have builded." "I will pull down my barns and build greater." "See this business which I have established." "My might, and the strength of my arm, have gotten me this victory." Nothing tends more readily to separate a man from God, and God from a man, than life-success attending energy. And of this great peril the Christian man needs to beware. Even he may find that he has dethroned God from the rule of his life, and raised up in his place the old idol of self, dressed in the garments of "energy." IV. MAN’S ENERGY MUST BE PUT ASIDE, THAT GOD ALONE MAY WORK. As in this case, the Ethiopian king must stop his hurrying messengers, and be still; for Jehovah would work the needed rescue. There are times m our lives when we cannot work, when we must not work; and in those times we learn how to put energy and enterprise into their right place. God puts us in his school, and teaches us the hard lesson of practically uniting "energy" with "dependence." And yet this is but the same lesson as joining harmoniously together "faith and "works;" or, as the apostle expresses it, "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."—R.T. God can wait. "I will rest." God was apparently inactive and unobservant, while the Assyrian was maturing his plans and taking all his first steps. But God watches the influences gathering round the growing-time of the trees, though men trace his working almost only in their fruitage. The words of this passage "paint with marvelous vividness the calmness and deliberation of the workings of Divine judgments. God is at once unhasting and unresting. He dwells in his resting-place (i.e. his palace or throne) and watches the ripening of the fruit which he is about to gather. While there is a clear heat in sunshine, while there is a dew-cloud in harvest-heat, through all phenomenal changes, he waits still" (Dean Plumptre). The figure of a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest is well illustrated by Thomson, in ’The Land and the Book,’ who writes of a cloud which "absolutely reposed upon the vast harvest-fields of Philistia, lying on the corn serene and quiet as infancy asleep. I have never seen such a cloud in this country except in the heat of harvest." Cheyne brings out the point of this verse. "In the midst of all the excitement, of the Assyrians on the one hand, and of the Ethiopians on the other, Jehovah is calmly waiting till the fruit of Assyrian arrogance is all but ripe. Favoring circumstances are hastening the process (clear heat, etc.), and when perfection seems just within reach, God will interpose in judgment." God can wait—quietly wait—until the fullness of time has come. God reproaches our restlessness by his example, for our time is "always ready," and by our impatience and failure in self-control we spoil a thousand things. This subject may be opened in the following way. I. IN ENDS THERE IS OFTEN GREAT NEED FOR WAITING. Illustrate from the failure of the general, because he did not wait until preparations were complete; or from the farmer who loses his crops by cutting them too soon, before the weather has become settled; or the artist who cannot wait to give his work the perfecting touches of his own criticism; or the pastor who injures the young blade by worrying anxiety over it, and cannot wait to let young soul-life gather quiet strength in its own simple ways. The wisdom of waiting is harder to learn and practice than the wisdom of acting and working. Yet the motto, by no means untruthfully, says, "All things come round to him who can wait." II. IN MORAL ENDS THERE IS OFTEN NEED FOB WAITING. Because moral processes can never bear forcing. They vary in different individuals. The lesson of virtue which one person learns at once, another grasps only as a final result of the training of a long life. This point may be opened up in relation to the work of mothers and teachers. They seek moral ends. They are often distressed by the slowness of the approach to the end. They must learn the importance of active, watchful waiting. And in the highest sense, in relation to God’s moral working, we all need to hear the voice that pleads, "Wait thou his time." Marvelous is the long-suffering patience of him who waited while the ark was building, and waited through the ages until the "fullness of times" for his Christ had come. III. IN MAN WAITING MAY BE EITHER OR . It may be "masterly inactivity," and it may be that "procrastination" which loses golden opportunities. IV. IN GOD WAITING IS ALWAYS WISDOM AND . So we never need fret under it, or make mystery of it, or think untrustful things about it. God acts on the absolutely best moment, and we should wait on for ages, and never want a thing until God’s best moment for it has come. Because God can wait, we should trust.—R.T. Isaiah 18:5, Isaiah 18:6 God can work. When his time has come. Then, before man can do his harvesting work; when the blossoming and the growing times are over, through which God had waited; when the fruit becomes the full ripe grape,—then God will show how he can work, putting in his implements, and proving himself to be a Deliverer and a Judge. God’s working here referred to is doubtless the sudden, unexpected, and complete overthrow of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, which came at the time when it would prove absolutely overwhelming, and perfectly effective as a deliverance. Matthew Henry states the case in this way: "When the Assyrian army promises itself a plentiful harvest in the taking of Jerusalem and the plundering of that rich city, when the bud of that project is perfect, before the harvest is gathered in, while the sour grape of their enmity to Hezekiah and his people is ripening in the flower, and the design is just ready to be put into execution, God shall destroy that army as easily as the husbandman cuts off the vine with pruning-hooks, or because the grape is sour and good for nothing, and will not be cured, takes away and cuts down the branches. This seems to point at the overthrow of the Assyrian army by a destroying angel, when the dead bodies of the soldiers were scattered like the branches and sprigs of a wild vine, which the husbandman has cut to pieces." I. GOD’S WORKING IS WELL-TIMED. This is the point made specially prominent here. What was needed, for the due impression of Judah and the surrounding nations, was some startling deliverance; something that should be at once complete, and yet should be manifestly beyond man’s accomplishing. Such a working must be exactly timed. When the success of Assyria seemed assured, when its prey seemed within its grasp, and when men’s hearts were failing them for fear,—just then the wild hot Simoom blast swept over the army, and as in a moment there were heaps of dead men, and few escaped to tell the awful story. For the timeliness of God’s judgment-workings find illustration in the Flood, the destruction of Sodom, the extirpation of the Canaanites, the captivities, and the final siege of Jerusalem. II. GOD’S WORKING IS FULL OF ENERGY. Ever setting before us the example of thoroughness in the doing of whatever work has to be done. This is in great part the reason why, in making Israel his executioner, God required Israel to treat everything belonging to the Canaanites as accursed, and doomed to destruction. It was, for the first ages, a Divine lesson in thoroughness, energy, and promptitude. God never works with a slack hand, and his servants must not. III. GOD’S WORKING IS ALWAYS TO ITS END. And that, not because it is almighty working, so much as because it is all-wise working. Power is quite a secondary thing to adaptation. A thing fitted to its end will accomplish it, and it will be accomplished better through the fitness than by any displays of power. The end here designed was an adequate impression of the sole and sovereign rights of Jehovah, and a loud call to the nations to put their trust in him. The overthrow of a mighty army, in the fullness of its pride, by purely natural—which are purely Divine—forces, was exactly adapted to secure this end. Illustrate by the moral impression produced by great and destructive earthquakes. When the end of God’s working is the persuasion of his fatherly love, then we find his means marvelously adapted and effective. "He gave his Son, his only begotten Son." And herein we say is love, "not that we loved God, but that lie loved us, and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins." Be it work of judgment or work of mercy, of this we may be quite sure—God accomplishes that which he pleases, and his work prospers in that to which he sends it.—R.T. Isaiah 19:1-17 THE BURDEN OF EGYPT. It has been doubted whether this prophecy refers to the conquest of Egypt by Piankhi, as related in the monument which he set up at Napata, or to that by Esarhaddon, of which we gain our knowledge from the inscriptions of his son, Asshur-bani-pal. In the former case, we must suppose it written as early as B.C. 735; in the latter, its date might be as late as B.C. 690. The division of Egypt, "kingdom against kingdom," is a circumstance rather in favor of the earlier date; but the "cruel lord," and the mention of the "princes of Zoan and Noph," are decisive for the later. Piankhi is anything rather than a "cruel lord," being particularly mild and clement; Napata (Noph) is under him, and cannot be said to have been "deceived" or to have "seduced Egypt;" and Zoan plays no part in the history of the period. Esarhaddon, on the contrary, was decidedly a "cruel" prince, and treated Egypt with great severity, splitting it up into a number of governments. Zoan was one of the leading cities of the time, and Noph was the leading power on the Egyptian side, the head of the patriotic party which resisted the Assyrian monarch, but to no purpose. We may, therefore, regard this prophecy as one of Isaiah’s latest, placed where it is merely on account of its head-tug—the compiler having placed all the "burdens" against foreign countries together. Isaiah 19:1 The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud. Natural imagery to express the rapidity of Divine visitations (comp. Psalms 104:3). God, being about to visit Egypt with a judgment of extreme severity, is represented as entering the land in person (so in Isaiah 13:5). The idols of Egypt shall be moved. Neither Piankhi nor any other Ethiopian conqueror made war on the Egyptian idols; but the Assyrians were always bent on humbling the gods of the hostile countries (see above, Isaiah 10:10; and comp. Isaiah 36:18-20). We have no detailed account of Esarhaddon’s campaign; but we find Asshur-bani-pal’s first victory over Tirhakah immediately followed by the presentation to him in his camp of Egyptian deities, i.e. of their images. These were probably taken to Nineveh, or else destroyed. At a later date, the same monarch deprived an Egyptian temple of two of its sacred obelisks. The heart of Egypt shall molt (coup. Isaiah 13:7; Psalms 22:14). Isaiah 19:2 I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians. The disintegration of Egypt commenced about B.C. 760-750, towards the close of the twenty-second dynasty. About B.C. 735 a struggle began between Plan-khi, King of Upper Egypt, and Tafnekhf, King of Sais and Memphis, in which the other princes took different sides. Ten or twelve years later there was a struggle between Bocchoris and Sabaeo. From this time onwards, until Psamatik I. reestablished the unity of Egypt, the country was always more or less divided, and on the occurrence of any crisis the princes were apt to make war one up, n another. Kingdom against kingdom. During the period of disintegration, the title of" king" was assumed by most of the potty princes, though they were little more than chiefs of cities. Isaiah 19:3 They shall seek to the idols. The Egyptians believed that their gods gave them oracles. Menephthah claims to have been warned by Phthah, the god of Memphis, not to take the field in person against the Libyans when they invaded the Delta, but to leave the task of contending with them to his generals. Herodotus speaks of there being several well-known oracular shrines in Egypt, the most trustworthy being that of Maut, at the city which he calls Buto. The charmers … them that have familiar spirits … wizards. Classes of men corresponding to the "magicians" and "wise men" of earlier times (Genesis 41:8). (On the large place which magic occupied in the thoughts of the Egyptians, see ’Pulpit Commentary’ on Exodus 7:11.) There was no diminution of the confidence reposed in them as time went on; and some remains of their practices seem to survive to the present day. Isaiah 19:4 The Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord. It has been observed above that Piankhi will not answer to this description. It will, however, well suit Esarhaddon. Esarhaddon, soon after his accession, cut off the heads of Abdi-Milkut, King of Sidon, and of Sanduarri, King of Kundi, and hung them round the necks of two of their chief officers. In an expedition which he made into Arabia, he slew eight of the sovereigns, two of them being women. On conquering Egypt he treated it with extreme severity. Not only did he divide up the country into twenty governments, but he changed the names of the towns, and assigned to his twenty governors, as their main duty, that they were "to slay, plunder, and spoil" their subjects. He certainly well deserved the appellations of "a cruel lord," "a fierce king." Isaiah 19:5 The waters shall fail from the sea. By "the sea" it is generally allowed that the Nile must be meant, as in Isaiah 18:2 and Nahum 3:8. The failure might be caused by deficient rains in Abyssinia and Equatorial Africa, producing an insufficient inundation. It might be aggravated by the neglect of dykes and canals, which would be the natural consequence of civil disorders. Wasted and dried up; rather, parched and dried up. Allowance must be made for Oriental hyperbole. The meaning is only that there shall be a great deficiency in the water supply. Such a deficiency has often been the cause of terrible famines in Egypt. Isaiah 19:6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; rather, and the rivers shall stagnate (Cheyne). Probably the canals are intended, as in Exodus 7:19 (see ’Pulpit Commentary,’ ad loc.). The brooks of defense shall be emptied. Some render this "brooks of Egypt," regarding matsor as here used for "Mitsraim;" but our translation is more forcible, and may well stand. The "brooks of defense" are those which had hitherto formed the moats round walled cities (comp. Isaiah 37:25; Nahum 3:8). The reeds and flags shall wither. Reeds, flags, rushes, and water-plants of all kinds abound in the backwaters of the Nile, and the numerous ponds and marshes connected with its overflow. These forms of vegetation would be the first to wither on the occurrence of a deficient inundation. Isaiah 19:7 The paper reeds by the brooks, etc.; rather, the meadows on the river, along the banks of the river, and every seed-plot by the river. The banks of the Nile were partly grass-land (Genesis 41:2, Genesis 41:18), partly cultivated in grain or vegetables (Herod; 2.14), in either case producing the most luxuriant crops. All, however, depended on the inundation, and if that failed, or so far as it failed, the results predicted by the prophet would happen. Isaiah 19:8 The fishers also shall mourn. The fisherman’s trade was extensively practiced in ancient Egypt, and anything which interfered with it would necessarily be regarded as a great calamity. A large class supported itself by the capture and sale of fish fresh or salted. The Nile produced great abundance of fish, both in its main stream and in its canals and backwaters. Lake Moeris also provided an extensive supply (Herod; 2.149). All they that east angle into the brooks; rather, into the river. Fishing with a hook was practiced in Egypt, though not very widely, except as an amusement by the rich. Actual hooks have been found, not very different from modern ones, and representations of angling occur in some of the tombs. Sometimes a line only is used, sometimes a rod and line. They that spread nets. Nets were very much more widely employed than lines and hooks. Ordinarily a dragnet was used; but sometimes small fry were taken in the shallows by means of a double-handled landing-net. Isaiah 19:9 They that work in fine flax. Linen of great fineness and delicacy was woven in Egypt, for the priests’ dresses, for mummy-cloths, and for corselets. Solomon imported "linen yarn" from his Egyptian neighbors (1 Kings 10:28), and the Phoenicians a linen fabric for their sails’ (Ezekiel 27:7). In the general decline of Egyptian prosperity, caused by the circumstances of the time, the manufacturers of linen would suffer. They that weave networks; rather, they that weave while clothes. Cotton fabrics are probably intended. Shall be confounded; literally, shall blush, or be ashamed. Isaiah 19:10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof; rather, and the foundations thereof shall be broken, or crushed to pieces (Kay). The rich and noble, the foundations of the fabric of society, seem to be meant. All that make sluices, etc. Translate, all that work for hire (comp. Proverbs 11:18) shall be grieved in soul. The meaning is that all classes, from the highest to the lowest, shall suffer affliction (so Lowth, Gesenius, Knobel, Kay, Cheyne). Isaiah 19:11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools. Zoan, or Tanis, which had been an insignificant city since the time of the shepherd-kings, came to the front once more at the time of the struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Esarhaddon made it the head of one of the petty kingdoms into which he divided Egypt. Early in the reign of his son it revolted, in conjunction with Sais and Mendes, but was ere long reduced to subjection by the Assyrians. Its king, Petu-bastes, was taken to Nineveh, and there probably put to death. Its "princes" were, no doubt, among those who counseled resistance to Assyria. The counsel of the wise, etc.; literally, as for the wise counsellors of Pharaoh, their counsel is become senseless. Two classes of advisers seem to be intended—nobles, supposed to be qualified by birth; and "wise men," qualified by study and education. Both would now be found equally incapable. Pharaoh. Probably Tirhakah is intended. It is possible that he was really suzerain of Egypt at the time of Sennacherib’s invasion, when Shabatek was nominally king. It is certain that, after the death of Shabatok, he was recognized as sovereign both of Ethiopia and of Egypt, and ruled over both countries. Esarhaddon found him still occupying this position in B.C. 673, when he made his Egyptian expedition. Tirhakah’s capital at this time was Memphis. How say ye, etc.? With what face can you boast of your descent, or of your learning, when you are unable to give any sound advice? Isaiah 19:12 Where are they? where, etc.? rather, Where, then, are thy wise men? If thou hast any, let them come forward anti predict the coming course of events, what Jehovah has determined to do (compare similar challenges in the later chapters of the book, Isaiah 41:21-23; Isaiah 43:9; Isaiah 48:14, etc.). Isaiah 19:13 The princes of Noph. There are no grounds for changing "Noph" into "Moph." "Noph" is probably "Napata," known as "Nap" in the hieroglyphic inscriptions—the original capital of the Ethiopian kings, and, when Memphis had become their capital, still probably regarded as the second city of the empire. The "princes of Noph" would be Tirhakah’s counselors. They have also, etc. Translate, Even they have led Egypt astray, who are the corner-stone of her tribes. Strictly speaking, there were no "tribes" in Egypt, much less "castes," but only classes, marked out by strong lines of demarcation the one from the other. Herodotus gives seven of them—priests, soldiers, herdsmen, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and boatmen. But there were several others also, e.g. agricultural laborers, fishermen, artisans, official employee, etc. Isaiah 19:14 The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit, etc. "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6). To bring Egypt into so distracted a state, the hand of God had been necessary. He had introduced into the nation "a spirit of perverseness." Those in whom this spirit was had then "led Egypt astray in all her doings." They had made her "like a drunken man," who "staggers" along his path, and slips in "his own vomit." Long-continued success and prosperity produces often a sort of intoxication in a nation. Isaiah 19:15 Neither shall there be, etc. Translate, And there shall be for Egypt no work in which both the head and the tail, both the palm branch and the rush, may (conjointly) work. The general spirit of perverseness shall prevent all union of high with low, rich with poor. Isaiah 19:16 In that day; or, at that time; i.e. when the Assyrian invasion comes. Shall Egypt be like unto women (comp. Jeremiah 51:30). So Xerxes said of his fighting men at Salamis: "My men have become women" (Herod; 8.88). Because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord (comp. Isaiah 11:15 and Isaiah 30:32). The Egyptians would scarcely recognize Jehovah as the Author of their calamities, but it would none the less be his hand which punished them. Isaiah 19:17 The land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt. In Manasseh’s reign Judaea became subject to Assyria, and had to take part in the hostile expeditions, which both Esarhaddon and his son, Asshurbanipal, conducted against Egypt. Egypt had to keep her eye on Judaea continually, to see when danger was approaching her. If is not likely that Isaiah’s prophecies caused the "terror" here spoken of. Every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid; rather, when any one maketh mention thereof, they shall turn to him in fear. The very mention of Judaea by any one shall cause fear, because they will expect to hear that an expedition has started, or is about to start, from that country. Because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts. This is how Isaiah views the Assyrian attacks on Egypt, not how the Egyptians viewed them. The fear felt by the Egyptians was not a religious fear. They simply dreaded the Assyrian armies, and Judaea as the country from which the expeditions seemed to issue. Isaiah 19:18-22 THE TURNING OF EGYPT TO JEHOVAH. The chastisement of the Egyptians shall be followed, after a while, by a great change. Influences from Canaan shall penetrate Egypt (Isaiah 19:18), an altar shall be raised in her midst to Jehovah (Isaiah 19:19), and she herself shall cry to him for succor (Isaiah 19:20) and be delivered (Isaiah 19:20). Egypt shall even become a part of Jehovah’s kingdom, shall "know him," and serve him with sacrifice and oblation (Isaiah 19:21), and perform her vows to Jehovah, and have her supplications heard by him, and be converted and healed (Isaiah 19:22). Isaiah 19:18 In that day. Not really the day of vengeance, but that which, in the prophet’s mind, is most closely connected with it—the day of restitution—whereof he has spoken perpetually (Isaiah 1:25-27; Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 6:13, etc.). The two are parts of one scheme of things, and belong in the prophet’s mind to one time. Shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan. It is quite true, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, that the Eastern Delta was from a very early date continually more and more Semitized by an influx of settlers from Palestine, and that Egyptian literature bears strong marks of this linguistic influence. But this is scarcely what the prophet intends to speak about. He is not interested in philology. What he means is that there will be an appreciable influx into Egypt of Palestinian ideas, thoughts, and sentiments. "Five" is probably used as a "round" number. The first manifest fulfillment of the prophecy was at the foundation of Alexandria, when the Jews were encouraged to become settlers by the concession of important privileges (Josephus, ’Contr. Ap.,’ Isaiah 2:4), and where they ultimately became the predominant element in the population, amounting, according to Philo (’In Flaec.,’ § 6), to nearly a million souls. The next great Palestinian influx was under Ptolemy YI. (Philometor), when Onias fled from Palestine with a number of his partisans, and obtained permission to erect a Jewish temple near Heliopelis. The site of this temple is probably marked by the ruins at Tel-el-Yahoudeh. It seems to have been a center to a number of Jewish communities in the neighborhood. In this double way Jehovah became known to Egypt before Christianity. A Christian Church was early established in Alexandria, possibly by St. Mark. Swear to the Lord of hosts; i.e. "swear fidelity to him." One shall be called, The city of destruction. Some manuscripts read ’Ir-ha-Kheres, "City of the Sun," for ’Ir-ha-heres, "City of Destruction," in which case the reference would be plainly to Heliopelis, which was in the immediate neighborhood of Tel-el-Yahoudeh, and which in the Ptolemaic period may well have fallen under Jewish influence. Even if ’Ir-ha-heres stand as the true reading, the name may still have been given with allusion to Heliopolis, the prophet intending to say, "That city which was known as the City of the Sun-God shall become known as the City of Destruction of the Sun-God and of idolatrous worship generally." That Heliopolis did actually fall under Jewish influence in the Ptolemaic period appears from a remarkable passage of Polyhistor, who says of the Exodus and the passage of the Red Sea, "The Memphites say that Moses, being well acquainted with the district, watched the ebb of the tide, and so led the people across the dry bed of the sea; but they of Heliopolis affirm that the king, at the head of a vast force, and having the sacred animals also with him, pursued after the Jews, because they were carrying away with them the riches which they had borrowed from the Egyptians. Then, "they say," the voice of God commanded Moses to smite the sea with his rod, and divide it; and Moses, when he heard, touched the water with it, and so the sea parted asunder, and the host marched through on dry ground." Such an account of the Exodus would scarcely have been given by Egyptians unless they were three parts Hebraized. Isaiah 19:19 There shall be an altar to the Lord. An altar to the Lord was undoubtedly erected by Onias in the temple which he obtained leave to build from Ptolemy Philometor. Josephus says that he persuaded Ptolemy by showing him this passage of Isaiah (’Ant. Jud.,’ 13.3; ’Bell. Jud.,’ 7.10). And a pillar at the border thereof. It is not clear that any "pillar" was ever actually erected. The erection of pillars for religious purposes was forbidden by the Law (Deuteronomy 16:22). But this would be a pillar of witness (Genesis 31:52), and would mark that the land was Jehovah’s. Dr. Kay suggests that "the Jewish synagogue first, and afterwards the Christian Church at Alexandria, standing like a lofty obelisk, with the name of Jehovah inscribed upon it, at the entrance of Egypt," sufficiently fulfilled the prophecy. Isaiah 19:20 It shall be for a sign. The outward tokens of Jehovah-worship shall witness to God that he has in Egypt now a covenant people, and he will deal with them accordingly. He shall send them a savior, and a great one. This does not seem to point to any earthly deliverer, but to the Savior from the worst of all oppressors, sin and Satan, whom they will need equally with the rest of his people. Isaiah 19:21 The Lord shall be known; rather, shall make himself known, as in Ezekiel 20:5, Ezekiel 20:9; by answering prayer, by spiritual influences, and the like. The Egyptians shall know the Lord (comp. Jeremiah 31:34, "They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest"). And shall do sacrifice and oblation; rather, shall serve with sacrifice and oblation. The bulk of the Jews settled in Egypt, together with their Egyptian proselytes, went up year by year to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem, and make offerings to him there (see Zechariah 14:16-19). Christian Egypt worshipped God with sacrifice and oblation in the same sense as the rest of the Church (Malachi 1:11). Isaiah 19:22 And Jehovah shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing; i.e. Jehovah shall indeed "smite Egypt," as already prophesied (Isaiah 19:1-16), but it shall be with a merciful object, in order, after smiting, to "heal." His smiting shall induce them to "return" to him, and when they return he will forgive and save (comp. Zephaniah 3:8, Zephaniah 3:9; Jeremiah 12:14-16). Egypt was a Christian country from the third century to the seventh; and the Coptic Church (though very corrupt) still remains, knowing Jehovah, and offering the holy oblation of the Christian altar continually. Isaiah 19:23-25 UNION BETWEEN EGYPT, ASSYRIA, AND ISRAEL. Assyria’s conversion to God will follow or accompany that of Egypt. The two will be joined with Israel in an intimate connection, Israel acting as the intermediary. There will be uninterrupted communication, common worship, and the common blessing of God extending over the three. Isaiah 19:23 Shall there be a highway. The phraseology resembles that of Isa 11:16; but the purpose is different. Then the "highway" was to facilitate the return of the Israelites to their own land. Now the object is perfectly free communication between the three peoples. The Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. "Shall serve" means "shall worship" (see verse 21). The "Assyrians" represent the inhabitants of the Mesopotamian regions generally. As, from the time of Alexander, Hebrew influence extended itself largely over Egypt, so, even from an earlier date, it began to be felt in the Mesopotamian countries. The transplantation of the ten tribes, or a considerable portion of them, into Upper Mesopotamia and Media, was the commencement of a diffusion of Hebrew ideas through those regions. The captivity of Judah still further impressed these ideas on the native races. Great numbers of Jews did not return from the Captivity, but remained in the countries and cities to which they had been trans ported, particularly in Babylon (Josephus, ’Ant. Jud.,’ 11.1). The policy of the Seleucid princes was to establish Jewish colonies in all their great cities. In the time between Alexander and the birth of our Lord, the Hebrew community was re cognized as composed of three great sections—the Palestinian, the Egyptian, and the Syro-Babylonian. Constant communication was maintained between the three branches. Ecclesiastical regulations, framed at Jerusalem, were transmitted to Alexandria and Babylon, while collections made in all parts of Egypt and Mesopotamia for the temple service were annually carried to the Palestinian capital by trusty persons. It is thus quite reasonable to regard as an "initial stage in the fulfillment of this prophecy" the state of things existing at this period (Kay). The more complete fulfillment was doubtless after Pentecost, when Christianity was preached and established in Egypt and Libya on the one hand, in Parthia, and Media, and Elam, and Mesopotamia on the other (Acts 2:9, Acts 2:10). Isaiah 19:24 In that day shall Israel be the third; rather, a third. Not third in rank, for Isaiah 19:25 shows that she would retain a pre-eminence, but the common intermediary, brining the other two together. A blessing in the midst of the land; rather, in the midst of the earth. Judaean monotheism, upheld by God’s people in Palestine, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, would be a blessing, not only to those three countries, but to the world at large. So, and still more, would Christianity. Isaiah 19:25 Whom the Lord of hosts bless; rather, forasmuch as the Lord of hosts hath blessed him. "Him" must be understood collectively, of the threefold Israel, spread through the three countries, which all partake of the blessing. The three countries are able to be a blessing to the world at large, because God’s blessing rests upon them. Egypt my people. Egypt’s great work in Jewish times, by which she became a blessing to the world, was her translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, commanded by Egyptian kings, and executed at Alexandria, the Egyptian capital. Neo-Platonism certainly owed much to this source. Stoicism probably something. Assyria the work of my hands. Assyria did no such work as Egypt. Neither the Targum of Onkelos nor the Babylonian Talmud can be compared for a moment with the Septuagint. Still the Mesopotamian Jews were a blessing to their neighbors. They kept alive in the East the notion of one true and spiritual God; they elevated the tone of men’s thoughts; they were a perpetual protest against idolatry, with all its horrors. They, no doubt, prepared the way for that acceptance of Christianity by large masses of the population in Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and even in Persia, of which we have evidence in the ecclesiastical history of the first seven centuries. Israel mine inheritance (comp. Isaiah 47:6; Isaiah 63:17). Egypt’s punishment, a proof both of God’s song-suffering and of His inexorable justice. The punishment of Egypt by the Assyrian conquest, on which the prophet enlarges in this chapter, may be regarded in a double light. I. AS THE LONG- AND MERCY OF GOD. 1. Consider the long persistence of Egypt in sins of various kinds—idolatry, king-worship, practice of magic, kidnapping of slaves, cruel usage of captives, impurity, indecency; consider that her monarchy had lasted at least sixteen hundred years, and that both in religion and in morals she had continually grown worse. 2. Bear in mind her treatment of God’s people—how she had first oppressed them (Exodus 1:8-14), then endeavored to exterminate them (Exodus 1:15-22); this failing, made their bondage harder (Exodus 5:6-19); repeatedly refused to let them go; sought to destroy them at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:9); plundered them in the time of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25, 1 Kings 14:26); alternately encouraged and deserted them in their struggles against Assyria (1 Kings 17:4; 1 Kings 18:21, 1 Kings 18:24). 3. Note also that she had helped to corrupt God’s people. In Egypt many Israelites had worshipped the Egyptian gods (Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:8). They had brought from Egypt an addiction to magical practices which had never left them. Manasseh, in calling his eldest son "Amon," intended to acknowledge the Egyptian god of that name. Under these circumstances, it is marvelous that Egypt had been allowed to exist so long, and, on the whole, to flourish; and the marvel can only be accounted for by the extreme long-suffering and extraordinary mercy of Almighty God. II. AS A PROOF OF GOD’S JUSTICE. However long God defers the punishment of sin, it comes at last with absolute certainty. It might have seemed as if the hardships suffered by his people in Egypt had escaped God’s recollection, so many years was it since they had happened. It might have seemed as if all Egypt’s old sins were condoned—as if she was to escape unpunished. Sixteen centuries of empire! Why, Rome herself, the "iron kingdom," that "broke in pieces and bruised" all things (Daniel 2:4), was not allowed more than twelve centuries of existence. But Egypt was allowed a far longer term, not only of existence, but of prosperity. Since the time of the shepherd-kings, four hundred years before the Exodus, she had suffered no great calamity. Even the Ethiopians had not been so much foreign conquerors, as princes connected by blood and identical in religion, who claimed the crown by right of descent from former Egyptian sovereigns. But God had all the time been waiting, with his eye upon the sinful nation, counting her offences, remembering them against her, and bent on taking vengeance. And the vengeance, when it came, was severe. First, internal discord and civil war—"kingdom against kingdom, and city against city" (verse 2); then conquest by an alien nation—conquest effected by at least three distinct expeditions, in which the whole land was overrun, the cities taken and plundered, and army after army slaughtered; finally, subjection to a "fierce king," a "cruel lord" (verse 4). And the sufferings of war aggravated, apparently, by the natural calamity of a great drought—a failure of the inundation either for one year, or possibly for several (verses 5-8). Truly, when the day of vengeance came, Egypt was afflicted indeed! No wonder she "was afraid, and feared because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts" (verse 16). It is, indeed, "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Smiting and healing closely connected in God’s counsels. God’s smiting is no doubt twofold, (1) remedial and (2) penal; but by far the greater portion of it is of the former kind. Once only has he visited mankind at large penalty—at the Deluge; but a thousand times has he visited them remedially. Similarly with nations. He smote Egypt in Moses’ time with the ten plagues, not to destroy, but to chasten. So again at the Red Sea. So now by the hands of Esarhaddon and his son. So by Nebuchadnezzar, Cambyses, Ochus. And at last he bowed their hearts and caused them to turn to him, first partially, when Judaism gained an influence over them; afterwards, as a nation, when they accepted Christianity. Former chastisements had doubtless some remedial force, or the nation would scarcely have been borne with so long; but they did not fully heal, and blow after blow became requisite. So God went on "smiting and healing." And the course of his providence is similar with individuals. Primarily he smites to heal. Each offence brings down his red, but the stroke is comparatively light at first, and intended to warn, admonish, call to amendment. If men persist in wrong courses, the blows become heavier. But still the intention is the same; it is sought to bring them to repentance. God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. Only after repeated trials, after blow upon blow, warning upon warning, if they will not repent, if they will not be healed, the penal sentence goes forth to "pluck up and destroy" (Jeremiah 12:17). Isaiah 19:23, Isaiah 19:24 Unity in religion joins together the bitterest foes. As, ultimately, the establishment of the kingdom of Christ among all the nations of the earth (Isaiah 2:2) will produce a reign of universal peace, so that men will everywhere "beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks" (Isaiah 2:4), so, on a lesser scale, wherever true religion prevails, asperities are softened, old enmities die out and disappear, a friendly spirit springs up, and former adversaries are reconciled and become friends. Assyria, Egypt, Israel, long the bitterest foes, were drawn together by a common faith in the later days of Judaism and the earlier ones of Christianity—felt sympathy one with another, and lived in harmony. The Papacy was an attempt to bring all the Roman communion into a species of political unity, to abolish wars between its various members, and unite it against heathendom. This attempt had, however, only a partial success, owing to the admixture of bad with good motives in those who were at the head of the movement and had the direction of it. That war has not yet ceased among all Christian nations is a slur upon Christianity, and an indication that nations are still Christian in name rather than in spirit. The league of Assyria, Egypt, Israel, may well be held up to the modern Christian world as an example that should shame it into the adoption of "peace principles." If such foes, so fiercely hostile, so long estranged, could become close friends through the influence of a community of religion, why cannot the Christian nations of modern times attain to a similar unity? BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 19:1-4 Coming judgment upon Egypt. The historical allusions in this passage cannot be positively cleared up. So far as the discovery of inscriptions in recent years enables us to lift a little the veil which hangs over the land, we see it shaken to the center by the wars of rival chieftains. A victory of Sargon over the Egyptian king Shabatok, in B.C. 720, has been made out from Assyrian inscriptions; and, again, the conquest of Egypt by Esarhaddon in B.C. 672, who divided the land into twenty small tributary kingdoms. The chapter may refer to this event, and it may not (see Cheyne’s Introduction to the chapter). I. THE ADVENT OF JEHOVAH. "He rideth upon a swift cloud" (comp. Psalms 18:10, "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly;" comp. Psalms 104:3). To study those magnificent winged figures, which pass generally under the name of griffins, in our museums and works of art, and as they are described by Ezekiel in the land of captivity (1.), may be the best way to realize the significance of this poetry. We must throw ourselves into that mood of mind in which all life and movement in nature is symbolic of the infinite power and majesty of the Divine Being—audibly the wind, visibly the strong gathering cloud upon the horizon. This picture, then, is a hint (1) of the majesty of Jehovah; (2) of his ascendency in the world of spirit. The "not gods" of Egypt shall shake before him. He comes to judge them. The God of Israel is on his way to punish the teeming multitudes of Memphis, Pharaoh, and Egypt, and their gods and kings. The idols are to be destroyed, their images are to cease; and the secular power, which has been supported by a false religion, shall be laid low (comp. Exodus 12:12; Jeremiah 46:25; Ezekiel 30:13). A striking contrast is suggested between the pure sublime religion of Jehovah and the debased worship of the Egyptians, whose reverence for cats, and bulls, and crocodiles, and onions attracted the satire of later times. How could such worshippers do other than tremble, their heart melting within them at the approach of the light that reveals and judges the voluntary darknesses and confusions of the mind? As Calvin remarks, we should behold the same thing exemplified in all revolutions of kingdoms, which proceed solely from the hand of God. If the heart melts and the strength fails in men who are usually brave, and who had formerly displayed great courage, this ought to be ascribed to the judgment of God. II. THE . 1. Internal dissension. One canton is set against another. There will be the feud of brother with brother, fellow with fellow, city with city, and kingdom with kingdom. Men’s hearts are in the hand of God. Whenever we see in a nation social dissension setting in, unity and co-operation no longer possible, it is a sign that a new force is at work, that a new light has come in, that existing customs are being criticized, in short, that "God has awoke to judgment." Such times are times for self-scrutiny, for thoughtful study, for earnest prayer. 2. The sense of the hollowness of existing institutions. Terrible is it when a nation suddenly awakens to find its strongest ideals reduced to empty and mocking delusions; terrible also for the individual. The "heart made empty." Sometimes it is a "science falsely so called;" sometimes a spurious faith, which is suddenly found to be a leaking cistern, and the water of life has fled. Under these conditions there will be a feverish outbreak of old superstition. Men will resort to the "not gods" and to the "spiritualists"—the "mutterers," who pretend to give voices and messages from the other world. So men have done in our time. The history of the heart repeats itself from age to age. If men have not genuine religion, they must have the counterfeit of it; and they will love the lie and cling to the cheat when the possibility of the truth is no longer within reach. 3. Subjection to the tyrant. The land will be shut up into the hand of a hard lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them. And is not tyranny the last sign of Divine displeasure, as viewed from another side it is the last sign of degeneracy and weakness in a nation’s manhood? "Hence we see how great is the folly of men who are desirous to have a powerful and wealthy king reigning over them, and how justly they are punished for their ambition, though it cannot be corrected by the experience of every day, which is everywhere to be seen in the world" (Calvin).—J. Isaiah 19:5-10 The drying up of the Nile. Nothing has left a deeper mark on the traditions of Eastern lands than the impressions of burning heat, the drying up of springs, the consequent suffering. Egypt was the "gift of the Nile," Herodotus said. Well might the presence or absence of its waters denote the pleasure or the wrath of Deity. I. THE . The Pelusiac arm of the Nile is dried. The neglected canals, dykes, and reservoirs become stagnant, the vegetation withers. The bright oasis of the Nile will melt away into the surrounding desert. The canals, first undertaken as a necessary work of civilization and culture, become naturally neglected and choked up in time of civil war. II. THE EFFECTS ON . Besides agriculture there were three main sources of Egyptian wealth: the fishing, the linen manufacture, and the cotton manufacture. There was abundance of fish in the Nile, and it was a great article of food. The combed flax was prepared for the priests’ clothing and for the mummy-cloths, and the cotton for dress in general. The result is universal consternation in all ranks and classes. The wealthy classes, the "pillars" of the land, and the artisan population are alike in despair. III. THE OF THE AND THE NATURAL WORLD. A fertile land, an industrious people, peace and plenty, the favor of God,—these are ideas that He linked together in the thought of the prophet, forming one causal chain. The displeasure of Jehovah, the effect in war, and this, again, working desolation in the face of nature and cutting at the root of industry,—these form another chain of connected representations. From the sources and springs of the mighty Nile up to the seat of thought, passion, and motion in the mightier human heart, all are in the hands of Jehovah. Alike in every occupation of the industrial and of the political and intellectual world, let us own our dependence upon him.—J. Isaiah 19:11-15 The folly of statesmen. God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world, in Egypt as in other lands. And the marks and characters of folly are everywhere the same. I. THE SPIRIT OF . The king and his priestly counselors possess sacred books, which they consult as a college in times of emergency. The priests boast of being "sons of the wise," and sons of ancient kings. The Pharaoh himself belonged to the royal stock. Boasting is ever a sign of weakness. The strong man needs not to talk of his strength; he feels it, and others feel it. Wisdom is distinguished by the absence of self-conceit, and is impressive by its silence and modesty. II. PROOFS OF FOLLY. 1. Inability to read the signs of the times. Prediction was their favorite occupation; how is it they cannot read the thoughts of Jehovah toward the land? They resort to false methods—astrology, divination, etc. Truth may not really be loved, or it may be sought by paths that can only lead away from it. It is not by mere reading, it is not by digging in quaint and curious lore, that we can arrive at sympathy with the mind of God. All the learning of the schools is folly unless we keep the light within brightly burning, the conscience clear, the mind, if not the knees, ever bent in the attitude of uplooking and prayer. 2. Bad administration. They lead the country astray. The priestly class, that is, the intellectual and educated class, looked upon as the "corner-stone of the tribes," are themselves under an illusion, and their "light and leading" is an ignis-fastus. We are too much dazzled by the acuteness, the knowledge, the abilities, the vast grasp of facts, in our great men. Often the cleverness of such overreaches itself, and great men stumble and fall, and" run into great dangers which any peasant or artisan would have foreseen." They become inebriated by their own thoughts. But it ever sobers the mind to collect itself, so to speak, in God. "This wit, this insight, is mine, peculiarly mine"—he who speaks with himself thus—is on the brink of some fatal delusion. "It is God’s peculiar gift to me; it is a talent from him, to be used for his world"—this is the thought that steadies; and "if our Wisdom rest on God, he wilt truly be a steadfast Corner-stone, which no one shall shake or overthrow." III. . These delusions are traced to the judicial act of Jehovah. It is he who has put a cup of enchantment to their lips, so that the power of discernment is suspended. The image of drunkenness fitly represents their state. It is a spirit of "perverseness," or of "subversion." And the people have imbibed the same, so that they stagger about helplessly; there is no consistency, no agreement, no firm and joint action. It is an awful thing—the being "given over to a reprobate mind." Nor dare we accuse the Almighty of injustice. We are ready enough to throw the blame of our own aberrations upon others, upon circumstances, or even upon him. But what "right" have we to anything, from the light of the sun to the light of reason in the soul? God gives and God deprives, for reasons inscrutable to us and no[, to be questioned. But, "the heart has reasons that reason knows not of;" and the heart knows that, if its choice be true, its asking will not be refused, the needed guidance will not be denied.—J. Isaiah 19:16-25 Mingled judgment and mercy. I. THE EFFECT OF . The hind will be like timid and trembling women, for the mighty hand of Jehovah will be brandished aloft in judgment. Whenever it is felt that Divine power is working on the side of the foe, the most warlike nations lose heart. "God with us!"—a watchword that nerves the feeblest arm, and fills the faintest heart with courage. "God against us!"—the hand of the bravest hangs down, the knees of the stoutest tremble. Judah, Jehovah’s seat of empire, will be a terror to the proud land of Egypt. The seeming weakest community, the most insignificant individual, will be a power if the truth is operating through it. It is not magnitude that is appalling; it is spiritual force. Men will shudder at the Name of Judah; it will be a symbol of a purpose never successfully resisted. But when thus the prospect is at its darkest for Egypt, a light of hope glimmers. II. OF GOOD. 1. A view of Egypt’s conversion to the true religion here opens. There will be five cities speaking the tongue of Canaan, or Hebrew, the language of the worship of Jehovah. They will take the oath of loyalty to him. And it seems that the city known as "city of the sun" shall be called" city of the breaking down of idolatrous altars." And an altar of the true religion, with the pillar marking the holy place, will be seen, visibly witnessing to the Lord of hosts in the land. There is now a covenant between Jehovah and the repentant and restored land. He will no longer be their Foe, but their Friend; and when they cry to him, in the midst of distress and oppression, he will hearken, and send a Helper and Deliverer. The people will sacrifice to him, and he will make himself known; Whether in the land or at Jerusalem (comp. Zechariah 14:16-19) is not stated. 2. This cannot be without previous suffering. Never does conversion from evil, from obstinate persistence in it, occur without suffering. But the suffering is beneficent, inflicted by love. God smites to heal. It is a thought echoed back from many a page: "I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and heal; He has torn, and he will heal us; hath smitten, and will bind us up;" "He wounds, and his hands make whole" (Deuteronomy 32:39; Hosea 6:1; Job 5:18). The fire of his wrath consumes, but purifies. "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the Name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent" (Zephaniah 3:8, Zephaniah 3:9). There lives a fund of pity in the heart and constitution of nature—compassion in Jehovah, the Hebrew prophet said (Jeremiah 12:14, Jeremiah 12:15). "God does not punish that he may punish, but that he may humble; wherefore, when humility is produced, his punishments proceed no further. God is of too great mercy to triumph over a prostrate soul" (South). III. THE HAPPY RESULT. Peace replacing war, trust substituted for mutual hate. There is to be intercourse between Egypt and Assyria, a free highway between the two lands. Nay, there shall be a triple alliance, Israel being the third, and blessing is thus to be diffused over all the earth. Where Jehovah’s blessing is, there is and must be prosperity. Thus have the clouds dispersed, and the golden year seems to have begun, "peace lying like a lane of beams across the sea, like a shaft of light athwart the land." . To avoid national judgment, to secure the Divine favor, let each inquire into his own sins. Personal sins bring down national judgments. If there were no personal, there could be no national sin. In punishing the many, God does not overlook the individual. There is no suffering of a nation without the suffering of its members, no repentance which is not that of men one by one, no prosperity and favor which is not reflected from a million faces and hearts. There is infinite ground of hope from the promises of God, and from their actual fulfillment.—J. BY W. God’s presence a trouble. "Behold the Lord … shall come into Egypt … and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it." The presence of God would produce consternation among the people. This is significant enough. It need excite no wonder, indeed, that the coming of the holy and righteous One into the midst of those who had provoked him by their idolatries would result in quaking of spirit, in liveliest agitation. What could await such guilty ones but the most serious rebuke, the most distressing judgments? But the presence of God is not only troublous to idolatrous Egyptians, but to his own servants. So the prophet himself found (Isaiah 6:5). The psalmist "remembered God, and was troubled" (Psalms 77:3). Why is this? Concerning the trouble which the presence of God brings to the human spirit, we remark— I. THAT HIS KNOWN TO US AND POWER OVER US MIGHT BE TO SUCH ALARM. Why should we be concerned to find God appearing unto us? Do we not know well that he is "not far from any one of us;" that "in him we live and move and have our being?" Do we not know that he is judging our actions and our attitude toward himself every moment, and is, moreover, expressing his judgment by Divine bestowals and inflictions day by day? Why should terror or alarm, or even apprehension, seize us because he manifests himself to us, and constrains us to feel conscious that we are standing in his near presence? But, however we may reason thus, it is the fact— II. THAT AND UNITE TO PROVE THAT HIS FELT DOES TROUBLE US. Both Old Testament and New Testament history show that any visitant from the unseen world causes "the heart to melt;" and if any mere messenger (angel), how much more he who reigns over all that realm—the Divine and eternal Spirit himself? And we find now that when men, in the full possession of their spiritual faculties, have believed themselves to be in, or to be about to pass into, the near presence of the Eternal, their spirit has shrunk and trembled at the thought. We ask— III. THE OF THE FACT. The explanation is found in two things. 1. In our sense of God’s greatness, and the corresponding consciousness of our own littleness. Those who move in a humble social sphere are agitated when they find themselves in the near presence of human rank, especially of high rank, more especially of royalty; how much more so when men feel themselves to be (or to be about to be) before the King of kings, the infinite God! 2. In our sense of God’s holiness and the corresponding consciousness of our own imperfection and sin. (1) The Christian man may have his reason for apprehension; for has he not to bring his life of Christian service to the judgment of his Divine Master, for his approval or his disapproval; and is he not conscious that this his service has come short of his Lord’s desire, if it has not been blemished or even stained by many sins? (2) The impenitent man has abundant reason for anxiety and even for alarm; for he is the child of privilege and opportunity; he has known his Lord’s will; he has heard many times the sacred summons; he has often felt the movings of the Divine Spirit in his heart. But he has "judged himself unworthy of eternal life;" he has striven to silence the voices which came to him from heaven. He is open to the most terrible and intolerable rebuke of God (Proverbs 1:24, etc.); he lies exposed to the penalty of deliberate disobedience, of persistent rejection of the grace of God (Luke 12:47; John 3:18, John 3:19, John 3:36; Hebrews 10:26-31; Hebrews 12:25).—C. Isaiah 19:2-10 A picture of penalty. The threatened penalty of Egypt as painted by the prophet here will, on examination, be found to be essentially the penalty with which God causes sin to be visited always and everywhere. I. STRIFE, especially internal strife (Isaiah 19:2). The guilty nation will find itself plunged into civil war (Egypt, Greece, Rome, France, America—northern and southern states, etc.), or rent with bitter and vindictive factions; the guilty family will have its domestic harmony destroyed by petty broils and miserable disagreements; the individual soul will be compelled to expend its powers in internal strife—conscience having a long and perhaps desperate struggle with passion; reason, which urges to immediate decision, contending with the evil spirit of procrastination; the will to submit to Divine demands doing stern, protracted battle with a desire to conform to the good pleasure of the unholy and the unwise. II. . (Isaiah 19:3.) As the, Egyptians, paying the penalty of disobedience, were to abandon the counsels of human wisdom for the fancies and fooleries of the juggler, so will men find that sin leads down from the guidance of reason to the dictates of folly and the misleadings of delusion. It is not long before the sinner experiences "the deceitfulness of sin;" before he finds that he does not impose ca other men half so much as he is imposed upon, or as he imposes on himself. He comes to think that utterances which are earthly, or of lower origin than that, are the voices of heaven; he "calls evil good, and good evil;" counsel which he ought to abjure as diabolical, he deems excellent and wise; neglecting truths and principles which would be his salvation, he falls back upon sentiments which lead down, with certain path, to innermost and uttermost ruin. III. BONDAGE. (Isaiah 19:4.) It is one of the most certain and one of the saddest penalties of sin that the wrong-doer is handed over to the despotism of "a cruel lord." By what truer or more descriptive terms could these enemies of the soul be characterized into whose iron grasp the transgressor falls? Is not the insatiable craving for strong drink or for the hurtful narcotic a "cruel lord?" What but cruel lords are covetousness, ambition, lasciviousness, the voracity or extreme delicacy of those "whose God is their belly"—the passion which demands and will not be denied, which consumes the time, which saps the energy, which steals the manhood that should be devoted to nobler ends, that should be laid on a worthier altar? The victims of vice are "holden with the cords of their sins;" they are "in the hand of a cruel lord," who will make them pay "the uttermost farthing." IV. . (Isaiah 19:5-10.) Egypt should be pitiably reduced; the waters of its life-giving river should be wanting (Isaiah 19:5), its vegetation should fade and die (Isaiah 19:6), its industries should be stopped (Isaiah 19:8, Isaiah 19:9), its chief men should be overthrown (Isaiah 19:10). All Egyptian life, through its length and breadth, should be struck a ruinous blow, should shrink from fullness and power into feebleness and decline. Under the dominion of sin, human life suffers a ruinous reduction. Made for God, for his likeness, for his fellowship, for his service, for the highest forms of usefulness and the noblest order of enjoyment, we sink into folly, into selfishness, into smallness of aim and littleness of accomplishment; our lives are narrowed, lessened, shriveled. It is the pitiful penalty of departure from God, of withholding our hearts from our Divine Friend. In Christ we realize the fair and blessed opposites of these. In him is (1) peace (John 14:27; John 16:33; Ephesians 2:14); (2) enlightenment (1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 1:9); freedom (John 8:32-36; Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1); enlargement (Matthew 5:45; John 15:14; Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:6; Revelation 1:6).—C. Isaiah 19:11-14 Leaders that mislead. The strong, energetic language of the prophet respecting the princes and counselors of Egypt express for us the vast injury which is wrought by untrustworthy teachers in every place and time, and the duty of the people to be on their guard against such seducers (Isaiah 19:13). I. THE LEADERS THAT MISLEAD. (Isaiah 19:10-13.) These are: 1. In the nation, leading their fellow-countrymen into a false and spurious patriotism; into vain-gloriousness; into luxury and extravagance; into the ruinous error that the fascinations of military glory are preferable to the advantages of peaceful industry, etc. 2. In the Church, leading their fellow-members into theological error; into doctrine which is not a faith but only a philosophy, or which is not a faith so much as a superstition; into indulgence in emotion without the cultivation of Christian morality; or into habits of virtue that do not rest on the basis of personal attachment to God, etc. 3. In the family, leading their children into laxity of belief; into the conviction that worldly success is of greater account than the favor of God and the possession of spiritual integrity; into the practice of dubious habits which tend to immorality or irreligion, etc. II. THEIR . (Isaiah 19:12.) The "wise men" of Egypt could not tell "what the Lord of hosts had purposed; "they did not know his mind. What availed all their other knowledge, all their political sagacity, all their pretentious skill, it they were utterly ignorant of what was in the mind of God? Our leaders of to-day, in whatever sphere they may preside, are useless and worse than useless if they cannot propose those measures, if they cannot commend those doctrines, if they cannot foster those habits and instill those principles, which are according to the mind of God, which contain the will of Jesus Christ. To advise the policy, to repeat the phrases, to build up the character which they themselves received of their fathers, may be wholly inadequate, utterly inapplicable, entirely wrong; what is wanted in our leaders is the power to perceive the mind of God, to especially understand what is "his will concerning us in Christ Jesus," to guide and teach and train so that their disciples shall live in the light of his truth and the enjoyment of his friendship. III. THE WHICH THEY WORK. (Isaiah 19:13, Isaiah 19:14.) These men seduced Egypt from the true path, and they led her to err and stagger in false paths. The immensity of the evil which is wrought by False leaders, whether in the nation, the Church, or the home, is seen by regarding it on the negative and on the positive side. 1. They seduce from the saving truth. (1 John 2:26.) They lead men from the fear of the living God; from the faith and love of Jesus Christ; from the produce of the heavenlier graces, and therefore from living the nobler and worthier life; from the possession of a peace which no distractions can disturb, and of a treasure which no thief can steal, and of a hope which triumphs over death. 2. They lead into the saddest and even the grossest evils. Their disciples "err … as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit." A painful but graphic picture of those who are led astray into evil paths, into beliefs which are not only false but shocking, into companionships and alliances which are not only unsatisfactory but demoralizing, into habits which are not only wrong but shameful. It is the duty of the community, in view of the fact that false and foolish leaders have always abounded, and that their influence is disastrous, (1) to be sedulously on guard lest these should be appointed; (2) to depose those that are found unworthy of their charge, (3) to realize that every individual man is responsible to God for the faith he holds and the life he lives (Luke 12:57; Galatians 6:4, Galatians 6:5),—C. Smiting and healing. We may glean from these verses— I. THAT THE BLOWS WHICH WE SURFER IN OUR COME FROM THE HAND OF GOD. No doubt the various calamities by which Egypt was afflicted came to her in the ordinary ways, and appeared to her citizens as the result of common causes. They accounted for them by reference to general laws, to visible human powers, to known processes and current events. Yet we know them to have been distinctly and decidedly of God, by whatever instrumentalities they may have been brought about. "The Lord shall smite Egypt" (Isaiah 19:22). So now with us; the evils which overtake us—sickness, separation, disappointment, losses, bereavement, etc.—may occur as the result of causes which we can discover and name; nevertheless they may be regarded as visitations, as chastisement, as discipline, from the hand of God. II. THAT THESE WOUNDS OF GOD’S CAUSING ARE BY HIM TO ABOUND UNTO THE HEALTH OF THE WOUNDED SPIRIT. "He shall smite and heal." God’s main purpose in smiting was to bring about a far healthier condition than existed before. Afterwards the chastening would "yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness;" and for this end chiefly, if not wholly, it was sent. We are to consider that this is always God’s design in sending affliction to his children. He smites that he may heal, and that the new health may be much better than the old—that the blessing gained may greatly outweigh the loss endured (2 Corinthians 4:17). To part with bodily health and to obtain spiritual soundness, to lose material possessions and secure treasures which make "rich toward God,"—this is to be enlarged indeed. III. THAT THE OF THE SMITTEN SPIRIT IS AND BY VARIOUS . 1. The soul addressing itself to God in earnest prayer. "They shall cry unto the Lord" (Isaiah 19:20); "He shall be entreated of them" (Isaiah 19:22). This is an act of returning from folly and forgetfulness unto the God who has been forsaken: "They shall return," etc. (Isaiah 19:22; see also Isaiah 19:21). 2. The soul seeking God’s acceptance in his appointed way. "There shall be an altar to the Lord" (Isaiah 19:19). However interpreted, this passage points to the special means appointed by God through Moses for obtaining forgiveness of sin, and suggests to us the one way—repentance and faith—by which we must seek and may find the Divine mercy. 3. Profession of attachment to God. These five cities should "swear to the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 19:18), The pillar at the border would perhaps be an obelisk, making mention of his Name as the One that was worthy of human adoration. 4. The service of the lip. They would "speak the language of Canaan"—the language spoken by the people of God. Language is far from being everything, but it is far from being nothing (Psalms 19:4; Matthew 12:37; Romans 10:10). By truthful, kindly, helpful speech, and in sacred song, we may do much in serving and in pleasing God. 5. Consecration. "They shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and shall perform it;" the solemn presentation of self unto a Divine Savior and a lifelong redemption of the vow.—C. The crown of privilege. The promise of the text may not have seemed to Israel so gracious and so inspiring as many others; but it was one that might well have been considered surpassingly good. For it predicted that the time would come when Israel should be closely associated as "a third" with two great world-powers- Egypt and Assyria; not, indeed, to triumph over them, but to be "a blessing in the midst" of them. This is the very crown of privilege. Concerning privilege itself we may consider— I. ITS . There are "elect" nations and individuals; it is not only a truth written in the pages of Scripture, but a fact confirmed by all testimony and observation, that God has conferred on some much more than he has allotted to others. To one nation (man) he gives one talent, to another two, and to another five. Physical strength, intellectual capacity, force of character, material wealth and natural advantages, knowledge, revealed truth,—these are some of the privileges by which ’men and nations are favored. II. ITS PERIL. The great danger attending the possession of privilege is that of entirely mistaking the object of the Creator in conferring it; of assuming that he bestowed it simply for the gratification or the exaltation of its recipients. This was the disastrous mistake which the Jews made: hence their spiritual arrogance, their selfishness, their pitiable exclusiveness, their misreading of Scripture, their maltreatment of their Messiah. It is a mistake we are all tempted to make; it is one against which we do welt to guard with the utmost vigilance; for it is a sinful one, and one that carries ruin in its train. III. ITS CROWN. This is to be "a blessing in the midst of the land;" to be a bond of union between other powers—a "third" to the Egypt and Assyria by which we may be surrounded. Privileged lands, like England, find their crown, not in military successes, nor in annexations, nor even in well-filled banks or well-fitted vessels; but in giving free institutions to neighboring or even distant nations, in conveying the message of Divine mercy to heathen lands, "in being a blessing in the midst of the earth." Privileged men find the crown of their life, not in possession, nor in enjoyment, nor in conscious superiority to others "that are without;" but in distributing, in imparting, in making others partakers of the peace and joy and hope that fill their own hearts, in broadening the belt of light on which they stand, in sowing the seed of the kingdom in land which now bears only briers and thorns, in being "a blessing in the midst of the land."—C. Lights in which God regards us. The words intimate that there are various aspects in which the Divine Father looks at his human children, and they may suggest reciprocal views on our part. I. LIGHTS IN WHICH GOD REGARDS US. 1. As those to whom he is nearly related. Egypt in her hour of obedience has become "my people," i.e. closely connected with God, and having, therefore, serious claims upon him. God does regard his own as those who are most closely, most intimately, most tenderly related to him, standing in such close relation that they may confidently reckon on the continuance of his kindness, on the protection and interposition of his strong arm. 2. As those who are the product of his Divine energy. "Assyria the work of my hands." We who are trusting and rejoicing in him and walking in his truth are frequently to remind ourselves that we are not the product of our own wisdom and effort, but are "his workmanship created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10; and see 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:5). God has expended on us Divine thought, Divine love, Divine sorrow, Divine patience, Divine discipline. 3. As those in whom he finds a Divine delight. "Israel mine inheritance." In Israel, when that people was faithful to his rule, God found his portion, his inheritance. In us, when we are attentive to his voice, responsive to his love, obedient to his commands, submissive to his will, he finds a Divine satisfaction (John 15:11). 4. As those on whom he can confer blessedness. "Whom the Lord shall bless;" "Whom God blesses, they are blessed indeed." Theirs is not mere physical excitement, or temporary gratification, or dubious delight, but true, abiding, elevating joy. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 20:1-6 A AGAINST EGYPT AND . The Assyrian inscriptions enable us to date this prophecy with a near approach to exactness. Ashdod was besieged by an Assyrian army twice in the reign of Sargon—in his ninth year and in his eleventh year. On the former occasion it is probable that the arms of a general (Tartan) were employed; on the latter it is nearly certain that Sargon made the expedition in person. The capture of Ashdod, here mentioned, is consequently the first capture. Egypt and Ethiopia were at the time united under one head, Shabak, or Shabatok; and the inhabitants of Ashdod looked to this quarter for deliverance from the Assyrian power. Shortly after the first capture, they revolted, deposed the king whom Sargon had set over them, appointed another, and then proceeded, in conjunction with Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab, to call in the aid of the Egyptians and Ethiopians. Isaiah’s mission on this occasion was to discourage Judaea from joining Ashdod and her allies in this appeal. He was instructed to prophesy that Assyria would shortly inflict a severe defeat on the two African powers, and carry into captivity large numbers of both nations. The prophecy seems to have had its accomplishment about twelve years later, when Sennacherib defeated the combined forces of Egypt and Ethiopia at Eltekeh, near Ekron. Isaiah 20:1 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod; rather, a tartan. The word was not a proper name, but a title of office, equivalent to surena among the Parthians, and signifying "commander-in-chief." The tartan held the second position in the empire. Isaiah has been accused of having confounded together the two sieges of Ashdod (Cheyne); but if one was conducted by the tartan, and the other by Sargon in person, his words would distinguish as perfectly as possible which siege he meant. When Sargon the King of Assyria sent him. The present passage furnished almost the sole trace of the existence of this monarch—one of the greatest of Assyria’s sovereigns—until about the middle of the present century, when the exploration of the Assyrian ruins, and the decipherment of the Assyrian inscriptions, presented him to us in the most distinct and vivid way, as king, conqueror, and builder. He was the founder of the last and greatest of the Assyrian dynasties, the successor of the biblical Shalmaneser, and the father of Sennacherib. He reigned from B.C. 722 to B.C. 705. He was the captor of Samaria; he defeated the forces of Egypt; he warred on Susiana, Media, Armenia, Asia Minor, Cyprus; and he conquered and held in subjection Babylon. He built the great city explored by M. Botta, near Khorsabad, which is sometimes called "the French Nineveh." It is now found that Ptolemy’s ’Canon’ contains his name under the form of Arkeanus, and that Yacut’s ’Geography’ mentions his great city under the form of Sarghun. But these facts were unsuspected until the recent explorations in Mesopotamia, and Isaiah’s mention of him alone gave him a place in history. And fought against Ashdod, and took it. Ashdod was the strongest of the Philistine cities, and one of the most ancient (Joshua 15:47). Its name is probably derived from a root meaning "strength." We hear of its having stood on one occasion a siege of twenty-nine years (Herod; 2:157). It is now known as Esdud. When Ashdod is first mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions it is tributary to Sargon, having probably submitted to him in s c. 720, alter the battle of Raphia. It soon, however, revolts and reclaims its independence. In B.C. 713 the Assyrians proceed against it; and its capture is implied by the facts that the Assyrians depose its king, and install, one of his brothers as monarch in his room. Isaiah 20:2 Loose the sackcloth from off thy loins. Dr. Kay supposes that Isaiah was wearing sackcloth exceptionally, as during a time of mourning. But it is more probable that the Hebrew sak represents the haircloth ("rough garment," Zechariah 13:4), which, as ascetics, the Hebrew prophets wore habitually (2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4). Walking naked. Probably not actually "naked," for captives were not stripped bare by the Assyrians, but with nothing on besides his short tunic, as the male captives are commonly represented in the Assyrian sculptures. Isaiah 20:3 My servant Isaiah. Isaiah shares this honorable title, "my servant," with a select few among God’s saints—with Abraham (Genesis 26:24), Moses (Numbers 12:7), Caleb (Numbers 14:24), Job (Job 1:8; Job 42:7, Job 42:8), Eliakim (Isaiah 22:20), and Zerubbabel (Haggai 2:23). It is a great acknowledgment for the Creator to make to the creature, that he really does him service. Three years. Probably from B.C. 713 to B.C. 711, or during the whole of the time that Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Judah were making representations to the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and endeavoring to obtain their aid. It has been proposed, by an arbitrary emendation, to cut down the time to "three days;" but a three days’ sign of the kind could not have been expected to have any important effect. The supposed "impropriety" of Isaiah’s having "gone naked and barefoot" for three years arises from a misconception of the word "naked." which is not to be taken literally (see the comment on verse 2). The costume adopted would be extraordinary, especially in one of Isaiah’s rank and position; but would not be in any degree "improper." It would be simply that of working men during the greater part of the day (see Exodus 22:26, Exodus 22:27). Isaiah 20:4 So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives. In Sennacherib’s annals for the year B.C. 701, twelve years after this prophecy was given, we find the following passage: "The kings of Egypt, and the archers, chariots, and horsemen of the King of Meroe, a force without number, gathered and came to the aid of Ekron. In the neighborhood of Eltekeh their ranks were arrayed before me, and they urged on their soldiers. In the service of Asshur, my lord, I fought with them, and I accomplished their overthrow. The charioteers and sons of the kings of Egypt, and the charioteers of the King of Meroe, alive in the midst of the battle, my hand captured". Young and old. The intermixture of young and old, of full-grown males with women leading children by the hand or carrying them upon the shoulder, in the Assyrian sculptures, strikes us even on the most cursory inspection of them. Naked and barefoot. Assyrian captives are ordinarily represented "barefoot." Most commonly they wear a single tunic, reaching from the neck to the knees, or sometimes to the ankles, and girt about the waist with a girdle. It is probable that Egyptian and Ethiopian prisoners would be even more scantily clad, since the ordinary Egyptian tunic began at the waist and ended considerably above the knee. Isaiah 20:5 They shall be afraid and ashamed. Those who have resorted to Egypt and Ethiopia for aid shall be "ashamed" of their folly in doing so, and "afraid" of its consequences (see the last clause of Isa 20:6). Isaiah 20:6 The inhabitant of this isle; rather, of this coast (Knobel, Hitzig, Kay); i.e. of Palestine generally, which was a mere strip of coast compared with Egypt and Ethiopia. Sargon speaks of all the four powers who at this time "sought to Egypt," as "dwelling beside the sea". Such is our expectation; rather, so hath it gone with our expectation; i.e; with Egypt and Ethiopia. Isaiah 20:1-4 Foolish trust rebuked by a strange sign. Few things are so difficult as to bring men to rely wholly and solely upon God. The circumstances of the time were these. Humanly speaking, Judaea lay absolutely at the mercy of Assyria. There was no existing power or combination of powers that could successfully contend at the time against the vast bodies of well-armed and well-disciplined soldiers which a king of Assyria could bring into the field. Nothing could prolong Jewish independence for more than a few years but some miraculous interposition of God on behalf of the Jewish people. But for God to interpose miraculously, it was necessary that implicit trust should be placed in him. The Jews, however, could not bring themselves to believe that they had no help but Jehovah. They thought Egypt, or Egypt and Ethiopia combined, might well prove a match for Assyria, and were bent on l, lacing themselves under the protection of the combined powers. The lesson of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, which had trusted in Egypt (2 Kings 17:4), and then been destroyed by Assyria, was lost on them. In connection with Ashdod, they had actually sent ambassadors to Egypt to entreat assistance (Isaiah 30:1-4). Then it was that Isaiah received the special mission which was to warn his countrymen of the utter folly of trusting to human aid. For three years he was to wear the scant clothing that Assyrian captives ordinarily wore, announcing that he did so in token that ere long the warriors of Egypt and Ethiopia would be seen thus clad, on their way from Egypt to captivity at Nineveh. The unusual attire of the prophet could not but create a great sensation. It probably made a considerable impression on Hezekiah and his counselors. It was not forgotten; and if it did not at once cause the negotiations with Egypt to be broken off, it produced the result that, when Isaiah’s prediction was fulfilled after the battle of Eltekeh, the Jewish monarch and people did in their trouble turn to God. At the crisis of his danger, Hezekiah made appeal to the Almighty (Isaiah 37:4); and his appeal was followed by that destruction of the Assyrian host (Isaiah 37:36) which caused the Assyrians to respect and fear the Jews thenceforward, and to allow them to retain their independence. Thus the life of the Jewish monarchy was extended for above a century. BY E. JOHNSON The prophet as a sign. I. THE . The illusion of Egyptian unity had passed away again. The country was broken up under the rule of a number of petty kings, of whom Shabak, or So, or Seve (2 Kings 17:4), was one. Negotiations seem to have been begun between Judah and Egypt, probably as a resource against the Assyrian. Ashdod was laid siege to by the Assyrians about B.C. 713-711, and the inhabitants carried off captives. And Judah’s name appears in the Assyrian inscriptions among the nations guilty of treason to Assyria. Isaiah, both as the prophet and the politician, is seen to be opposed to the Egyptian alliance. And his policy seems to have been justified by the event, for Judah was subsequently invaded and subdued. When the tartan, or Assyrian general, came to Ashdod, sent by King Sargon, the spirit of Isaiah was stirred within him. II. THE ACT OF THE PROPHET. He takes his distinctive dress of haircloth from his loins, and is "bare," in that sense in which the Roman soldier was said to be nudus without his armour. So the Prophet Micah says he will wail and howl, and go stripped and naked, because of the desolation of the land. The reader will be reminded of George Fox at Lichfield, and of Solomon Eagle preaching repentance to the people amidst the horrors of the Plague of London, of which scene there was an affecting picture by Poole in the Royal Academy winter exhibition of 1884. The act is: 1. Expressive of strong feeling; suited to Oriental effusiveness, though not to our colder habits. The mind needs, in moments of strong feeling, to see itself reflected in some outward form. We all acknowledge this in connection with the great epochs of life—the funeral, the wedding, The great heart of the prophet throbbing in sympathy with his nation, must signify his grief at its condition by some change in his attire. And then: 2. It is a means of impressing others. We speak, not only by our words, but by our appearance, our apparel, our manners. Though we are not called upon in our time to adopt a peculiar dress, that dress should betoken a serious mind. Inconspicuousness may serve as good an end as conspicuousness in this matter. Let us at least, without straining a point, learn this lesson, that life should be significant. It should mean something; not be neutral, utterly without emphasis; or dubious to the eye and ear, like heathen oracles and heathen symbols. Without affectation and folly, we can find a way to make others feel that we feel and think and have a purpose in existence. But this way of self-manifestation must be adapted to our own constitution, to the taste of others, to the condition of our times. III. THE OF THE . Egypt and Ethiopia will fall into humiliation and captivity. There will be every sign of disgrace. And Judah will see the fallacy of having put her trust in Egyptian alliances. It is a deeply painful picture of a nation’s shame that rises before us in these verses. Shameless sins bring shameful punishment. "Conquest and captivity are perhaps the bitterest cup that vengeance can put into the hands of a sinful people." This general lesson, then, may be drawn: The effect not only points to the cause, but the nature of the effect to the nature of the cause. "Of all the curses which can possibly befall a sinner, there is none comparable to this, that he should add iniquity to iniquity, and sin to sin, which the shameless person cannot but do, till he falls by it too; his recovery, while under that character, being utterly impossible. For where there is no place for shame, there can be none for repentance. God of his infinite goodness work better minds in us!" (South).—J. BY W. Isaiah 20:1-3 Unpleasant service. It may always remain uncertain whether Isaiah went stripped and barefoot for three whole years or for a shorter period. Two things, however, are quite certain, viz. that for some time, longer or shorter, this servant of Jehovah (verse 3) went about Jerusalem in that humiliating condition, and that he would have unhesitatingly done this all the time if God had required him to do so. Many suggestions have been made on the subject, but it does not occur to any one to entertain the idea that Isaiah would decline to render such an unpleasant service, however long the period of service might be. I. THAT GOD DEMANDS OF US SERVICE WHICH WE FIND IT HARD TO RENDER. It may be: 1. To incur the hostility of those whose honor and affection we would fain enjoy. Isaiah had to pronounce against an alliance with Egypt and Ethiopia, thus stirring up the active dislike of those politicians who advised that course. We may often have to take a course which is regarded and denounced as unpatriotic or disloyal. 2. To endure privation as the consequence of fidelity. Isaiah, in the fulfillment of his prophetic mission, went half-clad through all changes of temperature. In order to speak the true and faithful word which God has put into our mind, or to take the right course which he opens before us, we may have to do that which will lessen our resources and lead to straitened means and even to serious embarrassment. 3. To expose ourselves to the derision of the skeptic or the scoffing. Doubtless the partisans of Egypt sneered and the idle multitude mocked as the unclothed prophet passed by. It is hard to have to utter that truth or to identify ourselves with that course which entails the bitter raillery of the opponent and the heartless jest of the ribald crowd. But "my servant Isaiah walked naked and barefoot" as long as he was charged to do so. And we conclude— II. THAT WE CANNOT TO RENDER INSTANT AND FULL , For: 1. God’s demand is absolute and authoritative. If the filial son hastens to do the behest of his father, the loyal subject that of his king, the brave soldier that of his commander, however uninviting or even perilous it may be, how much more shall we render instant and hearty obedience to the "Do this" of our heavenly Father, of our Divine Redeemer. 2. God asks us to do that which is small and slight indeed in comparison with the service which, in Jesus Christ, he has rendered us. What are the privations, the insults, the humiliations we may be summoned to endure for Christ when compared with the poverty and the shame and the sorrow to which he stooped for us? 3. Our unpleasant work is prior, and perhaps preparatory, to nobler and more congenial service further on. Faithful in the "few things" now and here, we shall have rule given us over "many things" in the coming years, and still more truly in the better land.—C. Isaiah 20:5, Isaiah 20:6 The insufficiency of the stronger. Assyria attacked Ashdod with designs on Judaea. Judaea rested on Egypt and Ethiopia; but these "powers" would be utterly defeated by Assyria, and their citizens led away into captivity with every circumstance of humiliation and shame. In that hour of fear and humiliation (Isaiah 20:5) the inhabitants of Judaea would be constrained to argue from the insufficiency of Egypt and Ethiopia to their own helplessness. If such strong nations as these are ignominiously overthrown, "how shall we escape?" We conclude— I. THAT TIMES OF SEVERE TRIAL AWAIT US ALL. Not only collectively but individually considered. As separate, individual souls we must anticipate that the future has in store for us not only the pleasant, the gratifying, the successful, but also the unpleasant, the painful, even the overwhelming. Some of the more crushing sorrows it may be our fortune to escape, but every one of us will have his share. Sickness which threatens to be fatal; bitter disappointment which appears to throw the whole future path into darkest shadow; bereavement which takes away the very light of our eyes; the sudden loss which strips the tree of branch as well as bloom; the financial or (what is a thousand times worse) the moral failure of beloved friend or near relation; the last illness unexpectedly arriving and extinguishing many a cherished purpose; the powerful temptation inviting and almost constraining to folly, or vice, or crime;—one or more el these things, or things as bad as these, will certainly overtake us all. II. THAT THOSE WHO ARE THAN WE ARE FOUND TO BREAK BENEATH THE BLOW. We hear or read of men who in mental capacity, in educational advantages, in worldly endowments, or in the number of their friends, are superior to ourselves, but who cannot stand the strain of their trial. Either their health breaks down, or their sanity seriously suffers, or their faith fails, or their courage and energy succumb, or their moral character is lost, and consequently their reputation is shattered, never to be restored. III. THAT IF THESE SOULS ARE BEATEN, WE MUST BE IN DANGER OF DEFEAT. If Egypt and Ethiopia are led into captivity, how shall Judaea be delivered—"how shall we escape?" The storm in which such noble vessels founder will wreck our fragile bark. On any ordinary human calculations we cannot hope to be victorious where spirits so much stronger and wiser than we are have been crushed. But we need not yield to despondency; if we are the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, and if, therefore, "the Lord is on our side," we may find relief and rest in the thought— IV. THAT WE HAVE A SAFE REFUGE IN AN SAVIOR. So long as Judea was faithful to Jehovah, she had no need to be afraid of Assyria, and she could afford to witness the overthrow of the Egyptian and Ethiopian armies. So long as we are loyal to our Divine Lord we may go fearlessly forward into the future. If the good Shepherd—"the great Shepherd of the sheep"—be our Guardian, we will "fear no evil," though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, though the darkest shadows shut us round.—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 20:2, Isaiah 20:3 Divine revelation in actions as well as words. The language is somewhat uncertain, but it seems better to understand that, for three years, Isaiah was seen going to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, having the dress and appearance of one who was already a prisoner of war, ready to be led into an ignominious exile. Isaiah wore no upper or outer garment, and no sandals, so that, when his dress was compared with that of others, he might be said to go naked; but "naked" in Scripture usually means "with only under-garments on." The three years were, perhaps, designed to represent three incursions of the Assyrians. The general topic suggested is the variety of forms which Divine revelations may take; the diversity of agencies which Divine revelation may employ. All modes by which man may he reached and influenced God may take up and use for conveying his mind and will. I. IN NATURE. We often speak of a voice in nature. That voice God may employ. The beautiful, the sublime, the gentle, affect us, and bring to us thoughts of God’s goodness, wisdom, and power. This kind of revelation St. Paul recognizes, pleading thus at Lystra (Acts 14:17), "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness;" and writing thus to the Romans (Romans 1:20), "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." What is called natural religion is that common knowledge of God, and of our duty to God, which comes through nature alone; and God has so made us kin with nature, has so set us in relation with an external world, that we can receive moral impressions through it. II. IN . Events of personal life and of public history convey God’s mind to us. And therefore so much of our Bible is but a treasured record of facts and incidents. Our Lord’s life on the earth was full of incidents, and we find in these the truths which God purposed, by Christ, to teach us. We are constantly receiving fresh revelations, new to us individually, though not new to the world, through the circumstances of public or of private life. We often think of this as God’s voice in providence. III. IN MINDS. Or in those parts of man that are distinct from the senses. What we think of as the spiritual nature of man, including his conscience. God’s witness in this part of our being is argued by St. Paul, when, writing of the heathen, to whom a book revelation has not been given, he says (Romans 2:15), "Which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." We must guard against the notion that God has put all his will into a book, and has now no direct access to our souls. What is true is that we can test all direct revelations by their harmony with the revelation that is written. IV. IN SYMBOLS. Since symbols do convey ideas to men, God may use them. Illustrate by vision of divided pieces to Abraham; pillar of cloud to Israel; angel with drawn sword to David; fire-flash to Israel on Carmel, etc. And, to take symbols of another character, the prophets acted things before the people, making impressions without employing words—as Isaiah here; as Zedekiah’s horns (1 Kings 22:11); Jeremiah’s yokes (Jeremiah 27:2); Ezekiel’s lying on his side (Ezekiel 4:4); and Agabus’ binding himself with his girdle (Acts 21:11). V. IN WORDS. The more ordinary method of communication between man and man. This opens up the opportunity of showing (1) the reasonableness and (2) the practical efficiency of a book revelation, and of commending that Collection of revelations which we call Holy Scripture. Howsoever God may be pleased to speak to us, our duty is to heed, listening with the cherished purpose that we will carry out the Divine will in all holy and loving obedience.—R.T. The bitter experience of all who trust in man. The sin of Judah, in its latter days, was its reliance on Egypt for help rather than on God. In alarm at the advance of Assyria, the natural alliance was with Egypt; but alliance with any world-power was unworthy of a nation whose history had been so full of Divine deliverings and defendings as that of the Jews. And Egypt could not help. It was a broken reed. A type of all merely human helpers; for "cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Hoses represents Israel as finding out how vain is the help of man, and turning to God with this penitential promise, "Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods." The following three points open up lines of thought and illustration, and should be sufficiently suggestive without detailed treatment. I. WE CANNOT TRUST MAN, FOR WE CANNOT BE SURE OF HIS GOOD WILL. These two dangers are ever before us: 1. The man who seems willing to serve us may be deceiving us, and really serving his own ends, setting his interests before ours. 2. And if a man begins sincerely to serve us, we have no security that his good will is maintained, and presently he may take advantage of us. We cannot read hearts. And hearts do not always keep steadfast. So "put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no help." II. WE CANNOT TRUST MAN, FOR WE CANNOT BE SURE THAT HIS ABILITY MATCHES HIS WILL. So often we find in life that men who could, will not help us, and men who would, cannot. With this sort of feeling in his mind the sufferer came to the "Man Christ Jesus," saying, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." III. WE CAN NEVER RECKON ON MAN IF HE IS AGAINST GOD. Such a man can never be any help to us. The Jews forsook God to seek help from a godless nation, and it was bound to prove a bitter and humiliating experience. Man may be, and often is, God’s agent for helping us; but then our trusting is in God who sends, and not in the man who may be sent to do his bidding.—R.T. A grove question with many applications. "How shall we escape?" Egypt being reduced, no defense remained for Israel against the overwhelming power of Assyria. "This was the cry of despair at Jerusalem. But in such despair was her only hope. The destruction of Egypt and Ethiopia by the arms of Sennacherib weaned her from looking any longer to earthly powers for help, and raised her eyes to heaven" (Bishop Wordsworth). The expression, or exclamation, may be— I. APPLIED TO . Oftentimes in life we are brought to extremities; we know not what to do, nor which way to take. In our difficulties, hedged in on every side, we cry out, "How shall we escape?" The Israelites cried thus when the Red Sea rolled before them, a wall of mountains barred the path, and an enraged foe hurried upon them from behind. The secret of peace and deliverance is, "Trust in the Lord, who maketh ways in the seas, and paths in the great waters." II. APPLIED TO THE POWER OF SIN. When it has become the enslavement of fixed habit. Compare St. Paul’s exclamation, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And see his triumphant answer, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." III. APPLIED TO THE OF SINNING. The "fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall consume the adversaries." The utter despair of escape is pictured in Scripture by the people crying to the very rocks to cover and hide them from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. IV. APPLIED TO OUR PRESENT OF . The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews finds expression for this (Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 2:3): "If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" This grave question—this great cry—may be the cry of hopeful self-humiliation and distrust; and then to it God will be sure to respond. But it may be the cry of hopeless despair, the conviction that the day of grace is passed, that it is "too late;" and then God’s response must be holding aloof, and letting the overwhelming judgments come, if even thus at last the true humiliations may be wrought.—R.T. Isaiah 21:1-10 THE BURDEN OF THE DESERT OF THE SEA. This is a short and somewhat vague, but highly poetic, "burden of Babylon" It is probably an earlier prophecy than Isaiah 13:1-22. and 14; and perhaps the first revelation made to Isaiah with respect to the fall of the great Chaldean capital. It exhibits no consciousness of the fact that Babylon is Judah’s predestined destroyer, and is expressive rather of sympathy (verses 3, 4) than of triumph. Among recent critics, some suppose it to refer to Sargon’s capture of the city in B.C. 710; but the objection to this view, from the entire absence of all reference to Assyria as the conquering power, and the mention of "Elam" and "Media" in her place, is absolutely fatal to it. There can be no reasonable doubt that the same siege is intended as in Isaiah 13:1-22; where also Media is mentioned (Isaiah 13:17); and there are no real grounds for questioning that the event of which the prophet is made cognizant is that siege and capture of Babylon by Cyrus the Great which destroyed the Babylonian empire. Isaiah 21:1 The desert of the sea. The Isaianic authorship of this title is doubtful, since "the desert of the sea" is an expression elsewhere wholly unknown to biblical writers. Some regard "the sea" as the Euphrates, in which case "the desert of the sea" may be the waste tract west of the Euphrates, extending thence to the eastern borders of Palestine. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; rather, as whirlwinds in the south country, sweeping along. The "south country" is that immediately to the south of Judaea. Its liability to whirlwinds is noticed in Zechariah 9:14 and in Job 37:9. It cometh. What cometh? Dr. Kay says, "God’s visitation;" Rosenmüller, "a numerous army." But is it not rather the "grievous vision" of the next verse? From the desert. The great desert bounding Palestine on the east—a truly "terrible land." Across this, as coming from Baby-Ionia to Palestine, seemed to rush the vision which it was given to the prophet to see. Isaiah 21:2 A grievous vision; literally, a hard vision; not, however, "hard of interpretation" (Kay), but rather "hard to be borne," "grievous," "calamitous." The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously; rather, perhaps, the robber robs (Knobel); or, the violent man uses violence (Rosenmüller). The idea of faithlessness passes out of the Hebrew boged occasionally, and is unsuitable here, more especially if it is the army of Cyrus that is intended. Go up, O Elam. The discovery that Cyrus, at the time of his conquest of Babylon, Bore the title of "King of Ansan," not "King of Persia," coupled with the probability that "Ansan" was a part of Elam, lends a peculiar interest to these words. Isaiah could not describe Cyrus as "King of Persia," and at the same time be intelligible to his contemporaries, since Persia was a country utterly unknown to them. In using the term "Elam" instead, he uses that of a country known to the Hebrews (Genesis 14:1), adjoining Persia, and, at the time of his expedition against Babylon, subject to Cyrus. Besiege, O Media. Having given "Elam" the first place, the prophet assigns to Media the second. Eleven years before he attacked Babylon, Cyrus had made war upon Astyages (Istuvegu), King of the Medes, had captured him, and become king of the nation, with scarcely any opposition (see the ’Cylinder of Nabonidus’). Hence the Medes would naturally form an important portion of the force which he led against Babylon. All the sighing thereof have I made to cease. The "sighing" caused by Babylon to the nations, to the captives, and to the kings whose prison-doors were kept closed (Isaiah 14:17), God has in his counsels determined to bring to an end. Isaiah 21:3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain, etc. (comp. above, Isaiah 15:5; Isaiah 16:9-11). The prophet is horrorstruck at the vision shown him—at the devastation, the ruin, the carnage (Isaiah 13:18). He does not stop to consider how well deserved the punishment is; he does not, perhaps, as yet know how that, in smiting Babylon, God will be specially avenging the sufferings of his own nation (see the introductory paragraph). I was bowed down at the hearing, etc.; rather, I am so agonized that I cannot hear; I am so terrified that I cannot see. Isaiah 21:4 My heart panted; rather, my heart trembleth, or fluttereth. The night of my pleasure; i.e. "the night, wherein, I am wont to enjoy peaceful and pleasant slumbers." Isaiah 21:5 Prepare the table, etc. With lyrical abruptness, the prophet turns from his own feelings to draw a picture of Babylon at the time when she is attacked. tie uses historical infinitives, the most lively form of narrative. Translate, They deck the table, set the watch, eat, drink; i.e. having decked the table, they commit the task of watching to a few, and then give themselves up to feasting and reveling, as if there were no danger. It is impossible not to think of Belshazzar’s feast, and the descriptions of the Greek historians (Herod; 1.191; Xen; ’Cyrop.,’ 7.23), which mark at any rate the strength of the tradition that, when Babylon was taken, its inhabitants were engaged in revelry. Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. In the midst of the feast there enters to the revellers one from the outside, with these words, "Rise, quit the banquet; get your shields; anoint them; arm yourselves." That shields were greased with fat or oil before being used in battle appears from Virg; ’AEneid,’ 7.625, and other places. It was thought that the enemy’s weapons would more readily glance off an oiled surface. Isaiah 21:6 Go, set a watchman. The event is not to be immediate, it is to be watched for; and Isaiah is not to watch himself, but to set the watchman. Moreover, the watchman waits long before he sees anything (verse 8). These unusual features of the narrative seem to mark a remote, not a near, accomplishment of the prophecy. Isaiah 21:7 And he saw … he hearkened; rather, he shall see … he shall hearken (Kay). He is to wait and watch until he sees a certain sight; then he is to listen attentively, and he will hear the crash of the falling city. A chariot with a couple of horsemen; rather, a troop of horsemen riding two and two. This is exactly how a cavalry force was ordinarily represented by the Assyrians. Chariots are not intended either here or in Isaiah 21:9. They were not employed by the Persians until a late period of their history. A chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; rather, men mounted on asses and on camels. It is well known that both animals were employed by the Persians in their expeditions to carry the baggage (Herod; 1.80; 4.129; Xen; ’Cyrop.,’ 7.1, etc.). But neither animal was ever attached to a chariot. Isaiah 21:8 And he cried, A lion; rather, he cried as a lion; i.e. with a loud deep voice (comp. Revelation 10:3). The watchman, after long waiting, becomes impatient, and can contain himself no longer. He makes complaint of his long vain watch. My lord; rather, O Lord. The watchman addresses his complaint to Jehovah. Isaiah 21:9 And, behold, here cometh, etc. Our translators make the words those of the watchman. But they are better taken as the prophet’s statement of a fact, "And behold, just then there cometh a troop of men, riding two and two"—the sign for which he was to watch (Isaiah 21:7), or rather the first part of it. We must suppose the rest of the sign to follow, and the watchman then to listen awhile attentively. Suddenly he hears the sound of a sacked town, and he exclaims, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, etc. All the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. Recent documents, belonging to the time of Cyrus, and treating of his capture of Babylon, show that this expression is not to be understood literally. Cyrus was not an iconoclast; he did not break into pieces, or in any way destroy or insult the Babylonian idols. On the contrary, he maintained them in their several shrines, or restored them where they had been displaced; he professed himself a worshipper of the chief Babylonian gods—Bel, Nebo, and Merodach—he repaired the temple of Merodach; he prayed to Bel and Nebo to lengthen his days; he caused his son, Cambyses, to take part in the great religious ceremony wherewith the Babylonians opened the new year. Thus his conquest of Babylon did not bring upon its gods a physical, but only a moral, destruction. The Persian victory discredited and degraded them. It proclaimed to Western Asia that the idolatrous system so long prevalent in the region between Mount Zagros and the Mediterranean was no longer in the ascendant, but lay at the mercy of another quite different religion, which condescended to accord it toleration. Such was the permanent result. No doubt there was also, in the sack of the city, much damage done to many of the idols by a greedy soldiery, who may have carried off many images of gold or silver, and broken up others that were not portable, and stripped off the plates of precious metal from the idols of "brass, and iron, and wood, and stone" (Daniel 5:6). Isaiah 21:10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor. These are the words of the prophet to Israel. Her chastisements have long been "threshing" Israel, separating the grain from the chaff, and will do so still more as time goes on. The prophet’s message is for the comfort of those who shall have gone through the process and become the true "children of the threshing-floor"—pure wheat, fit to be gathered into the garner of God (Matthew 3:12). Isaiah 21:11, Isaiah 21:12 THE BURDEN OF DUMAH. This short "burden" is probably to be understood as uttered with reference to Edom, which the prophet prefers to call "Dumah," i.e. "silence," in reference to the desolation which he sees to be coming upon the country. Such a play upon words is very usual in the East. Isaiah has already given an instance of it in the name under which he has designated Heliopolis (Isaiah 19:18). Isaiah 21:11 Dumah. There were at least two towns of this name; but neither of them is in the district of Seir. It is best, therefore, to regard "Dumah" here as representing Edom, or Iaumaea (so the LXX; Jarchi, Rosenmüller, Kay, Cheyne, and others). He calleth to me; rather, one calleth to me; i.e. I seem to hear a call from Mount Seir, as of one making inquiry of me. There is no need to suppose that the inquiry was actually made. Mount Self, or the district south-south-east of the Dead Sea, was the heart of the Idumaean country, which thence extended vaguely eastward and westward. What of the night? i.e. what hour, or, rather, perhaps, what watch of the night is it? May we consider that "the night is far spent, and the day at hand? Edom had offended Sargon by joining with Ashdod, and was probably at tiffs time oppressed by Sargon in consequence. Isaiah 21:12 The morning cometh, and also the night. An oracular reply, but probably meaning (1) that a brighter time would soon dawn upon the Edomite people; and (2) that this brighter time would be followed by a return of misery and affliction. We may (conjecturally) understand the "morning" of the earlier part of Sennacherib’s reign, when Edom was at peace with Assyria, merely paying a moderate tribute, and the "night" of the later period in the same king’s reign, when the country suffered from another Assyrian invasion, in which the king’s treasures and his gods were carried off to Nineveh. If ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come. Some take this very literally, as meaning, "If ye would inquire further into the meaning of this answer, do so; return to me; come again." But this implies that the Edomites had sent an actual messenger to make the inquiry of Isa 21:5, which is improbable. Others understand a reproach to Edom: "If ye will have recourse to God in the time of trouble, do so; but then do more—return to him altogether; come, and be one with Judah." Isaiah 21:13-17 THE BURDEN OF ARABIA. Edom will have companions in misfortune among the Arab tribes upon her borders, Dedan, Tema, and Kedar. War will enter their territory, derange their commerce (Isaiah 21:13), cause flight and privation (Isaiah 21:14, Isaiah 21:15), and within a year greatly diminish the number of their fighting men (Isaiah 21:16, Isaiah 21:17). The date of the prophecy is uncertain, but can scarcely be earlier than B.C. 715, when Sargon made an expedition into Arabia. Isaiah 21:13 The burden upon Arabia; rather, in Arabia. The phrase is varied from its usual form, probably because it is not Arabia generally, but only certain of the more northern tribes, on whom calamity is about to fall. In the forest … shall ye lodge. The word used is commonly translated "forest;" but Arabia has no forests, and the meaning hero must be "brushwood." Thorny bushes and shrubs are common in all parts of Arabia. The general meaning is that the caravans will have to leave the beaten track, and obtain such shelter and concealment as the scanty brushwood of the desert could afford. Ye traveling companies of Dedanim. The Dedanim, or Dedanites, were among the chief traders of the Arabian peninsula. They had commercial dealings with Tyre, which they supplied with ivory, ebony, and "precious clothes for chariots" (Ezekiel 27:15, Ezekiel 27:20). This trade they carried on by means of large caravans—the "travelling companies" of the present passage. They are thought to have had their chief settlements on the shores of the Persian Gulf, where the island of Dadan may be an echo of their name. Isaiah 21:14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water; rather, bring? water, O inhabitants. Tema is reasonably identified with the modern Taima, a village of the Hauran, on the caravan route between Palmyra and Peira. Its inhabitants are exhorted to bring water to the thirsty Dedanites, as they pass along this route with their "travelling companies." (For other mentions of Tome, which must not be confounded with Teman, see Job 6:19 and Jeremiah 25:23.) They prevented with their bread him that fled. Several commentators take this clause as imperative, like the last, and render, "With his bread meet the fugitive;" but the existing Hebrew text seems to require the rendering of the Authorized Version. Dr. Kay understands the prophet to mean that the men of Tema did not need exhortation; already of their own accord had they given of their bread to the fugitive Dedanites. Isaiah 21:15 For they fled; rather, they have fled. The Dedanites have been attacked with sword and bow, and have fled from their assailants. Probably the enemy was Assyria, but no trace of the war has been found on the Assyrian monuments. Isaiah 21:16 Within a year, according to the years of an hireling (see the comment on Isaiah 16:14). All the glory of Kedar shall fail. "Kedar" is a name of greater note than either Dedan or Tome. It seems to be used here as inclusive of Dedan, perhaps as a designation of the northern Arabians generally. The people of Kedar, like those of Dedan, carried on trade with Tyro (Ezekiel 27:21). They dwelt partly in tents (Psalms 120:5; Jeremiah 49:29), partly in villages (Isaiah 42:11), and were rich in flocks and herds and in camels. Though not mentioned in the inscriptions of Sargon, Sennacherib, or Esarhaddon, the contemporaries of Isaiah, they hold a prominent place in those of Esarhaddon’s son and successor, Asshurbanipal, with whom they carried on a war of some considerable duration in conjunction with the Nabathaeans. Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 21:4 The sadness of a nation’s overthrow. A nation is God’s creation, no less than an individual. And it is a far more elaborate work. What forethought, what design, what manifold wisdom, must not have been required for the planning out of each people’s national character, for the partitioning out to them of their special gifts and aptitudes, for the apportionment to each of its place in history, for the conduct of each through the many centuries of its existence! It is a sad thing to be witness of a nation’s demise. Very deeply does Isaiah feel its sadness. His "loins are filled with pain;" the pangs that take hold of hint are "as the pangs of a woman that travaileth;" he is "so agonized that he cannot hear," "so terrified that he cannot look" (verse 3). "His heart flutters," like a frightened bird; terror overwhelms him; he cannot sleep for thinking of the dread calamity; "the night of his pleasure is turned into fear." The sadness of such a calamity is twofold. It consists (1) in the fact; (2) in the circumstances. I. THE SADNESS OF THE FACT. We mourn an individual gone from us—how much more a nation! What a blank is created! What arts and industries are not destroyed or checked! What possibilities of future achievement are not cut off! Again, an individual is only removed; he still exists, only in another place. But a nation is annihilated. It has but one life. There is "no healing of its bruise" (Nahum 3:19), no transference of it to another sphere. From existence it has passed into nonexistence, and nothing can recall it into being. It is like a sun extinguished in mid-heaven. II. THE SADNESS OF THE . The end of a nation comes necessarily by violence, from within or from without—from without most commonly. A fierce host invades its borders, spreads itself over its fertile fields, tramples down its crops, exhausts its granaries, consumes its cattle, burns its towns and villages, carries everywhere ruin and desolation. Wanton injury is added to the injury which war cannot but inflict—fruit-trees are cut down (Isaiah 16:8), works of art are destroyed, good land is purposely "marred with stones" (2 Kings 3:10). And if inanimate things suffer, much more do animate ones. Beasts of burden are impressed and worked to death; horses receive fearful wounds and scream with pain; cattle perish for want of care; beasts of prey increase as population lessens, and become a terror to the scanty remnant (2 Kings 17:25). Not only do armed men fall by thousands in fair fight, but (in barbarous times) the unwarlike mass of the population suffers almost equally. "Every one that is found is thrust through, and every one that is joined to them is slain by the sword" (Isaiah 13:15). Even women and children are not spared. Virgins and matrons are shamefully used (Isaiah 13:16); children are ruthlessly dashed to the ground (Isaiah 13:16; Psalms 137:9); every human passion being allowed free course, the most dreadful excesses are perpetrated. No doubt in modern times civilization and Christianity tend to alleviate in some degree the horrors of war; but in a war of conquest, when the destruction of a nationality is aimed at, frightful scenes are almost sure to occur, sufficient to sadden all but the utterly unfeeling. It should be the earnest determination of every Christian to endeavor in every possible way to keep his own country free from the guilt of such wars. Half-hearted turning to God of no avail. There are many who, in the hour of distress, turn to God and his ministers with the question, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" They are anxious to be assured that the dark time of their trouble is well-nigh over, and light about to dawn upon their horizon. And they so far believe in God’s ministers as to think that they can, better than others, give them an answer to their question. Accordingly, they importune their clergymen with such inquiries as these: "Will this sickness, or the effect of this accident, or this time of slack work, last long? Is there likely to be much more of it? Or may we look to be free from our trouble speedily?" To such the "watchman" had best answer with some reserve, or even with some obscurity, so far as he gives any direct answer at all to their questions. "The trouble will no doubt pass in time—it may be sooner, it may be later; God only knows the times and the seasons which he has put in his own power." But he may take the opportunity of the inquiry to give a very clear lesson. "If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come;" that is to say, "Be not half-hearted, beat not about the bush. If ye throw yourselves upon God for one purpose, do so for every purpose; look to him, not for an answer to one inquiry only, but for everything. Return to him—come." "The Spirit and the Bride" are always saying, "Come" (Revelation 22:17). Christ himself has said, most emphatically, Come (Matthew 11:28). If they return and come, they will be no longer Edom, but Israel; no longer aliens and strangers, but "fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). Let the cry, then, be sounded in their ears unceasingly, "Return, come." The grievousness of war. The grievousness of war is especially felt in defeat. Kedar was the most turbulent of the sons of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13). "His hand" like that of his father, "was against every man, and every man’s hand against him" (Genesis 16:12). So long as his "mighty men," armed with their formidable bows, could ravage and plunder the inhabitants of more peaceable districts at their pleasure, and carry off plenty of spoil to their fastnesses in the rocky parts of the desert (Isaiah 42:11), the "grievousness of war" was not felt. Rather, "the inhabitants of the rock sang, and shouted from the top of the mountain" (Isaiah 42:11). But at length the tide of battle had turned. Kedar was itself attacked, invaded, plundered. The "drawn sword" and the "bent bow" of the men of Asshur were seen in the recesses of Arabia itself, and the assailants, becoming the assailed, discovered, apparently to their surprise, that war was a "grievous" thing. Does not history "repeat itself?" Have we not heard in our own day aggressive nations, that have carried the flames of war over half Europe or half Asia, complain bitterly, when their turn to be attacked came, of the "grievousness" of invasion? The Greeks said, "To suffer that which one has done, is strictest, straitest right;" but this is not often distinctly perceived by the sufferers. It is only "God’s ways" that are "equal;" man’s are apt always to be "unequal" (Ezekiel 18:25). BY E. JOHNSON Fall of Babylon. It is thought, by some recent commentators, that the description refers to the siege of Babylon in B.C. 710 by Sargon the Assyrian. The King of Babylon at that time was Merodach-Baladan, who sent letters and a present to Hezekiah when he was sick (Isaiah 39:1; 2 Kings 20:12). The prophet may well grieve over the fall of Babylon, as likely to drag down with it weaker kingdoms. I. THE SOUND OF THE TEMPEST. What sublime poesy have the prophets found in the tempest! We are perhaps impressed more through the perception of the ear than that of the eye, by the sense of vague, vast, overwhelming power working through all the changes of the world. The sweeping up of a tempest from the southern dry country of Judah is like the gathering of a moles belli, and this, again betokens that Jehovah of hosts is stirring up his might in the world unseen. Hence his arrows go forth like lightning, his trumpet blows (Zechariah 9:14). This movement comes from the terrible land, the desert, the haunt of serpents and other horrible creatures. II. THE VISION OF . The march of the barbarous conqueror is marked by cruelty and devastation. The prophet’s heart is overpowered within him. He writhes with anguish as in the visions of the even-tide the picture of Babylon’s fall passes before his mind. He beholds a scene of rivalry. There is feasting and mirth. We are reminded of that description which De Quincey adduced as an example of the sublime: "Belshazzar the king made a great feast unto a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand" (Daniel 5:1); and of Byron’s description of the eve of the battle of Waterloo at Brussels. Suddenly an alarm is given; the walls have been stormed, the palace is threatened; the banqueters must start from the couch and exchange the garb of luxury for the shield and the armor. The impression of the picture is heightened by the descriptions in Herodotus and Xenophon (’Cyrop.,’ 7.5), whether they refer to the same event or no. It is the picture of careless ease and luxury surprised by sudden terror. "Let us go against them," says Cyrus in Xenophon. "Many of them are asleep, many intoxicated, and all of them unfit for battle." The scene, then, may be used parabolically to enforce those lessons of temperance, of watchfulness, of sobriety, and prayerfulness which our religion inculcates. III. THE . The word of Jehovah directs that a watchman shall be posted, the prophet "dividing himself into two persons"—his own proper person and that of the speculator or scout upon the height of the watch-tower. So Habakkuk "stands upon his watch, and sets him upon the tower" (Habakkuk 2:1). And what does the prophet see? Cavalry riding two abreast, some on horses, others on asses, others (with the baggage) on camels. This he sees; but he hears no authentic tidings of distant things, though straining his ear in utmost tension. Then he groans with the deep tones of the impatient lion. How long is he to remain at his post? We cannot but think of the fine opening of the ’Agamemnon’ of AEschylus, where the weary warder soliloquizes— "The gods I ask deliverance from these labors, Watch of a year’s length, whereby, slumbering thro’ it On the Atreidai’s roof on elbow, dog-like, I know of mighty star-groups the assemblage, And those that bring to men winter and summer." (R. Browning’s translation.) As he waits for "the torch’s token and the glow of fire," so does Isaiah wait for certain news about Babylon. And, no sooner is the plaint uttered, than the wish is realized. The watchman sees a squadron of cavalry, riding two abreast, and the truth flashes on him—Babylon is fallen! The images, symbols of the might of the city, protected by the gods they represented, are dashed to the ground and broken. What was felt under such circumstances may be gathered by the student of Greek history from the awful impression made, on the eve of the expedition to Sicily, by the discovery of the mutilation of the statues of the Hermai. It is all over with Babylon. IV. THE ANGUISH OF THE PATRIOT. "O my threshed and winnowed one!" Poor Israel, who has already suffered so much from the Assyrian, how gladly would the prophet have announced better tidings! The threshing-floor is an image of suffering, and not confined to the Hebrews. It may be found in old Greek lore, and in modern Greek folk-poesy. No image, indeed, can be more expressive (comp. Isaiah 41:15; Micah 4:12, Micah 4:13; Jeremiah 51:33). "But love also takes part in the threshing, and restrains the wrath." V. GENERAL LESSONS. The Christian minister is, too, a watcher. He must listen and he must look. There are oracles to be heard by the attentive ear, breaking out of the heart of things—hints in the distance to be caught by the wakeful and searching eye. "They whom God has appointed to watch are neither drowsy nor dim-sighted. The prophet also, by this example, exhorts and stimulates believers to the same kind of attention, that by the help of the lamp of the Word they may obtain a distant view of the power of God."—J. The watchman. I. THE CALL FROM SEIR. The Edomites are asking, "Will the light soon dawn? What hour is it?" Like the sick man tossing on his bed, they long for the first tidings that the night of tribulation is past. II. THE ANSWER. "Morning cometh, and also night." There were "wise men" in Edom, and probably the answer is couched in the style they loved. What does it mean? We can but conjecture. It may mean that the coming light of prosperity and joy is soon to be quenched in the night of calamity again. Or, the dawn of joy to some will be the night of despair to others. "When the morning comes, it will still be night" (Luther). Even if morning dawns, it will be swallowed up again immediately by night. And in what follows, also obscure, seems to be a hint that only in case of Edom’s conversion can there be an answer of consolation and of hope. The design may be— (1) "to reprove them for the manner in which they had asked the question; (2) to assure them that God was willing to direct humble and serious inquiries; (3) to show in what way a favorable answer could be obtained, viz. by repentance." III. . 1. Historical. "History was quite in accord with such an answer. The Assyrian period of judgment was followed by the Chaldean, the Chaldean by the Persian, the Persian by the Grecian, and the Grecian by the Roman. Again and again there was a glimmer of morning dawn for Edom (and what a glimmer in the Herodian age!); but it was swallowed up directly by another night, until Edom became an utter Dumah, and disappeared from the history of nations." Herod the Great, "King of the Jews," was son of Autipater of Edom, who became procurator of Judaea. Under the Mussulman rule in the seventh century A.D; the cities of Edom fell into ruin, and the laud became a desolation (comp. Ezekiel 35:3, Ezekiel 35:4, Ezekiel 35:7, Ezekiel 35:9, Ezekiel 35:14). The famed rock-built city of Petra was brought to light in our own time by Burckhardt, 1812. 2. General. The prophetic outlook upon the world at any epoch is of the same general character. Night struggles with morning in the conflicts and changes of nations, in the controversies of truth with error. In the closing chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel we do not find a prospect of unmingled brightness, very far from it. Christianity will call into existence vast organized hypocrisies; the shadow attends closely upon the light. At the conversion of the empire under Constantine, at the Reformation, etc; "the morning came, and also night." History pursues a spiral line; old errors return, decayed superstitions revive; then again the day breaks. And so with the individual; the light we gain at happy epochs must yield to fresh doubts or fears, again to be dispelled by redawning faith. Such is the condition of our life; we dwell in the chiaroscuro, the twilight of intuition; we "see as in a glass, enigmatically." But hope and endeavor remain to us; and the looking forward to the everlasting light of Jehovah, the glory of God, the rising of the sun that shall no more go down; the end of mourning; the "one day" that shall be neither day nor night; the evening time when it shall be light (Isaiah 60:19, Isaiah 60:20; Zechariah 14:7).—J. Isaiah 21:13-16 The tribes of Arabia. I. THE FATE OF THE . Their caravans must hide in the thorn-bushes away from the beaten track. These Dedanites belong to Edom (Jeremiah 49:8; Ezekiel 25:13). They were merchants, and among others traded with wealthy Tyre (Ezekiel 27:15). And probably the meaning is that when on their way from Tyre they would be compelled to camp in the desert, because of the wide spreading war from north to south. II. THE OF THE PROPHET. He calls the people of Tema to supply the thirsty and hungry fugitives with water and with bread. Tema lay on the route between Palmyra and Petra. The tribe was among the descendants of Ishmael. In these sad scenes the light of human kindness in the heart of the prophet, reflected in the picture of Temanite hospitality, shines forth. "These are the precious balsam-drops That woeful wars distil." Hospitality is still found in generous flow among the Arabs of these regions, and reminds the wayfarer how near God is to man in the most desolate places. Wherever there is a loving human heart, there indeed is a fount and an oasis in life’s desert. And this scene reminds us how good comes out of evil, even the bitterest; the sight of the flying warriors, showing the bent bow and the wave of war, touches the spring of sympathy and mercy in yonder wild hearts. III. THE OF DOOM. In a year, "as the years of a hireling," i.e. swiftly, certainly, without delay, and without time of grace, Kedar’s glory shall be at an end, the powerful tribes of nomad archers will be reduced to a remnant. Those tents, "black but comely," of which the bard of the Canticles sang (Son 1:5), those splendid flocks, and the famed "rams of Nebaioth," shall disappear, or melt down to a fraction of the former numbers. So again the night sets on Edom, after a brief dawn. IV. THE WORD OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL. 1. These events were to happen by Divine appointment. 2. The God of Israel is the true God. Let us take the saying to heart, amidst all that is most saddening in the fates of nations and institutions, "God hath done it, God hath said it." The true God who revealed himself to the fathers, and manifested himself to men in Christ, is the Being whose will is made known in the course of history. And amidst his heaviest punishments we have this consolation, that he chastises gently, and does not "give men over to death" (Psalms 118:18). ― J BY W.M. STATHAM A momentous question. "Watchman, what of the night?" This is the question which ever occupies earnest minds. That the darkness of sin is here wise men note, without wasting metaphysical thought upon the how or why. Here is sin. On that all are agreed. Is there salvation too? I. VISION. Isaiah sees. Far away on the world’s horizon he beholds a rising light; and, in anticipation of that, he himself is permitted to reveal truths which shall brighten the darkness of Israel. All deliverance is a prophecy of the great Deliverer; all returnings of Israel are foreshadowings of that day when to Christ shall the gathering of the people be. II. . "The morning cometh." Always a musical note that. To the sufferer in the chamber of affliction, longing for the first beams of day; to the dismantled ship out far away on the melancholy sea; to the oppressed people waiting for deliverance; to the idolatrous Israel in returning to the true and living God. "The morning cometh." A thought to be meditated on in all long and weary nights of disappointment, disaffection, doubt, and trial. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Patience, poor heart! The morning cometh to the penitent Peter and the doubtful Thomas. "The morning cometh." Not for Israel only, bat for the world. The nations that sat in darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah was right. III. COUNSEL. "If ye will inquire, inquire ye." But do more than that. "Return, come." This is the condition on which the morning glory rests. "Return." Give up your love of darkness, and "come." God waits to forgive and bless. "Come." The curiosity of inquiry may belong to mere intellectual states of being. The return of the soul means a great moral change. We must feel the truth of these words, "The morning cometh, and also the night." For the morning will be no morning unless the veil of night is taken away from our hearts.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 21:1-9 The effect of God’s judgments on the good and on the guilty. We gather, preliminarily: 1. That God uses not only elemental forces but human agents for the accomplishment of his righteous purposes. The winds and the waves are his ministers; but sometimes, as here, the whirlwinds he invokes are not the airs of heaven but the passions and agitations of human minds. 2. That the greatest human power is nothing in his mighty hand. Babylon was a "great power" indeed in human estimation at that time, but it needed only the whirlwind of God’s holy indignation to sweep it away. Concerning the judgments of the Lord, we mark— I. THEIR EFFECT ON THE GUILTY. 1. The suddenness and surprise of their overthrow. "Prepare the table … eat, drink," say they in the palace. But even while they are feasting comes the cry from the watchman on the walls, "Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield" (Isaiah 21:5). How often, when the ungodly are in the midst of their unjust exactions or their unlawful pleasures, comes the blow which strikes the weapon from their hand, the cup from their lips (see Daniel 5:30; Acts 12:22, Acts 12:23; Luke 12:20)! 2. The completeness of their downfall. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (Isaiah 21:9)—fallen utterly, never more to rise; her tyranny broken to pieces, her fires of persecution put out. When God arises to judgment his enemies are not merely defeated, they are scattered. 3. The abasement of their pride. "Babylon is fallen." The word is suggestive of an inglorious descent from a high seat of assumption and is certainly descriptive of the destruction of the Babylonian power. We know that God wills to humble the haughty, and that nothing is more certain to ensure humiliation than the spirit of pride (Proverbs 16:18; Proverbs 17:17; Isaiah 10:33; Luke 14:11). 4. The rebuke of their impiety. "The graven images he hath broken," etc. As idolatry was visited with the signs of God’s wrath, so impiety, covetousness, absorbing worldliness—which are idolatry in modern form—must expect to receive the proofs of his displeasure. II. THEIR EFFECT ON THE GOOD. 1. Merciful relief from oppression. "All the sighing thereof have I made to cease." The downfall of the tyrant is the deliverance of the oppressed; hence the close connection between Divine judgments and human praise. As God, in his providence, brings cruelty, injustice, inconsiderateness, to its doom, he makes sighing and sorrow to flee away. There is much tyranny still to be struck down before all burdens will have been taken from the heavy-laden, and before all sighs shall cease from the heavy-hearted. 2. Conversion frown resentment to compassion. The vision which the prophet saw, albeit it was one of triumph over his enemies, excited his compassion; it was "a grievous vision" (Isaiah 21:2). He was even "bowed down at the hearing of it," "dismayed at the seeing of it" (Isaiah 21:3). The night which he loved (the night of his pleasure), instead of bringing him the sacred joy of communion with God and prophetic inspiration, brought to him sympathetic pain and distress. Thus was burning patriotic indignation turned into humane compassion. It may be taken, indeed, as an anticipation of that Christian magnanimity which "loves its enemies, and prays for them that despitefully use and persecute" it. When God’s judgments on our enemies thus soften our spirits and call forth the kindlier and more generous sentiments, then do they serve an even higher end than when they make our sighs to cease and our songs to sound.—C. Tribulation. There is no little tenderness in this Divine address or invocation; it reminds us that God’s love may be set upon us when there seems least reason to think so if we judge of his feeling by our outward circumstances. We think naturally of— I. . The instrument by which corn was threshed (tribula) has given us the word with which we are so familiar. To some it speaks of long-continued sickness, or weakness, or pain; to others of depressing disappointment; to others of bereavement and consequent desolation; to others of loss and the inevitable struggle with poverty; to others of human frailty or even treachery and of the wounded spirit which suffers from that piercing stroke. The heart knows its own bitterness, and every human soul has its own peculiar story to tell, its own especial troubles to endure. But this human suffering is only appropriately called tribulation when it is recognized that the evil which has come is sent (or allowed) of God as Divine chastening, when it is understood that the Divine Father takes a parental interest in the well-being of his children, that he is seeking their highest good, and that he is passing his threshing-instrument over "his floor" in the exercise of a benign and holy discipline. II. . When the "tribula" passed over the reaped corn it separated the valuable grain from the worthless chaff; one was then easily distinguishable from the other. Sorrow, persecution, trial, tribulation, is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Before it comes, the genuine and the pretentious may be mingled indistinguishably; after it has come, it is apparent who are the loyal and true disciples, and who are they that have nothing but "the name to live." We cannot be sure of "the spirit of our mind" or the real character of others until we, or they, have been upon the threshing-floor, and the Divine instrument of threshing has done its decisive and discriminating work. It comes, like Christ himself, "for judgment;" and then many who were supposed not to see are found to have a true vision of God and of his truth, while many who have imagined that they saw have been found to be blind indeed (see John 9:39). III. . Israel in Egypt may have thought itself unpitied and even forgotten of God; but it would have been wrong in so thinking (Exodus 3:7). The Jews in Babylon may have imagined themselves disregarded of Jehovah; but they were mistaken if they so thought. "O my threshing," etc; exclaims the sympathetic voice of the Lord. When we are tempted to bewail our unpitied and forgotten condition, we must check ourselves as the psalmist had to do (Psalms 73:1-28.), or we shall be unjust and even ungrateful; "for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." The mark of tribulation is the sign of parental love and care. IV. . The process of threshing prepared the corn for the granary, and so for the table, and thus for the fulfillment of its true function. When God stretches us on his floor and makes us undergo the process of tribulation, it is that we may be refined and purified; that we may be made "meet for his use" both on earth and in heaven; that we may be prepared for such higher work and such nobler spheres as we should have remained unfitted for, had he not subjected us to the treatment which is "not joyous but grievous" at the time.—C. Taunt, retort, and overture. 1. We take this to be a bitter taunt on the part of the Idumaean. "Watchman," he says, "what of this long night of national calamity through which you are passing? Where is the God of David, of Josiah, and of Hezekiah? What about those promises of Divine deliverance which have been your trust," etc.? 2. Then we have the calm retort of the prophet. He says, "’The morning cometh.’ You may see nothing but darkness; but to me, on my watch-tower, there are apparent the grey streaks of dawn. I see afar off, but approaching, a glorious deliverance and return—a repopulated city, rebuilt walls, a reopened temple, a rehonored sabbath, a regenerate and a rejoicing people. ’The morning cometh, and also the night: ’to us the morning, to you the night. The sun that shines on you is a setting sun; it is sloping to the west. The dark pall of defeat, captivity, destruction, will soon veil your skies; you have little reason to triumph. We are down, but we are moving up; you are up, but you are moving down." 3. And then comes the prophet’s overture. "I do not want," he says, "to gain a barren victory of words. If you will approach me in the spirit, not of mockery, but of inquiry, really wishing to know the mind of God, I will reply to your question. ’If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.’" As the scoffing Idumaean thus assailed the Jewish Church, so the skeptical European assails the Christian Church, and we have— I. THE TAUNT OF THE SCOFFER. "What," says the scoffer, "of this long night through which the Church is passing? Eighteen centuries have gone since Jesus Christ declared that his cross would attract all men unto him; but barbarism is still found on island and continent, idolatry still prevails among the millions of Asia, corrupt Christianity still deludes the peoples of Europe, and infidelity, immorality, crime, and ungodliness still hang, like angry clouds, over ’Christian England.’ What about this long night of Christendom?" Similarly the hostile critic speaks concerning the individual Christian life. "What of this long night of protracted sickness, of unsuccessful contest with financial difficulties, of undeserved dishonor, of repeated losses in the family circle by death, etc.?" II. THE CALM RETORT OF THE . He says, "’The morning cometh.’ Barbarism is steadily disappearing before Christian civilization; superstition is being honeycombed by doubt; unbelief is finding itself unsatisfied with its hollow husks; earnest, practical religion is making its attack, by a hundred agencies, on immorality and irreligion; the Churches of Christ are putting on strength, and there is a sound of victory in the air, there are streaks of morning light in the sky. On the other hand, there are signs that overthrow and utter discomfiture will overtake and overwhelm the unholy doubts of the scoffer. To the oppressed Christian man, even though weeping should endure for the whole night of this mortal life, ’joy cometh in the morning’ of the everlasting day." III. THE OF THE . He does not content himself with an effective retort. His mission is not to silence, but to convince and to help. He knows that beneath the sneer is doubt or disbelief, and this is too serious and too sad a thing to be left unanswered. So he says, "If you will ’inquire,’ do inquire. Come into the court of inquiry with a candid, honest spirit; do not delude yourself by holding up one or two modern objections before your eyes and declaring that there is nothing to be seen. Take into account all the evidence—of prophecy; of miracle; of the life, character, truth, works, of Jesus Christ; of the effects of his gospel on the world, on human hearts, homes, lives; on man, on woman, on the slave, the poor, the prisoner, etc. Set against this what has to he considered on the other side, and then decide whether this redemption in Jesus Christ is not from heaven. Or, again, if you have any serious doubts as to the efficacy of true piety and its actual worth to a man as he goes through life, inquire; but take heed of whom you inquire. Ask of one who has had large and varied experience of life; ask of one who has seen much of men, in whom men have trusted and who knows the thoughts of their hearts; take the testimony of men to whom religion has been not a mere name, or a mere ceremony, but a solid conviction and a living power; and you will find, on such fair inquiry, that it is not only a stay and succor, but is the mainstay and the strength of the human soul in the labors and conflicts of life."—C. Our ills and their remedies. In this "burden" upon Arabia we may detect a picture or, at least, find a suggestion of— I. THE ILLS TO WHICH FLESH IS HEIR. 1. Being turned out of our course. The caravans of Dedan are obliged to forsake their track and find refuge in the forests or stony retreats of the desert (Isaiah 21:13). Continually are we compelled to change our route as travelers along the road of life. We mark out our course and set out on our way, but the irresistible obstacle is confronted and we are obliged to deviate into some other track, or wait in hope until the hindrance be removed. 2. Being straitened for the necessities of life. The refugees are reduced to such straits that they are glad to receive the bread and water which "the inhabitants of the land of Tema" bring (Isaiah 21:14). Though God has made this earth to be large and bountiful enough for a vastly greater population thou even now exists upon it, yet, chiefly owing to human folly or iniquity, though sometimes to misfortune, men are reduced to such extreme hardship that the common necessaries are beyond their reach. Between this exigency and the condition of competence, how many degrees of want, and how many thousands of the children of want, are there to be found! 3. Being assailed and pursued by the enemies of our spirit. (Isaiah 21:15.) There are adverse powers from beneath—the "principalities and powers" of the kingdom of darkness; there are hostile powers that are around us—unprincipled and ungodly men, evil practices and harmful institutions in society; but our worst foes are those which are "of our own household," those that are within the chambers of our own souls—bad habits, evil propensities, those inclinations toward folly and sin which pursue us even when the main battle has been fought and won. 4. Finding our life oppressive and burdensome to us. "According to the years of a hireling" (Isaiah 21:16). The time thus counted is reckoned with extreme carefulness; there is no danger that a single day will be left untold. The hireling is impatient for the time to be past that he may lay down the yoke and receive his wage. How many are there to whom life is so much of a burden, who are so oppressed by toil, or weighed down with care, or overwhelmed by sorrow, that they look gladly, if not eagerly, forward to its evening hour, when the night of death will release them from their struggle! 5. Being distinctly and at length fatally enfeebled. "The glory of Kedar shall fail," the bowmen and the mighty men "be diminished" (Isaiah 21:16, Isaiah 21:17). Up to a certain point human life means, not only enjoyment, but increase; from that point it means diminution—at first unconscious, but afterwards sensible and painful; at length fatal diminution—in the capacity for enjoyment, in intellectual grasp, in physical endurance, in force of character. The glory of life goes; the faculties of soul and of body are palpably diminished; death draws near. Bat we may take into our view— II. . 1. Pursuing the straight path to the goal which is set before us, from which no enemy need make us turn aside. 2. Trusting in the faithful Promiser. 3. Hiding in the pavilion of Divine power, and securing the mighty aid of the Divine Spirit. 4. Seeking and finding the comfort of the Holy Ghost. 5. Awaiting the immortal youth of the heavenly land.—C. BY R. TUCK Nations working out God’s providences. The reference of this "burden" is to Babylon, which was the successor to Assyria in executing the Divine judgments on the Jews. Babylonia is called "the desert of the sea," as a poetical figure, suggested by the fact that its surging masses of people were like a sea-desert; or because it was a flat country, and full of lakes, like little seas. It was abundantly watered by the many streams of the river Euphrates. The prophet, writing when Babylon was the rising and triumphing nation, sees in vision her terrible fall and humiliation. Which siege of Babylon he refers to cannot be assured, but much can be said for Cheyne’s suggestion, that the depression under which Isaiah writes is best explained by referring the vision to the first siege of Babylon, when Merodach-Baladan was king, whose interests were in harmony with those of Hezekiah, and whose humiliation Isaiah would regard as injurious to Judah. Watching the movements of these several nations, Assyria, Babylonia, Elam, Media, Judah, we meditate on— I. RIGHT IDEAS OF GOD’S . We do not speak of providence so freely as our fathers did, because we have less impressive views of the Divine rule and control. As Dr. Bushnell expresses it, "our age is at the point of apogee from all the robuster notions of the Divine Being." We are more interested in the ordinary workings of Law, than in the continuous adjustments and qualifications of Law by the ever-pre-siding Lawgiver. Yet, if our eyes were opened, we might see manifest signs of what our fathers called "providence" in the personal, the family, and the national spheres of today. The proper idea of providence may be thus expressed—it is God using for moral purposes commonplace events, and therefore adjusting, arranging, and fitting together those events. Providence ordering or controlling the nations is "God in history." And the illustrations of Divine overruling which we see in the large spheres of the world-kingdoms, are designed to convince us of the reality of that overruling in the small details of our personal life. II. THE FROM THE . The distinction is in our apprehension; we cannot conceive of the distinction as recognized by God. As by the "providential" we mean God intervening to readjust the usual order of material events, it is plain that sometimes he may use forces with which we are familiar, and then we call his working "providential;" but at other times he may use forces with which we are unfamiliar, and then we call his working "miraculous." There need be no difficulty in recognizing resources in God beyond what he has been pleased to explain to man. God has not exhausted himself in making revelations to man. If we could see clearly we should see that "providential" and "miraculous" are convertible terms. III. THE OF TO MORAL LAW. This may be put into a sentence. It is the executor of its sanctions. The rewards of obedience and the penalties of disobedience are not things deferred until some yet far-distant day. They are continually operating in all spheres, private and public. Ann what we call "providence" is the agency in their distribution. But our "providence" differs from "fate," or the pagan conception of the "furies," because it is the working of an infinitely wise and good Being, who acts upon comprehensive knowledge and sound judgment. IV. THE OF TO NATIONS. Here we take one single point. Nations have a corporate life, so they are, as it were, individuals, with a distinct individual character and action. Just as God uses the individual man for his purposes, so he uses the individual nation. For the characteristics of nations, see Greece, Rome, Germany, France, etc. The natural expression of a nation’s character or genius becomes the providential agency for carrying out God’s purposes. Illustrate the conquering genius of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar doing God’s work in the destruction of the kingdom of Judah. The fact that a nation employed as an executor is still in God’s control, is shown in God’s judging that nation for evils that become manifest in its doing of that executive work. Efficient illustrations may be found in the movements and enterprises of the European nations during the last century.—R.T. Sympathy of bodies with distress of mind. The prophet is only seeing in a vision something that is going to happen by-and-by. But the scene presented to him is so terrible that he cannot exult in it, though it is the overthrow of an enemy’s city. He is deeply distressed, and the mental anguish finds its response in acutest bodily pains. The "loins" are referred to in Scripture as the seat of the sharpest pains (Ezekiel 21:6; Nahum 2:10). The most familiar illustration of the sympathy between body and mind is the expression of mental emotion by tears. Ministers and public speakers know, from bitter experience, how nervous excitement stands related to sharp bodily pain and serious bodily depression. The connection may be seen in Job, in Hezekiah, in the Apostle Paul, and in David, who, with vigorous poetical figures describes the bodily distress which accompanied his months of restraining himself, in his hardness and impenitence: "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day tong." I. SOUL AND BODY ARE KIN. Our normal condition is the perfect harmony of the two, so that the soul only uses the body for good and right purposes; and the body responds perfectly to all the demands which the soul makes upon it. Combat the idea that the body is evil, or that evil lies in matter, and so our great effort should be to get free of our bodies. The true triumph is to win the use of our body, or, as the Apostle Paul puts it, to get "the body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." II. BODY MAY MASTER SOUL. This is the abnormal condition into which men have passed. They are practically ruled by "sensations" which dominate the will, and so the mass of men are merely animated bodies, in whom the soul is silenced and crushed. Illustrate by the demoniacs in our Lord’s time, in whom the man was crashed by the vice. III. SOUL SHOULD CONTROL BODY. This is the recovered normal condition and relation; and to energize the soul unto a full and efficient mastery and use of the body is precisely the work of the Divine redemption. The indwelling Spirit of God is a new life for the soul, in the power of which it may overcome the body and the world.—R.T. The work of the iconoclast. "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of its gods he hath broken unto the ground." Recent researches have disclosed the fact that there were three sieges of Babylon during the time of Isaiah—in B.C. 709 by Sargon, and in 703 and 691 by Sennacherib. Mr. George Smith, writing of the last of these three sieges, says, "Babylon was now wholly given up to an infuriated soldiery; its walls were thrown down, its temples demolished, its people given up to violence and slavery, the temples rifled, and the images of the gods brought out and broken in pieces." Herodotus is our authority for the supposed aversion of the Medes and Persians to all images. "They not only thought it unlawful to use images, but imputed folly to those who did so." But modern researches do not confirm the statement of Herodotus, and we need see in the destruction of the Babylonian idols no more than the signs of a humiliating and overwhelming conquest. Cyrus has been hitherto regarded as a Persian and monotheist; it is now argued that he was an Elamite and a polytheist. Illustrating the subject, we note— I. SOME MEN’S LIFE-WORK IS UP. They make businesses; they found families; they start theories; they commence organizations; they build churches; they initiate societies. Such men are full of schemes. Moses founds a nation. David organizes a kingdom. Paul establishes a Christian society in the Gentile world. Wesley begins a sect. II. SOME MEN’S LIFE-WORK IS KEEPING UP. They cannot begin. They are not fertile in resources. Initial difficulties crush them. But quiet perseverance, good faithful work, enables them well to sustain what others have begun. III. SOME MEN’S LIFE-WORK IS DOWN. As was Carlyle’s. He broke down society shams, and conceits and hypocrisies of modern thought. So Mahomet broke down corrupt Christianity. The skeptic is an iconoclast; but he breaks down for the pleasure of breaking down. The critic is an iconoclast; but he only attacks the evil. The reformer must often be an iconoclast; but he breaks down only that he may rebuild. Sometimes things reach such a pass that they cannot be reformed, and then "destruction cometh from the Lord," whatever agents he may use; as in the old world, Sodom, captivity of Israel, destruction of Babylon, etc.—R.T. God’s people threshed and winnowed. Isaiah was familiar with the threshing and winnowing processes, and what was in his mind may be presented to ours. In the East, the threshing-floor is prepared upon some level spot, on high ground. The soil is beaten hard, clay is laid over it and rolled; this soon dries in the heat of the sun, and makes a firm clean floor. Sometimes horses or oxen, tied together and led round in a circle, tread out the corn-grains; but the more general plan is to use a sort of sled made of thick boards, four or five feet in length, with many pieces of flint or iron set firmly in the wood of the under surface. This is drawn over the sheaves, as they are laid on the threshing-floor, by a pail’ of oxen. The winnowing is done by throwing up the heap with a largo shovel, so that the wind may separate the lighter chaff from the heavier grain. The familiar word "tribulation," it will be remembered, is taken from the Latin word tribulum, a heavy threshing-roller. The comparison of severe oppression or affliction to threshing is a common one. We may work the figure out by saying—Life is God’s floor; his people are the corn laid upon it; dispensations of providence are the sharp threshing-instruments; but their Working only proves how anxious God is for the final good of his people; and over their separating and refining he anxiously and lovingly presides. The reference of the text is to Judah, suffering under Babylonian oppression. Isaiah sees the fall of Babylon, and he would gladly have reported that the success of its enemies would prove a permanent relief to Judah; but alas! he only sees more trouble, and heavier trouble still, in store for his country. I. AND ARE ALWAYS TRYING . They crush and cut and bruise; they seem to fling away as we fling away worthless things. And the answering providential dealings of God try faith, try patience, try endurance, try submission. They are trying only because they must be. No man would bruise his corn, if it could be separated from its husk in some simpler and easier way. When we think of the work God would do in us—get the corn of goodness quite free from the husk of evil—then the wonder is that, even with such threshing-instruments of trouble, suffering, humiliation, disappointment, as he uses, he yet can accomplish so great a result. Only Divine grace can make such means adequate to such an end. On this dwell further. II. AND ARE HAVING A END IN VIEW. That end is variously stated. It is "holiness;" it is our "sanctification;" it is knowing how rightly to use these "vessels of our bodies;" it is "likeness to Christ;" it is "meetness for the inheritance of the saints in the light;" it is the "liberty of righteousness." God would have the grain clean, free from all chaff, or dust, or straw; it must be "meet for the Master’s use." The ends of Divine threshing are the further ends sought by the Divine redemption. God forms a people for himself; by providential threshings and winnowings, he beautifies them for himself. III. THE TRYING PROCESS MAY BE BORNE IF WE KEEP THE END IN VIEW. "No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous." Yet does the child of God yield submissively, singing his restful refrain, and saying, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Even in view of further threshing-times, Judah may be quiet; they would but be God’s threshings, with a view to final good.—R.T. The watchman’s response. "Dumah," meaning "silence," is probably a mystical prophetic name for Edom. It seems that Edom was at this time in a condition of humiliation and depression that is well represented by the nighttime. As the night passes, Edom calls to Isaiah, as the prophet-watchman, asking how much longer the darkness is to last. Isaiah cannot return a comfortable and satisfying answer; he can only say, "If this night of trouble passes, it will but give place to another." The prophet foresees a short day of prosperity followed by a new night of trouble. "The words sum up the whole future of Edom, subject as it was to one conqueror after another, rising now and then, as under Herod and the Romans, and then sinking to its present desolation." I. NIGHT-TIMES OF LIFE HAVE THEIR MISSION. They stand, in private life, for the times in which we are put aside from active work, compelled to rest. In national life they stand for the times in which national enterprise is checked by calamities, invasions, plagues, famines, etc. It is found that night has an important and necessary place in the economy of nature. Isaac Taylor has, in a very interesting way, proved that one or two absolutely dark nights in a year are essential to the well being of vegetation. Resting-times are important for individual growth, and national calamities are found to bear directly on the conquest of national evils and the culture of national virtues. We may thank God that in our moral life he never gives continuous day, but relieves the overstrain by recurring nights. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 22:1-14 A AGAINST . The prophet, present in Jerusalem, either actually, or at any rate in spirit, sees the inhabitants crowded together upon the housetops, in a state of boisterous merriment (Isaiah 22:1, Isaiah 22:2). Outside the walls is a foreign army threatening the town (Isaiah 22:5-7). Preparations have been made for resistance, which are described (Isaiah 22:8-11); but there has been no turning to God. On the contrary, the danger has but made the bulk of the people reckless. Instead of humbling themselves and putting on sackcloth, and weeping, and appealing to God’s mercy, they have determined to drown care in drink and sensual enjoyment (Isaiah 22:12, Isaiah 22:13). Therefore the prophet is bidden to denounce woe upon them, and threaten that Jehovah will not forgive their recklessness until their death (Isaiah 22:14). There is nothing to mark very distinctly the nationality of the foreign army; but it is certainly represented as made up of contingents from many nations. Delitzsch holds that the Assyrian armies were never so made up, or, at any rate, that the nations here mentioned never served in its ranks; but this is, perhaps, assuming that our knowledge on the subject is more complete and exact than is really the case. It is almost impossible to imagine any other army than the Assyrian besieging Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time. Moreover, the particulars concerning the preparations made against the enemy (verses 9-11) agree with those mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:3-5 and 2 Chronicles 32:30 as made by Hezekiah against Sennacherib. And the second section of the chapter has certainly reference to this period. It seems, therefore, reasonable to regard the siege intended as that conducted by Sennacherib in his fourth year, of which we have a brief account in his annals. Isaiah 22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. "The valley of vision" is only mentioned here and in Isaiah 22:5. It must have been one of the deep depressions near Jerusalem troll which there is a good view of the town. The LXX. render, "the burden of the valley of Zion." What aileth thee now? Jerusalem is addressed by the prophet, who assumes the role of a spectator, surprised at what he sees, and asks an explanation. That thou art wholly gone up to the housetops. Partly, no doubt, they went to watch the enemy anti his movements, as Rosenmüller says; but still more for feasting and revelry (Judges 16:27; Nehemiah 8:16). The flat roofs of Oriental houses are often used as places of recreation and entertainment, especially in the evening. Isaiah 22:2 A joyous city (comp. Isaiah 22:13). Thy slain men are not slain with the sword. It is a blockade rather than a siege. Men die, not of wounds, but of privations (Lamentations 4:9). Sennacherib himself says, "Hezekiah, like a caged bird, within Jerusalem, his royal city, I confined; towers round about him I raised; and the exit of the great gate of his city I shut". Isaiah 22:3 All thy rulers are fled together; rather, all thy chief men. We must make allowance for Oriental hyperbole. The meaning is that numbers of the principal men, regarding resistance as vain, had endeavored to make their escape from the doomed town, but had been captured and bound by the enemies’ archers. All that are found in thee; rather, belonging to thee. The reference is to those who had made their escape and were fleeing far away. The archers seize them, and bind them all together. We often see a number of captives bound together by a single rope in the Egyptian bas-reliefs. Which have fled from far; rather, which were flying far away. Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I. The prophet turns from the description of the scene before him to an account of his own feelings. Look away from me, he says; "leave me free to vent my sorrow without restraint; I wish for no consolation—only leave me to myself." Because of the spoiling. The word used sometimes means" destruction;" but" spoiling" is a better rendering here. Sennacherib describes his "spoiling" of Jerusalem on this occasion as follows: "Thirty talents of gold, eight hundred talents of silver, precious carbuncles, great … stones, couches of ivory, lofty thrones of ivory, skins of buffaloes, horns of buffaloes, weapons, everything, a great treasure, and his daughters, the eunuchs of his palace, male musicians, and female musicians, to Nineveh, the city of my dominion, did Hezekiah send after me". To what straits Hezekiah was reduced in order to collect a sufficient amount of the precious metals we learn from 2 Kings 18:15, 2 Kings 18:16. Isaiah 22:5 It is a day … By the Lord; rather, there is a day to the Lord; or, the Lord has a day. God has in reserve such a day; and it will assuredly arrive in due course. Hence the prophet’s grief. In the valley of vision. We may suppose that Hezekiah, before he made the submission recorded in 2 Kings 18:14 and in the ’Cylinder of Sennacherib,’ col. 4.11. 28, 29, tried the chances of battle against the Assyrians in this valley, and that Isaiah had a prophetic vision of the fight. Breaking down the walls; rather, undermining. The Assyrian sculptures show numerous examples of this practice. Sometimes swords or spears are used to dislodge the stones of the wall, sometimes crow-bars or axes. Crying. Some regard this word, and also that translated "the walls" in the preceding clause, as proper names, and render the passage, "Kir undermineth, and Shoa is at the mount" (Ewald, Cheyne, Luzzatto). But it seems unlikely that "Kit" would be mentioned twice. Isaiah 22:6 Elam bare the quiver. Elam, the country extending from the Zagros range to the Lower Tigris, and watered by the Choaspes, Eulaeus, Pasitigris, and other rivers, was an independent kingdom from a very early date (Genesis 14:1, Genesis 14:9), and in Isaiah’s time was generally hostile to Assyria. Sargon, however, relates that he conquered a portion of the country, planted colonies in it from the more western parts of his empire, and placed both colonists and natives under the governor of Babylon. It is thus quite possible that both Sargon and Sennacherib may have had a contingent of Elamites in their armies. With chariots of men and horsemen; rather, with troops of men (who were) horsemen (comp. Isaiah 21:7). Kir uncovered the shield. "Kir" is mentioned in 2 Kings as the place to which Tiglath-Pileser transported the inhabitants of Damascus (2 Kings 16:9), and by Amos (Amos 9:7) as the original country from which the Syrians were derived. It has been recently identified with Kirkhi, near Diarbekr, or with Kirruri, in the Urumiyah country (Cheyne); but neither identification is marc than possible. (On uncovering shields as a preliminary to engaging in battle, see Caesar, ’Do Bell. Gall.,’ 2.21.) Isaiah 22:7 And it shall come to pass, etc. This verse and the next are closely connected, and introduce the new subject of the preparations which the Jews made for their defense. Translate, And it came to pass, when thy choicest valleys were full of chariots (or, troops), and the horsemen had set themselves in array toward the gate, that then did he draw off the cavorting of Judah, etc. Isaiah 22:8 The covering of Judah was that which hid their weakness either from themselves or from the enemy—probably the former. God drew this aside, and they suddenly saw their danger, and began to think how they could best defend themselves. Arms were the first things needed. The armor of the house of the forest. "The house of the forest" was probably that portion of the palace of Solomon which he had called "the house of the forest of Lebanon" (1 Kings 7:2-5). This was, it would seem, used as an armor (1 Kings 10:17; 1 Kings 14:27; Isaiah 39:2). Isaiah 22:9 Ye have seen also …. are many; rather, ye saw also were many. The breaches of the city of David. "The city of David" may be here a name for Jerusalem generally, as "the city where David dwelt" (Isaiah 29:1), or it may designate the eastern hill, where David fixed his residence (2 Samuel 5:7; Nehemiah 3:15, Nehemiah 3:16, Nehemiah 3:25; Nehemiah 12:37). In 2 Chronicles 32:5 we read that Hezekiah at this time "built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Mille in the city of David," where a particular part of Jerusalem seems certainly to be meant. Ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. The arrangements made by Hezekiah with respect to the water-supply at the time of Sennacherib’s invasion, seem to have been the following: He found on the north of the city, where the Assyrian attack was certain to be delivered, in the vicinity of the Damascus gate, a pool or reservoir (Isaiah 7:3), fed by a conduit from some natural source, which lay open and patent to view. The superfluous water ran off from it by a "brook" (2 Chronicles 32:4), which passed down the Tyropoeon valley, and joined the Kedron to the southeast of Ophel. His first step was to cover over and conceal the open reservoir, and also the" brook" which ran from it, at least as far as the northern city wall, to prevent their use by the Assyrians. He then further made a conduit underground (2 Chronicles 32:30) within the city, along the Tyropoeon depression, to a second reservoir, or "pool," also within the city, which could be freely used by the inhabitants (see 2 Chronicles 32:11; and comp. Ecclesiasticus 48:17). Further, it is probable that he carried a conduit from this second pool, under the temple area, to the" fount of the Virgin" on the eastern side of Ophel, and thence further conveyed the water by a tunnel through Ophel to the "pool of Siloam." The inscription recently discovered at this peel is probably of Hezekiah’s time. Isaiah 22:10 Ye have numbered … have broken down; rather, ye numbered … ye broke down. The "numbering" was probably in order to see how many could be spared for pulling down. The repair of the walls with materials thus furnished was a sign of extreme haste and urgency. It would seem from Isaiah 22:7, Isaiah 22:8 that the repairs were not begun until the town was invested. Isaiah 22:11 Ye made also a ditch; rather, a lake, or reservoir (see the comment on Isaiah 22:9). But ye have not looked unto the maker thereof; i.e. you have not looked to God, who in his eternal counsels foreknew and decreed all the steps that you are taking for your defense (see below, Isaiah 37:26). Isaiah 22:12 In that day. The day alluded to in Isaiah 22:7, when the choice valleys in the neighborhood of Jerusalem were first seen to be full of a hostile soldiery, and the Assyrian horsemen were observed drawing themselves up opposite the gates. Such a sight constituted an earnest call upon the people for immediate repentance. Baldness (comp. Isaiah 15:2; Micah 1:16; Amos 8:10). It has been said that "baldness" was forbidden by the Law (Cheyne); but this is not so, absolutely. Baldness was wholly forbidden to the priests (Le Isaiah 21:5; comp. Ezekiel 44:20); and certain peculiar modes of shaving the hair, the beard, and the eyebrows, practiced by idolatrous nations, were prohibited to all the people (Leviticus 19:27; Deuteronomy 14:2). But such shaving of the head as was practiced by Job (Job 1:20) and other pious men, was not forbidden to laymen, any more than the wearing of sackcloth. It was regarded as a natural mode of exhibiting grief. Isaiah 22:13 And behold joy and gladness (comp. Isaiah 22:2). "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," is a common sentiment, if not a common expression. It has been supposed to have given rise to the Egyptian practice of carrying round the model of a mummy to the guests at feasts. According to the Greeks, Sardanapalus had a phrase very like it engraved upon his tomb. Sailors have often acted upon it, when they found it impossible to save their ship. On seeing their city invested, a portion of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, despairing of safety, did as sailors have done so frequently. Isaiah 22:14 It was revealed in mine cars by the Lord of hosts; rather, the Lord of hosts revealed himself in mine ears, saying. This iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die. The sin of turning a call to repentance into an excuse for rioting and drunkenness is one which God will not pardon. It implies a hardness of heart which cannot fail to issue in final impenitence. Isaiah 22:15-24 ON THE OF SHEBNA AND THE OF ELIAKIM. In its first and simplest application, this section predicts the fall of one state official and the advancement of an-other—matters, no doubt, of some importance in the court history of the time, but scarcely (with reverence be it said) of such moment as to be worthy either of prophetic announcement or of divinely inspired record. It has, therefore, been generally felt that there must be a secondary application of the passage. According to some, the two officials represent respectively the two cove-hunts, the old and the new; according to others, they stand for the two great parties in the Jewish slate of the time—that which put its trust in Jehovah, and that which leant upon heathen alliances. Isaiah 22:15 The Lord God of hosts. This form, Adonay Jehovah Tsabaoth—rarely used by Isaiah, but occurring above in verses 5, 12, and 13—seems to show that this section is in its right place, being intended as a sequel to the description of Sennacherib’s siege. This treasurer. The word "this" is contemptuous. That translated "treasurer" is of doubtful import. The key to it is probably to be found in the cognate noun, translated "storehouse" in 2 Chronicles 32:28, and "store" in 1 Kings 9:19; 2 Chronicles 8:4, 2 Chronicles 8:6; 2 Chronicles 16:4; 2 Chronicles 17:12. Translate, this storekeeper. Shebna. The name, which is not found elsewhere, is thought to be Syriac rather than Hebrew, and Shebna himself is conjectured to have been a foreign adventurer, perhaps "a refugee from Damascus" (Cheyne). (See the next verse.) Which is over the house. An office like the imperial praefectus palatio" at Rome, or the Frankish "mayor of the palace" (see Genesis 41:40; 1 Kings 4:6; 1 Kings 18:3). At this time it seems to have been the highest office that a subject could hold (2 Chronicles 26:21; 2 Kings 18:18, etc.). Isaiah 22:16 What hast thou here? i.e. what business, or what right? It seems, certainly, to be implied that Shebna was wholly unconnected with Jerusalem. Whom hast thou here? i.e. what relations? what family? To be justified in hewing out a large tomb, Shebna should have had a numerous family for whom graves would be needed. Otherwise, his excavation of a grand sepulcher was merely selfish and ostentatious. As he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high. Jewish tombs of any pretension were generally excavations in the solid rock, on the side of some hill or mountain, and had often a very elevated position. Tombs exist on the slopes of all the hills about Jerusalem, but are most numerous on the eastern side of the temple mount, which slopes steeply to the Kedron valley. A square-topped doorway leads into a chamber, generally square, from which recesses, six or seven feet long, two broad, and three high, are carried into the rock horizontally, either on a level with the floor, or with a platform, or shelf, halfway up one of the walls. These recesses have been called loculi. After a body had been placed in one, it was commonly closed by a stone, which fitted into the end, and thus shut off the body from the chamber. Chambers had sometimes twelve such loculi. An habitation (comp. Ecclesiastes 12:5). We must not suppose, however, that the Jews, like the Egyptians and Etruscans, regarded the soul as inhabiting the tomb. The soul descended into sheol; the grave was the "habitation" of the body only. Isaiah 22:17 The Lord win carry thee away with a mighty captivity; rather, the Lord will hurl thee away, O man, with a hurling; i.e. "will hurl thee away to a distance." It is not said that Shebna would be a captive. Will surely cover thee; literally, will cover thee with a covering; i.e. "will make thee obscure" (Rosenmüller)—a fitting punishment for one who aimed at attracting attention and making himself famous (Isaiah 22:16). Isaiah 22:18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee, etc.; literally, rolling he will roll thee with rolling like a ball, etc. Into a large country. Assyria, or perhaps Egypt. If Shebna was disgraced on account of his recommending the Egyptian alliance, he may not improbably have taken refuge with Tirhakah. There the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house; rather, there shall be the chariots of thy glory, O thou shame of thy lord’s house. His chariots, in which he gloried, should accompany him, either as spoil taken by the enemy, or as the instruments of his flight. Isaiah 22:19 I will drive thee from thy station; rather, from thy post, or office. Shall he pull thee down. Jehovah scorns to be meant in both clauses (comp. Isaiah 34:16). The full accomplishment of this prophecy is nowhere declared to us. We merely find that, by the time of Rabshakeh’s arrival at Jerusalem as Sennacherib’s envoy (Isaiah 36:2-4), Shebna had lost his post as prefect of the palace, and filled the lower position of scribe or secretary. He may, however, have been subsequently further degraded, and thereupon he may have fled to Egypt, as Jeroboam did (1 Kings 11:40). Isaiah 22:20 In that day. In the day of Shebna’s deposition from his office of prefect of the palace. My servant Eliakim. On the dignity of this title, when given by God himself, see the comment on Isaiah 20:3. Isaiah 22:21 With thy robe … with thy girdle. The dress of office worn by Shebna would be taken from him, and Eliakim would be invested therewith. The "robe" is the long-sleeved cloak or tunic worn commonly by persons of rank; the "girdle" is probably an ornamental one, like those of the priests (Exodus 28:39), worn over the inner tunic. He shall be a father; i.e. a protector, counselor, guide (comp. Job 29:16, "I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out"). It is, perhaps, implied that Shebna had not conducted himself as a "father." Isaiah 22:22 The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder. A key would seem to have been the special badge of the prefect’s office, which included the control of the stores (Isaiah 22:15), and the general management of the household. It was, perhaps, a part of the form of investiture, that the key should be first laid on the prefect’s shoulder and then delivered into his hand. Among the Greeks the priests of Ceres are said to have borne a key on their shoulder, permanently, as a badge of office (Callimach; ’Hymn. ad Cererem,’ 1. 45). The reference to this passage in Revelation 3:7 is sufficient to show that Eliakim, the "servant of Jehovah" (Revelation 3:20), is, to a certain extent, a type of Christ; perhaps also of his faithful ministers (Matthew 16:19; John 20:23). Isaiah 22:23 I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place (comp. Ezra 9:8; Zechariah 10:4). The idea intended to be expressed is firmness and fixity of tenure. He shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house (compare the next verse). All his relations, even the most remote, shall derive honor from him, and bask in the sunshine of his prosperity. So shall all members of the family of God, made sons of God by adoption in Christ, participate in the final glory of Christ in his eternal kingdom. Isaiah 22:24 All the glory. According to scriptural notions, the "glory" of a family consists very much in its size (Genesis 15:5; Psalms 127:5, etc.). And Christ’s glory in his final kingdom will consist greatly in the number of the saved (Revelation 7:4-9). The offspring and the issue; i.e. the flourishing scions, and the despised seedlings alike. The word translated "issue" is a term of contempt (see Ezekiel 4:15). From the vessels of cups; rather, of bowls (comp. Exodus 24:6). To all the vessels of flagons; rather, of pitchers. "A numerous, undistinguished, family connection" seems to be intended (Delitzsch). Isaiah 22:25 SEQUEL OF THE ELIAKIM. This verse has been truly called "an enigma" (Kay). It is impossible to understand it of Shebna. "The nail that was fastened in a sure place" can only refer to the nail said to have been so fastened in Isaiah 22:23. Are we, then, to understand that Eliakim too will experience a reverse of fortune? But then all the force of the contrast between him and Shebna would be gone. Is it not possible that the prophet, seeing in Eliakim a type of the Messiah, and becoming more and more Messianic in his utterances, has ended by forgetting the type altogether, and being absorbed in the thought of the antitype? He, the nail, so surely fixed in his eternal place, would nevertheless be "removed" for a time, and then "he cut down and fall" (comp. Isaiah 52:14; Isaiah 53:8). At the same time would be "cut off" the burden which Messiah bore (Isaiah 53:12, "He bare the sin of many"). In that day. Not the day of Shebna’s fall, certainly (Isaiah 22:20), but some ether. Is not the day that of Christ’s earthly mission, when it seemed as if his people were about to acknowledge him, and his throne to be established, but suddenly Messiah was "cut off" (Daniel 9:26)—stricken for the transgression of his people (Isaiah 53:8)? The burden that was upon it shall be cut off. The great burden upon the Messiah was the load of human sin which he had to bear. "He himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). By his death this burden was "cut off" (1 John 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 2:14). For the Lord hath spoken it. The double attestation, at the beginning and at the end of the verse, is a mark of the vast importance of the announcement contained in it, which is, in fact, the germ of the great doctrine of the atonement. Isaiah 22:4-6 Isaiah weeping for the daughter of his people a type of Christ lamenting over Jerusalem. Isaiah was in many respects a type of Christ. His name, which sight ties "Salvation of Jehovah," is a near equivalent of "Jesus," which means "Jehovah is Savior." Tradition says that he was of royal lineage, like Jesus. The sphere of his teaching was in the main Jerusalem, where our Lord’s principal discourses were delivered. He reproved sin, yet pitied the sinner, like Jesus (see Homiletics on Isaiah 15:5). He was, like Jesus, martyred at Jerusalem. We may, therefore, without impropriety, regard the "bitter weeping" of verse 4 as in some respect the counterpart of our Lord’s lament on the day of his triumphal entry into the city, when he beheld it from the brow of Olivet. They were alike in several respects. I. BOTH WERE CAUSED BY VISION OF THE HORRORS OF A SIEGE. In Isaiah’s time the siege had begun. The enemy was investing the place (verse 7). But his tears flowed on account of the future "spoiling" of his people on that "day of trouble and treading down and perplexity;" when there was to be "breaking down of walls and crying to the mountains" (verse 5), and Elam was to "bear the quiver," and Kir to "uncover the shield." Jesus wept because the days were coming upon Jerusalem, when "her enemies would cast a trench about her, and compass her round, and keep her in on every side, "and at last" lay her even with the ground, and her children within her" (Luke 19:43, Luke 19:44). In the one case Rome was the enemy, in the other Assyria, both equally truculent. In the one case final destruction impended; in the other a punishment far short of final destruction, but still a very severe punishment. In both cases grievous sins had provoked the catastrophe, yet the thought of these did not prevent the tears from being shed on account of it. II. BOTH DERIVED THEIR FROM THE FACT THAT THE WAS OF KIN TO THE MOURNER. "I will weep," said Isaiah, "because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people." The woes of other peoples shocked and distressed him to some extent (Isaiah 15:5; Isaiah 16:9-11; Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 21:4); but not as those of his own nation, his "kinsmen according to the flesh." And so it was with Jesus. Patriotism moved the spirits of both mourners, and rendered their grief especially poignant. III. BOTH WERE BY THE THOUGHT THAT THE WAS . Isaiah tells us that at Sennacherib’s siege no preparations had been made to resist the foe, until the choice valleys were full of troops, and the horsemen set in array at the gates (verses 7-10). Our Lord gives it as the climax of the horrors at the siege by Titus, that Jerusalem had not "known the day of her visitation" (Luke 19:44). Jerusalem was at the time expecting the Messiah, who would enable them to cast off the Roman yoke. She did not know that her Messiah had come. Just when she was looking for a glorious deliverance, there came a crushing disaster. So Hezekiah was probably looking for victory by the help of Egypt, when he had to make the most abject submission—to strip the temple in order to satisfy the cravings of the conqueror for "spoil," and to see a large part of his people carried into captivity. Shebna and Eliakim: a moral lesson. It is a remark of Bishop Butler’s, that the moral government of God, though it may be very imperfectly carried out, is at any rate begun, in this world. Many virtues have natural rewards, and many vices natural punishments, attached to them. Again, though undoubtedly the righteous do suffer a large share of affliction, and the ungodly are often seen in great prosperity, yet, on the other hand, very signal instances from time to time manifest themselves, of the punishment of the wicked in this life by a grievous downfall, and the reward of the righteous by an exaltation to worldly greatness and honor. The most signal instance presented to us in Scripture of the double Nemesis is that of Haman and Mordecai in the Book of Esther. In that most striking tale, the whole history of the two men is set before us, and the rise of the one and fall of the other are interconnected in a way that lends peculiar interest to the narrative. Here we have simply a moral contrast, leading to a contrast of result. I. A MORAL . 1. Shebna, selfish, isolated, vain-glorious; noted for his display of chariots, like Absalom (2 Samuel 15:1); no "father" to the people under his charge; no good adviser of the king his master; chiefly desirous of handing his name down to posterity by a magnificent tomb; perhaps not even a worshipper of Jehovah. 2. Eliakim, God’s "servant;" kind and thoughtful for others; regarded as "a father," not only by the people of Jerusalem, but by the entire "house" or tribe of Judah; looked up to by a large body of relations, of whom many were poor and of low rank, and willingly sharing his prosperity with them; an honest and prudent counselor to his king; a faithful worshipper of the One God, whose unity his name proclaimed. No two dwellers at the same court, no two servants of the same king, could well be more different in character, in circumstances, in moral desert. II. A OF RESULT. 1. Shebna, degraded from his office, is forced for a time to serve in one of very inferior dignity. Then he is either further degraded or so dissatisfied with his position that he cannot bear to retain it. He becomes a refugee in a distant land, an exile, an outcast. 2. Eliakim, advanced into Shebna’s place, has the key of the house of David placed upon his shoulder, becomes his king’s most trusty counselor and representative, is a glory and a support to his father’s house, and retains his position, if not till his death, at any rate for a long period. In estimating the extent to which God’s moral government is carried on in this world, such instances as those of Haman and Mordecai, Shebna and Eliakim, should by no means be omitted from our calculation. History contains very many such cases. Shebna and Eliakim: an allegory. Shebna, set over the house of the king by the king himself, but unfaithful in his office, worldly, carnal, fond of grandeur and display, typifies the old covenant, and the priesthood to which it was committed—a priesthood which looked more to the enrichment of the treasury than to the pure service of God (Mark 7:11), and which was not above the weakness of raising up grand sepulchers for its members in a conspicuous place (1 Macc. 13:27-30). This priesthood, found wanting, had to be cast away, and a better priesthood, after a different order, to be instituted. Eliakim typifies this new priesthood—a priesthood "made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" (Hebrews 7:16). Primarily, he typifies Christ himself, the true "Servant of the Lord" (Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 49:3, Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 52:13, etc.), the perpetual High Priest of his Church, the eternal Possessor of "the key of David, who openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (Revelation 3:7), who "hath the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18). Eliakim was "a father" to Judah and Jerusalem; among Christ’s names is that of "Everlasting Father" (Isaiah 9:6). Eliakim was "as a nail fastened in a sure place;" Christ is gone up where he "forever sitteth on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Eliakim had a "glorious throne;" Christ’s throne is that "great white" one, which is set in heaven (Revelation 20:11), out of which "come lightnings, and thunderings, and voices" (Revelation 4:5). On Eliakim hung all the members of his father’s house; on Christ depends, for pardon, for peace, for life, for glory, every true Christian. Secondarily, Eliakim may be regarded as typifying the faithful minister of Christ, to whom the power of the keys is communicated in a certain modified sense (Matthew 16:19), who, binding and loosing according to Christ’s ordinance, binds and looses effectively, so that none can undo his work, and, as a faithful steward in the household of Christ, dispenses the good things committed to his charge by his King and Master. The faithful minister will not blench before the powers of evil, any more than Eliakim did before Rabshakeh (Isaiah 36:11, Isaiah 36:21); he will be "a father" to the people of God, i.e. a protector, a guide, a friend; and with those who "hang upon him" he will always be ready to share both his material and his spiritual blessings. Messiah’s burden and Messiah’s death. How Christ’s death atones for sin we know not, and need not too curiously inquire. But, if plain words have a plain meaning, it is impossible to doubt that this is the teaching of Scripture. "By his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5); "He is the Propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2); "One died for all" (2 Corinthians 5:14). It is quite possible that there is something in the nature of things, which we cannot fathom, that made it impossible for man’s sins to be forgiven unless God died for them. Our wisdom is to avoid curious speculation, and to view the matter on its practical side. Thus viewed, it manifestly calls on us for three things. I. INTENSE HATRED OF SIN, ON ACCOUNT OF ITS HAVING CAUSED MESSIAH’S DEATH. If an animate, or even an inanimate, thing has caused the death of one we loved, how bitterly we detest it! Often we cannot bear to look upon it, nay, even to see a thing of the same kind. How, then, should we hate sin—hateful in itself, hateful in its effects, hateful in its origin, most hateful in that it caused the death of the one Man who alone of all that have ever lived did not deserve to die! And he, moreover, One who dearly loved us, who came down from heaven for us, lived a life of privation and suffering for us, at last died for our sakes. II. INTENSE LOVE OF CHRIST, ON ACCOUNT OF HIS HAVING DIED FOR US. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But Christ died for his enemies. Sin is an insuperable barrier between God and man, sets them at variance, makes them adversaries. And till Christ died man could not be forgiven. So he died for those with whom he was at enmity! And died by what a death! 1. More painful probably than any other. 2. Considered at the time more disgraceful. 3. Aggravated by the insults of lookers-on. 4. Regarded as bringing a man under a curse. III. INTENSE LOVE OF GOD THE FATHER, ON ACCOUNT OF HIS GIVING HIS SON TO DIE FOR US. We cannot realize the love of the Father for the Son; but we cannot doubt that it transcends any love known on earth. Yet he gave him to suffer all that he suffered—and why? For us. Because he loved us. As our Lord himself says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). If the knowledge of this fact fail to stir up love towards the Father in our souls, we must be "past feeling" (Ephesians 4:19), utterly dead to any high motive, scarcely better than "brute beasts" (Jud Isaiah 1:10). BY E. JOHNSON Judgment upon Jerusalem. I. THE PROPHET AS . The valley of vision seems to mean Jerusalem as a whole, round about which are mountains (Psalms 125:2); the city is spoken of, when compared with the surrounding mountains, as the "inhabitant of the valley," otherwise as the "rock of the plain" (Jeremiah 21:13; comp. Jeremiah 17:3). If Isaiah is gazing from his house in the lower town, the city would appear as in a valley in relation to the mountains inside as much as those outside (Delitzsch). He sees the whole population crowded together on the house-tops, and the air is filled with the uproar of merriment. The house-tops were places of resort at festival-time (Judges 16:27; Nehemiah 8:16). II. THE MIRTH OF DESPAIR. It was famine and pestilence which, forcing the people into despair, had brought about this mad rebound of hollow merriment. The slain of the city had not been slain upon the field; but the crowding in of fugitives from the country had occasioned the plague. The description reminds us of Zephaniah’s picture of Nineveh: "This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me" (Zephaniah 2:15). And again we think of scenes in connection with the plagues in the Italian cities of the Middle Ages, when revelry and story-telling are said to have gone on amongst groups who had withdrawn themselves from the horrors around them. How terrible the contrast between the dark background of calamity and this hollow feverish exhibition of merriment in the foreground! "I said of laughter, What is it?" Let us thank God for the precious gift of humor. Its light, lambently playing upon the sternest and most awful scenes and imagery of the mind, was given to relieve the tragedy of life. In melancholy minds the source of humor is deeply seated. But how different the cheerfulness which springs from the sense that the scheme of things is sound and right, that "God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world," and that which confronts a hopeless future with mad defiance! There is something lurid, ominous, in the latter, full of foreboding; and the scene in Jerusalem may be dwelt upon as typical of the ill-timed mirth of the sinner when danger is impending, soon to be quenched in silence and night. The rulers have fled away from the devoted city; in the face of the enemy they have flung down their bows and yielded themselves prisoners. All is lost. III. THE OF DOOM. 1. The grief of type prophet. In warm patriotism he identifies himself with his city and his people, and gives way to bitter tears; a prototype of Jesus in later days, looking on the doomed city, perhaps, from some similar point of view. We are reminded also of Jeremiah, whose heart "fainted" under a similar sense of the miseries of the people, and who exclaims, "Oh that my head were full of waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might bewail the slain of my people!" (Jeremiah 4:31; Jeremiah 9:1). These are living examples of compassion, and of true patriotic feeling, including a true Church feeling. "We are altogether unworthy of being reckoned in the number of the children of God, and added to the holy Church, if we do not dedicate ourselves and all that we have to the Church in such a manner that we are not separate from it in any respect. Especially the ministers of the Word ought to be moved by this feeling of grief, because, being appointed to keep watch and to look at a distance, they ought also to groan when they perceive the tokens of approaching ruin" (Calvin). 2. The siege and capture. "We seem to see and hear the last hurrying stages of the siege and capture" (Cheyne). In one of the valleys the hosts of the enemy are seen thickly trampling and spreading dismay and confusion all around. As the undermining of the walls by the siege artillery goes on, cries of woe beat against the surrounding hills, and are echoed back again. The terrible famed bowmen of Elam (comp. Jeremiah 49:35)and the people of Kir, together forming, as it would seem, the vanguard of Assyria, are seen advancing. The valleys about the city, all teeming with associations of the past—Kedron, Gihon, Rephaim, Hinnom—are ploughed by hoofs of horses and wheels of chariots; and the foe is drawn up in column, ready to enter the "great gate," so soon as it shall be broken down by the battering-rams. 3. The state of the inhabitants. Jehovah draws aside the curtain from Judah. This may mean (1) he exposes their weakness to the enemy; or (2) he takes away the blindness of the people to their danger. Probably the former. In either case the hand of an overruling Providence is recognized. The "forest house," or arsenal built by Solomon on Zion, is examined (1 Kings 7:2; 1 Kings 10:17; cf. Isaiah 39:2). The "city of David," i.e. the fortress on Mount Zion, is inspected by the leading men, and the numerous breaches in the walls are observed. They survey the houses, and take material from them to repair the wall. They concentrate the water-supply in one reservoir—the "lower pool," and form a basin between the two walls. These preparations may be compared with those of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:2-5). IV. FATAL . All these precautions would be too late! A dreadful word! And why? 1. The Divine counsel has been forgotten. "Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass" (Isaiah 37:26). These harpers, and violinists, and tabret-players, and feasters have not "regarded the work of Jehovah, nor considered the operation of his hands" (Isaiah 5:12). Self-reliance may be religious, or it may mean an attempt to be independent of God, and so end in alienation from God. How feeble and how foolish policy must become if from the first it ignores the Divine will, and at the last only comes to acknowledge a destiny above human might and human calculation! The idea of all that will be exists in the mind of God; we may know something of his meaning by constantly consulting the "living oracles," by truthful thinking, by loyal acting—in a word, by communion with the living God. What can attention to ramparts and ditches and reservoirs avail, if men have not found their defense in God? If he be trusted, what is there to fear? If he be denied, what can shield from calamity? "The fate of Jerusalem is said to have been fashioned long ago in God, But Jerusalem might have averted its realization, for it was no absolute decree. It Jerusalem repented, that realization would be averted" (Delitzsch). 2. Divine warnings have been neglected. God had called—in that day; at every critical time. By many ways he speaks—by the living and passionate tones of prophet and brother man, by the general course of events, by the touch of sorrow, by the hints of personal experience. There is a time for everything under the sun; to know our opportunity makes the wisdom of the world; to know the "time of our visitation" is the wisdom of heaven. But, alas! the Jews knew it not; "rushing to the banquet-table with despair in their hearts, and wasting the provisions which ought to have been husbanded for the siege." "Let us cat and drink; for tomorrow we die." The sensualism of despair (Cheyne). When the light of life, bright faith and hope toward God, dies out, what remains but to counterfeit its glow by some artificial illumination, kindled from the tow of physical excitement? A love of life which scoffs at death (Delitzsch). ’Tis dangerous to scoff; to scoff at the great scoffer Death, what is this but the last extreme of self-abandonment? And does not despair imply the last sin we can commit? And is not recklessness its evidence? And follows there not upon all this the shadow of a state unforgiven, a mind eternally unreconciled? Who can but tremble as he meditates on these things? "Probably if the real feeling of the great mass of worldly men were expressed, they could not be better expressed than in the language of Isaiah: ’We must soon die, at all events; we cannot avoid that—it is the common doom of all. And since we have been sent into a dying world; since we have had no agency in being placed here; since it is impossible to prevent this doom,—we may as well enjoy life while it lasts, and give ourselves to pleasure and revelry. While we can, we will take our comfort, and, when death comes, we will submit to it, because we cannot avoid it’" (Barnes). But such argumentation cannot really satisfy the conscience. Blessed the Word which evermore, in the mercy of the Eternal, calls to repentance, and reminds us that "now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation!"—J. Isaiah 22:15-19 Denunciation of Shebna. I. SHEBNA THE HOUSE STEWARD. He was the steward of the household—a high office, as we may see from the allusion in Isaiah 36:3; Isaiah 37:2. Once it was held by a king’s son (2 Chronicles 26:21; cf. 1 Kings 4:6; 1 Kings 18:3). This officer stood nearest the king, and had the domestic affairs of the palace under his superintendence. The office of the mayor of the palace under the Merovingian kings of France has been compared with it. It is thought that Shebna was not a native Israelite, as his father’s name is not mentioned. Possibly he was a Syrian from Damascus, and a leader of the Egyptianizing party, whose perverse and crooked policy in collecting the subsidy for Egypt is denounced by the prophet in Isaiah 30:12. II. HIS PRIDE AND . He was busy hewing out for himself a family sepulcher in the rock. We realize what is meant when we see figured in works of art the magnificent rock-built tombs of Persia, of Lydia and Phrygia and Lycia, of Phoenicia, and the vast pyramid-tombs of Egypt. There kings desired to "lie in honor, each in his own house" (Isaiah 14:18). So, too, grandees—Eshmunazar King of Sidon, Joseph of Arimathaea, etc.—built themselves sepulchers in their lifetime. At Rome we look upon the famous tomb of Hadrian, now called the Castle St. Angelo, and the tomb of Caecilia Metella upon the Appian Way, the pyramid of Cestius. What may we learn from the habit of tomb-building? It expresses man’s protest against the doom of mortality. On the tomb of Sardanapalus is said to have been written, "Eat, drink, and love; for the rest is little worth;" and yet the tomb itself is a witness that there hovers before the mind the thought of the future, in which man would still live and still be remembered by his fellows, even though only by means of the lifeless stone. Thus it expresses man’s infinite longings, the cravings of a nature that nothing but eternity can satisfy. There was, then, something great, something even sublime, in this tomb-building instinct. "The power of acting for a distant object, of realizing distant good, and reaching forward to it over an intervening period of labor, has something moral in it." Yet, on the other hand, the motive may be something of a much lower order—vanity, self-exaltation. So the prophet views the undertaking of Shebna. He has no right, as a foreigner, thus to appropriate the soil of the sacred city, the slope of one of its hills. III. THE . In the vehemence of his indignation, the prophet declares that Jehovah will clutch the offender tightly, will roll him as a ball, and toss him into a broad land; thither he, with the chariots on which he has been rolling about the city, shall go to die! Notice the opposition between the might of Jehovah and the weakness of mere man, however exalted. Shall mortal man attempt to rival the Eternal, proudly seeking to perpetuate his memory on earth (compare the thoughts in Job 4:17; Job 10:5; Job 22:2)? The leading Hebrew teaching recurs—the insignificance of ephemeral and frail man in presence of the mighty, just, and ever-living God. "The renown of that sepulcher which Shebna had built is indirectly contrasted with the ignominy which quickly followed it." "That the mask of his high rank might not screen him from the prediction, the prophet expressly states that the office which he holds aggravates his guilt and renders him more detestable. Let princes, therefore, if they do not wish to expose themselves and their houses to reproaches, learn to act with judgment in appointing men to hold office … Infer that God is highly displeased with that ambition by which men seek to obtain undying renown in the world instead of being satisfied with those honors which they enjoy during life. God punishes their haughtiness and presumption, and causes those things which they wished to be the records of their glory to become their disgrace and shame" (Calvin).—J. Isaiah 22:20-25 Installment of Eliakim. I. A SERVANT OF JEHOVAH. So he is characterized. The title may be of personal, spiritual, import, or of official; or both may be blended, as in the case of Isaiah himself (Isaiah 20:3); or there may be a separation of the two. Unhappy for a nation or for a Church if the true servants of the Eternal, the true devotees of right and truth, are excluded from the places of honor and influence; or if the "ministers and stewards" of Divine mysteries are so only technically and officially. The true servant must in any case be called. He must not push himself forward, but must be drawn forward by invisible, Divine leading. He does not "achieve greatness," but it is "thrust upon him." "In that day I will call to my servant." The words suggestively remind us of that principle of Divine selection which runs through the order of the world. In this, in every day, the "right men" are wanted for every place. In this day, too, there is much excitement about education. What men can do by the instruction of the intellect is very limited; in quiet places and in hidden ways, unknown to the schools, the Almighty is growing men and training men till the time is ripe for their service, and his call is heard. II. HIS . 1. It is the solemn, symbolical way of transferring an office. We think of Elijah finding the son of Shaphat ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and casting his mantle upon him as he passed by (1 Kings 19:19). That was the prophet’s simpler dress; this is the tunic of a man of rank and state. The girdle was an essential article of Oriental dress, worn by all classes and by both sexes. The fineness of its quality denoted the rank of the wearer. Here it was probably similar to that worn by the priests (Exodus 28:39; Exodus 39:29). Josephus describes it as made of linen so fine that it looked like the slough of a snake, and it was embroidered with flowers of scarlet, blue, purple (’Ant.,’ 3.7. 2). This is the only place where the word abneth is used for any but a priestly girdle. 2. The girdle is in other ways symbolic. Jehovah "girds kings with a girdle," and "ungirds them according to his pleasure" (Job 12:18). Thus to be "girded with strength" is a symbol of Divine invigoration (1 Samuel 2:4); to be "girded with gladness," of refreshment (Psalms 30:11). "Have your loins girt about with truth" (Ephesians 6:14); "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end"—are noble Christian exhortations, carrying with them all the force of the old Oriental imagery. To be ungirt is a way of describing nervelessness, lack of strength and manhood; and the very picture of the good servant is of one "whose loins are girt about, whose lamp is burning." III. THE SPIRIT AND OF THE STEWARD. 1. He is to be like a father to the people. An appropriate term for the chief man of a town or the prime minister of a country (1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 4:5; cf. 1 Chronicles 9:6; Job 29:16; Judges 5:7). So the Roman senators were patres. It speaks of benevolence united with wisdom and experience—a rule both firm and loving. The great Father in heaven must be the sublime ideal before us in all positions of rule and influence on earth. 2. He is to bear the key. This is an ancient badge of office; Callimachus represents the priestess of Demeter as having a key upon her shoulder (’Hymn. ad Cererem,’ 1.45), and in the ’Supplices’ (291) of AEschylus, in like manner, Io, priestess of Hera, is "key-holder" of the goddess. For illustration the following interesting passage may be cited from Roberts: "How much delighted was I when I first saw the people, especially the Moors, going along the streets, with each his key on his shoulder! The handle is sometimes made of brass, though sometimes of silver, and is often nicely worked in a device of filigree. The way it is carried is to have the corner of a kerchief tied to a ring; the key is then placed on the shoulder, and the kerchief hangs down in front. At other times they have a bunch of large keys, and then they have half on one side of the shoulder and half on the other. For a man thus to march along with a largo key on his shoulder, shows at once that he is a person of consequence. ’Roman is in great favor with the modehir, for he now carries the key.’ ’Whose key have you got on your shoulder?’ ’I shall carry my key on my own shoulder.’" (For the application to the apostles and to the Lord himself, see Matthew 16:19; Revelation 3:7.) 3. His tenure of office. The nails must be those hooks or spikes which were worked into the mortar of the walls of houses while still soft, answering the purpose of cramp-irons to hold the walls together, and pegs to hang things on. So, in temples, armor, shields, helmets, swords, spoils of war, were hung on such nails. An appropriate image these of stability, of (to use a modern coinage) reliableness. All may depend upon a man such as this; all "know where to find him;" sacred and precious trusts may be reposed on him without fear of disappointment. So in Zechariah 10:4 the "peg" means a prince. IV. ABUSES OF STATION AND OFFICE. There is "another side" to everything good in human institutions. "All the honor of his father’s house" will be found hanging upon Eliakim. All his humble relations—the "small fry," as we say; the "small vessels," as the prophet calls them—will look up to him, and. he will shed luster anti give support to all. The allusion is to vessels of a small kind—basins, leathern bottles, earthen pitchers. We must respect the judgment of the majority of commentators, who see a turn in the prophecy about Eliakim here. There is an impression of nepotism, of favoritism; and it seems that the firm "peg" is, after all, to be loosened from its place. And if so, how instructive the passage! How is it that man, once high in esteem and general confidence, came to be weighed in the balances and found wanting? Some weakness of flesh and blood, some undue leaning to one’s kith and kin, some dement of partiality or favoritism, is often the cause. "His family makes a wrong use of him; and he is more yielding than he ought to be, and makes a wrong use of his office to favor them! He therefore falls, and brings down all with him that hung upon the peg, and who have brought him to ruin through the rapacity with which they have grasped at prosperity" (Delitzsch). Whatever view may be taken of the passage, ’twere well to remind ourselves of the old lesson, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." God. raises up and brings low. Let us walk softly, nor boast ourselves if for a time we flourish like a green bay tree. Our own weakness may, like a worm, be gnawing at our root. The "pitted speck" in the "garnered fruit" may be spreading, the "little rift" in the lute be widening. "More the treacherous calm I dread Than tempests sailing overhead." Let us be content with obscurity, with fallentis semita vitae, seeing that station brings out men’s weaknesses no less than their strength, and the loftier the columnar height of the great, the more overwhelming the fall.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Captivity, and yet safety. "Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee." These threatenings of the Almighty had mercy at the heart of them. Captivity was a drastic remedy, but it once and again saved the health of Israel It was a time of home-longing and sickness of heart. It was a time when the old religious memories flooded the heart till they filled it with an aching sense of shame for sin, and supplication for mercy. I. GOD CARRIED THEM AWAY. The enemies of Israel were but instruments in the hands of Jehovah. He reigned over their interests as truly then as in their more prosperous day. "The day is thine, the night also is thine." And in the Captivity, God was disciplining the people as no other dispensation could. Their lofty looks were changed for penitential tears, and their proud hearts were brought low. God would, in due time "turn again the captivity of Israel;" and the Law would be read again, and not only be read, but be "lived." II. THE WAS A MIGHTY ONE. It occurred to a mighty multitude; it affected mighty interests; and it produced, mighty results. For this people God had formed for himself, to show forth his praise. We have to learn the lesson too. How tremendous are the powers of grief and loss, change and sickness, under which God often brings his children captive now! We are "prisoned" by pain and circumstance. In our hours of solitude and sorrow, God renews our will, separates the chaff from the wheat in our character, and meetens us for service here and for the inheritance of the saints in light hereafter. III. THE WAS SURE. They were not cast away; they were only cast down. The almighty wings were still over them. In strange lands, amid strange faces, and listening to strange voices, they could not sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. But the time of joy was to return. God was very near them still, and none could really harm them. What a covering! Not the mere roof of the home; not the mere outward raiment; but the Lord himself’ was there, spreading his shield over them, when they were away from the munitions of rocks and from the defenses of dear Jerusalem. Sure! That is what we want. He also is our Dwelling-place in all generations and under all skies.—W.M.S. BY W. The sorrow of the world. We have here a striking picture of that which, in distinction from "godly sorrow," Paul calls "the sorrow of the world." I. THAT GOD SENDS SORROW TO HUMAN SOULS. These national distresses were to be of his sending; it was to be "a day of trouble … by the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 22:5). The human instrumentality would be visible enough, and both those who inflicted the blow and those who endured it—their enemies and themselves—might fail to discern any Divine hand at work; nevertheless, it was a chastisement that came from heaven, it was sent of God. And to whatever second causes we may trace our troubles in the day of our "treading down and of perplexity," or in the day of our loss, or suffering, or bereavement, we may always go beyond the instrumentality to him "of whom are all things," and feel that what has happened to us is "by the Lord of hosts." II. THAT HIS PURPOSE THEREIN IS OUR . "In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping," etc. (Isaiah 22:12). God would then invite to a general humiliation—he would draw their minds to a view of their guilt, and lead them to repentance and so to restoration and life. This is always the Divine purpose in adversity. God seeks our spiritual amendment. Other methods of instruction failing, he lays his hand upon us so that we must feel his touch; he speaks to us in tones it is difficult to disregard; and we know that the thing from which he calls us is sin—sin in one or other (or in some) of its many forms; we know also that the thing to which he summons us is rectitude—rightness of heart and life. III. THAT THIS HIS DIVINE END IS . "Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep," etc. (Isaiah 22:13). Both national history and the biography of individual men prove to us that affliction may produce the very opposite result to that for which it is sent. Never has the city been so abandoned to vice as when the plague was raging and the dead lay unburied in the streets. Many a man allows adversity to drive him to dissolute enjoyments or to ruinous crimes, instead of letting it allure him to a Divine Deliverer. Trouble that was intended to lead to heavenly wisdom and to the service of God only too often hardens a stony heart, makes still ungodlier the man who has forsaken the sanctuary, fastens the fetters of some enslaving vice on the limbs of its wretched victim. IV. THAT SORROW LEADS TOWN TO DEATH. This iniquity would not be purged until they died (Isaiah 22:14). It would end, not only with, but in death. Death is the penalty of unsanctified sorrow: "The sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). It leads down inevitably to that utter estrangement from God, that unlikeness to God, and that condemnation by God, in which spiritual death is found here; it leads on to that final banishment from his presence and glory in which it will be found hereafter.—C. Christian patriotism. The profound concern which the prophet of the Lord displays for "the daughter of his people," showing us that the reception and the record of the prophetic vision did not interfere with his strong feelings as a Hebrew patriot, may suggest thoughts on Christian patriotism. This is to be clearly distinguished from: 1. The exaggerated self-consciousness or vain-gloriousness which some "patriots" exhibit. 2. The exclusiveness of spirit which others betray. 3. The diseased sensitiveness which leads many to catch at the first apparent international wrong as a valid casus belli. A great deal passes current as patriotism which would have been allowable, if not creditable, under heathenism, but which is simply false and guilty under the Divine teaching we have received who have learned of Christ. That man is the true friend of his country who takes— I. A DEEP AND IN ITS WELFARE. A part of the "spoiling" to which Isaiah refers is to be found in the threatened seizure of his country’s political independence, its being made subcut and tributary to the invader; this could not be other than a calamity of the first consequence in his eyes. The Christian patriot, while he ought to oppose most strenuously all unrighteous projects on the part of his own people, does well to be earnestly concerned for the integrity, the independence, the reputation, of his native land. II. A IN ITS WELL-BEING. No doubt this "spoiling" included, in the prophet’s thought, the destruction of its property and the deportation of its wealth. Considering how all the citizens, the wage-receiving multitudes as welt as the wealthier minority, are affected by the material prosperity of the land, it is right and Christian for us to make this a matter of careful and conscientious effort. III. A IN ITS MORAL AND . It was (1) the moral condition of Jerusalem, feasting and making merry on the day of its humiliation (verses 12, 13); and also (2) its spiritual condition, forgetting its true Deliverer (verse 11), and slighting his discipline (verse 12), which so much distressed the holy prophet. And it should be the moral and spiritual condition of our country which should create in us and call forth from us our most profound solicitude. And this because (1) that is the matter of most intrinsic importance; (2) that is the thing on which the Divine judgment and determination will depend; and (3) that will be ultimately decisive of our country’s political and material interests. If we would do our whole duty in relation thereto, we shall: 1. Join in prayer for Divine mercies. 2. Be careful to exert the influence of a godly and irreproachable example. 3. Exert all our power as individual men and through useful organizations for the guidance and the elevation of the people.—C. Isaiah 22:15-25 Human reckoning and Divine interruption. We have one instance, if not two—according to the application we give to the "nail" of the twenty-fifth verse—of ill-founded security. It is a lesson very necessary to teach, for it seems to be one very hard to learn. I. HUMAN . Shebna had carefully and successfully built up his position in the state, and he made sure that he should keep it; he had not only "feathered his nest," but he had made up his mind that he should "die in his nest." He had arranged beforehand the place of his sepulcher (Isaiah 22:16). "The nail was fastened in a sure place" (Isaiah 22:25). All his plans were drawn, and he confidently anticipated that they would be justified by the event. In this respect he was but a type and specimen of mankind; we do the same thing in our turn and in our way. 1. It may seem strange that it should be so. A modest view of our own capacities; the instruction we gain by reading what has happened to men in the past; the lessons we gather from our observation of human life;—all these might save us from the error, but they do not. 2. The fact is that men do indulge in this illusion: the boy counts on the prizes he will win at school, and the young man on the honors he will gain at college; the tradesman reckons on the profits he will make in business, and the professional man on the mark he will make in his vocation; the minister anticipates the work he will accomplish in his sphere, and the statesman indulges the confident expectation that he will carry the measures on which his heart is set. Others, we know, have failed, but we, we think, shall avoid their errors and escape their discomfiture. II. DIVINE . Shebna’s calculations were to be entirely overthrown; instead of living on and dying in Jerusalem, and being buried in the sepulcher he had so elaborately prepared, he should be hurled away like a ball by the strong arm of Jehovah into a distant land, where he should live and die in inglorious exile. 1. It may be that Divine judgment will overtake us, as it evidently overtook and overwhelmed this prefect of the palace. His ostentation (Isaiah 22:16), his luxury ("the chariots of thy glory," Isaiah 22:18), his tyranny (implied in characterizing Iris successor "a father to the inhabitants," in contrast to his own severities), brought down upon him the Divine displeasure and the prophetic denunciation. Sooner or later our sin will find us out. If we owe our elevation to our iniquity, or if, on the summit of our success, we fear not God, neither regard the claims of man, we may be sure that at some time and in some way defeat and dishonor will await us. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 23:1-14 THE BURDEN OF TYRE. We hero reach the last of the "burdens"—the concluding chapter of the series of denunciatory prophecies which commenced with Isaiah 13:1-22. It is an elegy "in three stanzas, or strophes" (Cheyne)—the first extending from Isaiah 13:1 to Isaiah 13:5; the second, thence to Isaiah 13:9; and the third from Isaiah 13:10 to Isaiah 13:14. An undertone of sadness, and even of commiseration, prevails throughout it, the prophet viewing Tyre as a fellow-sufferer with Israel, persecuted and oppressed by the fame enemy, Assyria, which was everywhere pushing her conquests, and had recently extended her dominion even over Babylon (Isaiah 13:13). This last allusion fixes the date of the prophecy to a time subsequent to B.C. 710, when the Assyrian monarch, Sargon, first conquered the country, and took the title of king. Isaiah 23:1 Howl (comp. Isaiah 13:6, 31). The expression is common in the prophets (see Jeremiah 4:8; Jeremiah 25:34, etc.: Ezekiel 21:12; Ezekiel 30:2; Joe 1:5, Joe 1:11, Joe 1:13; Zephaniah 1:11; Zechariah 11:2, etc.). Ye ships of Tarshish. "Ships of Tarshish" are first mentioned in connection with the trade carried on by Solomon. Apparently, the term there designates a certain class of ship rather than those engaged in a particular trade. Here, however, Phoenician ships, actually engaged in the trade with Tartessus, may be intended. Tartessus was a very ancient Phoenician settlement in the south of Spain, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and was the center of a most important and lucrative commerce. In the present passage the returning fleet of merchantmen is addressed, and told that the harbour to which they are hastening is closed, the city desolate. From the land of Chittim. "Chittim" here, as in Genesis 10:4, and elsewhere generally, is probably Cyprus, whose most ancient capital was called by the Greeks Kitten (see Joseph, ’Ant. Jud,’ 1.6, § 1). The name "Chittim" is not improbably a variant of "Khittim," "the Hittites," who may have been the first to colonize the island. A fleet from the Western Mediterranean would naturally touch at Cyprus on its way to Tyro, and would there learn the calamity. Isaiah 23:2 Be still; rather, be silent, as in the margin. It would be idle to complain or lament. Ye inhabitants of the isle. Tyro was situated on a small isle, which Alexander joined to the mainland by means of a mole (Arrian, ’Exp. Alex.,’ 2.23). It is uncertain, however, whether this isle is meant here, or the strip of Phoenician coast, since the Hebrew ’i has both meanings. Thou whom the merchants of Zidon … have replenished. During the flourishing period of Tyro, Zidon, though it had generally kings of its own, played a secondary part to Tyre, and for the most part acquiesced in Tyrian supremacy. Its best sailors served in the Tyrian fleet (Ezekiel 27:8), and its merchants were content to enrich the recognized "chief city." Isaiah 23:3 By great waters; rather, on great waters; i.e. on the waters of the Mediterranean (cf. Psalms 107:23; Ezekiel 27:26). The Egyptian vessels conveyed the corn intended for exportation to the ports at the mouths of the Nile, where it was transhipped aboard Phoenician craft, which carried it on the open sea to the countries needing it. We never hear of the Egyptians disputing the trade of the Mediterranean with the Phoenicians and the Greeks, though they certainly had trading-vessels at times on the waters of the Red Sea. The seed of Sihor; i.e. the corn of the Nile valley. "Si-her," or rather "Shihor," is the only proper name by which the Nile is designated in the Hebrew Scriptures. It means "the dark," "the turbid," and may be compared with the modern "Bahr-el-azrak," used of the Eastern or Abyssinian Nile, and with the term" Nilus" itself, if that signifies "the dark blue stream." It occurs, as the name of the Nile, only in Joshua 13:3; 1 Chronicles 13:5; Jeremiah 2:18; and the present place. Is her revenue; i.e. "produces a portion of her annual income." And she is a man of nations (so Gesenius and Ewald). Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate, "It is the gain of the nations," referring "it’ to the corn which the Tyrians exported. Isaiah 23:4 Be thou ashamed, O Zidon. Zidon, the most ancient and venerable of the Phoenician cities (Genesis 10:15; Joshua 11:8; Joshua 19:28; Judges 18:7; Justin, Judges 18:3, etc.), is called upon to feel shame because Tyre is captured. The ruin of the metropolitan city would be felt as a disgrace by all the lesser towns, and by Zidon especially. The sea … even the strength of the sea; rather, the stronghold of the sea; i.e. Tyre herself. Tyre declares that she is childless, has neither son nor daughter, is as if she had never travailed nor brought forth children. I travail not, etc.; rather, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished up, etc. My children being dead or taken from me, it is as if I had never borne them. Isaiah 23:5 As at the report concerning Egypt; rather, when the rumor shall reach Egypt. They shall be sorely pained. The Egyptians bore no great affection towards any foreign nation. They were a people whose charity began and ended at home. But the fall of Tyre was always a shock to them, and was felt to portend evil to themselves. The Asiatic power which was strong enough to capture the island-fortress would be a formidable enemy to Egypt itself, and might be expected at no distant date to attempt the conquest of the Nile valley. Isaiah 23:6 Pass ye over to Tarshish. The advice was good, and may, perhaps, have been followed to some extent. When Sennacherib attacked Elulaeus of Sidon, that monarch fled across the sea, probably to Cyprus. When Alexander finally ruined Tyre, a part of the population made its escape on shipboard to Carthage (Arrian,’ Exp. Alex.,’ 2.24, § 8). An escape of the kind is represented in the Assyrian sculptures (Layard, ’Monuments of Nineveh,’ first series, pl. 7l). Isaiah 23:7 Is this your joyous city? literally, your joyous one; i.e. Can this wretched heap of ruins be the rich and joyous Tyre? Whose antiquity is of ancient days. Though regarded as less ancient than Zidon (Justin, 18.3), Tyro nevertheless claimed a very remote antiquity. Herodotus was told that its temple of Hercules (Melkarth) had been built two thousand three hundred years previously (Herod; 2.44). Q. Curtius makes the city to have been founded by Agenor, the father of Cadmus, who was supposed to have lived three hundred years before the Trojan War (’Vit. Alex.,’ 4.4). It must be noted, however, on the other hand, that there is no mention at all of Tyro in Homer, and none in Scripture until the time of Joshua (Joshua 19:29), about B.C. 1300. Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn (so Lowth, Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Ewald, Kay). Others render the passage, "whose feet were wont to carry her afar off to sojourn." In the one case the coming flight and exile, in the other the past commercial enterprise of the city, is pointed at. Isaiah 23:8 Who hath taken this counsel? Who can have conceived the thought of destroying a city at once so powerful and so conducive to the advantage of other states? The answer is given in the next verse. The crowning city; i.e. "the dispenser of crowns." Either to the governors of her colonies, or perhaps to the other cities of Phoenicia Proper. It is not quite clear whether the kings of those cities needed the sanction of Tyro to confirm them on their thrones, or not. The Hebrew word used must certainly be rendered "crowning," and not "crowned." Whose merchants are princes. Not actually sovereigns, but the chief men in the state under the king. Traffickers; literally, Canaanites. But the ethnic name seems to have early acquired the secondary meaning of "traders" (see Proverbs 31:24; Job 41:6). Isaiah 23:9 The Lord of hosts hath purposed it; rather, hath counseled it. The word is the same as that used in the opening clause of Isa 23:8. God has conceived the thought of destroying Tyre, for the reasons which the prophet proceeds to specify: 1. To stain the pride of all glory; or, of all beauty. Not that "glory" or "beauty" are displeasing to him, or provoke his envy, as the heathen thought (Herod; 7.10, § 4) but that those who "pride" themselves on their glory and beauty offend him. 2. To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth; i.e. to render contemptible those whom the world honors, though they do not deserve honor. Isaiah 23:10 Pass through thy laud as a river; rather, overflow thy land, as the Nile. Shake off all restraint; that is, give thy desires free vent—be no longer cramped and confined by the restrictions of the metro-polls. Tartessus is addressed, as the leading colony, and perhaps the one most oppressed; and in her person all the colonies are called on to shake themselves free of the mother city. There is no more strength; rather, there is no more a girdle; i.e. there is nothing that need restrain yon—the power of Tyre is gone! Isaiah 23:11 He stretched out his hand over the sea, By "he" we must understand "Jehovah" (see Isaiah 23:9). God has smitten Tyro—the great maritime power—destroyed its dominion, and set its subject cities free. He shook the kingdoms; i.e. not only Tyre, but the other cities of the Phoenician coast, each of which had its own king. Against the merchant city; rather, against Canaan. Phoenicia is called "Canaan," as England is often called "Britain." So the "SyroPhoenician woman" of Mark 7:26 is "a woman of Canaan" in Matthew 15:22. Isaiah 23:12 He said. Jehovah continues his threatenings. The oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon—or rather, the oppressed virgin-daughter of Sidon—may he either. Tyre, which, according to some, was built by fugitives from Zidon, or Phoenicia generally, of which Zidon, as the "firstborn" (Genesis 10:15), was a sort of mother. Pass over to Chittim (comp. Isaiah 23:6). Chittim (Cyprus) was a nearer refuge than Tarshish, and far more easily reached; but, on the other hand, it was much less safe. Sargon and Esarhaddon both of them exercised dominion over it; and when Abdi-Milkut, King of Sidon, fled there in the reign of the latter, the Assyrian monarch pursued him, caught him, and "cut off his head". Still, it was so often sought by princes flying from Phoenicia when attacked by Assyria, that cuneiform scholars call it "the usual refuge of the Phoenician kings". There also shalt thou have no rest. Cyprus submitted to Sargon, and again to Esarhaddon. It was included in the dominions of Asshur-bani-pal. After Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Tyre, it was annexed by Egypt (Herod; 2.182), on the conquest of which country by Cambyses it became Persian. The Phoenicians had "no rest" there after Assyria had once found her way to the island. Isaiah 23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans (comp. Isaiah 13:19; Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 48:14, Isaiah 48:20). Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Isaiah knows the people as Chahleans (Kasdim), the capital as Babylon. Kaldi, in the inscriptions, is a rare word, and the name of a not very important tribe. Yet Berosus uses the term to designate the whole nation. This people was not; rather, is not; i.e. "is no more a people"—"has ceased to exist." Sargon conquered Babylon in B.C. 710, and made himself king, ruling it, together with Assyria, until B.C. 705, when it rebelled and recovered its independence. Sennacherib reconquered it in B.C. 704, and again in B.C. 700, when he made his eldest son viceroy. Esarhaddon ruled over both countries, as did Asshur-bani-pal. Though later Babylon reasserted her independence, and became a great empire, yet Isaiah was justified, at almost any period of his life after B.C. 710, in speaking of her as non-existent. Till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness. There is no "till" in the original. The clause is separate and independent, not connected grammatically with the preceding. Nor does it assert that the Assyrians "founded" Babylon for any one, but only that they "established" it, or "appointed" it to be a habitation for "the beasts of the desert" (comp. Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14; Jeremiah 1:1-19:39, etc.). The prophet views the Assyrians as intending to reduce Babylon to ruins, and leave it waste and uninhabited. The towers thereof; i.e. the siege-towers requisite for reducing so strong a city. They raised up; rather, they made bare (cf. Habakkuk 3:9). He brought it to ruin. "He" is "the Assyrian." The case of Babylon is adduced to increase the alarm of Tyro, by reminding the inhabitants of what the Assyrians had done to a town greater and stronger than their own. The allusion is probably to certain severities of Sargon’s in B.C. 710, which, however, are rhetorically exaggerated. It was never the policy of the Assyrians to depopulate or destroy Babylon. Isaiah 23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish (comp. Isaiah 23:1). The ships that traded with Tarshish, not those belonging to Tarshish, are intended. Your strength is laid waste; rather, your stronghold; i.e. Tyre itself. The elegy ends as it began, with a statement of the bare fact. Alexander’s destruction of the city was the final and complete fulfillment of the prophecy. The captures by Esarhaddou, by Asshur-bani-pal, and by Nebuchadnezzar, were anticipations of the final one, and partial fulfillments of the prophecy. Isaiah 23:15-18 TYRE’S TO AND TO JEHOVAH. After an interval, expressed by the symbolic number of" seventy years," Tyre is to rise from her ashes, and become once more a prosperous state, resuming her former occupation of a "merchant city," and once more making great gains, which she will devote to the service of Jehovah. St. Jerome thought that this prophecy had not been accomplished in his day. If so, it cannot be said to have been accomplished yet; unless, indeed, Tyre may be regarded as representing the commercial spirit, which. under Christianity, is not necessarily alien from religion, but shows itself sometimes altogether friendly to the Church, supplying ways and means for ten thousand philanthropic and praiseworthy enterprises (Isaiah 23:18). Isaiah 23:15 Tyro shall be forgotten; i.e. "shall cease to occupy men’s thoughts, as a factor in politics—shall pass out of their calculations, and count for nothing." Seventy years. "Forty years" and "seventy years" are the chief representatives in Scripture of an indefinite time. The week of creation seems to have given to seven its quasi-sacred character, which passed from the primary number to the corresponding decimal one. The sacred use of "seventy" appears first in the "seventy elders" who accompanied Moses to the covenant-feast on Sinai (Exodus 24:9). After this, "seventy ’talents are mentioned as the weight of the bronze offerings for the tabernacle (Exodus 38:29), and "seventy" shekels as the weight of the silver bowls offered by the heads of tribes when the tabernacle was set up (Numbers 7:13-85). The "indefinite" us, of "seventy" is most apparent in such expressions as that of Gen 4:24, "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, surely Lamech seventy and sevenfold;" and that of Mat 18:22, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." "Seventy" seems also to be indefinite in Exodus 15:27; Numbers 33:9; Judges 1:7; Judges 12:13; 2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Kings 5:15: 1 Chronicles 21:14, etc. It is absurd to count the "seventy years" of the present passage, as some do, from the accession of Nebuchadnezzar to the death of Nabonidus, for neither did Tyro begin to be forgotten in the first year of the one prince, nor did she immediately recover herself on the death of the other. According to the days of one king; or, like the days of one king. The period, whatever its length, should be to Type "like the days of one king;" i.e. unchanging, without hope. Oriental kings prided themselves on maintaining an unaltered policy (of. 2 Kings 25:27; Isaiah 14:17). Shall Tyre sing as an harlot; literally, it shall be to Tyre as [in] the song of the harlot. A particular song seems to be meant, part of which the prophet proceeds to quote in the next verse. Isaiah 23:16 Take an harp. Harlots in the East, and indeed in the West also in ancient times (Her; ’Epist.,’ 1.14, 1. 25), were expected to be musicians. The harp and the guitar were their usual instruments. Forgotten harlot. In addressing. Tyro as a "harlot," the prophet does not seem to mean more than that her aims were, or at any rate had been, selfish and worldly, such as sever between man and God. She had pursued wealth for the enjoyments that it brought her, not in order to make a good use of it. Hers had been the covetousness which is "idolatry" (Colossians 3:5). Isaiah 23:17 The Lord will visit Tyre. In mercy, not in judgment (cf. Jeremiah 27:22; Jeremiah 29:10). She shall turn to her hire; i.e. "to her commerce," to her former mode of life. But with the difference noted in Isaiah 23:18. Isaiah 23:18 Her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. There is nothing intrinsically wrong or debasing in commerce. Rightly pursued, and engaged in with the view of devoting the profits made in it to good and pious ends, the commercial life may be as religious, and as acceptable to God as any other. The world has known many merchants who were Christians, in the highest sense of the word. Solomon in his best days was a merchant (1 Kings 9:27, 1 Kings 9:28; 1 Kings 10:22), but one who employed the wealth which he derived from commerce to the honor and glory of God. It shall not be treasured nor laid up. The merchants shall not lay it up in their own coffers, but expend it wisely and religiously. It shall be for them that dwell before the Lord; i.e. it shall be applied to religious uses—to the sustentation of ministers, the relief of the poor and necessitous among God’s people, and other similar purposes. Such an employment of the gains made sanctifies commerce, and makes it a good and a blessed thing. The fall of Tyre a warning against pride in the glories of civilization and art. In destroying Tyre, God, we are told, "purposed to stain the pride of all glory." The word translated "glory" also signifies "beauty" (2 Samuel 1:19; Isaiah 4:2; Ezekiel 7:20); and the "glory" for which Tyro was renowned consisted, not in military reputation or governmental ability, but in wealth, commerce, and the production of beautiful objects, as garments, bowls, metal castings, and ether works of art. It was on the perfection to which she had brought the arts which aim at embodying the beautiful, that Tyre especially prided herself. Her boast was, "I am of perfect beauty" (Ezekiel 27:3). By her fate we are taught— I. THAT THE CULT OF THE HAS ITS DANGERS TO OUR MORAL NATURE. Artistic work seems to emanate so entirely from a man himself, to be so purely his own absolute creation, that it naturally raises in him an admiration of himself and an exalted conception of his own powers. How shall he not be proud of faculties that enable him to produce works which send a thrill of delight through crowds, and are recognized as possessions for all time! Again, the beautiful is so charming, so attractive, that it is apt to seem sufficient for a man, and so to absorb all his attention, and shut out all thought of higher and nobler things. In our own time the cult is actually preached as a sufficient religion, and men are asked what more they can possibly desire than to feast the eye perpetually on beautiful objects—beautiful buildings, beautiful furniture, beautiful clothes, pictures, statues, statuettes, harmonious colors, delicate textures, soft and subdued light, graceful forms, pleasing contrasts. A weak and effeminate race is produced by such a training; the robuster virtues are uncared for; men become lapped in a luxurious sensualism, and need a warning voice, like that of the prophet, to wake them from their delightful dream to life’s stern realities. II. THAT THE CULT OF THE GOD’S ANGER AND . Type is not accused of crimes. She is not a "bloody city," like Nineveh (Nab. Isaiah 3:1); she is not "full of lies and robbery." Her punishment does not come upon her "because of the violence" that is in her, nor for extreme arrogancy, nor for hypocrisy. Her sin seems to be in her luxury, in her softness, in her "perfect beauty" (Ezekiel 27:11). She is rich, she is comely, she has things of beauty all about her, and she is content. She wants no more. The beautiful and the enjoyable satisfy her. But God is angered thereby. He will not have even the beautiful, though it is a shadow of himself, shut him out from the first place in men’s thoughts. He will vindicate his own honor. He will suffer no rival near his throne. If men are so wrapt up in anything as to forget him, he will remind them of himself by some terrible judgment, which can be ascribed to none but him (Isaiah 3:8-11). Isaiah 23:17, Isaiah 23:18 The pursuit of wealth culpable or praiseworthy according to the object had in view. To seek gain for gain’s sake, either for the mere purpose of hoarding and accumulating, and so having the satisfaction of feeling that one is rich (Her; ’Sat.,’ 1.1, 11. 66, 67), or to expend it on one’s self in luxuries and enjoyments of various kinds, though perhaps beneficial to the community whereto a man belong, is injurious to his own moral character, and an offence to God. Covetousness, the apostle assures us (Colossians 3:5), is idolatry, and so is selfishness of every kind. Those who have their heart set on any other end except pleasing God, are idolaters, whatever the end may be. They let something, which is not God, absorb their thoughts, occupy their minds, engage their affections. They gradually and silently, perhaps even unconsciously, lose the sense of God’s presence, of his providence, at last of his very existence. They become practical atheists. On the other hand, to seek. gain for the purpose of making a right use of it, to spend it in the service of God, either directly in church-building and endowing, or indirectly in ameliorating the condition of mankind at large or of any special class of men, is elevating to the moral character and pleasing in God’s sight. Any occupation not in itself wrong is rendered honorable, and in a certain sense sanctified, by being pursued in this spirit. Better to be a "publican," like Zacchaeus, however discreditable the calling in the sight of man, if one-half of the gains made be devoted to feeding the poor, than to follow the most elevated calling and appropriate all the proceeds to one’s self. "Gain" becomes "godliness" when the great wealth, which is the result of high qualities wisely employed, and blessed by God in such employment, is made an offering to him, in the person of his Church or of his poor. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 23:1-18 The fall of Tyre. I. THE ANCIENT FAME OF TYRO. Consecrated to Melkarth, the principal god of the city, the temple on the island, the supposed site of the ancient city, is said by Arrian to have been the most ancient within the memory of man. Ezekiel speaks of Tyre as "in the midst of the seas" (Ezekiel 27:25, Ezekiel 27:26). The Tyrians were closely connected with the Zidonians, those famous "hewers of timber" (1 Kings 5:6). And perhaps the Zidonians of Homer include the Tyrians. Besides their renown ha forest-craft, they were skilful workers in brass and copper. In Solomon’s time there was close intercourse between Hebrews and Tyrians, the former exchanging their corn and oil for the cedar-wood and precious metals of the latter (1 Kings 9:11-14, 1 Kings 9:20-25; 1 Kings 10:22). The denunciation of the prophets against Tyre begin from the time when the Tyrians and the Phoenicians began to buy Hebrew captives and sell them-to the Greeks: "The children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians that ye might remove them far from their bender (Joe 3:6; cf. Amos 1:9, Amos 1:10). A great commercial people, they planted Carthage, and became possessed of Cyprus. We find one Luliya (or Elulaeus) named in Josephus (’Ant.’ 9.14. 2) as ruling over Tyre during this prosperous period; he seems to have been, in fact, king also of Zidon and suzerain of Phoenicia. He ned before Sennacherib to Cyprus (’Records of the Past,’ 7.61). It is in the light of such relations—Phoenicia trembling before the advance of Assyria and warned by the fate of Babylonia—that we must read the prophecy or oracle. II. THE RUMOR OF ILL. We see in this picture the trading-ships of the Phoenicians returning from their distant colonies in. Spain on the Baetis (or Guadalquivir)… Their last landing-place on the way home is Cyprus, the land of Chittim (or Citium). And here the news meets them that their harbor and their home is desolate. And a mighty howl arises from the fleet, while the dwellers on the Phoenician coast are dumb with grief. Egypt also is implicated in the fate of Tyre. In the description by Ezekiel of the wealth of Tyre, we read, "Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail" (Ezekiel 27:7). So here the" seed of Sihor" (the Nile) is on the ocean-highway, their trade being car, led on for them by the Phoenicians. The Phoenician coast was the "barn for the corn of the Nile," and they distributed it to the nations. And now Phoenicia is addressed through Zidon, the ancient ancestral city. The city was thought of in antiquity as feminine—sometimes as a daughter, sometimes as a mother. So Tyrian coins bear the legend, "Of Tyre, mother of the Zidoniaes" The rocky stronghold of the sea speaks, and complains that she is like a barren woman; for the war has robbed her of her young men and maidens. In effect she says, "I am destroyed; my wealth and resources gone, my commerce annihilated, I cease to plant cities and colonies, and to nourish and foster them by my trade." Tyre, a daughter of the sea, is denied by her own mother. As Tyre was an outpost of Egypt against the Assyrians, she, too, is "sore pained" at the sad tidings. III. THE OVER TYRE. The prophet advises the people to migrate to their Spanish colonies; for the capital can no longer shelter them. From later times we have a picture of a scene similar to that now passing before his mind’s eye. When Alexander the Great besieged Tyre they at first laughed at the king and the mound which he built, "as if he thought to vanquish Poseidon," god of the sea; afterwards, as it grew surprisingly, they sent their children, wives, and old people to Carthage" (Died; 17:41). And the LXX. says that they fled thither on this occasion. 1. Luxury and pride ashamed. The prophet looks in vision upon a heap of ruins; it is like the corpse of a once beautiful and proud woman. Once she was the "joyous city, that dwelt carelessly" (Zephaniah 2:15), and felt herself to be without a rival. She boasted of her antiquity. The Tyrians told Herodotus (in the fifth century B.C.) that their city had already been founded two thousand three hundred years (Zephaniah 2:1-15:44). Her traders, like those of Venice in the Middle Ages, had been reckoned the equals of princes and kings (Jeremiah 25:22). But greed, arrogance, oppressive conduct towards other nations, had brought her low. 2. The judgment of God. The hand of Jehovah must be traced and felt in all this. He brings the haughty low, that the meek and despised may be raised. Beauty, which has itself associations of sacredness to the imagination, is not beautiful when it gilds and glorifies infamy. Then Jehovah desecrates it, and. brings disgrace upon the grace and honor of the merely worldly great. "Whoever is the instrument, yet the overthrow of wicked, proud, and vicious cities and nations is to be traced to the God who rules in the empires and kingdoms of the earth; and he often selects the most distinguished and important cities and men to make them examples to others, and to show the ease with which he can bring all down to the earth." The dispersion of the people is strongly contrasted with their own belief in their rooted and immemorial origin in the soil of Phoenicia. IV. OF THE TYRIAN . Harshly treated, perhaps, they take the first opportunity of throwing off the yoke of the mother-city. Especially Tartessus is mentioned. She may now freely and unhindered overflow the land, even as, in the time of the inundation, Nile’s waters overspread Egypt (Amos 8:8; Amos 9:5). There is no "girdle;" perhaps no bridle in the hand of Tyre any longer to restrain her colony’s defiant independence. For all the kingdoms that border upon the sea, especially Phoenicia and Syria, have been convulsed with alarm, as Jehovah’s hand was stretched out, and the order was given to destroy the strong places of Canaan. Then, under the favorite figure of the woman, the city appears no longer an inviolate maiden, but dishonored and defiled. Cyprus will afford no refuge for the fugitives, for she will be rejoicing at deliverance from the Phoenician yoke, and will not welcome them; or the "long arm" of the Assyrian will reach them there. No power, however well founded and far-extending, can endure against the fiat of the Almighty. It might seem impossible that a city so celebrated and so powerful, so well defended and fortified, and associated with many allies and confederates, should be destroyed and overturned; but "all that appears permanent in the worm stands or falls according to the will of God, and there is no need of the instruments of war for overturning the best fortified place, but the mere expression of the will of God is enough" (Calvin). Warning from the fate of the Kasdim. We know little about this people, who are, perhaps, used to denote Babylon in general, conquered by Sargon. This land has been turned into a desert and haunt of wild beasts. The battering-engines of the Assyrians have reduced their forts to ruin. All around denotes the impending ruin to Tyro. V. THE OF TYRE. At the end of "seventy years," probably put for a long period, it appears that commerce will revive, "but only as the handmaid of religion." This is the main truth to be dwelt on, and the obscurity of the passage must be left to the exegetes. Recurring to the city under the image of the woman—now a ringing-woman—the prophet looks forward to the time when there will be the mirth of restored prosperity in the seats of Tyro. "When it begins again to make love to all the world, it will get rich again from the profit acquired by this worldly intercourse. Wealth will no longer be stored up and capitalized as formerly, but tributes and presents will be given to Israel, and thus help to sustain in abundance and clothe in stately dress the nation which dwelt before Jehovah, i.e. whose true dwelling-place was in the temple before the presence of God (Psalms 27:4; Psalms 84:5)" (Delitzsch). In Christian times there was a Church at Tyre, visited by St. Paul (Acts 21:3, Acts 21:4), and so its trade was connected with the spread of the gospel. LESSONS. 1. God mingles compassion with his chastisements of cities, peoples, and individuals. If so towards the wicked, how much more towards the children of his adoption and love! Restoration, revivals of prosperity, are from him who, as the proverb says, "never smites with both hands." 2. There is a selfish and corrupt and a true and generous spirit in trade. A time is contemplated when riches will be no longer absorbed by a few enormous capitalists, but be diffused for the common good. The narrow-minded in trade is the sign of the narrow heart; the best traders are those whom love to their kind has taught to unite personal interest with the general good. The accumulation of immense wealth can hardly be the object of a Christian ambition. Let us hasten, by prayer, by teaching, by example, the time when wealth shall not be treasured nor laid up— "No more shall rest in mounded heaps, But smit with freer light shall slowly melt; In many streams to fatten lower lands, And light shall spread, and man be liker man Thro’ all the season of the golden year." 3. Commerce and Christianity should go hand-in-hand. Our sailors and our merchants should be the best pioneers of the gospel, and our missionaries the most enlightened friends of commerce and civilization. So may our "Happy sails … Knit land to land, and blowing heavenward With silks, and fruits, and spices, clear of toll, Enrich the markets of the golden year." J. BY W.M. STATHAM The harvest of the river. Egypt was the first of nations, and the masts of the vessels stood hike tall river-reeds by her banks. How expressive the words are! There is life where the river comes, life along the emerald banks to which the cattle come, and on the fields where the waters overflow. I. ALL LANDS HAVE THEIR RIVERS. Think of the Tiber, the Tigris, the Thames, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Nile, the Niger. Cities rise on their banks which are, like Tyre, populous and prosperous. The harvest is vast indeed. Ships which are freighted with necessaries and luxuries, with the works of art, the spoils of the sea, and the produce of far-away lauds, all come up the river. What wonder that the river should become a type of the blessings of the gospel—that the prophet should tell us "living waters shall flow out of Jerusalem!" II. THE ARE . We are so accustomed to think of the golden sheaves of the corn-fields when we mention the rivers, that we are liable to forget how indebted we are to the broad estuaries which bear on their bosom the wealth of many nations. How manifold, too, are our harvests under the gospel! Where that comes philanthropy lives, and social purity flows, and justice is sacred in its rivers of righteousness, and salvation comes, delivering us from sensuality and sin. Harvests? Surely the Christian should notice how wide and vast the gospel waters are. III. THEIR DRYING UP IS DEATH. We cannot live without rain and rivers. Cattle perish. Verdure withers. Man himself dies. No wealth can purchase what God gives so plentifully. "Hath the rain a Father?" Oh yes. Not a mere Creator, but a Father; for it is rich in evidences of his universal care and love. God gives "the former and the latter rain," and all through the ages the rivers flow into the sea. So God’s truth remains! The living water flows, and the voice is still heard, "He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 23:1-15 Aspects of Divine judgment. I. ITS . 1. The duration of time is no guarantee against its coming; Tyre was a "joyous city, whose antiquity was of ancient days" (Isaiah 23:7), but judgment would fall upon her in God’s chosen time. Both men and nations are apt to think that long continuance in comfort is a sufficient pledge that it will never be disturbed; duration begets a false sense of security. If men could only see things as they are, they would perceive that the true argument is exactly opposite to that in which they indulge; for the longer a man has been living in unvisited transgression, the longer has penalty been due, and the sooner may he confidently expect retribution to arrive. 2. Ordinary defenses are of no avail against it. The commerce and consequent wealth of Tyre (Isaiah 23:2, Isaiah 23:3), her replenishments, from Zidon, and her enrichments from Egypt would not save her; nor would the high station to which she had mounted, nor the social position of her sons; it was nothing to the righteous Lord that she was esteemed a "crowning city" (Isaiah 23:8), and that her merchants were princes. No defenses that we can raise will avert God’s judgment when the hour is ripe for sentence to be executed. Wealth cannot buy off retribution, nor can rank interpose its influence to avert it; science cannot teach us how to elude it; and the arm of affection is impotent to shield us from its blow. There is no barrier man can raise which is not swept down in a moment when God arises to judgment. II. ITS FULNESS AND . 1. It silences. (Isaiah 23:2.) It brings the curses, the clamors, the revilings, the slanderous accusations, the shameful innuendoes of ungodliness and of malignity to a disgraceful end. "God strikes a silence through them all." 2. It scatters, it dissolves. (Isaiah 23:6, Isaiah 23:7, Isaiah 23:10.) It sends the children of iniquity, of vice, of crime, to "the four corners of the earth;" it disperses them over sea and land. The bands of sin are broken up, and its guilty members are scattered far and wide. 3. It humiliates. (Isaiah 23:12.) The virgin-daughter of Zidon should be humbled; God’s judgments bring to the dust of humiliation those who have held their head high and treated others with indignity. 4. It pursues. (Isaiah 23:12.) "There also shalt thou have no rest." The penalty of a man’s sin finds him out whithersoever he may go to escape it. Jonah "flees from the presence of the Lord;" but whither shall a man flee from his presence, or from the blow of his chastisements? No change of, skies, of scenes, of society, of occupations, will shut out accusing recollections from the soul, or shield from the uncompleted corrections of the Divine hand. The serious and repeated violation of the "greater commandments" of God is attended with penalties which pursue the soul from place to place, and from period to period, in all the journey of our life. 5. It incapacitates. (Verse 4.) Tyre should lose her power to found colonies and to sustain cities; she would be reduced to helplessness and incapacity. This is the fate of those whom God’s judgment overtakes. What they once did with pride and joy they can do no longer, though they put forth all their remaining powers; there is "no strength in their right hand." The energies of the mind, the vigor of the soul, the craft of the hand,—all is gone. III. ITS REMOTE EFFECTS. When Tyre fell, the ships of Tarshish would have occasion to lament (verses 1, 14), Zidon would have to be ashamed of her daughter (verse 4), and Egypt would be sorely pained (verse 5). Far across sea and land, and a long way down the coming and departing years, reach the sad consequences of guilt. The wisest moralist cannot point to the place where these will not be found, nor the cleverest calculator tell the time when these will not he felt. IV. ITS DIVINE MEANING. "The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory," etc. (verse 9). God sends punishment because it is due; because, in the exercise of his righteousness, sin must be marked with the signs of his deep displeasure; but he sends such penalties as he does send in order to compel his subjects to see and to feel that the glory of man can be scattered in a moment, and that over all his magnificence the shadow of death will be thrown whensoever the hand of Divine judgment is uplifted. God’s visitations are man’s opportunities; then may he learn and feel—as otherwise he never would—that his only wisdom is in instant abandonment of every evil way, and immediate return, in penitence and faith, to a forgiving and restoring Savior.—C. Gain and devotion. We are reminded that— I. WE CANNOT DEVOTE TO GOD’S SERVICE WE HAVE NOT GAINED. It may be said that the text, taken with its context (see Isaiah 23:17), does not sustain this thought; that, indeed, it points in the opposite direction. But in addition to such explicit prohibitions as that in Deuteronomy 23:18, we have the whole strain and spirit of the Law of God. It is the glory of that Law that it so states, establishes, guards, enforces, emphasizes, the purity of the Divine Lawgiver that if any solitary passage like this one seems to sanction that which is inconsistent with it, we are quite sure that, either in its rendering or in our interpretation of it, there must be a mistake. Everything was done that could be done to separate the people of God from the impurities and iniquities into which other nations had fallen, and into the sanction of which they had pressed even their religious rites. We may be uncertain about many things in Scripture, but we are quite sure of this, that no smallest countenance is meant to be given in any single part of it to the devotion of ill-earned gain to the service of the holy God (see Acts 19:18, Acts 19:19). Not only such "hire" as seems to be hinted at here, bat all revenue that is obtained by unworthy, unprincipled, unconscientious means must be wholly unfit for an offering on the altar of God. II. THAT WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO FROM GOD’S SERVICE THE WE CAN CONTROL. They are not to be "treasured or laid up." To keep them back for use at some future time, to hold them in reserve for some possible emergency, is: 1. Disobedient. God plainly and repeatedly requires of us that we should put out our "talents" in his service and in that of our fellow-men; and all the resources we may have at our disposal of every kind are talents committed to our charge. 2. Distrustful. It indicates a lack of faith in the readiness of God to provide for our returning wants, and to meet our necessities as they arise. 3. Selfish and unsympathizing. It is the action of one who has no heart to feel the strong and pressing claims of ignorance, sorrow, and degradation on our pity and our help. 4. Wasteful. III. THAT WE SHOULD DEVOTE SOME GOOD PART OF OUR TO THE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. "For them that dwell before the Lord," etc. 1. All our possessions are to be gained, held, and used religiously; they are to be "holiness to the Lord." 2. Much of what we have at our disposal should be spent in the furtherance of philanthropy: in the cause of education; in the restoration of the sick and suffering; in the reclamation of the fallen; in the help and rehabilitation of the unfortunate, etc. 3. Some of our "means" we should apply specially to the maintenance of Christian worship and of the Christian ministry. It is, indeed, possible to give handsomely toward the erection of sacred structures, and, in so doing, to be ministering to our own importance; men may be magnifying themselves when they propose and pretend to be honoring God. But, on the other hand, we render true, acceptable, and lasting service when we give freely—and in such a way as to encourage similar generosity in others—towards the worship of God, towards the publication of redeeming truth at home or abroad, towards the support of those who employ all their time and expend all their strength in the noble work of saving men and training them for the kingdom of heaven.—C. BY R. TUCK The mission of Tyre, the commercial. This is the aspect under which Tyre is best known and remembered. Dean Stanley gives a brief but characteristically suggestive description of it. "The massive remains of the ancient walls of Arvad, nearly surrounding the island of the modern Ruad, give some notion of the defenses of Tyre. The limited size of the island led, both in Tyre and Arvad, to arrangements which must have rendered them a striking exception to most Oriental and to most ancient cities. For the sake of economizing the narrow space, the houses of both were built up, fearless of earthquakes, to the height of many stories, recalling, says Strabo, the aspect of the gigantic mansions of the Augustan Rome. With this lofty mass of edifices towering on its sea-girt rock, Tyre might well be thought a fit type of the ancient queen of commerce; and the prophet naturally spoke of her as a floating palace, as a ship moored by the long strand,’ in the midst of the seas,’ with her ’masts of cedar,’ her ’sails of fine linen, blue and purple,’ her ’mariners, rowers, and pilots.’" The practical point to keep in view is that commercial nations are always in peril of getting to merely use other nations, and so to neglect their responsibilities to them. To this danger commercial England is now exposed. Very much of the talk of the day goes on the assumption that the whole world was made for the sake of England. We are being constantly reminded of our individuality, and of the precise mission of the individual; we may be profitably reminded that there is an individuality of nations, and that each nation has its separate mission and responsibility. Dr. Arnold illustrates this when he says, "There are three peoples of God’s election—Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem; two for things temporal, and one for things eternal. Yet even in things eternal they were allowed to minister. Greek cultivation and Roman polity prepared men for Christianity." "God appears to have communicated all religious knowledge to mankind through the Jewish people, and all intellectual civilization through the Greeks." As a distinctively commercial city, we may observe— I. THE MISSION OF TYRE IN . The refinement of human society comes about by the operation of the laws of association and emulation, just as does the refinement of the individual and the family. It is by seeing the things others possess, and the ways others take, that we are incited to personal, family, and social improvements. Families that shut themselves up from society keep their boorish manners. Nations isolated by natural situation civilize very slowly. Exactly what happens to the young men through Continental travel happens to a nation when it reaches out to other lands the hand of commerce. In neither case is the result wholly good, but a large share of goodness is in it, because intellectual growth and moral advancement always go along with the material advantages of civilization. II. THE MISSION OF TYRE IN THE OF THE RACE. The scattering of the nations over the earth; the development of special race-types; the separations made by antagonistic interests and aggrandizing individuals, all tend to the destruction of the sense of mutual brotherhood. And just this commercial nations revive, by bringing plainly to view how the prosperity of one nation depends on the prosperity of another, and how the well-being of the whole race-family can alone be secured by universal freedom, peace, and kindly helpfulness. Tennyson reminds of this in the lines— "Knit land to land, and blowing heavenward … III. ITS MISSION IN THE DEMAND OF FOR WORK. It is singular that man’s idea of bliss should have become "idleness." The end set before a man in this life is that he shall no longer have need for work. Yet work is man’s good—the Divine idea in his creation; the Divine agency for his culture; and the inexpressibly sad thing to say about any man, here or yonder, is that he does not work. And commerce, by constantly creating new demands and enriching our stores of raw material, makes work. All hindrances to commerce, such as taxation and war, injure the nations by putting limitations on work. Universal peace would mean a healthy activity throughout the world. Every man using his ability in the service of his fellow, and getting, as his return, the service of his fellow to him. But there are evils attending the spread of commerce. Especially such as follow the undue share of wealth possessed by individuals. Shelley speaks of it thus— "Commerce has set the mark of selfishness, The signet of its all-enslaving power, Upon a shining ore, and called it gold; Before whose image bow the vulgar great, The vainly rich, the miserable proud, The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings, And with blind feelings reverence the power That grinds them to the dust of misery." To this also must be added the tendency of commerce to create selfish interests—to destroy the idea and sentiment of personal and national honor, which seeks its vindications in war, and to encourage the notion that we are to use other people rather than to serve them, service being the supreme idea of Christ’s regenerate humanity: "I am among you as he that serveth." "The Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister."—R.T. The dependence of one nation upon another. Tyre was, according to some authorities, a colony of Zidon. And the figure in the text sets forth a corporate body, each part dependent on the other. Insular Tyre directly dependent on the mainland, and both closely related to Zidon. And yet further, the Egyptians had in their country no timber for the building of seaworthy ships, so their foreign trade was carried on for them by the Phoenicians. Some of the European nations now are pressing to secure seaports, in order to relieve their sense of dependence on others. Insular England does the carrying trade for the world, so all nations depend on her, and she in turn depends on the trading of the nations. In the pottery districts we were told that the white clay, of which biscuit china is made, is brought all the way from Cornwall, because it can be more easily carried than the heavier clay, and the coal, which are needed for the firing process. So even Staffordshire depends on Cornwall, and Cornwall on Staffordshire. Some countries send us corn, some sugar, some spice, some cotton, some fruit. Countries vary in their genius. Rome finds law for the world, Greece finds art, and Palestine finds religion. For its highest well-being no one nation can separate itself from the others. It lives and thrives by its very dependence. We only note— I. THAT THIS MUTUAL TENDS TO CHECK THE WAR-SPIRIT. The people of the nations never want war. They may be roused to a fever-heat of passion, and so be driven into war; but the long experience of the ages proves that, whoever gets good out of war, the people always suffer. Classes of society want war; but only for the maintenance of selfish interests. The evil of war is seen in its shutting the markets of the world. Such is England’s dependence on foreign corn, and so nearly does it consume its stores in the face of the new harvest, that six months’ war would threaten famine. All classes, except those who trade in war and war material, pray and strive for universal peace. Man’s true interests support the Christian principles. II. THAT THIS MUTUAL ALL . God has ordered his world so that nobody shall be "sufficient to himself." And the more a man seems to have, the more dependent he becomes, because of the increase of his wants. The most independent man is the ignorant laborer, who can lie anywhere and eat anything; the least independent, the wealthy man who has encouraged ten thousand needless wants and luxuries. God puts the abundance of one thing in one land, and of another thing in another. And the exchange of commodities enriches all. The world is one body, "and if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." The interest of one nation is the interest of all. God is the God and Father of all.—R.T. God’s constant work of humbling pride. "Jehovah Sabaoth hath devised it, to desecrate the pride of all glory." It is possible that reference may be intended to the desecration of the Tyrian temple of Hercules, which is said to have been the oldest in the world. But the reference may be general, and any actual case would but illustrate the general truth. "God did not bring these calamities upon Tyre in a way of sovereignty, to show an arbitrary and irresistible power; but he did it to punish the Tyrians for their pride. Many other sins, no doubt, reigned among them—idolatry, sensuality, and oppression; but the sin of pride is fastened upon as that which was the particular ground of God’s controversy with Tyre, for he resists the proud. Let the ruin of Tyre be a warning to all places and persons to take heed of pride; for it proclaims to all the world that he who exalts himself shall be abased." Thomson, in ’The Land and the Book,’ forcibly describes the present condition of humbled, ruined Tyre: "It (an insignificant village) is all that remains of her. But weep not for Tyre; this very silence and repose are most eloquent and emphatic on themes of the last importance to the Christian faith. There is nothing here of that which led Joshua to call it ’the strong city’ more than three thousand years ago (Joshua 19:29); nothing of that mighty metropolis which baffled the proud Nebuchadnezzar and all his power for thirteen years, until every head in his army was bald, and every shoulder peeled in the hard service against Tyrus (Ezekiel 29:18); nothing in this wretched roadstead and. empty markets to remind one of the times when merry mariners did sing in her markets; no visible trace of those towering ramparts which so long resisted the efforts of the great Alexander;—all have vanished like a troubled dream. As she now is and has long been, Tyre is God’s witness; but great, powerful, and populous, she would be the infidel’s boast." The point to be illustrated is that God will be sure to deal with individuals and with nations, for the humbling and crushing of pride. He will do so because— I. PRIDE PERIL TO A MAN’S OWN . There can be no healthy growth where it is present. The passive virtues, which are so specially commended in Christianity, cannot dwell with pride, which is so closely allied with satisfaction in self and the despising of others. Pride is a worm at the loot of the tree of character. II. PRIDE THE OF A MAN’S WITH HIS FELLOW-MEN. The proud man tries to keep away from his fellows. And his fellows are glad enough to keep away from him. It is inconceivably miserable for a "man to be placed alone in the midst of the earth." III. PRIDE SPOILS A MAN’S WITH GOD. They are founded on the proper humility of the submissive and dependent creature. For man the universal law is, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time," or else you certainly must, as Tyre, be humbled.—R.T. No escape from God’s judgments. "There also shalt thou have no rest." Either the colonists would not receive them, or their enemies would still pursue after them, seeking them out even where they had found shelter. Reference is intended to those calamities which befell the Tyrians in their subsequent settlements—Cyprus, Sicily, Carthage, and Spain. Cheyne illustrates the expression by showing that "the long arm of Assyria reached them even in Cyprus, where Lull, King of Zidon, had already sought refuge." The importance of Cyprus as a naval station was recognized by the Babylonians fifteen or sixteen centuries before Christ. The inscription of Sargon, King of Agane, relates how "the sea of the setting sun he crossed," and in the third year conquered a land which can hardly be any other than Cyprus. Cyprus was also conquered by the Assyrian Sargon. God’s judgments never exhaust themselves in acts which fail to accomplish the desired ends of humbling men’s pride and correcting men’s faults. They go on until their purpose is reached. The point to be illustrated here is that God’s judgments cannot be escaped by any fleeing from the place where God’s judgments are resting. The judgment was on the Tyrians, and it affected Tyre only for their sakes. So to escape from Tyre could not result in getting away from the afflicting and humbling hand of God. This may be efficiently illustrated from the story of Jonah, who hurried from the upland districts of Palestine to take ship at Joppa, flee across the great sea, and get away from the presence of the Lord. He could not. God holdeth "the winds in his fists, and the waters in the hollow of his hand," and can send these to execute his judgments. And still it is a fixed idea of men, out of which they need to be driven, that they can get free of their disabilities, and of Divine judgment as correction of sin, by changing their circumstances, or going from one place to another. Never. God deals with theft, and only in a secondary sense with their circumstances. As long as we sin we come into the Divine judgment. If we suffer, and yet the evil is not cured, the Divine judgments must continue. "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." And sometimes the freedom we have sought by changing our place is changed to an even more humiliating form of chastisement, as the Tyrians endured worse things in their escape than if they had remained at home. However we flee from troubles, we can never flee from ourselves, and never rice from God.—R.T. Commerce the handmaid of religion. "Her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness unto the Lord." This appears to be a prediction of the conversion of the Tyrians to the worship and service of the true God. "Instead of hoarding up their gains, or devoting them as presents to the temple of Hercules, as they had formerly done, they would now consecrate them to the support of true religion, "In the line of fulfillment we may note that Jesus Christ visited the neighborhood (Matthew 15:21); St. Paul found disciples there (Acts 21:3-6); and it early became a Christian bishopric. The prophecy would be accomplished if the Christians of Tyre sent girls to Jerusalem; as such gifts would be regarded as representative of the "merchandise." Dean Plumptre says, "Interpreted religiously, the prophet sees the admission of proselytes to the worship of Israel in the future, as he had seen it probably in the days of Hezekiah (Psalms 87:4). Interpreted politically, the words point to a return to the old alliance between Judah and Tyre in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 5:1-12), and to the gifts which that alliance involved (Psalms 45:12)." The Tyrians and Zidonians contributed to the erection of the second temple (Ezra 3:7). Commerce. as having regard to purely worldly interests, is called "harlotry." "Large marts of commerce are often compared to harlots seeking many lovers, that is, they court merchants, and admit any one for the sake of gain." Commerce is the handmaid of religion when she is— I. THE AGENT FOR . In the sense of uprightness and fairness between man and man. Religion is the chief support of practical rightness, truth to word and promise, fair taking of samples, honest wages, reasonable profits, and doing the best for those who buy of us and those who sell to us. But religion is glad of the help of all good business principles, and all good business customs. Religion is strengthened by the sense of honor that is found in commercial men. Honest commerce helps on the work which religion would do in the world. II. THE AGENT FOR CHARITY. In the sense of gentle consideration for others, and helpfulness to all who are in distress. The tendency of commerce is towards selfishness, but when touched by the spirit of religion it is sensitive to the needs of the poor, who are always multiplied by advancing civilization. Religion inspires workers among the poor and suffering and disabled. Commerce is noble when, acting as handmaid to religion, it supports the workers with its wealth, helping the hungry and the outcast to "sufficiency for eating, and to durable clothing."—R.T. SECTION VI. GOD’S GENERAL UPON THE EARTH (Isaiah 24-27.). Isaiah 24:1-20 GOD’S ON THE WORLD AT LARGE. From special denunciations of woe upon particular nations—Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria of Damascus, Egypt and Ethiopia, Arabia, Judea, Tyre—the prophet passes to denunciations of a broader character, involving the future of the whole world. This section of his work extends from the commencement of Isa 24:1-23. to the conclusion of Isa 27:1-13, thus including four chapters. The world at large is the general subject of the entire prophecy; but the "peculiar people" still maintains a marked and prominent place, as spiritually the leading country, and as one in whose fortunes the world at large would be always vitally concerned (see especially Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 25:6-8; Isaiah 26:1-4; Isaiah 27:6, Isaiah 27:9, Isaiah 27:13). Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty. Several critics (Lowth, Ewald, Gesenius, Knobel) prefer to render, "maketh the land empty;" but the broader view, which is maintained by Rosenmüller, Kay, Cheyne, and others, seems preferable. The mention of "the world" in Isaiah 24:4, and of "the-kings of the earth" in Isaiah 24:21, implies a wider field of survey than the Holy Land. Of course the expression, "maketh empty," is rhetorical, some remarkable, but not complete, depopulation being pointed at (comp. Isaiah 24:6). Turneth it upside down (comp. Ezekiel 21:27). Scattereth abroad the inhabitants. The scanty population left is dispersed, and not allowed to collect into masses. Isaiah 24:2 It shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, etc. There shall be "no respect of persons"—no favor shown to men of any particular rank or station. All shall suffer equally. The author is obliged to take as examples distinctions of rank known to him; but he carefully selects such as are of almost universal occurrence. There was scarcely any nation of antiquity in which there were not "priests and people," "masters and slaves," "buyers and sellers," "lenders and borrowers," "takers and givers of usury." By "usury" is meant, not exorbitant interest, but interest simply, of whatever amount. Isaiah 24:3 The land; rather, the earth. The same word is used as in Isaiah 24:1 (arets). Utterly spoiled; i.e. "wasted by rival armies, which have carried fire and sword over the whole of it." Compare the declaration of our Lord, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.; all these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:6-8). Isaiah 24:4 The earth … fadeth away. As a flower that fades and withers up (comp. Isaiah 1:30; Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:4; Isaiah 34:4, etc.; Psalms 1:3; Psalms 37:2). The world. Tabel has never any narrower sense than the entire "world," and must be regarded as fixing the meaning of arets in passages where (as here) the two are used as synonymous. The haughty people; or, the high ones. All the great are brought down, and laid low, that "the Lord alone may be exalted in that day" (cf. Isaiah 2:11-17). Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled. Hitherto the prophet has been concerned with the mere fact of a terrible judgment to be sent by God upon the whole world. Now he sets forth the cause of the fact. It is the old cause, which has reduced so many lauds to desolation, and which in the far-off times produced the Flood, viz. the wickedness of man (Genesis 6:5-13). The earth is "defiled" or "polluted" by the sins of its inhabitants, and has to be purged from the defilement by suffering. They have transgressed the laws. Apart from both Judaism and Christianity, all mankind have been placed by God under a double law: 1. The "law written in their hearts" (Romans 2:15), which speaks to them through their consciences, and lays them under an obligation that cannot be gainsaid. 2. The law of positive commands, given to the entire human race through the common progenitors, Adam and Noah, which is obligatory upon all to whom it has been traditionally handed down; but which has been only very partially handed down, and it is not generally felt as obligatory. Mankind has in all ages largely transgressed both laws, and both would seem to be pointed at in the present passage. The transgression of the "law written in the heart" is doubtless that which especially calls down God’s vengeance, and makes him from time to time execute wrath on the whole world. Changed the ordinance; rather, broken, violated. Transgression in act is intended, not formal abrogation of the Divine ordinances. Broken the everlasting covenant. Mr. Cheyne supposes an allusion to the covenant made with Noah (Genesis 9:16); but it seems better to understand that "everlasting covenant" which exists between God and man, in virtue of the nature wherewith God has endowed man, and of the laws which he Ires impressed upon man’s con. science. Sophocles well says of these laws, that they are ὑψίποδεςοὐρανίανδιαἰθέρα τεκνοθέντεςὧν̓́Ολυμπος πατὴρμόνοςοὐδένινθνατὰ φύσιςαηνέρωνἔτικτενοὐδὲ μήνποτελάθακατακοιμάσει Or— "Laws that walk on high, begot and bred In upper air, whose only sire is Heaven; Nor did the race of mortals give them birth, Nor will oblivion ever cause them sleep." Isaiah 24:6 The curse; rather, a curse. God has pronounced a curse upon the earth on account of man’s perversity; and hence the calamities which the earth is about to suffer. Are desolate; rather, are held as guilty. Are burned; or, scorched—shriveled up by the "burning anger" (Isaiah 30:27)and "fiery indignation" (Hebrews 10:27) of Jehovah. Isaiah 24:7 The new wine mourneth. Even when the joyous time of the vintage comes round, the earth is still sad, cannot shake off its depression or wake up to merriment. Even those most disposed to be "merry. hearted," under the dismal circumstances of the time can do nothing but "sigh." Isaiah 24:8 The mirth of tabrets … of the harp ceaseth (comp. Isaiah 5:12). The feasting, and the drinking-songs, and the musical accompaniment, common at the vintage season, are discontinued. All is dismay and wretchedness—desolation in the present, worse desolation expected in the future. Isaiah 24:9 They shall not drink wine with a song. Men will still drink; they will seek to drown their care in wine; but they will not have the heart to attempt a song as they drink. Even in their cups they will be silent. Strong drink shall be bitter. By "strong drink" (shekar) seems to be meant any intoxicating liquor whatever, including wine. Many such liquors were drunk in Palestine. All were more or less pleasant to the taste; but they would taste bitter to those who were warped and soured by the calamities of the time, which would prevent all enjoyment. Isaiah 24:10 The city of confusion is broken down. No special city seems to be intended. "Est urbis nomen collective capiendum" (Rosenmüller). Chaos (tohu) reigns in the cities, where there is no civic life, no government, no order, nothing but confusion. Every house is shut up; bolted and barred against intruders. There is no confidence, no friendly intercourse, no visiting. Isaiah 24:11 There is a crying for wine in the streets. Wine, though still manufactured (see Isaiah 24:7, Isaiah 24:9) is scarce, but is much sought after. Men clamor for it at the doors of the wine-shops, but are unable to obtain it. They crave for its exhilarating effects, or perhaps for the oblivion which it brings when drunk to excess. If they could obtain it, they would act as the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:13). But they cannot. Hence even the factitious merriment, which wine is capable of producing, is denied now to the inhabitants of the earth, with whom all joy is darkened, from whom all mirth is gone. Isaiah 24:12 The gate is smitten with destruction. The very gates of the towns, generally guarded with such care, are broken down and lie in ruins. Isaiah 24:13 When thus it shall be; rather, for so shall it be. In the time described the condition of the earth shall be like to that of an olive-ground when the beating is done, or of a vineyard when (he grapes are gathered. That is, a small and scattered remnant of inhabitants shall alone be left, like the few grapes and olives that were the portion of the gleaners (cf. Isaiah 17:6). There shall be. These words are not needed, and should be erased. The nexus is, "so it shall be as the shaking [rather, ’beating’] of an olive tree." Isaiah 24:14 They shall lift up their voice. Even in this time of depression and ruin there shall he a "remnant," which will be faithful to God, and which, from the midst of the sufferings and calamities of the period, will "lift up its voice," in songs of adoration and praise, to Jehovah, and sing, or "send forth a cry." This chorus of praise will go forth—to a large extent—from the sea; i.e. from the Mediterranean. Isaiah 24:15 Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires. The reading baiyyim, "in the fires," is doubtful. If it be regarded as sound, we must understand the "fiery trials" which were coming on the faithful remnant. But the LXX. seems to have had the reading baiyyim, "in the islands" or "in the coasts;" and so Lowth, Hitzig, and Mr. Oheyne. Isaiah 24:16 Glory to the righteous. The righteous remnant perceive that the calamities which have come upon the earth are ushering in a time of honor and glory for themselves; and they console themselves by making this fact the burden of some of their songs. Their honor, it must be remembered, is bound up with God’s glory; which will not shine forth fully till their salvation is complete, and they "reign with him" in glory (2 Timothy 2:12). But I said, My leanness. The thought of this joyful time, when the saints shall reign with their Lord in a new heaven and a new earth, recalls the prophet (contrast being one of the laws of the association of ideas) to the misery of the present, and his own participation therein. A time of suffering, of wasting, and pining away must be endured—for how long he knows not—before the joyous consummation, towards which he stretches in hope and confident expectancy, can be reached. This is the period of his "leanness." The treacherous dealers, or ungodly of the earth, will bear sway during this period, and will deal treacherously and cruelly with God’s saints, persecuting them incessantly in a thousand ways. Have dealt. The perfect of prophetic certainty. Isaiah 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee. Man will be like a hunted animal, flying from pursuit, and in danger at each step of falling into a pit or being caught in a snare (comp. Jeremiah 48:43, Jeremiah 48:44, where the idea is borrowed from this place, and applied to a particular nation). Isaiah 24:18 The noise of the fear; i.e. the sound of the pursuers. Hunters pursued their game with shouts and cries. The windows from on high are open (comp. Genesis 7:11). It is not actually another flood that is threatened, but it is a judgment as sweeping and destructive as the Flood. Isaiah 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down. The material globe itself breaks up and perishes. It is "the crack of doom." Mr. Cheyne remarks that "the language imitates the cracking and bursting with which the present world shall pass away." The Authorized Version is very feeble compared to the original. Isaiah 24:20 The earth … shall be removed like a cottage; rather, sways to and fro like a hammock, Rosenmüller observes, "Alludit ad pensiles lectos, quos, metu ferrarum, in arboribus sibi parare solent, istis in terris, non custodes solum hortorum camporumve, sed et iter facientes." The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; i.e. the earth perishes on account of men’s sins. It shall fall, and not rise again. The present earth is to disappear altogether, and to be superseded by "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). Isaiah 24:21-23 THE , AND FINAL OF GOD’S KINGDOM. Upon the destruction of the world there is to supervene a visitation of those who have been specially instrumental in producing the great wickedness that has brought the world to an end. These most guilty ones are classified under two heads: they consist of (1) the host of the high ones that are on high (literally, "the host of the height in the height"); and (2) the kings of the earth upon the earth. These are to be "gathered together in the pit," and "shut up in the prison," and finally, after a long imprisonment, punished (Isaiah 24:21, Isaiah 24:22). Then the visible reign of the Lord of hosts is to be established "in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem," and he is to rule in the presence of his "ancients" in glory (Isaiah 24:23). Isaiah 24:21 In that day. About that time—in connection with the series of events just related. The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones. It is generally allowed that these high ones, set m contrast as they are with the "kings of the earth," must belong to the class of supramundane intelligences, spiritual beings of a high order. Some have inclined to identify them with the "patron-spirits of nations," spoken of by Daniel (Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:20, Daniel 10:21); but those "patron-spirits" are among the elect and unfallen angels; they protect nations, but do not lead them into sin or wickedness; they have no need to be "visited," and will certainly not be "shut up in prison" with the wicked kings of the earth. The spirits here spoken of must belong to the class of fallen spirits—they must be included among those "principalities and powers," of whom St. Paul speaks (Ephesians 6:12), whom he calls "the rulers of the darkness of this world," and to whom he ascribes "spiritual wickedness in high places." The punishment of such spirits is, perhaps, shadowed forth in the eighty-second psalm; it was distinctly taught in the Book of Enoch; and it is glanced at by St. Jude in his Epistle (Jude 1:6). And the kings. Kings, especially kings in the Oriental sense, have an enormous influence over the nations which they govern, and therefore a heavy responsibility. The kings of the nations are viewed here as having brought about the general corruption and wickedness which has necessitated the destruction of the earth. Isaiah 24:22 In the pit; literally, in a dungeon. Mr. Cheyne suggests that sheol, or "hell," is meant; but the context points to some narrower confinement. In the prison; rather, in prison. After many days. In the Revelation (Revelation 20:2) Satan is bound "a thousand years;" i.e. an indefinite term. The imprisonment of the present passage is scarcely the same, but it is analogous. God’s purposes require sometimes long periods of inaction. Shall they be visited; or, published. The word is the same as that translated "punish" in verse 21. "Visiting" for good is scarcely to be thought of. Isaiah 24:23 The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed. Some interpret this in the light of Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12, as pointing to that physical change, real or phenomenal, in the shining of the sun and moon, which is to be one of the antecedent signs of Christ’s coming at the last day. But the expressions used suggest rather a contrast between the dazzling splendor of Christ’s actual appearance and the normal brightness of sunlight and moonlight. The greater and lesser lights will "pale their ineffectual fires" before the incomparable brightness of the "Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2). When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem. The spiritual Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem can alone be meant, since the earth is no more (verse 20). (On these, see Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21.) Before his ancients; or, his elders. Four and twenty elders, clothed in white raiment, with crowns of gold upon their heads, are represented in the Apocalypse as sitting round about the throne of God perpetually (Revelation 4:4), and worshipping God and the Lamb (Revelation 4:10; Revelation 5:8, Revelation 5:14). God’s final judgment upon the earth. In striking contrast with man’s self-complacent theories of continual progress and improvement in the world, resulting in something like the final perfection of our race, is God’s prophetic announcement that, as the years roll on, mankind will go from bad to worse, plunge deeper and deeper into wickedness, bring calamity after calamity upon themselves, and finally so provoke him that he will destroy the very earth itself as "defiled’ by its inhabitants (Isaiah 24:5), causing it to "fall, and not rise again" (Isaiah 24:20). The judgment, as set forth in this chapter, is— I. . It begins with wars, which spread from country to country, until all nations are involved in them. Territories are wasted (Isaiah 24:3); cities are thrown into confusion (Isaiah 24:10); the population of the earth rapidly diminishes; the "few men left" (Isaiah 24:6) are scattered widely over the face of the globe; there is general desolation; and there is general sadness and misery (Isaiah 24:7-12). All classes suffer (Isaiah 24:2); the haughty especially are brought down (Isaiah 24:4). If men escape one calamity, they are overtaken by another (Isaiah 24:18). Treachery is at work (Isaiah 24:16), and each man feels like a hunted animal, sure sooner or later to be the prey of the destroyer (Isaiah 24:17). The judgment passes on from man to the material fabric which he inhabits; man’s transgression lies heavy upon the earth (Isaiah 24:20); it totters and trembles from its foundations (Isaiah 24:18), reels to and fro (Isaiah 24:20), is broken up and shattered (Isaiah 24:19); finally, falls from its place. II. FINAL, AS FAR AS THIS OF THINGS IS . "The inhabitants of the earth are burned" (Isaiah 24:6); the earth is "utterly emptied" (Isaiah 24:3); the remnant that has previously escaped necessarily disappears with the earth that is their habitation; and that earth is "utterly broken down," "clean dissolved," "fallen" so as never to rise again (Isaiah 24:19, Isaiah 24:20). III. YET NOT BY SOME RAYS OF HOPE. In the midst of the gloom, and the sadness, and the desolation, and the confusion, there are yet cheerful voices heard. All flesh has not corrupted its way before the Lord. There are still those who "lift up their voice, and sing for the majesty of the Lord" (Isaiah 24:14), who "glorify the Lord" in the midst of the "fires" of affliction, and pour forth songs whereof the burden is "Honor to the righteous." They constitute, it may be, a small minority; but they are not dismayed. "God," they know, "is on their side;" and they "do not fear what flesh can do unto them." They bear witness for God to the last; and when the final crash comes they are those blessed ones who "meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17), and are translated to the heavenly kingdom, without passing through the gates of death, there to "be forever with the Lord." Isaiah 24:21, Isaiah 24:22 A sorer punishment reserved for the authors and instigators of evil than for others. The kings of the earth to a large extent lead their subjects into sin. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, by the setting up of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel, "made Israel to sin," and was the original and main cause of that lapse into idolatry which brought down destruction upon the Israelite nation. Ahab, by his marriage with Jezebel, and introduction of the Baal-worship, intensified the evil, and hastened the final overthrow. Manasseh "seduced Judah to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel" (2 Kings 21:9), and brought upon Judah a fate similar to that which had befallen the sister kingdom (2 Kings 24:3, 2 Kings 24:4). The blood-thirstiness and cruelty of the heathen nations were encouraged by their kings, who were forever engaging in unjust wars, and looking for success to the terror they inspired by the fierceness of their soldiers, who were instructed to be savage and unsparing. Hence, when the day of reckoning came, it was just that the kings should be reserved for special retribution, and punished with special severity. We must not too closely press the details of the prophetical announcement. "The pit," "the prison," are wonted phrases in the imagery of Divine retributive justice. What is intended to be taught is that exact justice will be meted out; wherever lies the main guilt of the evil done under the sun, there will be the main severity of punishment. Where kings have been in fault, kings will suffer; where nobles and prime ministers, on them will fall the heaviest woe; where leaders sprung from the ranks, theirs will be the sorest suffering. "God is not mocked." God will know who are the really guilty ones, and will execute his special vengeance upon them, however exalted they be. Nor will he spare the instigators of evil who belong to the spiritual world. Fallen spirits are ever tempting men to sin, suggesting lines of sin, egging their victims on, aiding them so far as they are permitted, and conducting them to depths of sin and wickedness whereof they would have had no conception had they been left to themselves. It is just that these spirits, who are the primary movers in the widespread conspiracy of crime, should suffer the most. St. Jude tells us of those evil angels who are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jud Jude 1:6). St. John saw in the Apocalyptic vision that "the devil who deceived the nations" was at length "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are," and was "tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10). These, too, have their deserts. Inexorable justice requires for so much sin so much suffering. The law is absolute, imperative, universal. And the whole redounds to the honor and glory of the great Ruler of the universe. "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other we are the savor of life unto life" (2 Corinthians 2:15, 2 Corinthians 2:16). The thought is overwhelming, and the apostle with reason exclaims, "And who is sufficient for these things?" BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 24:1-23 Prophecy of judgment. The difficulties, historically considered, of this chapter must be left to the exegete. We concern ourselves with the larger sense it contains of a prophecy of a judgment upon the whole world. I. THE . (Isaiah 24:1-3.) The figures of emptying, draining, are employed to denote the utter depopulation and impoverishment of the earth; also that of turning upside down, to denote disorganization and demoralization in every civil and religious institution, while the people will be driven as chaff before the wind by the scattering hand of the invader. All ranks will be alike affected and confused together in the coming calamity. "Distinction of rank is highly necessary for the economy of the world, and was never called in question but by barbarians and enthusiasts." A variety of interests and feelings is represented in the different orders of society. Each contributes an element of wealth or of culture to the commonwealth. The untutored instincts of the mass have a certain wisdom in them; but they need to be checked and guided by the intelligence of far-seeing minds. The instinct for progress only safely operates when it is met by a counter sentiment of conservatism. The minister of religion is a necessity in society, and equally necessary the free spirit of the people to check his usurpations. The theory of society is that of a complicated organism, where all the parts are mutually dependent, and each on the whole. If the servant is necessary to, the master, not less so the master to the servant; the lender to the borrower, and the reverse. One of our chief blessings is regular government and good order. How marvelous is the immense, all-teeming, yet quiet and ordered life of London! The slightest menace of disturbance to it makes us feel, or ought to make us feel, keenly the greatness of the privileges so long preserved to us. "We ought," says Calvin, "not only to acknowledge the judgment of God, but also lay it to the blame of our own sins, whenever he breaks down order and takes away instruction and courts of law; for when these fall, civilization itself fails along with them?" Again, God in his judgment is no respecter of persons. No rank is spared, not even the most sacred. On the contrary, to whom much has been given, of them much will be required. The higher the rank the deeper the fall, and the sorer the punishment where there has been ingratitude and unfaithfulness. It is secret disloyalty to the Eternal and his laws which saps the root of life, and causes in the end the mournful sight of a nation mourning, its vigor ebbing away, its great men hanging their heads like drooping flowers. The thought of many cities and Lands once flourishing, now like a flower withered down to the bare stalk, should remind us of the constancy of moral laws, of the fact that "Jehovah hath spoken the word." II. THE REASON OF THE . It closely follows upon the guilt of men. And this guilt has polluted the earth. "Blood profanes the land; The land is polluted with blood" (Numbers 35:33; Psalms 106:38). This may be taken literally or generally. Kingdoms and empires have often been "founded in blood" (cf. Isaiah 26:21). And this was a transgression of Divine commandment—the violation of a Divine statute, the breach of a standing covenant of God with men. The allusion may be to the covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:16). But if the prophecy refers to mankind in general, then we must think of the "Law written on the heart"—the Divine teaching within. "It was with the whole human race that God concluded a covenant in the person of Noah, at a time when the nations had none of them come into existence" (Delitzsch). "Therefore hath a curse devoured the earth." There is an awfulness in the logic of the Almighty; there is nothing arbitrary in his conduct, nor meaningless in his words. No curse "causeless comes." The premises of sin contain the conclusion of punishment; and from the fact of curse the fact of "blood-guilt," or of sin in general, may be certainly inferred. "All Israel have transgressed thy Law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him" (Daniel 9:11). The simple and sublime reasoning of the prophets should ever be laid to heart by us and pressed upon the conscience of others. "The land mourns;" trade is dull, taxation is heavy, wars are rife; there is murmuring and discontent. Why? The prophets are ever ready with a because—because of swearing or other falsehood, because of adultery or other impurity, because of the iniquity of statesmen, priests, or prophets, the pleasant places are dried up (cf. Jeremiah 23:10). III. THE OF THE CAUSE. It is conceived as personal. As in Zechariah 5:3 it is said to "go forth over the face of the whole earth," or to be "poured upon" men (Daniel 9:11), so here it is so said to "devour the earth." The Divine anger burns (Isaiah 30:27), and the God of judgment is as a "consuming fire." And under this terrible doom Nature betrays her silent sympathy with the fortunes of man. The drooping grape and the languishing vine seem to reflect the sadness of the people, and visibly to mourn in response to their sighs. And that popular music which charms away the pain of excessive toil, and expresses the fund of health and mirth which lies at the heart of man and the world, ceases; timbrel and lute are hushed, and the merry shouts of the laborers no longer rise from the vineyards. "Jerusalem was uninhabited as a desert. There was none going in and coming out of her children; and the sanctuary was trodden down, and the sons of foreigners were in her high place, a place of sojourn for Gentiles. Delight was taken out of Jacob, and the flute and the lyre ceased" (1 Macc. 3:45). This passage in the prayer of Judas the Maccabee is thought by Vitringa to allude to the fulfillment of the prediction. It is the doom which follows upon the abuse of the gifts of God. Abuse consists either in excessive indulgence or in oblivion of the Giver. He knows how in chastisement to insert a bitter flavor into the most favorite pleasures. The cup will be dashed from their lips, or a want of relish will be felt for it. A mind clouded by remorse will "darken the ruby of the cup and dim the glitter of the scene." If the time comes when a man is compelled to say of even innocent social pleasures, "I have no pleasure in them," can there be a keener mark of judgment on past excess or abuse? Better the crust and the draught from the spring, with healthy appetite and clean conscience, than the repast of luxury and the brimming wine-cup turned to gall on the lips by the secret chemistry of guilt. The city is chaos and the houses are closed, and in the fields, instead of the vintage shouts, are heard the howls of those who miss the sweet wine (cf. Joe 1:5). It seems that the sun of joy has gone down, and the bright spirit of gladness has fled from the earth. The olive, as the vine, is a speaking symbol of fatness, plenty, wealth, and prosperity. But the land will be like an olive stripped and bared of its fruits—a vineyard when the gleaning is over. Still a few will be left (cf. Isaiah 17:5, Isaiah 17:6); for never does God suffer his Church to become extinct, the spiritual life of mankind utterly to fail, or his work to come to a standstill. Dark as every cloud of judgment is, it will yet pass, and crushed hearts will be healed and voices now dumb burst forth anew into song. It is at least glimpses of such a future which sustain the prophet’s heart under the "burden of the Lord." IV. RUMORS OF BETTER THINGS. A cry is heard from the sea, from the Mediterranean; it must be from some of that sacred remnant acknowledging Jehovah, extolling loudly his majesty, Israel’s God! "He follows out and increases the consolations which he had briefly sketched; for having formerly (Isaiah 10:19-22) said that out of that vast multitude a few drops would be left, which would nevertheless overflow the whole world, in like manner he now says that the small number of the godly, who shall be left out of an abundant vintage, will nevertheless rejoice and utter a voice so loud that it will be heard in the most distant lands. This was done by the preaching of the gospel; for as to the condition of Judaea, it appeared to be entirely ruined by it—the national government was taken away, and they. were broken clown by foreign and civil wars in such a manner that they could never rise above them. The rest of the world was dumb in singing the praises of God, and deaf to hear his voice; but as the Jews were the firstfruits, they are here placed in the highest rank" (Calvin). 1. God can in a moment recreate and restore his Church, as it were, out of nothing. From death he brings life, out of the solitude can cause songs of praise to resound, and converts the scene of mourning into one of joy. 2. Worshippers are fitly employed in extolling God’s perfections, and not their own claims to approbation. His benefits should excite our gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises. 3. The time is to be looked forward to when all nations will call upon the true God. To call upon the Name of Israel’s God means the spread of true religion through the world. The knowledge of him merely as the wrathful and avenging God must strike man with dumbness; the knowledge of him as Redeemer must open the heart and unloose the tongue for praise. 4. True religion and human blessedness are coincident. "Honor for the righteous!" wilt be the burden of the song; "Hope to the pious!" the LXX. render. The Jews are meant in the first place, as the chosen people; then probably the elect of all nations, as typified in them. "When the prophet predicted these things, how incredible might they appear to be! for among the Jews alone was the Lord known and praised (Psalms 76:2). To them destruction is foretold, and next the publication of the words and the celebration of the praises of God; but how shall these things be done, when the people of God had been destroyed? Hence we may infer that there were few who believed these predictions. But now that these events have taken place, it is our duty to behold with admiration so great a miracle of God, because, when the Jews had been not only beaten down, but almost annihilated, still there flashed from them a spark by which the whole world was enlightened, and all who were kindled by it broke forth into a confession of the truth" (Calvin). V. OF FEELING. Before this spiritual restoration can come about, an interval of misery must be passed through. A cry of intense pain escapes the prophet’s heart: "Wasting away is for me! wasting away is for me!" He sees and feels, with realizing imagination and sympathy, the barbarous oppression from which his people will suffer. Wave upon wave of calamity seems to roll in from the horizon. To escape from the "terror" is to fall into the "pit," to come up from the "pit" is only to be taken in the snare. The windows of heaven will be opened, and a new deluge will cover the earth, which will tremble as with universal shock. Then Jehovah will "hold visitation upon the host of the highest in the height, and upon the kings of the earth upon the earth." They will be imprisoned and shut up in the prison of the lower world. Then there will be a visitation after many days: whether for the purpose of punishment or pardon, the prophet does not say, and commentators are divided. Amidst the obscurity of the passage, some truth that may be used for edification appears to glimmer. All that takes place on the earthly sphere has reference to a supernatural world. There are in a sense "angels" of nations and of men. The rabbinical saying runs that "God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince; i.e. the angel who, by whatever means he first obtained possession of the nation, has exerted an ungodly influence upon it. "Just as, according to the scriptural view, both good and evil angels attach themselves to particular men, and an elevated state of mind may sometimes afford a glimpse of this encircling company and this conflict of spirits; so do the angels contend for the rule over nations and kingdoms, either to guide them in the way of God, or to lead them astray from God; therefore the judgment upon nations will be a judgment upon angels also. The kingdom of spirit has its own history running parallel to the destinies of men" (Delitzsch). VI. FINAL OF DIVINE GLORY. The moon blushes and the sun turns pale, and Jehovah of hosts reigns royally upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the elders or representatives of the people are permitted to gaze upon his glory (cf. Exodus 24:9; Exodus 34:29). The glory of nature fades before the surpassing glory of the spiritual and eternal. Our noblest sense is that of vision, and its exercise involves that of imagination. The bright heavenly bodies delight us in part because they are significant and symbolic of light in the intellectual and moral sphere, of him who set them yonder, and who is the Light of the world. We can think of nothing more glorious than the light of the sun, except the glory of the Sun of Righteousness. That must be seen in the soul, in the conscience. And to come finally to the beatific vision; in purity of heart to see God; to close with the great Object who lies behind all the finite objects of our intellectual research; to enjoy that reposeful contemplation of the eternal beauty, of which every imperfect flash and hint reminds us in this twilight of life;—this is the goal of spiritual aspiration in every time, as it was of the prophet’s wishful thought, piercing through the darkness of the future.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Songs from afar. "From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous." Beautiful music that! For music has often been set to unworthy ends—to the praise of pride and power, to war and wrong. It has been said of one, "I care not who makes a nation’s laws, if I may make their songs." A strong antithetical way of putting, in an exaggerated way, a great truth. The songs of a people are always with them—in the field and at home, in toil and in rest. I. THE SUBJECT OF THE SONGS. "Glory to the righteous." How could this otherwise end, than in glory to God? For he is the righteous God, and there is no word by which the Psalms oftener describe him. Thus in praising the righteous we are led onward to praise the righteous God, as the God who inspires righteousness in the hearts of others. Thus we read that "in every nation he that worketh righteousness is accepted of God." No word reaches deeper. We may sing songs to the valiant, and the heroic, and the patriotic, and the brave; but righteousness speaks, not only of courage, but of conscience too. II. THE FROM WHICH THEY COME. "From the uttermost parts of the earth." Prophecy of the time when all nations shall call Christ blessed, and when his praise shall be heard from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. We have this sound from the distant places, because in the end all true lovers of righteousness will hail Christ, when he is revealed to them, as containing all the fullness of God. III. THE GLORY OF WHICH THEY BREATHE. There are divers kinds of glory. But God’s glory is the glory of the cross! There is an empty glory of self-righteousness, but that is not the glory of the righteous. Far from it. The glory of strength is to help the weak. The glory of wisdom is to enlighten the, ignorant. The glory of righteousness is to shape into order that which is wrong or wrung," from which idea of being twisted and bent from the straight course the word "wrung" comes. Yes. Glory to the righteous! For they are the salt of the earth, the safety of the nation. The Lord our Righteousness is revealed in Christ, whose holy life was not for our admiration only, or for our honor and worship, but was "lived" for us and "laid down" for us, that we might be filled with his strength, and become holy as God is holy.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 24:1-12 The charge and the calamity. These words give a vivid and a terrible picture of calamity that should befall the people of God. It is suitably called "the curse" (Isaiah 24:6), for it should prove an evil of the severest kind; and it would be other than a national misfortune—it would be the penalty of sin: therefore, because of the sins charged against the nation (Isaiah 24:5), these multiplied sorrows would overtake and overwhelm them; "for the Lord hath spoken this word" (Isaiah 24:3). I. GOD’S CHARGE AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. (Isaiah 24:5.) This is threefold. 1. Disregard of his spoken Word. "They have transgressed the laws." Those plain statements of the will of God which had been revealed in "the Law" had been deliberately disobeyed—requirements unfulfilled, prohibitions set at naught. 2. Perversion of Divine truth. "Changed the ordinance." The Jews were subtle and sinful enough to appear to keep the Law when they were habitually breaking it. This they did by changing or perverting it, by making it mean something different from the Divine intention, by taking the heart out of it, by minimizing and dwarfing it (see Matthew 15:3-9). 3. Violation of his will as revealed in our common human nature. "Broken the everlasting covenant." This covenant is well summarized in Psalms 34:15, Psalms 34:16; it has fallen into grievous and guilty disregard. Men refrained from righteousness and "did evil," yet they shrank not from the accusing eye and the uplifted hand of God (see Romans 2:14, Romans 2:15). The people of God will do well to ask themselves whether they are not in danger of being obnoxious to the same charge; whether they are not neglecting the will of God as expressly revealed in the words of Christ and his apostles; or are not changing, by radical misconstruction, the purpose of their Lord; or are not setting aside some of the first principles written in their nature by the Father of spirits. II. THE WHICH ATTENDS . This is manifold, as indicated in the text. 1. Desolation. Emptiness, waste, dispersion (Psalms 34:1), inaccessibility (Psalms 34:10; see also Psalms 34:3, Psalms 34:6, Psalms 34:12). 2. Degradation. The land "turned upside down," so that what was meant for higher ends is employed for baser ones (Psalms 34:1); "utterly spoiled" (Psalms 34:3); defilement (Psalms 34:5); resort to stimulants for false courage (Psalms 34:11). 3. Enfeeblement. The land "fadeth away," "languisheth" (Psalms 34:4); the strength of the city is gone, for even the gate (the strong place) is "smitten with destruction" (Psalms 34:12). 4. Abject misery. (Psalms 34:7, Psalms 34:8.) Even that which usually excites with pleasure has lost its charm (Psalms 34:9). 5. Completeness and commonness of the scourge (Psalms 34:2). Such, in various manifestations, according to the nature of the subject and the character of the guilt, is the calamitous issue of disobedience; so heavy is the devouring curse (Psalms 34:6) when Divine laws are disobeyed and the Divine claims denied. The land, the Church, the family, the individual life, is desolate, is degraded, is enfeebled, is rendered joyless. The best companions are dispersed, and life is lonely; the loftier and worthier ends of existence are surrendered for those less worthy, and ultimately for those which are positively base; the strength of righteousness and virtue gives place to the feebleness of folly and to the degeneracy of vice; song dies into silence and then into a wail. (1) Beware of spiritual and then moral decline. (2) Seek and find, in repentance and faith, a way up even from the dark depths of ruin.—C. Isaiah 24:13-16 The voice of the chastened. We learn— I. THAT GOD TEMPERS WITH MERCY. (Isaiah 24:13.) There will be some fruit spared, though the olive tree be terribly shaken, though the grapes have been gathered. All will not be taken from the holy land; a remnant shall be left. Though God strip a man or a nation of his (its) resources, yet will he leave him (it) a remainder, something to console him, something with which he may start anew. A starry night succeeds a stormy day; a calm and quiet age closes a life of struggle and of sorrow;, "the old familiar faces" have disappeared, but a few faithful souls still linger who can go back with us in thought and sympathy to early days. II. THAT FROM THE LIPS OF THE THERE OFTEN COME SWEET AND EVEN STRAINS. (Isaiah 24:14.) Those who have been visited in Divine wrath, and have seen their compatriots carried away into captivity, shall not give way to despondency; they shall learn to honor and to rejoice in the majesty of Jehovah; they "shall lift up the voice," "shall sing," "shall shout" (exult). Something (it does not appear what) in the Divine character will appear to them so majestic, so glorious, so beneficent, that their sweetest and strongest accents will be called forth. To those who stand outside it often seems wonderful and incomprehensible that those who are inside a great affliction should find such occasion for thanksgiving. But it is certainly true that the sick in their sickness, the poor in their poverty, the bereaved in their loneliness, often find more reason for thankful song than do the strong in their strength and the wealthy in their riches. And the song they sing is not one in which submission struggles with complaint, but rather, as here, the happy outpouring of perfect acquiescence in the Divine will,—the voice of sacred joy. III. THAT GOD WILL BE BY THOSE OFF AS BY THOSE NEAR TO HIS . (Isaiah 24:15.) "Glorify ye the Lord" in the east ("in the fires"); in the west ("the isles of the sea "); "from the uttermost part of the earth," etc. (Isaiah 24:16). Under the chastening hand of the Lord Israel went into exile; in exile the truth of God was made known as it otherwise would not have been. In other ways the judgments of God led, and still lead, to the circulation of his truth and to the magnifying of his Name. A cleansed and purified Church will be a missionary Church, through whose instrumentality the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will be known and sung on every hand. IV. THAT THE OF THE DIVINE IS THE OF ALL SERVICE. "Glory to the Righteous One" (Isaiah 24:16). Ill indeed would it be for the land in which the piety of the people lost its hold on the righteousness of God. In the absence of righteousness from his character, there would be nothing worth calling goodness or mercy on his part and nothing worth calling reverence or devotion on ours. All religion worthy of the name rests on the righteousness of God. The wave of sentiment that would weaken our sense of it is one that washes against our deepest and highest interests, and should be steadfastly opposed. Above and beneath all other things God is the Righteous One, at the remembrance of whose holiness we do well to give thanks (Psalms 30:4), in whose purity and perfection we do well to glory.—C. Isaiah 24:16-22 Five fruits of transgression. The key-note of this passage is found in the twentieth verse: "The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it." All these dire evils are the consequences of national transgression. They are fivefold. I. IT . The prophet, speaking not only for himself, but for his country, exclaims, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" (Isaiah 24:16). The violation of Divine Law not only (1) reduces a man’s bodily strength, causing him to waste away, and bringing the pale cheek and the trembling nerve; but it (2) outs down a man’s resources, changing the princely revenue into a beggar’s dole; moreover, it (3) impoverishes the mind, causing it to starve on empty folly while it might be nourished with heavenly truth; and (4) it despoils the soul, making it barren of those noble virtues and those exquisite graces which elevate and beautify human character. II. IT DELUDES. It is full of treachery (Isaiah 24:16); its victims delude themselves with the notion that they are escaping, but they only flee from the noise to fall into the pit, or escape from the pit to be entangled in the net (Isaiah 24:17, Isaiah 24:18). This is "the deceitfulness of sin." Men think they will shake themselves free from their iniquity a little further on, but they find that temptation awaits them at every point, that one sin paves the way for another: indulgence leads down to dishonesty, and dishonesty conducts to falsehood; superstition ends in skepticism, and skepticism in utter unbelief. There is no escape from the consequences of folly but by entering the path of wisdom, from the penalty of sin but by penitence and purity. They who look to time and chance for deliverance are only deluding themselves with a hope which will certainly "make ashamed" those that cherish it. III. IT . "The foundations of the earth do shake … the earth is moved exceedingly … (it) shall reel to and fro"(Isaiah 24:18-20). There often comes a time in the history of folly, or of crime, or of transgression, when the subject of it—individual or collective—finds everything unsettled, shaking beneath his (its) feet; it is to him as if the very ground were rocking; friends fall away, kindred disown, confidence is lost, obligations are pressed against him, the last measures are taken, liberty itself is threatened, the blackest clouds overhang; behind is folly and before is ruin, while within are agitation and alarm. IV. IT AND EVEN CRUSHES. "The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again" (Isaiah 24:20). Sin lies with a heavy weight upon the soul. The sense of guilt, the Wearing weight of wrong-doing, oppresses the spirit, takes away its elasticity, its freshness, its vigor. Sometimes it does much more than that—it crushes the soul; it makes it incapable of attempting anything better; it gives way to a fatal despondency, and pursues the evil path even to the bitter end. One of the very worst penalties of sin is the dead weight which it lays on the spirit of the sinner, killing his hope and dooming him to despair and death. V. IT . The "high ones" were to be "shut up in the prison" (Isaiah 24:21, Isaiah 24:22). There is no dungeon, however dark and strong, in which the bodies of men have been confined that is so dark and so deplorable as "the pit" or "prison" in which sin shuts up its victims. The children of iniquity are slaves; they wear bends which are more firmly riveted than the closest iron fetters on human limbs; they are bondmen indeed; their pitiable thraldom is slavery itself, of which the imprisonment of the body is only the type and picture. In Jesus Christ and in his service is: 1. Enlargement. 2. Truth and disillusion. 3. The calm of conscientiousness and a well-grounded hope. 4. Expectation founded on a wise and holy trustfulness. 5. Spiritual freedom. "Whom the Son makes free, they are free indeed;" "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."—C. BY R. TUCK Common burden-bearing. The figure of calamity given in Isaiah 24:1 is that of emptying a vessel by turning it upside down. In national calamities all classes share alike. There is indiscriminate ruin. No distinction is made between the different ranks and conditions of life, though the idle poor are always the first to suffer. Illustrations may be taken from the great Lancashire cotton famine; or from times of trade depression which; as year after year passes on, reaches every class and section of society. "It is in a special manner true of the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful nations; when he pleases he can make them universal, so that none shall escape them or be exempt from them; whether men have little or much, they shall lose it all. Those of the meaner sort smart first by famine; but those of the higher rank go first into captivity, while the poor of the land are left. Let not those that are advanced in the world set their inferiors at too great a distance, because they know not how soon they may be put upon a level with them" (Matthew Henry). The Apostle Paul advises that we accept the fact of burdens being common, and strive to turn the bearing of them into Christian virtue. "Bear ye one another’s burdens." "Every man shall bear his own burden." It is as if he had said, "Bear ye one another’s burdens, by kindly sympathy and ready help, as far as ever you can, partly because you have a very heavy burden of your own to bear, so you know what burden-bearing means, and partly because, come near to help one another how you may, you know from yourselves how true it is that every man must bear his own burden; the really heavy weight of it can rest on no shoulders but his own" I. THE BURDENS THAT PRESS ON EACH ONE. The text suggests such as are special to times of calamity and distress, but we may treat our topic in a comprehensive way, so as to get direct practical applications. Each one of us has burdens as directly related to his sins and sinfulness as the woes of Jerusalem were to the national transgressions. The histories of cities and nations do but picture in the large the story of individuals. The cursory reader of the Pilgrims Progress will tell you that the pilgrim lost his burden from his shoulders when he gazed so trustfully upon the cross. But the more careful reader, who notes Christian’s infirmities, and frailties, and stumblings, and falls, will tell you that the pilgrim bore his burdens right through to the end, and that they weighed him down even when crossing the stream. We have our burdens in our frail bodies—frail in the nerves, the head, the bones, the lungs, or yet more secret organs. Each one has a real "thorn in the flesh," which has influences far wider and more serious than he thinks. We have our burdens in our dispositions and characters—burdens of despondency, or of impulsiveness, or of carnality, or of masterfulness, or of vanity, giving a bad appearance to all our work and relationship. And the problem of our life is just this: "How true, how beautiful can we become, with that burden, under the pressures and hindrances of that burden?" There is divinely arranged a great variety and wide distribution of burdens and disabilities, both in the sense of infirmities and calamities, so that we might come very near to one another, and really help one another. As we meet and feel "I am a man with a burden," we look into the face of our fellows, and he is a poor face-reader who does not say, "And my brother, too, is evidently a man with a burden." Perhaps a suspicion even crosses our mind that our brother’s burden is heavier than our own. Burdens, when rightly borne, never separate men from each other. The sanctified bearing of our own makes us so simple, so gentle, so tender-hearted, that we can bear the burdens of others, in the spirit of our meekness and sympathy, and so fulfill the law of Christ. II. THE BURDENS THAT WE MAY BEAR WITH OTHERS. There are common burdens in the home life; common burdens in the business life; common burdens in the social life; and common burdens in the national life; and we properly think ill things of the individuals or the classes that isolate themselves, and refuse to share the common burden. But it will be well to ask how practically we can take up the common burden so as to really help our brethren who are in the common trouble? Our great power is our power of sympathy. We can come so near to our brother in his weakness, his disability, even in his sin, that he shall feel as if another shoulder were put under his burden, and it felt to him a little lighter. We all yearn for sympathy; we all want some other human heart to feel in our trouble-times; "Oh what a joy on earth to find A mirror in an answering mind!" But we can often enter, as a relieving power, into the circumstances that make the burden. The doctor takes the sufferer into his interest and care, and deals helpfully with the circumstances that make the burden. And every one of us can be a doctor for the moral difficulties and distresses of life. We have all more power ever the circumstances that make trouble than we think; we can "lift up hands that hang down, and strengthen feeble knees." Beautiful in time of national calamity is the help which the poor give to the poor. Beautiful ought to be the help which each gives to each, and all to all, in the ordinary burden-bearing of family and social life.—R.T. The future for haughty folk. "The haughty people of the earth do languish." The proud are an offence unto God. It is not the rich who find it so difficult to enter the kingdom of God; it is they who "trust in riches," who boast of their riches, who make their riches the occasion for despising others. I. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY . Fortune tells upon precisely those things in which they pride themselves. The picture of trembling, suffering old age, given in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is designed as a warning to the proud. See what you are certainly coming to who admired your fine persons, made so much of your independence, and pampered your appetites and passions. The picture of old age is not that of the ordinary man, but of the haughty, masterful sensualist, the sinner of the high places of society, whose iniquity comes back upon him. It is enough for haughty folk to live; life becomes their humbling and their chastisement. II. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY . For they cannot win love. Everybody serves them in fear or for pay; and so, oftentimes, their very grandeur is undermined by those about them, their riches takes wings and fly away, their dependents take advantage of their times of weakness, and all are glad to see the haughty humbled. Striking illustration may be found in the career of Squire Beckford, of Fonthill. An insufferably austere and haughty man, the providences were against him. His mansion fell with a crash. His projects failed. He was humbled to the dust, and died almost a beggar. III. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY . For God must punish pride. It cannot be allowed to lift up its bead. The Lord hath a controversy with it. Nebuchadnezzar eats grass like an ox. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen"—Babylon, the type of the haughty. Belshazzar sees the recording finger write the judgment of the proud. God will bring into contempt all the proud of the earth. "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Time is on the side of the meek. Time is against the haughty. The judgments of God gather, like black thunder-clouds, against those whose hearts are lifted up. The storm will burst in the ever-nearing future. The haughty man’s prosperity may blossom as a garden of delights; but God will breathe his blight upon it, and behold, as in our text, "the haughty people of the earth do languish." Then, with a true fear, let us "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God."—R.T. Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 24:6 The necessary connection of suffering with sin. "Because they have transgressed the laws … therefore hath the curse devoured the earth." The great Eastern empires had no staying power. In a few generations dynasties, even empires, were swept clean away. And the reason is not far to seek. The great Eastern kingdoms were founded on blood-shedding; and for the sin of violence God keeps the curse of destruction. ’A lesson which he taught the world once for all when he swept away the old violent humanity with a flood: "The earth never spews out its inhabitants until they have defiled it by their sin." This subject is presented to us under a variety of aspects, and with an abundance of illustration. It is one of the great messages of the Bible. We do but give it here a little freshness of form and setting. I. SIN COMES FIRST. God always begins with Eden. The Eden of bright happy youth in every man’s life. There is no suffering where there is no sin. Thorns and briers come when man has acted in willfulness. Suffering has no mission save as the corrective of sin and sin’s consequences. Our first parents disobey, and then suffering comes. Man follows the "devices and desires of his own heart," and then the corrective Divine judgments come. And suffering has always this justification, that sin has come first. Illustrate in the case of King Saul. II. SIN MAY HAVE A LONG TETHER. This often creates confusion in men’s minds. They think the sin cannot be evil because the punishment is so long delayed. So the uncleanness of cities goes on for years, and seems to be no serious evil; but presently the plague comes and sweeps its thousands away. Israel presumed on the holding over of its national judgments, but presently overwhelming destruction came. We can often sin on for years with apparent impunity, never with real impunity. Storms are gathering, though they wait their time for bursting. III. KEEPS SIN COMPANY ON ITS WAY. It is always present; always ready to give signs of its presence; always making monitions. It is held back only in the long-suffering of God’s mercy, the "goodness of God thus leading men to repentance." IV. PLAINLY STAMPS THE EVIL OF SIN IN THE END. AS in the case of the drunkard, the sensualist, the dishonest. You can tell the value of a thing by its wage, and the "wages of sin is death." You can estimate a thing by its issues, and "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." This lesson the history of individuals and of nations, ancient and modern, teaches, but teaches in vain to the sons of men. We say, "Ah, yes! It may be true of sin, but it is not true of our sin."—R.T. The distress of pampered appetites. "They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it." There is, at first, a carnal pleasure in self-indulgence, in lust of eating and drinking, and in sensuality. But, sooner or later, God takes the song out of it. This must ever be the distress of mere appetite—it can excite, it can make ever-increasing demands, but it cannot satisfy. To indulge mere appetite and passion is to "spend money for that which is not bread, and … labor for that which satisfieth not." The young do not believe this; the old man knows it, and he says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment!" and that judgment comes either in early death, or in bitterness and woe if life, is long spared. Sir W. Raleigh on this ground solemnly warns his son: "Take special care that thou delight not in wine; for there never was any man that came to honor and preferment that loved it; for it transformeth a man into a beast, decayeth health, poisoneth the breath, destroyeth natural heat, brings a man’s stomach to an artificial heat, deformeth the face, rotteth the teeth, and, to conclude, maketh a man contemptible, soon old, and despised of all wise and worthy men." And Matthew Henry says, "God has many ways to embitter wine and strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of them—distemper of body, anguish of mind; the ruin of the estate or country will make the strong drink bitter, and all the delights of sense tasteless and insipid." The distress of the men of pampered appetites comes in one or the other of the two following forms. I. IS , BUT THE POWER TO ENJOY IS GONE. For appetite and passion wear out, after they have fixed in the soul a dull and dreadful craving that gives a man no rest. Late in life circumstances often give the money, the time, the positions which are essential to self-indulgence, and the man is in the midst of this unspeakable misery—that he is physically unable to enjoy. This is God’s bitter punishment of sensuality in this life. II; BECOMES , AND THERE IS NOTHING TO FEED IT ON. Or it slips away, always just out of reach, as the water to Tantalus. Every act of self-indulgence has a tendency to repeat itself. You cannot stop with once. But as the act is repeated it becomes more intense, it wants more force. The desire grows until it gets beyond a man, and nothing on earth can satisfy. Then Providence places a man in some captivity, like these pampered Jews, where there is the unspeakable misery of immense passion for sensual enjoyment and nothing to enjoy. These are the two features of God’s hell upon earth.—R.T. The mission of remnants. Explaining the figure used in this verse, Thomson says, "Early in autumn the olive berries begin to drop of themselves, or are shaken off by the wind. They are allowed to remain under the trees for some time, guarded by the watchman of the town—a very familiar Bible character. Then a proclamation is made by the governor that all who have trees go out and pick what has fallen. Previous to this, not even the owners are allowed to gather olives in the groves. This proclamation is repeated once or twice, according to the season. In November comes the general and final summons, which sends forth all Hasbeiya. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 25:1-12 ISAIAH’S SONG OF PRAISE ON THE OF GOD’S KINGDOM. AS in Isaiah 12:1-6, after describing the first setting up of Christ’s kingdom and the call of the Gentiles, the prophet broke out into song, through joy at the tidings he was commissioned to announce, so now, having proclaimed the final establishment of the same kingdom in the heavenly Zion, he is again carried away by the sense of exultant gladness into a fresh Lobgesang, which he utters in his own person—not, as the former one, in the person of the Church. His song divides itself into three sections: (1) Isaiah 12:1-5, a thanksgiving for deliverance; (2) Isaiah 12:6 -8, a commemoration of blessings granted; and (3) verses 9-12, exultation in the security obtained. Isaiah 25:1 Thou art my God; I will exalt thee (comp. Exodus 15:2 and Psalms 118:28). To Isaiah the "Song of Moses" seems to have been a pattern thanksgiving, from which he delighted to draw his phrases when he was bent on formally singing praise to God. Compare the following: Exodus 15:2 with Isaiah 12:2, "He is become my salvation;" the same with Isaiah 25:1, "He is my God; I will exalt him;" Exodus 15:6 with Isaiah 13:16, "Hath dashed in pieces;" Exodus 15:7 with Isaiah 47:14, "Consumed them as stubble;" Exodus 15:11 with Isaiah 46:5, "Who is like," etc.? the same with Isaiah 25:1, "Doing wonders;" Exodus 15:16 with Isaiah 8:13, "Fear and dread;" Exodus 15:18 with Isaiah 24:23, "The Lord shall reign." Wonderful things; thy counsels of old are, etc.; rather, thou hast wrought wonders, counsels of old, faithfulness and truth. The wonders for which God is praised were decreed in his counsels from all eternity; their accomplishment shows forth God’s "faithfulness" and "truth." Isaiah 25:2 Thou hast made of a city an heap. No particular city is pointed at. The prophet has in his mind the fate of all those cities which have been enemies of Jehovah and persecutors of the saints upon earth. A defended city; i.e. "a fenced, or fortified, city." A palace of strangers. As the "city" of this passage is not an individual city, so the "palace" is not an individual palace. All the palaces of those who were "strangers" to God and his covenant have ceased to be—they are whelmed in the general destruction (see Isaiah 24:20). They will never rise again out of their ruins. Isaiah 25:3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee; rather, strong peoples. God’s judgments on the nations specially hostile to him would cause some among the heathen peoples to range themselves on his side. Perhaps Persia is mainly intended (see Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1, etc.; and comp. Ezra 1:1-4; Ezra 6:3-12, etc.). The city of the terrible nations; rather, cities of terrible nations. Though the noun is singular, the verb is plural, showing that the word "city" is again used distributively. Isaiah 25:4 The poor … the needy. The "poor and needy" are especially the afflicted saints, whom the ungodly of the earth have so long injured and oppressed. God is ever a "Strength" and "Refuge" to such (comp. Isaiah 14:30; Isaiah 29:19; and see also Psalms 72:12-14). A Refuge from the storm (comp. Isaiah 4:6; and the Psalms passim). A Shadow from the heat. The idea is a little enlarged in Isaiah 32:2. Its germ is, perhaps, to be found in Psalms 121:5, Psalms 121:6. No writer accumulates striking images with such force and beauty as Isaiah. Primarily, the entire imagery has reference to what God will have done for his people when the final consummation arrives. Secondarily, a precious encouragement is held out to all who are undergoing their earthly trial and probation, who are taught where to look for a sure refuge in time of trouble. Isaiah 25:5 Thou shalt bring down. The past foreshadows the future. What God had done in "bringing down" the enemies of his saints, he would do again and again. He could as easily bring to naught the clamorous uprising of heathen nations (strangers) against his people, as temper the sun’s heat by the interposition of a thick cloud. The branch; rather, the song (comp. Isaiah 24:16; Job 35:10; Psalms 95:2; Psalms 119:51). The exultant chant of triumph which the ungodly are sure to raise as they deem their victory over the people of God complete, will be stopped in mid-career, and "brought low," or reduced to silence, by the crushing overthrow predicted in Isaiah 24:1-23. Isaiah 25:6-8 The blessings of the final state are now touched upon, as a special subject for thanksgiving. They are not enumerated; but a certain number are set forth, as specimens from which we may form a conception of the general condition of the "saved." These are: (1) a heavenly feast, in which they will all participate (Isaiah 25:6); (2) a removal of the "veil," or "covering," which is in this life over all things, causing men to have an indistinct vision, and an erroneous estimate of their value; (3) the abolition of death, which will no longer hang over them as a thing to be feared; and (4) the cessation of tears, or the entire freedom of the saved from all sorrow. Isaiah 25:6 In this mountain; i.e. the heavenly Zion—the "mountain of the Lord’s house" (Isaiah 2:2; comp. Isaiah 24:23). Unto all people; rather, unto all peoples. There is no restriction of salvation to any particular race or nation—"Jew, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free" (Colossians 3:11), are equally invited, and some of each come in (comp. Daniel 7:14; Matthew 8:11; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9). The Church of the redeemed contains men and women of all "nations and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues." A feast of fat things. It follows from many passages of Holy Scripture that there is something in the final beatitude of man which is best represented to us in our present condition by the image of a "feast"—something very different, no doubt, from the festive joy of which our Teutonic ancestors hoped to partake in the halls of Odin, but yet figured to us most fitly and appropriately by terms ordinarily used to describe earthly feasting. Our Lord tells of a "marriage supper," to which he will invite his friends (Matthew 22:2-12); and the scene of the "marriage supper of the Lamb, "according to St. John in the Revelation" (Revelation 19:7-9), is heaven. There man, it would seem, will partake of a sacrificial feast with his glorified Lord (Matthew 26:29)—will eat the "heavenly manna," which is "angels’ food" (Psalms 78:25), and drink a spiritual drink which may be called "the fruit of the vine," deriving from this "eating" and "drinking" life and joy and strength. It has been already observed, in the Commentary upon Exodus, that the sacrificial meal on Sinai, whereto the seventy elders were admitted (Exodus 24:9-11), prefigured this heavenly feasting, and throws a certain light upon it. All gross and carnal ideas must, of course, be subtracted from the conception of the heavenly festivity; but it seems to be true to say that our author, and also St. John and our Lord himself, imply that in the world to come there will be a feast, at which God will be the Host, and all men, priests and laity alike, his guests, and receive from him the choicest and most exquisite gifts—gifts which will make them supremely happy. A feast of wines on the lees. ’Wine which remained on its Ices, and was not poured off them into another vessel, was considered to be of especial strength (see Jeremiah 48:11). Its defect was a want of clearness. The wine of the heavenly banquet is to be at once strong and perfectly clear or "well refined." Isaiah 25:7 He will destroy … the face of the covering. According to some, the "covering cast ever all people" is death, and the second clause of the verse is a mere repetition of the first. But, though the heads of criminals were covered when they were led to execution (Esther 7:8), yet death itself is never elsewhere called a "covering." May not the prophet have in view that "veil" or "covering" of misconception and prejudice, whereof St. Paul speaks as lying "on the hearts of the Jewish nation," and preventing them from discerning the true sense of Scripture (2 Corinthians 3:15)? Certainly one of the great curses of humanity while here is its inability to see things as they really are—its colored, distorted, prejudiced, views of life and death, of this world and the next, of self-interest, duty, happiness. This "veil" is certainly to be done away; for "now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known" (2 Corinthians 13:12). Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; rather, he will abolish death forever. Hosea, a contemporary, was inspired to write! "Will ransom Israel from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction" (Hosea 13:14); but otherwise this was the first announcement that death was to disappear and to cease to be a possibility. It was an enormous advance on the dim and vague conceptions of a future life hitherto current (Job 19:25, Job 19:27; Psalms 17:15) to have such an announcement made as this. Hitherto men had been "through fear of death all their life subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:15). Now they were taught that, in the resurrection-life, there would be no tear, no possibility of death. The joyous outburst of the apostle, when he quotes the present passage (2 Corinthians 15:54), is the natural thanksgiving song of reassured humanity, on recognizing its final deliverance from the unspeakable terror of death and annihilation. The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. A recent commentator asks, "What place is left for tears?" But surely death is not the only cause of human mourning. Our own sins, the sins and sufferings of our dear ones, are the main provocatives of our tears. When it is promised, as here and in Revelation 7:17 and Revelation 21:4, that "there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying," the revelation is made that there shall be no more sin; for where sin is, sorrow must be. The rebuke of his people shall he take away. It will be among the lesser satisfactions of the final condition of the saved that they are no longer subject to reproach. In this life they have to endure continually reproach, rebuke, contumely (Psalms 74:10; Psalms 89:50, Psalms 89:51, etc.). In the resurrection-life they will be exempt from any such annoyance. The Lord hath spoken it. God’s word has gone forth. There can be no retractation. The blessings promised are certain to be obtained. Isaiah 25:9-12 After thanksgiving for deliverance in the past, and commemoration of blessings in the present, confidence is expressed in the future. (1) The redeemed declare their joy that they have "waited for God," trusted in him, and looked to him for salvation. They feel that they "have their reward." (2) The prophet declares his conviction that the enemies of God’s elect are henceforth powerless. They are personified under the name of "Moab," and regarded as still animated by sentiments of hostility; but their absolute impotency for working evil is insisted on (Isaiah 25:11, Isaiah 25:12). Isaiah 25:9 It shall be said; literally, one shall say; i.e. the redeemed generally shall thus express themselves. We have waited for him. During all the weary time of their oppression and persecution, the godly remnant (Isaiah 24:13-15) was "waiting fur the Lord," i.e. trusting in him, expecting him to arise and scatter his enemies, won-daring that he endured so long the "contradiction of sinners against himself" (Hebrews 12:3), but content to abide his determination of the fitting season for coming forward as their Avenger, and now quite satisfied that he has avenged them in his own good time and in his own good way. We will be glad and rejoice (comp. Psalms 118:24 and So Psalms 1:4). Isaiah 25:10 In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest. The protecting hand of God will ever be stretched out over the spiritual Zion—the Church of the Redeemed—to defend it and keep it safe throughout eternity. Moab shall be trodden down. Various reasons have been given for the selection of Moab to represent the enemies of the redeemed. Perhaps, as the Moabites were, on the whole, the bitterest of all the adversaries of the Jews (see 2 Kings 24:2; Ezekiel 25:8-11), they are regarded as the fittest representatives of the human adversaries of God. For the dung-hill; rather, in the water of a dung-pit. The image is, perhaps, selected with conscious reference to Psalms 83:1-18; where the psalmist prays that the "children of Lot" and their helpers may become "as the dung of the earth" (Psalms 83:10). Isaiah 25:11 He shall spread forth his hands … as he that swimmeth. Moab will endeavor to save himself from sinking in the water of the dung-pit; but in vain. God will bring down his pride, or abase his haughtiness, together with all the plots and snares that he contrives. A continued plotting of the enemies of God against his Church seems to be assumed, even after the Church is established in the spiritual Zion under the direct protection and rule of Jehovah. Isaiah 25:12 The fortress of the high fort … shall he bring down, etc.; rather, hath he bowed down, laid low, brought down to earth. The past mercies of God in abasing the pride of the Church’s foes, rather than any further mercies of the same kind, seem to be here spoken of. Mr. Cheyne suggests that the verse is out of place. The place of thanksgiving in the religious life. It is generally agreed by Christians that the religious life embraces a considerable number of separate duties of a strictly religious character. Among these the first place is ordinarily assigned to prayer; the second to reading of the Scriptures; the third, perhaps, to meditation; and so forth. But it is not always, or indeed very often, that a distinct position, or a very prominent position, is assigned to praise and thanksgiving. Prayer is apt to be made the staple of our religious exercises, thanksgiving to be huddled off into a comer. Yet, if we will consider the matter, we shall find that, on all grounds, thanksgiving is entitled to at least an equal place in our regards with prayer. I. IS POINTED OUT BY NATURE AS A DUTY NO LESS THAN PRAYER. It is as the Giver of benefits that man seems first to have recognized God. Worship began with altars and sacrifices (Genesis 4:3-5), which were primarily thank offerings. One of the earliest forms of religion was sun-worship, and the reason for selecting the sun as the object of religious regard was the manifest fact that from the sun man derives so many and such great blessings. Geolatry was another very early form of worship, and took its rise from the feeling that the earth was a nursing mother, comprehending in herself a manifold variety of beneficent influences. The very name "God" is probably a modification of the root gut, or "good," and was given to the Supreme Being by our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, in recognition of his goodness in bestowing upon us so many benefits. The first religious utterances seem to have taken the shape of hymns rather than prayers (Genesis 14:19, Genesis 14:20; Exodus 15:1-18); and hymns or psalms form the most antique portions of all rituals. II. IS, EQUALLY WITH PRAYER, ON MEN AS A DUTY IN . If prayer is required in such phrases as, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17); "I will that all men pray everywhere" (1 Timothy 2:8); "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1); "Pray one for another" (James 5:16); thanksgiving is as frequently and as positively enjoined in passages like the following: "Give thanks always for all things" (Ephesians 5:20); "I exhort that … giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Timothy 2:1); "Offer sacrifices of praises, giving thanks’ (Hebrews 13:15); "With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6). III. IS, EQUALLY WITH PRAYER, SET BEFORE US BY THE CHURCH AS A DUTY. The ritual of the Jewish Church was almost entirely one of praise. The Book of Psalms is the Israelite’s ’Manual of Devotion.’ Our own Church declares the objects for which we assemble in public worship to be (1) "to render thanks for the great benefits which we have received at God’s hands;" (2) "to set forth his most worthy praise;" (3) "to hear his most Holy Word;" and (4) "to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul"—assigning to thanksgiving and praise the foremost place. The Eucharistic service is that in which Christian worship culminates, and that service is, by its very name, a service of praise. The embodiment of the entire Psalter in our Prayer-book is a strong evidence of the importance which our Church assigns to praise. IV. PRAISE IS, IN ITS NATURE, A HIGHER THAN PRAYER. In prayer we approach God for our own sakes, desiring something of him. In praise we have no selfish object, but desire simply to honor God by setting forth his admirable qualities and declaring the reasons that we have for loving and adoring him. Praise is the enduring attitude of angels, who have (comparatively speaking) no occasion for prayer. Prayer implies imperfection, want, need, defect of nature. Praise is appropriate when all wants are satisfied, when the nature is no longer defective, when no need is felt. Thus prayer belongs to the probation period of man’s existence; but praise will ring on through the vaults of heaven for all eternity. The cry in the heavenly Jerusalem will ever be, "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest" (Revelation 15:3, Revelation 15:4). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 25:1-8 Hymn of praise to Jehovah. I. THE OF GOD. This is one of the great marks of personal, spiritual religion. Other nations have known their gods as leaders in war, protectors of hearth and home; it was reserved for Israel and for Christianity to think of the High and Holy One as tenanting the heart and soul of the believer. Jehovah is not only "my father’s God,"—this would be merely traditional religion; but "my God," "my Salvation,"—this is personal religion . This is seen in his counsels and in the execution of them. 1. His far-reaching counsels. God’s thoughts are not extempore inspirations, accidental—"happy," as we say, springing up in no fixed order or method; they originated "long ago" (Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 37:26). To God nothing is sudden or unforeseen; though to us it may seem" the unexpected always happens." All things were ordained by him before the foundation of the world (Acts 15:18). "All the wonders which happen contrary to the expectation of men are the result of that regular order which God maintains in governing the world, arranging all things from the beginning to the end. Now, since we do not understand these secret decrees, and our powers of understanding cannot rise so high, our attention must therefore be directed to the manifestation of them; for they are concealed from us, and exceed our comprehension, till the Lord reveal them by his Word, in which he accommodates himself to our weakness; for his decree is unsearchable" (Calvin). 2. The faithful realization of them in history. The imperial city, the city of Israel’s oppressors (Isaiah 24:10), is destroyed. It has become a ruinous heap of stones; and the palace of the barbarians will never again rise out of those ruins. It is symbolic in its fate of heathen pride and power and superstition, and all that exalts itself against the true God and the true religion. III. THE EFFECT OF HIS ON THE HEATHEN. They will honor the mighty God of Israel. They will be converted from rudeness and wildness to meekness and lowly reverence. The former oppressors will bow in fear before him. "They are affrighted, and give glory to the God of heaven" (Revelation 11:13). For in great crises, in days of judgment, the nature of Jehovah and his rule is made manifest to men. The calm, unbroken smile of the summer day does not so reveal God to us in his power and beneficence as the thunder and the lightning, followed by the refreshing rain. Revolutions awaken the slumbering consciences of the nation; and God is revealed, not only by the objects and institutions he overthrows, but by those which are protected and fostered in the midst of and by the very means of change. He is seen to have been, in the magnificent imagery of the prophet, "a fortress to the weak, a fortress to the poor in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat" (cf. Isaiah 30:3; Isaiah 4:6; Isaiah 32:2; Isaiah 16:3). As he can quell the fiery heat by bringing up a shady thicket of clouds, (Jeremiah 4:29, Exodus 19:9 Psalms 18:12), or say to the proud waves of the sea, "Thus far, and no further!" so did he dispel the thundering hordes of the assailants of his people. So in later times did he meet the "blast of threats and slaughter" (Acts 9:1) from the mouth of an arch-persecutor, and turn, by his mighty and merciful self-manifestation, that arch-persecutor into an arch-apostle. And to the infant Church he became what is described in Psalms 18:4. Behind the providence which "frowns," the "smiling face" is ever hidden. IV. THE . In this mountain of Zion, where the prophet dwells, the seat of the Divine presence, a feast of fat things, with wines on the lees well strained, will be made for all peoples. They will be incorporated into the kingdom of Jehovah; many having come from east and west, and north and south, to sit down in the kingdom of God. The feast is symbolic of all spiritual and temporal blessings, as it is in the parables of our Savior. It is symbolic of satisfaction: "The meek shall eat and be satisfied" (Psalms 22:26). The allusion may be to the thank or peace offering: "I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness" (Jeremiah 31:14; cf. Le Jeremiah 7:31). The meal which followed the sacrifice was a joyous and festive occasion. It was expected by the Jews that the glorious Messianic time would be ushered in by a great feast; and of this, doubtless, the guest at the dinner-table of the Pharisee was thinking when he exclaimed, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" As the feast, so the age, of the Messiah is to be unending. And in one great burst of universal joy, death and sorrow are to be swallowed up. Death is signified by the covering or veil cast over all nations, or web woven over them. The covered head is a sign of mourning in antiquity in general; it will be withdrawn (Psalms 21:10; Psalms 55:10). Darkness and oblivion are associated with death; this will greatly give way before the light of Jehovah. The bondage to the fear of death will be broken, death itself will be abolished, and life and immortality be brought to light (2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:54). The promise belongs to the Jewish nation (Hosea 13:14), and to all its believing members. All sorrow is more or less rooted in the associations of death; this too shall cease, and Jehovah shall wipe away all tears from off all faces. The reproaches so long leveled at the people in their worldwide dispersion shall be taken away. No more will the taunt be leveled at them, "Where is now your God?" (Psalms 79:10). Sin will be eradicated, which has had its fruit in tears, in shame, and in death. "The new Jerusalem is Jehovah’s throne, but the whole earth is Jehovah’s glorious kingdom. The prophet is here looking from just the same point of view as Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:18, and John in the last page of the Apocalypse" (Delitzsch). The last point in the distant perspective on which the eye rests is the epoch known as" the day of redemption," the restoration of all things, when the old and corrupt order shall finally give place to the new, the confusions of time cease in the harmonies of the eternal world (see Luke 21:28; Acts 3:21; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 4:30). A great poet, Burns, said that he could never read this passage without tears. It does, indeed, touch the depth of the heart, as it strikes the full tones of the eternal evangel. For here we have the gospel in the universality of its message ("good tidings of great joy to all people")—the fullness of its power to satisfy and to comfort, in the all-hopeful perspective of the future it opens up. "Let us, then, direct all our hope and expectation to this point, and let us not doubt that the Lord will fulfill all these things in us when we have finished our course. If we now sow in tears, we shall reap in joy. The reproaches of men will procure for us one day the highest glory. Having obtained here the beginning of this happiness and glory, by being adopted by God and beginning to bear the image of Christ, let us firmly and resolutely await the completion of it at the last day" (Calvin).—J. Song of the redeemed. I. THE STATE OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. They will be in the joyous realization of long-awaited blessings. A brief strain from their hymn is given— "Lo! here is our God! For him we have waited that he should save us; This is Jehovah, for whom we have waited; Let us exult and rejoice in his salvation!" As "a sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things," so the crown of joy is the recollection of past miseries in the hour of deliverance. And how it intensifies joy—the sense of having waited, of having ploughed and sown, watched and wept, with a view to the "far-off interest of tears!" And finally, to see and know that in this mingled experience one hand has been at work, one will has been guiding, one mercy mixing the ingredients of life’s cup! "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself!" yea, but verily, also, thou art a God that dost in due time disclose thyself to reward the patience and faith of thy chosen, and to pour confusion on thy foes! On the sacred mountain the hand of Jehovah will rest, to protect his people, to judge his foes. Beautiful image! As a symbol of protection, cf. Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:28; Ezra 8:18, Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31; Nehemiah 2:8. II. THE DOOM OF THE HEATHEN. Noah seems to stand for the heathen in general. Moab, as the proud foe of Israel (2 Kings 24:2; Ezekiel 28:8-11), shall be trampled down, swamped, and contend like a swimmer for his life. But his pride will be abased; his strong walls be cut down, even to the dust. So that hand, which is outspread beneficently, like the canopy of the broad sky, to protect and bless the chosen, may be clenched in threat and for vengeance upon the wicked. There are two senses in which that hand may "rest" upon us—lightly, as the father’s hand rests on the head of a beloved child, to express affection, approval, and the promise of aid; or heavily, to punish, to overwhelm, to "turn our moisture into the drought of summer." To listen to the voice, to submit to the hand of the Eternal,—this is the expression of genuine piety. To writhe and struggle and resist the pressure of that hand, to turn a deaf ear to that voice,—this is the expression of hardness of heart and impiety, bringing certain punishment in its turn. "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts!"—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Christ’s conquest of death. "He will swallow up death in victory." Here the fullness of Isaiah’s evangelical prophecy begins to break forth. In the fourth verse he has described Jehovah as "a Strength to the poor, a Strength to the needy in his distress, a Refuge from the storm, a Shadow from the heat;" and all this, he says, God has been. Human history will endorse the record. But he will be more to men than all this! Death, that dogs men’s footsteps and darkens even their days with fear; death, that breaks in upon all dreams of perfect friendship and permanent joy; death, which, as invisible monarch, holds empire in so many breasts;—death itself shall be destroyed. I. THE VICTORY CAME. It was not then. But the prophecy was fulfilled. Death had to bring its sacred spoils and to lay them at the feet of Christ during his earthly ministry. And when men wondered at his mighty power, Christ said, "Marvel not at this, for all … that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth." II. THE VICTORY WAS . Death was swallowed up in victory. No province was left undisturbed. No delay intervened. No conflict occurred. Death knew its own Lord and King, and gave back at once its spoils. Thus we understand the words, "He led captivity captive." The very powers that once had held empire over men he now despoiled. And as in the Roman processions, the princes who once had spoiled others were now led captive at the chariot-wheels of a greater victor than themselves, so death was led captive at the chariot-wheels of Christ. III. THE VICTORY WAS . "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." Now that Christ has risen from the dead, he has become the Firstfruits of all that sleep. The triumph of the Savior over the grave was designed to give great rest and gladness of heart. "And the Lord God will wipe away tears from Off all faces." It is immortal life that not only gives preciousness to friendship, but that gives relief from overwhelming tribulation. We sorrow, indeed, still; the hot rain of tears falls from the aching brain; but we sorrow not as those without hope. We comfort our hearts with these words of Jesus: "Let not your hearts be troubled …. In my Father’s house are many mansions."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 25:1-5 Rejoicing in God. Such words as these could only come from an enlightened mind. They would have been impossible to a heathen sage. The gods of the nations were beings in whom no right-minded man could rejoice at all, and their character could not have been painted in these colors. But the God of Isaiah, our God, is One for whom "praise may be continually on the lips" of the wise and pure. Our souls can "delight themselves in God;" for— I. HIS ABIDING . "His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (verse 1). "The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." What he has purposed and promised is sure of fulfillment. The lapse of time, the passing of centuries, makes not the faintest difference in the certainty. Heaven and earth may pass, but his promise never (James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8). We may lean all the weight of our hope on his Divine Word, and we shall find that we are resting on the immovable rock. II. HIS PERFECT . (Verses 2, 5.) The powerful empire-city might boast of its antiquity, its defenses, its soldiery, but its iniquity should receive its desert—it should be humbled to the very dust; it should be a heap, a ruin, a desert. The righteousness of God will assuredly be vindicated in time. God must not be judged as if a few decades were much in his measurement. Only wait his time, and when the cup of human guilt is full, the arm of Divine retribution will deal its stroke. Then shall the shoutings of impious arrogancy be silenced; it shall be dumb with shame (verse 5). III. HIS DIVINE . (Verse 4.) When the raging tempest of human persecution threatens to overtake and destroy the humble and the helpless, then the pitiful One will appear on their behalf. A Strength to the poor and the needy, a Shadow from the heat, will he prove to be; as the saving cloud shelters from the scorching heat (verse 5), so will Divine interposition deliver from the consuming fires of human wrath. And this gracious pity is not an unusual or occasional feeling in his heart—it is his constant attitude, it is his abiding spirit. In every age and in every land he regards the poor and the needy, the suffering and the down-trodden, with a peculiar kindness; he is always ready to shelter them in the pavilion of his power. Therefore: 1. Let the guilty fear. (Verse 3.) What God has done in holy retribution he is prepared to do again, and will do again if heedlessness lead to impenitence, and impenitence to greater and more arrogant rebellion. 2. Let the oppressed hope. The destruction of the strong city of sin is the relief and the rescue of the holy. Not only the "strong people," but the obedient and humble people—the people of God—will "glorify" his Name (verse 3). 3. Let the redeemed praise God for his righteous judgment and his merciful deliverances. "I will praise thee." Not only those delivered from power and bondage of the human enemy, but those who have been ransomed and redeemed from the tyranny and the slavery of sin. 4. Let every man claim a direct personal interest in God. By approaching to him, by communion with him, by reconciliation to him, by joyful engagement in his service, let each one of us claim the right to say with holy exultation, "O Lord, thou art my God."—C. Divine provision for the human soul. In the vegetable and animal kingdoms God has made full and rich provision for all the wants and cravings of our body—for its revival, its nourishment, its strength, its enjoyment. In the gospel of his grace he has granted us the most ample and generous provision for our spiritual nature. In Christ Jesus, in "the truth as it is in him," and in his holy service, we have all we need for— I. OUR REVIVAL. Food, especially wine, is given to revive as well as to nourish. "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish" (Proverbs 31:6). Many a human life has been saved by the restoring cup administered with a wise hand. The wine of heavenly truth is for a revival indeed. From him who is the "true Vine" (John 15:1) comes that reanimating virtue which calls from spiritual death the soul that was about to perish in its sin. II. . Food is, above all things, for sustenance. We partake of the kind and welcome growths of the garden and the field that the waste of our system may be repaired, and that life may be preserved in its fullness and integrity. Without constant refreshment from "the Word of the truth of the gospel," if we did not sit down daily to the table which God has spread for us in his heavenly wisdom, our souls would soon fade and fail and die. As we eat of the "Bread of life," as we drink of "the river that makes glad the city of God," we find our life sustained; we "live unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." III. . "A feast of fat things full of marrow." That which is ample, not only to sustain life, but to augment its force. "Of wines on the lees"—wines that have acquired, and will presumably impart, strength. In Jesus Christ is everything to confer spiritual vigor, manliness, power. Communion with him, the study of his life and character, active service in his cause, the direct communications which proceed from his upholding, energizing Spirit,—all these minister to spiritual strength; they are all open to every disciple, so that the Christian teacher has a right to say, imperatively, to the disciple, "Be strong in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:10). IV. JOY. Wine and gladness are closely associated in Scripture (see Psalms 4:7; Psalms 104:18). Feasting and joy are also intimately connected. The provision which is made in the feast of the gospel is one that gives a purer, truer, more manly, more lasting joy; for it is the joy of the soul, and it is a joy in God. V. . The wine of this feast was to be strong for those who wanted strength—"on the lees;" it was also to be "well refined" for those who wanted the coarse flavor removed and desired purity as well as power (see Jeremiah 48:11). The same Divine truth, delivered from the same lips, contained within the same covers, has force, for those who need to be mightily wrought upon, and refinement for those whose moral perceptions are clear and whose spiritual taste is fine and cultured. There is everything on the table of our Lord to meet the varied cravings of these hearts of ours. 1. This is a feast which we are not at liberty to decline; for "the Lord of hosts has made it"—has prepared it with exceeding care and at great cost. 2. It is open to every hungering soul. It is made "unto all people." It is free to all. "He, every one that thirsteth," etc.—C. Spiritual veils. Anything interposed between the eye and the object of vision may be called a veil; designed for the purpose of convenience or of modesty, the veil has often been the cause of unsightliness and inconvenience—it has been abused almost as much as it has been used. In Scripture the word has a moral significance, indicating something which intercepts the truth, and blinds the soul to the will of God and to its own duty and interest. I. THE OF VEILS. They are those of: 1. Credulity. Often the mind freely accepts all kinds of irrational, superstitious errors, which coat and cover the truth of God, rendering it invisible beneath a mass of error. 2. Prejudice. Men who act as did the Jews in our Lord’s time, determining beforehand and judging irrespective of the evidence before their eyes, making up their minds in advance of any facts or reasons which have to be alleged, are sure to miss their way. They cannot see through the veil of prejudice. 3. Intellectual pride: unwillingness to believe anything which our finite faculties cannot comprehend; practical forgetfulness that the heavenly Father must have many more truths that we can only very dimly discern to reveal to his children, than earthly fathers have to make intelligible to their sons. 4. Worldliness: allowing the interests, occupations, gratifications, of this world to assume a magnitude and importance to which they have no claim; and allowing the conventional maxims of society to pass current as heavenly truth, when they are only too often misleading and even deadly errors. 5. Passion. The false glare of passion hides from many souls the truth which otherwise they would see and by which they’ would live. II. THEIR REMOVAL God "will destroy … the veil that is spread over all the nations." 1. It is a blessed fact, in the far future, which God will establish. By means he is now employing, and perhaps by ways and methods of which we may have no conception now, he will bring it to pass; the day will come when the nations shall walk in the light of the Lord; both Jew (2 Corinthians 3:16) and Gentile (Isaiah 60:3). 2. We may contribute our share toward this happy issue: there are mental errors and spiritual delusions which we can help to expose, both by enlightening words and convincing action. 3. We are bound to make every effort to put away whatever veil may be over our own eyes. Unconscious spiritual blindness is sin (see John 9:41). It may be in part a man’s misfortune, but it is partly his fault. There may be that which palliates it, but nothing will excuse it. We must betake ourselves to God (Psalms 139:23, Psalms 139:24).—C. Isaiah 25:8, Isaiah 25:9 The evening of expectation. Of this passage we may look at— I. ITS PRIMARY . (See Exposition.) II. ITS TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The Church of Christ is "the Israel of God," and we may expect much of the language first used in reference to the Jewish nation to be appropriate to it and even intended for its service. Like ancient Israel, the Church has found itself in great humiliation and distress, and has been in sore need of Divine comfort in its dark days. At many stages in its history the Church has felt itself oppressed with heavy burdens, beset with serious difficulties, threatened with great calamities; and then the blessed promise of deliverance has dawned, and its heart has been elated, and such words of joyful praise as these in the text have been upon its lips. Even when there are no signs of the coming of Christ in delivering and reviving power, the Church may "take heart of grace" if it be (1) faithful in word and in deed to its Master’s charge; (2) prayerfully and patiently expectant, waiting on him in reverent confidence; mindful of the fact that our ways are not always his ways, nor our chosen times his times. This holy and rightful attitude will turn the night of sorrow into the evening of expectation; and in due time will come the morning of deliverance; this will include (1) the removal of reproach—"The rebuke of his people will he take away;" (2) the cessation of spiritual distress—he "will wipe away tears," etc; the tears of a Christ-like sympathy and regret (see Psalms 119:136; Jeremiah 9:1; Luke 19:41); (3) a joyous participation in the exaltation of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom—"Rejoice in his salvation." III. ITS TO SOULS. Our Christian life presents various aspects according to the path by which our Lord leads us home. The life of some may be characterized as that of abounding privilege, of others as that of multiplied mercies, of others as that of honorable and useful activity; in these cases the heavenly kingdom may appear to be a continued though an exalted experience in another sphere. But in other instances human life is one of unflagging toil, or of unceasing struggle, or of oppressive care, or of crushing sorrow: the night for which weeping endures (Psalms 30:5) is all but lifelong. It is in such cases as these that we are "saved by hope." Hope is the morning star which is a blessed promise of an eternal day. It turns the night of weary trouble into the evening of holy expectation; it puts a song of joy even into the lips of suffering; it calmly but eagerly "prevents" the approaching morning; it anticipates the hour when the tears of sorrow will be wiped away from eyes that will weep no more forever, when every burden will fall from every heavy-laden shoulder, when the heart will be "exceeding glad" in the joy of God’s great salvation. Let the children of affliction comfort themselves with these words of the prophet; but let them (1) be well assured that they are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, and that their title is good to the heavenly heritage; (2) wait patiently for Christ’s appearing. If they would say, "We will be glad … in his salvation," they must be able to say, "We have waited for him."—C. The supreme victory. "He will swallow up death in victory." The terms of the text are not satisfied by anything less than the gospel of the grace of God; that, and that alone, can be truly said to swallow up death. It is only Jesus Christ who can be said to have "abolished death" (2 Timothy 1:10). This is the supreme victory. Great conquests have been gained in other fields: in geographical research—discovery of America, penetration of Africa, etc.; in the useful arts—printing, telegraphy, steam-power, etc.; in mathematical science; in historical exploration, etc. These things, and such things as these, have conferred dignity on our nature and. enlargement on our life. But there is one victory compared with which even these are small—the triumph over death. Death has been thought of and written about everywhere as the great conqueror, before whose prevailing arm all human forces go down vanquished to the dust. It has been acknowledged to be the master of our humanity. But in the gospel of Jesus Christ death is defied, is met face to face, is overcome, is so utterly subdued and routed that we can truly say that it is "swallowed up in victory." In Christ there is a double defeat of its power; for in him is— I. LIFE HERE. Sin has led man down to moral and spiritual death; they that live apart from God are "dead while they live," for they move on toward the grave, missing all those things which give nobility, excellency, beauty, real and lasting joy to human life. But to know God in Christ Jesus is life (John 17:3). And whoso enters into all the fullness of the life which is in Christ has that life "more abundantly" (John 10:10). Spiritual death is lost in largeness and fullness of spiritual life—life in God, with God, for God; it is swallowed up in victory. II. LIFE IN THE WORLD. Here we have the significance of the words of the text. Other faiths beside that of Jesus Christ have included a promise of life in the future; but the hopes they have held out have been uncertain, vague, illusory; the life they have promised has been shadowy, unreal, unattractive. Their disciples must have felt that in its contest with death the faith has met its match, and, if it has not been actually worsted, it has failed to triumph. In the gospel of Christ we have a decided and delightful contrast to this. There the victory is complete. We pass away, indeed, from earth, from its scenes, its engagements, its friendships, its joys; but we pass into a state and a world where everything is immeasurably better than the present. 1. We are unclothed in body, but we are clothed upon with a house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:4). 2. The ignorance of earthly twilight we exchange for the full knowledge of the celestial day (1 Corinthians 13:12). 3. From the broken delights and the fatiguing toils of time we pass to the tearless happiness and to the untiring activities of eternity. 4. The sorrowful separations of the present will make more blessed the union where we "clasp inseparable hands" in unfading friendship. 5. The apparent absence of the heavenly Father will be lost in the conscious nearness which will make us to dwell continually in his holy presence, God with us and we with him forever. Death will be "swallowed up in victory." (1) It will be long before we shall meet with a faith which will offer us greater things than these. (2) How sad, how foolish, how guilty, to remain spiritually, and therefore essentially, apart from him in the knowledge and service of whom stands eternal life!—C. BY R. TUCK Personal rights in God. "O Lord, thou art my God." The difference between the "man" and the "godly man" may be seen in this. The man says, "O Lord, thou art God;" but the godly man says, "O Lord, thou art my God." The difference is the matter of conscious personal relation; it is a question of "appropriation." At first sight it might seem to detract from the august majesty of the Divine Being that any single individual should call him "mine." But, whatever we may make of it, the fact must be admitted that, while God’s revelation to man in nature is to man as a whole—to man as a race the revelation of God to man in a book, and in a person, is a constant encouragement to him to recognize and come into the joy of personal relations. This point may be variously illustrated. I. THE OF GOD TO THE RACE AS MORAL BEINGS PERSON . This is shown in God’s trusting Adam and Eve; also in his holding the communion of friendship with them, "walking in the garden;" and much may be made of the assertion in Luke’s genealogy, "the son of Adam, which was the son of God" (Luke 3:38). II. THE LIVED IN THE JOY OF WITH GOD. Illustrated in Abraham’s familiarity in intercession for Sodom; indicated in the fact of covenant; and proved in the distinctness with which God is spoken of as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." III. THE AND OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL SHOW AN AND IN THEM ON THE PART OF GOD. One instance is suggestive of many. On the further shores of the Red Sea Moses lint a song of thanksgiving into the mouths of the people, and this is its opening verse: "The Lord is my Strength and Song, and he is become my Salvation: he is my God." IV. WHEN FINDS WE SEE THE SIGNS OF THE . (See Psalms 118:28; Psalms 145:1.) V. THE FULL OF GOD TO MAN IN CHRIST JESUS IS AND TO COME INTO . That is the revelation of God as a Father, a word which involves our individual rights in him as his sons. That is the revelation of a salvation which restores broken relations and renews our rights in God. But it is precisely in this appropriation of God that men are so often hindered. Many can admit that "Jesus died for the sins of the world," and "God loved the world;" but there is no life, no joy, no right sense of relation, until we can say, "God loves me, even me; and Jesus died for me, even me." R.T. The true reading of the Divine dealings. "Thou has, done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth" (Revised Version). When we can read aright, the Divine plan and workings in the olden times are not merely wonderful, causing surprise at the Divine wisdom and power; the great thing about them is seen to be their goodness, adaptation, mercifulness, and truth to promise and pledge. This is the result of a true reading of history, and ninny of us have found this to follow our right and worthy reading of our own lives, and of God’s ways with us. Now we can say, "Not one good thing hath failed us of all that the Lord our God hath promised." "All the operations of providence are according to God’s eternal counsels (and those faithfulness and truth itself), all consonant to his attributes, consistent with one another, and sure to be accomplished in their season." I. WE OFTEN. MISTAKE GOD’S PURPOSE WHILE IT IS BEING WROUGHT OUT. As we might mistake any work in progress. Because we do not know the mind of the Worker; because his ways are other than our ways; because he uses strange agents and agencies; and because he purposely holds from our view his meaning, so that he may encourage patience, waiting, and trust. "Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain." Illustrate by the apparent confusion in the ground where a cathedral is being erected; and show how great a mistake we should make about God’s purpose in Joseph or David, if we took only isolated parts and incidents of their lives for study. We often mistake God’s meaning when we try to read only parts of our own lives. II. WE SHALL NOT MISTAKE GOD’S PURPOSE WHEN WE SEE IT IN ITS ISSUES. That is true. God’s end always explains and justifies his means. But then the end is not yet; it is often away in the future, out of our vision. And we want some indication of God now. All we can have is the vindication, given over and over again, in history. We have "seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." And we have good argument and well-grounded faith that God’s counsels are always "faithfulness and truth." III. WE NEED NEVER MISTAKE GOD’S OR GOD’S PURPOSE IF WE WILL READ THEM IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT WE KNOW OF GOD HIMSELF. Life for us all may be full of puzzling firings, but we can always say, "We know God." It must be right, it must be wise, it must be good, it must be for the absolute best, since he has done it, who, being love, must be "making all things work together for good." True reading is reading in the light of what we know God to be.—R.T. God our Shadow. "For thou hast been … a Shadow from the heat." The prophet sees, in God’s mercifulness to his people, a reason why the nations around, the masses of the people, should fear him. We man understand why the word "fear" is employed. God’s deliverings and defendings of his people involve judgments on the great kingdoms that were oppressing Israel; and judgments are striking and impressive to masses of people, who must act upon fear rather than upon love, or even upon a sense of duty, for they are like children who are only learning the superior power of moral motives, and meanwhile must be subject to force, and put into right ways. The figures in this verse are very forcible. The "storm" is in the original a "storm which overthrows a wall," or a storm so violent that it sweeps down walls before it (Matthew Arnold). In Eastern countries the value of a shade from the blazing sunshine is well understood; anti Thomson tells of a terrible boated day when he escaped from the burning highway into a dark vaulted room at the lower Beth-heron, and realized what Isaiah pictured. Another traveler says, "About midday, when the heat was very oppressive, a small cloud, scarcely observable by the eye, passed over the disc of the burning sun. Immediately the intense heat abated, a gentle breeze sprang up, and we felt refreshed." As a figure for God this may be variously applied and illustrated. We suggest three lines of illustration. I. GOD IN HISTORY HAS OFTEN PROVED A SHADOW. Points may be obtained from such reviews of history as are given in Psalms 105:1-45.; 106.; 107. The key-note is, "Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses." II. GOD NEEDS TO BE A SHADOW IN OUR TIMES OF . For then all that is good and great in us is in grave danger of being burned up in the blazing heat. Few of us can stand long in the sun of prosperity. Woe unto us when all men speak well of us! and woe unto us when all things go well with us! It is most gracious in God that he flings his shadow across, and gives us times of quietness and peace; bumbling times they must be, when self is put down from his boastful place. III. GOD IS SURE TO BE A SHADOW IN OUR TIMES OF . So David found, and when new trouble came he could say, "I flee unto thee to hide me." Our earthly anxieties come in part from circumstances, in part from enemies, and in part from our own evil selves. It may be shown that, for each kind of trouble, the only true shelter is in God. Close with this idea—where the shadow is, God, who throws it, must be near; then, if we keep well within the shadow, we must be close to God, and so quiet and safe.—R.T. Jehovah’s feast after reconciliation. The picture in this text is based upon the familiar custom in Judaism of associating a sacrificial feast with a thank offering or peace offering. Such feasts were highly festive and joyous occasions. As an instance of the custom, reference may be made to the scene of the anointing of King Saul. Samuel made a feast, after sacrifice, to which some thirty persons were bidden (1 Samuel 9:19, 1 Samuel 9:22). "According to the Mosaic Law, the fat pieces of the victim were to be devoted to Jehovah immediately by burning, and the next best piece, the breast, mediately by giving it to his servants the priests;" the rest was a foundation for a feast in which the offerers shared. The "wines on the lees" are those kept long, that have become old and mellowed. "Full of marrow" indicates superior quality. The first reference may be to the joy of the returned captives when God permitted a revival of Jerusalem; but the full reference must be to the spiritual provisions of Messianic times. For "feasts" as the figure for spiritual blessings, gospel provisions, comp. Psalms 22:26-29; Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 8:11; Matthew 25:1; Luke 13:28, Luke 13:29; Luke 14:15-24. Keeping to the idea of feast after sacrifice sealing the reconciliation, and working that idea out in relation to Christian times, we note— I. GOD GIVES WHEN HE GIVES . The feast was designed to assure the worshippers that all separations and enmities were done away, and God was now in gracious and comfortable relations with them. In the East restored friendship is sealed by eating together. It will at once be seen how this constancy of Divine communion with renewed souls is sealed in the symbolic meal of our sacramental Supper. That feast keeps up the assurance of God’s comfortable relations with us. We are the restored and accepted ones to whom God gives his friendship. II. GOD IS ABOUT HIS FUTURE WITH HIS ONES. It is important to correct a sentiment which very seriously imperils right Christian living, but seldom gets shape in actual words. It is assumed that God is supremely anxious for our salvation, our "conversion" as we call it, but indifferent to what we are and do, if only we are saved. This modern modification of Antinomian error is met by the fact that God makes a feast for the redeemed, providing for them after redemption. God is the food for the soul’s life, and that life he quickens. III. GOD WANTS JOY TO THOSE . Therefore is the festive figure chosen. "The joy of the Lord is our strength." The redeemed of the Lord ought to march "with singing unto Zion." Depressions may come, but they may not abide. Our Christian life should be a glad feasting on the abundance God provides.—R.T. Triumph over death. There is a first reference here to the restoration of Judah from its death-state of captivity, and to the wiping away of the tears the captives shed when they hung their harps upon the willows. But we cannot forget that St. Paul and St. John have put the richest Christian meanings into these beautiful and pathetic words (1 Corinthians 4:1-21:54; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4). And life for a nation out of the death-state of captivity may well be taken as a type of the sublime resurrection of humanity from the grasp of physical death. Our triumph over death is assured; and foretaste of it is given in the conquest of the Lord Jesus over the grave. He is our Conqueror of death, and in him the prophecy of this text will have its large and blessed fulfillment. We read the prophecy in the light of Christ and of his work. And Scripture teaches us to regard the resurrection of Christ as a final conquest of death for us (Acts 2:24;1 Corinthians 4:21, 55, 56; Ephesians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18). I. CHRIST IS THE OF DEATH ITSELF. It was not the design of Christ to destroy death altogether, and withdraw its commission to the human race. He left it still to bite, but plucked away its sting, the venom of its hopelessness, and the bitterness of its connection with human sin. We shall die, though Christ has conquered death; but death is now only the messenger that calls us home—he is no longer the jailer that drags us to our doom. Dissolution, or translation, such as we have hints of in the cases of Enoch and Elijah, may be the Divine idea for unfallen created beings; but certainly death, as we know it, with all its attendant circumstances of evil, is the immediate result of human sin. Change of state, and change of worlds, may be death in an abstract sense; but death in fear, and amid sufferings, and under disease, and involving agonizing separations, and terrible with the black shadows of an unknown future; this death—and this is the death with which we have to do—is the penalty of transgression. "The sting of death is sin." Lord Bacon, in his essay on death, almost makes too much of the material accompaniments of it, and under estimates the moral feeling in relation to it. He says, "Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible There is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat for him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief fleeth to it; and lear preoccupieth it." But this is only true for certain individuals, and under various pressures of excitement. To most of us, and especially to those who are thoughtful, and oppressed with the burdens of humanity, death has aspects of great bitterness. Then in what sense can we think of Christ as the present Conqueror of death? The answer is this—He has conquered the death-dread in us, both concerning ourselves and concerning those who are dear to us. He has "delivered those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." And he has conquered it by fixing its connections with the body alone, and severing it, once and forever, from all relation to the renewed and redeemed soul. "He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die." In Christ death is compelled to take rank with disease and pain, as the servants of God. Its masterfulness is destroyed; its dart lies broken on the ground. II. THE OF DEATH OUGHT TO RULE IN ITS STEAD. In Christ life rules, hope rules, goodness rules, eternity rules. Man may despairingly look upon his partially raised schemes, and say, "Alas! I shall die." But the Christian man builds on bravely and hopefully. He knows that beneath all the outward show he is raising a structure of character on which death has no power, and he says, "I shall never die." The difference that is made by our letting death rule our thoughts and hopes and endeavors, and letting Christ rule them, may be illustrated by the change wrought in the land of Persia, when Zoroaster proclaimed that Ormuzd, the Good, was the real ruler of humanity. When Zoroaster came, the religious instincts of the people were debased, the divinity worshipped was malevolent, the moral tone was low, the social habits were vicious, the land of Iran was overgrown with thorns and weeds; men were idle, negligent, like the surfeited inhabitants of Sodom, given up to sensuality; they thought of their divine ruler as evil, malicious, cruel; they had the crushing, despairing, disheartening sentiments which always follow the belief that death, the representative of evil, rules. Zoroaster brought back the old and lost truth that God rules—not evil, not death. Evil is subject to God. The good God is the God of life, and life is mightier than death; of light, and light triumphs over darkness. Ormuzd was the god of production, and if they would sow and plant and weed, they would be sure to win, under his benediction, a glorious triumph over waste and barrenness and death. We are not yet free as we should be from the notion that death still reigns. We have not yet opened our hearts fully to the glorious truth that Jesus, the conqueror of death, now reigns. Above everything else our age wants to yield its allegiance to Christ, ruling in morals, in education, in literature, in science, in politics, in commerce, and in society; triumphing now over all the forms of evil that death can symbolize.—R.T. Waiting on God. "This is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us." Waiting on God. Waiting for God. Waiting on when all is dark. Waiting still, when commotions and troubles surround us. Bidding us wait for him, a way of the Lord’s dealing with us. Making it hard to wait, a sign of God’s severer dealing with us. And wafting sanctified to our soul-culture. These are subjects very suggestive to Christian meditation. I. WAITING . It was a waiting-time for the godly in Judah when Isaiah wrote. In their own country, luxury and profligacy were plainly bearing the country on to some terrible doom. In the nations around them the cup of iniquity was getting full, and overwhelming judgments were falling on one after another. Every man who believed in the covenant was put into silence and waiting. The scenes around him he could not reason out. Precisely what God would do with his people he could not know. All about him was painful mystery; he could only wait, keeping firm hold of the truth, faithfulness, and love of God while he waited. When circumstances are against us, the best thing we can do is to wait. "Wait thou his time, so shall thy night Soon end in joyous day." The history of God’s ancient people is a series of waiting circumstances. Through a long Egyptian bondage they were called to wait for the day of their deliverance. Surrounded with perils, they stood at the shores of the Red Sea, and were bidden to wait for the salvation of God. Crowded in the plain before the Mount of Sinai, the people failed to wait in patience until Moses reappeared. For forty years they wandered, waiting for admission to their promised land. In their first siege they must wait until God’s signal for the falling walls. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 26:1-18 A SONG OF THE IN MOUNT ZION. The prophet, having (in Isaiah 25:1-12.) poured forth his own thankfulness to God for the promise of the Church’s final redemption and triumph, proceeds now to represent the Church itself in the glorified state as singing praise to God for the same. Isaiah 26:1 In that day. In the "day of God" (2 Peter 3:12), the period of the "restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21). In the land of Judah; i.e. in the "new earth"—whose city will be the "heavenly Jerusalem," and wherein will dwell "the Israel of God"—the antitype whereof the literal "land of Judah" was the type. A strong city; literally, a city of strength. In the Revelation of St. John the new Jerusalem is represented as having "a wall great and high" (Revelation 21:12), and "twelve gates," three on each side. The intention is to convey the idea of complete security. In the present passage the city has "gates" (verse 2), but no "walls"—walls and bulwarks being unnecessary, since the saving might of God himself would be its sure defense against every enemy. Isaiah 26:2 Open ye the gates. The command is given by God to his angels within the city, or perhaps by some angels to others, to "open the gates," and let the saints march in and take possession (comp. Psalms 118:19, Psalms 118:20, which seems to represent the same occasion; and Psalms 24:7-10, which tells of another occasion on which the angelic warders were bidden to throw open the gates of the celestial city. The righteous nation which keepeth the truth; literally, a righteous nation. A people, made up of all kindreds and nations and tongues, which should henceforth be "the people of God" They are "righteous," as washed clean from all taint of sin in the blood of the Lamb. They "keep the truth," or "keep faithfulness," as under all circumstances clinging loyally to God. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him, etc.; literally, the steadfast mind thou wilt keep in peace, in peace; i.e. "in perfect peace" (comp. Psalms 112:7, Psalms 112:8). The writer’s mind throughout the first paragraph of his" song" (Isaiah 26:1-4)"is running" (as Mr. Cheyne well observes) "on the security and immovableness of the new Jerusalem." All is peace and sure defense on God’s side; all is trust and perfect confidence on the side of man. The first words of the verse may be taken in various ways—the above rendering (which seems to us the best) is that of Delitzsch and Kay. Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the Lord. The faithful exhort each other to perfect trust, in the new Jerusalem, as in the old (see Psalms 115:9-11). In the Lord Jehovah; literally, in Jah Jehorah (comp. Isaiah 12:2). Is everlasting strength; literally, is the Rock of ages. A certain refuge throughout all eternity is, no doubt, intended (see the comment on Isaiah 17:10). Isaiah 26:5 He bringeth down; rather, he hath brought down. The redeemed praise God for his past mercies. He brought down in his own good time all the proud and lofty ones who exalted themselves against him and oppressed his saints, making cities desolate (Isaiah 24:10, Isaiah 24:12) and giving over their inhabitants to destruction (Isaiah 24:6). Them that dwell on high; i.e. "that exalt themselves." It is net eminence, but pride, that provokes the Divine anger. The heathen judged differently (see Herod; 7.10, § 4). The lofty city (comp. Isaiah 24:10, Isaiah 24:12; Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 25:3). The "world-city" (as it has been called); i.e. the idealized stronghold of the adversaries of God in this world, is intended. Isaiah 26:6 The foot shall tread it down; rather, trode it down. The feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy; i.e. the feet of God’s people, the weak and afflicted of this world, trod down ultimately, or brought to destruction and ruin, the great world-power—not so much that they were victorious in an actual physical contest, as that they, finally triumphed through God’s judgment on the world-power, which brought it to naught, and left it for his people to show their contempt by trampling upon the smoking ruins. Isaiah 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness; or, the path for the just is straight. It is one of the main blessings of the righteous that God "makes their way straight before their face" (Psalms 4:8), "leads them in a plain path" (Psalms 27:11), "shows them the way they are to walk in" (Psalms 143:8), so that they are for the most part free from doubt and perplexity as to the line of conduct which it behooves them to, pursue. If this is so in the present life, still more will it be the uniform condition of the just in another sphere. Then God will of a surety "direct all their paths" (Proverbs 3:6). Thou, most upright, dost weigh; literally, O upright One, thou dost weigh. The term "upright" is applied to God in Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 25:8; and Psalms 92:16. By "weighing the path of the just" is meant keeping it, as Justice keeps her scales, straight and level. Isaiah 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments … have we waited for thee; rather, we waited. During the long years of our affliction and persecution in the world, we waited in the constant expectation that "thy judgments" would fall upon our persecutors. We were not impatient. We knew that thou wouldst visit us at the tilting time. The desire of our soul is to thy Name; rather, the desire of our soul was to thy Name. During all the weary time of waiting, we longed for thee, and thy Name, or rather what thy Name indicates, thy own true self. In default of thy actual presence, we desired to have thee ever in remembrance. Isaiah 26:9 In the night; i.e. "the long night of their affliction." The sentiment is identical with that of the preceding verse. Will I seek thee early; rather, did I seek thee. For when thy judgments, etc. It was not a mere selfish desire for the cessation of persecution that caused the righteous to long for the time when God’s judgments would be manifested upon the earth, but a conviction that so only would an impression be made on the persecutors, and a certain number of them be induced to learn righteousness. A desire for the conversion of sinners to God characterizes God’s saints generally, and none more than Isaiah, who is here expressing what he conceives will be the thoughts of the redeemed, and naturally judges their thoughts and feelings by his Own. Isaiah 26:10 Let favor be showed to the wicked. This is a further explanation of the reason why the righteous had so earnestly desired the coming of God’s judgments upon the earth. They had felt that further mercy and long-suffering wine thrown away upon the wicked, and "only did them harm" (Kay). When "favor was showed them," they did but persist in unrighteousness. In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly. Even good example does not convert the wicked man. Though he live in a "land of righteousness," where God and his Law are acknowledged, where true religion is professed, where the gospel is preached, he will continue wicked, he will "deal unjustly;" he will not behold—or, consider—the majesty of the Lord. Isaiah 26:11 When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see. The original is more graphic. It runs, "Lord, thy hand is lifted up, [but] they see not. They shall see to their shame thy jealousy for thy people; yea, fire shall devour thy adversaries" God’s jealousy "burns like fire" (Psalms 79:9; Zephaniah 1:18) in the cause of his people. Isaiah 26:12 Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; i.e. henceforth thou wilt give us an existence of perfect peace (see Isaiah 26:3), untroubled by adversaries. For thou also hast wrought all our works in us; rather, all our work for us. The "work" intended seems to be, as Mr. Cheyne observes, "the work of their deliverance." Isaiah 26:13 Other lords. The saved had not always been faithful to Jehovah. Some, no doubt, had actually been idolaters, as many of the early Christians (1 Corinthians 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, etc.). Others had given their hearts for a time to other vanities, and turned away from God. Now, in the new Jerusalem, they confess their short comings, and acknowledge that only through God’s mercy—by thee—are they in the condition to celebrate his Name. Isaiah 26:14 They are dead, etc.; literally. Dead, they shall not live (i.e. return to life); deceased, they shall not arise. The power of the idol-gods is altogether passed away. It was for this end—therefore—that God had visited and destroyed them, and made their very memory to perish. How strange it seems that the "great gods" whom so many millions worshipped in former times—Bel, and Asshur, and Ammon, and Zeus, and Jupiter—should have passed so completely away as to be almost wholly forgotten! Isaiah 26:15 Thou hast increased the nation; i.e. the "righteous nation" of Isaiah 26:2—not the Jewish people merely, but "the Israel of God"—who are to be "a great multitude, that no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (Revelation 7:9). Thou hadst removed it. This rendering gives a very good sense. It makes the redeemed pass in thought from their present state of happiness and glory to that former time of tribulation and affliction when they were a remnant, scattered over the face of the earth (Isaiah 24:13-15), driven into its uttermost corners (Isaiah 24:16), oppressed and down-trodden by their enemies. But it is doubtful whether the Hebrew will bear the rendering. Most modern commentators translate, "Thou hast extended far all the borders of the land," which is certainly the more natural meaning of the words. If we accept this view, we must regard the clause as continuing the idea contained in the former part of the verse—the nation is increased in number, and its borders are advanced—it is "a multitude that no man can number," and it has no narrower limits than the "new earth," which has been given to it for its habitation (Revelation 21:1). Isaiah 26:16 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee. Here, at any rate, the redeemed go back in thought to their time of trouble. They remember that what brought them back to God from that alienation which they have confessed (Isaiah 26:13) was the affliction which they so long endured. Their present bliss is the result of their former woe, and recalls the thought of it. They poured out a prayer; rather, as in the margin, a secret speech, or a low whisper (Kay); comp. Isaiah 29:4. The word elsewhere means "the muttering of a charm," but must here signify the "whispered prayer" of one in deep humiliation. Isaiah 26:17 Like as a woman with child (comp. Isaiah 13:8; Isaiah 21:3). Isaiah uses the metaphor to express any severe pain combined with anxiety. So have we been in thy sight; rather, so have we been at thy presence. When thou wert visiting us in anger, and laying thy chastisements upon us. Isaiah 26:18 We have as it were brought forth wind. Our pains have been idle, futile—have effected nothing. We have not given deliverance (literally, "salvation") to our land; we have not effected the downfall of our heathen enemies. That downfall was God’s work (Isaiah 24:16-20). Isaiah 26:19-21 THE PROPHET’S COMMENT ON THE SONG OF THE JUST. Having concluded his "song of the just" in a minor key with a confession of human weakness, the prophet proceeds to cheer and encourage his disciples by a clear and positive declaration of the doctrine of the resurrection: "Thy dead, O Israel, shall live." He then adds a recommendation for the present—a recommendation to privacy and retirement, until the judgments of God which he has predicted (Isaiah 24:1-23.) are shown forth upon the earth. Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live. A universal resurrection of" some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2), is not yet announced; but only a resurrection of the just, perhaps only of the just Israelites. The object is encouragement, especially encouragement of those whom the prophet directly addresses—the religious Israelites of his own day. It is enough for them at the present time to know that, whether the day of the Lord comes in their time or no, when it comes, they will have a part in it. The assurance is given, and is made doubly sure by repetition. The prophet does not say, Together with my dead body they will arise; for there is nothing in the Hebrew corresponding to "together," and the ellipse of ’im, "with," though suggested by Kimchi, is impossible; nor is it likely that he intends to speak of his own dead body at all. He may, perhaps, call the past generations of just Israelites "my dead," i.e. the dead with whom he is in sympathy; or the supposed personal suffix may be merely paragogic, as Rosenmüller argues. In any case the two clauses must be regarded as identical in meaning—an instance of "synonymous parallelism …. Thy dead men shall live; my dead shall arise." Awake and sing; rather, awake and shout for joy (comp. Psalms 35:27; Psalms 67:4, etc.). Ye that dwell in dust (comp. Daniel 12:2, "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake"). Thy dew is as the dew of herbs; i.e. refreshing, vivifying, potent to make even dead bones live. "Thy dew" may be said with reference to Jehovah, for changes in the person addressed are frequent in Isaiah; or with reference to the people of Israel, meaning, "the dew which Jehovah will shed on thee," i.e. on thy dead. Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people … into thy chambers. As when a storm comes, prudence counsels men to seek shelter (Exodus 9:19), so now the prophet advises his people to put themselves under cover during the coming tempest. His meaning, probably, is that they should retire into the privacy of communion with God, withdrawing from public affairs and the distractions of a worldly life. Shut thy doors about thee. For a little moment (so in Isaiah 10:25; and again in Isaiah 54:7, Isaiah 54:8). God’s estimate of time, we must remember, is not as man’s (Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Isaiah 26:21 The Lord cometh out of his place (comp. Micah 1:3). In the Psalms God is represented as "bowing the heavens and coming down," bringing them, as it were, with him. Here (and in Micah) he quits his place in heaven, as a king quits his own country when he proceeds to take vengeance on rebels in another. The expressions are, both of them, accommodations to human modes of thought. To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; literally, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him. The earth also shall disclose her blood; literally, her bloods; i.e. her bloodsheddings; the many murders committed by man upon her surface. Isaiah denounced "murderers" in his first chapter (verse 27). Manasseh’s murders were the main cause of the first destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:4). The second destruction was equally a judgment for the innocent blood that had been shed upon the earth, "from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Bars-chins" (Matthew 23:35). Bloodshed "cries to God for vengeance" (Genesis 4:10), and will be one of the main causes of the world’s final destruction (Revelation 16:6; Revelation 18:20). And shall no more cover her slain. "There is nothing covered that shall not" in the last day "be revealed, and hid that shall not be known" (Matthew 10:26). Every murder, however secret, will be brought to light, and every murderer, however unsuspected previously, denounced and punished. Thanksgiving the employment of the saints in bliss. The prophet, in this sublime passage of his prophecy, carries us with him within the veil, and reveals to us the very words, or, at the least, the general tone and tenor of utterances, which the saints make when they have passed from earth to heaven, and stand in the very presence of God. The words are, as we should have expected, mainly words of praise and thanksgiving. The saints praise God— I. FOR THE OF THEIR ACTUAL STATE, which is (1) one of complete security; (2) one of perfect peace; (3) one of the fullest and liveliest trust. II. FOR HIS MERCIES IN THE PAST. (1) Towards themselves; (2) towards his enemies. Among his mercies to themselves they reckon (a) deliverance from the malice of their foes; (b) direction of their own paths; (c) chastisements which brought them back to God when they were straying from his ways. III. FOR HIS . E.g. "Jehovah is everlasting Strength" (Isaiah 26:4); He is "the Upright One" (Isaiah 26:7), fall of "majesty" (Isaiah 26:10) and "glory" (Isaiah 26:15); he is all-powerful (Isaiah 26:5, Isaiah 26:11, Isaiah 26:14), all-gracious (Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah 26:12, Isaiah 26:15), a sure Refuge in trouble (Isaiah 26:16). While the occupation of the saints in the heavenly sphere is mainly to praise God, they also confess before him (1) their rebellions against him while in this life (Isaiah 26:13); and (2) their impotency to effect anything important by their own strength (Isaiah 26:18). It is remarkable that the confession of weakness is that with which the song ends. Must we not conclude that humanity, brought into the presence of God, is at first penetrated by no feeling so much as by a sense of its own utter powerlessness and nothingness? "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalms 8:4), is the cry that rises to man’s lips instinctively. Later on, he may forget self, and be absorbed in the contemplation of the High and Holy One, and be content to hymn ceaselessly the Revelation songs, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (Revelation 7:10); "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 7:12); "Great and are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints" (Revelation 15:3). Happy for him when self-consciousness disappears, and God is to him "All in all!" The doctrine of the resurrections. The belief in a future life and a future judgment was held by the Assyrians and Babylonians from a time anterior to the departure of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. A very elaborate doctrine of a resurrection was also held by the Egyptians from an extremely remote antiquity. The Jews, on the other hand, do not appear to have had definite notions on the subject until the period of the Captivity. It is, perhaps, possible to account for the indistinct and undeveloped state of the doctrine among the early Israelites by the effect upon them of their Babylonian and Egyptian experiences. I. THE VIEW, with which they came into contact in Ur of the Chaldees, was the following. A life beyond the grave was expected; but the duration of this life was quite uncertain. Merodach, a sun-god, was the Dayannisi, or "judge of men," and by his favor the souls of the just were received into a heavenly abode, where they enjoyed life and happiness. The wicked descended at death into an infernal region, where there was no enjoyment, and (apparently) suffered different degrees of punishment according to their deserts. Fire was, perhaps, an agent in their suffering. II. THE VIEW was far more complete and elaborate. The Egyptians held that the soul was quite distinct from the body, and that, immediately after death, it descended into the lower world (Amenti), and was conducted to the "hall of truth," where it was judged in the presence of Osiris and of his forty-two assessors, the "lords of truth" and judges of the dead. Anubis, the son of Osiris, who was called "the director of the weight," brought forth a pair of scales, and, after placing in one scale a figure or emblem of truth, set in the other a vase containing the good deeds of the deceased, Thoth standing by the while, with a tablet in his hand, whereon to record the result. If the good deeds were sufficient, if they weighed down the scale wherein they were placed, then the happy soul was permitted to enter "the boat of the sun," and was conducted by good spirits to the Elysian fields (Aahlu), to the "pools of peace," and the dwelling-places of the blest. If, on the contrary, the good deeds were insufficient, if the scale remained suspended in the air, then the unhappy soul was sentenced, according to the degree of its ill deserts, to go through a round of transmigrations in the bodies of animals more or less unclean; the number, nature, and duration of the transmigrations depending on the degree of the deceased’s demerits, and the consequent length and severity of the punishment which he deserved or the purification which he needed. Ultimately, if after many trials sufficient purity was not attained, the wicked soul, which had proved itself incurable, underwent a final sentence at the hands of Osiris, supreme judge of the dead, and, being condemned to complete and absolute annihilation, was destroyed upon the steps of heaven by Shu, the "lord of light." The good soul, having been first freed from its infirmities by passing through the basin of purgatorial fire guarded by the four ape-faced genii, was made a companion of Osiris for a period of three thousand years, after which it returned from Amenti, re-entered its former body, rose from the dead, and lived once more a human life upon the earth. This process was gone through again and again, until a certain mystic cycle of years became complete, when, to crown all, the good and blessed attained the final joy of union with God, being absorbed into the Divine essence from which they had once emanated, and so attaining the full perfection and true end of their existence. With this elevating belief were mixed up a number of strange, superstitions, not very easily reconcilable with the main creed, yet occupying an important place in the thoughts of the people. The soul, notwithstanding its transmigrations and presence in Amenti and Aahlu, was never at any time wholly separated from its body, but still inhabited the tomb, partook of the offerings left for it, and even had meetings and held converse with the souls belonging to other neighboring bodies. It could at all times read the passages from the "ritual of the dead" painted on its sarcophagus, or its mummy-bandages, or the inner walls of its tomb, and could thus refresh its memory if at any time in its long journeyings through the lower world it failed to recollect at the right moment the proper invocation or prayer under circumstances of danger. III. THE HEBREW VIEW. Coming from Babylonia into Egypt, with probably only some vague notions of an after-life, in which the inequalities of this life should be remedied and justice meted out to all, the Hebrews were brought into contact with the complicated and elaborate creed of Egypt upon the subject—a creed which filled the thoughts of the Egyptians, and dominated their whole life, entering into all their relations, political, social, and domestic. This creed was mixed up with all the intricacies of the Egyptian polytheism, involved acceptance of the Osirid myth, acknowledgment of half a hundred deities, and adoption, if it were accepted, of numerous superstitious practices. Whatever may have been the case with individuals (Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:6-9), the Hebrews, as a nation, rejected the Egyptian creed, viewed it as corrupting and debasing, and put it aside en bloc, without troubling themselves to sift the wheat from the chaff, the grains of gold from the mud and sand in which they were embedded. The rejection of the imaginative theosophy of Egypt produced a reaction in the Hebrew mind towards the material and the mundane. They seem to have left Egypt with less definite views on the subject of a future life than those which their ancestors had had in Babylonia. And in his revelations from Sinai it did not please God to enlighten them. Light was vouchsafed them gradually through the psalmists and prophets—by the present statement of Isaiah, by Ezekiel’s vision el the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-10) and the teaching which followed it (verses 11-14), by Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 12:2) already referred to, and otherwise, until, in the time of the Maccabees, their faith in the resurrection was as strong, and almost as full and definite, as that of Christians (see 2 Macc. 7:9, 14, 23, 29, 36; 12:43, 44). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 26:1-13 The vision of future glory. It seems best to take this as the picture of an ideal spiritual state. I. THE CITY. Its walls and outworks are "salvation." A great word—negatively hinting deliverance from the enemy and the oppressor; positively including all the contents of sacred peace, prosperity, and happiness. But salvation is nothing without a Savior; it is the loving presence of Jehovah who girds about Jerusalem as a wall. In Zechariah 2:9 he is spoken of as a "wall of fire." In another magnificent image, "Round about are the everlasting arms." The idea of the Eden-garden may be compared with that of this fenced city. A "garden walled around, a chosen and peculiar ground," may represent the mystical Church here, the celestial state hereafter. The city is created and fortified by the Eternal. II. THE CRY. The command is heard from heaven, "Open ye the gates!" As in Isaiah 40:1, from the same quarter, sounds the gracious word, "Comfort ye my people!" The righteous nation that keepeth faithfulness may enter the Divine city. The emphatic thought is that this city is to be the scene of righteousness, a contrast to the state of "this world which passeth away." "Open to me," exclaims the psalmist, "the gates of righteousness: I will go into them and praise Jehovah; the gate of Jehovah into which the righteous shall enter" (Psalms 118:19, Psalms 118:20). And again, in another sublime passage, "Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart" (Psalms 24:3, Psalms 24:4). This righteousness of mind and heart is the gift of the Divine grace. Purity in the human spirit is at once the reflection of God’s nature and the condition of "beholding" him. If men are good and faithful, it is because their souls have kept walk and converse with the truthful God (Psalms 31:24). And this they have only learned to do as the result of chastisement and the experience of the evil of other ways. "The Church was always like a barn (Matthew 3:12), in which the chaff is mingled with the wheat, or the wheat overpowered by the chaff’" When the Jews came back from captivity, it was with purified hearts; a large portion of the filth of idolatry had been swept away. And so universally; it is "out of much tribulation," much sifting on life’s floor, that we must enter the kingdom—that the pure wheat of chastened character must be gathered into the celestial barn. III. THE OF JEHOVAH. 1. The firmness of his purpose. The words in Isaiah 40:3 are differently rendered: "a steadfast mind thou keepest in;" "firm is the hope thou wilt form;" "a purpose established thou purposest." And this purpose is one of peace. He "thinks the thought of peace" (Jeremiah 29:11). Hence the attitude of the believer is one of fearless and fixed repose; "He shall not be moved forever … shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah" (Psalms 112:6, Psalms 112:7). This being of ours, in itself frail, anxious, feverish, needs steadying, staying; and its only sufficient prop must be "Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth’ (Isaiah 10:20). The essential thing in faith is habitual dependence; the result, ineffable peace. "Peace, peace," are the prophet’s emphatic words. "He refrains from epithets; such peace is indescribable." So in Isaiah 57:19, "Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near." And the Christian apostle takes up the thought of the profundity and unutterableness of this bliss of the soul, "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). 2. The constancy of his being. Jah Jehovah is a Rock of ages, and may be trusted in forever. One of the four places where our translators have retained the original name Jehovah, of which Jab is the abridged form (Exodus 6:3; Psalms 83:18; Isaiah 12:2). The doubled name is used for emphasis, as in "Peace, peace," above; it expresses the perfection of his majesty, wisdom, holiness, which should reflect the utmost reverence and the most absolute trust in the mind of the believers. And" Rock, Rock of Israel," etc; is another of the sacred names of the Divine Being (Isaiah 30:29; see Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, 80, 31, etc.). Actively, to protect, to throw the cool shade of his protection upon the suffering of his people; passively, to resist the utmost shock and assault of his foes. The noble image of one of our poets, too lofty to be applied to mortal, may be applied to him— "As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Tho’ round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head." Let us contemplate the nature of God; no other nature yields a lasting satisfaction anti repose to the beholder. "As soon as we turn aside from beholding it, nothing is seen but what is fleeting, and then we immediately faint. Thus ought faith to rise above the world by continual advances; for neither the truth, nor the justice, nor the goodness of God is temporary and fading, but God continues to be always like himself." 3. His irresistible power. He brings down the lofty and the proud. Bulwarks, armed hosts, enormous wealth, are of no avail against "moral influence." And when we thus speak, we mean nothing less than the just will, the fixed purpose, of the Eternal. No Babylon, no Rome, no empire built on force and fraud, need be a terror to the faithful. They, at the day of doom, must "melt like snow at the glance of the Lord," or be abased even to the dust. "We live amidst closing histories and amid falling institutions; there is an axe laid at the root of many trees; foundations of fabrics have been long giving way, and the visible tottering commences. ’The earth quakes and the heavens do tremble.’ The sounds of great downfalls and great disruptions come from different quarters; old combinations start asunder; a great crash is heard; and it is some vast mass that has just broken off from the rock, and gone down into the chasm below. A great volume of time is now shattering, the roll is folded up for the registry, and we must open another. Never again—never, though ages pass away—never any more under the heavens shall be seen forms and fabrics, and structures and combinations that we have seen. The world is evidently at the end of one era and is entering upon another;" but the" Rock of ages" will remain, and the Church which rests upon him, "to enlighten ignorance, to fight with sin, and to conduct man to eternity" (Mozley). 4. His just dealings. A plain or straight path is made for the righteous—one free from obstacles and opposition, even as the path of the Eternal himself to the fulfillment of his purposes (cf. Proverbs 3:6; Proverbs 11:5; Proverbs 15:19). He is even said to make their path "plain with a level," i.e. to a nicety. It could not have seemed so to the Jews in captivity; and often it must seem, in the midst of perplexity and distress, far otherwise to the children of God now. Yet what seems to be a "roundabout" path in a mountainous country may actually be the shortest from point to point. So with the ways by which the Lord our God leads his children to the end. The direct line which haste and impatience would take is not really the "straight path" in the world of spirit. Here, when we seem to be turning back, we may be really moving forward; we may seem to be "fetching a compass," none the less certainly may be advancing by the safest and most direct road. IV. SONG OF THE CHURCH. A meditation on the ways of God, and the relation of the believing soul to him. Waiting for God. They had watched, as it were, for Jehovah to advance along the great way of judgment by which he was to proceed to open the Messianic kingdom. Longing for the revelation of him. Oh that his Name and memorial (two expressions for one idea) might be known! The Name of God is God revealed, "the side of the Divine Being turned towards man" (Psalms 20:1; cf. Psalms 30:1-12:27; Psalms 63:9). (For the meaning of "memorial," cf. Exodus 3:15; Psalms 30:4; Psalms 135:13; Hosea 12:5.) The Messianic hope. The judgments of God, the thought is, must prepare for the new kingdom, for the reign of righteousness in the world. Calamities are symptomatic of evils needing to be cleansed away, if significant of the hand of Jehovah at work in reformation, and so prophetic of a new era. The reign on Mount Zion will be ushered in by a series of judgments on the unbelievers and the unrighteous, i.e. the heathen as opposed to the worshippers of Jehovah. Those judgments are a necessity. Righteousness is not learned, the need of it, the beauty of it, are not experienced, except in the school of suffering, of Divine chastisement. The effect of wealth and honor and success is not to lead men to God, and to the paths of rectitude and religion. Neither the Divine mercy, nor the bright example of others, nor the general tone of moral society, have sufficient influence to attract the inveterate sinner to belier things. In vain the light is poured upon the morally blind, upon those who "will not behold the majesty of Jehovah." In vain his hand is lifted up in judgment; their insensibility prevents them from perceiving it, though they are acute enough in their observation of the trifling interests of the sensuous life. There is but one way of dealing with such insensibility. Those judgments will be effective. They shall see the jealousy of Jehovah for his people (cf. Psalms 69:9), for fire shall devour his adversaries. His jealousy is like fire (Psalms 79:5; Zephaniah 1:18). In consuming it purifies, in purifying it consumes (cf. Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 20:26; Job 22:20). Remorse, shame, envy, indignation,—those fires within the bosom reflect the judgment of God; resistance, rebellion, impenitence, make them unquenchable. Peace and deliverance for the chosen. The past supplies arguments of hope for the future. A work has been accomplished by the Church, but this is Jehovah’s work in it and by it. The deliverance from a foreign yoke was his work also. They had been enslaved to other lords (cf. Isaiah 63:18), and they had done as they pleased with Israel. But they have been swept away into the kingdom of the shades, and are forgotten. "From past events and benefits received, we should reason to God’s future kindness, and infer that he will care for us for the future. God is not like man, to be capable of weariness in doing good, or exhausted in giving largely; therefore the more numerous the benefits with which he has loaded us, so much the more ought our faith to be strengthened and increased" (Calvin); cf. Psalms 138:8; Genesis 32:10, Genesis 32:12; Philippians 1:6. "Thee only." Under the dominion of Jehovah alone is peace, blessedness, liberty, to be found. "He is a freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves beside." J. Isaiah 26:15-21 The resurrection of Israel. The population of Judah has been increased, and its borders extended. (For this cause of rejoicing cf. Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 49:19, Isaiah 49:20; Isaiah 54:1, etc.; Micah 2:1, Micah 2:2; Micah 4:7; Obadiah 1:19, Obadiah 1:20.) Probably he is thinking of the population and strength of the land in the days of David and Solomon, as typical of what is again to be in the happier times. But actually a period of gloom and suffering must precede the glorious restoration. I. THE PERIOD OF TROUBLE AND . It is a pathetic picture of the soul in its attitude of anxious suspense. Jehovah was missed and longed for as the light which seems to tarry in the dark days of winter. Prayer was poured forth; and there was a period of acute suffering like that of the mother preceding the birth of a child. Hope was deceived and disappointed again and again (cf. Isaiah 13:18; Isaiah 21:3). Still the land was not blessed, still the population was not restored. The prophet is thinking of the days after the return from exile. II. THE Or THE PEOPLE. "Thy dead shall live." "Sublimely recovering himself, the prophet cries that God’s saints, though they are dead, shall live," and shall share the duties and privileges of regenerate Israel. The prophet sees, as it were, his countrymen returning from the under-world. So speaks Hosea: "After two days wilt he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:2); left the vision of Ezekiel—the valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-10). With lively faith anticipating the event, he calls upon the new population to awake and cry. It is as if a dew had fallen on the barren land. This "dew of lights" is thought of as something supernatural, existing before the sun. In Psalms 110:3 the ordinary dew is born out of the morning shower. "The dew from the glory of God falls like a heavenly seed into the bosom of the earth; and in consequence of this, the earth gives out from itself the shades which have hitherto been held fast beneath the ground, so that they appear alive again on the face of the earth" (Delitzsch). There is thus a connection between light and life, so often found in conjunction in religious thought (Psalms 36:9; Job 3:16-20; John 1:4). For as the return of the morning light is coincident with the refreshment of the strength, and the awakening to new effort, so in all spiritual parables of the revival of the nation or the individual, light brings life. The renaissance of knowledge precedes or coincides with the reformation of manners, the stir of new activities, the beginning of a new era. And this connection should never be forgotten, "And God said, Let there be light." Even so; and the darkness of superstition, of prejudice, of obscurantism, must be symptomatic of moral death. As the light arouses the sleeper, so the sleeper must bestir himself to greet it and rejoice in it. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." III. RETURN TO SELF-. From this enrapturing vision the prophet returns to the present, with all its sobering and in part depressing circumstances. "He has gained on behalf of his people the comforting certitude that a great exhibition of the Divine justice is on the point of taking place; and his counsel is to withdraw from the doomed into the privacy of communion with God" (Cheyne). While the storm of Divine judgment is sweeping by, let the people of God betake themselves to solitude and prayer (cf. Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:21; Matthew 6:6). The opening of the door of the prayer-chamber is in times of distress the opening of the door into another world than this—a scene of serenity and elevation. In the presence of our Father who seeth in secret, the problems of the hour are solved, or cease unduly to harass the mind. That which threatened to crush us is surmounted by the new energy of the spirit here imparted. "Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream Of glory on the consecrated hour Of man in audience with the Deity; Who worships the great God, that instant joins The first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell." And it is but for "a little moment" that the wrath will last (cf. Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah 10:25; Isaiah 54:7, Isaiah 54:8; Psalms 30:6). "Just as Noah, behind whom Jehovah shut the door of the ark, was hidden in the ark while the floods of judgment poured down without, so should the Church be shut off from the world without in its life of prayer, because a judgment of Jehovah was at hand" (Delitzsch). IV. THE COMING FORTH OF JEHOVAH. (Cf. Micah 1:3.) Where is the "place" of Jehovah? It is the supernatural sphere; and every great manifestation of judgment mingled with mercy is a "coming forth of Jehovah." Here it is expressly for judgment to punish men who have incurred blood-guilt, which is, in other words, sin. Yet in the heart of judgment still his pity and consolation live, and we" should keep it constantly before our eyes, when the wicked slay, mock, and ridicule us, and inflict upon us every kind of outrage and cruelty, God will at length make known that the cry of innocent blood has not been uttered in vain; for he never can forget his own people" (Luke 18:7).—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Seeking God in the night. "With my soul have I desired thee in the night." When God’s judgments are in the earth, even the righteous become more earnest. They need the quickening of spirit which comes from marking "the way," the sure way, and sometimes the swift way, of God’s judgments. But the night must be taken in a personal sense as well as in a national sense. I. WE DESIRE GOD IN THE NIGHT OF OUR SORROWS. Thick clouds come over the heart. We are no longer surrounded by bright skies and pleasant sounds. We have come to the wilderness side of life. The morning of our expectations has given place to the noonday of our toil, and to the evening of our disappointment. The beautiful dream is over, and earthly joys are only passing guests. At eventide they are gone. The soul, sitting alone, feels how unrequited has been the love of God. Alone in the darkness it seeks his face. II. WE DESIRE GOD IN THE NIGHT OF OUR DOUBTS. These will come. Old evidences do not afford us the same basis of faith. New difficulties come face to face with the intellect. Mysteries born of experience oppress the heart. Before, perhaps, we were hard and dogmatic to all who differed from us; before we were inclined to think that doubt was in itself a sin, and not the exquisite action of a sincere mind. Now we sit in darkness, and there is temporary eclipse of faith. What we want is God himself—the living God, God in Christ; and we are thankful if we can but "touch him." We feel how blessed religion is, even when our evidences are darkened, and with our soul we desire God in the night. III. WE DESIRE GOD IN THE NIGHT OF OUR . They must come. Be the tie ever so tender, it must be cut; and we must say or look farewell, or perchance hear of the death of some beloved one in a foreign land. These tragedies are about us every day. New habiliments of mourning are put on every hour. No "touch of a vanished hand." Nothing below but empty space! Then the soul cries, "O God, be not far from me!" IV. WE DESIRE GOD IN THE NIGHT OF OUR OWN . And it is night. To the Christian, who looks through it to the morning, who believes in the better country, and who sees the light of the new Jerusalem flickering up into the sky as he ascends through the darkness,—still to him, strong as he may be in faith and hope, death is a dark hour. But One alone can lighten that. Not lover, acquaintance, mother, or friend. No. "When I pass through the valley of the shadow of death thou art with me."—W.M.S. Prayer in trouble. "Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them." The "other lords," mentioned in the thirteenth verse, are all impotent in the hour of tribulation. Truly they are dead, as Carlyle says. "These idols of yours are wood; you pour wax and oil on them; the flies stick on them; they are not God, I tell you; they are black wood." So at the Reformation. Speaking of Luther, he says, "The quiet German heart; modest, patient of much, had at length got more than it could bear. Formalism, pagan-popeism, and other falsehood and corrupt semblance, had ruled long enough; and here once more was a man found who durst tell all men that God’s world stood, not on semblances, but realities; that life was a truth, and not a lie!" There are idolatries in every age; but the idols of rank and fame and pleasure are of no avail in the hour of trouble. I. HERE IS . The Lord receives them. He does not spurn their approach because they have kept away till then. The great Father never reproaches the repentant, returning Israel. No. Unlike the proud, resentful spirit of man, "the Lord God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." The haughty spirit of man would resent the approach of one who was simply driven by stress of weather into the haven of his protection. II. HERE IS REALITY. They are filled with earnestness. It is no easy ritual of the lips. They "poured out" a prayer. Very expressive indeed is that. The rock was rent, and the waters flowed forth. The poor bruised heart could contain its agony no longer. There was confession. There was that blessed "outness" which of itself brings relief. These men had seen the pouring forth of the swollen Jordan, and of the storm-filled streams of Lebanon. So is it that the earnestness of the soul at once engages the attention and interest of God. It matters little whether prayer be liturgical or free, whether it be in the sanctuary or the closet, so long as the soul seeks God as the hart desireth the water-brooks; and the literal rendering of "prayer" here is "secret speech." III. HERE IS . "When thy chastening was upon them." This is very different from self-chosen and self-inflicted chastisement. Some Christians in every age have become self-tormentors: some, with the Flagellants, in the infliction of physical torture, and some in constant introspection—painful searching of their own motives, and mourning over their own want of faith and of feeling. But this text speaks of God’s own discipline—a Father’s discipline, and therefore a wise, a kind, and a safe discipline. Moreover, it is but for "a season." We read, "when thy discipline was upon them," which, in its very language, suggests that it is not a lasting condition. The Jews came back from exile. Their punishments for idolatry gave place to pardon and restoration. So it is now. God does not delight in the sufferings of his children. "Tribulation worketh patience;" our "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." In the heart of the prickly encasement there is opening out a beautiful flower.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 26:5-7, Isaiah 26:8 (latter half) The righteousness of God’s rule. I. ITS ABSENCE. We still find on the earth "them that dwell on high"—the arrogant, the presumptuous, the oppressor; there is to be seen" the lofty city," exalted in its pride of power, dealing its blows upon the weak and suffering, fearing not God nor regarding the rights of men. In every age, beneath every sky, these men and these cities have been known. To those who have been humiliated and ill treated, God has seemed absent; his righteousness has appeared afar off; their cry has been, "How long, O Lord, how long dost thou not avenge," etc.? Among such suffering and perplexed ones are down-trodden peoples, persecuted Churches, wronged individual men and women. II. ITS IN DUE TIME. The justice of God "is not dead, but sleepeth." It may be truer to say that it waits in patience for the hour of manifestation; then it descends; and it appears: 1. In the utter overthrow of iniquity. The lofty are laid low, the proud city is brought down to the ground (Isaiah 26:5). Instead of power is utter enfeeblement; the weapon of cruelty is stricken out of its hand, the words of condemnation and cursing are taken out of its mouth. Instead of honor is humiliation; the throne is exchanged for the very dust of the ground; and instead of unholy joy is hopeless misery. 2. In the exaltation of rectitude (Isaiah 26:6). Those who have been reduced to poverty and need by the unscrupulousness of the sinful will accede to their heritage of power, of wealth, of pleasure, or—what is better than these—of influence, of sufficiency, of thankfulness. God, the Most Upright One, smooths the path of the just (Isaiah 26:7), makes it level, enables the righteous to pursue their way of fruitful activity, of Divine worship, of holy joy. III. THE EFFECT OF ITS . "When God’s judgments are in the earth," i.e. when the righteousness of God is seen and felt in the infliction of penalty on the guilty and the leveling of the path of the just, then "the inhabitants … learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:8). 1. The devout are confirmed in their devotion, and they cleave to God and to his service. 2. The waverers are decided, and they resolve to unite themselves with his people. 3. The presumptuous are alarmed, and they may be awakened and redeemed. This is God’s intention in, and is the fitting end of, his Divine judgments; it is our folly and our sin if we allow that purpose to be defeated.—C. Isaiah 26:8, Isaiah 26:9 A thirst for God. "The desire of our soul is to thy Name … with my soul have I desired thee." The primary reference here is to the hope of troubled hearts for Divine deliverance; but the words of the text are suggestive of the general truths— I. THAT MAN IS TO CRAVE AFTER GOD. We have many indications of this truth. We find it in the facts that: 1. The noblest spirits among cultivated peoples find their chief joy in communion with him. 2. The worthiest spirits among uncultivated peoples have been athirst for God. 3. Religious truth and Divine worship prove a powerful attraction to the vast majority of mankind. 4. Every human being is found to possess a capacity for religious knowledge and devotion. 5. Human life without God is found to be constantly unsatisfying and restless. II. THAT THIS GODWARD , DULLED BY SIN, IS OFTEN BY . "I desired thee in the night." Our interest in God, reduced by the various harmful and despoiling influences of a sinful society, sometimes so reduced as to be practically lost, is often awakened by affliction of some kind. It is not until the soul is brought down very low by sickness, by calamity, by bereavement, by treachery and disappointment, or by earthly failure and disenchantment, that it finds its deep and sore need of a heavenly Father, of an unfailing Friend, of a heavenly treasure. When thus injured and spoiled by sin, it is not until our souls are made to see their sinfulness in a fierce and awful light that we crave and cry out for an almighty and all-sufficient Savior; but then we do. III. THAT, IN , IT BECOMES A OF THE SOUL. "With my spirit … will I seek thee early." Whether or not we find this doctrine in the text, we find this truth in the will of God; and God expects to find this fact in human experience. It is bitterly disappointing to the good—and is it not a disappointment to the Good One?—when they who have been brought to the throne of grace by reflection are found, in after-days of comfort and sunshine, to leave the sanctuary unvisited, and to walk on their way, godless, prayerless, hopeless. Such men (1) defeat God’s kind purposes; (2) add iniquity to their iniquity; (3) most seriously endanger their own future (see Isaiah 1:5).—C. Guilty insensibility. The wise and good man will learn something from everything; the foolish and sinful man will learn nothing from anything. In whatever accents God may speak, this latter hears not his voice, and heeds not his will; he is guiltily insensible to all kinds of heavenly influence; he is— I. BY THE OF GOD’S . He does not "learn righteousness," though "favor be showed" to him by God. God may be, as he is, multiplying his mercies unto him, so that they are as the sands of the sea—innumerable; visiting him by day and by night with loving-kindnesses continually renewed, besetting him behind and before with his guardianship, laying his hand of gentle power upon him in guidance and in blessing. But all is lost upon him—he is unmindful of everything; he does not "learn righteousness;" he goes on, if not in oppression, or in vice, or in open atheism, yet in a guilty forgetfulness, in an unfilial indifference and ingratitude. II. BY HUMAN EXAMPLE. "In the land of uprightness he deals unjustly." Around him are men worshipping God, working devotedly in his cause, living in accordance with his will, illustrating Christian virtues in the daily transactions and in the common relationships of life, bearing the best witness to the power and the excellency of Divine truth, supplying a source of influence which ought to tell on a human heart and to mould human character; but this is of no avail. The hardened heart is unmoved, its apathy is undisturbed, its course unchanged. III. BY THE OF GOD’S . "He will not behold the majesty of the Lord." There are three ways in which the majesty or the greatness of God is revealed to us, all of which deserve and demand our most patient and devout attention. 1. In the material world. In the sky, in the sea, in the mountain, in the storm, in the earthquake, etc. "With God," as manifested thus, "is terrible majesty" (Job 37:22); and he who does "not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operations of his hand," is guiltily blind to the majesty of the Lord. 2. In Divine providence. The majestic holiness of God is seen in the revelation of his wrath against impurity, intemperance, violence, passion, and all other evils; also in the revelation of his approval of righteousness and peace, in the ordering of our human lives. Whoso is unobservant of this is a wickedly dull scholar in a world where such plain lessons are to be learnt. 3. In the gospel of Jesus Christ. There the majesty of God’s character shines forth, and we see "the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." In the Incarnation itself, in the character of Jesus Christ, in the severity of the sorrows he bore, in the depth of the shame to which he stooped, in the awful moral grandeur of the death he died, in the unspeakable glory of his heavenly mission,—there, indeed, is the majesty of the Lord to be seen. He who will not dwell on this as on that which, above all other things, is worthy of his most patient and reverent regard, is one of "the wicked," with whom God "is angry." LESSONS. 1. Let us be thankful if we are hearing and heeding the voice of God, if we are opening our hearts to the heavenly influence. 2. Let us take earnest heed to the fact that a guilty inattention leads on and down to a fatal deafness.—C. Isaiah 26:12-18 The argument from the past. Great things are represented, by the prophetic voice, to have been done, and these furnish the strongest reason to expect great things in the future. I. THE GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR US. 1. He has heard our cry in the day of distress (Isaiah 26:16, Isaiah 26:17). Few things go home to our hearts more readily than the words of the psalmist, "I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me." It is a great thing to have been heard of God, to have gained his pitiful ear, and to have enjoyed his merciful consideration; that amid the millions of his children he has distinguished us and bent on us his benign regard. 2. He has granted full deliverance. "Other lords … have had dominion … but [now] thee only will we celebrate; they are dead;" their very memory is perishing (Isaiah 26:13, Isaiah 26:14). We may have been under the dominion of some cruel vice (lust, or avarice, or intemperance), or of "the world" (1 John); but in the mercy of God these spiritual adversaries have been defeated, have been slain, they are no more to be dreaded, and now a Divine Redeemer is the Object of our adoration; for him we live, his honor we seek, his Name we strive to glorify (Isaiah 26:15), in his holy and ennobling service we spend our days and our powers. 3. He has granted spiritual enlargement. (Isaiah 26:15.) "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord." To some, especially to those whom he redeems from the bondage of vice or crime, God grants material enlargement, the improvement of their estate, the brightening of their life, the broadening of their sphere. To all who, at the touch of his liberating hand, come out of spiritual captivity into the freedom of his children, he gives spiritual advancement, increase of knowledge, of joy, of love, of influence, of hope. As we love and serve Christ, we are enlarged on every hand—the horizon of our souls is removed beyond its former bounds. II. THE . The fact, that God has done such great things for us—and all that has been done for us has been wrought by him (Isaiah 26:12; and see Psalms 87:7)—is a strong reason to expect other gracious things in the future. "Thou wilt ordain peace for us" (Isaiah 26:12). It is a scriptural argument that the conferring of greater blessings is a security to us for the possession of smaller ones (see Matthew 6:25; Romans 8:32; Psalms 56:13). The gifts of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ, (1) his most costly gifts, (2) his most valuable gifts, may be to us a strong assurance that God will not only "ordain peace" in life and at death, but also lead us along all the path of life, and receive us to his presence and glory when our earthly course is run.—C. (with Isaiah 26:14) Contrasted issues. Taking Isaiah 26:19 as it surely should be taken, in connection and in contrast with Isaiah 26:14, and understanding the primary reference of both of them to he to the hopes of the Hebrew nation at the time of the prophecy, we have our attention called to— I. THE ISSUE OF —DEATH. 1. It tends to fatal ruin. The tyrants of Babylon, being overthrown, should rise up no more, should never regain their position, were as dead men whose day was hopelessly and irretrievably gone. All unrighteousness tends to the same issue; it leads down to loss, to overthrow, to shame, to a depth of ruin from which there is no recovery. At length the guilty man (party, nation) is down so low that those who look on say, "He (it) is dead; he shall rise no more." 2. It travels fast to the grave. Guilty violence (Psalms 55:23; Psalms 140:11) and shameful vice (Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18) make a quick passage to the tomb. 3. It sinks into permanent oblivion. God makes "their memory to perish" (see Psalms 34:16; Proverbs 10:7; Ecclesiastes 8:10). No man cares to remember those whose lives have been disgraced by sin; their names lie unmentioned, and their memory fades from view till it is lost in the thickening shadows of time. 4. It goes down to the death which is eternal. "The wages of sin is death." II. THE ISSUE OF —REVIVAL. "Thy dead men shall live." God’s people who have fallen till they have seemed to be wholly lost shall be recovered and shall reappear. Righteousness is immortal; it cannot be buried and forgotten and lost. 1. It commonly ends in restoration to power and position. Joseph is cast into prison, but he comes out to be the first minister in Egypt. David is driven into the caves, but he comes forth to sit down upon the throne. The persecuted people of God, whether in Babylon, in the Vaudois valleys, in Holland, in the Highlands of Scotland, in the woods and rocks of Madagascar, come forth when the "red, right hand" of cruelty is stricken down, and appear as those that have risen from the tomb. 2. It secures an earthly immortality—that of a lasting recollection: "The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance" (Psalms 112:6; Proverbs 10:7): that, also, of abiding influence; for the effect of their holy lives and true, faithful words shall go down to distant generations. 3. It issues in eternal blessedness. The righteous shall go into "life eternal."—C. The duty of retirement. There are periods in a nation’s history, and there are times in a good man’s life, when it is well to hear and wise to heed the admonition, "Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee." We may let this language suggest to us that we should— I. MAKE TIME FOR DEVOUT . In busy, outwardly active times, when there is an imperious demand on every hand for "work," there is urgent need that this counsel should be given and be taken. Enter into the chamber of solemn and sacred meditation; consider what is your present spiritual condition; estimate the progress you are making in your course; reflect upon the swift and steady passage of your life; realize that the time is not far off when all earthly interest will be nothing, and when it will be everything to know that the righteous Judge is well pleased with the witness you are bearing and the work you are doing. II. COMPEL EACH DAY TO YIELD ITS HOUR OF DIRECT WITH GOD. We cannot live, spiritually, on public devotion. Nothing will nourish the soul in the absence of private, individual fellowship with God. "Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray … in secret" (Matthew 6:1-34.). The most pressing cares, domestic, or official, or public, will not excuse the neglect of private communion with God. If Daniel, with all the cares of Babylon upon him, found time to pray three times a day regularly (Daniel 6:10), we can compel our duties to make room for devotion. Every day let God speak to us, and let us speak to him, within the shut doors of our own chamber. III. TAKE UP THE OF . There are times when man can do nothing more than he has done, and all that is left is patient waiting for God. "And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee." This may be the attitude: 1. Of the diligent, waiting God’s increase on his industry. 2. Of the disciplined, waiting God’s crowning of his patience; whether of the embarrassed, of the sick, or of the defamed. It is to these that the words of the text are most applicable; for it is they who are to wait for a little while, "until the indignation be overpast," i.e. until the hour of deliverance is fully come, and the work of redemption has been wrought. But we may also regard this as the attribute: 3. Of the co-worker with Christ, waiting the Divine blessing on his zeal.—C. BY R. TUCK The bulwark of salvation. Two suggestions are made concerning the association of this figure in the mind of Isaiah. Some think he had in view the circumstances of the Assyrian invasion in the time of Hezekiah, and designed to assure the people that, however boastful might be the Assyrian words, and however terrible the appearance of the Assyrian armies, they were safe, because the defense of God was better than the mightiest walls, or the loftiest towers, or the most destructive weapons. In preparation for the-assault of the Assyrians, Hezekiah had done all in his power to fortify and defend Jerusalem; but, in the doing of his best, his trust was still in the Lord his God; and he looked for "walls and bulwarks" in the salvation which God promised him by Isaiah. But others regard this song as prepared beforehand, in anticipation of the deliverance from Babylon, and possession again of the holy city, though then it would be, for many years, a city without walls or bulwarks, and, even from human points of view, altogether dependent on the Divine defense. J.A. Alexander says, "The condition and feelings of the people after their return from exile are expressed by putting an ideal song into their mouths. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 27:1 THE TRIPLE ON THE POWERS OF . The crowning judgment of all is now briefly described. "In that day"—the day of God’s vengeance—when all his other enemies have been put down, Jehovah shall finally visit with his sword three mighty foes, which are described under three figures—the first as "Leviathan, the swift serpent;" the second as "Leviathan, the crooked serpent; "and the third as "the dragon that is in the sea." It has been usual to see in these three monsters three kingdoms inimical to God—either Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt; or Assyria, Egypt, and Tyre; or Media, Persia, and Egypt. But this diversity of interpretation shows that there is no particular fitness in the emblems to symbolize any special kingdoms or world-powers, while the imagery itself and the law of climax alike point to something higher than world-powers being intended. "Leviathan," in Job 3:8, where the word first occurs, represents a supra-mundane power—probably "the dragon, the enemy of light, who in old Eastern traditions is conceived as ready to swallow up sun and moon, and plunge creation in original chaos or darkness"; and the "dragon" is a customary emblem of Satan himself (Psalms 91:13; Isaiah 51:9; Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:9), the prince of darkness. The triple vengeance here is parallel to the triple punishment, in the apocalyptic vision (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10), of "the devil," "the beast," and "the false prophet," who have been termed by commentators "the three great enemies of God’s kingdom". The Lord with his sore and great and strong sword. The "sword" of Jehovah is first heard of in the Pentateuch, where it is called" glittering" (Deuteronomy 32:41). It is spoken of by David (Psalms 7:12), and frequently by Isaiah (see Isaiah 31:8; Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 46:1-13:16). Mr. Cheyne supposes the idea to have been taken from the Baby-Ionian mythology, and seems to think it half material. But it is merely on a par with other anthrepomorphisms. The word rendered "sore" probably means "well-tempered," "keen." Leviathan. Etymologically, the term "Leviathan" appears to mean "that which is coiled" or "twisted," whence it would seem to have been primarily applied, as in the present verse, to serpents. In Job 41:1-34, however, it manifestly designates the crocodile, while in Psalms 104:26 it must be used of some kind of cetacean. Thus its most appropriate English rendering would be "monster." The piercing serpent; rather, the fleet, or fugitive serpent. It is a general characteristic of the snake tribe to glide away and hide themselves when disturbed. Even leviathan that crooked serpent; rather, and also leviathan that crooked serpent. It is quite clear that two distinct foes of God are pointed at—one characterized as "fleet," the other as "tortuous." And he shall slay the dragon. Here is mention of a third enemy, probably Satan himself (see the introductory paragraph to this section). Isaiah 27:2-6 GOD’S CARE FOR HIS . This piece may be called a companion picture to Isaiah 5:1-7, or a joy-song to be set over against that dirge. In both the figure of the vineyard is employed to express the people of God, and God is "the Lord of the vineyard." But whereas, on the former occasion, all was wrath and fury, menace and judgment, here all is mercy and loving-kindness, protection and promise. The difference is, no doubt, not with God, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17), but with the vineyard, which is either not the same, or, if the same, then differently circumstanced. The vineyard of Isa 5:1-30. is beyond all doubt the Jewish Church in the time of Isaiah, or in the times shortly after. The vineyard of the present place is either the Christian Church, or the Jewish Church reformed and purified by suffering. It is not the Church triumphant in heaven, since there are still "briars and thorns" in it, and there are still those belonging to it who have to "make their peace with God." The prophet has come back from his investigations of the remote future and the supra-mundane sphere to something which belongs to earth, and perhaps not to a very distant period. His second "song of the vineyard" may well comfort the Church through all her earthly struggles. Isaiah 27:2 Sing ye unto her. Our translators have, strangely enough, inverted the order of the two clauses, which stand thus in the Hebrew: "A vineyard of red wine; sing ye unto it, "or "sing ye of it." The "vineyard of red wine" is one that produces abundance of rich fruit. Isaiah 27:3 I the Lord do keep it; or, guard it (comp. Isaiah 26:3; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:8; Psalms 121:5). Vineyards were considered to require special watching, since they were liable to damage both from thieves and foxes (So Isaiah 2:15). It was usual to build towers in them, from which a watch could be kept (Isaiah 5:2; Matthew 21:33). I will water it every moment (compare the threat in Isaiah 5:6, "I will command my clouds that they rain no rain upon it"). The Church needs and receives "the continual dew of God’s blessing." Isaiah 27:4 Fury is not in me; i.e. "I am not now angered against my vineyard, as on the former occasion (Isaiah 5:1-30:47); or at any rate my anger now is not fury." (Isaiah frequently ascribes "fury" to God, as in Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 42:25; Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:20, Isaiah 51:22; Isaiah 58:1-14:18; Isaiah 63:3, Isaiah 63:5, Isaiah 63:6; Isaiah 66:15.) Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? The "briars and thorns" are apparently unrighteous members of the Church, who have fallen below their privileges. God asks, "Who will set the briars and thorns in array against me?" in a tone of contempt. "Who will dare to do battle against me with such weak material?" And then he adds a forecast of the result in such a case: "I would move forward; I would burn them all together" (comp. Isaiah 10:17). Isaiah 27:5 Or let him take hold of my strength. There is another alternative. If the "thorns and the briars" are not prepared to contend in battle against God, let them adopt a different course. Let them "lay hold of God’s strength," place themselves under his protection, and make their appeal to him, and see if they cannot "make their peace with him." A truly evangelical invitation! The enemies of God are entreated to cease from striving against him, and are taught that the door of repentance is still open to them. God is willing to be reconciled even to his enemies. Let them make peace with him, make peace with him. The reiteration constitutes an appeal of extreme earnestness and tenderness, which none could reject but the utterly impenitent. Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; rather, in the days to come Jacob shall strike root. Jacob, lately the vineyard, is now compared to a single vine, which becomes strong by striking its roots deep into the soil, and then, as a consequence, blossoms and buds, and fills the face of the world with fruit. So the Israel of God, firmly rooted in the soil of God’s favor, would blossom with graces of all kinds, and bring forth the abundant fruit of good works. Isaiah 27:7-11 THE COMING UPON JUDAH A IN WHICH MERCY IS BLENDED WITH JUSTICE. A coming judgment upon Judah has been one of the main subjects of Isaiah’s prophecy from the beginning. It has been included in the catalogue of "burdens" (see Isaiah 22:1-25.). It will have to be one of the prophet’s main subjects to the end of his "book." Hence he may at any time recur to it, as he does now, without special reason or excuse. In this place the special aspect under which the judgment presents itself to him is that of its merciful character, (1) in degree (verses 7, 8); (2) in intention (verse 9). While noting this, he feels, however, bound to note also, that the judgment is, while it lasts, severe (verses 10, 11). Isaiah 27:7 Hath he smitten him; etc.? i.e. "Has God smitten Judah, as he ’(God) smote Judah’s smiters?" Judah’s chief smiters were Assyria and Babylon. The judgments upon them would be more severe than that upon Judah. They would be destroyed; Judah would be taken captive, and restored. Them that are slain by him; rather, them that slew him (so Lowth, Ewald, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne). But, to obtain this meaning, the pointing of the present text must be altered. The law of parallelism seems, however, to require the alteration. Isaiah 27:8 Our translators have entirely mistaken the meaning of this verse. The proper rendering is, In measure, when thou puttest her away, thou wilt contend with her; he sighed with his keen breath in the day of the east wind. "In measure" means "with forbearance and moderation"—the punishment being carefully adjusted to the degree of the offence. God was about to "put Judah away"—to banish her into a far country; but still he would refrain himself—he would "not suffer his whole displeasure to arise," or give her over wholly to destruction. In the day of the east wind, or of the national catastrophe, when his breath was fierce and hard against his people, he would "sigh" at the needful chastisement. As Dr. Kay well says, "Amid the rough and stern severity which he breathed into the tempest, there was an undertone of sadness and grief." Isaiah 27:9 By this; i.e. "by the punishment inflicted." God accepts punishment as an expiation of sin; and this punishment of Judah was especially intended to be expiatory, and to remove at once his guilt, and the evil temper which had led him into sin. Its fruit would be a revulsion from idolatry, which would show itself in a fierce determination to destroy all idolatrous emblems and implements, altars, groves, images, and the like. This spirit was strongly shown in the Maccabee period (see 1 Macc. 5:44, 68; 10:84; 13:47, etc.). He maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones. A calcining of the stones into lime is probably intended. It was usual to subject the idolatrous objects to the action of fire, and then to stamp them into powder (2 Kings 23:4, 2 Kings 23:6, 2 Kings 23:11, 2 Kings 23:12, 2 Kings 23:15, etc.). The groves and images. Isaiah 27:10 Yet the defensed city shall be desolate. Though her punishment is in mercy, as a chastisement which is to purge away her sin, yet Jerusalem shall for a time be desolate, void, without inhabitant, left like a wilderness. Forsaken; or, put away; the same word that is used in Isaiah 27:8 of Jerusalem. There shall the calf feed. A familiar image of desolation (comp. Isaiah 5:17; Isaiah 17:2; Isaiah 32:14, etc.). Isaiah 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off. By a sudden introduction of metaphor, the city becomes a tree, the prophet’s thought going back, perhaps, to Isaiah 27:6. "Withered boughs" are indications of internal rottenness, and must be "broken off" to give the tree a chance of recovery. Samaria may be viewed as such a "bough," if the "tree" be taken as "the Israel of God" in the wider sense. Otherwise, we must suppose a threat against individual Judaeans. The women come. Weak women are strong enough to break off dead branches; they fall at a touch, and "their end is to be burned" (Hebrews 6:8). For it is a people of no understanding. It was folly, madness, to turn away from Jehovah, and go after other gods. Only through having "no understanding" could Israel have been so foolish (comp. Deuteronomy 32:28; 2 Kings 17:15; Jeremiah 4:22). He that made them … he that formed them (comp. Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:7). God "hateth nothing that he has made" (Collect for Ash Wednesday). He made all men, but he "made" and "formed" Israel with exceptional care, and exceptional care leads on to exceptional love. Will not have mercy … will show them no favor; i.e. "will not spare." No contradiction of Isa 27:7, Isaiah 27:8 is intended. God will have "measure" and "mercy" in his punishment of Israel, but will not so have mercy as not to punish severely. Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 27:13 JUDAH . The general practice of Isaiah is to append to gloomy prophecies words of encouragement He does this even when heathen nations are denounced (Isaiah 18:7; Isaiah 19:18-25; Isaiah 23:17, Isaiah 23:18); and still more when he is predicting judgments upon Israel (Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 10:20-34; Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 29:18-24, etc.). The encouragement in this place is a promise of return after dispersion, and of re-establishment on the "holy mount at Jerusalem" (verse 19). Isaiah 27:12 The Lord shall beat off; i.e. "gather in his harvest." The metaphor is taken either from the beating of olive trees to obtain the berries (see Isaiah 17:6), or from the beating out of the grain by a threshing-flail (Judges 6:11; Rth 2:17; and below. Isaiah 28:27). Perhaps the best translation would be, The Lord shall thresh. From the channel of the river; rather, from the strong stream of the river. As usual, "the river" (hannahar) is the Euphrates (comp. Genesis 31:21; Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 24:2, Joshua 24:3, Joshua 24:14, Joshua 24:15, etc.). Its "strong stream," or "flood," is contrasted with the scant thread of water which was alone to be found in the "Torrens AEgypti." The stream of Egypt (nachal Mizraim) is generally allowed to be the modern Wady el Arish, which was appointed to be the southern boundary of the Holy Land (Numbers 34:5; 1 Kings 8:65). The Lord would collect within these limits all that were of Israel. He would also, as appears from the next verse, subsequently overstep the limits. Isaiah 27:13 The great trumpet shall be blown; rather, a great trumpet (comp. Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). This imagery, and the return of the Israelites from Egypt and Assyria, point rather to the final gathering of Israel into the Church triumphant than to the return from the Babylonian captivity. Egypt and Assyria were certainly not the countries from which they came chiefly at that time. But they are the countries from which they will chiefly come when Jehovah "sets his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people" (Isaiah 11:11). The outcasts (comp. Isaiah 11:12). Spiritual wickedness in high places powerless to resist God. As Isaiah was, somehow or other, brought into contact with the dualistic doctrine of the Zoro-astrians (Isaiah 45:5-7), it was important that he should bear witness to the impotency of the powers of evil when they matched themselves against Jehovah. The Zoroastrians taught that there were two great principles, one of good, and the other of evil, whom they called respectively Ahura-mazda and Angro-mainyus, who were both of them uncreated and independent one of the other, and between whom there had been from all eternity, and always would be, a bitter contest and rivalry, each seeking to injure, baffle, and in every possible way annoy and thwart the other. Both principles were real persons, possessed of will, intelligence, power, consciousness, and other personal qualities. The struggle between them was constant and well-balanced, with certainly no marked preponderance of the good over the evil. Whatever good thing Ahura-mazda had created from the beginning of time, Angro-mainyus had corrupted and ruined it. Moral and physical evils were alike at his disposal. He could blast the earth with barrenness, or make it produce thorns, thistles, and poisonous plants; his were the earthquake, the storm, the plague of hail, the thunderbolt; he could cause disease and death, sweep off a nation’s flocks and herds by murrain, or depopulate a continent by pestilence; ferocious wild beasts, serpents, toads, mice, hornets, mosquitoes, were his creation; he had invented and introduced into the world the sins of witchcraft, murder, unbelief, cannibalism; he excited wars and tumults, continually stirred up the bad against the good, and labored by every possible expedient to make vice triumph over virtue. Ahura-mazda could exercise no control over him; the utmost that he could do was to keep a perpetual watch upon his rival, and seek to baffle and defeat him. This he was not always able to; despite his best endeavors, Angro-mainyus was not infrequently victorious. It was probably to meet this doctrine, and prevent its having weight with his disciples, that Isaiah taught so explicitly the nothingness of the highest powers of evil in any contest with the Almighty. He had already stated that, at the end of the world, God would visit and punish "the host of the high ones that were on high," as well as the kings of the earth upon the earth (Isaiah 24:21). He now presents evil in a threefold personal form of the highest awfulness and grandeur, and declares its conquest in this threefold form by Jehovah. God is to "punish" the two leviathans with his sword, and actually to "slay the dragon." This might seem to go beyond the statements of the Revelation of St. John (Revelation 20:10); but it is probably to be understood, in the same sense, of a living death. The triumph is at any rate complete, final, unmistakable. Evil can do nothing against good, but is wholly overcome by it. Isaiah 27:3-5 The means whereby God purifies and perfects his Church. Despite human weakness and human perversity, God will build up and establish a faithful Church—he will "purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). It is for his honor that this should be so, and he is strong enough to effect it. His "strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). We are shown here some, at any rate, of the chief means whereby he effects his purpose. Most prominent of all is— I. HIS . "I the Lord do keep it." "I will keep it night and day." Incessant watchful care, never slacking, never wearied, the fruit of abounding infinite love,—this is the first thing. The Lord "keeps the city." The Lord is his Church’s "Keeper," so that "the sun shall not burn it by day, neither the moon by night;" so that the thief shall not enter in, nor the fox spoil; so that the hatred and wiles of Satan shall be of no avail; so that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). The Lord’s care is unceasing—"he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalms 121:4). The Lord’s care is effectual—"he keepeth his mercy forever" (Psalms 89:28). II. HIS GRACE. "I will water it every moment." Not only day by day and hour by hour, but momently, does his grace descend on his Church, strengthening it, reviving it, refreshing it. His Holy Spirit teaches men’s hearts continually with a doctrine that "distils as the dew" (Deuteronomy 32:2), softens them with an influence that "drops as the rain." He gives "grace for grace;" leads on "from strength to strength;" converts, upholds, confirms, sustains, each weak and wavering soul; cleanses, purifies, infuses light, and strength, and sweetness, and every other virtue into each heart that will admit them; thus constituting and "presenting to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing … holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). III. HIS KEEN PURGING FIRES. "The briars and thorns … will I burn together." The Church, while on earth, will always have imperfections, weak brethren, unworthy members, faults, ay, sins, even in the best. It is among the greatest of God’s mercies to the Church that he does not overlook these, but is keenly alive to them—yea, "sets men’s secret sins in the light of his countenance" (Psalms 90:8). For when these things are noted, there is a hope that they may be remedied. God is ever purging his Church. He "turns his hand upon it, and purely purges away its dross and taketh away all its tin" (Isaiah 1:25). By pain and suffering, by chastisements of various kinds, by sickness, and disappointment, and ill success, and loss of those dear to them, he leads men to conviction of sin, and hatred of it, and aversion from it, and contrition, and amendment. Where these fail, there is the final remedy, which saves the Church, when the individual will not be saved—the remedy of excision, when the dead branch is broken off, and "cast into the fire, and burned" (John 15:6). But in thousands of cases the purging is effectual, the keen fire does its work, and purifies without destroying. The soul that was in danger turns to God, and "takes hold of his strength," and "makes its peace with him," and both the Church and the individual gain. Isaiah 27:7, Isaiah 27:8 The moderation of God’s chastisements. All God’s doings are "with measure." At the creation he "weighed the hills in a balance" (Isaiah 40:12), "made a weight for the winds," and" weighed the waters by measure" (Job 28:25). He sets one thing against another, "looks to the end of the earth," and "seeth under the whole heaven" (Job 28:24). There is nothing hasty, rash, or inconsiderate in his doings. He is a law to himself; and the perfect harmony of his own nature necessarily produces the result that order and measure pervade all that he accomplishes. "Measure," as Hooker says, "is that which perfecteth all things, because everything is for some end, neither can that thing be available to any end which is not proportionable thereunto, and to proportion as well excesses as defects are opposite" (’Eccl. Pol.,’ 5:55, § 2). God’s chastisements have for their end the recovery of those whom he chastises, and would not be effectual for this end unless they were carefully apportioned and adjusted’ to the particular case. Chastisements unduly light would have no restraining or educational force; they would be contemned, despised, and would harden those whom they were intended to influence for good. On the other hand, over-severe chastisements would crush and ruin. They would "quench the smoking flax" and "break the bruised reed" (Matthew 12:20), so rendering recovery impossible. Thus measure is needed in chastisements; and those which God inflicts are measured with most marvelous exactitude. He metes out to all the exact cross, difficulty, suffering, which is suited to bring them to him. He afflicts them always more lightly than they deserve. "In measure he contends with them," apportioning their day to their strength, and their temptations to their ability to bear them. The Israel of God gathered in and garnered one by one. While Scripture often speaks broadly of the call and conversion of nations, it yet, to an attentive reader, is continually proclaiming the fact that salvation is an individual matter. No privileges of birth or covenant, of Church-membership or Church-position, assure any one who has come to years of discretion that he is among the saved, or can make up for the want of personal fitness, personal faith, personal sincerity. God is very careful, and very choice, when he "makes up his jewels" (Malachi 3:17). His eye is not only over all, but each. He tests them "one by one." He says to each, "My son, give me thy heart" (Proverbs 23:26). He requires of each conversion to him, trust in him, the earnest wish to please him. "One by one," as they become fit for it, he gathers them in, adds them to his crown, causes them to join the "innumerable company" of his elect—"the spirits of just men made defect" (Hebrews 12:22, Hebrews 12:23). This consideration should make men careful to assure themselves; (1) of their hold on the faith; (2) of their interest in Christ; (3) of their possession of that "holiness" without which "no one shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 27:1-13 In that day. We have here a general picture of the events which precede the condition of the inauguration of a new era. I. THE FIGHT WITH THE MONSTER OR . We cannot enter into the subject of this symbolism, in reference to which, in the absence of definite information, so much of fanciful interpretation has gathered. We cannot refer the serpent or the dragon to the storm-cloud, or lightning, as some have done; nor historically to Egypt and Assyria. Something much deeper seems to be meant, as in the legends of the combat of Apollo, the greatest god of the Greeks, with the Python at Delphi. The dragon is symbolic, in ancient thought generally, of the power of death, of the under-world, into which humanity in its sinfulness and weakness is prone to fall. Jehovah will overcome this fiendish power; such seems to be the meaning of the prophecy. II. OF ISRAEL TO FAVOR. Here the prophecy passes into song. The Church appears under the favorite image of the vineyard. Jehovah is its Keeper, who waters and watches it by night and by day. His feelings are those of pure love, and his wrath is reserved for those who would injure the sacred enclosure. Were such thorns and thistles before him, he would set them on fire. These are figures of the enemies of the Church (see 2 Samuel 23:6, 2 Samuel 23:7). Yet if ever these yield themselves, they may find mercy. "A truly evangelical belief that God is willing to be reconciled, even to his enemies. Its presence has given the prophecy a spiritual superiority over the other prophetic descriptions of the judgment upon the hostile nations, e.g. Isaiah 66:16. Even according to Isaiah 19:22, Egypt must be first smitten in order that it may be healed" (Cheyne). As the proverb says, "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10). So here the meaning is, "Let the unrighteous man take sanctuary with Jehovah, and become by penitence and obedience a servant of his." And the elect nation will take root, and throw its sheltering foliage over the nations—a tree of healing (Revelation 22:2); and the blessings of salvation shall be diffused over the world (cf. Isaiah 37:31; Hosea 14:6). The union of Jew and Gentile seems foreshadowed, and the removal of the distinction between them. Salvation was of them and for the world (John 4:22; Ephesians 2:14). III. THE OF DIVINE . The punishment of the people has not been so severe as that of their enemies. There was and ever is "measure" in the afflictions of God; they do not exceed the bounds of justice nor the limits of man’s enduring power. "He never smites with both hands;" he sifts, but does not destroy. (For the threshing-floor, cf. Isaiah 21:10.) He was wroth, but not without love; has banished, but not put an end to, his people. And now, as ever, he would "reason together" with them, and proclaim the terms upon which he will mercifully accept their repentance as an atonement for guilt. They must destroy the emblems of idolatry, and put an utter end to it; and thus, purged from its filth, be prepared for salvation. Punishment will cease when sin ceases, but not before. And when the sin is honestly put away, it may ever be said to the sinner, "Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; with them, forgive yourself." IV. THE FATE OF THE WORLD’S . For it seems better so to understand the allusion than to Jerusalem. Its fortifications will be razed, its population be dismissed, and the cattle will browse upon the deserted scene. In contrast to the magnificent parks and gardens of the great cities, there will be but stunted bushes, affording firewood to the poor women who come to pick it up (Cheyne). Others, however, understand the prophecy to refer to Jerusalem itself. The reason assigned for the doom is ignorance, as so often in Scripture—guilty ignorance. As the "beginning of wisdom ’is not prudence, policy, science, or philosophy, but the "fear of God," so irreverence and contempt of Divine laws, leading to sensuality and vice, are identical with ignorance and folly. "Such ignorance does not excuse men or lessen the guilt of their wickedness; for they who sin are conscious of their sinfulness, though they are blinded by their lust. Wickedness and ignorance are therefore closely connected, but the connection is of such a nature that ignorance proceeds from the sinful disposition of the mind" (Calvin). Oh "to be wise and to understand" (Deuteronomy 32:29)! How dark and dreadful the ignorance which seems to shut out the favor and compassion of the all-compassionate God! V. ORACLE OF COMFORT. The hand that smites and brings low is also the hand that raises up; it scatters in judgment, but recalls and gathers together again in mercy. From the great river of Assyria to that of Egypt the children of Israel will be gathered one by one. A great trumpet, signaling the Divine interposition, will be blown (cf. Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 11:12; Matthew 24:31), and the scattered abroad will be seen throning to the holy mount in Jerusalem. Thus again there rises upon us that glorious vision of a united and redeemed Church, gathered out of all nations, for which change and suffering, conflict and sifting, prepare. All Christian prayer, activity, waiting, and watching point toward the coming of the Christ, the Deliverer, to the spiritual Zion, to turn away ungodliness and to found the new and enduring empire of righteousness.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Divine guardianship. "Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Then there are hurtful powers and hurtful people in the world. The Word itself lets light in upon the condition of humanity. There are hidden invisible foes; and there is need for One who can discern and defeat them. I. THE EYE THAT SEES. This is all-important. For we are blind to our worst enemies. Evil puts on the garb of good. And evil hides itself. The serpent is coiled up at the bottom of the cup. The adder lurks in the grass. By the river-side the alligator lurks; his skin the very color of the stones. God’s eye can search all. His vision sweeps all space. His vigilance never sleeps. "He that keepeth thee will not slumber." II. THE HEART THAT LOVES. This is our truest defense. It is affection that keeps alive this vigilance. There is no eye like the eye of love. We know this in a measure from our observation of the human spheres. How quick a mother’s eye is to detect first departures from the holy and the true—first dalliances with evil! The tutor is not so sure a guardian as the parent. All Divine revelation tells us that God is love. Why warn, rebuke, exhort? Why send the prophet to the guilty cities, and the only begotten Son, the Savior, to the lost race? This is the explanation of all: "God so loved the world." III. THE THAT IS . Lest "any." That includes all the’ forms and forces of evil. We may be awake to special dangers, just as we pay honor to special virtues. There are dangers which are so pronounced, where the penalties are so marked, that our consciousness is awake to the dread results. But when we remember the vast and varied sources of peril, we rejoice to know that there may be immunity from all disaster. "Deliver us from evil" is the prayer taught us by the Savior; and God will hear that prayer, for "thine is the power." IV. THE THAT NEVER SLEEPS. "By night and by day." In the darkness and in the night. For the darkness is no darkness to God. As Sentinel he never sleeps. Our watch-fires die out, and the beasts of the forest break into the camp in the silent hours of darkness. We cannot "keep." But the soul is too precious to be left to finite watchfulness. The Tower of London contains no jeweled crowns so rich in value as the nature that contains the pearl of great price. The temple of Jerusalem had costly vessels and sacred altars; but the temple of the soul has in it the true Shechinah. This is God’s promise. This is his own testimony to himself; and it is g promise to wear as an amulet on the heart in such a world as this.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 27:1-11 God’s treatment of the rebellious and the righteous. Amid the different and difficult interpretations and the numerous and dubious applications given to these verses, we may discern some truths respecting God’s treatment of human character. I. HIS OF THE WICKED. 1. The sharpness of his instruments. He punishes with "a sore and great and strong sword" (Isaiah 27:1) He "whets his glitter-nag sword (Deuteronomy 32:41). Out of the mouth of the Son of God "goeth a sharp sword" (Revelation 19:15). The various miseries, visitations, calamities, which come to us as the sad consequences of sin are God’s sword—pain, sickness, separation, bereavement, famine, war, death, etc.; sore and sharp and strong are these. 2. The thoroughness of his judgments. It is not only that the blows he sends are severe, but his judgments are continued and are multiplied till all their punitive or corrective work is done. He will "go through the briars and thorns" which are spoiling his vineyard, and will burn them together (Isaiah 27:4). "The defended city shall be desolate," so abandoned of man that the calf shall feed there and lie down and browse upon the branches, and these shall be so withered that the women shall come and "set them on fire" (Isaiah 27:10, Isaiah 27:11). When headstrong and rebellious men defy the power and despise the Word of God, they find that they are contending with One whose correction is not confined to one or two blows. God pursues such men with his holy and righteous punishment, until the briars are consumed, until the city is desolate, until the haughty heart is humbled to the very dust. 3. The opening which he offers them. "Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me," etc. (Isaiah 27:5). The most rebellious may return unto him: Ahab may humble his heart, Manasseh may repent, Saul the persecutor may become his most active servant, taking hold of his Divine magnanimity, which is the strength of the Divine character. II. HIS OF THE . 1. The care which he takes of them. He turns the neglected wilderness into a cultivated vineyard (verse 2); he, the Lord, does keep it night and day; he waters it every moment; he guards it against the despoiling enemy (verse 3). God distinguishes his people by granting them peculiar privileges; he expends on them his watchful love; he guards them against their spiritual adversaries: they have to bless him for attention, for enrichment, for defense. 2. The fact that he moderates his corrections of them. (Verses 7, 8.) He does not visit them with the severity he shows toward those who are defiant of his will; there is measure, limitation, in the day when the "east wind" of his chastisement is made to blow. God restrains his hand when it is his own children whom he is correcting (Psalms 103:8-10). 3. The parental purpose of his chastisement. (Verse 9.) It is that iniquity may be purged, that the dark consequences and the evil stain of sin may be "taken away," that the degrading idolatries of the heart as well as of the life may be demolished; it is that those whom he loves may be cleansed from their impurities and may be his children indeed, not only enjoying his favor and dwelling beneath his roof, but bearing his likeness and fulfilling his will. 4. The prosperity which he promises them. (Verse 6.) The prosperity which is inward, in "taking root," in laying hold of the regard and the affections of men; that also which is outward, in blossom and bud and widespread fruit, in commanding the honor and enjoying the blessings of the world.—C. Taking hold of God’s strength. How can man take hold of God’s strength? The answer depends on the kind of strength which God is putting forth; and his strength is manifold. He is strong— I. IN WISDOM, and the effectuating power which results therefrom. It is in virtue of his wisdom that the elements of nature have their various attributes, and the processes of nature their constant laws—that seeds sprout, and shrubs and trees bear flower and fruit; that living bodies grow, and minds advance, and souls mature. We take hold of God’s strength of wisdom when we do our human, instrumental part in these his workings—when we plough and sow and weed; when we observe and study; when we use the privileges of devotion. II. IN . God is strong indeed in this grace. Provoked by everything in man that is fitted to arouse his anger, he has withheld his retributive hand (Psalms 103:10). He has not sentenced us to eternal exile; he has continued his loving-kindnesses even to the most obdurate and rebellious (Matthew 5:45). He has shown himself willing to receive again the sons and daughters that have wandered farthest away from his home. We take hold of this his strength when we avail ourselves of his merciful overtures, and hasten in penitence and faith to his feet. III. IN . God is strong in pity. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so he pitieth," etc. His commiseration, his tenderness, his parental responsiveness to our various sorrows, is quick, is immediate, is perfect; there is great strength of loving sympathy in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:15). We take hold of his strength when, in our dark days, in our heavier sorrows, we unburden our hearts to him, realize the fullness of his compassion, make our earnest, confident appeal for his sympathy and succor. IV. IN POWER. In such a world as this with all its allurements and its dangers, with such a nature as is ours with all its frailty, there is required great power to preserve us in our integrity and to build us up on the foundation of our faith. But God is able to do this; he is able to "make us stand" (Romans 14:4), to "keep us from falling, and present us faultless," etc. (Jude 1:24). We take hold of his strength when we act with such obedience and wisdom that we place ourselves in the path where that power is acting—the path of reflection, of moral safety, of Christian fellowship, of worship, of holy activity. V. IN POWER. It is impossible for us to make even Divine truth effectual to the regeneration of a sinful soul. But God is mightier than we; the things which are impossible to us are possible to him (Matthew 19:26). His strength is not unequal even to the softening of the hard heart, the bending of the proud and stubborn will, even of the hardest and haughtiest of souls. We take hold of this his strength when we faithfully plead with our fellow-men that they should return to God, and when we earnestly plead with God that he should put into exercise that renewing and transforming energy.—C. The return of God’s absent ones. In the relation of God to his people in exile, as depicted in these two verses, we may find a picture of the relation in which he stands to all his absent children. I. THE BREADTH OF HIS KINGDOM: the broad fields of the husbandman, in which he might "beat off" fruit, from the far river in the East to the far river in the West—from end to end of the known earth. God’s rights and claims extend to all peoples, to all classes, to men of every character and every temperament and every tongue, to both sexes; his empire, like his commandment, is "exceeding broad." He looks everywhere for fruit to be beaten off, to be gathered in, at the time of harvest. II. THE NEED OF HIS . This fruit which God is seeking is spiritual; it is the reverence, the love, the worship, the obedience, of his own children. But these his sons and daughters are: 1. Afar off. They are outcasts, a long way from home. It is not geographical, but moral and spiritual distance which has to be deplored. They are in the "strange land" of doubt, of denial, of disobedience, of indifference and forgetfulness, of utter unlikeness to the heavenly Father. 2. Or they are at the point of extinction. "Ready to perish." Those who have not "bowed the knee to Baal, "who have not been fascinated and won by ruinous seductions, are a mere remnant, and even their life, like Elijah’s, is at stake. Everything cries for God’s merciful interposition.’ III. HIS SUMMONS TO RETURN. The "great trumpet" is being blown; its notes are sounding far and wide. "The voice of Jesus sounds o’er land and sea," saying, "Return unto thy Rest;" "Come unto me, all ye that labor." From the "far country" of sin, of folly, of selfishness, of unrest, the summons calls all human hearts to leave behind them their sin, their misery, their bondage, and to cast themselves at the feet of the Divine Father, and beg to be taken back into that holy service which is perfect freedom. IV. HIS . "Ye shall be gathered one by one." God does not content himself with issuing a general proclamation which each man may interpret and apply. He comes to every human soul himself. In the Person, and by the direct influence, of his Holy Spirit, he makes his appeal to the individual heart and conscience. He says, "Come thou, my child." "Return thou, my daughter." "My son, give me thy heart." V. THE -PLACE OF HIS ONES. "Ye shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." All they who return unto God (1) gather at his house on earth for worship there; and (2) meet in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, for "nobler worship there."—C. Isaiah 27:2, Isaiah 27:3 Vineyard-keeping. The vine is a familiar Bible figure for the pious individual; and the vineyard, or cluster of vines, an equally familiar figure of the Church. Several things make the figure specially suitable. The vine is a beautiful plant; it is dependent, and cannot be its best when standing alone; it brings forth rich and abundant fruit; it needs constant and careful tending; its wood is useless for any other purpose than carrying the sap that flows through it; and it is exposed to peril from changing atmospheres and outward foes. To this last point of comparison these verses direct us. For the others such passages may be consulted as Psalms 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7. We note that vineyard-keeping includes— I. TENDING. This is called to mind by the very strong assurance, "I will water it every moment," which is evidently meant to impress on us the constancy, the care, the gracious wisdom, the prompt helpfulness, of the Divine dealings with the Church. To our minds it has a somewhat exaggerated sound, but that is only because we have no associations with a parched, hilly, hot, and almost rainless country, such as Pales-fine or Egypt. Constant and abundant irrigation is the essential condition of vegetable life in such lands, and to it the science and practical skill of the people are devoted. Channels are made in which the water may run to the vineyards, and much of the gardener’s skill is devoted to this regular and efficient watering. The Eastern idea of a fruitful tree is one "planted by the rivers of water;" "its leaf shall not wither." They who are thus careful about the watering of their vines will be sure to do everything else for them that is necessary for their well-being. They will gather out the stones, enrich the soil, clean the blue, prune luxurious growths, guide the trailing branches, and thin the crowded bunches. And so does the Lord of that vineyard, the Church, meet her needs at every point. That he should "water it every moment" suggests that his supreme care is for the renewal of her vitality, and assures us of his further care of all the forms and expressions of that vitality. We may be sure, in New Testament language, that with "his dear Son, God will freely give us all things." He will feed, he will correct, he will encourage, he will check. Whatsoever is needful for the wise tending of the Church, we may fully trust him that he will do, for he is a Master-gardener. In following out this thought, precise practical applications may be made to the conditions and necessities of the particular Church addressed. II. . "Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Van Lennep tells us that "vineyards which are at a distance from a village require a constant watch and guard during the fruit season, or they are completely devoured by the jackals." Some of the very earliest Egyptian paintings are vivid-hued representations of trellised and festooned "vines," while, peering through the bough-twisted fences, is seen the sharp and mobile nose of the "fox," stealthily stealing towards his favorite repast. It is usual to dig a ditch all round the vineyard, into which stone posts are driven, branches are twisted in and out of these posts, and, as wild plants and briars soon grow up among them, a thick and solid fence or hedge is made. But the bus-bandman is obliged from time to time to examine all parts of the hedge, and close up any gap or breach made by the foxes, jackals, badgers, hares, hedgehogs, and perhaps even wild bears which, by trampling, destroy more than they eat. A frail shed raised on poles a good height is prepared for the defense of the vineyard, in it a watcher remains day and night while the fruit is ripening. From his elevated position he can see all over the vineyard, and arrangement is sometimes made for his signaling to the neighboring village in case of emergency. He is provided with weapons suitable for dealing with the precise foes which he may have to encounter. These points will suggest the gracious forms in which God has ever defended his ancient Church. Historical illustrations may be given. What he has ever been, that he still is; and the individual Christian, as well as the Christian Church, may rest secure in his keeping. No foes can come nigh us that he will not see. None can prove stronger in attack than he in defense. Sometimes the Christian may, in his despairings, say after over-worn David, "I shall now Perish one day by the hand of Saul;" but, with God’s watching and keeping, he shall no more perish than David did. The Church, overestimating the force of evil at any given time, may cry that it "is in danger." It is always an untrustful cry, raised when men fail to look to the "Watcher in the booth," who keeps the vineyard night and day. "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his People from henceforth even forever."—R.T. Making peace with God. The Rev. T.Toiler gives a very striking illustration of the figure used in this verse. He says, "I think I can convey the meaning of this passage so that every one may understand it, by what has taken place within my own family. One of my little children had committed a fault, for which I thought it my duty to chastise him. I called him to me, explained to him the evil of what he had done, and told him how grieved I was that I must punish him for it. He heard me in silence, and then rushed into my arms and burst into tears. I would sooner have cut off my arm than have then struck him for his fault; he had taken hold of my strength, and he had made peace with me." God, with whom sinful man is at war, alone can make peace; but he can, and he will. "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." The text is suggestive of what would be understood as a "simple gospel sermon," and the main lines may be as follows:— I. PEACE IS BROKEN BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. Right and comfortable relations depend on man’s submission and obedience. Self-will and rebelliousness break up those relations. Man is God’s child; peace depends on obedience. Man is God’s servant; peace depends on doing the Master’s will. The essence of sin is willfulness. II. GOD IS ABLE TO RESTORE THE BROKEN PEACE. He may be able as a matter of sovereignty; but it is more interesting to us to know that he is able through a scheme of peace-making which he has himself devised and carried out in the Person of his Son. "His own arm has brought salvation." Such aspects of the great atoning work may be here dwelt upon as most commend themselves to the preacher. III. GOD OFFERS OF THE BROKEN PEACE. He asks us to "lay hold of his strength;" he invites us to "come and reason with him;" he even grieves, over our hesitancy, saying, Why Will ye die, O house of Israel? why will ye die? God hath offered to us—given to us—"eternal life, and this life is in his Son." IV. THEY MUST BE RIGHT-HEARTED WHO SEEK TO MAKE PEACE WITH GOD. What is included in right-heartedness? 1. Humility. 2. Sense of sin. 3. Penitence. 4. Sign of earnestness in putting away sin. 5. Forsaking of self-trusts. 6. Fervent desire. 7. Whole-heartedness of purpose. "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye seek for me with your whole heart."—R.T. The world-mission of Israel. Just as "no man liveth unto himself," but every man liveth for the circle in which he is set, so no nation liveth unto itself—it liveth for the world of nations in its time, and for all the ages. This universal truth is illustrated for us in the case of prominent, or elect, or selected nations. Egypt keeps alive the sense of mystery for the world, the claims of the unknown. Chaldea pleads in all the world for the claims of human observation, for the basis-principle of science. Greece keeps up today its mission to the world, and preaches to us the claims of the "beautiful," the basis of all art, all ideal creations. Rome declares to the world the supreme importance of wise and stable government for the ordering of society. And Israel has its voice in every land and every age, pleading for the foundation-principles of religion, which are the unity and spirituality of God. Israel is a tree whose branches overspread the earth; these are its leaves, and these leaves are for the healing of the nations that are diseased and dying of idolatries and sensuousness. As we think of Israel after the flesh, we should remember that we are the true Israel, the spiritual Israel, who hold fast and testify for the old Mosaic truths, "God is One" and "God is a Spirit." The world-mission of Israel is— I. To THE WORLD’S TRUTH. That is, "In the beginning God." This truth was given to man as man. It is man’s birthright. When man became mentally and emotionally biased by yielding to self-will and sin, this first truth was imperiled. If man, as God created him, had thought, he would only have thought of God, one God. When sinful man thinks, he runs along one or other of two lines—he either conceives of two gods, one presiding over pleasant things, and the other over disasters; or else he thinks of many gods, each one occupying a more or less limited sphere. So "monotheism" was put in peril, and had to be preserved through all the ages during which God left man to a free experiment of that self-willedness which he had chosen. In his infinite wisdom God preserved the essential and foundation-truths of religion for long ages in a direct Adamic line, giving to men length of life sufficient to permit of tradition covering the long generations up to the Flood. After the Flood, God preserved the world’s truth in the one Abrahamic family; and when that family grew into a nation, he made it, in a very solemn way, the depositary of the world’s truth, and set it in a central land, where it might be but slightly influenced by the notions of surrounding nations. "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." It is true that Israel did not prove faithful to its duty of preserving the world’s truth; but after the chastisement of the Babylonian exile (and to that the prophet is referring in our text) they never fell into idolatry, and they exist to-day, scattered everywhere, but holding fast their trust of monotheistic truth. II. To EXHIBIT THE WORKING OF THAT TRUTH. "Example is better than precept." The world might fairly ask to see a national life raised on the foundation of belief in one unseen, spiritual God. Israel is that nation. It is in many respects a striking example. It failed only when it shifted from its foundation. A glance at the old world, which grouped round the eastern end of the Mediterranean, will show how central "little Palestine" was, so as to be in view of all the nations, as a "city set on a hill." The practical applications of this part of the subject are that we hold the trust of these truths, and of the yet further revelations that have been given; and the question of supreme interest to all around us is—Do they make us better men and women? Are others won to accept our truths because of the illustrations which we find for them in our lives and relations? Do we "walk worthy of our calling?" III. To WITNESS THE WORLD FOR THAT TRUTH. The presence of a Jew anywhere is a plea for belief in one God. The exaggerated stubbornness with which Jews plead for this truth prevents their being willing to receive the further revelation concerning the one God, that he has been manifest in the flesh. We who are the spiritual Jews have it as our work to proclaim "God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" to all the nations. Jews have but half a mission now; but the time is coming when their veil shall be taken away; they shall see in Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God, and join with us in going out through all the world, and preaching the old truth and the new gospel to every creature.—R.T. Isaiah 27:7-9 Judgments and chastisements. These verses set forth two modes of apprehending the afflictions and sorrows of life, and help us in estimating the distinction between the modes. We may say that it sets forth God’s ways with the enemies of Israel, and God’s ways with Israel. I. THE BETWEEN AND . In a sense we may say that judgments are ends in themselves, and chastisements are means to a higher end. Then has God two ways of dealing with men? Thoughtlessly, and misled by appearances, many of us answer, "Yes," and suppose that we can account for some difficult and perplexing things by the help of this supposition. But this answer will not bear the test of either patient thought or Holy Scripture. Thought says, "God is One; truth and right are one; men are one; and, if there be two principles of dealing with the same creatures, both cannot be right." What God does may to us look different; it must really be the same, for the "God of the whole earth shall he be called." Scripture assures us of the Divine unchangeableness. It says, "One event happeneth to the righteous and to the wicked." It expresses the conviction that the "Judge of all the earth will do right." It bids us see that God makes his "sun to rise on the evil and on the good." There is no modification of ordinary natural conditions for the sake of the elect few. Health, accident, disease, death, affect alike the righteous and the wicked. Then comes in another question—Can all judgments be regarded as remedial in their design and tendency? There is a disposition toward the general acceptance of this theory nowadays; in dealing with crime, the reformation of the criminal is put in a first place. We may venture to say that God’s final end is always recovery. But he works over indefinitely long periods; and his immediate ends—necessary as stages—may not always be remedial. As a part of the work towards securing the final end, God may stamp by suffering the quality of sin; he may demonstrate his indignations, as in the case of Babylon. It may even be necessary to make us fear lest the consequences of sin may prove irremediable; and this may explain such things as everlasting punishment, the sin against the Holy Ghost that bath never forgiveness, and the day of grace that may be lost. Whether Divine dealings be judgment or chastisement may depend on three things: (1) the point from which they are viewed; (2) the moral condition of those who suffer; and (3) the relations of God being regarded as governmental or as paternal. II. THE PURPOSE OF AS . (Isaiah 27:9.) Apprehended as only judgment, our mind is overborne by our calamity. Apprehended as chastisement, the mind is started with new and trustful thoughts. The trouble may at first crush, but soon we learn to accept it calmly. That we are under fatherly chastisements puts the deepest solemnity into life and into sin; it helps us to lift our hearts away from the present and the seen to the future and the unseen. All deaths become gates of life when this sunlight streams on them. Prophecy then keeps before us this cheering fact—all anxieties and sufferings are fatherly. Their "fruit is to take away our sin." And as we so little know the subtleties of our sin, we need not wonder that we cannot understand either the subtleties or the severities necessary for taking it away. Our wonder ought to be that "refining fires," so graciously tempered for us, are made to accomplish so great a cleansing.—R.T. Repentance proved in deeds. The first clause may be translated thus: "On these terms shall the guilt of Jacob be purged." There must be the signs of reformation—the actual destruction of idols and all idol-associations, as the proof and manifestation of the declared heart-surrender of idolatry. The child’s verse is correct theology and practical godliness— "Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more." The very "stones of the altar" must be as "chalkstones that are beaten in sunder" if Jacob would make plain its repentance of its idolatries, and come to receive Divine forgiveness. Illustrations may be taken from the practical reformations on which Hezekiah and Josiah insisted as the outward signs of the national repentance. From this verse deal with the constant temptation to rest in mere sentiment, and impress the demand which God ever makes for proof in act of the repentance, or the faith, or the humility, or the zeal, that may be possessed. As our Savior expressed the same point in another of its connections, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. I. GOOD ARE GOOD . Therefore in preachings and teachings appeal is properly made to feeling; effort is made to arouse emotions and to persuade. By the way of the heart access can often be gained to a man; and Scripture provides material for emotional appeals. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." To move feeling, and to awaken good sentiment, is at least to make a breach in the walls. It is a beginning, and there is hope of what may be further accomplished when such a beginning is made. But we should be alive to the constant disposition of men to rest in sentiment. There is a subtle pleasure in feeling deeply. We easily get a kind of satisfaction in our good sentiments; and so Scripture roughly shakes down the satisfaction by calling such things "refuges of lies," or staffs that pierce the hand that leans on them. II. GOOD MAY SOON FADE. They always do when they remain as sentiments, and do not become motives to action. Our minds are constantly passing on to fresh things, and the older ones grow dim in the distance. If things are to keep up their interest, we must put continuous thought to them, and make them bear on daily conduct. We weep over a pathetic story-book, but in a little while all is forgotten as a dream when one awaketh. It would be a most humbling sight for us all if God were to show us the great heap of beautiful sentiments we once had and enjoyed. III. GOOD HAVE NO VOICE THAT GOD CAN HEED. If we offer such things to him, he will entirely withdraw and hide himself within a cloud, and wait and see how long the good sentiment will last. Penitence that is only a sensational sigh or tear he will not regard. It means nothing. It is but a passing ripple on a pool. Why should he turn aside to notice that? This thought will unfold into a practical dealing with the danger of forced emotions in revivalistic services; or the straining of religious feeling in children and young people. Mere emotion is too light a thing to ascend as prayer to the throne of God. IV. GOOD MUST SPEAK TO GOD THROUGH DEEDS. YOU say you repent. But the supreme question is—What has your repentance made you do? You repent of that sin: then have you put it away? You repent of that wrong to your neighbor: then have you, as far as possible, put the wrong right? You repent of your idolatry: then have you broken up your idol-altars? Corresponding actions, "works meet for repentance,"—these are the terms of "purging;" this is the "fruit to take away all the sin."—R.T. Restorations prove Divine forgiveness. This is the answering truth to that dwelt on above, in the homily on Isaiah 27:9; God in his dealings with man never stops with sentiment. We know that he forgives us, because with the forgiveness he grants us restoration to his favor. Israel had grievously offended Jehovah by his unfaithfulness. Divine indignations had put the offending child away. But the child learned the lessons of judgment. The child came, penitent and humble, seeking forgiveness; and the Lord heard, granted the forgiveness, and sealed it in a gracious restoration. This is the vision of that great restoring-day. "They shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." Our Lord presented this truth in his exquisite picture of the prodigal son. The father forgives the penitent, and we might say, "That is enough; such a son can expect no more and deserves no more; forgiven, let him go away where he will." But love cannot stop at such limitations; it cannot be content until it can restore: it wants to seal its forgiveness; it would make it the fullest blessing possible; so the forgiven son is in his old place at the home-table; nay, he is even decked in the joy-robe, and made the occasion of a feast. He knows he is forgiven, for he is restored. In nothing do God’s ways appear to be higher than man’s ways than in this—God can restore when he forgives, and man halts at the restoring work; he is seldom grand enough for that. We cannot restore our criminals even when they are penitent. We cannot put back into her place in society the "woman a sinner," who bathes the feet of Jesus with penitential tears. The apostle makes an almost overwhelming demand on us when he says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." How souls yearn for this sealing of forgiveness is seen in David’s prayer, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." The subject may be treated under two divisions. I. DIVINE ASSURED IN AND . These assure us that it is God’s way of dealing, and so they become a persuasion to hope even in our penitence, and in our prayer for forgiveness. II. DIVINE IN ACTUAL . Not always outward circumstances; only so far as these may have been affected by the sin. Always in inward circumstances of mind and feeling.—R.T. SECTION VII. RENEWED OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH (CH. 28-31.) Isaiah 28:1-4 A WARNING TO SAMARIA. The prophet has now east his eagle glance over the whole world and over all time. He has denounced woe upon all the principal nations of the earth (Isaiah 13-23.), glanced at the destruction of the world itself (Isaiah 24:17-20), and sung songs over the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, and the ingathering of the nations into it (Isaiah 25-27.). In the present chapter he returns to the condition of things in his own time and among his own people. After a brief warning, addressed to Samaria, he turns to consider the condition of Judah, which he accuses of following the example of Samaria, of perishing through self-indulgence and lack of knowledge (Isaiah 28:7-12). He then proceeds to expostulate seriously with the "rulers of Jerusalem," on whom lies the chief responsibility for its future. Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkard; rather, of the drunkards, The "drunkards of Ephraim," or of the ten tribes, were at once intoxicated with wine (Amos 4:1; Amos 6:6) and with pride (Amos 6:13). As the external aspect of affairs grew mere and more threatening through the advances of Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, they gave themselves up more and more to self-indulgence and luxury, lay upon beds of ivory, drank wine from bowls, feasted to the sound of the viol, and even invented fresh instruments of music (Amos 6:4, Amos 6:5). At the same time, they said in their hearts, "Have we not taken by our own strength?" (Amos 6:13). They persisted in regarding themselves as secure, when even ordinary political foresight might have seen that their end was approaching. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower; rather, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty. The "glorious beauty" of Samaria was a beauty of magnificent luxury. "Summer" and "winter houses," distinct each from the other (Amos 3:15); "ivory palaces" (1 Kings 22:39; Amos 3:15); a wealth of "gardens, vineyards, fig-orchards, and olive yards" (Amos 4:9); residences of "hewn stone" (Amos 5:11); feasts enlivened with "the melody of viols" (Amos 5:23); "beds of ivory" (Amos 6:4); "wine in bowls" (Amos 6:6); "chief ointments" (Amos 6:6); constituted a total of luxurious refinement beyond which few had proceeded at the time, and which Isaiah was fain to recognize, in a worldly point of view, as "glorious" and "beautiful." But the beauty was of a kind liable to fade, and it was already fading under the sirocco of Assyrian invasion. Which are on the head of the fat valleys; rather, which is on the head of the rich valley. Samaria was built on a hill of an oval form, which rose up in the midst of a fertile valley shut in by mountains. The prophet identifies the valley with the kingdom itself, and then personifies it, and regards its head as crowned by the fading flower of Samaria’s beauty. Isaiah 28:2 The Lord hath a mighty and strong one. God has in reserve a mighty power, which he will let loose upon Samaria. The wicked are "his sword" (Psalms 17:13), and are employed to carry out his sentences. In the present ease the "mighty and strong one" is the Assyrian power. As a tempest of hail, etc. The fearfully devastating force of an Assyrian invasion is set forth under three distinct images—a hailstorm, a furious tempest of wind, and a violent inundation—as though so only could its full horror be depicted. War is always a horrible scourge; but in ancient times, and with a people so cruel as the Assyrians, it was a calamity exceeding in terribleness the utmost that the modern reader can conceive. It involved the wholesale burning of cities and villages, the wanton destruction of trees and crops, the slaughter of thousands in battles and sieges, the subsequent massacre of hundreds in cold blood, the plunder of all classes, and the deportation of tens of thousands of captives, who were carried into hopeless servitude in a strange land. With the hand; i.e. "with force," "violently." So in Assyrian constantly (compare the use of the Greek χερί). Isaiah 28:3 The crown of pride, the drunkards; rather, of the drunkards (comp. Isaiah 28:1). The "crown of pride" is scarcely "Samaria," as Delitzsch supposes, it is rather the self-complacent and boastful spirit of the Israelite people, which will be "trodden under foot" by the Assyrians. Isaiah 28:4 And the glorious beauty, etc. Translate, And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be like an early fig (that comes) before the harvest. Such an "early fig" is a tempting delicacy, devoured as soon as seen (comp. Hosea 9:10; Nahum 3:12; Jeremiah 24:2, etc.). The "beauty" of Samaria would tempt the Assyrians to desire it so soon as they saw it, and would rouse an appetite which would be content with nothing less than the speedy absorption of the coveted morsel. Samaria’s siege, once begun, was pressed without intermission, and lasted less than three years (2 Kings 18:9, 2 Kings 18:10)—a short space compared to that of other sieges belonging to about the same period; e.g. that of Ashdod, besieged twenty-nine years; that of Tyre, besieged thirteen years (’Ancient Monarchies,’ vol. 3.492). Isaiah 28:5, Isaiah 28:6 THE FALL OF SAMARIA WITH AN OFFER OF FAVOR TO JUDAH. Her sister’s fate was the most powerful of all possible warnings to Judah against treading in her steps. Samaria had perished through want of faith in Jehovah. She had turned to other gods; she had trusted in her own "glory" and "beauty;" and she had trusted in Egypt. If Judah would do the exact opposite, she might be saved. If she would take Jehovah for her "Crown of glory" and "Diadem of beauty," he was willing to be so taken. He was willing to impart a "spirit of judgment" to her rulers, and "strength" to her armed force. Isaiah 28:5 In that day shall the Lord of hosts be, etc. This is an offer, and something more than an offer. It is implied that, to some extent, the offer would be accepted. And clearly the closing of the clouds around Samaria was coincident with the dawn of a brighter day in Judah. Hezekiah came to the throne only three years before the fatal siege of Samaria began. His accession must have been nearly contemporaneous with that expedition of Shal-maneser against Hoshea, when he "shut him up, and bound him in prison" (2 Kings 17:4). Yet he was not daunted by his neighbor’s peril. He began his reign with a political revolution and a religious reformation. He threw off the yoke of Assyria, to which his father had submitted (2 Kings 18:7), and he cleared the land of idols and idol-worship. It was the dawn of a day of promise, such as the prophet seems to point to in these two verses. Unhappily, the dawn was soon clouded over (Isaiah 28:7-9). The residue of his people; i.e. Judah. All admit that "they also," in Isaiah 28:7, refers to Judah, and Judah only; but the sole antecedent to "they also" is this mention of the residue of God’s people. Isaiah 28:6 For a spirit of judgment. How far Judah had departed from the spirit of just judgment was made apparent in the very opening chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy (verses 15-27). To him that sitteth in judgment; rather, that sitteth on the judgment-seat (Cheyne). For strength to them that turn the battle to the gate; i.e. "to those who repulse an enemy, and drive him back to his own city’s gate". Isaiah 28:7-10 JUDAH’S . The reformation effected by Hezekiah was but a half-reformation. It put away idolatry, but it left untouched a variety of moral evils, as: 1. Drunkenness. Judah was no whir behind Ephraim in respect of this vice. The very priests and "prophets" gave way to the disgusting habit, and came drunk to the most solemn functions of religious teaching and hearing causes. 2. Scorn and mockery of God’s true prophets. The teaching of Isaiah was made light of by the officials of the priestly and prophetic orders, who claimed to be quite as competent to instruct men in their duties as himself. They seem to have ridiculed the mode of his teaching—its catch-words, as they thought them, and its insistence on minutiae. Isaiah 28:7 They also. Judah, no less than Ephraim (see Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:3). It has been questioned whether literal intoxication is meant, and suggested that Judah "imitated the pride and unbelief and spiritual intoxication of Ephraim" (Kay). But the numerous passages which tax both the Israelites and the Jews of the period with drunkenness (Isaiah 5:11, Isaiah 5:22; Isaiah 22:13; Isaiah 56:12; Hosea 4:11; Hosea 7:5; Amos 6:6, etc.), are best understood literally. Orientals (e.g, the Persians) are often given to such indulgence. Have erred through wine; rather, reel with wine. Are out of the way; or, stagger. The verbs express the physical effects of intoxication. The priest and the prophet. Priests were forbidden by the Law to drink any wine or strong drink previously to their taking part in the service of the tabernacle (Le Isaiah 10:9), and the prohibition was always understood to apply a fortiori to the temple (Ezekiel 44:21). Prophets might have been expected to act in the spirit of the command given to priests. By "prophets" here Isaiah means, not persons especially called of God, but official members of the prophetical order. Of these there were always many in Judah, who had no strong sense of religion (see Isaiah 29:10; Jeremiah 5:13, Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 13:2-16; Amos 2:12; Micah 3:11; Zephaniah 3:4, etc.). They err in vision; rather, they reel in the vision. They are drunken, even in the very exercise of their prophetical office—when they see, and expound, their visions. They stumble in judgment; or, they stagger when pronouncing judgment (Delitzsch). Persons in authority had been specially warned not to drink wine before the hearing of causes (Proverbs 31:4, Proverbs 31:5). Isaiah 28:8 So that there is no place clean. This is probably the true meaning, though the prophet simply says, "There is no place" (comp. Isaiah 5:8). Isaiah 28:9 Whom shall he teach? A sudden and abrupt transition. The best explanation seems to be that suggested by Jerome, and followed by Bishop Lowth and most commentators, viz. that the prophet dramatically introduces his adversaries as replying to him with taunting speeches. "Whom does he think he is teaching?" they ask. "Mere children, just weaned from their mother’s milk, and taken away from the breast? Does he forget that we are grown men—nay, priests and prophets? And what poor teaching it is! What ’endless petty feazing’! (Delitzsch)—precept upon precept," etc. The intention is to throw ridicule upon the smallness and vexatious character of the prophet’s interminable and uninterrupted chidings (Delitzsch). Knowledge … doctrine. Technical terms in Isaiah’s teaching, which his adversaries seem to have ridiculed as "catch-words." The term translated "doctrine" means properly "tidings," and involves the idea that the prophet obtained the teaching so designated by direct revelation from God. Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept; rather, for it is precept upon precept (Lowth, Cheyne). The whole teaching is nothing but an accumulation of precept upon precept, rule upon rule, one little injunction followed up by another, here a little, there a little. The objectors profess to find in the prophet’s teaching nothing grand, nothing broad—no enunciation of great leading principles; but a perpetual drizzling rain of petty maxims and rules, vexatious, cramping, confining; especially unsuitable to men Who had had the training of priests and prophets, and could have appreciated a grand theory, or a new religious standpoint, but were simply revolted at a teaching which seemed to them narrow, childish, and wearisome. It has been said that in the language of this passage "we may hear the heavy babbling utterance of the drunken scoffers" (Delitzsch); but in this we have perhaps an over-refinement. Isaiah probably gives us, not what his adversaries said of him over their cups, but the best arguments which they could hit on in their sober hours to depreciate his doe-trine. The arguments must be allowed to be clever. Isaiah 28:11-13 JUDAH’S . God will retort on the Jews their scorn of his prophet, and, as they will not be taught by his utterances, which they find to be childish and unrefined, will teach them by utterances still more unrefined—those of the Assyrians, which will be quite as monotonous and quite as full of minutiae as Isaiah’s. Isaiah 28:11 With stammering lips and with another tongue. The Assyrian language, though a Semitic idiom nearly allied to Hebrew, was sufficiently different to sound in the ears of a Jew like his own tongue mispronounced and barbarized. Isaiah 28:12 To whom he said; rather, because he said to them. God had from remote times offered to his people "rest" and "refreshing"—or a life of ease and peace in Palestine—but on condition of their serving him faithfully and observing his Laws (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). But they had re-jeered this "rest," since they had refused to observe the condition on which it was promised. Because they had thus acted, God now brought upon them war and a conqueror. Isaiah 28:13 The word of the Lord was to them; rather, shall be to them. God will now speak to them, not by his prophet, but by the Assyrian conqueror, who will do what they said Isaiah had done, i.e. lay upon them command after command, rule alter rule, a constant series of minute injunctions, under which they will chafe and fret and at last rebel, but only to be "snared and taken." It is uncertain whether the reference is to the immediate future and to the Assyrians proper only, or whether the Babylonians are not taken into account also, and their oppression of Judaea pointed to. The yoke of Babylon was probably quite as difficult to endure as that of Assyria; and we find that, in the space of eighteen years, it produced at least three rebellions. Isaiah 28:14-22 THE REBUKE OF JUDAH’S NOBLES. The power of the nobles under the later Jewish monarchy is very apparent throughout Isaiah’s prophecy. It is they, and not the king, who are always blamed for bad government (Isaiah 1:10-23; Isaiah 3:12-15, etc.) or errors of policy (Isaiah 9:15, Isaiah 9:16; Isaiah 22:15-19, etc.). Isaiah now turns from a denunciation of the priests and prophets, who especially opposed his teaching, to a threatening of the great men who guided the course of public affairs. He taxes them with being "men of scorn" (verse 14), i.e. scorners of Jehovah, and with" a proud and insolent self-confidence" (Delitzsch). They have made, or are about to make, secret arrangements which will, they believe, secure Judaea against suffering injury at the hands of the Assyrians, and are quite satisfied with what they have done, and fear no evil. Isaiah is instructed that their boasted arrangements will entirely fail in the time of trial—their "refuge" (Egypt) will be found a refuge of lies (verse 17), and the "overflowing scourge" (Assyria) will pass through the land, and carry all before it (verse 18). There will then ensue a time of "vexation" and discomfort (verses 19, 20)—God’s anger will be poured out upon the land in strange ways (verse 21). He therefore warns the rulers to lay aside their scorn of God, and humble themselves, lest a worse thing happen to them (verse 22). Isaiah 28:14 Ye scornful men; literally, ye men of scorn. The word used is rare, but will be found in the same sense in Proverbs 1:22 and Proverbs 29:8. A cognate participle occurs in Hosea 7:5. That rule this people. (On the authority of the nobles at this period, see the introductory paragraph.) Isaiah 28:15 We have made a covenant with death (comp. Job 5:23; Hosea 2:18). The words are a boast, expressed somewhat enigmatically, that they have secured their own safety by some secret agreement. The exact nature of the agreement they are disinclined to divulge. With hell are we at agreement. A "synonymous parallelism," merely strengthening the previous assertion. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through. Assyrian invasion has been compared to a "flood" (Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 28:2), and to a "rod" or "staff" in Isaiah 10:24. Here the two metaphors are joined together. It shall not come to us. Some means will be found—what, they do not say, either for diverting the flood, or for stemming it. For we have made lies our refuge. Here the Divine reporter departs from the language of those whose words he is reporting, and substitutes his own estimate of the true nature and true value of that "refuge" on which they placed such entire reliance. It appears by Isaiah 30:1-7 and Isaiah 36:6-9 that that refuge was Egypt. Now, Egypt was a "bruised reed," not to be depended on for keeping her engagements. To trust in her was to put confidence in "lies" and "falsehood." Isaiah 28:16 Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone. In contrast with the insecure refuge and false ground of confidence whereon the nobles relied, the prophet puts forward the one sure "Rock" on which complete dependence may be placed—which he declares that Jehovah is laying, or "has laid," in Zion as a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. The imagery is, no doubt, drawn from the practice of Oriental kings, and notably Solomon, to employ foundation-stones of enormous size and weight at the corners of buildings. Some of those uncovered at the corners of Solomon’s temple by the Palestine Exploration Fund are more than thirty-eight feet long, and weigh above a hundred tons. But the reference cannot, of course, be to the material structure of the temple as Israel’s true refuge. Rather, Jehovah himself would seem to be the Rock (Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:29, etc.) intended; and hence the application to Christ by the writers of the New Testament (Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6-8) was natural and easy. But it may be questioned whether the passage was to Isaiah himself "Messianic," or meant more than that God had set his Name and his presence at Jerusalem from the time that the temple was built there, and that it was a mistake to look elsewhere titan to him for deliverance or security. He that believeth shall not make haste. The LXX. have "He that believeth shall not be ashamed" or "confounded;" and St. Paul (Romans 9:33) follows this rendering. It is conjectured that the Hebrew had originally yabish instead of yakhish. Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, said righteousness to the plummet; rather, justice also will I set for my rule, and righteousness for my plumb-line; i.e. I will execute justice and judgment on the earth with all strictness and exactness. The scorners had implied that, by their clever devices, they would escape the judgment of God (Isaiah 28:15). The hail (comp. Isaiah 28:2). The storm of Assyrian invasion will overwhelm Egypt, which is a "refuge of lies," false and untrustworthy (see the comment on Isaiah 28:15). The hiding-place. Mr. Cheyne adds, "of falsehood," supposing a word to have fallen out of the text. Such an addition seems almost required to complete the parallelism of the two clauses, and also for the balance between this verse and Isaiah 28:15. Isaiah 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled; or, wiped out. The entire clever arrangement, by which they thought to avert the danger from themselves and from Judaea, shall come to naught. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. As the prophet continues, his metaphor becomes still more mixed. "Treading down" was so familiar an expression for destroying, that, perhaps, its literal sense was overlooked (comp. Isaiah 5:5; Isaiah 7:25; Isaiah 10:6; Daniel 8:13; Micah 7:10; Zechariah 10:5, etc.). Isaiah 28:19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you; rather, as often as it passes along, it shall take you away; i.e. as often as the flood of Assyrian invasion sweeps through Palestine, it shall thin the population by death and captivity. We know of at least eight passages of the flood through Judaea—one under Sargon, two under Sennacherib, three or four under Esarhaddon, and two under Asshur-bani-pal. There may have been more. Morning by morning; i.e. frequently—time after time. Shall it pass over; rather, pass along, or pass through. It shall be a vexation only to understand the report; rather, it will be sheer terror to understand the doctrine. There is an allusion to Isaiah 28:9. They had thought scorn of Isaiah’s "doctrine," when he taught it them by word of mouth; they will understand it but too well, and find it" nothing but a terror," when it is impressed on them by the preaching of facts. Isaiah 28:20 For the bed, etc. We have a proverb, "As a man makes his bed, so must he lie in it." The Jews will have made themselves a bed in which they can have no comfort or ease, and consequently no rest. But they will only have themselves to blame for it. Isaiah 28:21 The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim. The "Mount Perazim" of this passage is probably the same as the "Baal-Perazim" of 1 Chronicles 14:11, where David completely defeated the Philistines by the Divine help. This victory is connected with another over the same nation in the valley of Gibeon (1 Chronicles 14:13-16). Now, however, God was to be on the side of the enemies of his people, who were to suffer as the Philistines had suffered in the olden time. This punishment of Ida own people by the sword of foreigners was strange work on God’s part—a strange act. But it was their strange conduct which caused God’s strange action. They had become as it were, Philistines. Isaiah 28:22 Be ye not mockers. As they had shown themselves previously (Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:10). Lest your bands be made strong; or, lest your fetters grow strong. The prophet views Judah as still, to some extent, an Assyrian dependency, held in light bonds; and warns his countrymen that an attempt to break the light bonds may result in Assyria’s making them stronger and heavier. A consumption … determined upon the whole earth; rather, a consummation (comp. Isaiah 10:22, Isaiah 10:23). Isaiah 28:23-29 A PARABLE TO COMFORT . Isaiah is always careful to intermingle promises with his threats, comfort with his denunciations. Like his great Master, of whom he prophesied, he was fain not to "break the bruised reed" or "quench the smoking flax." When he had searched men’s wounds with the probe, he was careful to pour in oil and wine. So now, having denounced the sinners of Judah through three long paragraphs (verses 7-22), he has a word of consolation and encouragement for the better disposed, whose hearts he hopes to have touched and stirred by his warning. This consolation he puts in a parabolic form, leaving it to their spiritual insight to discover the meaning. Isaiah 28:23 Give ye ear (comp. Psalms 49:1; Psalms 78:1). A preface of this kind, enjoining special attention and thought, was appropriate to occasions when instruction was couched in a parabolic form. Isaiah 28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day? The Church of God, go often called a vineyard, is here compared to an arable field, and the processes by which God educates and disciplines his Church are compared to those employed by man in the cultivation of such a piece of ground, and the obtaining of a harvest, from it. First of all, the ground must be ploughed, the face of the earth "opened" and the "clods broken." This, however, does not go on forever; it is for an object—that the seed may be sown; and, as soon as the ground is fit for the sowing to take place, the preparation of the soil ceases. Doth he open and break, etc.? Harrowing succeeds to ploughing in the natural order of things, the object of the harrowing being to break and pulverize the clods. Isaiah 28:25 When he hath made plain the face thereof; i.e. leveled it—brought the ground to a tolerably even surface. Doth he not cast abroad the fitches? The Hebrew word translated "fitches"—i.e. "vetches"—is qetsach, which is generally allowed to represent the Nigella sativa, a sort of ranun-cuhs, which is cultivated in many parts of the East for the sake of its seeds. These are black, and have an aromatic flavor. Dioscorides (3:83) and Pliny (Isaiah 19:8) say that they were sometimes mixed with bread. And scatter the cummin. "Cummin" (Cuminum sativum) is "an umbelliferous plant, something like fennel." The seeds—or rather, berries—have "a bitterish warm taste, with an aromatic flavor". They seem to have been eaten as a relish with various kinds of food. And cast in the principal wheat; rather, and put in wheat in rows. Drill-ploughs, which would deposit grain in rows, were known to the Assyrians. And the rie in their place. Cussemeth, the word translated "rie," is probably the Holeus sorghum, or "spelt," which is largely cultivated in Palestine and other parts of the East, and is the ordinary material of the bread eaten by the poorer classes. For "in their place," Kay translates, "in its own border." The wheat and the barley and the spelt would all be sown separately, according to the direction of Le Isaiah 19:19, "Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed." Isaiah 28:26 For his God doth instruct him. Through the reason which God has given to men, they deal thus prudently and carefully with the pieces of land which they cultivate. Isaiah 28:27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing-instrument. The Nigella sativa is too lender a plant to be subjected to the rude treatment of a threshing-instrument, or "threshing-sledge." Such instruments are of the coarsest and clumsiest character in the East, and quite inapplicable to plants of a delicate fabric. Karsten Niebuhr thus describes the Arabian and Syrian practices: "Quand le grain dolt etre battu, les Arabes de Yemen posent le bled par terre en deux tangles, epis center epis, apres quoi ils font trainer par-dessus une grosse pierre tiree par deux boeufs. La machine dent on se sert en Syrie consiste en quelques planches garnies par-dessous d’une quantite de pierres a fusil". Neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin. The allusion is to aim the coarse mode of threshing practiced in Palestine and elsewhere, by driving a cart with broad wheels over the grain. But the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Canon Tristram says, "While the cummin can easily be separated from its case by a slender rod, the harder pod of the Nigella requires to be beaten by a stout staff". Isaiah 28:28 Bread corn is braised; literally, bread; but no doubt the corn, from which bread is made, is meant. Most critics regard the clause as interrogative, "Is bread corn bruised?"—and the answer as given in the negative by the rest of the sentence, "No; he will not continue always threshing it, nor crunch it with his cart-wheel and his horses—he will not bruise it." Even where the rougher modes of threshing are employed, there is moderation in their employment. Care is taken not to injure the grain. Here the main bearing of the whole parable appears. The afflictions which God sends upon his people are adapted to their strength and to their needs. In no case are they such as to crush and injure. Only such violence is used as is required to detach the good seed from the husks. Where the process is most severe, still the "bread-corn" is not "bruised." Isaiah 28:29 This also (comp. Isaiah 28:26). This prudent dealing of the husbandman with his produce is the result of the wisdom implanted in him by God. The prophet goes no further, but leaves his disciples to draw the conclusion that God’s own method of working will be similar. Wonderful in counsel (comp. Isaiah 9:6). Excellent in working; rather, great in wisdom (comp. Job 6:13: Job 12:16; Proverbs 2:7; Proverbs 3:21; Proverbs 8:14; Proverbs 18:1; Micah 6:9). Proverbs 8:14 is especially in point, since there the same two qualities are ascribed to God as in the present passage. Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:3 The drunkards of Ephraim. While Scripture, from first to last, upholds the moderate use of wine as cheering and "making glad the heart of man," it is distinct and severe in its denunciations of drunkenness and unrestrained revelry. The son who was "stubborn and rebellious, a glutton and a drunkard," was to be brought by his parents before the ciders under the Jewish Law, and "stoned with stones that he might die" (Deuteronomy 21:20, Deuteronomy 21:21). Nabal’s drunkenness and churlishness together caused him to be "smitten by the Lord that he died’ (1 Samuel 25:38). Solomon warns his son against drunkenness by reminding him of the fact, which experience had sufficiently proved by his time, that "the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty" (Proverbs 23:21). The "drunkards of Ephraim" are denounced in unsparing terms by Isaiah and Amos. Christians are taught that drunkards "shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:10), and bidden, "If any man that is called a brother be a drunkard, with such a one, no, not to eat" (1 Corinthians 5:11). Drunkenness and gluttony are naturally coupled together, as being each of them an abuse of God’s good gifts to man; but drunkenness is far the worse of the two, since, by robbing man of his self-control, it is apt to lead him on to a number of other sins and crimes, and thus, while not perhaps worse in itself, it is in its consequences far more injurious than gluttony. Drunkenness is often pleaded as an excuse for the crimes whereto it leads; but some of the wisest amongst ancient legislators were so far from accepting this plea, that they doubled the penalty for an offence if a man was drunk when he committed it (Arist; ’Eth. Nic.,’ Amos 3:5, § 8). In the case of the "drunkards of Ephraim," it may be suspected that the desire to drown their cares in wine was at the root of their drunkenness (comp. Isaiah 22:13; Proverbs 31:6, Proverbs 31:7). But, however we may pity those who so act, we cannot excuse them. Difficulties are a call upon us to use to the utmost the intellect wherewith we are endowed by God, if so be we may anyhow devise an escape from our troubles—not a reason for our pushing reason from its seat, and rushing blindfold on calamity. Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:10 The objections of unbelievers to such as preach the truth. The argumentum ad hominem, to which Isaiah’s adversaries had recourse, is one very generally employed by those who are indisposed to receive religious teaching. "Who are you," the teacher is asked, "that you should set yourself up to teach us? On what grounds do you suppose that you are so much wiser than we? We are not babes—not tied to our mothers’ apron-strings, not mere children without experience of life. We think that probably we know quite as much on any religious subject as you. Why should you imagine that we do not?’ It is difficult to meet this objection. By setting up to be a religious teacher a man does certainly claim to be wiser than his neighbors, and a prima facie objection of undue self-assertion most decidedly lies against him. He can only meet this objection by disclaiming all personal merit, and declaring himself a mere mouthpiece of One infinitely above him, whose doctrine he is commissioned to spread. The objectors will then have to question either the fact of his commission or the authority of the Person who gave it. Another line of argument, and a very common one, is to turn the doctrine itself into ridicule. Has the teacher nothing more to say than what has been heard so often?—nothing but little rules, petty precepts, minute directions for conduct, a touch here, a touch there, tiresome trivialities? Has he no new grand scheme to propound, no flesh way of salvation, no interesting "Church of the Future?" Surely it is idle to repeat, over and over again, the same stale maxims, the same well-worn rules! Who will listen to a harper who harps always on one string? Something new, something lively, something out of the common, is wanted, if the preacher is to secure attention; still more, if he is to affect conduct. Unfortunately, what is new is seldom true; and though, no doubt, novelty in treatment is to a certain extent desirable, since the "instructed scribe" should know how "to bring out of his treasure things old and new" (Matthew 13:52), yet it is the old truths which alone have power, which alone can save; and these need to be perpetually impressed on men, "in season and out of season," dinned into their ears, forced on their attention, cut into their hearts by stroke after stroke, even at the risk of its wearying them. The judgment prepared for scorner’s. "Scorners," in the language of Scripture, are those who set at naught God’s prophets, or his messages, or his Holy Word, or his Church, or his ministers. Men delight in such scorn because it seems to them so fine a thing, so grand a thing, so bold, so brave, so heroic. It is a poor thing, comparatively, to exalt one’s self against man; it is magnificent to measure one’s strength with God’s, and enter the lists against him. This may, no doubt, be so in one point of view, and for a time, while God chooses to endure the contradiction of sinners against himself. But nothing can be really grand or heroic which is irrational, absurd, doomed to end in failure, shame, and ruin. There is nothing admirable in a child kicking against the commands of a wise father, or in a schoolboy setting at naught the rules of grammar or of conduct given him by a good schoolmaster. It is the true wisdom of those who know themselves to be weak, and ignorant, and short-sighted, and imperfect, and liable to error, to accept loyally the rule of an authority stronger and wiser and better than themselves. The "scorners" find in a little time that their resistance of God is folly. I. THEIR EARTHLY FALLS THEM. This reliance may be (1) physical force—the fact they have at their beck and call vast armies, a numerous police, a well-filled treasury, important allies, and the like; or (2) intellectual power, a consciousness of a reserve of mental strength in themselves, an indomitable will, a keen intellect, a fertile imagination, great logical acumen, etc. But their hold on all such things is uncertain. Armies revolt, melt away by sickness and desertion, suffer defeat, become demoralized, surrender themselves; a police fails and fraternizes with revolution; a treasury becomes exhausted; allies draw back in the hour of danger, as the Egyptians did in Israel’s greatest need; and the mighty potentate who has scorned God and his laws finds himself, together with his advisers, brought to shame, defeated, ruined. So with the "scorners" whose mental pride has puffed them up. God can abase them in a moment by mental disease, brain-softening, paralysis, sense of depression, disgust with life. How the bald atheist trembles, and wishes that he could retract his daring speeches, when he is struck down by sickness, crippled, bed-ridden, palsied perhaps. God does not always launch his bolts in this life; but he can at any time do so, and he does it with sufficient frequency to leave men without excuse if they do not note, and profit, by his warnings. II. As DANGER . No one is safe from the worst forms of human suffering. Temporal ruin may come upon the rich, disfavor and unpopularity upon the long-applauded statesman, domestic woe, severe illness, excruciating pain, upon any one. In every case there is always death threatening men. Some "overflowing scourge" or other is almost sure, sooner or later, to "pass through," and press upon us, and threaten to bring us down to the ground. The scorner trembles when such an hour arrives, and inwardly confesses his impotency, even if outwardly he wear a front of brass, and professes to fear neither God nor man. III. SWOOPS DOWN AT LAST. Even if no special judgment is sent to punish the scorner, there arrives at last of necessity the time of old age, weakness, weariness; there arrives at last death; and, some time before death, the fear of death. The scorner must go to that God whose message he has scorned, whose messengers he has treated with contempt and contumely. "A consummation is decreed." He must "fall into the hands of the living God!" Then the folly of that "brave" conduct on which he prided himself becomes apparent, and he would fain retract his old speeches, and submit himself, and make his peace. But the words addressed to scorners (Proverbs 1:22) sound in his ears and hold him back: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them" (Proverbs 1:24-32). Isaiah 28:24-28 The analogy of Divine to human methods of working. Isaiah’s comparison in this chapter rests wholly upon the assumption of an analogy between God’s dealings and man’s, when the latter are such as are consonant with reason. Reason, the highest gift of God to man, be assumes to be an adumbration of some quality in the Divine nature, which bears a real resemblance to it. "Reason cometh forth from the Lord of hosts." It is the voice of God speaking in the soul of man. Let man follow it, and his actions are divinely guided. God’s mode of action in parallel matters may be gathered from his. The general principle is involved in the particular analogy here indicated. As in human husbandry, so in God’s tendance of that Church, which is his "vineyard" and "fruitful field," there are three principal processes. I. THE OF THE GROUND. Israel was prepared by the long course of Egyptian affliction, by the "ploughshares" and "harrows" of tyrannical overseers and taskmasters, which broke up and pulverized what would otherwise have been an ungenial and unpromising soil, very unapt to bear fruit. After this preparation had been made for four hundred and thirty years, there followed— II. THE PUTTING IN OF THE SEED. God’s revelation of himself and of his will at Sinai was the sowing of the seed of his Word in the soil of Israel’s hearts. When he had sufficiently prepared the soil, he scattered the seed abundantly—seed of various kinds—which all fell in its "appointed place," and did its appointed work, "turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," and differencing the Jews from their neighbors by a higher moral tone and a purer religion than prevailed elsewhere. Finally came— III. THE IS OF THE HARVEST. The seed is sown for the sake of the crop which it will produce. God is continually gathering in his crop by a process analogous to that which men pursue. He needs good grain for his garner, and to obtain this he must separate the grain from the husks and chaff with which it is accompanied. As men use various methods for this object, some gentler, some severer, so God, too, in the purifying of his grain, has many varieties of treatment. To each kind of grain he applies the treatment that is fittest. Some kinds are lightly beaten, as with slender rods; others more heavily, as with stout staves; some, on the other hand, are threshed, as it were, with spiked drags and rollers, to clear them of their encumbrances. No more force, however, is applied in any case than is necessary, nor is any force applied for a longer time than is needed. And even in the severest treatment there is gentleness. God has a care that the good grain shall never be "bruised." BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 28:1-6 Condition of Samaria. I. OF WOE. The condition of Samaria was like that of Jerusalem. And judgment must first fall upon Samaria, and then upon Jerusalem (Isaiah 8:6; cf. Micah 1:6). Drunkenness is named," not as the root of the national evil, but rather as its flower. The appalling thing is that when all is on the point of collapsing, those responsible for the state should be given up to careless self-indulgence" (Cheyne). Samaria is described as the city of the "proud crown." So in Greece Athens was called the city of the violet crown, and Thebes the "well-crowned." Some explain the crown of the towers; others think that the mere beauty of the hill on which the city stands, with its cultivated terraces, covered with corn and with fig and olive trees, has given rise to the figure. But a worm is at the root of all this beauty, and Samaria must die. Drunkenness may stand for sensuality in general, which saps the root of a nation’s life. The crown, or chaplet, alludes also to the custom among Greeks, Romans, and Jews, of wearing a chaplet of flowers at feasts. In the Book of Wisdom we read— "Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: And let no flower of the spring pass by us: Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they be withered." (Wis. 2:8.) II. THE . Jehovah has an unflinching instrument for destruction. And, like an overwhelming tempest and flood of waters, destruction will come down on the devoted city. The bright crown shall be trampled underfoot; and Ephraim’s beauty shall be swallowed up with all the haste with which one devours the special delicacy of the "early fig" (cf. Hosea 9:10; Micah 7:1; Habakkuk 3:12; Jeremiah 24:2). It ripens in June. The whole is a picture of sudden and utter destruction. (For the Assyrian king as agent in the hand of Jehovah, cf. 2 Kings 17:3-6. For the storm of hail as a symbol of desolation, cf. Job 27:21; Hosea 13:15. And for the flood as a representation of hostile devastation, cf. Psalms 95:5; Jeremiah 46:7, Jeremiah 46:8.) In the moral order, sudden destruction is always connected with great impiety. The triumphing of the wicked is short; and while they speak of peace, sudden destruction arriveth. "What Isaiah declared about the kingdom of Israel applies also to the whole world. By their ingratitude, men prevent all the goodness which the Lord has bestowed upon them from reaching maturity; for we abuse his blessings and corrupt them by our wickedness. The consequence is that hasty and short-lived fruits are produced, which cannot yield us continual nourishment" (Calvin). Luxury blinds, blindness leads to stumbling, and presently to a sudden fall. III. OF PROMISE. Here again the sky clears, and the star of hope glimmers. To the converted remnant Jehovah will be as a glittering Crown and a splendid Diadem. The royalty of the Divine King shall be more glorious than the famed beauty of Samaria, whose crown shall have been trampled in the dust, and his government a fairer chaplet to adorn the Divine seat. There will be a true beauty and glory in the Messianic times. Moreover, there will be a spirit of justice and sound intelligence diffused. The priests, the spiritual leaders, will be especially imbued with it (cf. Deuteronomy 17:8-12; Exodus 21:22; 2 Chronicles 19:5-8). But the magistracy in general will be enlightened and instructed by the Spirit of God. Further, there will be valor in the field, so that the generals and their soldiers will be able to turn back war to the gate—probably of the city whence their foes came (2 Samuel 11:23, "And we were upon them, even unto the entering of the gate"). There will, in short, in the ideal or Messianic government, be a government strong both internally and externally, wisdom and justice in home administration, strength and valor towards the foe without. These are needed for every empire and kingdom; and they come from God. "The Lord is our Defense." "Magistrates will not be able to rule and administer justice in a city, and military generals will not be able to repel enemies, unless the Lord shall direct them." To place our confidence in the world is to gather flowers, which forthwith fade and decay. We then seek to be happy without God, that is, without happiness itself. If we seek protection and good in God, then no calamities can prevent him from adorning the Church. When it shall appear that everything is on the eve of destruction, God will still be a Crown of glory to his people (Calvin).—J. Isaiah 28:7-13 The mockers and the prophet. Here, it appears, the scene changes to Jerusalem. And we should compare the picture of drunkenness and luxury with that in Amos 6:1-7 and Micah 2:11. I. THE PRIESTS AND OF THE TIME. They are seen reeling and staggering in the midst of, or as they come from, their most sacred functions. It is a strong and indignant description of drunkenness in general (cf. Proverbs 20:1). What more humiliating than the spectacle! To have "put an enemy in one’s mouth to steal away one’s brains," to be the thrall of one’s own brutal appetites, and a "scoured dish of liquor"! "Ebrius urgeris multis miser undique curls Atque animi incerto fluitans errore vagaris." How much worse the vice in those who need all the clearness of the brain, all the composure of the nerves, for the discharge of their high office! They should be "filled" with another "spirit" than this. The effect of the bodily intoxication must be to cloud the judgment, to confuse the perception of truth. And how truly the proverb must apply, "Like people, like priest"! If such the habits of the representatives of the people, what must the people themselves have been? II. THE SPIRIT OF MOCKERY. (Micah 2:9, Micah 2:10.) "The drunkards mock Isaiah over their cups. Does he not know what respectable persons he is dealing with—not like children, who need leading-strings, but educated priests and prophets?" (Cheyne). They scoff at him by taking up words often on his mouth. Whom would he teach knowledge? This designates prophetic preaching (see Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 33:6). And tidings? Another word for revelation, for something "heard from Jehovah" (verse 22; cf. Isaiah 21:10; Isaiah 53:1). Then they ridicule his manner. He is always "harping upon the same string," always dwelling upon the same commonplaces of morality and religion. "It is childish repetition," say they. But, in fact, the preacher must keep dwelling upon a few main points, so easily do they "slip by us!"(Hebrews 2:1). "Here a little, and there a little," it is a true description of popular preaching. It may seem "foolishness" to a scientifically trained understanding; but it has pleased God to save many by means of it. The gospel requires us to receive it as little children, and little by little, a saying here, and there a verse, and again a proverb; this is how little children learn. III. REPLY OF THE PROPHET. He "retorts their own language upon them. Yes; it shall be, in fact, as you say. This childish monotone shall indeed sound in your ears. The description which you give of the revelations of Jehovah shall be exactly applicable to the harsh laconic commands of a merciless invader. For Assyrian, though closely allied to Hebrew, was sufficiently different from it both in grammar and in vocabulary to seem a ’stammering’ or ’barbarous’ tongue to Isaiah’s contemporaries. The common diplomatic and commercial language of Syria and Assyria was Aramaic (see Isaiah 36:11)" (Cheyne). (For the word rendered "stammer," i.e. speak unintelligibly, as in a foreign tongue, cf. Isaiah 33:19; Proverbs 1:26; Proverbs 17:5; Psalms 2:4; Psalms 59:9; Job 22:19.) The lessons which the people refuse to heed when taught them in their native tongue, shall be pressed home upon them in the harsh accents of the barbarian. "Since the Divine patience has been lost upon them, a stronger way shall be taken to force their attention. God will thunder in their ears what to them will appear jargon, the language of a foreign nation!" How prophetic the words in general! The ill taste on our part which makes truth unpalatable in its simplicity and gentle persuasiveness will be sorely criticized when we are forced to listen to hoarse and rude accents. The prophet’s burden had been of rest—rest to the weary; of refreshment by hearty faith in Jehovah (Isaiah 30:15; cf. Micah 2:10; Jeremiah 6:16). And now the old words, "line upon line," etc; will come back upon memory and conscience, to be enforced by retreat, and flight, and fall, and captivity. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." If truth sound barbarous, it is because we have not the true listening faculty. If it be not sweet to the taste as honey, it is because the stomach is disordered. If the Word profit not, it is because men do not "mix it with faith," i.e. with obedient and loving dispositions. A willful ignorance and blindness alone deprives of spiritual benefits; a stubbornness in turning away from the offered light, and choosing to remain in darkness.—J. Jehovah pronounces judgment. The rulers or politicians are addressed. They are stigmatized as "men of scorn" (cf. Isaiah 28:22; Isaiah 29:20; Hosea 7:5). The scornful or scoffing habit implies excessive self-confidence on the one hand, on the other contempt of religion and of God. But "be not deceived; God is not mocked." "It has been commonly found," says Calvin, "in almost every age, that the common people, though they are distinguished by unrestrained fierceness and violence, do not proceed to such a pitch of wretchedness as nobles and courtiers, or other crafty men, who think that they excel others in ability and wisdom." It is a dreadful and monstrous thing when the governors of the Church, not only are themselves blinded, but even blind others, and excite them to despise God and ridicule godly doctrine. I. FALSE . It is some delusion as to their own security which leads men to mock at the judgments of God. The ruling classes thought they had secured themselves against an Assyrian invasion. "They had their fortresses, their soothsayers and prophets, their diplomatists—the latter almost occupied with the preliminaries for a treaty with Egypt" (Cheyne). This fancied security is expressed under a bold figure. To be in covenant with death is like being in covenant with the beasts or the stones of the field (Job 5:23; Hosea 2:18). They have made, as they think, a compact with Hades. Probably enough the allusion may be to the wizards whom they consult. If so, it is true enough to all experience that men, when they have cast off the restraints of true religion, seek to make up for it by dabbling in superstition. "The scorners or free-thinkers have retained a strong belief in the infernal powers, though little enough in those supernal" (Cheyne). Idly have they made lies their refuge, and so think to be exempt from the "flooding scourge" as it sweeps over the land (cf. Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 8:8). They act as if there was any security except in "walking uprightly, and in speaking truth with the heart." Their resources are spoken of by them under plausible names, and there are ways that "seem right to them." They do not think they are falsehoods; but the prophet tears away the disguise, and calls them by their proper names. "The essential substance of the thoughts and words of the rulers is manifest to the Searcher of hearts" (Delitzsch). II. THE TRUE . A Foundation-stone is, or shall be, laid in Zion, nay, costly and solid (cf. 1 Kings 5:17, "Great stones, costly stones, hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house"). The foundation-stone of the temple typifies the unchangeable verity of God, as revealed from age to age in his holy seat and oracle. The believer shall rest securely upon God, and only here shall true security be found. (For the general idea, of. Matthew 7:24, Matthew 7:25. For the application to the Messiah, see 1 Peter 2:6; Romans 10:11; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17, Luke 20:18; Luke 2:34; Ephesians 2:20.) The kingdom of God on earth rests on the Messiah. He was tried by temptation and other suffering, and so proved able and sufficient for the work of salvation. His Name, his work, is the most precious element in the Church’s foundation. And amidst every tempest of judgment which shall sweep over the world, he who confides in Christ shall feel that he has built upon a Rock which cannot be shaken; and shall make no haste, shall be free from agitation and alarm. Till we possess faith, we must have continual perplexity and distress; for there is but one Object on which we can safely rely—the truth of the Lord, which alone wilt give us peace and serenity of mind. Peace is the direct result of faith (Romans 5:1), and faith is repose on that Foundation other than which none can be laid (1 Corinthians 3:11). III. OF FALSE REFUGES. There will be judgment exact and severe, figured by the carpenter’s line and plummet. The hail-symbol of Divine wrath (Psalms 105:32; Ezekiel 13:13; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 11:19) will sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and the hiding-place of deceit shall be carried along in the flood. That "covenant with death" shall be cancelled, and the "agreement with Sheol" shall not stand. There shall be repeated Assyrian invasions; and the "tidings" at which men laughed shall be a terror for them to hear (cf. Isaiah 28:9). Or, having neglected the soul-message, they shall be compelled to listen to the preaching of facts. The proverb (Isaiah 28:20) depicts the state of distress which will exist. History will repeat itself. As when David conquered the Philistines on Perazim and Gibeon (2 Samuel 5:20; 1 Chronicles 14:16), or as in the scene of Jos 10:10, Jehovah will arise to do his work of judgment, a work more fitted for an alien people than that of his choice and love. God does not delight in judgment; it may even be called his "strange work," being foreign to the kindness of his heart. All that he drives at in his chastisements is to bring men to the knowledge of themselves. He is "slow to anger," and infinitely compassionate (Psalms 103:8; Exodus 34:6). Or the strangeness may be that he will now proceed to attack and exterminate his people, as formerly he had their foes. The hand felt by their fathers for salvation shall be felt by them for destruction. IV. CLOSING APPEAL. These scornful politicians who desire to break the Assyrian bonds are exhorted to change their minds, and so avoid the destruction otherwise certain and infallibly decreed by Jehovah of hosts. They wished to escape from their fetters by a breach of faith, with the help of Egypt, without Jehovah, and so mocked at the prophet’s warning. He therefore appeals to them to stop their scoffing, lest they should fall out of their present bondage into one more severe, and lest the judgment certainly at hand should fall more weightily upon them. Timely repentance might even now open a way of escape. We may apply the appeal as general. As God gives us’ to foresee the issue of unwise ways in time, so by repentance may we avert the danger. To despise the Divine justice is not courage, but madness. Let us judge ourselves, that we may not be judged of the Lord; and because "that day" shall come as a thief in the night, ever let us have oil in our lamps, i.e. faith and repentance in our hearts, wisdom in the intelligence, justice and charity in our lives; and meditate daily on the vanity and shortness of our lives, the certainty and uncertainty of our deaths, the exactness and severity of the judgment to come, and the immutability of its results (South).—J. Proverbial lore. The ploughman’s activity and the thresher’s are set before the people as a parable of Israel’s tribulations. At least, this is one of the views of the passage. I. THE PURPOSE OF . It is from God, and the end ever kept in view is the good of the soul and its productiveness. The ploughman does not plough for ploughing’s sake. He opens the soil, turns up the furrows, breaks the clods with the harrow, and all to prepare for the sowing of the seed. And so far the tiller is an image of God and of his operations on the spirit of man. There is seeming severity of method, but ever beneficence in the end. Again, there is variety of method in God’s husbandry of the soul. As the farmer adapts his plans to the soil and to the kind of grain, selects the best modes of preparing the ground, of sowing the grain, of collecting the harvest, of separating the corn from the chaff. "He does not always plough, nor always sow, nor always thresh. He does not deal with all lands and all grains in the same way. Some he threshes in one mode, some in another, but he will be careful not to break the grain or destroy it in threshing it. However severe may appear to be his blows, his object is not to crush and destroy the grain, but to remove it from the chaff and save it. In all this he acts the part of wisdom, for God has taught him what to do. So with God." II. THE WISDOM OF THE DIVINE . The prophet seems struck with the power of the analogy he has drawn; and we "notice his large conception of revelation." It is a want of reason, as it seems to us, in what we suffer that gives rise to impatience. To detect wisdom in all we suffer is to know calm and peace in the soul’s depths. Let us learn, then: 1. That there is a reason at the bottom of the mystery of all we suffer, though we may not be able to search it out and make it plain to ourselves. For our own good, or for the good of others in the scheme of providence, we must undergo and endure. Generally, perhaps, we may detect in the nature of the chastisement the nature of the sin. 2. We may expect variety of trial. This means variety of experience, of knowledge. And every such experience, manfully and dutifully outlived, brings fresh access of hope to the soul. "Tribulation" is an expressive word; it is the threshing and sifting process that must ever go on, to fit us for the garner of eternity. 3. It is not the design of God to crush us. He will not always chide, nor always bruise, will remit his strokes when they have had their due effect. 4. In patience, then, let us possess our souls. As the homely proverb says, "Patience is a plaster for all sores," and "All things come round to him that waits." We may be here more to be acted upon than to act; to submit to a probation, the fruit and result of which will be brought to light in some future sphere of service.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Rest and refreshment. "To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." Religion is designed to give us both rest and refreshment. We are described here— I. AS WEARY, AND NEEDING REST. Weary! Can we not feel that? We wear away. The world is full of cares that fret and chafe us. We lose elasticity of step and cheeriness of heart. How many can say, "I am very weary?" The Bible understands man, and therefore its words are so true and its blessings so welcome. What do the weary need? Why, first of all, rest. We read of Jesus that, being weary, "he sat himself on the well:" so completely exhausted was he that all strength was gone. So not only in a physical sense do we need sweet sleep and rest; but in our human life and in our spiritual life we are weary. What we need is rest in a Person—rest in God himself; to rest in the Lord. II. AS WEAK, AND NEEDING . We become exhausted in life’s pilgrimage. Even in relation to spiritual supplies, our forces of faith and hope and courage fail. We need new supplies of grace and strength. This is well; for it would not be good for us to be able to live on yesterday’s piety. Languor would come over our efforts after the Divine life if we had no need to seek daily bread. But refreshment comes. The faded flowers of our graces lift their drooping heads again. We have all seen and smelt the sweet fields after the rain-showers; we have all noticed these" seasons of refreshing." So in the highest things. These Hebrews would yet find God. He will be again dew unto Israel, and they will have times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. III. As AND TO HEAR. "Yet they would not hear." Some siren voice is still charming them and deadening their hearts to the heavenly ministry. Let us remember that we hear what we will to hear. That is still the responsible function of humanity, viz. to close or to open the ears to the messages of the great King. It is not that God does not speak; for he speaks in many dialects: all the languages of human event and circumstance are at his command. With us let it be, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth."—W.M.S. Christ the Cornerstone. "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner-stone, a sure Foundation." This stone we all know to be Christ, concerning whom all the prophets did testify. It is historically true that the Stone was laid in Zion, and what we have to treat of is the house. Here is the Foundation. Firm, as the eternal Rock, with its roots in God’s own everlasting nature. The Foundation is not created; it is. God sends forth his Son to be the Savior of men. This foundation is laid deep in toil and tears, in humility and indignity. It is laid in the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and Passion. Yet there it is. None can move it. Nor can any soul of man find other foundation. This Foundation is designated in three ways. I. IT IS A TRIED STONE. We are reminded of tried things. The Word of the Lord is a tried Word. Already prophets speak of the Christ as the tried Stone. The vision they have of him is not of a great Teacher simply, but of a Divine Redeemer, upon whose mighty work all generations of men may rest for redemption and life. The centuries have rolled away, and now history endorses prophecy. Generations of departed salute have testified that Christ is a Friend that loveth at all times—a Rock that no waters of sorrow, not even the waterfloods of death, can move. II. IT IS A . Yes; here the weight of the building has to come, the Cornerstone. Precious; for there is this description everywhere given of the Christ: "Beside me there is no Savior." He is the Pearl of great price. He is the Church’s one Foundation. Precious in himself, as holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Precious, because of the living temple of redeemed souls which he supports. Precious in the Father’s eyes, in the eyes of angels, and of all the great multitude of the redeemed. III. A SURE . That is what we all want in religion—certainty. We cannot do with a mere philosophic "quest." We want "rest." We do not want an ornate religion; we want rather to be able to say, "I know in whom I have believed." When the mind is palsied with doubt, when the heart is quaking with fear, then we experience the deepest misery possible to man; for the sky above us is soon lost to view if the rock beneath us is not firm and true. Heaven goes when faith goes. God himself declares, "Behold, I lay in Zion … a sure Foundation."—W.M.S. The use of tribulation. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 29:1-4 A WARNING TO . Expostulation is followed by threats. The prophet is aware that all his preaching to the authorities in Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:14-22) will be of no avail, and that their adoption of measures directly antagonistic to the commands of God will bring on the very evil which they are seeking to avert, and cause Jerusalem to be actually besieged by her enemies. In the present passage he distinctly announces the siege, and declares that it will commence within a year. Isaiah 29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! "Ariel’ is clearly a mystic name for Jerusalem, parallel to "Sheshach" as a name for Babylon (Jeremiah 25:26) and "’Ir-ha-heres" as a name for Heliopolis (Isaiah 19:18). It is generally explained as equivalent to Art-El, "lion of God;" but Delitzsch suggests the meaning of "hearth of God," or "altar of God," a signification which "Ariel" seems to have in Ezekiel 43:15, Ezekiel 43:16. But there is no evidence that "Ariel" was ever employed in this sense before the time of Ezekiel. Etymologically, "Ariel" can only mean "lion of God," and the name would in this sense be sufficiently descriptive of the Jewish capital, which had always hitherto been a sort of champion of Jehovah—a warrior fighting his battles with a lion’s courage and fierceness. Dwelt; literally, pitched his tent—an expression recalling the old tent-life of the Hebrews. And ye year to year; rather, a year to a year; i.e. the coming year to the present one. The intention is to date the commencement of the siege. It will fall within the year next ensuing. Let them kill sacrifices. The best modern authorities translate, "Let the feasts run their round" (Kay, Cheyne, Delitzsch); i.e. let there be one more round of the annual festival-times, and then let the enemy march in and commence the siege. Isaiah 29:2 Yet will I distress Ariel; rather, and then will I distress Ariel. The sense runs on from the preceding verse. There shall be heaviness and sorrow. Mr. Cheyne’s "moaning and bemoaning" represents the Hebrew play upon words better. The natural consequence of the siege would be a constant cry of woe. And it shall be unto me as Ariel. It would be better to translate, "Yet she shall be unto me as Ariel." The meaning is that, though distressed and straitened, Jerusalem shall still through all be able by God’s help to answer to her name of "Ariel"—to behave as a lien when attacked by the hunters. Isaiah 29:3 I will camp against thee round about; i.e. "I will bring armed men against thee who shall encamp around the entire circuit of thy walls." There was small chance of forcing an entrance into Jerusalem on any side except the north; but, order to distress and harass her, an enemy with numerous forces would dispose them all round the walls, thus preventing all ingress or egress (see Luke 19:43). And … lay siege against thee with a mount; or, with a mound. Artificial mounds were raised up against the walls of cities by the Assyrians, as a foundation from which to work their battering rams with greater advantage against the upper and weaker portion of the defenses. And … raise forts against thee. "Forts" were usually movable, and accompanied the battering-ram for its better protection. Archers in the forts cleared the walls of their defenders, while the ram was employed in making a breach. Isaiah 29:4 Thy speech shall be low. The feeble cries of a people wasted and worn out by a long siege are intended. These cries would resemble those which seemed to come out of the ground when a necromancer professed to raise a ghost. The Hebrew ’ohv is used both of the necromancers (Leviticus 19:31; Isaiah 20:6, etc.) and of the ghosts which they professed to raise (1 Samuel 28:7, 1 Samuel 28:8; 2 Kings 20:6, etc.). Here the "ghost" is spoken of. Thy speech shall whisper; literally, chirp (comp. Isaiah 8:19). The word used occurs only in Isaiah. Isaiah 29:5-8 THE WARNING BY A PROMISE. It is ever God’s care to prevent men from being "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow" (2 Corinthians 2:7). As long as he is not about to "make a full end" (Jeremiah 4:27), he mingles promises with his threats, words of cheer with words of warning. So now the prophet is directed to attach to his four verses of denunciation (Isaiah 29:1-4) four others of encouragement, and to declare the utter discomfiture of the vast host of enemies which for a time has besieged and "distressed" Ariel. Isaiah 29:5 Moreover; rather, but. The relation of Isa 29:5-8 to Isaiah 29:1-4 is that of contrast. The multitude of thy strangers; i.e. "of thy enemies" (comp. Isaiah 25:5). In primitive societies every stranger is an enemy; and hence language—the formation of primitive men—often has one word for the two ideas. In Latin hostis is said to have originally meant "foreigner" (Cic; ’De Off’,’ 1.12). Shall be like small dust. Ground down, i.e. to an impalpable powder—rendered utterly weak and powerless. The meaning is determined by the clause which follows, with which it must necessarily be in close accordance. As chaff that passeth away. "Chaff," in Scripture, is always a metaphor for weakness (comp. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 33:11; Isaiah 41:15; and see also Psalms 1:4; Psalms 35:5; Job 21:18; Hosea 13:3; Daniel 2:35; Zephaniah 2:2). It has no value; man’s object is to get rid of it: a light wind carries it away, and no one inquires whither. Yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Dr. Kay says it is "the collapse of Jerusalem" which is here intended. But most other commentators understand, with more reason, the collapse of her enemies (Cheyne, Delitzsch, Vance Smith, Knobel, etc.). Isaiah 29:6 Thou shalt be visited; literally, shall there be a visitation. On whom the visitation will fall is not expressed; but the context shows that it is on the enemies of Judah. The terrible nature of the visitation is signified by an enumeration of the most fearful of God’s judgments—"thunder, earthquake, great noise, whirlwind, tern-pest, and a flame of devouring fire." All the expressions are probably metaphorical. Isaiah 29:7 Her munition; i.e. her defenses the walls and towers in which she put her trust (comp. Isaiah 29:3). As a dream of a night vision. "The baseless fabric of a vision," when it has once passed by, "leaves not wrack behind." The entire host of the "terrible ones" would melt away and disappear, as a night vision before the light of day—it would dissolve into nothing, vanish, leave no trace. Isaiah 29:8 It shall be even as when an hungry man dreameth. The melting away of the vision would involve a keen disappointment. The enemies of Israel had expected to secure a most valuable prey. They had dreamed of a rich booty when they should take the city—a booty which would reward them for all the hardships of their marches, their watches, their toils in the siege, the dangers to which they exposed themselves in the assaults. It was as if a hungry man had dreamed that he was engaged in a feast, or a thirsty man that he was drinking deep at a banquet, when suddenly he wakes up, and finds that he has been merely dreaming, and that there is no reality in his fancies. Dr. Kay quotes a passage which is much to the point from Mungo Park’s journals: "No sooner had I shut my eyes than fancy would convey me to the streams and rivers of my native land. There, as I wandered along the verdant bank, I surveyed the clear streams with transport, and hastened to swallow the delightful draught; but, alas! disappointment awaked me, and I found myself a lonely captive, perishing of thirst amid the wilds of Africa." Those engaged in the siege, while themselves vanishing away, would likewise find their dreams of plunder vanish, and Would bitterly feel the disappointment. That fight against Mount Zion. To attack Jerusalem was to fight against the mount of God, the place where Jehovah had "set his Name, "and where he condescended in some true sense to dwell continually. How could those who engaged in such an enterprise hope to succeed? Isaiah 29:9-12 NEITHER WARNING NOR PROMISE BY THOSE TO WHOM THEY HAVE BEEN , "Who hath believed our report?" says the prophet in another place (Isaiah 53:1), "and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" It was among the most painful circumstances attaching to the prophetical office, that scarcely ever was the prophet held in any esteem among his own people, or in his own lifetime. Isaiah knows that his warning will fall dead—that the people and their rulers have neither "eyes to see" nor "ears to hear." He places on record this knowledge, while at the same time striving if by any means he may arouse some from their condition of dull apathy. Isaiah 29:9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; rather, stand stupefied and be astonished. The prophet bids them act as he knows that they will act. They will simply "stare with astonishment" at a prophecy which will seem to them "out of all relation to facts" (Cheyne). They will not yield it the slightest credence. They will only marvel how a sane man could have uttered such egregious folly. Cry ye out, and cry. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate, "Blind yourselves, and be blind," which certainly gives a much better sense, and is justified by the use of the same verb in Isaiah 6:10. As Pharaoh began by hardening his own heart, and then God hardened it, so those who blind their own eyes, and will not see when they have the power, are, in the end, if they persist, judicially blinded by God. They are drunken, but not with wine. "The drunkards of Ephraim" (Isaiah 28:3) were such literally. They "erred through strong drink" (Isaiah 28:7); they "were swallowed up of wine;" but the case was different with the infatuated ones of Judah. They were morally, not physically, intoxicated. Their pride and self-trust rendered them as irrational and as unimpressionable as ever drunkenness rendered any man; but they were not actual drunkards. Isaiah 29:10 The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. "Sleep," in Scripture, is sometimes "rest," "repose from trouble" ("So he giveth his beloved sleep," Psalms 128:2). But here it is "spiritual deadness and impassiveness"—an inability to appreciate, or even to understand, spiritual warnings. The Jews of Isaiah’s time were sunk in a spiritual lethargy, from which he vainly endeavored to arouse them. This spiritual lethargy is here said to have been "poured out upon them by Jehovah;" but we are not to suppose that there was anything exceptional in their treatment—"because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans 1:28), as he does men generally. Hath closed your eyes. The prophets. As the text stands, the proper translation would be, "For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (the prophets), and your heads (the seers) hath he covered." But it is reasonably conjectured that the expressions, "the prophets," "the seers," are glosses, which have crept from the margin into the text (Eichhorn, Koppe, Cheyne). If so, they are probably mistaken glosses, the allusion being, not to particular classes, but to the actual "heads" and "eyes" of individual Hebrews, which were "closed" and "covered" by the judicial action of the Almighty. In the East a covering is often drawn over the head during sleep. Isaiah 29:11 The vision of all; i.e. "the entire vision"—all that Isaiah has put before them in verses 1-8. As the words of a book that is sealed; rather, the words of a letter (marginal rendering) or writing. Written documents were often sealed up to secure secrecy, the sealing being done in various ways. When the writing was on a clay tablet, it was often enclosed in a clay envelope, so that the document could not be read till the outer clay covering was broken. Rolls of papyrus or parchment were secured differently. One that is learned; i.e. "one that can read writing," which the ordinary Jew could not do, any more than the ordinary European in the Middle Ages. Neither the learned nor the unlearned Jews would be able to understand Isaiah’s prophecy, so as to realize and accept its literal truth. They were devoid of spiritual discernment. Even the rulers were but "blind loaders of the blind." Isaiah 29:12 Him that is not learned; i.e. "that cannot read writing." Even in our Lord’s day the ordinary Jew was not taught to read and write. Hence the surprise of the rulers at his teaching the people out of the Law (John 7:15, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?"). Isaiah 29:13-16 A RENEWAL OF WARNING. The inability of the Jews to comprehend Isaiah’s threatening prophecies probably arose in part from their accomplishment seeming to be inconceivable, since they ran counter to the covenant promises made by God to Israel. Isaiah is therefore instructed to inform them that it was a most marvelous and almost inconceivable thing that God was now purposing to do, yet a thing justified by their hypocrisy (verse 13) and their rebellion (verses 15, 16). Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said; rather, moreover the Lord said. This people draw near me with their mouth. Samaria had been punished for open idolatry and flagrant neglect of Jehovah (2 Kings 17:7-17). Jerusalem had not gone these lengths. She still, in profession, clung to the worship of Jehovah, and had even recently accepted a purification of religion at the hand of Hezekiah, who had "removed the high places," and cut down the groves, and broken in pieces the brazen serpent," because the people burnt incense to it (2 Kings 18:4). But her religion was a mere lip-service, which God detested—it was outward, formal, hypocritical (comp. Isaiah 1:11-17). Jerusalem, therefore, no less than Samaria, deserved and would receive a severe chastisement. But have removed their heart far from me. Here lies the gist of the charge. It was not that there was too much outward religion, but that there was no inward religion corresponding to it. Lip-service without inward religion is a mockery, though it is not always felt as such. Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Mr. Cheyne conjectures that ritual books had been already published by the authority of the priests, and that these were followed, on account of the human authority which had issued them, without any reference to the Law. Thus ritual obedience became mere obedience to "the precept of men." Isaiah 29:14 I will proceed to do a marvelous work. Commentators are not agreed what this "marvelous work" was. Some, with Delitzsch, consider it to be the hardening of the hearts of the Jews to such an extent that even the appearance of wisdom and understanding, which the rulers of the people had hitherto retained, would completely disappear. Others, with Mr. Cheyne, regard it as the coming siege, with those extreme sufferings and perils (Isaiah 29:3, Isaiah 29:4) which the Jews would have to undergo—sufferings and perils barely consistent with the previous covenant-promises made to the nation. It is difficult to decide between these two views; but, on the whole, Mr. Cheyne’s view seems preferable. A marvelous work and a wonder; rather, a marvelous work and a marvel. The repetition is for the sake of emphasis. For the wisdom; rather, and the wisdom; i.e. "when I do my marvel, then the wisdom of the wise men shall perish"—all their crafty designs and plans shall be of no avail, but come wholly to naught. The chief of these designs was that alluded to in the next verse. Isaiah 29:15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord. The allusion is to the schemes which were afloat for calling in the aid of Egypt. As Isaiah had long since denounced these schemes as the height of folly (Isaiah 19:11-17), and prophesied their failure (Isaiah 20:5, Isaiah 20:6), every effort was made to conceal them from his knowledge end from the knowledge of all who were like-minded (comp. Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 30:2). Steps were probably even now being taken for the carrying out of the schemes, which were studiously concealed from the prophet. Their works are in the dark. Underhand proceedings ere at all times suspicious. "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." The very fact of concealment was an indication that the works in which the rulers were engaged were evil, and that they knew them to be evil. They say, Who seeth us? (comp. Psalms 73:11, "Tush, they say, How should God perceive? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"). The wicked persuade themselves that God does not see their actions. Isaiah 29:16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; rather, O for your perverseness! Shall the potter be reckoned as clay? They were so perverse and wrong-headed that they inverted the relation in which they stood to God and God to them. God was to be passive, or merely give opportunities of action, and they were to mould their own plans and carve out their own destinies. For shall the work say, etc.? rather, for the work saith. Taking their destinies into their own hands was equivalent to saying that they were their own masters, which they could not be if God made them. Shall the thing framed say, etc.? rather, yea, the thing formed hath said. To refuse to take counsel of God, and direct the national policy by the light of their own reason, was to tax God with having no understanding. Isaiah 29:17-24 A RENEWAL OF PROMISE. God’s judgment (Isaiah 29:14), whatever it is, will pass. In a little while there will be a great change. The lowly will be exalted, the proud abased. From the "meek" and "poor’ will be raised a body of true worshippers, who will possess spiritual discernment (Isaiah 29:18), while the oppressors and "scorners" will be brought to naught. When Isaiah expected this change is uncertain; but he holds out the hope of it here, as elsewhere so frequently (Isaiah 1:24-31; Isaiah 2:2-5; Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 5:13, etc.), to keep up the spirits of the people and prevent them from sinking into a state of depression and despair. Isaiah 29:17 Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field. Lebanon, the wild forest, shall become smiling garden-ground, while garden-ground shall revert into wild uncultivated forest. An inversion of the moral condition of Judaea is shadowed forth by the metaphor. Isaiah 29:18 In that day—i.e; when that time comes—shall the deaf hear the words of the book; the spiritually deaf shall have their ears opened, many of them, and shall not only hear, but understand, the words of Scripture addressed to them by God’s messengers. No particular "book" is intended—sepher being without the article, but the words of any writing put forth with Divine authority. The eyes of the blind shall see also out of obscurity. Men shall shake off the "deep sleep" (Isaiah 29:10) in which they have long lain, and have once mute "eyes to see" the truth. Isaiah 29:19 The meek … the poor. The "evangelical prophet" anticipates the gospel in this, among other points—that he promises his choicest blessings, not to the rich and mighty, but to the poor and meek (comp. Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 61:1). Isaiah 29:20 The terrible one … the scorner. "The terrible one" may be the foreign enemy, as in Isaiah 29:5, or, possibly, the native oppressor (Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:1-30:93, etc.)—a still more tearful evil. "The scorner" is the godless man, who scoffs at religion (Isaiah 28:14, Isaiah 28:22). Both classes would be "consumed" and "brought to naught" when the new state of things was established. All that watch for iniquity; i.e. "all those who, for the furtherance of their iniquitous schemes, rise up early and late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness" (Psalms 127:2). Isaiah 29:21 That make a man an offender for a word. The meaning of this clause is very doubtful. Kay translates, "That lead men into sin by words;" Mr. Cheyne, "That make out people to be sinners by their words," i.e. by bearing false witness against them; while Delitzsch upholds the rendering of the Authorized Version. Mr. Vance Smith has other suggestions. There seems to be, on the whole, no sufficient reason for setting aside the authorized rendering, which con-demus one form of oppression—the severe punishment of mere words. And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate. "The gate" was the place where judgment was given and public assemblies held. If any one boldly stood up and reproved the oppressors "in the gate," they instantly set to work to lay a trap for him and bring him to ruin. And turn aside the just for a thing of naught; rather, and deprive the just [of their right] by empty charges. "Turning aside the just" means turning them from their right (Amos 5:12; Exodus 23:6); and bat tohu is not "for nothing" but "by nothing," i.e. by some vain empty pretence. Isaiah 29:22 The Lord, who redeemed Abraham; rather, who delivered Abraham, as the verb used is often rendered (see Job 33:28; Psalms 51:18; Psalms 69:18; Psalms 78:42, etc.). God’s directions to Abraham to remove from a land of idolaters (Joshua 24:2, Joshua 24:3; Acts 7:2, Acts 7:3) were practically a "deliverance." The work thus commenced could not be suffered to remain incomplete. Israel—the true Israel—would not be ashamed, or wax pale through fear any more; they would be God’s children, his true worshippers, and would have no need to experience either fear or shame. Isaiah 29:23 The work of mine hands; i.e. regenerated and "created anew unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10)—God’s work, and no longer denying themselves to be such (Isaiah 29:16). They shall sanctify my Name, and sanctify, etc.; rather, they shall sanctify my Name, they shall even sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. The last two clauses are exegetical of the first (Kay). Isaiah 29:24 They also that erred in spirit; i.e. those who were blind and deaf (Isaiah 29:18). Shall come to understanding; literally, shall know understanding; i.e. recover their power of spiritual discernment. They that murmured. The reference cannot be to the "murmuring" in Egypt, though the verb used occurs only elsewhere in Deuteronomy 1:27 and Psalms 106:25, where that murmuring is spoken of. We must look for some later discontent, which we may find in quite recent "murmuring resistance to the admonitions of Jehovah" (Delitzsch), without going back so far as the time of the Exodus. Shall learn doctrine; i.e. "shall willingly receive the teaching, of God’s prophets, and profit by it." Woe to Ariel! The lesson of this section seems to be that even those nearest and dearest to God, who bear his name, who are in a certain sense his, are not exempt from suffering at his hands. Even Jerusalem, "the city where David dwelt" "God’s lion," his champion, his "mighty one"—was shortly to experience all the horrors of a prolonged siege, to be brought down to the dust—to be distressed, weakened, humiliated. The memory of David would not save her; her name of "Ariel" would not exempt her. She would have to go through the fearful ordeal. The Christian may humbly ask—Wherefore? I. BECAUSE, HAVING SINNED, SHE . God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. His attribute of perfect justice requires that even for pardoned sin there should be a penalty. It is well for sinners when the penalty is exacted in this life. The sufferings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the siege were no doubt, in some measure, punishments. 1. For the national sin of unfaithfulness. 2. For the particular sins of the sufferers. But this is not a full account of the matter. Jerusalem suffered also— II. BECAUSE SHE NEEDED AND WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT. Jerusalem was still undergoing her probation. There were hopes of her turning to God. Nay, she did from time to time partially turn, and her actual destruction was deferred for above a century after that of her sister, Samaria. The sufferings of the siege were in the main intended to bring the sufferers to repentance—to humble proud hearts, to bend stubborn wills, to show the vanity of earthly supports and stays, and induce entire dependence and trust in God. "Ariel" was punished far more in love than in wrath. She was still to God "as Ariel." Her "woe" was not the final woe pronounced on the hopelessly impenitent, but the woe which, while it is grievous at the time of its infliction, "nevertheless afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11). The disappointment that awaits God’s enemies. All the enemies of God have, some day or other, an awaking. The designs which they cherish, the selfish hopes in which they indulge, are mere dreams. Even when the dreams are realized the result is disappointing. No man ever yet found the pleasure of success equal to his expectation. If there is a little satisfaction at first, fruition soon begets satiety. "Vanity of vanities," says the preacher, "all is vanity." But, for the most part, the dreams are not realized. God arises, and his enemies are scattered; those that hate him have to flee before him (Psalms 68:1). The schemer finds himself baffled just when he thinks success most certain. Dishonesty is detected; the bubble of speculation bursts; unexpected obstacles arise; a sudden death or a sudden outbreak of war deranges the best-laid plans: the fortune just about to be made vanishes into the air, the dreamer "awakes, and his soul is empty"—all his hopes have passed away "at an instant suddenly." There is but one security against constant disappointment, which is to trust all to God, to have no will but his, no desire but that expressed in the prayer, "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Isaiah 29:9, Isaiah 29:10 Two kinds of spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is not the natural condition of man. God has given to all men a certain power of spiritual discernment. He is "the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9). Children are invariably found to be teachable at an early age—to have a power of receiving and appreciating spiritual verities. The spiritually blind have become such, and in their condition we may trace two stages. I. THE INITIAL STAGE. The commencement of spiritual blindness is a willful shutting of the eyes. Instead of seeking to see, striving to see, looking out for the spiritual in life and action, men turn away from it, "wink with their eyes," put veils over them, refuse to let the light of truth shine in upon their understandings. They "love darkness rather than light" (John 3:19). The whole of life should be a continual exercise of the spiritual discerning power. Men give the power as little exercise as possible. They weaken it by disuse. After a while they deprave it, so that its judgments become uncertain—even false. II. THE FINAL STAGE. In Scripture the final stage is called "a reprobate mind," literally, "an undistinguishing mind (ἀδοκιμὸςνοῦς)." By the law of God’s providence, the willful shutting of the eyes leads on to an inability to see. The moral vision becomes actually distorted. The "light that is within a man becomes "darkness;" and then, "how great is that darkness!" "Bitter is put for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20), "good for evil, and evil for good." The state is hopeless, irremediable. It results naturally from the repeated sins against light of the first stage; but it is none the less God’s judgment upon the sinner. Hence it has been called "judicial blindness"—an expressive name. Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 29:14 God’s hatred of mere lip-service Lip-service is offensive to God on two accounts. I. IT IS TO HIMSELF. It implies, either that he has not the power of reading the heart and of perceiving when worship is rendered to him sincerely and when feignedly, or that he does not care which kind of homage he receives, whether adoration is offered to him really or formally. In the one case he must be considered as a Being of very limited power and capacity; in the other, as a Being indifferent to the gravest moral distinctions. To profess loyalty to an earthly monarch without feeling it would be to insult him grossly. How much more to seek to pass such a cheat on the King of heaven! II. IT IS TO THE WHICH HE HAS MADE IN HIS OWN IMAGE. All falsehood is degrading to those who condescend to it. False pretences, flatteries, insincere professions of love and devotion for the purpose of winning favor and approval from those to whom we address them, are among the basest and most contemptible acts to which a human being can stoop. They are lies, and lies which have their origin in downright unadulterated selfishness. False professions made to God are also foolish, idiotic lies, which cannot possibly impose on the Being who is the Object of them, and which do not very often impose even on such of our fellow-men as witness them. It was their insincere "lip-service" which caused our Lord to denounce the scribes and Pharisees of his time as "actors," or "hypocrites". Religious revivals. It is sometimes supposed that religious revivals are modern inventions, concessions to the weakness of the degenerate man of the nineteenth century; and no doubt there have been features in many so-called "revivals" which have justified this view of them. But, in point of fact, revivals, if we follow out the history of religion, are found to be movements which have belonged to all ages, and without which it appears more than probable that religion in this world would stagnate and lose all vital energy. The subject may he best viewed under three heads. I. IS A LAW OF NATURE. Not only does Nature annually revive in spring from her winter’s trance, but throughout the universe exhaustion is continually occurring at irregular intervals, and recoveries from exhaustion, i.e. revivals, are the only mode by which Nature is recruited and enabled to maintain herself. A long series of wet and cold seasons produces at any rate the impression that Nature’s productive powers are declining and wearing out; when, suddenly, there is a complete inversion of what had come to be regarded as an established order, and a summer of brilliant sunshine causes an overflowing harvest and an agricultural reaction. The ozone in the atmosphere, so essential to human health, decreases for months; then, all at once, there is a revival, and the average of a century is exceeded. Electrical phenomena are for a time in abeyance, and the earth seems to have "used up" the power on which her vitality principally depends; when, lo! the reaction comes, fresh electricity is developed, or conveyed to the earth from without, and electrical phenomena become more frequent and more striking than ever. II. IS WITH, AND TO, A ADVANCE. A priori we might have expected that all growth and progress would have been regular and gradual. But the fact is otherwise. In all the fields of human energy, in art, in science, in philosophy, in religion, long periods of comparative deadness and apathy occur, during which there is scarcely any perceptible advance at all, followed by shorter intervals of activity and energy, when progress is made "by leaps and bounds." The scientific energy of the last half-century is a ease in point. The artistic revival initiated by Reynolds and Gainsborough, is another. The history of the Church, dispassionately viewed, shows a manifest progress; but the progress has been far from uniform. Many centuries have been centuries of stagnation. Religion has just kept itself alive, and that has been all. Then some stir has come from within or from without, and a rush of vitality has supervened, which has exercised an influence for good on all later times. Indifference to doctrinal truth was overspreading the world, when the dogmatic revival of the fourth century at once saved the faith, and advanced it. The expansion of the Church, which is a special mark of its life, had almost ceased, when missionary zeal broke out suddenly in the West, and the seventh and eighth centuries saw the conversion of England, Scotland, Friesland, Batavia, Switzerland, and most of Germany. A general deadness and dullness had come over Christendom between the eighth and the eleventh centuries, when the Crusades, which were s political necessity, produced the revival of the twelfth and thirteenth. The greatest revival of all was the Reformation, which recovered spiritual religion when it seemed almost lost, and exerted a purifying influence even on those parts of Christendom which most opposed it. Lesser revivals have been—in Germany Pietism, in France Jansenism, among ourselves Methodism and the Church movement still in progress. It seems scarcely too much to say that, without revivals, religion—even the Christian religion—would perish. III. ARE MOST THE RESULT OF . As it was with the Jews of whom Isaiah wrote, so in the Christian Church generally, revivals have been produced by judgments. The blasphemies of Arius, and the patronage of Afianism by the court, gave rise to the counter-movement of Athanasius. The contraction of Christendom in the East by the conquests of Mohammed and his immediate successors led on to its expansion in the West by renewed missionary effort. The alarming progress of the Saracens and Turks caused the revival connected with the Crusades. The exactions and tyranny of the court of Rome, being felt as a burden that could no longer be borne, brought about the Reformation. Among ourselves, the revival which dates from 1830 was due to the loss of ten Irish bishoprics and the other attacks made on the Church by her enemies at that period. Methodism is about the only Christian revival not provoked by some manifest calamity. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 29:1-12 Concerning Ariel. I. OF ARIEL. The name is symbolic, perhaps signifying "God’s lion." It was the city where David dwelt. The prophet bids the city enter upon the new year, and run the round of the feasts. The distress will come, and the city, true to her name, will be mourning like a wounded lioness; and yet her prowess will be seen. She will be beleaguered, the mound for the battering-ram will be set up; she will be abased, and her low voice will be like the muttering of a ghost from the under-world. Then a sudden change will occur, and the multitude of foes will be dispersed like dust or chaff in the wind. After the noise as of thunder and earthquake and hurricane, menacing absolute extinction of the city, the vast host will disappear like a dream and vision of the night. They too will dream of conquest, as a hungry and thirsty man dreams of meat and drink; and their hope will melt with the morning light. II. THE OF THE PEOPLE. Those who listen are astonished at a prophecy which nothing in the past appears to warrant. The prophet takes occasion to explain the cause of their blindness and stupefaction, and to warn them that they may find this their fixed condition. They are responsible for this state, he seems to imply when he says, "Astonish yourselves!" "Blind yourselves!" Some strange prepossession causes them to act like men intoxicated; their reason reels and staggers. A deep sleep is poured upon them; their eyes are closed, and their hands wrapped up in Oriental fashion. The result is they cannot see the truth. The "vision and the faculty divine," so bright and eminent in the prophet, is not recognized for what it is. His words are like a sealed book in the hands of a reader. He can read, but cannot loose the seals of the book, which is so far like that described in Revelation 5:2. Or again, if a book, though open and legible, be handed to one that cannot read, the result is the same. It may be a large tablet, with large characters, like that in Isaiah 8:1, so that the passer-by, if he can read, may catch the meaning; but what if he cannot read? It is the same as if the writing were non-existent. 1. Seeing truth is like seeing the meaning of what we read. All see something in the book—some little more than that it is a book; some can extract a certain superficial sense from the signs, and are asleep towards the deeper and central meaning. That meaning must be lived out by the whole effort of the reason, the conscience, the heart. It requires an intense effort of will to see any object as it ought to be seen. 2. Absence of spiritual intelligence infers guilt. Men will not see, because the sight is too painful, or some other sight is more pleasurable and more easy to take in. Moral obtuseness is another word for want of conscience, or for inertness of conscience.—J. Lip-service and dissimulation. I. THE WITHOUT THE REALITY OF . To "draw men" is a Scripture phrase full of expressiveness for true worship. To draw near to God is to assume our holiest mood of feeling; it is to humble one’s self in the presence of the Highest and Holiest. The distance between ourselves and the Supreme is not to be overcome by an effort of thought; it is in the sphere of intelligence that that distance is most deeply felt, which mere thought and study only increase. In the region of feeling only can that distance be diminished or made to disappear. As we kneel in our weakness and abandon all our self-supports, the heavens seem to stoop to us, and the arms of the Almighty are thrown about us. Pride, dishonesty, low self-seeking,—these throw the soul far, far asunder from its God. From the reverent and the obedient he is never far off. But so beautiful is this action of drawing near to God, so truly ennobling to our manhood, it is certain, like all the genuine moods and acts of religion, to be mimicked and counterfeited. All hypocrisy is a testimony to the grandeur of that which is copied or caricatured. This imitation of true religion may be carried out in speech. Nothing more easy than to learn by heart the great phrases of Scripture concerning spiritual religion, and to repeat them; and make the verbal not express, but hide the absence of, the real. And so magical is-the effect of sacred and beautiful words on the ear and on the heart, for the time they may create an illusion, and it may seem that we have really felt what we have done little more than utter. Again, respect for mere custom may take the place of respect for God. "Their fear of me is nothing but a commandment of men, which is taught." Religion is part of social institutions—it is decorous, it is advantageous to pay it outward respect, unsafe to contemn it. Thus fear of men and self-interest may really pass under the outward guise of the fear of God and his Law. II. THE DEALING OF JEHOVAH WITH THE PEOPLE. It will be "wonderful, very wonderful." Inconceivable, as it seems, running counter to all his ancient covenant-promises. Already the Assyrian invasion had broken in on them; and the visitation was not to cease, but to continue. These judgments will baffle their intelligence. The wisdom of the wise will perish, and the understanding of the intelligent be obscured. The politicians think to hide their thoughts and deeds from Jehovah, "to throw the veil of secrecy over their pursuit of worldly alliances. The prophet divines their purpose and exposes its perversity. The favorite comparison of the potter is introduced (cf. Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:20)" (Cheyne). Hiding from Jehovah means here the same thing as hiding from the prophet of Jehovah. They did not wish to listen to Isaiah’s reproof. We seem to see them watching the prophet (cf. Isaiah 8:12). And he, from amidst the light of the higher or eternal policy, sees through their time-serving intrigues. "They think they can dispense with Jehovah, and yet they are his creatures; they attribute cleverness to themselves, and practically disown him, as if the pot should say to the potter who has turned it, ’He does not understand it’" (Delitzsch). The great lessons aye: 1. The short-sightedness of worldly wisdom. It sees so clearly the immediate interest to be gained, it ignores the distant future, and falls headlong into fallacy. 2. The far-sightedness of conscience. The prophet represents conscience. What is now right is profitable now and ever will be. And only the real and the sincere is the right. Men may be deceived and mocked for a time; but "be not deceived: God is not mocked."—J. A time of regeneration. A time of refreshing and of renewal is, notwithstanding all the gloom of preceding pictures, at hand. I. THE CHANGE IN NATURE. "One of Isaiah’s most characteristic ideas is a future transformation of nature corresponding to that of man" (Cheyne). The forest will be turned into the garden-land. Lebanon stands for the wild or uncultivated land (cf. Isaiah 10:18, Isaiah 10:34). The passage in Isaiah 32:15 is parallel. When God again begins to bless his people, the untilled land will become a cultivated country, and the fields will produce an abundance compared with which their present condition may be pronounced barren. The meaning may be both literal and symbolical. When human energy is renewed, so is the face of nature, which saddens with war, pestilence, and the depression of industry. And the turning of waste land into cultivated fields is typical of the regeneration of human life; for what is all depravity and misery, but thought, faculty, passion, run to waste? II. SIGNS OF THE NEW LIFE, The deaf will hear the words of a writing, and the blind shall be brought out of gloom and darkness into new spiritual perception, the lowly hearted shall receive a fresh access of joy in Jehovah, and the poor shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. Notice everywhere the loving spirit of the gospel. Ever it is good news to those who need that news the most—the ignorant, the humble, and the poor. And correspondingly, the proud and the self-sufficient are to be brought low. The terrible foe without, and the scornful foes within, will have vanished and be brought to naught. The prophetic message in every age is vehement, burning against oppression and treachery. There are men that watch for iniquity, that swear away others’ lives by false testimony, or seek to ruin those who plead in the gate or judicial court, and wrest the just verdict from the righteous by frivolous pretences, (For the expression, "turning aside the right" of the weak, etc; cf. Exodus 23:6; Amos 5:12; Malachi 3:5.) Traitors, conspirators, false witnesses, and false men of every kind will be rooted out of the new kingdom; and all that is incorrigible will be given up to destruction, that there may be room for the plants of Jehovah’s planting to flourish. III. THE HOLY AND HAPPY . No more shall Jacob be ashamed and his face turn pale. His oppressors will have been swept away. He will see "his sons, the work of Jehovah’s hands, within him." In presence of the judgments of Jehovah there will be a true conversion; they will become holy even as he is holy—a Church sanctifying him, the Holy One of Israel. A sound intelligence will displace the former spirit of error, and former murmuring will give way to a willingness to receive instruction. This is the state of things for which we pray when we say, "Hallowed be thy Name" "They shall hallow thy Name," says the prophet; "They shall fear the God of Israel." Pure reverence, united with bright clear intelligence, and applied in every department of thought and practice, will be the spirit of the future kingdom, must be the spirit in all who sincerely pray for the coming of that kingdom in their hearts now.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Insincerity. "Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me." Sincerity is the life of devotion. Eloquence in prayer is execrable if the heart be worldly and vain. Here we have Divine insight into man’s soul. I. HERE IS THE BENDED KNEE WITHOUT THE HEART. Reverential manner and sacred solemnities of speech may deceive others, but with God all hearts are open, all desires known. It is mere mouth-worship. It is the trick of the muscles, not the tone of the heart. We resent the false man. Nothing offends the better instincts of humanity so much as deceitful mannerism. Better the "drawn sword" that the disguised enemy with fawning friendship on his lips. II. HERE IS THE HONOR OF THE LIPS WITHOUT THE OF THE LIFE. To give a place of "honor" to religion is common to the worldliest men. It is like the compliment that vice pays to virtue by imitation of its manner, and hiding of itself. What should we think of men who did not honor religion? They would be losers, Men would not trust them. They would be suspected of indifference to those bonds which hold society together. So they pay outward honor to the Almighty, they join in the Church anthem, and in the public confession of the great Christian Creeds. But in their life there is no honor paid to religion, inasmuch as they serve and worship other gods. III. HERE IS THE TRUE RENDING OF THE HEART, WHICH IS THE OF THE MAN. The heart is removed far from God. It does not thrill with his love, nor best in sympathy with his claims. This is the loadstone that leads us everywhere. We can prophesy where the footsteps will be if we know the longings of the spirit. The heart that he made capable of so much endurance and affection is far from him. Then it must be somewhere else. It will find some object. The ivy torn down from the old church tower will cling to the nearest object in its path. Cling it must. "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 29:1-8 The city of God. "The city where David dwelt" was undoubtedly Jerusalem, the "city of God." It is here called Ariel; i.e; according to some, the hearth or altar of God. This fact, taken with the prophecy itself, may remind us— I. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD DWELLS. It is where his hearth is—the "place of his abode" where he is at home with his people, where they are "at home" with him. The true Church of Christ, the ideal Christian family or society, is that company which feels that God is with it of a truth, which realizes and rejoices in his presence. II. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE PLACE OF . The "altar" of Old Testament times has forever disappeared now that the great Sacrifice has been presented, now that the way into the holiest is open, now that nothing stands between the Divine mercy and the penitent and believing soul. But still the city of God is the place of sacrifice; for still every true servant of Christ is continually engaged in offering up "spiritual sacrifices" unto God. These are the offerings of praise (Hebrews 13:15), of consecration (Romans 12:1), of kindness (Hebrews 13:16);—these and such as these are "acceptable to God" (1 Peter 2:5). III. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS A PLACE OF AND JOYOUS . "Add ye year to year," etc. (Isaiah 29:1); i.e. let the festivals go round from year to year. The prophet is thought to have spoken ironically, as if he would say, "Go on with your solemnities, but they will avail you nothing." However this may be, we may be sure that when Jerusalem was what Jehovah meant it to be, it was a city in which sacred festivals brought the people of God into holy and happy communion with one another and with their Divine Ruler. And when that which is now the counterpart of the city of God is what its Lord meant it to be, it is a place where human souls mingle in sacred fellowship, and where they all unite in reverent and happy intercourse with the Father of their spirits, with the Savior of their souls. IV. THAT THE CITY OF GOD MAY RE A PLACE OF DIVINE . "Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow," etc. (Isaiah 29:2-4). When the Church, the society, the family, or the individual soul needs Divine correction, Goal will send his chastisements. The Author of its peace will be the Source of its sorrow. 1. It (he) will be as a besieged city, as a city against which the agents of God are encamped, shut in, circumscribed, reduced to privation and distress, made to feel its feebleness, driven to cry out for help. 2. It (he) will be humiliated. "Thou shalt be brought down," etc. (Isaiah 29:4). Nothing so much offends God as pride, haughtiness of heart, presumption; and when this is manifested by his people, they may expect to be abased to the very dust, until their spirit has been renewed and they have learned humility under his correcting hand. V. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE OBJECT OF THE DIVINE . (Isaiah 29:5-9.) When God arises to deliver his people, his visitation may be: 1. Unexpected. (Isaiah 29:5.) When the Son of man cometh, will he find his people expecting his appearance (Luke 18:8)? 2. Overwhelming. (Isaiah 29:6, Isaiah 29:7.) It will (may) be as if all the elements conspired to work his will. 3. Attended with bitterest disappointment to his foes. (Isaiah 29:8.) 1. See to it that this severe correction be not called for; that it is not brought down by worldliness, by formality, by selfishness, by pride, by discord, by indulgence. 2. If the hour of correction should arrive, let immediate repentance bring on at once the time of deliverance.—C. Spiritual incapacity. Our powers, as men and women, are limited enough; and it may well be that those of God’s children who move in wider spheres and are endowed with greater capacities look down in wonder, if not with amusement, on our large pretensions. Yet we talk freely of the incapable, the feeble, the helpless, as if we ourselves were strong. There are various degrees of power and weakness among us, but the most important belong to that kind of incapacity to which the text refers. I. ITS DOMAIN. The prophet treats of spiritual helplessness. We see and lament physical incapacity in the shape of blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc. We also have to treat mental incapacity in the form of intellectual feebleness, decline, imbecility, insanity. But by far the saddest sight in the view of God is spiritual incapacity—that moral condition in which the soul has lost its native powers, is destitute of those acquirements which would enable it to stand side by side with the holiest of the heavenly world, lacks the wisdom by which it might defend itself against its adversaries, and is therefore the prey of the worst evils, forfeits its birthright, and moves towards its doom. This incapacity affects the soul in all its higher and more serious relations—in its relation to God, to those to whom it is under obligation, to its own character. II. ITS TWO . 1. Blindness. "The spirit of deep sloop" the closing or covering of the eyes (Isaiah 29:10). The last, or nearly the last, effect of sin is to take away the faculty of spiritual insight; so that a man cannot see those things which a human soul ought to recognize at once, the recognition of which is indispensable to its very life; viz. the presence, the claims, the power of God; the excellency of his service; the unworthiness and insufficiency of sensual gratifications and worldly ambitions; the deathfulness of sin, etc. But to the spiritually incapable these things are as if they were not. Such souls are as unconscious of these realities as is a man in a deep sleep, or as is one whose eyes are covered, of the objects which are before him. 2. Error. "They stagger, but not with strong drink" (Isaiah 29:9). As a man under the influence of stimulants cannot "walk straight," but staggers from side to side or wanders out of his way altogether, so men who are robbed of their rightful powers by sin fail to walk straight on in the path of rectitude: they deviate into (1) false notions about God and man, about life and destiny; and into (2) evil habits, into sad departures from purity, from uprightness, from truth, from wisdom. III. ITS . 1. It extends to the highest,—he has covered the eyes of "your rulers" (Isaiah 29:10); to those who lead and who, being blind themselves, will certainly mislead (Matthew 15:14); to those whose social influence is strong and, in ibis ease, most pernicious. 2. It includes the specialists—the privileged, those who profess to have peculiar access to truth: "The seers hath he covered." Woe to the land, to the Church, whose religious teachers are unable to see the directing finger of God, and are giving way to dreams of their own imagination! 3. It embraces those instructed in oilier thin, is. It is not only the unlearned that cannot read at all, but the learned men also, who are blind to the truths of God (Isaiah 29:11, Isaiah 29:12). Here, in nature, in providence, in Scripture is a glorious, three-volumed work, the full work of God; here are sacred truths which enlarge the mind and elevate the soul, which beautify and ennoble life, prepare for death, and fit for immortal blessedness. But, with powers diminished, depraved, or destroyed by sin, they who can learn other lessons and read other secrets are as undiscerning as the most illiterate boor in presence of a language of which he does not know the alphabet, as helpless as the finished scholar in presence of a roll the seal of which he cannot break! IV. ITS . How can we account for this depravation of man’s spiritual powers? It is the fitting penalty of sin; it comes in the righteous judgments of God: "The Lord hath poured out upon you," etc. (Isaiah 29:10). It is the retribution attached to a guilty non-use or misuse of spiritual faculty; it is a "woe" that is always working: "From him that hath not"—does not use, or abuses his talents—"shall be taken away even that which he hath" (Matthew 25:29).—C. Isaiah 29:13-17 The Church which God condemns. Here is— I. A CHURCH OF GOD. It has four characteristics of which the Lord complains. 1. Unspiritual worship. "This people draw near me with their mouth," etc. (Isaiah 29:13). The service of the lip without the homage of the heart is an unacceptable sacrifice to God (see Psalms 50:1-23.; Psalms 78:36, Psalms 78:37; Isaiah 50:1-11.; Ezekiel 33:31; Matthew 15:8, Matthew 15:9; John 4:24). To take sacred words into the lips with nothing of their meaning in the mind, to assume the attitude without cherishing the spirit of devotion, is not to propitiate but to offend the Holy One. 2. Unauthorized doctrine. "Their fear toward me is taught," etc.—rendered in the New Testament, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). This was an early departure from the will of Christ (see Colossians 2:18-22; Titus 1:14; Acts 20:30). The Church has always been in danger from men who have represented, first to their own minds and then to the minds of others, their own reasonings or imaginations as if they were the pure truth of God. So the mind and will of Christ have been grievously and mischievously perverted. 3. Incapable teachers. "The wisdom of their wise shall perish," etc. (Isaiah 29:14). A Church fallen under the rebuke of its Lord is usually one that has wholly unsuitable and incompetent teachers—men who have lost their way, who have failed to discover or have abandoned heavenly wisdom, who cannot declare the way of life. 4. Unenlightened members. (Isaiah 29:15.) So destitute of the very rudiments of religion as to ask such a question as this, as to entertain such a thought as this. With a faulty and incapable ministry you may have a Church ignorant of those elements of the gospel with which it seems impossible that men should not be familiar. II. THE DIVINE WANING WHICH IS ALSO A DIVINE PROMISE. (Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 29:17.) He says—You have perverted everything, turned everything upside down, made nothing of my Word when you should have made everything of it, elevated the outward and visible above the inward and spiritual, acted as if you could conceal your doings from the all-beholding God, treated me as the clay might treat the potter, unworthily and irreverently. I will bring it to pass that things shall be turned upside down in your experience: "Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field," etc. The humble shall be exalted and the proud abased. Your false confidence shall be cast down, and that which you have neglected shall be honored in the eyes of all. The Church that has lost its first estate of truth, spirituality, wisdom, must expect a terrible reversal. 1. Its mistaken notions will be shaken from its mind to make way for God’s living truth. 2. Its incapable leaders will be compelled to step down and give place to those whom they have arrogantly disregarded. 3. Its pompous but unspiritual rites will be exchanged for simpler and spiritual engagements. 4. Its luxurious religious enjoyments will be lost in earnest self-denying labors, or even in trying hardships. Thus will the fruitful field become a forest, while Lebanon is turned into a fruitful field. The revolution in the character and condition of the Church will be very intimately connected with, will be immediately followed by, a revolution in the character and condition of the world.—C. Isaiah 29:18-24 The hour of revival. I. ITS . 1. The spirit of docility. Those once deaf now "hear the words of the book" (Isaiah 29:18); "They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine" (Isaiah 29:24). It is one of the surest signs of the presence of God’s Spirit that the attitude of insensibility or of captiousness is exchanged for the desire to learn the will of God—that those who once held aloof altogether or came to carp and quibble now lend a reverent, inquiring ear, sit like Mary at the feet of Jesus, look heavenwards like Paul and say, "Lord, what wilt. thou have me to do?" 2. The power of spiritual perception. "The eyes of the blind shall see," etc. (Isaiah 29:18). God awakens human souls from the sleep of sin or the languor of spiritual decline. Then, in the one case men see the guilt of continued rebellion against God’s will, also the terrible risks they run who remain rebellious, and also the excellency and openness of the salvation which is in Jesus Christ, etc.; in the other case they see the transcendent value of the human souls around them, the admirableness of Christian zeal, the desirableness of gaining the approval of Christ for carrying on his work of redeeming love, etc. 3. Gladness of heart in God and in man. (1) In God. "Joy in the Lord" (Isaiah 29:19) will be increased, not only on the part of the meek, but in the heart of all those who are affected by the action of Divine truth and the influence of the Divine Spirit. Men will realize the closeness, the blessedness, the nobility of their relation to God, as his children, friends, co-workers, heirs; and their souls will be lifted up and will swell with a sacred joy. (2) In man. Jacob "wilt not now be ashamed," his face will not "wax pale (Isaiah 29:22) as he regards his children; on the contrary, he will behold them with unbounded joy when he sees them "sanctifying the Name of the Holy One" (Isaiah 29:23). The fathers and mothers in Israel, the leaders and teachers of the Church, will exult in the extension of piety and purity, of worth and wisdom, among all the people, and particularly among the young. 4. The disappearance of iniquity. (Isaiah 29:20, Isaiah 29:21.) The oppressor, the scorner, the vicious, the unrighteous,—these and such as they are removed from the scene; they no longer linger about the gates or frequent the courts or walk the streets of Jerusalem. The force of sacred fervor, like the cleansing indignation of Christ himself, sweeps unholiness from the sanctuary; "that which defileth" is cast out with the strong hand of reawakened purity. II. THE DIVINE SOURCE OF IT. All those thus made true children of God are "the work of mine hands" (Isaiah 29:23); everything, as every one, is his workmanship; it is all of God. It is his Spirit that "renews the face of the earth," that also revives the souls of men and the condition of his Church. III. THE HOPE OF ITS COMING. 1. We may look to the promises of God’s Word, that hold out to us the hope of better and brighter days in the future. 2. Or to the grace and power of our Lord; for we cannot believe that his yearning compassion and his mighty power will leave outside forever the multitudes that are still afar off. 3. But we do well to look to devout and earnest preparation on our own part. Can we not "prepare the Lord’s way" by cleansing our hearts of selfishness and sin, of pride and unbelief; by devout expectation and eager readiness for the sound of his chariot-wheels; by earnest and believing prayer for the action of his reviving Spirit?—C. BY R. TUCK Divine corrections through temporal distresses. This subject may be treated in the larger spheres of nations, classes of society, or Churches, and applications may be made to individual experience. God’s ways in the world of men are designed to reveal the mystery of his ways with each man. That impression which we are now gaining concerning the constancy and inexorableness of law, godly people have long had concerning the constancy and inexorableness of the Divine dealings. What God has been to one man, he has been to many, he has been to all. What God has been here, he has been there, and he has been everywhere. It is a law and order with him that he should correct men for their faults by means of temporal distresses. The calamities that come to men and nations are no accidents. In them God is working for righteousness. The term Ariel is one of Isaiah’s favorite symbolical names. It stands for Jerusalem. The prophet exclaims, "Alas for Ariel!" because of the wrongheadedness and the willfulness which were leading its rulers away from reliance on Jehovah to confidence in Egypt. The word "Ariel" means "God’s lion," but it is not easy for us to recognize the appropriateness of the figure. Some think it may mean the hearth, or altar of God, and then the reference to "sacrifices" in verse 1 is seen to be appropriate. Henderson, feeling that the figure of Jerusalem as a lion, devouring the flesh Of many sacrifices, is very strained, accepts the figure of "hearth or altar," and says, "The reference is to Jerusalem as the center of the Jewish polity, where alone it was lawful to sacrifice to Jehovah" (comp. Isaiah 31:9). In favor of the translation, "Lion of God," it may be noticed that the lion was the emblem of the tribe of Judah. The historical reference of these verses is to the coming attack of Sennacherib’s army, which would be a distress to Ariel, but would not involve her ruin. It would be a providence with the evident design of warning and correcting. It is matched by many circumstances in individual lives which are distressing rather than afflicting or overwhelming. I. EVILS IN ARIEL. Perhaps the point of reproach here is the insincerity attending the reformation which Hezekiah instituted. There is an important difference between a reformation which starts from the people and reaches to affect the throne, as in the case of Nineveh in the time of Jonah; or as in the case of the German Protestant Reformation, which was in the heart and purpose of the people before Luther found it voice; and a reformation which starts from the throne and tries to carry the people with it, as in the cases of Hezekiah and Josiah. There is the grave danger of the people’s acceding to the wish of the sovereign, and the example of the court, apart from their own convictions. This was the particular evil of the time which needed correction. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 30:1-7 THE WITH EGYPT OPENLY REBUKED. In the preceding chapter (Isaiah 30:15) the design of the Jewish rulers to seek the alliance of Egypt was covertly glanced at and condemned; now it is openly declared and rebuked. The rulers are warned that no good can possibly come of it, even in a worldly sense. The Egyptians will give no aid, or at any rate no effectual aid. The sums expended in purchasing their friendship will be utterly thrown away. Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children (comp. Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 65:2). The word translated "rebellious" is used in Deuteronomy 21:18, Deuteronomy 21:20 of the persistently disobedient son, who was to be brought before the elders and stoned to death. That take counsel; rather, that form plans, such as the plan now formed to call in the aid of Egypt. It must be borne in mind that, under the theocracy, there was an authorized mode of consulting God, and receiving an answer from him, in any political emergency. That cover with a covering. The exact metaphor employed is uncertain, Mr. Cheyne renders, "that weave a web;" Dr. Kay, "that pour out a molten image." The meaning, however, in any case is, "that carry out a design," the clause being a mere variant of the preceding one. That they may add sin to sin; i.e. "to add a fresh sin to all their former sins." Isaiah 30:2 That walk; or, are on their way (comp. Isaiah 31:1). Either the Jewish ambassadors have already started, or the anticipatory vision of the prophet sees them as if starting. In the history (2 Kings 18:13-37; Isaiah 36:1-22) it is not expressly said that Hezekiah made application to Egypt for aid; but the reproaches of Rabshakeh (2 Kings 18:21, 2 Kings 18:24) would be pointless if he had not done so. Have not asked at my mouth. As they ought to have done (see Numbers 27:21; Judges 1:1; Judges 20:18; 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Kings 22:7, etc.). To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh. It is very uncertain who is the "Pharaoh" here intended. The supreme power over Egypt was probably, at the time, in the hands of Tirkakah (2 Kings 19:9); but Lower Egypt seems to have been ruled by various princes, the chief of whom was Shabatok, and any one of these may have been regarded by Isaiah as a "Pharaoh." To trust in the shadow of Egypt. Trust in the "shadow of God" was an expression very familiar to the Jews (see Psalms 17:8; Psalms 36:7; Psalms 63:7; Psalms 91:1; Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 32:2). To "trust in the shadow of Egypt" was to put Egypt in the place of God. Isaiah 30:4 His princes were at Zoan. "Zoan" is undoubtedly Tanis, which is now "San," a heap of ruins in the Delta, where some interesting remains of the shepherd-kings have been discovered. It was a favorite capital of the monarchs of the nineteenth dynasty, and seems to have been the scene of the struggle between Moses and the Pharaoh of the Exodus (Psalms 78:12, Psalms 78:43). It then declined, but is said to have been the birthplace of the first king of the twenty-first dynasty. In the Ethiopian period it rose once more to some importance, and was at one time the capital of a principality. The "princes" here spoken of are probably Hezekiah’s ambassadors. His ambassadors came to Hanes. "Hanes" has been generally identified with the modern Esnes, a village between Memphis and Thebes, which is thought to mark the site of Hera-cleopolis Magna. But it has been well remarked that the Jewish envoys would scarcely have proceeded so far. Mr. R.S. Peele suggests, instead of Esnes, Tahpenes, or Daphnae; but that name is somewhat remote from Hanes. Perhaps it would be best to acknowledge that "Hanes" cannot at present be identified. It was probably not very far from Tanis. Isaiah 30:5 They were all ashamed; rather, all are ashamed. The reference is not to the ambassadors, who felt no shame in their embassy, and probably returned elated by the promises made them; but to the subsequent feelings of the Jewish nation, when it was discovered by sad experience that no reliance was to be placed on "the strength of Pharaoh." A people that could not profit them. Mr. Cheyne compares, very pertinently, an inscription of Sargon’s, where he says of the people of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab, that "they and their evil chiefs, to fight against me, unto Pharaoh, King of Egypt, a monarch who could not save them, their presents carried, and besought his alliance". Egypt was, in fact, quite unable to cope with Assyria, and knew it. A shame, and also a reproach. A matter of which they would themselves be "ashamed," and with which the Assyrians would "reproach" them (as they did, 2 Kings 18:21, 2 Kings 18:24). Isaiah 30:6 Burden of the beasts of the south. Delitzsch thinks that the Egyptians are intended by the "beasts of the south"—the expression pointing primarily to the hippopotamus, which was an apt emblem of the slow-moving Egyptians. But most commentators regard the "beasts" of this clause as equivalent to the "young asses and camels" mentioned towards the end of the verse. (On the sense of the word "burden," see the introductory paragraph to Isaiah 13:1-22.) Into the land of trouble and anguish; rather, through a land. It is not Egypt that is spoken of, but the desert between Judaea and Egypt. The reminiscences of this desert were such that the Israelites always exaggerated its terrors and dangers (see Deuteronomy 8:15; Jeremiah 2:6). From whence come the young and old lion; rather, the lioness and the lion. Lions can never have been numerous in the tract in question; but they may have haunted portions of it, when it was better watered than at present. The viper and fiery flying serpent. Snakes of various kinds have always been abundant in the desert between Judaea and Egypt. Seine of them were believed anciently to have wings (Herod; 2:75; 3:107); but the fact is doubted. Isaiah is not concerned with natural history, but with definitely marking out the locality through which the ambassadors would march. For this purpose it was best to describe it in terms drawn from the popular belief. Their riches … their treasures. Ambassadors who came to request military aid, as a matter of course carried rich presents with them. Young asses … camels. The ordinary beasts of burden employed in the passage of the desert (Genesis 37:25; Genesis 42:26; Herod; Genesis 3:9, etc.). Isaiah 30:7 Therefore have I cried concerning this. Their strength is to sit still. No modern critic accepts this interpretation. Most translate, "Wherefore I name it" (i.e. Egypt) "Rahab, that sits still;" or "Arrogance, that ’sits still." Rahab, "pride" or ’arrogance," would seem to have been an old name for Egypt (Job 26:12; Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 51:9), not one given at this time by Isaiah. What he means to say is, "Proud as thou art, thou doest nothing to maintain thy pride, but art content with sitting still." This he "cries" or "proclaims" concerning Egypt, as the most important thing for other nations to know about her. Isaiah 30:8-17 A RENEWAL OF . The denunciation of the Egyptian alliance had been made viva voce, in the courts of the temple or in some other place of public resort. As he ended, Isaiah received a Divine intimation that the prophecy was to be put on record, doubly, upon a tablet and in a book. At the same time, the "rebelliousness" of the people was further pointed out, and fresh threats (verses 13, 14, and 17) were uttered against them. Isaiah 30:8 Write it before them in a tablet; i.e." write the prophecy before them" (equivalent to "to be set up before them") "on a tablet," in the briefest possible form (comp. Isaiah 8:1). And note it in a book; i.e. "and also make a full notation of it in a book," or parchment roll. The "tablet" was to be for the admonition of the living generation of men; the "book" was for future generations, to be a record of God’s omniscience and faithfulness "forever and ever." That it may be for the time to come; rather, for an after-day—not for the immediate present only. For ever and ever. Modern critics observe that the phrase, la’ad ’ad ’olam, never occurs elsewhere, and suggest a change of the pointing, which would give the sense of "for a testimony forever." Whether we accept the change or not, the meaning undoubtedly is that consigning the prophecy to a "book" would make an appeal to it possible in perpetuum. The perpetuity of the written Word is assumed as certain. Isaiah 30:9 That this is a rebellious people; rather, for this is a rebellious people. The words to be written were those of the preceding prophecy. The reason for their being written is now given (comp. Deuteronomy 31:26, Deuteronomy 31:27). Lying children (comp. Isaiah 59:13). They professed devotion to God; but their acts contradicted their words. Isaiah 30:10 Which say, etc. Not, of course, directly, in so many words. But indirectly they let it be understood that this was what they wished. Compare the advice given to Micaiah by Ahab’s messenger, who, no doubt, correctly interpreted the wishes of the monarch and his nobles (1 Kings 22:13). Seers … prophets. Not two classes of persons, but two names for the same class. The" parallelism" of Hebrew poetry leads to the constant employment of synonymous clauses. Right things; i.e. the truth in all its plainness. Smooth things; i.e. soft, pleasant announcements. Deceits; or, illusions. Isaiah 30:11 Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. "The Holy One of Israel" was one of Isaiah’s most frequent names for the Almighty. He used it especially when rebuking Israel’s unholiness (Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 5:24, etc.). The irreligious Jews were weary of this constant iteration, and wished to hear no more concerning this "Holy One," whose very holiness was a reproach to them. Isaiah 30:12 Because ye despise this word; rather, because ye reject this word (see 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 15:23, 1 Samuel 15:26; 2 Kings 17:15, etc.). The "word" intended is probably the prophecy against trusting in Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-7). And trust in oppression; or, extortion. Oppressive measures employed to obtain the rich gifts which had to be sent into Egypt (Isaiah 30:6) are probably intended. Gratz and Cheyne change the reading from ’oshek to ’ikkesh ("perverseness"); but without any necessity. And perverseness; literally, crookedness; i.e. "tortuous policy" (Kay). And stay thereon; rather, lean or stay yourselves thereon. Isaiah 30:13 This iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall. Your sin in rebelling against God, rejecting the warnings of his prophets, and trusting in your own devices shall bring you into the condition of a wall in which there is a "breach," or rather, a "bulge," which therefore totters to its fall, and is liable to dissolve in ruins at any moment. Swelling out in a high wall. The higher the wail, the greater the danger, and the more complete the destruction. Isaiah 30:14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces. Isaiah is fond of mixed metaphors, and of superseding one metaphor by another. From comparing Judah’s fall and ruin to the shattering of a lofty wall, he suddenly turns to a comparison of it with the breaking to pieces of an earthen pitcher. Judah shall be so broken as when the pitcher is crushed into minute fragments, so that there is no piece large enough to convey a coal from one fire for the lighting of another, or to be of even the least use for drawing water from a well. A complete dissolution of the political fabric is foreshadowed, such as did not actually take effect till the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. As the irreligious party wished to hear no more of "the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 30:11), Isaiah takes care to keep him constantly before their minds (comp. Isaiah 31:1). In returning and rest shall ye be saved; rather, should ye be saved, or might ye be saved. The conditions are put forward, not as now capable of being realized, but as those which might have been realized at an earlier date. The "returning" spoken of is an abandonment of the course hitherto pursued, which was reckless provocation of Assyria and trust in Egypt. The "rest" is staying upon God—renunciation of trust on any arm of flesh, and simple reliance on the Divine aid, as sure to be sufficient when the need came. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength; rather, should be. The clause is a mere iteration in other words of the preceding one. Ye would not. They had practically rejected the policy of quiescence and patient waiting upon God, when they sent the embassy into Egypt. Isaiah 30:16 Ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; rather, we will fly upon horses. The nobles had perhaps a manly eagerness to mount the Egyptian war-horses, and rush upon the enemy at full speed, in the hope of discomfiting them. Isaiah warns them that they will not really fig on the enemy, but flee before him. We will ride upon the swift. "The swift" (kal) seems to be a mere variant for "horse," the parallelism being, as so frequently, "synonymous." Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. However swift the horses of the Judaeans, their enemies would be as well mounted and would pursue and overtake them. Isaiah 30:17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one. A hyperbole common in Scripture (Deuteronomy 32:30; Joshua 23:10; Leviticus 26:8), and not confined to the sacred writers. Piankhi the Ethiopian boasts, in his great inscription, that, with Ammon’s help, "many should turn their backs upon a few, and one should rout a thousand". At the rebuke of five. The "rebuke" of five (i.e. their war-shout) would put to flight the whole army. As a beacon; rather, as a flag-staff—stripped and bare (comp. Isaiah 33:23; Ezekiel 27:5). A tree stripped of its branches and left standing as a landmark seems to be intended. As an ensign. A military standard, such as was in common use among the Assyrians and Egyptians, as among the Greeks and Romans. Isaiah 30:18-26 A RENEWAL OF PROMISE. The denunciations of the preceding passage (Isaiah 30:9-17) had been so terrible that, without some counterpoise of promise, they must have produced a general despair. This was not the Divine purpose. Judah’s probation still continued. Therefore it was necessary to let it be seen that the Divine long-suffering was not yet exhausted—there were still conditions under which God would be gracious to his people. The conditions were "crying to the Lord" (Isaiah 30:19), and entire abolition of idolatry (Isaiah 30:22). Isaiah 30:18 And therefore. "Because your sins require this chastisement" (Kay); "Because of the extremity of your need" (Cheyne). It is, perhaps, best to own that the motives of the Divine action are very commonly obscure; and, if seen clearly by the prophets, are certainly not clearly set forth, being inscrutable. While the motive, however, is obscure, the promise is plain and unmistakable, The Lord will wait, that he may be gracious unto you. God is not about at present to "make a full end;" he is bent on "waiting"—his intent is "to be gracious." He will be exalted, that he may have mercy. He will find some means of vindicating his honor and exalting himself, short of your destruction, in order that it may be open to him to give you a further chance of repentance, whereby you would obtain mercy. For the Lord is a God of judgment. God is essentially just; sin must receive punishment; but the punishment may be short of destruction. Justice does not exclude mercy. If men bear their punishment with patience, and wait for God, a brighter day will dawn on them in course of time. Isaiah 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion; rather, a people shall continue. Jerusalem shall not now be made desolate, or deprived of its inhabitants. Whatever the number of captives taken, "a people shall remain." Thou shalt weep no more. The reasons for weeping shall be removed. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. For God to be gracious to them, they must first "cry" to him—make an earnest, hearty appeal to him for mercy. Their "cry" will be answered as soon as heard, is as soon as uttered. Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity (so Mr. Cheyne). But most modern critics (Kay, Delitzsch, Vance Smith, etc.) regard the words as a promise of support through the siege, and omit the interpolated "though." Translate, And the Lord will give yon bread of adversity, and water of affliction; i.e. scant rations, but sufficient; and thy teachers shall not, etc. Be removed into a corner; i.e. "have to hide themselves from persecution." A persecution of Jehovah’s prophets had commenced in Judah during the reign of Joash (2 Chronicles 24:19-22), and had probably continued with more or less severity ever since. Isaiah 30:21 Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee. Kay says, "The teacher will go before his flock, marking out the way before them." But in that case, the flock would hear the word before them. Delitzsch explains better, "They (the teachers), as the shepherds of the flock, would follow the people with friendly words of admonition." Even in the East, shepherds sometimes follow their flocks (see Genesis 32:17). When ye turn, i.e. when ye are about to turn. Isaiah 30:22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver. Idolatry, greatly encouraged by Ahaz, had been strictly forbidden by Hezekiah at the beginning of his reign (2 Kings 18:4); but the present passage, among others, shows how impossible it was for a king, with the best intentions, to effect the extirpation of idolatry, if his subjects were attached to it. Evidently the Jews had, in many cases, secretly maintained their idols and their idolatrous practices, despite the efforts of Hezekiah. But now, in their repentance, they would "defile" (i.e. destroy) both the outer "covering" of precious rectal, and the inner core of wood or stone, or base metallic substance. The ornament of thy molten images of gold; rather, the coating or overlaying. It was usual to overlay with gold or silver molten images of bronze or other inferior metal. Cast them away; literally, scatter; i.e. either grind them to powder (2 Kings 23:6), or at any rate break them to bits, dud then disperse the fragments far and wide. Isaiah 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; rather, then shall he give rain for thy seed, wherewith thou sowest the ground. God, having forgiven his people, will once more renew the blessings of his ordinary providence, giving them "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). Bread of the increase of the earth; rather, bread, the produce of the ground; i.e. ordinary bread, not "bread from heaven," like the manna in the wilderness. Fat and plenteous; literally, rich and fat. Thy cattle. To complete the general prosperity, there should be plentiful pasture for the flocks and herds. Isaiah 30:24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground; rather, theft till or cultivate the ground. The Hebrew word is generic, and does not apply to "eating" (i.e. ploughing) only. Shall eat clean provender. Delitzsch says that b’lil khamitz is "a mash, composed of oats, barley, and vetches, made more savory with salt and sour vegetables." Mr. Cheyne translates, "Shall eat mixed provender with salt." The general idea is clearly that they shall have for their ordinary food that superior kind of provender which, according to existing practices, was reserved for rare occasions. Winnowed with the shovel. Anciently, winnowing was chiefly effected by tossing the grain into the air with shovels in a draughty place. The fan was scarcely in use so early as Isaiah’s time. He means by mizreh probably a second instrument for tossing the grain Delitzsch translates, "winnowing-fork." Isaiah 30:25 Rivers and streams of water; rather, rivulets, courses of water. Channels, along which water was conveyed for the purpose of irrigation, are intended (comp. Ezekiel 47:1-12; Joe 3:18). No doubt there is a secondary allegorical meaning running through the whole description of Judah’s prosperity (Isaiah 30:23-26). In this allegorical intention the waters stand for the streams of God’s grace. In the day of the great slaughter. Equivalent to "the day of vengeance" (Isaiah 34:8) the day when God shall tread down his enemies. The prophet passes from the immediate effect of Judah’s repentance to a broader view of what shall happen when God’s kingdom is established upon the earth. When the towers fall; i.e. when there shall be a general "pulling down of strong holds," and a "casting down of every high thing that exalts itself against God" (2 Corinthians 10:4, 2 Corinthians 10:5). Isaiah 30:26 The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun. "The promise now rises higher and higher, and passes from earth to heaven" (Delitzsch). All nature will become more glorious in the "last times." Moonlight will be as sunlight, and sunlight will be seven times brighter than it is now. Again, there may be an under allegorical sense. The light of truth will shine with greater brilliancy, so that all inch will be enlightened by it. "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). As the light of seven days; i.e. as though the light of seven days were concentrated into one. In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach. At that period in the world’s history when God forgives the iniquities of his people, and condescends to reign over them as their actual King, either in this present world or in "anew heaven and anew earth" (Revelation 21:1; comp. Isaiah 66:22), wherein shall "dwell righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). And healeth the stroke of their wound; rather, the wound of his stroke; i.e. the wound caused by the stroke wherewith he has smitten them. Isaiah 30:27-33 A OF ASSYRIA’S . Mr. Chcyne regards this passage as "a symbolic description of the judgment introduced by a theophany." But is it not rather a poetical description of God’s judgment on Assyria, which may be, probably is, a type of his final judgment upon an iniquitous world? The mention of Assyria in Isaiah 30:31 seems to be decisive in favor of the prophecy being (primarily) of special application to the circumstances of the time. Isaiah 30:27 The Name of the Lord cometh from far. "The Name of Jehovah" is scarcely distinguishable from Jehovah himself. Jehovah, who has long hid himself, and seemed to keep himself remote from worldly affairs, now is about to manifest his glory, and interpose in the doings of men in a wonderful way. Burning with his anger; rather, his anger burneth (comp. Isaiah 42:25). And the burden thereof is heavy; "and heavy is its grievousness." His tongue as a devouring fire (comp. Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy 9:3; Isaiah 9:19; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 33:14). Isaiah 30:28 His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck. When the sacred writers are oppressed by the tremendous character of the revelations made to them, their metaphors are often labored and incongruous. Here, the mouth, in which there is a tongue of fire, sends forth a rush of breath, which is compared to an "overflowing stream, which reaches to the middle of the neck, "and sweeps those who try to cross it away (comp. Ezekiel 47:5) To sift the nations with the sieve of vanity. More incongruity, to be excused by the writer’s theme being such as to transcend all language and all imagery. One of the Divine purposes, in all violent crashes and revolutions, is "to sift nations"—to separate in each nation the good from the bad, the precious from the vile; and this is done with "the sieve of vanity," i.e. the sieve which allows the good corn to pass through, separating from it, and keeping back, all that is vile and refuse (comp. Amos 9:9). There shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. Another entire change in the metaphor. The result of God’s interference shall be "to put a bridle in the jaws of the peoples," whereby the hand of the Almighty will guide them to their destruction. Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song; literally, to you will [then] be a song. While the nations weep and lament, and are burnt up by God’s anger, and swept away by his "overflowing flood," and guided to their destruction by his bridle in their jaws, Israel shall rejoice with singing. As in the night when a holy solemnity is kept. Perhaps a special reference is intended to the Passover-feast, which commenced with an evening or night celebration (Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:8, Exodus 12:42; Matthew 26:30). Or perhaps "Isaiah is not referring to one feast more than another" (Cheyne), night-rituals belonging to all toasts, since the day commenced with the sunset. The Passover-song consisted of Psalm 113-118. And as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord. Joyful processions from the country districts to Jerusalem are alluded to. These were commonly headed by a piper or a band of pipers (Vitringa). They took place several times in the year—at each of the three great feasts, and irregularly when any district sent up its firstfruits to the temple treasury (Nehemiah 10:35-37). To the Mighty One of Israel; literally, to the Rock of Israel; i.e. to Jehovah (comp. Isaiah 17:10; and see also Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, Deuteronomy 32:30, Deuteronomy 32:31; Psalms 18:2, Psalms 18:31, Psalms 18:46, etc.). The idea embodied in the metaphor is rather that of an unfailing refuge than of mere might and power. Isaiah 30:30 The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard; literally, the majesty of his voice, Mr. Cheyne renders, "the peal of his voice." Delitzsch understands fearful thundering, like that at Sinai (Exodus 19:16; Exodus 20:18), to be intended (comp. Psalms 29:3-9). The lighting down of his arm; i.e. the blow causing the destruction, of Isaiah 30:31, of whatever kind that destruction might be—blasting by lightning, plague, simoom, death by the visitation of God, as men slept, or any other sudden, sweeping catastrophe. With the indignation of his anger; rather, in fury of anger. With the flame of a devouring fire; rather, with a flame of devouring-fire. All the elements of storm are accumulated by the prophet, to express the terrible character of the coming judgment-lightning, and scattering (of crops?), tempestuous wind, and hail-stones. Isaiah 30:31 For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down; rather, for at the voice of the Lord shall Assyria be dismayed (compare the first clause of Isa 30:30). Which smote with a rod; rather, with the rod will he (i.e. Jehovah) smite. Isaiah 30:32 In every place where the grounded staff shall pass, etc.; rather, and it shall come to pass that every stroke (literally, passage) of the destined rod which Jehovah causes to rest upon him shall be with an accompaniment of drums and citherns. Each blow dealt to Assyria shall rejoice her enemies, and cause them to break out into songs of praise, accompanied by the music of various instruments (comp. Isaiah 30:29; and see also Exodus 15:1-21). In battles of shaking; or, battles of swinging—"those in which Jehovah swings his rod, and deals (repeated) blows to his enemies" (Cheyne). Will he fight with it; rather, will he fight against her; i.e. against Assyria. Isaiah 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old; rather, for a Tophet has been long since prepared. A "Tophet" is a place of burning, probably derived from the Aryan root tap or taph, found in Greek τάφοςτέφρα, Latin tepidus, Sanskrit tap, Persian taphtan. The name was specially attached to a particular spot in the Valley of Hinnom, where sacrifices were offered to Moloch (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 19:6, Jeremiah 19:11, etc.); but Isaiah seems to use it generically, as if there were many Tophets. For the king it is prepared; literally, it also is prepared for the king—in the Hebrew "for the melech," which is the same word as "Moloch," who was looked upon by his worshippers as "the king" κατ̓ἐξοχήν. Isaiah means to say, "As the Tophet of the Vale of Hinnom is prepared for a king (Moloch), so this new Tophet is prepared for another king (the King of Assyria)." He hath made it deep and large—a vast burning-place for a vast multitude (2 Kings 19:35), with the fire and the wood ready, only awaiting the breath of Jehovah to kindle it. As the bodies of great malefactors were burnt (Joshua 7:25), and not buried, so the prophet consigns to a great burning the hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian corpses, of which it would soon be necessary to dispose in some way. A godless policy issues in disaster, however seemingly wise. In the sight of man there was no more prudent course for the Jews to take than to ally themselves with Egypt. Egypt was the only power in their neighborhood that could possibly make head against Assyria. Egypt had a standing army, trained warriors, an ancient military system, numerous chariots and horses, ample siege material, and abundant appliances of war. She was at the time closely connected with Ethiopia, and could bring into the field the forces of two great nations. Had she been thoroughly awake to her own interests, she would have strained every nerve to make an effective league of the small nations and tribes lying between her and Assyria Proper, in order to check the advance of that ambitious and dangerous power. Hezekiah and his advisers might naturally see in Egypt, not only their only possible protector, but one to whose protection they might look with confidence and hope. There was one thing only to be set against all this. The Egyptians were a nation of idolaters, and God had expressly warned the Jews, by the mouth of Isaiah, against relying on them (Isaiah 20:2-6). Thus reliance on Egypt was a godless policy—involved taking up a position of hostility to God; ceasing to ask his counsel (verse 1), turning a deaf ear to any warnings that might be addressed to them by God’s prophets (Isaiah 29:10-14). And God made it of none effect. God blinded Tirhakah to his true interests, and made him act in the most foolish way possible—first encourage Hezekiah to revolt, and then desert him in the hour of need and peril. Some such result follows always on the adoption of a godless policy. The expectations of those who engage in it are disappointed; there is a failure somewhere: "God arises, and his enemies are scattered;" their clever schemes break down and come to naught. The written Word endures forever. There is always a permanency about written, that does not belong to uttered, speech. "Liters scripts manet," said one Roman poet; "Exegi monumentum osre perennius," said another, when he had completed a book of his odes. It was to secure continuance to human utterances that the act of writing was invented at the first; and it was probably long employed for no other purpose. The permanency, however, that attaches to ordinary writings is a limited permanency. They are not intended to "endure forever." For the most part they are on a frail and perishable material, which cannot be expected to last a century, and there is no expectation of their being copied and so prolonged in existence. But it is otherwise with the Divine Word. The Divine Word is enshrined in writing, that it may continue as long as the world continues. It is too precious to be lost. When the material on which it is written shows signs of decay, there always have been, and there always will be, pious persons, who will take care that the words are reproduced exactly on some fresh material, and so handed on unchanged. Since the invention of printing, it has become practically impossible that any work held in esteem by any considerable number of persons should perish. The written Word could only pass away by all interest in i[ being lost among all sections of human-kind. Against such a miserable result the promise of God to be with his Church "always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20), furnishes an absolute security. Hence we may be sure that "the Word of the Lord will endure forever" (1 Peter 1:25). Isaiah 30:10, Isaiah 30:11 Smooth things wore acceptable to man than the truth. In connection with this subject there would seem to be three things to be specially set forth. I. THE FACT OF THE . Man has no natural aversion to truth. On the contrary, truth is congenial to his nature and acceptable to his intellect. Scientific truth, historic truth, is readily received when offered to him, and, if not very eagerly desired or very carefully sought out, is at any rate, when put before him, generally to some extent appreciated. The truth that is disliked is moral truth. Even when set before him in an abstract form, moral teaching frets him, vexes him; and moralists have been always unpopular from the days of Socrates to those of Samuel Johnson. Especially disliked are the teachers who do not stop at abstract morality, but point their moral teaching by applying it to the life and conduct of those to whom they address themselves. On the other hand, there is no surer way of pleasing men than by flattering them, provided it is done skillfully and with a delicate hand. We like to have our conduct praised, our characters admired, our example held up as a model to be imitated. We detest being found fault with, criticized, told that we have done wrong. We do not perhaps ask men to "prophesy unto us smooth things," but we make it very plain to all with whom we come into contact that "smooth things" alone are agreeable to us. II. THE GROUND OF THE . Moral truth is disliked because it is felt as a reproach. We are conscious to ourselves of our own moral imperfection; and every exhibition of a high moral standard, every inculcation of high moral principles, seems to us a reflection on our own shortcomings, not far short of actual personal censure. The smooth voice of flattery pleases us, partly, through its contrast with the rough tones of the unwelcome moralist, but further through its persuading us that we really have some of the good qualities which the flatterer imputes, and thus calling into play our self-respect and self-esteem. Moral warnings awaken fear for the future; flattery awakens hope. Moral warnings disturb; flattery soothes. Even when we perceive that the flatterer is cozening us, we let ourselves be cozened; our vanity is pleased at being tickled, and asks for nothing but a prolongation of the pleasurable excitement. III. THE ILL RESULTS THAT FLOW FROM THE . Character, which would naturally improve under the bracing discipline of a stern and strict inculcation of moral truth, continually deteriorates, if flattery takes the place of honest plain-speaking. Men believe themselves better than they are, and take less pains to become better. They grow vain and self-satisfied, thinking themselves in need of nothing, when truly they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17). Spiritual teachers should beware of encouraging men’s self-indulgent desire for spiritual ease; and, while careful not to "quench the smoking flax," or "break the bruised reed," should constantly sound in the ears of all denunciations of vice, warnings, rebukes, admonishments. In no other way can they be either faithful to their calling or truly serviceable to their fellow-men. Isaiah 30:19-22 Turning to God. It is the intention of God’s chastisements, and their natural, though perhaps scarcely their ordinary, result, to stir the soul to penitence, and produce a turning of the heart to God. When the spirit of the man is truly touched, the steps on the path of repentance are commonly— I. THE OF A CRY. "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). "Lord, save us, we perish!" (Matthew 8:25). Some bitter cry or other is wrung from the lips of the awakened sinner, who feels his own weakness and guilt, despairs of saving himself, and makes appeal to him who is alone "mighty to save," in tones of earnest entreaty and extreme longing for help. The "cry" is answered as soon as heard (Isaiah 30:19). By external teaching, or an inward secret voice, men are warned what they must do as the next step on the path which leads to life. This is— II. THE OF THEIR SINS. Be it impurity, be it lying, be it idolatry, that has separated between the sinner and God, he must at once set himself to cast it off, and rid himself of it. "Ye shall defile the covering of thy graven images" (Isaiah 30:22). "Put away the evil of your doings: cease to do evil" (Isaiah 1:16). It is sin, and sin only, that separates us from God. If we would be at one with him, sin must be put away. All, however, is not completed yet. Those who truly turn to God will not be content with a negative goodness; they will follow up the forsaking of their sing by— III. THE EARNEST TO LEAD A LIFE OF ACTIVE WELL-DOING. "Cease to do evil; learn to do well," says the prophet (Isaiah 1:16). It is not enough to "put off the old man;" we must "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). For every weed that we pluck from our hearts, we must put in a flower; for every vice that we uproot, we must plant a virtue. God wills that we should "add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity" (2 Peter 1:5-7). We must endeavor, by "patient continuance in well-doing," at once to improve our own characters, to help the brethren, and to rebuke, if we cannot convince, the gainsayer. Isaiah 30:23-26 The glories of Christ’s kingdom shown in figure. Isaiah gives us several descriptions of Christ’s kingdom, all of them more or less allegorical (see Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 11:1-9; Isaiah 35:1-10; Isaiah 60:1-22). In the present description all is allegory. The blessings of the kingdom are— I. RICH AND , by which would seem to be signified a great conversion of the nations by the preaching of the gospel (comp. Matthew 9:1-38:87, 38; John 4:35), together with the display of a great zeal to do abundant good works (Matthew 7:16-20). II. RAIN; i.e. an abundant shedding upon the earth of the dew of God’s blessing; a continued pouring down from him of refreshing, invigorating, healthful, life-giving influences. By these the rich harvests would be produced, the pastures made luxuriant, and God’s creatures upon the earth, both men and animals, rendered happy. III. , TO CONVEY THE LIFE-GIVING FLUID FAR AND WIDE. These appear to represent appointed means of grace—artificially constructed channels whereby the heavenly influences are ordinarily communicated to the faithful. They flow everywhere, not only in the valleys and plains, but also upon the mountains and high hills—the remotest and most inaccessible parts of the kingdom. IV. FLOODS OF LIGHT AND AT ALL TIMES; i.e. general illumination and enlightenment—the spread of spiritual knowledge and true wisdom through all parts of the Church and all ranks of Christians; the disappearance of spiritual darkness, of ignorance, folly, and blinded consciences. This appears to be mentioned as the crowning glory of all, beyond which description cannot go, and with which therefore the allegorical sketch comes to an end. Isaiah 30:29, Isaiah 30:32 The punishments of nations for deliverance, rather than for vengeance. God "hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth" (Ezekiel 18:32). His justice compels him to punish the wicked, and sometimes requires the destruction even of a nation; but the main object of the Almighty in all such destructions is not to take vengeance on the oppressor, but to deliver the oppressed. Assyria, and the nations leagued with her, had now by their wickedness, their pride, their blasphemy, their cruelty, their idolatry, their impurity, provoked him, as scarcely ever had he been provoked before. He was about to inflict a signal punishment, the fame of which would spread far and wide. But it was not on the punishment itself, or on the sufferings of those affected by it, that his own eye was fixed. It was on the consequences which would follow to his own people. They would "have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept;" they would have "gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord." The result to them would be the removal of a constant and terrible fear; a feeling of satisfaction and safety; a sense of relief which would for a time be jubilant, and show itself in music and song, perhaps in shouting and dancing. The punishment of the Assyrians would be to them deliverance—a deliverance which, it might be hoped, would convert the heart of the nation to God. BY E. JOHNSON The embassy to Egypt. The embassy to Egypt has been sent, and the prophet’s object is to show that the policy of it is false, as all policy must be false which does not rest upon religion. I. The POLICY . It is that of "unruly sons," and they "carry out a purpose which is not from Jehovah." So in Hosea we read, "They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not" (Hosea 8:4). They "weave a net" or "plait alliances" without his Spirit, and add sin to sin. They go down into Egypt without having inquired of Jehovah’s mouth, and flee to the fortress of Pharaoh, to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. 1. The Divine leading and inspiration make men humble, while self-will and self-reliance are stubborn, obstinate. 2. Where the first step has been wrong, every subsequent step aggravates the error. 3. The root of a mistaken policy is a false reliance, dependence on an "arm of flesh." There is a true and a false self-reliance: that which forgets God is ignorant and impious that which recognizes him as the Source of all true intelligence is genuine. To the external observer the difference between acting from the self-center and the God-center, between "going in one’s own strength" and "going in the strength of the Lord of hosts," may not be perceptible. It must be known in the feeling of the actor, and in the results of his action. II. THE RESULTS OF THE POLICY. The fortress of Pharaoh will become a shame to them, and the refuge in Egypt’s shadow confusion. "Shame and confusion of face;" great Scripture words, most expressive of the results of false principles, false policy, obstinate error. 1. It is the very bitterness of ill success to feel that it is the harvest of our own faults; while misfortune is sweetened at its bitterest by the consciousness of having followed the light to the best of one’s ability. The prophet follows in imagination this mistaken embassy into the heart of Egypt. They will come to Zoan (or Tanis), and to Hanes (or Heracleopolis), but will be abashed to find that in the expected saviors and helpers no salvation is to be found. 2. That bitterness is aggravated by the sense of the great toil and suffering which has only led to failure. How different the journey from Egypt and that to Egypt! Then men were led through "that great and terrible wilderness," full of the fiery serpents and scorpions and lions, the land of drought, and there were fed with manna (Deuteronomy 8:15; Jeremiah 2:6). And now, after encountering all these dangers, they are to find, after all, that there is no help in Egypt, though they have carried thither rich presents on asses and on camels. Emphatic is the prophet, "Yea, the Egyptians; in vain, and empty is their help, therefore I proclaim concerning it, Rahab, they are utter indolence." There is a play on the name here, which cannot well be rendered in English. But Egypt may stand as a type of the "world," the absence of true principle, or the principle of policy as opposed to reliance on God. And then the lesson will be the inherent weakness of all worldly policy, as compared with simple trust in God and obedience to his dictates.—J. Isaiah 30:8-18 A testimony forever. The prophet pauses. Perhaps he hears an inner voice bidding him to write down a few words, such as the last significant Rahab. As in Isaiah 8:1, the inscription is to be on a large tablet, set up in a conspicuous place, so that he who runs may read. Then he is to inscribe the prophecy more fully on a scroll. Litera scripta manet. The oracle, the oral utterance, transferred to parchment, becomes a κτῆμαεἰςἀεί, a "possession forever." The perpetuity of his protest and warning must be secured. The word rendered" inscribe" is more literally rendered "carve." Every earnest man has surely something worth thus carving, inscribing, engraving, somewhere, on some material—tablet, book, or "fleshy table of the heart;" the condensation of a life-experience, the sum of life-truths, the whole self-revelation, which is at the same time God’s revelation to his soul of what is substantial and eternal. I. THE NEED FOR SUCH . The people refuse to listen to any but flattering prophecies. They are disobedient and untruthful at heart. They refuse to listen to the prophet’s message; then they must be made to look upon it in a permanent form. None are so blind as those who will not see, unless it be those who will not let others see. Light, more light, is our constant need: what shall be said of those who would stay the hand that is drawing up the blinds from the windows of the soul? What more precious than insight? How should we cherish the man who sees deeper into the heart of things, or gathers up the scattered fragments of truth into one inspiring unity of representation; the mind gifted with the power to shed luminous effects upon what were otherwise gloomy in life’s outlook! How all-precious is that purer eloquence, not of ephemeral and party passion, but of the truth which is of no party nor time! How shall these elements of indispensable worth be preserved? Can we trust them to the popular memory and heart? Alas! no, or not entirely. In the hour of excitement and passion all will be forgotten. "You shall not prophesy unto us right things," has been, in effect, the cry of the multitude again and again at such hours. The Jewish prophets themselves felt these things keenly. "Don’t preach!" is, in effect, the cry by which they are met. Or, "Preach to us of wine and strong drink"—any doctrine of indulgence, is the demand (Micah 2:6, Micah 2:11; of. Amos 2:12). If the prophet sternly resisted this temper of the people, and told the homely truth that God had forsaken them because they had forsaken him, a shower of stones was likely to be the dreadful answer, as in the case of the martyr Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:20, 2 Chronicles 24:21). Greedy is the appetite for "smooth things" and "illusions," and never wanting a supply of such flattering prophets who will run, though Jehovah has not sent them, and utter what he has not said (Jeremiah 23:21). There is a demand for those who will make flexible what he has made inflexible, mark out a deviating path from that which he has traced straight and plain. Nay, some would be glad to efface the thought of God from their minds, because thus they would efface the sense of responsibility, "Abolish out of our sight the Holy One of Israel." For then there will be free course for all license. From all this we see the need of religious literature. Libraries may be burned; a few manuscripts worth more to mankind than gold and silver will be preserved. The truth in Isaiah has been preserved for us by the art of writing, has come down to us in the form of Scripture. Let us thank God for art as the handmaid of religion. At every epoch in the history of the world, religions life is threatened with decay or degeneration; but it will renew itself from the sacred "records of the past." II. THE OF THE . 1. Simple faith in the Eternal opposed to worldly policy. We must, in order to apprehend the nature of the "testimony forever," strip away the temporary references, and regard Rahab and Israel as types of permanent phases of character (Cheyne). What does "Rahab" stand for? "Perverseness and crookedness" (or oppression). Crookedness and frowardness mean what we mean by "unprincipled conduct" (comp. Proverbs 2:15; Proverbs 4:24). To trust in shrewdness and policy—this is worldliness. It is one of the many ways in which man’s wit would contend with eternal wisdom. And punishment must surely attend upon this sin, according to the laws of the Divine kingdom. Various is the imagery under which Scripture represents the connection between evil in the mind and the result—first in sin, then in destruction. The strong will be as tow, and burn unquenchably; the foolish will conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble, or will be burned as thorns (Isaiah 1:31; Isaiah 33:11, Isaiah 33:12). Here guilt is compared in its result to the cracking or bulging of a wall, which suddenly crashes down in ruin; to a pitcher dashed violently to the ground, and broken into a multitude of fragments, so that it can never be of the slightest use again. But the vessels of God’s fashioning shall endure. Let us be content to be what God would make of us; self-devices that would contravene his purpose will be "ground to powder." 2. The condition of deliverance, returning. From what? Is it the general sense of conversion—the absolute turning once for all, in choice and conduct, from moral evil? Or is it rather, more specifically, the relinquishment of the search for worldly aids? "Self-chosen ways," "self-confident works," seem certainly to be meant. Would they but lay aside this restless eagerness and over-anxious care for safety, and simply fall upon the Almighty arms! Such lessons can never be obsolete. Trust in God does not imply supineness, but it should still excessive and feverish fears. Behind all our plans and proposals, he is thinking and acting; if they are unsound, they must come to naught; if sound, they will be furthered. "Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted." The worldly mind will lean on worldly support—swift horses of Egypt or the like, only to find themselves outmatched upon their own chosen ground. "One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one." Mere numbers give no strength. Strength is in being able to stand alone, if need be. To find one’s self suddenly deserted, "as a mast on the top of a mountain, a signal on a hill," is often the fate of those whose only policy is to side with numbers and with power. 3. The compassion of Jehovah. Human needs call forth Divine deeds. We are to think of God as One who longs to manifest and exert himself for the good of his creatures; as One who is hindered by human pride, impatience, petulance; as One who therefore waits for his opportunity and fit season to be gracious; as One who is ever true to himself, constant to his covenant, keeping favor for his people and wrath for his foes. How happy, then, those who in turn "long for Jehovah!"—whose eyes are directed to the "hills whence cometh help!" who watch his pleasure as the servant that of his master, the handmaiden that of her mistress! "To possess God there must be that in us which God can possess. Still to aspire after the Highest is our wisdom; to cease from aspiration is to fall into weakness."—J. Isaiah 30:19-26 The blessedness of Zion. Throughout the book the idea of temporal blends with that of spiritual weal. The images are drawn from the state of temporal happiness and prosperity. Yet Zion and Jerusalem may be regarded as symbolical of the Church in general. I. JOY IN GOD. There will be "no more weeping." Tears are significant of the lot of humanity; and in the poetry of the Old Testament we hear, as Lord Bacon says, "as many hearse-like airs as carols," and the pencil of the Holy Ghost has labored more in depicting the sorrows of David than the felicities of Solomon. It is because the gospel meets the mood of tears in us that its assurances fall so sweetly on the heart. Burns the poet said, "After all that has been said on the other side of the question, man is by no means a happy creature. I do not speak of the selected few, favored by partial Heaven, whose souls are tuned to gladness, and riches, and honors, and prudence, and wisdom; I speak of the neglected many, whose nerves, whose sinews, whose days, are sold to the minion of fortune." It is this way of thinking—it is these melancholy truths, that make religion so precious to the poor miserable children of men. If it is a mere phantom, existing only in the heated imagination of enthusiasm, "what truth on earth so precious as the lie?" What is needed is "the expulsive power of a new affection in the sense of the nearness of God—the sense that he does hear and that he does answer out of the vastness and the void." And he will so answer, if he be sought for with "all the heart" (Jeremiah 29:12-14). II. THE OF . On the one hand, here is physical want—"bread of adversity, and water of affliction." On the other hand, a perpetual supply of spiritual food and spiritual consolation. The best of the people felt that it was the saddest thing that could be suffered—to have no more "signs" from God, to be destitute of the prophet, and of the man of superior insight (Psalms 74:9). The famine of "not hearing the Word of Jehovah" (Amos 8:11) is bitterer than hunger or thirst. The effect may be traced to a definite cause—the sin of the people or of the teachers themselves (Isaiah 43:27). The one might be unworthy to listen to, the other to deliver, the truth of God (Isaiah 43:27). There is no calling more glorious, none which leads to a more lustrous immortality (Daniel 12:3), than that of the religious teacher, none which is of greater service in the promotion of the kingdom of God. If so great be the blessing of the ministry of the truth, it flows from the goodness of God that, in the happy times to come, teachers shall never be absent from the people. III. THE OF INWARD . The "word behind them" may be the Bath-Kol, the daughter of the Voice, as the Jews say, or, according to a way of thinking more familiar to ourselves, the voice of conscience. "God is not a hidden God in the sense that his life is closed up within himself. His Word goes forth to the world, that it may come into being, and to the children of men that they may know it and find life in it (Psalms 33:6; cf. Deuteronomy 4:12; 1 Samuel 3:4; 1 Kings 19:11, sqq.). (On the Bath-Kol, see Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; John 12:28.) The notion is that of invisible and unexpected agency. The admonitions of providence, of conscience, of the Holy Spirit, seem often to come behind us—to recall us from the path on which we were going, from the course that would be fraught with danger. When in danger of straying to this side or to that, the voice will call us back. In this respect the Divine voice is like the daemonion of Socrates, which was a restraining influence. IV. PURITY AND . A symptom of a return to true religion will be the casting away of the relics and reminders of idolatry—the defiling in the Name of the holy God of that which to heathen eyes was holy. Josiah’s conduct was an example of this (2 Kings 23:1-37.). The expression of abhorrence for the symbol expresses at the same time abhorrence for the thing symbolized. The repentance of the individual, the reformation of the nation, must be signalized by the "rending of the idol," not merely from its high place, but from the heart itself. When the heart is brought into the fuller knowledge of God, it loves what he loves, and hates what he hates. The thought of what is "an abomination to Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 7:25) is reflected in an intense distaste in the soul. 2. This will be consistent with external prosperity. Rain will come down upon the sown seed. As the withholding of the rain followed upon national iniquity as the greatest curse (Zechariah 14:17, Zechariah 14:18), so the giving of the rain meant at once all physical blessing and all Divine favors (Zechariah 10:1, etc.). Bread—rich and abundant produce of the land—cattle teeming in the wide pastures;—it is the happy picture of a golden age. Bread and water—simple elements of living; yet what poetry hangs upon their supply! and what woe, what tragedy and horror, upon the want of them!—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Sources of strength. "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Because, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" When the winds are in our favor, all we have to do is to set our sails. When the tides are with us, we need not fret concerning the issues of the voyage. God is on the side of the just man, the true man, the pure man. The disciples of his Son are not likely to lose his favor and reward. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." I. THE DICTUM IS DIVINE. "Thus saith the Lord God." There is direct and special emphasis given to this promise. And he calls himself "the Holy One of Israel." So that the "holy people" need not fear, inasmuch as the Holy One cannot lie, cannot prosper anything opposed to holiness, cannot therefore let evil overcome goodness. What we have to look to is our state. We need not dream that quietness will help us if it be the indifference of sloth or the quiescence of an indulgent soul in evil. But if "holiness unto the Lord" be written on our hearts and lives, God, who is the Holy One, will surely prosper us. II. THE IS DUAL. "Quietness and confidence." Because there, is a quietness which comes from the paralysis of fear, or from the coma of fatalism. We are to have a confidence which keeps the soul alive, and fills it with intense ardor and devotion. Nature is intensely active, but all her ministrations, as in the light and the dew, are quiet. Fussiness and loudness are no true signs of energy. Nay, rather they bespeak a superficial and shallow nature. Confidence is the child of wisdom and courage. It is not the result of ignorance, or of under-estimating the power of our foes. It takes cognizance of them all—their number and their variety and their ubiquity, but then, looking up to him who is mightier than them all, it says, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." III. THE IS WITHIN. What we need is not so much a lessening of the forces without us, but a strength in the inward man to overcome them. Take temptation. We are told that no temptation shall come but such as we are able to bear. We are not promised immunity from keen attacks. Everything depends upon the state of the soul. Temptation, to be successful, requires correspondency within. Sparks falling upon the ocean are not dangerous. Christ said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." Take trial. Sorrow, coming to the worldly heart, breaks it down—it ends in the death of hope and energy and joy. Sorrow to the Christian is an angel of discipline. The soul is sustained by the presence within us of the Man of sorrows, who can make all grace abound. So even the martyr and the confessor have been able to rejoice; even Paul and Silas sang "songs in the night." "As thy day thy strength shall be." This, then, is proven true in human history, and must be accepted as a fact. Spiritual consciousness is worthy of as much honor and to be accepted with confidence, as the boasted facts of science. The promise, therefore, is comforting to every generation. "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength."—W.M.S. BY W. Going down into Egypt. The prophet of Jehovah utters another "woe," he denounces another sin; for the people of the Lord, in the day of their difficulty, have looked, not to their Divine Redeemer, but to that arm of flesh in which they should not have trusted, and by which they will be abandoned. We see— I. THEIR SIN. It is threefold. 1. Desertion of God. They take counsel, but not now of God, as in better days (Joshua 7:6; Judges 20:27; 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Samuel 30:8); they made alliance, but not with the Divine consent—not "of my Spirit" (Isaiah 30:1); they did not ask "at God’s mouth" (Isaiah 30:2). Once they would not have dreamed of acting without encouragement from God; now they look elsewhere for sanction. This desertion of him who was their Lord, and who had so often proved himself their Deliverer, had its root in: 2. Distrust of God. They trusted in "the shadow of Egypt" (Isaiah 30:2), because they had come to distrust the "shadow of his wings" in whom David found his refuge until his calamity was overpast (Psalms 57:1). It was the loss of their faith in God which made them cast about for another power which should befriend and deliver them. And this deplorable distrust was due to: 3. The spirit of materialism. They preferred the visible nation to the invisible God; the fleshly "power" to the Divine Spirit; the material army of Egypt, whose forces they could count and whose weapons they could handle, to the unseen One whose angels were beyond the range of vision, and whose instruments were unfashioned by human hands. This is the sin of mankind. Desertion of God, departure from his side and from his service; desertion springing from distrust, and this distrust rooted in a wretched and pitiful materialism. II. THEIR . 1. Fruitless expenditure. (Isaiah 30:4-6.) They would take the trouble to secure princely ambassadors, and these would travel through inhospitable and perilous regions, laden with costly gifts, paying servile attention to the foreigner—and all for nothing; an immensity of trouble and no profit whatever. 2. Bitter disappointment. (Isaiah 30:7.) The land from which they hoped so much would prove utterly useless; their expectations would end in nothing but chagrin;, their exasperation could only find expression in an opprobrious epithet, in a bitter epigram directed against Egypt. 3. Mortification. "The strength of Pharaoh shall be their shame," etc. (Isaiah 30:3, Isaiah 30:5). The result of this attempted alliance would be political reproach; and the court and the nation would be ashamed of having taken a step that turned out so ill. These are the common penalties of sin: the waste of that which is precious—time, money, strength, reputation, energy, affection, etc.; disappointment—the soul finding out that that in which it trusted cannot do what it hoped, that it leaves it still empty, still athirst, still poor; shame—the position in which it is dishonored of men, and has keenly to reproach itself for folly into which it need not have fallen, for sin which it might easily have shunned. III. THEIR . God was with them; one of his truest and most faithful prophets was at hand, accessible at any hour. Why not trust in the Almighty? Why not take counsel of the All-wise? The alternative to sin is always at hand. The gates of obedience are unfastened; the oracles of God are open; the paths of piety are such as every foot may tread.—C. Isaiah 30:8-14, Isaiah 30:17, Isaiah 30:18 Aspects of sin. This severe denunciation by the prophet of the sins of the Jews may remind us of some of the darker and sadder aspects of sin itself. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 31:1-3 A FURTHER WARNING AGAINST SEEKING THE OF EGYPT. This prophecy seems to be quite independent of the last (Isaiah 30:1-7). It may have been given earlier or later. The chief point brought out, which had not distinctly appeared previously, is the value set on the horses and chariots of Egypt in the conflict with Assyria. Isaiah 31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help (comp. Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 30:2; and see also the earlier prophecy, Isaiah 20:2-6). The examples of Samaria, Gaza, and Ashdod might well have taught the lesson of distrust of Egypt, without any Divine warnings. But the Jews were infatuated, and relied on Egypt despite her previous failures to give effective aid. And stay on horses. The Assyrian cavalry was very numerous, and very efficient. It is often represented on the monuments. Egyptian cavalry, on the other hand, is not represented at all; and it may be questioned whether, in the early times, the Egyptian war-horses were not entirely employed in the chariot-service. The later dynasties of Egyptian kings, however, employed cavalry, as appears from 2 Chronicles 12:3; Herod; 2:162; ’Records of the Past,’ vol. 2. pp. 68, 70, 72, etc. And trust in chariots, because they are many. The large number of the chariots maintained by the Pharaohs is abundantly evidenced. Diodorus assigns to Sesostris twenty-seven thousand (1. 54, § 4). This is, no doubt, an exaggeration; but the six hundred of the Pharaoh of the Exodus (Exodus 14:7), and even the one thousand two hundred of Shishak (2 Chronicles 12:3) are moderate computations, quite in accord with the monuments, and with all that we otherwise know of Egyptian warfare. Egypt exported chariots to the neighboring countries (1 Kings 10:29), and was at this time the only power which seemed capable of furnishing such a chariot-force as could hope to contend on tolerably even terms with the force of Assyria. They look not unto the Holy One of Israel (comp. Isaiah 30:11, Isaiah 30:12). The trust in the Egyptian alliance was accompanied by a distrust of Jehovah and his power, and a disinclination to look to him for aid. Isaiah 31:2 Yet he also is wise. Intense irony. "Wisdom is not wholly confined to the human counselors whose advice Judah follows (Isaiah 29:14). He (Jehovah) is ’wise’ too, and could give prudent counsel if his advice were asked." As he is not consulted, he will bring evil upon his people, and will not call back, or retract, his words of threatening, but will give them accomplishment, by rising up against the house of the evil-doers (i.e. the Jews), and their help (i.e. the Egyptians). Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God. Judah relied on Pharaoh, as on a sort of God, which indeed he was considered in his own country. Isaiah asserts the contrary in the strongest way: the Egyptians, one and all, are men—mere men; and "there is no help in them" (Psalms 146:3). Their horses flesh, and not spirit. The horses, on which so much reliance was placed, were mere animals, subject to all the weakness of the animal nature, not spirit-horses, with a life and vigor of their own, by which they could be a real tower of strength to those on whose side they ranged themselves. They all shall fail together; i.e. the helpers and the helped (compare the concluding clauses of verse 2). Isaiah 31:4-9 A PROMISE OF , AND OF THE OF ASSYRIA. In the promise of protection (Isaiah 31:4, Isaiah 31:5) there is nothing new but the imagery, which is of remarkable beauty. The promise is followed by a brief exhortation (Isaiah 31:6, Isaiah 31:7); and then the discomfiture of Assyria is declared in the plainest terms, and her flight before the avenging sword of God (Isaiah 31:8, Isaiah 31:9). Isaiah 31:4 Like as the lion, etc. The resemblance of this simile to Hem; ’Iliad,’ 18.11. 161, 162, has been often noticed. In both, the lion has seized his prey, and is crouching over it; the shepherds gather themselves together against him, and seek to scare him away; but he remains firm, undaunted by their threats and cries, never for a moment relinquishing the body of which he has made himself the master. The image is best explained as representing Jehovah, standing over and keeping guard on Jerusalem, which he will allow, no one to rend from him. And the young lion; rather, even the young lion (Lowth). A single animal must be intended. Roaring on his prey; rather, growleth over his prey. So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion; rather, so shall the Lord of hosts descend, to fight, on Mount Zion. If we connect the concluding words of the clause with tsaba, to fight, the meaning must be "fight against," as Delitzsch shows conclusively. But we may connect them with the more distant yered, will descend, in which case they will mean "on," or "upon Mount Zion" (comp. Exodus 19:18; Psalms 133:3). The best commentators are of opinion that this must be the sense. The words are a promise, not a threat. Isaiah 31:5 As birds flying; rather, as birds hovering, or fluttering, ever their young, to protect them. A second simile, expressive of tenderness, as the former one was of power and strength. Defending, also, etc. Translate, defending and delivering, passing over and preserving. In the word "passing over" there seems to be a reference to the institution of the Passover, when the angel, sometimes identified with Jehovah himself, "passed ever" and spared the Israelites. Isaiah 31:6 Turn ye unto him. Then, at any rate, if not before, turn to him who will have delivered you from so great a peril. "Turn to him, O children of Israel, from whom men have so deeply revolted." The third person is used instead of the second, out of tenderness, not to hurt their feelings by mingling with promise an open rebuke. Isaiah 31:7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols. "In that day"—the day of Assyria’s discomfiture—shall the vanity of idols be seen and recognized. They have not helped Assyria. How should they help Judah (comp. Isaiah 30:22)? Isaiah 31:8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; rather, and Assyria shall fall by the sword of one who is not a man Assyria’s destruction will not be by the visible swords of human enemies, but by the invisible sword of God. And the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him; rather, and the sword of one who is not a mortal shall detour him—an instance of "synonymous parallelism." He shall flee; more literally, betake himself to flight. His young men shall be discomfited; rather, as in the margin, shall be for tribute. They shall become the vassals of a foreign power. Isaiah 31:9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear; rather, and his Rock shall pass away for fear (marginal rendering). It is generally agreed by recent commentators (Kay, Delitzsch, Cheyne), that the rock intended, which is contrasted with the "princes" of the next clause, is Assyria’s king (see the contrast of the king, who is "a great rock," and his princes, in Isaiah 32:1, Isaiah 32:2). (On the hurried flight of Sennacherib to Nineveh, see below, Isaiah 37:37.) His princes shall be afraid of the ensign. The word nes, ensign, seems to be here used collectively. The Assyrian princes would tremble at every signal that they saw displayed along their line of route, expecting some enemy to fall upon them. His furnace. Jehovah was at once a Light to his people, and "a consuming Fire" (Hebrews 12:29) to his enemies. His presence, indicated by the Shechinah in the holy of holies, was at once for blessing and for burning. Isaiah 31:2, Isaiah 31:3 The folly of trusting in an arm of flesh. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man," says the psalmist (Psalms 146:3); "for there is no help in them." All human props are uncertain— I. BECAUSE OF HUMAN . Men do not continue always of one mind. They make promises, and regret that they have made them, and find some way of escaping their force, or else boldly break them with a cynical disregard to what others may think or say. Their interests change, or the views that they take of them; and the wise policy of to-day seems foolishness, or even madness, tomorrow. Some men are actuated by mere caprice, and have no sooner effected a desired purpose than it loses favor in their eyes, and seems to them of little worth. They will make heavy sacrifices to obtain an alliance, and none to maintain it. They sigh always for something that they have not, and despise what they have. Human protection is always uncertain, owing to the fickleness of man, who is naturally "double-minded," and "unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). II. BECAUSE OF . The human protector may, with the best intentions in the world, prove insufficient. Syria and Ammon summoned Assyria to their aid when they contended with David (2 Samuel 10:6, 2 Samuel 10:16; Psalms 83:8); but the result was the entire defeat of the confederate army. Hannibal called on Macedonia to assist him against the Romans; but Macedonia proved too weak, and her efforts resulted in her own subjection. There must, in almost every case, be the risk that the protector, though doing all he can, may fail, and our having called him in exasperate, or even infuriate, our adversary. III. BECAUSE OF HUMAN GREED AND . The protector may become, is only too apt to become, the oppressor and the conqueror. Rome’s vast empire was built up largely by taking states under her protection, and then absorbing them. Had Egypt succeeded in defeating Assyria, and rolling back the tide of invasion that had so long been rising higher and higher, and threatening her own independence and that of her neighbors, the result would simply have been that Judaea and Samaria would have been absorbed into Egypt, or at any rate have become Egyptian dependencies. The small state that calls in one powerful kingdom to help her in her struggle against another rarely gains anything more than an exchange of masters. IV. BECAUSE THE HUMAN IS AGAINST GOD. The Egyptians were "men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit" (verse 8). Had all the chariots of Egypt come forth, and all their footmen and all their horsemen, they would not have saved Judah, since God had declared that here there was "no work for Egypt" (Isaiah 19:15), and that Judah, if she trusted in Egypt, "should be ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory" (Isaiah 20:5). God can strike an army with blindness, as he did that of Benhadad (2 Kings 6:18) on one occasion; or with panic fear, as he did that of the same monarch on another (2 Kings 7:6); or he can cause quarrel to break out among the constituent parts of an army, and make the soldiers slay one another (2 Chronicles 20:28); or he can send out a destroying angel, and kill a hundred and eighty thousand men in a night (2 Kings 19:35). Again, the God of battles determines the issue of battles. "It is nothing to him to help, whether with many or with them that have no power" (2 Chronicles 14:11). He can cast down and bring to naught the mightiest human protector; he can save, if he wills to save, by his own angelic army, without the intervention of any human aid at all. The rock of Assyria and the Rock of Israel. In each case the "rock" was (1) the refuge, stronghold, and main reliance of the people; (2) a person, not an inaccessible height or a fortress; (3) the recognized monarch and master of the nation. But in all other respects the contrast between the two was extreme, the difference immeasurable. I. ASSYRIA’S ROCK—. A man, a weak, fallible, ephemeral man—the creature of an hour—mortal, soon wearied, needing rest and sleep, liable to sickness, daily losing strength, approaching nearer and nearer to the grave. And not only a man, but a wicked man—proud, cruel, contemptuous of his foes, blasphemous towards God, merciless, pitiless! What a poor object on which to place reliance, trust, dependence! No doubt to the Assyrians he seemed a grand figure, seated on his throne of carved cedar and ivory, receiving tribute from kings and princes, and surrounded by his army of perhaps two hundred thousand men. But of what avail was his grandeur? He could not save a single soldier out of the two hundred thousand from an ache or a pain, if God sent them—no, nor from death itself, if their lives were required by the Most High. To-night Sennacherib lies down to rest, confident of victory, his camp guarded on every side by nigh a quarter of a million of strong warriors. Tomorrow he is woke up by a sound of universal wailing. More than a hundred and eighty thousand of his soldiers are dead in their tents. His chances of victory are clean gone; and in half an hour he is an alarmed and trembling fugitive. II. ISRAEL’S ROCK—JEHOVAH. God, and not man—the Strong One, everlasting, he that "inhabiteth eternity" (Isaiah 57:15), that is never wearied, that needs not to slumber or sleep, that knows no sickness, that never loses strength, that has "neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3). And One who to all this might adds tenderness, and the deepest love of his own, and the gentlest care of them. A Rock, but not hard or rugged—a Refuge from all foes, a Shadow from the heat, a Refreshment to the weary, a Help to those in need. God is able to save all men, not only from death, but from all suffering or unhappiness. There is no foe that can daunt him, none from whom he will have to flee. And he is willing to save all only let them "return to him" (Isaiah 31:6), "cry to him" (Isaiah 30:19), trust in him, wait on him. He is indeed a "great Rock" (Isaiah 32:2), a "strong Rock" (Psalms 31:2), even "the Rock of our salvation’ (Psalms 89:26). BY E. JOHNSON The help of Egypt. A party in Judah is negotiating with Egypt; and the prophet points out the falseness of this policy. I. IT IS A UPON BRUTE FORCE. "Horses" are symbolic of martial strength. And Judah, being peculiarly deficient in cavalry, was "tempted to trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen" (Isaiah 36:8, Isaiah 36:9). Famed in Homer was Egyptian Thebes, with the hundred gates, and the two hundred men who issued forth from each with horses and chariots (’Iliad,’ 9:382). The memory of the pursuit of the Israelites at the time of the Exodus contained the picture of those chariots and horsemen (Exodus 14:6, Exodus 14:9). They were in request in Solomon’s time (1 Kings 19:1-21:26). Egyptian cavalry, the very nerve and sinew of war; Egypt who possesses them, the most coveted ally. "On horses will we fly …on the swift will we ride," was the word of the party. Such was their "creaturely confidence." These horses were but "flesh," and "all flesh is as grass," and withers when the breath of the Eternal blows upon it. The strength of the creature is but the strength of the dependent nature; folly, then, to lean on that which is itself a leaning thing. II. IT IS A UPON MAN, AND NOT UPON GOD. Here man, as usual in the Hebrew prophets, is sharply opposed to God; the dependent, the frail, the mortal, to the self-dependent, the Strong, the Immortal and Eternal; the tool to the hand that holds it, the might that alone can render it effective. The axe, the saw, the staff: they are dead and helpless things, until they are brought into connection with spiritual force. So horses and chariots can avail naught, unless they be the instruments of the Lord of hosts, the engines of a spiritual and enduring policy in the earth. Man himself, without tools and weapons, is the most defenseless of animals; with them, yet still without God, he is in no better plight. III. IT IS TYPICAL OF IN GENERAL. The folly is not so much in looking to material resources and defenses as in "not looking to the Holy One of Israel"—in "not consulting Jehovah." All worldliness is negative, and there lies its weakness. It is a strategy of life which defeats itself; moving far from the true base of operations, and finding itself presently cut off, without the chance of return. Again, it is a departure from the Source of true wisdom. The "wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the understanding ones"—this is policy, prudence. In Jehovah is a higher wisdom than that of Jewish politicians; his is wisdom united with perfect rectitude. And without reverence for him, the "fear of Jehovah," men do not partake of this higher wisdom. IV. THE END OF HELP. In the first place, the hollowness of the Jewish policy will be exposed. The word of Jehovah has gone forth, and will not come back to him void. For it is itself spiritual force, truth, mightier than any material force that is known. Put into the mouth of a prophet (Jeremiah 1:9), those words become mighty as fire, to devour all that stays their course as wood (Jeremiah 5:14). "All that the Lord speaketh must be done" (Numbers 23:26). The wall of a worldly wisdom will bulge and suddenly fall, and the "wisdom of the wise ones" be brought to naught. The words of the Eternal are backed up by the hand of the Eternal; and, when stretched out, the "helper" who has been so much looked up to will be seen to totter, and the "helped" one be buried beneath the ruins.—J. Isaiah 31:4-6 Similes of the nature and power of Jehovah. I. THE LION. He is pictured watching over the holy city, the "peculiar treasure," the invisible Sanctuary of the religion and the people, as a lion over its prey, in the presence of threatening shepherds. "As from a carcase herdsmen strive in vain To scare a tawny lion, hunger-pinch’d; Ev’n so th’ Ajaces, mail-clad warriors, faird The son of Priam from the corse to scare." (’Iliad,’ 18.161.) It is a fine image—found twice in Homer—of the undaunted prowess of the bold and steadfast warrior. Invincible towards his foes, what is Jehovah towards his friends, the people of his choice and love? II. THE BIRD. Infinite tenderness mingles with irresistible might in the nature of God. It is no narrow view of the Divine attributes which the Bible gives. All that we see of nobility in living creatures, all traits of courage and of love, may be borrowed to enrich our representations of that nature which includes all other nature within its scope and grasp. Thus the magnificent queen of birds, no less than the magnificent king of beasts, supplies in its actions and habits a parable of eternal providence. The eagle fluttering over her young, spreading her wide wings and bearing them thereon, was a type of Jehovah’s conduct to his people in the desert (Deuteronomy 32:10). So does he now hover over the city, protecting, rescuing. Nor was it otherwise in the days of the Savior, who employs also the simile of the maternal bird. Every ideal of lionhearted hero, of father, strong yet tender, of all-brooding mother, of living creatures inspired by mysterious and mighty instincts of love, helps to bring into momentary clearness some feature of the nature of him whose being is only "dark from excess of light." His voice, pleading with youth and innocence, with the unsophisticated conscience, says, "Come!" and with the sinner and the sophist, "Return!"—J. Isaiah 31:7-9 The fire of Jehovah. I. "OUR GOD IS A FINE." He burns from that sacred oracular center in Jerusalem. And his foes are seen melting away before him—the Assyrian fleeing from and falling before the sword, the huge rock of his power disappearing, princes falling into panic terror as the rallying signal of Judah is raised. The briars and thorns of iniquity, all the weed-like growth of worldly ways are kindled and devoured. II. OUR GOD IS A LIGHT OF . "Light of Israel" goes along with "devouring fire" (Isaiah 10:17). To be enlightened is to know God and our relation to him. It is to know what is not Divine, and what is sinful, and what is worthless in reference to salvation. And so the people, having "returned," will be seen respecting their "not-gods of silver and their not-gods of gold," the sinful manufacture of godless art. III. THERE MUST BE BOTH THE FIERY AND THE ELEMENT IS TRUE . Enthusiasm is needed; without it we have no motive force. Evil will yield to nothing else than to the heart aflame with piety, the tongue of Heaven-kindled fire. Yet blind zeal is mischievous; and therefore the illuminated mind is needed, the discriminating intelligence. The union of intellect with piety, the white heat of zeal kindling all it touches into light-giving flame,—what can resist it?—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Wrong sources of help. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help." Egypt is used in Scripture as a symbol of all foreign worldly powers. It represented carnal force—"trusting in chariots, horses, and horsemen, because they are very strong." "Looking," as the same verse says, "to them," and not looking unto the Holy One of Israel. I. WOE, BECAUSE GOD HAS SAID IT. He is wise, and knows the end from the beginning. We are dazzled with the show of power. The neighing of the war-horse and the glitter of the golden chariot and the flashing steel of the warriors, all look like strength. But God says to Israel, "This is not your strength. This may succeed for a time, but it is an empire held by the throat, not by the heart." II. WOE, BECAUSE WE HAVE SEEN IT. The facts of history are on our side. When Israel was pure and pious she prospered. Deliverance from Egypt was wrought out in the face of superior force; and an undisciplined band of slaves were too mighty for the cohorts of Pharaoh. So have we seen in history ever since. In the end it is "righteousness that exalteth a nation;" but shame, reproach, and defeat come to those who forsake God. Woe! Yes; the fires of London had to hum out its profligacies. The plague followed its debaucheries. III. WOE, BECAUSE DIVINE LAWS ARE . It is not only said and seen, it is sure. For to find true help in Egypt would be like reversing the law of gravitation, or making the stars change their courses, or water forsake its level. "God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent." There are many Egypts—force, fashion, fraud; these have empire at times; but woe to those who, forsaking the simplicities and spiritualities of the gospel, seek "help" therefrom!—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 31:1-5 The arm of flesh. How important is this subject we may gather from the fact that the prophet is inspired to return to it, and to reiterate his condemnation (see Isaiah 30:1). The disposition to lean on the arm of flesh instead of trusting in the living God is not Jewish, but bureau; not peculiar to any age or dispensation, but is an abiding spiritual peril. We learn here— I. THE FALLACY WHICH IT . 1. The Jews were trusting in numbers. Looking to the horses and chariots of Egypt, "because they were many" (Isaiah 31:1). We are apt to be imposed upon by numbers, to think there is safety and even salvation in them, to indulge the notion that, because we are among a great crowd or are supported by a very large majority, we are all on the side of truth and victory. Yet nothing is more uncertain; often the vast hosts have been overthrown in conflict by the devoted and determined few; often the small section, "everywhere spoken against" and despised, has been proved to be in the right and has ultimately prevailed. If God be on one side and the mightiest multitude on the other, we may be sure that the fact that "the chariots and horses are many" will be of no account at all. Divine providence is not by any means necessarily or constantly "on the side of the strongest battalions." 2. They trusted in apparent human strength. "In horsemen, because they are very strong." Many regiments of cavalry have a very imposing aspect to the eye which looks upon and judges by the surface of things; they seem invincible, overwhelming, an invaluable ally when the enemy is approaching. And not only the well-equipped cavalry in time of war; but, in time of peace and in the ordinary life of men, the sagacious counselor, the wealthy merchant, the influential statesman or courtier, the eloquent and admired speaker or pleader—these men seem to have in them a source of strength on which we may build, or to which in the time of peril we may repair. But "the Egyptians were men, and not God," etc. (Isaiah 31:3); their promised word might be broken, their overtures might turn out to be selfishly made and to be unscrupulously withdrawn; their cavalry might be ridden down by troops still stronger than they. Being but men and but horses, they might prove—as they would prove—nothing better than a broken reed, which would pierce the hand that leaned on it (Isaiah 36:6). And the human strength on which we are all so inclined to lean will very likely prove to be nothing more or better. How often the sagacity of the prudent, the riches of the wealthy, the influence of the great, the eloquence of the orator, fail us at our hour of need, and we "go down to our house" bitterly disappointed, or perhaps stricken, stripped, ruined! "The arm of flesh will fail you." II. THE FRUIT WHICH BELONGS TO IT. "God will not call back his words" of condemnation (Isaiah 31:2; see Isaiah 30:1-13). He is grieved and offended that his word has been disobeyed, and himself distrusted and deserted. (See homily in loc.) III. THE PENALTY WHICH WILL FOLLOW IT. God will arise against both those that seek and those that offer help; at the stretching out of his hand they will both fall together (Isaiah 31:2, Isaiah 31:3). They who, distrusting God, put their trust in man will fall under God’s high displeasure, and, according to their circumstances and the character of their error, wilt fall into discomfiture, into disrepute, into disappointment, into shame. IV. THE WHICH IT . All the while that Judah was leaning on "that broken reed, Egypt," it had at hand a sure Support, an almighty Deliverer, One that would be as a lion for fearlessness and irresistible strength, One that would be as a mother-bird for swiftness and tenderness (Isaiah 31:4, Isaiah 31:5), to whom it might have looked, and by whom it would have been graciously received and effectually succored. By our side, in our time of trouble and of peril, is an almighty Friend, whose delivering hand no army can resist, who will come at the right time to redeem us, who will treat us with more than parental tenderness and care. Shall we not go unto him, and say, "My soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast" (Psalms 57:1)?—C. Divine reservation and consistency. "Yet he … will bring evil, and will not call back his words" Doubtless God seems to call back his words. "The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do" (Exodus 32:14; 2 Samuel 24:16; Judges 2:18, etc.). "He heard their cry … and repented, according to the multitude of his mercies", (Psalms 105:44, Psalms 105:45). Yet, says the prophet, "he will bring evil and not call back his words." How explain this? The explanation of it is found in the fact that there is some necessary reservation understood, if not expressed, in the Divine promise and in the Divine threatening. I. HIS AND IN PROMISE. God promises life to the obedient and the faithful; yet there are those who believe themselves, and are believed, to be among this number, whose end is destruction. Has God called back his word? No; for his promise was contingent on their steadfastness, and they have forfeited all claim on his promised word (Joshua 24:20; Psalms 85:8; Ezekiel 33:13; John 15:6; Hebrews 6:4:8). II. HIS AND IN . Although God may seem to call back his words of solemn threatening, yet he "will bring evil;" he is not inconsistent with himself. 1. God reveals his wrath against sin. He declares that it shall not go unpunished; that the soul that sinneth shall die; that the wages of sin is death. 2. God offers pardon. The message of the gospel of Christ is essentially and emphatically one of Divine mercy. 3. His mercy in Christ Jesus is large and free. It is not grudging, half-hearted. It is not like the forgiveness we extend to one another (Isaiah 55:7-9). It means a complete restoration of the estranged but reconciled child to full parental favor (Luke 15:22, Luke 15:23). Where, then, is the Divine consistency? It is found in the consideration that: 4. His declaration of penalty was always contingent on the attitude of the sinner. (Ezekiel 33:14, Ezekiel 33:15.) It is not intended to be absolute and unalterable, whatever be the future career of the guilty. Like all his promises, God’s warnings are conditional. God does not call back his own words from their meaning or their fulfillment, he calls us back, through them, to our duty and to our right relation to himself. And, besides: 5. He does bring evil in some serious measure. For: (1) Previous to our penitence sin has wrought suffering, sorrow, weakness. (2) At the time of penitential return it works self-reproach, shame, anxiety. (3) Reconciliation is inevitably followed by some kind and some degree of spiritual deterioration; there is a lost power, a lessened influence, a narrowed sphere—the absolutely irremovable consequences of repeated wrong-doing and protracted ill-being.—C. Isaiah 31:6, Isaiah 31:7 Deep disloyalty. The children of Israel had "deeply revolted" from God by preferring Egyptian cavalry to the defense of almighty power. This preference of the human and the material to the Divine is only too common everywhere. I. THE OF MANKIND TOWARDS GOD. Mankind is in revolt against the Divine rule. We have all said in our hearts, "We will not have this One to reign over us." 1. God righteously claims our allegiance—the homage of our hearts, the subjection of our will, the obedience of our life. 2. We have deliberately refused it, we have practically disallowed his claim; we have retained our power for our own enjoyment, to be spent according to our own tastes and choices. Amid various forms of iniquity there is one which is common to the race-we have all withheld from the Divine Father of our spirits the willing and practical allegiance for which he has looked. II. HUMAN IN ITS DEPTH There are many degrees of rebelliousness. Only he who searches the hearts and knows the real nature of righteousness and iniquity can accurately measure them, but we can form an approximate idea. Men may be deeply disloyal by going far in the direction of (1) open and flagrant transgression—the commission of baneful vices or cruel and devastating crimes; (2) distinct and formal denial of God’s existence—the avowal and advocacy of blank atheism; (3) the public denial of the Divine claims—the representation of the cardinal error that God is indifferent to the character of his human children, and does not ask for their worship or service; (4) deliberate and persistent disregard of his will as revealed in his Word—the turning a deaf ear to his inviting voice. III. THE DIVINE SUMMONS TO RETURN. "Turn ye unto him." 1. God’s message through inspired men. At sundry times God spake by the prophets. Then and thus he spoke in very clear and in very gracious tones; he said emphatically and repeatedly, "Return unto me" (see text; Isaiah 1:16-18; Isaiah 55:6-9; Jeremiah 3:12-16; Ezekiel 18:30-32; Hosea 14:1, Hosea 14:2, etc.). 2. God’s invitation through his Son, our Savior. (1) That the disloyal hearts of men should return to their allegiance and become the holy and rejoicing citizens of his heavenly kingdom was the very end, for which Jesus came. (2) To accomplish this he lived, wrought, spoke, suffered, died. (3) This is the spirit and the scope of the message he has left behind him, and of the work in which he is now engaged. (4) The way of return through Christ is the heart’s acceptance of him as its Divine Lord and Redeemer. The voice which comes from the Man of sorrows, from the ascended Lord, is "Come unto me;" "Believe in me;" "Abide in me." IV. THE OF RETURN. "In that day every man shall cast away his idols." Return to the service of Jehovah and to a sincere trust in him certainly meant the utter abandonment of idolatry. Our restoration to the favor and friendship of God in Jesus Christ must also mean the putting away of every form of idolatry; e.g. (1) the worship of pleasure or indulgence in any unholy or injurious gratification; (2) covetousness, "which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5); (3) the worship of mammon, or absorption in the struggles and ambitions of this earthly life (Matthew 6:24). (4) Such a devotion to any human object of love as leaves no room, or no sufficient room, for attention to the highest duties and the most sacred claims. It may be that not once nor twice, but again and again, the Christian man may find himself called on to "cast away his idols," to put them out of his heart, and therefore out of his life.—C. Isaiah 31:8, Isaiah 31:9 Fleeing away. Here is a prophetic vision of flight, which may suggest other kinds and instances of "fleeing away." Sennacherib comes up vain-gloriously against Jerusalem, confidently reckoning on complete success, thinking to swallow up Judah as a pleasant morsel; and, behold! he is found hurrying homewards as one that is pursued by overtaking legions, not staying at his first fortification, but, in his terror and humiliation, "passing on beyond his stronghold" for fear, his princes "frightened away by the flags" of the enemy that was to have been so easily and so utterly subdued. Our thoughts may be directed to— I. THE FLEEING FROM THE . The annals of human history, which have hitherto been principally the record of human strife, are only too full of heart-rending illustrations (see, among others, Erckmann-Chatrian’s ’Waterloo’). II. CRIME FLEEING FROM THE FEET OF JUSTICE. Both fact and fiction will supply abundant illustrations of the intolerable wretchedness of those who, pursued by the officers of law, are dogged by apprehension and alarm at every step they take. "Let no man talk of murderers escaping justice, and hint that Providence must sleep: there were twenty score of violent deaths in one long minute of that agony of fear." III. WRONG FLEEING FROM REVENGE. See the vivid picture of Carker fleeing from Dombey (Dickens): "Shame, disappointment, and discomfiture gnawing at his heart, a constant apprehension of being overtaken: the same intolerable awe and dread that had come upon him in the night returned unweakened in the day … rolling on and on, always postponing thought, and always racked with thinking … pressing on … change upon change … long roads and dread of night … and still the old monotony of bells and wheels and horses’ feet, and no rest." IV. GUILT FLEEING FROM THE FACE OF GOD. Guilt fleeing: 1. Weakly and vainly. Long before Jonah, in the hour of self-reproach that followed his act of disobedience, "fled from the presence of the Lord," men had tried to put a distance between their sin and its rightful Judge. And long since then have they tried to escape his eye and his hand. Saddest of all vain endeavors is the thrice-guilty deed of the suicide, who acts as if, by entering another world, he could flee from the face of the Omnipresent One. 2. But there is a sense in which guilt flies away from the face of God really and most blessedly. When God’s conditions of penitence and faith have been fulfilled, then is our guilt "purged away," our transgressions are "removed from us as far as the east is from the west," our sins are "hidden from his face," they are "cast into the depths of the sea" (Psalms 65:3; Psalms 103:12; Psalms 51:9; Micah 7:19). Moreover, we look forward to the time when there shall be a glorious fulfillment of the Divine promises, and we shall have— V. EVIL FROM THE FACE OF MAN; when "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," when "death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire," when "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying … for the former things are passed away" (Isaiah 35:10; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:4).—C. BY R. TUCK Names for God. Here the Lord, or Jehovah, is called the "Holy One of Israel." When the mysterious name "Jehovah" was given, another name, suited for more familiar use, was commended, even this, "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Instructive suggestions come from placing these three names together, as representing (1) God absolute; (2) God in relations; (3) God in history. I. "I AM" (YEHVEH); OR, GOD . 1. This name in truth involves the namelessness of God. It is as if he had said to Moses, "You ask for my Name. ’I am,’ and that is all that you can say about me." The words are not, properly speaking, a name; they are but the assertion of a fact about God. They are a refusal of God to put all his great glory into a name. A name is the brief summing-up of a definition, and since it must ever be an impossible thing wholly to define God, he cannot permit any name to be used which shall appear to assume that a definition has been found. 2. This so-called name involves the unity of God. It is as if he had said, "I am, and there is none beside me." In a magnificent conception, the prophet represents Jehovah as rising up from his place, scanning the whole universe, from the infinite east to the infinite west, and then, seating himself again upon his eternal throne, saying, "There is no God beside me; I know no other." 3. This so-called name involves the self-existence of God. It is as if he had said, "I am, and no one made me." None gave him being. On no one has he to depend. He has life in himself. He is the very Fountain of life. And thus is declared the perfect and eternal distinction between God and all created existence. Nowhere can we find uncaused being. Everywhere are effects which can be more or less perfectly traced to their causes. In Jehovah we have effect without cause. "In the beginning God." "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." 4. This so-called name involves the eternity of God. It is as if he had said, "I am, and shall be forever." It is absolutely impossible for us to conceive of the force which can stop his existence. There is no death that can touch him. "How dread are thine eternal years, O ever-living Lord!" This impression of God as the Unknowable, Unseeable, August, and Awful One, our souls greatly need in these light and frivolous times. God is revealed to the soul in awe. A horror of great darkness fell on Abraham, and under it he saw God. Trembling agony filled the soul of wrestling Jacob, and in the awe of his conflict he heard God. We may heed the voice that says, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth." II. "GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB," OR, GOD IN WITH US. We are to know what God, is by observing what he has been to his people, and what he has done for them. By calling himself thus, God represents himself as the Promise-maker and Promise-keeper. At the call of God Abraham had broken away from his Chaldean home, and wandered forth, a sojourner in a strange land; but God was faithful to his word, and proved towards him an unchanging Friend. Guilty Jacob fled from home, and God met him, revealing himself as the faithful Watcher, willing to be in close and gracious personal relations with him. For years, while in service, God blessed his basket and his store. When journeying back to Canaan, God defended him, subdued the enmity of Esau, and gave him prosperity and honor. Few lives are offered for our study which bear such manifest traces of the nearness and providence of God. Few names could suggest so much to us as this most simple one—the God of Jacob. Stilt God is what he has ever been—Defense of his endangered people; Wisdom for his perplexed people; Support of his enfeebled people; Correcter of his mistaken people; Savior of his sinning people. For all the actual needs of a tried, toiling, tempted life, we may come, even as the patriarchs did, into close personal relations with God, for "this is his Name forever, and this is his memorial to all generations." Graves, in his work on the Pentateuch, says, "The peculiar and incommunicable character of God is self-existence; he is the great ’I Am.’ But this abstract and philosophical description of the Supreme Being was not sufficiently calculated to arrest the attention, conciliate the confidence, and command the obedience of a people entirely unaccustomed to scientific speculations, and incapable of being influenced by any other than temporal motives; it was therefore necessary to represent to them the Governor of the universe in a more circumscribed and attractive form, as the God of the fathers, who had conferred the most distinguished honors on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to whom their posterity might—from the full confidence which fact and experience supply—look up and trust as their peculiar guardian God." III. "HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL;" OR, GOD IN HISTORY. This is the new name given to God, when his dealings with our race through many generations could be reviewed, and the character of all those dealings make due impression of the character of God himself. What one thing comes out most plainly from all reviews of God in history? The prophet says, in reply, his holiness. This estimate of God may be illustrated on the following lines. 1. The Holy One or Israel has ever been faithful to his covenant. 2. The Holy One of Israel has ever required the holiness of a simple and trustful obedience. 3. The Holy One of Israel has ever been swift to mark iniquity. 4. The Holy One of Israel has ever been redeeming and saving. 5. The Holy One of Israel has ever been jealous of his supreme claims. "His glory he would never give to another." So the three great names on which we have been dwelling (1) touch us with reverence and awe; (2) open our eyes to see his working all round about us; and (3) call upon us to render to him hearty trust and lowly service.—R.T. The wisdom of God in his punishments. "Yet he also is wise." These words seem to have been spoken as an ironical parenthesis. He also, as well as the Jewish politicians. "The words vindicate to Jehovah the skill and power adequate to inflict punishment on both the contracting parties, together with veracity in carrying his threatenings into execution." "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." As Isaiah leads us to consider so many phases of the subject of Divine punishment, we only suggest this topic as giving a fresh point of view. We are reminded of the wisdom, rather than the mysteriousness, severity, or love, of the Divine judgments and chastisements. In sending calamities "God is wise." Covering the whole subject, the following divisions may be taken. I. God’s wisdom is seen in the threatenings, which act as warnings, and increase the guiltiness of the willful. II. God’s wisdom is seen in making his threatenings conditional, so that repentance of, and forsaking, sin may be hopeful. III. God’s wisdom is seen in fulfilling threatenings, so that no willful men may dare to presume. IV. God’s wisdom is seen in what he does for sinners themselves by his judgments. V. God’s wisdom is seen in what he does by his judgments for the spiritual training of the onlookers. "He is known by the judgments which he executeth."—R.T. God unhindered by fears of man. We fear and tremble before boastful words and a great show of force, but we may well remember that God does not. He reckons it all at its true worth, and goes on with his Divine working quite unmoved by all the rage. The figure in this verse needs careful explanation. The allusion is to the boastings and threatenings of Sennacherib. God has undertaken to defend the city of Jerusalem. As the lion will not give up his prey, so Jehovah will not allow the Assyrians to rob him of his "peculiar treasure," Jerusalem. The vast armies of the Assyrians were as nothing in the estimation of Jehovah. He viewed unperturbed their attempt to seize the locality which he had chosen as his special residence. Matthew Henry, with quaint force, says, "Whoever appear against God, they are but like a multitude of poor simple shepherds shouting at a lion, who scorns to take notice of them, or so much as to alter his pace for them." Taking an illustration from another sphere of nature, the Divine calmness under excitement that alarms men may be illustrated by the following passage from Gosse: "There was a heavy swell from the westward, which, coming on in broadly heaving undulations, gave the idea of power indeed, but of power m repose, as when a lion crouches in his lair with sheathed talons and smoothed mane and half-closed eyes. But no sooner does each broad swell, dark and polished, come into contact with these walls and towers of solid rock, than its aspect is instantly changed. It rears itself in fury, dashes with hoarse roar, and apparently resistless might, against the opposition, breaks in a cloud of snowy foam, which hides the rocky eminence, and makes us for a moment think the sea has conquered. But the next, the baffled assailant is recoiling in a hundred cascades, or writhing and groveling in swirls around the feet of those strong pillars which still stand in their majesty, unmoved, immovable, ready to receive and to repel the successive assaults of wave after wave with ever the same result." There is a quality or power in man, which we call in a good sense sang-froid—a power of keeping calm in times of excitement, which we are accustomed to admire, and which may help us to realize the figure of God given in this passage. A remarkable story is told in connection with Prince Bismarck, who is a striking example of persistent keeping on at his designs, however loud may be the howlings around him. It is said that he wears an iron ring, on which is inscribed the Russian word "Nitschewo," or "It does not matter." In the winter of 1862 he was hurriedly journeying in Russia, and in answer to various appeals to his driver, he could get nothing from him save this one word, "Nitschewo." At last the sledge was upset, and taking an iron bar which had become detached from the sledge, Bismarck, in his annoyance, thought of striking the man, but feeling he had learned a life-lesson from the frequent repetition of this word, he kept the bar, and had a ring made of it to remind him, in the worryful times of life that "it does not matter." Consider— I. THE THINGS WHICH GOD DOES NOT HEED. They go under this heading—the boasts of the proud. Empty words. Noisy deeds. The material forces which lie at the command of men. These greatly alarm us. Let but a sound of threatening rise into the air, and we cry in our fright, "The Church is in danger!" God is not disturbed. His Church is safe; the "gates of hell shall not prevail against her." Let but the nations unite for some act of violence towards the Lord’s Jerusalem, and in fright her statesmen run off to Egypt for help. Jerusalem is in no real danger—a wall of Divine guardian fire is all round about her, and God will defend his own. II. THE THINGS WHICH GOD DOES HEED. These will go under the heading—the cry of the humble. He who is best beard by man when he speaks with a "still, small voice," best hears man when he speaks to him with a "still, small voice." Not the thunder of men’s anger, but the quiet evening breeze of men’s humble prayer, goes right in to the throne of God. We may learn from this figure of God’s patient indifference to what seems so alarming, how we may rightly estimate opposing forces and persons who show enmity to us. Most of such forces and persons had better just be passed by, left alone. "Nitschewo"—"It does not matter." We all of us make too much of evil things and noisy oppositions. We magnify them until they fret and weary and hinder us. Would that we were more like God, who— "Moves on his undisturbed affairs!" R.T. Turning to God in giving up sin. Connect with Isaiah 31:7. Here is indicated one essential characteristic of a genuine conversion or reformation. Two kinds of "turning" are suggested. I. TURNING TO GOD AS A . Merely good sentiments, revivalistic emotions, gushing fervors, temporary excitements, have no voice that can reach to God. II. TURNING TO GOD THROUGH ACTS. Putting away idols—God can hear that. He knows what that means. Giving up sins—God can hear that. Cutting off right hands—God can hear that. Plucking out right eyes—God can hear that. This is the voice for which God asks, and to which he so graciously responds. "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."—R.T. The surprise of the Lord’s deliverances. No inhabitant of Jerusalem could have imagined how God intended to deliver the city from Sennacherib. God’s way is in the sea, his footsteps are not known; but he leads his people safely like a flock. The following points will recall familiar illustrations. I. GOD’S ALWAYS DO COME. "If it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not tarry." "No good thing has failed God’s people of all that he has promised." "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard, and saved him out of all his troubles." II. THEY COME WHEN WE DO NOT EXPECT THEM, And therefore we are constantly urged to keep watchful and expectant. Disraeli truly remarked that "the unexpected is the thing that happens." III. THEY COME IN WAYS THAT SEEM STRANGE. In some cases not seeming at all to be the deliverances which they really are. IV. THE THEY BRING IS USUALLY FULL OF AND JOY. For in most cases it is manifestly better than our thought. Then let God save us and deliver us just in his own way and time. Enough for us to wait earnestly on him in our prayer, and wait patiently for him, trustingly sure that he always has his "set time in which to favor Zion."—R.T. SECTION VIII. A OF MESSIAH’S KINGDOM (Isaiah 32:1-8). Isaiah 32:1-8 A OF MESSIAH’S KINGDOM. It is generally allowed that this prophecy is Messianic; but some critics insist that it is not so "in a narrow sense." They regard Isaiah as expecting Messiah’s kingdom to follow immediately on the discomfiture of Sennacherib, and as looking to Hezekiah to inaugurate it. According to this view, Hezekiah, renovated in character, was to be the Messiah, and might have been so had he been "equal to the demands providentially made upon him." But he was not; and the task of establishing the kingdom fell to "another," at a later date. It is simpler to regard the prophet as looking for a greater than Hezekiah (comp. Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6), but ignorant how soon, or how late, his coming would be. Isaiah 32:1 A king … princes. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate, "the king … the princes;" but the Hebrew gives no article. The announcement is vague, and corresponds to those of other prophets, as of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5), "Behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper;" and of Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9), "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion … behold, thy King cometh unto thee." The "princes" of the text are the minor authorities whom the king would set over his kingdom—i.e; the apostles and their successors. In righteousness … in judgment. Messiah’s rule will be a rule of strict justice and right, offering the strongest contrast to that under which the Jews have been living since the time of Jehoshaphat (see Isaiah 1:15-23; Isaiah 3:1-12, etc.). Isaiah 32:2 A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, etc. Modem critics mostly render, "each man"—i.e. the king, and each of his princes. But it is, to say the least, allowable—with Vitringa and Kay—to regard the word as referring to the king only (comp. Zechariah 6:12, where ish, a man, is used in the same vague way of One who is clearly the Messiah). There was never but one man who could be to other men all that is predicated in this verse of the "man" mentioned (comp. Isaiah 25:4, where nearly the same epithets are predicated of God). A covert; i.e. a protection against Divine wrath. Such is Messiah in his mediatorial character. Rivers of water; i.e. refreshing and invigorating (comp. Isaiah 55:1; John 4:14; John 7:37). The shadow of a great rook. At once refreshing and protecting (see Isaiah 25:4). Isaiah 32:3 The eyes of them that see shall not be dim. In Messiah’s kingdom there shall be no judicial blindness, such as that threatened in Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:10, and described in Isaiah 29:10, Isaiah 29:11; but men shall see the truth clearly (comp. Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Matthew 13:16, etc.). The ears.; shall hearken; i.e. "shall both hear and understated" (compare "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear"). Isaiah 32:4 The heart also of the rash; i.e. of those who were rash and hasty, who would not give themselves time to understand the warnings addressed to them, or to think of the real character of their actions. These shall, in Messiah’s kingdom, "have the gift of discernment to perceive things in their true nature" (Delitzsch). The tongue of the stammerers. The tongue of those who hitherto have spoken hesitatingly and inconsistently on moral and religions subjects shall be ready—i.e; prompt and eager—to speak upon them with clearness and elegance. The grace given to the uneducated fishermen of Galilee enabled them to preach and teach gospel truth, not only with clearness, but with refinement. Isaiah 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal; rather, the foolish person—as nabal is commonly translated (Deuteronomy 32:6; 2 Samuel 3:33; 2 Samuel 13:13; Psalms 14:1; Psalms 39:8; Psalms 74:22, etc.)—such a man as the "Nabal" of 1 Samuel 25:1-44. Men are apt to confound moral distinctions, and to call the "fools" who waste their substance in feasting and revelry "generous" or "liberal," and the niggards (churls) who hoard their riches "warm men," "wealthy men," "men well to do in the world" (see Isaiah 5:20; and comp. Arist.,’ Eth. Nic.,’ 2.8, § 3; Thucyd; 3.82). This perversion of truth shall not obtain in Messiah’s kingdom. Bountiful; rather, wealthy (comp. Job 34:19, where the same word is translated "rich"). Isaiah 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, etc.; rather, for the fool speaketh folly, and his heart doeth wickedness, practising profanity and uttering error against Jehocab, making empty the soul of the hungry—yea, the drink of the thirsty will he cause to fail. The prophet seems to have the portrait of Nabal in his mind, and to take him as the type of a class. Isaiah 32:7 The instruments. Mr. Cheyne translates, "the machinations," which gives a better sense; but the rendering is scarcely borne out by any parallel use of the term c’li in Scripture or elsewhere. C’li properly means "vessels," "weapons," "implements." He deviseth wicked devices; rather, he deviseth plots. The word "he" is emphatic. Unlike the fool, who passively does evil through thoughtlessness, the niggard actively devises crafty plans against his fellow-men. He seeks to cheat the poor out of their rights by false witness (comp. Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:28, etc.), Even when the needy speaketh right; i.e. "has right on his side." The translation in the text is to be preferred to that in the margin. Isaiah 32:8 By liberal things shall he stand; or, to liberal things. The Hebrew will bear either sense. Isaiah 32:9-12 SECTION IX. FURTHER OF ISRAEL, JOINED WITH (Isaiah 32:9-20). A REBUKE OF THE WOMEN. It might seem at first sight as if we had here a detached utterance of the prophet, accidentally conjoined with the preceding passage (Isaiah 32:1-8). But Isaiah 32:15-18 furnish a link of connection between the two portions of the chapter, and make it probable that they were delivered at the same time. Mr. Cheyne supposes that the indifference of a knot of women, gathered at some little distance from the men to whom Isaiah had addressed verses 1-8, provoked the prophet suddenly to turn to them, and speak to them in terms of warning. Isaiah 32:9 Rise up. The "careless daughters" are sitting, or reclining upon couches, at their ease. The prophet bids them stand up, to hear a message from God (comp. Judges 3:10). Ye women that are at ease; i.e. "that are self-satisfied and self-complacent." The word employed has almost always a bad sense (see 2 Kings 19:28; Job 12:5; Psalms 123:4; Amos 6:1; Zechariah 1:15). Hear my voice. This clause should be attached to the first half of the verse. The order of the words in the original is, "Ye women that are at ease, rise up and hear my words; ye careless daughters, hearken unto my speech." Isaiah 32:10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled; rather, in a year and days; i.e. "in less than two years." The object of the prophet is not to fix the duration of the trouble, but to mark the time of its commencement (comp. Isaiah 29:1). Shall ye be troubled; rather, shall ye tremble, or shudder (so Deuteronomy 2:25; Psalms 77:18; Psalms 99:1; Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 64:2; Jeremiah 33:9, etc.). Ye careless women; rather, ye confident ones. The word is different from that employed in Isaiah 32:9 and Isaiah 32:11. The vintage shall fail; literally, has failed—"the perfect of prophetic certitude" (Cheyne). Some critics understand a literal failure, or destruction, of the vintage through the invasion of the Assyrians. Others suggest a refer-once to Isaiah 5:4-7. The vineyard of the Lord (Judah) has utterly failed to bring forth grapes—there is no ingathering—therefore destruction shall fall upon it. Isaiah 32:11 Tremble … be troubled. The repetition of this verse is, as usual, emphatic. Its object is to impress those whom the prophet is addressing with the certainty of the coming judgment. Strip you, and make you bare; i.e. "bare your breasts," in preparation for the beating which is to follow (see the comment on the next verse). Isaiah 32:12 They shall lament for the teats, etc.; rather, they shall beat upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, etc. (so the LXX; the Vulgate, Jarchi, Gesenius, Ewald, Maurer, Knobel, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne). Dr. Kay prefers the rendering of the Authorized Version, understanding by "the teats" such "dry breasts" as Hosea speaks of (Hosea 9:14). But nothing has been said in this place of any such affliction. For the pleasant fields, etc.; i.e. for their loss (see verse 10). Isaiah 32:13-20 A FURTHER OF THREATS WITH . The women require, like the men, to be both warned and comforted, wherefore the prophet addresses to them, as to the men in Isaiah 30:1-33. and 31; an intermixture of threatening (Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 30:14) with promise (Isaiah 30:15-20). Isaiah 32:13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars. This was the punishment with which the unfruitful vineyard was threatened in Isaiah 5:6. It may be understood either literally or of the wickedness that would abound when the time of judgment came. Yea, upon all the houses of joy (comp. Isaiah 5:9). If Sennacherib carried off, as he declares, more than two hundred thousand captives from Judaea, he must have left many houses without inhabitants. The solitude begun by him was completed by the Babylonians. The joyous city (see Isaiah 22:2). The word used has generally the sense of unholy mirth (comp. Isaiah 23:7; Isaiah 24:8; Zephaniah 2:15; Zephaniah 3:11). Isaiah 32:14 The palaces shall be forsaken; literally, the palace; but the word is used in a generic sense. The prophet sees in vision Jerusalem deserted by her inhabitants, the grand houses of the rich empty, the strongholds haunted by wild beasts, and the slopes of the hills fed on by sheep, and even occasionally visited by the timid and solitude-loving wild ass. The description suits well the time of the Babylonian captivity, but not any earlier period. Probably it was not revealed to the prophet how soon the condition would be reached. The multitude of the city shall be left. The real meaning is, as Bishop Lowth expresses it, "The populous city shall be left desolate." But the whole passage is. as Delitzsch observes, "grammatically strange, the language becoming more complicated, disjointed, and difficult, the greater the wrath and indignation of the poet." The forts and towers; rather, hill and tower, with (perhaps) a special reference to the part of Jerusalem called Ophel (2 Chronicles 27:3; Nehemiah 3:26, etc.), the long projecting spur from the eastern hill, which points a little west of south, and separates the Kedron valley from the Tyropoeon. Shall be for dens; literally, for caves; but dens for wild beasts seem to be meant (comp. Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14; Jeremiah 1:1-19:39). For ever. This expression must not be pressed. Hyperbole is a recognized feature of poetry written under strong excitement. A joy of wild asses. The wild ass is not now found nearer Palestine than Mesopotamia, or perhaps Northern Syria. It is exceedingly shy, and never approaches the habitations of men. Isaiah 32:15 Until. The expression "until" modifies the previous "forever," showing that the desolation was not always to continue. The Spirit be poured upon us from on high. An effluence from the Holy Spirit of God on individuals of eminence, prophets, kings, artificers, to fit them for their tasks, is recognized in many of the earlier books of Scripture, and especially in the Davidical psalms. But a general effluence of the Spirit of holiness on a nation, to produce a change of heart, seems to be first announced by Isaiah. The nearly contemporary prophecy of Joel (Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29) is, perhaps, as wide in its scope, but limited to the prophetic gift, which is not necessarily conjoined with spiritual-minded-ness or holiness of life. Isaiah, the "evangelical prophet," first teaches that the conversion of a nation is God’s work, effected by the Holy Spirit, and effectual to the entire change of the heart of a people. And the wilderness be a fruitful field; i.e. "the community long cursed with barrenness of good works" (verse 10) "becomes once more fruitful of them." And the fruitful field be counted for a forest. An order of climax seems to be here intended. The midbar, the bare pasturage-ground, becomes a Carmel, i.e. carefully cultivated; the Carmel becomes like Lebanon, a rich and luxurious forest. There is no close parallel between this verse and verse 17 of Isaiah 29:1-24. The prophet is not tied down by his previous metaphors. Isaiah 32:16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness. In all parts of the kingdom of Christ, the lowest as well as the highest, "judgment" and "righteousness" shall prevail (comp. Isaiah 32:1). Isaiah 32:17 The work of righteousness shall be peace. Peace—a true peace, not a false one (Jeremiah 6:14)—shall be the result of the reign of righteousness. War, quarrels, enmity, hostile feelings, are all of them the fruit of unrighteousness. In the kingdom of the Messiah, just so far forth as it is thoroughly established, "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace" (James 3:18). The effect of righteousness; literally, the service of righteousness, which perhaps means here "the wages of righteousness." Quietness and assurance; or, quietness and confidence (comp. Isaiah 30:15). The final happiness of the blessed in Christ’s kingdom is always spoken of as a state of "rest and quietness" (see Psalms 95:11; Job 3:17; Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 4:9-11, etc.). The "confidence" felt would be an assured confidence, not a rash and foolish one, like that of the women of Isa 32:10, Isaiah 32:11. Isaiah 32:19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; rather, but it shall hail in the coming down (i.e. the destruction) of the forest. "The forest" has commonly been regarded as Assyria, on the strength of Isa 10:18, Isaiah 10:19, Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34. Mr. Cheyne, however, suggests Judah, or the high and haughty ones of Judah, whose destruction was a necessary preliminary to the establishment of Christ’s kingdom. May not God’s enemies generally be meant? The city. Nineveh (Lowth, Gesenius, Rosenmüller); Jerusalem (Delitzsch, Knobel, Cheyne, Kay); "the city in which the hostility of the world to Jehovah will, in the latter days, be centralized" (Drechsler, Nagel)—the "world-power," in fact. The last view seems to give the best sense. Isaiah 32:20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters. The idyllic picture, begun in Isaiah 32:15, terminates here. The people of the kingdom have a well-watered land (Isaiah 30:25), where they live peacefully, sowing their seed beside the water-courses, and having abundant pasture for their peaceful beasts—the ox and the ass (comp. Isaiah 30:24). A spiritual meaning doubtless underlies the literal sense. Strict justice a characteristic of Messiah’s kingdom. Whatever may be said, and said with truth, of the Divine mercy, still there is no quality more characteristic of God’s rule over man than his justice. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25); "God is a righteous Judge" (Psalms 7:11); "He shall judge the world in righteousness, and minister judgment to the people in uprightness (Psalms 9:8). If this were not so, the whole foundations of morality would fall. And Messiah’s rule was to be like God’s—was, in very truth, to be God’s. It had, therefore, to be strictly just. What is most wonderful in that marvelous scheme of salvation, which infinite wisdom conceived and decreed from everlasting, is that in it a way was contrived whereby "mercy and truth’ might "meet together," and "righteousness and peace kiss each other" (Psalms 85:10). Attributes of God, seemingly contradictory, obtained a wondrous reconciliation by means of the sacrifice of Christ, which, though its whole import may transcend our faculties, was beyond all doubt an integer in the equation wherein mercy and truth met together, and reconcilement was made between "the wrath of man" and "the righteousness of God." The justice of Messiah’s kingdom was shown— I. IN CHRIST’S SEVERE OF EVERY FORM OF MORAL EVIL. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Matthew 23:13); "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23); "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (Matthew 12:36); "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts … and these defile a man" (Matthew 15:19, Matthew 15:20). Christ made no compromise with sin. In his most signal act of mercy his words were, "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). II. IN THE STRICT AT FIRST IN HIS CHURCH. "Purge out … the old leaven" (1 Corinthians 5:7); "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Corinthians 5:13); "Now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat" (1 Corinthians 5:11). The apostles "delivered to Satan’ those who sinned grievously (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20)—cut them off from the communion of the faithful (Galatians 5:12), and only restored them after confession and penance. "The princes ruled in judgment" (Isaiah 32:1). III. IN THE SOLEMN MADE OF A FINAL TO WORKS. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works" (Revelation 20:12, Revelation 20:13; comp. Matthew 7:23; Matthew 12:37; Matthew 13:39-43; Matthew 25:31-46, etc.). What Christ is to his people. The prophet enumerates (in Isaiah 32:2) some of the chief relations in which Messiah, when he came, would stand to his people. All his announcements are fulfilled in Christ. I. CHRIST IS A HIDING-PLACE FROM THE WIND. When the winds of affliction blow, when "the blast of the terrible ones" is upon us, above all, when the breath of the wrath of God seems to sweep down on us and scorch us up, there is one Refuge only to which we can flee—one "Hiding-place"—Christ. In the time of natural grief and trouble, he lets us find a Refuge in him; when our enemies threaten, he "hides us in the secret of his presence from the pride of man," and "keeps us secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues" (Psalms 31:20); when we shrink from the thought of God’s wrath, and the breath which is "like a stream of brimstone ’(Isaiah 30:33), he offers himself to us as our Shelter. How many saints have not found comfort, unspeakable comfort, in the blessed words- "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee?" II. CHRIST IS A COVERT FROM THE TEMPEST. Christ not only hides us away from wind and storm, tempest and evil of all kinds, but is himself our Coverture. He is "a Tabernacle for a Covert from storm and from rain" (Isaiah 4:6). His merits "cover up" our sins, and make atonement for them. His righteousness is the "white raiment" which clothes us, so that "the shame of our nakedness doth not appear" (Revelation 3:18). III. CHRIST IS AS RIVERS OF WATER. Rivers give refreshment. They are the great source of life, fertility, delight, in a parched and desert land. In the wilderness of this life, in the dry arid waste which our tired feet have to traverse, any refreshment that we enjoy comes from Christ—is Christ. He pours upon us the refreshing "dew of his blessing." He gives us to drink out of himself; and then "out of our belly there flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37, John 7:38). The water that he imparts to us is "a well of water springing up into everlasting life ’(John 4:14). He is unto us "a place of broad rivers and streams" (Isaiah 33:21), refreshing, life-giving, exhaustless. IV. CHRIST IS AS THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK IN A WEARY LAND. The world is "a weary land." We are travelers across its waste. A hot sun beats down upon our heads; a scorching soil is under our feet. But we have a Rock with us, a Rock which "follows us"—and "that Rock is Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). In the shadow of that Rock we may at any time, and at all times, find rest, renovation, refreshment, protection, delight. The traveler in the desert comes, once and again, upon "a great rock," as he plods his weary way over the vast solitude, and rejoices at the sight, and toils for hours to reach the blessed refuge of its shade. Our "Rock" is ready to give us shade whenever we please—it is near us constantly; we have but to flee to it, to cling to it, to remain in its shadow. The need of rousing women in critical times from a state of self-satisfaction and self-complacency. Women are less apprehensive than men, more inclined to suppose that the state of things to which they are accustomed will, as a matter el course, remain unchanged. They have, as a general rule, less historical knowledge than men, and less acquaintance with the condition of the world wherein they live. The self-complacency and unsuspiciousness of Marie Antoinette and the ladies of her court, when the French Revolution was drawing on, has been a matter of surprise to historians; but it is merely a striking instance of what is, in fact, the ordinary condition of things when great changes are imminent. Jezebel did not expect, or appreciate, the revolution initiated by Jehu; nor Athaliah that carried out under the auspices of Jehoiada the high priest (2 Kings 11:4-16). The instinctive belief in "continuance," of which Bishop Butler speaks (’Analogy,’ part 1. Isaiah 1:1-31.), whereby we expect "all things to continue as we experience they are, in all respects, "and "to-morrow to be as to-day," only perhaps "more abundant’ (Isaiah 56:12),—is especially strong in women, and explains their inapprehensiveness. The result is: 1. That reverses come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly, without their being prepared to encounter them, and are thus sorer trials, under which they often fall into despair and recklessness, to their great hurt. 2. That the men, who are their associates, through the contagion of their security, are rendered themselves less apprehensive, and consequently less inclined to realize the coming danger and guard against it by wise measures of precaution. Under these circumstances, it becomes the preacher’s duty at such times to address himself especially to the rousing of the women from their "carelessness" and security, both for their own sakes, and still more for the sake of the community, whose prosperity or whose very existence they imperil. Isaiah 32:15-17 The fruits of the Spirit in a community. The first result of the effluence of the Holy Spirit on man is fruitfulness: "the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field a forest." The dry ground of a stony heart is changed into a cultivated garden, which "brings forth much fruit." The heart which already bore some fruit is "purged, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2). Then, when individuals have been thus changed and "purged" and perfected one by one, judgment and righteousness "dwell" in the land—the King "reigns in righteousness," and his "princes rule in judgment" far and wide there is a reign of justice, right, equity. Next comes a further consequence. "The work of righteousness is peace," peace subjective and objective, in the heart and in the life—the peace of quiet consciences assured of God’s favor, knowing that their sins are atoned for, and feeling that they are at one with God; and the peace of internal concord and agreement among all members of the community, mutual respect of class towards class, and of man towards man, general good will of all towards all, kindliness, courtesy, ready aid, sympathy, consideration. The complete result has not been seen as yet, because men have resisted God’s Spirit, and the copious outpouring of it, which he is willing to give, has never yet been given. But if this impediment were removed, if God’s Spirit had free course, and a kingdom or society of perfectly virtuous men were once formed, then we should see such further consequences as are pointed out by Bishop Butler in his ’Analogy: ’"In such a state there would be no such thing as faction; but men of the greatest capacity would, of course, all along have the chief direction of affairs willingly yielded to them; and they would share it among themselves without envy. Each of these would have the part assigned him to which his genius was peculiarly adapted; and others, who had not any distinguished genius, would be safe, and think themselves very happy, by being under the protection and guidance of those who had. Public determinations would really be the result of the united wisdom of the community; and they would be faithfully executed by the united strength of it. Some would in a higher way contribute, but all would in some way contribute, to the public prosperity; and in it, each would enjoy the fruits of his own virtue. And as injustice, whether by fraud or force, would be unknown among themselves, so they would be sufficiently secured from it in their neighbors. For cunning and false self-interest, confederacies in injustice, ever slight, and accompanied with faction and intestine treachery,—these, on one hand, would be found mere childish folly and weakness, when set in opposition against wisdom, public spirit, union inviolable, and fidelity on the other; allowing both a sufficient length of years to try their force. Add the general influence, which such a kingdom would have over the face of the earth, by way of example particularly, and the reverence which would be paid it. It would plainly be superior to all others, and the world must gradually come under its empire; not by means of lawless violence, but partly by what must be allowed to be just conquest, and partly by other kingdoms submitting themselves voluntarily to it, throughout a course of ages, and claiming its protection, one after another, in successive exigencies. The head of it would be a universal monarch, in another sense than any mortal has as yet been; and the Eastern style would be literally applicable to him, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him" (part 1. Isaiah 3:1-26. § 5). BY E. JOHNSON An ideal of political good. When the Divine Spirit has been outpoured, when the idols have been cast away, and the Assyrian yoke has been cast off, happy days will dawn. I. ROYALTY WILL BE WITH . The King will be seen in his beauty—not the splendor of purple robes and lofty throne and brilliant court, but that of the equity and justice which imitate Heaven. God will call him by his name, will make him rich with hidden possessions, will go before him to make the crooked ways straight (Isaiah 45:1-4). In spite of all the failings of kings, the mass of the people bear a deep reverence and affection to royalty. Even in the counterfeit they recognize some relation to the real thing. "A divinity doth hedge a king;" this is not only poetically, but religiously true, if the king in any sort answer to the truth of his position. In happier days he will so answer. II. THE UPPER CLASSES WILL BE THE OF THE PEOPLE. Aristocracy began with personal worth, and by it only can be maintained. We see from the description what the nobility ought to be in relation to the people. Patrons, protectors; "hiding-places from the wind," a "covert from the rain-storm, rivulets in a parched land, the shadow of a huge cliff in a thirsty land." Noblesse oblige. They should be looked up to; every popular cause should find in them its defenders and active advocates; every philanthropic scheme in them its leaders; every misery of the poor in them its zealous redressers. High place without high qualities is a mockery; lofty station coupled with low manners, a scandal and an abuse. Alas! too often in the history of the "ruling classes" these truths have been forgotten, these relations have been reversed. Again and again God has called them to judgment: "You have eaten up the vineyards, the plunder of the afflicted is in your houses. What mean ye that crush my people, and grind the face of the afflicted?" Notably so at the time of the great French Revolution. III. THE RESULTS OF A CHANGE. No reformation of manners, no happy reconciliation of class with class can come about, except by a change of mind and heart. And that change itself can only come whence all changes in the realm of nature and spirit come—from the creative, the re-creative energy of God. The body is the organ of the spirit in its manifold activities. Any fresh sensibility of the physical organs is typical, therefore, of an awakened and living conscience. The closed eye is typical of the blindness of those who will not see. To shut the eye to evil, to turn the head away from what disgusts,—this may seem for a time equivalent to canceling the evil itself. Not so; and reformation sets in from that hour when men are willing to face the most painful facts, to let the light into the darkest corners of existence. Ears were made to listen, not to be stopped. Let the bitter cry be hearkened to; its tones thrill through every fiber of our sympathetic being; nor let its pleading be dismissed until the question, What can I do? has found some distinct answer. The tongue was made, not to stammer, but to flow with truthful and gracious speech. Silence may mean that we have no help to offer; stuttering accents that we are of a divided mind, of obscure habits of thought. Lucidity is what we need—the lucidity of the single eye, the sensitive organism filled through and through with light. And what does our haste and feverish precipitation signify, but want of that deliberate forethought and that circumspection which is a constant duty? "The heart of the hasty shall perceive distinctly." Although we cannot refer all sin, like Socrates, to want of insight, yet no sin but implies that want. God’s deepest, most far-reaching blessings must ever be for the heart, in that large sense in which Scripture uses the word—including every mental faculty or activity. Material improvements are not to be neglected. The sanity and weal of the body have a direct bearing on the weal of mind; yet, on the other hand, there will be no material improvements until the improving mind has been awakened and truly educated. IV. THE OF THINGS NEEDING . It is a confusion which needs to be removed. It is a world turned upside down which needs to be righted. The foot and the knave may designate the ruling classes of the time. Fool! how weighty the condemnation, how deep-burning the brand, which belongs to the use of the word in Scripture! The world may call him par excellence the fool who minds all business but his own; the prophet calls him the fool who thinks of self, bat forgets his God. The sinner, in short, is the fool. His is the worst and least excusable ignorance. He may be called "noble" in the convention of society, he is contemptible in the judgment of God. The characteristics of the fool are that he speaks folly, and this "out of the abundance" of a wicked heart—a forge and workshop where the production of evil is ever going on; that he delights to propagate heresy and atheism as a center of religious darkness. Hungry souls look to those Nabals, and are not fed, but deprived of their sustenance; and the waters they point out prove to be as the mirage of the desert on near approach. The denunciation of such spurious leaders of the people reminds of Milton’s invective— "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed; But, swollen with wind and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread." And the knave, with his crafty plots and machinations, his insidious lies, drawing into his net the defenseless, honest poor. The age sorely needed true nobles, not of title and rank, but of God’s own mint and stamp—men of principle; men as long-headed in their good devices as the others in evil; men of firm and constant heart; no time-serving, truckling, tide-waiting, opportunist, wavering spirits; but steady to their convictions, direct in their aims, consistent with themselves. Every time needs such men. God preserve to us the nobility of the land—the kind hearts that are worth more than coronets, the simple faith that is worth more than Norman blood; the holy seed, the vital element of a nation.—J. Isaiah 32:9-20 Until the Spirit be poured out. How constantly does Scripture speak of every happy reformation as due to the "outpouring of the Spirit," or the sending or breathing of the Spirit on human-kind! Language none the less expressive because mysterious. Those epochs cannot be forecast: no meteorology can explain to us these movements "from on high." But they may be waited for and prepared for, without fear of disappointment. Again and again they had come to the prophet’s heart; and from his heart he knew they must some time come also in a wider sphere of operation. I. UNTIL THEN—WHAT? The women are addressed, the daughters of Zion. The manners of the women must be a sure index of the state of a nation. New religious feeling kindles quickly in their hearts; they welcome and further revivals. Their indifference to spiritual things seems to belie their nature; atheism in woman is monstrous. The Jewish women are in a state of careless unconcern. This attitude of "ease," of apathetic nonchalance, arouses the indignation and the alarm of the prophets, perhaps more than vivacity in sin. It is an ominous symptom in the bodily life, not less so in the soul. It offers a dull prosaic resistance to enthusiasm of any kind, which it holds in smiling, sensuous contempt. A psalmist’s soul is "exceedingly filled" with perturbation at this attitude (Psalms 123:4); Amos denounces woe (Amos 6:1), and Zechariah the great displeasure of Jehovah against them that "are at ease." Perhaps the vintage-harvest was over when the prophet spoke. The time would come when a shudder would pass through those luxurious frames; the outer garment would be torn off, the sackcloth assumed, the breasts that once heaved only with the sigh of pleasure be beaten in wild lament for the "days that are no more," for the pleasant fields and the fruitful vine. Those fields will be thorn and briar overgrown; the houses of the city deserted, its mirth quelled. The wild cattle will sport around the temple hill, the palaces be forsaken. Impossible to dissociate in our minds the desolation of once populous scenes from the sin of man and the withdrawal of the gracious Spirit of God. Take these descriptions as figures of the state of the soul; then power and beauty remain. The well-kept garden, the sweet fields in the harvest-time, the mirth of reapers and in-gatherers; these sights, these sounds, provide unsought expression for the soul that feels itself "at ease." The untilled fields, the signs of wild nature creeping to old ascendency over the works of man,—such sights carry symbolic meaning which depresses the most cheerful heart. "Until the Spirit be outpoured from on high"—that is our state, and that it must remain. II. AFTER THEN—WHAT? 1. "Justice shall inhabit the pasture-country, and righteousness shall dwell in the garden-land." "Men ought not to be like cattle, which seek nothing but plenty of food and abundance of outward things. We should not, like hogs in a sty, judge of the happiness of life by abundance of bread and wine (Calvin). Righteousness alone exalts, righteousness alone can uplift a fallen nation. 2. "The fruit of righteousness shall be peace." This is inwardly and outwardly, subjectively and objectively, true. Peace in the heart is the companion of rectitude; it flows from right order in the home and family, and from just administration in the state. Peace, quietness, confidence: a triple blooming in one; a threefold band of prosperity and condition of all welfare. "Homes of peace, dwellings of confidence, easeful resting-places,—these are the pictures that all men draw in fancy; this the life for which they dream they were made. Such a state depends upon piety, upon personal and social morality. "It is as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah. True religion would put an end to strifes and litigations; to riots and mobs; to oppressions and tumults; to alarms and robbery; to battle and murder and conflict among the nations." 3. These blessings cannot come without suffering. The hail of judgment will fall upon forest and upon city. The refuge of lies and the hiding-place of falsehood must be swept away. Renewing and reforming forces work destructively on one side, as creatively on the other. Upon whom these judgments will fall is not evident from the text. Hail is an image of Divine judgment (Isaiah 28:2, Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 30:30). 4. The happiness of the tiller. He sows beside all waters—a reference to the Oriental custom of casting the seed upon the waters of overflowing streams and rivers, so that, when the waters subside, it will be found again in the springing crop and the abundant harvest. The ox and the ass are employed to tread the moistened earth and prepare for the sowing (cf. Ecclesiastes 11:1, Ecclesiastes 11:6). In a figurative sense—happy those who go steadily on with useful work, the work that lies nearest them, the sowing which looks for a "far-off interest of good," amidst the most troubled times. No troubles of the lime should divert us from our daily task, or unsettle us from the habit of continuous useful labor.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The soul’s rest. "The shadow of a great rock in a weary land." This is an Eastern picture. God is described as our Shade. In the glare of a too-garish day we become endangered; the sun of prosperity smites us. Sunlight has its penalties as well as its pleasures. So has success! The human heart cannot bear too much of brightness. We need shadows for the mind to rest under as well as for the body. I. A MAN IS HERE . The God-Man. One who, knowing our infirmities and temptations, is able to succor them that are tempted. The true King who is to reign in righteousness is prophesied of. "A man shall be." Christ has been the Refuge and the Rest of hearts wearied of the world and scorched with its radiant beams. We are led to Christ. Not to theological systems; not to human creeds; but to Christ. The shadow! Yes. Shadow of a cross, where we may find forgiveness and. peace. Shadow of brotherhood, where we may find true sympathy in our hours of loneliness and disappointment. Shadow, where we may recline and rest as the patriarch did under the oaks of Beersheba, and Moses did under the mountains of old. And Christ’s Divinity is proclaimed in the words, "a great Rock" High as heaven, having its roots in God’s own eternal years. So great that it offers shelter for all the weary hearts of men. II. A IS HERE IMPLIED. "A weary land" The pilgrims are passing on through the scorching heat, the camel-drivers walking then, as they do now, in the shadow cast by these "ships of the desert." Before them stretch miles on miles of burning sand. The blinding sun is above them. With their white cummerbunds and their light Eastern dress, they ease the heat-burden all they can. And now the great mountains come in sight. Some with gentle acclivities and some with sharp-cut rocks jutting out above the pilgrim-way. What blessed shadows they cast! Such shady places are our sabbaths and sacraments and sanctuaries, our holy moments of Divine fellowship, when God comes near and casts over us the protecting shadow of his gracious presence. III. IS THE OF THE WAY, "A weary land." We are often tired. How many hearts have said, "O God, I am a-weary!" and then, instead of the sad cry, "O God, that I were dead!" we hear the voices of spiritual souls crying, "Oh that I knew where I might find him!" and the blessed answer comes from the lips of the incarnate God himself, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"—weary with the load of sin; weary with the care and fret of daily life; weary with inward conflicts; weary with ceaseless watching, for our Arab enemies dash suddenly by, and point their rifle as they fly. Pain makes us weary. The loss of dear, true-hearted friends makes us weary. Doubt, with all our dark mental conflicts—doubt, which is sometimes the exquisite action of a sincere mind, makes us weary. So we come to the great Father, and rest in the gracious answer to the cry, "Lord, show us the Father," in the revelation vouchsafed unto us by our Divine Lord, who has taught us when we pray to say, "Our Father," and also has declared, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."—W.M.S. BY W. Refuge in Christ and in one another. In this country we can hardly hope to feel all the three and beauty of this illustration. To do that we must have visited tropical regions. There, with the rays of the sun shining directly down, the heat becomes so intense and intolerable that it cannot be endured, and often "the shadow of a great rock" means, not merely refreshment, but salvation. And as with the heat, so with the storm—the whirlwind, the tempest, the simoom: what desolations do not these produce? what terrors do they not excite? How precious in such lands, on such occasions, the hiding-place from the wind, the covert from the storm! But lifting our thoughts from the illustration to the thing itself which is pictured here, to that human heart and life of which all visible nature only supplies the types and hints, we make no abatement for change of scene; for the scorching rays of temptation fall as fiercely and the winds of passion blow as furiously in England as in Judaea, or in Babylon, or in India. Indeed, such are the confusions and complications of our time, so subtle and so seductive are the temptations to err from the straight line of rectitude, that more rather than less is there need for a hiding-place for the heart, a covert from the storm of sorrow and of sin. A man shall be for a hiding-place! One man in particular? or any man at any time in any land? In both senses the words may be taken. We may consider— I. CHRIST THE REFUGE OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 1. Such he was in the days of his flesh, For his disciples had to share something of the enmity and opposition he encountered, and they always found an effectual shield in his protection. As evangelists they brought their success and their disappointment to him, that the one might be sanctified and the other be relieved (Luke 10:17-20). When worsted by the enemy, they felt back on his power and found defeat swallowed up in victory (Matthew 17:14-20). When imminent danger threatened their lives, they made their appeal to his all-con-trolling voice (Matthew 8:23-27). 2. Such he became, in a deeper sense, after his ascension. It was expedient that he should go away. "Before his departure he was with them, afterwards he was in them." The death and the resurrection of the Lord enlightened their minds and changed their spirits. Then they went to him as they never could have done during his presence; they trusted in him, gave themselves to him, leaned on him, were lost in him, as they would not have been: he became, in a deeper and fuller sense, the Hiding-place of their hearts. 3. Such is he now to all believing hearts. (1) As sinners, burdened with a sense of guilt and craving mercy and reconciliation, we want some other refuge than we can find in the best and wisest of mankind; and with what glad eagerness, with what profound thankfulness, with what inexpressible relief, do we resort to him, and cry- Let me hide myself in thee!" (2) As the children of sorrow, we have need of more than human help! There are depths of disappointment, extremities of loss, intensities of pain and suffering, wastes of loneliness, gulfs of darkness and woe, for which human sympathy is entirely inadequate, in which the only thing we can do is to hasten to that Son of man who is touched most keenly with the feeling of our trials, and say— "Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly!" II. THE REFUGE WE MAY BE TO ONE ANOTHER. Any man may be, and every man should seek to be, a hiding-place, a covert. Oar domestic life shows us how this may be, and provides the first instance and best picture of human shelter. Our social life should provide us with many opportunities of succoring the needy and the tried. Our Church life should do the same; every Christian Church should be an asylum for the poor, the weak, the sad, the anxious-minded, the troubled of heart. Who would not like so to live, with such quick and ready sympathy of spirit, with such kindliness and hopefulness of word, with such friendliness of uplifting hand and sustaining arm, that his life should be suggestive of the words, "A man shall be a hiding-place?"—C. Isaiah 32:3, Isaiah 32:4 Disabled and restored. The words are suggestive of the spiritual incapacity of which Israel was too often guilty (see Ezekiel 12:2), and of the recovery which, in better days, they were to experience. I. MAN BY SIN. There are four directions in which we suffer sad deterioration and incapacity as the consequence of our sin. 1. Spiritual perception. After some transgressions, after continued disobedience and estrangement from God, we fail to "see light in his light;" our vision of his truth is less clear and full; sacred truths lose their true proportions in our view. Then come positive error, actual misconception, moral blindness; and finally comes that terrible mental distortion of which the Master spoke so sorrowfully and the prophet wrote so strongly (Matthew 6:22, Matthew 6:23; Isaiah 5:20). 2. Recognition of the Divine voice. The commission of sin ends in, first, a partial, and ultimately a complete, spiritual deafness. At first the quieter and more habitual tones in which God is speaking to us (daily loving-kindnesses, sabbath privileges, etc.) become inaudible to us, convey no message to us from God; then more distinct and unmistakable voices from heaven are unheeded and unheard; at last, the loudest demands which God ever makes fail to produce any impression on the ear of the soul. 3. The choice of that which is wise. The rash heart (of the text) is the heart which chooses precipitately, and therefore foolishly. Under the dominion of sin we come to choose the visible in preference to the invisible, the material to the spiritual, the transient to the abiding, the human to the Divine. 4. The utterance of Divine truth. The clouded vision naturally leads to the "stammering tongue." As man becomes more affected by the sin which dwells within and works upon him, he utters God’s truth less plainly, less faithfully, more partially, with ever-widening divergence from the mind of the Eternal. II. THE TOUCH OF DIVINE POWER. When man has become disabled there is no hope for him but in God. Human teaching is valuable enough, but it dues not avail. Only the awakening, reviving touch of the Divine power, brought into immediate contact with the soul, can call back these slumbering powers. But it can and does; God’s renewing Spirit breaks upon the disabled mind, upon the degenerate nature, and that which was lost is regained; the faculties of the soul revive. Then we have— III. . Revived by the power of God: 1. We see clearly. We apprehend the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning us, the excellency of his service, the beauties of holiness, the luxury of usefulness. 2. We hear distinctly the voice of God as he speaks to us in his Word, in his providence, in the privileges of the Christian Church. 3. We choose wisely. We become thoughtful, reflective, studious of the Divine desire, obedient, and therefore wise; we "understand knowledge." 4. We speak plainly. Discerning that which is acceptable in the sight of the Lord, we speak simply, faithfully, fearlessly, "with all boldness as we ought to speak," "the everlasting gospel"—both the elementary truths which make wise unto salvation, and those "deeper things of God," which enrich the mind and sanctify the spirit.—C. Isaiah 32:5-8 A mark of good government, etc. Three lines of thought are here laid down. We have— I. A MARK OF GOOD . The displacement of the unworthy and the elevation of the good and wise. Under the reign of the righteous King (Isaiah 32:1) the "fool will no longer be called a nobleman," the man of mean character but lofty rank will be made to know his true place in the commonwealth; on the other hand, the man who has in him the qualities of nobility (Isaiah 32:8) shall have the opportunity of dealing graciously and bountifully. There is no surer sign of demoralization, no more certain indication of approaching ruin in any community, than the promotion of the unfit and the unworthy; and there is no healthier symptom than the advancement of the upright and the capable. Let nations, societies, Churches, look to it. II. A HINT AS TO SIN’S LARGE . 1. Its tenacity of purpose. "The vile person will [continue to] speak villany, and his heart [to] work iniquity" (Isaiah 32:6). You may put him in a position in which you might hope that the commonest self-respect would ensure propriety of conduct, but you will be mistaken; the corrupt tree will bear evil fruit on any soil. 2. Its guilefulness. "To practice hypocrisy;" professing justice and purity, it enacts all that is unfair and evil. 3. Its falsity. "To utter error," etc. Sin, especially when found in high places, is most mischievous in that it scatters everywhere the fruitful seeds of error; it poisons the mind with misleading fancies, with shallow notions which may sound well but are essentially false and which conduct to wrong and ruin. Thus it leads men to act "against the Lord," for they pursue a path which he has forbidden, and they diffuse principles which are hostile to his reign. 4. Its heartlessness. (Isaiah 32:6.) What though the issue of those evil actions be that men’s hearts are hungry and their souls athirst; what though they bring about impoverishment, destitution—bodily or spiritual, or both together,—let the cup be drained, let the game be played out! 5. Its unscrupulousness. Its "instruments are evil" (Isaiah 32:7). 6. Its effrontery. (Isaiah 32:7.) They whom it is wronging may be the poor, and therefore the appropriate objects of compassion; they may be the innocent, those who are in the right, and therefore the proper objects of regard; nothing but downright falsehood may suffice to prevail against them (Ahab and Naboth). No matter; let the case be established, let sentence be executed! III. A OF . "The liberal deviseth liberal things," etc. (Isaiah 32:8). 1. A man of a noble nature will find opportunities for doing generous things. How well a man serves the Church or the world is not a question of circumstance half so much as a matter of character. Given a free, generous, open-hearted man, and you may confidently reckon on repeated and continuous acts of unselfish usefulness. ’Jesus "went about doing good, for God was with him," and because God was in him; because, in him, as in a perennial fountain, dwelt Divine love, pity, self-sacrifice. We need care comparatively little about arranging opportunities of service, though that is not a matter of indifference; what is of supreme consequence is that those we teach and train should have planted within them the sacred seeds of holy, Christian generosity. 2. Generous measures will give a noble heart stability: by them "he shall stand." (1) They will commend him to the affection and the support of the direct recipients of his goodness (Job 29:11-13). (2) They will result in general prosperity (Proverbs 11:24; Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6). (3) They will. command the blessing of God (Psalms 41:1; Psalms 112:9; Luke 6:35; Hebrews 13:16).—C. Isaiah 32:17, Isaiah 32:18 The peaceable fruit of righteousness. Righteousness and peace may be supposed to be entirely separate things; by those who look only on the surface they may even be imagined to be opposed to one another. In fact, they are closely and even vitally related to each other. I. THOSE WHO ARE OF ARE OF PEACE. To them peace is simply incommunicable; it does not come within the range of their faculties. The horse, the swallow, the salmon, the unintelligent and irresponsible animal, may have quietude and comfort, but it cannot enjoy peace, in the fullest and truest sense in which we use that word. It is only capable of that sense of satisfaction which attends a perfect adjustment of its circumstances to its bodily nature; but that is not peace. Peace is that spiritual contentment which results from inward as well as outward harmony—from a sense of rectitude, a consciousness that everything is right in its most important, most sacred relationships. They who are beneath the sense of responsibility, and are therefore incapable of righteousness, can never possibly attain to the possession of peace; they are constitutionally below it. II. THEY WHO HAVE LOST MUST REGAIN IT BEFORE THEY CAN HAVE THE OF PEACE. 1. This is so with the comer, unity. When the country, or the company, or the Church has fallen into disorder because it has fallen into error and the commission of wrong, there is but one way to regain the harmony which has been lost. Absolutism will never yield it. Force will not secure it. Compromise will not permanently restore it. Nothing will avail until righteousness is re-established. Justice must be done to those to whom it has been denied. Rights must be conceded to those who have fairly won them. Relations must be adjusted to changed conditions; every one and everything must make way for rectitude. In no other way whatever will the path of peace be found. 2. It is thus with the human soul. We have all wandered from the way of wisdom and of righteousness; we have refused to God the love, the reverence, the service which is his due and which it is our highest interest to render. We have thereby become disordered, disquieted, confused; instead of dwelling in "a peaceable habitation," in "quiet resting-places," we have become inhabitants of a realm of condemnation, reproach, peril, , agitation, misery. There is no way back to the home of rest which we have left behind us but by a return to righteousness; that is to say, by repentance, the turning our back on the sinful selfishness in which we have been living, and becoming right with God, accepting the gracious offer of his Son our Savior (Matthew 11:28, Matthew 11:29). (1) Rejection of truth may give a false security; (2) absorption in worldly pursuits or in pleasurable excitements may provide temporary indifference; but only righteousness, only the restoration of the soul to its true relation to God, by repentance and faith, will give peace. III. WILL ENSURE PEACE BOTH IN AND IS . It will effect: 1. Reconciliation with God, and the consequent "peace which passes understanding"—a blissful, satisfying "rest unto the soul," which is incomparably more precious than any earthly satisfaction to the body or the spirit. 2. The inward and abiding rest which belongs to spiritual harmony; this is the invariable consequence of the soul being in a right relation with the Supreme, and with its fellows, and of all its faculties being rightly related to one another. 3. A peaceful departure from the present life. 4. A home in the quiet resting-place of the heavenly land.—C. Fruitful labor. "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters." "There will he widespread desolation," says the prophet; "the fields will be untilled, the land will he covered with briars and thorns; but a glorious change shall come over the scene’—the ’wilderness shall become a fruitful field’ (Isaiah 32:15), the happy scenes of industry will again be witnessed, the arts and industries of agriculture will revive and flourish in all their former fullness. Happy will be the land that shall put forth its whole strength in the field; ’blessed are they that sow beside all waters.’ ’Two general truths spring from this passage. I. THAT THEY ARE BLESSED WHO PUT FORTH ALL THE POWERS WITH WHICH THEY ARE ENDOWED. It should be the happiness of Israel in its time of restoration to leave no soil uncultivated that would yield produce; they would sow beside all waters. All its inhabitants, with all their agricultural implements, would be busy in the open fields; no strength left unexercised in the homes; no weapons left unused in the storehouses. Unhappy indeed is (1) the country whose population is doomed to enforced idleness, whose looms are still, whose ploughs are rusting in the homestead; (2) the family where sons and daughters are letting their various faculties lie idle, when they might be put forth to their own great advantage and for the good of others; (3) the man whose individual powers are slumbering in his soul, unspent and undeveloped. Blessed are they who expend all the resources they possess, who cultivate all their skill of hand, who develop all their strength of mind, who so put out all their talents that the whole energies of their spiritual nature will be employed, increased, perfected. By sowing beside all waters is meant sowing seed in well-watered, and therefore fruitful, soil. The expression consequently contains the idea— II. THAT THEY ARE BLESSED WHO ARE ENGAGED IN LABOR. This is peculiarly true of the Christian workman. 1. He had the very best seed to sow: truth, which God took centuries to prepare, which is the purchase of a Savior’s tears and blood, which is exquisitely adapted to the soil for which it is intended. 2. He has well-watered, i.e. fertile, responsive soil in which to place it. He has, amongst others: (1) The virgin soil of youth. Youth may often be inattentive, frivolous, unstable; nevertheless it is docile, affectionate, trustful, tender-hearted. (2) The prepared soil of affliction. When God has chastened the soul with his fatherly hand, there is a softness of spirit, an impressionableness of heart which makes words of comfort, of exhortation, of warning peculiarly welcome. (3) The productive soil of poverty. From the days when "the common people heard Jesus gladly," and when it was said "to the poor the gospel is preached," to these times in which we live, the poor have been comparatively rich in faith and hope. By those to whom the riches and enjoyments of earth are denied, the treasures of truth and the blessedness of the kingdom of God are likely to be prized and gained ." A due discrimination of character would be made in the times of the Messiah, and persons and things would be called by their appropriate names (comp. Malachi 3:18; Matthew 23:13-33; Ephesians 5:5)" (Henderson). "The differences between good and evil, virtue and vice, shall be kept up, and no more confounded by those who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Matthew Henry). These sentences show that the subject introduced is the influence of a righteous reign in helping men to see things as they really are, and to estimate persons according to their true worth, and not according to the mere show they may make. We deal specially with those confusions which come by false judgments of persons, and these take the following, among other forms. I. OF TALENTS BLINDS US TO BADNESS OF . What is thought to be "genius" is too often allowed to excuse all sorts of laxity. The men who can astonish and amuse us may be unclean, untruthful, injurious; but we readily pass all this by. When righteousness reigns, talent will have to go with character, or men will count it to be Satanic agency. What a man can do must never be separated from what the man is. II. THE COMMAND OF WEALTH BRINGS TO BAD MEN. There is no more painful sign of the moral deterioration of a race, than its worship of the rich because they are rich. Money can never make goodness. Wealth is not the stability of a nation. Its hope lies wholly in its good men. Yet the rich man may be violent, rude, masterful, cruel; nevertheless, multitudes will fawn on him, and call the "Vile person liberal." When righteousness reigns, that confusion will be rectified, and the rich man shall have worship only if he deserves it for what he is. III. THE RANK AND SOCIAL OF MEN NOW THEIR FELLOWS, AND MAKE TRUE NEARLY . Well does Robert Burns remind us that "The rank is but the guinea-stamp, A man’s a man for a’ that." No word of bitterness need be spoken concerning those to whom God has entrusted talents, or wealth, or social position. The point to enforce is simply the peril of letting these things confuse our ideas of moral character and moral worth. Evil is evil, and must be denounced as evil, in the genius, the man of wealth, and the man of title. Let Christ reign, and sin will be called sin, wherever it is found. He will strip all disguises off, and show us things as they are, and men as they are. The Lord hasten his coming!—R.T. The stability of liberal men. "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand," or, "be established." It is quite possible that Isaiah had in mind the good King Hezekiah, of whom very noble and generous things are narrated in 2 Chronicles 30:22-26. Passing away to Messianic times, we are to see that the true subjects of Messiah, the ideal Prince, the King who reigns in righteousness, will be distinguished by a noble-minded benevolence, contriving and persevering in the execution of enlarged schemes of charity. In Psalms 110:3 they are very strikingly described as "a people of voluntarinesses." The term here used, "liberal," is a comprehensive one and may fairly include— I. THE NOBLE-MINDED MAN. That is the man who takes high, generous views; who does not make himself, and his own small interests, the measure of all his opinions and judgments. The man who is, everywhere and in everything, ruled by what is right, and not by what will pay. That man may often seem to be at disadvantage. Keenly self-interested men push him aside and push before him. It is not really so. God will give him the only true and eternal prosperities. He deviseth liberal things; in liberal things he perseveres; and by liberal things he shall stand. II. THE BROAD-MINDED MAN. Who is not limited in his views by the sect or school to which he belongs, the class in society of which he forms part, or even by the bias which follows his own preferences in reading. The man who knows the "world is wide," and has room for all kinds of men and all varieties of opinion. The man who is quite sure there is a "soul of good somewhere, even in things evil." That man makes the best of life, gets honey everywhere. He is a "liberal soul, that shall be made fat." This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION X. A OF ON ASSYRIA (Isaiah 33:1-24.). Isaiah 33:1-6 THE ON ASSYRIA AND OF , STATED . Events had progressed since the preceding prophecies were delivered. The negotiations carried on with Sennacherib had been futile (Isaiah 33:7), the heavy fine imposed and paid (2 Kings 18:14) had been of no avail (Isaiah 33:18); the Assyrian monarch was still dissatisfied, and threatened a second siege. Already he was upon his march, spoiling and ravaging (Isaiah 33:1). The people of the country districts had removed into the town (Isaiah 33:8)—in a little time the vast host might be expected to appear before the walls. All was terror, grief, and confusion. Under these circumstances, Isaiah is once more commissioned to declare the approaching discomfiture of the mighty conqueror, and deliverance of Jerusalem out of his hand (verses 3, 4). The deliverance ushers in a reign of righteousness (Verses 5, 6). Isaiah 33:1 Woe to thee that spoilest. The "spoiler" is here, evidently, Assyria—the world-power of this entire group of prophecies (see especially Isaiah 30:31; Isaiah 31:8), and the greatest "spoiler" of Isaiah’s time. Thou wast not spoiled; i.e. "that hast not yet been spoiled thyself." A covert threat is conveyed in the words. And dealest treacherously; rather, usest violence (compare the comment on Isaiah 21:2). When thou shalt cease to spoil, etc. Conquering nations cannot with safety pause on their career. Their aggressions have roused so many enmities that, let them cease to attack, and at once they are attacked in their turn. Every man’s baud is against the spoiler whose hand has been against every man. Isaiah 33:2 O Lord, etc. The mingling of prayer with prophecy is very unusual, and indicative of highly excited feeling. Isaiah realizes fully the danger of his people and nation, and knows that without prayer there is no deliverance. His prayer is at once an outpouring of his own heart, and an example to others. We have waited for thee (comp. Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 26:8). Their Am; i.e. "the Arm of thy people." Every morning. Continually, day by day, since their need of thy support is continual. Isaiah 33:3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; rather, the peoples; i.e. the contingents from many nations which made up the huge army of Sennacherib. The "noise" is that caused by God "lifting up himself" (comp. Psalms 29:3-9). Isaiah 33:4 Your spoil shall be gathered. The "spoiling" of Assyria would commence with the discomfiture of the great host. In the historical narrative (2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36) nothing is said of it; but, beyond a doubt, when the host was to a largo extent destroyed, and the remainder fled, there must have been an enormous booty left behind, which the enemies of the Assyrians would naturally seize. A further spoiling of the fugitives probably followed; and, the prestige of the great king being gone, marauding bands would probably on all sides ravage the Assyrian territory. Like the gathering of the caterpillar. The "caterpillar" (khasil) is probably the grub out of which the locust develops—a very destructive insect. Shall he run. It would be better to render, shall they run. The word, indeed, is in the singular; but it is used distributively, of the various spoilers. Isaiah 33:5 The Lord is exalted. His destruction of the Assyrian host is an exaltation of God; i.e. it causes him to be exalted in the thoughts of those who have cognizance of the fact (comp. Exodus 15:14-16; Psalms 96:3-10, etc.). It is an indication to them that he has his dwelling on high, and is the true King of heaven. He hath filled Zion with judgment, etc. (comp. Isaiah 32:15-17). The destruction is, in part, the result, in part the cause, of the Jews once more turning to God, putting away their iniquities, and establishing the reign of justice and righteousness in the land (see Isaiah 1:26). Isaiah 33:6 Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times; literally, and the stability of thy times shall be (i.e. consist in) a rich store of salvations, wisdom, and knowledge. The prophet here addresses the people of Judah in the second person, though in the next clause he reverts to the third. Such transitions are common in ancient compositions, and especially characterize the writings of Isaiah. The fear of the Lord is his treasure; i.e. the wisdom intended is that which is based upon "the fear of the Lord" (Psalms 111:10). This will be at once Judah’s "treasure," and a guarantee of stability to her government and institutions (compare the Homiletics on Isaiah 32:15-17). Isaiah 33:7-12 THE PROPHET ENTERS FURTHER INTO . Having "sketched the main outlines of his revelation," Isaiah proceeds to "fill in and apply the details" (Cheyne). He first describes the despair and low condition of Judah: the men of war wailing aloud; the ambassadors just returned kern Laehish weeping at the ill success of their embassy; all travelling stopped; the land wasted and made a desert; the Assyrians still ravaging and destroying, despite the peace which had been made (2 Kings 18:14-16). Then suddenly he sees Jehovah rousing himself (verse 10), and the Assyrians con-stoned, as if with a fire (verses 11, 12). Isaiah 33:7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without. "Their lion-hearts "(Cheyne); "heroes" (Delitzsch). Literally, lions of God (comp. Isaiah 29:1). They raise a cry of mourning in the streets, with child-like effusiveness (comp. Herod; 8:99; 9:24). The ambassadors of peace. Hezekiah probably sent several embassies to Sennacherib in the course of the war. One went to Lachish, offering submission, in B.C. 701 (2 Kings 18:14); another to Nineveh, with tribute and presents, in the same or the following year. A third probably sought to deprecate Sennacherib’s auger, when he made his second invasion (2 Kings 18:17) in B.C. 699 (?). These last would seem to be the "ambassadors" of this verse. Isaiah 33:8 The highways lie waste (croup. Judges 5:6). The meaning is that’ they were unoccupied. Fear of the Assyrians restrained men from travelling. He hath broken the covenant. Sennacherib, when he accepted the sum of money sent him by Hezekiah, must have consented to leave him unmolested for the future. But in a very short time we find him, apparently without any reasonable pretext, sending a fresh expedition against Jerusalem, requiring it to be admitted within the walls, and even threatening the city with destruction (2 Kings 18:17-35; 2 Kings 19:10-13). Isaiah, therefore, taxes him with having broken his covenant. Despised cities. "Sennacherib," says Delitzsch, "continued to storm the fortified places of Judah, in violation of his agreement." Regardeth no man; i.e. "pays no attention to the protests that are made against his infraction of the treaty—does not care what is said or thought of him." Isaiah 33:9 The earth mourneth; rather, the land. Lebanon is … hewn down; rather, as in the margin, is withered away (comp. Isaiah 19:6). Lebanon, Sharon, Carmel, and Bashan are the four most beautiful regions of the Holy Land, taking the word in its widest extent. Lebanon is the northern mountain-range, one hundred and twenty miles in length, clad with cedars and firs, and generally crowned with snow, whence the name (from laban, white). Sharon is "the broad rich tract of land" which stretches southwards from the foot of Carmel, and melts into the Shefelah, noted for its flowers (Son 2:1) and forests (Josephus, ’Ant. Jud.,’ 14.13, § 3). Carmel is the upland dividing Sharon from the Esdraelon plain, famous for its "rocky dells" and "deep jungles of copse." Finally, Bashan is the trans-Jordanic upland, stretching from the flanks of Hermon to Gilead, celebrated for its "high downs" and "wide-sweeping plains," for its "forests of oak," and in ancient times for its herds of wild cattle. All are said to be "waste," "withered," and the like, partly on account of the Assyrian ravages, but perhaps still more as sympathizing with the Jewish nation in their distress—"ashamed" for them, and clad in mourning on their account. Shake off their fruits; rather, perhaps, shake down their leaves. Mr. Cheyne conjectures that the prophecy was delivered in autumn. Isaiah 33:10 Now will I rise. Judah’s extremity is Jehovah’s opportunity. "Now" at length the time is come for God to show himself, tic will rise from his throne, and actively display his power; he will exalt himself above the heathen—lift himself up above the nations. Isaiah 33:11 Ye shall conceive chaff. The Assyrian plans against Jerusalem shall be mere "chaff" and "stubble." They shall come to naught. Nay, the fury of the foe against Jerusalem shall be the fire to destroy them. Isaiah 33:12 The people; rather, the peoples, as in Isaiah 33:3; i.e. the nations composing the Assyrian army. As the burnings of lime; as thorns. Things that fire consumes utterly and quickly. Isaiah 33:13-24 ON ASSYRIA’S VIEWED AS . The prophet’s first thought is, how wonderfully the overthrow has manifested the might of God (Isaiah 33:13). Next, how it must thrill with fear the hearts of the wicked among his people (Isaiah 33:14). Thirdly, how the righteous are by it placed in security, and can look back with joy to their escape, and can with confidence look forward to a future of happiness and tranquil lily (Isaiah 33:15-24). Messianic ideas intermingle with these latter thoughts (Isaiah 33:17, Isaiah 33:23), the image of a happy, tranquil Judah melting into that of Messiah’s glorious kingdom. Isaiah 33:13 Hear, ye that are far off, etc. Jehovah speaks by the mouth of his prophet, and calls on the nations of the earth, far and near, to consider and acknowledge his might, as shown in his judgment on Assyria (comp. Exodus 15:14-16). Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid. The prophet proceeds to speak in his own person. The judgment on Assyria, he says, cannot but strike terror into the hearts of the immoral and irreligious in Zion. They cannot fail to realize their own danger, and to tremble at it. Who among us, they will say, can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? They will recognize God as "a consuming Fire" (Deuteronomy 4:24), whose next outbreak may be upon themselves, and will shudder at the prospect. Isaiah 33:15 He that walketh righteously, etc. The prophet answers the question which he has supposed to be asked. None can endure the revelation of the presence of God but the holy and the upright—"he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalms 24:4; comp. Psalms 15:2-5). Uprightness is then explained as consisting in six things mainly— (1) Just conduct; (2) righteous speech; (3) hatred of oppression; (4) rejection of bribes; (5) closing the ear against murderous suggestions; (6) closing the eye against sinful sights. We may compare with this summa, y those of the Psalms above quoted. No enumeration is complete, or intended to be complete. Isaiah’s has special reference to the favorite sins of the time—injustice (Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:23), oppression (Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:12, Isaiah 3:14; Isaiah 5:7; etc.), the receiving of bribes (Isaiah 1:23; Hosea 4:18; Micah 3:11), and bloodshed (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:21; Isaiah 59:3). Isaiah 33:16 He shall dwell on high; literally, inhabit heights—live, as it were, in the perpetual presence of God. His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; rather, strongholds of rocks (i.e. rocky strongholds) shall be his refuge. He shall fly to God, as his "Rock and his Fortress" (Psalms 18:2), not from him, as his "Enemy and Avenger" (Pc. Isaiah 8:2). Bread … waters; i.e. all that is necessary for his support and sustenance. Shall be given him … shall be sure; rather, is given him … is sure. Godliness has "the promise of the life that now is," as well as that of the life "which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8). Isaiah 33:17 Thine eyes. Another transition. Here from the third person to the second, the prophet now addressing those righteous ones of whom he has been speaking in the two preceding verses. Shall see the King in his beauty. The Messianic King, whoever he might be, and whenever he might make his appearance. It has been said that beauty is not predicated of the heavenly King (Cheyne); but Zechariah 9:17; Psalms 45:2.; and Canticles, passim, contradict this assertion. "How great is his beauty;" "Thou art fairer than the children of men;" "His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely." The land that is very far off; literally, the land of far distances. Bishop Lowth renders, "Thine own land far extended," and so Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne. But if "the King" is Messianic, so doubtless is "the land"—the world-wide tract over which Messiah will reign (Revelation 21:1). Isaiah 33:18 Thine heart shall meditate terror; i.e. "thou shalt look back upon the past time of terror, the dreadful period of the siege, and contrast it with thy present happiness." Mr. Cheyne quotes as an illustration, appositely enough, Virgil’s "Et haec olim meminisse juvabit." Where is the scribe … the receiver? …. he that counted the towers? Where now are the Assyrian officials—the scribe, who registered the amount of the tribute and booty; the receiver, who weighed the gold and silver carefully in a balance; and the engineer officer who surveyed the place to be besieged, estimated its strength, and counted its towers? All have perished or have fled away in dismay. Isaiah 33:19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, etc.; rather, thou shalt see no more that barbarous people—the Assyrians—a people gruff of speech that thou canst not hear them, stammering of tongue that thee caner not understand them (comp. Isaiah 28:11). The generation which witnessed the destruction of Sennacherib’s army probably did not see the Assyrians again. It was not till about B.C. 670 that Manasseh was "taken with hooks by the captains of the King of Assyria, and carried to Babylon" (2 Chronicles 33:11). Isaiah 33:20 Look upon Zion, etc.; i.e. turn thy thoughts, O Judah, from the past to the present—from the time of the siege to the time after the siege terminated. The city of our solemnities; or, of our festal meetings; the city where we celebrate our Passovers, our Feasts of Weeks, our Feasts of Ingathering, and the like. A tent that shall not be taken down. There is, perhaps, a reference to Sennacherib’s threat to remove the entire population from Jerusalem to a far country (Isaiah 36:19). This threat should not take effect. Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed. By "the stakes" are meant "the tent-pegs," to which the ropes are fastened which keep the tent firm (comp. Exodus 27:10; Exodus 38:18, Exodus 38:31; Judges 4:21). The promise that they shall "never" be removed must be understood either as conditional on the people’s walking uprightly (Isaiah 33:15), or as a promise of a long continuance merely. Isaiah 33:21 But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a Place of broad rivers; rather, there in majesty the Lord is ours; [the Lord who is] a Place of broad rivers, etc. Some critics think that "a place of broad rivers" may be exegetical of sham, "there," and so apply it to Jerusalem; but the majority regard the phrase as applied directly to Jehovah. As he is "a Place to hide in" (Psalms 32:7; Psalms 119:114), so he may be "a Place of broad rivers," full, i.e. of refreshment and spiritual blessing. Wherein shall go no galley. The river of God’s grace, which "makes glad the city of God, "shall bear no enemy on its surface, allow no invader to cross it. Isaiah 33:23 Thy tacklings are loosed. The comparing of God to a river has led to the representation of Judah’s enemies as warships (Isaiah 33:21). This causes Judah herself to be viewed as a ship—a badly appointed ship, which has to contend with one whose equipment is perfect. The prophet’s thoughts have traveled back to the existing state of things. They could not well strengthen their mast; rather, they cannot hold firm the lower part of their mast. The mast had its lower extremity inserted into a hole in a cross-beam, and required to be kept in place by the ropes. If they were loose, it might slip out of the hole and fall overboard. They could not spread the sail; rather, they cannot spread the ensign. The ensign would seem to have been attached to the top of the mast. If the mast fell, it would no longer be spread out, so as to be seen. Then is the prey of a great spoil divided. The word "then" is emphatic. Now the disabled ship seems incapable of coping with its enemy. Then (after Assyria’s overthrow) Judah will obtain an immense spoil (see Isaiah 33:4). Even the lame shall have their portion. Isaiah 33:24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. There shall be no sickness in the restored Jerusalem at least, no "sickness unto death." The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Once more the prophet floats off into Messianic anticipations. The fear of the Lord, Judah’s treasure. The best treasure of a nation is a religious spirit. Judaea had been ravaged by the host of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, had had all her "fenced cities" taken (Isaiah 36:1), had been stripped of her most precious treasures in silver and gold by the rapacious king, and was left with an empty treasury, down-trodden vineyards, and fields unsown (2 Kings 19:19); but her best treasure still remained to her—she was rich in "the fear of the Lord." The fear of the Lord gave her (1) wisdom, to direct her steps aright, to keep out of entangling alliances, and abstain from provoking attack; (2) energy, to throw off her depression and struggle manfully against her misfortunes, to clear and sow her lands, replant her vineyards (2 Kings 19:19), and rebuild her villages and country towns; and (3) complete trust in God, to support her amid all trials and troubles through which she might have to pass, and secure her against the despondency which is the worst foe of declining states. After the deliverance which she had experienced, it must have been plain to her that "God was in the midst of her;" that his power had no limit; and that, so long as she feared him and put her trust in his protection, she was safe from any and every enemy. A nation thus circumstanced is a thousand times richer than one which has countless store of silver and gold laid up in its treasuries, granaries overflowing, lands teeming with crops, magnificent cities full of goodly merchandise, well-stored magazines and arsenals, but no trust in a Divine Protector, nor reliance on him who is alone "mighty to save." The opportuneness of God’s judgments. It is characteristic of Divine interpositions that they take place at the moment of greatest need. Isaac is on the point of being sacrificed when the angel calls to Abraham out of heaven (Genesis 22:10, Genesis 22:11). Elisha is compassed about with horsemen and chariots, and on the point of falling into his enemies’ hands, when they are smitten with blindness (2 Kings 6:15-18). The Israelites are hemmed in between the Egyptians and the sea, and must perish on the morrow, when the waters are divided for them, and a way opened to them for escape (Exodus 14:10-22). More especially is the appropriateness of the time noticeable, when the interposition is in the shape of a judgment. Judgments are opportune doubly: (1) with respect to those on whom they fall; (2) with respect to those whom they relieve. I. ARE WITH RESPECT TO THOSE ON WHOM THEY FALL. God is so merciful that he will not judge men "before the time," or until they have "filled up the measure of their iniquities." Hence it is the general rule that his enemies are at their greatest height of exaltation, and at the very acmé of their haughtiness and pride, when the fatal blow falls upon them. Assyria had reached the zenith of her greatness under Sennacherib in B.C. 700. He himself had reached a pitch of arrogance unknown to former kings (2 Kings 19:23, 2 Kings 19:24; 2 Kings 19:8), when the destroying angel went forth. So Nebuchadnezzar was stricken down at the height of his glory and his glorying (Daniel 4:29-33); and Haman had attained to the greatest elevation possible for a subject (Esther 5:11) when he was seized and hanged in front of his house. Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:21-23) is another instance; and so, perhaps, is Arius. II. ARE WITH RESPECT TO THOSE WHOM THEY RELIEVE. Generally, though not always, a deliverance accompanies a judgment. God, when he "putteth down one, setteth up another." Hezekiah and the Jewish nation were delivered by the destruction of Sennacherib’s host. Mordecai was saved when Haman suffered death. Alexander and the Catholics of Constantinople breathed again when Arius suddenly expired. The Church had rest when Galerius perished miserably. It is in their utmost need especially that God succors men, perhaps because they then turn to him with most sincerity, and offer their supplications to him with most earnestness. When they call to him "out of the depth," their need and their faith both plead for them, and he "hears their voice" (Psalms 130:1, Psalms 130:2). The King in his beauty. When Christ appeared on earth at his first coming, he "had no beauty that men should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2). Roughly clad and toil-worn, whatever the heavenly expression of his countenance, he did not strike men as beautiful, majestic, or even as "comely" (Isaiah 53:2). But at his second coming it will be different. St. John the Divine describes him as he saw him in vision: "In the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" Revelation 1:13-16). The description in Canticles is cast in a more terrene mould, but equally indicates a more than earthly beauty: "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely" (So Son 5:10-16). The following adaptation by Dr. Pusey of the words of an ancient writer says all that can be said by unassisted human pen on a topic transcending man’s power of thought or speech: "If we could ascend from the most beautiful form which the soul could here imagine, to the least glorious body of the beatified, on and on through the countless thousands of glorious bodies, compared wherewith heaven would be dark, and the sun lose its shining; and, yet more, from the most beautiful deified soul, as visible here, to the beauty of the disembodied soul, whose image would scarce be recognized … yea, let the God-enlightened soul go on and on, through all those choirs of the heavenly hierarchies, clad with the raiment of Divinity, from choir to choir, from hierarchy to hierarchy, admiring the order and beauty and harmony of the house of God; yea, let it, aided by Divine grace and light, ascend even higher, and reach the bound and term of all created beauty,—yet it must know that the Divine power and wisdom could create other creatures, far more perfect and beautiful than all which he hath hitherto created. Nay, let the highest of all the seraphs sum in one all the beauty by nature and grace and glory of all creatures, yet could it not be satisfied with that beauty, but must, because it was not satisfied with it, conceive some higher beauty. Were God forthwith, at every moment, to create that higher beauty at its wish, it could still conceive something beyond; for not being God, its beauty could not satisfy its conception. So let him still, and in hundred thousand, hundred thousand thousand years with swiftest flight of understanding, multiply continually those degrees of beauty, so that each fresh degree should ever double that preceding, and the Divine power should, with like swiftness, concur in creating that beauty, as in the beginning he said, ’Let there be light, and there was light;’ after all these millions of years he would be again at the beginning, and there would be no comparison between it and the Divine beauty of Jesus Christ, God and Man. For it is the bliss of the finite not to reach the Infinite". BY E. JOHNSON Jehovah a Refuge. It is "Israel’s extremity, but God’s opportunity." Retribution is about to fall on Assyria; salvation and every resource is to be found in Jehovah. I. WOE TO ASSYRIA. This land appears under the image of a rapacious spoiler. The time is about B.C. 700, and the allusion is to Sennacherib and his army, who had advanced on a plundering and destroying course. The tables are to be turned, and the greedy conqueror (of. 2 Kings 18:14, 2 Kings 18:15) was to become the object of other’s greed in turn. Whether the words imply a complaint of unprovoked aggression and of perfidy is not clear. But to the prophetic eye in every age it is clear that empires founded upon force, fraud, and rapacity cannot endure; that they who take the sword will perish by the sword. It was the fate of Assyria to fall beneath the mightier powers of Media and Babylon. II. THE OF PRAYER AND TRUST. "O Jehovah, be gracious unto us! For thee have we waited." It is the attitude of calm confidence; it is the mood in which things distant and unseen are realized. Here the prophet sees what is improbable to the eye of worldly calculation—the downfall of the proudest power of the time. It is not less an energetic attitude—all the endeavor of the spirit straining after that highest point of view, where the confusions of the time fall into the unity of the Divine purpose. It is a seeming weak, yet really powerful, attitude; the foe trembles when he sees us on our knees. The arm of Jehovah is the symbol of strength, put forth in time of danger, interposing and delivering (cf. Exodus 15:16; Job 40:9; Psalms 44:3; Psalms 77:15; Psalms 89:21; Psalms 98:1). Not only in particular emergencies, but "every morning," i.e. constantly and evermore, may that arm be ours to lean upon, and we shall be strong and know no fear. And such is the effect of this act of prayer and contemplation, that already the symptoms of change are heard in the air. There is a confused sound in the distance, as of the roll of many waters; the people are rushing in flight. Jehovah is seen lifting himself up (cf. Numbers 10:35; Psalms 68:1), and a great rout of the nations ensues; and the conquerors are seen swarming down upon the spoils, as the caterpillars on their food. III. THE OF JEHOVAH AS THEY ARE IN THOUGHT, AS THEY ARE BY EVENT. 1. His inviolable strength. He is secure; he is One who dwells in the height (Psalms 97:9). The heavens shall rather fall than he be dethroned, his dynasty over all nations come to an end. 2. His abundant resources of good. A chorus seems here to break forth in his praise. He has filled Zion with spiritual treasures, these being ever united with temporal blessings in the theocracy. Justice and righteousness. The effect of the temporal deliverance will be that men will turn to the Deliverer, and will walk in his ways and according to his laws (cf. Isaiah 30:22, etc.; Isaiah 31:6; Isaiah 32:15, etc.). Amidst the vicissitudes of these times, the people will have a principle of constancy. There will be "store of salvations" for every time of need in the religious "wisdom and knowledge" diffused among the people. Compare with this the picture of Hezekiah’s reign (2 Kings 18:1-37.). In one word, the "treasure" of the nation wilt be the fear of Jehovah, i.e. true religion—in distinction from successful wars or commercial prosperity. Perhaps the love of material treasured on the part of the kings of Judah is indirectly rebuked. The true wealth of a people, as of an individual, must ever be the mass of its available wisdom and piety.—J. The uprising of Jehovah. I. HIS IS A FIGURE OF . There are times when he seems to be still, seated, and looking on, and the course of events to defy his will (Isaiah 18:4). Men cry, "How long, O Lord? Awake, stir thyself up to deliver!" But he knows his own time; he is not a day too soon, nor too late. When the hour of providence has struck, the scene instantly changes. "Now will I rise; now I will lift up myself!" It is not for us to know the times and the seasons. Our part is to tarry, expect, work, and pray. II. GOD UPRISES WHEN MAN IS CAST DOWN. The condition of the land seems hopeless and despairing. The lion-hearted heroes break down in weeping and lamentation, and. the messengers, bewailing the hard conditions of peace, keep them company. The scene is Oriental and passionate. The roads are deserted; the land at the mercy of a perfidious conqueror, who holds his promise in contempt. The land languishing in the wane of the year, and the falling leaves of Bashan and Carmel, seem silently to sympathize with human woe. Yet one word from the Eternal suffices to change the whole situation: it is a word of supreme contempt for all the machinations of man. Their conceptions are as "hay," their pretensions as "stubble," their furious breath as self-devouring fire; and in a great conflagration the people will perish. Worldly passions and worldly might, he that sitteth in the heavens derides; his word abolishes the proud, while it supports the humble.—J. Isaiah 33:13-16 Living near to God. Jehovah has uprisen; he has revealed his might in the destruction of the Assyrian host; he calls through the prophet upon all the nations to acknowledge him. I. THE OF GOD. We see it reflected from the horror-struck faces of the ungodly and the profane, He is indeed seen to be a "consuming Fire," having his "furnace in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:1-9:19). And all the immoral and the unprincipled, the heedless and the worldly, feel themselves as fuel for his wrath—they whom the continual returns of the Word preached do not alter, so that their old sins remain firm, entire, and unbattered, the baseness of their inclinations unchanged, the levity of their discourse and behavior; those whose former distresses and disasters have not laid low in the valleys of humility, nor circumscribed the lashings out of their luxury; they whose past miseries and restraints give only a relish instead of a check to present pride and intemperance; those whom all the caresses of Providence have not been able to win upon, so as to endear them to a virtuous strictness, or deter them from a vicious extravagance;—all such—unless the great God be trivial and without concern in his grand transactions with our immortal souls—during this condition, so far as we can judge, are fashioning for wrath. "He is a probationer for hell, and carries about with him the desperate symptoms and plague-tokens of a person likely to be sworn against by God, and hastening apace to a sad eternity" (South). II. NEAR TO GOD. Who can endure the vicinity of this devouring Fire? Only they who have intrinsic spiritual worth, which when tried by fire will appear unto "praise and glory." "Only that which yields itself willingly to be God’s organ can abide those flames (cf. on the burning bush, Exodus 3:2)." Of all else, like briars and thorns, the "end is to be burned" (Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 30:27). The fire ever burning on the altar (Le Isaiah 6:13) is the symbol of him in whose nature wrath and love unite; the wrath being the symptom of love, which must ever glow against evil. The answer to the question is given in the picture of the good man which follows; his character positively and negatively, his consequent security. III. PICTURE OF TRUE PIETY. 1. Its completeness. He walks in "perfect righteousness." Not so the righteousness of "scribes and Pharisees," partial and imperfect, but rounded out to the full requirements of the Divine Law. The hypocrite "singles out some certain parts, which best suit his occasions and least thwart his corruptions." The proud or impure man may be liberal to the poor, may abhor lying and treachery, and may be ready in the fulfillment of duties which do not jostle his darling sin. But it "will not suffice to chop and change one duty for another; he cannot clear his debts by paying part of the great sum he owes" (South). To offend in one is to be guilty of all (James 2:10). The chain of duty is broken by the removal of a single link. "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments" (Psalms 119:6). It is not a handsome feature or a handsome limb which makes the handsome man, but the symmetry and proportion of all. So, not the practice of this or that virtue, but an entire complexion of all, can alone render a man righteous in the sight of God. 2. Its leading characteristics. It unites what human corruption is ever tending to dissever, religion and morality. It imitates the Father in heaven in the justice of his perfect Being. It rejects unjust gain, flings the bribe as a thing of pollution from the hand. It is abstinent from the greed of gold, that most downward and degrading vice, making the soul all earth and dirt, burying that noble thing which can never die." "Thou shalt not take a gift, because a gift blinds the eyes of the wise" (Deuteronomy 16:9; cf. 1 Samuel 12:3; Ecclesiastes 7:7). Covetousness is a thing directly contrary to the very spirit of Christianity; which is a free, a large, and an open spirit—open to God and man, and always carrying charity in one hand, and generosity in the other (South). It is exclusive in reference to evil, as inclusive in reference to good. The good man walks with ear and eye shut against the moral contagion around him. As the leaven of disease will not develop save in the unhealthy body, so moral evil will not grow to a head in the soul antipathetic to it. He "seals up the avenues of ill." By listening and looking come all our best and all our worst inspirations. Dead to sin, he "neither hears nor sees;" alive to God, he is all ears and all eyes, for his words, his inspirations. The chastity of the spirit extends to the senses, and if the mind be full of the love of purity, "each thing of sin and guilt" is driven far from it. Itself remains intact as the sunbeams glancing on the garbage-heap. 3. Its security and satisfaction. The good man dwells on the heights (cf. Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 24:3, Psalms 24:4), inaccessible to miasmata from the poisonous swamps below, braced by the different air, enlivened by glorious prospects. He will have food, and that in abundance. To "eat and be satisfied" is the simplest and strongest figure for intellectual satisfaction, for a rich inner life; as hunger that of an empty, distressed, self-torturing spirit. But as food is of no service without an appetite for it, so this spiritual satisfaction can only be theirs who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who have fixed their minds upon an Object, which still invites the most boundless and unlimited appetite. The nobler senses are never weary of exercise upon objects which delight them. We do not surfeit upon noble music, nor do rare pictures cloy. The desires of the righteous are so agreeable to the ways of God that they find a continual freshness growing upon them in the performance of duty; like a stream, which, the further it has ran, the more strength and force it has to run further (South).—J. Isaiah 33:17-24 The reign of Hezekiah. Amidst all the agitation caused by the invasion of Sennacherib, and his perfidy, "the voices of true prophets were raised with power, pointing to the imperishable elements in the true community, and proclaiming the approach of a great crisis, the crushing weight of which should alight only on the faithless, whether among the Assyrians or in Judah" (Ewald). Here we find a reflection of the excitement of the time. I. THE GLORY OF THE KING. His beauty is a moral beauty—that of a just rule (Isaiah 32:1); an "ideal beauty—the evidence of God’s extraordinary favor." The picture should be compared with that in Psalms 45:1-17. The eyes of the people shall see a land of distances. Looking northward and southward, and eastward and westward, the boundaries of the kingdom shall still be extended, far as eye can reach. II. TERRORS. The Assyrian officials who registered the amounts of the tribute, who tested the silver and the gold, who counted the towers of the city about to fall their prey, shall have vanished. The people themselves shall proudly and thankfully number those intact towers (Psalms 48:13). No longer shall the jarring accents of the foreigner’s stammering tongue fall upon their ears. III. THE AND OF ZION. Look upon her! Once more the festive throngs shall gather there. Once more she shall be a house of peace, or dwelling of confidence, a quiet resting-place. She had indeed seemed like the tent of wanderers, the pegs ready to be drawn out, the cords to be rent, at the bidding of the conqueror. The people had been threatened with removal (Isaiah 36:17). This fear shall have passed away. The majesty of Jehovah, like an all-protecting regis, terrifying to his enemies, assuring to his friends, shall be revealed in Zion’s state. That presence, which is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," shall have returned thither; that right hand, which is glorious in power, shall again have been stretched forth to deliver and to protect. Jehovah, and he alone, is the Defense of Jerusalem. What though she be unlike "populous No, situate among the rivers, with the waters round about it, and the rampart of the sea" (Nahum 3:8), or Babylon, "seated on the waters" (Jeremiah 51:13),—he shall be instead of rivers and canals to his holy city. It is the streams of a spiritual river which "shall make glad the city of God" (Psalms 46:4). IV. THE DIVINE RULER. By him kings reign and princes decreed justice. The earthly king is but representative of him who is enthroned in heaven, the "great King." Hezekiah is but his vicegerent, his inspired servant. The weak political power becomes strong through him. Though Zion be like a dismasted ship, she wilt prevail over the proud, well-rigged ships of her foes. Sin will cease, punishment will be at end, and, with it, bodily suffering and sickness. "A people, humbled by punishment; penitent and therefore pardoned, will dwell in Jerusalem. The strength of Israel and all its salvation rest upon the forgiveness of its sins." V. LESSONS. 1. National judgments will only cease with national sins. "Humble repentance is to cure us of our sins and miseries; and there can no cure be wrought unless the plaster be as broad as the sore." 2. The most effectual way to avert national judgments is the way of personal amendment. Particular sins often bring down general judgments. Sin, like a leprosy, begins in a small compass, yet quickly overspreads the whole. 3. The forsaking of sins begets hope in the mercy of God. Because he has promised upon that condition to remove them; because he actually often has so removed them; because, when men are thus humbled, God has attained the end of his judgments (South).—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The glorious vision. "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty," There is much of beauty in this world. And by Christ Jesus God created the worlds. So that he is the Archetype of all beauty. Everything lovely was first a thought of Christ before it became a fact in life. These eyes of ours have seen glorious spectacles: the sun rising to run his race; the tender greens and purples of the seas; the magnificence of Carmel and Lebanon. How much also have we all seen of moral beauty!—the gentleness of pity; the heroism of endurance; the sublimity of sacrifice. Yet these have all been mingled with some elements of worldliness and sin. I. THIS IS IN CHRIST AS THE TRUE KING. Think of the kings of every age: the Pharaohs; the Caesars. There we see power, pageantry, and, alas! too often criminality and cruelty. Here we see the true King. One whose government is Divine, because it is within, holding in supremacy the conscience and the heart. One who is a King who "reigns in righteousness, mighty to save." II. A IN THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST’S . Beauty lies in symmetry and completeness; he was perfectly holy, without spot or blemish. Beauty lies in subtle harmonies; and in Christ justice, love, and wisdom were all united in one. Beauty lies in conformity with moral law; and he was "harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Beauty is not to be found in mere sentiment alone. Character is not to be tested simply by exquisite feeling or profound teaching, but by a life where truth felt and truth spoken and truth lived are all embodied in one. He who spake as never man spake could also say, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" III. A THROUGH THE POWER OF VISION. "Thine eyes shall see." The beauty of Christ can be seen only through the lens of moral disposition. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." It is distinctly said of the wicked, concerning their view of Christ, "They shall see no beauty in him that they should desire him." We may have the artistic eye to see the beauty of Grecian capitol and Roman arch, but we may not have the spiritual eye whereby alone we discern spiritual things. IV. A IN . "Thine eyes." Powers of vision cannot be transferred. How we have longed, perhaps, that those we love should see this beauty too! Nor can they be intellectually willed. We must have the spiritual heart before we can enjoy the spiritual eye. V. A TO BE IN THE FINAL OF HEAVEN. Whatever we may see there of new displays of God’s creative energy and power, however fair and lovely our own beloved ones may be now that they are "without fault before the throne of God,"—we may be sure of this, that Christ will be "the Altogether Lovely." The eye will be perfectly purged from sin, and the soul perfectly alive to God. Then Christ’s own prayer will be fulfilled, "That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me."—W.M.S. BY W. Aggravated evil. I. THAT SIN IS OFTEN FOUND IN AN FORM. It may take the forms of which the prophet here complains. 1. Unprovoked aggression. "Thou spoilest, and (though) thou wast not spoiled." Men may go so far as to assail their fellow-men without the slightest justification; this may be in the shape of open war, or of brutal individual assault, or of unlawful appropriation, or of shameful slander. 2. Inexcusable treachery. "And dealeth treacherously, and (though) they dealt not," etc. Men will go so far in iniquity as to deceive, entrap, and even ruin—and that not only in a pecuniary, but even in a moral sense—those who are guileless and unsuspicious; they will take a mean and execrable advantage of the innocence which should not appeal in vain for the protection of the strong. Those thus wantonly and heinously guilty may beguile others from the paths of (1) faith and piety; (2) virtue; (3) the practical wisdom on which depend the maintenance and comfort of the home. II. THAT WHEN THUS FOUND IT EXCITES GOD’S DEEP . The Divine "woe" is pronounced against it. And this "woe" is only one note in a large and full outpouring of Divine indignation in all parts of the sacred Scriptures. Prophet and psalmist and apostle, yes, and the Lord of love himself (see especially Matthew 23:1-39.), unite to utter the awful anger of God "against them who commit such things." It includes: 1. His holy indignation directed against the evil-doers themselves; not the sin, but the sinner (Psalms 7:11; Romans 2:8, Romans 2:9). 2. His boundless hatred of the evil deed; not the agent, but the act (Jeremiah 44:4; Habakkuk 1:13). All sin is a leprous, a loathsome, thing in God’s sight: how much more so those aggravated forms of it in which man wantonly injures and ruins his fellow-man! III. THAT IT IS CERTAIN TO MEET WITH TO THE OFFENSE. We know: 1. That impenitent sin will be followed by the judgments of a righteous God. The Divine "woe" points to severe punishment—to loss, sorrow, ruin, death (Exodus 34:7; Proverbs 11:21; Romans 2:6, etc.). 2. That retribution will be proportionate to the magnitude of the offence (Luke 12:47, Luke 12:48; John 9:41; John 15:22; Romans 2:12). 3. That retribution is likely to take a form which corresponds to the offence. "When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled," etc. (1) Violence provokes violence; they that take the sword do commonly perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52). (2) Craft will be undermined; against the subtle schemer men will combine and use their ingenuity to overturn him. (3) Avarice finds its own wealth an insupportable burden. (4) The rejection of the supernatural ends in the acceptance of the superstitious, etc. "With what measure we mete, it is measured to us again."—C. The lesser and the larger mercies. This prayer includes the striking request, "Be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble." The words suggest the pertinent and not unprofitable question—Are we laid under greater obligation by the lesser mercies of God which we are continually receiving, or by the larger ones which we occasionally receive at his hands? We look at both— I. THE LESSER MERCIES WE ARE . God is to us "our Arm every morning;" he is our support from day to day, from hour to hour; "in him we live and move and have our being." We may pass many days in which no striking or impressive mercy is bestowed upon us; but we pass no single hour, we spend no fleeting minute, in which some kindnesses do not come from his bountiful hand. Our indebtedness arising from these may be estimated when we consider: 1. Their regularity. The nature of God’s kindnesses is commonly missed by reason of their regularity; they are referred to "law," as if law had any power, in itself, to originate or to sustain. Consequently, they are not traced, as they certainly should be, to the love and care of a Heavenly Father. But their value is immeasurably enhanced by their regularity. How much more "gracious unto us" is our God in that he is "our arm every morning!" in that we can confidently reckon on the morning light, on the evening shadows, on the incoming and outgoing tides, on the returning seasons, and can arrange and act accordingly, than if the Author of nature gave us his blessings irregularly, spasmodically, at such uncertain intervals that we could make no arrangements, and hold no permanent offices, and be in constant doubt as to whether or when our agency would be required! 2. Their constancy. We are leaning on God’s arm continually. It is not merely a matter of frequency; it is not by a permissible hyperbole that the psalmist says, "the goodness of God endureth continually" (Psalms 52:1); nor is it without reason that he asks of God "that his loving-kindness and his truth may continually preserve him" (Psalms 40:11). Every year God is crowning with his goodness; he "daily loadeth us with benefits;" he is our arm every morning of our life; each night he lays his hand upon us in sleep and "restores our soul." We may well join in singing— "The wings of every hour shall bear Some thankful tribute to thine ear." For on the wings of every passing hour come many mercies to our hearts and to our homes from the protecting and providing love of God; and we may go yet further and say, or sing, "Minutes came fast, but mercies were more fast and fleet than they." God’s creative power gives us our life, and his constant visitation preserves our spirit (Job 10:12). II. THE LARGER MERCIES WE RECEIVE. God is" our salvation also in the time of trouble." The greatness of our indebtedness to him for these his larger, his especial and peculiar loving-kindnesses, we may estimate if we consider: 1. Their frequency. Though infrequent as compared with his constant favors, yet they are not infrequent in themselves, if we count them all—national, ecclesiastical, family, individual. 2. Their exceeding preciousness to us who receive them. Who can reckon the worth of one single deliverance from (1) the gulf of black disbelief; or from (2) the power of some unholy passion—avarice, or lust, or revenge; or from (3) the misery of some threatened loneliness or (what is far worse than that) some entangling and ruinous alliance; or from (4) the dark shadow of some false and cruel slander? Only they who have been thus saved in the time of trouble, who have been lifted up and placed on the solid rock of safety, and made to walk again in the sunshine of peace and hope, can say how great is that mercy from the hand of God. 3. Their costliness to the Divine Giver. (1) If in all human sympathy there is an expenditure of self, which, though most willingly rendered, is yet painful and oppressive to the spirit, shall we not think that there is this element also in him whose sympathy is so much stronger, and whose sensibility is so much finer than ours (see Isaiah 63:9; Luke 19:41; John 11:35; Hebrews 4:15)? (2) One great redemptive act—the salvation which is in Christ Jesus—was wrought at the cost of a Divine incarnation, of sorrow, of shame, of death. He gave himself for us. We conclude that, (a) taking this last thought into account, the special mercies of God do incalculably outweigh the constant ones; (b) that together they constitute an overwhelming reason for worship, for obedience, for consecration; (c) that we do well to appeal to God in earnest prayer for the special mercies we need, and to wait expectantly for them. "O Lord, be thou gracious unto us; we have waited for thee."—C. Isaiah 33:5, Isaiah 33:6 A wise nation (Church). These verses supply us with three features by which a nation or Church that is possessed of true wisdom will be characterized. I. A SENSE OF GOD—of his greatness, his power, his righteousness. "The Lord is exalted; he dwelleth on high; he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness." The result of the deliverance wrought by Jehovah would be the creation of this devout sentiment. The holy nation, the Church after the heart of its Divine Author, will strive to maintain this as an abiding, religious sense; it will cherish that feeling of reverential awe which fills the heart when the greatness of the Exalted One is realized, when the power of him that makes his judgments to be known is felt, when the righteousness of him who overturns iniquity is present to the mind. Well does it speak for the community, civil or sacred, when this sacred sense of God "hath filled" it from end to end, from the least to the greatest. This pervading conviction is, indeed, an essential thing; without it the most vehement protestations, the most honored creeds, the most ecstatic fervors, will soon be found to be as "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." II. A DEEP SENSE OF THE TRUE SOURCE OF AND . "Wisdom and knowledge," etc. It has always been the case that communities have imagined that their stability and strength rested in things material and visible—in seas and mountains, in armies and navies, in lands and houses, in large numbers of men and women, in goods and grants. But all these things prove to be of no avail when there is inward rottenness, when disunion has crept into the state or into the Church, when the process of demoralization has set in so that it cannot be arrested. No external resources of any kind, however numerous or strong they may be, will save a society that is giving itself up to that which is false and foul. Its defeat and dissolution are only a question of years—or days. The true source of stability and of strength is in heavenly wisdom—that "knowledge" of God which means, not only a perception of the truth but a love of it, a delight in it, an acceptance of it as the one thing that will cleanse the heart, and that should regulate the life. III. A RIGHT OF . "The fear of the Lord is his treasure." What is it that constitutes wealth or prosperity? According to the answer which we give to this question our spiritual position may be well determined. If we are indulging the illusion that our prosperity consists mainly in money, or in stocks, or in mines, or in acres; or if we seek for it in numbers, or in reputations, or in the patronage of the titled, and the strong, we are living in a "paradise of fools." "Surely our riches are not where we think, and the kind heart is more than all our store." Yes! and not simply the kind heart, but the pure heart, the heart (1) that has been purified of the love and tolerance of sin by the truth and by the Spirit of God; (2) that has been led to hide itself in the Divine mercy, and to lose itself in the love of a Divine Friend and Lord; (3) that lives to bear witness to his truth, and to magnify his holy Name. That Christian Church that holds itself rich, that finds its treasure in the fear of the Lord, in the consequent and complementary love of Jesus Christ, is the Church that is divinely wise. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning"—and a very large part also—"of wisdom."—C. Isaiah 33:10-16 In the presence of the Holy One. The great question which, in a somewhat different form from that of the text, Balak proposed to Balaam (Micah 6:6) is one that has always stirred the hearts of men everywhere and in all ages. We must find an answer to it if we are to enjoy any "rest unto our souls." I. THE THRICE-HOLY LORD OUR GOD. That which makes God’s intervening purpose (Isaiah 33:10) so serious to his creatures is that when he arises he will be found to be as "the devouring Fire," as "everlasting Burnings;" i.e. he will prove himself to be the Holy One of Israel: (1) Whose Spirit is absolutely intolerant of iniquity, hating it with perfect hatred, to whom it is so abhorrent that he "cannot look" upon it. And (2) whose action is inflexibly opposed to it; (a) placing limits to its temporary success (Isaiah 33:11); (b) bringing its decrees and its achievements to nothing, as the lime-kiln reduces everything to ashes; (c) consuming the strength of the impious and the rebellious as easily and as swiftly as the fiery flames burn up the thorns (Isaiah 33:12). To fallen, guilty man, whose character has been depraved and whose life has been stained by sin, God is obliged to make himself known, and to make himself feared as "the devouring fire," as "the everlasting [’the continual’] burnings," consuming iniquity in the holy ardor of his unquenchable purity. II. THE OF THE HOLY ONE. Who among us shall dwell with this Holy One, this consuming Fire? Who shall abide in his presence and dwell in his holy hill? (Psalms 15:1; Psalms 24:3)? There are different senses in which we are before God, or stand in his presence. 1. His observant presence, which is constant, of which we do well to remind ourselves often, with the thought of which our minds and hearts may well be filled. 2. His interposing presence. Those times and occasions in particular when he arises to judgment (Isaiah 33:10); when he stretches forth his hand in punishment or in reward; when he sends back the Assyrian monarch in humiliating flight, and at the same time lifts up the head of bowed and trembling Jerusalem; when he breaks the arm of the oppressor and the chains of the captive; when he scatters his enemies and redeems his people. 3. His presence in the sanctuary. When he manifests himself to his waiting ones as he does not unto the world. 4. His nearer presence in another world. When in a most solemn sense we shall "stand before" him, and when in a most blessed sense we shall "dwell with" him. III. THOSE WHO CAN ABIDE IN HIS . The answer is negative and positive. 1. Negative. (1) Not the guilty ones among the unprivileged. To those who" have not the Law," but who are guilty of transgressing the unwritten law; to all who act as Assyria did on this occasion, spoiling those who had not spoiled them, etc. (Isaiah 33:1), God will mete out his indignation (see Isaiah 33:11). (2) Not the insincere among the children of privilege. "Fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites" (Isaiah 33:14). Let all who sing the praises and utter the words of the Redeemer consider whether gratitude and devotedness are in their hearts as well as on their lips. 2. Positive. They can dwell with the Holy One who are possessed of moral because of spiritual integrity. "He that walketh righteously," etc.; i.e. he that is of sound heart, and therefore of a pure life. With us, in this Christian era, it may be said of spiritual integrity (1) that its foundation is laid in genuine repentance, in a change of heart towards God; (2) that it takes the form of a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; (3) that it manifests itself in excellency of character. And this last is seen in the marks, which the prophet here indicates: in upright conduct (walking righteously, refusing bribes); in soundness of speech; in refusing all access to evil (stopping the ears and shutting the eyes from hearing and seeing what is injurious and defiling); in a hearty hatred of injustice (despising the gain of oppression). IV. THE OF THOSE WHO DWELL WITH GOD. Whether here or hereafter, but in a higher degree and more perfect form hereafter, there are promised these two great blessings. 1. Security. "He shall dwell on high: his place of defense," etc. Nothing shall harm him, no sin shall have dominion over him; in the arms of God’s protecting care his home shall be impregnable to assault. 2. Sufficiency. "Bread shall be given him," etc. He may not have all he would desire, but he shall have everything he needs for his real welfare and his true joy.—C. "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty." Of this we may take— I. THE VIEW. Those who heard these words from Isaiah’s lips or read them from the roll on which he wrote them would naturally think of Hezekiah. But in what aspect would they think of him as clothed on with beauty? Not, surely, as one arrayed in gorgeous royal robes, or as one surrounded with the pomp of a royal court; but as one who wielded the kingly scepter in righteousness and in wisdom. The king in his beauty, to the eye of the man who speaks for God, is that sovereign who (1) honors God in all his doings and dealings with man; (2) uses his position and his power to further Divine truth; (3) lays himself out for the good of others rather than for his own enjoyment or the aggrandizement of his house. And these things, mutatis mutandis, constitute the beauty of all earthly authority and power. II. THE VIEW. If we refer the words of the prophet to him to whom, in themselves and apart from the context, they are most appropriate—to that Son of man who came to be the Savior-Sovereign of mankind, we have two views brought before us. 1. That of Jesus Christ as he lived on earth—the meek King of men (Matthew 21:5), he who claimed to be a King even as he stood bound before Pilate (John 18:33-36). Here we see the King in his beauty as we see him in his purity of heart, in his devotedness to the work his Father had placed in his hands, in his submissiveness to that Father’s will, in his quick and tender sympathy with the sorrowing and the abandoned, in his inexhaustible patience with the undeserving and the wrong. 2. That of the Divine Redeemer as he reigns in heaven. Thus viewed, we see in him the beauty of one who (1) once surrendered everything he was and had in order that he might redeem a fallen race,—the beauty of the most perfect sacrifice; (2) now welcomes to his kingdom the worst of all that have rebelled against his will,—the beauty of perfect magnanimity; (3) now bears with his servants in all their manifold infirmities and insufficiencies of service,—the beauty of perfect patience; (4) now dispenses grace and help to every one of his followers according to their individual necessities and requests,—the beauty of perfect beneficence. III. THE DISTANT VIEW. Our eyes will see the King in his beauty when we see "him as he is"—the ascended and reigning Lord. Then we shall (1) behold the glories of his heavenly administration; we shall (2) dwell upon the transcendent excellence of his Divine character; and we shall then (3) be drawn towards him in spiritual resemblance (1 John 3:2), live under his reign in unremitting and untiring service (Revelation 7:15; Revelation 21:25), dwell with him and reign with him in everlasting joy (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 2:26; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 22:5).—C. The breadth of the kingdom. "They shall behold the land of far distances". We look at— I. THE BREADTH OF THE KINGDOM. Judah was to be delivered from her Assyrian oppressor. At present she was beleaguered, shut in on every hand, by the invading army; her citizens had no range of land they could traverse—they were confined to the narrow circle made by the besieging hosts of Sennacherib. But soon those boundaries would be removed, the army would be scattered and would disappear. Then the country would be open everywhere; in whatsoever direction they looked they would see hills they might climb and valleys they might cultivate at will; as far as the eye could reach the country would be free to the traveler and to the husbandman. They would behold a "land of far distances," a broad kingdom they might call their own. II. THE BREADTH OF THE KINGDOM. That kingdom of Christ, wherein we stand and in which we so much rejoice, is a "land of far distances," a region of glorious breadth of view and range of motion and of action. There is nothing in it that is limiting, nothing that confines; everything is on an enlarged scale. There is about it a noble and inviting freedom; the horizon-line recedes perpetually as we advance. This applies in full to its distinguishing features. 1. The grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ. The breadth, the fullness, of the Divine Father’s love in giving us his Son (John 3:16; Romans 8:32); the fullness of the Saviors love in making such a sacrifice of heavenly dignity, glory, and joy (John 1:1-14; Philippians 2:6, Philippians 2:7; Philippians 2:1-30 Cur. 8:9), and stooping to such depths of darkness, shame, and woe, humbling himself even unto death: what glorious breadths and depths and heights have we here! 2. The mercy of God now extended to us in Jesus Christ; reaching to those who have gone furthest in presumptuous sin, in vice, in crime, in unspeakable enormities; extending to those who have sinned against the clearest light and the most gracious influences; touching those who have gone to the very verge of human life: what noble breadths, what far distances, have we here! 3. The patience of Christ with his erring and imperfect followers. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION 11. THE DIVINE ON THE WORLD, AND THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH UPON IT (Isaiah 34:1-17; Isaiah 35:1-10.). Isaiah 34:1-17 and Isaiah 35:1-10. are generally recognized as constituting a distinct prophecy, complete in itself, and only slightly connected with what precedes. The passage is, as Bishop Lowth observes, "an entire, regular, and beautiful poem, consisting of two parts, the first (Isaiah 34:1-17.) containing a denunciation of Divine vengeance against the enemies of God; the second (Isaiah 35:1-10.) describing the flourishing state of the Church of God, consequent upon the execution of those judgments." The present chapter, which forms the first half of the poem, is wholly denunciatory. Its theme is vengeance on God’s enemies generally; but, as a typical specimen, the Edomites are selected, and their punishment is depicted in the strongest colors. The awful picture, with its dark and lurid hues, prepares the way for the soft and lovely portraiture of the blest condition of the Church triumphant, which is contained in the ensuing chapter. Isaiah 34:1 Ye people; rather, ye peoples. The address is couched in the widest possible terms, so as to include the whole of humankind. The earth … and all that is therein; literally, the earth, and the fullness thereof. The inhabitants are no doubt intended. Isaiah 34:2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon, etc.; rather, for the Lord hath indignation against all the nations, and wrath against all their host. He hath utterly destroyed; rather, he hath devoted, or put under ban. Isaiah 34:3 Cast out; i.e. refused burial—thrown to the dogs and vultures (comp. Jeremiah 22:19; Jeremiah 36:30). Such treatment of the dead was regarded as a shame and a disgrace. It was on some occasions an intentional insult (Jeremiah 22:19); but here the idea is rather that it would be impossible to bury the slain on account of their number. In ancient times corpses often lay unburied on battle-fields (Herod; Isaiah 3:12). The mountains shall be molted with their blood. When the feelings of the prophet are excited, he shrinks from no hyperbole. Here he represents the blood of God’s enemies as shed in such torrents that mountains are melted by it. Isaiah 34:4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved. A dissolution of the material frame of the heavens, in which the moon and stars are regarded as set, seems to be intended (comp. Matthew 24:29; 2 Peter 3:10). The slaughter of God’s enemies is here connected with the cud of the world, as in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 19:11-21). The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; literally, as a book. Ancient books were written on long strips of paper or parchment, which, when unrolled, extended to many yards in length, but which might be rolled together "by means of one or two smooth round sticks into a very small compass." Such a rolling together of the widely extended heavens is here intended, not a shriveling by means of heat (comp. Revelation 6:14). All their host shall fall (comp. Matthew 24:29, "The stars shall fall from heaven"). Isaiah 34:5 My sword shall be bathed in heaven; rather, has been bathed, or has been made drunken (ἐνεθύσθη, LXX.) in heaven. Some suppose a reference to the old" war in heaven," when the sword of Divine justice was drawn against the devil and his angels. Others regard the sword now to be used against the Idumeans as first, in heaven, "made drunken" with the Divine anger. It shall come down upon Idumea (comp. Isaiah 63:1-6). The Edomites first showed themselves enemies of Israel when they refused to allow the Israelites, under Moses, "a passage through their border" (Numbers 20:14-21). David subdued them (2 Samuel 9:1-13:14); but they revolted from Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:8-10), and were thenceforward among the most bitter adversaries of the southern kingdom. They "smote Judah" in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:17), and were always ready to "shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity" (Ezekiel 35:5). Amos speaks of them very much in the same tone as Isaiah (Amos 1:11, Amos 1:12). They ultimately "filled up the measure of their iniquities" by open rejoicing when Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people led away captive by Nebuchadnezzar (Psalms 137:7; Obadiah 1:10-14; Lamentations 4:21, Lamentations 4:22; Ezekiel 35:10-13). In the present passage we must regard the Edomites as representative of the enemies of God’s people generally (see the introductory paragraph). The people of my curse; i.e. "the people on whom I have laid a curse"—the Edomites. Esau was to "serve" Jacob (Genesis 25:23; Genesis 27:40), Edom to be "a possession" for Judah (Numbers 24:18). God had said of Edom, probably before Isaiah uttered the present prophecy, "For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof … but I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah" (Amos 1:11, Amos 1:12). Thus Edom was under a curse. Isaiah 34:6 The sword of the Lord is filled; or, glutted (Lowth). The tense is "the perfect of prophetic certainty." It is made fat with fatness. "Fed, as it were, on the fat of sacrifices" (see Le Isaiah 3:3, Isaiah 3:4, Isaiah 3:9, Isaiah 3:10, Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 7:3, etc.). Lambs … goats … rams. The lesser cattle represent the lower classes of those about to be slain, while the "unicorns" and "bullocks" of Isaiah 34:7 represent the upper classes—the great men and leaders. The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah. This Bozrah, one of the principal cities of Idumaea, is to be distinguished from "Bozrah of Moab," which was known to the Romans as "Bostra." It lay in the hilly country to the south-cast of the Dead Sea, about thirty-five miles north of Petra, and was one of the earliest settlements of the descendants of Esau, being mentioned as a well-known place in Genesis 34:1-31:33). The threats here uttered against it are repeated by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 49:13), who says that "Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; all the cities thereof [i.e. the dependent cities] shall be perpetual wastes." Bozrah is probably identified with the modern El-Busaireh, a village of about fifty houses, occupying a site in the position above indicated, amid ruins which seem to be those of a considerable city. Isaiah 34:7 The unicorns; Bishop Lowth renders ream by "wild goats;" Mr. Cheyne by "buffaloes." Probably the wild ox, a native of the trans-Jordanic region, is intended. Shall come down; rather, shall go down; i.e. shall fall and perish (comp. Jeremiah 1:1-19:27). Isaiah 34:8 The day of the Lord’s vengeance (comp. Isaiah 61:2 and Isaiah 63:4). In all three places the "day" of God’s vengeance is contrasted with the "year" of his recompense, to show how infinite is his mercy, how short-lived, comparatively speaking, his auger. Mr. Cheyne well compares the concluding clauses of the second commandment, where "retribution is declared to descend to the third and fourth generation, but mercy to the thousandth." Recompenses for the controversy of Zion; rather, for the vindication of Zion; i.e. for the maintenance of her right in the quarrel between her and her enemies. Isaiah 34:9 And the streams thereof; i.e. "the streams of the land of Edom." Though Edom has no perennial rivers, it has numerous torrent-courses to carry off the winter rains (see 2 Kings 3:20-22). These should run with pitch, instead of water. The general idea is that Edom should be visited with a destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24; comp. Jeremiah 49:18). But the prophet scarcely intends his words to be taken literally; he is making Edom a type or representation of God’s enemies, and the gist of his teaching is that a dreadful vengeance, an utter destruction, will come upon all who set themselves up against the Most High. In the next verse he declares that the vengeance will be eternal (comp. Isaiah 66:24). Isaiah 34:10 None shall pass through it forever and ever. There was a literal fulfillment of the prophecies against Edom to a considerable extent. Malachi, writing three hundred years after Isaiah, says that the "mountains and the heritage of Esau were laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness" (Malachi 1:3); and he makes the Edomites themselves exclaim, "We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places" (Isaiah 1:4). A certain amount of recovery must have followed; and in the Maccabee period Edom appears once more as an adversary of Israel, and an adversary of some importance (1 Macc. 5:3, 65). Gradually, however, she had to yield to the superior power of Judaea, and was even ruled by viceroys, whom the Maccabee princes nominated. One of these, Antipater, was the father of Herod the Great. From his time Idumea languished until, in the seventh century after Christ, it was overrun dud conquered by the Mohammedan Arabs, who completed its ruin. It is now, and has been for above a thousand years, one of the most desolate tracts upon the earth’s surface. Isaiah 34:11 The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it. Compare the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 14:23. The Hebrew word translated "cormorant," is now generally regarded as designating the "pelican," while the one rendered "bittern" is thought by some to mean "hedgehog" or "porcupine." Animals that delight in solitude are certainly meant, but the particular species is, more or less, matter of conjecture. He shall stretch out upon it; rather, and one shall stretch out upon it. The verb is used impersonally. The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness; rather, the line of desolation, and the plummet of emptiness. The destruction of cities was effected by rule and measure, probably because different portions of the task were assigned to different sets of laborers, and, if the work was to be completely done, it required to be done systematically. Here, the measuring-tape and the plumb-line are to be these of tohu and vohu, or of the eternal chaos out of which God, by his word, produced order (Genesis 1:2). Isaiah 34:12 They shall call the nobles, etc.; rather, as for her nobles, there shall be none there for them to call to the kingdom. The nobles are termed horim, probably because the right of succession to the kingdom was vested in the descendants of the Horites, from whom the Edomites took their territory (Genesis 36:20, Genesis 36:29, Genesis 36:30). These having died out, there would be no one to appoint as king. Isaiah 34:13 Thorns shall come up in her palaces. The "palaces" of Bozrah are mentioned also by Amos (Amos 1:12), and are threatened with destruction by fire. Amid their ruins should grow up thorns and briars. It shall be an habitation of dragons; or, of jackals (see the comment on Isaiah 13:22). Owls; literally, daughters of screaming—a description better suited to the owl than to the ostrich, which some regard as the bird meant. Isaiah 34:14 Wild beasts of the desert … wild beasts of the island. In the original, tsiyim and ’iyim—"wailers" and "howlers"—probably jackals and wolves, or wolves and hyenas." The satyr (see the comment on Isaiah 13:21). The screech owl The word here used, lilith, occurs only in this place. It may be doubted whether any bird, or other animal, is meant. Lilit was the name of a female demon, or wicked fairy, in whom the Assyrians believed—a being thought to vex and persecute her victims in their sleep. The word is probably a derivative from leilah, night, and designates" the spirit of the night"—a mischievous being, who took advantage of the darkness to play fantastic tricks. A Jewish legend made Lilith the first wife of Adam, and said that, having pronounced the Divine Name as a charm, she was changed into a devil. It was her special delight to murder young children (Buxtorf, ’Lex. Rabbin.,’ ad voc.). The prophets, when they employ poetic imagery, are not tied down to fact, but are free to use the beliefs of their contemporaries in order to heighten the force of their descriptions. Isaiah 34:15 The great owl; rather, the arrow-snake (Serpens jaculus). Gather under her shadow; i.e. "gather her young ones under her." There shall the vultures also be gathered; rather, there verily shall the vultures assemble. Isaiah 34:16 Seek ye out of the book of the Lord. By "the book of the Lord" some understand a collected volume of Moses and the prophets, psalmists, etc; previous to Isaiah’s time, which they suppose to have existed in his day. But there is no evidence of any such collection. It is better to understand the expression of Isaiah’s own prophecies, or of such a collection of them as he had made previously to the composition of the present chapter. Nothing contained in the entire book should, he says, fail of its accomplishment. Even the minutiae of the present chapter should, each and all, have their fulfillment, though not, perhaps, in every case a literal one. My mouth … his Spirit. The "mouth" of the prophet and the "Spirit" of God, which dictates to him what he is to write, are in accord; and the Spirit will bring to pass what the mouth inspired by him has "commanded." Isaiah 34:17 He hath cast the lot for them. God, who allots to all the nations of the earth their several countries, has now allotted Idumea to the unclean beasts and birds and reptiles which have been mentioned; henceforth it is formally assigned to them as their habitation. It is throughout to be understood that Idumea stands for the world power, which resists God and will be finally abased and put to shame. Isaiah 34:1-10 The terrors of the Lord not to be held back by the preacher, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord," says the great apostle of the Gentiles, "we persuade men. There is m these modern times a sickly sentimentality prevalent, which protests against the employment by preachers of arguments that address themselves to the fears of their hearers. Delicate nerves are not to be hurt by disagreeable images, or highly wrought descriptions of sufferings. Ears accustomed to flatteries are not to be shocked by suggestions that make the listeners uncomfortable. "Speak unto us smooth things" is the universal demand, or, at any rate, the universal desire. There is considerable danger of preachers yielding to the wishes of their hearers in this respect; since it is always pleasant to be popular, and disagreeable to be thought to take a pleasure in hurting people’s feelings. But the preacher of God’s Word should be actuated by higher considerations. He must shape his conduct by (1) the example of great preachers in the past, as Isaiah, St. Paul, St. John, Christ himself; (2) the real needs and true interest of those whom he addresses; and (3) the declarations of Holy Scripture concerning the duty of a preacher. I. THE EXAMPLE OF GREAT IN THE PAST. It is clear that Isaiah did not hold back the terrors of the Lord. Almost one-half of his prophecy is denunciatory; and the denunciations uttered are of a truly fearful character. All the great powers of the earth, and many minor powers, are threatened with the Divine vengeance, and that vengeance is depicted in very terrible language. Babylon is to be "brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit" (Isaiah 14:15); Assyria is to be burnt up; his glory is to be consumed; he is to be "as when a standard-bearer fainteth" (Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 10:18); Edom is to become "burning pitch" (Isaiah 34:9), which "shall not be quenched night nor day" (Isaiah 34:10); God’s enemies generally are to be "slain" and "consumed," and set in a place where "their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched" (Isaiah 66:24). St. Paul persuaded men by "the terror of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:11). He warned them to "look for judgment and a fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:27). He reminded them that "our God is a consuming Fire’ (Hebrews 12:29), and that "it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands" (Hebrews 10:31). St. John, the apostle of love, spoke of those who should "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation," and who should be "tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and of the Lamb," and said that "the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever," and that they "have no rest day nor night" (Revelation 14:10, Revelation 14:11). It is to our blessed Lord himself that we owe the picture of the rich man tormented in the flame, and praying Abraham to send Lazarus, that he might "dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue" (Luke 16:24). Our Lord, moreover, adopts the dreadful imagery of Isaiah with respect to the undying worm and the fire that is never quenched, and points his teaching by revealing to us the awful words of the final sentence of reprobation, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). II. THE REAL NEEDS OF THOSE TO WHOM IS . It cannot be denied that fear is a strong constraining motive. Human laws are enforced, by penalties, the object of which is to "put men in fear." Punishment holds its place in every system of moral training, and punishment is an appeal to fear. Whatever may be the case with a chosen few, the hulk of mankind will always be more readily influenced by fear than by hope, by punishments than by rewards, by threats than by promises. The preacher cannot afford to lose the moral force which is thus put within his reach. It is hard enough to restrain men from evil courses, and induce them to lead a godly life, by freely using all the means of persuasion that are in our power. To refrain from using one of the most potent would be to fight Satan with one hand instead of two. III. THE OF THE DUTY OF A . Preachers are directed to open to their disciples "the whole counsel of God." They are not to pick and choose what doctrines of Christianity they will teach. They are to deliver to others "the gospel," "that which they also received" (1 Corinthians 15:3)—not "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6). Now, it cannot be pretended that "the terrors of the Lord"—his wrath against sin, and its dreadful final punishment, are not as much portions of the teaching of Christ as any other. Not to preach them is to keep back a part of the message which Christ brought us from the Father. No preacher is entitled so to act, whatever the disinclination of his congregation to hear the plain teaching of Scripture on these points plainly declared. The disinclination is itself an indication of a need. Those who most dislike the doctrine of final punishment are probably those who most require to have the doctrine pressed upon them. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 34:1-17 The sins and punishment of Edom. The Edomites appear in the blackest colors in the descriptions of the prophets. And in this oracle their punishment is represented in the horrible desolation of their land. I. THEIR SINS. Their cruelty is above all stigmatized. At the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar they helped to plunder the city and slaughter the poor Jews. Their conduct on this occasion was never forgotten (Psalms 137:1-9.). In Obadiah we have the feelings about them brought into the clearest light (Obadiah 1:10-16). They were akin to the Jews, Esau the ancestor of the one, Jacob of the other. Their cruelty was accused as "violence against a brother." They had entered the gate of the city on the day of their brethren’s calamity, to exult over them, and to join hand in hand with the conqueror and the spoiler. But the day of vengeance has come, and their violent dealing is to be returned upon their own heads (cf. Isaiah 63:1-4; Jeremiah 49:17; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 25:13, Ezekiel 25:14; Ezekiel 35:1-15.; Amos 1:11, Amos 1:12). II. THEIR . 1. The sword of Jehovah an emblem of Divine vengeance. So in numerous passages (Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 31:8; Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 66:16; Deuteronomy 32:41, Deuteronomy 32:42; Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 46:10; Jeremiah 47:6, 35-38; Zechariah 13:7). It has been bathed in blood in heaven, that is, upon the objects of idolatrous worship, demons of the stars, etc. 2. Sacrifice as also a figure of vengeance. A "sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom." So sacrifice and feasting connected with judgment in Zephaniah 1:7; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17-19. 3. Pictures of desolation. It is a volcanic land, and the prophet sees it deluged with lava-floods, like the guilty cities of the plain (cf. Jeremiah 49:18; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 19:3). The further features of the picture are sketched in the most gloomy colors—its castles and strong places in ruins and overgrown with weeds; wild animals haunting the former abodes of man; and demons or fairies, such as are in popular superstition, hovering about the former scenes of human pride and power. III. EDOM AS TYPICAL OF THE UNGODLY WORLD. There seems reason for supposing the prophet to have had this larger thought in mind. 1. All the nations are summoned to hear the judgments of God. 2. The desolation predicted is said to be eternal; and this is four times repeated. The general lessons, then, of Divine judgments may be repeated in connection with this awe-inspiring picture. 1. The particular example of Divine judgment illustrates the general truth. That which concerns the people in this respect concerns mankind. The beam which strikes this or that object strikes many others in its rebound. 2. Destruction and discrimination in the judgments are the mark of Providence. When God strikes an individual, or a nation, the conclusion is that they were aimed at. 3. An utter doom the cow, sequence of utter sin. None can think of the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of Edom, without a shudder, without hearing the reverberations of the thunder from Sinai; without attending to the appeal, "Break off your sins by righteousness!" "Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts!"—J. BY W. Isaiah 34:1-15 The Divine indignation. The strong, pictorial language of the prophet brings into bold relief some truths respecting God’s indignation of which it is needful to be occasionally reminded. We learn— I. THAT IT IS A FACTOR IN THE OF THE WORLD. "Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people; let the earth hear, and all that is therein … for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations," etc. (Isaiah 34:1, Isaiah 34:2). It is seldom, perhaps never, the duty of the Christian minister to employ such terms as those used in this prophecy (Isaiah 34:3, Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 34:6). But it is his duty to make it clear that benevolence and its kindred attributes do not constitute the character of God; that, though it is a truth of inestimable price that "God is love," it is also true that "our God is a consuming Fire;" that though it is a fact that "justice and judgment are his strange work," it is also a fact that God does pour out his indignation "upon all nations;" that "the hand of the Lord is against them that do evil," that he will render "indignation and wrath.; upon every soul of man that doeth evil." Religious doctrine, like all other truth, must be seen in its true proportions, or it will be misconceived. To represent God’s indignation against sin as the chief element in his character is essentially false; to represent his love as absorbing or eclipsing his hatred of sin and his intention to punish the guilty is also, if not equally, false. The same lips which opened to invite every weary wanderer to return to him and find rest in his happy service declared that many of the children of privilege should be shut out of the kingdom of heaven. To the Thrice-Holy One sin is now "that abominable thing which his soul hateth," and against it he will always express, both in word and deed, his righteous indignation. II. THAT IT IS IN ITS EFFECTS. "He hath utterly destroyed them" (Isaiah 34:2); "Their slain shall be east out … the mountains shall be melted with their blood" (Isaiah 34:3); "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved," etc. (Isaiah 34:4); "The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, the Lord hath a great slaughter in the land" (Isaiah 34:6). God is sometimes "terrible in his doings toward the children of men." The flood swept away the race; the fires of heaven consumed-the cities of the plain; the avenging armies destroyed the population of the guilty land. And now the corrupt nation pays for its apostasy and its crimes the penalty of defeat and humiliation; the degenerate Church also suffers feebleness, decline, perhaps positive extinction; and the debased, hardened man finds himself bereft of every good, pursued and overtaken by gathering evils, having nothing to hope and everything to fear. God is "slow to wrath," he gives opportunities for repentance, he welcomes and restores the penitent; but on the impenitent and unreturning sinner he lays his hand of retribution, and alas for those who find from their own experience that "the way of transgressors is hard!" III. THAT IT IS OFTEN EXCITED BY AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. "The day of the Lord’s vengeance" is "the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion" (see Numbers 20:20; 2 Chronicles 21:8-10; 2 Chronicles 25:12; Psalms 137:7; Obadiah 1:10-16). Our Divine Lord has told us that to cause one of his little ones to stumble is a heinous offence in his sight; that, inasmuch as we do not our duty to one of the least of his brethren, we withhold what is clue to himself. The persecution of the people of God has taken many forms beside that of slaughter or imprisonment; they who resort to it must reckon on a very serious measure of Divine disapproval. IV. THAT IT SHOWS ITSELF IN ITS SADDEST FORM IN A . "From generation to generation it shall lie waste" (Isaiah 34:10 and Isaiah 34:11-15). It is a sad descent, a melancholy instance of degeneracy, when the thickly peopled city is abandoned by mankind, is untrodden by the human foot, and becomes the haunt of the wild beast, of the obscene bird, and of the "night-monster." The last and worst penalty which God’s indignation inflicts on the children of men is utter spiritual degeneracy—the mind losing its intellectual faculties, and becoming imbecile through vice and folly; the wilt broken down and become helpless, bent and swayed with every breeze; the heart hardened so that all feeling of pity and affection has departed; the soul foregoing and forgetting its higher aspirations and sunk into the condition in which it craves nothing better than worldly increase or animal indulgence. Sad as is the loss of position or estate when the powerful prince becomes a menial or the wealthy merchant becomes a beggar, immeasurably sadder in the sight of Heaven is that spiritual degeneracy in which, as the inevitable wages of sin, a human spirit loses all its nobility of character and becomes an outcast in creation, mere driftwood on the ocean, the sport of the devouring waves.—C. Isaiah 34:16, Isaiah 34:17 The Divine Word and human woe. These words are called forth by— I. . The prophet thinks that the solemn threatenings he has uttered will not be credited. He seems to say, "You heard these awful utterances, but you will not heed them; you will indulge the thought that they are nothing more than a fanatic’s dream; you think in your hearts that they will never be fulfilled; you imagine that you can afford to disregard them; but you are mistaken, there will be the closest correspondence between what is written in ’the book of the Lord’ and what shall one day be witnessed in the experiences of Edom." There is a great deal of unwarranted incredulity in the hearts of men respecting the penal purposes of God. He has spoken, has warned men, has clearly intimated what will be the consequences of crime, of vice, of ungodliness, of the rejection of the gospel of Christ, of unfaithfulness and disloyalty in the Christian life. But men’s hearts are hard, their understanding is veiled so that they do not see. 1. They delude themselves with the thought that, though other men suffer the penalty of their sin or folly, they will, in some way, escape. 2. Or they deceive themselves by holding up before their minds one-half only of the truth; they dwell on the graciousness and mercy of God, and act as if he were not as righteous as he is tender, as pure as he is pitiful. 3. Or they misrepresent the character of their misdeeds to their own minds, persuading themselves that they are slight and venial, however serious they may be in the sight of God. It is a melancholy fact, calling for utmost vigilance, that the frequent repetition of sin and ultimate familiarity with it reduce its apparent guiltiness to the smallest fraction. II. THE . The prophet says, "Compare what is written in the ’book of the Lord’ with the facts, and they shall tally with one another—not one shall fail; for the command shall go from heaven, and these wild beasts, whose presence has been threatened as a dire scourge and as the mark of saddest degeneracy, shall possess the holy land, and ’from generation to generation shall dwell therein;’ the very worst that has been foretold shall happen, and what the Divine Word has predicted shall be endured in its most grievous form." They who now speak for God have to give similar assurance: they have to warn men that the worst must be expected if they remain impenitent and disobedient; they have to insist upon it, sorrowfully but emphatically, that everything threatened in the "book of the Lord" will compare with the experiences of the persistently obdurate and disloyal. It is their duty to show: 1. That, sooner or later, men may expect the righteous retribution of God to overtake them; "the sword of heaven is not in haste to smite, nor yet doth linger;" that, though God keeps silence long, he will reprove men, and set their sins in order before their eyes (Psalms 1:1-6:21). 2. That, if not here, yet hereafter, the judgments of God will reach the guilty, and then, if not now, "every one will receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 3. That Divine retribution will take some other form if it come not in the one men have expected. There are other "wild beasts," and worse, than those which are here referred to (Isaiah 34:14, Isaiah 34:15). There are other evils, and worse, than the poverty, the diseases, the mortality, from which sinners shrink and from which they may long escape. There are evils which haunt the heart, calamities which afflict the soul, ruin which reaches the character, death which overtakes the man himself,—judgments which God in righteousness "hath commanded," and which more than fulfill the saddest and strongest word he has instructed his spokesmen to employ.—C. BY R. TUCK God’s dealing with one nation for the sake of many. "Let the earth hear." This chapter, with the following one, constitutes a distinct prophecy, and forms the completion of the first part of Isaiah’s work. This chapter further illustrates the point which has been again and again enforced, that "no man liveth unto himself;" a man’s successes, achievements, failures, losses, troubles, are all for the sake of others. Every man’s life is really vicarious, and this truth is pictured for us in the history and relations of nations. It is plain that no nation liveth unto itself; it is inspiration or warning to other nations around. A man’s experience, and a nation’s experience, can only to a very limited extent help the man or the nation; but it can most materially help other men and other nations. Therefore "let the earth hear" what God will do unto Edom. For Edom is principally referred to here, as the peculiarly inveterate and malignant enemy of ancient Israel. As we know that Edom submitted to Assyria, it is quite possible that they played a part in Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah, in his attack on Jerusalem; so the prophet foresees Divine judgments falling on Edom as soon as Sennacherib is removed. The historical relations of Edom and Israel should be carefully studied. It is thought that from the historical reference to one nation the prophetic vision advances to the end of the world and the final judgment. We may keep to the lessons which arise out of the purely historical association. Dealing with one or with a few, for the sake of the many, has been God’s universal law of relationship with men. It is the law of elections, or rather selections, the calling out of specially fitted ones to be workers for, or examples to, all. We readily recognize this law, as the responsibility of talents, positions, or opportunities; but it is less usual to see that it equally applies to disabilities, failures, and judgments. Men work for others, and men suffer for others. Nations gain power for the sake of others; nations are crushed and humbled for the sake of others. Illustration of this point may run along three lines. I. A MAN’S OR A NATION’S GENIUS IS NOT FOR SELF. "The earth must hear," and know about it. All gifts are trusts. II. A MAN’S OR A NATION’S ARE NOT FOR SELF. The most striking illustration in a man is Job; in a nation, the people of Israel. All sufferers bear their part in the moral education, the redemption, of the race. III. A MAN’S OR A NATION’S ARE NOT FOR SELF. We are not punished for our own sakes alone. Judgments follow us for the sake of the on-lookers.—R.T. Divine indignations. It is important that we use the words which express the severe side of Divine dealings with great judgment and carefulness. We should resist the tendency of modern times to eliminate all the severer features from the conception of the Divine Being. Dr. Bushnell thus expresses it: "Our age is at the point of apogee from all the robuster notions of Deity." Our fathers made too much of t he Divine "wrath;" but we are in danger of making too little. There is a considerable variety of words that we may use to express this sterner side of the Divine dealing—’wrath,’ ’anger,’ ’indignation,’ ’fury,’ ’vengeance,’ ’judgment,’ ’justice,’ and the like, but they are all more or less defective. Wrath is the term most commonly used in our translation, and it is really the best, if only we can hold it closely enough to the idea of a moral, in distinction from a merely animal, passion; else, failing in this, it will connect associations of unregulated temper that are painful, and as far as possible from being sacred. It requires in this view, like the safety-lamps of the miners, a gauze of definition round it, to save it from blazing into an explosion too fierce to serve the purposes of light." Indignation is the most unexceptionable word, and it is to one point in connection with it that attention is now invited. It is especially suited to express the feeling of God, because it applies to wrong-doers rather than to wrong actions. It links on to the view that the essence of sin is not a wrong thing done, but the wrong will out of which the doing came. We cannot get up indignation merely at things done; our feeling settles and centers on the bad doers. In all cases of sin we should keep quite clearly before us that the Divine concern is not, supremely, the disturbed circumstances, but the sinners and the sufferers. Divine power can readjust and rearrange all our conditions and circumstances, just as that power can preserve the order, and put straight the broken or deflected order, of creation. It is God’s own condition, laid upon himself, that moral states can only be reached by moral means. Divine indignations, as they concern moral beings, find expression in the persuasions of Divine judgments; these fall on the man himself, or they may fall on his substitute and representative; and so is opened up for treatment the mystery of Divine indignations resting on Christ for us, for our sakes.—R.T. The Lord’s controversy. "The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." Fausset says, "When Judah was captive in Babylon, Edom in every way insulted over her fallen mistress, and killed many of those Jews whom the Chaldeans had left, and hence was held guilty of fratricide by God (Esau, their ancestor, having been brother to Jacob): this was the cause of the denunciations of the prophets against Edom (Isaiah 63:1; Jeremiah 49:7; Ezekiel 25:12-14; Ezekiel 35:3-15; Joe 3:19; Amos 1:11, Amos 1:12; Obadiah 1:8, Obadiah 1:10, Obadiah 1:12-18; Malachi 1:3, Malachi 1:4).’ The Israelites were familiar with the law of retaliation. It was the pervading law of men as gathered into tribes, and their basis-idea of justice. Moses adopted it for his legal system, but qualified its operation, preparing the way for an entire change from personal retaliation for offences, to a calm, unbiased, systematic consideration of the case of all wrong-doers, and adjustment of punishments on a fixed scale. So far as the idea of retaliation was right as between men, it may be applied as between God and men, and it is introduced in this verse. Edom took advantage of Israel’s weakness to act unbrotherly, and to encroach. Therefore the Lord has a controversy with Edom; and he will surely retaliate, bringing judgments upon them. I. AS A IDEA OF JUSTICE, "It was an ethical maxim, extensively accepted among ancient nations, that men must suffer the same pains that they have inflicted on others. The later Greeks called this the Neoptolemictisis, from the circumstance that Neoptolemus was punished in the same way in which he had sinned. He had murdered at the altar, and at the altar he was murdered." Show how natural the retaliatory idea seems to children. The old sentiment still lingers in men’s minds, so that we have great satisfaction in hearing of cases wherein Providence deals the blow to men which they have dealt to others. II. BECAUSE OF THE OF . It would be a safe working principle if men were good, and not subject to unworthy passions. These make men do more than retaliate. III. AS A PART OF DIVINE DEALING. He has a "year of recompenses"—a time when he will make a man’s violent doing fall upon his own pate. All sin is wrong done to him; it calls for due recompense. It must be precisely shown how far the idea of retaliation may be applied to God. IV. BY GOD IS BY THE OF GOD. It can never be the expression of personal feeling. It can never be unqualified or excessive. It can never be without its own aim to secure the final good of those on whom it must fall.—R.T. Isaiah 34:13-15 The witness of desolate lands. In every age there have been such. In the forefront of the world’s history there was desolated Sodom and Gomorrah, witnessing to Israelites, and witnessing to all the world. Our Lord, as a Teacher, called attention to its message. Attention may be directed to Babylon, Tyre, Palestine; and for modern times, to the decay of the commercial cities of Italy, to Holland, etc.—countries which may be spoken of as "desolate" when compared with former prosperities. Edom, or Idumea, is the country alluded to by the prophet, and travelers describe very forcibly the completeness of its desolation. "Captains Irby and Mangles tell us that the Arabs about Akaba are a very bad people, notorious robbers, and at war with all others. The desolation of the land is utter and perpetual—a terrible monument of the Divine displeasure against wickedness and idolatry. The whole land lies under a curse; the ruins of its cities of rock, and the remains of architectural skill and ingenuity, attest its former greatness, while they set forth the solemn fact that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Dr. Robinson says, "A more frightful desert it had hardly been our lot to behold. Now and then a lone shrub of the Ghudah was almost the only trace of vegetation. The mountains beyond presented a most uninviting and hideous aspect; precipices and naked conical peaks of chalky and gravelly formation rising one above another without a sign of life or vegetation." Dr. Olin speaks of it as in "a state of desolation and ruin the most absolute and irretrievable, such as probably no portion of the globe once populous and fertile now exhibits." What, then, is the message which such a desolate land bears for all the world and for us? This may be worked out and illustrated under the following divisions. I. IT FOR GOD. "He is known by the judgments which he executeth." There is evidently more than a mere operation of natural forces—there is Divine direction of natural forces to effect Divine ends. This may get more familiar illustration from Palestine, which is a country with God’s curse on it. II. IT FOR . "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Righteousness is sure defense, security, stability. If a land is desolate, it calls to all other lands, saying, "Hold fast by righteousness." Lands fall through the iniquity of the peoples. III. IT FOR . "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." Sooner or later every kingdom, every nation, will find that God will arise and vindicate himself, and render a reward to the proud.—R.T. Appeal to the Word. "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read." Literally, the word is "from upon the book," meaning, "Search it from the top to the bottom; and in so doing you will find abundant illustrations of Divine threatenings faithfully executed." "Be sure that the desolation which is here preannounced to the literal Edom, and which is foretold in other parts of Scripture, as the doom of God’s enemies, will be exactly fulfilled in all those who imitate their temper, in rebellion against God, and in cruelty and treachery to Israel." I. ALL GOD’S WRITTEN WORD WILL BE FOUND TO AGREE . It is the exceeding marvel of it, the best evidence of Divine inspiration, that, though written by different men, at different times, and in different lands, on all main points of revelation it is at absolute agreement; and contradictions, which men may fancy they find, gain easy solution. Moral principles, religious teachings, representations of Divine dealings, are the same throughout. This may be illustrated in specific eases. Take the idea of God as One, and as a Spirit; or take the Divine relation to idolatry; or take the response of God to penitence; in each instance search the book, and you will surely find a uniform and harmonious testimony. Or take the case of the text, and show the certainty that judgment will follow threatening, if penitence do not intervene. II. ALL GOD’S WRITTEN WORD IS IN HARMONY WITH HIS SPOKEN WORD. This seems to be the point of Isaiah’s appeal, tie spoke this denunciation of Edom by word of mouth; it had not yet been written down, so he pleads thus: "Test it as much as you please by the written Word that you possess: it is all one; God spoke then; God speaks by me. The vision is true. The judgment is sure." The condition of listening to any one who professes to have a message and revelation from God is that they shall speak in harmony with the Word of God which we possess. "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Distinction may wisely be made between the mere details of the Word, and the great truths and principles of the Word. These latter alone can be used as tests; and very much of the sect-separation of Christianity has come through overvaluing, and unskillfully using, mere biblical details. All doctrine, all morals—but no science—can be, and should ever be, fully tested by scriptural principles.—R.T. Isaiah 35:1-10 THE GLORY OF THE LAST TIMES. On the punishment of God’s enemies will follow the peace, prosperity, and glory of his Church. Previously, the Church is in affliction, waste, and desolate. Its enemies once removed, destroyed, swept out of the way, it rises instantly in all its beauty to a condition which words are poor to paint. The highest resources of the poetic art are called in to give some idea of the glory and happiness of the final Church of the redeemed. Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; rather, the wilderness, and the dry place, shall be glad. The Church, that has been long wasted and kept under by the wicked, shall, at their destruction, feel a sense of relief, and so of joy. The desert shall rejoice, and blossom. The first result of the joy shall be a putting forth of lovely products. Blossoms, beautiful as the rose or the narcissus (Kay), shall spring up all over the parched ground, and make it a parterre of flowers. The blossoms are either graces unknown in the time of affliction, or saintly characters of a new and high type. Isaiah 35:2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; rather, with dancing and singing. Dancing and singing were the ordinary manifestations of religions joy (Exodus 15:1, Exodus 15:20, Exodus 15:21; Judges 11:34; Judges 21:19-21; 2 Samuel 6:5, 2 Samuel 6:14, 2 Samuel 6:15; Psalms 30:11, etc.), and would naturally follow the great deliverance of the Church from the power of its enemies. The clause is a touch of realism intruded into a prolonged metaphor or allegory, and is quite in the manner of Isaiah (comp. Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 26:1; Isaiah 30:32, etc.). The glory of Lebanon … the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; i.e. productiveness of all kinds, of abundant harvests, fruits, and flowers, and forest trees (comp. Isaiah 10:18, Isaiah 10:19, Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34; Isaiah 32:15)—a resumption and prolongation of the metaphor in verse 1. They shall see the glory of the Lord. The culminating joy and delight and blessedness of the Church shall be the vision of God—either the spiritual perception of his presence (Matthew 5:8; Romans 1:20) or the actual beatific vision (1 Corinthians 13:12; Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:4), the first during the probation period, the second in the state of final bliss. Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands. In the Church of the redeemed there will be "weak" brethren as well as strong, "feeble" as well as healthful (see 1 Corinthians 3:1; Galatians 6:1; Hebrews 5:12-14). God, by the mouth of his prophet, calls on the strong to impart of their strength to their weaker brethren, uplifting their "weak hands," as Aaron and Hur did those of Moses (Exodus 17:12), and "confirming" or sustaining their "feeble knees." So St. Paul: "We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1). Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart. There will be fearful and trembling hearts always, even among the saints of God. These are to be encouraged and assured that God Will come to their aid, will avenge them of their spiritual enemies, reward their efforts to serve him, and in the end "save" them. He will come and save you; rather, he will come himself to save yon. There is One alone who can save, and he must do it himself, and, to do it, he must "come" to us. The words were at once an announcement of the Incarnation, and a promise to every trembling, doubting heart—a promise of direct Divine assistance, of the presence of God within us, of help potent to save. The predominant thought of the prophet appears to have been Messianic, and hence the burst of glorious prophecy which follows—a burst of prophecy most inadequately expounded of the time of the return from the Captivity. Isaiah 35:5, Isaiah 35:6 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. In the literal sense, our Lord claims these prophecies to himself and his earthly career, when he says to the disciples of John the Baptist, "Go and show John those things which ye do hear and see, the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear" (Matthew 11:4, Matthew 11:5); but they have doubtless a further spiritual sense, in which they belong to the whole period of his mediatorial kingdom, and are correlative to former utterances of the prophet, in which the blinded eyes and deaf ears and stammering tongues of God’s people had been spoken of and made the subject of complaint (see Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 29:10, etc.). Our Lord’s miracles of bodily healing, performed during the three years of his earthly ministry, were types and foreshadowings of those far more precious miracles of spiritual healing, which the great Physician is ever performing on the sick and infirm of his Church, by opening the eyes of their understandings, and unstopping the deaf ears of their hearts, and loosening the strings of their tongues to hymn his praise, and stirring their paralyzed spiritual natures to active exertions in his service. Doubtless Isaiah, or the Spirit which guided him, intended to point to both these classes of miracles, and not to one of them only, as characteristic of the Messiah’s kingdom. Isaiah 35:6 For in the wilderness shall waters break out. The wilderness of humanity shall be renovated by a large effluence of God’s grace (comp. Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 32:2; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 43:19; John 7:37, John 7:38). Isaiah 35:7 The parched ground shall become, etc.; rather, the glistening sand. That hot glow of the parched desert soil, which produces the mirage, shall be replaced by a real lake of cool water. Illusive imitations of goodness shall give way to the display of genuine virtues and excellences. In the habitation of dragons; or, according to some, of jackals—the driest and most desolate of all places. Shall be grass with reeds and rushes; i.e. "shall be a luxuriant vegetation, like that on the banks of the Nile" (comp. Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2). Isaiah 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way (comp. Isaiah 30:21). There shall be a clear "way" marked out in which all shall be bound to walk—a "strait and narrow way" doubtless (Matthew 7:14), but one not readily missed. The way shall be called The way of holiness. It shall be that path through the dangers and difficulties of life which holiness points out and requires. The unclean shall not pass over it. It is tempting to imagine that there is here a reference to the famous chinvat peretu of the Zoroastrians—the "bridge of the gatherer"—along which all souls had to pass in order to reach the abode of the blessed, but which the souls of the wicked never succeeded in passing. The ’bridge of the gatherer" is, however, in the other world, not in this world; but Isaiah’s "highway" is here. It is that right course of life, which "the unclean" do not follow, though they might do so if they chose, but which the righteous follow to their great gain and advantage. But it shall be for those; rather, as in the margin, but he shall be with them; God, i.e. shall be with those who seek to walk in the way, and not to err from it. He shall direct them, support them, sustain their footsteps. The wayfaring men; rather, they that walk in the way—that make up their minds to try to walk in it. Though fools; i.e. however simple and unlearned they may be—"Ne simplicissimi quidem" (Rosenmüller). Shall not err therein; shall not wander from the way through mere simplicity. It shall be easy to find, difficult to miss. Isaiah 35:9 No lion shall be there. No great tyrannical power, like Assyria (Nahum 2:11, Nahum 2:12) or Babylon, shall arrest the energies of the Church, take it captive, or enslave it. No ravenous beast shall make it his prey. In proportion as the Church is holy (Isaiah 35:8) it shall be free from the molestation of bloody persecutors (see Isaiah 11:9). The redeemed—those whom God has purchased for his own (Exodus 6:6; Hosea 13:14)—shall be free to walk there, untroubled by cruel enemies. There is an under-current of comparison between the blessedness of the last times and the existing troubles of Israel, still threatened by Sennacherib. Isaiah 35:10 The ransomed of the Lord shall return. The blessedness of the last times would be incomplete to Jewish ideas without this crowning feature. There had already been a great dispersion of the faithful (Isaiah 1:7-9); there was to be a still greater one (Isaiah 11:11); Israel could not be content or happy until her "outcasts" were recalled, "the dispersed of Judah gathered together from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12). The return here prophesied is again announced, in almost the same words, in Isaiah 51:11. With songs (see the comment on Isaiah 51:2). Everlasting joy upon their heads. Anointed, as it were, with "the oil of gladness" (Psalms 45:7) forever and ever. Sorrow and sighing shall rise away (comp. Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4). The glory of the Church not temporal greatness, but spiritual perfection Amid the wealth of metaphor which Isaiah employs to depict the final prosperity, glory, and happiness of the Church, it is remarkable how little use is made of any images drawn from the conditions or circumstances of earthly grandeur. Images of natural beauty are principally employed—the shady forest, the spreading cedar tree, the rich luxuriance of arable and pasture land, the choice beauty of the most lovely among flowers, the placid lake, the pellucid rill, the gushing fountain. These raise no ideas of earthly greatness or temporal dominion. They point, by what may be called the laws of prophetic language, to two main features of spiritual life, (1) abounding grace granted to the Church freely from above—a supply copious, unlimited, inexhaustible, such that the cry may be confidently raised, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat" (Isaiah 55:1); and (2) abundant fruit borne by her members in their several stations—fruit of various kinds and of various degrees of excellency, but all "good fruit," spontaneously brought forth from ungrudging hearts, hearts desirous of showing forth their love and gratitude to their Maker and Redeemer. Beyond these two main characteristic features of the Church of the redeemed, we descry further—first, a power of working miracles (verses 5, 6), physical or spiritual, or both; and secondly, a gift of spiritual insight, whereby the redeemed are enabled to penetrate through the dense veil wherewith material things overlay the great realities that are behind them, and to discern through all the "glory and excellency" of the Most High (verse 2). q he redeemed seek for no external dominion—their efforts are, primarily, to walk themselves in "the way of holiness", (verse 8); secondarily, to "strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees’ of their brethren (verse 3); and, finally, to realize to themselves, by continual meditation and study of his works, the goodness and greatness, the "glory and excellency," of their Lord and God. BY E. JOHNSON Glories of the Messianic age. This is a picture of the happy and glorious condition of Israel after the return from Captivity. Nature is beheld rejoicing with man; and the whole scene is suffused with the light of a universal spiritual joy. I. THE OF THE NATURAL WORLD. The desert will rejoice "like the narcissus," the beautiful white flower found in abundance in spring-time in the Plain of Sharon. A ringing musical cry shall break out from those solitudes. The beauty of the most favored spots, of Carmel and Sharon, shall be diffused over the whole. In poetic pathos a feeling is lent to nature, which does not really exist in her. There is a deep truth, not of the reason, but of the heart, in this mood. Inanimate Nature is incapable either of joy or of sorrow, of exultation or depression. This our reason tells us. But we are all something more than cold rationalists in this matter. We take back from Nature impressions which we have first lent to her, and suppose we have borrowed them. This has been called the "pathetic fallacy," and there is a truth in the fallacy better than that of syllogistic reasoning. To the lover Nature looks love, and whispers of love; to the desponding temper her expression is a frown, her tones are inspirations of lament; she wears a nuptial robe for the happy bridegroom, and a pall for the mourner; silent and morose to the eyes of him who is cast down in the sense of Divine wrath, it breaks forth into jubilant song for the ears of him whose heart overflows with the sense of the redeeming mercy of God. "There is not the least flower but seems to hold up its head, and look pleasantly, in the secret sense of the goodness of its heavenly Maker. This silent rhetoric, though we cannot hear, but only see it, (s so full and expressive, that David thought he spoke neither impropriety nor nonsense, in a strong line, when he said,’ even the valleys break forth into singing.’" It is a song of praise and thanksgiving, a song of joy and triumph in the "glory of Jehovah," the manifestations of his creative and renewing powers, the liberal effusions of his goodness, even upon the lowest parts of the creation. II. THE OF THE HUMAN WORLD. 1. Weakness made strong—under the figure of the nerving up of languid hands and of tottering knees. Languor, dullness, the privation of power, are symptomatic of the absence of vital energy, alike in the physical and the moral sphere. People may be seemingly weak and impotent, not because they want the organs for action, but because the inspiration to action is wanting. A life without defined activity is hardly worth the name. In the fixed light of the eye, the prompt hand, the willing foot, we see signs of the Divine afflatus upon a man. The sails have caught the favoring breeze, while others lie becalmed. But there is always some part for the will. To him that hath shall be given; and the paradox is true, power comes to those who exert it. 2. Despair exchanged for confidence. Despair unfits alike for human and Divine service. Men are moved to duty by the hope of good or by the fear of evil. These motives cannot avail one who does not believe that his state can be either bettered or worsened. The man becomes careless of his happiness, indifferent to salvation. The biblical medicine for despair is the firm insistence on the message of salvation. God is coming—is on the way, to requite, to redeem, to deliver. How careful should preachers be not to force men into a "preternatural melancholy," by an unskillful handling of the Word of truth, by indiscreet severity, by dwelling too much on the dark themes of human depravity and predestination! 3. The removal of human infirmities and limitations. Blindness, deafness, lameness, dumbness, are symbolic of all obstructions in the soul to the entrance of light, and music, and power, and fluency. One great outflow of the Spirit sweeps all these hindrances to enjoyment and to activity away. Near to us is a God of infinite fullness; all about us is a world of beauty, strength, and joy; but we are "straitened in ourselves." Life is full of illusions, which tempt us forward with all the power and promise of reality. These are like the mirage of the desert—a seeming sheet of water in the distance, with its offer of refreshment to the pilgrim; in fact, an optical deception. But these illusions bear a certain relation to truth. For we cannot believe that the Almighty has planted a spring of error in the very mechanism of our fancy. Our minds were made for truth and tend towards truth, even through hallucinations. "The mirage shall become a lake." III. THE OF . There will be a "raised way," called "The Holy Way." It will be exempt from all that is unclean; it will be so clear and straight, that even the simple-minded cannot go astray; a secure and peaceful way, undisturbed by the furious beasts of ravening and destruction. Its every stage will be marked with joy, as singing pilgrims pass along it; and the sighs of sorrow will die away in the distance. It is a picture of true evangelical religion, as it is revived among the peoples, from epoch to epoch, and of its blessed effects. True religion is an elevating thing; nobility of manner and refinement of taste go hand-in-hand with it. It is a holy thing; and distinction of characters and classes, of tastes and pursuits, must appear wherever it comes. Its doctrine is simple, intelligible, yet sublime. "Justification by faith" can be understood and received by the humblest mind, while the most powerful intellect must exert itself to rise to the serene height of the truth. It is a way of gentleness and peace, unvexed by the furious storms of controversy, sheltering timid souls. It is a way of freedom and of joy, and it leads to a fixed destination—a celestial place, an eternal kingdom, a city that cannot be removed, whose Builder and Maker is God.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Inspirations to energy. "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees." It is not enough to be sorry for the woes of others. Sympathy may be a sort of mental "minor," wherewith we simply soothe ourselves. We must be earnest and inspirational. Pity must be practical. "Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand!" We have plenty of critics and satirists; we want men who will help to save. I. WE MAY BY OUR WORDS. "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not." Tell a sorrow to some persons, and they draw a picture of still darker possibilities, and so feed the already gloomy fancies of the mind. But it is possible to give "cheer," instead—to record God’s great deliverances to ourselves, and tell of all his wondrous works. Thus we may put the brightness of hope into the sky, and help to chase the dark clouds away. "Say." We have all the faculty of quickly telling bad news; let us tell the "good news" of God’s gracious kingdom. II. WE CAN CHEER THE HEART. That is the center of life. We may not be able to lift the burden, but we may strengthen our brother’s hands by energizing his heart. It is wonderful what a few depressing influences will accomplish. Some are more sensitive than others, and are easily cast down. "Do not my words do good?" says God; for they reach at once to the inner man. Blessed angels of help are words that go to the heart. No man is so great but sympathy can cheer him; no man is so weak but he may be made heroic by holy inspirations! III. WE CAN HELP THE . The knees are feeble; for it is a "tiring" journey to many. They are very weary. Disappointments have multiplied; fountains have dried up in the desert; friends have died, and, like Naomi, they went out full, and are returning home empty. We are all pilgrims; and the statesman’s steps often tire as well as the poor student seeking after his first ideal. In the spiritual pilgrimage, too, we often faint and fail. The way is hard. We are disappointed with ourselves. It may be that some soul was just turning back when we strengthened the feeble knees by our own eager pressing forward, even when tired and faint. How much thus depends on our own Christ-like disposition! We cannot do all this if we are insolent, quarrelsome, or hard. The very duties the gospel enjoins manifest what a lofty ideal of character the gospel requires.—W.M.S. Tremor of spirit. "Say to them that are of a fearful heart." This implies that fear will be a necessary element in our life. All depends on the heart. Fear increases with experience. I. THY GOD TO . His power is in this direction. He is God. He is thy God—the God of thy salvation. 1. It is an empire over sin. All its agencies and influences. 2. It is an empire over hearts. Because it is connected with the cross! 3. It is an empire over enemies. There is no Manichean universe of equally divided forces. The Lord is King. II. THY GOD TO . He is human as well as Divine. 1. He is Lord of circumstance. 2. He is Lord of condition. He can and does extend his pity to the weak and the poor. 3. He is Lord of dissolution. For death is in his hands. III. THY GOD TO . All things make manifest: 1. His praise. 2. His perfections. 3. His permanence. "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.’ IV. THY GOD TO . All enemies under his feet. 1. Power to control. 2. Power to educe good out of evil. 3. Power to raise and to cast down. V. THY GOD TO . His kingship will evoke the worshipping homage of all creation. 1. Angels adore him. 2. Saints adore him. Heaven shall ring with the glad acclaim of a great multitude that no man can number. "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2, Isaiah 35:5-7 Transformation by the truth. Accepting these words as Messianic in their scope, we may treat them as descriptive of that most blessed transformation which is effected, in the individual man and in the nation, by the gospel When the truth of Christ is made efficacious by the Spirit of God, and has had time to work out its true results, there will be found— I. OF THE . "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." Darkness of mind, deafness of soul, have prevailed; the spirit has been insensible to all that is most beautiful and harmonious, most precious, in the universe. But then shall things appear as they are. Men shall "see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." In the Father, the Friend, the Sanctifier, the Refuge of the human soul, men will recognize him who is worthy of their trust, their love, their search. II. OF HEART. Instead of the "guilty silence," so often and so long maintained by men under the reign of sin, "the tongue of the dumb will sing" psalms of grateful praise to the Divine Author of all being, to the bountiful Giver of every good and perfect gift. The mouth will be full of song because the heart will be full of thankful remembrances. III. OF SOUL. "Then shall the lame leap as an hart." Instead of the moral feebleness and incapacity which showed itself in painful spiritual inactivity, the soul will go forth, with all its renewed and regenerated powers, to do God’s work, to bear witness to his Name, to work in his vineyard. IV. AND OF LIFE. "The desert shall … blossom the rose; … the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel," etc. 1. Instead of bareness and unsightliness—the invariable product of sin in its final outworkings—there shall be spiritual beauty. There shall be "the beauty of holiness," "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit;" all that is attractive and entrancing to the changed and cultivated judgment of the good and wise. 2. Instead of fruitlessness there shall be fertility. The desert shall "blossom abundantly." Holy, devoted life will be spent in the service of a present Savior and for a sin-stricken world. We shall abound in help, in healing, in blessing. V. JOY. The whole strain of the passage is jubilant, and it speaks of the desert "rejoicing with joy and singing." Sin and sadness are most intimately associated; even if they are not so inseparably allied as to be always seen together, they are so essentially connected that when one appears the other is sure to follow. It is a guilty world that knows so much of disappointment, of regret, of grief, of shame. But when the truth of God has wrought its full effect on the human soul, the prevailing note, even of the earthly life, will be that of joy. The near presence of the heavenly Father, the close friendship of the Divine Redeemer, the happy service of love, the blessed work of doing good, the exulting hope of heavenly bliss,—these are sources of joy which quicken and animate the soul, which make a holy human life radiant with a blessedness which anticipates the glory of the skies.—C. Isaiah 35:3, Isaiah 35:4 The privilege of the strong. In this strenuous and vigorous appeal we have— I. THE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. In it are the weak as well as the strong. There is nothing whatever that is narrow about the Christian faith. It is not adapted to any particular class or character. In Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, cultivated nor uncultivated, bond nor free. And in him there is no favor reserved for any special disposition. It is not a gospel for those in particular who are most admired of men—for the strong, for the brave, for the wise, for the winning; it is a refuge for the weak, for the timid, for the unknown and the unbeloved. Those who are of no account at all amongst men, those whom human leaders would gladly leave out of their army as weakening rather than strengthening their forces,—these are all welcome to flock to the standard and to fight under the banner of the heavenly Prince. II. THE OF THE STRONG. Untaught by the truth of Christ, unchanged by his Spirit, it has been considered the privilege of the strong (1) to despise the weak; (2) to displace them and to enjoy their portion; (3) to delight in playing the part of despot over them. These have been the uses which the strong have made of their strength. But we have not so learned Christ. So far as we possess his Spirit and have any right to bear his Name, we shall count it our privilege: 1. To show them a genuine sympathy; remembering that often, if not always, their weakness reflects no discredit on them, and our strength no credit on ourselves. 2. To render them effectual succor; to grant them needful protection and guidance, to instill courage into their minds, to impart vigor to their souls, to make them partakers of our own strength. We shall say to them, speaking in more ways than one, "Be strong." III. THE MAIN SOURCE OF THEIR SUCCOR. The strong will help the weak: 1. By offering them the honor which is their due, instead of the disdain to which they have been accustomed. The former elevates, the latter crushes. 2. By their inspiriting example. Walking with them, working or struggling by their side, the fellowship which they afford imparts a constant access of strength to their soul. 3. By words of wise encouragement. And of these the best and the most effective will be those which bring out the nearness and the salvation of God. "Behold, your God will come … and save you." If we would do our very best to strengthen the weak, we must bring them into conscious relation to the Divine Source of all power. Let men realize that God is with them and for them, and they will be strong to do the bravest deeds and to endure the sharpest sufferings.—C. Isaiah 35:8, Isaiah 35:9 The way to Zion. The outward incidents of the Jewish people have a singularly dose correspondence with the inward experiences of human souls in Christian times. The captivity in Egypt and also that in Babylon find their analogue in the state of spiritual bondage which is the constant penalty of sin. The way back to Jerusalem stands for our homeward pilgrimage as we travel to the city of the blessed. As here described, there are several features in which the one answers strikingly and instructively to the other. I. THE HIGHWAY TO THE CITY. In all his dealings with man God has been constructing a highway from bondage to spiritual freedom, from sin to holiness, from guilty selfishness to sacred service, from utter ruin to complete salvation, from earth to heaven. He was engaged in this beneficent, Divine procedure when he spake to us through the patriarchs, when he instituted the Law, when he gave to us his prophets. And he completed this "way" when he "sent forth his Son." Jesus Christ had so much to do with preparing for us the highway to the heavenly city that we appropriately speak of him, as indeed he spoke of himself, as actually being the Way itself (John 14:6). He, the Truth, is the Way by which we have a knowledge of God and of his will. He, the Mediator, is the Way by which we ourselves come into close spiritual contact with God himself. He, the Propitiation, is the Way by which we ascend to forgiveness and reconciliation. He, the Life, is the Way by which we rise ’into loving union with, and growing likeness to, and ultimate preparedness for, the Divine Father. II. THREE OF THE WAY. 1. Here is that which is paradoxical, but true withal; for this homeward way is characterized by breadth. It is the broad "highway," the open road, along which all travelers are free to pass. There is no such exclusiveness about it as is often found in the ways we construct. It is for all classes of society, for all nations and races of mankind, for men who have lived all kinds of human lives, for men of all tempers and dispositions; the "King’s highway" has ample room for them all. 2. But it is also, strangely though not inconsistently, characterized by narrowness. "And a way," i.e. a path, an elevated and narrow causeway along which only one or two can walk abreast. About this way of life there is a narrowness of its own (see Matthew 7:13, Matthew 7:14; Luke 13:24). (1) Its gateway can only be entered by one at a time. Men do not enter into the kingdom of God in regiments or companies, but as separate and individual souls (see Galatians 6:5). (2) No man can enter in swollen with pride, or carrying his vices with him, or wrapped round with selfishness. It is "the way of holiness," "the unclean shall not pass over it." 3. It is also characterized by directness. A man, "though a fool, shall not err therein." There is no serious difficulty here. Mysteries there are which are insoluble, but these can be left alone—they will keep for a future time. But what the will of God is in Jesus Christ, how he would have us order our life, what manner of men we ought to be in order to please him,—this is as clear and plain as it could be. The little child, the man who is little better than "a fool," need not miss his way in travelling to the heavenly city. III. THE AND THE OF THE WAY. 1. Immunity. "No lion shall be there." Not that there is no adversary to be found in the way to Zion. The evil one himself, as a roaring lion, haunts the path of life. But there will be found no temptation which belongs peculiarly and especially to the heavenward way, as is the case with other paths. In the path of financial success is the lion of covetousness or avarice; in the path of fame is that of vanity; in the way of professional success is that of complacency, etc.; but in the way of holiness is no especial "lion" which frequents that road. It is morally and spiritually safe. 2. Communion. There is (1) fellowship with the holy. "The redeemed shall walk there." And there is also and above all (2) fellowship with God himself; with the Divine Friend of man. "He shall be with them" (marginal reading); he shall be with them—he "Leader of faithful souls, and Guide of all who travel to the sky." C. Within the gates. If the two preceding verses may be regarded as descriptive of the Christian pilgrimage, the text may appropriately be treated as pictorial of the heavenly city in which that journey ends. The language of this verse suggests to us— I. THE FEATURE OF THOSE WHO ARE . They are "the ransomed of the Lord." They were in spiritual bondage: they have been redeemed by a Divine Deliverer; they have been ransomed at a great price; they have been rescued from the power of their enemies (outward and inward) and walk in liberty, thankful for what they have escaped from, anticipating the more perfect freedom and the more excellent estate they are travelling toward. II. THE SPECIAL OF THE CITY ITSELF. "Shall come to Zion." 1. It is the very home of God. Jerusalem was "the city of God’—it was the place on earth which he chose for his manifested presence. There, in a peculiar sense, he abode; there, as in no other city, be was approached and was worshipped; there, as nowhere else, men felt that they stood in his near presence and rejoiced in fellowship with him. The heavenly Zion is to be to all who shall be received within its gates the place where God is, the home of the living and reigning Savior. There we are to be "at home with the Lord." 2. It is the place of perfect security and of transcendent beauty. The "mountains were round about Jerusalem," and "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, was Mount Zion." The heavenly city, of which it is the earthly type, will prove a home of absolute security, into which no enemy will ever come, from which temptation and sin are safely barred (see Revelation 21:27); and of surpassing beauty and glory (Revelation 21:1, Revelation 21:10, Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:18, Revelation 21:19, Revelation 21:23). There shall be everything which will give pure and inexhaustible delight to all holy souls, to those in whom has been planted and nourished the appreciation of that which is really beautiful and glorious. III. THE JOY WHICH WILL ATTEND . They "shall come to Zion with songs." How transcendent must that moment be when the human soul is assured, by actual sight of the heavenly city, that immortal glory is his blest estate! IV. THE FULL AND ABIDING OF THE HOME. "Everlasting joy … sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Here are the two grand essentials of perfect blessedness. 1. The absence of all that mars. Here many a "goodly heritage" loses half its value to the possessor of it by reason of some one serious drawback; it is some bodily infirmity, or it is some grave anxiety, or it is some keen disappointment, or it is some irreparable loss which, though everything else be fair and fruitful, makes life seem to have as much of shadow as of sunshine. There, sorrow and sighing shall have fled away. 2. The presence of lasting and ever-growing joy. Here, with the constitution of our mind and with the fading of our faculty, pleasure palls, joys fade and disappear. After a few decades life becomes less and less valuable, until it is felt to be a burden that can ill be borne. There, it is an "everlasting song," and instead of its strain becoming less tuneful or inspiriting, the enlarging and unfolding powers of our immortal manhood will make the heavenly life more musical and rapturous as the years and the centuries are left behind us.—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2 Changed circumstances following the return of Divine favor. This, which is expressed in the figures of these verses, may be further illustrated by the experience of David. His "bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long," while God hid his face from him. He sang again the old songs when God "restored unto him the joy of his salvation." "In contrast to the ruin of Edom, the prophet now describes Israel’s triumphant march home through the blossoming wilderness" (Matthew Arnold). Two points may be dwelt on. 1. God’s favor often includes improved circumstances. 2. God’s favor brings such cheer as lifts us above circumstances. I. GOD’S FAVOR OFTEN . The actual removal of our difficulties or hindrances; restored relationships; business prosperities, etc.;—all such things being poetically represented by the bare, dry desert becoming a watered, flowery garden. In actual fact, the weariness and danger of the long desert route were graciously mitigated and relieved for the returning exiles. Cheyne resists the reference to the exiles; but the same point may be illustrated if the picture of the text be that of the condition of desolated Judaea when God’s favor rested on the remnant that remained there. The contrast may be between desolated Edom on which rested God’s frown, and refreshed and revived Judaea on which rested God’s favor. So when God’s curse is taken off Palestine, the old blossom and beauty will return to her. We cannot always be sure that God’s smile on our souls will be followed by improvement of our circumstances; but this great comfort we may take—God oftentimes does in this way seal and complete his mercies to his people. II. GOD’S FAVOR BRINGS SUCH CHEER AS LIFTS US ABOVE . It is very easy to say that we ought to rise above circumstances in our own strength. But we cannot do it; nobody ever really does it, however loud may be their boastings. The bond uniting body and mind, soul and life, is altogether too close and subtle to permit even the holiest man to cease to feel. What alone is possible is that God’s favor and grace may be such an inspiration and strength to a man’s spirit, or a man’s will, that he may be able to control his circumstances, and even change them through the new and masterful relation in which he stands to them. God’s favor and acceptance is man’s supreme uplifting. There is no cheer, no strength, like that which comes to the man who can say, "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge." That man, and that man alone, can do all things, and bear all things, and make life yield to him its best.—R.T. Cheer for the faint-hearted. This term may well be applied either to the small remnant left in Judaea, or to the small company that represented the exiled nation on the return to Jerusalem. The cheer comes through the assurance of God’s direct and gracious relations with them. Faint-hearted ones can only be steadied by leaning on the Strong One for strength. The prayer of all such should be this, "O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake thou for me." Introduction may include the reasons for faint-heartedness which these people had who are here addressed; and the corresponding reasons for faint-heartedness which now may press upon us. We have times, like those which Job knew, when everybody and everything seems to be against us; we have to suffer much through the wrong-doing of others; and the frailty of our bodies often makes us write bitter things against ourselves. Our hope is in God. He sends cheering assurances. I. WE HAVE THIS GOOD CHEER—GOD LIVES. Even if we are as nearly shipwrecked as the Apostle Paul, and for days and nights together neither sun nor stars appear, the fact cannot be altered, the sun is there behind those clouds; they cannot blot him out. In our troublous and weary times men may bruise us sorely with their taunts, "Where is now thy God?" But taunts cannot push him from his place, and blot him from our sky. He is there, behind the cloud, if his time is not yet. We shall praise him. II. WE HAVE THIS GOOD CHEER—GOD IS FOR US. He is on our side. "Who shall harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We have a champion, a "Great Heart" pilgrim’s guide. "Greater is he who is with us than all that can be against us." And if we are still placed under disabilities and burdens, we keep this confidence—seeing God is for us, he must know that it is better for us to let the burdens stay than to remove them. He could remove them; it is enough for us that he does not. III. WE HAVE THIS GOOD CHEER—GOD IS WITH US. His is not a grace and help which we may have on appeal merely; it is a grace and strength which are our constant possession. "The Lord of hosts is with us." We are safely defended; we are wisely inspired; we possess all things—"all are ours"—for we have God. IV. WE HAVE THIS GOOD CHEER—GOD IS IN US. This is the deeper Christian view, and opens up the Pauline teaching, "I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me;" and, we may even say, the teaching of our Lord himself. Cheer for the faint-hearted follows our response to this appeal, "Abide in me, and I in you."—R.T. Pre-visions of the Great Physician. These may be poetical figures, designed to present, in an impressive way, a time of great national joy; but we cannot fail to recognize in them foreshadowings of the miracles of healing and of grace that were wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. The first and general meaning of the passage may be that, "so conspicuous and overpowering would be the interference of God on behalf of his people, those of the most obtuse intellect could not fail to perceive it. So joyous would be the event, that persons the most unlikely would participate in the exultation." But, for spiritual readers, there must be a second and further meaning, for the language too well suits that time when "the blind saw, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, and the dead were raised." Reading the mission of Christ from this prophecy as a text, we note— I. CHRIST MEN’S . All are typified in these failures of the senses of sight, hearing, walking, and speaking. Some of the human disabilities are hereditary, others are brought on by men’s own negligences or willfulnesses. But this is to be specially noticed, they are all the direct products and results of sin. And Christ only designed to impress on men the greatness of his work as Redeemer from sin, by showing them how vigorously he would deal with all sin’s consequences. II. CHRIST GIVING LIFE TO THE DEAD. Death is the supreme, anti apparently resistless triumph of sin. Before it man stands utterly hopeless. But Christ does not. He speaks, and Lazarus comes forth, bound with the grave-clothes. He even submits himself to the worst that death can do, and then breaks the bars of his prison-house asunder. There is nothing he cannot do for us. III. CHRIST GOD’S WORK IN SOULS. We only read our Lord’s life aright when we see it to be illustration of permanent spiritual facts. God is always coming and saving men. He has always been coming and saving men. Prophets, by their miracles (such as Elisha’s), in part illustrated God’s soul-saving work; but the "Lord Jesus gives the full, sublime, ever-suggestive illustration." God gives life from the "death of trespasses and sins." God removes the soul-disabilities which sin has brought in its train. This opens up the consideration of our Lord’s position as Mediator, doing, for God, his part of this great work in souls; and further of the mission of the Spirit, as Comforter, Inspirer, and Teacher. Verily God works wonders of grace in the souls of men.—R.T. The Lord’s highway. Under the figure of deliverance from Assyria and Babylon the times of Messiah are foreshadowed. From the previous verses we get suggestions of his miracles of healing, and assurances that he will supply grace to men like abundant fountains in thirsty places. The figure of a "way" was even used by Christ himself. He said, "I am the Way"—the way to the Father; the way of salvation; the way of holiness; the way to glory, "bringing many sons unto glory." Spiritualizing the way described in this text, we may note— I. THE HIGHWAY OF IS A RAISED WAY. A made way; one actually lifted up, leveled, prepared. This is the idea in the Hebrew word. We must distinguish between the ordinary Eastern path, a mere track in the sand or the soil, and the road carefully made for a royal progress, valleys raised, mountains leveled, stones removed. Such a road is Christ’s way of life and salvation for us. All hindrances are taken out of the way, and a plain path is laid before our feet. There are some points of view from which the way of life appears as a "strait gate" opening on to a narrow path. But from other points of view it is a broad, open road, which none can mistake. This may lead to consideration of the work of the Lord Jesus which was, as it were, the making of the way of life. II. THE HIGHWAY OF IS A HOLY WAY. There is no possibility of our treading it with the uncleanness of willful sin, kept sin, upon us. Sinners may tread it, but they must be penitent sinners. And a penitent man, so far as heart and purpose are concerned, is a holy man. Imperfect saints may tread it, but only if their heart is set on holiness. Only if they are "clean every whir," but needing to "wash their feet." III. THE HIGHWAY OF IS A SIMPLE WAY. "The wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein." The difficulties we make; they are not really in the way. The way of salvation seems to wise people full of mystery, yet it is grasped by the wayfaring, the fool, the child. None need miss the way, for it is thoroughly well fitted with directions and guide-posts. We may blind ourselves, and refuse to see them. We may put obstacles in our own path. The one great obstacle takes many forms. What we really want is to keep our willfulness; to make a way of our own; to get God to save us on our own terms. There is the highway open right before us, and we persist in looking this way and that, if so be we may find any way but Christ’s way of penitence and faith.—R.T. The return of the ransomed. "Whoever is familiar with the bold and magnificent character of the prophetic style will not deem the liberation from the Captivity an event too trivial to be predicted in the language here employed." "Minor and temporary deliverances are not only emblems of the great salvation, but preparatory to it." "The first volume of Isaiah’s prophecy closes fitly with this transcendent picture, carrying the thoughts of men beyond any possible earthly fulfillment. The outward imagery probably had its starting-point in the processions of the pilgrims who came up to the temple singing psalms, like those known as the ’songs of degrees,’ at their successive halting-places." Very strange is the fascination which the "future" exercises on men. It is a "Will-o’-the-wisp" which is ever enticing men on. "At first Time made nought but to-day With its joys, its successes, and sorrow; Then, to keep on good terms with the world, He promised he’d make a to-morrow." No man is really satisfied. He is always hoping for something to happen in the future. And so he is lifted onwards towards the eternal, and in his very restlessness he reveals his immortality. Illustrate from the romance of the child, the ambition of the apprentice, the outlooking of the man, the persistent hopes of the Jewish race. This onlooking is peculiarly characteristic of the Christian, who has the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." The Christian’s best is in the eternal. I. THE PEOPLE. "Ransomed of the Lord." The word reminds us of the prisoner and the slave. It may properly be applied in a religious sense, because the Bible represents men as "in bondage," and as "redeemed." "Sold under sin." "Ye were the servants of sin." "Gave his life a ransom." 1. Observe from what bondage we are ransomed. Describe the wretched condition of the slave. How much worse is the condition of the slaves of sin, drink, lust, evil passions, or selfish worldliness! There is a peculiar degradation and a certain final ruin involved in the supreme service of self. "Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin." 2. By whom were we ransomed? "Of the Lord." It was a glorious day for England when she broke the fetters of the slave, and let the oppressed go free. It would be thought a great thing for a king to bend down and with his own hands release the slave. Yet God’s own Son, God himself "manifest," is our Deliverer. When "there was no eye to pity, and no a,’m to save, his eye pitied and his arm brought salvation." We sing, as Moses did, "The Lord is become my Salvation." 3. At what price has the ransom been accomplished? "Not with corruptible things," but with "the precious blood of Christ." Illustrate the supreme efforts that are often made to raise a ransom price; but what is all the wealth in the world compared with Jesus, who was given for us? Surely such a ransom involves that some great blessedness is yet in store for us. II. THE PLEDGE OF RETURN. "Shall return." It is the word of the living God. Israel, while in captivity, may fully rest upon the Lord’s promises. There is a sense in which we may regard ourselves as the "ransomed of the Lord," left for a while in the land of bondage until our home is ready; and while we wait we have comforting assurances in: 1. The work of Jesus: which is represented as being still carried on for us in the heavenly places. 2. The work of the Holy Ghost, who is our Seal, our Earnest, our Sanctifier, unto the day of redemption. 3. The promises of God, which are "exceeding great and precious promises," and which are "yea and amen in Christ Jesus." III. THE RETURN. Picture the scene of the journey of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. "Songs and everlasting joy ’they know. 1. Theirs is the joy of ransomed ones. Illustrate by the ecstasy of the freed bird, the liberated prisoner, the escaped slave. 2. Theirs is the joy of conquerors. Over sin and self and the world. Illustrate by the triumph of a general returning to his country. 3. Theirs is the joy of those who are going home. Illustrate by the schoolboy, or the traveler, nearing the time for home. "As when the weary traveler gains The height of some o’er-looking hill, The sight his fainting spirit cheers, He eyes his home, though distant still." IV. THE HOME. "Zion." Our "Father’s house." "Is it a place?" we often ask. We know little about it. God gives us only figures and pictures which appeal to imagination. The text gives two aspects of it. 1. "Sorrow and sighing flee away." Sorrow comes out of (1) separations; (2) infirmities; (3) death; (4) sin. "There the weary are at rest." "The pilgrims enter the city like worn sky-birds to their nests." 2. They obtain joy and gladness. This they have through (1) exalted powers; (2) established purity; (3) intercourse with the loved ones of their human fellowship; (4) nobler and higher service; and (5) the vision, the presence, the smile, of Jesus. They are "ever with the Lord."—R.T. PART II. SKETCH OF EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF (CH. 36-39.). SECTION I. ’S TO REDUCE JUDAEA, AND HIS (Isaiah 36:1-22; Isaiah 37:1-38.). IF the Book of Isaiah be regarded as the result of a gradual accretion (see the General Introduction), whether that accretion is to be ascribed to the action of the prophet himself or to that of later editors, we may equally consider the present chapters (ch. 36-39.) to have been originally an "Appendix," attached, as furnishing illustration to the preceding prophecies, and at one time terminating the book. They will thus stand to the preceding chapters in much the same relation as that in which the last chapter of Jeremiah stands to the rest of that prophet’s work, differing only in the fact that they are almost entirely the prophet’s own composition. Isaiah wrote the history of the reign of Hezekiah for the general "Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah" (2 Chronicles 32:32). From this "book" the account of the reign which we have in 2 Kings (18-20.) is almost certainly taken (2 Kings 20:20). The close verbal resemblance between the present chapters and those in Kings, and the differences, which are chiefly omissions, are best accounted for by supposing that both are abbreviations of a more extensive narrative. such as that composed for the original "Book of the Chronicles" probably was. The abbreviation here inserted may have been made either by the prophet himself, or by a "co-editor." The point is one which is not very important, and which it is quite impossible to determine, unless arbitrarily. Isaiah 36:1 It came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah. There is an irreconcilable difference between this note of time, in the passage as it stands, and the Assyrian inscriptions. The fourteenth year of Hezekiah was b.c. 714 or 713. Sargon was then King of Assyria, and continued king till b.c. 705. Sennacherib did not ascend the throne till that year, and he did not lead an expedition into Palestine till b.c. 701. Thus the date, as it stands, is cloven or twelve years too early. It is now the common opinion of critics that the chronology of the Books of Kings, speaking generally, is "a later addition to the Hebrew narrative". It is uncertain when the dates were added; but it would not be long from the time when the addition was made before "Isaiah" would be brought into accord with "Kings." Another view is that the date belongs to the original writings, but that it has suffered corruption, "fourteenth" having been substituted for "twenty-sixth," from an overstrict rendering of the expression, "in those days," which introduces the narrative of Isa 38:1-22. That narrative undoubtedly belongs to Hezekiah’s fourteenth year. A third view is that of Dr. Hincks, who suggests a derangement of the text, which has attached to an expedition of Sennacherib a date originally belonging to an attack by Sargon. He supposes the original text to have run thus: "And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that the King of Assyria came up (against him). In those days was King Hezekiah sick unto death, etc. (Isaiah 38:1-22; Isaiah 39:1-8.). And Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them," etc. (Isaiah 36:1-22; Isaiah 37:1-38.). The subject has been treated at considerable length by Mr. Cheyne, who has accidentally ascribed to Sir H. Rawlinson the second of the above theories, which really originated with the present writer. Sennacherib, King of Assyria. The Hebrew rendering of the name is Sankherib, the Greek Sanacharibus or Senacheribus. In the Assyrian the literation is Sin-akhi-irib—and the meaning" Sin (the moon-god) multiplies brothers." Sin-akhi-irib was the son and successor of Sargon. His father was murdered, and he ascended the throne in b.c. 705. Came up against all the defenced cities; rather, all the fenced cities, as in 2 Kings 18:13,or "all the fortified cities" (Cheyne). And took them. Sennacberib tells us that, in the campaign of his fourth year, he "captured forty-six of the strong cities" belonging to Hezekiah, King of Judah, while of the "fortresses and small cities" he took "a countless number". (On the causes of the war and its general course, see the Introduction to the book.) Isaiah 36:2 And the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh … with a great army. It is inconceivable that, immediately after the grant of terms of peace and their acceptance, Sennacherib should have renewed the war; there must have been an interval, and a fresh provocation. The interval can have been only a short one, since Hezekiah died in b.c. 697. It may have been a couple of years, or perhaps no more than a year, or possibly only a few months. The fresh provocation probably consisted in an application for aid, made by Hezekiah to Tir-hakah, or to the subordinate Egyptian kings, which is glanced at in Isaiah 36:6. The Assyrian annals, which never record any reverse or defeat, are wholly silent as to this second expedition. The only profane confirmation of it is to be found in Herodotus (2.141). From Lackish. Laehish, an ancient city of the Amorites (Joshua 10:5), was assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:39), and seems to have been still a Jewish possession (2 Kings 14:19). It occupied "a low round swell or knoll" in the Shefelch, or low tract between the Judaean highland and the Mediterranean, and lay near, if not directly on, the direct route which armies commonly followed in their march from Syria into Egypt. The site is now known as Um-Lakis; it lies between Gaza and Ajlan (Eglon), about two miles west of the hitter. Sennacherib represents himself as engaged in its siege on a bas-relief in the British Museum (see Layard, ’Monuments of Nineveh," second series, pl. 21). The conduit of the upper pool (see the comment on Joshua 7:3). The spot was that at which Isaiah had been commanded to meet Ahaz some forty years previously. It was probably on the north side of Jerusalem, not tar from the Damascus gate. Isaiah 36:3 Eliakim: Hilkiah’s son (see above, Isaiah 22:20). Eliakim had now taken the place of the Shebna who was "over the house" when Isaiah prophesied his downfall (Isaiah 22:19) and Eliakim’s advancement (Isaiah 22:21-23). Shebna the scribe. It is not quite certain that this is the same "Shebna" as the former prefect of the palace, but the uncommonness of the name is a strong argument for the identity. The post of "scribe" or "secretary "(marginal rendering) was one of some importance (see 1 Kings 4:3), though inferior to that of palace prefect. Joah … the recorder. We learn from Kings that Sennacherib sent in reality three envoys (2 Kings 18:17) to Hezekiah—the Tartan, or "commander-in-chief;" the Rabsaris, or "chief eunuch;" and the Rabshakeh, or "rab-sak," the "chief captain," the second in command after the tartan. Hezekiah thought it right to appoint an equal number of officials to meet and confer with them. Isaiah 36:4 And Rabshakeh said. Of the three Assyrian envoys Rabshakeh alone obtains mention in Isaiah, probably because he was the spokesman. He was probably chosen for spokesman because he could speak Hebrew fluently (infra, verses 11, 13). The great king. "The great king" (sarru rabbu) is the most common title assumed by the Assyrian monarchs in their inscriptions. It is found as early as b.c. 1120. Isaiah 36:5 I say. In 2 Kings 18:20 we read, "Thou sayest" for "I say," which gives a better sense. Dr. Kay holds the two forms to be "complementary." I have counsel and strength for war. Either the words of Hezekiah had been reported to Sennacherib, or he rightly divined Hezekiah’s thoughts. It was, no doubt, in reliance on the "counsel" of Eliakim and the "strength" of Egypt that the Jewish monarch had a second time provoked his suzerain. Isaiah 36:6 This broken reed; rather, as in 2 Kings 18:21, this bruised reed (comp. Isaiah 42:3). A reed may be "bruised," and wholly untrustworthy as a support, while it appears sound. A "broken" reed no one would lean on. Egypt. There had been times when Egypt was a strong power, feared and respected by her neighbours, and a terror even to Assyria. But these times were long past. For the last fifty years the country had been divided against itself (see the comment on Isaiah 19:2), split up into a number of petty principalities, Recently the neighbouring kingdom of Ethiopia had claimed and exercised a species of sovereignty over the entire Nile valley, while allowing tributary princes to govern different portions of it. Of these princes the most important at the time of Rabshakeh’s embassy seems to have been Shabatok, who reigned in Memphis, probably from b.c. 712 to b.c. 698. Egypt is likened to a "bruised reed" on account of her untrustworthincss. "So" (Sabaco) had given no substantial help to Hashes. Shabatok was little likely to imperil himself in order to assist Hezekiah. Even Tirhakah would probably avoid, as long as he could, a conflict with the full power of Assyria. Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Sennacherib uses the generic term, "Pharaoh," instead of mentioning any of the petty princes by name, because he means to speak generally. The King of Egypt, under present circumstances, whoever he may be, is no better than a bruised reed. In his own inscriptions, Sennacherib about this time uses the expression, "the kings of Egypt". Isaiah 36:7 If thou say to me, We trust in the Lord. "The Assyrians," it has been observed, "had a good intelligence department" (Cheyne). It was known to Sennacherib that Hezekiah had a confident trust, which seemed to him wholly irrational, in Jehovah—the special God of his people. It was also known to him that Hezekiah, in the earlier portion of his reign (2 Kings 18:4), had "removed the high places" and broken down the altars, where Jehovah had for centuries been worshipped throughout the length and breadth of the land. He concludes that, in so doing, he must have offended Jehovah. He is probably ignorant of the peculiar proviso of the Jewish Law, that sacrifice should be offered in one place only, and conceives that Hezekiah has been actuated by some narrow motive, and has acted in the interests of one city only, not of the whole people. Ye shall worship before this altar. The parallel passage of 2 Kings (2 Kings 18:22) has "this altar in Jerusalem." The brazen altar in the great court of the temple is, of course, meant. Hezekiah had cleansed it front the pollutions of the time of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 29:18), and had insisted on sacrifice being offered nowhere else (2 Chronicles 29:21-35; 2 Chronicles 30:15-24; 2 Chronicles 31:1, etc.). Such a concentration of worship was unknown to any of the heathen nations, and may well have been unintelligible to them. Isaiah 36:8 Now therefore give pledges; i.e. "bind yourselves under s-me penalty." Rabshakeh here interrupts his message’ to introduce an offer of his own. Intent on ridiculing the absurdity of Hezekiah’s resistance of Assyria, he promises to make him a present of two thousand horses, if he (Hezekiah) can find two thousand trained riders to mount them. It is quite likely that he was safe in making this promise, and that, notwithstanding the abundant use of chariots and horses by the Jews of the time for purposes of luxury (Isaiah 2:7), they were destitute of a cavalry force and unaccustomed to the management of war-horses. Isaiah 36:9 How then wilt thou turn away the face, etc.? i.e. "How wilt thou be able to defeat, and cause to retreat, a single Assyrian captain at the head of his squadron?" And put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen; rather, but thou trustest in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen. Consciousness of the weakness, with which Rabshakeh had just reproached them, had led to their application to Egypt for a chariot and a cavalry force. Egypt was well able to furnish both, and had sent a large force of both to the help of Ekron a short time previously. That force had, however, suffered defeat at the hands of Sennacherib. Isaiah 36:10 The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it; literally, Jehovah said unto me, Go up, etc.. The heathen monarchs frequently represented themselves as directed to make war on a nation by God, or by some particular god. Piankhi Mer-amman says, "I am born of the loins. created from the egg, of the Deity … I have not acted without his knowing; he ordained that I should act". Mesha, King of Moab, declares, "Chemosh said to me, Go and take Nebo [in war] against Israel". Asshur is generally represented as commanding the expeditions of the Assyrian kings. Still, it is surprising that Sennacherib should mention "Jehovah" as the God from whom he had received the order to attack Hezekiah, and we may suspect that the term which he actually employed was Ilu, "God," and that either Rahshakeh, or the reporter of the speech, substituted "Jehovah" as more intelligible to the Jews. Isaiah 36:11 Speak … unto thy servants in the Syrian language; literally, in the Aramaic language. Aramaeans were widely spread over the entire region between the Lower Tigris and the Mediterranean; and their language seems to have been in general use, as a language of commerce. "Private contract tablets in Aramaic and Assyrian have been found in the remains of ancient Nineveh" (Cheyne). Rabshakeh had, perhaps, spoken "in the Jews’ language " without any ill intent, thinking that it was the only tongue which Jewish envoys would understand; but his so doing was calculated to affect the minds of the common people, and to shake their allegiance to Hezekiah. The envoys, therefore, requested him to employ a foreign tongue, and suggested Aramaic as one which was familiar to them, and which they supposed that he would understand. His employment of Hebrew had shown them that he was a linguist. In the Jews’ language. There was no language peculiar to the Jews as Jews, that is to say, different from the ordinary speech of the Israelites. Both alike spoke Hebrew. In the Old Testament, however, this corn-men language is never called "Hebrew," but either "the tongue of Canaan" (Isaiah 19:18) or "the Jewish language" (2 Kings 18:26, 2 Kings 18:28; 2 Chronicles 32:18; Nehemiah 13:24). Similarly, our own tongue is called "English," though spoken also in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, America, and Australia. In the ears of the people that are on the wall; i.e. of the soldiers placed on the wall to defend it. We must suppose that the conference took place immediately outside the fortifications, so that some of those on the wall could hear. Isaiah 36:12 Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall? Rabshakeh was contravening all diplomatic usage, and no doubt was conscious of it. But the pride and arrogance of the Assyrians rendered them as careless of diplomatic etiquette as, at a later date, were the Romans (see Polybius, 29:11, § 6; Liv; 45:12). That they may eat, etc.; rather, to eat. That is, with no other result than that of being reduced, together with you, to the last extremity of famine, when the siege comes. Isaiah 36:13 Then Rabshakeh stood; i.e. "rose from a sitting or reclining posture"—to attract attention, and the better to make himself heard. He continued his speech in Hebrew, and at the same time purposely raised his voice to a loud pitch. The envoys would have been justified in ordering the archers to shoot him from the wall. But they seem to have been struck of a heap, as Epiphanes was by the audacity of Popillius (see the comment on the preceding verse). Isaiah 36:14 Thus saith the king. It is scarcely probable that Sennacherib had expressly empowered Rabshakeh to make a speech to the Jewish people, much less that he had dictated its words. But the envoy regards himself as having plenary powers to declare the king’s mind. Let not Hezekiah deceive you. By vain hopes of resisting the Assyrian arms successfully (comp. Isaiah 36:5-7). Isaiah 36:15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah. There is nothing improbable in Rabshakeh’s having thus spoken. Isaiah had long been encouraging Hezekiah to resist Sennacherib by promises of Divine aid (Isaiah 30:31; Isaiah 31:4-9). Hezekiah would naturally repeat these premises to the people, and could not give their effect in simpler words than by saying, "Jehovah will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the King of Assyria." Spies and deserters would naturally tell the Assyrian envoys what he had said. Isaiah 36:16 Make an agreement with me by a present; literally, make a blessing with me. Delitzsch paraphrases, "Enter into a connection of mutual good wishes with me." Vance Smith translates boldly, "Make peace with me;" and Mr. Cheyne, "Make a treaty with me." There seems to be no doubt that b’rakah, besides its primary sense of "blessing," had two secondary senses, "present" and "treaty." Here "treaty" is no doubt intended. Come out to me; i.e. "come out of Jerusalem, and surrender yourselves" (comp 1 Samuel 11:3; Jeremiah 38:17). And eat ye … drink ye. Peace being made, the Jews could leave the protection of their walled cities, and disperse themselves over their lands, where they could live in plenty and security, at any rate for a time. They would be safe front the terrible extremities hinted at in Isaiah 36:12, and might confidently await the great king’s ultimate disposal of them, which would be determined widen the war in these parts was over. The waters of his own cistern; rather, of his own well. All cultivators had wells in their plots of ground. Cisterns, or reservoirs, in which the rain-water was stored, were comparatively uncommon. Isaiah 36:17 Until I come and take you away. It was so much thee usual policy of Assyria to remove to a new locality a conquered people, which had given them trouble, that Rabshakeh felt safe in assuming that the fate in store for the Jews, if they submitted themselves, was a transplantation. Sargon had transported the Israelites to Gozan and Media (2 Kings 18:11), the Tibarcni to Assyria, the Commageni to Susiana. Sennacherib himself had transported into Assyria more than two hundred thousand Aramaeans. It might be confidently predicted that, if he conquered them, he would transplant the Jews. Rabshakeh tries to soften down the hardship of the lot before them by promises of a removal to a land equal in all respects to Palestine. To a land like your own land. This was certainly not a general principle of Assyrian administration. Nations were removed from the far north to the extreme south, and vice versa, from arid to marshy tracts, from fertile regions to comparative deserts. The security of the empire, not the gratification of the transported slaves, was the ruling and guiding principle of all such changes. A land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. The writer of Kings adds, "a land of oil olive and of honey." (On the productiveness of Palestine, see Numbers 13:27; Numbers 14:7; Deuteronomy 1:23; Deuteronomy 8:7-9; Deuteronomy 11:11, Deuteronomy 11:12.) Isaiah 36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you; rather, seduce you (comp. Deuteronomy 13:6; 1 Kings 21:25). Sennacherib claims to be entitled to the people’s allegiance, and represents Hezekiah as a rebel, who seeks to draw them away from their duty. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land? The successes of the Assyrians, and the religious character of their wars, justified this boast. The pervading idea of the inscriptions is that wars arc undertaken for the glory of the Assyrian deities, particularly of Asshur, for the chastisement of his enemies, and with the object of establishing in each country, as it is brought under subjection, the laws and worship of Asshur. The nations fight under the protection of their own gods, and thus each war is a struggle between the Assyrian deities and those of the nation with which they arc contending. Hitherto, undoubtedly, Assyria had met with almost uniform success (see Isaiah 10:5-14). Isaiah 36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath? (comp. Isaiah 10:9). Sargon had reduced Hamath in his third year, b.c. 720. He had "swept the whole land of Hamath to its extreme limit," taken the king prisoner, and carried him away captive to Assyria, where he flayed and burned him; removed most of the inhabitants, and replaced them by Assyrians; plundered the city of its chief treasures, and placed an Assyrian governor over it. Among the treasures taken were, no doubt, the images of the Hamathite gods, which were uniformly carried off by the Assyrians from a conquered city. And Arphad. Arphad, or Arpad (Isaiah 10:9), had joined with Hamath in the war against Assyria, and was taken by Sargon in the same year. Of Sepharvaim. Scpharvaim, or Sippara, was besieged and captured by Sargon in his twelfth year, b.c. 710. A severe example was made of the inhabitants. A discovery made by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, in 1881, is thought to prove that Sippara was situated at Abu-Habbah, between Baghdad and the site of Babylon, about sixteen miles from the former city. "Hena" and "Ivah," joined with Sepharvaim by the author of Kings (2 Kings 18:31), seem to be omitted by Isaiah as unimportant. They are thought to have been towns upon the Euphrates, not very distant from Babylon, and have been identified respectively with Anah and Hit. But the identification is in both cases uncertain. Have they delivered Samaria? Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate, "How much less have they delivered Samaria?" Kay, "Verily have they delivered," regarding the sentence as ironical. Sennacherib can see no distinction between the cities where Jehovah was worshipped, and those which acknowledged any other tutelary god. As Samaria fell, why should not Jerusalem fall? Isaiah 36:21 They (i.e. the people, as in 2 Kings 18:36) held their peace. Rabshakeh’s attempt to shake their fidelity had, at any rate, no manifest effect. For the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Hezekiah can scarcely have anticipated that Rabshakeh would so far depart from ordinary usage as to make a speech to "the men on the wall." But he may have been in the immediate neighbourhood, and, when apprised of the envoy’s proceedings, may have sent the order. We are not to suppose that the Jewish king was at a loss for an answer. He did not choose to bandy words with an envoy who had behaved himself so outrageously. Isaiah 36:22 With their clothes rent. Garments were "rent," not only as a sign of mourning, but whenever persons were shocked or horrified (see Genesis 37:29; 1 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 1:2; Ezra 9:3; 2 Chronicles 34:19; Matthew 26:65). The Jewish officials meant to mark their horror at Rabshakeh’s blasphemies. Isaiah 36:4-9 Wise and foolish trust. Rabshakeh laughed to scorn equally all the grounds of trust which he regarded Hezekiah as entertaining. His ridicule was just with respect to two of them, wholly unjust and misplaced, with respect to the third. I. IT IS A FOOLISH TRUST TO PUT IN WISE . Princes, no doubt, do well to seek advice from the wisest among their subjects, and, speaking generally, cannot do better than follow such advice when it has been deliberately given. But to place absolute confidence in the wisest of human counsellors is sheer folly. "The wisdom of the wise is foolishness with God" (1 Corinthians 3:19); "God casteth out the counsel of princes." The wisest of men are liable to err, to misinterpret the past, to misconceive the future. The best of counsellors are "blind guides," and are liable to "fall into the pit" with those who are guided by them. It is the truest wisdom to mistrust all human advisers, and to look elsewhere for an infallible guidance. II. IT IS A FOOLISH TRUST TO PUT IN AN ARMED FORCE, however strong it may seem to be. "It is nothing to the Lord to help, whether with ninny, or with them that have no power" (2 Chronicles 14:11). "It is no hard matter" with him "for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with Heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company: for the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven" (1 Macc. 3:18, 19). Even a heathen could remark that "ofttimes a mighty host is discomfited by a few men, when God in his anger sends fear or storm from heaven, and they perish in a way unworthy of them" (Herod; Isaiah 7:10, § 6). The children of this world put their trust in "big battalions;" but the entire course of history testifies to the frequent triumph of the weak over the strong, of small over large armies—Plataea, Cunaxa, Issus, Arbela, Magnesia, in the ancient; Soissons, Mortgarten, Cressy, Poitiers, Waterloo, Inkerman, in the modern world, are cases in point. "The race is not to the swift, neither the battle to the strong." At any rate, it is foolish to trust implicitly in "strength for the war" (Isaiah 36:5), since such trust is often the forerunner of a dire calamity. III. BUT IT IS A WISE TRUST TO HAVE IN THE LORD GOD. Rabshakeh ridicules this trust no less than the others (Isaiah 36:7, Isaiah 36:15-20); but wholly without reason. He imagines, indeed, that Jehovah is only a god—one of many. He has no conception of one Supreme God, "Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible." For want of this fundamental idea his whole reasoning is confused and mistaken. Theists know that, while all other trust is vain, absolute reliance may be placed on God (1) to perform his promises; (2) to succour all them that flee to him for aid with faith and penitence; (3) to abase those that proudly lift themselves up against him, if not immediately, at any rate in his own good time. Hezekiah’s trust was based on all three grounds: God had promised to deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrians (Isaiah 31:5-8); Hezekiah had given up his trust in Egypt, and turned to God (Isaiah 36:18) in sincerity; and Rabshakeh’s own boastings had placed both himself and his master in the category of God’s open enemies, on whom judgment was almost sure to fall. Isaiah 36:10 The false boastings of the wicked confuted by the event. The Goliaths and Sennacheribs of the world are rarely content with silent endeavours to accomplish the ends that they set before them. They delight in boasting beforehand of their coming achievements, and are not very scrupulous as to the language they employ, so that it seems to exalt them above their fellows. "Come to me," said the Philistine champion to David, "and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field" (1 Samuel 17:44). "With the multitude of my chariots," said Sennacherib, "I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel" (2 Kings 19:23); and again, "Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?" (Isaiah 10:11). It was of a piece with these boasts to give the Jews to understand that the voice of God had ordered the expedition, which, therefore, was certain to be successful. In all probability this boast was a purely gratuitous one, not grounded upon any even supposed oracle or announcement. It was hoped that it might alarm some of the Jews, and induce them to go over to the enemy, or at least stand aloof from the contest. A few weeks—perhaps a few days—showed the baselessness of the assertion. Had God ordered the expedition, he would have prospered it; had he "given the Assyrians a charge," he would have caused them "to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread Judah down like the mire of the streets" (Isaiah 10:6). But the boast was wholly false. God had, in fact, declared himself against the expedition (Isaiah 31:8), and had promised his protection to Jerusalem (Isaiah 31:5). The event was in the fullest accord with these announcements, and put to shame the Assyrian, with his vain boasts (Isaiah 37:36). In all ages, boasters have declared that they would destroy the Church. Epiphanes, Galerius, Julian, Mohammed, designed and attempted the extirpation of true religion. They boasted beforehand that they would succeed. In the event they egregiously failed. So, in our own day, pseudo-science declares that it is just about to sweep away Christianity front the earth. The wretched effete religion is, the scientists maintain, on its last legs, dwindling, dying, just about to disappear. But year by year, month by month, day by day, facts give their predictions the lie. The Church remains firm upon its Rock, against which the gates of hell will never prevail. Christianity declines to disappear at the scientist’s bidding, and, as time goes on, seems continually to obtain a firmer grasp upon the mind of the age. Scientific extravagance provokes a religious reaction, and these are signs in various quarters of a real "Nemesis of Faith." If the tree has contracted its shadow, it has struck its roots more deeply; and is more capable of resisting storms and tempests than of yore. Christians may calmly await the verdict which events will pronounce, and meanwhile will do well not to let themselves be greatly alarmed by the proud boasts and confident predictions of their adversaries. Sennachcrib’s boasts had an unsatisfactory issue. Isaiah 36:21 Silence the best answer to many an argument. "Speech is silvern," it has been said; "but silence is golden." "Answer not a fool according to his folly," says the wise king (Proverbs 26:4)—an injunction no doubt balanced to some extent by the counter-phrase, "Answer a fool according to his folly"—which immediately follows (Proverbs 26:5). into universal rule can be given. "There is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence" (Ecclesiastes 3:7); and the wisdom of the wise is shown in few things more strikingly than in their faculty of discerning the right time for each. But the tendency to err is on the side of speech, and the practical want with most men is to know when they should refrain from uttering the words which rush so readily to their lips; and keep silence, "though it be pain and grief to them" (Psalms 39:2, Prayer-book version). A few suggestions on this point may be serviceable. I. SILENCE IS TO BE TO SPEECH WHEN THE "FOOL" IS ALONE, AND IS AWARE OF THE OF HIS OWN . Great numbers of persons argue merely for the sake of arguing, having no care for truth, and no belief in the validity of their own reasonings. It is a waste of time to argue with such; they have no real convictions, no seriousness; and it is impossible to impress them, however clearly we prove them to be in the wrong. II. SILENCE IS TO RE TO SPEECH WHEN WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT SPEECH ON OUR PART WILL ONLY DRAW FORTH IMPIETY AND FROM OUR . The principle here is that involved in our Lord’s injunction: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine" (Matthew 7:6). The truth is desecrated by being put before persons wholly unfit for it, as avowed infidels and blasphemers. They are provoked by opposition to further sins, which are an offence to God, injurious to themselves, and shocking to others. III. SILENCE IS TO BE TO SPEECH WHEN WE FEEL ILL FOR , AND KNOW THE TO BE WELL . It is difficult to estimate the injury done to the cause of truth by well-meaning persons, of little natural ability and less acquired learning, who attempt to answer the attacks of well-read and clever sceptics. The best cause may be not only injured, but lost, so far as the immediate occasion goes, by the unskilfulness of its advocates. Ordinary unlearned persons should decline to argue with educated unbelievers, and refer them to those skilled defenders of the truth, who have never been lacking in any age, and who are numerous in the present. In a court of justice a man is regarded as a fool who pleads his cause in person against a professional lawyer. He should equally decline to plead the cause of religion against a professional impugner of it. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 36:1-22 Hezekiah and the Assyrian. The Assyrian king made a campaign against Judah, Lachish was taken, and the event was commemorated on bas-reliefs in Sennacherib’s palace. The place commanded the direct road from Egypt to Judah. Hence the Rabshakeh, one of the chief officers of the Assyrians, was sent against Hezekiah, and by the "conduit of the upper pool"—the very spot where Ahaz had spoken with Isaiah (Isaiah 7:3)—he took up his quarters. "Unbelief was then represented by an Israelite, now more naturally by an Assyrian" (Cheyne). To meet him there go forth Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, disciple of Isaiah; Shebna, the secretary (cf. Isaiah 22:15-25); and Joah, the annalist. I. THE PRIDE AND POWER OF THE . It seems to be the very type of worldly pride and power. 1. His title. He is the sarru rabu, the great king, or the strong king, or the king of hosts. The ruler of Judah is no king at all in his thought, but a name and shadow, or a mere puppet in the hands of a giant. 2. His contemptuous trust in force. Hezekiah trusts in a "mere word of the lips," according to the insolent conqueror. What of the alliance of Egypt? On the banks of the Nile grow abundance of reeds; a "cracked reed" is the symbol of that alliance, and of the Pharaoh’s help (cf. Ezekiel 29:6, Ezekiel 29:7). The Assyrian predicts that the alliance will be broken asunder, and that crushing defeat will follow. But what of the protection of Jehovah? The Assyrian taunts Hezekiah with inconsistency, and turns his own conduct as a reformer against himself. The latter had abolished the "high places" (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chronicles 31:1), and had centred worship at Jerusalem. To a superficial observer it looked as if the God of Israel had been robbed of his altars and a part of his due rites. How, then, could Judah expect the countenance of Jehovah? A reformation is always attended by evils, and it is a weapon in the hands of the enemy to charge these evils upon the reformation itself, instead of upon the human passions stirred up in the course of any great change. So the heathen charged the calamities of the Roman empire on Christianity, and the disorders attending the great Reformation of the sixteenth century were laid at the door of the reformers. Against these weaknesses in the position of Hezekiah, as the Assyrian deems them, he himself opposes brute force. He is strong in cavalry, and Judah is weak. Judah may have two thousand horses if she can find riders for them. How can she resist the attack of a single Assyrian satrap? She may well look to Egypt for chariots and horsemen. II. HIS APPEAL TO THE OF MINDS. 1. The Assyrian pretends that he has even an oracle from Jehovah himself to destroy the land of Judah, because of the violation of the high places. Our spiritual enemies would not be so mighty if we were not so weak. In times of trial, it is the doubtful conscience which makes us weak; the self-betraying heart. The reaction and revival even from righteous efforts may be felt by good men. What if when they thought to serve God they have been displeasing him? And now, when danger and opposition have to be encountered, suppose that these assume the aspect, not of obstacles to be overcome in his strength, but of judgments sent in his wrath, to be withstood? There is, after all, no enemy to be feared like the traitor in our bosom, no force against us so formidable as that which is cloudily projected from an uneasy imagination; no bulwark so strong as a conscience void of offence toward God. 2. He endeavours to undermine the source of spiritual confidence. Hezekiah had encouraged the people, as he himself was encouraged by Isaiah—by pointing to the Divine Saviour of the nation: "Jehovah will surely deliver us, and the city shall not fall into the Assyrian’s hands" (cf. Isaiah 37:35). How typical this of spiritual temptation! If the devil can get men to question the words of God, his victory is assured. It is not so much the open warfare, the battles about the outposts and fortifications of the faith, that we have to dread, as the sapping and mining operations directed at the very principle and seat of faith itself. Is this world governed? Has it a righteous constitution and administration? Does all repose upon the mind and will of a just and holy Being? Then faith may live, and the weakest may be strong. Or is all the effect of chance? and are we at the mercy of some blind and fatal power, which neither loves nor knows? Then the stoutest knees will be loosened, anti the bravest heart will quail. 3. He holds out enticing promises. Let the people make a treaty with the Assyrian. Let them surrender to him, and he will secure them a happy future. They will be removed from their own land, it is true; but they shall find another home in a land equally goodly, abounding in corn and grapes, in bread-corn and orchards. There each family shall possess its vine and its fig tree and its cistern. Here, again, worldly hopes are made to take the field against the instincts of religious faith. Why cling to Judah? Because it was sacred soil—the land of the fathers, the land whose holy centre was Jerusalem, the altar Of God, the meeting-place of the tribes, the earthly mirror of heaven. But was not this mere charm of imagination? Were not other lands as fair and as fertile? Could not a peaceful and a happy home be found in distant lands? Perhaps they are clinging to a pleasing illusion, a vain dream, and are blind to the good which lies at their feet. Perhaps they are defending themselves against their own happiness. 4. He appeals to seeming facts of history. The "gods of the nations" appear to have gone down before the victorious Assyrian. They, in the struggle, had not manifested a power to save. In ancient thought, religion and political power were closely connected. If a city or a nation stood, it was because of the protecting presence of the national god; its wanderings were his wanderings, its victories the effect of his prowess, its failures the signs of his defeat. Now, the gods of Hamath were captive in Assyrian shrines. And what probability was there, from a heathen point of view, that it would be otherwise with Jehovah, the national God of Israel? Such a rivalry between the long-vanished, power and religion of the Assyrian, and that of the living God, whom we at this day own, not only as national God of Israel, but as the Eternal himself—may seem strange. To the eve of the heathen, and from the heathen view of politics and history, it was not so. Time alone can discover the short-sightedness of human calculation, and expose the superficiality of worldly views of history. III. THE ANSWER OF SILENCE. It was by Hezekiah’s command that no answer was returned. "For they had nothing that would seem, from an Assyrian point of view, a satisfactory answer." And the rent clothes of the Jewish officials confess the last extreme of helpless grief. And may not the facts of this situation remind us of spiritual situations? There are hours of perplexed thought when the mind turns its own weapons against itself. All circumstances conspire against us, or seem to do so. We seek for the "bright side" of the situation, but there is no bright side to look upon. We turn to the east, hoping for a ray of light: all is darkness. The known is distinct and threatening; the unknown veiled and, to the depressed imagination, more threatening still. We are cowed by our own reason, quelled by the pressure of our most fixed habits of thinking. Tim problem is without solution to the intelligence. But there is a secret sympathy of our being with the Unseen. There is a secret channel by which we may communicate with the Unseen, and pierce behind the veil. When temptations close around us like the serried ranks of the Assyrian host, shutting out from view every possible way of escape, we may, nevertheless, believe that there is such a way—a passage into the clear light, which Jehovah has made, and which he will presently reveal.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Isaiah 36:6 The broken staff. "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it." Man must lean. He is constituted to rest on some object outside himself, and it would be a wise though painful study to review the false resting-places of the human heart. Egypt stands in the Scripture for the world outside God—its pleasure, its skill, its science, its entire wealth of means and appliances. For Egypt was once the repository of the world’s wealth, and skill, and science, and beauty, and glory. I. THIS IS TRUTH. How eagerly the Jews turned from the true God to idols! Their life was dishonoured during a long part of their history by idolatry, for which they were punished by captivities, and against which they were warned by prophets. Still they rebelled against God, and vexed and grieved his Holy Spirit. Delivered from Egypt and its slaveries and wrongs, as their fathers were, they yet turned in heart to all that was represented by Egypt. II. THIS IS TRUTH. Men lean still on reeds, that in time become broken reeds. They trust in wealth, friendship, fortune; and these at last give way, and the reed pierces them to the heart. This is the story often told of the world’s disappointed conditions—broken health and lost fortunes. Having no God to turn to, men are left desolate and deserted in the hour when heart and flesh faint and fail. We see all this in Byron and Shelley, and in the "Midases" of the world, who love wealth and all that wealth can bring. Nothing in the world answers to the deep necessities of man’s immortal nature, and the "rest under the shadow of Egypt" is not broad and deep enough for the soul of man. III. THIS IS TRUTH. "Lo!" we may well exclaim. Is this world a lunatic asylum, alter all, full of men and women who have lost the fine balances of judgment? or is it a blind asylum, where they have lost the clear vision of truth? After all the records of observation and of history, has it come to this—that each succeeding generation takes up the old lie and forsakes the living God? Even now and here, where the Saviour says, "Come unto me and rest," how many seek "rest" out of God! Some find human love itself a broken reed, and in their hours of sad discovery turn cynical and despairing, whilst to others friendship itself has proved superficial and fickle. There are many who have drawn out the broken reed, and dressed the wound as well as they may; but it remains unhealed. What they really want is the balm of Gilead and. the great Physician of souls.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 36:4-21 Contemptuousness. An air of intolerable arrogance breathes in almost every sentence of this "railing Rabshakeh." It comes out in insolent characterization (Isaiah 36:5, Isaiah 36:6), in disdainful challenge (Isaiah 36:8), in haughty self-confidence (Isaiah 36:9), in contemptuous disregard of the conventionalities of war (Isaiah 36:12), in a reprehensible vulgarity (Isaiah 36:12), etc. From this incident, or from other parts of Scripture, we conclude respecting it— 1. THAT IT IS APT TO DE VERY . Rabshakeh made a large and even ludicrous mistake respecting the action of Hezekiah in his iconoclastic policy. He thought the Jewish king was doing that which would excite the anger of Jehovah, when he was really securing his Divine favour (Isaiah 36:7). Contemptuous men are often found to be ignorant: and, naturally, if not necessarily, so; for they imagine themselves to be above the necessity to inquire and ascertain, and their assumptions are soon discovered to be false. Those who are too proud to learn must be content to be numbered with the foolish. II. THAT IT SINKS INTO IMPIETY. Rabshakeh held up to derision the idea that Jehovah could preserve Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:15), and classed the Lord of heaven with the helpless deities of Syria (Isaiah 36:18-20). The arrogant spirit is essentially an irreverent one. Men that look with scorn upon the human soon come to regard themselves as independent of the Divine. They are not deified in the daring and presumptuous form which was once known; but they assume to themselves a power, a control, a providence, which belongs only to the Lord of our hearts and lives. Hence we find— III. THAT IT MAKES FATAL . The king for whom Rabshakeh was speaking and whose haughty determination he was announcing never did "come and take away" to his own land these despised Jews who were on the walls of Jerusalem. He returned with haste and humiliation into his own land. The scornful will find that events do not fill up their bold outlines; on the contrary, they will entirely traverse them: their pretensions will be overthrown, and their promises and their threats left unfulfilled. Expel the contemptuous spirit from the heart: it is an evil thing in itself, and it works evil to him that cherishes it. 1. It is exceedingly unlovely; it is utterly unbecoming in any child of man who, be he what he may, stands on the same level of fallibility on which his fellows stand. 2. It meets with the deep displeasure, and will bring down the strong rebuke, of God. He resists the proud and humiliates them. 3. It is only worthy of the disregard of man; all wise people, when they are treated with arrogance, return a rebuking silence, like these sensible sons of Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:21).—C. Isaiah 36:6 Treacherous trusts. The arrogant language of Rabshakeh was full enough of falsehood, but it had one grain of truth. Egypt was but a broken reed on which to lean, and any trust reposed in its aid would be attended with disaster and humiliation. The imagery which is here used is forcible enough, and it admirably describes the character and the consequences of an ill-founded confidence. Of these treacherous trusts are— I. OUR OWN . 1. We are expressly warned of God not to lean on this (Proverbs 3:5). 2. Our known weakness, our incapacity to penetrate the hearts of men and to foresee the issue of events, our liability to make deplorable and ruinous mistakes,—this should teach us to forbear. 3. And the many lamentable instances, recorded in histories and witnessed by our own eyes, of the evil consequences of men trusting to their own sagacity, should also dissuade and deter us. II. HUMAN . The language of Scripture on this subject is remarkably, is significantly, strong (Jeremiah 17:5). When we consider how often it has happened, as the consequence of human insufficiency, not only that men have failed to secure what they were expecting, but that they have been thereby plunged into the deepest distress and even into irremediable ruin; that—to use the image of Rabshakeh—the staff has not only broken under them, but pierced the hand that leant on it;—we may well feel that this scriptural language is not a whir too strong. Human friendship breaks down and wounds us by its fracture, (1) through the limitations of our faculty; (2) through inconstancy, and even treachery; (3) through moral or spiritual shipwreck. III. . Riches, rank, official position and the power it confers,—these are things on which we are prone to place reliance. But woe unto the man who has no firmer ground on which to build! In the day of his calamity, in the hour of bereavement, in the time of desolation, in the hour of death, those things will fail him; and to have trusted in any or in all of them, to the negligence of a hope that is surer than they, will add unspeakable bitterness to the sense of failure and of need. The broken reed will pierce the hand that holds it. Only in a Divine Saviour, whose wisdom will never be found wanting, whose faithfulness will never fail, whose power to succour and befriend in the saddest sorrows and darkest hours will continually suffice—only in him will be round the support which "cannot be broken." "Our God is a Rock;" and blessed is the man who rests all the weight of his joy and of his hope on his inviolable word, on his irrefragable power.—C. Isaiah 36:16, Isaiah 36:17 The invitation of the enemy. The King of Assyria, by the mouth of his general, appeals to the citizens of Jerusalem to abandon their allegiance to Hezekiah. and "go out to him," promising them great advantages for their disloyalty. It is closely analogous to the invitation of our spiritual enemy to go over to him and receive the wages of sin which he offers to our souls. I. IT IS A VERY OFFER. 1. Under the circumstances in which they then were, loyalty was threatened with decided disadvantage: (1) with privation, for there was the probability of a long siege and its attendant scarcities; (2) with suffering, or even death, for attacks would be made and missiles would be hurled against the city. 2. On the other hand, surrender promised material good: (1) present exemption from exigency and assault (Isaiah 36:16); and (2) abundance of comfort in future days (Isaiah 36:17). So is it in the spiritual realm. Our great Adversary seeks to allure us from the true citizenship, and he has a plausible proposal to make. He says (1) that to serve God is to suffer loss; is to be shut out from many sources of wealth and joy; is to be starved and beggared; is to be exposed to the dislike, the derision, the hostile action of those who are the strongest and most numerous among men. He says also (2) that to be on the side of evil is to be in the way of prosperity; that its land is "a land of corn and wine," of strength and joy, of material prosperity and sensual enjoyment: be selfish and unscrupulous, and the prizes of life and the pleasures of sense are yours. But in regard to each of these proposals, the historical and the existing, it must be considered that— II. IT IS FALSE. 1. Rabshakeh and his royal master were both mistaken in their calculations. Jerusalem was not to be reduced to the severe straits of a protracted siege, was not to be taken by assault; neither want nor sword was to devastate the city. And they left the most important consideration out of their account; for even if their military projects had succeeded, and if the Jews had been defeated and ]lad found the plains of the Tigris as fruitful as the valley of the Jordan, yet would they have missed and mourned the liberty, the sacred services, the natural independence of their own beloved country,—they would have hung their harps upon the willows, instead of making them sound the joyous strains of patriotism and piety. 2. Our spiritual enemy is also essentially wrong in his representations; he, too, leaves the principal considerations out of his reckoning. (1) All that we lose by our loyalty to God is that which no wise man would accept—iniquitous gain, injurious friendship, demoralizing pleasure, etc.; it is well, indeed, to be without these. (2) All that we could gain by subservience to his unholy will would leave us unblessed with the true riches—with the favour and friendship of God, with a sense of moral and spiritual integrity, with the power of rendering holy service to our kind, with the joy of sacred intercourse with a Divine Redeemer and with like-minded fellow-servants, with the elevating and sustaining hopes that "enter within the veil."—C. Isaiah 36:2 Right attitude in times of threatening. This general of the Assyrian army seems to have been a rude, violent, boastful man, who thought to do his work by means of great swelling words. He was big in threatening; and it is not often that such men prove big in deeds. Dean Plumptre says that "his words, in their brutal coarseness, have hardly a parallel in history, till we come to Bismarck’s telling the Parisians that they may ’stew in their own gravy.’" The Rabshakeh, it should be observed, stood in the position, while he thus threatened, which intimated his power to destroy the aqueduct which supplied the city with water. Times of threatening are to be clearly distinguished from times of actual calamity. Trouble threatened is apt to relax our natures and weaken us with fears. Trouble actually come calls out our powers of endurance, and braces us for bearing and battling. And so, sometimes, trouble threatened, taking bigger shape in appearance than it ever can take in reality, has a special work of testing to do. He must be well centred in God who holds fast his calmness and trust, even in times of fright. Society is peculiarly liable—more especially highly civilized society—to sudden fears, which very easily become helpless panic. A few criminals in a great city get an hour’s licence, and loot the shops in one district, and the whole city goes into a panic, stops its business, and pours its wealth into a fund to quiet the people who had little or nothing to do with the looting. So it has been again and again in the world’s history. Threatenings have been more morally mischievous than actual calamity. The godly man should be easily master even of such circumstances. I. HE KNOWS WELL THE BETWEEN BOAST AND , Observation teaches him that the man who threatens much accomplishes little; the man who swears and yields to passion is always weak in action. There is "sound, and nothing more." There is always room for this good advice, "Let not him that putteth on his armour boast as he that putteth it off." II. HE KNOWS THAT THIS APPLIES TO ALL AND ALARMS: "IF THE LORD WILL." Men cannot, any more than tidal waves, go beyond their appointed bounds. Threats may do the Lord’s will, but they can do nothing beyond the Lord’s will. The godly man, therefore, waits to read God’s will behind the threats or the fears, and can afford to be quite calm, and master of all circumstances. III. HE KNOWS THAT GOD IS ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF THE GOOD, AND IS ALWAYS WORKING TOWARDS IT. The way to the good is often like the twisting and winding of the stream of Jordan; but the godly man does not make too much of the rushes and rapids in the twists and falls—he knows Jordan moves steadily on to the sea, and life, however ruffled may be its surface, moves on to fulfil the good purpose of God. We may do as did the apostolic company when its leaders were threatened—we may bend before our God, and pray, "Now, Lord, behold their threatenings" (Acts 4:29, Acts 4:30).—R.T. Isaiah 36:6 Satire on our human confidences. Evidently the Rabshakeh was informed concerning the parties that divided the people of Jerusalem at this time. Hezekiah seems to have been so far persuaded as to give his reluctant assent to sending the embassy to Egypt. The complaints which Sennacherib had to make against Hezekiah were (1) that he had refused tribute (2 Kings 18:14); (2) that he had opened negotiations with Babylon and Egypt (2 Kings 18:24), with a view to an alliance against Assyria; (3) that he had helped the Philistines of Ekron to rise against their king. The second of these is dealt with in this verse. The Rabshakeh satirizes the helplessness of Egypt, likening that nation to a cracked, not broken, reed, which breaks suddenly, and pierces the hand of him who leans hard on it as a supporting staff. The keenness of the satire lies in the truth of it. Of the hopelessness of leaning on Egypt Isaiah had already warned the people (Isaiah 30:7, see the true reading). Egypt, in relation to Israel, is the type of the human confidences to which men turn so readily in their distress, forgetful of the Divine confidence in which alone they can be secure. I. THE SATIRE OF GOD’S . Illustrate from the Prophet Isaiah, who dealt so vigorously with this trusting to Egypt. Sometimes he gave serious and solemn warnings; sometimes grave reproaches; and sometimes keen criticism and biting satire, as if he would shame them into giving up the foolish and hopeless scheme. He put the character of Egypt into a word, almost an offensive word. Cheyne suggests that he wrote this word Rahab, "utter indolence," "helpless inaction," in large characters, and set it up in a public place. That was his idea of Egypt. So, still, Christian ministers must not hesitate to wither up men’s self-trusting and man-trusting with the keenest satire. It is a fair weapon for destroying self-confidences. II. THE SATIRE OF RIVALS. Such was the satire of Assyria, through its Rabshakeh. At this time Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt were each seeking the alliance of Judah, and the jealousy of the one that did not succeed found expression in descriptions of the one that did. We can often get some self-knowledge through the things our rivals say of us in the bitterness of their disappointment. It is often surprising, it should be always helpful, to "see oursel’s as ithers see us." III. THE SATIRE OF EVENTS. Ridiculous indeed was the help Egypt afforded to Judah. The strength of Egypt at this time was one of appearance only. Egypt never has been a country that could be relied on. It did not save Judah. Its alliance only hurried on the fate of Judah. The cracked reed broke, and pierced the hand. "Experience is a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." The logic of events soon shows up the folly of all confidences in man. Impress, in conclusion, from the figures of the very striking passage, Jeremiah 17:5-8.—R.T. Isaiah 36:7 Mistakes concerning him whom we trust. The explanation of this taunt is well given by Sayce and Cheyne. "Sennacherib had heard of the reformation of worship undertaken by Hezekiah. This, from his heathen point of view, was an act of gross impiety towards Jehovah; for had not Jehovah from time immemorial been worshipped at most, if not all, of the ’high places’? The local sanctuaries designated by the latter phrase appear from the inscriptions to have been known in Assyria and Babylonia, as well as Palestine; indeed, they go back to Accadian—that is, pre-Semitic times." As he had passed through the country, the Rabshakeh had found the "high places" desecrated; so he assumed that the God of the country must he offended with Hezekiah. One of our gravest difficulties in witnessing for God in the world arises from men’s mistakes concerning him. They do not understand us, or feel the force of our pleadings, because they do not apprehend God as we do. This subject may be very practically illustrated and enforced from three spheres of modern religious activity and service—missions, apologetics, preaching. I. THE OF THE HEATHEN OUR GOD HINDER . They have notions of God, or the gods, and attach them to the God we reveal to them. Much missionary labour is necessarily expended in correcting the mistakes which prevent the acceptance of the way of salvation by Christ Jesus. God pure, God love, God hating sin, God a Spirit, God our Father, God in sacrifice that he might save,—these are all most strange and confusing to men who must think amidst heathen associations. It is eternal life to know the only true God. II. THE OF THE OF HINDER OUR FROM DUE . The atheist, infidel, agnostic, sceptic, make as grave mistakes about our God as the Rabshakeh did about Jehovah. They have created figures and representations of him which we can join them in declaring make him unworthy of trust. Only those figures do not represent our God. We cannot acknowledge them. If the mistakes could but be corrected, and our God be known as he is, they would "preach the faith" who now "seek to destroy it." Grave, indeed, is the sin of those who, professing to believe in God, nevertheless misrepresent him, and so give occasion to the enemy to blaspheme. III. THE OF SECTS AND CREEDS HINDER WORK AMONG . There is the Calvinistic God, and the Arminian God, the God who is exacting Judge, Moral Governor, august King. There are vague, repellent notions cherished in ignorant minds; and the preacher often speaks of a God who is really to the people an "unknown God." The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth to bring the full, last, all-satisfying revelation of God to men. We are still making hindering mistakes about God, because we will not receive his revelation. He taught men to lift up holy hands, and say, "Our Father, which art in heaven."—R.T. Isaiah 36:10 Claims to speak for God. "The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it." The inscriptions of Sennacherib are remarkable for similar assertions to this. He delights, apparently, to claim a Divine sanction for the wars in which he was engaged. Some think that he may have heard of Isaiah’s declaration, that Jehovah was using the King of Assyria as his instrument (see Isaiah 7:17, Isaiah 7:18). We are bound to receive the messages of God, in whatsoever form they may come to us; but we are bound also to test the credentials of every messenger who brings them. For testing the messengers, adequate provisions have been made. We can "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." A suggestive illustration may be found in the narrative of the disobedient prophet (1 Kings 13:1-34.). The old prophet claimed to speak in the name of God, and so over-persuaded the younger man. But that young man might reasonably have argued thus: "I have my instructions direct from God; they are definite and, clear, and I must have the most convincing evidence before I turn aside from fulfilling the instructions given me." It was right to doubt even Christ so far as to require satisfactory signs and proofs that he had come from God. Men may make claims, as fanatics and enthusiasts do in every age; we shall not heed until they prove the claim. Illustrate by Johanna Southcote, Swedenborg, Irving, etc. We suggest some tests for judging claims to speak for God. I. . We suspect many things because they are not likely. It was very suspicious to assume that Jehovah had given direct and audible commands to Sennacherib. Many of the visions and mysteries of Swedenborg are judged by their unreasonableness and improbability. God’s ways may be beyond reason, but they are not foolish to the view of reason. The test of reason is carried too far when a full and accurate understanding is demanded, but it may fairly be applied to decide what is probable. II. BOOK OF THE LAW. The Israelites were required to test all who claimed to be prophets by the harmony between their spoken word and the existing written Word. "To the Law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." The Scriptures have a tone and character which is even more important than their precise details. Apply these to claimants, and they will test, as do chemical solvents. All who know and love God’s Word become sensitive to that which is in harmony with it. III. OF . This test may be illustrated by Jonah’s mission to Nineveh. Jonah had no credentials. He might have been treated as an impostor. But the conscience of Nineveh responded to his message, and conscience guaranteed faith. All messages from God that come as warnings, reproaches, awakenings, threatenings, can be tried by conscience, and its "accusings and excusings." So none of us need be uncertain whom to believe.—R.T. Isaiah 36:16 Security of stable government. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ This chapter is the sequel of the preceding, and is so closely connected with it that the two really constitute but one narrative. Isaiah 37:22 of Isaiah 36:1-22. is more closely connected with Isaiah 37:1-38, than with the position of the narrative to which it is attached. Isaiah 37:1 When King Hezekiah heard it; rather, heard them; i.e. the "words of Rabshakeh," which his officials reported to him. He rent his clothes. He did as they had done (Isaiah 36:22; see the comment on that verse). But he went further, showing a deeper sense of horror and affliction than the officials had shown by being covered with sackcloth (on the combination of the two modes of showing grief or horror, see Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; Esther 4:1, etc.). And went into the house of the Lord. The temple was not only a place for offering praise and sacrifice, but also a "house of prayer". Hezekiah can, on this occasion, have gone up to the house of the Lord only to pray. Isaiah 37:2 He sent Eliakim … and Shebna … and the elders of the priests. A dignified embassy, showing how much Isaiah was held in honour. The prophets, as representatives of Jehovah, were entitled to respect and observance even from kings. Isaiah 37:3 A day … of rebuke; rather, of reproof, or punishment (comp. Psalms 149:7 and Hosea 5:9). That God should have allowed such an insulting embassy to come and go in safety was a mode of reproving his people, and to some extent punishing them for their sins. Even Hezekiah himself deserved reproof for having so long placed his reliance upon Egypt (Isaiah 20:5, Isaiah 20:6; Isaiah 30:1-4; Isaiah 36:6, Isaiah 36:9), though now apparently he had turned to Jehovah, and relied on him only (Isaiah 36:7, Isaiah 36:15). Blasphemy. So Delitzsch. Mr. Cheyne suggests "contumely," and Dr. Kay "contempt." But the meaning "blasphemy," which Mr. Cheyne confesses to "suit the context," is required in all the other passages where (substantially) the same word occurs (Nehemiah 9:18, Nehemiah 9:26; Ezekiel 35:12). Hezekiah calls the day one "of blasphemy," on account of Rabshakeh’s impious utterances (Isaiah 36:15, Isaiah 36:18, Isaiah 36:20). The children are come to the birth, etc. This was a proverbial phrase for a time of extreme difficulty (see Hosea 13:13), and is not to be pressed as embodying at all a close analogy. Judah was in sore trouble, and was expecting deliverance. It seemed now as if she would not have strength to go through the crisis, but would perish through weakness. Isaiah 37:4 It may be the Lord … will hear; i.e. "will notice," or "will punish." If Isaiah laid the matter before God, and prayed earnestly, it was possible that God would intervene to save Judah, and punish the blapshemous words uttered. The living God. In opposition to the dead idols of the heathen, which had neither life, nor breath, nor perception (see Psalms 115:4-8; Psalms 135:15-18). The remnant that is left. It is usual to explain this of Judah generally, which still survived, although Israel had been carried away captive. But perhaps the contrast is rather between the numerous Judaean captives who had been taken and conveyed to Assyria by Sennacherib when he took the "fenced cities" (Isaiah 36:1), and the portion of the nation which still remained in the land. Sennacherib says, in his annals, that he took "forty-six" cities, and carried captive to Assyria above two hundred thousand persons. Isaiah 37:6 The servants of the King of Assyria. Mr. Cheyne translates, "the minions of the King of Assyria," remarking truly that the word used is not the ordinary one for "servants," but "a disparaging expression." Perhaps the best translation would be lackeys. Isaiah 37:7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him; rather, I will put a spirit within him; i.e. I will take away from him the spirit of pride and arrogance by which he has been hitherto actuated, and I will infuse into his heart, instead, a spirit of hesitation and fear. He shall hear a rumour; literally, as Delitzsch translates, he shall hear a hearsay; i.e. "a report," or "tidings." It is uncertain what "tidings" are intended. Some suppose "tidings of the movements of Tirhakah;" others, "tidings of the destruction of his host;" a few, "tidings of an insurrection in some other part of the Assyrian empire." This last supposition is wholly gratuitous, since we have no indication, either in Scripture or in the inscriptions, of any such insurrection. The choice lies between the other two, or between one or other of them, and the two combined. The vagueness is owing, not to the time at which the present narrative took shape, but to the fact that a vague promise—quite sufficient for its purpose—was given at first, the filling in of the details being reserved for a later period (see Isaiah 37:22-35). I will cause him to fall by the sword (see Isaiah 37:38). Isaiah 37:8 Rabshakeh … found the King of Assyria warring against Libnah. Libnah was a town at no great distance from Lachish (Joshua 10:31; Joshua 15:39-42). It was also near Mareshah (Joshua 15:42-44), and must therefore have belonged to the more southern portion of the Shefeleh, and probably to the eastern region, where the hills sink down into the plain. The exact site is very uncertain, and still remains to be discovered. Sennacherib’s object in moving upon Libnah is doubtful; hut it would seem, from his monuments, that he had captured Lachish, and had gone on to Libnah, as the next stronghold on the way to Egypt. Isaiah 37:9 Tirhakah, King of Ethopia. Tirhakah is among the most famous of the monarchs belonging to this period. The Greeks called him "Tearchon," the Assyrians "Tarku" or "Tarqu." His name, as represented on his own monuments, is "Tahark" or "Tahrak." According to the Egyptian remains, he had a reign of at least twenty-six years in Egypt—from b.c. 693 to b.c. 667. He would seem, however, to have been King of Ethiopia, and lord paramount of the lower valley of the Nile, from about b.c. 700, Shabatok for some years ruling Egypt, or a portion of it, as his deputy. Hezekiah’s negotiations had, it is probable, been with Tirhakah (Isaiah 19:13; Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 30:1-6). This monarch, having engaged to help him, now put his forces in motion, and began to descend the Nile valley to his relief. His movement rather provoked than alarmed Sennacherib, who, having defeated one Egyptian army in b.c. 701, was confident of success against another. He sent messengers. It is not very clear what advantage Sennacherib expected from this second embassy. He had no fresh argument to bring forward, unless it were a suggestion that Hezekiah’s God was endeavouring to deceive him. In the main, Isaiah 37:10-13 are a mere expansion of Isa 36:18-20. Isaiah 37:10 Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee. Sennacherib recognized Jehovah as a god, the God of the Jews, but put him on a par with the other "gods of the nations" (Isaiah 37:11), and . Tiglath-Pileser I. calls himself " the conquering hero, the terror of whose name has overwhelmed all regions"; Asshur-izir-pal, "the king who subdued all the races of men"; Shalmaneser II; "the marcher over the whole world"; Shamas-Vul, "the trampler on the world" (ibid; vol. 1.12). Sargon says that "the gods had granted him the exercise of his sovereignty over all kings", and that he "reigned from the two beginnings to the two ends of the four celestial points", i.e. from the furthest north to the furthest south, and from the extreme cast to the extreme west. Sennacherib himself says, "Aashur, father of the gods, among all kings firmly has raised me, and over all that dwell in the countries he caused to increase my weapons". From first to last, in their inscriptions, the monarchs claim a universal dominion. Isaiah 37:12 My fathers. The Assyrian monarchs call all those who have preceded them upon the throne their "fathers," without intending to claim any blood-relation-ship. Sargon, Sennacherib’s father, though a usurper and the first king of a new dynasty, frequently speaks of "the kings his fathers". Gozan … Haran … Rezeph … Telassar. "Gozan" is, beyond all doubt, the region known to the Greeks as Gauzanitis, which was the eastern portion of Upper Mesopotamia, or the country about the sources of the Khabour river. The Assyrian conquest of this tract is indicated by the settlement of the Israelites in the region (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11; 1 Chronicles 5:26). "Harsh" is the well-known "city of Nahor" (Genesis 24:10), called in Acts 7:2 "Charran," and by the Greeks and Romans, Carrhae. It has now recovered its old designation, and is known as Hurrah. "Rezeph" was in the neighborhood of Haran, and is mentioned as belonging to Assyria as early as b.c. 775. It had probably revolted and been reduced at a later date. "Telassar," "the Hill of Asshur," is not mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, but was probably the Assyrian name of a town on or near the Euphrates, in the country of the Bent-Eden, which was not far from Carche-mish. The children of Eden. The Assyrian inscriptions mention a "Bit-Adini" (comp. Amos 1:5), and a chief who is called "the son of Adini;" both belonging to the Middle Euphrates region. The "children of Eden" (Beni-Eden) were probably the people of the tract about Bit-Adini. Isaiah 37:13 Hamath … Arphad … Sepharvaim (see the comment upon Isaiah 36:19). Isaiah 37:14 Hezekiah received the letter. Sennacherib sent his present message in a written form. The communications between kings were often carried on in this way (see 2 Kings 5:5; 2 Kings 20:12). The Hebrews use the same word for "letter" and "book;" but, when a letter is intended, employ generally the plural number (compare the Greek ἐπιστολαὶ and the Latin litterae). And spread it before the Lord. Not that God might see it and read it, in a material sense, but still that he might take note of it, and, if he saw fit, punish it. Compare the exhibition of the Books of the Law, painted with idolatrous emblems, at Maspha, "over against" the temple, by Judas Maccabaeus and his companions (1 Macc. 3:46-48). The act in both cases implied the referring of the whole matter to God for his consideration. It was, as Delitzsch, says, a sort of "prayer without words." Isaiah 37:16 O Lord … that dwellest between the cherubims; literally, that sittest upon the cherubim. The allusion is scarcely to the poetic imagery of God riding on the cherubim in the heavens (Psalms 18:10), as Mr. Cheyne suggests; but rather to his dwelling between the two cherubic forms in the holy of holies, and there manifesting himself (camp. Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; 1 Chronicles 13:6; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 99:1). Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. It has been questioned whether Hezekiah was really as pronounced a monotheist as these expressions would imply, and suggested that his actual words received "a colouring" from a later writer. Hezekiah’s contemporaries, it is said, Isaiah and Micah, make no such strong statements of their belief in one only God as this (Kuenen, Cheyne). But it is difficult to see what can be a clearer revelation of monotheism than Isaiah 6:1-5, or what truth more absolutely underlies the whole of Isaiah’s teaching than the unity of the Supreme Being. The same under-current is observable in Micah (Micah 1:2, Micah 1:3; Micah 4:5; Micah 6:6-9; Micah 7:17, Micah 7:18). Sennacherib’s belief, that each country has its own god (Isaiah 36:18-20), is not shared by the religious Jews of his time. They are well aware that the heathen gods are "vanity" (Isaiah 46:3; Hosea 4:15; Amos 1:5; Jonah 2:8), "wind" and "confusion" (Isaiah 41:29, etc.). Thou hast made heaven and earth (comp. Genesis 1:1; Psalms 102:25; Isaiah 40:26-28; Isaiah 42:5, etc.). Isaiah 37:17 Incline thine ear … open thine eyes. This is a conscious pleading of the promise made to Solomon (2 Chronicles 7:15). Isaiah 37:18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations. This was a stubborn fact, which it was impossible to deny. From the time of Asshur-izir-pal at any rate, about b.c. 880, Assyria had pursued for nearly two centuries a steady career of conquest, reducing the nations which were her neighbors, almost without exception, and gradually spreading her power from the tract immediately about Nineveh to the Persian Gulf on the south, the great plateau of Iran on the east, the Armenian Mountains (Niphates and Taurus) on the north, and on the west to Cilicia and the Mediterranean. Her progress towards the west alone is marked in Scripture, since there alone she came in contact with God’s people. Under Pul she attacked Samaria (2 Kings 15:19); under Tiglath-Pileser II. she carried off a portion of the ten tribes (2 Kings 15:29); under the same monarch she subjugated Damascus (2 Kings 16:9); under Shalmaneser she besieged (2 Kings 17:5), and under Sargon took, Samaria (2 Kings 17:6); under Sargon also she invaded Philistia and captured Ashdod (Isaiah 20:1). Now she was bent on subduing Judaea, and so preparing the way for the reduction of Egypt. Humanly speaking, it was most unlikely that the small and weak state of Judaea would be able to resist her. But God was all-powerful, and might be pleased to cast down, as he had been pleased to exalt (Isaiah 10:5-19). Hence Hezekiah’s appeal. Isaiah 37:19 And have cast their gods into the fire. The more valuable of the foreign idols were usually carried off by the Assyrians, and placed in the shrines of their own gods as trophies of victory; but no doubt great numbers of the inferior idols. which were of wood, not even coated with metal—the ξόανα of the Greeks—were burnt. For they were no gods (temp. Jeremiah 2:11; Jeremiah 5:7; Jeremiah 16:20, etc.). Isaiah’s favourite word for "idols" is elilim, which is, etymologically, "not-gods" (Isaiah 2:8, Isaiah 2:18, Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 10:10, Isaiah 10:11; Isaiah 19:1, Isaiah 19:3; Isaiah 31:7). The work of men’s hands (see Isaiah 2:8; Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 41:7, etc.). The absurdity of men’s worshipping as gods what their own hands had made is ever increasingly ridiculed by the religious Jews (comp. Psalms 115:4-8; Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:3-15; ’Ep of Jeremy,’ 8-73). Isaiah 37:20 Save us … that all the kingdoms … may know, etc. God’s true servants desire deliverance and triumph over enemies, not alone for their own sakes, not even for the sake of the country or people whose fate is bound up with their own, but for the glory of God, that his honour may be vindicated in the sight of the world at large. It is a large part of the satisfaction of Moses at the passage of the Red Sea, that "the peoples would hear … the dukes of Edom be amazed … the mighty men of Moab tremble," etc. (Exodus 15:14, Exodus 15:15). David would have his foes "consumed" in order that they might know that "God ruled in Jacob, and unto the cads of the earth" (Psalms 59:13), and again, in order "that men may know that thou, whose Name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth" (Psalms 83:18). It has been well said that "the object of all the judgments which the true prophet desires is to bring all nations into subjection to God." Isaiah 37:21 Then Isaiah … sent to Hezekiah, saying. It seems most natural to understand that the prophet was at once supernaturally informed of Hezekiah’s prayer, as Ananias was of Saul’s (Acts 9:11), and instructed what reply to make to it. But still, it is no doubt possible that some of the facts have been omitted for the sake of brevity. Isaiah 37:22 The virgin the daughter of Zion; i.e. Jerusalem (comp. Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 16:1; Isaiah 52:2; Isaiah 62:11). The expression, "virgin daughter," is used also by Isaiah of Zidon (Isaiah 23:12) and of Babylon (Isaiah 47:1). The personification here is very effective. since it represents Jerusalem as a tender maiden, weak and delicate, yet still bold enough to stand up against Sennacherib and all his host, and bid him defiance. Confident in Jehovah, her Protector, she despises him, and laughs him to scorn; nay, "shakes her head at him," or rather. "after him," pursuing him with scornful gestures as In. retreats before her. (On shaking the head as a gesture of scorn, see Psalms 22:7; Psalms 109:25; Matthew 27:39.) Isaiah 37:23 Even against the Holy One of Israel. A specially Isaiah phrase, employed by Isaiah twenty-eight times, and only five times in all the rest of Scripture. A strong proof, if any proof beyond the unmistakable Isaiah spirit of the entire prophecy were needed, of the genuineness of the present passage. Isaiah 37:24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord (see Isaiah 36:15-20). And hast said. Sennacherib had not actually uttered these words with his mouth; but the prophet clothes in his own highly poetic language the thoughts which the Assyrian king had cherished in his heart. He had regarded "the multitude of his chariots" as irresistible; he had considered that the mountains which guarded Palestine would be no obstacle to his advance; he had contemplated ravaging and despoiling of its timber the entire country; he had meant to penetrate into every region that was lovely and fertile. The emphatic "I" of the original—ani—twice repeated, marks the proud egotism of the monarch. By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains; rather, with the multitude; or, according to another reading, with chariots upon chariots. The Assyrian kings contrived to cross with their chariots mountain chains of great difficulty, and frequently boast of the achievement. Tiglath-Pileser I. says, "I assembled my chariots and warriors. I betook myself to carts of iron in order to overcome the rough mountains and their difficult marches. I made the wilderness thus practicable for the passage of my chariots and warriors". Asshur-izir-pal, "The rugged hill country, unfitted for the passage of chariots and armies, with instruments of iron I cut through, and with metal rollers I beat down the chariots and troops I brought over". Shalmaneser II; "Trackless paths, difficult mountains, which like the point of an iron sword stood pointed to the sky, on wheels of iron and bronze I penetrated. My chariots and armies I transported over them". In the less rough parts, while the warders dismounted, tire horses drew the chariots, which were assisted over obstacles by attendants; but, in regions of greater difficulty, they were conveyed across the mountain ranges in waggons of rude and strong construction The chariot-force was regarded as so important that the Assyrians never made any distant expedition without it. To the sides of Lebanon. It was not necessary to cross either Libanus or Anti-Libanus in order to invade Judaea, since the natural route was along the Coele-Syrian valley and across the spurs of Hermon to the Jordan; but an Assyrian army was intent on plunder and devastation, no less than upon conquest, and would ascend mountain regions that did not lie on its direct line of march for either or both of these objects. It was customary for the soldiers to cut clown the tall cedars and choice fir trees of Lebanon on their Syrian campaigns, in order to transport the timber to Nineveh and other great cities, where it was used for building. It was also customary to destroy the trees in an enemy’s country, simply in order to inflict injury upon the foe. I will enter into the height of his border; rather, I will enter into its uttermost height; i.e. I will penetrate through the entire mountain region of Palestine, called roughly "Lebanon," to the furthest height of any importance—that on which Jerusalem stood—and thus occupy the whole land. The parallel passage of 2 Kings has "lodging" for "height," in apparent allusion to the palace of Hezekiah. And the forest of his Carmel; or, the forest of its pleasure-garden; i.e. the rich plantation tracts, covered with vines, olives, and fig trees, which formed the special glory of Judaea (see Isaiah 36:16, Isaiah 36:17). Isaiah 37:25 I have digged, and drunk water. Sennacherib notes three natural obstacles to his advance—the forces of his opponents he does not appear to account an obstacle—viz. mountains, deserts, rivers. Mountains do not stop him—he crosses them even with his chariot-force (Isaiah 37:24). Deserts do not stop him—he digs wells there, and drinks their waters. Rivers will not stop him—he will dry them up, trample them into puddles. Note the contrast between the past tenses, "I have come up," "I have digged," "I have drunk," and the future, "I will dry up." He had crossed the mountain ranges Sinjar, Amanus, Lebanon; he had passed waterless tracts, where he had had to dig wells, in Mesopotamia and Northern Syria. He was about to find his chief obstacle, rivers, when he invaded Lower Egypt. The rivers of the besieged places; rather, the rivers of Egypt. Mazor, the singular form (compare Assyrian Muzr, and modern Arabic Misr), is used here (as in Micah 7:12, and perhaps in Isaiah 19:6), instead of the ordinary dual term, Mizraim, probably because Lower Egypt is especially intended. Sennacherib was looking especially to the invasion of Lower Egypt,where the Nile had "seven branches" (Herod; Isaiah 2:17), and the country was also cut up by numerous canals, which would naturally constitute a great difficulty to a force depending mainly on its chariots. He believed, however, in his heart, that he would find a way of "drying up" these "rivers." Isaiah 37:26 Hast thou not heard, etc.? An abrupt transition, such as is common in Isaiah. From speaking in the person of Sennacherib, the prophet without warning breaks off, and returns to speaking in the person of Jehovah, as his mouthpiece. "Hast thou not heard," he says, long ago; or rather, "that from long ago! have done this?" Art thou so ignorant, so devoid of that light of nature, which should "lighten every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9), as not to know God’s method of governing the world? How that "from long ago," in his eternal counsels, he designs the rise and fall of nations, and the mode in which their destruction is to be brought about? Art thou not aware that conquerors are mere instruments in God’s hands—"the rods of his anger" (Isaiah 10:5)—to work his will, and then to have his will worked upon them in turn (see Isaiah 10:6-19)? Sennacherib seems to be really reproached for not knowing what he ought to have known, and might have known, if he had listened to the voice of conscience and reason. Now have brought it to pass, etc. All that Sennacherib had done, he had done as God’s instrument, by his permission—nay, by his aid. He had been the axe in the hand of the hewer (Isaiah 10:15), the saw, the rod, the staff, of God’s indignation (Isaiah 10:5), the executor of his vengeance. The very purpose of his being was that he should "lay waste (certain) defenced cities into ruinous heaps." Isaiah 37:27 Therefore. The original is not so emphatic, but still contains the idea, not merely of sequence, but of consequence. God, having decreed the successes of the Assyrians, effected them (in part) by infusing weakness into the nations that were their adversaries. They were as the grass of the field (comp. Isaiah 40:6, Isaiah 40:7). The comparison is one constantly used by the Hebrew psalmists (Psalms 37:2; Psalms 90:5; Psalms 92:7; Psalms 103:15), and was not unknown to the Assyrians. The delicate grass of spring in the East withers within a few weeks, and the fresh and tender herbage becomes yellow, parched, and sapless. The grass that springs upon the earthen roofs of houses fails even more rapidly (comp. Psalms 129:6). As corn blasted before it be grown up; literally, like a field before the stalk. Our translators seem to have rightly preferred the reading of 2 Kings 19:26 (sh’dephah, equivalent to "blasting") to that of Isaiah (sh’demah, equivalent to "field") in this place. Their rendering brings out the true sense. Isaiah 37:28 I know thy abode; literally, thy down-sitting (comp. Psalms 139:2). The meaning is that God has, and has had, his eye on Sennacherib throughout all his career, seeing to and watching over his performance of his will. The phrase, going out, and coming in, is a Hebrew idiom for a man’s doings (see Numbers 27:17; Deuteronomy 28:6; Deuteronomy 31:2; 1 Samuel 18:13, 1 Samuel 18:16; 2 Samuel 3:25; 1 Kings 3:7, etc.). Thy rage against me. As shown in the message sent by Rab-shakeh (Isaiah 36:7), in Rabshakeh’s speech to the "men on the wall" (Isaiah 36:15-20), and in the letter sent to Hezekiah from Lachish (Isaiah 37:10). Isaiah 37:29 Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose (comp. Ezekiel 29:4; Ezekiel 38:4; 2 Chronicles 33:11). The Assyrians were in the habit of passing "hooks" or "rings" through the noses or lips of their more distinguished prisoners, and attaching a thong to the hook or ring, by which they led the prisoners into the royal presence. The expressions used derive their force from these practices, but are not in the present place to be understood literally. God "turned Sennacherib back" and reconducted him to Nineveh. not with an actual "hook" or "thong," but by the "bridle" of necessity. Isaiah 37:30 This shall be a sign unto thee; rather, the sign. The prophet now turns to Hezekiah, and makes an address to him. "This," he says, "shall be the sign unto thee of Sennachcrib’s being effectually ’bridled,’ and the danger from Assyria over. In the third year from the present the land shall have returned to its normal condition, and you shall enjoy its fruits as formerly. Meanwhile you shall obtain sufficient nourishment from the grain which has sown itself." The "third year," according to Hebrew reckoning, might be little more than one year from the date of the delivery of the prophecy. The entire withdrawal of all the Assyrian garrisons from the country, which no doubt followed on Sennacherib’s retreat, might well have occupied the greater part of a year. Till they were withdrawn, the Jews could not venture to till their territory. Plant vineyards. The Assyrians had, no doubt, cut down the vines. Isaiah 37:31 The remnant that is escaped (see the comment on Isaiah 37:4). Take root downward, and bear fruit upward; i.e. "spread over the land, and became firmly rooted in it, and flourish as in the former time." We must conceive of the Assyrians having, in their two recent invasions, completely depopulated the country districts. Numbers had, no doubt, been slain; more than two hundred thousand had been carried into captivity; a portion had found refuge in the capital On the withdrawal of the Assyrians, these last "went forth," reoccupied their lands, and rebuilt their towns and villages. The blessing of God was upon them, and in a short time Judaea recovered her ancient vigour, so that, under Josiah, she was able to extend her dominion over almost the whole of the old Israelite territory (2 Chronicles 34:6, 2 Chronicles 34:18). Isaiah 37:32 The zeal, etc. (comp. Isaiah 9:7). The phrase is very emphatic, marking the greatness of the thing to be done, and at the same time bringing the strophe to an end with an asseveration beyond which nothing could go. Isaiah 37:33 Therefore, etc. A new clause is commenced—the concluding clause of the prophecy. For Hezekiah’s satisfaction and consolation something more definite is needed than the vague assurances that "the daughter of Jerusalem shook her head at Sennacherib" (Isaiah 37:22), and that God would "put a bridle in Sennacherib’s mouth" (Isaiah 37:29). Accordingly, it is now declared, in the plainest terms, that he shall not even lay siege to the city, but shall return by the way by which he came—the coast route—leaving Jerusalem untouched, nay, unattempted. He shall not come into this city; rather, unto the city. He was at Libnah, in the Shefeleh, thirty or forty miles from Jerusalem, when we last heard of him (Isaiah 37:8); and, having then been just informed of the advance of Tirhakah, he is likely to have proceeded on towards Egypt. There is, at any rate, not the slightest intimation of his having made a retrograde movement towards the Jewish capital. Nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. The main points of an Assyrian siege are happily seized. The first assailants were the archers. They boldly approached in large bodies, and strove to clear the battlements of the defenders. Then shields were brought into play. Under their cover the archers drew nearer; the scaling parties brought up their ladders; the miners attacked the foundations of the walls; and the torch-bearers endeavoured to fire the gates. Finally, if these tactics did not avail, banks were raised against the walls, which were then assailed with battering-rams till they were breached and the assailants could cuter. God promises that Jerusalem shall experience none of these things at Sennacherib’s hands. Isaiah 37:34 By the way that he came. It is clear that Sennacherib on this occasion had marched by the usual coast route, through Sharon and the Shefeleh, upon Lachish, leaving Jerusalem far to his left. From Laehish he sent Rabshakeh to Hezekiah with a threatening message, and (as our version has it) "with a great army;" rather, "with a strong force." Rabshakeh, having delivered his message, returned to his master (Isaiah 37:8), doubtless with his escort. Sennacherib then sent a letter by messengers, but without an army, so far as we are told, to renew his threats. Meanwhile from Lachish he went to Libnah, after which we know nothing of his movements, unless we accept the Egyptian account, which was, that he advanced to Pelusium. The declaration, "By the way that he came, by the same shall he return" (comp. Isaiah 37:29) was the most comforting that Hezekiah could possibly receive. It assured him that he would not even be confronted with his enemy. Into this city; rather, unto this city (as in Isaiah 37:32). Isaiah 37:35 I will defend this city … for mine own sake; literally, I will cover over this city, as a bird covers its young with its wings (comp. Isaiah 31:5; Matthew 23:37). God would do this "for his own sake;" i.e. because his own honour was concerned in the defence of his people. He would also do it for his servant David’s sake; i.e. because of the promises made to David, that his children should sit upon his throne (2 Samuel 7:16; Psalms 89:29-37; Psalms 132:11-14, etc.), which involved the continued independence of Judaea and Jerusalem. Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the Lord went forth. The parallel passage of Kings (2 Kings 19:35) has, "It came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out." The word of Isaiah had its accomplishment within a few hours. On the camp of the Assyrians, wherever it was, whether at Libnah, or at Pelusium (Herod; 2:141), or between the two, in the dead of night, the destroying angel swooped down, and silently, without disturbance, took the lives of a hundred and eighty-five thousand’ men. The camp was no doubt that in which Sennacherib commanded. It is contrary to the whole tenor of the Assyrian inscriptions to imagine that a mere corps d’armee, detached to threaten, not to besiege, Jerusalem, could have been one-half, or one-quarter, so numerous. It was Sennacherib’s host, not the Tartan’s, that was visited. So the Egyptian tradition; so verse 37, by implication. That in later times the Jews should have transferred the scene of the slaughter to the vicinity of their own capital, as Josephus does (’Ant. Jud.,’ 10.2. § 5), is not surprising, especially as the Egyptians claimed the glory of the discomfiture for their own gods, and the completion of the victory for their own soldiers. The nature of the destruction is not, perhaps, very important, if it be allowed to have been supernatural; but the "simoom" of Prideaux and Milman, the "storm" of Vitringa and Stanley, the "nocturnal attack by Tirhakah" of Usher, Preiss, and Michaelis, and the "pestilence" of most other commentators, seem to be alike precluded by the terms of the narrative, which imply the silent death in one night of a hundred and eighty-five thousand persons by what English juries call "the visitation of God." The nearest parallel which Holy Scripture offers is the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt; but that was not, as this, without disturbance (see Exodus 12:30). There a "great cry" broke the silence of the night; here it was not till morning, when men woke from their peaceful slumbers, that the discovery was made that "they were all dead corpses." Isaiah 37:37 So Sennacherib … departed; rather, broke up his camp. The word used for all the removals of the children of Israel in the wilderness (Numbers 33:3-48). The loss of even an entire corps d’armeee would not have caused an Assyrian king, at the head of an intact main army, to break up his camp and abandon his enterprise. And dwelt at Nineveh. Sennacherib lived some eighteen or twenty years from the probable date of his discomfiture, dying in b.c. 681. His ordinary residence was at Nineveh, which he greatly adorned and beautified. His father, Sargon, on the contrary, dwelt commonly at Khorsabad (Dur-Sargina), and his son, Esarhaddon, dwelt, during the latter part of his reign, at Babylon. We must not suppose, however, that Sennacherib was shut up in Nineveh during the remainder of his life. On the contrary, he made frequent expeditions towards the south, the east, and the north. But he made no farther expedition to the south-west, no further attack on Jerusalem, or attempt on Egypt. The Jews had peace, so far as the Assyrians were concerned, from the event related in Isaiah 37:36 to a late date in the reign of Esarhaddon. Isaiah 37:38 Nisroch his god. The name Nisroch has not been found in the Assyrian inscriptions, and is, in fact, read only in this place and the parallel passage of Kings (2 Kings 19:37). It has been supposed to represent Nusku, an Assyrian god of a somewhat low position, who, however, does not obtain mention in the historical inscriptions until the time of Asshur-bani-pal. Probably the name has suffered corruption. Asshur was, in fact, Sennacherib’s favourite deity, and it is remarkable that the LXX. give in this place, not Nisroch, but Asarach. "Asarach" would seem to be "Asshur" with a guttural suffix. Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him. The murder of Sennacherib by a son, whom he called "Ardumazanes," was related by Polyhistor (ap. Euseb; ’Chronicles Can.,’ Isaiah 1:5, § l). Esar-haddon’s annals are imperfect at the commencement, but show that his authority was at first contested, and that he had to establish it by force of arms. Adrammelech seems to have assumed the title of king (Abyden. up. Euscb; ’Chronicles Can.,’ 1.9, § 1), and to have been put to death by his brother. Sharezer is not elsewhere mentioned. The name is Assyrian, as far as it goes, but is incomplete. Its full form was probably Nabu-sar-uzur or Nergal-sar-uzur. And escaped into the land of Armenia. So Moses of Chorene (’Hist. Armen.,’ Isaiah 1:22). The Hebrew word is Ararat (Assyrian Urardu or Urartu), which was the more eastern portion of Armenia, and lay beyond the sphere of Assyrian influence. Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. Esarhaddon (Asshur-akh iddiua) appears to have ascended the throne in b.c. 681. It is highly improbable that Isaiah was then living, and therefore the verse can scarcely be from his pen. It has probably been transferred from 2 Kings (2 Kings 19:37) in order to finish off the narrative. Esarhaddon outlived Hezekiah many years, and was brought into contact with Manasseh, whom he reckoned among his tributaries. Isaiah 37:1-5 Spiritual advice in, time of need not to be despised even by great kings. The great of the earth—kings, princes, nobles, statesmen, generals—are too apt to rest upon their own internal gifts of wisdom, talent, sagacity, cleverness, and to place little reliance upon others. Especially are they apt to feel a jealousy towards "the spiritualty," and to hold themselves above the necessity of seeking aid from persons whom they view as unpractical, ignorant of worldly business, flighty, enthusiastic, fanatical. Ahab, when he determined to renew the Syrian war, and to attempt the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead, took no counsel, so far as appears, with any one but himself, and certainly neglected to ask the advice of the only true prophet of Jehovah living within reach (1 Kings 22:3-8). Josiah failed to take the advice of Jeremiah before going out to meet Necho (2 Chronicles 35:20-24); Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah went against his advice in resisting Nebuchadnezzar. It has become almost a principle of modern politics that the spiritualty are not to advise except on matters closely connected with religion or morals, and even on such matters their advice is looked upon with suspicion. The cuckoo-cry of "priestcraft" is raised, and the spiritualty is bidden to confine its, If strictly to its own sphere, and not to intermeddle in the ordinary politics of a nation. Hezekiah’s conduct suggests a contrary lesson, seeming to teach— I. THAT THE ARE THE BEST EVEN IN MATTERS. For, first, they have a less direct interest in such matters, and so are likely to give more unbiased counsel. Secondly, they are accustomed to take into account remoter eventualities, as well as immediate results, and are therefore likely to entertain broader views than others. Thirdly, they are more keenly alive than laics to the moral aspect of political questions, which is often a most important aspect, and one that deserves to have a preponderating weight in determining action. II. THAT IN THEM IT IS WELL TO SHOW THEM DUE RESPECT. Disrespect is the ordinary rule when the politicians of the world condescend to make any reference at all to the spiritualty. "Hasten hither Micaiah, the son of Imlah," strikes the keynote of their utterances (1 Kings 22:9). It is not uncommon for them even to dictate what the spiritualty shall say (1 Kings 22:13). Hezekiah was more respectful, and more wise. He sent his highest officers of state to the house of the prophet, and humbly asked his prayers and his advice. No doubt there is a wide difference between such a prophet as Isaiah and a modern bishop, or archbishop, or conclave of bishops. Still, if there is to be consultation of these last, a show of respect for them should at least be maintained. It cannot be expected that otherwise they will regard their advice as of importance, or apply their minds very carefully to give the best advice in their power. III. THAT IN THE WORST STRAITS THEY CAN GIVE HELP, IF NOT BY ADVICE, YET BY PRAYER. "Wherefore lift up thy prayer," said Hezekiah, "for the remnant that is left" (verse 4). God might not have thought fit to "reprove the words of Sennacherib." His patience might have been exhausted, and he might have been about to allow the conquest of Judaea by Sennacherib, as he afterwards allowed its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar. Hezekiah could not be sure that there was any escape. But in the worst case, "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man would avail much." It would avail to mitigate, if not to prevent, the sufferings of the people, to support them under misfortune, it not to save them from it. In times of national Deed and distress, wise kings and governments do well to ask the prayers of the Church, not that God will not hear them if they address themselves directly to him, but that he may be besieged, as it were, on all sides by prayer, and so prevailed upon to have mercy. The force of prayer is greatly augmented by the prayer being multiplied. "Where two," or more, "agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 18:19). Isaiah 37:14-20 Taking our cross to God, and casting all our care upon him. Deep afflictions seem to pass beyond the reach of human aid. Whether it be bereavement, or sense of sin, or coming trouble of any heavy kind, the profoundly afflicted soul for the most part feels human hell) vain, human sympathy impertinent, and finds no refuge, no consolation, except in pouring itself out before God. We know that "he careth for us" (1 Peter 6:7); we know that he can understand us. It is true wisdom to fly to him, and put our griefs before him. Only let us be sure that, like Hezekiah, we "spread" the whole before the Lord (Isaiah 37:14), that we keep nothing back—no dark corner of our heart, no "secret place" of our complex nature, no hidden act of our life. Unless we be honest with God, we have no claim to his help. He hates such as "dissemble in their hearts" (Jeremiah 42:20) before him. The best human counsellor can give us little aid unless we "make a clean breast" of our difficulties to him. So God will have us "make a clean breast"—not for his information, since he "understandeth our thoughts long before" (Psalms 139:2), but that we may be fit recipients of his grace—that his healing balms may have power to work on us and comfort us and effect our cure. Isaiah 37:18, Isaiah 37:19 Faith neither blind to seemingly adverse facts, nor chary of admitting them. Sennacherib thought to destroy Hezekiah’s trust in Jehovah by an array of facts which he regarded as having the force of an induction. Hezekiah fully admitted the facts ("Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries"), but did not suffer his faith to be shaken by them. His faith rested upon another distinct set of facts, which Sennacherib’s did not and could not invalidate. The truth is that inductions, being never complete, are never demonstrative—they do but establish a probability, and the first adverse fact that can be adduced against them upsets them, or rather upsets the general conclusion that has been drawn from them. Faith, therefore, has no need to be afraid of any amount of seemingly adverse facts, drawn from the region of the sensible. For faith’s facts lie mainly in a different sphere, and are untouched by the facts of sense, however numerous. The miracle of our Lord’s resurrection rests, for instance, first upon prophecy, secondly upon testimony, thirdly upon vision (Revelation 1:18). No amount of ascertained facts that others have not risen, can touch the sufficiently established fact that our Lord did rise. There is no even seeming clashing or contradiction, until the physicist proceeds to draw from his army of facts the general conclusion: "Therefore no men rise." But this conclusion is one that he has no right to draw; it is illogical; the data do not entitle him to infer more than that" Most men do not rise," or rather, "have not yet risen." And so generally with the facts that are adduced against the dicta of faith. They are no disproof of that which they are alleged to disprove. Faith, real faith, is always ready to admit the facts, when once they are established as facts. It disputes the illogical conclusions drawn from the facts, and the ingenious hypotheses projected from the brains of scientists to account for them. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 37:1-18 Hezekiah’s resources. The conduct of the king on hearing the haughty message of the Assyrian is that of a man of habitually religious mind and religious practice. 1. He rends his garments and covers himself with sackcloth. This was significant of sorrow and of self-humiliation: "Humble yourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time." Instead of searching far and wide for the causes of our distress, it were well to look first into our own hearts, and that closely. There, where the mischief has begun, the remedy and the hope may be revealed. 2. He sends a deputation to the minister of God; also clothed in sackcloth. They give the king’s message to Isaiah, "This day is a day of trouble, punishment, and contumely." The outward forms and shows of grief could not denote them truly. They had "That within which passed show, Beneath the trappings and the suits of woe." The mourning garb expresses the need of the rending of the heart, and the bowing down of its pride before the judgments of God. Human extremity is confessed: "There is no strength to bring forth." The toil over insoluble problems—the matching of one’s strength against a superhuman enterprise, the comparison of one’s idea of what should be with one’s sense of the absence of resources for its accomplishment, brings utter exhaustion. It is under such conditions that men learn that whatever strength they had at any time is from God, that whatever help is needed must come from him now. In the house of God, in the attitude of humility and penitence, in communion with men of God, let us be found in the day of distress. I. THE HUMAN . In common life we recognize the principle of intercession. We shelter ourselves behind the worth of another; we seek to gain interest with the powerful and the good. To carry things by personal interest and partiality doubtless opens the door to abuses; but alter all it is founded itself upon love. Logic says," Let every case be judged by its merits, every man stand or fall by merit or demerit of his person." Love, softening down the hard lines of logical principle, or concealing them with flowing ornament, says, "Let fellow-feeling and pity, kinship of blood or of mind, have their influence on the decision." The great truth of the mediation of Christ is reflected in a weaker but still emphatic way in the office of an Abraham, a Moses, a Samuel. Scripture expressly recognizes: "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (cf. Jeremiah 15:1). Our objection to the Romish doctrine of the intercession of saints should not carry us too far. It might lead us to a cold denial of the influence of loving thought upon one another’s weal. What limit is there to the far-reaching influences of love? Because some assume to know too much of those influences and the manner in which they may be secured, that is no reason why we should ignore them. "An interest in the prayers of good men," it is natural to seek, and blessed to have secured. The belief in the intercession of good men rests on the belief that some men stand nearer to God than others. They have a firmer faith, a steadier insight into the methods of Providence, and therefore a clearer outlook into the future, and a courage which is inspiring to others. On this occasion Isaiah is found to be calm and undisturbed by the revilings of the Assyrian. He can speak of his officers with contempt as the "minions of the King of Assyria." He can foretell that a "spirit" will be put in the enemy—an impulse quite contrary to that now animating him; he will hear ill news, will return to his own land, and will fall by the sword. The prophet sustains the king; Hezekiah leans on Isaiah; true policy finds its inspiration in religion. The ministers of state, if wise, will own the worth of the service of the ministers of God. II. LAID BEFORE GOD. The threat of the Assyrian, the taunting arguments on which he had before relied, are repeated. Let Hezekiah beware of trusting in Jehovah, for he may prove no better resource than the "gods of the nations" which have been subdued by the Assyrians. Hezekiah takes the letter, goes up into the house of Jehovah, and spreads it open before Jehovah. We may be reminded, as we read, of the prayer-machines of the Buddhists; or of the waxen tablets hung upon the statues of the gods by the Romans. inscribed with prayers, as alluded to by Juvenal in his tenth Satire. But where the outward act is similar, the intention may be widely different. If we look to the essence of the act, there is nothing in itself more superstitious in laying open a written letter before God, than in addressing him orally on its contents. If the spreading out is a "prayer without words," the prayer with words follows. There is no external form which we may not fill out with the life of our spirit and make vital and real; none from which we may not withdraw that life, and so leave dead and cold. It is idle to suppose that the mere abandonment of certain forms will remove the foundations of superstition, which is certain to spring up in a mechanical and lifeless state of mind. III. ’S PRAYER. His thoughts of God. He is revealed in nature and in human life. He is enthroned upon the cherubim—those mysterious creatures of poetic and plastic fancy, representing spiritual power revealed in strong wind and cloud, and figured in the ark. Analogous figures are common in Oriental art. Jehovah is the God of nature, the Creator of heavens and earth. He is the only true Ruler of the kingdoms of the earth. The heathen believed that their gods swayed in the sphere both of nature and of human life—that their glory and power was revealed, not only in sun, and moon, and stars, and wind, but in the might of warriors and the ascendency of kings. But the contrast is that these pretensions were unreal, that of Jehovah alone. founded on truth and facts. Those "gods of the nations" who had been put into the fire by the Assyrian were no genuine gods, as the result has proved. When the idol was destroyed, the visible image of the god, the faith of the worshipper lost its visible support, and his hope fled. There was no Saviour here. True faith is not dependent on such visible props; they may fail—it remains. The symbols of religion may change; old sanctuaries may fall into decay; Jerusalem may be taken; the Shechinah-glory may fade from the hallowed spot; but Jehovah remains. In superstition, when the idols are broken, the false faith dies; in true religion, when the idols are broken, the true faith rises into new life. Adversity, fatal to imposture, brings the genuine tradition to light. The true God is bound by his very nature to be the Saviour, the Deliverer of men. The cry for salvation must sooner or later, in one or another way, be answered from him. If the cry be not answered, it is a proof that we have not directed it to the true Object—not to Jehovah, the Alone, the Eternal, but to some creature, the fabrication, if not of our hands, of our sensuous and unspiritual fancy.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Caution against fear. "Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard." We are often afraid of whispers; we often suffer severely through words. It is not surprising. Words are winged, and fly across oceans. Words are penetrating, and enter into the secret places of the heart. Words are indestructible, and, once uttered, who but God can restrain their power? I. THESE WERE WORDS AGAINST GOD. Alas! there have been many such in every age. This is part of the perils of moral government, which leaves the creature "free." But God has set in order a universe of men, and not of machines, and he is too wise not to have ordered all things wisely and well. Man is evidently a being born to the perils which beset all freedom. Thus he can speak against the Most High. "I am equal to the sad occasion," says in effect Jehovah to Isaiah. "The servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed me, but I will send a blast upon them." No more solemn thought can occupy our minds than the consideration how every day blasphemous, false, and base words are spoken against our Father in heaven. II. THESE WORDS ARE OFTEN TO HURT HIS . "Fear them not," says God; "they cannot hurt you." We are thankful for this revelation of the impotence of evil. If your character is falsely traduced, God can "bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday." If your influence is injured for a time, God has so ordered the world that evil men reveal their true character. They are not good, and they know it; "and they that be otherwise cannot be hid." Let not the friends of God tremble in the presence of infidel insinuation or sceptical scorn. God’s nature has been revealed. His wonderful works attest his power and goodness. Christ and the cross are the revelation of his love. III. THESE WORDS ARE SURE TO BE HEARD. We cannot at times help the entrance of evil, but we can help the entertainment of it. We must treat all the evil surmises of wicked men with the disdain that they deserve. We can, as Solomon suggests, "turn from it and pass away." Besides, just as there is in love what Dr. Chalmers calls "the expulsive power of a new affection," so there is in love to God a power to banish all that old love of the world which makes men mingle with the irreverent and undevout. The syren voice of evil whisperings will have no charm for us when we hide God’s Word in our heart. The great lesson is not to be afraid of the wickedness of the wicked, or to make their words of account by taking too great note of them. Many malignant words would have perished at their birth if they had not been made much of by argument and reply. The best answer is to trust in God and do the right.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 37:1-4 Our highest solicitude. A very graphic scene is here sketched. The highest personages in the realm are moved to the strongest feelings of indignation and concern. Dignity is entirely forgotten; the profound agitations which have stirred their souls are expressed in actions which, to less excitable and imaginative people, seem violent and unbecoming. But the rent garments and the coarse sackcloth best uttered, for them, the distracted heart and a deep sense of shame. It was eloquence in action, and was more forcible than the most impassioned speech. Doubtless many feelings mingled in this strong emotion, but we prefer to think (and by the fourth verse are justified in thinking) that what most kindled the indignation of king,’ of statesman, and of priest, was the "blasphemy" which had been spoken against the Lord; the earnest solicitude on their part that the Name of Jehovah should not be shamefully dishonoured among men. There are— I. WHICH ARE GOOD, BUT NOT HIGH. We do well to be solicitous to discharge our pecuniary obligations, to take and to hold an honourable position among our fellows, to enjoy a good reputation among men, to see that which is most beautiful, to hear that which is most harmonious, and to read that which is most delightful. But this appeals to those instincts and ambitions which are common to all but the lowest among men; they are desires or anxieties which are good but not high. II. WHICH ARE HIGH, BUT NOT THE HIGHEST. It is in a very high degree desirable, it is indeed urgent, that we should show a patient, practical solicitude (1) to gain the forgiveness of our sin, and acceptance with God; (2) to maintain our Christian consistency and conformity of conduct to the will of Christ; (3) to attain to the nobler ranges of Christian excellency, to reach the goal which is set before us; (4) to serve our generation to the height of our ability and opportunity; (5) to be ready for the last hour of life and the first hour of immortality. These are high and worthy aspirations, but they are not— III. THE WHICH IS THE HIGHEST OF ALL. It is that commanding and consuming desire for the glory of God which filled the hearts of Hezekiah and his people, and which called forth such powerful and even passionate emotion when his Name was blasphemed. 1. The evidence that this is the highest solicitude is found in: (1) The fact that it is our supreme obligation. We are bound, first and most of all things, to be concerned for the honour of our heavenly Father, for the glory of our Divine Redeemer: theft he is revered, and that his will is done on earth should be our first consideration. (2) The fact that it is an unselfish, and therefore pre-eminently Christian and Divine inspiration. (3) The fact that it is an enlarging and ennobling sentiment. They whose hearts are filled and whose lives are fashioned by this pure and holy solicitude will be lifted up in soul by its elevating influence; they will rise above all that is mean and small; they will attain to loftiness of view and dignity of character. 2. The manifestations which it will assume are (1) great pain and shame when the Name of God is dishonoured (text); (2) great joy when his kingdom is seen to be advancing and himself being honoured in the world; (3) earnest and lifelong effort to bear witness to his presence, his power, his holiness, his love, and the blessedness of his great salvation.—C. The God in whom we trust. To trust in God— I. OUGHT TO SEEM TO US THE MOST SIMPLE AND NATURAL THING. 1. All power is his. We shrink from weakness as a support, but we lean our whole weight on strength with perfect willingness and readiness: and it is Almighty God; it is he to whom "all power is given in heaven and on earth," who invites our confidence. 2. All wisdom is his. Power without wisdom may lead astray, may work more harm than help: it is the only wise God "who asks us to put our trust in him. 3. All kindness is his. Power with wisdom but without love might be arrayed against us, might overwhelm us with confusion: it is the God whose "new, best Name is love," that offers us the shelter of his wing. 4. All faithfulness is his. Love that might last but a little while is of little worth; it might change into indifference or even into hatred and hostility: it is the "Father of lights with whom is no variableness," it is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," who says to us, "Come unto me," "Trust in me," "Abide in me," "Cast all your care on me." Surely it should be the simplest, the most natural, thing to yield instant and eager response to the Divine invitation, and to put our heart’s whole trust in "the Lord our God." Yet to trust in him— II. IS MUCH MORE RARE THAT IT SHOULD BE. Do we find men leaning on God, and so leaning on him that their hearts are full of peace, of spiritual rest, of hope, of heavenly joy? Is "the God in whom we trust" a phrase that has as large and lull a meaning to our minds as it should have? Is not a living, sustaining, rejoicing trust in God a comparatively rare, rather than a constant and universal thing, even in Christian hearts? And why is it so, if so it be? Is it not because we allow ourselves to be so sadly imposed upon by the temporal and the superficial? We persist in representing to ourselves that the visible, the audible, the tangible, the material, is the real, the, true, and the substantial. We, who walk by faith and not by sight, whose life is spiritual, who are citizens of heaven, ought to understand that it is this which is illusive, evanescent, unreal, and that the invisible, the intangible, the eternal, is the real and the reliable; we ought to know and to realize that he, whom not having seen we love, the invisible but ever-present, the almighty and never-failing, Saviour, is the One who is worthy of our confidence, and in the deepest and fullest sense it should be true that it is the Lord in whom we trust. III. IS A OF WHICH WE NEED TO AVAIL . 1. In prosperity, for God’s sake. For God wills that we should be ever trusting in him, "in whom are all our springs," and from whom we derive everything we enjoy. To trace our well-being to ourselves, and to trust in the arm of flesh instead of referring all to the living God, brings down his deep displeasure (see Deuteronomy 10:8-18). 2. In adversity, for our own sake. For then God alone can help and save us. We ourselves shall have failed; misfortune, disaster, will have baffled and beaten us; our friends will fail us; human sympathy and succour will avail somewhat, but it will leave much more undone than it will do. Divine interposition alone will supply our need—the pity of the Divine Friend; the help of the heavenly Father; the ministry of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter and the Sanctifier of the hearts of men.—C. Righteousness in prayer. Hezekiah’s was the effectual prayer of a righteous man. It was effectual because it was right-minded. Had he gone to the Lord in an unacceptable spirit, he would have met with a very different response. Our prayers may be unexceptionable, so far as time, place, demeanour, and even language are concerned, and yet they may be fruitless, because our mind is not attuned to the true spirit of devotion. We have here five features which should always characterize our approach to God. I. A DEEP SENSE OF THE DIVINE . "That dwellest between the cherubim;" i.e. the God that has come down and has taken up his abode in the midst of us—a God at hand and not afar off. Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord (Isaiah 37:14), before the Present One. It is a point of the first importance that we should feel, in prayer, that God is with us in very deed and truth; that we stand in his near presence; that the angels who inhabit the heavenly kingdom are not more truly, though they may be more consciously, before him than are we as we take his Name on our lips and breathe our petitions into his ear. II. A OF HIS MAJESTY. "Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth." Our boldness in prayer (Hebrews 4:16) must stop short of anything like irreverence. Our Lord himself was "heard in that he feared" (Hebrews 5:7); much more does it become us to think and to speak with holy awe when we address the Majesty of heaven; we must ever have in mind that it is the one only God, the Lord of hosts, the Infinite and Eternal One, to whom we are addressing ourselves (see Genesis 18:23-32). III. FULL IN HIS DIVINE POWER. "Thou hast made heaven and earth." To doubt God’s power to interpose on our behalf, by whatever restraints we imagine that power to be limited, must be painful to him, and must invalidate our prayer. To have a firm assurance that God is able to sustain, to supply, to deliver us; to feel that no obstacles of any kind can prevent his interposition on our behalf, if he only sees it to be wise and right to intervene, is to be right-minded in devotion. IV. A HOLY IN HIS DIVINE IN US. Hezekiah addressed Jehovah as the "God of Israel" (Isaiah 37:16); i.e. the God who had a peculiar interest in Israel, "the chosen people," his own "inheritance," "a people near unto him" (Psalms 148:14). We place ourselves in accord with God’s will concerning us, not when we presuppose that the most urgent entreaties have to be made to secure his interest in us and in our affairs, but rather when we assume the fact that we are the objects of his deep solicitude, that we are near to his heart, and that he is disposed to do all that is needful for our present well-being and future blessedness. V. OF SPIRIT. Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord, not his own and his people’s extremities, but the dishonour which had been cast o,, the Name of Jehovah, and the need there was for that Name to be glorified before the nations (Isaiah 37:17-20). We may plead with God our own necessities, both temporal and spiritual; but we are in the tree mood, in the right spirit, when we rise above all selfish considerations. 1. We do well to pray for our suffering and necessitous friends. 2. We do better to pray for our lost and perishing race. 3. We do best to pray for the extension of our Saviour’s kingdom and the exaltation of his holy Name. The prayer which the Lord taught his disciples may teach us the "order of merit" in regard to our desires when we bow down at the throne of grace.—C. Isaiah 37:21-29 The intoxication of success, etc. The first thing of which this passage speaks, and of that it speaks very forcibly, is— This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION II.—’S ILLNESS, AND THE EMBASSY OF -BALADAN (Isaiah 38:1-22; Isaiah 39:1-8.). The present chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 20:1-11, but contains some marked differences from that passage, both in what it omits and in what it inserts. The general narrative (2 Kings 20:1-8, and 2 Kings 20:21, 22) is greatly condensed, and in part disarranged, 2 Kings 20:21, 22 being added, as it would seem, by an after-thought. On the other hand, the psalm of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:9-20) is additional, having nothing corresponding to it in the Book of Kings. There is every appearance of 2 Kings 20:1-11 having been composed previously to the present chapter, and of the present chapter having been, in its narrative portion, abridged from 2 Kings. Isaiah 38:1 In those days. The illness of Hezekiah is fixed by Isaiah 38:5 (and 2 Kings 20:6) to the fourteenth year of his reign, or b.c. 714. The entire narrative of this chapter and the next is therefore thirteen or fourteen years earlier than that of Isa 36:1-22; Isaiah 37:1-38; which belongs to Hezekiah’s closing years, b.c. 701-698 (see the comment on Isaiah 26:1, Isaiah 26:2). Sick unto death; i.e. attacked by a malady which, if it had run its natural course, would have been fatal. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. This double designation of Isaiah, by his office and by his descent, marks the original independence of this narrative, which was not intended for a continuation of Isa 37:1-38. Thou shalt die, and not live. Prophecies were often threats, and, when such, were conditional, announcing results which would follow unless averted by prayer or repentance (compare Jonah’s prophecy, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," Jonah 3:4). Isaiah 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall. The action resembles that of Ahab (1 Kings 21:4); but the spirit is wholly different. Ahab turned away in sullenness, Hezekiah that he might pray undisturbed. Beds seem to have been placed in the corners of rooms, with the head against one wall of the room, and one side against another. Isaiah 38:3 Remember now, O Lord. Hezekiah was in the full vigour of life—thirty-nine years old only. He had probably as yet no son, since Manasseh, who succeeded him, was but twelve (2 Kings 21:1, 2 Chronicles 33:1) when Hezekiah died at the age of fifty-four. It was a grievous thing to a Jew to leave no male offspring: it was viewed as a mark of the Divine displeasure to be cut off in the midst of one’s days (Job 15:32; Job 22:15, Job 22:16: Psalms 55:23; Proverbs 10:27; Ecclesiastes 7:17). Hezekiah asked himself—Had he deserved such a sentence? He thought that he had not. He knew that, with whatever shortcomings, he had endeavoured to serve God, had trusted in him (2 Kings 18:5), cleaved to him (2 Kings 18:6), "departed not from following him, but kept his commandments" (2 Kings 18:6) He therefore ventured upon an expostulation and an earnest prayer; and God was pleased to hear the prayer and to grant it. I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart. Compare the unbiased testimony of the authors of Kings and Chronicles (2 Kings 18:3-6; 2 Chronicles 29:2; 2 Chronicles 31:20, 2 Chronicles 31:21). Under the old dispensation, there was nothing to prevent men from pleading their righteousness before God (comp. Job 31:4-40; Psalms 7:3; Psalms 18:20-24; Psalms 26:1-8, etc.). Hezekiah, however, does not really regard himself as sinless (comp. verse 17). And Hezekiah wept sore. In the East feelings are but little restrained. Joy shows itself in laughter and shouting, grief in tears and shrill cries. Xerxes wept when he thought of the shortness of human life (Herod; 7.46); the Persians rent the air with load cries at the funeral of Masistius (ibid; 9.24); on the news of the defeat at Salamis all Susa "cried aloud, and wept and wailed without stint" (ibid; 8.99). So David wept for Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:12) and again for Absalom (2 Samuel 19:1); Joash wept when he heard the words of the Law (2 Kings 22:19); Nehemiah wept at the desolation of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:4); the ambassadors of Hezekiah, when disappointed of the object of their embassy, "wept bitterly" (Isaiah 33:7). No king in the East puts himself under any restraint, if he has an inclination for either tears or laughter. Isaiah 38:4 Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying. The author of Kings describes graphically how Isaiah, after delivering his message, had gone out, but had not reached the middle court of the palace, when his footsteps were arrested, and the Divine voice bade him "turn again and relieve Hezekiah’s fears by a fresh announcement" (2 Kings 20:4). So swiftly does God answer "the prayer of faith." Isaiah 38:5 Thus saith the Lord,… I have heard thy prayer. According to the author of Kings, the full message sent to Hezekiah was, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy clays fifteen years; and I will deliver time and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake" (2 Kings 20:5, 2 Kings 20:6). The words in italics are additional to those here reported by Isaiah. Fifteen years. This was doubling, or rather more than doubling, the length of Hezekiah’s reign, and allowing him a length of life exceeding that of the great majority of the kings of Judah, who seldom attained the age of fifty. Hezekiah lived to be fifty-four. Isaiah 38:7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord. It was the day of the free offering of "signs" by God to those whom his providence had placed at the head of his people. Ahaz had been offered a sign (Isaiah 7:11), but had refused the offer made him (Isaiah 7:12); the Lord had then "himself" given him a sign." Hezekiah received a sign to assure him of the complete discomfiture of Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:30); an offer was here made him of a sign of a peculiar kind, and it was offered under peculiar conditions. We learn from 2 Kings that a choice was submitted to him—he was to determine whether time, as measured by a certain timepiece or clock, which was known as "the dial of Ahaz," should make a sudden leap forward—the shadow advancing ten degrees upon the dial (2 Kings 20:9), or whether it should retire backwards, the shadow upon the same dial receding ten degrees. Hezekiah determined in favour of the latter sign, from its appearing to him the more difficult of accomplishment; and on his declaring his decision, the shadow receded to the prescribed distance. Time was rolled backward, or at any rate appeared to be rolled backward; and the king, seeing so great a miracle, accepted without hesitation the further predictions that had been made to him. The Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken. By the nexus of this verse with the preceding, it would naturally be concluded that "the thing" to be done was the defence of Jerusalem; but verse 22, which belongs properly to this part of the narrative, shows the contrary. Hezekiah had asked for a sign" that he should go up to the house of the Lord." Isaiah 38:8 The sun-dial of Ahaz. We are informed by Herodotus that the sun-dial was an invention of the Babylonians (Herod; 2.109), from whom it would readily pass to the Assyrians. Ahaz may have obtained a knowledge of it, or an actual specimen, when he visited Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus (2 Kings 16:10), and, on his return to his capital, have caused one to be erected there. Sun-dials are of several kinds. The one here spoken of seems to have consisted of a set of steps, with a perpendicular gnomon or pole at the top, the shadow of which receded up the steps as the sun rose in the heavens, and descended down them as the sun declined. We must suppose that the sign was given in the forenoon, when the shadow was gradually creeping up the steps. Hezekiah thought that a sudden jump in the same direction would be as nothing compared with a reversal of the motion, and therefore required that the shadow should go back, which it did. How the effect was produced, whether by an eclipse as argued by Mr. Bosanquet, or by refraction, or by an actual alteration of the earth’s motion, we are not told; but there is reason to believe that the cause, whatever it was, was local, not general, since the King of Babylon subsequently sent ambassadors, to inquire concerning "the wonder that was done in the land" (2 Chronicles 32:31). The sun returned ten degrees. We must not press this expression as indicating a real alteration of the sun’s place in the heavens. The meaning is that the shadow cast by the sun returned. Isaiah 38:9 The writing of Hezekiah; rather, a writing. After he had recovered from his illness, Hezekiah, it would seem, retraced his feelings as he lay upon his sick-bed, and embodied them in this monody. It has been well termed, "a peculiarly sweet and plaintive specimen of Hebrew psalmody" (Cheyne). Four stanzas or strophes of unequal length are thought to be discernible: (1) from the beginning of Isa 38:10 to the end of Isa 38:12; (2) from the beginning of Isa 38:13 to the end of Isa 38:14; (3) from the beginning of Isa 38:15 to the end of Isa 38:17; (4) from the beginning of Isa 38:18 to the end of Isa 38:20. In the first two the monarch is looking forward to death, and his strain is mournful; in the last two he has received the promise of recovery, and pours out his thankfulness. Isaiah 38:10 In the cutting off of my days; literally, in the pausing of my days—which is taken by some to mean "the noon-tide of my life"—when my sun had reached its zenith, and might have been expected to begin to decline; by others to signify "the still tranquillity of my life," when it was gliding quietly and peacefully along without anything to disturb it. Isaiah 38:6 is against this latter view. I shall go to the gates of the grave; rather, I shall enter in at the gates of hell (or, ַבהוע)—the place of departed spirits (see the comment on Isaiah 14:9). Hezekiah bewails his fate somewhat as Antigone: ̓ΑλλἔμὁπαγκοίταςΑἴδηςζῶσανἄγειτὰν̓Αχέροντοςἀκτάν. Isaiah 38:11 I shall not see the Lord (comp. Psalms 6:5, "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave (Sheol) who shall give thee thanks?" and see also Psalms 30:9; Psalms 88:10-12; Psalms 115:17). The Jews had not yet attained the conception of a blissful region in Hades, where God manifested himself, and the saints, who were awaiting the resurrection, saw him and praised him. Even the Lord. (For examples of repetition for the sake of emphasis, see Isaiah 29:1; Isaiah 33:22; Isaiah 38:19; Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 51:17, etc.) In the land of the living; i.e. "as I do now in the land of the living" (comp. Psalms 27:13; Psalms 116:9). Isaiah 38:12 Mine age is departed; rather, my dwelling is plucked up. The body seems to be viewed as the dwelling-place of the soul. Hezekiah’s is to be taken from him, and carried far away, like a shepherd’s tent, while he, his true self, i.e. his soul, is left bare and naked. I have cut off like a weaver my life; rather, I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. The careful weaver rolls up the web, as it advances, to keep it clean and free from dust. Hezekiah had been equally careful of his life; he had about half finished it, when lo! "Jehovah takes up the fatal scissors" (Cheyne), and severs the unfinished cloth from the loom (compare the Greek myth of Clotho, Laehesis, and Atropos). With pining sickness; rather, as in the margin, from the thrum. The "thrum" is the portion of the warp which adjoins the upper bar of the loom. Isaiah 38:13 I reckoned till morning, etc.; i.e. "I lay thinking till the morning, that God would crush me as a lion crushes his prey—I expected him all day long to make an end of me." Isaiah 38:14 Like a crane or a swallow. The sus, here translated "crane," is probably "the swift," which has a loud, shrill note. The, agur is, perhaps, "the crane;" but this is very uncertain. The two words occur as the names of birds only here and in Jeremiah 8:7. So did I chatter; rather, so did I scream (Cheyne). I did mourn; rather, I did moan. Mine eyes fail with looking upward; rather, mine eyes are weak to look upward; i.e. I have scarcely the courage or the strength to look to Jehovah; yet still I do look to him falteringly, and make my appeal: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me (comp. Job 17:3); literally, be Surety for me. "The image," as Mr. Cheyne says, "is that of a debtor, who is being dragged to prison" at the suit of an exacting creditor, and for whom there is but one hope of relief; viz. if he can obtain a sufficient surety. Hezekiah calls on God to be the Surety; but God is the Creditor! Still, there is an appeal from God’s justice to God’s mercy—from Jehovah who punishes to Jehovah who forgives sin; and this appeal Hezekiah seems to intend to make when he beseeches God to "undertake for him." Isaiah 38:15 What shall I say? The strain is suddenly changed. Hezekiah’s prayer has been answered, and he has received the answer (Isaiah 38:5-8). He is "at a loss to express his wonder and his gratitude" (Cheyne); comp. 2 Samuel 7:20. God has both spoken unto him—i.e; given him a promise of recovery—and also himself hath done it; i.e. has performed his promise. Already he feels in himself the beginnings of amendment—he is conscious that the worst is past, and that the malady has taken a turn for the better. I shall go softly all my years. Delitzsch renders, "I shall walk quietly;" Mr. Cheyne, "I shall walk at ease;" both apparently understanding the expression of a quiet, easy life, made the more pleasant by contrast with past pain. But it seems better to understand the "soft going," with Dr. Kay, of a hushed and subdued spirit, consequent upon the crisis past, and thenceforth continuing—the king walking, as it were, perpetually in God’s presence. In the bitterness; rather, after the bitterness (Delitzsch), when it has departed; and "because of it" (Nagelsbach), through its remembrance. Isaiah 38:16 By these things; i.e. "the things which thou speakest and doest" (Isaiah 38:15). Man does not "live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). And in all these things. This rendering is against the laws of grammar. Translate, and wholly in them. Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; rather, behold, it was for my peace that I had such bitterness, such bitterness. The pain that I underwent was for the true peace and comfort of my soul (comp. Psalms 94:12; Psalms 119:75; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:5-11). Thou hast in love, etc.; literally, thou hast loved my soul back from the pit of destruction—as if God’s love, beaming on the monarch’s soul, had drawn it back from the edge of the pit (comp. Hosea 11:4, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love"). For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Where they could be no more seen, and therefore would be no more remembered (comp. Micah 7:19; Psalms 25:7; Psalms 79:8; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 64:9, etc.). Hezekiah, though lately he protested his integrity (Isaiah 38:3). did not mean to say that he was sinless, lie knew that he had sinned; he regarded his sins as having brought down upon him the sentence of death; as God has revoked the sentence, he knows that he has pardoned his sins and put them away from his remembrance. Isaiah 38:18 The grave cannot praise thee (cormpare the comment on Isaiah 38:11). It is avoiding the plain force of these passages to say that Hezekiah only means that those who go to Hades in a state of condemnation cannot be expected there to praise God (Kay). He speaks broadly and generally of all: "The living, the living, shall praise thee; Sheol cannot praise thee; Death cannot celebrate thee." Manifestly, though he believes in a future state, it is one in which there is either no energy at all, or at any rate no devotional energy. He may think, with Isaiah. that "the righteous man," when he is "taken away," will "enter into peace" (Isaiah 57:1, Isaiah 57:2); but absolute "peace" precludes energy (see Arist; ’Eth. Nit.,’ 1. 10. § 2). Hezekiah shrinks from losing all his activities, including his sense of personal communion with God. He does not, perhaps, "look on the condition of the faithful departed as one of comfortless gloom;" but he views it as one of deprivation, and is unwilling to enter into it. It was by the coming of Christ and the preaching of his gospel that "life and immortality" were first truly "brought to light" (2 Timothy 1:10). Isaiah 38:19 The living. Those who still enjoy the light of day. The repetition is emphatic, and has the force of "the living, and the living only." The father to the children. Hezekiah may, or may not, have had children himself at the time. Manasseh was not born; but he may have had daughters, or even other sons, who did not survive him. He is not, however, perhaps, thinking of his own ease. Isaiah 38:20 The Lord was ready to save me; rather, came to my rescue; came and saved me. Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments; rather, therefore will we play my stringed instruments. Hezekiah calls the stringed instruments his, because he had recalled their use, and re-established them as a part of the temple service after the suspension of that service by Ahaz (2 Chronicles 29:30). His intention now is to take continual part with the Levites in . Upon the boil. The term hero translated "boil" is used in Exodus (Exodus 9:9-11) for the affliction which constituted the sixth plague, in Leviticus (Le Leviticus 13:18-23) for an ulcer accompanying one of the worst forms of leprosy, in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 28:27, Deuteronomy 28:35) for "the botch of Egypt," and in Job (Job 2:7) for the last of the visitations from which he suffered. It is not unlikely that it was of a leprous character. Isaiah 38:22 Hezekiah also had said; literally, and Hezekiah said. Our translators, both in this verse and at the commencement of Isa 38:21, have endeavoured to conceal the awkwardness of the nexus, or rather want of nexus, with what precedes, by a modification of the rendering. The true sense is brought out by the proceeding, which is, however, a little arbitrary. The duty of men, in view of death, to set their house in order. Nothing is more manifest than the duty of all men, in view of that departure which they know to impend over them as an absolute certainty, only doubtful in respect of its date, to arrange their worldly affairs as prudence requires, and not leave them in confusion. In complicated societies, and in states where civilization is advanced, the duty presses more especially, since the greatest care constantly requires to be taken lest, if affairs are not arranged, the most undesirable results should arise. I. IT IS MOST THAT THE HOUSE SHOULD RE SET IN ORDER BEFORE ANY OF DEATH APPEARS. The circumstances of a dangerous illness are generally such as to render it extremely inexpedient that the arrangement of a man’s worldly affairs should be put off to such a time. The time is, for the most part, all too short for the consideration of a man’s spiritual affairs—for repentance, confession, restitution, exchange of forgiveness, and the like, which often occupy a considerable space, and need much thought and attention. Worldly affairs distract the mind from the things which most vitally concern it, and, if they are not arranged until the last illness sets in, the result too commonly is that "to the mercy of a moment" are left "the vast concerns of an eternal scene." Further, in sickness the mind is far less fit to make judicious arrangements than in health; it is soon fatigued, often not clear, sometimes altogether confused and incapable of sound judgment—not to mention that it may wholly fail, or be quite unequal to any exertion. Men need to he reminded continually, while they are in health, of the duty of arranging their worldly affairs at once, and not waiting till the fiat has gone forth—till their hours are numbered, and whatever has to be done must be done in haste. II. STILL, IF THE DUTY HAS BEEN IN HEALTH, THE OF DEATH IS A CALL ON US TO IT. "Set thine house in order," is Isaiah’s first, nay, his sole, charge to Hezekiah, when he warns him that he is to die shortly. The interests of others are involved; and our neglect of them hitherto gives them a claim on us which is more binding than any interests of our own. "If a man provide not for … those of his own house,… he is worse than an Infidel" (1 Timothy 5:8). The neglected duty must first be attended to; the rights, interests, fair claims of others must be considered, and, so far as possible, secured; and then our own advantage may occupy us, but not before. No man, we may be sure, will be made to suffer in another world for having postponed his own advantage to that of others in this. Isaiah 38:2-6 The power of prayer. The story of these chapters (36-38.) is remarkably illustrative of the power of "effectual fervent prayer." Four points may be noted. I. PRAYER IS POTENT TO DESTROY THE OF GOD AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR GLORY AND . Assyria had reached the acme of her might. She had destroyed nation after nation; she had "gone up and overflowed." All Western Asia was hers, and now she threatened to effect a lodgment in Northern Africa, and to add the rich lands of the Nile valley to the productive regions along the Tigris and the Euphrates. She had measured her strength against that of every military power existing at that day, and in all her struggles had come off victorious. What was to stop her, or prevent her colossal form from dominating the whole earth? A short prayer offered by a petty potentate in a distant city. It is the prayer of Hezekiah "against Sennacherib" that overthrows him. "Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, King of Assyria: this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn" (Isaiah 37:21, Isaiah 37:22). II. PRAYER IS POTENT TO SAVE A NATION AT THE LAST . It may well have seemed to Sennacherib ridiculous that the Jews should think to withstand him. He or his predecessors had conquered every other country of Western Asia—Babylonia and Media, Armenia and Gozan, Syria, Phoenicia, Damascus, Samaria, Philistia, Edom; they had contended with the hosts of Egypt and overcome them; how should a petty nation, forty-six of whose towns they had taken in one campaign, and two hundred thousand of whose inhabitants they had carried into captivity, conceive it possible to resist for long an enemy so vastly superior to them? They were open to invasion on every side. Tiglath-Pileser had subdued the trans-Jordanic region, Sargon had reduced Philistia and Samaria, Sennacherib himself had for tributaries the kings of Zidon, Arvad, Gebal, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and Edom. How was Hezekiah, cooped up in Jerusalem "as a bird in a cage"—how were his people, a mere "remnant" (Isaiah 37:4)—to escape the subjection that had come on all their neighbours? The last extremity seemed to be reached. Humanly speaking, there was no prospect of deliverance; the jaws of the monster that had swallowed all the other countries must crush Judaea also. There was, however, still the resort to prayer. Hezekiah, Isaiah, doubtless the faithful Israelites generally, betook themselves to God, besought his aid, besieged him with their supplications, and the nation was saved—saved from extinction—saved, for a long term, even from invasion—allowed a century more of independent life and. a recovery under Josiah of almost pristine glory. Such power has prayer at the extremity of a nation’s need—a power the force of which, measured against ordinary mundane forces, is quite incalculable. III. PRAYER IS POTENT TO OBTAIN FROM GOD LENGTH OF DAYS AND EVERY . Hezekiah’s prayer for himself prolonged his life for fifteen years. Christians, under sentence of death, given up by their physicians and their friends, are entitled to pray, if they so choose, for an extension of the term of their probation, a respite from the doom pronounced on them. In God’s hands, and in his hands only, are the issues of life and death. He can, if he will, prolong our life, and restore us to health, even when we seem at the last gasp. It may not be often suitable that we should ask this boon for ourselves; we have not the reasons to wish for long life that the Jews had. But for others we do well to ask, when they are in danger, that God will spare them to us; and "the prayer of faith" will often "save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up" (James 5:15), and give them back to us, as from the very edge of the pit, if our prayer be faithful and fervent. IV. PRAYER IS POTENT TO OBTAIN OF SINS, AND OF THE OF SIN. Hezekiah felt that, in revoking the sentence of death which he had passed upon him, God had also forgiven the sins which had provoked that sentence (verse 17). He had been sensible of those sins, even while he had pleaded his general faithfulness (verse 3). He had doubtless begged to be forgiven them. Such prayer God will in no wise cast out. It is his high prerogative to pardon sin (Mark 2:7), and it is also his delight. He bids us ask his forgiveness daily (Matthew 6:12); he promises his forgiveness to all but the unforgiving; he assures us that, if we will return to him, he will "abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 4:1-6:7). And his pardon includes within it remission of the true penalty of sin, which is his displeasure, his alienation, and its consequence—eternal death. The pardoned sinner has his sins "blotted out." He "enters into the joy of his Lord." BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 38:1-8 Sickness and recovery of Hezekiah. All pathos ultimately turns upon contrast, and the greatest of all contrasts is that between death and life. All who have passed through a dangerous illness, and have been brought nigh unto the gates of death, will feel touched by this narrative, which hints meanings that lie below the surface. I. THE WARNING. The king falls into deadly sickness; and the prophet’s voice assures him that his days are numbered. "Thou shalt die, and not live." The king, under the weight of his grief, turns his face to the wall. So Ahab, under the influence of another consuming passion (1 Kings 21:4). It is a sign of sorrow that admits not of society. How seldom do men receive such a warning with calmness! How true is it— "Oh our life’s sweetness! That we the pain of death would hourly die Rather than die at once"! "What are pains and aches, and the torments of the gout and the stone, which lie pulling at our earthly tabernacle, but so many ministers and under-agents of death? What are catarrhs and ulcers, coughs and dropsies, but so many mementoes of a hastening dissolution, so many foretastes of the grave? Add to these the consuming cares and troubles of the mind; the toil and labour and racking intention of the brain, which as really, though not as sensibly, impair and exhaust the vitals as the most visible bodily diseases can do, and let death into the body, though by another door." But there is an instinct within us which refuses to listen to these argumentations. Some noted lines of the Roman noble Maecenas have come down to us, in which he depicts himself as shaken with palsy, attacked from head to foot with disease, still Vita dum superest, bone est. Such experiences put to rout the fallacies of the pessimist, and convince us of the love we bear to life. "Whatever crazy sorrow saith, No soul that breathes with human breath Hath ever truly longed for death. ’Tis life whereof our nerves are scant; For life, and not for death, we pant; More life and fuller that we want." The experience of such a deadly sickness may be the needed lesson to teach us the worth of our days, to stir us up to the useful employment of them. II. THE PRAYER. We must bear in mind that in antiquity generally death is viewed as the effect of Divine visitation, especially sudden and untimely death. The belief was that the days of the good would be prolonged, the years of the wicked would be shortened (Proverbs 10:27); that men of deceit and blood would not live out half their days (Psalms 11:1-7:23). Hezekiah, conscious of his integrity and faithfulness, appeals to the justice of God. His heart had been "perfect" with Jehovah, in the sense in which David’s had been, and Solomon’s had not been (1 Kings 11:4). He had not divided his affections with the gods of idolaters. He had been a reformer—he had done what was good in the eyes of Jehovah. After the manner of Oriental lamentation, he loudly weeps (cf. Judges 20:23; 1 Samuel 13:16). There is a childlike simplicity in the scene. What are we all but children in the great hours of life’s trials? But we see here that calm conscience which is the result of a pious life, and which gives confidence in prayer. "Conscience is the great repository and magazine of all those pleasures that can afford any solid refreshment to the soul;" and of that solace which is needed in the moments of weakness. "When this is calm and serene and absolving, then properly a man enjoys all things, and, what is more, himself; for that he must do before he can enjoy anything else. It is only a pious life, led by the rules of religion, that can authorize a man’s conscience to speak comfortably to him; it is this that must word the sentence before the conscience can pronounce it, and then it will do it with majesty and authority; it will not whisper, but proclaim, a jubilee to the mind; it will not drop, but pour in, oil upon the wounded heart. The pleasure of conscience is not only greater than all other pleasures, but may also serve instead of them. They only please and affect the mind in transitu, in the pitiful narrow compass of actual fruition; whereas that of conscience entertains and feeds it a long time after with durable, lasting reflections" (South). III. THE DEATH-WARRANT . "And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again" (2 Kings 20:4). The doom of death is recalled; a respite of fifteen years granted. Deliverance is promised from the Assyrian, and Jehovah will throw his protecting shield over the city; and a physical phenomenon is to occur as a sign or guarantee of the fulfilment. Prophecy, then, is conditional; Divine judgments are conditional. "It does not always follow," says Jerome, "that because the prophet predicts, that which he has predicted shall come to pass. For he predicted, not that it should come to pass, but that it might not come to pass." Here repentance or prayer may "avail much." We should hesitate, therefore, to speak of absolute decrees, and of irreversible judgments, in connection with human life. Always there is an "if" or an "unless" to break the fall of the severest sentence; and, in fact, the dealings of the merciful God with men are more lenient than they can ever be represented in words. How often has the opinion of the physician doomed the invalid, who has nevertheless recovered! And the like disappointment of expectations occurs in spiritual things. All combine to remind us of the cheering saying, "While there is life, there is hope!" So long as we entrust ourselves in the hands of a gracious God, we need never despair.—J. Isaiah 38:9-22 The song of Hezekiah. It is a song of peculiar sweetness—from a literary point of view, characterized by great elegance; from a spiritual point of view, unfolding some deepest elements of Hebrew and of human pathos. I. THE OF DEATH. It was in middle life, in the "noon-tide of his days," that he had to face the dark gates of Sheol. "Midway in life, as to Dante, came his peril of death." It has been said that there is a peculiar melancholy in middle life. Perhaps so; every age has its peculiar melancholy. It is the contrast between the "noon-tide of consciousness," and the sudden sunset which seems at hand, that shocks the imagination. It is the very acme of the lifelong struggle of will and necessity. Here, the glow of intellectual vigour, the full fruit of ripened knowledge, the educated and matured taste for life; yonder, pale nothingness, decay, disappointment. A sense of injustice seems here to shock the mind. The man feels as if he were being robbed of his property, "mulcted of the residue of his days." That life which nature has kindly nourished, which manifold experience has enriched and adorned, around which law has thrown its protection, for which all else has been willingly foregone, must now itself become a sacrifice to stern, unreasoning, unpitying destiny. Death appears to the natural man in the light of a bondage, an imprisonment. He is going down to the gates of Sheol (Psalms 9:13; Psalms 108:1-13:18; Job 38:19). In the lore of ancient nations similar ideas appear: the place of the departed is a strong fortress, a Tartaros, an Acheron, surrounded by strong walls and a moat; or an inaccessible island. In the house and folk lore of the peoples abundance of such ideas arc to be found. Everywhere the like pathos and the like ideas meet us; and death remains the "standing dire discouragement of human nature." II. LIFE FROM THE OF GOD. To see Jehovah is to see Jehovah’s goodness—it is, in the best and richest sense, to enjoy life (Psalms 27:13). And with this is connected the joy of society—the beholding of the face of one’s fellow-man-communion with the inhabitants of the world. To die is to be uprooted from all these sweet associations, to have one’s habitation plucked up, like the tent of the nomad shepherd (Job 4:21; Psalms 52:5; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:4; 2 Peter 1:13, 2 Peter 1:14). It is to depart into exile. It is to have the life-web cut and left unfinished. It is to be cut off and made an end of. These melancholy strains depict one side of human feeling. They are paralleled in the Psalms (Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 88:10-12; Psalms 94:17; Psalms 115:17) and Job (14.). Nevertheless, the representation of the effect of death, hopeless as it seems, does not exclude those vague hopes, those implicit beliefs, which mingle with such lamentations, in a better side to the future, which found not distinct expression in words. The connection is strong in Hebrew thought between life on the earth and the goodness of Jehovah. But the goodness of God, however lenient, is learned once for all; and it is impossible to believe in it as manifested in the gift of life without the rise of hope in the continuance of life. The belief in the continuance of life is here expressed; only the sensuous imaginations overpower the mind with sadness. Hope cannot conquer it upon its own ground; but hope nevertheless remains what it is—an anchor of the soul, and it enters, though gropingly, into that within the veil. III. PRAYER AND HOPE. "The sick man appeals against the fate which threatens him to God—to God against himself; to the essential mercy against the apparent cruelty of Jehovah." It is "the characteristic irony of faith." He is in hourly expectation of death. His cries are like the plaintive notes of birds. He looks up with languid and half-despairing expression to the height where Jehovah dwells. He is like a debtor being carried to prison, and prays Jehovah to become Surety for him. But Jehovah is at the same time the Creditor. It is the "irony of the believer" (Cheyne). "The apparent doubt only expresses the more strongly the real faith—the protest against injustice and harshness, the sense of absolute goodness and ineffable mercy" (Mozley). Prayer may be, in moments of the sorest agony, nothing but a child’s cry—which has "no language but a cry." Yet that cry must "knock against the heart" of the Father of all. It is God himself who wrings the cry from the distressed heart; God himself who loves to be called upon, and to make his children feel their need of him. IV. THE ANSWER OF PEACE. It has come suddenly, swiftly, unexpectedly. And the restored one is at a loss how to render thanks. His night has been turned into morning; and against the dark background of remembered grief, the picture of a serene future shines. He looks forward to a "walk at case" through all his future years. And not in vain has he suffered, for lasting lessons have been wrought into his spirit. He has learned his need of God and of God’s Word. By that Word men really live (Deuteronomy 8:3). Altogether in them is the life of his spirit. God is the Source of existence and of salvation. He brings to the gates of death; he recovers and makes alive. He has been brought near to God by the very experience which seemed to remove him so far. He has learned that affliction was for his good. The bitter medicine has been swallowed once for all. He has looked death in the face, has trembled at its terrors; but has seen that there is a greater fact than death, namely, the life and love of the eternal God. "The sting of death is sin," and this has been taken out. He has learned the secret of the Divine forgiveness, the immense possibilities in the heart of God. His sins have been flung behind the back of God—have been banished into oblivion. Lastly, he has learned anew, and in a deeper way, what the blessing of life is. All is contrast. And the contrast of death and the under-world, its pale and cold existence, throws into relief the consciousness of life, in its full conscious richness in body, soul, and spirit. "The dismay with which he contemplates departure from the world is a measure of the value he sets on personal communion with God." Life, then, should be one long act of praise. From father to child the pure tradition should go down: "God is good; his mercy endureth for ever." He is constant, faithful; and that constancy is revealed, not only in the course of nature’s laws, but in the laws of human nature—the life of heart and conscience. And the music of each spirit shall swell into a magnificent harmony in the house of Jehovah. He is "ready to deliver" in the future as he has actually delivered in the past. "Glory to thee for all the grace I have not seen as yet."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Hezekiah’s prayer heard. "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears." These words were spoken to a heart riven with grief, and a life seemingly "sick unto death." At such times this man wants, above all else, to feel that he has been sincere. He says, not boastingly at all, but with real humility, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight." Words must be judged by the circumstances of the life. There is no self righteousness in them, but simple, guileless heart-speech. I. GOD’S SPEEDY . "Go, and say to Hezekiah." For the Divine heart meets the human heart according to its moods. And there was no need to intensify Hezekiah’s sorrow or to test its sincerity. Just as our Saviour, remembering Peter’s fears after his denial, and knowing that the memory of his unfaithfulness and falsehood was a burning shame in his heart, said immediately after his resurrection, by the mouth of the angel, "Go your way, tell his disciples, and Peter" (Mark 16:7), that Peter might know that the "look" which struck out the fountain of tears, was turned into the look of forgiving grace and mercy. So here God would comfort Hezekiah at once in his true-hearted contrition. II. GOD’S TENDER . "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father." What music is that! Then there is something in a pious ancestry—more than we think of at times. Your father was a man of God, perhaps. Then there are prayers treasured up for you in the greater Father’s memory. When we think of our Saviour, we "member his own words," For my sake." So God remembers also the sake of others: "For Zion’s sake;" "For Jerusalem’s sake." And as concerning Solomon God says, "Notwithstanding in thy days I will not rend the kingdom from thee, for David thy father’s sake." We read also in Genesis, "The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake." This is as touching as it is comforting. "The God of David thy father." III. GOD’S SPEECH. "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears." The prayer that is heard is the prayer that is heartfelt. None need be ashamed of tears. They are not unmanly. "Jesus wept" When a man weeps we are accustomed to wonder, nay, sometimes to scorn. The world prefers the sternness of endurance and the courage of despair. God hears heavenly eloquence in sighs, and beautiful liturgies in tears. "A broken and a contrite heart, O Go he would go down into the pit. The light on immortality burned dimly then. Here and there we trace it, like light that lingers on the higher mountains, in David and Isaiah; but to the mass of minds it was not, to say the least, a very potent influence or a very living faith. "Christ has brought light and immortality to light" by the gospel, and we need never say, "Mine age is departed;" but rather, "Mine age is transmuted" into immortal youth, and unending revelation of the Redeemer’s power and glory.—W.M.S. Music in the heart. "The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." The graver question is—Are we ready to be saved? God’s arm is not shortened, that he cannot save. And his love to us is the same through all the long centuries. Christ touched the real cause of distance: "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." I. THE OF GOD. "All things are now ready," said Christ; and in view of the Redeemer’s great work in all the ages, God was a Saviour. God makes affirmation concerning this. "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). This reveals the gracious disposition of God. We must ever remember that it is the beautiful nature of God that is revealed in the parables and in the passion of our Lord. Like the fountain ever ready to leap forth, he is ready to forgive. II. THE OF THE CHURCH. Music has accompanied devotion in all ages. It awakens the slumbering sensibilities of the soul. It is not only an expression of feeling, it is a quickener of it. "Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments." These songs are the glorious heritage of the Church. They are heard every sabbath day in cathedral and church, in city, village, and hamlet. The great revelation of God is one, alike in the old and the new dispensations. In all ages God is a Saviour. Therefore there is nothing out of date in the inspired psalms. They belong to all ages of history, all eras of time. When we have passed away, our children will still lift up to God their praises and thanksgivings in the strains of the sweet singers of Israel. III. THE OF PRAISE. "All the days of our life." For that would be a strange day on which there was nothing to praise God for—no new mercy, no fresh deliverance, no special bounty. "Every day will I bless thee, and praise thy Name for ever and ever." Yes; on life’s last day it may be like the venerable Dr. Guthrie, as he lay a-dying, we shall say, "Sing me a bairn’s hymn." The days of our life may be few or many, but in them all we shall have occasion to realize the fatherhood of God, and the redemption which is in Jesus Christ. IV. THE PLACE OF . "In the house of the Lord." This will ever be sacred to the true Christian. What memories of sacred vision and of spiritual emotion are connected with the sanctuary! What fellowship we have had there with each other and with God! The best part of our nature has been developed there—the part which, like God himself, "no man hath seen at any time, or indeed can see." For, apart from the associations of place, there is the inspiration of mutual faith, mutual hope, mutual service, and mutual love. Thus we meet and mingle in the house of the Lord, till, clothed with white robes and with palms in our hands, we join the victors who utter their hallelujahs around the throne of the Lamb, in the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 38:1-3 A vision of death. The scene is one of true pathos; it is one of those touches of nature which" make the whole world kin." We have— I. DEATH ITSELF TO MAN IN HIS PRIME. (Isaiah 38:1.) Death is very common in infancy; it must be near in old age. It occasions no surprise, and brings comparatively little pain or grief when it occurs at either of these extremes. Infancy does not understand it, and age accepts or even welcomes it. But occasionally, man in the prime of his powers, woman m the glory of her days, is called upon to look death in the face when life seems to stretch out far into the future. The outbreaking of latent disease, the mysterious and totally unanticipated collapse, the fearful and fatal accident,—these or ether things are at work, saying in stern tones to one and another of our race, "Thou shall die, and not live." II. THE HUMAN REGRET WHICH IT THEN . "Hezekiah wept sore." We differ, according to our individual temperament and our national habits, as to the exhibition of our feelings. The Jewish king gave vent to his sorrow in hot tears and sore lamentation. An Englishman will probably command both voice and feature when he learns that he must die, and may not live. But no one, suddenly taken away from the midst of beloved relations and friends, unexpectedly torn from the activities and enjoyments on which he has set his heart and spent his energy and centred his hopes, can be unmoved, untroubled. It is a transcendently solemn moment when the human heart first learns that, instead of blessed communion and of joyous activity, there must be hopeless separation and the silence of the grave. Sudden death in prime is a wrench sorer and sadder than any which life has known. III. THE REFUGE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT IN THE LAST RESORT, "Then Hezekiah … prayed unto the Lord." There are some things which, when everything else fails, lead us to God—the extremities of joy and sorrow, a crisis in our career, the near presence of death. When human art has failed, and man can do no more for us, then we turn our thought to Heaven—we lift up our face unto God. God can intervene, we know, in the very greatest exigency; it may be that he will; we will "pray unto the Lord." And if we do so reverently and resignedly, we do so rightly; for who can tell how or when he may be pleased to act on our behalf, to "see our tears, to hear our prayers," and to "add unto our days" (Isaiah 38:5)? Or, if we do not have recourse to God in prayer for deliverance, we can fall back on that which may be better still—on a cheerful submission to his holy will. IV. A AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. If we do not make it a plea with God, as Hezekiah thought it right to do, viz. that we "have walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart," etc. (Isaiah 38:3), we may find in such a fact a very precious consolation to our own spirit. To have to look back from the dying hour on a course of folly, guilt, and mischief, must be bitterness itself. To be able to survey, from that last scene, a life of sincere devotion to God and faithful service of mankind, must be a source of unspeakable thankfulness and serenity. V. A DUTY IN DEATH WHICH IT IS THE DUTY OF LIFE TO REDUCE TO ITS LOWEST POINT. "Set thine house in order" (Isaiah 38:1); do the necessary things that remain undone—that which is unfinished in the sanctuary of the soul, in the inner circle of the family, in the relationships which are outside. But how excellent it is to live with all these things preserved in such order that, when the end comes, there will be the least possible left to do, and the mind can turn, untroubled, to rest in the presence of the Saviour, and to look for the rest that is so soon to be enjoyed!—C. Isaiah 38:4-6 Human life; the kindness of God and the wisdom of man. In the providential ordering and in the human direction of this our mortal life, we see— I. THE OF GOD. 1. The strong links by which God has connected us together. "The God of David thy father;" for David’s sake, in part, he would render deliverance. Human life is so ordered that we are all of us immeasurably the better for the piety, the virtue, the patient and faithful labours of those who came before us. 2. His sensitiveness to our suffering. "I have seen thy tears." "Like as a father pitieth his children," etc.; "When he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion." 3. His attention to our appeal. "I have heard thy prayer." God’s ear is open, not only to the prayers of "the great congregation," but to the faintest breath of one believing soul; though he may sometimes seem to be deaf, yet is he always "inclining his ear" unto us. 4. His multiplication of our days. "I will add unto thy days." With the morning light, as it continually returns, we should say, "This is the day which the Lord hath made," etc.; it is a new gift from his gracious hand. We take it too much for granted, as if he were under some obligation to add it to those he has given us before. But it is all "of grace "—so much more than we deserve or have any right to expect at his hand. To the "Lord of our time, whose hand has set New time upon our score," we should render heartfelt praise for his daily gift. 5. His compounding our cup of hope and of uncertainty. God told Hezekiah he would add to his "days fifteen years." Is it not a yet kinder act of our Father that he holds out to us the hope of future years, without letting us know how far he will fulfil our wishes! Without the hope, we should lose all the inspiration which urges us to fruitful action; without the uncertainty, we should presume on the continuance of our life, and be bereft of one of the mast potent checks on folly and on sin. A strong hope, with an element of uncertainty, is the most favourable condition for the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. II. THE WISDOM OF MAN. Our wisdom, under those conditions in which we find ourselves, is: 1. To prepare for length of days. By patient diligence, by prudent forethought, to be ready for long life, in case God should give us that blessing. 2. To prepare for sudden death and the long future. By faith in Jesus Christ and by fidelity in the "few things" of time, to be ready at any hour to stand at the judgment-seat, to pass to the "many things" of eternity.—C. Isaiah 38:9-15 Health and sickness. This touching psalm of Hezekiah, written in the day of returning strength, when mental effort became possible and perhaps enjoyable to him, may teach us many things. I. THAT OUR HEALTH IS NOT IN OUR OWN HANDS. There is a distinct note of disappointment here. The king had evidently set his heart on a long life, and was hurt in his soul that his days were cut in twain. It seemed an abrupt, unnatural termination. He was deprived of that which he might have expected to enjoy (Isaiah 38:10, Isaiah 38:12). Though we know well it is not so, yet we harbour the thought that we can measure our days—can reckon on a large period of time in which to work out our plans; we are apt to be surprised and even hurt in our heart if our health be removed and our life be threatened. But we ought to learn that God is the length of our days (Deuteronomy 30:20), and that it rests with him to say when our strength shall decline and when our spirit shall return. II. THAT THE TIME MAY COME WHEN LIFE WILL BE WITHOUT VALUE TO US; when we shall be ready to speak in the strain of the king (Isaiah 38:14, Isaiah 38:17). Instead of song is silence or complaint; for peace is bitterness of soul. Among the living, at any time, there will be found a large proportion of those to whom life is without any value, and who would gladly lay it down. 1. Do we appreciate the value of our health while we have it? 2. Are we laying up resources on which we can draw when the enjoyments of life will be gone, and the season of privation and infirmity has arrived? III. THAT IT IS RIGHT TO ASK GOD FOR FROM . "O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me" (see 2 Corinthians 12:8; James 5:14). We should do so, (1) believing that God hears our prayer, and that, if it be to our real and highest interest, he will grant our request; (2) leaving it with him to determine how much of bodily evil it is good for us to suffer. Distrust of God’s promise and dictation to his will are the two opposite evils we should avoid. A living faith and a filial submission are the two perfectly consistent graces we should exhibit. IV. THAT THE PERIOD OF IS A TIME FOR AND . 1. Thankfulness. "Himself hath done it" (Isaiah 38:15). Whatever the number or the nature of the measures we adopt (Isaiah 38:21), we trace the happy issue ultimately to the hand of the Lord. All remedial agencies are of him. 2. Consecration. "I shall go softly [reverently] all my years, [remembering] the bitterness of my soul." When God gives back his life to any one of his children, it is surely a time when that soul should form a profound and prayerful resolution that, if past days have been godless, future years shall be devout; that, whatever has been the measure of piety in the time that has been spent, there shall be deeper devotedness and more faithful service m the span that may remain.—C. Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:18, Isaiah 38:19 The great disclosure. "If a man die, shall he live again?" asks the anxious, hopeful, human spirit. This composition of Hezekiah either indicates or suggests— I. THE LIGHT WHICH THE HEBREW SAINTS . They believed that death did not terminate man’s existence; that, after death, he dwelt in Sheol with the spirits of the departed, with "the inhabitants of the land of stillness;" in a region, deep, dark, shut up within impassable gates through which they that have entered may never more return (Isaiah 38:10). II. THE PAINFUL OF THEIR LIGHT. This abode of the dead was dismal in a high degree to their imagination; it was "the pit of corruption" (Isaiah 38:17); it was the place where God was unapproachable (Isaiah 38:11), where his praises were untold and unsung (Isaiah 38:18), where the delights of human fellowship were unknown (Isaiah 38:11), where the opportunities of gaining the highest wisdom were closed against the soul, where men "cannot hope for thy truth" (Isaiah 38:18). Such life as there was in those sepulchral region, s would hardly be worth having, where privations like these prevailed. III. THE GREAT BY JESUS CHRIST. He did not, indeed, for the first time announce that there was a life beyond death for men. But he did reveal such a life of blessedness and glory as gave a new meaning to immortality. As his disciples, we look for a life which will be characterized, not by the removal, but by the renewal and the immeasurable enlargement, of all the higher blessings of the present time. As exactly opposed to the privations here lamented, we look for: 1. The near presence of God. (Isaiah 38:11.) To depart is to "be with Christ," is to "be with him that we may behold his glory," is to be at home in "the Father’s house." 2. A life of holiest, happiest worship. (Isaiah 38:18.) Where the praises of God will never tire the tongue. Heaven is, to our hope, the very home of praise: "The living, they that live indeed,"—they will praise God in accents to which our fainter and feebler life is unequal now. 3. Communion with the perfected spirits of men. (Isaiah 38:11.) We hope to behold and to have ennobling fellowship with men at their very best, when they and we shall be purged of all that hinders or lowers our intercourse on earth. 4. Access to Divine truth. (Isaiah 38:18.) "Then shall we know even as also we are known" (1 Corinthians 13:12); then shall we look "face to face" on many truths which here we have only dimly espied; then shall we grasp with firm, rejoicing hold what now we can but delicately touch, or are ineffectually pursuing. 5. Life in its large and blessed fulness. (Isaiah 38:19.) It is they who dwell in the light of God of whom we rightly speak as "the living, the living;" it is they who "have life more abundantly." We conclude that: (1) This language of lamentation does not suit Christian lips. (2) We have no need to think of death as Hezekiah thought. (3) We who have such high hopes in us as these should live lives of purity, and so of preparation (1 John 3:3).—C. The life of our life. This verse is pregnant with suggestive truth, and finds fulfilment in Christian as well as in Jewish experience. I. THAT THE LIFE OF OUR SPIRIT IS THE VERY LIFE OF . It is no uncommon thing for ungodly men, when they are pressed to give attention to the claims of their spirit, to excuse their negligence by contending that "they must live." By this they mean that the necessities of the body will excuse their want of concern for the state of their spirit. On what a hollow and vain assumption do these thus build! "As if to breathe were life!" As if to eat, and drink, and sleep, and clothe the body and minister to its cravings constituted the life of man! No; "man does not live by bread alone," and, when he has supplied himself with abundance of such things, he has not begun to live. The life of man is in the life of his spirit; it is that life in which he (1) apprehends and appreciates Divine truth; (2) approaches unto and communes wish the Divine Father; (3) engages voluntarily and happily in his holy service; (4) grows into his likeness as he manifests his spirit and illustrates his principles; (5) serves the creatures he has made and the children he has fashioned in his own image. By these things, and in such things as these, does the life of his life consist. II. THAT DIVINE ACTS AND WORDS ARE THE OF OUR SPIRIT’S LIFE. "These things" refer primarily to the promise and the providential agency of God (see Isaiah 38:15); the Divine word and deed. For us, we find this in: 1. The truth spoken by Jesus Christ. All that he has told us concerning God, ourselves, human life, the way back to the heavenly Father and the heavenly home. 2. The life and death of the Saviour. His life devout, courageous, generous, sympathetic; his sorrows borne in patience and resignation; his death undergone for us. "In all these things," in their apprehension, in their study, in their appropriation, is the life of our spirit.—C. Parental obligation. "The father to the children shall make known thy truth." I. THAT TRUTH IS THE COMMON OF THE RACE. Of all open and common things truth is that to which our right is most indisputable. The air, the light, the sea, the sky, the beauty of the landscape, etc; are open to us all; but truth, above all these things, is common property. II. THAT TRUTH IS TO MANKIND. All truth may be said to be "thine"—to be God’s. For it would never find illustration or apprehension without his action. But the truth which he has specially revealed is more peculiarly his—the truth which is contained in his Word, and, most especially, that which was revealed in (and by) his Son. This is the truth which is our very life (Isaiah 38:16), raising the fallen, bringing peace to the penitent, calling man into fellowship with God, comforting the afflicted, arming against temptation, preparing for the battle of life and for the hour of. death and the requirements of the eternal world. III. THAT IT IS THE PART OF EVERY PARENT TO AND TO ENFORCE THIS TRUTH OF GOD. "The father to the children shall make known," etc. 1. To communicate Divine truth to the young is the parent’s work; for (1) he has access to his children which no one else can gain, in the time when they are docile and responsive; (2) he can exert an influence upon them which no one else can acquire; (3) he has a responsibility laid upon him by God of which no one else can relieve him; (4) he has an interest in their well-being which no one else possesses,—the joy or the sorrow of his later years will depend very largely on the choices they make and the courses they pursue. 2. To instil Divine truth into their minds should be his daily effort. This is to be effected by instruction, by example, by prayer.—C. BY R. TUCK The strain of notice to die. Satan is represented in the Book of Job as poetically describing man’s clinging to life thus: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." Usually death creeps on us with so slow and silent a tread that we grow familiar with it; our powers fade, and passing becomes easy. But sometimes the arrest comes in the very midst of life, when hope smiles, when the future makes large promises, and the claims upon us seem so great that we cannot be spared. Then death is at his worst; and it is beyond man’s power, it is the triumph of Divine grace, to say, "Thy will be done." This is seen in the case of Hezekiah, to whom death seemed an expression of Divine dissatisfaction; a terrible family affliction, seeing he had as yet no heir; and nothing short of a national calamity. Compare the announcement of approaching death made to Aaron and to Moses. But in their cases life-work was done. The strain on Hezekiah was that "his purposes were broken off." We think this to be the severest test under which God puts his people. We are searched through and through by the questions, "Can you die?" "Can you die now?" Physicians’ work is often, nowadays, most difficult and trying. They must break, as it is called, to their patients the news of the hopeless character of their disease. What makes this strain? I. NATURAL DREAD OF DEATH. For all creatures on his earth God has made life to be the supreme treasure which they dread to lose. The incentive to all enterprise is our love of life, and passionate clinging to life. The fear of death is the common instinct of humanity. The Christian cannot fix his thoughts quietly on dying; he shrinks as much as any one from putting his foot down into the cold stream. Divine grace alone can overcome this natural fear, which is implanted for the sake of the due preservation of the race. II. OF OUR HOPES. It is so hard for death to come just as we have "Canaan’s goodly land in view." It may be that we have tolled, denied ourselves, persevered, overcome difficulties, and see life’s ambition just within reach, when the message comes that we must die. We have pulled down our barns and built greater; we are just ready for the harvest; and "this night we must die." III. OF THE FUTURE. For the disclosures and revelations concerning it are made in such large poetical figures, rather than in such plain statements, that even in the best men faith and fear mingle; and often they hardly know whether faith or fear prevails. From the future, the other world, no traveller has ever returned with a report. It is to us all a terra incognita, a step into the dark. IV. WANT OF FULL TO GOD. We may think we have this, but news of speedy death searches us, and shows our submission to have been only good, but weak, sentiment. Many a man finds that the true submission has to be won when he stands face to face with death.—R.T. Private and personal prayer. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ This chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 20:12-19, and scarcely differs from it at all. Verse I has the additional words, "and was recovered;" 2 Kings 20:2, the phrase, "was glad of them," for "hearkened unto them;" 2 Kings 20:5, "Lord of hosts," for "Lord" simply; and 2 Kings 20:8 makes Hezekiah’s last utterance an observation instead of a question. Otherwise the two accounts are almost word for word the same. Both relate the novel and important fact of ambassadors being sent to Hezekiah by the King of Babylon, shortly after his illness, and tell of the reception which he gave them, of the message which Isaiah was commissioned to deliver to him from God in consequence, and of Hezekiah’s acquiescence in the terms of the message when it was conveyed to him. The Isaianic authorship of the chapter is much disputed, but solely from reluctance to admit that a prophet could predict the subjugation of Judaea by Babylon more than a century before the event. Isaiah 39:1 At that time. The embassy probably followed the illness of Hezekiah within a year. Merodach-Baladan. This is a more correct form than the "Berodach-Baladan" of 2 Kings 20:12. The name is one common to several Babylonian kings, as to one who reigned about b.c. 1325, to a second who is placed about b.c. 900, and to a third who was contemporary with the Assyrian kings Sargon and Sennacherib. It is this last of whom we have a notice in the present passage. He appears first in the Assyrian inscriptions as a petty prince, ruling a small tract upon the seacoast, about the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates. Tiglath-Pileser takes tribute front him about b.c. 744. In b.c. 721 we find him advanced to a more prominent position. Taking advantage of the troubles of the time, he shakes off the Assyrians yoke, and makes himself King of Babylon, where he has a reign of twelve years—from b.c. 721 to b.c. 709. This reign is recognized by Sargon in his inscriptions, and by the Greek chronologist, Ptolemy, in his ’Canon.’ In b.c. 709 Sargon leads an expedition against him, and drives him out of Babylonia into the coast-tract, Chaldea, where he besieges him in his ancestral town Bit-Yakin, takes the city, and makes him prisoner. On the death of Sargon, in b.c. 705, Merodach-Baladan escapes from confinement, and hastens once more to Babylon, where he is acknowledged as king, and has a second reign, which lasts six months (Alex. Polyhist. ap. Euseb; ’Chronicles Can.,’ 1. 5. § 1). He is then driven from the country by Sennacherib, and, after various vicissitudes, obliged to become a refugee in Elam. The name of Merodach-Baladau is composed of the three elements, Merodach (equivalent to "Marduk"), the god, bal or pal, "son," and iddina, "has given," and thus signifies "Merodach has given (me) a son." The son of Baladan. "Baladan" is scarcely a possible Babylonian name. "Beladan" would, however, be quite possible, being a name formed on the model of Ishtardddin, Ninip-iddin, Ilu-iddin, etc. And the corruption of Beladan into Baladan would be easy. Merodach-Baladan III. is called by Sargon "the son of Yakin;" but this is perhaps a tribal or local rather than a personal name. Compare Jehu’s appellation of "son of Omri". Sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s fourteenth year was b.c. 714. Merodach-Baladan had then been King of Babylon for eight years, and, knowing that he might at any time be attacked by Sargon, was naturally looking out for alliances with other powers, which Assyria equally threatened. He had recently concluded a treaty with Khumbanigas, King of Elam, and had obtained the support of several of the Aramaean tribes on the Euphrates. He now apparently thought that Judaea, which Sargon was also threatening (ch. 38:6), might be induced to join him. Hezekiah’s illness and "the wonder done in the land" (2 Chronicles 32:31) furnished him with pretexts for an embassy, which probably had more serious objects than either congratulation or scientific inquiry. Isaiah 39:2 Hezekiah was glad of them. A more pregnant phrase than that which replaces it in 2 Kings, "hearkened unto them." Hezekiah, like Merodach-Baladan, was looking out for allies, and "was glad," thinking that in Babylon he had found one which might render him important service. Sargon’s promptness, however, frustrated his hopes. In b.c. 709 that prince, regarding Merodach-Baladan’s proceedings as constituting a real danger to his kingdom, made a great expedition into Babylonia, defeated Merodach-Baladan, and took him prisoner, after which he had himself crowned King of Babylon, and during the remainder of his life ruled both countries. Showed them the house of his precious things; i.e. his treasury, or store-house. The treasuries of ancient monarchs were actual store-chambers, in which large quantities of the precious metals and valuable objects of various kinds were deposited (see Herod; 2:121; Arrian, ’Exp. Alex.,’ 2 Kings 3:16, 2 Kings 3:18, etc.). The flourishing state of the treasury is an indication that the events here narrated are anterior to the great surrender of treasure to Sennacherib. All the house of his armour (comp. Isaiah 22:8). If a warlike alliance was contemplated, it was as important to show the possession of arms as of treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. We must allow for Oriental hyperbole. The meaning is, that, without any reserve, Hezekiah showed all that he could show. Isaiah 39:3 Then came Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah comes, unsent for, to rebuke the king. This bold attitude was one which prophets were entitled to take by virtue of their office, which called upon them to bear testimony, even before kings, and to have no respect of persons. A similar fearlessness is apparent in Isaiah 7:1-17, where the king with whom Isaiah has to deal was the wicked Ahaz. What said these men? "These men" is contemptuous. The demand to know what they said is almost without parallel. Diplomacy, if it is to be successful, must be secret; and Isaiah can scarcely have been surprised that his searching question received no answer. But he was zealous of God’s honour, and anxious that Hezekiah should rely on no "arm of flesh," whether it were Egypt or Babylon. Such dependence would straiten God’s arm, and prevent him from giving the aid that he was otherwise prepared to give. The desire of the prophet is to warn the king of the danger which he runs by coquetting with human helpers. From whence came they? Isaiah does not ask this question for the sake of information, Doubtless all Jerusalem was agog to see the strange envoys "from a far country," who had now for the first time penetrated to the city of David. All knew whence they had come, and suspected why. Isaiah asks, to force the king to a confession, on which he may base a prophecy and a warning. And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country. Embassies from distant lands to their courts are made a con-slant subject of boasting by the Assyrian monarchs. Hezekiah, perhaps, is "lifted up" (2 Chronicles 32:25) by the honour paid him, and intends to impress Isaiah with a sense of his greatness—"The men are come all the way from Babylon to see me!" Isaiah 39:4 What have they seen? Isaiah had, no doubt, heard of what Hezekiah had done (verse 2); but he wished to have the confession of it from his own mouth before delivering his sentence. Hezekiah tells him the truth, since he is not ashamed of his act, but rather glories in it. He has shown the ambassadors everything, and has thereby made them eager to secure his alliance. Isaiah 39:5 Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Either the prophet had been specially charged with a Divine message to the king before he sought his presence, or the prophetic afflatus now came on him suddenly. The former is, on the whole, more probable. Isaiah 39:6 Behold, the days come; literally, the days [are] coming, or [are] approaching. Of the exact "times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7), the prophets generally knew nothing. They were mouth-pieces, to declare the Divine will, not keen-witted politicians, forecasting results by the exercise of sharp-sightedness and sagacity. To suppose that Isaiah foresaw by mere human wisdom the Babylonian conquest of Judaea, as Charles the Great did the ravages of the Northmen, is to give him credit for a sagacity quite unexampled and psychologically impossible. The kingdom of Babylon was one among many that were struggling hard to maintain independence against the grasping and encroaching Assyria. From the time of Tiglath-Pileser IX. she had been continually losing ground. Both Sargon and Sennacherib trampled her underfoot, overran her territory, captured her towns, and reduced her under direct Assyrian government. Till Assyria should be swept away, a Babylonian conquest of Palestine was impossible. To suppose it was like supposing a Russian conquest of Holland, while Germany bars the way. Nothing short of the true prophetic afflatus, which is God the Holy Ghost speaking by the mouth of his servants, could have made such an anticipation. And with Isaiah, as Mr. Cheyne says, it is "not a mere presentiment; it is a calm and settled conviction, based on a direct revelation, and confirmed by a deep insight into the laws of the Divine government." All that is in thine house. Not, of course, exactly all that was there when Isaiah spoke, but all the wealth that should be in the royal palace when the time of the Babylonian captivity arrived. (For the fulfilment, see 2 Chronicles 36:18.) That which thy fathers have laid up in store. A portion of this was carried off by Sennacherib in his first expedition (2 Kings 18:14-16); but the bulk of the temple treasures—the gifts of many kings—remained untouched until they were removed to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1:2; Daniel 5:2; 2 Kings 24:13; 2 Kings 25:13-17). Isaiah 39:7 Of thy sons that shall issue from thee. Hezekiah had at the time, probably, no son, since Manasseh, who succeeded him upon the throne, was not born till two years later. Besides Manasseh, he appears to have had a son, Amariah, who was an ancestor of the Prophet Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:1). He may, of course, have also had others. His descendants, rather than his actual sons, seem to be here intended; and the fulfilment of the prophecy is to be found in Daniel 1:3, where certain "of the king’s seed" are mentioned among the Israelites who served as eunuchs in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 39:8 Good is the word. While there is resignation, there is no doubt something also of selfishness, in Hezekiah’s acceptance of the situation. "Apres mot le deluge" is a saying attributed to a modern Frenchman. Hezekiah’s egotism is less pronounced and less cynical. He thinks with gratitude of the "peace and steadfastness" which are to be "in his day;" he does not dwell in thought on the coming "deluge." The "word of the Lord" is "good" to him in more ways than one. It has assured him of coming male offspring—of sons to sit upon his throne, and save him from the curse of childlessness. And it has assured him of a rest for his nation—a respite, so that the Babylonian struggle shall not follow immediately upon the Assyrian; but there shall be a "breathing-space" (Ezra 9:8), a tranquil time, during which Israel may "dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places" (Isaiah 32:18). Isaiah 39:2-8 Carnal joy the prelude to spiritual sorrow. The Babylonian embassy, a grand affair doubtless, comprising envoys in their rich clothing and with their jewelled arms, camels bearing valuable gifts, prancing steeds, and a vast train of slaves and attendants, was to Hezekiah an inspiriting fact, a circumstance that gladdened and excited him. With his imperfect knowledge of geography, the embassy seemed to him to come from the furthest limits of the earth’s circuit—from a remote, almost from an unknown, region (Isaiah 39:3). He had hitherto not thought of attempting negotiations with any power further distant than Egypt. If the far-off Babylon courted his alliance, where might he not expect to find friends? from what remote quarter might he not look for overtures? What wonder that "his heart was lifted up" (2 Chronicles 32:25)? that he rejoiced, though with a carnal joy, that had no substantial spiritual basis? Isaiah had warned him against all "arms of flesh." Isaiah had bidden him "trust in the Lord Jehovah," and in Jehovah only. No doubt he had been especially warned against Egypt; but all the reasons that were valid against Egypt were valid against Babylon also. Babylon was as idolatrous as Egypt; Babylon was as licentious as Egypt; Babylon was as selfish in her aims as Egypt. Hezekiah’s joy was thus a purely carnal joy, a rejoicing in his own honour, and in the prospect of material aid from a tainted source. In the midst of his joy the prophet announces himself. "What said those men?" he sternly asks. "Whence came they? What have they seen? Ah! they have seen thy treasures, have they? All of them? Thou thinkest those treasures will make them thy friends. Nay; they will make them thy bitterest enemies. It will not be forgotten at Babylon that thy temple and thy treasure-house are worth plundering. The days will come when all the wealth of thy house, and of the temple, and of the holy city will be carried off to enrich that city. The days will come when thou wilt have disgrace from Babylon instead of honour. Thy descendants—they that have issued from thy loins—will serve the King of Babylon, will be eunuchs, doing the menial offices in his palace." In a moment the king’s joy is gone, and replaced by sorrow. It is with a saddened spirit that he submits, and acquiesces in his punishment. "Good is the word of the Lord"—he spares, even when he punishes; he chastens me with a milder chastening than I deserved at his hands—"in his wrath he remembereth mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 39:1-8 The dangers of prosperity. I. THE OF . The Chronicler passes a censure upon him. After his recovery he "rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore was there wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 32:25). He gives a picture of his treasuries, and store-houses, his cities, his flocks and herds. An embassy comes from Babylon, partly to congratulate him on his recovery, partly to inquire concerning the portent of the sun-dial or step-clock. Under these pretexts political views were doubtless concealed. And Hezekiah delighted to receive the embassy, and displayed to them the whole of his treasures and the resources of his armoury, his palaces and his kingdom. II. THE REBUKE OF THE PROPHET. The prophet, in virtue of his Divine call and his insight into the heart of things, assumes an authority over the monarch, and, coming to him, inquires, "What have these men said? and whence came they to thee?" "He challenges the king to explain his conduct. Jehovah’s will is opposed to all coquetting with foreign powers." It is "weaving a web without his Spirit" (Isaiah 30:1). The answer of the king is indirect, perhaps evasive: "They have come from a far country, from Babylon"—as if hinting that hospitality to them was a duty. A second stem question follows: "What have they seen in the house of the king?" And the king replies that he has shown them all his treasures. There is that in the very manner and questions of the prophet which implies censure. What he sees in the act of the king is an uplifting of the heart; not merely pride in his resources and wealth as such, but reliance on worldly resources—a desire to match himself with the great Eastern power on its own ground. And this is an affront to the Divine King in Zion, who had founded it that the afflicted of his people might find refuge therein (Isaiah 14:32). "Not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts" is ever the word, the principle, on which the kingdom must stand. If Hezekiah has violated this, there must be retribution, either in his person or in the persons of those he represents. III. THE . It was to correspond to his sin. "He thought to subscribe his quota to a profane coalition, and his treasures should be violently laid hold of by wolves in sheep’s clothing." Babylon had solicited friendship; she would end by enforcing slavery. Calm and dispassionate is the tone in which the prophet speaks. Charles the Great could not help weeping at the sight of the Northmen’s vessels, thinking of the calamities which those fell pirates would bring on the flourishing coasts of the Franks. Jeremiah weeps at the thought of the cruelty of the Babylonians. In Isaiah contentment with the patent will of God overcomes his emotional susceptibility. All the boasted treasures of the king are to be carried away to Babylon, and his descendants are to become servants in the palace there. The king bows before the authority of the prophet, recognizing his word as the word of Jehovah, and as good. And further, he is thankful for the respite granted—for the promise that peace and steadfastness shall remain in his days. The chronicler says that he humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. The picture of Hezekiah is that of a king who prospered in all his works. But the incident clearly teaches the danger prosperity brings to character and principle. It is but a "bad nurse to virtue; a nurse who is like to starve it in its infancy, and to spoil it in its growth." "The corrupt affection which has lain dead and frozen in the midst of distracting business or under adversity, when the sun of prosperity has shined upon it, then, like a snake, it presently recovers its former strength and venom. When the channels of plenty run high, and every appetite is plied with abundance and variety, so that satisfaction is a mean word to express its enjoyment, then the inbred corruption of the heart shows itself pampered and insolent, too unruly for discipline and too big for correction. Prosperity, by fomenting a man’s pride, lays a certain train for his ruin; Scripture and experience teach what a spite Providence constantly owes to the proud person. He is the very eyesore of Heaven; and God even looks upon his own supremacy as concerned to abase him. Prosperity attracts the malice and envy of the world; and it is impossible for a man in a wealthy and flourishing condition not to feel the stroke of men’s tongues, and of their hands too, if occasion serves. Stones are only thrown at the fruit-laden tree. What made the King of Babylon invade Judaea but the royal stores and treasures displayed and boasted of by Hezekiah before the ambassadors, to the supplanting of his crown and the miserable captivity of his prosperity?" (South). In the day of prosperity consider! Let "Consideration like an angel come, And whip th’ offending Adam out of us." J. BY W.M. STATHAM Perishing things. "Nothing shall be left." How true is this of all things of earth, as contrasted with essential being—with the life of our own souls! We can look at nothing material without being able to say, as we look to the inner world of personal consciousness, "They shall perish, but thou remainest." I. LOSS. "Nothing shall be left." "All that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carded to Babylon." Exactly. There is always a Babylon which itself becomes a ruin. Grecian art is taken to Rome, there to be demolished in the sacking of the city. Treasures are taken in after years to Paris, there to be lost in flames. How few relics of any time or nation remain! and in due course these are lost to the possessors. If this is true on the great scale of nations, how manifestly true it is of ourselves! Let us look around on all the present possessions of earth, and remember that, so far as we are concerned, "nothing shall be left." "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be?" II. GAIN. The prophet is true in this revelation of loss. So is the apostle true when he says, "All things are yours." All that a man is remains, and all that a man does in loyal service remains. So there is permanence amid impermanence. The tabernacle totters, but the tenant lives. "The outward man perisheth, but the inward man is renewed day by day." All that is in thine house is lost, but all that is in thine heart is immortal. It behoves us, therefore, to remember that the true jewels are soul-jewels; the true ornament is in the hidden man of the heart; the imperishable wealth is in the sanctities of Heaven and the smile of God. "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."—W.M.S. The best blessings. "There shall be peace and truth in my days." These are God’s twin blessings. There can be no peace without truth. There is veracity in ,God’s universe everywhere. It is only a seeming blessedness which exists apart from these things, for the flowers have no root. The dancing smile is only like phosphorescence on the face of the dead, if we are not at peace with God. I. CHRIST’S LEGACY WAS PEACE. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." This is not peace of condition, but peace of conscience. The ocean, like Christ’s life, may be troubled outwardly, but there is rest at the heart of it. We cannot judge by the surface-features of life. We must enter within to know if there be really peace. We must see the man in trouble, trial, solitude, and death. Then we shall see how true the acclamation is, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Bunyan had peace in Bedford Gaol; so had the confessors and martyrs of olden time. II. CHRIST’S GIVES PEACE. "Having made peace through the blood of his cross." We may be unable to give a theory of the atonement that can cover all its meaning—from the days of Anselm until now men have debated about that; but in depths of agony about sin we feel the need of a Saviour, and rejoice to sing— "Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling." III. CHRIST GIVES PEACE THROUGH TRUTH. He tells the truth about our moral state and condition. He reveals the truth concerning the nature and purposes of God. He unveils the immortal life, not only as a doctrine, but in himself, in heavenly beauty of the earthly life. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." How comfortable it is to rest on this gracious promise, and to know that the True One cannot lie!—W.M.S. BY W. Complacency, rebuke, and acquiescence. We may gather the preliminary truth that we need to look well before we decide on the character of Divine decisions and of human actions. Otherwise we shall certainly fall into serious mistakes. 1. It would be a mistake to assume that the calamities here foretold were consequent on Hezekiah’s fault. So, at first sight, they might appear to be; but we may be quite sure that they were not. For in other places these national disasters are referred, not to one individual delinquency, but to national apostasy and disobedience. It was simply that the pride of the king provided a suitable occasion for intimating the sad humiliations which were in store for his descendants; just as the complacent remark of the disciples called forth the prediction that those great stones of the temple, in which they so much rejoiced, would before long be cast down to the ground. We need not, as indeed. we cannot, suppose that God would visit on a remote generation a terrible calamity in punishment of one comparatively small transgression. 2. It would be a mistake to suppose that Hezekiah was indifferent to the fate of his posterity so long as he and his contemporaries were secure (Isaiah 39:8). So selfish a spirit is inconceivable in so good a man. We have, of course, only a small part of his reply to the prophet; but we may assure ourselves that he meant nothing more than to signify his thankfulness that the judgments of God were to be mitigated by mercy toward himself and his people. The incident may speak to us of ― I. THE PERIL OF . It seems that, after his recovery from sickness, gratitude was lost in self-gratulation. Then came the ostentation which met with the Divine reproof. Complacency is a very "slippery place" for our foot to tread. Only the steadiest can walk there without a stumble. Whatever may seem to justify it—even if it be successful philanthropy, religious service, or delightful devotion—it is a perilous place, in which it is easy to err and almost impossible to keep quite straight with God. Our occupancy of it should be but momentary; gratitude is much safer as well as much more acceptable to God. II. THE DIVINE REBUKE. God reproved Hezekiah for his foolish ostentation. This is a sin which is no less offensive to him than it is distasteful to us. We can all see and do all feel how very unbecoming is pride in man. For: 1. We have nothing at all which we have not ultimately received from God. 2. Whatever we possess, whether of strength, beauty, faculty, honour, riches, etc; it is all so much more than we deserve. 3. At any moment we may be required to lay it down. Of the house of our power and our possession we are but "tenants-at-will." Who can tell that God may not be about to say to us, "This night’ thou goest forth? III. HUMAN . "Good is the word of the Lord." God’s rebuke may be met with (1) a sullen, rebellious resentment (Genesis 4:9); (2) or with a stony and sinful indifference; when he humbles men in his providence, and they take no note at all of the humiliation he sends them, but continue in ungodliness; (3) or with an ignorant astonishment; when men know not their own spiritual poverty and blindness (Revelation 3:17); (4) or with a wise and reverent acquiescence (text);—then God is pleased with us, and we rise to higher ground in our Christian pilgrimage.—C. The home, seen though not shown. No doubt the ambassadors of the King of Babylon saw many things in the palace of Hezekiah which he did not exhibit to them; more things are seen than those which are displayed. It is so in every house; and it may be that the visitor goes away more impressed with some things which no one pointed out to him than with anything to which his attention was called. If any one were to ask him what he has seen in the house, he would mention that which its master had not thought to show him. What would any visitor to our house see, though we did not show it to him? I. ORDER OR ? The manifest presence of a strong hand keeping every one in order and everything in its place; or the painful absence of it? II. OR ? Filial readiness and even eagerness to comply at once with the parents’ wish; or the lingering step or even the entire disregard of that desire? III. OR ? Habitually becoming behaviour at the table and the hearth; or the unwise neglect of those smaller observances which minister to the beauty and the sweetness of daily life? IV. LOVE OR , OR DISLIKE? The presence of that warm affection which should bind husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, in the bonds of happy and enduring fellowship; or a cold and sad indifference to one another’s well-being; or a still sadder animosity and persecution? V. OR ? The confinement of thought and care to the four walls of the home establishment; or a considerate and generous regard for the wants and wishes of neighbours and fellow-citizens? VI. PIETY OR ? Family worship, and—what is better still—a prevailing religious tone, as if parents and children all felt that temporal success was a very small thing in comparison with spiritual worth; or the language and habits of an ignoble and degrading worldliness?—C. BY R. TUCK Friendship that serves its own ends. A kind of friendship only too common. Illustrated in the motto of a successful Birmingham tradesman, "Friendly with all, thick with none? Which in full means, "Friendly with all, that I may get all! can out of everybody; thick with none, lest anybody should get anything out of me." This is surely the meanest of mottoes ever set for the toning of a life. But Merodach-Baladan’s offered friendship with Hezekiah was much of the same kind. The only question with him was, what advantage he could gain for himself by it. And there is no possibility of noble friendship until we can forget self, and say, "What can this friendship be to my friend?" The historical facts of special importance to us are these: The family of Merodach-Baladan ruled in Southern Babylonia, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The district of the marsh-land of the delta formed, for a period of many centuries, the place of refuge for fugitive rebels from Assyria. While the Assyrian armies were engaged in the siege of Samaria, Merodach-Baladan seized the Babylonian throne, and naturally tried to support his position by securing alliances with distant nations, especially such as were tributary to Assyria. A good excuse was found in the case of Hezekiah, in the report of his serious sickness. In our day the illness of a sovereign is the occasion for sending all sorts of telegrams and embassies. I. OFFERED MAY FIND GOOD EXCUSES, True in common life of the individual; specially true in the relation of nations. Diplomacy is the art of working out a policy under the shelter of the deception of skilful excuses. It seems to mean a very simple thing; it really works a very subtle work. Baladan had two excuses. 1. His messengers honoured Hezekiah with congratulations on his recovery. A polite thing, quite likely to disarm all suspicions, and win confidence. 2. From 2 Chronicles 32:31 we learn that Baladan also framed a scientific excuse, and desired his ambassadors to inquire concerning the singular astronomical phenomenon which had been reported. All this kept out of sight Baladan’s political schemings. II. OFFERED MUST BE JUDGED BY THE OF THOSE WHO MAKE THE OFFER. It was at least suspicious that Baladan was acting as a rebel against his sovereign lord. Hezekiah might have looked for some schemes of his own in this embassy. Friendship is always the expression of character and the test of character. The friendship of one who is unprincipled is full of peril. "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." III. OFFERED MAY PROPOSE MORE THAN IT CAN . So we should distinguish between friendship that is self-seeking and friendship that is weakly gushing, yet sincere. Our friends, in their love, often promise more than they can perform; and we must learn to take the will for the deed, giving credit for good intentions. God never disappoints. IV. OFFERED MAY HIDE DESIGNS. This will lead to references to the offered friendship of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the utter baseness and iniquity of Judas in coming to Jesus as a friend on the night of betrayal.—R.T. The sin of presuming. "And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things." Presumption is taking the ordering of our lives into our own hands, without consulting God or remembering our dependence on him. It is the sin to which kings and rulers and men of masterful dispositions are specially exposed. Therefore David prayed so earnestly, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me." The singular thing, and the suggestive thing, in the case of Hezekiah is that he took the insulting Assyrian letter and at once spread it before the Lord. Trouble drove him at once to God, but flattery disarmed him, and he acted without consulting God. Not without good reason is it urged that prosperity is a severer test of character than adversity; that "woe is unto us when all men speak well of us;" and that added years after a serious illness are oftentimes a very doubtful blessing. The writer of the Chronicles (2 Chronicles 32:25) helps us to read the heart of Hezekiah. He says that Isaiah was displeased with him because "his heart was lifted up." Vanity is indicated in this exhibition of all his treasures. Cheyne finds all the excuse that can be found for Hezekiah. He says, ’Was it merely vanity which prompted the king thus to throw open his treasuries? Surely not. It was to satisfy the emissaries of Baladan that Hezekiah had considerable resources, and was worthy of becoming his ally on equal terms. To Isaiah, as a prophet of Jehovah, the king’s fault was principally in allowing himself to be courted by a foreign potentate, as if it were not true that ’Jehovah had founded Zion,’ and that ’the afflicted of his people could find refuge therein.’" Matthew Henry says of Hezekiah, "He was a wise and good man, but when one miracle after another was wrought in his favour, he found it hard to keep his heart from being lifted up, nay, a little thing then drew him into the snare of pride. Blessed Paul himself needed a thorn in the flesh to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of revelations." The sin of presumption is a more common, and a more serious, sill than we are wont to consider it. It is one that finds frequent illustration in Holy Scripture. The sin that lost Eden was presumption. Jacob’s grasping at the birthright was presumption. Moses’ smiting the rock twice was presumption. Saul’s forcing himself to sacrifice when Samuel tarried was presumption. David’s numbering the people was presumption. Peter striking off the ear of Malchus was presumption. These are but specimen cases, readily recalled. A careful estimate of many sins will reveal presumption at the root of them. Still, if we read our lives aright, we shall find that we are constantly presuming on what God would have us to do, and acting without making due inquiries of him. I. TO . 1. These come partly out of natural disposition. There is an evil of over-meekness; sometimes we find a lack of energy and self-assertion which prevents men from impressing themselves on any sphere of life which they may be called to occupy. But there is much more frequently the evil of over-assertion, that belongs to energetic, enterprising natures, that take life with a strong grip. Many men cannot wait. They form their judgments quickly, and want them immediately acted on. And such persons are constantly tempted to presume. If good men, they act first, and ask of God the approval of their actions. Oftentimes this strong self-willedness is a hereditary disposition, which the Christian spirit has to battle with and overcome. Oftentimes it is sadly fostered by the pettings of childhood, and the false education of youth; and then it is the serious confirmed evil that is hardly overcome even in a lifelong struggle. 2. The temptations come partly out of circumstances. In the desperateness of business pressure, the almost bankrupt man presumes on his friends, acts wilfully, and even brings others down in his ruin. But circumstances of success prove even greater temptations. Nebuchadnezzar is the type of the presumers, as he stands in the midst of his city, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" II. SIN OF . 1. It is sin against man’s creaturehood. Man is not an independent being. He cannot stand alone. "No man can keep alive his own soul." He has nothing of his own. Then he has no right to presume. 2. It is a sin against a man’s childhood. Parents have to repress this spirit in their children, because it is subversive of true home-life. And so must the great Father. 3. It is especially sin in man as redeemed. Because, as redeemed, man is the humbled sinner, who is made a monument of grace, and ought to walk humbly with God, always coming after him, and never pressing on before. The evil of this sin is seen in the deterioration of Christian character which follows whenever it is indulged. III. OF . Usually this comes by the failure of the self-willed plans; or the sad results that follow the self willed course that is taken. In the case of Hezekiah God sends a vision of what will follow out of that embassy of which the king was so proud. It was the thin end of a wedge. Driven home, by-and-by, it meant the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of Judah, by those very Babylonians. Hezekiah boasted in order to get a worldly alliance. His boastings excited cupidity, which presently led to the carrying away of the exhibited treasures. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" into the sin of presumption.—R.T. Isaiah 39:6, Isaiah 39:7 Shadows projected from coming trouble. Almost our worst troubles are the things we fear. They loom so large and seem so terrible, like distant figures in a fog. The mind is so long occupied with them before it can do anything in relation to them. Our Saviour’s life was darkened with the shadows of his coming woe. As he talked with heavenly visitants, he "spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." He cried, "Now is my soul troubled … Father, save me from this hour." The shadow seemed easier to bear when it darkened down into an actual present conflict and woe. Most men are "all their life in bondage through fear of death," and thousands of men are almost hypochondriacal in their anxieties about troubles that always seem to ’be coming, but seldom really come. I. FUTURE THINGS THAT FLING SHADOWS OVER THE PRESENT. 1. The fear of the young Christian that he will not hold out to the end, Often a morbid fear; always an unworthy fear, because it really means our doubting whether God can keep us safely to the end. 2. Fears born of the difficulties of times of business depression. Parents often talk, in their homes, about the workhouse, in a joking way, which nevertheless means that the shadow of it lies upon their lives. A dread of failure and bankruptcy broods over many a business man. Unworthy dread, in view of the promise, "Verily thou shalt be fed." 3. Fears growing out of conditions of health. The exaggeration of this is observed in cases of religious mania or nervous depression. Then all the future is black and hopeless, and the soul immovably accepts the idea that it is for ever lost. These fears, alas! often inspire the suicide to his self-murderous deed. 4. Fears that gather about the certainty of judgment when the conscience bears testimony to guilt. A whole life may be shadowed by a crime. It is not the memory of the crime that flings the shadows; it is the conviction that the crime must come up again to view some day, and make its appeal for vengeance. In one way or another shadows lie on all our lives. II. PRESENT THINGS THAT RELIEVE THE SHADOWS FLUNG BY THE FUTURE. 1. Human hope. The most indestructible thing in human breasts. 2. Right estimate of life; as the sphere in which a great moral purpose is being wrought out: character is being moulded by the mingled influence of things evil and things good. 3. The comforting promises of God; which assure us of Divine overcomings and overrulings. 4. And the assurance of the abiding Divine presence, which is a constant sweet light that, falling on the very shadows, touches them with golden glowing, even as dark evening clouds are kindled into glory at the after-sunset.—R.T. Our submissions may be selfish. "He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days." "Hezekiah not only acquiesces in the will of Jehovah. like Eli (1 Samuel 3:18), but congratulates himself on his own personal safety. It would, no doubt, have been the nobler course to beg that he alone might bear the punishment, as he alone had sinned. But the principle of the solidarity of the forefather and his posterity, and of the king and his people, prevails almost throughout the Old Testament." Self-delusion is very common in the matter of submission. I. SOME THINK THEY SUBMIT WHEN THEY HAVE ONLY CEASED TO CARE. The two things are quite distinct. A man only truly submits while he keeps his care, and has his personal desire and wish still vigorous. True submission is the voluntary giving up of one’s own wish because we accept the wish of another. The glory of it is that it is hard. It is easy enough when we have ceased to care. II. SOME THINK THEY SUBMIT WREN THEY ONLY LIE DOWN UNDER GOD. As dying people, if asked whether they submit, will often say, "Oh yes; there is nothing else I can do." God is too big for them—that is all. If he were not, they would still struggle against him. This is the Mohammedan form of submission. "Allah Akbar!"—"God is great!" "Islam"—"We must submit to him." The exaggeration of this kind of submission is found in the Eastern doseh. Men lie down on the ground side by side, and let the king ride on horseback over their shoulders. Our God asks for no such submission as that. III. SOME THINK THEY SUBMIT WHEN THE BURDEN IS LIFTED FROM THEM TO REST ON OTHERS. A very comfortable, but very mean, sort of submission. A selfish submission that acquiesces in a will of God that shields ourselves, whatever others may have to suffer. This was Hezekiah’s submission. "Good is the will of the Lord in judgment, for he has shifted it over to make things comfortable for me." It is impossible to give Hezekiah much credit for so poor a submission as that. IV. TRUE HEARTS THINK THEY SUBMIT ONLY WHEN THEY ACCEPT THE HOLY WILL, THAT WILL MAY INVOLVE. Submission is the expression of confidence, the breath of trust, the sign of perfect love. It is the uttered child-heart. It cannot make any qualifications. Its unceasing refrain is, "My Father knows." The one sublime example of submission is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though the holy will involved bitterest personal suffering, could sincerely say, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." After Christ the world’s great figure of submission is the venerable Moses, ascending Nebo to receive the kiss of God and die, "with Canaan’s goodly land in view."—R.T. PART III. ISAIAH’S LATER (CH. 40-66.). SECTION I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN (Isaiah 40:1-31.). Prefatory Remarks THE Assyrian struggle is over. The prophet has accepted into the depths of his spirit God’s announcement that the true spoiler, "the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation," is not Assyria, but Babylon. He has accepted the sentence that his people is to go into captivity. Into this future of his nation he throws himself with a faith, a fervour, and a power of realization, which are all his own. "The familiar scenes and faces, among which he has hitherto lived and laboured, have grown dim and disappeared. All sounds and voices of the present are hushed, and move him no more. The present has died out of the horizon of his soul’s vision … The voices in his cars are those of men unborn, and he lives a second life among events and persons, sins and suffering, and fears and hopes, photographed sometimes with the minutest accuracy on the sensitive and sympathetic medium of his own spirit; and he becomes the denouncer of the special sins of a distant generation, and the spokesman of the faith and hope and passionate yearning of an exiled nation, the descendants of men living, when he wrote, in the profound peace of a renewed prosperity". The primary idea which occurs to him is that of "comfort." He will "comfort his people" in their affliction, so far as in him lies; and he will do this by preaching (1) the recovery of Israel from sin by faith and waiting upon God; and (2) their recovery from the bondage to Babylon, which was the consequence of sin. In the present chapter it is the former topic especially which he urges. Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The key-note is struck at once. With that iteration which is his favourite mode of emphasizing what is important (see the comment on Isaiah 38:11), the prophet declares that he and his brethren have a direct mission from God to "comfort" Israel. Note the encouragement contained in the expressions, "my people," and "your God." Israel is not cast off, even when most deeply afflicted. Isaiah 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; literally, speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem. Address her inmost feelings, her very spirit and soul. Her warfare is accomplished … is pardoned … hath received. These perfects can only be viewed as "perfects of prophetic certainty." According to every theory of the authorship of Isaiah 40-46, they were written before the close of the Captivity, when Israel’s warfare was not yet accomplished, her iniquity not yet fully pardoned. Isaiah, however, sees all as already accomplished in the Divine counsels, and so announces it to the people. Israel’s warfare, her long term of hard service (comp. Job 7:1), will assuredly come to an end; she will thoroughly turn to God, and then her iniquity will be pardoned, she will be considered to have suffered enough. Double. "It was the ordinary rule under the Law that ’for all manner of trespass’ a man condemned by the judges should pay double" (Kay; comp. Exodus 22:9). Heathen legislators adopted the same rule for certain offences (Arist, ’Eth. Nic.,’ 3.5, § 8). It is not here intended to assert that the law of Divine judgment is to exact double; but only to assure Israel that, having been amply punished, she need fear no further vengeance (comp. Isaiah 61:7). Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth; rather, the voice of one that crieth. A voice sounds in the prophet’s ear, crying to repentance. For God to come down on earth, for his glory to be revealed in any signal way, by the restoration of a nation, or the revelation of himself in Christ, or the final establishment of his kingdom, the "way" must be first "prepared" for him. The hearts of the disobedient must be turned to the wisdom of the just. In the wilderness; either, "the wilderness of this world" (Kay), or "the wilderness separating Babylonia from Palestine" (Delitzsch), in a part of which John the Baptist afterwards preached. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. The "way of the Lord" is "the way of holiness" (Isaiah 35:8). There is one only mode of "preparing" it—the mode adopted by John Baptist (Matthew 3:2-12), the mode pointed out by the angel who announced him (Luke 1:17), the mode insisted on in the Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent. The voice enjoins on the prophets of the captive nation to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming manifestation of God. Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, etc.; rather, let every valley be exalted. The prophets are to see that the poor and lowly are raised up; the proud and self-righteous depressed; the crooked and dishonest induced to change their ways for those of simplicity and integrity; the rude, rough, and harsh rendered courteous and mild. "In general, the meaning is that Israel is to [be made] take care that the God who is coming to deliver it shall find it in such an inward and outward state as befits his … purpose". Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Then, when the preparation is complete, there shall be a revelation of the glory and might of Jehovah. The nature of the revelation is for the present shrouded in darkness; but it is a revelation which is not confined to Israel. All flesh shall see it together. It shall draw to it the attention of the human race at large. While the restoration of Israel to Palestine is the primary fulfilment of the prophecy, that restoration clearly does not exhaust its meaning, which points on to the restoration of all mankind to God’s favour in Christ by the ἐπιφάνεια of his advent in the flesh, which has drown, or will draw, the eyes of "all flesh." For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. A repetition of the emphatic clause wherewith Isaiah had terminated the third section of his first prophecy (Isaiah 1:20). It occurs again in Isaiah 58:14. No other writer uses the expression. Isaiah 40:6 The voice said, Cry; rather, a voice of else that sayeth, Cry. It is a second voice, distinct from that of Isa 40:3, that now reaches the prophet’s ear—a voice responded to by another. The speakers seem to be angels, who contrast the perishable nature of man with the enduringness and unchangingness of God. The point of their discourse is that "the Word of the Lord endureth for ever" (Isaiah 40:8), and therefore the preceding promises (Isaiah 40:2, Isaiah 40:5) are sure. And he said; rather, and one said. A second voice answered the first, and asked what the proclamation was to be. In reply its terms were given. All flesh is grass (comp. Isaiah 37:27; and see also Job 5:25; Psalms 90:5; Psalms 92:7; Psalms 103:15). The goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. So Ephraim was compared in Isaiah 28:1 to "a fading flower." The similitude is found also in Job 14:2 and in Psalms 103:15. Homer approaches the idea in his well-known simile, Οἵηπερφύλλωνγενεὴτοιήδεκαὶἀνδρῶν (’Iliad,’ 6:146). Isaiah 40:7 The flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. When the hot winds, which God sends, blow in spring-time, the flowers fade; when a destroying breath from him (see Isaiah 30:33) passes over the generations of men, they perish. Surely the people is grass. Either a mere repetition of "all flesh is grass" (Isaiah 40:6) with an asseveration, or an intimation that "the people" of Israel is not exempt from the lot of mankind in general, but shares it. Isaiah 40:8 The Word of our God shall stand for ever. Amid all human frailty, shiftingness, changefulness, there is one thing that endures, and stroll endure—God’s Word (see the comment on the first part of Isa 40:6). In the sureness of God’s promises is Israel’s exceeding comfort. Isaiah 40:9-11 The time of Israel’s restoration has drawn nigh. The preparation has been made. The voice calling to preparation is silent. The promises are now on the verge of receiving their accomplishment. It is fitting that some one should announce the fact to the nation. Isaiah calls on the company of prophets living at the time to do so (verse 9). They are to take up a commanding position, to speak with a loud voice, and to proclaim the good tidings to Zion, to Jerusalem, and to the cities of Judah (comp. Isaiah 44:26). The terms of the proclamation are then given (verses 10, 11). Isaiah 40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, etc.; rather, as in the margin, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion (so the LXX; Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Maurer, Hitzig, Knobel, and Kay). Get thee up into the high mountain; rather, into a high mountain. Choose an elevated spot from which to make proclamation. O Jerusalem, that bringest, etc.; again, as in the margin, O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem. The repetition, with a slight change, is quite in the manner of Isaiah. The cities of Judah. These would be in rains, no less than Jerusalem herself (see Isaiah 46:1-13:26; Isaiah 64:10). Isaiah 40:10 The Lord God; literally, the Lord Jehovah. With strong hand; or, with strength. His arm shall rule for him. Kay translates, "His arm shall get him rule;" i.e. the manifestation, which he shall make of his power, shall cause his kingdom to be extended far and wide upon the earth. "The Lord’s arm," "the Lord’s hand," are favourite expressions of Isaiah’s (Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 31:3; Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 62:3, etc.). His reward is with him, and his work before him; rather, his wage is with him, and his recompense before him—a case of synonymous parallelism. The phrase is repeated in Isaiah 62:11. Mr. Cheyne understands "the reward which God gives to his faithful ones" to be meant. But perhaps it is better to understand, with Dr. Kay, that in the "little flock" which he restores to Palestine God finds his own reward and recompense—the compensation for all his care and trouble. Isaiah 40:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. The similitude is a favourite one with the psalmists (Psalms 77:20; Psalms 78:52; Psalms 80:1), and occurs again later on in Isaiah (Isaiah 49:9, Isaiah 49:10). Its beauty and sweetness have been widely recognized. He shall gather the lambs; collect them, i.e; when they have strayed from the flock. Shall gently lead those that are with young; rather, those that give suck (comp. Genesis 33:3, where the same word is used). Ewes that are suckling their lambs require specially tender treatment. Isaiah 40:12-31 THE MIGHT AND OF GOD WITH THE OF MAN AND THE OF IDOLS. If captive Israel is to be induced to turn’ to God, and so hasten the time of its restoration to his favour and to its own land, it must be by rising to a worthy conception of the nature and attributes of the Almighty. The prophet, therefore, in the remainder of this chapter, paints in glorious language the power and greatness, dud at the same time the mercy, of God, contrasting him with man (Isaiah 40:15-17, Isaiah 40:23, Isaiah 40:28-31), with idols (Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20), and with the framework of material things (Isaiah 40:21, Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah 40:26), and showing his infinite superiority to each and all. In contrasting him with man, he takes occasion to bring into prominence his goodness and loving-kindness to man, to whom he imparts a portion of his own might and strength . Isaiah 40:12 Who hath measured the waters? (comp. Proverbs 30:4 and Job 38:4-6). The might of God is especially shown in creation, which Isaiah assumes to be God’s work. How infinitely above man must he be, who arranged in such perfection, "by measure and number and weight" (Wis. 11:20), the earth, the waters, and the heavens, so proportioning each to each as to produce that admirable order and regularity which the intelligent observer cannot but note in the material universe as among its chief characteristics! In the hollow of his hand. The anthropomorphism is strong, no doubt, but softened by the preceding mention (in verse 10) of God’s "arm," and by the comparison of God to a shepherd (in verse 11). Isaiah’s exalted notion of God renders him fearless with regard to anthropomorphism. And meted out heaven with the span; rather, with a span (comp. Isaiah 48:13, "My right hand hath spanned the heavens"). And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure; literally, in a tierce. The measure intended is probably the seah, which was the third part of an ephah, and held about three gallons. The seah was "the ordinary measure for household purposes." In scales … in a balance. The peles, here translated "scales," is probably the steelyard, while the mozenaim is "the balance" or "pair of scales" ordinarily used for weighing. God metes out all things with measures, scales, and balances of his own, which are proportioned to his greatness. Isaiah 40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Mr. Cheyne remarks, that "in Isaiah there is a marked tendency to hypostatize the Spirit;" and the remark is undoubtedly a just one (see Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 61:1, etc.). In the present place, perhaps, the introduction of "the Spirit of the Lord" arises out of the remembrance of the part in creation which is assigned to the Spirit in Genesis 1:2. He "moved," or "brooded," upon the face of the waters, and thence began the change, or series of changes, by which order was produced out of confusion. The Spirit of the Lord "directed," or regulated, these changes; but who, Isaiah asks, "directed," or regulated, the Spirit itself? Can it be supposed that he too had a director over him? Isaiah does not seriously doubt on this point, or "leave it an open question." He makes his inquiry by way of a reductio ad absurdum. Is it not absurd to suppose that he had a director or a counsellor? He does not—here, at any rate—so far "hypostatize the Spirit" as to view him as a Person distinct from the Person of God the Father, working under him, and carrying out his will. Or being his counsellor hath taught him? "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth" (Proverbs 3:19); but he was his own counsellor. He had no adviser external to himself. The wisdom which wrought with him was his own wisdom, an essential part of the Divine essence. The evangelical prophet approaches those mysteries of God’s nature which the gospel brought to light, but cannot penetrate them. Isaiah 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. "From nature," as Mr. Cheyne says, "we pass to history." If God is so great, so apart and by himself in relation to the material universe, what is he in relation to man? What are nations, compared to him, but "as a drop from a bucket," which drips from it, and is of no account? What are they, hut as the small dust of the balance, which lies on it but does not disturb its equilibrium? They are absolutely "as nothing" (Isaiah 40:17)—vanity and emptiness, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing; literally, he taketh up islands, or perhaps lands generally. As he weighs mountains and hills in his balance (Isaiah 40:15), so he can take up in his own hands "lands," or "countries" (Cheyne), with all their inhabitants, and do with them as seemeth him good. They are no burden to him. Isaiah 40:16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. Man may think that he must be of some account, since God has required of him sacrifice and burnt offering, from which he may suppose God to derive some satisfaction. But, the prophet says, even if man were to burn all Lebanon as firewood on God’s altar, and offer there all the (clean) beasts of the entire tract, still God would be put under no obligation. Man would even then have paid less than his debt. Isaiah 40:17 All nations; rather, all the nations; i.e. all the nations of the earth put together. In Isaiah 40:15 single "nations" had been declared to be of no account; now the same is said of all the nations of the earth collectively. They are accounted of God as ’ephes, nothingness, and tohu, chaos or confusion. Isaiah 40:18 Is more the complement of what precedes than the introduction to what follows (comp. Isaiah 40:25). If God be all that has been said of him in Isaiah 40:12-17, must he not be wholly unique and incomparable? Then, out of this, the thought arises of the strange, the poor, the mean "likenesses" of God, which men have in their folly set up in various times and places. It has been said that Israel in captivity did not need to be warned against idolatry, of the inclination to which the Captivity is supposed at once to have cured them. But there is no evidence of this. Rather, considering the few that returned, and the many that remained behind (Joseph; ’Ant Jud.,’ 11.1), we may conclude that a large number adopted the customs, religion, and general mode of life of their masters.’ Isaiah 40:19 The workman melteth a graven image; rather, the workman casteth an image (comp. Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:9-17; Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7). Israel’s tendency to idolatry has been touched on in the earlier prophecies once or twice (Isaiah 2:8, Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 31:7); but in the later chapters idolatry is assailed with a frequency, a pungency, and a vigour that are new, and that imply a change, either in the prophet’s circumstances or in his standpoint. Perhaps it is enough to suppose that, placing himself ideally among the captives, Isaiah sees that the Babylonian idolatry will be, or at any rate may be, a snare to them, and provides an antidote against the subtle poison. The special antidote which he employs is ridicule, and the first ground of his ridicule is the genesis or formation of an image. It is made by man himself, out of known material substances. Either a figure is cast in some inferior metal, and then coated with gold and finished with the graving tool, or a mere block of wood is taken and cut into shape. Can it be supposed that such things are "likenesses" of God, or that he is comparable to them? Casteth silver chains; as ornaments to be worn by the images, which were often dressed (see Thucyd; Isaiah 2:13; Baruch 6:9-12). Isaiah 40:20 He that is so impoverished, etc.; rather, he that can only make a poor offering, i.e. that cannot spend much on religion. Chooseth a tree; rather, chooseth wood—goes to the carpenter, and selects a good sound block of wood, out of which his idol shall be made. After this he has to find a skilful workman, who will carve his image for him and set it up, so that it shall not shake. As Delitzsch observes, "The thing carries its own satire" in the mere plain description of it. Is such a thing comparable to God? Isaiah 40:21 Have ye not known? Hitherto the prophet has restrained himself, and confined himself to quiet sarcasm. Now he bursts out. Is there any one so insensate, so devoid of natural reason and understanding, as not to know what has been known to all from the beginning—yea, from the foundations of the earth—by "the light that is in them," viz. that God is something wholly different from this?—that he is such a One as the prophet proceeds to describe in Isaiah 40:22-24, alike above nature and above man, Lord of heaven and earth, and absolute Disposer of the fates of all men? Hath it not been told you? If ye have not known the nature of God by the light of nature, has it not come down to you by tradition? Have not your fathers told it you? Has it not been handed on by sire to son from the very foundation of the earth? The appeal is to men generally, not especially to Israel. Have ye not understood, etc.? Some omit the preposition after "understood," and render the passage thus: "Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?" i.e. how it was founded, or created—that its creation was God’s sole act? (so the LXX; the Vulgate, Gesenius, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Knobel, Kay; but Ewald, Henderson, Weir, and Mr. Cheyne prefer the rendering of the Authorized Version). Isaiah 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth; rather, above the vault of the earth; above the vault of sky which seems to arch over the earth. As grasshoppers; i.e. minute, scarcely visible (comp. Numbers 13:33). That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain. So in Psalms 104:2, only that here the "curtain" is represented as one of thin gauze. The idea is common to Isaiah with Job (Job 9:8), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:15), and Zechariah (Zechariah 12:1), and is a favourite one in these later chapters (comp. Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12; Isaiah 51:13). As a tent (comp. Psalms 19:4, where God is said to have set in the heavens a "tabernacle"—’ohel, the word used here—for the sun). Isaiah 40:23 The princes … the judges; rather, princes, judges. The entire class of such is meant, not any special individuals (comp. Psalms 107:40; Job 12:19-21). As vanity; or, as chaos—the same word that is used in Isaiah 40:17. Isaiah 40:24 They shall not be planted … shall not be sown … shall not take root. The verbs are all of them in the past tense. Translate, have not been planted,… sown, etc. The meaning is that princes and judges of the earth are not fixed in their places, have no firm root in the soil, are easily overturned. Even if the case were different, a breath from the Almighty would, as a matter of course, dry them up (see Isaiah 40:7) and blow them away. As stubble (comp. Isaiah 5:24; Psalms 83:13). Isaiah 40:25 To whom then, etc.? This is a summary, to conclude the section (Isaiah 40:19-24), as Isaiah 40:18 concludes the preceding one. If God is paramount over idols (Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20) and over nature (Isaiah 40:22) and over humanity (Isaiah 40:23, Isaiah 40:24), to whom can he be likened? Is he not altogether unique and incomparable? Saith the Holy One (comp. Isaiah 57:15). Isaiah’s special designation of God, at once pregnant and almost peculiar (see the comment on Isaiah 1:4), is "the Holy One of Israel." This is, here and in Isaiah 57:15, abbreviated. Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes, etc. Once more an appeal is made to creation, as proving God’s greatness. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these (heavens), bringing out their host (i.e. the stars) by number, or in their full number (Cheyne), and calling them all by names" (comp. Psalms 147:4, Psalms 147:5, "He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names," which, however, is probably later than Isaiah). Omnipotence alone could have created the starry host. Omniscience is required to know their number and their names. The Israelites are supposed to have "learned that the constellations had names, in Babylon" (Cheyne, ad loc.); but a special name for each star, which the Babylonians did not give, seems to be here intended. Not one faileth; i.e. "not one star neglects to attend the muster when God marshals the host." The stars are viewed as his army. Isaiah 40:27 O Jacob … O Israel (For this pleonastic combination, so characteristic of Isaiah, see Isaiah 9:8; Isaiah 10:21, Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 14:1; Isaiah 27:6; Isaiah 29:23, in the earlier chapters; and Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 42:24; Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:22, Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:5, Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 46:3; Isaiah 49:5, Isaiah 49:6, etc; in the later ones.) Why sayest thou … My way is hid? The prophet has gone back to the time when Israel is suffering all the calamities of the Captivity, instead of being on the point of emerging from it, as in Isaiah 40:9-11, and he now hears the complaints of the exiles, who think that God has forsaken them—that he does not see their "way" of life, or regard their sufferings. My judgment. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate "my right," and understand the "right" of Israel to be independent of its oppressors. Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? Complaining Israel is bidden to stay itself upon God, as (1) everlasting; (2) the Creator; (3) unwearied; (4) unsearchable; and is then further consoled by the promise that God will give them strength to endure; support them, refresh them, and, as it were, renew the youth of the nation (Isaiah 40:29, Isaiah 40:31). Creator of the ends of the earth; i.e. "Creator even of the remotest ends," and therefore of the whole earth. Fainteth not (comp. Psalms 121:3, Psalms 121:4). If God were for a moment to "faint" or "be weary," to "slumber" or "sleep," the whole fabric of nature would fail and disappear, universal chaos would set in, all moral order would cease—probably all existence, except his own, sink into nothingness. God is wholly free from whatsoever is weak or defective in man. No searching (see Job 5:9; Job 9:10; Job 11:7; Psalms 147:5; Ecclesiastes 3:11). God’s ways being unsearchable, his servants must trust him to accomplish their deliverance in his own good time. Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint. So far is he from being "faint" himself, that he has superabundant energy to impart to any that are faint among his servants. Isaiah 40:30 Shall faint … shall fall; rather, should even the youths faint and be weary, and should the young men utterly fall, yet they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, etc. The two clauses of Isa 40:30 are "concessive." Isaiah 40:31 They shall mount up with wings as eagles (comp. Psalms 103:5: and, for the use of the eagle as a metaphor for strength, see Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11). Isaiah 40:1, Isaiah 40:2 Comfort after trouble. God "has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth;" it is no satisfaction to him to punish. As soon as ever those whom he is forced to punish will submit to the chastening rod in a proper spirit, and allow the staff of the Divine indignation to have its due effect upon them, God is ready to comfort. God the Holy Ghost is the One True Comforter. He and he alone can pour balm into the heart, quiet the conscience, enable the stricken soul to feel that it is once more at one with God. A few words may be said on (1) the conditions of comfort; (2) the methods of comfort; and (3) the proper results of comfort. I. THE OF COMFORT. As trouble comes upon us to punish sin, the first condition of our receiving comfort is that sin be put away. The next is that we implore God’s pardon for our past transgressions, and acknowledge the justice of his chastisement. The third is that we pray to him of his great goodness to remit his anger, and speak comfort to our souls, and pour his peace into our hearts. If we neglect any of these conditions, we have no right to expect that God will bless us with the great blessing of his comforting grace, which is not, like the rain and sunshine, an ordinary blessing of his providence, but is a special boon reserved for those who have prepared themselves to receive it. II. THE METHODS OF COMFORT. God sometimes comforts us through the instrumentality of our fellow-men. Job’s friends were "miserable comforters, all of them" (Job 16:2); but it is not always so with the afflicted. The kind sympathy of friends, the wise counsel of spiritual guides, is often blessed by God to the relief and solace of those who are in trouble. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," was his address to the prophets of Israel (verse 1); and we may be assured that his Spirit went with the month of his prophets, and made the comfort which they strove to We effectual. Again, sometimes he comforts us by his Word. Many a time has the despairing soul found peace and joy in the promises of the gospel, which are indeed potent to raise up hope in the most despondent, and to comfort the most unhappy. But frequently—perhaps we may say mostly—God gives his comfort himself, without intermediary. The stricken soul strays itself’ upon him, leans on him, makes its moan to him; and he "comes to it," and with his blessed presence puts an end to the soul’s trouble, dispels the darkness, drives away despair and fear, infuses hope, breathes peace, imparts comfort (see Psalms 71:2; Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 66:13; 2 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:17, etc.). III. THE RESULTS OF COMFORT. The immediate result of comfort is peace and happiness. The soul comforted by God is at least contented, blissful. The further results should be (1) gratitude for the great mercy and loving-kindness showed to us; (2) perseverance in well-doing, the fruit and necessary result of gratitude, the chief means which creatures have of showing forth their thankfulness to God for any and every mercy vouchsafed to them; (3) praise and thanksgiving, the natural utterance of the mouth, when the heart is really touched with gratitude, and sensible of God’s goodness. As David says, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord … in the presence of all his people … I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the Name of the Lord" (Psalms 116:12-17). Isaiah 40:4-8 God’s promises sure. With Isaiah it is enough that "the month of the Lord has spoken" a thing (Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 40:5). "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent" (Numbers 23:19). What he has promised, he will perform; what he has said, he will do, in the sense in which he said it. It is true, his promises are of two kinds (1) unconditional, and (2) conditional; and, though both kinds are sure, they are not sure in the same way. I. GOD’S CERTAIN OF . God has promised that he will never again destroy mankind by a flood (Genesis 9:11). He has pledged himself that "while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). By his Son he has declared that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church" (Matthew 16:18), that he will send his Son to earth a second time to judge the quick and dead (Matthew 25:31-45), and that then the wicked "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:46). These are unconditional promises, and are absolutely certain of fulfilment. Nothing can come in their way. God’s veracity is pledged to them, and, as he is true, he must and will bring them to pass. II. GOD’S ARE CERTAIN OF , IF THE . The bulk of God’s promises to mankind are "covenant promises," and, by the nature of a "covenant promise," they depend on a condition or conditions which have to be fulfilled. The promises to the Israelites that they should possess Canaan, to David that his seed should sit upon his throne, and to captive Israel that it should be restored, were of this nature. So are all promises of temporal and spiritual blessings to individuals. Even where the condition is not expressed, it is understood. A single example will suffice to show the nature of this kind of promise. A covenant was made with David to establish his seed for ever, and set up his throne to all generations (Psalms 89:3, Psalms 89:4). This covenant was to stand fast, so long as his children walked in his ways. If, however, they forsook God’s Law, and walked not in his judgments; if they broke his statutes, and kept not his commandments, then their transgressions were to be visited with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. The Anointed of the Lord was to be cut off and abhorred; the covenant with him was to be made void, and his crown to be cast to the ground (Psalms 89:30-39). In these cases God’s part of the covenant remains sure; it is man’s which is uncertain. If man fails, then God is, by his very faithfulness, bound to mark his sense of the failure by non-fulfilment of the promises which were made conditional on a certain course of human action. Unless man fails, God’s promises remain firm. No one can pretend to point out any case m which the covenant has been observed by man, and God’s part in it has been that of a defaulter. God the Shepherd of his people. This favourite image is "full of figures and analogies of loving-kindness. It is almost sacramental in its depth and power." To exhaust its meaning is impossible; to draw out all that it implies is hopeless; even to make it the subject of comment may seem almost impertinent. Still, in an exegetical work, some comment must be made upon a passage at once so characteristic and so powerful; some attempt at exposition must be attached to the declaration of a truth so precious. Six things would seem, then, to be especially involved in the declaration. I. GOD LOVES HIS FLOCK. Love is at the root of even an earthly shepherd’s care for his flock, if he is a true shepherd, and not a mercenary hireling. Without love, there may be care, but it will not be tender care; there may be guardianship, but it will not be incessant, unwearied, jealous guardianship. The heavenly Shepherd loves the sheep of his flock with a deep, true, patient, and abounding love, surpassing far the utmost affection whereof man is capable, surpassing even the utmost conception that man can form of love. His flock is his own creation, his own reflected image, his own purchased possession. His desire is toward it (So Isaiah 7:10). He loves it with a love which "many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown" (So Isaiah 8:7). II. GOD CARES FOR HIS FLOCK. It is God’s care for his flock on which Isaiah especially insists both in verse 11 and Isaiah 49:9, Isaiah 49:10. He "gathers the lambs with his arm, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that suckle their young." He gives them "pastures in all high places," suffers "neither the heat nor sun to smite them, and leads them by the springs of water." The most tender care, the most solicitous vigilance, is implied in all that is told us of his treatment of his flock, so that we may well say, that "all love, care, providence, devotion, watchfulness, that is in earth or in heaven, in the ministry of men or of angels, is but a reflection and participation of that which is thus seen to be in him" (Manning). III. GOD GUIDES HIS FLOCK. The Oriental shepherd goes in front of his sheep; and so God is represented as going (Psalms 78:52; Isaiah 49:10; John 10:3). He points out to them the way wherein they should walk, and leads them in it. By the inner light of conscience, "which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and by the outward light of revelation, which shines on many, he directs their paths. By the secret motions and influences of his Spirit he keeps them, for the most part, in the right way, and suffers them not to depart from it. IV. GOD GUARDS HIS FLOCK. God’s flock has enemies as powerful and as dangerous as the flock of any earthly shepherd. Many a wolf in sheep’s clothing seeks to devour it; one lion, at any rate, is ever walking round the fold, longing and hoping for prey. But God is always on the watch against these enemies, baffling their attacks, defecting their designs, causing them to fall into their own snares. True, he cannot effectually guard all, if they will not listen to him, will not obey his commands, will rush madly into danger. But he is a sure Defence to such as "hear his voice" and follow h-is directions. No wolf can snatch his faithful ones out of his hand; no lion can hurt them, nor any roaring beast. God guards them night and day. "He that keepeth Israel slumbers not nor sleeps." V. GOD FEEDS HIS FLOCK. God is said to "lead his flock into green pastures" (Psalms 23:2), to "feed them in a good pasture, a fat pasture" (Ezekiel 34:14). Our Lord declares himself" the Bread of life" (John 6:48)—the "living Bread which came down from heaven," whereof "if any man eat, he shall live for ever" (John 6:51). God feeds his flock upon his Word, upon his faithful promises, upon himself received sacramentally. He feeds them himself, and he commands the shepherds under him, with emphatic iteration, to feed them (John 21:15-17). He gives them "angels’ food" to be the sustentation and support of their souls; "bread of immortality" to be their life here and hereafter; precious manna, far beyond that which he gave to his people in the wilderness, sweet at once and satisfying. "Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:34). VI. GOD SEEKS AND SAVES THE OF HIS FLOCK. Isaiah tells us that God "gathers the lambs with his arm" (verse 11). Our Lord, describing the good human shepherd, tells us that if he have an hundred sheep, and lose one of them, he straightway "leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and goes after that which is lost, until he find it; and when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing’ (Luke 15:4, Luke 15:5). The Son of man came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11). The sheep of God’s flock perpetually "go astray," turn from the right way, wander into strange paths, seek pastures that are not good; if God were not perpetually checking their inclination to stray, seeking them, recalling them, "gathering" them, bringing them back to him, there would soon be no flock left. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." If the "chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 5:4), "the great Shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20), had not cared for us and sought us and brought us home, we had been lost indeed; but now, through his great mercy, we are "returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls" (1 Peter 2:25). Isaiah 40:12, Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah 40:26 God in creation. Creation tells of God in many ways. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork: day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Psalms 19:1, Psalms 19:2). "The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead" (Romans 1:20). Here we have noted especially— I. GOD’S IN . 1. The very act of creation is the most marvellous of all marvels. For what is creation but the production of something out of nothing?—a seeming contradiction, at any rate a strange paradox. Isaiah affects strongly the use of the word bara (Isaiah 4:5; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 41:20; Isaiah 45:8, Isaiah 45:12, Isaiah 45:18, etc.), which, if not confined to the sense of "producing out of nothing," at any rate includes that sense (Gesenius, ’Lex. Hebrews,’ ad voc.). 2. And the marvellousness of creation is enhanced by the vastness of creation: sun, moon, planets, stars; the incalculable distances of space—the nebulae, either unformed stars, or infinitely distant solar systems like that of which our system forms a part; the Milky Way, or outer edge of our own system, set so thick with stars that they seem to form a continuous girdle of light. 3. The perfect order of creation: all things weighed out and measured by God’s hand in set proportions one to another; all keeping their appointed courses without collision or confusion; observing their respective times and seasons; displaying an infinite variety, which, however, is all ordered and regulated. 4. And by the unity of creation: all of it from one hand, from one mind, working without assistance, without counsel (verses 13, 14), from its own inexhaustible stores of wisdom and knowledge; and all of it subject to that one mind and obeying its every behest (verse 26). II. GOD’S IN . God does not leave his creation alone, to stand or fall by its own inherent strength. Every part of it is upheld by him, maintained in existence by him, enabled by him to perform the task which he has set it. The "way" of no part of his creation is "hid from him" (verse 27). Each star is known by name, and the starry hosts are marshalled "by number," and led forth in their stately march, so that "not one faileth" (verse 26). So with his moral creatures. They too are upheld; "power" and "strength" are given to them continually (verse 29); he who sustains them is "never faint, never weary;" a way is contrived for them by which they may "renew their strength" (verse 31). Doubtless there is this difference. Material things are absolutely upheld, and prevented from failing; God’s moral creation is not absolutely upheld. It is given a sufficiency of help (2 Corinthians 12:9), but is not compelled to accept the gift. If man wills to perish, he must perish. Though God’s grace is "sufficient for him," he can reject that grace—he can thwart the will of God, who "wouldeth not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Were it otherwise, he would be a machine, and not a moral being. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 40:1-11 The prophet’s commission. He is to unfold a theme of consolation, which runs through the whole of the book, introduced by this chapter. He speaks to the prophets: "Ye prophets, prophesy consolation concerning my people" (Targum of Jonathan); or, "O priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem," according to the LXX. The former is probably correct. The prophets were numerous both in Isaiah’s time (Isaiah 3:1; Isaiah 29:10, Isaiah 29:20) and during the Babylonian exile (Jeremiah 29:1). Jehovah is now reconciled to his erring people, and calls them no longer by names expressive of rejection or contempt (as in Hosea 1:9; Isaiah 6:9), but as my people. "Israel, my people, and I their God," is the great word on which both Judaism and Christianity rest. Now the prophets are to "speak to the heart of Jerusalem." It is to be in a voice clear and distinct and penetrating. "Heart," in Hebrew use, is a comprehensive word; it stands for" intelligence, conscience, feeling," in one (cf. Genesis 34:3; Genesis 50:21, where the Hebrew is, "to their hearts"). Perhaps chiefly the latter here. The vocation of the prophet is now especially to comfort and encourage. And so ever with the preacher. We may compare with these words the scene in the synagogue at Nazareth. Christ announces himself as the Bearer of consolation to the heart of his people, to the heart of mankind, especially to the poor and the distressed and dejected. And surely the burden of every ministry may well be the "Christ of consolation." I. THE MESSAGE TO . 1. "Her warfare is fulfilled." "Warfare" standing for "enforced hardships." The metaphor "very suggestive of the peculiar troubles of military service in ancient times:" "Hath not man a warfare [hard service] on the earth?" (Job 7:1). The idea of an appointed time of service enters into the word—the discharge of a duty for which a man has been enlisted, or solemnly engaged, as that of the Levites in the tabernacle (Numbers 4:23; Numbers 8:24, Numbers 8:25). Life as a period of enforced service. It means for most of us, perhaps for all of us, toil, danger, suffering. From this enlistment the only discharge is by death (Job 14:14; Daniel 10:1). Our times are in the hand of God. A period is fixed to all suffering and trial. It may calm the apprehension of calamity in the most susceptible heart to see how quick a bound has been set to the utmost infliction of malice. We rapidly approach a brink over which no enemy can follow us. "Let them rave; thou art quiet in thy grave." 2. "Her guilt is paid off." For punishment is viewed as the payment of a debt, and so as the satisfaction of the demands of Divine justice. In the Law, the sword and dispersion among the heathen are threatened against the disobedient and the unreformed; but never does Jehovah forget the covenant between him and the people; he is ever ready to suspend punishment when they suspend sin. Here the people are represented "as having suffered what God had appointed them—endured the natural punishment he saw to be necessary. They had served out the long term he had appointed. Now he is satisfied, has pleasure in releasing them and restoring them to their own land." Happy that moment in the personal life when the soul can be assured that suffering has done its work, and that it may be self-forgiven, because God-forgiven. "At the last, do as the heavens have done: Forget your evil; with them, forgive yourself." 3. "’She hath received double for all her sins.’ The expression seems to denote what is amply sufficient (cf. Jeremiah 17:18; Revelation 18:6)" (Cheyne); "As much as God judged to be sufficient" (Grotius); "Double to be received for large and abundant" (Calvin). The great law of compensation running through life, we must believe, is exact in its operation. God makes no mistakes in his reckonings. Suffering may continue long after sin has been forgiven. If the memory of guilt be still poignant, if the consequences of sin seem still "ever before us," it is as if God were saying, "Not enough hast thou suffered yet to know how precious is the peace of forgiveness." And when that blessed sense of forgiveness steals into the soul, it is the symptom that the hand of God is removed, that the cup of sorrow has been drained, that the medicine has done its work. The justice of our God will exact sufficient from us in the way of suffering; his clemency and mercy will never add a superfluous stroke from the scourge; rather he will stop short of the full exaction—thirty-nine rather than the full forty stripes. II. THE CALL. From what is to be believed of Jehovah, we pass to what is to be done for Jehovah. So ever does faith push on to practice. The internal act of the mind realizes itself and is made perfect in the external act of the life. 1. Mysteriously a voice bids the listening heart prepare for Jehovah. It is a "non-Divine, yet supernatural voice." The poetic effect is heightened by the mystery (cf. Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 57:14; Isaiah 62:10). Similar voices are spoken of in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:10, Revelation 1:12; Revelation 4:1; Revelation 10:4, Revelation 10:8). There are times when the breath of coming change is felt stirring, and voices are heard calling to men to welcome it in and to help it on. Whence come they? Who knows? A spiritual world is all about us. It has music, and words; but while "this muddy vesture of decay doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear." But at times they pierce through our sensuality and break up our lethargic indolence. "Clear ye Jehovah’s way in the desert." The Divine monarch is about to make a progress. Let the heart of the nation be as a highway for their God (Psalms 84:5). So the Gospels understand the cry. From another point of view, the way of Jehovah through the desert is symbolic of his people’s destinies. Babylon, as the scene of captivity, reminds us of the scene of captivity of yore in Egypt. When the temple was destroyed and Israel went forth, it was as if Jehovah had departed—perhaps to his sacred seat in the north, where Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:4) sees the cherubic chariot. His coming back is the people’s coming back under his leadership. The imagery of clearing the way may be illustrated from the practice of Oriental princes. Diodorus tells of Semiramis that, in her march to Ecbatana, she had precipices digged down, and hollows filled up, so as to leave an everlasting memorial of herself—the "road of Semiramis’ (cf. Baruch 5:7). Then the glory of Jehovah, eclipsed or hidden through his people’s suffering and exile, will shine forth in its splendour, and all mankind shall look on. 2. Again the voice is heard saying, "Call!" And the prophet answers, "What shall I call?" The burden of the cry is the frailty of man, and the eternity of the truth. Homer compares the race of man to the successive generations of the leaves of the wood; the prophet to the grass and the flowers (of. Psalms 90:5, Psalms 90:6). Israel and Assyria are both politically extinct, and Babylon is hurrying to its end. The thought is suggested, though not expressed, that if Israel is to rise again from its ashes, it can only be by abstaining from all attempts at secular aggrandizement. The new Israel will be, in all the circumstances of its growth, supernatural. And what is true of one people is true of all. Princes, nobles, and monarchs, armies and magistrates, are feeble like grass and will soon pass away. On the one hand, they would not be able to accomplish what was needed for the deliverance of the people; on the other, their oppressors had no power to continue their bondage, since they were like grass and must pass away. But Jehovah had all power, and was ever-enduring, and able to fulfil all his promises, especially those concerning Israel (Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 45:19; Isaiah 52:6; Isaiah 63:1; Jeremiah 44:28, Jeremiah 44:29). And the healing results are to be known by all mankind. III. THE VISION—The prophet is carried away in spirit to Palestine, and sees the fulfilment of the promise drawing near. He personifies Zion and Jerusalem, and calls upon them to lift up their voices and announce to the cities of Judah the approach of God. Perhaps he idealizes the city, or is thinking of the city out of sight—the spiritual commonwealth of which the earthly and visible one was the type. Lo! he comes! the God and Leader of the people returning to the city, the temple, the land. He will come in his might; the arm is the very symbol of his almightiness; and it rules "for him," i.e. for the peculiar people, the people of his possession. He comes to recompense his friends and to execute vengeance on his foes. The ruler of a people is fitly imaged as a shepherd, and they as his flock. And now he has sought and found his sheep again, and will once more lead them to green pastures (Jeremiah 31:10; Jeremiah 50:19; Ezekiel 34:11-16), and, as a good shepherd, will not overdrive the suckling ewes (Genesis 33:13). In the Syrian plains the frequent removal to fresh pastures is very destructive to the young, and shepherds may now be seen in the Orient carrying, on such occasions, the lambs in their bosoms. We need, by any means in our power, travel, and observation, to realize strongly the grave responsibility, the constant anxiety, the patient and unwearied tendance, connected with the shepherd’s life in the East. Compare such a life with that of the hunter, who, from watching, pursuing, outwitting wild beasts, comes to partake of their fierce and cunning nature. The life of the shepherd draws upon the fund of love and tenderness in his heart; it is a humanizing life, full of a fine education; elevating by means of condescension. Then how rich a symbol is the pastoral character of the nature of the redeeming God! And how do the numerous passages in the New Testament, in which Jesus is so described, start into life and beauty, when these things are considered (John 10:1-42.; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 5:4)! There is an ineffable union of might with tenderness in the character of the Redeemer-God, which should in some sort be reflected in the pastoral character of Christ’s servants (John 16:15-17).—J. Isaiah 40:12-18 Jehovah incomparable. I. HIS POWER OVER NATURE. The boldest imagery to express this thought: the "hollow of his hand;" his "span;" his "tierce," a small measure; his scales, with which he weighs the volumes of sea and laud, and measures the vast extent of heaven without an effort,—as we use the hand to weigh or to span! Far from taking offence at such figures, we feel them to be truthful, appropriate, sublime. The Creator is infinitely superior to his world. Vastness of space may overwhelm our imagination, but not his. His thought holds with ease the universe as a whole and in all its parts. "Thou hast ordered all things by measure and number and weight" (Wis. 11:20). Vain the "materialistic" dreams of students occupied too much with the physical and the phenomenal. The physical is the expression of the intellectual; the phenomenal but the "appearance’ of the real; the creation, the "garb we see God by." How much truer to what a spiritual religion teaches us is this view than that which would direct our wonder and our worship to the mere splendours of the material world, rather than to the great creative and informing spirit of the world! Isaiah, contemptuously speaking of the sea as held in God’s hand, as one might hold a drop of water, is a better poet than Byron, who apostrophizes the sea as a living being. II. THE OF HIS MIND. A theological difficulty is supposed to be alluded to. "Who hath regulated the mind of Jehovah? Was he himself absolutely free? May not Omnipotence itself be subject to conditions? May there not be an equal or superior power to whose counsels he must defer?" (Cheyne). Distinctly the prophet, without arguing the question, denies the truth of such an hypothesis. By the Spirit of God we mean the mind of God, which is "The life and light of all this wondrous world we see." The world is not "dead matter," but the creation of that intelligence, the vast poem, inspired by Divine thoughts that breathe and burn. Love is the last ground of all things, and conscience and intelligence are its ministers. God’s Being is simple, unique, absolutely original. In a like sense to that which we say the works of a great poet are his unassisted productions, does the prophet say the world is the work of God. "Contrast the Babylonian myth of a joint action of Bel and the gods in the creation of man; and the Iranian of co-creatorship of Ormuzd and the Amshaspands;" or the crude cosmogonic notions of the Greeks. All parts of the world, all habitable lands and nations, are dependent on him, derived from his will, subject to his power. How, then, can earth’s noblest products add anything to his riches, or further illustrate the glory of One to whom they already belong? The poverty of Judah in wood may be contrasted with the rich forests of Lebanon; but even Lebanon could not yield enough for his honour, if that honour is to be measured by the extent of the offerings. The nations, and all that is great and imposing in their life, are nought in his eyes; chaos may designate them in this contemptuous view. In short, he is incomparable. No illustration, analogy, similitude, ever thrown forth from the poet-soul and imagination in mankind, as no picture of painter, image of sculptor, will here avail. Nay, there must be moments when the very forms of thought into which everything must be thrown that we may see it at all, and even last of all, the richest and purest musical harmonies, must be set aside as inadequate. "All are too mean to speak his worth, Too mean to set our Maker forth." Nothing can surpass the simplicity and the sublimity of this view of God. Nothing less lofty will satisfy our intelligence or meet the yearnings of our heart. The idolatry we are so ready to lavish upon the finite object is the poor caricature of that immense delight which God demands we should enjoy in the thought of him, and which we cannot be satisfied until we have attained.—J. Isaiah 40:19-26 Idolatry ridiculous. A strong tone of irony and ridicule runs through the description; and nothing could better illustrate by contrast that sublime faith which has just been presented to our view. I. THE IMAGE WITH JEHOVAH. All our thought is composed of images, but what a descent from that image in the mind and solely there on which we have been dwelling, to yonder thing of metal, which the craftsman casts, and the goldsmith overlays with gold, and for which he forges chains of silver! Let art be honoured; let artists strive their best to give distinctness to thoughts that must otherwise wander in the vague. But if the concrete thing be thrust into the place of that spiritual reality it can but faintly suggest, it becomes an object of scorn instead of admiration. Have the great traditions of our fathers ended in this? What has that thing of your poor manufacture to do with the great scheme of things? II. THE ETERNAL . The prophet is astonished that men are blind and deaf to that eternal truth which has been announced from the beginning of the creation—the speech poured out from day to day, the declarations of every starry night. The works of God are the shadows of himself. "The whole system of the world is but a standing copy and representation of the Divine goodness, writing little images of itself upon every the least portion of this great body." "The night itself cannot conceal the glories of the heaven; but the moon and stars, those lesser lights, then show forth their lesser beauties. While the labourer ties down for his rest, the astronomer sits up and watches for his pleasure." When men were talking atheism around Napoleon on the passage to Africa, the great man exclaimed, pointing to the starry sky, "It is all very well for you to talk, gentlemen; but who made all that?" Again the prophet rises to that conception of the sublimity of Jehovah and the insignificance of man’s power in contrast with him, which may be called contrast in Hebrew thought. A series of "admiring exclamations" follows. Jehovah sits above the circle that over-arches the earth (Job 22:14; Proverbs 8:27); and men seem as insignificant insects in comparison (cf. Numbers 13:33). His vast hand has spread out the heavens like a curtain of fine cloth; they resemble a habitable tent—also an idea frequent in Hebrew poetry (Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12; Isaiah 51:13; Job 9:8; Zechariah 12:1). Thus the dimensions of nature suggest the majesty and infinitude of God. So the revolutions of the nations suggest the sovereignty and spiritual might of God. Men of weight are by him brought to nothing, and the judges of the earth become as worthless chaos. A magnificent city, with the tombs of departed and the palaces of living kings, is an imposing monument of human passion and human intelligence. Nineveh and Babylon "seemed planted for eternity, firmly rooted in the soil; but to the prophets, regarding them from the point of view of the future, they seemed as though they had never been." Prefound faith in the Eternal fills the mind with contempt for the gloria mundi, which seems to be withering in the very hour it most proudly flourishes. The prophet falls back upon the thought of the holy and incomparable One, who marshals the starry hosts, who is Lord of the physical universe and of the world of man’s spirits. We need to rest our thought upon the infinite power of God. Weak ourselves, we need to lean upon that which is strong and enduring. And here we are liable to many illusions—the illusion of the permanence of physical systems, the illusion of the permanence of human customs and institutions. God can cause the heavens to be shrivelled like a scroll, can efface the cities of the nation as if they were so many rubbish-heaps from the face of the earth. He and the soul alone abide.—J. Isaiah 40:27-31 Despondency reproved. I. THE OF THE PEOPLE. They feel themselves, or are tempted to feel themselves, forsaken of God. Their "way" seems to be hidden from him. The "way" is a figure for the course and condition of life. And is it not said in the first Psalm, "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous"? There are times when this cannot be realized. The truth of a providence over the national and the personal life—what more consoling? "Thou art with me;" "Thou God seest me:" what might is there hot, in such thoughts to "warn, to comfort, to command"? There are other moods, and thoughts of another complexion. We suffer, and God seems indifferent. There is a sense of the injustice of the world, and God does not defend us. "Our right has been let slip by our God." He has living oracles for others, nut for us. We gaze into his words; luminous to others, they radiate not their meaning upon us. Who and what is that God in whom we have been taught to believe? A name, and nothing more? These are, indeed, dark moments. "Passed and passed my turn is," says a modern poet, in describing the "fears and scruples" of the drooping and despondent soul. The worst is that the weakness which is subjective, in ourselves, we are tempted to throw out of ourselves—to project on God. He must be growing weary and faint, and something less than God. This mood the prophet meets (cf. Isaiah 49:14; Job 27:2). II. THE REPLY OF THE PROPHET. 1. He appeals to their intelligence. "Hast thou not perceived?" Look away from self and its restriction within the bonds of present distress; look at others who are expatiating on the "large places" of Jehovah’s goodness. Look at the silent heavens with their "goings on;" the march of the seasons; the recurrence of seed-time and harvest; consider the breath which stirs the souls of men to progress in wisdom, culture, peace, civilization. Contemplate as a whole and in its parts the marvellous mechanism of the human world. Divert thy thoughts from the little self-world to the immense universe. Listen as well as look—to the immemorial tradition; to the oracles that have lived and cannot die; to the deep voice of prophets and the music of psalmists; to the simple accents of the babes and sucklings. One immense harmony starts upon the ear and the heart; the loving and eternal God its central theme. "Oh, my brothers, God exists; believing love will relieve us of a load of care." Intelligence and conscience combine with the sacred unbroken traditions of the race, to assure us that he is what he was and where he was. 2. The attributes of Jehovah. An everlasting God. Mortality means fickleness and caprice. His Name means constancy, faithfulness. His covenants are irreversible. In the English Testament of the Jews, that grand Name, "the Eternal," is preserved. He is "Creator of the ends of the earth;" i.e. of the "whole earth from end to end." Babylonia, then, the seat of the exile, is not beyond Jehovah’s empire, as if he were only "the god of the hills of Palestine" (Cheyne). Creation infers providence. If God made the world, he governs it too. Men are dependent on him, and in their dependence is safety and bliss. He has no human infirmities: faints not, nor is weary. He works for his world both day and night (Genesis 1:5, etc.; Exodus 13:21; 1 Kings 8:29; Psalms 121:4). His unfathomable intelligence. (Cf. Job 5:9; Job 9:10; cf. Isaiah 34:1-17:24; 36:26.) Therefore there was a "wise purpose" in all this present procedure of providence, so dark as it seemed. We look upon the wavering ripples on the surface of the river; but the sunbeam strikes upon them with directness and certainty. And "God’s hand is as steady as his eye." His self-communication. "Man’s weakness, waiting upon God, its end can never miss." For he is self-imparting; and if there be a void in us, it is that he may fill it; a weakness in us, that his strength may be seen consummate in it. "Unto the powerless he maketh strength to abound." 3. The wisdom of waiting. Waiting! How much is included in that word! Faith, and hope, and endurance, and strength. Take the most vivid image of strength: the youth in his athletic vigour—the agile wrestler, the nimble runner. Is he strong? Nay, he shall stumble, while the stationary, waiting one "gathers fresh force." He seems to be on the wane, to be losing the dew and brightness of his youth. ’Tis but the moulting of the old eagle of fable—he will put forth fresh feathers. With "ages on his plumes," i.e. will still be travelling on. These waiters ate the stayers in the race. They may appear as stationary as earth itself; they roll on by the same momentum, they are the agents of the same force. Exertion without God: what more impotent? impotence touched by God’s breath, God’s hand: what can it not do? "Wait, I say, on the Lord."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Divine consolations. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION II.— OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD FROM THEIR SIN, AND FROM THEIR BONDAGE IN BABYLON (CH. 41-48.). Isaiah 41:1-7 OF THE , AND EFFECT ON THE NATIONS. Isaiah returns to the standpoint of Isa 40:9-11. A deliverer of Israel is about to appear. The nations are therefore summoned to attend, and consider the facts (Isaiah 40:1). He will carry all before him (Isaiah 40:2, Isaiah 40:3), being raised up by God (Isaiah 40:4). The nations will tremble, and seek the protection of their idol-deities (Isaiah 40:5-7). Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands. God is the speaker. The "islands," or maritime lands of Western Asia, are to be silent before him, pondering the facts with a view to future argument. "Then let them speak" (see Isaiah 41:21-29). Let the people renew their strength; rather, the peoples or the nations; i.e. the inhabitants of the maritime tracts. To judgment; i.e. to a discussion,, which shall terminate in a right verdict. Isaiah 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man, etc.? rather, who raised up from the East one whom righteousness will call to his foot. It is generally agreed among moderns that the reference is to Cyrus, who is further referred to in Isaiah 41:25, in Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1-4, Isaiah 45:13; and Isaiah 46:11. Cyrus, whether we regard him as King of Persia, or as King of Elam (Susiana), would come from a land lying east of Babylon. "Righteousness called him to his foot" when God, the Righteous One, made him his minister, and gave him a certain task to perform (Isaiah 44:28). Gave the nations before him; rather, gives, or will give. That he was God’s instrument must be admitted by all who allow that the course of history is determined by a superintending Providence. Made him rule over kings. Mr. Cheyne translates, "makes him trample upon kings," which seems to give the true sense. It was certainly not the general policy of Cyrus to establish under him a number of subject kings, but rather to rule the conquered countries by means of Persian or Median governors He gave them as the dust to his sword, etc.; or, according to some, he maketh their sword as dust, and their bow as driven stubble. The result is the same, whichever we regard as the true construction. The prophecy tells of the ease and completeness with which Cyrus vanquished his enemies. Isaiah 41:3 He pursued them, and passed safely; rather, he shall pursue them, and shall pass on in safety. Even by the way that he had not gone with his feet; rather, a path with his feet he shall not tread. ,The meaning seems to be that he will dispense with customary paths, making his advance everywhere over all obstacles, by untrodden ways. Compare the frequent boasts of the Assyrian kings: "To the recesses of the deep forests and the peaks of the difficult mountains, which had never been trodden by the foot of man, I ascended’. "Difficult mountain chains, and inaccessible hills, which none of our kings had ever previously reached—tedious paths and unopened roads—I traversed". "The lands of Sihak, of Arda, of Ulayan, of Alluria, inaccessible mountains, impossible for the horses, and inaccessible for myself, I went through". Isaiah 41:4 Who hath wrought and done it? i.e. "by whom has this mighty conqueror been raised up?" Can any of the idol-gods claim him as their protege? Assuredly not. He is my work; I, Jehovah, that have called (into being) the generations (of man) from the beginning (of the world)—I, Jehovah, the First, and with the last, am he that he has done this thing. By "the First, and with the last"—a favourite phrase in these later chapters (see Isaiah 45:6 and Isaiah 48:12)—seems to be meant simply "the Eternal" (comp. Revelation 1:8, Revelation 1:11, Revelation 1:17; Revelation 2:8; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:13). Isaiah 41:5 The isles saw it, and feared. A general terror seized the nations on the conquest of the Medes by Cyrus. Croesus of Lydia, Nabonidus of Babylon, and Amasis of Egypt, were at once drawn together by the common danger, and made alliance offensive and defensive (Herod; 1.77). The weaker tribes and peoples gave themselves up for lost. Scarcely any resistance seems to have been offered to the Persian arms by the tribes between the Halys and Indus, the Jaxartes and the Indian Ocean. Lydia and Babylon alone made a stout fight; but even these were conquered without very much difficulty. The ends of the earth … drew near; i.e. distant nations held (will hold) consultation together on the danger which threatens them. The league of Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt is the only known instance of such "drawing near" (see the preceding note). Isaiah anticipates marked consultations and exhortations with respect to the idol-gods, in which trust should be put; but perhaps he is scarcely serious in verses 6, 7. Rather he is indulging his sarcastic humour at the expense of the idols and of those who put their trust in them. Isaiah 41:7 The carpenter, etc. (comp. Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20 for the variety of workmen employed in the production of idols). Each encourages the others to manufacture a right good god. When all is done, there is, however, need of soldering, and of nails, that the wretched object may be kept erect, and not show its weakness by falling, like Dagon, upon its own threshold (1 Samuel 5:4). Isaiah 41:8-20 A PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF GOD’S AND SUPPORT THROUGH THE PERIOD THAT IS . Israel is assured (1) of God’s faithfulness (Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:9); (2) of special divinely infused strength (Isaiah 41:10); (3) of the infusion of weakness into their enemies (Isaiah 41:11, Isaiah 41:12); (4) of external Divine aid (Isaiah 41:13, Isaiah 41:14); (5) of an aggressive vigour that shall enable them to scatter their foes (Isaiah 41:15, Isaiah 41:16); and (6) of spiritual refreshment even amidst their worst sufferings (Isaiah 41:17-19). The eye of the prophet travels perhaps, in part, beyond the period of the Captivity; but he is mainly bent on giving the people grounds of comfort and trust during that trying time. Isaiah 41:8 Israel … my servant (comp. Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:2, Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 49:3-6, etc.). The title characterizes these later chapters, and, while standing no doubt in some special relation to the "Servant of Jehovah" who is the subject of Isa 42:1-5; Isaiah 49:5-7, etc; is perhaps mainly selected, and dwelt on, to console Israel in captivity, when servants of the King of Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:20), by the thought that their true Master was God himself, and that to him, and him only, did they really belong. Jacob whom I have chosen (comp. Isaiah 44:1). (On this "choice," and the love which it implied, see Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Deuteronomy 10:15) Abraham my friend; or, Abraham that loved me. It was the special privilege of Abraham to be known as God’s friend (see 2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23) among the Hebrews, even as he is among the Arabs to this day. The "friendship" intended comprised, no doubt, both an active and a passive element, but it is the active element which the word principally enforces. Abraham loved God, and showed his love by his obedience. Isaiah 41:9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth; i.e. from Ur of the Chaldees (Mugheir in Lower Babylonia), and again from Egypt, another "end of the earth" compared with Palestine. The prophet views Palestine as Israel’s true habitat, whatever may be its temporary abiding-place. From the chief men thereof. Most moderns translate "from the corners thereof;" but atsilim has the meaning of "chief men" in the only other place where it occurs (Exodus 24:11). And not cast thee away. Not even when in exile was Israel "cast away." God’s care was still extended over them. Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not. This verse is most closely connected with the two preceding. The clauses in Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:9 are one and all vocative; here the verb follows. The whole passage is one of great tenderness. I am with thee, on the force of the word" Immanuel"). I will strengthen thee; rather, I have strengthened thee, or I have chosen thee (Delitzsch, Cheyne). The two other verbs are also in the past tense. While primarily they declare past favours, they may also be regarded as prophetic of future ones, since "with God is no variableness.’ Isaiah 41:11, Isaiah 41:12 As Israel would grow strong through God’s help, so her enemies would grow weak through God’s disfavour. That enemies of all kinds may be seen to be included, the designation is four times varied—"they that are angry with thee;" "that are at strife with thee;" "that are in conflict with thee;" "that are at war with thee." The order is one of climax. Similarly, with each augmentation of the hostility there is an augmentation of the sentence of punishment—"shall be covered with shame;" "shall perish;" "shall not be found;" "shall become as nothingness." Isaiah 41:13 I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand. God himself will be their Strength, will personally interfere on their behalf, taking them as it were by their right hand. Saying unto thee; rather, I who say to thee. Isaiah 41:14 Thou worm Jacob. Though in thyself the weakest of the weak, grovelling in the dust, a mere worm (Job 25:6; Psalms 22:6), yet thou hast no cause to fear, since God sustains thee. Ye men of Israel; rather, ye handful, Israel (Delitzsch). The term used is one of disparagement, corresponding to the "worm" of the parallel clause. Few and weak though they be, God’s people need not fear. Thy Redeemer. The word goel, here used for the first time by Isaiah, is frequent throughout the later chapters (Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 47:4; Isaiah 48:17; Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 54:5, Isaiah 54:8; Isaiah 59:20; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 63:16). It is used for the "nearest of kin," and "avenger of blood," in the Levitical Law, but has a sense similar to that of the present passage in Job 19:25; Psalms 19:14: Psalms 78:35: Psalms 103:4; Proverbs 23:11; and Jeremiah I. 34. The sense "redeem" belongs to the verb of which goal is the participle, in Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:13; Le Exodus 25:25, Exodus 25:33, 48, 49; Exodus 27:13, Exodus 27:19, Exodus 27:21, etc. The Holy One of Israel Isaiah’s favourite designation of the Almighty in his covenant relationship to Israel, used eleven times in the earlier chapters (Isaiah 1:1-31:35.), once in the middle or historical portion, and thirteen times in the later chapters (Isaiah 40:1-31:66.); only used elsewhere in Psalms 71:22; Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:18; Jeremiah 1:1-19:29; and Jeremiah 51:5. Isaiah 41:15 I will make thee a new sharp threshing-instrument. Israel is to be more than sustained. Strength is to be given her to take the aggressive, and to subdue her enemies under her. She is to "thresh them" and "beat them small," as with a threshing-instrument. In the literal sense, no earlier accomplishment of this prophecy can be pointed out than the time of the Maccahean war. Metaphorically, it may be said that Israel began to conquer the world when her literature became known to the Greeks through the expedition of Alexander the Great, and completed her conquest when the Roman empire succumbed to the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Having teeth. Threshing-instruments of the kind described are still in use in Syria and Asia Minor. The corn is spread out on the ground, and the machine, which is sometimes armed with sharp stones, sometimes with saws, is dragged ever it. The Arabic name is still noreg, a modification of the Hebrew moreg. Thou shalt thresh the mountains … the hills; i.e. "thou shalt subdue proud and mighty foes" (Delitzsch). Isaiah 41:17-20 The crowning promise is that of spiritual support and refreshment through’ the dull and dreary time of the Captivity, during which Israel dwells as it were in a desert, without water, or shade, or the relief to the eye which is furnished by the greenery of trees and shrubs. God was able to make of this "wilderness a standing water, and water-springs of the dry ground" (Psalms 107:35), and he promises to do so (Isaiah 41:18). The soul that longs for him, that thirsts after him, feeling that it dwells "in a barren and dry land, where no water is" (Psalms 63:1), shall be relieved and satisfied by a revelation of God’s presence, and an outpouring of his grace unusually copious and abundant. God’s grace is shadowed out under the two similitudes of water and verdure, as in Isaiah 35:7, and, to some extent, in Isaiah 30:23-25. Isaiah 41:17 The poor and needy; i.e. primarily, Israel in captivity; but secondarily, also, the "poor in spirit," and those that feel the need of God’s grace, everywhere and at all times. Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers in high places (comp. Isaiah 30:25). If even the "high places" had water, much more would-the low ground—the valleys—be abundantly supplied. The abundance is indicated by the fourfold designation of the water-supply, as coming from (1) rivers; (2) fountains (or wells); (3) pools; and (4) springs (comp. Isaiah 41:11, Isaiah 41:12). Isaiah 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, etc. The "glory of Lebanon," the "excellency of Carmel and Sharon" (Isaiah 35:2), shall be given to the "wilderness," wherein Israel dwells. The trees named are the choicest of Syria and Palestine, viz. the cedar (erez). the great glory of Libanus; the acacia (shittah), abundant in the Jordan valley; the myrtle (hadas), which grew on the hills about Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8:15); the olive, cultivated over the whole country; the fir (berosh), or juniper. a product of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 2:8); the plane (tidhar), a tree far from uncommon in Coele-syria, sometimes growing to a great size; and the sherbin (teasshur), a sort of cedar, remarkable for the upward tendency of its branches. The list of names shows a writer familiar with the Palestinian region, but not familiar with Babylonia. Isaiah 41:20 That they may see, etc. The change would be such that those who experienced it could not fail to recognize "Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel," as its Author. Isaiah 41:21-29 JEHOVAH’S WITH THE NATIONS AND THEIR IDOL-GODS. The argument is now taken up from Isaiah 41:1-4. Jehovah and his worshippers are on the one side; the idol-gods and their votaries on the other. The direct challenge, however, is given by Jehovah himself to the idols: 1. What predictions of their own can they bring forward as proofs of supernatural knowledge? 2. What indications can they give of power either to do good or to do evil (Isaiah 41:22, Isaiah 41:23)? If they can do neither, they are vanity (Isaiah 41:24). Jehovah has both reared up Cyrus he and he only—and has announced the good tidings to his people (Isaiah 41:25-27). No such announcement has been made by the idol-gods; they are therefore mere "wind and confusion" (Isaiah 41:28, Isaiah 41:29). Isaiah 41:21 Produce your cause. The nations had been told to "draw near"—to "keep silence" while God spoke—and "then to speak" (Isaiah 41:1). Now the time for them to speak is come, and they are challenged to "produce" and plead "their cause." Your strong reasons; literally, your bulwarks, or defences. Saith the King of Jacob. The king and tutelary god of the nation, Israel, really holding the position that the idol-gods were regarded as holding towards the peoples that worshipped them. The "kingly" character of the idol-gods was indicated in such names as Moloch (equivalent to "king"), Melkarth (equivalent to "king of the city"), Adrammelech (equivalent to "glorious king"), Baal (equivalent to "lord"), Adonis (equivalent to "my lord"), etc. Isaiah 41:22 Let them … show us what will happen. God claims that the power of predicting the future is his own inalienable prerogative. He defies the idol-gods and their votaries to give any clear prediction of future events. No doubt the claim to possess the power was made very generally among the idolatrous nations, who almost universally practised divination, and in many cases possessed oracles. But it was a false claim, based upon fraud and cunning, which deceived men as often as dependence was placed upon it (Herod; 1:53, 91) and landed them in misfortune. The former things … things for to come. Some commentators regard "the former things" as things actually past—"the beginnings of history, for instance, which to the heathen nations were wrapped in darkness" (Kay); but it seems better, on the whole, to understand (with Vitringa, Stier, Hahn, Cheyne, and Delitzsch) by "the former things" those in the immediate future, by "things for to come" those about to happen in remoter times. The former are, of course, much the easier to predict, since they fall to some extent within the domain of human foresight; the latter are more difficult; but the idol-gods are challenged to produce either the one or the other. What they be. A definite and clear statement is required to preclude such vague and ambiguous utterances as the heathen oracles delighted to put forth. That we may consider them (or, lay them to heart), and know the latter end of them; i.e. compare them with the event, when the time comes. Isaiah 41:23 Yea, do good, or do evil. Here the proof required of the idol-gods is changed. If they cannot prophesy, can they effect anything? Can they do either good or harm? Let them show this. It is a plain "abatement" from the first demand, and therefore properly introduced by "yea" (aph); comp. 1 Kings 8:27. That we may be dismayed; i.e. rather, perhaps, that we may look to it, or examine it; i.e. see if yon have really shown a power of doing anything. Isaiah 41:24 A pause may be supposed between Isaiah 41:23 and Isaiah 41:24, during which the idol-gods are given the opportunity of "bringing, forth their strong reasons," and, in one way or other, proving their Divinity. But they are stricken dumb; they say nothing. Accordingly, "judgment goes against them by default" (Cheyne), and Jehovah breaks out upon them with words of contempt and contumely, Behold, ye are of nothing, etc. "Ye are utterly vain and futile." Isaiah 41:25 It remains for Jehovah to plead his own cause, to vindicate his own Divinity. He adduces, as proof of his power in action, the fact of his raising up Cyrus; as proof of his ability to predict, the fact that he has announced his coming. One from the north … from the rising of the sun. Both as a Persian, and as King of Elam, Cyrus might be considered to come from the east. In fact, however, when he attacked Babylon, he fell upon it mainly from the north. After his conquest of Astyages (Istivegu), he made Ecbatana his capital (Herod; 1.153); and it was from this comparatively northern city that he directed his attack upon Nabonidus. His march lay by way of Arbela and Sippara, through the district called Akkad to the Chaldean capital. Herodotus agrees with the monuments in bringing him to Babylon from the north. Shall he call upon my Name; or, shall he. proclaim my Name. (For the actual proclamation of Jehovah’s Name by Cyros, see Ezra 1:3; and note especially the phrase, "He [i.e. Jehovah] is the God.") Recent discoveries have raised the suspicion that Cyrus was a eyncretist, who was willing to accept the chief god of any nation as identical with his own Ormuzd. But it is to be borne in ’mind that the document which has produced this impression is one issued by the priestly authorities of Babylon in their own language, and may have been quite unknown to the Persian court. Cyrus may have been a better Zoroastrian than he is represented by the priests of Merodach. The Zoroastrian religion was, as Delitzsch observes, "nearest to the Jewish religion of all the systems of heathenism". He shall come upon princes as upon mortar; i.e. he shall tread them underfoot, mortar being commonly mixed with the feet, as was also clay for bricks and pottery (Herod; 2.36). The chief" princes" whom Cyrus is known to have conquered were Astyages of Media, Croesus of Lydia, and Nabenidus of Babylon. He was studiously mild in his treatment of royal captives, but naturally deprived them of all power. Isaiah 41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning? Which of the idol-gods has announced the coming of a conqueror? If any, we on Jehovah’s side are quite willing to acknowledge it, and to say, He is righteous; or rather, he is right. But, in fact, there is none of them that showeth, none that declareth—no one has heard of any such announcement as delivered by any of them. Isaiah 41:27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them; rather, the first has said. By "the first" must certainly be meant Jehovah—" the First, and with the last" of Isaiah 41:4. He has already announced to Zion her deliverance (see Isaiah 40:9-11; Isaiah 41:2, etc.). I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. Perhaps Isaiah himself (Grotius, Stier, Delitzsch). Perhaps some prophet of the Captivity, as Daniel, who "knew by books" when the Captivity was drawing to a close (Daniel 9:2), and may be supposed to have announced the good tidings to the other exiles. Isaiah 41:28 For I beheld. "Jehovah once more looks round to see if any of the idols possess an ability to prophesy, but in vain" (Cheyne). He finds no counsellor, i.e. no prophet, among them. Hence the final "outburst of scorn" in Isaiah 41:29, which, however, is directed primarily against the idol-worshippers, and, only through them, against the idols. Isaiah 41:14-20 God’s strength made perfect in weakness. It is when Jacob is brought so low that his only fitting designation is "thou worm," and Israel is so reduced as to be a mere "handful of men," that the promise is made of the triumphant crushing of enemies, and scattering of them "like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor." It is when the nation generally feels itself to be "poor and needy" (Isaiah 41:17), when it is as it were at the last gasp, actually perishing of thirst, that it is raised to paradisaical bliss, that it finds itself in a veritable "garden of Eden." Exaltation follows abasement, not however by any mere law of alternation, as if men having reached the very bottom of the wheel of fortune must begin to rise, much less by any mere caprice of the power that rules the universe, but by the law of moral fitness. "He that would be great among you let him be your servant." It is when men, chastened by God’s afflicting rod, abase themselves in the dust, feeling and acknowledging their weakness, and throwing themselves wholly upon God for strength and power, that they are most fit to become his instruments for the chastisement of others, and to occupy a high position among the nations. His strength is made perfect in their weakness; and this for two principal reasons. I. IT IS FOR GOD’S GLORY THAT HE SHOULD ASSERT HIS POWER BY WEAK . The poorer the instrument, the more evident that it is the workman to whom the work is due. Egypt is subdued by plagues of frogs and lice and locusts. Sisera falls by the hand of a woman. The Midianites are smitten by the three hundred who lapped with the tongue (Judges 7:5-22). David slays Goliath of Gath with a sling end a stone. Great miracles are wrought by a rod, a word, some spittle. And so also with the events that revolutionize the world. "Big battalions" do not always carry the day. The host of Zerah is smitten by Asa (2 Chronicles 14:9-12). Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings are repulsed by "the young men of the princes of the provinces" (1 Kings 20:1-20). Cyrus, with a handful of Persian rustics, defeats Astyages. Three hundred Greeks decimate the myriads of Xerxes at Thermopylae. Judas Maccabaeus, with a few thousands, destroys half a dozen Syrian armies three or four times as numerous (1 Macc. 4:26-34:; 7:40-47; 2 Mace. 12:13-37; 15:20-28). God’s hand is the more clearly seen, the weaker and poorer the means that he uses. II. IT IS FOR MAN’S THAT HE SHOULD HAVE IT UPON HIM THAT HIS ARE NOT DUE TO HIMSELF. As man’s arrogance is one of the chief causes of God’s judgments upon him, it is well that success should be given him under circumstances which make it almost impossible that he should ascribe the merit of it to his own efforts or abilities. Best, far best for him to know that it is "when he is weak, that he is strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). So long as we are conscious that we are instruments, we are less inclined to exalt ourselves, to be puffed up, to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We feel our dependence upon God, realize his power upholding us, lean upon him, and have a sweet satisfaction in so leaning. As our day is, so we feel that our strength will be (Deuteronomy 33:25). His grace will be always sufficient, just sufficient, for us. So we avoid all boasting and self-complacency, and are able to "rest in the Lord," to "stay upon him" and to maintain a perpetual consciousness of his mighty arm supporting us. The futility and absurdity of false systems do not prevent them from keeping their hold on men. At the present day, men are apt to find it strange that the prophets should spend so much time, employ so many words, in confuting idolatry and showing it to be utter and absolute folly. To us of the present age the absurdity seems palpable and gross—therefore not worth arguing against. But systems of religion or of irreligion, whenever they have become established and have got possession of men’s minds, are very hard to root out. Those who have been brought up in them, who have been accustomed all their lives to bear them spoken of as undoubtedly true, who have found all those about them of one mind respecting them, can with difficulty be persuaded that there is any absurdity in notions with which they have been from infancy familiar. The force of prejudice is in most minds stronger than the force of reason, and often renders men impervious to all argument which runs counter to their long-cherished opinions. Still, as nothing but argument can shake such opinions, it has to be used, nay, to be insisted on, to be reiterated, to be dinned into people’s ears, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Many systems quite as absurd as idolatry have been accepted by men, and have stood them in the stead of true religion for centuries: some such are accepted even at the present day. An instance of the former kind may be found in the system of Democritus and Epicurus; instances of the latter in the pantheism of India and the more fashionable theory of evolution. I. THE SYSTEM OF AND . TO suppose the universe nothing but a congeries of minute atoms, existing from all eternity, and moving as chance directs, combining accidentally into forms more or less permanent and after a while falling apart, ungoverned by any mind, without object, intention, or cause; and to suppose life, intelligence, thought, the accidental results of certain positions or combinations of the atoms;—is a theory so intrinsically absurd and ridiculous, that it might have seemed impossible for the wildest fancy to have conceived it, much more of any man of sane mind to have persuaded himself of its truth. Yet this theory, elaborated by Democritus and Leucippus about b.c. 430-400, embraced by Epicurus about b.c. 300-270, and recommended by the genius of Lucretius about b.c. 75, became the favourite creed of educated Greeks and Romans in the century before and the century after our era. St. Paul found two sects predominant at Athens—Stoics and Epicureans. Epicureans preponderated in Italy, where their treatises are found to have been the favorite reading of the rich men who built their villas on the soft shores of the bay of Naples, at the fashionable watering-place of Herculaneum. Among the adversaries which Christianity had to meet and subdue, this Epicurean philosophy was one of the most formidable. II. THE OF INDIA. That God exists and nothing else; that he is "the One without a second;" that individual men are God, duplications of him, imagining themselves separate; that the material world is absolutely non-existent; and that all sights and sounds and actions are "illusions," cheats, nonentities with a semblance of being;—this, which is the creed of the educated Hindoo, is another belief so contradictory to common sense, that it might have been supposed impossible of acceptance by any considerable number el men. It is held, however, by thousands, who see no absurdity in it, and arc convinced that it is the only rational theory of existence; and, so far as present appearances go, there seems to be no probability that either Christianity or modern science will succeed in shaking the belief, however absurd it may be and however mischievous. III. THE MODERN THEORY OF . The spontaneous origin of life from inorganic matter, the development of protoplasm from molecules, of vegetable life from protoplasm, of animal life from vegetable life, and of humanity from advanced animals, which, though a pure hypothesis, has been accepted almost universally by physicists in the present day, is intrinsically as absurd and unthinkable a theory as either Epicureanism or Hindoo pantheism. But its absurdity is not seen by those who have been taught it from the time that they first turned their attention to physical science, who find it accepted by all their teachers, and assumed as a basis by every book that is put into their hands, who live as it were in an atmosphere saturated with evolutionism, and absorb it with every breath that they inhale. The time will probably come, perhaps after no great delay, when a reaction will set in, and the ability of unintelligent matter to improve itself and advance to perfection will be seen to be as absurd and as self-contradictory as the ability of images carved out of wood and stone to affect the course of events—to "do good or to do evil." Meanwhile, however, the existing false system is almost as impervious to argument and criticism as was the system of heathen idolatry. It has possession of the field (the so-called scientific field), as that had of the general field of human society; it supports itself by a number of interconnected propositions, no one of which rests upon any sure basis; and it does not even perceive the force of the arguments which are brought against it. Thus it may keep its hold upon men for some considerable time, before it takes its final place as "a chapter in the history of human error." BY E. JOHNSON Argument with the nations. Jehovah calls the countries to "come silently" unto him. Let the people pluck up what strength they may have, and let the cause between them and Jehovah come to the tribunal of reason. Have the idols any spiritual power? or is Jehovah only the true God? 1. THE CAREER OF CYRUS. This great man has, in the prophet’s thought, a vocation from God. He is the minister of the Divine righteousness (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 45:13). Cyrus is supported by the unseen might of Jehovah, who gives peoples into his hands, makes him tread on the necks of kings, whose swords turn to dust, whose warlike bow becomes as powerless as stubble driven before the blast. On the hero goes, in swift; pursuit, penetrating into trackless districts, or those inaccessible to the ordinary traveller, where he cannot be followed. Or the meaning may be, his passage is swift as that of eagle or vulture (Isaiah 46:11), and he leaves no trace of his feet behind. Now, "who hath produced and carried out this?" "In all religions men have found it necessary, in any great action, to engage some other agent and principle beside the man himself. The god becomes coadjutor in every noble or heroic achievement. Homer brings in Diomed and Ulysses, assisted by Mars and Pallas—one notable for acts of valour, and the other for those of counsel and wisdom; and the like is said of many others." And now which of the heathen gods has been the coadjutor of Cyrus? Why, he has come to overthrow the worshippers of the heathen gods. The deities are chiefly bound up with the futures of their peoples, and with them they fall. Who, then, can have raised up the great conqueror and destroyer, but he who alone abides—who called forth the generations from the beginning of "the vanished past and the vanishing present," who is Alpha and Omega, who preceded all, and will be self-existent in the ages to come. The expression, "I am he," briefly and suggestively conveys this idea of self-existence, of eternity (Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 48:12; Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalms 102:28): "Thou art he, and thy years will not come to an end." Also Psalms 44:5. "The nameless, he whose nod is Nature’s birth." II. THE ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLES. The decision of the question is postponed; but a scene of alarm among the peoples is depicted. They have heard the news of Cyrus’s conquests; the world is shuddering with apprehension. They huddle together like a frightened flock of sheep, trying to impart to one another a courage not really felt. The carpenter and the caster and the goldsmith are all busy among the Western nations, making "a particularly good and strong set of gods." A significant touch is the last—one is strengthening an idol with nails, for fear it should fall, which would be an omen full of dread, as the fall of Dagon of the Philistines may remind us. And so, even as Elijah with the worshippers of Baal, the prophet employs that irony and ridicule which is the test of truth, against the idolaters. And the scene may be regarded as a standing satire against all weak, anxious, fussy resort to human means and devices, and to idle superstitions, when the name of true religion has been paralyzed, when faith in the spiritual and eternal is extinct.—J. Isaiah 41:8-13 The blessed condition of Israel. I. ISRAEL IS THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH. There can be no higher title of honour, privilege, affection, than son. Though the designation reminds us of the infinite distance between God and man, in another way it reminds us of his nearness. The Master and Lord is here the loving and protecting Patron and Friend; the servant, one who reciprocates his affection. They are the descendants of Abraham, who "loved God." The title "reminds the Jews that they had come very far short of their ideal, but at the same time inspires a well-grounded hope that Abraham’s "love" will call forth the Divine mercy towards his seed." II. THE PEOPLE IS CHOSEN OF GOD. And the choice of God is irretractable (Romans 2:29). And the election was made manifest in a wondrous history. They had been fetched from the ends of the earth. The patriarch from Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia; Israel from Egypt. And what are the consequences of this Divine choice? All that is most dear and precious in the relation of marriage or in that of friendship may be called to mind. The nation is wedded to an all-powerful Husband, is linked to a faithful Protector and Friend. Then she may enjoy fearless freedom from fear; the just hand will uphold her. And all her enemies will be thrown into shame and confusion; those that strove with her be brought to nought. Held fast in the right hand of God, Israel may ever hear the assuring word, "Fear not; I do help thee." He is One "who gives salvation to kings;" with one hand giving the Law, with the other defending the obedient. Omniscience watches over the chosen, and omnipotence supports them. Among other "gifts and graces" let us recognize courage and resolution. Timidity, faint-heartedness, is a universal weakness, and the higher or sacred courage one of the rarest possessions of the soul. Perhaps, next to wisdom, it is Heaven’s greatest gift. It "gives and obtains kingdoms, turns swords into sceptres, crowns the valiant with victory, and the victorious often with a diadem." Presence of mind: what can impart it like the feeling that God is ever with us, that our feeble hand is enclosed in his? "It is a kind of ecstasy and inspiration, a beam of Divine light darting in upon reason, and exalting it to a pitch of operation beyond its natural and accustomed measures. Perhaps there was never any person in the world remarkably and heroically great, without some such kind of enthusiasm—a mighty principle which at certain times raised him up to strange, unaccountable heights of wisdom and courage. He who in the strength of such a spirit can look the most menacing dangers in the face, and, when the state of all things about him seems desperate, can yet bear his great heart above despair—such a one for the most part makes fortune itself bend and lull down to him, difficulties vanish, and dangers fly before him; so much is victory the claim of the valiant, and success the birthright of the bold."—J. Isaiah 41:14-16 Weakness made strong. "A fine touch is lost in the English here. In the Hebrew, Israel is addressed in the feminine gender, as a weak and suffering woman. It is not so in the preceding verses, and in Isaiah 41:15 the prophet significantly reverts to the masculine" (Cheyne). I. THE OF . Jacob is a worm, Israel a "petty folk." This was, we know, a clear historic fact. It was not by armies or by navies, by numerous fortresses and serried ranks, and an impregnable land, that she was strong. She was "diminutive Israel," as the LXX. render. At this moment she might well be thought of as a poor, trembling, defenceless woman. In that one simple oracle, "I will help thee, saith Jehovah," realized, lay her might; and all possible might was there. It is not in human nature to depend where it can stand alone. It is when we feel "what worthless worms are we," that the contrast of God’s almightiness comes upon us, and the sense that we may connect ourselves with it. Thrown upon our own resources, and finding them at an end, we "catch at God’s skirts, and pray." Then it is no longer we, but our enemies, who fear. We cannot have too low an opinion of ourselves, nor too high an opinion of God. He is here described as the Goel, the Defender of the right, the Avenger of the wrongs of his people. He is the redeeming God (Isaiah 47:3, Isaiah 47:4; Jeremiah 50:33, Jeremiah 50:34). The verbal root means to ransom by the payment of a price, and to deliver from danger, distress, captivity. II. MADE STRONG. This petty nation shall become a power against which nothing can stand. Israel becomes as a threshing-roller, sharp, new, and double-edged, which shall crush the mountains, and make the hills as chaff; he shall winnow the nations, and they shall be scattered. With the two-edged sword in their hand, they will execute vengeance on the heathen, and punishments on the people, binding their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron (Psalms 149:1-9.). Perhaps the allusion is to the Maccabean period, and to the glorious wars of the Jews under the priests Simon and Hyrcanus, against the kings of Syria. The oracle which begins by touching the chord of humility ends with the note of boasting: "Thou shalt exult in Jehovah, and in Israel’s Holy One shalt make thy boast" Thus the spirit of the true Israel is the spirit of true religion, the spirit of Christ exemplified in St. Paul: "I will glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."—J. Isaiah 41:17-29 The claims of Jehovah. The thought seems to resume the thread broken off at the beginning of the chapter. Jehovah appeals to what he has done and to what he is. I. HIS WITH HIS PEOPLE. The scene and state of exile is brought before us. They are dwelling in the "tents of Kedar." They are in the midst of a flourishing commercial empire; yet it is to them as a desert where no water is (cf. Psalms 63:1). The true desert is the soul without the sense of God’s presence. But God is not limited by place; and why, in lands of exile, should not the spiritual be as near as at home? The mind is its own place, and can be made happy if it only possesses God. This highest happiness is figured as abundance of streams among the bare hills and the highland plains. In the Orient, water is synonymous with relief from intense suffering, deliverance from death—in a word, with gladness, salvation, life itself; and the sight of lovely Paradises as they were called, i.e. parks of trees—the stately cedar, and the brilliant plane and others. Such scenery enters into pictures of the Greek Elysium, and probably of the happiness of the future life among other nations, and doubtless with a correspondence to the truth. Trees and living water: what more beautiful parable can Nature offer of the eternal energy of the living God? what better hint of the future state reserved for his chosen? The design of all these merciful and wonderful deliverances is that Jehovah’s nature may be unveiled, and that the nations may contemplate it with reverence and joy—"that they may at once see, and acknowledge, and consider, and understand, that Jehovah’s hand hath performed this, and Israel’s Holy One hath created it." II. JEHOVAH’S . Let the gods of the heathen bring forward their cause; let them point out the bulwarks of argument behind which they entrench themselves. The "King of Jacob" calls these daemonic patrons and kings of other peoples to confront him. Have they insight into the future? Can they predict the coming event? Can they "declare the roots of the future in the past, or give a direct forecast of the future? God alone can reveal the secrets of the past. If the idols can do this, they are Jehovah’s equals, and may be trusted for their ability to predict the future" (according to some, this is the meaning). Or let them do some signal deed, whether of good or evil, and prove at least that they are alive. Some wonder should be performed, at which. mankind may gaze, and by which they may be convinced. But judgment must go by default. The gods "can show no prophecies, cannot so much as speak, are dumb, not gods (Habakkuk 2:18)." And they must be known for what they are—"nothing in the world." III. SUMMARY OF . Jehovah raised up Cyrus. When called from the north, he came; and from the east, he shall proclaim Jehovah’s Name, and diffuse his worship. Some see (combining this oracle with that in Isaiah 65:3-7) the announcement of a spiritual change in Cyrus. He is made to say that Jehovah gave him all the kingdoms of the earth, and charged him to build a house at Jerusalem (Ezra 1:2). He may have come to believe in the God of the Jews, and so to be their brother. The Persians were monotheists, and held a missionary religion. And the Jews may have recognized such a religion as that of Jehovah (cf. Malachi 1:11; Acts 10:35; Acts 17:23). And projecting themselves to the time of the fulfilment of the prediction, Jehovah and his worshippers point to it as evidence of the truth of the religion. And while Jehovah announces the good news of his return to Zion, that is, of Israel’s redemption, the idols are dumb. They have no help, no counsel, to give; for they are vanity, nothingness, wind and chaos. Compare with this nothingness the sentences of Jehovah in Isaiah 10:12; Jeremiah 25:12. Such is the conclusion of the trial. The idols are utterly destitute of strength to aid their friends or distress their foes. Jehovah alone is worthy of confidence and regard, as the true God, Protector, and Guide. In times of deepest distress be can raise up a deliverer like Cyrus, and in his own way and time rescue his people from all their calamities.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Isaiah 41:6 Mutual help. "They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage." The subject is—Helpfulness. Not mere help, but fulness of help. There may be a help that is tardy, that is somewhat sparse and niggardly; and there may be help which is not helpful in the best sense. This help to which our text refers was accompanied by encouragement—that truest and wisest of all help, which, by giving courage, gives strength. Buildings cannot be built by an architect alone. The inferior hand is as needful as the superior. Read the description: "So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering." Each man in his place, and fit for his place. So it must be in human life; and, as civilization develops, each man must attend more and more upon one thing. It will not do to play at art, or architecture, or merchandise, or ministry. Each in his place. So it must be in the Church—there must be mutual help, mutual encouragement. We ought to feel indebted to each other. We ought to be inspirational to each other. I. HELP IS TO BE . They helped "every one." It will not do to evade our own share of toil. Work cannot be done by command or contrivance, but by the constraint of a ready mind. Socialism seems to be disturbing the Continent. It may be a destructive power, but never can be a constructive one. If human beings were machines to be set in order by one hand, it might be so; but they are not. See how Proudhon and Fourier adjust all the social arrangements to a nicety; the Phalange, or the body of associated labourers; the Phalanstere, or the habitation assigned to each, where the four great departments of nature—the material, the organic, the animal, and the social—are provided for. What a scheme! How philosophic it looks—on paper! But what madness to try and make it work, when the derangement of one part would be the derangement of the complicated whole! Who is to restrain the leaders and organizers from craft and selfishness and guile? Difficult as it is to secure good government in general functions in society, who could secure it in a ramified system? Then one will not work, and another will drink, and another will laugh, and another will sleep, and in one brief day some will be better off than others, and the perfect arrangements will fly to pieces before the touchstone of actual life. No; God meant diversity. God meant diligence to be rewarded. Riches and honour come of the Lord, and if there were no incentives to progress and culture and invention, there would be no advancing civilization. Socialism cannot make men work; it would want an army to compel them. The right way is Christ’s way. Look every man also on the things of another. Use ability, genius, education, wealth, honour, well, so as to bless others. None are more despicable than those who look alone to being helped. Everything must be ready for them. The way they speak to servants is detestable. They complain if the physician does not come at once—if they are not the first considered by others. Don’t they pay? Terrible neglect; they are not helped. Money does not satisfy their indebtedness. Let us see whom they help—if they are swift to speak the generous word, to perform the brave and noble deed. There are, however, some lives—and they must be dread histories—which are spent in fashionable gossip and superficial pleasure-seeking, with no care for others. We see, then, (1) there must be mutuality; (2) there must be energy. Not the help which is mere gift, perhaps easy and costless, but the help which costs service and sacrifice. II. HELP IS TO BEGIN AT THE NEAREST POINT. "His neighbour"—the nearest person to him. The gospel teaching is to begin at Jerusalem. Home, for instance, is to be a scene of help. There are occasions every day in which we can help each other’s comfort, growth, education, freedom from anxiety, and increase in the pleasure of life as life. A man’s character is judged of in his home, his Church, his village, his town, his neighbourhood. The eloquent assailer of public wrongs may be other than a patriot at home. 1. This is the help which only he can render; being the neighbour, he is the nearest. 2. This does not bind him by religious "views" or party spirit. He is to help in the great temple of humanity as well as the temple of the Lord God. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them." There are charities, I find, which, not content with being Christian, wish to know what people’s "views" are! What an atmosphere! No. Christ did not ask who were Samaritans, Syro-phoenicians, Greeks, or Jews. "He went about doing good." III. HELP IS TO BE , That is to say, it is not to assist laziness or to excuse mere incompetence. "Every one said to his brother, Be of good courage." 1. Courage; for fear is weakness. Those who expect failure court failure. I am wonderstruck at Stanley’s courage at the Falls, especially after Pocock was dead. It is marvellous! Think of that poor native who rushed from the presence of the dreadful roaring river into the wilderness. 2. Courage; for God is your Helper. Man is weak! Yes; but read the tenth verse: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee." That is an inspiration indeed—God in Christ working in us and with us. He who gave himself’ for us, now working in and with us. What courage this inspires! "In me is thine help found." "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help!" We shall find all worldliness to be weakness in the end. 3. Courage; for no work is so hard as it looks. There are creative times. What is the dreamer worth when difficult duties have to be done? 4. Courage; for cowards make cowards. Live with persons constantly afraid of fire, of midnight marauders, of infection, of disease, and you will become nervous yourself. If children grow up amid the timorous, they become timorous. But born in the fishing-cove on the beach, how they pull out the boat into the wild sea! accustomed to scenes of courage, they learn courage. Never dispirit others. Say not, "This sum will never be raised. These schools can never be built. This class will never prosper." But say rather, "Be of good courage." 5. Courage; for hindrances will flee before faith. Say to the mountain, "Be thou cast into the sea." Strange that it should obey thee! But it does, for it was a mountain of the mind. Courage is not quixotic; it is founded on faith—on the Word, and cross, and throne of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mutual hell) is what we want. Not the sentimental grievance from some that they are not the subjects of perennial attention and ever-delicate consideration, but the help which is the spirit of all Christian life, because it was the law of his life" who came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister."—W.M.S. Water in the wilderness. "I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." The place of the fountain is the key-note of this sermon. We are not surprised to find a fountain in the grove or the garden—there, amidst its diamond spray the birds brighten their plumage. But here the caravan halts, whilst men and women fall on their breasts and drink in the living nectar—the sweet water that never harms. We have to meditate upon this subject, however, in its highest aspects. We see not all of life. In nature we come upon unexpected spots of verdure in sterile places; in human life we come upon a true friend in the thorny experiences of adversity. Best of all we have here—in this world, which in so many aspects is a wilderness—One who gives us the testimony concerning himself, that he will be in us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." We have— I. SPRINGS IN THE DRY LAND OF SIN. What depth of meaning there is in the promise, "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head"! All seemed lost; and yet at his very feet there sprang up for man "a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness." This is God’s revelation fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Often revelations are left to human discovery. There have been hidden beauties in the universe—unknown continents which man must search out and explore. There are hidden adaptations in nature to the need of man, which will reward his enterprise—medicaments for disease, ministrants of alleviation. And there are yet "hidden fountains," which the discovering hand of man will lay bare in the wilderness. But sin must be met by grace at once, that man may be saved—that the child may yet say, "Father." II. SPRINGS IN THE DRY LAND OF SORROW. Hagar flies. Not the first, nor the last, that the east wind of bitter hatred has driven from the protecting doors. The newspapers record crime. We shudder. But blows at the heart, deeds never reported, never known, borne in the silence of suffering, are often the worst. 1. In solitude Hagar finds an angel. In earliest times they were ministering spirits, and we are distinctly told that they not only were, but are. We lose much comfort from forgetting that they are ministers to us! How? That is what the inquisitive mind is always asking. It is the "how?" which makes such piles on piles of useless divinity. The Word of God is inspired! How? The atonement is made! How? The dead shall arise! How? 2. In want she finds refreshment. Weary and worn and sad, God does not allow her to lack refreshment. Sarah dealt hardly with her, and she fled front her face. But another face was looking down upon her. How kind and considerate ought those to be who have others under them! Often far away from home and friends, there should ever be in our relationships all that we mean by kind consideration. 3. In misery she found peace. The mind filled with tumultuous thoughts was calmed! The angel tells her that "the Lord hath heard her affliction." What a sermon in a sentence! Teach and preach this, brethren. No eloquent words! No explanatory sentences! Sorrow itself has a voice, and God hears that. What rest comes to the heart that feels God has seen and knows all! "She called the Name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me; for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer-laha-roi;" that is, "the well of him that liveth and seeth me." III. SPRINGS IN THE DRY LAND OF . What shall I do? Where shall I go? Am I to leave home? Am I to enter a wilderness that I know not? Yes; anywhere, everywhere; but remember God is there. "Whither shall I go from thy presence?" What will to-morrow bring? A Father. Whence will come my supply? Do not know—the fountain is hidden. But it is there. What is needful for me to do is to drink and live—to taste the living waters. Many analyze them—admit their purity, but do not drink! Our solicitudes are natural. Especially so when life is, like Hagar’s, dependent on others. Some here may be driven out into the wilderness at any time. True; but Christ is there! You will, perhaps, never know how precious this fountain is tilt you are away from the old home. IV. SPRINGS IN THE DRY LAND OF . Alas! other fountains dry up. That is to say, they are sealed to us for a time. But in the hours of bereavement and desolation I call on you to witness: 1. What hidden fountains there are in the Bible. How its histories live when we read our own experiences into them! How its psalms pulse with life when we too are panting after the water-brooks! 2. What hidden revelations in Christ. We know him as a Saviour. But how little we know yet! "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." We "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Some persons we need to know less of to preserve our respect and love. Jesus our Lord is infinite in all beauty, purity, and glory; and the more we know of him the more intense will be our devotion, the more complete our trust, the more fervent our love. Let the hidden fountains be not only rejoiced in by us, but let our voice be heard, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" We think little of water till we are feverish with thirst on shipboard or in an Eastern wilderness. Some of you perchance may have known what thirst is, and how much less precious is the jewelled cup than the water it contains. Yet from the beginning God has sent the rivers through the deserts one day to be peopled, and the springs as at Damascus run through the valleys. Every nation under heaven can bless God for the rain from heaven and for the water-springs! Soon may all tribes and peoples surround "the fountain." We drink of earthly fountains, and thirst again. But whoso drinketh of the water which Christ will give them shall never thirst again. Within, in the wilderness of these poor hearts, he strikes the fountain that is to lift up its pure springs through the immortal ages.—W.M.S. BY W. The false refuge and the true. In the regulation of his life, a wise man will give a large place to the consideration of what resources he will have in the times of great emergency. For he knows that such times must come to him as they come to all men, and when they come there is urgent and even terrible need of a refuge to which the stricken soul may flee. We are here reminded of— I. THE REFUGE WHICH IS FALSE, AND WHICH WILL FAIL US. (Isaiah 41:5-7.) We smile with pity, perhaps even a contemptuous pity, as we read of the carpenter and the smith joining their labour in order to produce the well-made idol, before which the offerings shall be presented, etc. But may it not be that those who watch us from above, and who are so much wiser than we, sometimes sigh, not contemptuously but sadly, as they see us putting our trust and finding our refuge in that which is little better than the carefully manufactured image? When trouble has come, or when dangers thicken, when the heart is agitated or concerned, then the foolish sometimes resort to their idols—to those things which are nearly as impotent and as untrustworthy as these. 1. To the stimulant or the drug. 2. To the social excitement or the stress of business engagement. 3. To the comfort of human affection. But these are wholly unsatisfactory, because: 1. They are not on a level with the height of our spiritual nature; they are not worthy of us who are created in the image of God, and who are bound to find, in our sorrows and our straits, a resource which answers to the spiritual powers we have received of him. 2. They are transient in their influence; they gradually become less efficacious, and at last lose all power to soothe and to sustain. 3. They themselves are temporary; at any moment they may be removed from our sight and grasp. II. THE REFUGE WHICH IS TRUE, AND ON WHICH WE MAY RELY. (Isaiah 41:2-4.) It is none other than the living God himself. "In the time of trouble he will hide us in his pavilion." There are three strong assurances of Divine succour. 1. Particular instances of Divine interposition. (Isaiah 41:2, Isaiah 41:8.) The God who raised up Cyrus, who constrained him to answer his own Divine ends, who empowered him to do such great things, and to triumph over such serious obstacles, is One who evidently gives heed to individual souls, and who both can and will select the very instruments which are needed to work out the redemption for which we are waiting and hoping. He who similarly raised up Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, etc; to take their place and do their work when such men as they were wanted, will not fail us in our emergency now. 2. His government of the whole human race. "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?’ All human history attests the presence, the power, the righteousness, the providence, of the Lord. 3. His Divine nature. "I the Lord, the First, and with the last, I am he." In God, our Father and our Saviour, we have (1) One who, whatever passes, will be always with us (Matthew 28:20); and (2) One who, whatever changes, remains constantly the same (James 1:17; John 13:1; Hebrews 13:8).—C. Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:9 His grace and our heritage. We are reminded here of— I. THE SENSE IN WHICH GOD HAS CHOSEN US. "Jacob, whom I have chosen … I have chosen thee." The way in which God’s ancient people were chosen of God is familiar biblical history. Abraham was called out of Chaldea, Israel (the people) out of Egypt, the Jews out of Babylonia, in order that they might receive, retain, and reflect the truth of the living God; in other words, this nation was the recipient of those distinguishing mercies which could alone account for their national redemption and their spiritual condition. We are now the subjects of God’s electing, his distinguishing grace in these respects;—in ways which are not common to the whole of our race, perhaps not even to the generality of our fellow-men, we have been (1) acquainted with his redeeming truth, made to know and to understand it in its purity and fulness; (2) wrought upon by kindly, helpful, winning influences, in the home or in the Church; (3) affected by the direct and immediate influences of his Divine Spirit. Thus has God chosen and called us to himself II. THE LIFE TO WHICH WE HAVE BEEN CALLED. A life of holy service. "Thou, Israel, art my servant." We are not called merely to enjoyment or to privilege; we are summoned to God’s presence and kingdom—" called to his foot" (Isaiah 41:2), in order that we may serve. Our Christian life is that most honourable, most elevating, most useful, one of service. It is the life (1) of sacred worship; (2) of cheerful obedience; (3) of active helpfulness. III. THE AND IN WHICH WE ARE INVITED TO STAND. "The seed of Abraham my friend." Behold, what manner of love and of condescension is this, that we should be called the friends of God! All that Abraham was to God it is certain that we may be,—we who are brought nigh by Jesus Christ. And what his disciples were to him, we also are invited to be (see John 15:14, John 15:15). We are God’s friends, inasmuch as: 1. We have a profound sympathy with him in the principles he holds and in the work in which he is engaged. 2. We are trusted by him to do what is right and worthy, and are entrusted by him with that which is high and, arduous. 3. We are admitted to his near presence, and are invited to constant fellowship with him. 4. We are the objects of his love and his good pleasure.—C. Isaiah 41:10-14 God our Strength. Israel in captivity, hoping for return from exile, but fearing lest its enemies should prevail and the desire of its heart be defeated, might well delight in such reassuring words as these. In the battle and burden of our life we also gladly welcome them to our hearts. I. SOURCES OF . 1. The strength of the forces which are against us. "All they that were incensed against thee;" "they that strive with thee;" "they that war against thee." We may say as Paul said, "There are many adversaries." There are the evil tendencies of our own nature not yet extirpated; there are the vicious, the ungodly, the half-hearted men, who act injuriously upon us; and there are the "principalities and powers" of the evil spiritual world. 2. The weight of the burden of responsibility laid upon us. We are God’s servants, his children, his spokesmen, his representatives. He is our God (Isaiah 41:10), and we owe to him the faithful discharge of varied and weighty obligations. 3. Our personal feebleness. "Thou worm Jacob;" "Ye men [mortals]of Israel." Who is sufficient for all these things? With our bodily weakness, our mental poverty and our spiritual failures, with the limitations of our humanity, we look forward to the work which we have to do, to the sufferings we shall be called to bear, to the battle we shall have to fight, with serious apprehension. We are inclined to give way to "fear," to allow ourselves even to "be dismayed." II. OUR STAY IN GOD. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 42:1-8 OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, AND THE WORK WHICH HE WILL PERFORM. There are comparatively few who deny that, in this place at any rate, the "Servant of the Lord" is the Messiah. (So the Targum on the passage; so Abar-barnel; so, among moderns, Oehler, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne.) The portraiture has "so strong an individuality and such marked personal features, that it cannot possibly be a mere personified collective;" and it goes so "infinitely beyond anything of which a man was ever capable that it can only be the future Christ" (Delitzsch). It may be added that St. Matthew (Matthew 12:17-21) distinctly applies the passage to our Lord. Isaiah 42:1 Behold. "Behold," as Mr. Cheyne says, "invites the attention of the world—both of the Jews and of the nations—to a new revelation." It looks back to the similar expression of Isa 42:24 and 29 of the preceding chapter, which draw down the curtain upon the idol-gods, while this "behold" reveals One who is to occupy their place, and to be a worthy object of the worship of mankind, My Servant; i.e. my true and perfect servant, utterly obedient (John 4:34; Hebrews 3:2); not, like Israel, my rebellious and faithless servant; not, even, like my prophets, yielding an imperfect obedience, Whom I uphold. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:26). As the fount or origin of Divinity (πηγὴΘεότητος), the Father supports and sustains even the Son and the Spirit. Mine Elect. Christ was "chosen" from all eternity in God’s counsels to the great work of man’s redemption, and to be the Mediator between God and man. I have put my Spirit upon him (see Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 61:1; and for the fulfilment, comp. Luke 2:40; Luke 3:22; Luke 4:18-21; Luke 3:34). He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles; i.e. "he shall publish," or "cause to be published, to the Gentiles, the true Law of God—religion on its practical side." The publication of Christianity throughout all the world has abundantly fulfilled this promise or prophecy. The call of the Gentiles had been already declared by Isaiah in his earlier preaching (Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 19:22-25; Isaiah 25:6; Isaiah 27:13, etc.). Isaiah 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up. Supply, after "lift up," "his voice" from the next clause. His methods shall be quiet and gentle. He shall not seek to recommend his teaching by clamour or noisy demonstrations. There shall be a marked unobtrusiveness in all his doings (comp. Matthew 8:4; Matthew 9:30; Matthew 12:15; Matthew 14:13; John 5:13; John 6:15; John 7:3, John 7:4; John 8:59; John 10:40, etc.). Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break. Egypt was compared to a "bruised reed" by Sennacherib (Isaiah 36:6), as being untrustworthy and destitute of physical strength; but here the image represents the weak and depressed in spirit, the lowly and dejected. Christ would deal tenderly with such, not violently. Smoking flax shall he not quench; rather, the wick which burns dimly (margin) he shall not quench. Where the flame of devotion burns at all, however feebly and dimly, Messiah will take care not to quench it. Rather he will tend it, and trim it, and give it fresh oil, and cause it to burn more brightly. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. But with all this tenderness, this "economy," this allowance for the shortcomings and weaknesses of individuals, he will be uncompromising in his assertion of absolute justice and absolute truth. He will sanction nothing short of the very highest standard of moral purity and excellence. (For an instance of the combination of extreme tenderness with unswerving maintenance of an absolute standard, see John 8:8-11.) Isaiah 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged; literally, he will not burn dimly nor be bruised. He will himself show no signs of that weakness which he will compassionate in others. As a "Light" (Luke 2:32; John 1:4-9), he will burn brightly and strongly; as a Reed, or Rod, he will be firm and unbroken. Till he have set judgment in the earth; i.e. till he has succeeded in establishing true religion upon the earth (compare the last clause of Isa 42:1). The isles; or, the countries (comp. Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 41:5). Shall wait for his Law; or, shall long for his Law. Yakhal is "to wait longingly." It is, as Delitzsch observes, "an actual fact that the cry for redemption runs through the whole human race." They are possessed by "an earnest longing, the ultimate object of which is, however unconsciously, the Servant of Jehovah, and his instruction from Zion". Isaiah 42:5 Thus saith God the Lord; literally, thus saith the (One) God, Jehovah. The entire utterance, Isaiah 42:1-4, is the utterance of God; but, as that fact is gathered by inference, not asserted, the prophet suddenly stops, and makes a new beginning. It must be made perfectly clear that the announcement of the "Servant of the Lord" and his mission are from the Almighty; and so we have the solemn announcement of the present verse. He that created the heavens, etc. (comp. Isaiah 40:12, Isaiah 40:22). The earth, and that which cometh out of it; i.e. all that the earth produces—gold, and silver, and precious stones, and corn, and wine, and luscious fruits, and lovely flowers—all that sustains life, and all that makes life delightful—nay more, life itself—the breath and the spirit that make men living beings. Isaiah 42:6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. The "Servant of Jehovah" is addressed. God has "called" him; i.e. appointed him to his mediatorial office "in righteousness," in accordance with the righteous purpose which he has entertained towards his fallen creatures from the beginning of the world. And will give thee for a Covenant of the people (comp. Isaiah 49:8). The covenant between God and his people being in Christ, it is quite consistent with Hebrew usage to transfer the term to Christ himself, in whom the covenant was, as it were, embodied. So Christ is called "our Salvation" and "our Peace," and again, "our Redemption" and "our Life." This is the ordinary tone of Hebrew poetry, which rejoices in personification and embodiment. A prose writer would have said that the Servant of the Lord would be given as the Mediator of a covenant between Jehovah and his people. For a light of the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 51:4). Isaiah 42:7 To open the blind eyes. The Messiah was to cure both physical and. spiritual blindness (see Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5, etc.). Here it is spiritual blindness that is specially intended, as appears both by the symbolic language of the two conjoined clauses, and by the comment of Isa 42:16-19. To bring out the prisoners from the prison; rather, to bring out prisoners. To deliver from the bondage of sin such as are its slaves, and shut up in its prison-houses. The promise is general, but, like all spiritual promises, conditioned by the willingness of those who are its objects to avail themselves of it. Them that sit in darkness (comp. Isaiah 9:2). Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord; rather, I the Lord. The sense runs on from the preceding verses: "I, the Lord, will do all this, I who am all that the Name" Jehovah’ signifies—self-existent, eternal, self-sufficing, independent, omnipotent, and therefore unique, one whose glory cannot be shared with any other being that exists—least of all with images, which are mere vanity and nothingness." Isaiah 42:9-17 OF THE COMING OF ISRAEL FROM BABYLON, AND CALL ON THE NATIONS FOR A SONG OF PRAISE AND . Jehovah is still the speaker. He begins by promising a new revelation (Isaiah 42:9). Then, before the revelation is made, he calls upon the nations—especially those in the vicinity of Palestine—to rejoice at what is about to happen (Isaiah 42:10-12). After this he proceeds to make the announcement promised in Isaiah 42:9—an announcement that he is about to deliver his people (Isaiah 42:16) and to execute vengeance on their enemies (Isaiah 42:13-15 and Isaiah 42:17). Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass; i.e. former prophecies have been fulfilled. Israel has been led lute captivity, and in her captivity has suffered grievous things. The reference is, perhaps, especially to such prophecies as Isaiah 39:5-7. And new things do I declare (comp. Isaiah 43:19). The voluntary restoration of a captive people to their own land by the power to which they were subject, and which could compel their services, was emphatically a "new thing" in the world’s history. How unwilling the sovereign power was ordinarily to lose such services may be seen by the narrative in Exodus (Exodus 5-14.), and again by the account which Herodotus gives (1:73, 74) of the ground of quarrel between Alyattes and Cyaxares. Before they spring forth; or, shoot forth. The metaphor is one taken from the vegetable world (comp. Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 45:8). Isaiah 42:10 Sing unto the Lord a new song. The call for a "new song" is based upon the ground that the mercy vouchsafed was a "new" one (see Isaiah 42:9). The expression is frequent in the Psalms (Psalms 33:3; Psalms 96:1; Psalms 98:1; Psalms 144:9; Psalms 149:1). His praise from the end of the earth; i.e. "let his praise be sung by all the inhabitants of the earth to its remotest bounds." The sea. Sea and land are called upon equally to proclaim God’s praise; the sea, "and its fulness" (margin)—those who frequent it in ships, and those who dwell on its shores and islands. The last clause, "the isles and the inhabitants thereof," is exegetical of the preceding one—" all that is therein." Isaiah 42:11 The wilderness and the cities thereof. The desert had its cities, built on some more or less fertile oases, where at any rate water was procurable. Instances of such cities are Tudmor, Petra, Kadesh (Numbers 20:1). Its villages were probably collections of tents, which were moved from time to time, since the Beni-Kedar were nomads (Isaiah 21:16; Psalms 120:5). The call is upon both the stationary and the wandering inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert to join in the song of praise. The inhabitants of the rock; rather, the inhabitants of Sela, or ׀ופסב, the rock-city, which was the capital of Idumaea, or Edom (see the comment on Isaiah 16:1-14. l). It is assumed that the return of the Israelites to their land ought to be a subject of rejoicing to all their neighbours. Isaiah 42:12 Let them give glory unto the Lord … in the islands; i.e. "let those who are in the islands," or the maritime tracts, "give glory to God"—a repetition of the last clause of Isa 42:10. The persistency with which the islands, or the maritime tracts of the west, are mentioned (Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 41:5; Isaiah 42:10, Isaiah 42:12; Isaiah 49:1, etc.) may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that Christianity was to obtain its earliest and its most enduring triumphs in these regions. Isaiah 42:13 The Lord shall go forth. The exhortation to "sing unto the Lord a new song" ends with Isaiah 42:12, and now the reason or groundwork for the exhortation has to be declared. God is about to make one of the great manifestations of his power upon the earth—to "go forth" against his enemies, and destroy and devour, and easily prevail against them—not, however, simply in the way of punishment and vengeance, but with a further merciful object. He will punish Babylon, that he may deliver Israel. He has promised not to forsake his people (Isaiah 41:17). He is now about to give effect to his promise by a "new" and strange deliverance. He "will bring his people by a way that they knew not, and lead them in paths that they have not known" (Isaiah 42:16). It has been said that "in effect it is the day of judgment which is here described" (Cheyne); but this seems to be only so far true as every manifestation of God’s wrath towards his enemies is a foreshadowing of the great and awful day. The event directly in view is the destruction of the Babylonian power by the irresistible arms of Cyrus. Hence the allusion to idolaters and images in Isaiah 42:17. As a mighty man … like a man of war. (For similar anthropomorpbisms, see Exodus 15:3; Psalms 24:8.) He shall stir up jealousy; i.e. his own jealousy. God is "a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5), so much SO that his very "name is Jealous" (Exodus 34:14). He is jealous for his own honour (supra, Isaiah 42:8), and jealous also for his people’s honour and reputation and happiness. Occasionally he allows his jealousy to slumber (comp. Acts 12:1-25:30, "The times of this ignorance God winked at"); and this he had now done for some fifty or sixty years, since his people were carried into captivity. But the time of acquiescence has gone by—he is about to waken up his "smouldering jealousy, and stir it, till it burns up into a bright flame" (Delitzsch). He shall cry, yea, roar; rather, yea, shout; i.e. utter his battle-cry with a clear, loud voice. Isaiah 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; literally, for an eternity. God’s love for his people is forcibly expressed by his saying that he has felt it "an eternity"—though it was but some five or six decades—while he was waiting for his chastisement to have such due effect as would allow of his bringing it to an end, and showing them mercy. He has chafed, as it were, under the necessity of inaction, and has with difficulty refrained himself. Now he will refrain no longer. A travailing woman. A woman in her travail, after long endurance, at last gives free vent to her natural feelings, and utters loud cries (compare the preceding verse). I will destroy and devour at once (so Gesenius, Kay, and the ancient versions). But the bulk of modern commentators render, "I will pant and gasp," as does a travailing woman. Isaiah 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills. The result of God’s "stirring up his jealousy," and giving a free vent to his feelings, will be the destruction of the great and mighty ones of the earth (comp. Isaiah 2:14). These are probably, in this place, the Babylonian kings and nobles. Dry up all their herbs; i.e. turn Babylonia, temporarily, into a desert. Make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools. Invert the established order of things—turn the rivers into dry land, and empty the reservoirs. There is, perhaps, some allusion to those dealings with the river-beds, which the Greek historians ascribe to Cyrus, and which are not disproved by the fact that the one native account of the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, which has come down to us, makes no mention of them. Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. "The blind" here can only be captive Israel, still dim-sighted from the effect of its old sins against light, and therefore greatly needing God’s guidance. God promises to "bring them" out of captivity "by a way not hitherto known to them"—the way of voluntary release by the favour of a new king (see the comment on Isaiah 42:9). I will make darkness light before them; either, I will illuminate with rays of light and hope the dark and cheerless life that they have been leading (Delitzsch), or, I will throw light upon that dark future which has hitherto stretched before them, and allow them to penetrate its obscurity, and see what is about to happen. Crooked things; rather, rough places; i.e. difficulties of any and every kind. Straight; rather, smooth, level, flat,. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. Dr. Kay translates, "These things have I done, and have not forsaken them;" Mr. Cheyne, "These are the things that I will do, and will not let them slip;" Delitzsch, "These are the things that I carry out and do not leave." According to the two latter renderings, the clause is a mere solemn confirmation of the previous promises. Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back, etc. While the people of God are led by God’s hand through new paths, and are illumined with abundant light, and have their difficulties smoothed away from before them. their idolatrous oppressors will be "turned back" or suffer defeat, and be put to shame, finding no help from their idols, whose powerlessness will be openly shown, to the utter confusion of their votaries. Isaiah 42:18-25 ADDRESS TO CAPTIVE ISRAEL, CALLING UPON THEM TO TURN TO GOD, AND THEM THAT THEY HAVE THEIR . By some critics the earlier verses of this passage (Isaiah 42:19-21) are regarded as having reference to the "Servant of the Lord" depicted in Isaiah 42:1-7, and as calling on the captive Jews to consider his voluntary humiliation, and the object of it. But this view seems to be strained. It requires "deaf" and "blind’ to be taken in completely different senses in the two consecutive Isaiah 42:18 and Isaiah 42:19. Probably Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne are right in taking the whole passage of captive Israel, and especially of that "outer circle" which was least deserving of God’s favour and most open to rebuke and reproach. These "blind" and "deaf" ones are warned that it is high time for them to unclose their eyes and open their ears, and are reminded that all their recent and present sufferings arise from their former "blindness" and disobedience. Isaiah 42:18 Hear, ye deaf. The "deaf" are not absolutely without hearing, nor the "blind" absolutely without sight. They can "hear" and "see," if they choose to do so. When they do not see, it is because they "wink with their eyes" (Matthew 13:15); when they do not hear, it is because, like the deaf adder, they "stop their ears" (Psalms 58:4). This, at any rate, is the case with the majority. There may be some who have deadened their moral vision altogether, and have no longer any "ears to hear." God, however, addresses the mass of Israel as still possessed of moral discernment, if they will but use it, and calls upon them to wake up out of sleep—to "hear" and "see." Isaiah 42:19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger? God’s original "servant" and "messenger" to the nations was his people Israel. It was only through their default that he needed to send another and truer messenger. He now asks, having regard to their opportunities, who are so blind and deaf as they are? The object of the question is to wake a feeling of shame in the hearts of those who are not shameless among the Israelites. That I sent; rather, whom I will send. Israel’s mediatorial office was not yet over. They were still, for above five hundred years, to be God’s messenger to the nations. As he that is perfect; rather, as he that receives reward from me (see Proverbs 11:31; Proverbs 13:13). The word used is connected etymologically with the Arabic muslim (our "Moslem"); but it does not appear to have had the sense of "surrender" or "submission" in Hebrew. Isaiah 42:20 Seeing many things, but, etc. Israel had "seen many things;" i.e. passed through a long experience, but not profited by it—not been "observant," as they should have been. They had had their ears open in a certain sense, and heard the words that the prophets addressed to them, but had not taken in their true import. (The mixture of persons is like that in Isaiah 1:29 and Isaiah 14:30.) Isaiah 42:21 The Lord is well pleased; rather, the Lord was pleased, or it pleased the Lord. For his righteousness’ sake; "because of his own perfect righteousness." He will magnify the Law; rather, to magnify the Law—to set it forth in its greatness and its glory before his people. It is not the original giving of the Law at Sinai only that is meant, but also its constant inculcation by a long series of prophets. Israel’s experience (verse 29) had included all this; but they had not profited by the instruction addressed to them. Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people, etc.; i.e. yet, notwithstanding all that has been done for it, see the condition into which this people has brought itself. For their sins, here they are in Babylonia, robbed and spoiled—i.e; suffering oppression and wrong—snared in holes, or taken in their enemies’ pits (Psalms 119:85), and, some of them, hid in prison-houses (see 2 Kings 25:27), expiating by their punishments the long series of their offences. Isaiah 42:23 Who among you will give ear? Surely there are some among you, less hardened than the rest, who will take advantage of my warning, and repent at this, the eleventh hour. God’s arm was straitened; the people could not be delivered out of captivity unless they ceased in large numbers to be "blind" and "deaf"—unless they listened to the prophet’s words, and profited by them. Isaiah 42:24 Jacob … Israel (comp. Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:1, etc.), He against whom we have sinned. The prophet identifies himself with his people in loving sympathy, just as Daniel does in Daniel 9:5-15, and Ezra in Ezra 9:6-15, of their respective books (comp. also Isaiah 59:9-13). Isaiah 42:25 Therefore he hath poured upon him … the strength of battle; i.e. for this cause, on account of their iniquities, did God bring upon his people the scourge of foreign war, and allow the Babylonians to waste Judaea, to destroy Jerusalem, and to lead into captivity the entire nation. It hath set him on fire; rather, it (i.e. the war)set him on fire. The reference is, perhaps, especially to the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan (2 Kings 25:9); but the phrase will cover also the general devastation of the land both before and after this event (Jeremiah 39-42.), He knew not; rather, he took no notice; he did not change his ways on account of the chastisement. The prophet’s view is that Israel, as a whole, was not greatly bettered by the Captivity, at any rate up to the time which he takes for his standpoint, and at which he supposes him. self to be addressing them. Isaiah 42:1-7 The servants of God, and the one true Servant. It must be admitted By all that the expression "Servant of God" or "Servant of Jehovah," is used in Scripture in various senses. All who work out God’s purposes, however unconsciously or even unwillingly, are called by the sacred writers "God’s servants," in respect of the service, albeit unconscious or unwilling, which they render him. Thus Jeremiah calls Nebuchadnezzar "God’s servant" (Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:6, etc.), and Ezekiel speaks of the "wages" due to him because he and his army "served a good service" on God’s behalf against Tyre (Ezekiel 29:18). In quite a different sense, the Israelites generally are called God’s servants, not as actually rendering him any service at all, but as bound by covenant to be his servants, engaged in his service by contract, however they might break the contract, reject his service, rebel against him, and choose for themselves "other lords" (Isaiah 26:13). In a third sense, different from both of these, the faithful Israelites, those who earnestly endeavoured to serve God, are called his servants, partly as bound by covenant, like the unfaithful servants, but mainly as consciously and intentionally working for God, and doing him "true and laudable service." Such service, however, must always have been, at the best, imperfect, falling very far short of that entire fidelity and complete obedience which God requires and which man ought to render. Hence, when a servant is spoken of with whom no fault is found—a servant who never "fails" (verse 4), whom God holds always by the hand (verse 6), who is to give a law to the nations (verse 4), and to "bring forth judgment unto truth" (verse 3), in whom, moreover, "God’s soul delighteth" (verse 1),—we may be sure that it is not faithful Israel that is intended. Of faithful Israel—even of the faithfullest in Israel, whether prophet, priest, or king—none of these things could be predicated. Isaiah would not speak of any prophet, least of all, of himself, in the terms wherewith he describes "the Servant of Jehovah" in this passage. No; One is proclaimed to us greater than the sons of men—the perfect model of a "servant of God," obedient in all things, unceasingly active in God’s service, never fainting, never wearying. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," said Jesus (John 5:17); "My meat is to do the will of my Father which sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34); "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?" (Luke 2:49). Isaiah 42:10-12 The duty of sympathizing with the joys of others. Compassion for those who suffer is a strong and powerful feeling, well developed in human nature, and widely spread among all classes and conditions of men. A real feeling of glad sympathy with those who are exceptionally prosperous is a far rarer emotion, and seldom attains any great intensity. Yet, in the nature of things, the two duties would seem to be co-ordinate and to balance each other. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15). In the present passage of Isaiah the whole world seems to be called upon to sympathize with Israel’s deliverance from captivity, and its consequences, which were the re-establishment of a visible Church of God upon the earth—a Church which would be a perpetual witness for him, and out of which, in a certain sense, would be developed that "Church of Christ," against which the gates of hell would not prevail, and which would continue "even to the end of the world." No doubt the whole world was interested in these results, and might thus be regarded as having reason to rejoice for their own sake; but the call made upon them is not rested on any such grounds. It bases itself simply on the general duty of good will which men owe to their fellows. Here we may note two forms of the duty. I. AS , WE SHOULD REJOICE IN THE JOY AND OF OUR . Condolence is common; congratulation is less frequent. Our neighbours’ successes and triumphs too often raise in us a certain feeling of jealousy and discontent, which prevents us from offering congratulations, or makes those that we offer insincere. "Why are they so much more favoured than ourselves? What have they done to deserve their advancement?" All such thoughts ought to be put aside. "It is God that ruleth in Jacob, and unto the ends of the earth." All prosperity is from God-at the least, allowed by him. We are bound, by the love that we ought to bear to our fellow-men, to be glad when good befalls them—to put ourselves and our own claims and deservings out of sight, and simply to rejoice in their joy. II. AS MEMBERS OF A NATION, WE SHOULD REJOICE IN THE JOY AND OF NATIONS. The indifferent Beni-Kedar, the hostile Idumaeans, are required by God to sing a song of praise for Israel’s restoration to their own country. The isles and maritime tracts of the West are to do the same. Nations are, all of them, members of the one human family, intimately connected one with another, and bound to have friendly feelings one towards another. Petty quarrels and differences, such as crop up between near relations, and still more between neighbouring peoples, should not be allowed to overpower the general sentiment of good will, or to prevent the exhibition of sympathy when occasion arises. National enmities would be greatly softened if nations generally would show satisfaction in each other’s successes and prosperity, even if such an exhibition of satisfaction were limited to cases where the success gained by the one in no way interfered with the interests of the other. The blindness of Israel. The "blindness" of Israel is a subject of continual remark in Scripture from the time of Moses (Deuteronomy 28:28, Deuteronomy 28:29) to that of St. Paul (Romans 11:25). Four things may be noted of it. I. IT IS SELF-CAUSED. The Israelites "blinded themselves," and so became blind (Isaiah 29:9, with the comment). They "winked with their eyes," closed them against the light which shone on them from on high, and thus gradually by disuse lost the power of spiritual discernment (see the homiletics on Isaiah 29:9, Isaiah 29:10). The process is a natural one. It is a law of nature that every disused part of an organism shall dwindle away and decay. "There are certain burrowing animals—the mole, for instance—which have taken to spending their lives beneath the surface of the ground. And Nature has taken her revenge upon them in a thoroughly natural way—she has closed up their eyes. If they mean to live in darkness, she argues, eyes are obviously a superfluous function. By neglecting them, these animals made it clear that they did not want them. And as one of Nature’s fixed principles is that nothing shall exist in vain, the eyes are presently taken away, or reduced to a rudimentary state. There are fishes which have had to pay the same terrible forfeit for having made their abode in dark caverns, where eyes can never be required. And in exactly the same way the spiritual eye must die and lose its power by purely natural law, if the soul choose to walk in darkness rather than light". II. IT IS A DIVINE ON THEM, Nature’s laws are God’s decrees. In making it a law of nature that destruction of an organ or a function should follow disuse, God was passing a sentence on those who wilfully scorned any of his gifts. Hence he is constantly said in Scripture to "blind men’s eyes" and "harden their hearts" (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 9:1-35..12; Deuteronomy 28:28; Matthew 12:16; John 12:40; Romans 11:8, etc.), and Israel’s "blindness" is distinctly ascribed to him in Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 29:10. "Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans 1:28). III. IT IS PARTIAL. "Blindness in part is happened unto Israel" (Romans 11:25). At no time did God leave himself without a witness. At no time did the whole of Israel become blind. At the worst period of the Phoenician idolatry, there were yet in Samaria seven thousand who had not bowed -the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). In Isaiah’s time, God had still left him in Judah a "remnant" (Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:20; Isaiah 46:3). When our Lord came, it was from among the Israelites that he gathered his "little flock" (Luke 12:32). Since then in every age there have been converts—many of them "shining lights"—to Christianity from Judaism. Even now the Christian will not lightly let fall the hope of an ultimate great in-gathering of Israel into the one fold. "The veil shall be taken away" some day (2 Corinthians 3:16), and then shall Israel "turn to the Lord" and worship his Christ. IV. IT IS, TO SOME EXTENT, CURABLE. Isaiah calls upon the blind to "look, that they may see" (verse 18). There are infinite intermediate conditions between perfectly healthy sight and absolute blindness. Comparatively few of the Israelites were at any time absolutely blind. The great majority were more or less dim-sighted. So long as this is the case, whether physically or morally, there is a possibility of recovery. The organ is not destroyed; it may by care and use be rendered capable of once more properly performing its function. Isaiah speaks of a time when "the eyes of the blind would see out of obscurity and out of darkness" (Isaiah 29:18). May it not be hoped that the time is approaching for the Jewish people—the time when "Israel after the:flesh" will once more become an important portion of the "Israel of God"? BY E. JOHNSON The Servant of Jehovah. "Behold!" Let all the world hearken and attend to the new revelation. It is admitted that the conception is substantially that of Christ in the Gospels. According to one critic, indeed, the prophetic passage springs from the time of Herod II. Let us think, then, of Jesus and his mission. I. THE ELECT OF GOD. Six times does the word occur in this portion of Isaiah; it is found also in Psalms 89:3; Psalms 105:6, Psalms 105:43; Psalms 106:5, Psalms 106:23. He has been endowed with God’s Spirit, anointed for a special mission, for a high and arduous task; and this is to publish the Law, the practical religion of Jehovah, to the nations of the earth. "All religions claim to be laws; biblical religion dwells with increasing earnestness on the moral as opposed to the ritual law." II. HIS METHODS. They are gentle, quiet, spiritual. He speaks, not in the loud voice of passionate debate and contention, but with the still small voice of reasonable persuasion. He does not come to crush life, but to develop it; not to despise the weak, but to encourage and raise them. The crushed reed is the very type of helplessness; the dimly burning wick of ignorance of the best. It has been designated as the religion of condescension. When it came into the world, it found the multitude crushed beneath the yoke of political oppression, exhausted by the demands of heathen ritualism, yet longing for health and salvation; it stooped to them and blessed them. He himself is as a brightly burning Lamp, and a Reed, "a humble Plant;" unlike others, "covered with leaves, or hardened in their stalk." In a spirit of strict truthfulness, for this end born and brought into the world, he shall proceed to establish justice and true religion on the earth. He shall be the nations’ Desire; and they shall wait in longing upon him (cf. Matthew 12:17-21). Such is Christianity, as it exists in the mind of its Author, and as it appears in the world, pursuing its beneficent way, in spite of all revolutions, and of all religious changes and controversies.—J. Isaiah 42:5-9 Mission of Jehovah’s Servant. "A new revelation defines the mission of the Servant with greater precision. The plan of the mission requires an exhibition of the Divine wisdom and power on as large a scale as in creation and preservation (cf. Zechariah 12:1)" (Cheyne). I. THE OF GOD To THE WORLD. He is the God—the only God (cf. Psalms 85:9). He can admit no rival; he stands in a unique relation to the world—is alone to be worshipped. He is the Creator: his work is the heaven and the earth, and the people. The breath of life is by him breathed into his creatures. The universe is entirely subject to him, and he has the right to appoint whom he will to be the minister and channel of his favours to men. To the appointed Messiah, then, due reverence is to be paid. II. HIS WITH ISRAEL AND MANKIND. There is a covenant with the chosen people, and through them all nations are to own him as God. Generally the righteousness of God stands for the goodness of God, manifested to his world in the whole scheme and agency of salvation. "I have done this as a righteous and just God, and in accomplishment of my righteous purposes. I am the just moral Governor of the universe, and have designated thee to this work, in the accomplishment of those purposes." III. THE OF THE . God holds his hand in his. What strength, then; what grace and Divine communication must there not be with the Mediator, who will be guided and guarded, will be visibly in the enjoyment of the Divine favour! And so the Mediator himself is called a Covenant—the personal realization of God’s thought and purpose to the people—the embodiment of that spiritual relation announced in verses 30, 31, etc. Another of his names is Light. Being Intelligence in himself, the Wisdom of God, he will diffuse it among the nations: bringing men out of their spiritual blindness and the prison-house and confinement of spiritual distress (Psalms 107:10; Job 36:8). "Such is the freedom the gospel imparts; nor can there be a more striking description of its happy effects on the minds and hearts of darkened and wretched men" (1 Peter 2:9). IV. THE SOLEMN . Jehovah now turns to the people, and assures them that he is the only true God, and jealously claims a sole and undivided homage. He is "the Eternal." The name includes "the unique reality, and power to confer reality, of the Divine Being." His glory he will not give to another; for were such a God’s prediction to fail, he would sink to a lower level than the imaginary deities, who have, at any rate, not deluded their worshippers. But the earlier predictions have been fulfilled—those against the Babylonians or Assyrians; and the new things, later and more splendid—the deliverances of the Jews—will in like manner be fulfilled. The plant is contained in the seed; the event in the mind; the fulfilment in the Word of Jehovah (Isaiah 9:8; Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 55:11; Amos 3:7).—J. Isaiah 42:10-25 A new song to Jehovah. Caught up in his ecstasy to a high place of vision, the prophet sees all the nations of mankind deriving blessing from the ministry of Israel, and calls upon them to join in a song of praise. God’s goodness in providing a Redeemer demands the thanksgiving of all the world. I. THE SONG AND THE SINGERS. The new song is named in the Psalter (Psalms 96:1; Psalms 98:1), meaning a song inspired by the sense of new mercies. All parts of the earth are to join in the chorus: the sailors, and even all the finny inhabitants of the deep (Psalms 34:1); the nomads and the dwellers in cities and among the rocks,—shall join to swell the volume of his mighty song. II. THE GREAT DEEDS OF THE . It is a great and terrible day of Jehovah. He, breaking his long silence and reserve, will march forth like a mighty hero, with a loud battle-shout, and put forth all his prowess. (For similar pictures of the God of war, see Isaiah 28:21; Isaiah 31:4; Isaiah 59:16, Isaiah 59:17; Zechariah 9:13, Zechariah 9:14; Zechariah 14:3.) The whole imagery bespeaks the most intense emotion. God may be silent, may seem to disregard the prayers of his people; but he is not dead, nor is he sleeping, like a Baal. He is waiting; he is ripening his purposes. He is looking for his opportunity. When he comes forth his progress will be marked by judgment and by redemption. These are the two sides, the dark and the bright, of his work. As Judge and Avenger. he will devastate the mountains and hills—the high places of heathendom; and the fertile vineyards on their slopes, and all the temples, fanes, and altars, will be demolished. Under the figures is expressed the coming of a great spiritual revolution. The old corrupt order and custom of the world must first give way before the new and holy can come in. And then, amidst the dismay of the false worshippers, light will at the same time appear to the righteous. "I will lead the blind by a way which they knew not; through paths they have not known I will make them to go: I will turn darkness into light before them, and rough places into a table-land. Those things I will surely do, and I will not let them slip." By the "blind" appears to be meant, not so much the spiritually ignorant as the perplexed, distressed, desponding—those who "walk in obscurity" (Isaiah 59:9, Isaiah 59:10). It is the language of tenderness, and the language of strong assurance, founded on superior knowledge. What more common than the experience of the Christian, "Darkness is about me; my way is hedged in; there is no outlook, no prospect"? Yet suddenly—it may be while he is on his knees, it may be in some moment of refreshing sleep—a change comes. The clouds lift; the hosts of the enemy fall back; the: "large place" is reached. Then he sees how blind, how "faint-hearted, incredulous, and undiscerning" he has been. Let us tread the path of duty, which is the path of faith; it will surely lead, before our journey closes, out to those "shining table-lands to which our God himself is Sun and Moon." And let us lay the reproach of the "blind and deaf servant" to heart. We are among the faint-hearted and the incredulous—despite all our experience of God’s goodness—whom he here addresses. We are like "the man of mature years and experience, by which he has failed to profit." And thus we are reduced to that mood of humility in which there is every hope. Why this contrast between the design of God to exalt his law of righteousness by means of Israel, and Israel’s despoiled and captive estate? Clearly it is because of Israel’s sins—because, though chosen of God, they would not walk in God’s ways. So let every argument end between ourselves and God "that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." Let us return unto him and be saved.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The tenderness of God. "A bruised reed shall he not break." Then he is very unlike us. We are often over-indignant with wrong done to ourselves. We find that there is an imperious temper in humanity, and that even parents sometimes "break" the spirit of their children. How many are discouraged and disheartened in life through a want of sympathy, through the coldness and hauteur of others! I. THERE ARE OF SIN. Christ will heal these. He never drives to despair. He might, indeed, condemn; for he knows all the subtle intricacies of evil in our hearts. But the Son of man is not come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. II. THERE ARE OF DOUBT. St. Thomas felt these, and he expresses his doubts with startling emphasis and boldness. But Christ is sympathetic even then—shows Thomas his hands and his side, and tells him to reach hither his hand. Alas! many have been driven into infidelity because their doubts have been treated as sins, and the bruised minds have been broken! III. THERE ARE OF SORROW. But God knows when godly sorrow has worked repentance not to be repeated of. He knows when the poor heart is well-nigh crushed with grief at its departure from him. He does not delight in pain. The Roman emperors did. But he whose throne was a cross, and whose sceptre is love, he loves to heal. In sin and doubt and sorrow, let us go to Christ alone.—W.M.S. Christ’s sure conquest. "He shall net fail nor be discouraged." We study this text in relation to our Saviour. We may be, and often are, discouraged; but the Son, he in whom, says Jehovah (Isaiah 42:1), "my soul delighteth," he never is. He must reign. All the infinite forces of love and righteousness are on his side. In God’s world error can never be supreme over truth. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." I. THE SAVIOUR AND DIVINE . He is expecting. All the true triumphs of the ages have been victories for him. What elevation to humanity has come with his truth! What beneficent enterprises have all had their inspiration from his cross! What fetters he has snapped! What prisons he has opened! All the vital forces of to-day are the forces he started in Judaea eighteen centuries ago. "He shall not fail;" for he lives to-day in ever-growing influence over the hearts of men. Madagascar has recently even, been won for his crown. We must, of course, take time into our estimate. "A thousand years are with the Lord as one day." It is a great work. His empire is the world. His kingdom is everlasting. The law of preparation seems related to the law of duration. A gourd springs up in a night but it lasts only for a day; whereas the oak, that monarch of the centuries, attains its perfection through the long course of yearn. We need not wonder that an "immortal kingdom" is of steady growth. II. THE SAVIOUR AND . "He shall not … be discouraged." There is, indeed, much that might discourage, the slow victories of goodness, the enmity of the carnal mind! But Christ sees of the travail of his soul. He is not like us. We have need of the counsel, "Judge nothing before the time;" but he sees the end from the beginning. What comfort this should be to all Christians! Why should we be discouraged? If the Leader is consciously invincible, how valiant and constant ought his followers to be! Discouragement means, on our part, unbelief.—W.M.S. The Christian’s conquest. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged" We study this next in relation to ourselves, The words suggest difficulties that task strength and patience, He, our blessed Lord, has a work, not only of Divine impulse, but Divine patience. The second verse describes the quiet work of Christ; the third describes the solicitous heart of Christ; the fourth describes the spirit which sustains him. I. THIS A PATH OF . Why say this? 1. There will be much that looks like failure judged by appearances. 2. There will be much that would exhaust human resources. The strongest man would say, "I feel that, if left to myself, I could not continue." II. THE STATES THE OF CHRIST. "He shall not fail." 1. Preparative processes are related to permanent work. 2. Preliminary hindrances are nothing to the eye that sees the end. 3. Discouragements are overmastered by the infinite power of love. III. THE TEACHES US THAT THERE WILL BE AN OF THE SPIRIT OF . Judgment. 1. Christian judgment concerning sin. A right estimate of its heinousness and its influences. 2. Christian judgment concerning salvation. What we mean by the power of Christ, not only to pardon, but to redeem life from evil. IV. THE IS OF WARNING TO US. 1. How soon our energies get enfeebled! 2. How soon our hearts get discouraged! 3. How soon we lose the spirit of Christ! V. THE CLOSES WITH THE WAITING OF THE ISLES. Yes; they wait. 1. Unconsciously seeking. 2. Can find no other Saviour. 3. Ultimately to be won to Christ.—W.M.S. Light and right. "I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight." These words are prophecy and history also; for Christ has fulfilled these words. I. . There was: 1. Darkness over the face of God. 2. Darkness over the destiny of man. But Christ has revealed the Divine fatherhood, and brought life and immortality to light. II. WRONG . Crooked or warped things have been twisted or "wrung"—from which our word "wrong" comes; and Christ Jesus has brought in an everlasting righteousness. 1. Man’s way was wrong. 2. Man’s ideal was wrong, it was self instead of God. 3. Man’s heart was wrong. And there are "crooked" things in experience, in addition to crooked tastes and tempers. And Christ makes the path of duty clear to us, and removes the mountains from our paths.—W.M.S. Isaiah 42:19, Isaiah 42:20 Spiritual blindness. "Who is blind, but my servant?" It is said, "None are so blind as those that won’t see." Can any be so blind as those who have been illumined of the Spirit, and who have seen the beauties of holiness, and the deformities of sin, whilst yet they turn back to their old paths? I. THE OF . The heart has lost its first love, and the King is not "beautiful" now. Like human love sometimes, which does not know how blessed it is in its estate of home, until it is aroused by accident, danger, or death to a sense of the value of the heart it has slighted. So at times even the Christian becomes indifferent. "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." II. THE OF . (Isaiah 42:20.) "Seeing many things, but thou observest not." 1. Christians do not always see the value of their principles, 2. Nor do they mark the privileges and comforts which are the outcome of faith. 3. Nor do they observe the misery of the men of this world. 4. Nor do they see the slave’s fetters beneath the false liberty of the sinner. Others are blind by nature and habit. But who so blind as the Lord’s servants?—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 42:1-4 The characteristics of the true Leader. Taking these words as applicable to the Anointed of the Lord, and then, secondarily, to every one who is equipped and sent of him to lead and save men, we have the following features indicated. I. THE SPIRIT OF . "My Servant "(Isaiah 42:1). Jesus Christ was the Servant of Jehovah; he was "about his Father’s business" from the beginning. He came "to work the work of him that sent him." It was his "meet to do the Father’s will, and to finish his work." It was his joy to know, at the end of his career, that he had "finished the work which the Father had given him to do." The spirit of obedience, of active conformity to the known will of "him that sent him," possessed and characterized our Lord in a very marked degree. II. THE WHICH . "Whom I uphold; my Chosen, in whom my soul delighteth;" in other words, that One "in whom I am well pleased." There was in our Lord everything which satisfies and attracts. Excellency is often found in conjunction with characteristics which are so uninviting and even repelling that there is a measure of admiration felt, but no delight, no good pleasure; the soul is not drawn in affection and attachment. Jesus Christ was One in whose spirit, attitude, behaviour, was everything that called forth the pleasure of the Father, and that now evokes the love and the delight of his disciples. III. OF THE HIGHEST GIFT. "I have put my Spirit upon him." God "gave not the Spirit by measure" unto him (John 3:34), because he had an immeasurable capacity of receiving it. God’s highest gifts to us depend, not on his willingness or ability to bestow, but on our readiness and capacity to receive. God dwelt, by his Spirit, perfectly in his Son, our Saviour, and according to our faith and purity he will dwell in us. IV. OF METHOD. "He shall not cry," etc. (vide next homily). V. PATIENT . "A bruised reed," etc. (vide next homily). VI. ENERGY. "He shall bring forth judgment unto truth;" "He shall not fail," etc. 1. The disregarded and despised Son of man did not fail to speak, to suffer, to work, until his task on earth was complete. 2. The neglected and unknown Son of God, dwelling in the heavens, will not be discouraged until the race has been regenerated and renewed. Through the instrumentality of his Church he will work on this sin-distracted world until its ignorance be displaced by knowledge, its iniquity yield to holiness of heart and life, its indifference give place to earnest interest and all-constraining love.—C. Isaiah 42:2, Isaiah 42:3 Quietness of method and hopefulness of spirit. That these words are rightly referred to our Lord we have the assurance of Scripture (Matthew 12:1-50.), as well as the evidence of their perfect applicability. They remind us of— I. THE OF HIS METHOD. With a task before him the surpassing greatness of which completely dwarfs every human enterprise, it was a matter of vital consequence that our Lord should adopt the method which would be permanently effective. He might have chosen the loud and violent method. He might have taken (1) the way of the warrior, who seeks to secure his ends by the clash of arms and thunder of cannon; or (2) the way of the vehement and noisy agitator, of the tempestuous rhetorician, of the man who terrorizes over his audience by threats and denunciations. But "he did not strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets." He chose the quiet and spiritual method. He adopted the way of God in nature and in man—the way by which God built the mountains and laid down the soil, by which he makes the spring to succeed the winter and the summer to replace the spring, by which he makes the grass to grow in our meadows and the flowers to unfold in our gardens and the corn to ripen in our fields. It is the way by which God constructs the human mind, building it up from the opening intelligence of the child to the full strength and ripe wisdom of manhood; the way by which he develops human character and national strength—by quiet, silent, gradual processes that no eye can see, no ear can hear, no hand can measure. Jesus Christ deliberately adopted (1) a peaceful method; he emphatically declined and even severely forbade the use of force in his service (Matthew 26:52). He thus discouraged and disallowed compulsion and constraint in the furtherance of his kingdom. (2) He also decided upon a quiet method. He shunned rather than sought notoriety (Matthew 12:16). He did not believe that a tempest of applause or that the fresh breeze of fame would carry his vessel of righteousness and peace to her harbour. He wanted to persuade, to convince, to win men; to prevail over their judgment, to subdue their will, to hallow their mind, to gain their conscience, to conquer them, themselves. So he went quietly to his work, speaking golden truths to obscure and unlearned men, opening rich slopes of heavenly treasure to one man who stole to see him under the shadow of the darkness; to one woman whom he chanced to meet and talk to at the well Shunning the crowd, disliking noise and tumult, the incarnation of quiet strength, the Son of man did his work, lived his life, spake his truth, bore his sorrows. II. THE PATIENT OF HIS SPIRIT. At what point must we give a man up? Regarding his physical nature, there is a point where medical skill can do no more and "gives him up" to die. Is there such a point in his spiritual course? 1. In nations. Men have contended that some races have been reduced to such a depth of demoralization and brutality that they are irrecoverably lost to virtue and piety. But Christian missions have effectually and finally disposed of this contention. 2. In individual men. The idea of the restoration of fallen and degraded men is essentially Christian. The most pious and charitable Jew never thought of praying for the redemption of the publican he saw at the counter or the harlot he met in the street; he was astonished and indignant that the great Teacher should address himself to such as these. But as there was no one too far gone in sickness for the Lord to heal, so was there no one too foul or too guilty for him to save and to restore. He did not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. To the repentant publican he said, "This man is a son of Abraham;" to the weeping woman, "Daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee: go in peace." This spirit of patient hopefulness is to be our spirit: (1) In our treatment of others. Tempted to abandon those to whom we have long made our appeal in vain, inclined to regard them as hopelessly deaf, hard, unresponsive,—we must break away front our despondency and enter into the patient hopefulness of our Lord and Leader. (2) In the view we take of ourselves. No man need despair of himself, for Christ does not despair of him. He hopes good and even great things of those who are ready to abandon themselves to sin and ruin. Look not in, but up. Above is a patient, hopeful Saviour, who still says to you, "Wilt thou be made whole?"—C. Isaiah 42:5-8 God and man: refusal, retribution, restoration. I. THE DIVINE COMMAND. God demands the glory which is his due (Isaiah 42:8). His claim is based on: 1. What he is in himself. "I am the Lord (Jehovah); that is my Name." As the Eternal One, who only hath immortality, the Underived and Everlasting One, who in the very fullest, deepest, and highest sense is God over all, he rightly demands our reverence, our homage, our worship. 2. What he has done for our race. He has "created the heavens," etc. (Isaiah 42:5). He is the Divine Author of our own human spirits, the Divine Originator of all material things, the Divine Giver of all surrounding comforts. As the Father of our souls and as the Source of all our good of every kind, God righteously demands our thought, our gratitude, our love, our service. II. OUR GUILTY REFUSAL. Of whatever crimes, or vices, or follies we are guiltless, there is one sin which we must all acknowledge—we have not rendered unto our God "the glory due unto his Name." "The God in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways, we have not glorified" as we might have done and should have done. In this matter all, even the best, have "come short" (Romans 3:23). The great multitudes of mankind have been sadly and guiltily negligent, and we have had to pay— III. THE PENALTY OF OUR GUILT. This penalty is very severe; it is manifold; it comprises: 1. Forfeiture of the Divine favour. 2. Fear of final condemnation and banishment from the Father’s presence. 3. The various ills and evils, including sickness, and sorrow, and death, which befall us here. 4. Spiritual deterioriation. This is, perhaps, the saddest and most serious part of our penalty. He that sins against God "wrongs his own soul;" he dyes that which inflicts on himself most grievous wounds; his own soul suffers harm, the extent and the pitifulness of which no mind can measure, no words express. The text (Isaiah 42:7) points to two of these spiritual evils. (1) Mental blindness. The commission of any sin has a far worse result than that of enfeebling bodily health or injuring the circumstances of a man. It clouds his mind; it dulls his spiritual apprehension; he gradually loses his power of distinguishing between what is right and wrong, pure and impure, reverent and profane, kind and unkind, true and false. Ultimately his vision is confused, and mental obliquity takes the place of clear perception. "His eye is evil, and his whole body is full of darkness;" he "calls good evil, and evil good;" he has "blind eyes" (Isaiah 42:7). (2) Bondage of the soul. Sin leads down to servitude—to a bondage of which all bodily slaveries and imprisonments are only types and shadows. For, to be held in the bars of a spiritual captivity, of an unholy lust. of a depraved habit, of an irresistible tendency of mind, to struggle more and more feebly and ineffectually against this, and at last for the soul to surrender itself a hopeless captive,—this is a degradation beyond and beneath which it is impossible for man to pass. But we have the promise of— IV. DIVINE . "I have called thee … to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners," etc. (Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 42:7). Jesus Christ came "to preach deliverance to the captives" (Luke 4:18). This he does by (1) his enlightening truth; (2) his renewing and redeeming Spirit.—C. The unrecognized path "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known." The general truth here is that the all-wise God is working on our behalf in ways which are mysterious at the time. If we consider our finiteness and his infinity, our ignorance and his omniscience, we shall see that this must be so. If we consider how little we can understand of the great designs of the wisest of mankind when we have but a partial view of them, we shall cease to wonder at the mystery which attends the providence of God. How can we be otherwise than "blind" to the large and long purposes of him "whose way is in the sea," and to whom "a thousand years are as one day"? The thought of the prophet is illustrated in— I. GOD’S WITH HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL, At one period, when languishing in captivity, it was black night to the people of God. It was dark twilight to Isaiah, looking on and down from the peaks of prophecy. It was early morning when the Israelites entered Jerusalem on their return. It was later morning yet when Paul caught a glimpse of God’s large purposes in all the way he led them (Romans 11:33). But all along he was leading the blind by a way they knew not. II. HIS WITH MANKIND. Through what dark days has the Church of Christ passed as it has come through the centuries! How many times has God seemed to have forsaken it, when it has undergone a threatening eclipse from: 1. Savage attack from outside; the trials and perils of unrelenting persecution. 2. Chilling coldness within; spirituality of worship, consistency of life, evangelizing zeal, having declined and almost expired. 3. Depressing faithlessness around; a dark shadow of scepticism surrounding, and, at points, invading and infecting it. Yet out of these miseries and temporary defeats God has brought it, turning darkness into light and making the crooked things straight. III. HIS LEADING OF OUR LIFE. Dark days come to us all; we fail where we counted on success; they become unfriendly on whose faithfulness we had confidently reckoned; the road which promised to lead up to prosperity and joy takes a sudden turn down into adversity and sorrow. We have been seeking Divine direction, but the guiding hand seems to have been withheld; God seems to have forsaken us. But we must not "speak thus, or we should offend against" the truth of God’s word and the ultimate experience of his children. Others before and beside us have gone down into the darkness and come up into the light. Once the Master himself went a way he knew not; the Divine Father seemed to have forsaken him. And many a one, since that scene at Calvary, has been inclined to cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It is for us to remember that we are as blind men before the all-seeing God, discerning but a mere speck of all that has to be surveyed. God is leading us by a way that we cannot recognize now; but soon the darkness will be light and the crooked straight. It is the hour for trusting. Any one can trust God in the sunshine; we have to show our sonship by trusting him wholly in the deep shadows. "When we in darkness walk, Nor feel the heavenly flame, Then is the time to trust our God, And rest upon his Name." C. Isaiah 42:19-25 (latter part) The hidden hurt. I. THERE ARE WHICH ARE TO EVERY EYE. When vice or crime leads down to poverty, or to serious sickness, or to desertion and consequent loneliness, or to confinement in prison, there is no possibility of mistake. God is "pouring out his anger" against the transgressors of his Law; he is "magnifying his Law, and making it honourable" (Isaiah 42:21). But— II. THERE ARE WHICH ARE EVEN BY THOSE WHO PAY THEM. As bodily privations—deafness, blindness, feebleness,—come on and sometimes reach even an advanced point before their subjects will allow it to be true, so is it with mental and moral evils, which are the righteous penalties of sin. 1. Mental. The gradual but serious decay of the intellectual powers—of memory, of judgment, of the creative faculty. 2. Moral and spiritual. Loss of self-control; an increased absorption in self; a growing eagerness for fleshly enjoyments or worldly advantages; withdrawal of interest from those things which are spiritual and Divine; in fact, deterioration of soul. III. THIS PENALTY IS THE MOST SERIOUS, For: 1. It is the most inward. It affects our very selves; it means that we, ourselves, are "set on fire," are being consumed, are perishing. 2. It is likely to be the most lasting. What evil thing a man sees and recognizes he takes care to expel; that which escapes his notice he leaves to itself, and, left undisturbed, it spreads and grows, it becomes rank, ruinous, fatal. IV. IT IS A PENALTY PAID BY THE GOOD AS BY THE EVIL. "Who is blind, but my servant?" etc. (Isaiah 42:19, Isaiah 42:20). The sons of privilege, the members of the visible Church, are sometimes found to be sadly deceived respecting their own condition; they are on the borders of bankruptcy when they think themselves rich and strong (Revelation 3:17). Pride, or worldliness, or indulgence, or covetousness, has eaten into their soul, and made them degenerate and unworthy before God, and they "know it not." V. IT IS A CASE WHICH CALLS FOR AND EARNEST EFFORT. When the truth is discovered, or even suspected, it becomes us (1) to strive with all strenuousness to escape; and (2) to entreat Divine help in our great spiritual peril: "Search me, O God," etc. (Psalms 139:23, Psalms 139:24).—C. BY R. TUCK The Lord’s Servant. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 43:1-7 A RENEWED PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF AND . Severe rebuke (Isaiah 42:18-25) is followed, as so often in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:25-27; Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 9:1-16, etc.), by comfort and consolation. Israel is assured that God has not cast him off, and promised the comfort of the Divine presence during the existing tribulation (verse 2), and. a speedy restoration to Palestine (verses 3-7). The scattered Israelites will be brought together from all quarters by the Divine omnipoteney. Isaiah 43:1 But now. The words mark the strong contrast between the closing passage of the preceding chapter and the opening paragraph of the present one. Israel had undergone a severe punishment for his sins; he is still suffering, but now there is going to be an entire change. He is to be protected and delivered. Created thee … formed. thee redeemed thee … called thee by thy name. An ascending series of benefits. First, creation, like that of formless matter out of nought; then, formation, or putting of the formless matter into shape; thirdly, redemption, or making them all his own; lastly, calling them by their name, and so conferring on them a proud and enviable distinction. On this fourfold ground God claims Israel as his own. Isaiah 43:2 Through the waters … through the rivers; i.e. through troubles of any kind (comp. Psalms 66:12, "We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place"). There were, perhaps, special troubles to be endured connected with the final Babylonian struggle. There were certainly others connected with the tedious and dangerous journey from Babylonia to Palestine (Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31). There were others, again, after the Holy Land was reached, arising out of the jealousy and ill will of neighbouring nations (Ezra 4:1-24; Ezra 5:1-17.; Nehemiah 4-6.). Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. The literal fulfilment in the persons of the "three children" (Daniel 3:27) will be obvious to every reader. But the prophecy has, no doubt, a far wider scope. Isaiah 43:3 The Holy One of Israel (comp. Isaiah 41:14, Isaiah 41:20, with the comment). Thy Saviour. He who had saved them front Pharaoh (Exodus 14:23-31), from Jabin (Judges 4:1-24.), from Midian (Judges 7:1-25.), from the Philistines (2 Samuel 8:1), from Zerah (2 Chronicles 14:9-15), from Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:36). The term is first used of God by David in 2 Samuel 22:3 and Psalms 106:21 (if that psalm be Davidical). It is also applied to God once in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:8), and once in Hosea (Hosea 13:4). With Isaiah, in these later chapters it is a favourite epithet, being used of God no fewer than eight times (see verse 11; Isaiah 45:15, Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 47:15; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 63:8) With his eye fixed on the deliverance of Israel out of the double captivity of sin and of Babylon, he naturally had much before him this aspect of Jehovah. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, etc.; rather, I have given; that is to say, "In my counsels I have already assigned to the Persians, as compensation for their letting thee go free, the broad countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba." Even the latest date assigned by sceptical critics to "the Second Isaiah" would make this a most remarkable prophecy. Egypt was not reduced, nor was Ethiopia made tributary to Persia until several years after the death of Cyrus, whose son, Cambyses, effected the conquests about b.c. 527-6. Human foresight could not, in the lifetime of Cyrus, have predicted with any certainty what would be the result of collision between Egypt and Persia; much less could it have ventured on the improbable supposition that the remote Ethiopia would submit itself to the Achae-menisn yoke. Yet this was the result of the invasion of Cambyses, who made Egypt a Persian province, and forced the Ethiopians to submit to the payment of an annual tribute (see Herod; 3.97; 7.69). And Seba. If "Seba" is "the land of Meroe, which is enclosed between the White and Blue Niles" (Delitzsch), it may be questioned whether really this ever formed a portion of the Persian empire. But Isaiah has probably no very distinct knowledge of the geographical position of Seba, or of the relations between the Sabaeans and the rest of the Ethiopians. He couples the two together, both here and in Isaiah 45:14, as forming two portions of one nation. The subjection of the Ethiopians involves, in his eyes, the subjection of the Sabaeans. And we cannot say that he is wrong, since it is not at all clear that the Sabaeans were not generally spread through Ethiopia, or at any rate scattered in various parts of the country. Isaiah 43:4 Since thou wast precious. "Since" probably means "from the time that" (LXX; ἀφοὗ), not "because," as Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne render. Israel became "precious" from the time that the promise was given to Jacob that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Genesis 28:14). Thenceforward God placed the interests of Israel above those of "men" generally, and markedly above those of any other "people." People; rather, peoples—as Mizraim, Cush, Seba (Isaiah 43:3). Isaiah 43:5 Fear not: for I am with thee (comp. Isaiah 41:10). I will bring thy seed from the east … from the west. The actual extent of the Jewish diaspora in Isaiah’s day has been greatly exaggerated by some modern critics, who say that there were at that date "bands of Jewish exiles in the far lands of the Mediterranean, and even in China" (Cheyne). Israel had been carried captive into Mesopotamia and into Media (2 Kings 17:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26), perhaps, also, into other regions belonging at the time to Assyria, as Babylonia, Assyria Proper, Syria. Two hundred thousand Jews had been taken to Nineveh by Sennacherib, and planted probably by him m outlying portions of his dominions. But such transplantation would not carry the dispersion further than Cilicia and Cyprus towards the west, Armenia towards the north, Media towards the east, and the shores of the Persian Gulf towards the south. Any scattering of the nation into regions more remote than these, as into [Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam (Isaiah 11:11), and China—if Sinim is China (Isaiah 49:12)—must have been seen by Isaiah in vision, or made known to him by revelation. It had not taken place in his day. The expression, "ends of the earth" (verse 6), must not be pressed in Isaiah any more than in Herodotus, where the ἐσχατίαιτῆςοἰκουμέης are India, Arabia, Ethiopia, and Scythia (3:106-116). Isaiah 43:6 Bring my sons. The nations are called upon, not merely to "let Israel go," but to conduct and escort them from the places of their abode to their own country. (On the need of such escort, see Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31. On the actual furnishing of an escort in one case by a Persian king, see Nehemiah 2:7, Nehemiah 2:8.) Isaiah 43:7 Every one that is called by my name. The very name of "Israel" meant "prince of God," or "soldier of God," and thus every Israelite was "called by God’s name." Israelites were also known among the nations as Jehovah-worshippers (see the Moabite Stone, line 18). I have created … formed … made him (comp. Isaiah 43:1). "The three verbs describe the process of formation from the first rough cutting to the perfecting of the work" (Cheyne). The third verb would, perhaps, be best translated. "I have perfected," or "I have completed (him)." All three acts—creation, formation, and completion—are done by God for his own glory (comp. Proverbs 16:4). Isaiah 43:8-13 A RENEWED TO THE NATIONS. The nations are once more challenged (comp. Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 41:21-26) to set forth the claims of their gods against those of Jehovah. Israel is summoned on the one hand (Isaiah 43:8); the nations on the other (Isaiah 43:9). What prophecy can the nations produce, either old or new? The Israelites can abundantly witness on behalf of Jehovah (Isaiah 43:10). Jehovah adds a further witness of himself (Isaiah 43:11-13). Isaiah 43:8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes. A tribunal is supposed to have been prepared, before which the contending parties are summoned to appear and plead. Israel is first summoned, as "a blind people that have eyes;" i.e. a people long blind (Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 42:18, Isaiah 42:19), who have now, to some extent, recovered their sight (Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5), and are ready to witness for God. Next, the nations are summoned (see the following verse). Isaiah 43:9 All the nations; rather, all ye nations. Israel is a witness on the one hand, a multitude of nations on the other, recalling the contention of Elijah with the four hundred priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:22). The people; rather, the peoples. Who among them can declare this? i.e. which of them can show any prediction made by their gods comparable to the one contained in Isaiah 43:1 -77 And show us former things. "Exhibit the past history of the world in well-attested documents" (Kay); "Make mention of past events which they have correctly foretold" (Cheyne, Delitzsch). According to the former rendering, the contrast is between the solemn, serious history of early times in Genesis, and the grotesque and extravagant myths, in which the nations generally embodied their views of the primitive ages. Let them bring forth their witnesses. Witnesses that the prophecies were really delivered before the events happened, or that the accounts of past times are such as have really come down to them from their ancestors. Or let them hear and say, It is truth. It is uncertain whether we ought to translate the initial vau here by "and" or by "or." If the former, the sense is, "And then let them (i.e. the witnesses) give ear to the assertions made, and declare them true;" if the latter, we may render, with Dr. Kay, "Or, if they have no witnesses, let them listen to the sacred records, and confess them to be the truth." Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord; i.e. "Ye, Israel, are the witnesses that I cite"—ye can prove the antiquity of the historical books of Scripture by the ordinary modes by which antiquity is proved, and also the exact dates of the prophetical sues. Ye can show what clear and unambiguous prophecies have been delivered centuries before the event, as the destruction of Jerusalem by a nation in whom none can fail to recognize the Romans (Deuteronomy 28:49-57), prophesied by Moses; the demolition of the altar at Bethel by a king of the house of David, Josiah by name, prophesied by a man of God in the reign of Jeroboam (l Kings Romans 13:2); the long continuance of David’s progeny upon the throne of Judah, prophesied by Nathan in David’s time (2 Samuel 7:11-16); the fairly long continuance of the house of Jehu on the throne of Israel, prophesied to Jehu himself (2 Kings 10:30); and the like. Israel has been at all times, and still is, one of the most important witnesses for God that exists in the world. Like the Church, Israel is the "witness and keeper" of a large portion of "Holy Writ." Her past history witnesses for God. Her continued existence and present condition constitute additional testimony. And my Servant whom I have chosen. To explain this as meaning "and ye are also my servant, whom I have chosen" (Nagelsbach, Cheyne, Delitzsch), is to empty it of all its force. Manifestly, a further witness is adduced, "Ye are my witnesses; and so is my Servant," etc. The "Servant" intended can only be the one true Servant of Isa 42:1-7, since faithful Israel is already among the witnesses. The prophet rises above the consideration of the immediately present, or of the single trial-scene which he is setting before us, and has in mind the great controversy ever going on between those who are for God and those who are against him. He sees, on the side of God (1) faithful Israel: and (2) Christ, the "Faithful Witness" (Revelation 1:5; Revelation 3:14), who "came into the world that he should bear witness of the truth" (John 18:37). These are the two witnesses by whom God’s truth is maintained in a world of falsehood and delusion. That ye may know. The subject is changed. "Ye" here points to "the nations," or mankind at large. I am he (comp. Isaiah 41:4). Before me there was no God formed. All other gods beside me are "formed" gods—invented, fashioned, made by men. None of them was ever made before me. Isaiah 43:11 Beside me there is no saviour. None but God can save men. Man cannot make atonement for his fellows; "for it cost more to redeem their souls, so that he must let that alone for ever" (Psalms 49:8, Prayer-book Version). The human "saviours" whom God raises up to deliver his people out of the hand of their enemies (Judges 3:9; 2 Kings 13:5; Nehemiah 9:27, etc.), are "saviours" in quite a secondary and inferior sense. Isaiah 43:12 I have declared, etc. Translate, I announced, and delivered, add proclaimed (the deliverance), when there was no strange god among you; i.e I did what the idol-gods cannot do—announced deliverance, and effected it, and further proclaimed (or published) it, at the time when you Israelites had no idolatry among you. The allusion is to the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib, which God announced by the mouth of Isaiah (Isaiah 37:33-35), effected by the hand of his angel (Isaiah 37:36), and then caused to be published by Isaiah, who wrote the two accounts of the deliverance—both that in his own prophecy, and that in the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 19:20-35). At that time there was no (open) idolatry in Judah, since Hezekiah had destroyed the idols (2 Kings 18:4). Therefore ye are my witnesses … that I am God; literally, and ye are my witnesses, and I am God. Ye can bear witness of the truth of what I have asserted in the previous portion of the verse, and your witness to this effect proves me to be God. Isaiah 43:13 Yea, before the day was I am he. So the LXX; Jerome, and Stier; but most moderns translate, "Yea, from this time forth I am he" (setup. Ezekiel 48:35). Kay, however, thinks that the translation of the Authorized Version may stand. Who shall let it? literally, as in Isaiah 14:27, who shall turn it back? i.e. "reverse it, undo it." Surely no one. Isaiah 43:14-21 A AGAINST BABYLON, AND A PROMISE OF ISRAEL’S . Having wound up the preceding "controversy" with a reference to his own power to work great results (Isaiah 43:13), Jehovah now brings forward two examples—the discomfiture of Babylon (Isaiah 43:14, Isaiah 43:15), and the recovery and restoration of Israel (Isaiah 43:16-21), both of which he is about to accomplish. Isaiah 43:14 For your sake I have sent to Babylon. For Israel’s sake God has already, in his counsels, sent to Babylon the instruments of his vengeance—Cyrus and his soldiers—and by their instrumentality has brought down all their nobles; or rather, has brought them all down (to be fugitives (comp. Isaiah 15:5); and the Chaldeans; or, even the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans are not in Isaiah, as in Daniel (Daniel 2:2; Daniel 4:7; Daniel 5:7), a special class of Babylonians, but, as elsewhere commonly in Scripture, the Babylonians generally (see Isaiah 12:1-6:19; Isaiah 47:1). In the native inscriptions the term is especially applied to the inhabitants of the tract upon the sea-coast. Whose cry is in the ships; rather, into their ships of wailing. The Chaldeans, flying from the Persian attack, betake themselves to their ships with cries of grief, the ships thereby becoming "ships of wailing." The nautical character of the Babylonians is strongly marked in the inscriptions, where "the ships of Ur are celebrated at a very remote period, and the native kings, when hard pressed by the Assyrians, are constantly represented as going on ship-board, and crossing the Persian Gulf to Susiana, or to some of the islands. The abundant traffic and the numerous merchants of Babylon are mentioned by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 17:4). AEsehylus, moreover, notes that the Babylonians of his day were "navigators of ships" (’Persae,’ 11. 52-55). Isaiah 43:15 The Creator of Israel. An unusual epithet; but comp. Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:7. Your King (see Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 12:12; and comp. Isaiah 33:22; Isaiah 45:6). Isaiah 43:16 The Lord, which maketh a way in the sea. The deliverance out of Egypt is glanced at, to prepare the way for the announcement of deliverance from the hand of Babylon. Then "a way was made in the sea" (Exodus 14:21-29), "and a path in the mighty waters;" now it will be necessary to make "a way in the wilderness" (Isaiah 43:19). Isaiah 43:17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse. Still the reference is to the events of the Exodus, whereof Israel is reminded, since "the redemption out of Egypt was a type and pledge of the deliverance to be looked for out of Babylon" (Delitzsch). God then "brought out" after Israel, to attack him, "chariot and horse, army and power;" but the result was their destruction. They shall lie down … they shall not rise; rather, they lie down … they do not rise (so Cheyne and Delitzsch). The future has here, as so often, the force of a present, the present being the praesens historicum. What the prophet describes in a few touches is the complete overthrow of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea, and the entire extinction of that life which had just before shown itself as "lusty and strong." Quenched as tow (comp. Isaiah 42:3). The metaphor is not drawn from burning tow, which is not very readily extinguished, but from the wick of a lamp, which a single breath puts out. Isaiah 43:18 Remember ye not the former things. The old deliverance will be as nothing compared with the new. Israel must cast its eye forwards, not backwards. Mr. Cheyne well compares Jeremiah 23:7, Jeremiah 23:8, and also well notes that "the chief glories of the second manifestation are spiritual." Israel in the wilderness was a stiff:necked and rebellious people, given to murmuring, licentiousness, and idolatry. Israel, returned from Babylon, will no more hanker after idols, but will have God’s Law "put in their inward parts" (Jeremiah 32:33), and will "show forth God’s praise" (Jeremiah 23:21). Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing (comp. Isaiah 42:9, with the comment). It is, of course, quite possible that the novelty is not merely in the circumstances of the deliverance, but extends to all its results, among which is the Messianic kingdom—verily, a "new thing" (see Jeremiah 31:22). Now it shall spring forth; rather, already it is springing up (comp. Isaiah 42:9). Things, however, are more advanced (to the prophet’s eye) than when that passage was written. Events are shaping themselves—the deliverance approaches. Shall ye not know it? rather, will ye not give heed to it? Will not the exiled people, whom Isaiah addresses, turn their thoughts this way, and let the idea of deliverance take possession of their minds, instead of brooding on past and present sufferings (see Isaiah 40:30; Isaiah 41:17; Isaiah 42:22)? God is about to make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. As he led his people out of their Egyptian bondage, first through the Red Sea, and then through a "howling wilderness" (Deuteronomy 32:10), so now he will "make a way" for them through a still more desolate tract. We are nowhere historically told by what route the Israelites ultimately returned. If they went by Tadmor and Damascus, they must have traversed a most arid and difficult desert. Even if they did not quit the Euphrates till they reached the latitude of Aleppo, still they must have had some wide tracts of wilderness to cross. Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honour me. The animal creation shall, participate in the benefits of the "new thing" introduced by the restoration of Israel, and in their dumb way shall show their gratitude. The dragons and the owls. The recent mention of the desert causes animals of the desert (Isaiah 13:21, Isaiah 13:22) to be taken as examples. (On the animals intended, see the comment on Isaiah 34:13.) If even the beasts of the desert honoured God, much more would the rest of the animal creation (comp. Isaiah 11:6-8). Isaiah 43:21 This people have I formed for myself (see above, Isaiah 43:7, and comp. Proverbs 16:4). They shall show forth my praise; i.e. their restoration to their own land shall cause them to glorify me both with songs of praise (for the fulfilment, see Ezra 3:9-11; Nehemiah 12:27; and the post-Captivity psalms), and also by a life in accordance with my laws. Isaiah 43:22-28 A TO CAPTIVE ISRAEL FOR ITS PAST AND SINS. The thought of Israel in the future, redeemed, restored, and "telling out God’s praise" (Isaiah 43:21), raises naturally the con-trusted thought of Israel in the present and the past, disobedient, full of shortcomings (Isaiah 43:22-24), too often guilty of overt acts of sin (Isaiah 43:24-28). While reproaching his people, and reminding them that the exile is the wellmented punishment of their past offences (Isaiah 43:27, Isaiah 43:28), God still promises them pardon if they will appeal to his covenant of mercy (Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 43:26). Isaiah 43:22 But thou hast not called upon me. The Jews had never been greatly given to prayer. They were a "practical" people, active, energetic, hard-working, busily employed in handicrafts, commerce, or agriculture. David and Daniel, who prayed three times a day (Psalms 55:17; Daniel 6:10), were probably exceptions to the general rule. At any rate, it appears here that in the exile the nation had neglected prayer. No doubt there was a nucleus of "faithful men," who did as Daniel did. But with the mass it was otherwise. Hard toil occupied their time. Despair made dull their hearts. They looked for no alleviation of their lot, and lived on in a sort of apathy. But thou hast been weary of me; rather, for thou hast wearied of me. Thou hast left off praying, because thou wast weary of my service. Isaiah 43:23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings. If this reproach is regarded as addressed to captive Israel, who could not offer sacrifices, we must explain it by the analogy of the expression, "the calves of your lips" (Hosea 14:2). All prayer may be regarded as a sort of offering, and withholding it as withholding sacrifice. But it is possible that the prophet is not addressing captive Israel only, but carrying his thoughts back to the period preceding the Captivity, when there was a general neglect of God’s service, and for a time the temple was given up to idol-worship (2 Kings 21:3-7; 2 Kings 23:4-14). The glance back at earlier times is apparent in Isaiah 43:27, Isaiah 43:28. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, etc.; rather, I put no heavy service on thee in respect of meat offering, neither made I thee to toil in respect of incense; i.e. "my positive requirements have been light—surely thou shouldst have complied with them." Meat offerings were to accompany every sacrifice, but were a small burthen. Incense was not required from any private person. Isaiah 43:24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money. "Sweet cane" is mentioned in the Law only in connection with the "holy anointing oil" (Exodus 30:23). But the present passage raises a suspicion that it was practically used in the burnt offerings of private persons (see the next clause). That it was anciently used in Babylonia in sacrifice, appears from the Deluge Tablets. But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. "The sins of Israel," as Delitzsch observes, "pressed upon Jehovah, as a burthen does upon a servant." This is a part of the fundamental idea running through the third part of Isaiah, closely connected with the mediatorial office of the "Servant of the Lord," who "bare the sin of many" (Isaiah 53:12), and on whom "the Lord laid the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). Israel, both during the Captivity and before, had accumulated a heavy load of sin, not merely by negligence, but by overt acts of guilt (see Isaiah 1:4, Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:21-23, etc.). Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions (comp. Psalms 51:1, Psalms 51:9). The idea is based on that of sins being "noted in a book" (Psalms 56:8; Revelation 20:12). For mine own sake; i.e. purely from the love that I bare thee. Isaiah 43:26 Put me in remembrance. Either, ironically, "Remind me of thy good deeds; plead thy cause with me on that ground; show the merits that justify thee;" or else seriously, "Remind me of my promises; plead them before me; declare them, that by my free grace I may justify thee." The latter is the more probable interpretation. Isaiah 43:27 Thy first father hath sinned; rather, thy first father sinned; that is, "Thou hast no merits of thy own. Even thy first father, Abraham, sinned (Genesis 12:13, Genesis 12:18; Genesis 17:17; Genesis 20:2); and thy teachers have transgressed. Thy very priests and prophets have been full of imperfections—have often sinned against me. Much more hast thou, my people generally, committed grievous offences. Thou must therefore throw thyself on my mercy." Isaiah 43:28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary. The "princes of the sanctuary" (literally, "princes of holiness") are the principal members of the priesthood, who were carried into captivity with the rest of the people (2 Kings 25:18), and deprived of their functions, as a part of the punishment due to Israel for its sins. Israel itself was at the same time given to the curse of a severe bondage and to the reproaches of the neighboring nation. Man made for the glory of God. The great end of all creation is God’s glory. Not that this is to be understood in such sort as that God was moved to create by the desire of getting glory thereby, for nothing could enlarge or enhance that glory which he had from all eternity, before even the angels were brought into being. The motive of God’s external working, if we may use the expression, was his goriness, or benevolence, which caused him to seek to communicate his own blessedness and happiness to others. But the law of his working was the exhibition of his glory. He so created all things that they should set this forth. From the lowest atom of dead inert matter, possessed of no qualities but substance and extension, to the highest crewed intelligence, endued with almost Divine attributes, every thing, as it issued from his hand, was so made as to show forth and proclaim his glorious and unapproachable majesty, power, and greatness. Hence the outburst of the psalmist, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. One day telleth another, and one night certifieth another" (Psalms 19:1, Psalms 19:2). Hence the call upon all things to "Praise the Lord, since his Name only is excellent, and his glory above heaven and earth" (Psalms 148:13). Hence the cry of the four and twenty elders in the heavenly place, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created’ (Revelation 4:11). God’s glory rosy he set forth (1) unconsciously, or (2) consciously-unconsciously, as it is by the things that are devoid of intelligence," sun, and moon, and stars of light, heavens, and waters above the heavens, earth, sea, fire, hail, snow and vapours, stormy wind, mountains, hills, fruitful trees, cedars, beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl" (Psalms 148:3-10); consciously, as by the host of heaven, the angels of all grades (Psalms 148:2), and also by the children of men—"young men and maidens, old men and children, kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth "(Psalms 148:10, Psalms 148:12). For the better setting forth of his glory, God "created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27)—"created him, formed him, perfected him" (Isaiah 43:7). Then, when he had marred the image in which he was made, God redeemed him. Thus he is still able to set forth God’s glory, and to do so is the end of his being. "Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do," says the apostle, "do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31); and again, "Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s" (1 Corinthians 6:20). Isaiah 43:8-11 Witnesses for God and against him. On the side of God, witnesses for him, assertors of his existence, his unity, his omnipotence, his providential direction of human affairs, are— II. HIS CHURCH IN ALL AGES, WHETHER JEWISH OR . 1. It was the object of God, in calling the Israelites and tasking them his "peculiar people," to secure the result that he should not be "left without witness" (Acts 14:17). Monotheists from the first, the children of Israel stood up for ages a light in a dark world, giving a clear and unmistakable testimony for God, asserting him to be One, intelligent, possessed of will, the Creator of the world and of man, omnipotent, omniscient. "This august doctrine began with them; and they have been its witnesses and confessors, even to torture and death’. From the time of the old empire in Egypt to the present day, a uniform consistent witness has been borne by all orthodox Jews to these great and fundamental truths, the necessary bases of all true religion, the only safeguards for the continuance among men of law, order, or morality. 2. The Christian Church is at one on all these points with the Jewish Church, and bears the same testimony for God, only with additions to it. Christianity teaches that within the Unity of the Divine Substance there is a Trinity of Persons. Christianity maintains that the most essential attribute of the Divinity is love (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16). Christianity has much to tell of the Second and Third Persons of the Trinity, of which Judaism knows nothing. Thus, at the present day, it forms a second witness for God, and gives a wider, fuller, and deeper testimony. II. THE LORD CHRIST HIMSELF. "Ye are my witnesses,… and my Servant whom I have chosen" (Isaiah 43:10). The Lord Jesus witnessed for God in many ways; and his utterances, placed on record by the evangelists, are testimonies of inestimable value, infallibly declaring to us the true nature of God. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16); "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17); "God is true" (John 3:33); "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24); "The Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them" (John 5:21); "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23); "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you" (John 16:23). Or, to take another class of utterances, "God clotheth the grass of the field" (Matthew 6:30); God "sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45); "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). The witness of the Son to the Father is far beyond the witness of men, and is inexpressibly touching, being pervaded by a spirit of such tender love and reverence as we shall vainly seek for elsewhere. III. THE FATHER IN HIS OWN PERSON. In the present chapter of Isaiah, Jehovah, while citing as witnesses the Jewish Church, and his Servant, i.e. Christ (verse 10), goes on to bear his own testimony to his own greatness and unapproachableness. "I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and beside me there is no Saviour … Yea, before the day was, I am he; there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall reverse it?" (verses 10-13). And does not the Father bear the same testimony to himself in the soul of each of us.? Is the general recognition of something high and holy external to us, "making for righteousness," anything but the Father speaking in us and bearing witness of himself in our heart of hearts? Has he not thus spoken always to all the teachable ones of his myriads upon myriads of human creatures, besides providing external testimony, making himself also an internal witness to his own Being? Witnesses against God are, unfortunately, also many, as appears by the present passage. Among them may be mentioned— I. THE , OR IN ANY WAY , NATIONS AND PEOPLES. Idolatry is either a negation of God or an utter misrepresentation and degradation of him. Polytheism is in a certain sense atheism, since a "god," limited and conditioned by a host of other gods, is in very truth no "God" at all. And the gods of idolaters had rarely such a character as enlightened Christians would willingly assign even to a low grade of angels. The "nations" of Isaiah’s time, and of later ages, "because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge," had been given over by him to" a reprobate mind," and had lost the power of forming in their minds the conception of a pure, holy, all-perfect, spiritual existence. When such a conception was presented to them, they ]’ejected it, preferring their own familiar ideas of gods more nearly on a level with themselves to so transcendental a Being. II. THE AND . At all times there have been "fools" who have "said in their hearts," or even proclaimed to the world at large, "There is no God" (Psalms 14:1). Democritus, as early as b.c. 440, and Leucippus still earlier, taught that the universe had come into being without the help of a God, by evolution from lifeless and shameless matter. Practical atheism was as ancient in China as the time of Confucius. Soi-disant philosophers have been in every age among the most forward to witness against the Being from whom they derive their whole power to speak, think, or act. In the present day, atheism, though still bold and blatant in some places, for the most part bates its breath, and modestly shrouds itself under the agnostic veil. III. THE AMONG THE NOMINAL OF GOD. The witnesses against God whose testimony is most dishonouring to him, and at the same time most injurious to mankind, are the unworthy professors of belief in him. To confess God with the lips while denying him in the life, is to do him the greatest disservice that is possible. It is to cast a doubt upon the value of all the human testimony borne in his favour, since who shall say how much of it is insincere? It is to insult God by a mock acknowledgment, a lip-service, in which the heart has no part. It is to admit his claim to allegiance and to cast off our allegiance in the same breath. The Christian religion would, it is probable, have, long ere this, overspread the world, had it not been for the vicious lives of professing Christians. The testimony of their acts takes away all its force from the testimony of their words, and changes them from witnesses for God into most persuasive witnesses against him. Isaiah 43:16-21 Three deliverances. In the past, Israel had had one great and unparalleled deliverance, that, namely— I. FROM THE POWER OF EGYPT. With a "mighty hand and a stretched-out arm" God had saved them from the miserable fate of being bondservants, bound to task-work, and compelled to labour under the lash. He had effected their deliverance by a series of miracles, culminating in the death of the firstborn, and the passage of the Red Sea, whereby it might have been hoped that the nation would have been so impressed as to turn heartily to God, and become "a praise upon earth." But the result had not followed. Even in the wilderness they had set up idols (Exodus 32:1-20; Acts 7:43). In the Holy Land they had gone from bad to worse, "walked in the statutes of the heathen; built them high places in all their cities, set them up images and groves, wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, hardened their hearts, followed vanity and become vain" (2 Kings 17:8-15); "transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, polluted the house of the Lord, mocked his messengers, and misused his prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:14-16); "shed innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon" (2 Kings 24:4); and thus rendered their first deliverance of no avail, since it was an outward deliverance only from an earthly oppressor, and not an inward deliverance from the bondage of sin. Now Israel is promised in the future a second and a third deliverance— II. FROM THE OF BABYLON. God will once more show forth his power, will chastise Babylon by the sword of Cyrus, will cause Cyrus to "perform all his pleasure" (Isaiah 44:28), will bring his people from the four winds of heaven (Isaiah 43:5, Isaiah 43:6) and plant them again in their own land (Isaiah 51:11). "The ransomed of the Lord will return, and come to Zion." This deliverance is, so far, a sort of duplicate of the deliverance from Egypt, only that it is effected by new means, without miracle, by God’s ordinary and secret action on the course of human affairs. III. FROM THE TYRANNY OF SIN. The second deliverance is to lead on to the third. Israel, redeemed from Babylon, and replanted in its own laud, is to "show forth God’s praise" (Isaiah 43:21). The unimpressible people is to be, to a certain extent, impressed. In point of fact, after the return to Palestine idolatry disappeared. The pest-Captivity Jews were faithful to Jehovah. Though not free from certain minor sins (Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 13:1-25; Malachi 1:7-14; Malachi 2:8-17; Malachi 3:8-15), they were never apostates. In the Maccabaean times large numbers showed a noble contempt for death, and were martyrs and confessors for the truth. When our Lord came, there was still a sound and healthy element in the nation. He was able to gather to himself a "little flock." The "little flock" expanded, and became the nucleus of the Christian Church. This Church, holy by its calling, holy by its profession, holy by the sanctified lives of so many of its members, is but an enlargement of that early "flock." Thus the final deliverance—begun here, but not to be completed till the consummation of all things—is a deliverance from sin. The final "Israel of God" will be "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27). The folly of self-justification before God. Self-justification, addressed by man to God, is doubly foolish— I. AS HAVING NO BASIS IN TRUTH, AND EASILY . There is no fact more certain, whether we accept the statements of Scripture as authoritative, or pin our faith on our own observation and experience, than that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Each man is conscious to himself of sin, and no one claims perfection for his neighbours. The greatest saints, both of the Old Testament and the New, have shortcomings, defects, fall into actual sins. One alone is depicted without sin, and he was more than man. Human biographies are in accord. No one, whatever his admiration for his hero, claims that he was perfect. All accept the notion that the best man is simply the one who has fewest faults. II. As MAN FROM THE ONLY TO HIM. God will not justify the self-righteous. He forgives those only who ask his forgiveness. Pride is a barrier which shuts men out from him, and places them on a par with the fallen angels, "to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness fee ever" (Jud Isaiah 1:13). God "justifies the sinner" (Romans 4:5), but only the sinner who confesses his sin and begs for pardon. If we "go about to establish our own righteousness, and do not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God," we exclude ourselves from God’s covenant of salvation, which is made with the humble, the contrite, the self-abased, the penitent. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). BY E. JOHNSON The love of Jehovah to Israel. "But now." The word itself hints yearning affection. There has been a conflict between Divine love and Divine wrath, and the former has gained the victory. In fact, the wrath of Jehovah was but grieved affection. Its force is now for the time spent. He will now deliver and protect, reassemble and restore his people (Cheyne). I. IT IS THE LOVE OF A PARENT. "Thy Creator, O Jacob; he that formed thee, O Israel." Of all the works of God, confessedly the noblest is man; and if man is only known as forming nations, these too are the works of God. And Israel especially is the embodied thought of God, in her laws and institutions, her place and mission in the world. Or, if we think of Israel as gradually fashioned, by schooling and by affliction, into a "new and singular product," not less is she endeared to her Maker and Builder. We cannot but love our children; and scarcely less dear to us are the children of our brain and of our heart—our schemes, our books; the house whose structure we have planned, whose arrangements have been made after ideas of our own; the flock we have overseen; the little body of disciples or friends whom we have made an organization for the diffusion of our views of life. That delight we feel in the reflected image of our mind in what is not ourself, we transfer by analogy to God. II. IT IS THE LOVE OF A . And this implies sacrifice, love proved by expense of some sort. The tense gives a reference to history and to prophecy—past and future. No price can be too high for the ransom of Israel: other nations will be given up—Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba—for her. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, conquered Egypt and invaded Ethiopia. The Persian was destined to set free the chosen People; and those other peoples given into his hand as compensation are the ransom price for delivered Israel. If the "wicked are a ransom for the righteous" (Proverbs 21:18), if the sufferings of the evil are in some way connected with the deliverance of the good,—this helps to shed a consoling light upon many a dark page of human history. But not only the suffering of the evil may be thus viewed—the suffering of the good also, in the light of the great saying, "The Son of man came … to give his life a ransom for many"—for the greater or spiritual Israel in all ages. III. IT IS AN , , LOVE. TO "call by name" is an expressive phrase for selection and election. So was Bezaleel the artist called in connection with the tabernacle-work (Exodus 31:2); so was Moses called by name (Exodus 33:12, Exodus 33:17) and designated for his work. It is to "find grace" in the eyes of God; it is to be precious and honourable in his sight. It is to be a "peculiar treasure" (Exodus 19:5, Exodus 19:6), a property of the Eternal—"mine art thou." We are led into the heart of the covenant-relation by these words. And every association of affection and good which has belonged in the thought of the world to the spiritual bond which knits soul to soul, may be used to illustrate Israel’s relation to her God—that of child to parent, of client to patron, of confidential servant to lord, of soul to guardian spirit or angel, may be thought of in this connection. What is true of the nation must be true of its individuals; what holds good of the Church must be valid for the life of each Christian. IV. IT IS AN ALL- LOVE. Israel shall go through water and through fire unhurt. No stronger figure could be used for safety amidst calamity (cf. Psalms 66:12; Daniel 3:17:27). We may think of the salvation of Israel from the waves of the Red Sea, of the three children in the furnace at Babylon, of the ever-consuming yet never-consumed bush seen by Moses. These things are parables of the indestructibility of the spiritual life in mankind, and of the perfect integrity of the empire of souls, ruled by the redeeming God. From the east and the west and the north and the south, these scattered souls are to be gathered to their home. Impossible to limit such words to any temporal reference merely. The bounds of time fade away as we listen; and there rises before us the inspiring picture of the world as one vast scene of trial, of education, of an elect people to eternity—in which many sons are being brought to glory, that glory the reflection of God upon their renewed spirits.—J. The great controversy. The challenge of Isa 41:1-29. is renewed, and Jehovah’s claims are contrasted with those of the false gods. I. OF THE NATIONS. Israel is first brought forth by the ministers of justice. The people were once blind and deaf, but now are in possession of their faculties. And then, over against this small company of the faithful, the vast host of the heathen appears. And the challenge is issued—What god of the nations can produce predictions such as those in Isaiah 41:1-7? If this can be done, let them name former things—appeal to past events correctly foretold, and establish this by testimony. But the appeal is met by silence, by impotence. There are no witnesses forthcoming. And so once more idol-power is convicted and exposed as being "nothing in the world." II. THE WITNESS TO JEHOVAH Israel is now called upon. She has known again and again the power of Jehovah to foresee and foretell the future. Let their faith, then, be wholly given to him—a faith founded on evidence, a faith rooted in intelligence. This faith cleaves to Jehovah as the Eternal. He is both before and after all created things. These idols have been the objects of an illusory worship—formed and fashioned things. Their power breaks with the decay of the nations of whom they have been the imagined patrons. In the hour of adversity they have seemed, like Baal, asleep or gone on a journey—have lifted no arm to save. Jehovah remains the sole able God, the exclusive Deliverer. No "stranger," no foreign God had power for good or evil in Israel. To this test of ability to meet the wants of the times, true and false religions must ultimately be brought. The doctrine or the institution which visibly is saving men from evil, emancipating them from bondage to vice, must have a Divine element in it. And Christianity seems to need no other apology than the witness of what it has done and is doing to purify, save, and bless mankind. III. His WORK. "I work, and who can turn it back?" Messengers of his vengeance have been sent to Babylonia, and all the mixed multitude will be brought down into their proud ships, hopelessly overwhelmed. The great deliverance from Egypt—eternally monumental of Jehovah’s power to deliver—shall itself be surpassed by the coming deliverance of Israel from the recesses of the earth. It is seen already "shooting forth," and a blissful picture of the future, peaceful, abundant, victorious over savagery, closes the representation. 1. God is Eternal. 2. He is unchangeably the same. And this is the sure foundation of the security of his people. None can trust a fickle and a vacillating being. 3. He can deliver his people from all enemies, amidst every variety of circumstances. 4. None—whether man, demon, or god—can resist him. Opposition to him is both wicked and vain. The condition of happiness is to comply with his plans, and become servants in the furtherance of his designs.—J. Memories of exile. I. THE OF THE PEOPLE. They have forgotten the covenant of their God. They have neglected one of its first duties—prayer, which marks dependence; or they had prayed to other gods; or their prayers had been merely ritual and formal. And this was the less excusable as the burden of sacrifices had not laid upon them during the exile. II. THE MINDFUL MERCY OF JEHOVAH. He promises to blot out their sins; and this simply for his own sake. God can swear by none mightier; he can appeal to no principle that is higher than himself. He must be true first and above all to his nature; and next to that covenant which is the expression of his nature and of his relations to the people. Let them remember that; let them remind God of his promises, and he will not fail to respond. Although their ancestors had sinned; their leaders, the prophets and the priests and the princes, had rebelled against him, and had by him been rejected;—the people are still dear to him, and must remain so while Jehovah remains Jehovah. For he is the Eternal; he changes not. Though he punishes, he will not destroy; in the midst of wrath he remembers mercy; and holds fast to the set counsels of his love, from generation to generation, despite all the fickleness of man’s fancies, opinions, and inclinations. Their endeavours to overcome his good by their evil shall be met by his mightier will to overcome their evil by his long-suffering.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM God, in trouble. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." When. Then it is certain that such experiences will come. It is only a question of time. Tribulation is common to all the children. "The same sufferings," says the apostle, "are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world." When? We do not always know when the desolating floods of life are coming, but presently they will rise to our breast and to our throat—deep waters. I. DOES NOT DESTROY . We pass through these waters; they are part of the way in which the Lord our God is leading us. "Ever onward" is our motto. We are "a day’s march nearer home," even in the days of desolation and distress. We need not hope to escape the waters. No detour will take us out of the way of the floods. II. BRINGS CHRIST NEAR. "I will be with thee." A brief sentence. But it is enough. We have but to study the little word "I" It speaks of One who has all power in heaven and in earth; One who is human and Divine. A presence—that is what we want. Theologians talk of a "real presence." How can a presence be unreal? We do not talk of real sunlight, or real bread, or real air! This is the presence of One who understands all, and whose infinite pity accompanies the infinite peace. III. DOES NOT DESTROY. "The rivers, they shall not overflow thee." It is life the Saviour seeks for us, not death. Neither faith nor hope shall be destroyed. And if these waterfloods be death—which they are so often taken to mean—then they do not destroy. No; we pass through them to the laud beyond.—W.M.S. BY W. The supreme claim and the sure stay. So far from having nothing to do with us as individual spirits, we may say that God has everything to do with us. On the one hand, he makes a very great claim upon us; and on the other hand, he holds out very great hopes to us. I. THE SUPREME CLAIM. To every human soul, as to Israel of old, God says, "Thou art mine." He requires of us that we shall consider ourselves as belonging to him; so that he may employ us in his service, may direct our will, may command our affection, may control our life. God does not claim to own us in the sense of being at liberty to act arbitrarily and capriciously towards us, but in the sense of being free to rule our souls and fashion our lives according to the dictates of righteousness and wisdom. His claim rests on his fourfold relation to us. 1. His creation of our spirits. "The Lord that created thee" (Isaiah 43:1; and see Isaiah 43:7, Isaiah 43:15). If we could make an estimate of our comparative obligations, how much should we consider that we owed to him that brought us out of nothing into being, that made us living souls, that endowed us with all the immeasurable capacities that are enfolded in an immortal spirit? How large a claim has God upon our thoughts, our gratitude, our service, in virtue of the fact that to his creative power we owe it that we are? 2. His shaping of our life. God has "formed us." He who formed Israel by all his providential dealings with that nation from the beginning is the God who has built up our life (see Hebrews 3:4). Our human relationships, our bodily health and strength, out’ circumstances of comfort and joy, our mental strength and acquirements,—all this is the product of that shaping hand which "forms" the destinies of men as it gives figure to the foliage, arrests the tide, or determines the courses of the stars. 3. His redemption of our soul. "I have redeemed thee." God might well claim to be Israel’s Redeemer, for he had mercifully and mightily interposed on its behalf. But with how much greater reason may he claim to be our Redeemer! How much greater is that "great salvation" by which he "saves his people from their sin," than that deliverance by which he rescued a people from political bondage or military disaster! The surpassing strength of this claim upon us is seen (1) in that it is a redemption from the very worst spiritual evils to spiritual power and freedom; and (2) in that it was wrought at such a priceless cost (1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 1:19). 4. His personal interest in every one of us. "I have called thee by thy name." The distinct and especial interest which Jehovah took in Israel has its counterpart in the individual interest he takes in each one of his children. Christ has led us to feel that he follows the course of every human spirit with a parental yearning, with a Saviour’s restorative purpose and hope. He calls us by our name. To each wandering, backsliding soul he is saying, "Return unto me." To each striving, inquiring spirit he is saying, "Be of good cheer; I will help thee." To each faithful workman he is saying, "Toil on; I will come with a recompense" (Isaiah 35:4). II. THE SURE STAY. "Fear not." There are many comforters who approach us and whisper these two words in our ear. Some of these are delusive, and others are imperfect and ineffectual. It may be an ill-grounded complacency, or it may be favourable surroundings, or it may be-human friendship; but the house of our hope, thus built upon the sand, may fall at any hour. If we would build our confidence upon the rock, we must rest on the promised stay of a reconciled heavenly Father, on the assured aid of an Almighty Friend, on the certain succour of a Divine Comforter. Having returned unto the living God, resting and abiding in Jesus Christ, we may go forth to any future, however threatening it may be; for One is present with us in whose company we may gladly enter the darkest shadows. And if we listen we may hear a voice, whose tones we may trust in the wildest storm, saying, "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee."—C. Succor in sorrow. It is bad indeed for us when our best friends become our worst enemies. Fire and water are two of our best friends so long as we have them under control: they warm, cleanse, nourish, fertilize, convey. But when they gain the mastery’ over us they overturn and. consume, they injure and destroy both property and life; they thus become striking illustrations as well as fruitful sources of trial and distress. I. THE GREATER OF HUMAN LIFE. The terms of the text point to the larger rather than the lesser troubles through which we pass; though even the vexations and annoyances to which we are daily subject are experiences in which we need to summon our higher principles if we would act rightly and live acceptably to God our Saviour. But it is the sterner sorrows, the more serious calamities, which most imperatively demand all the resources at our command. We pass through the waters, we walk through the fire: 1. When heavy losses reduce our possessions and make us face narrowness of means, hard toil, or dependence on the charity of men. 2. When grievous disappointment overtakes us, extinguishing the bright hopes by which our path had been lighted and our hearts had been animated and sustained. 3. When sickness assails us, and our strength fails, and we lie long on the couch of helplessness or pain. 4. When bereavement throws its dark shadow on our homeward way. 5. When the failure of those from whom we looked for good or even great things sends a pang through our soul. II. THE TRUE REFUGE OF THE . "God is our Refuge … a very present Help in trouble." He is "the Lord our God … our Saviour." We may count on: 1. His sympathizing presence. "I will be with thee." Our Divine Friend will be with us, so that we shall be able to feel that he is looking upon us with tender and pitiful regard. 2. His limiting power. The rivers may rise high, but they shall "not overflow" the man whom God is befriending. His hand is on the adverse forces which oppress us, and there is a mark beyond which he will see that they do not come. 3. His sustaining grace. The fire may rage around his children, but such will be the resisting strength within that they "will not be burned." Their faith and love will not fail; they will triumph, in spirit, over the worst distresses. III. THE WHICH GOD . It is not every man, however he may stand with the Supreme, who may confidently count on this Divine succour. There must be: 1. Acceptance with God. God must be our God; Jesus Christ our Saviour; his service our portion. God makes no such promise as this to those who stand stubbornly aloof in waywardness or rebelliousness of spirit. It is his children who have a place of refuge (Proverbs 14:26). There must be also: 2. Submission of heart to his will. 3. Appeal for his help. "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee," etc. (Psalms 50:15).—C. Isaiah 43:3-7 The goodness of God to man. The abounding grace of God to the children of men is brought out very strikingly here. It is seen in— I. THE HIGH PURPOSE FOR WHICH HE CREATES US. "I have created him for my glory." There is no end so lofty in itself and so elevating in its influence for which God could have made mankind as this. It is for this, primarily, that the very highest intelligences in the heavenly spheres have their being. II. THE HE TAKES IN US. "Thou wast precious in my sight … I have loved thee." God regards the children of men (Psalms 33:13, Psalms 33:14). He attends to their requests, and meets their wants (Psalms 145:15, Psalms 145:19). He pities them in their griefs (Psalms 103:8). He yearns over them with parental love (see Isaiah 31:1-9:20; 2 Peter 3:9). He disciplines them with parental solicitude (Hebrews 12:5-11). III. THE HONOUR WHICH HE CONFERS UPON US. "Thou hast been honourable." In Christ Jesus we are honoured in many ways. We are "made priests and kings unto God." What manner of honour as well as of love the Father hath shown us, that we should be called the sons of God; and that we should also be made his heirs, and also "labourers together with him" (1 Corinthians 3:9)! IV. THE MEANS HE EMPLOYS ON OUR BEHALF. "I gave Egypt for thy ransom … I will give men for thee." That which is of immeasurably greater value than gold or silver, than property of any kind—men, human lives, God would give for Israel. For us he has given that which is of far greater account than any nation or any multitude of men—his own well-beloved Son: "God so loved the world," etc.; "He spared not his own Son;" "He gave himself" for us. V. HIS PURPOSE TO GATHER HIS to one place of rest and joy (Isaiah 43:5, Isaiah 43:6).—C. The witness of God’s servants. "Ye are my witnesses." God summoned his people Israel to bear witness to him; he challenged them to come forward and testify that (1) in the absence of any possible power that could have performed it (Isaiah 43:12), (2) he had foretold things which were far in the future; and (3) he had wrought signal and splendid deliverances on their behalf,—he had "saved" as well as declared (Isaiah 43:12). Thus they were in a position to maintain that (4) he was the One living God on whom the wise would depend for guidance and redemption (Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 43:11). His charge to his Church is similar. God demands that we shall bear witness to him and to his gospel of grace. To this end are we born, and for this cause came we into the world, that we should "bear witness unto the truth." Concerning this testimony, we are left in no doubt as to— I. THOSE WHO ARE TO BEAR IT. We know who they are to whom God says," Ye are," etc. They are those who have themselves returned unto him in true penitence and faith. All others are unsuited by their character and their spirit (see Psalms 50:16; Psalms 51:12, Psalms 51:13; Romans 2:21; Isaiah 52:11). Only they who are in sympathy with God and are living in accordance with his holy will are qualified to bear witness to his truth. II. THE OF THEIR MESSAGE. The first and greatest thing which men need to know is the nature and character of God. For it is the relation which they maintain towards him that determines their own character and destiny. Apart from him they are separated from the source of all true blessedness, of all real life. In him and with him they are safe, wise, rich, for evermore. We have, therefore, to testify of him: (1) of his unity (Isaiah 43:10); (2) his holiness; (3) his redeeming love (Isaiah 43:11). We have to bear witness (4) to the unique efficacy of his salvation; that there is no Saviour beside him; that there is "no other Name … by which we can be saved." And also (5) to the conditions under which alone this salvation can be secured. Like St. Paul, to Greek and Jew, to cultivated and uncultivated, to those who esteem themselves to be righteous and to those who know themselves to be sinners, we have to testify "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." III. THE WHICH THEIR . They have experienced that which amply warrants them in commending the gospel of the grace of God. 1. A profound sense of true deliverance. Their own consciousness makes it clear and positive that they have been rescued from the tyranny, the depravity, and the burden of sin, and led into the liberty, the purity, and the joy of sonship. 2. Peace and hope in regard to the future. God has revealed to them a home of rest and love—a future state where the highest and noblest aspirations of redeemed humanity will find fulfilment. In sure prospect of this they are in a position to speak freely in the presence of those who live without God and die without hope.—C. Isaiah 43:22-25 Righteousness, guilt, mercy. We notice here— I. THE OF GOD’S SERVICE. "I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense." God’s service is not a servitude, a slavery; nor is it a burdensome task, hard and heavy to be borne. Under the Mosaic Law, special provision was made for the poor, so that the sacrifices asked of them should be within their reach (Le Isaiah 5:7; Isaiah 12:1-6:8; Isaiah 14:21). Women and children were excepted from certain requirements, because of their sex or their years. Various exemptions were allowed in the spirit of considerateness. There was nothing hard, rigorous, ungracious, in the Law. Nor is there in the Divine demands now made upon us. God desires—indeed, he requires of us—that we should yield to him our thought, our remembrance, our worship,—regular, willing, spiritual; our love, our filial affection; our obedience to his precepts; our submission to his will. But there is nothing arbitrary or capricious about this demand; it is only that which grows, naturally and even necessarily, out of the intimate relation in which God stands to us and we to him. What is there less than this that we could rightly render to our Creator, our Sustainer, our bountiful Benefactor, our Father, our Redeemer? And in everything God makes full allowance for all our weakness and incapacity. He expects of us according to that which he has entrusted to us. From those to whom much is given, much will be required, etc. (see 2 Corinthians 8:12). From the very rich God will look for the talents of gold; from the very poor, small pieces of copper; from the strong man, his strength; from the weak man, his weakness. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 44:1-5 A OF ISRAEL’S AND . This section is closely connected with Isaiah 43:1-28; of which it ought to form the conclusion. The prophet cannot bear to leave Israel under a ban—its spiritual guides "profaned," and itself given over to "reproaches." He must end with a brighter prospect. Accordingly, he holds out, in the present passage, the double hope (1) of the blessing of an abundant outpouring of the Spirit, to take the place of the preceding "curse" (Isaiah 43:28); and (2) of a pressing of proselytes into the renovated Church, who will hold it in honour, instead of making it the object of their "reproaches." Isaiah 44:1 Yet now hear; i.e. "be not dismayed at what has been said. Listen a little longer." O Jacob my servant, etc. A recurrence to the terms of endearment used in Isaiah 41:8, showing that words of favour and’ promise are about to follow. Isaiah 44:2 The Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb (see Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:7). "From the womb" is added here for increased emphasis. Jesurun. The Lord’s people have their proper names—Jacob, Israel, Jesurun, or rather, Jeshurun. "Jacob" marks them simply as descendants of the patriarch—the people to whom the promises were made. "Israel" marks their militant character—that as "God’s soldiers" they fought his battles and maintained his cause in the midst of a hostile world. The third name, "Jeshurun," which is very rarely used (only here and in Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 33:5, Deuteronomy 33:26), designates them as "righteous," being a derivative from the root yashar (or joshar), equivalent to "upright," and points to that standard of moral excellence which it was their duty to set forth, and which to some extent they did set forth, in a world that "lay in wickedness." Had they been more worthy of the name, it would probably have been oftener applied to them. Isaiah 44:3 I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. "Water" is, in Isaiah, the common metaphor for Divine grace. Sometimes, as in this place (and Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 55:1), the simple maim, "water" or "waters," is the word used. At other times we have instead, or in addition, "rain" (Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 30:23; Isaiah 55:10), or "dew" (Isaiah 26:19), or "rivers" (Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 32:2; Isaiah 33:21; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 43:19, etc.), or "streams" (Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 35:6), or "floods" (as in this place). At his coming on earth, our blessed Lord took up the comparison, and has made it familiar to all men throughout the whole Christian world (see John 3:5; John 4:10, John 4:11, John 4:13-15; John 7:37-39). We may note here that the "water" is only poured on him who is athirst for it. Thy seed … thine offspring. Not "Israel after the flesh" only, but also Israel after the Spirit—the true "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16). Isaiah 44:4 They shall spring up as among the grass. The LXX. have, "As grass among the waters;" and this reading is followed by Bishop Lowth, Ewald, and Mr. Cheyne. But there does not seem to be any necessity for departing from the existing Hebrew text. As willows. There is some doubt whether the Hebrew word used (’ereb) is rightly translated "willows." The modern yarab seems certainly not to be a "willow," but rather a species of Viburnum. It is, however, most strictly a water-plant, growing only "near flowing water." Isaiah 44:5 One shall say, I am the Lord’s, etc. There shall be an influx of proselytes. Instead of the heathen nations looking scornfully on, and uttering gibes and jeers (Psalms 137:7) at Israel’s fall, on seeing Israel’s rise they shall be anxious to have a part in it, and shall hasten to enrol themselves among the worshippers of Jehovah. "One shall say, I am Jehovah’s,"—while "another shall proclaim the name of Jacob," as that in which he glories; and a third "shall write on his hand, (I am) Jehovah’s, and take as a surname the name of Israel." It was usual among the heathen nations to mark the name of a god upon the bodies of persons specially devoted to him (Herod; 2:113; 7:235); and, though the practice was forbidden to Israelites (Leviticus 19:28), it might naturally continue in use among semi-heathen proselytes. Isaiah 44:6-20 A FURTHER OF GOD WITH IDOLS. The captive Jews, dwelling scattered in a land the inhabitants of which were, one and all, idolaters, and having by hereditary taint an inclination to idolatry, would be easily tempted, during the long and weary period of the Captivity, to put away the worship and even the thought of Jehovah, who had allowed their subjugation, and conform to the religion of their conquerors. Hence the repeated contrasts in these later chapters—specially addressed to caprice Israel—between Jehovah and idols, and the sharp ridicule of the latter (comp. Isaiah 40:18-25; Isaiah 41:4-7, Isaiah 41:21-29). Isaiah 44:6 The Lord the King of Israel. Therefore entitled to Israel’s allegiance (comp. Isaiah 43:15). And his Redeemer; i.e. Israel’s Redeemer—he who had redeemed them from Egyptian bondage—who will redeem them from the power of Babylon—who, best of all, will redeem them from their sins. The First … the Last (comp. Isaiah 41:4, with the comment). Beside me there is no God. This had been distinctly asserted in the Law (Deuteronomy 4:35, Deuteronomy 4:39; Deuteronomy 32:39); but Israel could not be induced practically to believe it. The "gods of the nations" were supposed generally to be realities, actual powers, not perhaps so potent as Jehovah, but still real beings, capable of doing good and harm (see Isaiah 41:23). It is one of Isaiah’s special objects in these later chapters to disabuse Israel of this notion (see Isaiah 41:21-24; Isaiah 43:9-11; Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:14-22, etc.). Isaiah 44:7 Who, as I, shall call, etc.? i.e. "Who will do (or who can do) as I do—call events into being, declare them, and set them in order beforehand—who can do this for me (or, in my stead)? No one. I have done it, ever since I appointed (or, placed upon earth) the ancient people" that is, the race of men before the Flood (see Job 22:15). The claim is that, from the first creation of mankind, God has not only prearranged the events that should happen, but has declared them by the mouth of prophets (see Genesis 3:15; Genesis 6:13, Genesis 6:17; Genesis 8:22, 23; Genesis 9:12-16, etc.). No other has done the same. The things that are coming, and shall come. Not earlier and later events, but "future events," and "such as will actually come to pass" (Kay, Cheyne). Let the idol-gods declare these, if they are to be entitled to consideration. Isaiah 44:8 Fear ye not (comp. Isaiah 41:10,Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 43:2). Israel need not fear that they will be forgotten or forsaken. God has told them from that time, or, from the beginning (Isaiah 48:3, Isaiah 48:7), and declared to them, what he is about to do—viz, destroy Babylon, and give them deliverance. He will assuredly do as he has said. Ye are even my witnesses (comp. Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 43:12). There is no God; literally, there is no Rock; i.e. no sure ground of trust or confidence (comp. Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:29; and see the comment on Isaiah 17:10). Isaiah 44:9-20 The uniqueness of God having been set forth, the prophet now turns to the images and the image-makers, overwhelming them with his scorn and ridicule. The passage may be compared with Jeremiah 10:3-10 and Baruch 6:8-72. Isaiah 44:9 They that make a graven image are … vanity; rather, are confusion. The word used is tohu, which, together with bohu, describes the primitive chaos in Genesis 1:2 (comp. Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 34:11; Isaiah 40:17, Isaiah 40:23; Isaiah 41:29; Isaiah 59:4). Their delectable things shall not profit. "Their delectable things" are their idols, which are "pets, favourites, treasures." These cannot possibly be of any advantage to them. They are their own witnesses. Their powerlessness stands confessed in their very appearance, since they are manifestly sightless and senseless. That they may be ashamed. The subject of this clause cannot be sought in the earlier part of the verse. It is the idol-makers that will be put to shame. Isaiah 44:10 Who hath … molten a graven image? Metal idols were mostly cast in the first instance, and then finished off with a graving-tool. "Who hath molten" means "who has been so foolish as to do so—to take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?" Isaiah 44:11 All his fellows; or, all its associates’; i.e. all who are associated together in the worship of the idol. The worshippers of a particular idol, or sometimes of a particular god, formed a sort of guild or company, bound together by common participation in certain rites, and under an obligation to defend each other. The prophet says that, though the worshippers and the makers should, all of them, be gathered together, and stand up to help one the ether, yet should they be unable to effect anything. Gathered together against God, they would "tremble and be ashamed." Isaiah 44:12 The smith with the tongs. The Hebrew text is defective, some word having fallen out. We should probably supply "maketh," and translate, The smith maketh an axe, and worketh it in the coals, and with hammers fashioneth it. The description of image-making thus commences with the fashioning of the carpenter’s tools. He is hungry, etc. The artificer who takes the first step in "forming a god" (Isaiah 44:10) is himself hungry and thirsty, depending on so mean a thing as food to supply him with the needful strength. Unless he can cat and drink, the whole work is brought to a standstill. Isaiah 44:13 The carpenter, etc. When the smith has done his part in the formation of tools, the carpenter is called into action. His proceedings are traced "extragressively." (Delitzsch). First, he is regarded as in possession of his block of wood. On this he proceeds to stretch out his rule, to obtain the idol’s length and breadth. Then he marks out on the block a rough outline with red chalk (sered). After this he pares away the superfluous wood with planes, or chisels, and marks out the limbs more accurately with the compass, planing and measuring until he has brought the rough block into the figure of a man, and impressed on it something of the beauty of a man, so that it may seem worthy of remaining in the place where it is set up, whether temple or private house. But there is something necessarily anterior to all this. To obtain his block, the carpenter must first cut down a tree, or have one cut down for him (Isaiah 44:14); to obtain a tree, he (or some one for him) must have planted it; for the tree to have grown to a fitting size, the rain must have watered it. So the very existence of these wooden idols depends ultimately on whether it has rained or not—i.e; whether God has given his rain or withheld it. Isaiah 44:14 Cedars … cypress … oak. The second of the trees mentioned is more probably the ilex than the cypress, which does not grow either in Palestine or in Babylonia. Idols would be made of cedar on account of its fragrance, of flex and oak on account of their hardness and durability. Cedar was used as a material for carved figures in Egypt. Which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. The meaning is obscure. Dr. Kay translates, "and he encourages himself in the trees of the forest," which conveys no very distinct idea; Delitzsch, "and he chooses for himself among the trees," etc; which is sufficiently clear, but scarcely obtainable from the Hebrew text; Knobel, "he makes himself secure among the trees", which imparts an idea certainly not contained in the original. He planteth an ash. It is uncertain, and it does not greatly matter, what tree is intended. The point is that, before trees can grow up, they have to be planted, and that, for them to grow when planted, God’s gift of rain is necessary (see the comment on Isaiah 44:13). Isaiah 44:15 Then shall it be for a man to burn. The tree that has been planted, and nourished, and has grown up is naturally "for a man to burn." That is its ordinary destination; and even the idolater applies it partly to this purpose; but out of a portion he maketh a god. The very same tree serves him both for fuel and for a divinity. Isaiah 44:16 He burneth part thereof; rather, half thereof; "With half thereof"—not the other half, but the same—"he eateth flesh." One fire serves for the two purposes of warming him and cooking his victuals. Isaiah 44:17 The residue thereof; i.e. the other half. Isaiah 44:18 They have not known nor understood. The cause of all this folly is a Minding of the understanding, divinely caused in the way of punishment, on account of their having wilfully closed their eyes to the truth. Because they "did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate (or, undistinguishing) mind" (Romans 1:28; comp. Isaiah 29:10). He hath shut; or, One hath shut. But the reference is in either case to God. The word translated "shut" means literally "plastered" or "smeared." Isaiah 44:19 None considereth in his heart; literally, recalls it to his heart; i.e. returns to a sound way of thinking upon the subject. It is implied that the idolaters had once had it in their power to think and reason justly upon the absurdity of such conduct as that which was now habitual to them. But they had lost the power. They had suffered themselves little by little to be deluded. The stock of a tree. The marginal rendering, "that which comes of a tree," is preferable. Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes; i.e. on vanity—on what can give no support or sustenance (comp. Proverbs 15:14; Hosea 12:1). A deceived heart. Either self-deceived, or imposed upon by illusions from without; e.g. the seeming power of the idols, as seen in the victories and conquests of their worshippers. He cannot deliver his soul. The deceived soul is bound in trammels, which it feels to be irksome, and from which it would fain be free. But it cannot deliver itself. Deliverance must come from some external source; in other words, man needs a Deliverer. Is there not a lie in my right hand? An idol is "a lie." It professes to have power, strength, ability to help and save, whereas it has no power at all. It cannot even save itself. Savages often beat their fetishes. Diagoras of Melos threw an image of Hercules into the fire on which he was cooking his dinner, and bade Hercules make himself of some use by boiling his turnips. The powerlessness of idols even to help themselves is represented with much force in the Book of Baruch (6:12-15, 17-22, 27, 49, etc.). Isaiah 44:21-28 ISRAEL ONCE MORE , AND THE BY NAME. Israel, having been exhorted never to forget the impotency of idols (Isaiah 44:21), is promised forgiveness and deliverance (Isaiah 44:21, Isaiah 44:22). Then, heaven and earth are called upon to join in rejoicing over the announcement (Isaiah 44:23). Finally, in a noble burst of poetry, God is represented as solemnly declaring his intention of frustrating all the false sayings of the soothsayers concerning his people, and accomplishing their restoration to their own land, and the rebuilding of their temple through the instrumentality of Cyrus (Isaiah 44:24-28). Isaiah 44:21 Remember these; rather, remember these things; i.e. the futility of idols and the folly of the idol-worshippers. For thou art my servant. Therefore bound to worship me, and not the idols (comp. Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 41:2). I have formed thee (so also in Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:21; Isaiah 43:2, Isaiah 43:24). The duty of absolute unquestioning obedience seems contained in the relation of that which is formed to that which has formed it. On the other hand, it may be assumed that he who has formed a thing will have a constant care of it and regard for it—that at any rate he will not "forget" it. Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out … thy sins (comp. Isaiah 43:25). The promise there made is here represented as having its fulfilment. Before God reverses his sentence and restores his people, he must first forgive them. As a thick cloud … as a cloud. It would be better to translate, as a cloud … as a thick cloud. The latter of the two Hebrew words used is the more emphatic. Return unto me. This is an underlying condition, both of restoration and of forgiveness. Only the penitent can be received back into favour. The knowledge, however, that God has, in Iris counsels, "redeemed" his people generally, may act as a stimulus on individuals to repent and turn to him. Isaiah 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens. The sympathy of external nature with the fortunes of Israel is assumed throughout Isaiah, as it is throughout the Psalms (see Psalms 11:6 -8; Psalms 24:4-7; Psalms 29:1-11:17; 30:25, 26; Psalms 33:9; Psalms 35:1, Psalms 35:2, Psalms 35:7, etc.). If Israel is depressed, the earth must "mourn and languish," the heavens grow dark; the mountains shrink and "be ashamed." If, on the contrary, Israel prospers, heaven and earth, mountain and forest, must alike rejoice and sing. Dr. Kay expounds the rejoicing of the heavens here (and also in Isaiah 49:13),of the joy felt by the angels over the returning and pardoned sinner; but the context of both passages is in favour of the material heavens being meant. It is quite possible that there is a real and not merely a fancied sympathy between the material and the spiritual worlds. The Lord hath done it; literally, the Lord hath wrought—what he has wrought is not said. Mr. Cheyne translates, "Jehovah hath done nobly." Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Metonymy of the part for the whole—"the lower parts of the earth" for "the earth even to its lowest depths." There is no thought of Sheol or of its inhabitants. Break forth into singing (comp. Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 35:2). As children and birds sing from the very gladness of their hearts, thereby venting the joy that almost oppresses them, so all nature is called upon, not merely to rejoice, but to give vent to its joy, now that Israel is redeemed and God glorified. Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the Lord. This is not a new prophecy entirely unconnected with the preceding, as Delitzsch supposes, lint a declaration to which the prophet has been working up, and which he intends as the crown and climax of all that he has been announcing with respect to Israel’s deliverance. Not only is the deliverance absolutely determined on in God’s counsels, but the Deliverer himself is already chosen and designated. He that formed thee from the womb (comp. Isaiah 44:2). I am the Lord that maketh all things—rather, I the Lord am he that doeth all things; i.e. I am he that executeth whatever he designs—that stretcheth forth the heavens alone (comp. Job 9:8), that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. God did not delegate the creation of the heaven and the earth to an inferior spirit, a δημιουργός, as the Greeks generally taught. He did not even call in the co operation of a helper. Singly and solely by his own power he created all things. Isaiah 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars; i.e. "who brings to nought the prognostications of the astrologers and soothsayers, that pretend falsely to a knowledge of future events" (see Isaiah 49:13; and comp. Jeremiah 29:8, Jeremiah 29:9); and maketh diviners mad; i.e. "shows them to be thole or madmen" (see Job 12:17). That turneth wise men backward; i.e. "repulses them—puts them to flight." Pretenders to wisdom, rather than truly wise men, are meant. Isaiah 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant; that is, of Isaiah himself, whom God calls "my Servant" in Isaiah 20:3. The "messengers" are the prophets generally. Before the return from the Captivity took place, it had been prophesied, not only by Isaiah, but by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10-14), by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 39:25-28), by Joe 3:1), by Amos (Amos 9:11-15), by Obadiah (Obadiah 1:20), by Micah (Micah 4:10), and by Zephaniah (Zephaniah 3:14-20). Isaiah 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry (comp. Isaiah 42:15). "The flood" here is probably the main stream of the Euphrates, while "the rivers" are the various side streams which branched off from it and again united themselves with it. Some commentators regard the drying of Euphrates as a mere metaphor for the exhaustion and ruin of Babylon (Kay); but (with Delitzsch) I should be inclined to understand a reference to the action of Cyrus in drawing off the water of the river (see the comment on Isaiah 42:15). Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus. The mention of Cyrus by name, here and again in Isaiah 45:1, has no doubt been one of the main grounds on which has been set up the theory of two Isaiahs. It has been thought incredible, or at any rate contrary to the analogy of prophetical revelation, that so minute a matter as the name of a man should have been announced in prophecy more than a century before his birth. There is, however, the parallel case of Josiah, who, according to the author of the Books of Kings, was announced by name more than three centuries before his birth (1 Kings 13:2). And there are the extremely minute facts noted in Daniel 11:1-45; which were prophetically de-dared from two centuries to three centuries and a half before they happened. It is, perhaps, assuming that we know more than we really do know about the object and laws of prophetic utterance, to lay it down that there can be no minute prophecy except when the prophet is living in the midst of the events. It is certainly a very marvellous thing that Isaiah, living at the close of the eighth and the beginning of the seventh century b.c; should -mention a king by name who did not ascend the throne till the middle of the sixth; but no one can suppose that God could not have made such a revelation to him if he pleased. An attempt to minimize the marvel, without postulating two Isaiahs, has been made by the supposition that "Cyrus" was not really a proper name, but an old title of the Persian (Achaemenian) kings, signifying" the sun," and that Isaiah, therefore, only meant to point out Persia as the power which would destroy Babylon, which he had already done in effect in Isaiah 21:2. But, in reality, there is no sufficient ground for either of the two statements (1) that Cyrus meant "the sun," and (2) that it was an old titular name of all the Persian kings. That "Cyrus" meant "the sun," rests upon the weak authorities of Plutarch and Ctesias, and has been disproved by Sir H. Rawlinson. That it was an old titular name of all the Persian kings is directly contrary to the evidence. Out of fourteen Achaemenian kings, two only bore the name; and they bore it as their one and only personal appellation. It was also borne by an Achaemenian prince who had no other name. It is as purely a proper name as Cambyses, or Xerxes, or Darius. The theory of Dean Plumptre must therefore be set aside as untenable, and we must face the fact that the great Cyrus, who reigned from b.c. 559 to b.c. 529, is mentioned in prophecies attributed to a writer whose death cannot be placed much later than b.c. 700. The name which the Greeks expressed by Κύρος and the Romans by "Cyrus," is in the original Persian Kurush, in the old Babylonian Kuras, and in the Hebrew Koresh. He is my shepherd; i.e. not a mere ordinary king, who was often called "the shepherd of his people (ποιμὴνλαῶν)," but "my shepherd"—the shepherd of my people, who will tend them and care for them. And shall perform (literally, accomplish) all my pleasure. Cyrus is said by Josephus to have had ibis prophecy pointed out to him on his conquest of Babylon, and to have thereupon determined to fulfil what was written (’Ant. Jud.,’ Romans 12:1, § 2). His edict, reported by Ezra (Ezra 1:2-4), contained a statement that "Jehovah had charged him to build him a house at Jerusalem." It is difficult to see any sufficient political object for his restoration of the Jews to their country. Thou shalt be built; rather, it shall be built. Thy foundation shall be laid; literally, it shall be founded. The decree of Cyrus found by Darius at Ecbatana required that "the foundations of the house should be strongly laid" (Ezra 6:3), and prescribed its dimensions and materials. (On the actual laying of the foundations, see Ezra 3:8-13.) Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 44:4 Water a symbol of Divine grace. It has been shown (in the comment on Isaiah 44:3) (1) how this symbolism pervades the prophecies of Isaiah; and (2) what an echo it found in the teaching of our Lord. An analogy thus recommended seems entitled to be viewed as something more than poetic imagery, and may properly be made the subject of our serious thought. In what respects, then, we may ask, does the symbolism hold? I. WATER IS COMMON, , FREELY GIVEN TO MANKIND AT LARGE. So is it with Divine grace. Christ, the Light of the world, lighteth every man that cometh into it (John 1:9). What men call "the light of nature" is an illumination poured by God into the soul, and this light is common to all. It shows men the way that they should walk in; it enables them to discern between right and wrong; if they would follow it, it would guide them to heaven. Nor does Divine grace stop at this point. To those who struggle to do right God’s assisting grace is never wanting. His Spirit strives with all men (Genesis 6:3); his mercy is over all his works (Psalms 145:9); he is "no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). II. WATER IS TO LIFE. Nothing living, whether animal or vegetable, can exist without water. No spiritual life can exist without grace. Without moisture, neither can the embryo be formed, nor will the seed germinate. Without grace there is no commencement of spiritual life. Water is needed for the sustentation of both plants and animals. Grace is needed for the sustentation of the quickened spirit. III. WATER MEN’S BODIES FROM ALL FILTH AND . The pace of God cleanses their souls from the filthiness and impurity of sin. His grace is the "one fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1); the precious influences of his Spirit can alone take away impurity, and make the soiled soul once more clean in his sight. Wonderful is the cleansing power of water; still more wonderful is the guilt-removing power of grace. Sins that were "as scarlet" are by grace made "white as snow;" iniquities that were "red as crimson" become "as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). It is not merely that the sins themselves are forgiven, but the "evil heart," from which they proceeded, is washed, sanctified, and cleansed, so as to retain no taint of evil. IV. WATER AND THOSE WHO ABE WEARY AND FAINT. There is no refreshment to the faint and weary soul comparable to the pouring out upon it of God’s Spirit. When "the parched ground becomes a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water" (Isaiah 35:7), the result is a complete transformation of the whole appearance of things. "The wilderness and the solitary place" at once "are glad … the desert rejoices and blossoms like the rose It blossoms abundantly … the glory of Lebanon is given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon" (Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2). Similarly, when the dry and thirsty soul obtains a "time of refreshing from the Lord" (Acts 3:19), its whole condition is on a sudden changed. Gladness succeeds to gloom, happiness to despair, an almost ecstatic bliss to a dull, gnawing sense of misery. The soul puts forth blossoms—rejoices with joy and singing (see the Psalms, passim). The utter folly of all kinds of idolatry. Idolatry proper—the actual worship of images—is felt by modern Englishmen to be so extreme a folly that they have a difficulty in believing it to have at any time been, or still anywhere to be, the actual religion of a people. Their inclination is to regard it as a symbolism—coarse and ill-judged, perhaps—but yet a well-meaning symbolism, expressive of the truths of natural religion. But research into the past history of mankind, and investigation of the present condition of the nations by whom idolatry is practised, alike show a real belief in the supernatural power of the images, and a real trust in them for help and protection. Thus the idolatry directly denounced by Isaiah, extraordinary as it seems, is in fact a real form of human folly—one of the many strange aberrations of the human intellect that have an actual existence; and not only so, but one that is widely prevalent. Its "utter folly" is sufficiently exposed by the prophet, and, as being generally allowed among ourselves, need not be dwelt upon. The folly of other forms of idolatry, though not much less, is not so commonly admitted, and may with advantage be pointed out in connection with portions of Scripture like the present. We may instance— I. THE OF PERSONS. Human beings are allowed to stand between us and God—to absorb the thought, the attention, the affections, that ought to have God for their Object. Most often, perhaps, it is a child; but sometimes it is a husband, or a wife, or a lover, that holds the position, occupying the first place in our heart, and filling it to the entire exclusion of that Being who has the principal claim on us. Now, what exceeding folly is this! Is it much short of the folly of the old idolaters? To put in the place of God a mere human being, a form of flesh that may quit us at any time, that may change towards us, that has no power to help or save us,—that is not much superior to the idolater’s "graven image." How often does our idol shatter itself, disappoint our hopes, disregard our wishes, become estranged from us, tear our heartstrings, trample upon our best feelings! How often is it suddenly snatched from us! God is very jealous of rivals near his throne, and very frequently takes from us, by a premature death, the idol that is imperilling our souls. Even in the best case—which is alas! the worst—if our idol stay with us, and do not change, what madness to be wholly wrapt up in the love of the finite, and to let go from us for its sake the love of the Infinite Being! II. THE OF WEALTH. "Covetousness," St. Paul tells us (Colossians 3:5), "is idolatry." There are those who make riches the object of their worship—who allow the idol of gold to come between their souls and God, having more regard for the possession of wealth than for God’s approval, and a greater desire to be rich on earth than to be saints in heaven. What abject and grovelling folly is this! Wealth! So many pieces of yellow metal to be our object in life, the end-all and be-all of our existence—pieces of metal that we cannot take away with us when we die (Psalms 49:17) or even make sure of keeping with us during our lifetime; pieces of metal that do not save us one twinge of pain in sickness, or one pang of remorse at death! The idolatry of wealth is even greater folly than the idolatry of persons, and even more degrading to a rational being. III. THE OF RANK AND STATION. Some, who despise wealth, and have no strong affection for any individuals, have an inordinate regard, a profound veneration, for the possessors of high worldly station. To number princes and nobles among their friends and acquaintances is the highest pleasure of which they are susceptible. They idolize rank, consider it a sufficient set-off against all demerits, and will stoop to anything in order to bring themselves into contact with it. Here, again, one can only exclaim—What folly! Rank and station, like wealth, belong to this world only. They have to be left behind, with our everyday clothes, when we step into the grave. They are accidents which no way affect a man’s true worth, or the estimation in which he is held by those whose esteem is of the slightest account. The prince of to-day is the exile of to-morrow; the noble may become bankrupt in purse, and too often is bankrupt in reputation. Such as idolize rank and court the favour of nobles are despised by men of sense, disliked for the most part and ridiculed by those to whom they labour to make themselves acceptable. The duty of kings to be God’s shepherds. "By me kings reign," says God, "and princes decree justice" (Proverbs 8:15). Though the expression, "the Divine right of kings, has been greatly abused, it is yet a truth which all must acknowledge, that monarchs are placed in their responsible position by God, and must answer to him for the use which they make of that position. The whole world is, in a certain sense, God’s flock, and the various chief rulers who hold authority over different portions of the human race are rightly viewed as shepherds entrusted by God with the care of this or that division of the flock which is primarily and really his. Thus— I. EACH KING IS TO ACT AS A TOWARDS THE NATION OVER WHICH HE IS SET. A true shepherd seeks the good of his flock, not his own good. He is watchful, vigilant, wisely provident. He seeks to benefit his flock, not to pleasure them. Oftentimes he must check their desires, restrain their wanderings, keep them back from alluring pastures, confine them to high regions, where the herbage is short, scant, and far from succulent. He must be specially careful of the weak and sickly, and of such as have suffered any hurt. He must spare no trouble or pains to secure, so far as he can, the well-being of every sheep and lamb committed to his charge. And further— II. EACH KING IS TO ACT AS A TOWARDS THE PORTION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHICH IS WITHIN HIS KINGDOM. Within the universal fleck, which is coextensive with mankind, our Lord has a special flock, enclosed within a special fold, which he calls in a special sense his own (John 10:1-16). This flock is not, however, confined to one place—it is "dispersed throughout the whole world." Kings are required to look to its interests in some special way. They are to be "its nursing fathers," as queens are to be "its nursing mothers" (Isaiah 49:23). Cyrus, from the time of his conquest of Babylon, while in a general way the shepherd of all the nations under his rule, was especially the shepherd of Israel. And the case is the same with all those monarchs within whose dominions any portion of the Church of Christ has its abode. England’s monarchs bear, among their other titles, the proud one of Fidei Defensor—" Defender of the Faith" The faith which they have to defend is the faith of Christ, and in this defence is necessarily included the special protection of Christ’s faithful ones, or of the Christian community within their realm. BY E. JOHNSON The offspring of Israel. Judgments are coming upon the world. And the sacred seed shall be scattered abroad through all nations. There shall be deliverance of Israel from all those calamities and much more; the heathen nations shall be brought into the light of Jehovah. I. ADDRESS OF JEHOVAH TO THE PEOPLE. There are three names for the people—Jacob, Israel, Jesurun—and each represents a separate phase of moral progress. 1. Jacob, my servant. This itself is a title of honour. To be the minister of the will of an earthly sovereign is a proud distinction: how much more to wear the badge of the King of kings! Moreover, in ancient times servitude often meant confidence and friendship of the happiest kind between two souls. The name of Jacob, too, calls up memorable associations: a life of vicissitude and adventure, cheered by the constant presence of God; of notorious faults and weaknesses united with victorious faith; of a struggle to realize the Divine reality of love richly rewarded. The history of Jacob is beloved because it typifies the union of the human with the Divine—in the people, in all believing men. 2. Israel the chosen. One foreknown, selected, predestinated from the first to fulfil the ends of God. From the beginning of their history, the Divine hand had formed and moulded all Israel’s restitutions. As the organism lies implicit in the cell of protoplasm, as the oak may be seen in miniature in the acorn, so Israel sprang from a thought of God. 3. Jesurun the upright one. An imputed righteousness, we are told, is meant. Others say it is a word of flattery and endearment—a diminutive form of "Israel." If the two ideas may be combined, then the chosen and beloved of God will be upright in the thought of God. To say that God "imputes" righteousness to those who have it not in themselves, what is it but to ascribe to him the most beautiful effect and operation of love? It is to say that Israel is by him idealized. And to feel this about ourselves means deliverance from despair in those moments when in the mirror of conscience we behold a hideous self-reflection, or when we perceive how cheaply we are held by the world— "All I can never be, All men ignore in me, This I am worth to God. Whose wheel the pitcher shared." There are secrets of the heart unknown to any system of theology. He who can hear God’s voice saying to him, "Fear not," may be deaf to all detraction and indifferent to all applause. II. PROMISE OF JEHOVAH. 1. The outpouring of the Spirit. Let us transport ourselves in fancy from these moist atmospheres and dripping skies of Britain to yonder burning Orient clime. Then and there let us bathe ourselves in the generous bounty of those refreshing words, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground." But we need not go to the Orient to experience drought of soul. We may find reading "dry," and preaching drier, our own minds driest of all; nothing growing within us, nor promising to grow. And for the future the prospect seems equally cheerless. Nothing is left us but this Word of God; but all is left us in that Word. Thinking of snow will not cool us; the imagination of water will not refresh us in our thirst; but faith in God, the realization of what he is in this relation to us, remains the one resource which Scripture offers to us. 2. The spiritual posterity. Biblical promises respect the "solidarity" of life. That which we moderns call "individualism" appears to be unknown. As the curse, so also the blessing, goes on working to the "third and fourth generation," nay, to "a thousand generations," under the dispensation of a covenant-keeping God. Nay, it is conceived as abiding through time into eternity—"a seed established for ever, a throne built up to all generations" (Psalms 89:4). Here the abundance of Israel’s spiritual posterity is imaged as grass by the waters, or as the tall and graceful poplars by the artificial water-courses. "A tree planted by the rivers of water;… Thy years shall be as the years of a tree:" what more beautiful and touching image? The tree is typical of life in its strength, its gracefulness, its fruitfulness. These shall be its characteristics in the Messianic age. The Church will finally embrace the world. Proselytes will come thronging to her threshold. They will join in one confession. It will be recorded that this and that man was born anew in Zion (Psalms 87:1-7.). Each Jew will be as it were the centre of a little synagogue; ten men will seize his skirts and say, "We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23). The frequent confession will be heard, "I belong to Jehovah;" or be found taking upon his person the stigmata, or sacred marks, which denote him as vowed to Jehovah’s service (cf. Herod; 2:113). We may learn: (1) The blessedness of pious parents, and their corresponding responsibilities. (2) The gift of God’s Spirit is the source of true happiness and prosperity. Piety alone can be the root of the Church’s and the nation’s weal. (3) God will never permit true religion to be extinct. It may appear to wither; but so long as he lives it will certainly know its recurring times of revival.—J. Isaiah 44:6-28 Jehovah and the images. I. SELF- OF JEHOVAH. He is the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega. Existing before the creation, he will endure when it shall have passed away (Isaiah 48:12). It is a thought which strikes us at once by its sublimity, anal, what is better, with its truth. Men sometimes speak of the material world as real, of the world of faith and imagination as dreamy. Not so the greatest prophets and poets. Shakespeare describes the globe and all its human splendours as passing away like an "insubstantial pageant faded." But Isaiah outdoes Shakespeare, making the very heavens themselves pass; and perhaps St. Paul goes a step further when he sees "knowledge itself" vanishing away. Moreover, Jehovah is the incomparable God. He can admit no "rival near the throne;" cannot accommodate other deities to places in a tolerant pantheon. He is the sole Object of worship, the only Being to whom is due the title "God." So, too, he alone can tell the future. Let the long past bear witness. He placed the "ancient people," or the "everlasting people." The reference seems to be to the ever-enduring covenant spoken of in Exodus 31:16, to the priesthood and the kingdom which are everlasting (Exodus 40:15; 2 Samuel 13:16). It suggests "the everlastingness of God’s people," in opposition to the proximate fall of the idolatrous nations. Or, the reference may be to the days before the Flood—to the most ancient inhabitants of the world. In any case, he has appointed beforehand the times and the bounds of the habitations of men. And history is intended to teach men of him, that they may with mind and heart glorify him. Israel herself is the great witness on the earth to God. He is her "Rock"—a great and memorable figure (Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:30, Deuteronomy 32:31; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 31:2, Psalms 31:3; Psalms 42:9). Rock of Ages, Dwelling-place of all generations: who can wear such titles but himself? "If there were another Rock of Ages, Jehovah would not complain; but as his Being is unique, it pains him that men will not have him for a God." II. . The image-makers are all of them "chaos"—an expression of extreme contempt. There is no use, no profit, in their trade. To that question of use all institutions, yea, all men, must ultimately come. Now, what can be said on behalf of idolatry? Produce the witnesses. Blind and ignorant, what have they to say? To produce them is to abash and confound them. And so it is with many an idol and institution of our time. It tries to keep off criticism under the plea of sacredness; when the age insists on criticism, and will have an answer, its silence or its confused apologies are its condemnation. What can be answered to the following questions? How can you turn an image into a living spiritual being? Quis nisi demens—who but one out of his senses can confound the one with the other? The worship of these idols was sacra mental, and was kept up by societies and guilds. The members were in association with the idol and with one another; like Ephraim (Hosea 4:17), they were in fellowship with demons (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20). If the idol be nothing in the world, what becomes of those "joined to him"? Let that question be answered. And then, again, how can these human craftsmen make their Maker? Let them all combine in their toil: the ludicrousness of their endeavours is the more manifest. There is the smith with his sharp axe and his hammers, sweating at the fire till he is faint; the carpenter with his line and sharp chisel, plane and compasses. The semblance of a human figure appears. The god is made; and sacrifice and prayer follow. "Save me!" the benighted worshipper cries to his manufacture. The scene is enough to carry conviction to the spectator’s mind, and to convince him that these votaries can have no perception, so "daubed" are their eyes and their hearts by the habits of sense. The power of reflection seems gone—the power to hold up the act before the mind and judge it. A thoughtless religion, an uninquiring compliance with tradition and custom, is often enjoined upon us; but only thoughtful religion will endure. God is Mind; and if we fail to offer him the best of our mind, we sink down into some such miserable delusion, such ashy refuse of religion, as is here held up to scorn and ridicule. III. TO ISRAEL. Let the child, the servant of Jehovah, remember these things, and lay to heart the folly of idolatry, and the glorious constancy of the God who has claimed them for his own. Do they think they are forgotten of God? Impossible! "O Israel, thou canst not be forgotten of me!" He is beforehand with her. Before she confesses, he proclaims her sins forgiven; before she returns to her allegiance, be cries, "I have blotted out as a mist thy rebellions;" before she prays for deliverance, he proclaims, "I have released thee; then return!" Here is the heart of the gospel, the heart of the infinite love. We, with too narrow heart, too often make human good the antecedent of Divine grace. "Repent," we say, "and God will forgive; be obedient and God will reward." But on the prophet’s representation, Jehovah makes the first advances. He calls for conversion on the ground that he has released Israel. And so ever. The parable of the prodigal reflects the same ideas. The "goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." It is this thought which makes hardness of heart—housing up wrath against the day of wrath—appear so odious in the sinner’s own eyes. We need to represent the gospel so that the sinner shall throw all the blame of his condition on self, not on God. Let us ever speak of him as One who "keeps mercy for thousands," and whose stores of compassion cannot be exhausted. "Oh for this love let rocks and hills Their lasting silence break!" Let heaven and earth join in a chorus of sympathy, with shoutings from the depth of the earth, and ringings from the mountain-heights and from the forests. Let his praise be even "sounded down to hell" (cf. Psalms 6:5; Psalms 88:12); for he is Redeemer, has "beautified himself" in Israel (cf. Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3). IV. JEHOVAH AND HIS . He is the God, the Guardian Spirit, the Guide, the Avenging Judge, for Israel. He has moulded Israel in the womb of time, who has made the universe of things. He only is wise, "bringing to nought the signs of the praters, and making the diviners mad," turning the wise backward, and proving their knowledge folly. On the other hand, he speaks by the prophet. He causes his servant’s word to stand, and fulfils the counsel of his messengers. And his word and counsel is that Jerusalem shall be peopled, and the waste places of Judah be built upon; the flood of Euphrates be dried up. And already the word is passing into deed. The instrument of Jehovah’s purposes has been selected; no prince of the Davidic house, but Cyrus shall be his shepherd and accomplish all his pleasure. And we read in Josephus that Cyrus read the prophecy of Isaiah, and was seized by an impulse to fulfil it (’Ant.,’ Isaiah 11:1.2). God has jurisdiction over heathen monarchs; their plans are directed by him and made subservient to his will. What the Greeks thought of as ֱםבםךו, Necessity, the Hebrew thinks of as the will of the Eternal.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM True and false bread. "He feedeth on ashes." Man does not understand himself. Feed he must: the question is, on what? There are cravings of heart which cannot be repressed. Men are hungry for fame, applause, wealth, honour. Full many a time they taste this fruit; but each apple has ashes at the heart of it. What a picture of contrast is given us by Christ! He tells us of the true bread—the living bread, the bread which cometh down from heaven. I. THE TABLE OF THE MEN OF THIS WORLD. Ashes! Is that all? In other words, dust! Yes; everything that does not feed the immortal nature within us is dust. Wealth is dust, and is scattered like dust. Beauty, however fascinating, turns to dust. And so far as the pursuits of man are concerned, how unsatisfying these are! The post of honour is no sooner secured than others are eager to fling the victor down. The famous "garter" is laid on the coffin and the pall. We are told the reason of this sad mistake. "A deceived heart hath turned him aside." II. THE TABLE OF THE OF GOD. They feed on the Bread of God; and this Bread is the Son of God, who said, "I am the Bread of life." 1. Christ must be taken and eaten. Not in the hands. That is impossible. We are to feed on the living Christ. His mind is to be our mind. The soul can only feed on kindred elements. The spiritual nature cannot be satisfied through the senses. Christ must be "in us," the Hope of glory. 2. Christ was the broken bread for us. It is the Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary on which we are to feed. "My body was broken for yon." So we take into our spiritual being, not only Christ the Example, Christ the Teacher, but Christ the Saviour. And as we eat this bread we live by him, and become like him. He died for us, that we who live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again; for Christ came, not merely to save by teaching, but to teach by saving!—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 44:3-5 The indispensable blessing. We may well speak of water in the natural realm and of its antitype in the spiritual as— I. THE . There may be abundance of earth, and it may be of the most valuable quality; there may be the utmost diligence in the field, and the latest agricultural science; but if the rain be withheld, if no water can be obtained to nourish the sown seed, there can be no harvest,—the indispensable blessing is not bestowed. So is it in the sphere which is more sacred and more serious. You may have the soil of spiritual human nature, you may have the seed of Divine truth, you may have the diligent and watchful culture of the Christian pastor; but if the influences of the Holy Spirit do not descend, there will be no ingathering for the Husbandman. God must pour down his rich blessing, or all our labours in the Master’s vineyard will be barren of result; there will be nothing for Heaven to see but thirsty land, dry ground, fruitless farming. II. THE FIELD WHERE WE MOST DESIRE THAT THESE RAINS SHOULD FALL. "I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." We desire that God should be blessing the ministry we render to the aged; we are more solicitous that words of Divine wisdom should penetrate the minds and affect the lives of men of middle life, on whom such duties devolve, with whom so many issues rest; but we are most concerned that the truth of Christ should enter the understanding, cleanse the conscience, possess the soul, of the young. 1. They are, in a peculiar degree, the objects of our love; they may be "our seed, our offspring." But if not, we are strongly attached to them, and therefore interested in their spiritual welfare. 2. They stand at a point where religious decision will make the very greatest difference. If now they seek God and surrender themselves to his service, they will have a large and noble contribution to make to the cause of righteousness, to the service of mankind. 3. Unaffected and unwon in youth, the obstacles in the way of decision and devotion are continually increasing. III. THE BLESSED RESULT OF THE DIVINE . There will be a glorious spiritual upspringing. "They shall spring up," etc. There shall be the signs of abounding life. The life that will be seen when the floods of heavenly influence are poured forth will be manifest in: 1. The stem of sacred conviction. God’s truth revealed by Jesus Christ will be the staple of human thought. 2. The flower of fitting utterance. (Isaiah 44:5.) (1) The Name of Christ will be honoured by a Christian profession; and (2) the people of God will be honoured by close association with them. 3. The fruit of holy usefulness.—C. Isaiah 44:9-18 The irrational and the religions, This passage is interesting, as containing the most pungent and effective sarcasm in holy writ. There are indeed the finest conceivable materials for the sarcastic in the practice of idolatry; i.e. in all those cases in which idolatry has sunk into its lowest stage. Where a statue is understood to be nothing more than the memorial or visible representation of the Divine, the language of the Hebrew prophet would not apply; but where it is regarded, as it has been and still is regarded by millions of mankind, as not only suggestive of but identical with the Deity, then these strong and scorching words are most appropriate, most crushing. They may suggest to us thoughts respecting— I. BY . Some caricatures are clever and amusing enough, but a caricature of the sacred and the religious is both sinful and hurtful. Idolatry has gone far to dishonour and to discredit religion. The fact that men have committed such gross absurdities in connection with religion as these which Isaiah exposes and ridicules, and the fact that they have thus associated the utmost credulity with religious faith for hundreds of years under many skies,—this has done much to prejudice the minds of men against the highest and purest forms of piety. So far is ignorance from being the "mother of devotion," that it is the prolific parent of infidelity. The irrational is the best friend of the sceptical and the atheistic. It is well that we understand and appreciate this now. For though the grosser forms of incredulity have disappeared, the superstitious is with us still; and superstition, though it be baptized with a Christian name and wear Christian garments, will be recognized as the irrational thing it is; it will be transfixed by the modern reformer, and be shown in its true colours, and it will weigh down the truth which it was supposed to be sustaining. II. BY SERVICE. AS nothing can be more utterly irrational than the conduct here described and satirized, so, on the other hand, nothing can be more reasonable, more perfectly conformed to the fitness of things, than intelligent, spiritual devotion. What can be more right and reasonable than that the creature should worship the Creator; than that the finite mind of man should seek to be instructed in the wisdom of God; than that the recipient of innumerable and inestimable mercies should offer deepest gratitude and render heartiest thanksgiving to the Author of all his mercies; than that they who have most serious duties to discharge, difficulties to surmount, burdens to bear, obligations to meet, should seek the guidance and support of the Lord of life, the Source of strength and righteousness; than that they who are daily travelling to the grave, and have no light of experience to tell them what is beyond it, should make their appeal to One who has given us such strong reasons to accept him as the Resurrection and the Life?—C. The vanity of irreligion. In a few vigorous touches the prophet sketches the utter Vanity and the condemnation of idolatry. The idolatrous man: 1. Is relying on that which will miserably disappoint him; what he takes for food turns out to be nothing better than "ashes." 2. Is misled into the most grievous error; he has been "turned aside" from the highway of truth. 3. Is continually enacting a falsehood; there is "a lie in his right hand." Idolatry is the supreme mistake as well as the most heinous sin. But what is palpably and particularly true of this great iniquity is essentially true of all sin. A sinful life is— I. A LIFE OF SADDEST . "He feedeth on ashes." Like the "apples of Sodom," like the "little book" of the prophet’s vision trey. 10.), a guilty action (or a sinful life) is very pleasant on the outside or at the beginning; but within, afterwards, it is bitter and disappointing in the last degree. Crime begins in successful violence or enriching fraud; it ends in the prison or the garret. Vice begins in unholy pleasure, in unprincipled companionship; it ends in distracting pain, in mortal sickness, in cruel loneliness. Ungodliness begins in the delights of eager but unhallowed ambition, of happy but unsanctified affection; it ends in weariness, in heart-ache, in the discovery that earthly distinctions and human love cannot fill the heart that God made for himself, cannot gladden and ennoble the life that he fashioned for his service. A life spent without God, devoted to selfish gratification, is a life of deep disappointment; the mistaken sinner finds out that the delectable food which he plucked with such keen anticipation is only ashes between his teeth. II. A LIFE OF SERIOUS . "A deceived heart hath turned them aside." The straight road is the path of piety, of purity, of truthfulness, of sobriety, of justice, of kindness. When men "see light in God’s light," they recognize this path as the one right road in which a man should walk, any deviation from which is error—a spiritual wandering. But when the heart is deceived, when the soul is corrupted by "the deceitfulness of sin," when the inward "eye is evil" and consequently the whole body is full of darkness, then it seems to the deluded spirit that the wrong way is the right one, that the green, downward slopes of folly and sin are the highway of wisdom. And the worst of it is that the path of sin does not run near to and parallel with the way of life; it goes off from it at an angle which is continually increasing, so that the further a man goes along this evil road the greater distance he is away from that in which he should be walking. Every step takes the mistaken traveller further from his course. And when men have wholly lost sight of the beauties of holiness, of the excellency of holy service, of the claims of Divine benefaction; when they are so far off the true track that the voices of heavenly wisdom no longer reach their ear;—they are helpless, they are lost. The deceived and deluded pilgrim "cannot deliver his soul." III. A LIFE OF FALSITY. "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Men are often living falsehoods when they are not putting them into words; the lie is not on their lips but in their right hand. The man who is withholding his heart from God and his life from his service is saying, by his chosen course, by his daily doings, by his deliberate action, that it is better to live a selfish than a devoted life; that the claims of Christ may be neglected; that the temporal is of more consequence than the eternal, the material than the spiritual; that happiness is more worth seeking than blessedness, the honour that cometh from man than the approval of the heavenly Father. These are fatal falsehoods, which lure men to sin and lead them down to death. Happy is that wandering soul who sees a form that comes to rescue, who hears a voice that summons to redeem—that One who says, "Man shall not live by bread alone;" "He that cometh to me shall never hunger;" that voice which says, "Return unto me, and I will return unto you;" "In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death" (Proverbs 12:28).—C. Isaiah 44:23-28 Joy in God’s redeeming power. We have here— I. THE REACH OF POWER. It extends: 1. Over all visible nature. (Isaiah 44:24.) He makes "all things." The heavens and the earth are the work of his hand. 2. Over individual men. He can (1) direct the indifferent, so that Cyrus performs his pleasure (Isaiah 44:28), although that king was living in spiritual ignorance (Isaiah 45:5); (2) confound the rebellious, so that the impostor is discredited and ashamed (Isaiah 44:25); (3) establish the faithful, so that his servant, however he may have been disregarded, is honoured in the eyes of men (Isaiah 44:26). 3. Over men in their collective capacity. Jehovah had fashioned Israel, making her all she had become, giving her strength to do all she had accomplished; it was he that "formed" her from the beginning, that shaped her life (Isaiah 44:24). And he would yet restore the cities of Judah; they should be populous and powerful again (Isaiah 44:26). 4. Over the most formidable diacritics. Things that seem impossible of achievement are found, under his power, to be effected. At the touch of his hand the waters of the great deep disappear; at the sound of his voice the river-beds are dry (Isaiah 44:27). "With God all things are possible." Mountains of difficulty are removed, and seas of impediment are swept away. Nothing is "too hard for the Lord." II. ITS RESULTS. It is a question of the greatest importance—What are the results of the power which is exercised by the strong.? The world has had some terrible illustrations of the miseries of malevolent force. Power seeking selfish gratification at the expense of righteousness and of human happiness is the most deplorable as it is the most damnable thing under the heavens. On the other hand, power put forth to elevate and bless is the most admirable and beneficent thing. God works toward two ends (1) the exaltation of his own holy Name; and (2) the redemption and restoration of mankind (Isaiah 44:23). The two become one; for it is by bringing men back to himself and to his service that he redeems them from all that is ruinous, and that he raises them to all that is elevating and ennobling. Man finds his worst calamity in distance from his heavenly Father; he finds his highest good, his fullest blessedness, in the honour he pays, in the love he cherishes, in the obedience he renders, in the resemblance he reaches, to his Divine Saviour, his living Lord and Friend. III. JOY THEREIN. "Sing, O ye heavens," etc. (Isaiah 44:23). Joy at its very fullest is uncontainable, inexpressible. He wrote well who said, "I were little happy could I say how much." There are times when we feel that we want every one and everything to be vocal with the gladness of our own soul. If the children did not shout, the very stones would have to speak the joy of that glad hour (Luke 19:40). When the great and gracious purposes of God are accomplished in the redemption of one human soul from sin and its restoration to the love and the likeness of God, there is occasion for more joy than human songs can celebrate; how much more so when a nation is redeemed! arid how much more yet will there be when the whole race is transformed, and when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ!—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 44:2-5 Revival promised in the power of the Spirit. The history of the Church reminds us of the tides that rise and fall upon our shores—ebb and flow, ebb and flow. Sometimes the waters rise with an unusual strength, and flood all the land around, but soon they fall back into the old limits and quiet movements. No doubt the kingdom of Christ is steadily advancing, widening its reach, enlarging its influence. But as we can only see a little, one little bay of the great shore-line, as it were, we can only form our estimate of the tide in this our "arm of the sea;" we cannot measure the encroachments of the great tide of God. We may live at a time when the high tide of revival has spent its strength, and is receding lower and lower. So far as we can observe, it is not the living waters encroaching upon dreary sand, but dreary sand encroaching upon living waters. But let us wait awhile; the tide of God may turn again, and flow up higher than ever. There is a promise of blessing in our text which has been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled over and over again. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 45:1-7 GOD’S WILL HIM TO CYRUS. This direct address of God to a heathen king is without a parallel in Scripture. Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Abimelech, were warned through dreams. Nebuchadnezzar was even promised Divine aid (Ezekiel 30:24, Ezekiel 30:25). But no heathen monarch had previously been personally addressed by God, much less called "his anointed," and spoken to by his name (Isaiah 45:4). Three motives are mentioned for this special favour to him: (1) that he might acknowledge Jehovah to be the true God; (2) that Israel might be benefited and advantaged by him; (3) that the attention of the whole world might be attracted, and the unity of God made manifest far and wide (Isaiah 45:3-6). Isaiah 45:1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed. The "anointed of Jehovah" is elsewhere always either an Israelite king, or the expected Deliverer of the nation, "Messiah the Prince" (Daniel 9:25). This Deliverer, however, was to be of the line of David (Isaiah 11:1), and of the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), so that we can scarcely suppose Isaiah to have seen him in Cyrus. But he may have seen in Cyrus a type of the great Deliverer, as he saw in the release of Israel from the power of Babylon a type of their deliverance from sin. Whose right hand I have holden; rather, strengthened (comp. Ezekiel 30:24). To subdue nations before him (see above, Isaiah 41:2, and the comment ad loc.). Among the nations subdued by Cyrus may be mentioned the Medes, the Babylonians, the Lydians, the Caftans, the Caunians, the Lycians, the Bactrians, the Sacae, the Parthians, the Hyrcanians, the Chorasmians, the Sogdians, the Arians of Herat, the Zarangians, the Arachosians, the Satagydians, and the Gandarians. I will loose the loins of kings; i.e. render them weak and incapable of resistance" (comp. Daniel 5:6), net "disarm them" (Cheyne); for the chief royal weapons were the spear and the bow, neither of which was carried at the girdle. To open before him the two-leaved gates. The cities and forts repro-sented on the Assyrian monuments have invariably their gateways closed by two large gates or doors which meet in the centre of the gateway. The bronze plating found at Ballarat gave the dimensions, and showed the strength of such gates. Isaiah 45:2 I will … make the crooked places straight; rather, I will make the rugged places level. No doubt intended generally, "I will smooth his way before him." The gates of brass … the bars of iron. According to Herodotus, the gates of Babylon were of solid bronze, and one hundred in number (1.179). Solid bronze gates have, however, nowhere been found, and would have been inconvenient from their enormous weight. It is probable that the "gates of brass," or "bronze," whereof we read, were always, like these found at Ballarat, of wood plated with bronze. To the eye these would be "gates of bronze." Gates of towns were, as a matter of course, secured by bars, which would commonly be made of iron, as the strongest material. Iron was well known to the Babylonians (Herod; 1:186). Isaiah 45:3 I will give thee the treasures of darkness; i.e. "treasures stored in dark places"—"bidden treasures." Treasuries were built for greater security without windows. Of the treasures which fell into the hands of Cyrus, the greatest were probably those of Babylon (Herod; 1.183) and of Sardis (Xen; ’Cyrop.,’ 7.2, § 11). The value of the latter has been estimated at above one hundred and twenty-six millions sterling. That thou mayest know; or, acknowledge. If these documents are accepted as genuine, or even as true in substance (Ewald), Cyrus must be considered to have identified Jehovah with his own Ormuzd, and to have viewed the Jewish and Persian religions as substantially the same. He would be under no temptation, with so weak and down-trodden a people as the Jews, to resort to politic pretences, as he might be in the case of the Babylonians (see the comment on Isaiah 41:25). Which call thee by thy name (comp. Isaiah 45:1 and Isaiah 44:28). (On the special favour implied in God’s condescending to "know" or "call" a person by his name, see the ’Pulpit Commentary’ on Exodus 33:12.) Am the God of Israel; rather, am the Lord … the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake. This second motive is, in a certain sense, the main one. Cyrus is raised up, especially, to perform God’s pleasure with respect to Judah and Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:26-28). Jacob, his Church, is more important in God’s eyes than any individual. No doubt his Church is maintained, in part, that it may be "a light to lighten the Gentiles;" but it is not maintained solely: or even mainly, for this end. Its welfare is an end in itself, and would be sought by God apart from any further consequence. Israel mine elect (comp. Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 44:1). I have surnamed thee; i.e. "given thee designations of honour," e.g. "my anointed" (Isaiah 45:1); "my shepherd" (Isaiah 44:28); "he who shall do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 44:28). Though thou hast not known me; rather, though thou didst not know me. Cyrus’s honours, his titles, his mention by name, etc; were accumulated upon him before his birth, when he knew nothing of God, when, therefore, he had in no way merited them. Thus all was done, not for his sake, but lot the sake of Israel. Isaiah 45:5 I girded thee. As God "loosed the loins" of Cyrus’s adversaries (Isaiah 45:1), to weaken them, so he "girded" those of Cyrus, to give him strength (comp. Psalms 18:32). Isaiah 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun. Here we have the third motive of the Divine action respecting Cyrus. The attention of all the world from the extreme east to the extreme west, would be drawn by the wonderful occurrences. Jehovah’s hand in them would be perceived, and his sole Godhead would obtain acknowledgment. An impulse was doubtless given to monotheism by the victories of Cyrus and the favour which he showed the Jews; but it cannot be said to have been very marked. Idolatry and polytheism were to a certain extent discredited; but they maintained their ground nevertheless. It was not till the true "Anointed One" appeared—the antitype of whom Cyrus was the type—that the idols were "utterly abolished." Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness. It has been recently denied that there is any allusion in these words, or in those which follow, to the Zoroastrian tenets; and it has even been asserted that the religion of the early Achaemenian kings was free from the taint of dualism. But according to some authorities, "a god of lies" is mentioned in the Behistun inscription; and the evidence is exceedingly strong that dualism was an essential part of the Zoroastrian religion long before the time of Cyrus. It is quite reasonable to suppose that Isaiah would be acquainted with the belief of the Persians and Medes, who had come in contact with the Assyrians as early as b.c.. 830; and a warning against the chief error of their religion would be quite in place when he was holding up Cyrus to his countrymen as entitled to their respect and veneration. The nexus of the words, "I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness," is such as naturally to suggest an intended antagonism to the Zoroastrian system. Under that, Ormuzd created "light" and "peace," Ahriman "darkness" and "evil." The two were eternal adversaries, engaged in an inter-ruinable contest. Ormuzd, it is true, claimed the undivided allegiance of mankind, since he was their maker; bat Ahriman was a great power, terribly formidable—perhaps a god (diva)—certainly the chief of the devas. It was from Zoroastrianism that Manicheism derived its doctrine of the two principles, and to the same source may, with much probability, be traced the "devil-worshippers" of the Zagros mountain chain. Isaiah 45:8 THE BLESSED RESULTS OF ISRAEL’S . The restoration of Israel to their own land will be followed by a great increase of righteousness and salvation. They will be, as it were, showered down abundantly from heaven, while at the same time they will spring in profusion from earth’s bosom. Jehovah, who has caused the deliverance, will also cause these results to follow from it. Drop down, ye heavens; literally, distil, ye heavens (camp. Deuteronomy 32:1; Job 36:28); or rain down on the thirsty earth your gracious influences. Let righteousness, or God’s law of right, descend afresh from the skies as a boon to mankind—a boon for which they have been long waiting. And … let the earth open. Let earth make due response, opening her gentle besom, as she does in spring, and blossoming with human righteousness, the fruit and evidence of salvation. To the prophet’s rapt gaze the excellence of the post-Captivity times, when all idolatry had been put away, seemed, in comparison with earlier ages, the reign of justice and truth upon earth. I the Lord have created it; i.e. "I, Jehovah, have wrought the change by the larger outpouring of my Spirit" (camp. Isaiah 43:3). Isaiah 45:9-13 ISRAEL WARNED NOT TO CALL IN GOD’S MODES OF ACTION. Apparently, Isaiah anticipates that the Israelites will be discontented and murmur at their deliverer being a heathen king, and not one of their own body. He therefore warns them against presuming to criticize the arrangements of the All-Wise, reminding them of his unapproachable greatness (verse 12), and once more assuring them that the appointment of Cyrus is from him (verse 13). Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive, etc.; rather, woe unto him that striveth with his Maker, a potsherd among potsherds of the ground: All men are equally made of "the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7). Israel has no prerogative in this respect. He, too, is "a potsherd among potsherds"—day moulded by the potter; no more entitled to lift up his voice against his Maker than the vessel to rebel against the man who shapes it (comp. Isaiah 29:16; and see the comment furnished by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans 9:20-24). What would a man think if the clay that he was fashioning objected to being moulded in a particular form, or if a work that he had made exclaimed, "He is a poor bungler—he hath no hands"? Yet this is what a man does who finds fault with the arrangements of the Almighty. Isaiah 45:10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, etc.! A change is made in the metaphor, the relationship of a father and his child being substituted for that of a potter and his clay. What would a man think of a child murmuring against his parent for not having made him stronger, handsomer, cleverer? Would not such a child be regarded as most unnatural, and as deserving to have woe denounced upon him? Isaiah 45:11 The Holy One of Israel; i.e. he who always does right, and with whom, therefore, it is absurd to find fault. His Maker; i.e. Israel’s Maker, who has, therefore, the right to do with him as he pleases. Ask me of things to come concerning my sons. This sentence is wrongly punctuated. The last three words should be attached to what follows, thus: "Ask me of things to come: concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me;" i.e. first learn of me what in my designs is to be the course of human events, and then (if necessary) give me directions concerning my sons (Israel), who are the work of my hands; but do not presume to give me directions while you are still in utter ignorance of my designs. In any case remember who I am—the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, One accustomed to give directions to the angelic host (Isaiah 45:12). Isaiah 45:12 I, even my hands; literally, I, my hands; i.e. "my hands, and my hands alone." All their host. The "host of heaven" is sometimes put for the stars, and may be so understood here; but "commands" are laid on intelligent rather than on unintelligent beings. (The object of the verb tsavah in Hebrew is almost always personal.) Isaiah 45:13 I have raised him up. "Him" can only be referred to Cyrus, the one individual mentioned previously in the chapter (Isaiah 45:1-5). The expression," raised up," had been already used of him (Isaiah 41:25). In righteousness means "to carry out my righteous purposes." I will direct; rather, as in the margin, make straight. He … shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward. Captives were often "redeemed for a price" (Nehemiah 6:8). In Greece a fixed sum was established by general consent as the ransom of a captive (Aristot; ’Eth. Nic.,’ Isaiah 5:6). Cyrus, however, in letting the Jews go free, would not be actuated by the paltry motive of pecuniary profit. He may, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, have been actuated in part "by a consideration of the usefulness of such a faithful advanced guard at the border of Egypt;" but mainly it is probable that "he obeyed the dictates of religious sympathy with the Jews." The recent contention, that he was not a Zoroastrian rests upon insufficient evidence, his so-called inscription being a document not put forth by himself, but by the priests of Merodach at Babylon; and the first introduction of Zoroastrian monotheism into the state religion of Persia by Darius Hystaspis being expressly disclaimed by him in the Be-histun inscription, where he declares his reformation to have consisted in the rebuilding of the temples which Gomates the Magian had destroyed, and the reinstitutier for the state of the religious chants and the worship which he had put down (Colossians 1. par. 14). Isaiah 45:14-25 THE ’ OF THE A OF THE AND OF ISRAEL. "With the prospect of the release of the exiles is associated," says Delitzsch, "in the prophet’s perspective, the prospect of an expansion of the restored Church, through the entrance of the fulness of the Gentiles." Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saba are especially mentioned here, as in Isaiah 43:3, as among the first to come in (Isaiah 43:14, Isaiah 43:15). Later on, a more general influx is spoken of (Isaiah 43:20); and, finally, a prospect is held out of an ultimate universal conversion (Isaiah 43:23). At the same time, judgment is denounced against the idolaters who persist in their idolatry (Isaiah 43:16, Isaiah 43:20), and they are warned that they will have no share in the coming glories of the Israel of God. Isaiah 45:14 The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabaeans; i.e. "the laborious Egyptians, and the traffic-loving Ethiopians and Sabaeans." Their buildings and their husbandry alike justify what is said of the Egyptians, while the very ancient traffic between Egypt and Ethiopia is sufficient ground for the assignment of a commercial character to the Ethiopians and the Sabaeans. Men of stature. (On the tall stature of the Ethiopians, see Herod; Isaiah 3:20; and comp. Isaiah 18:2, with the comment.) Shall come over unto thee. Knobel understands that they would give their aid to the rebuilding of the temple; but this they certainly did not do, and Isaiah’s words certainly do not imply it. He is again speaking of the great conversion of the nations, which he connected with the restoration of the Jews to their own land (Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 18:7; Isaiah 19:18-25, etc.), and which may be considered to have begun then, but only to have had its full accomplishment in the Messianic period. In chains they shall come over. Ready to serve the Church as slaves and servants—not literally wearing chains. They shall fall down unto thee, etc. The Church, as informed with the Spirit of God, shall Seem to them a holy thing, and therefore an object of worship (romp. Revelation 3:9). There is such a union between Christ and his Church, that worship, in a qualified sense, may be paid the Church without unfitness. Isaiah 45:15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself. Some commentators regard this as an exclamation made by Isaiah himself, who marvels at the unsearchable mystery of God’s ways. But others, with better reason, take it for a continuation of the speech of the converted heathen, who marvel that God has so long hid himself from them and from the world at large, not manifesting his power, as he has now done in the person of Cyrus. In this recent manifestation he has shown himself especially the God of Israel, and their Saviour. Isaiah 45:16 They shall be ashamed … shall go to confusion; rather, are ashamed … are gone to confusion—the "perfect of prophetic certainty." While the heathen that join themselves to Israel partake of their glory and salvation, such as abide by their idols are covered with shame and confusion. Isaiah 45:17 Israel shall be saved … with an everlasting salvation; literally, a salvation of ages; i.e. one which will continue age after age. As Mr. Cheyne remarks, for this to be so, the redemption required to be spiritual as well as temporal. Otherwise it would ere long have been forfeited. Isaiah 45:18 Thus saith the Lord, etc. Translate, Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens—he is God—that formed the earth and made it; he established it; he created it not a chaos, but formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else. As God had not formed the earth to be a material chaos, but had introduced into it order and arrangement, so he willed his spiritual creation to be recovered out of the confusion into which it had fallen, and to be established in righteousness. Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; literally, in a place of the land of darkness. Jehovah’s oracles have not been given, like those of the necromancers, or those of the heathen gods, in dark places of the earth—caves like that of Trophonius (Pansan; 9:29, § 2), or the inmost recesses (adyta) of temples; but openly on Sinai, or by the mouth of prophets who proclaimed his words to all Israel. So our Lord says of his own teaching, "I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing" (John 18:20). Seek ye me in vain; rather, seek ye me as a chaos (comp. Jeremiah 2:31, where God says to his people, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness?"). God has no more revealed himself to his people as chaotic, confused, disordered, than he has presented the world to them in this condition.! the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. There is an allusion to the crooked and ambiguous utterances of the heathen oracles, which rarely gave direct answers or plainly expressed any definite meaning. God in his utterances never diverges from the straight line of righteousness and truth (comp. Proverbs 8:6). Isaiah 45:20 Assemble yourselves and come … ye … escaped of the nations. The prophet reverts to the main idea of the section, which is the conversion of the Gentiles, and calls on all "the escaped of the nation"—i.e. all who have survived the judgments of the time—to "assemble and come," to consider the claims of Jehovah to be the only true God, to "look to him (Isaiah 45:22) and be saved." The great judgments through which the heathen will be brought to God have been frequently mentioned (Isaiah 24:1-23; Isaiah 26:20, Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 27:1-7; Isaiah 30:27-33; Isaiah 34:1-10; Isaiah 40:24; Isaiah 41:11, Isaiah 41:12, Isaiah 41:25; Isaiah 42:13-15, etc.). They must not be regarded as limited to the time of Cyrus, but rather as continuing into the Messianic period, and indeed nearly to its close (see especially Isaiah 34:1-17.). Each one of them constitutes a call to the nations, and is followed by a conversion to a greater or less extent. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image; rather, who lift up (or, carry) the wood of their graven image (comp. Isaiah 46:7, "They bear him upon the shoulder," where the same verb is used). It was a practice of the idolatrous heathen to carry the images of their gods in processions, generally exposed to view upon their shoulders, but sometimes partially concealed in shrines, or "arks". There would be still among the "escaped" some who would so act. Isaiah 45:21 Tell ye, and bring them near. Dr. Kay and Mr. Cheyne understand the nations to be addressed, and told to "show" or "announce," and "bring forth" or "produce," any argument in favour of the divinity of their gods. But it is simpler and better, with our translators, to regard the address as made to the prophets of God, who are bidden to announce his message of mercy to the nations, and to bring them near to him (comp. Isaiah 40:1). Let them take counsel together; i.e. let the nations consider one with another, whether God or the idols be the fitter object of worship. Who hath declared this? "This" must refer to the conquest of Babylon and deliverance of Israel by Cyrus. None but Jehovah had ever announced this—none but he could bring it to pass. From ancient time; rather, from aforetime (Cheyne). The announcement cannot have been made very long before this prophecy was delivered. A just God and a Saviour. A God in whom "mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other" (Psalms 85:1-13:16); who can be at once just, "acting stringently according to the demands of his holiness" (Delitzsch), and yet design and effect the salvation of sinners. Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me; rather, turn unto me (as in Psalms 25:16; Psalms 69:16; Psalms 86:16); i.e; "Be converted—turn unto the Lord your God." It is implied that all can turn, if they will. And be ye saved. On conversion, salvation will follow. It will extend even to all the ends of the earth (comp. Psalms 98:3, "All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God"). Isaiah 45:23 I have sworn by myself (comp. Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 22:5; Jeremiah 49:15). "God swears "by himself," because he can swear by no greater" (Hebrews 6:13). He condescends, for man’s sake, to confirm in this way promises that are exceedingly precious (see the Homiletics on Isaiah 14:24). The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness. So Dr. Kay and Mr. Cheyne (comp. Isaiah 45:19, "I the Lord speak righteousness"). And shall not return; i.e. shall not be withdrawn or retracted. God’s gifts and promises are "without repentance." Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. This universal turning to God belongs to the final Messianic kingdom, prophesied in Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 35:1-10; Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 66:18-23; and also by Daniel (Daniel 7:9-14) and St. John the Divine (Revelation 21:1-4). The entire destruction of God’s enemies is to take place previously (Revelation 19:17-21). Isaiah 45:24 Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness; rather, only in the Lord, shall each man say to me. is their righteousness. All shall confess that God alone is righteous, and that any goodness which they have is derived from him. The Hebrew has "righteousnesses" in the plural, to express abundance. All that are incensed; rather, all that were incensed (see Isaiah 41:11). Such persons shall repent and be ashamed. Isaiah 45:25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. Joined to Jehovah in mystic union (Cheyne). the whole "Israel of God" shall be justified, and glory in their condition. In what sense God creates evil. It was to avoid the objections which the human conscience feels against regarding God as in any sense the author of evil, that dualism was invented. The Western Aryans thought it simpler and more natural to explain the phenomena of the physical and moral universe’ by a perpetual struggle of two equal, or nearly equal, powers—one a principle of pure goodness, the creator of everything that was bright, sweet, delightful, holy, pure, good; the other, his antagonist, the creator of all that was the opposite—than to postulate a single original principle, all-powerful and all-perfect, which had yet brought into being a universe in which so much of moral and physical evil obtains as experience reveals to us. And it scarcely seems surprising that unassisted human reason should so argue. There is a difficulty in understanding the coexistence of evil with the absolute government of all things by an omnipotent and absolutely good Ruler. The difficulty is greater with regard to moral than physical evil, but it is considerable even with respect to the latter. I. EVIL. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:22). The sum of animal suffering is so enormous that to dwell on it in thought would make almost any man miserable. Even the sum of human suffering is more than we can well bear to think of. Hunger, thirst, sickness, accidents, blows, wounds, sores, excessive toil, make the lives of millions a burthen to them, and cause them to welcome death. No doubt much of this physical evil is the result of moral evil; but, making any reasonable deduction on this score, we shall still find in what remains—the resultant of the physical conditions of human and animal life—a total that it is agonizing to contemplate. Yet God must, it would seem, be regarded as the direct Author of this. He has so arranged the world—that, with the first introduction into it of sentient life, pain came in. Appetites are pains; desires are pains; most of the animal functions are pains; growth is a pain; decay and decline are pains; death is mostly an intense pain. Man, as an animal, must have known pain, even had he never known sin—must, as he increased and multiplied, have found the means of subsistence grow scanty, and have had to struggle for existence. Can we at all account for this? Much of it, especially the animal suffering, must, we think, remain an inscrutable mystery until we are "within the veil." But for the physical evils to which men are liable we may see sufficient reason. Men are made "perfect through sufferings." In overcoming, or in bearing, physical pains, man finds the best training for his moral nature. He learns to be courageous by resisting fear, which is a pain; to be just by resisting covetousness, which is another pain; and so on. Great physical evils bring out the greatest moral excellences, as those developed in martyrs and confessors. Altogether, we may pretty clearly see that the moral good produced by the pain which humanity suffers may greatly outweigh the evil of the pain itself in the sight of a moral Being. II. MORAL EVIL. Moral evil is certainly not "created" by God, in the same direct way as physical evil. He has not necessitated it by the arrangements of his universe. He has but allowed it to come into existence. And this he seems to have done in consequence of a necessity in the nature of things. Either he must have limited his creation to objects that moved mechanically and were incapable of moral action, or, by creating moral agents, have allowed the possibility of moral evil coming into being. A free agent must be free to do right or to do wrong; if he is not free to do wrong, he is really not free when he does right. And when millions of free agents were created, each with a power of doing wrong, that some of them would choose to do wrong was to be expected, and was of course foreseen by the Creator. From the fact that, though thus foreseeing the introduction of sin into his universe, God nevertheless determined to create moral beings, we may gather that it is better in God’s sight, and therefore better absolutely, that the two classes of good and bad moral beings should coexist, than that there should be no moral beings at all. Further, moral evil is certainly, like physical evil, a great means of developing higher forms of moral goodness. The virtue that resists contact with vice, the influence of bad example, the seductions of those who make all possible efforts to corrupt it, is of a higher form than that untried virtue which has passed through no such ordeal. The religion that leads men to plunge, into the haunts of vice, and give themselves to the reclaiming of the lowest outcasts among the dregs of our populace, is the highest form of religion. If there were no moral evil, moral goodness would fall far short of being what it is—there would be no Howards, no Frys, no Havelocks, no Livingstones. By the moral furnace through which it passes, "the trial of men’s faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire," is found, and will "be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7). Isaiah 45:9-11 Murmuring against God’s arrangements at once foolish and wicked Man is very apt to consider himself wiser than God, if not altogether, at any rate in this or that particular matter. There are few who do not at times imagine that, had the arrangement of the universe been committed to them, they could have improved it in many respects. Some would have had no sin; almost all would have had no suffering. Every one would have made some change or other. Bishop Butler suggests that such speculations are not altogether innocent (’Analogy,’ part 1. Isaiah 2:1-22.); but they are, perhaps, not greatly to be blamed, unless where they lead on to positive dissatisfaction, to complaints, and to murmurings. I. IS FOOLISH. Since: 1. It is vain, idle; it can produce no change. God will not alter his arrangements because we are dissatisfied with them. "With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). The laws which he gives are laws "which shall not be broken" (Psalms 148:6, Prayer-book Version). "Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:4). If we could affect the operation of God’s laws, change them, modify them, the case would be different; there would then be some result of our querulousness. But, as it is, there is no result—we effect nothing. 2. It is founded on ignorance. We know so little of God’s entire scheme of things that we cannot possibly tell whether any part of the scheme to which we object may not be a necessary condition to, or inseparably bound up with, some other part or parts on which we set the highest value. That to which we object may conceivably be the very thing which, if we knew all, we should most prize. 3. It is the preference of a lesser good over a greater. Whatever we may say in moments of suffering, ennui, or dissatisfaction, we do not really believe in our inmost hearts that any portion of God’s arrangement of the universe is actually wrong and could be set right by our wisdom. We know that "whatever is, is best." Were we actually empowered to make a change, we should hesitate. We should be afraid of doing harm. How foolish, then, to grumble at arrangements which we should fear to disturb! II. IS WICKED. Since: 1. It is a form of rebellion against God, and so of the basest ingratitude, inasmuch as God is our great Benefactor, to whom we owe everything. 2. It is always selfish. We are never tempted to murmur except when the operation of some law of God’s universe interferes with our own immediate comfort, or our profit, or our imagined advantage. But in such cases we know that our disadvantage must be compensated by some overplus of advantage to others, or the law would not exist; so that our murmuring implies a desire that others should suffer instead of ourselves, which is pure selfishness. 3. It argues pride. If we had a right sense of our own demerit and ill deserving, we should accept any and every chastening at God’s hands as far less than our due. We should "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God," and take thankfully whatever suffering he sent us. It is only when we are so proud as to imagine we do not need chastening that we can murmur. Isaiah 45:14-23 The conversion of the Gentiles gradual, but ultimately complete. Three stages in the conversion of the Gentiles seem to be marked—one in Isaiah 45:3; another in Isaiah 45:20; a third in Isaiah 45:23. I. THE FIRST STAGE. The nations within a certain moderate radius of Palestine are naturally the first to come in—Egypt and Ethiopia, in Africa; and by parity of reasoning, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, in Asia; Greece, Italy, and Southern Gaul, in Europe. This was very much the range of Hebrew influence during the five centuries preceding Christianity, and of Christian influence during two centuries afterwards. II. THE SECOND STAGE. The circle gradually widens, and a time comes when the gospel may be said, roughly, to have penetrated everywhere, and "the earth" to be "full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Missionaries have visited the remotest ends of the earth; and the nations generally may be challenged to "assemble themselves, and come," and make their choice between true religion and their own false and absurd systems (Isaiah 45:20). But conversion has not kept pace with preaching. On many nations very little, on some no, impression has been made. Prayer is still offered widely to deities "that cannot save." This is the state of things at the present day. Scarcely a nation in the world has not heard of the salvation of God; but a large number—as much as three-fourths of the population of the globe, we are told—have not yet accepted it. III. THE THIRD STAGE. God has "sworn by himself, the word is gone out of his mouth in righteousness, and shall not return"—that ultimately "unto him every knee shall how, and every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:23). In "a new heaven and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17) the Messiah, u the Ancient of days" (Daniel 7:6), will rule over a kingdom which will contain "all people, nations, and languages" (Daniel 7:14). How this will be brought about, what exactly will be the scene of the kingdom, what the condition of its members, is not revealed, otherwise than in mystical words, and cannot be laid down with definiteness; but in that kingdom, beyond a doubt," all people will fall down before Jehovah, all nations will do him service"—the prophecies of Isaiah will have full effect: "all flesh will worship before the Lord" (Isaiah 66:23). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 45:1-8 Cyrus the anointed of Jehovah. I. THE REASON OF THE DIVINE FAVOR TO CYRUS. Cyrus is the only king out of Israel who bears the title of Jehovah’s anointed. He is solemnly set apart as an instrument to perform an important public service in the cause of Jehovah. It does not necessarily imply the piety of Cyrus. For the purposes of Jehovah he is upheld, "grasped by the right hand," that he may subdue nations before him—from the Euxine to Egypt, from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. The girdles of mighty kings will be unloosed before him. See this said of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:6); then were the "two-leaved gates" of Babylon left open, amidst the revelry, and the conqueror broke in unopposed (Herod; 1:191). The treasures of the city are laid open before him. 1. The object was that he might acknowledge Jehovah. "He hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth" (Ezra 1:2). "Son of Cambyses, Heaven favours you manifestly, or you could not thus have risen superior to fortune". None but the Omniscient could have known the person and the name of him who was to conquer Babylon and deliver his people 2. The next object was the deliverance of the chosen people. "The fates of the empires and kingdoms of the world are divinely disposed of with a view to the Church." But all the progress and prosperity of true religion are summed up in the knowledge of Jehovah: that he is the sole God; that he is the Creator and the providential Ruler of the world. The alternation of day and night is Jehovah’s ordinance. So also is that of peace and war, success and misfortune, good and evil. This is pure monotheism, opposed alike to pantheism and to dualism. That the world may be converted to true religion is the final and all-comprehensive object. II. SONG OF PRAISE. "The appearance of the shepherd of Jehovah, and the thought of the blessings of which he is to be the medium, inspires the prophet with a joyous strain of psalmody." The form of the expression is borrowed from the Eastern religions, the fertility of the earth being due to the impregnating influence of Heaven (Psalms 85:11; Hosea 2:21, Hosea 2:22). Righteousness, in the sense of salvation (Isaiah 51:5, Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 61:11; Isaiah 62:1), descends upon the souls of men. And they will break forth into "fruits of righteousness" to the glory of God. Prepared for repentance and the reception of the truth from the Holy Spirit, they will be, even as the earth is, made mellow and adapted for the reception of seed by rain and dew. "A Church smiles under the influence of a revival of religion, and society puts on the aspect of loveliness like the earth after abundant showers.’—J. The sovereignty of God. I. THE AGAINST . He is compared to a "potsherd among potsherds on the ground." "Woe unto him who, though made of earth, and with no intrinsic authority over others of his race, presumes to find fault with the Maker!" (cf. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-6; Jeremiah 19:1, Jeremiah 19:10,Jeremiah 19:11; Romans 9:20-24). In the account of the Creation, the Almighty is conceived as making man out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). Shall the clay, then, quarrel with the plastic hand of the Potter? How can the distance between man and God be better expressed than by the tautology, "God is God, and man is man"? or that he is Maker, man the made? "Since matters stand thus between God and us, let us consider what bands we are in, and what an irresistible grip has hold of us; and let that teach us, even for our sakes, to be quiet under it. There is, indeed, but one way of encountering an infinite power; and that is by an extraordinary (if it were possible), an infinite patience" (South). Is it natural, again, for the child to complain of its parents that it has been brought deformed or weakly into the world? Nor is it becoming of men to catechize and call to account Jehovah. "Are ye children of God? Then is it well with you; and to murmur against me is as if ye should renounce your sonship." II. THE OF . To criticize the Creator is to assume a knowledge we have not got. We should be creators ourselves before we could say whether this or that part of the great world-work could have been otherwise executed. It is also to assume a knowledge of the clues of history, the springs of sudden events, which is not ours. And Jehovah reminds man again of his providential relation to Cyrus. His absolute unquestionable dominion and sovereignty over all things is the great argument for our submission to him. His dominion is founded on an inalienable title—Creation and Providence. It is reasonable that the first cause should be the Supreme Governor; and whatever has been made by God should also be commanded by him. He might have chosen whether he would have made the world or no; for he had no need of it to complete or add to his happiness, which was infinitely perfect within the compass of his own glorious being. Yet he was pleased, by the free motion of his will, to communicate and diffuse some little shadow of those perfections upon the creatures, and more especially upon his nearer resemblances, men and angels. A being essentially wise cannot do anything but wisely. Our ignorance of God’s actions cannot make them or argue them to be unreasonable. He is more honored by our admiration than by our inquiries. Hence the necessity, the prudence, and the becomingness of submission, without murmuring to his allotments.—J. Isaiah 45:14-17 The conversion of Egypt. In this conversion of the nations to true religion the Divine goodness and providence will be at last recognized. They are represented as going over to Israel of their own accord, and surrendering to her their wealth. And they will be brought at last to the great confession, "Of a truth God is in thee, and there is none beside—no Godhead at all." I. HISTORY AS THE OF GOD. So it often appears. The weak are down-trodden; the proud and tyrannical are in the ascendant. Israel in her prostrate condition and insignificance seemed to imply a God impotent to save. And so it is in the personal life and history. There are sufferings which obscure the light of faith, and seem to give the lie to the most deep-seated religious hopes. But God is where he was, though our view pierces not to him. "He’s in his heaven; all’s right with the world!" II. HISTORY THE OF GOD. "Now we are forced to own that Israel’s God is the absolutely Strong One, able and willing to deliver all who trust in him." Then in a moment they who have trusted in idols are covered with confusion, together with the artificers of them. And Israel is saved with an everlasting salvation. "Time, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity." What is all life and time, nature and human fashion, but a veiling of God? How can we see him except "through a glass darkly"? What is thinking but dreaming, and dreams what but pictured screens, concealing and revealing the truth? We are in bondage to sense, to belief, to fancy. But our deliverance draws near; and no confusion will await them that have believed to the end.—J. Isaiah 45:18-25 God, Israel, and the world. Again, with solemn iteration, Jehovah declares that he is Creator and God alone. The earth was framed and fitted to be the habitation of man, and the theatre of providential manifestations. I. THE REALITY OF THE ETERNAL. The truth is open, and may be published to all; it is no thing of mystery, secrecy, like heathen esoteric rites or knowledge. "Jehovah’s Law is not to be obtained by any occult arts from the under-world." He has not been a wilderness unto Israel or a land of darkness (Jeremiah 2:31; cf. Jeremiah 2:6). The seeking of his people after him is not to end in chaos. Here, again, may be an allusion to the dark sayings of the heathen oracles—ambiguous, oblique, or fallacious. His speech is direct, upright, and true. Let those who have escaped from the judgment upon the nations bear witness. How foolish they who carry the wooden image in processions, and pray to it (cf. Isaiah 46:1; Jeremiah 10:5; Amos 5:26)! What argument can be produced for the divinity of idols? Which of them can pretend to the prophetic and predictive power of Jehovah? God is the only Reality, the only Truth, the only faithful Principle in a world of idolatrous unrealities, pretences, and shams. II. CALL TO . In him who is real and true, alone can men find deliverance from temporal and spiritual ills. Not Israel alone, but mankind, is destined to look to him as the Universal Saviour. Jehovah swears by himself—the strongest form of assurance—"when the accompanying revelation is specially grand, or specially hard to believe." "The abolition of the last vestige of nationalism in the true religion is announced." The word is gone forth, and shall not miss its aim; the truth has sped like an arrow to the mark. Every knee shall bow in homage, every tongue shall swear allegiance. Submission shall be without reserve and absolute. "Only in Jehovah are righteousness and strength." While confusion shall be the portion of his enemies, his servants shall be accepted, and be placed by him on the footing of the justified and righteous. "He, then, that trembles at the name of an offended Creator, let him comfort himself in the title of a reconciled Father. Though we have cause to dread the tribunal of his justice, let us come confidently to the throne of his mercy. Let us come freely, and spread all our wants before him, lay open all our complaints, tell him all the distresses and secret anguishes of our burdened consciences. Believe it, we cannot be more ready to tell them than he is to hear them; nor he to hear them than to relieve them. Let us anchor our hopes, our trust, our confidence, on his goodness; for although as our Creator he will not save us, yet as our Redeemer he will."—J. Jehovah: his nature and purposes. I. HIS SOLE DEITY. He is the Creator, and to say this is to say that his is "the Godhead." This truth is repeated "line upon line," and "precept upon precept." Simple truths have an emphasis peculiar to them. They need to be iterated, because the memories of men are unfaithful, their imaginations vagrant, their affections prone to wander from their true and central Object. It was so in ancient times; it is so still. Then men were tempted to think that other national gods had some power; now they are disposed to turn to some "ideal substitute" for God. We should learn, not to share out our reverence among God and various ideals of the true, wise, beautiful, and good, but to conceive of him as the sum total of them all. The enduringly good, and the permanently true and spiritually and essentially fair, all enter into the conception of "the Eternal, beside whom there is none." II. HIS PURPOSE IN THE . It was to be, "not as a chaos," but a scene of order, a kosmos, as the Greek said. It was "formed, finished, and arranged, that it might be inhabited"—like "a lodging for a friend." God "rejoices in the habitable parts of the earth; and his delights are with the children of men." His thought was above all for the social ךןףלןע—the spiritual system, the beauty of the regenerate state of souls; his mind to be reflected in the human creation; the human creation to illustrate the glory of his mind. If science brings to light the wonders of the natural order, true theology brings to light the greater wonders of the spiritual order. It is a discovery of the law to which the passions and forces of human nature must render obedience in order to happiness. III. THE OF HIS . Not in darkness and secrecy, like the heathen mysteries; nor in obscure and symbolic phrases, like theirs. Nor is it a matter of occult art and divination. It is the "light of Jehovah" (cf. Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Jeremiah 2:31). Luminous in themselves, his words lead us on to tracts of light and felicity. They are direct, and opposed to the crooked and enigmatic deliverances of the heathen oracles. Let human experience decide between Jehovah and the heathen gods. They only dare to make such an appeal who are conscious that it cannot be resisted. That religion cannot stand which will not endure satire; for ridicule is the test of truth. How can they endure it who "without knowledge carry the word of their image, and pray unto a god that cannot save"? What argument can they produce? What covenant can there be between the soul and an idol? what ability in wood or stone to save? The result remains as before. As there is but one Creator, so is there but one Moral Governor—one righteous, faithful, covenant-keeping God. IV. CALL TO AND TO . "Be saved!" That is, ye shall be saved in turning unto me. If he is the only God, obedience to him must be the only salvation. And upon this end God has set his heart—this end, he swears, as God is God, shall be accomplished. The true Israel shall expand, the barriers of naturalism shall be broken down; there shall be universal, voluntary, unrestrained submission. Shame at error, and triumphant, boastful gladness in the new-found truth, shall go together. Such a communion of spirits in God and with one another is the object of faith, of aspiration now, and shall be a glorious realization hereafter.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM God in our past life. "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." When the soul of man is renewed, and his rebellion against God ceases, wonderment often arises in the heart that life has not been altogether a ruin. So many times we have been near the precipice; the crumbling stones fell down into the plain; our feet well-nigh slipped. Here is the open secret. I. HELP. "I girded thee." We have not seen a face nor even heard a voice, but an invisible arm has been around us. "It is of the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed." Our folly was sufficient to ruin us. Our obstinacy was wild and wilful. We cannot take credit to ourselves for deliverances from moral danger. We can look back and see that often there was but a step betwixt us and moral death. "Great deliverances," as the prophet says, hath God wrought, II. HUMAN . "Though thou hast not known me." The life has been destitute of fellowship with God and likeness to God. We have not retained the knowledge of God. There has been all through our life: 1. God’s care without our cognizance. 2. God’s love without our gratitude. 3. God’s wisdom without our skill. Verily the apostle was right: "By the grace of God I am what I am."—W.M.S. The eye of the soul. Look unto me, and be ye saved." Faith can look! We have the spiritual vision and the spiritual object. "Blessed are your eyes, for they see." We look, and are saved! Yes; and we look in hours of sorrow and unrest, and our burdens are lightened. This is no dream of the quietist; no meditation of the mystic. We do not look into infinity, and feel awe. We do not merely set religious imagination to work. We have a loving Lord and Saviour, to whom we look. "Sir, we would see Jesus." When our eyes are filled with worldly visions; when we are active in the warehouse, the office, the street, the home;—then we have experience of time-visions. When our souls are awake we gaze on the unseen Lord, who has been about our path all the day, and who is always waiting to be gracious. What is the exact word, do you say? I see! You are accustomed to a close exegesis of the Scripture. It is well! The Hebrew means, "flowed together." Is not that beautiful? "They looked unto him, and flowed together." We are lightened by oneness with our Lord. I. LOOKING UNTO JESUS US BY . This always lightens. In a human sense it does. We can enter into each other’s lives, and bear each other’s burdens. We want not more strength, but more cheer. He does not give new faculty, but the Holy Spirit quickens faith; faculty we already have. Think of the one Divine life. Christ knew what it was to go to his Father in prayer, to be alone, to be misunderstood, to be solitary and forsaken. He was tempted, too, in all points as we are, yet without sin. He suffered, being tempted. We look to the Brother as well as the Saviour. Sympathy! Is it not precious? We get hardened by habits, where each has to struggle for himself or herself. Yes, herself! The womanly life is often a heroism of endeavour in the sense of seeking sometimes a livelihood; and the world to a widow does seem a very selfish place at times. Christ was poor. He was, in a human sense, needy. But, you say, even in these lives of struggle and difficulty, the spiritual anxieties are the deepest: to maintain a pure heart, a faithful love, a true conscience, a gracious progress in heavenward affection. Then remember he knows your inner history. Look to him. Seek oneness. Let your life and his "flow together." II. LOOKING UNTO JESUS US BY POWER. He is able to keep—able to save. Have you ever been in a gale at sea, and been nervous and timorous? But there, on the bridge, is the calm, keen-eyed, well-trained captain. You feel that there is confidence coming to your heart as you look at him. What waves cannot Christ calm? What coast of life does not he know the soundings of? What can surprise his vigilance, or blind his knowledge, or binder his commands? Even when the earthly physician came to your sick child, you watched his face and were lightened; he hoped, and you renewed your strength. A Christ less than Divine is no real refuge for such anxious souls as ours. We need not only beautiful ethics, exquisite parables; but we want Divine authority: "I will; be thou clean !" We are at rest when we can say with the centurion, "Truly this was the Son of God." We feel how guilty we are. We admit no man, no priest, into the picture-gallery of the soul. We decline to reveal our leprosy of heart to our fellow-men. But we are all polluted and evil; and we have deep repose of heart when we come to the one fountain open for sin and uncleanness, and know that Christ is "able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him." No look lightens us which is merely imitative—which is a lesson-look of duty. We need a great Saviour as well as a great Teacher. III. LOOKING UNTO JESUS US BY . This comes next. We flow together, not merely in sympathy, but in life and service. We do his commandments; we know in following him we are in the right path; and how it lightens one to feel that the way is right, however hard and painful it may be! Rectitude is the music of the soul. Is not this sometimes forgotten? you say. Or, if not forgotten, is obedience relegated to a very inferior place by some Christians? Yes; they mean well, but they take a superficial view of the gospel. Removal of guilt is not all. Doing is not a deadly thing, it does not end in death—if it is life-doing and not law-doing. Christ says, " Keep my commandments." "This do, and thou shalt live." We are never lightened by self-indulgent piety, which leaves all to God. We are to exercise our graces; to use what Paul calls "the gymnastic of godliness"—a beautiful expression. Looking to Jesus, we shall gain strength for every earnest endeavour after the Divine life. But is there not a danger of spiritual pride? Is it not better to feel God does all? There is no one of us free from the danger of spiritual pride. We must all watch and pray against it. But you may detect spiritual pride often very manifestly in those who think that they, and they alone, know the entire secret of God’s will; and their secret is, a leaving it all to him. Then pride says, "See; I am free from legalism, and I have no danger of self-righteousness." Pride may hide under this cloak of confessed humility. We are only safe in Christ’s own way. He and no earthly teacher is to be really our spiritual Director, and he says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;" "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them;" "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life." Not by a cowardly shrinking from duty, but by looking up to the Captain of the great host and gathering nerve to throw one’s self into the thick of the fight is our heart lightened. IV. LOOKING UNTO JESUS BY . We have tried it in the days of old! Christ has lightened many a burden we foolishly tried to carry alone. Men are ashamed of their failures. They boast of a certain specific, and it fails. They recommend certain methods of conduct which break down in operation. But our faces are not ashamed. They glow with the consciousness of what Christ has been in past times of test and trial. He has never failed—never forsaken. This is a beautiful idea about the countenance—a Christian should have no shame there. I do not mean a face defiant or boastful; that is not the meaning of these words, "And their faces were not ashamed." It means no confusion, no flush of anxiety, no prophecy of failure on it. We can all look to him. We are all invited! None of us can measure the weight on the heart. Christ can. And he knows that it is heavy, very heavy. We are often tired and weary. Come to him! You need him! You have slighted and neglected him long time now; but you have found no Friend, no Saviour away from him. "’Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon my breast.’" Let us do so. Then this experience will have brought to us a peace which passeth all understanding.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 45:1-5 The unfelt hand on the human heart. Of this passage the most striking and inviting words are those in the fourth and fifth verses: "I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me;" "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." But while these sentences furnish the theme of consideration, the other part of the passage suggests three particular things in which the prophetic word was fulfilled. 1. The opening of the gates of brass (Isaiah 45:1), fulfilled during the capture of Babylon. 2. The discovery of hidden treasure (Isaiah 45:3), fulfilled in the taking and sacking of two of the wealthiest cities of antiquity, besides other great acquisitions. 3. The strengthening of Cyrus for the sake of Israel (Isaiah 45:1-4), fulfilled in the brilliant successes of the great Persian conqueror, followed by the liberation of the Jews from captivity. But the interesting fact is the presence and action of the Divine hand in the course of this heathen king. Little as Cyrus imagined it, he was under the guardianship and guidance of the Lord of hosts from his earliest childhood to his last successes. The power that snatched him from earliest peril, that made him the wise and capable administrator he became, that planted in him the spirit of humanity and equity, that saved him in a thousand dangers, and gave so triumphant an issue to his various enterprises,—this was none other than the power which is Divine. God was girding him, though he knew not the name and the works of Jehovah. On this unenlightened sovereign, from infancy to age, through all the events of a crowded life, a Divine hand was laid; its touch was all unfelt, its secrets undiscovered; but it was there—a gentle, constraining force, shaping his career, tracing the lines along which he moved, making him the power among the nations that he was in those ancient times. This known fact does two very useful things for us. I. IT GIVES A TO ALL HUMAN HISTORY. There is too much in the affairs of men to justify the sarcasm about the "battle of kites and crows;" there is something pitifully small in the contests which proceed in "high places" for honours, titles, and emoluments. In one view the struggles of men are small enough to excite our pity, if not our disregard. But introduce the element of the Divine! Then all is changed. And should we not introduce that element? If God’s unfelt hand was on one heathen king, why not on another? why not on all the others? If, all unknown, he was upsetting and upraising kingdoms in one clime and age, why not in other climes and in other ages? In this view "profane" history becomes "sacred;" for in it we have a record of God’s doings in the world. When we read the account of the overthrow of Assyria, of Persia, of Greece, of Rome, of Spain; when we read the careers of Alexander, of Caesar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon, of Cromwell, of Washington,—in the light of the truth which lies in the text, human history is very much more than the story of a "battle between kites and crows;" it is more than the account of human passions in stern conflict, of human ambition working itself up and burning itself out. It is Divine procedure; it is God’s outworking and overruling; it is the hand of God laid on the arm of man,—unfelt, unrecognized, but directing and controlling, working to wise and righteous issues. In the great events which are the landmarks of history, and in the careers of illustrious men, God is "within the shadow," girding men though they know him not—the mightiest factor by far in all worlds, and even in this, where he is so little known, so much forgotten. II. IT LENDS GREAT TO EVERY HUMAN LIFE. Men may imagine that there is nothing sacred about their individual life; that they have very little to do with God and he with them; that God stands in no closer relation to them than that of the Author of the laws by which they are governed, and the ultimate source of the blessings which they receive. But they are wrong. God is much more to them than this. He is the Father of their spirits; he is ’the Saviour of their souls; he is seeking their welfare; is following them out, in his thought and affection, to the "far country" of sin; is inviting and promoting their return; is touching them in many ways and at many points, "girding them, though they know him not." The meaning of all sacred privilege and of all parental discipline is that God is laying his hand upon us, and is saying to us, "Return unto me;" "Come unto me."—C. Isaiah 45:6-8 An old perplexity. From very ancient times, through very many generations, there has presented itself to the human mind the perplexity which arises from the antagonism of forces. We find everywhere— I. ASPECTS OF HUMAN LIFE. Here are light and darkness, peace and evil (Isaiah 45:7). On the one hand are signs and indications of a marvellous and minute benevolence. In the sea, in the soil, in the forests, in the air, and on the earth; in fish, in insects, in beast, in bird, and, above all, in the life and in the mind of man,—are innumerable, inestimable evidences of Divine beneficence. But, on the other hand, there are drawbacks, there are shadows, there are evils, the number of which we cannot count, and the nature of which it is difficult to exaggerate. Pleasure is matched with pain; joy is followed by sorrow; hope is shadowed by fear; peace is waited upon by strife; life is swallowed up by death. II. THE THUS . What is the secret of this strange contradiction? What is the explanation of it? Shall we find intellectual rest in dualism? or shall we fall back upon fate—upon the blind action of unintelligent forces? or may we rise to the belief in one overruling God? Who shall read the riddle of the unintelligible world? III. THE FROM THE ISSUE. Go far enough on, and we shall find that which enlightens and relieves us; we must look to "the end of the Lord" (James 5:11). The end of the Lord is found: 1. In righteousness. (Isaiah 45:8.) At last, in the history of men, families, and nations, the pure and just are exalted, while the wicked are consumed and perish. 2. In salvation. (Isaiah 45:8.) To the suffering ones comes rescue from poverty or oppression; to the sinful ones comes redemption from penalty, reinstatement in the home and kingdom of God. IV. THE TRUTH. After all, only one thing will decide the question—God’s revealing Word. It was his declaration through the prophets, "I am the Lord;" "I the Lord have created it." It is the word, the life, the work of Jesus Christ, who reveals to us an ever-present, overruling Father of mankind.—C. Isaiah 45:9-12 The argument for acquiescence. No doubt there are circumstances in which men find— I. A TO REBEL. 1. Men are bitterly disappointed, or they are greatly distressed; their high hopes are dashed to the ground, or their chief treasures are taken from their grasp. 2. Then they think themselves aggrieved; they imagine that the Almighty is dealing with them as he does not with their fellows—that he is acting ungraciously and even unjustly toward them. 3. The issue is often a settled rebelliousness of spirit, an" inward thought" that God is partial and unfair; a tone of querulousness, if not actual terms of reproach, or even blasphemous arraignment. II. THE FOR . This is manifold. 1. The impotence and the peril of human resistance to the Divine Will. "Woe unto him that striveth," etc. (Isaiah 45:9). How vain is the contrast between finite, perishable man and the Infinite and Eternal; between one who is formed of clay and him who "made the earth and stretched out the heavens"! 2. The deference due from the creature to the Creator. "That striveth with his Maker" (Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:11). For us to enter into a controversy with the Being who called us into existence, who endowed us with all the faculties we possess, who gave us the very power which is being exercised in criticism and questioning, without whose creative and sustaining hand we could not think one thought or speak one word, is unseemly and unbecoming in the last degree. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 46:1, Isaiah 46:2 THE FALL OF THE GODS OF BABYLON. Among the direct consequences of the victories of Cyrus will be the downfall, in a certain sense, of the Babylonian idolatry. The prophet expresses the downfall by material imagery, graphically describing the fate of the idols themselves. But we must regard him as exulting mainly in the thought of the blow that would be dealt to idolatry in general, and to the Babylonian fond of it in particular, by the substitution of the non-idolatrous and almost monotheistic Persians for the polytheistic and grossly idolatrous Babylonians, in the sovereignty of the Asiatic world. The Babylonian religion no doubt maintained itself at Babylon until and beyond the time of Alexander; but it had lost all its prestige. From the state religion of the chief empire of Western Asia, it had sunk to the position of a provincial cult. Isaiah 46:1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. In the later Babylonian period, to which Isaiah’s prophetic vision transports him, Bel and Nebo (if we understand by Bel, Bel-Merodach) were decidedly the two principal gods. Of the seven kings of the last dynasty, three had names in which Nebo, and two names in which Bel or Merodach, wad an element. Bel-Merodach and Nebo are the chief gods worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar. Bel, Nebo, and Merodach are the only three Babylonian gods that receive acknowledgment from Cyrus in the so-called ’Cyrus Cylinder.’ Bel is, in the Babylonian, "Bil," or "Belu," and means simply "lord." There was an ancient god of the name, one of the First Triad (Anu, Bel, and Hen or Hod), who came by degrees to be identified with Merodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon. Bel-Merodach was the Βῆλος (Belus) of the Greeks and Romans, who was worshipped in the great temple of Babylon, now represented by the ruin called "Babil." His name forms an element in those of Bel-lush, Bel-kudur-azur, Bel-ipni. Bel-zakir-isknn, and Belshazzar, all of them kings or viceroys of either Babylonia or Assyria. Nebu was the Babylonian god of learning, and has therefore been compared to Mercury. He was the special deity of Borsippa. The name is thought to be etymologically connected with the Hebrew nabi, prophet. The "bowing" and "stooping" of Bel and Nebo has primary reference to the overthrow of their images by the conqueror; but includes also the idea of the fall of the gods themselves in the opinions of men. Their idols were upon the beasts. The Chaldean images generally—not only those of Bel-Merodach and Nebo, but also of Ann, and Hen, and Beltis, and Ishtar, and Nergal, and Sin, and Shamas, and Gula, and others—would be torn from their shrines, and placed upon the backs of beasts of burden, to be carried off by the conquerors. No doubt this was the case with a large number of the images, which were among the most precious of the spoils seized by the soldiers. But it appears that numerous exceptions were made. Neither Cyrus nor Cambyses touched the famous golden image of Bel-Merodach at Babylon, which was first carried off from the great temple by Xerxes (Herod; 1.183). Cyrus, moreover, restored various idols, which Nabonidus had taken to Babylon from provincial towns, to the temples to which they of right belonged. But though their fate was in tiffs way often delayed, ultimately it is probable every valuable idol was carried off and committed to the melting-pot. Your carriages were heavy loaden; rather, the things that ye carried (in procession) are now borne along heavily. The allusion is to the contrast between the light-hearted carrying of the images on festal occasions by their votaries (Isaiah 45:20), and their slow transport to foreign lands on the backs of wearied beasts. Isaiah 46:2 They stoop, they bow down together; i.e. all the Babylonian gods would suffer equally—not one would be able to protect himself. They could not deliver the burden. A distinction is here made between the god and the idol, which have hitherto been identified. The god was, in each case, unable to deliver, or save from capture, the heavy "burden" of gold, or silver, or bronze (i.e. his own image) which was carried off on the back of the "weary beast." On the contrary, the gods themselves—the "souls" of the images, immanent in them—were carried off with the images into captivity. Isaiah 46:3-8 AN TO ISRAEL. Israel should learn from the fate of the Babylonian idols to trust in Jehovah, who can and will deliver them, rather than in gods of gold and silver, which can give no aid, either to themselves or others. Isaiah 46:3 All the remnant of the house of Israel. The address is not to those who had remained faithful of the ten tribes (as Delitzsch supposes), but to the captives of Babylon, designated in these later chapters indifferently as "Jacob" or "Israel" (Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 42:24; Isaiah 43:1,Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:21, Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 45:4, etc.), never as "Judah," and constantly mentioned as a "remnant"—all that was left of the oppressed and down-trodden nation (see Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:20-22; Isaiah 11:16. etc.). Borne by me. Carried in the everlasting arms, as a child in the arms of its nurse or mother (comp. Isaiah 63:9). From the belly … from the womb. From the very beginning of the national existence. Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age I am he; even to hoar hairs, etc. The nurse—even the mother—soon grows tired of carrying the child, and leaves him to shift for himself. But God’s tender care for his people lasts from their infancy, through their boyhood and manhood, to their old age. The everlasting arms never weary. God’s watchfulness, his providence, his protection, never fail. I have made, and I will bear. The maker of a thing has naturally regard to what he has made, loves it, desires its good, seeks to defend and save it. Isaiah 46:5 To whom will ye liken me? (comp. Isaiah 40:18.) Am I to be likened to the idols of Babylon? Will you make images of me? Bethink you what the very nature of an idol is how contrary to my nature! My idol would be no more capable of helping itself or others than the images of Nebo or Bel-Merodach. Isaiah 46:7 They bear him upon the shoulder (see the comment on Isaiah 45:20). Here, however, it is not the carrying in procession that is spoken of, but the conveyance of the imago by the workman from his own workshop to the temple where it is to be set up. The carrying of heavy burdens upon the shoulder is mentioned by Herodotus (2.35), and frequently represented on ancient monuments. From his place shall he net remove; i.e. he (the god) will have no power of moving an inch from the spot on which he is set up. There he will stand motionless, till some one comes and pushes him or pulls him from his place. Isaiah 46:8 Remember this, and show yourselves men; or, remember this, and stand firm. Isaiah is addressing those who waver between true religion and idolatry. Hitherto they have not fallen away, but they are in danger of so doing. Remember, he says to them, or "bear in mind constantly the impotence of the idols, and the power of Jehovah, and then stand firm—remain in your old faith—do not be drawn over to so foolish a thing as idolatry." O ye transgressors. It is to be a "transgressor" even to contemplate the turning from Jehovah to idolatry. Israel has been already "called a transgressor from the beginning" (Isaiah 48:8). Isaiah 46:9-11 A FURTHER ON OTHER MOTIVES. Israel is exhorted to continue firm in the faith (1) by the recollection of God’s mercies in the past (Isaiah 46:9); (2) by the consideration of his prophetic power (Isaiah 46:10); and (3) by a renewed promise of coming deliverance through Cyrus (Isaiah 46:11). Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old; i.e. God’s wonderful dealings with Israel in times past—the miracles in Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the deliverances from Midian, and Ammon, and the Philistines, and Zerah, and Sennacherib—which proved him God in a sense in which the word could be applied to no other. I am God … I am God. In the original, "I am El … I am Elohim." El is "the Mighty One," "the Omnipotent;" Elohim, "the Godhead" in all its fulness. Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning; i.e. "possessed of the very highest prophetic power, able to declare from the very beginnings of history its ultimate issues" (see Genesis 3:15; Genesis 16:12; Genesis 21:18, etc.). My counsel; rather, my purpose, or my plan (comp. Psalms 33:11; Job 23:13; and supra, Isaiah 14:24). Isaiah 46:11 Calling a ravenous bird; rather, a bird of prey. The imagery is quite natural, and exactly parallel to that by which Nebuchadnezzar is termed "an eagle," both by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:22) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 17:3). There is no need to suppose any allusion to the fact, if fact it be, that the Persians from the time of Cyrus had for a standard a golden eagle, with wings outspread, on the top of a spear-shaft (Xen; ’Cyrop.,’ 7.1, § 4; ’Anab.,’ 1.10, § 12). From the east (comp. Isaiah 41:2, Isaiah 41:25). Both Persia and Susiana, which were the primary seats of the power of Cyrus, lay to the east of Babylon, the latter due east, the former somewhat to the south-east. Even Media might, according to Hebrew usage, be described as east, though lying almost due north-east. Isaiah 46:12, Isaiah 46:13 AN TO THE IN ISRAEL. God’s mercy extends even to those who resist his grace. They who have been hitherto stiff-necked and "far from righteousness," have a special warning addressed to them, Salvation is drawing nigh; the deliverance of Israel is approaching; there is no time to lose; will they not east in their lot with the true Israel, and take advantage of the deliverance when it comes? Isaiah 46:12 Ye stout-hearted (comp. Ezekiel 2:6; Ezekiel 3:7; and infra, Isaiah 48:4). The LXX. translate by σκληροκάρδιοι. Isaiah 46:13 I bring near my righteousness; i.e. "my righteous judgment is approaching—that judgment which involves vengeance on my enemies, mercy and deliverance to my people." This latter is the salvation that shall not tarry. In Zion. The headquarters of the "salvation" shall once more be Mount Zion, or Jerusalem, where God’s people shall once more take up their abode, and which shall be "the centre of the renovated nation" (Delitzsch). Isaiah 46:1-11 The effect of God’s temporal judgments upon nations on the religious history of the world. In the ancient world, where religions had no revealed or historic basis, but had been evolved by degrees from the thought or imagination of each people, the fate of a religion depended greatly upon the course of secular history, and the success or failure that attended upon the arms of the nation professing it. As no people could have a rational, or, consequently, a firm belief in a system based upon imagination, each was ready to adopt any other which seemed to prove its superiority by triumphs and victories. The downfall of an empire involved, for the most part, the downfall of the system which its rulers had made the state religion; or, if not its absolute downfall, its depression and gradual decay. When God raised up a conquering power, he gave an impetus to its religious system, which was either imposed by force upon conquered tribes, or, in many cases, voluntarily accepted by them. The gross and sensuous idolatry of Assyria and Babylon had obtained almost exclusive possession of Western Asia through the conquests of the Assyrians and Babylonians between the twelfth century b.c. and the sixth. When Cyrus captured Babylon and shattered the Babylonian empire, this idolatry received its death-blow. The subject nations either reverted to their ancient creeds or adopted the belief of the new conquerors. Zoroas-triauism became the predominant religion of civilized Asia. In Babylon itself and its neighbourhood a small knot of believers clung to the old superstition; but, generally speaking, it was discredited, and had to make way for the dualism of Persia. Dualism suffered in its turn when the Persian empire was overthrown by Alexander the Great, and continued under a cloud during the Parthian period, at the close of which it once more reasserted itself under Artaxerxes, son of Babek, who brought the Parthian empire to an end. Military success, similarly, established Mohammedanism as the religion of Syria and Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, Upper India, Turkestan, Turkey, and North Africa, even Christianity suffering when God’s judgments fell on the effete and debased Byzantine empire. The only religion that has been but slightly affected by military success and failure is the religion of Christ. Originally spreading, like leaven, silently and gradually, without any help from conquerors or from the secular arm, till, having become the religion of the mass of his subjects, it was adopted as the state religion by Constantine; it resisted the great influx of the barbarians into the Roman empire; and, instead of disappearing before Teutonic and Scandinavian heathenism, converted its conquerors. Unarmed missionaries spread it through Central and Northern Europe, through Georgia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia, and again into Abyssinia and the African desert, in America alone was it propagated by the sword. Gradually progressive in almost every quarter, once only and in one quarter has it retrograded through a Divine judgment. The followers of the Arabian prophet were allowed to sweep it from the greater part of the East, from Egypt and from Northern Africa, for a time from part of Spain; but this judgment, provoked by immorality, coldness, and heresies of various kinds, was not a final judgment—already, in all the regions temporarily lost to it, the religion of the cross has recovered a footing, and is gaining ground. Propagandism by the sword has now ceased; but everywhere the course of secular history is so ordered that Christianity comes more and more to the front. Islam is dying out; Brahminism is shaken to its basis; Buddhism has well-nigh spent itself. The religion on which God has set, and is each year more clearly setting, the seal of success is Christianity. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 46:1-13 The religion of Jehovah contrasted with idolatry. I. THE OF BEL AND NEBO. These were the tutelar gods of Babylon and its suburb, Borsippa. Merodach, or Marduk (Jeremiah 50:2), is another name of a being closely related to or identical with Bel. The idols of the Chaldeans are given up to the beasts, and the images once carried in solemn procession by the priests and nobles are put upon the backs of beasts of burden. Herodotus and Diodorus tell us of the golden statue of the great god at Babylon (the Greeks called him after their own, Zeus), and the great golden table in front of it—a "table of demons"—and the golden altar. The image was said to have been carried away by Xerxes (Herod; 1:183). These gods, then, once held as mighty, tutelar, delivering saviours in one of the greatest cities in the world, have themselves gone into captivity. Themselves they could not save. Had these gods been really Divine, they would surely have rescued their own images. Conceived as persons by the heathen, they are, in the prophet’s arguments, convicted of being without any of the proper ability of personality. "It is difficult not to think of the last strange journey of these desecrated images," remarks a commentator (cf. Layard’s picture of the ’Procession of the Bull beneath the Mound of Nimrod’). The power of the heathen god depended on the faith, i.e. the imagination, of his worshippers. The overthrow of Babylonian power was a great shock to the heathen imagination. It showed that the power in which they had believed was an illusion and a lie from the Hebrew point of view. And so ever; the powers of this present world and its princes and its illusions are seen passing away before the prevalence of true religion. II. THE OF JEHOVAH OVER HIS PEOPLE. He is what the gods counterfeited—a wise superintending Being, a faithful supporting Being, to his people, alike in war and in peace; the gods of conquered peoples had failed to be this, according to the prophet, and according to ancient thought generally. Jehovah is this. Note the extreme tenderness of the representations of him in this attitude to his folk. Not a timid and trembling captive but may appropriate the truth to his own consolation. He is as the Nurse, they as the little helpless infant (cf. Isaiah 63:9; Deuteronomy 1:31; Exodus 19:4; Psalms 28:9; Hosea 11:3). But the thought of the human parent and nurse reminds us of mortality and of transiency belonging to human conditions. "The devoted watchfulness of the parent dies away when his child has come to maturity; and he is commonly removed by death when his offspring has attained to old age." Not so with Israel and Jehovah. Israel is always the object of the motherly care and affection of God (Isaiah 42:14; Isaiah 49:15; Isaiah 66:9, Isaiah 66:13). "Even to old age I am the same" (see Psalms 71:18, where the people speak as one person). "Even to grey hairs I will bear; I have made, and g will carry, and I will bear and will rescue." III. HIS APPEAL TO THE REASON OF THE PEOPLE. Ever we seem to hear him saying, "Come now, and let us reason together." There are "rebellious ones" (verse 8), yet Jehovah still reasons with them. Once more the piece of manufactured helplessness called an idol is placed before their thought. What can it do for men? They "cry unto it, but it cannot answer, nor save them out of trouble." Is Jehovah to be compared with that thing? And then the positive argument is again brought forward. Jehovah alone has the power of prediction. "From the very beginning of a period of history he can announce the far-off issue, utterly incalculable to human eyes." If, then, now he has announced his purpose, it will stand. If the bird of prey, the eagle Cyrus, has been called from the east, it will be to the certain execution of a mission from Jehovah. To trust in him is to have all difficulties solved, all confidence restored. To believe in Providence; to be assured that the world’s history at any moment, at this moment, is not a mere play of passion, caprice, and chance, but that things are working together to an end foreseen;—this is strength, because this is reason. And God would have his people understand what true reason brings to religion; that religion is reason and sense, while idolatry is weakness, folly, and unreason. IV. THE OF GOD’S . This, too, is an emphatic thought (cf. Isaiah 56:1). Righteousness and salvation are but two aspects of the same blessing. Yet men may be "far off." How? It is not space, it is not time, that separates from God. It is in the heart that men are near or far. The power of imagination must not be forgotten. In one sense God is no more near or distant at one time than another, nor to one person than another; that our reason assures us. Yet the evidence of feeling and of imagination is otherwise. They tell us that he may be "near" or "far." It is, then, in ourselves that the cause must be sought. The warm affection, the lively fancy, the open and lowly intelligence,—these bring him near. The obdurate heart—which means the dull intelligence, the sluggish fancy, the state of coldness in the affections—this may place him wide as the poles asunder from man. What is needed in religion, alike in its intellectual and its practical aspects, is simplicity, yielding childlikeness, impressionableness to great and obvious truths.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM God’s care for the aged. "And even to your old age I am he," etc. What a contrast between God and man! Concerning how many may it be said that they are forgotten in old age! Sometimes even children are faithless to their parents, and age has died in a workhouse, when children have been well-to-do. But change comes, too, in other relationships. The world does not want us when we are worn out. Its sweet songs can charm no more. The cunning of the worker’s hand fails. The preacher faints. A new generation of strength and health has won the palm. Then, mark— I. THE . Even. At the time when the world draws off, God comes nearer. Weakness is always welcome to him. He loves to comfort. His infinite strength is not weakened by all outgoings of help to others. Wherever, in age, sickness confines us, or solitude keeps us, there is our Father. Even then, when heart and flesh faint and fail. He has not merely promised this, but the Jacobs of the world can attest the truth: "All my life long." And apart from promise and experience, it is God’s nature so to do. II. THE REASONS. 1. "I have made." God will not, as Job says, forget us, because "thou hast a desire to the work of thy hands." 2. "I have rescued." What else says the prophet? "I will carry and deliver you." What we could not bear away, God, in the person of his Son, will do for us. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!’ Hoar hairs may have their perfect whiteness, but hoar hearts have not, and we need a Saviour to the end. Nor is this all. Old age has its sorrows as well as its sins. The young have not always sympathy with the old. They do not understand what it is to feel so "alone," with buried generations behind, who once joined in the race of life with them, and who worshipped with them in the house of God. Those who admired and understood and loved them are gone, and a generation has risen up who know not Joseph. Beautifully does the next verse begin, "To whom will ye liken me?" "Even to your old age I am he." Always a Father, always a Saviour, always a Friend.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 46:1-4 Men bearing gods, and God bearing his people. The pitiable and even ludicrous insufficiency of idolatry is admirably drawn in this picture. We see the beasts bowed down with the images of the helpless deities of Chaldea In what striking and glowing contrast does the relation of Jehovah to his people appear! From the very infancy of Israel God had borne them in the arms of his faithfulness and power; and his tender kindness in the past would extend to the furthest future. Even to old age he would bear them; they might confidently lean on his strength; they might count with absolute assurance on his protecting care, on his delivering grace. "I will carry, and will deliver you." We learn— I. THAT FALSE TRUSTS, SO FAR FROM OUR BURDENS, ARE A HEAVY WEIGHT TO CARRY. Men make mistakes now which are as serious in their consequences as that made by the Babylonians. They put their trust in things which prove to be delusive and even burdensome. This is trite of unwise friendships; of ill-gained or excessive wealth; of exalted positions, which we have not strength to fill, or high honours which we have not grace to carry; of learning in one direction, unbalanced by knowledge in other directions. You see men who thought to bless themselves with these "idols," who expected to be enriched and sustained by them, staggering under their weight, blinded and misled by them, betrayed and ruined by them. Instead of their gods carrying them, they have to carry their gods. II. THAT TRUST IN GOD WILL BE BY THE LONGEST LIFE. (Isaiah 46:4.) 1. God continued his mercies to us from our birth to our regeneration; though we knew him not, he girded us (Isaiah 45:5). He fed and clothed and sheltered us. 2. He undertook to befriend us when we gave ourselves to him, and he has done so. He has made good to us his kindest words of promise. 3. A time of special trial may confront us: the pillar and mainstay may have fallen; unfriendly seasons or adverse circumstances may have stripped us; sickness may have weakened us, or infirmity may be visibly advancing on us. Our human powers, our earthly prospects, may be failing and waning. 4. But we may go on undaunted, untroubled. "The Lord will provide." We have a strong consolation—we whose hope is in the Lord our God. (1) His word of promise cannot be broken. (2) We, men, do not desert our servants in their age or their sickness: how much less will he (Psalms 71:18; Isaiah 55:9)! (3) Our very weakness and distress are a strong guarantee that the compassionate and considerate Father will befriend and sustain us. (4) The unchangeable One will not begin without concluding his work; he will "perfect that which concerns us;" he will "not forsake the work of his own hands." To old age, to hoar hairs, he will carry us along the path of life, till we reach the home of unfailing health and unbroken joy.—C. Manliness in relation to religion. "Remember this, and show yourselves men." The prophet calls on the people of God to show themselves to be men, either by exercising their powers of recollection and reason in remembering the facts and arguments he has adduced, or by taking appropriate, manly action in the recollection and realization of these convincing and constraining reasons. Religion is a manly thing in both these aspects. So far from its being the childish or effeminate thing which its enemies have been pleased to call it, it is a sphere of thought and of action in which the very highest and noblest attributes of our humanity have fullest scope. I. AS A SPHERE OF HUMAN THOUGHT. 1. It is the most elevated. All objects of creation are worthy of regard, and the study of them is full of recompense. But they differ in the degree of their worthiness; there is an ascending scale, and they culminate in the Divine. The noblest study of mankind is God his nature, his character, his will, his kingdom. 2. It is the most obligatory. Men, as men, should consider that which most claims their attention, should dwell on those themes which most demand their thought and care. And these are found in Divine blessings, Divine dealings, Divine messages, Divine beauties and excellences. We are never doing anything more worthy of our manhood than when we are recalling and realizing what God is, what he has done, what he has been to our race and to ourselves, what sovereign and supreme claims he has on our reverence and love. II. As A SPHERE OF HUMAN ACTION. If there be anything which can be said to be manlier than patient and earnest thought on the highest themes, it is: 1. Deliberate choice of the wisest and best course—the determination, at all costs and spite of all inducements, to take that course which commends itself to our judgment as the right and the wise one. This is exactly what men do when they surrender themselves to the will of God, to the service of Jesus Christ. 2. Resolute and persistent pursuit of it. Where does manliness find nobler illustrations than in the persistent worship of God under cruel persecution, the immovable adherence to sacred conviction under the wearying and worrying assaults of worldly and frivolous associates, the steadfast endeavour to extend the kingdom of righteousness and to raise the condition of the degraded, notwithstanding all the discouragements that await the Christian workman?—C. BY R. TUCK Grace for a long life. "Even to boar hairs will I carry you." Reference is made more especially to the prolonged life and varied experience of the nation; but the promise and assurance are equally applicable to the individual—they exactly match other assurances which are addressed to individuals. And Israel may always be regarded as the type of the godly man. For us all life is full of changes, surprises, and calamities. We have nothing absolutely stable and unchangeable, nothing always true and trustworthy, unless God is such. In an exquisite fragment of autobiography,—by Dr. Horace Bushnell, found dimly pencilled on a stray sheet of paper, is the following indication of the rest a soul finds in the permanence, the unchangeableness, of God: "My mother’s loving instinct was from God, and God was in love to me first therefore; which love was deeper than hers, and more protracted. Long years ago she vanished, but God stays by me still, embracing me in my grey hairs, as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, anti giving to me as my joy and the principal glory of my life that he lets me know him, and helps me, with real confidence, to call him my Father." This truth of God’s permanent gracious relations with those who put their trust in him was stated in its Christian form by the Apostle John (John 13:1), when, speaking of his Master, he said, "Those whom he loveth, he loveth unto the end." It may be noticed that, while mother’s love and interest never flags or fails, mother’s work, of bearing, tending, carrying, does change and pass as the children grow older. So even with a mother God may be contrasted; for he tends even to old age, even to the end. Opening the general topic suggested by the text, we may observe that the promise— I. ASSUMES US TO BE IN WITH GOD. Sometimes those relations are presented under the figure of a "covenant." At other times they are seen as relations brought about by "redemption"-work in our behalf. Here the closer, more natural, more personal, relations of parents and children are referred to. God is represented as feeling towards us like the mother who bore us. Compare the psalmist’s sense of the motherly relation in his plea, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." II. THAT THE SHALL BE KEPT UP TO THE END. Such an assurance is necessary, not because we fear any changeableness in God, but because we fear that the wilfulness and changeableness in us may grieve him, and lead him to remove his grace from us. The comfort of the promise of the text lies in the confidence it gives us that our waywardness will not outweary our God. "Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful." III. GRACE FOR THE . It is not a promise of grace at the end, but unto the end. All along the way we may be quite sure of adaptations of Divine grace such as may go into the words "carry," "bear," "deliver."—R.T. God’s call to exercise right reason. "Show yourselves men." This is the language of irony. Worshippers of idols should have the courage of their convictions. They should not be such children as to confound the spiritual God with dumb, senseless idols, who can neither counsel nor save. "Remember this, that has often been told you, what senseless, helpless things idols are, and show yourselves men—men, and not brutes; men, and not babes. Act with reason, act with resolution, act for your own interest. Do a wise thing, do a brave thing, and scorn to disparage your own judgment, as you do when you worship idols" (Matthew Henry). The point presented for consideration is—that God is served by the diligent and faithful use of our faculties, and not by crushing them. I. GOD IS BEST SERVED BY MAN AT HIS BEST. A very curious perversion of St. Paul’s glorying in his infirmities is the notion, which prevails in some quarters, that the more ignorant, weak, and foolish we are, the better we can serve God’s purposes. It is the universal truth that God works out his best purposes through the consecration of man’s best and most cultured powers to his service. It is only the exception of Divine grace that God is pleased sometimes to use man’s feebleness. Sometimes, indeed, it is so, that "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God perfects praise;" and his so doing efficiently persuades us of the absolute sovereignty of Divine grace; but the normal law is that God shall be served by the best culture and the wisest use of just those powers and faculties which he has himself given us. Let babes be babes, and honour God with infant songs. Since we are men, it is the best-cultured and most fully matured manhood that we must lay upon his altar. When reproached by a mere sentimentalist that "God had no need of his learning," the cultured divine very wisely as well as smartly replied, "And he has as little need of your ignorance." We must be in every way the best possible for God, and this includes our mental best. II. MAN AT HIS BEST IS BUT A SERVANT OF GOD. This conviction will keep him in his place, whatsoever his attainments may be. It is the constantly observed fact that fulness of learning and a genuine humility go together hand-in-hand. It is a "little knowledge" that puffeth up, a "little culture" that nourishes self-will. The things we have in the household and family life, for daily use, need not be chipped, ugly, or inefficient things; they may be in the best shapes, and may be artistic in appearance, pleasant to the eye, without losing their practical usefulness. So we can be the truest, wisest, most cultured, most beautiful men and women, and yet keep in perfect simplicity the humility and the joy of our service.—R.T. The goodness of God’s pleasure. "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." An anthropopathic expression. Care is necessary in transferring human sentiments and feelings to God. Words may come to be applied in such a way to men that they cannot be wisely used for God. A man’s "pleasure" has come to stand for his mere "self-willedness," his unreasoning and often unreasonable "wishes." A man’s "pleasure" is simply the thing that he "likes." In such senses we cannot properly apply such a word to God. In the text, the word "pleasure" is associated with the word "counsel," and the suggestion made is that the counsels of the infinite wisdom and goodness are such that God can find a personal pleasure in carrying them out. Just as he looked upon all his creation-work, called it good, and found pleasure in it, so he looks upon all the operations of his providence, for nations and individuals, and finds pleasure in watching them as they bear towards the final issue of universal good. It may be shown that every being finds its pleasure "after its kind," according to its nature; and we ought to have the utmost satisfaction in God’s getting his pleasure because of what we know of him. His pleasure must be like him, worthy of him; and that is enough. I. WHAT IS TO GOD MUST BE RIGHT. For men that is true which is expressed in the proverb, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." Man finds his pleasure in that which is doubtful, and even in that which is wrong. But we have the most perfect confidence that God finds no pleasure in anything that is not through and through right. If he is well pleased, then we are sure that the thing is right. Indeed, so fixed is this relation between "God" and "right," that, for us, the right has come to be simply "God’s will." II. WHAT IS TO GOD MUST BE KIND. That is, it must have taken all due consideration of the well-being and the wishes of others; and it must involve a going out of God, as it were, beyond himself, to live in the feelings of others. The essence of pleasure is unselfish concern for others. And God may do all his "pleasure," because he proposes only that which secures our highest welfare. What may be spoken of as the highest pleasure God can know? We are assured that he has "no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his evil way and live." God’s supreme pleasure is found in redeeming; in all that this most suggestive and comprehensive word involves. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that tear him, in those that hope in his mercy."—R.T. Stout-heartedness. "Ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness." Ezekiel has other terms. "For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted" (Ezekiel 2:4); "For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted" (Ezekiel 3:7). The term "stout-hearted" expresses stubborn and confirmed opposition, rebelliousness, obduracy, a state of mind and heart that is beyond the influence of any gracious pleadings and persuasions. And such "stout-heartedness" involves the man’s own self-willed exclusion from the "righteousness of God." The stout-hearted man gets far away from God, because he has no intentions of obedience to him. The plea of the text is sent to those exiles who were slow to believe in their deliverance through the agency of Cyrus; and it must be admitted that all the later information we have concerning Cyrus helps us to understand how unlikely a person he was for the carrying out of Jehovah’s purposes. Not even yet have we sufficent information to permit our understanding the national circumstances and political pressure which, humanly speaking, led to the restoration. The plea of the text is full of force for all sinners who refuse to accept the offers of mercy and salvation which God has been pleased to make to them. The "stout-hearted" can even refuse God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. But the refusal is rebellion and insult; and the stone that should be a foundation must prove a stone that falls and crushes. Matthew Henry regards these "stout-hearted" as "the unhumbled Jews, that have been long under the hammer, long in the furnace, but are not broken, are not melted; that, like the unbelieving, murmuring Israelites in the wilderness, think themselves far from God’s righteousness (that is, from the performance of his promise, and his appearing to judge for them), and by their distrusts set themselves at a yet further distance from it, and keep good things from themselves, as their fathers, who could not enter into the land of promise because of unbelief." A study of this state and condition of mind and feeling may follow along three lines. I. STOUT- AS A NATURAL . There is a natural obstinacy, a self-willed tendency to object and to resist, which parental training ought to correct, test it should get established as a bad bias for life. Severe child-chastisements only can check this evil. II. STOUT- AS A PRODUCT OF . Illustrate from the distressed condition of exiles in Babylon, the long delay in Divine deliverance, etc. We can hardly wonder that some should say, "Why should we wait for God any longer?" III. STOUT- AS A RESULT OF ACTS OF . Nothing is more morally injurious than for us to be successful in first transgressions and little sins, and so to become hardened and proud in our hearts.—R.T. God’s people are God’s glory. "For Israel my glory." He glories in them. He is glorified in them. He ought to be glorified in them. Some read the clauses from which the text is taken so as to throw out a different meaning: "And I appoint in Zion salvation, unto Israel (I give) my glory." God’s glory is thus represented as connected with his salvation and his righteousness. God’s glory is his faithfulness and his redemption. As we have so often the declaration of God’s interest in Israel, his joy in her, and the honour he expects her to be to him, we take the simpler thought suggested by the English Version, and suggest such a homily as may be suitable for a week-night service or prayer-meeting. God’s people are God’s glory; they bring honour to him, as we see— I. WHAT HE DOES FOR THEM. Illustrate from God’s moving away all obstacles, and constraining unlikely agents to serve him in the restoring of the exiles to their loved city and country. II. WHAT HE DOES IN THEM By the very delay of his promise, and by his gracious sanctifyings, preparing them to get the very best moral and spiritual blessings out of their deliverance. III. WHAT HE DOES WITH THEM. Making them a spectacle and a witness for himself, to their own age and the surrounding nations; and making the marvel of their story a testimony to his faithfulness and mercy to all ages, until the end of the world shall come.—R.T. Isaiah 47:1-15 A SONG OF TRIUMPH OVER THE FALL OF BABYLON. The song divides itself into four strophes, or stanzas—the first one of four verses (Isaiah 47:1-4); the second of three (Isaiah 47:5-7); the third of four (Isaiah 47:8-11); and the fourth also of four (Isaiah 47:12-15). The speaker is either Jehovah (see Isaiah 47:3, ad fin.) or "a chorus of celestial beings" (Cheyne), bent on expressing their sympathy with Israel Isaiah 47:1 .—Come down, and sit in the dust; i.e. "descend to the lowest depth of humiliation" (comp. Isaiah 3:26 and Job 2:8). O virgin daughter of Babylon. The "virgin daughter of Babylon" is the Babylonian people as distinct from the city (comp. Isaiah 23:12). "Virgin" does not mean "unconquered;’’ for Babylon had been taken by the Assyrians some half-dozen times. Sit on the ground: there is no throne; rather, sit on the ground throneless, or without a throne. Hitherto the "virgin daughter" had sat, as it were, on a throne, ruling the nations. Now she must sit on the ground—there was no throne left for her. It is the fact that Babylon was never, after her capture by Cyrus, the capital. of a kingdom. Under the Achsemenian kings she was the residence of the court for a part of the year; but Susa was the capital. Under Alexander she was designated for his capital; but he died before his designs could be carried out. Under the Seleucidae she rapidly dwindled in consequence, until she became a ruin. Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate; or, delicate and luxurious (Cheyne). Babylon had hitherto been one of the chief seats of Oriental luxury. She was "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency" (Isaiah 13:19), "the golden city" (Isaiah 14:4). She was given to revelry and feasting, to mirth and drunkenness, to a shameless licensed debauchery. All this would now be changed. Her population would have to perform the hard duties laid upon them by foreign masters. Isaiah 47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal. Do the hard work commonly allotted to female slaves. Turn the heavy upper millstone all day long upon the nether one (comp. Exodus 11:5). Babylon having been personified as a female captive, the details have to be in unison. Uncover thy locks. Babylonian women are represented in the Assyrian sculptures as wearing closefitting caps upon their heads. Make bare the leg … pass over the rivers. On the way from their own city to the land of their captivity, they would have to wade through streams, and in so doing to expose parts of their persons which delicacy required to be concealed. Isaiah 47:3 I will not meet thee as a man; literally, I shall not meet a man; i.e. "I shall not find any one to oppose me." Isaiah 47:4 As for our Redeemer, etc. Mr. Cheyne suspects, with some reason, that this is "the marginal note of a sympathetic scribe, which has made its way by accident into the text." It is certainly quite unlike anything else in the song, which would artistically be improved by its removal. If, however, it be retained, we must regard it as a parenthetic ejaculation of the Jewish Church on hearing the first strophe of the song—the Church contrasting itself with Babylon, which has no one to stand up for it, whereas it has as "Redeemer the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 47:5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness. The second strophe begins, like the first, with a double imperative. The fallen people is recommended to hide its shame in silence and darkness, as disgraced persons do who shrink from being seen by their fellows. Thou shalt no more be called The lady of kingdoms. Babylon can scarcely have borne this title in Isaiah’s time, or at any earlier period, unless it were a very remote one. She had been secondary to Assyria for at least six hundred years when Isaiah wrote, and under Sennacherib was ruled by viceroys of his appointment. But Isaiah’s prophetic foresight enables him to realize the later period of Babylon’s prosperity and glory under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar, when she became the inheritress of the greatness of Assyria, and exercised rule over a large portion of Western Asia. Nebuchadnezzar was, no doubt, as he is called by both Ezekiel (Ezekiel 26:7) and Daniel (Daniel 2:37), a "king of kings;" and Babylon was then an empress-state, exercising authority over many minor kingdoms. It is clear that, both in the earlier and the later chapters, the prophet realizes this condition of things (see Isaiah 13:19; Isaiah 14:4-6, Isaiah 14:12-17; as well as the present passage). Isaiah 47:6 I was wroth with my people. I have polluted … and given; rather, I polluted and gave. The reference is to the conquest of Judaea by Nebuchadnezzar. Thou didst show them no mercy. We have very little historical knowledge of the general treatment of the Jewish exiles during the Captivity. A certain small number—Daniel and the Three Children—were advanced to positions of importance (Daniel 1:19; Daniel 2:48, Daniel 2:49; Daniel 3:30), and, on the whole, well treated. On the other hand, Jehoiachin underwent an imprisonment of thirty-seven years’ duration (2 Kings 25:27). Mr. Cheyne says that "the writings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel do not suggest that the [bulk of the] exiles were great sufferers." This is, no doubt, true; and we may, perhaps, regard Isaiah’s words in this place as sufficiently made good by the "cruelties which disfigured the first days of the Babylonian triumph" (Lamentations 4:16; Lamentations 5:12; 2 Chronicles 36:17). Still, there may well have been a large amount of suffering among the rank-and-file of the captives, of which no historic record has come down to us. Psalms 138:1-8. reveals some of the bitter feelings of the exiles. Upon the ancient; rather, upon the aged. The author of Chronicles notes that Nebuchadnezzar, on taking Jerusalem, "had no compassion on young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age" (l.s.c.). There is no reason for giving the words of the present passage an allegorical meaning. Isaiah 47:7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever. The idea of "continuance" is one of the primary instincts of human nature. Hence we regard it as certain that the sun will rise on the morrow. We expect things to "continue in one stay," and "to-morrow to be as to-day," if not even "more abundant." Babylon was not much more arrogant than other nations when she assumed that silo would be "a lady for ever." And she had more excuse than almost any other nation. Her capital was one of the most ancient cities, if not the most ancient city in the world (Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1-9). Though not unconquered (see the comment on Isaiah 47:1), she had yet for two millennia or more maintained a prominent position among the chief peoples of the earth, and had finally risen to a prouder eminence than any that she had previously occupied. Still, she ought to have remembered that "all things come to an end," and to have so comported herself in the time of her prosperity as not to have provoked God to anger. So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart. "These things" must refer to the calamities about to fall upon Babylon, of which she may have heard before the end came—since they had been prophesied so long previously—but which she did not take to heart. The latter end of it; i.e. "the probable issue of her pride and cruelty" (Kay). Isaiah 47:8 Therefore; rather, and now. The third strophe begins here, but with a single, instead of a double, imperative. So also the fourth strophe in Isaiah 47:12. Thou that art given to pleasures (see the comment on Isaiah 47:1, sub fin.). That dwellest carelessly; or, that sittest securely; i.e. in an imagined security. Herodotus says that, when Cyrus invested the city, the inhabitants "made light of his siege" (1.190), and occupied themselves "in dancing and revelry" (1.191). The Nabonidus Tablet seems to show that very slight and insufficient preparations for defence were made.! am, and none else Beside me. This is not self-deification, but only a boast of superiority to all other earthly powers. Zephaniah expresses in exactly similar terms the pride and arrogance of Assyria (Zephaniah 2:15). I shall not sit as a widow; i.e. in solitude and desolation (Lamentations 1:1), deserted by the crowds who had sought her marts and delighted in her luxury. This result, which now impended, had never been anticipated by the "careless" one, who had expected to be for ever "the lady of kingdoms." The loss of children; i.e. diminution of population. Isaiah 47:9 In a moment in one day. The day of the capture of the city by Cyrus, which was the third of Marchesvan, b.c. 539. Then, "in a moment," Babylon lost the whole of her prestige, ceased to reign, ceased to be an independent power, became a "widow," had a portion of her population turn from her, was brought down to the dust. Loss of children, and widowhood came upon her in their perfection; i.e. "in the full extent of their bitterness" (Cheyne). Not that Cyrus imitated her common practice by carrying off her entire population; on the contrary, she continued for more than two centuries to be a flourishing and populous town. Twice she revolted from Darius Hystaspis (’Beh. Ins.,’ col. 1. par. 16; Colossians 3, par. 13), once, perhaps, from Xerxes (Ctes; ’Ext. Pers,’ § 22). Alexander the Great found her walls and her great buildings in ruins, but still she was a considerable place. Cyrus, however, no doubt, carried off a portion of her population, which thenceforth begun to dwindle, and continually became less and less as time went on, until she sank into a solitude. That extreme desolation which the prophets paint in such vivid colours (Isaiah 12:1-6:19-22; Isaiah 14:22, Isaiah 14:23; Jeremiah 50:10:15, 38-40; Jeremiah 2:36 -43) was potentially contained in the capture by Cyrus, which was the work of a single day. For the multitude of thy sorceries … of thine enchantments (comp. Isaiah 47:13; and see also Daniel 2:2; Daniel 5:7). The word here translated "sorceries" probably means "incantations" or "enchantments," while that translated "enchantments" means "spells." The addiction of the Babylonians to marc is largely attested by the classical writers, and has been proved beyond a doubt by the lately discovered native remains. By these it appears that their magic fell under three principal heads: (1) the preparation and use of spells and talismans, which were written forms engraved on stone or impressed on clay, and worn on the person or attached to the object on which their influence was to be exerted; (2) the composition and recitation of formulae of incantation, which were supposed to act as charms, and to drive away demons and diseases; and (3) the taking of observations and framing of tables of prognostics and of omens for general use, together with the casting of horoscopes for the special advantage of individuals. The first and second forms of marc are glanced at in the present passage; the third is noticed in Isaiah 47:13. Isaiah 47:10 Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; i.e. in thy incantations and spells, which were supposed to work in secret, and which could not be counteracted if their victim was not aware of them. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee. The astronomical "wisdom and knowledge" of the Babylonians, confessed by the Greeks to have been the origin of their own astronomical knowledge, led them on to that perversion of true science, astrology, which, when once entered upon, seduces the mind from all genuine and fruitful study of the celestial phenomena, and leads it into a labyrinth of absurdities. It also puffed them up, and made them regard themselves as altogether superior to other nations (see the comment on Isaiah 47:8, sub fin.). Isaiah 47:11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee. Connect this with the first clause of Isa 47:10, "Thou hast trusted in thine own evil (moral), therefore shall evil (physical) fall upon thee." The same word, ra’ah, is used in both places. Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth. So the Vulgate, Vitringa, Gesenius, and Dr. Kay. But the bulk of modern commentators (Hitzig, Ewald, Delitzsch, Nagelsbach, Weir, Cheyne) render, "Thou wilt not know how to charm it away." Both meanings are possible, and are almost equally good; but the parallelism of the clauses is in favour of the latter rendering. Shakhrah should correspond in construction, as in sound, with kapp’rah. To put it off; literally, to expiate; i.e. to get rid of it by means of expiatory rites. Which thou shalt not know; or, of which thou shalt not be aware. (On the carelessness and want of foresight displayed by the Babylonians, see the comment on Isaiah 47:8.) Isaiah 47:12 Stand now. The fourth and concluding strophe now begins; it opens, like the third, with a single imperative. It has, as Mr. Cheyne observes, "a strongly ironical tinge, reminding us of Elijah’s language to the priests of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27." The irony is, however, confined to the first half (1 Kings 18:12, 1 Kings 18:13); giving place in 1 Kings 18:14 and 1 Kings 18:15 to a scathing sentence of judgment and ruin. Enchantments … sorceries; rather, spells, enchantments (see the comment on 1 Kings 18:9). If so be, etc.; rather, perchance thou wilt be able to profit; perchance thou wilt cause terror. The prophet gives a pretended encouragement to Israel’s adversaries. "If Babylon uses all the resources of her magical art, perhaps she may succeed—who knows? Perhaps she may strike terror into the hearts of her assailants." Isaiah 47:13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Mr. Cheyne’s rendering is more intelligible, "Thou hast wearied thyself with the multitude of thy consultations.’’ Those at the head of affairs had consulted the diviners of all classes, till they were utterly weary of so doing (compare the "consultations" of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar with such persons, Daniel 2:2-11; Daniel 5:7, Daniel 5:8). Yet let one further effort be made. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up. These are scarcely three classes of persons, but rather the same class under three designations: "astrologers" (literally, "dividers of the heavens"); "star-gazers," or observers of the stars; and "monthly prognosticators," or almanack-makers. The astronomy of the Babylonians consisted primarily in "dividing the heavens" into "houses," or constellations, and thus mapping them out in such a way that the infinite multiplicity, which at first baffles the beholder, might be grasped, reduced to order, and brought within the sphere of distinct cognizance. This work was an eminently useful one, and maintains its place in astronomy to the present day. After the heavens were mapped out, and the courses of the sun and moon through the "houses" laid down, "star-gazers" directed their attention mainly to sun, moon, and planets, noting eclipses, occultations, conjunctions, and the like. All this was legitimate science; but, finally, the greater part of the astronomers launched into astrology, and undertook to prognosticate events from the changing phenomena of the heavens. Almanacks were put forth, in which predictions were made, either specially for a particular year, or generally for all time, based upon astronomical considerations; and on these great dependence was placed. Isaiah 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble (comp. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 40:24; Isaiah 41:2). A favourite metaphor with Isaiah for extreme weakness and incapacity of resistance. In Isaiah 5:24 it is connected, as here, with fire. No doubt in Palestine, as elsewhere, an accidental fire from time to time caught hold of a stubble-field, and speedily reduced it to a mass of blackened ashes. The threat here is that God’s wrath shall similarly sweep over Babylon. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. Mr. Cheyne translates, with much spirit, "They cannot rescue their soul from the clutch of the flame." Like those who are caught in the midst of a fire in a prairie or jungle, they have no escape—the flame is on all sides—and they cannot but perish. There shall not be a coal to warm at; rather, it is not a charcoal-fire to warm one’s self at. A return to the sarcastic tone of Isa 5:12, Isaiah 5:13. The conflagration which spreads around is something more than a fire to warm one’s self at—it is an awful widespread devastation. Isaiah 47:15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured. The foreigners who have participated in the toils and labours of Babylon shall share in her punishment. The flame of judgment shall not spare even them. Even thy merchants. Babylonian commerce is the subject of an important chapter in Heeren’s ’Asiatic Nations’, and is discussed also in the present writer’s ’Egypt and Babylon’. It was carried on both by land and sea, and was very extensive, including both a large import and a large export trade. Her merchants were, in part natives, in part foreigners. It is the latter who are here specially intended. Seeing the gradual closing in upon Babylon of the Persian armies, and anticipating the worst, they fly in haste from the doomed city, each one making for his own country, and having no thought of interposing to save the people which have so long encouraged and protected them. Probably the greater number of these foreign merchants were either Phoenicians or Arabians. They shall wander every one to his quarter. Not his own quarter of the town, but his own quarter of the earth; i.e. his own country (comp. Isaiah 13:14, "They shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land."). The fall of ancient states a warning to modern ones. History has been defined as "philosophy teaching by examples." It is only on the supposition that there are lessons to be learnt from them that historical inquiries or historical records can be regarded as of any value or importance. In a certain sense it is no doubt true to say that "history never repeats itself." The exact circumstances, even of those historical events which most nearly resemble each other, are always in many respects dissimilar. But the value and use of history lies in the fact that, speaking broadly, history does repeat itself. Its events, as Thucydides observes, recur—"the same, or nearly the same"—and will do so "while human nature remains what it is" (Thucyd; i. 22). Hence history teaches lessons, and among its most important lessons are those that it teaches to existing states or communities, by the example which it sets before them of the careers and ultimate fates of former states and communities, which existed under more or less similar circumstances. In most cases we have to speculate on the causes which produced the decline and fall of empires, kingdoms, countries; and thus our conclusions can seldom be more than probable conjectures on the subject. Still, they are often of a high value. But a very much higher value attaches to the instances when an inspired writer delivers to us the Divine view of the causes which brought about the fall of a nation; for here we stand on firm ground—we have a solid and assured basis upon which to rest; and we may draw out the lesson which the writer’s words convey with a certainty that we shall not mislead or cause an unfounded alarm. Now, according to Isaiah, the downfall of Babylon was produced by four principal causes; and the lesson to be learnt from her fall is avoidance of four vices. The fall of Babylon warns states— I. AGAINST LUXURY. Babylon was "given to pleasure" (verse 8), was "tender and delicate" (verse 1), or "delicate and luxurious." It is generally allowed that luxury saps the vigour of states, destroying the severer virtues of courage, manliness, and endurance, and at the same time producing a degeneracy of the physical nature, a loss of muscle, of tone, of fibre. It is, no doubt, difficult to draw the line, and to say what exactly constitutes luxury; but certain practices, common in most modern as well as in many ancient states, may be distinctly regarded as "luxurious." The worst and most fatal of these is unchastity. If the manhood of a nation indulges generally, or widely, in licentiousness, if purity in man is a rare thing, we may be sure that the national character and the national strength are being undermined. The vice of unchastity gnaws at the roots of a nation’s vigour, and brings a premature decay. States should take such measures against it as they take against a pestilence. They should strive to keep it out. Having once admitted it, they should seek to stamp it out. If they cannot do this, if the vice is too deeply ingrained to be got rid of, then they must look out for speedy disaster, culminating in ruin. Another dangerous vice, likewise to be carefully guarded against, is intemperance. This, too, affects both body and soul, inflames and so exhausts the one, degrades and enfeebles the other. Of less account, but still coming under the head of luxury, and therefore to be avoided, are gluttony, sloth, effeminacy, over-refinement. Of such it may be said, "Hoc nigrum est; hoc tu, Romane, caveto." II. AGAINST CRUELTY. Babylon "showed no mercy" (verse 6); "upon the aged, very heavily she laid her yoke" (verse 6). Cruelty has less direct tendency to weaken a nation than luxury; but still it weakens in certain ways. It alienates the subject races towards whom it is shown. It exasperates foreign enemies, and causes a people to be hated even by those who have not themselves suffered at their bands. But its deleterious effect is probably, in the main, due to God’s hatred of it. God abominales oppressors (Isaiah 1:21-24; Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 5:23, etc.), and takes care to punish them. "Woe to the oppressing city!" says God by Zephaniah (Zephaniah 3:1); and again, by Nahum (Nahum 3:1), "Woe to the bloody city!" "Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth" (Jeremiah 51:25). God pours out his anger against the cruel and truculent, making them experience in their turn the sufferings they have caused to others, and thus bringing them to destruction. III. AGAINST PRIDE. Babylon thought that she was "a lady for ever" (verse 7). She "said in her heart, I am, and none else beside me" (verses 8, 10). She had such an overweening opinion of herself that she "dwelt carelessly" (verse 8), despised her enemies, made slight preparation against them. Her pride, therefore, like her luxury, by its natural working, seriously diminished her strength for resistance, making her negligent and improvident. But it was also among the causes which especially called down God’s judgment. "Pride," as we are told, "goeth before destruction" (Proverbs 16:18), and nothing seems so to provoke the Divine vengeance. "By that sin fell the angels." God "brings down the high looks of the proud." "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (ch. Isaiah 2:11). When God brought low Assyria, the object was to "punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks" (Isaiah 10:12). When Babylon was chastised, it was "because she had been proud against the Lord—therefore were her young men slain in the streets, and all her men of war cut off" (Jeremiah 1:1-19:29, 30). Pride, therefore, is a vice especially to be eschewed by states, if they desire continuance, and would fain be "ladies for ever." IV. AGAINST FOOLISH . There is a δεισιδαιμονία which is praiseworthy, rather than blamable, as was that of the Athenians (Acts 18:22, Revised Version). Babylon is not rebuked because she really venerated her gods, poor shadows of Divinity as they were. She is blamed because she superseded, or overlaid the worship of her gods with various meaner superstitions. Bereavement and widowhood came upon her "for the multitude of her sorceries, and for the great abundance of her enchantments" (verse 9). It is addiction to magic which is especially "her wickedness" (vet. 10), in which she has "trusted;" and it is this wickedness, together with the other three vices already spoken of, that has caused the sentence of destruction to go forth against her. Modern states may well take the warning to heart. When religion is discredited, superstitions speedily usurp her place. Such monstrosities as Mormonism and spirit-rapping, which disgrace the nineteenth century, are superstitions as degrading as any to which the Babylonians gave way, and may well bring down a Divine judgment on the nations which encourage them or think lightly of them. Such superstitions certainly cannot "save" those who trust in them (verse 13); but it is not so certain that they may not destroy. BY E. JOHNSON The fall of Babylon. This is a scoffing song at the overthrow of Babylon. It is divided into four nearly equal stanzas. Luxury, ambition, and the practice of magic—the one sin worse than the others—were prevalent at Babylon. Each of these is lashed in the first three stanzas. There is a climax, the scorn of the prophet reaching its highest point in the last stanza (Ewald). Spiritually considered, the picture may represent the course of "this present world" in its godless pride. I. BABYLON AS TYPICAL OF LUXURY. The city in ancient fancy is ever thought of as a woman—in all her beauty and glory, or in all her shame. The great city here appears as the haughty and luxurious courtesan. The just judgment has fallen upon her impurity. She is violently torn away from her life of softness and refinement, and reduced to the status of a common slave—has to ply the hard labour of grinding meal (Exodus 11:5, 12; Job 31:10). Or, like a captive stripped of all her finery, she has to wade barefoot through streams. Every hidden shame will be exposed to the light of day. Only in Israel—as Isaiah 42-46, have repeatedly proclaimed—is salvation to be found. These calamities of the proud city are in retribution for her sins—the just vengeance of an offended God. II. BABYLON AS TYPICAL OF PRIDE AND . This "daughter of the Chaldeans" is no longer to be termed "lady, or mistress, of kingdoms." When Jehovah was wroth with his people, and desecrated his heritage, giving them into her hands, she showed no pity, but laid a heavy yoke upon the aged, thinking in her heart, "I shall be mistress for ever." She did not consider the end, which has now come upon her. While Israel enjoys freedom, she must pass into the darkness of the prison-house (Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 42:22). III. AS TYPICAL OF . In her carelessness and pride she has exalted herself above Jehovah (Zephaniah 2:15). She thinks she will never lose her protector, the Chaldean king; and her children, the stout burghers of the city. But sudden conquest will deprive her of both, and she will be as a widow, forlorn. Her third and inexcusable sin is superstition. Her wisdom and science have led her astray to a point of blinding self-conceit. But now an evil has come upon her which no incantations and spells can charm away—a mischief for which none of her rites can atone. Her false confidence has blinded her to the true faith in the eternal God (with Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 46:11, cf. Isaiah 45:18; Isaiah 19:11, etc.). And tile result must be sudden and crushing ruin. IV. BABYLON’S FALL AS TYPICAL OF THE WISDOM THAT IS BROUGHT TO NOUGHT. What can all her learned astrologers and magicians do for her now—they whose guidance has so long been followed (cf. Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7; Isaiah 44:12; Isaiah 43:23)? Let them stand by her in her need, those star-gazers and moon-gazers. But all are dumb, and, so far from helping, flee for their own safety from the fire—no gently warming hearth-fire (Isaiah 44:16), but one most horrible and devouring, from which there is no escape (Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 33:11-14; Isaiah 5:24). V. LESSONS. All the great sins are connected together as links in a chain. They are drawn as with a cart-rope. Sensuality and luxury bring pride and contempt in their train; and these, again, blindness and bewilderment of mind. And where no affliction nor humiliation have been known, there will be no sympathy nor pity towards others. Yet religion is ever a necessity to man; and, if the true religion be rejected, some counterfeit must take its place. The most foolish and the darkest superstitions flourish in such times. So it was again when Christianity was making its way in the decaying Roman world. True religion, rooted in humanity and the fear of God, and in light-loving intelligence, alone can deliver the nation and the individual.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Many counsellors. "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels." The mind of man will seek counsel. For men everywhere, in the old Athenian groves and gardens, and in the fellowship of modern clubs and associations, will seek for "opinion" to guide and help them. They are so slow to trust alone to conscience and to God. I. THE ORACLES. "Thou art wearied." You have tried them so often without results of guidance and good. All is vain. Men go here and there, but, alas! too often to those who are the most likely to fall in with their desires and whims. Like Absalom, men consult counsellors like Ahithophel, who pander to their folly. Then, when times of real emergency and anxiety come, when the poor tired heart needs rest and peace, it is led to new pleasures, new excitements and interests, until weariness ensues. How contrasted is the Christian’s lot! "Commit thy way unto him." II. THE FAILURE. It is a failure all round. Think of the multitude of counsellors. Men go to a minister instead of to the Bible; or to a priest instead of to a Saviour; or to their passions instead of their conscience; or to man instead of to God. Humbly let us seek the heavenly guidance. "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way."—W.M.S. BY W. What we owe to the aged. "Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." This wrong-doing is selected, out of all others, to point the reproaches of the prophet. If Babylon would do that, it was merciless enough to do anything. Hard, indeed, is the heart that will show no pity for old age, but will lay a heavy yoke on its shoulders. We may let this sentence suggest to us the light in which a Christian man will look at age. What is its due? How shall we exhibit the temper our Master would approve in our bearing towards it? I. THE WHICH IS DUE TO THE WEAK. Many passages from both Testaments invite our attention to the considerateness of the Divine Father, of the gracious Lord, to the weak, to the burdened, to the defenceless (see Isaiah 40:11). To be patient and considerate in our relations with those whose power is reduced, and who are going back to the feebleness out of which they once came, is to be "the children of our Father who is in heaven," is to be "disciples indeed" of the great Exemplar. II. THE RESPECT WHICH IS DUE TO THE . There are truths which nothing but experience seems able to teach. What evils might not be shunned, what sorrows escaped, what happiness and what usefulness secured, if we would but let the wisdom of the experienced direct our thoughts and guide our steps! They only who have sounded the waters of life can tell their depth; they only who have drunk of its many cups can tell us where the killing poison or where the curing medicine is to be found. Age, instructed by experience, has a wisdom Which youth and maturity do well to reverence and to master. III. THE WHICH IS DUE TO THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED US. There are many aged men who have lived selfish lives, and to whom we owe no gratitude at all; but there are others who have toiled and suffered, not perfunctorily or of constraint, but freely and magnanimously,—to these far more is due than the pecuniary payment they may have received, and they win go to the grave unrecompensed if those who reap the fruits of their labours and trials do not render them the honour they have earned. IV. THE SERVICE WE SHOULD RENDER TO THOSE WHO WILL SOON BE BEYOND OUR REACH It is an affecting and constraining thought that there remain but a very few times more when we can do anything for one of our neighbours—that he will soon be where our band cannot reach to rescue or to enrich him. The aged will soon be gone from amongst us. A few weeks or months will take them where no kindness of ours can make their path smoother, their heart happier, their character more noble. To them, most of all, applies the gracious sentiment ’’ Be kind to each other; The night’s coming on, When friend and when brother, Perchance, will be gone." 1. Unkindness to the aged is peculiarly displeasing to God. 2. Considerateness and succour shown to the aged will draw down the special favour of Christ. They, too, are among the "little ones" whom it is at our peril that we "offend," to render whom the simplest act of love is to win a Saviour’s blessing.—C. Isaiah 47:7-11 Spiritual infatuation. This is a striking picture of infatuation. We note— I. ITS NATURE. Under the perverting influence of sin men come into a mental and spiritual condition in which everything is strange, unnatural, distorted. Something has "perverted" them (Isaiah 47:10). It is a condition in which things seem to them other than they are—in which they fail to discern what ought to be quite palpable to them, in which they are subject to unhappy and hurtful delusions. Knowledge does not instruct them, facts do not affect them, reasons do not convince them, truth does not enlighten them. They are duped by semblances, betrayed by errors, ruined by the falsehoods which they entertain and cherish. II. THE FORMS WHICH IT ASSUMES. 1. An extravagant and offensive egotism. "Thou sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me." It is a very common effect of sin to produce in men a sense of their own importance carried to a painfully high degree; they think and feel as if their present interests were the only things to be consulted. Everything else must make way, every one else must give way to them; their comfort, their advantage, absorbs all other considerations whatever. None else beside them is of any account. 2. A blind disregard of the future. "Neither didst remember the latter end of it." Many men regulate their lives as if they would always remain as strong and healthy as they are to-day. Many indulge in courses which tend to weakness or to dishonour, or even to utter ruin, without concerning themselves as to the goal toward which they are travelling. They know that death is in front of them, that judgment awaits them; but they do not "lay it to heart"—they remember not "the latter end of it." 3. An overweening estimate of their own power. "I shall be a lady for ever … I shall not sit as a widow." Men "say in their heart," "Other men have made great mistakes, but I shall avoid them; other men have suffered in their circumstances or in their health, but I shall escape; on other men judgment and penalty have fallen, but I know how to avert the blow," etc. They imagine themselves to be possessed of an ingenuity, a sagacity, a power of defeating the operation of penal laws, which does not. belong to them. No one else credits them with this extraordinary faculty; everybody else is convinced that they will he bitterly undeceived: they are infatuated by their sinful folly. 4. A belief in the excellency of animal enjoyment. They are "given to pleasures" (Isaiah 47:8). One of the infatuations of sin is that sensuous delights will satisfy a human soul. It is a complete delusion. As men yield to the temptations of the flesh they find that pleasure lessens as the craving grows: they eat, but are hungry still; they drink, but are thirsty as before. The lower gratifications do not fill the heart which God created for himself and for his service and friendship. 5. A fatuous infidelity. "None seeth me" (Isaiah 47:10). III. ITS DOOM. "Therefore shall evil come upon thee," etc. (Isaiah 47:11). The doom of spiritual infatuation is: 1. Sometimes sudden. "Desolation comes suddenly;" when men are saying, "Peace, peace," then sudden destruction. 2. Often mysterious. Men do "not know whence it ariseth." Concealed beneath the surface are the seeds of sorrow and of death; they are invisible, but they are there. 3. Always inevitable. Men are "not able to put it off." Wealth cannot purchase its departure; authority cannot order it away; ingenuity cannot escape its power. A voice which none may disregard or disobey will be heart exclaiming, "Get thee into darkness" (Isaiah 47:5).—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:2 Humiliation the Divine judgment on pride. The point here, according to some, is that Babylon loudly boasted about her never having been captured; so she called herself, and was called, a "virgin" city. The figure suggests all the delicacy, all the luxuriousness, all the pride, of the Eastern princess. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." The humiliation of Babylon is presented in precise accordance with the circumstances and sentiments of a grand and proud princess. The hands that were never soiled shall do menial work; the lady who sat in state, in her lovely boudoir, shall sit on the ground and work the household handmill; she who walked alone, attended by her maids, shall be tied to a group of captives, and dragged to foreign slavery; and the delicate dame who had been royally clothed and modestly veiled shall be exposed to the jests and sneers and rude gaze of rough and brutal men. It is a picture of crushing judgments, such as must surely, sooner or later, overtake proud persons, proud cities, and proud nations. God works by humblings, as well as by actual sufferings. The force of the picture presented here lies in the command to the exquisite princess to "take the millstones, and grind meal." This was the most servile form of female labour, and those engaged in it are often squalid and half-clad. Poor blind people go from house to house to grind, and thus earn a pittance. The indignity expressed in the command to "uncover thy locks" can only be understood as it is known that Jewish women are not permitted to show their hair after marriage, and their head-dress is so contrived as completely to conceal the hair. The expression, "pass over the rivers," alludes to the demand to wade the streams as the humiliated princess journeys to the place of her captivity. Illustrate— I. THE OF PROUD NATIONS. Such striking cases may be dealt with as the ruin of commercial Tyre; the dismantling of strong and gorgeous Babylon; the overthrow of imperial Rome; the discomfiture of Xerxes and his immense army; the prostration of :Napoleonic France. Bushnell has a fine argument for the dignity of human nature as shown by its ruins, and he illustrates by references to the utter desolation and ruin of what were once the great cities of great nations. II. THE OF PROUD CLASSES. The calamities of war, famine, pestilence, trade depression, most quickly and grievously affect them, because of the thousandfold fictitious wants which their pride creates. There are no miserable creatures so miserable as those who are born to riches, and, having none or losing all, are left in their helplessness. III. THE OF PROUD . Show the various shapes it takes in this life, and illustrate from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the certainty and hopelessness of it in the next life. Of this we may be quite sure—God has woe in store, in this life and in the next, for all the proud.—R.T. Doing God’s work unworthily. "Thou didst not show them compassion." God had entrusted Babylon with the work of executing his Divine judgments on his people. The work was done, but God could not approve of the way in which it was done. Compare, for illustrative purposes, the cases of King Saul and of John. Saul was made executioner of the Divine judgment on Amalek, but God could not approve of his work: he erred on the side of laxity. Jehu was made executioner of the Divine judgment on the house of Ahab, but God could not approve of his work: he erred on the side of severity. The complaint God makes against Babylon is that it had "shown no mercy," and one specific instance is given—there had been no considerateness shown towards the aged among the captives; even "upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." Even the old people were made to do the tasks of bond-slaves. "They respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders" (Lamentations 4:16); "Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured" (Lamentations 5:12); "I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction" (Zechariah 1:15). "The writings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel do not suggest that the Jewish exiles were great sufferers. Perhaps the prophet may refer to the cruelties which disfigured the first days of the Babylonian triumph; or possibly the conduct of the Babylonians varied, according to the flexibility and submissiveness of the conquered" (Cheyne). The general topic suggested is that God’s work entrusted to us becomes a Divine agency for the searching and testing of our characters. God will be sure to take account, not only of the fact that we have done the work, but also of the spirit and the manner in which we have done it. No parent can be satisfied with obedience that is a mere act. God watches the character of our obedience. It may be shown that we do God’s work unworthily, and come under his reproof, when we— I. DO IT TO SERVE SELFISH ENDS. This spoils all obedience. The motive in it is wrong. But how searching it would be to us all to try and read our actions in the light of the motives that prompted them! Babylon served itself, so it can expect no approval or acceptance from God. II. DO IT THAN AS GOD WISHES. For he who properly takes up a work for God keeps himself open to Divine leadings and teachings as to the way in which it should be carried out. We often err by taking up work, and then severing ourselves from any close and daily dependence on God in the doing of it. III. DO IT WITHOUT DUE AND . Here the reproach is that no "mercy" was shown. God’s judgments are always considerate in their applications; they are mercy-tempered; they take due account of "remnants" and "faithful few." In this man almost always tails, and so he does not represent or honour God even in his work for him.—R.T. Due regard to consequences. "Neither didst remember the latter end of it." The experiences of mankind have brought the conviction that moral laws are always and uniformly working, as surely as physical laws. Wrong universally leads on to ruin. Whatsoever a man sows he reaps. "Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." This is all so certain that, if any man proposes to take any particular course in life, he may duly consider the "latter end of it"—he may estimate it in the light of that "latter end." He is foolish indeed if he does not take into account final issues and results. And yet this is precisely what men usually fail to do. The thief takes no account of the prison; the forger of penal servitude; or the murderer of the gallows. The proud will not see the certainty of life-humblings, or the violent the evil which the bitterness of the crushed and insulted will bring upon them. If we asked ourselves, before entering on self-willed courses, Where shall we be, what shall we be, ten years hence? we should hesitate and step back. Babylon enjoyed pride, and refused to see any consequences resulting from high-handedness and defiance of God and cruelty to man. But if the Nemesis moves slowly, it moves surely; its tread is firm, its advance is certain. The "lady for ever," in her own vain imaginations, sits down at last a desolate captive, a humbled, childless widow, the most helpless and miserable creature that Eastern imagination can conceive (Isaiah 47:8, Isaiah 47:9). "The guilt of Babylon is intensified by her reckless arrogance. She presumed that the colossus of her power would never be broken, forgetting the danger of provoking the God of gods." I. HELP US TO THE OF THE COURSES WE CHOOSE. We may be hurried into acts and scenes of life by excitement and passions; we may be deluded by the mere appearances of things as they pass. We only know what things really are as we sit down quietly and count up their issues, see them working out their results. We know sensuality thus; for he that soweth to it reaps corruption. We know frivolity thus; for it works out into a wretched unfitness for all the solemn scenes and responsibilities that must come to us all. We know pride thus, when we see it driving from us all who could render us service of love, and leaving us to suffer and die in the hands of the hireling. II. SHOULD WARN US FROM EVIL COURSES. The drunkard should run from the cup, at the bottom of which lies the awful picture of the drunkard’s body, the drunkard’s mind, the drunkard’s home, the drunkard’s hell. And so of other deceitful sins and lusts. Alas! that men will not "consider their ways" in the light of their "latter end"!—R.T. Man’s helplessness in presence of Divine calamities. The point impressed is that disaster takes unexpected and overwhelming forms, against which the wisest man fails to take precautions. Man can only affect the smallest of circumstances that are put into his control, and the few persons who are under his immediate influence. But each one of us belongs to a great whole, and is affected by great forces, which God alone controls. We are carried whither we would not. We are borne down by evils which we seem to have done nothing to create. We are helpless before the hurricanes and earthquakes and pestilences with which God can smite. After illustrating and impressing this point, show how we ought to stand to the Divine order. We may so stand that no event arranged by the Divine wisdom can take shape for us as calamity. I. WE MAY STRIVE TO BE FREE OF THE DIVINE ORDER. II. WE MAY RESIST THE DIVINE ORDER. III. WE MAY PUT IN HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE ORDER, That involves our fitting our will to the Divine will; and that self-seeking man will never do until he is "humbled under God’s mighty hand."—R.T. The weariness of self-service. "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels." Babylon was trusting self, trying to find its own way out of calamities; and it was proving what weary, hopeless work that always is. Astrologer was the final resource of the despairing Babylonians. I. THE OF VARIETY. A vain searching for some new device. A restless dissatisfaction with everything. II. THE OF . Bewildered with the many helpers, who yet were all vain helpers. Multitude is suggested by the different terms, "astrologers, star-gazers, monthly prognosticators." Illustrate by the weariness of Athens, in her multiplicity of idols and altars. III. THE OF . Nothing is more depressing than to fail again and again. Yet precisely this is the ever-repeated consequence of self-trust and self-help. Blessed is it when weariness does not pass into despair, but leads to the abandonment of self-reliances, that full trust may be placed in God.—R.T. The present chapter, which terminates the second section of Isaiah’s later prophecies, consists of a long address by God to his people, partly in the way of complaint, partly of combined premise and exhortation. The address is divided into three portions, each commencing with a call on Israel to pay attention: Isaiah 48:1-11, "Hear ye this," etc.; Isaiah 48:12-15, "Hearken unto me," etc.; Isaiah 48:16-22, "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this," etc. Isaiah 48:1-11 THE FIRST ADDRESS consists mainly of expostulation and complaint. Israel has not called on God "in truth and righteousness" (Isaiah 48:1). They have had "necks of iron" and "brows of brass" (Isaiah 48:4). God has given them prophecies of different kinds (Isaiah 48:3-7); yet they have neither "heard" nor "known;" they have "dealt treacherously" and been "transgressors from the womb" (Isaiah 48:8). God might justly have "cut them off" for their rebellion, but he has "deferred his anger," and "refrained" himself—not, however, for Israel’s sake, but for his own honour. Isaiah 48:1 Jacob … Israel (camp. Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:22; Isaiah 44:1, etc.). "Jacob" is the natural and secular designation; "Israel" is a spiritual or covenant name (Cheyne). Both terms being appropriate to the ten tribes no less than to the two, and the present address being intended especially for the Jewish captives, a further designation is appended—which are come forth out of the waters of Judah. Which swear by the Name of the Lord. Swearing "by the Name of the Lord" is an evidence of true religion, to a certain extent (Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20). It indicates that there has been, at any rate, no open apostasy. Still, it does not necessarily prove more than this; and, in the present case, it scarcely showed anything beyond mere outward formal conformity. The bulk of the captives "swore by the Name of Jehovah, and made mention of the God of Israel" (camp. Joshua 23:7), but did so not in truth, nor in righteousness; i.e. "without their state of mind or mode of action corresponding to their confession, so as to prove that it was sincerely and seriously meant" (Delitzsch). The condition of the majority of the exiles was that expressed in the words, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but in their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:8). Isaiah 48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city. It is an indication of their real want of truth and righteousness, that they lay such stress upon what is so entirely outward and formal, as the fact of their belonging to" the holy city," Jerusalem. Compare the boast of the Jews in our Lord’s time, "We be Abraham’s seed" (John 8:33). Stay themselves upon the God of Israel. Not resting upon him in real faith and true humble dependence, as those Israelites who are mentioned in Isaiah 10:20. but trusting to the facts that they were "Israel," and that God was "the God of Israel," and therefore bound to protect them. God reminds them that, if he is "the God of Israel," he is also "the Lord of hosts"—a term, as Dr. Kay notes, especially connected with the holiness of God. Isaiah 48:3 I have declared the former things from the beginning (comp. Isaiah 41:26; Isaiah 43:9, Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:7, Isaiah 44:8, etc.). "Former things" are here contrasted with the "new things" of Isaiah 48:6. Two cycles of prophecy seem to be intended—one of comparatively ancient date, the other quite fresh—both equally showing forth the power of God and his infinite superiority to the idols. It is difficult to determine what the two cycles of prophecy are. Delitzsch suggests that "the former things are the events experienced by the people from the very earliest times down to the times of Cyrus," while "the new things embrace the redemption of Israel from Babylon, the glorification of the people in the midst of a world of nations converted to the God of Israel, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth." Dr. Kay thinks that the "former things" are those mentioned in the prophecies concerning Babylon generally, the "new things those about to be announced in Isaiah 49-56. I did them suddenly; rather, suddenly I wrought. Isaiah 48:4 I knew that thou art obstinate; literally, hard, or stiff—the adjective used in the phrase translated in our version "stiff-necked." The idea is still more forcibly expressed in the following clause—thy neck is an iron sinew; or rather, a band of iron, as stiff as if it were made-of the hardest metal. And thy brow brass. The exact simile here used does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It seems to be the origin of our expressions, "brazen,… brazen-faced," "to brazen a thing out." The forehead may be hardened for a good or for a bad purpose; in obstinacy or in a determination to resist evil (comp. Isaiah 1:7 and Ezekiel 3:8 with Jeremiah 5:3; Ezekiel 3:7; Zechariah 7:12). Here the hardening is evil, marking defiance and self-will. Isaiah 48:5 I have even from the beginning declared it (comp. Isaiah 48:3). The declaration here made is that God rendered his prophecies more than ordinarily marvellous on account of Israel’s obstinacy, not punishing them for it, lint seeking graciously and lovingly to overcome it by adding to the weight of the evidence to which he would fain hare had it yield. Had his prophecies been less astonishing, had they in a less degree transcended ordinary human experience, Israel might conceivably have ascribed them and the accomplishment of them to the false gods. As it was, this was barely possible. Mine idol … my molten image. It has been already observed (see the comment on Isaiah 40:18) that there was a strong tendency to idolatry among the Jews, not only before, but during the Captivity. Ezekiel says that those among whom he lived were "polluted after the manner of their fathers, and committed whoredom after their abominations; made their sons pass through the fire, and polluted themselves with all their idols" (Ezekiel 20:30, Ezekiel 20:31); nay, went so far as to declare boldly, "We will be as the heathen, as the inhabitants of the countries, to serve wood and stone" (Ezekiel 20:32). The "prevailing tendency," as Delitzsch remarks, was "to combine the worship of Jehovah with heathenism, or else to exchange the former altogether for the latter." We cannot conclude anything concerning the mass of the community from the character of those who returned. Those who returned were the sincere worshippers of Jehovah—the irreligious did not care to return. It is always to be borne in mind that it was "the great mass even of Judah," no less than of Israel, that "remained behind" (Delitzsch); and these "became absorbed into the heathen, to whom they became more and more assimilated’’ (ibid.). Hath commanded them; i.e. "hath caused them (the events) to take place" (comp. Psalms 33:9). Isaiah 48:6 Thou hast heard, see all this; rather, thou didst hear, (now) see it all, i.e. see all the prophecies now fulfilled, which thou heardest in days gone by. Will ye not declare it? Will ye not for very shame make known generally the accordance between the prophecies and the events, which you cannot fail to see? Will ye not become "my witnesses" (Isaiah 43:10), and turn away from your idols? I have showed thee; rather, I show thee; i.e. "I am about to show thee from this time new things, even hidden things, which thou knowest not"—things belonging to the new cycle of prophecy, not previously announced, but reserved for the present crisis (see the comment on Isaiah 48:3). On the whole, the language used seems most consonant with the view of Dr. Kay, that the "new things" are those about to be revealed in the next section of the prophecy (Isaiah 49-53), things belonging to the coming of Christ, and the "new creation" which it will be the great object of his coming to bring about. Isaiah 48:7 They are created now. The revelation to man of what has lain secret in God’s counsels from all eternity is a sort of creation. As Nagelbach well says, it converts the λόγοςἐνδιάθετος into a λόγοςπροφορικός and therefore is one step towards actual accomplishment. The mystery of "the Servant of the Lord," and of atonement and salvation through him, had hitherto been hid away—"hid in God" (Ephesians 3:9), and was now for the first time to be made known to such as had "eyes to see" and "cars to hear" by the teaching of the evangelical prophet. Even before the day when thou heardest them not; rather, and before to-day thou heardest them not. Whatever shadows of evangelic truth are discernible in the Law and in the earlier psalms, they did not constitute a revelation of the way of salvation at all comparable to that contained in Isaiah’s later chapters. Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. If the "new things" of Isaiah’s prophecy had been revealed many centuries before, they would not have impressed the Jews of Isaiah’s time, or even of the Captivity period, as they did by having been reserved to a comparatively late date. They would have seemed to most of them an old and trite story. Isaiah 48:8 Thou heardest not … thou knewest not. Again we seem to hear the voice of complaint, as in Isaiah 48:1, Isaiah 48:2, Isaiah 48:4. Israel had not "ears to hear" to any purpose such highly spiritual truths as those of the coming section. They had not profited by what was taught concerning Christ in the Law and the Psalms. From that time that thine ear was not opened; rather, from that time thine ear hath not been open. "From that time" means "from of old," or "from the beginning." Isaiah 48:9 For my Name’s sake will I defer mine anger. Israel’s insincerity (Isaiah 48:1), obstinacy (Isaiah 48:4), addiction to idols (Isaiah 48:5), blindness (Isaiah 48:8), and general resistance to God’s will (Isaiah 48:8), could not but have provoked God’s "anger." He will, however, "defer" it, "refrain" himself, not "cut Israel off, for his Name’s sake." God, having selected one nation out of all the nations of the earth to be his "peculiar people" (Deuteronomy 14:2), and having declared this, and supported his people by miracles in their struggles with the other nations and peoples, was, so to speak, committed to protect and defend Israel "for his Name’s sake," lest his Name should be blasphemed among the Gentiles (see Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:13; Deuteronomy 9:28; Psalms 129:1-8:10; Psalms 106:8, etc.). He was also bound by the promises which he had made; and. still more, by the position which Israel occupied in his scheme of salvation, to allow the nation still to exist, and therefore to condone its iniquities and restrain his anger. But the dregs of the cup of vengeance were poured out at last. Isaiah 48:10 I have refined thee, but not with silver; rather, but not as silver (Cheyne). or, but not in the manner of silver (Delitzsch); i.e. not with the severity with which silver is refined (see Psalms 12:6). I have chosen thee; rather, I have tested thee. The furnace of affliction is here the Babylonian captivity. The object of the Captivity was to "test" and "refine," or purify God’s people to a certain extent—not with extreme severity, but in such sort as to fit them to "bear his Name before the Gentiles" for another five hundred years. Isaiah 48:11 How should my Name be polluted? i.e. how should I allow of its pollution or desecration (see the comment on Isaiah 48:9)? I will not give my glory unto another (comp. Isaiah 42:8). God would have ceded his glory to some god of the nations, had he under existing circumstances forsaken Israel. Isaiah 48:12-15 THE SECOND ADDRESS. The tone of complaint is now dropped. Israel is invited to reflect seriously on the chief points urged in the preceding chapters. (1) Their near relation to Jehovah (Isaiah 48:12); (2) Jehovah’s eternity and omnipotence (Isaiah 48:12, Isaiah 48:13); (3) the superiority of Jehovah to the gods of the nations, as shown by his prophetic power (Isaiah 48:14); and (4) the near approach of deliverance by Cyrus (Isaiah 48:14, Isaiah 48:15). Isaiah 48:12 O Jacob and Israel (comp. Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:22; Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 46:3; Isaiah 48:1). The figure is used which rhetoricians call hendiadys. The two names designate one and the same object. My called. "Called" and "chosen" from of old, out of all the nations of the earth (comp. Isaiah 41:9; Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:2, etc.); therefore bound to "hear" and to attend. Still more bound, considering who it is by whom they have been called—I AM HE—i.e. "I am the absolute and eternally unchangeable One, the Alpha and Omega of all history" (Delitzsch). The first, and also the Last, "from whom and to whom are all things" (Romans 11:36). Isaiah 48:13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth (comp. Isaiah 40:12, Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah 40:26, Isaiah 40:28; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12, Isaiah 45:18). As the Maker of heaven and earth, God is entitled to the attention and obedience of all the dwellers in heaven and earth. My right hand hath spanned the heavens; i.e. measured them, as with a span (Isaiah 41:12) fixed their limits and dimensions. When I call unto them, they stand up together (comp. Isaiah 40:26). Heaven and earth, and all things that are in them, except man, are prompt to perform God’s will, and rise up at once at his call to show their readiness. The metaphor is drawn from the conduct of intelligent agents. Isaiah 48:14 All ye, assemble yourselves. "Once more the nations are challenged to say which of their deities has foretold the work that the Lord has willed to perform on Babylon" (Kay) (see above, Isaiah 43:9). If none has done so, will not Israel see and acknowledge the superiority of Jehovah to such blind deities? The Lord hath loved him. It had not been previously declared in so many words that Jehovah "loved" Cyrus; but it had been sufficiently indicated by the way in which he was spoken of in Isaiah 44:28 and Isaiah 45:1-5. God "loves" all who "in an honest and good heart" seek according to their lights to do his will and serve him faithfully. Nebuchadnezzar is called his "servant" (Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 27:6; Ezekiel 29:18, Ezekiel 29:20), Cyrus (in Isaiah 45:1) his "anointed." It is but going one step further to call the latter his "loved one." He will do his pleasure; i.e. "God’s pleasure," not his own (see Isaiah 44:28). His arm shall be on the Chaldeans. The Hebrew is very harsh, and perhaps requires emendation; but the meaning can scarcely be other than that expressed in our version. Isaiah 48:15 I have called him (comp. Isaiah 46:11, "Calling a ravenous bird from the east"). Cyrus is represented as raised up by God, "called" by him, and commissioned by him "to do all his pleasure." God has brought him on his way, and made that way prosperous. According to the account of Herodotus, Cyrus received no check of any kind until the last expedition, in which he lost his life. His "prosperity" was beyond that of almost any other commander. Isaiah 48:16-22 THE THIRD ADDRESS. Israel is reminded of God’s merciful teaching and leading in the past (Isaiah 48:16, Isaiah 48:17); expostulated with on their disobedience (Isaiah 48:18, Isaiah 48:19); exhorted to go forth boldly and joyfully from Babylon (Isaiah 48:20, Isaiah 48:21); and finally warned that God’s blessings—even such a blessing as deliverance—are no blessings to any but the righteous (Isaiah 48:22). Isaiah 48:16 I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. God, "from the beginning," i.e. from his first dealings with Israel, had raised up a succession of prophets, who had declared his will, not "in secret," or ambiguously, but openly and plainly, so that all who heard might understand (comp. Isaiah 45:19, and see the comment ad loc.). From the time that it was, there am I; i.e. "from the time that the earth was, there (in the succession of my prophetic messengers) was I." It was I who spake by their mouth, and thus announced my will publicly. And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Dr. Kay supposes that "one Divine Personage is here sent by another"—the Second Person of the Holy Trinity by the First and by the Third; but it is against the analogy of faith that the Third Person should send the Second. Probably Mr. Cheyne is right in suggesting that "here a fresh speaker is introduced," and also right in his supposition that the fresh speaker is "the prophet himself," who tells us that he is now carrying on the goodly succession which has been "from the beginning," and is sent to deliver his message by God (the Father) and his (Holy) Spirit. On the tendency of Isaiah to "hypostatize" the Spirit of God, see the comment on Isaiah 40:13; and compare Mr. Cheyne’s note on the same passage. Isaiah 48:17 The Lord … which teacheth thee to profit. God’s teachings are all directed to the "profit" of those to whom they are addressed; and, if received in a proper spirit, actually "profit" them more than anything else can do. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable" (2 Timothy 3:16). Very profitable also are the teachings of God’s providence, which chasten men, warn men, and tend to keep men in the right path. Isaiah 48:18 Oh that thou hadst hearkened! (comp. Psalms 81:13-16, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries," etc.) Some render, "Oh that thou wouldst hearken!" etc; on the analogy of Isa 64:1; but unnecessarily. Dr. Kay says that God "upbraideth not," referring to James 1:5. But he may expostulate. What is it but expostulation, when our Lord says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:27, Matthew 23:28)? To look back on the past, and see what we have missed, is a good lesson for the future. Then had thy peace been as a river; literally, as the river (i.e. the Euphrates), abounding, overflowing, continuous. Thy righteousness. Not "thy prosperity" (Cheyne), but "thy good deeds." If Israel had clung to God, then God’s blessing would have been poured upon them, and have enabled them to bring forth abundant fruits of righteousness. As the waves of the sea; i.e. innumerable and unceasing. Isaiah 48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand. Israel, at the close of the Captivity, was "a remnant" (Isaiah 37:31), a "very small remnant" (Isaiah 1:9); the ten tribes were for the most part absorbed into the heathen among whom they had been scattered; the two tribes had dwindled in number through the hardships of the Captivity, and were scarcely more than a "handful." Less than fifty thousand returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:64); less than two thousand males with Ezra (Ezra 8:2-20). Had Israel not been disobedient, the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have been literally fulfilled, and the descendants of Abraham would have been millions upon millions, instead of being one or two hundred thousand. The offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; rather, like the grains thereof; i.e. the grains of the sand. His name; i.e. "Israel’s name." Should not have been cut off. Israel’s name had not been wholly "cut off" or "destroyed." But it had been approximately "cut off." Israel was no more a people, but only a horde of slaves. The restoration to Palestine was a resurrection—the re-creation of a nation which, humanly speaking, had ceased to be. Isaiah 48:20 Go ye forth of Babylon. A sudden transition from expostulation to exhortation. It might have seemed that no exhortation would be needed; that, as soon as the prison-doors were set open, there would be a general rush to escape. But, when the time came, it was not so. Those only availed themselves of the edict of Cyrus "whose spirit God had raised to go up and build his house" (Ezra 1:5). The wealthier classes, Josephus tells us (’Ant. Jud.,’ Isaiah 11:1), remained. The very poor, it is probable, could not leave. Motives of various kinds detained others. The result was that probably a larger number elected to continue in the country than to return to Palestine. Hence the exhortation to "go forth from Babylon and flee from the Chaldeans" was far from being superfluous. Flee ye from the Chaldeans. Not "flee before them" (see Isaiah 52:12), as enemies to be feared; but quit them hastily, as corrupters to be avoided. With a voice of singing; rather, with a voice of shouting (Delitzsch), or with a ridging cry (Cheyne). The cry was to reach even to the end of the earth. All the nations were to be informed of the great event, in which they might not feel, but in which they were, deeply interested—the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon, which was "the prelude of, and a preparation for, the world’s redemption" (Kay). Isaiah 48:21 They thirsted not (comp. Isaiah 43:19, and the comment ad loc). The literal meaning is not to be altogether excluded. We have no historical account of the journey made by the bulk of the exiles who returned with Zerubbabel; but they must almost certainly have experienced difficulties with respect to water; and it is quite possible that a miraculous supply was vouchsafed to them. Most commentators, however, are content to explain both this and the earlier passage as merely "symbolical." The Israelites—they say—had spiritual refreshment on their homeward journey, by God’s goodness, constantly. Isaiah 48:22 There is no peace, etc. This warning phrase occurs again, "in the manner of a refrain" (Cheyne), at the close of what most commentators regard as the second section of this portion of Isaiah’s work (Isaiah 57:21). The third section closes with a still more solemn warning (Isaiah 66:24). Swearing by the Name of God. Our Lord’s injunction to his disciples is "Swear not at all;" and in a community where all were true Christians, swearing would be superfluous, and the injunction might be carried out to the letter. But in imperfect conditions of society, such as the old covenant contemplated, and such as alone exist under the new, "swearing by the Name of God" cannot be dispensed with. Life and property would be greatly endangered were courts of justice to decide causes on the unsworn evidence of witnesses, the majority of whom might have a very slight regard for truth. "Swearing by the Name of God" is thus lawful— I. WHEN A WITNESS IS CALLED UPON TO DO SO IN A COURT OF JUSTICE. The Christian Church in all its branches has always allowed and approved of oaths being taken in courts of justice. Only a few sectaries have from time to time so strained our Lord’s words as to consider them prohibitive of oaths of this kind. Such persons "have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2). It is clear from the context that our Lord’s injunction was levelled, not against judicial oaths, but against the habit of strengthening asseverations by oaths in familiar discourse (Matthew 5:34-37). And he himself, when adjured, or put upon his oath, did not rebuke the man by whom he was adjured, but gave an answer to his questioner, though previously he had refused to give one (Matthew 26:63, Matthew 26:64). II. WHEN THE CIVIL CALLS UPON US FOR AN OATH OF , OR THE LIKE. The practice of Christian countries in this respect has varied; but where oaths of allegiance are required there would seem to be no reasonable ground for objecting to them. The state is entitled to assure itself of the good will and fidelity of the citizens; and, unless it can be sufficiently assured by a mere affirmation, would seem to be entitled to the better security of an oath. III. WHEN IN ANY VERY SERIOUS A VERY SOLEMN IS , Bandits have captured two friends. One of them is allowed to leave the bandits’ stronghold in order to obtain the ransom for both, but is required to swear that in any case he will return, otherwise both will be put to a lingering death. There would seem to be no sufficient grounds for refusing to make oath in such a case. The bandits will not accept a promise. The oath is a concession to their incredulity. It is given solemnly, seriously, almost judicially; since those who tender it possess, under the circumstances, the power of life and death. It cannot be thought the injunction "Swear not at all," was given with reference to such a case any more than with reference to oaths in courts of justice. The great end is to avoid light swearing, unnecessary swearing, profane swearing. Let these forms of swearing be carefully eschewed, and a Christian man’s conscience need not be greatly exercised in respect of the oaths which he is called upon to take as witness, as subject, as friend, as husband, as citizen. God the First and the Last. It is readily intelligible, though not by finite minds conceivable, that "God is the First." Something must have existed from all eternity, or nothing could ever have existed. The first existence must either have been matter or spirit, or both. But it could not have been matter alone, since matter could never have produced spirit; and it was not matter and spirit, since the "things that are seen were not made of things that do appear" (Hebrews 11:3). It was therefore spirit alone; and that primeval Spirit which existed apart from matter, and apart from any created spirit, was God. Thus "God is the First"—the First Cause—before all things—the Origin of all things—"Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things, both visible and invisible." But how is he "the Last"? Eternal life is promised to all created beings who do not fall from their first sinless estate, and also to all who, having fallen, repent and amend, turning to God, and putting their whole trust in the atonement of Christ. They will live on eternally in his eternal glory. Actually, then, God will not ever be in the future a single solitary Being, as he once was, but will always be a King and Governor of innumerable hosts of happy spirits, created by himself. Actually he will never be "the Last." But potentially he is "the Last." He could, if he so pleased, destroy with a word all that he has ever created, and be once more alone, without a second. And further, all things are "to him" and "for him"—they exist for his sake; he is their Aim and Object; their sole, final τέλος The separate personality and Divine authority of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, like most of the other great and mysterious doctrines of true religion, was gradually revealed to mankind. In one sense we may call it an exclusively Christian doctrine; but in another we must assign it an antiquity far higher than that of the Christian era. God, in his several revelations to mankind, gradually paved the way for its acceptance. In the revelations which he made to Noah and Abraham (Genesis 9:6, Genesis 9:16; Genesis 17:7, Genesis 17:8), God announced himself as Elohim—a word of plural form. In the revelation which he caused to be put forth by his servant Moses, he distinguished between" God" (Elohim) and "the Spirit of God" (ruakh Elohim) which moved, or brooded, upon the face of the primeval chaos (Genesis 1:2). By David he made it known that there was a "God, whose "throne was for ever and ever," whom "God, even his God, would anoint with the oil of gladness above his fellows" (Psalms 45:6, Psalms 45:7; comp. Hebrews 1:8, Hebrews 1:9). To the same great saint he revealed it that his Holy Spirit could be given to man and taken from him (Psalms 51:11). Isaiah, in the present passage, proclaims that he is sent "by the Lord Jehovah". BY E. JOHNSON Lessons from the past to the future. Those addressed are the people "named from Israel and sprung from Judah’s spring;" who swear by Jehovah’s Name and render homage to Israel’s God—not, alas! so sincerely as they should. Still, they have learned to find their true reliance in Zion and in Jahveh. Let them, then, hear the exhortation of Jehovah. I. THE ORACLE OF THE PAST. Jehovah has in former times predicted events by the mouth of his prophets which came to pass. Those predictions were disbelieved; the fulfilment was delayed; and yet suddenly the ideal was translated into fact; and the unexpected had come to pass. In general, history is the oracle of the Eternal. An empire founded on force or fraud cannot stand; the kingdom which subsists by righteousness and for righteousness carries with it vitality and enduring dominion. It was said by a great statesman, "The unexpected always happens." And in truth the purposes of God are not seldom known by their fulfilment in sudden and surprising events. He thinks long, but acts promptly. As in Northern climates, the winter of human discontent breaks as if by magic into spring. Such experiences should tend to subdue the obstinacy of incredulity. God knew that the Israelites were prone to unbelief and hardness of heart, and therefore had plied them with so many proofs of his providence. George Herbert mentions, "Bibles laid open, millions of surprises," among the means which God employs to bring the soul to himself. The "iron sinew and the brow of brass" are significant of the state of mind which he had to encounter in the people. "Some are so obstinately bad and confirmed in their vice, that judgments and afflictions are but thrown away upon them; and God’s shooting at them is but shooting at a mark, which indeed receives the arrow, but does not at all feel it." II. NEW . Again, things hidden from human penetration shall be made known by the Divine oracles. The events could no more be anticipated than could an act of creation from the operation of natural causes. And so the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, and the deliverance of the exiles from bondage, could be known by no human foresight or sagacity. But "their ears were not open." They were infidel and rebellious at heart. The open ear means the affected heart, the awakened understanding, the cherishing memory, the steady, fruitful perseverance in action. If there be defect of these, the soul is no better than if it had not heard at all. Nay, it may be worse (cf. John 5:25; John 6:45; Acts 2:37). III. THE GREAT DIVINE MOTIVE. Not because the people have deserved it will Jehovah act thus, but for his honour’s sake, because he is not yet known among the Gentiles. And it is through Israel that his purposes to the heathen must be carried out. Yet this people had not been found pure metal after their trial in the furnace of affliction. They were wicked, sinful, and unbelieving. It is his glory, then, in the spread of true religion and justice in the earth, that is the principle and the end of the procedure of Jehovah. As he can swear by no higher, so he can work for no more majestic object, than himself. But he must have instruments, he must have men, however imperfect, to work out his purposes. "God’s glory is the motto inscribed upon every created being; and wheresoever God reads, he owns this superscription. It is all the creature has, under God’s hand and seal, to show for its life. Wherever we are, we are not our own, but his. All men are by nature servants to the interest of his glory."—J. Isaiah 48:12-22 The new revelation. The verses contain a summary of the contents of Isaiah 40-47. God is the First and the Last—the sole Creator. Prophecy is an evidence of his claims; and so is the mission of Cyrus. I. THE GOD. First Jacob and Israel, the chosen people, are called to listen. Jehovah is the Alpha and the Omega of the universe. The First Cause and Reason of things; he gave the first impulse to their course, the goal of which will still be himself. Before the earth and the heavens were, his was the creative hand, guided by the creative mind. Then the idolatrous nations are summoned to assemble, and challenged to produce a power of prophecy to rival that of Jehovah. II. CYRUS. "He whom Jehovah hath loved," to whom he hath spoken, whom he hath called, shall have a prosperous career, performing the Divine pleasure on Babylon and on Chaldea. In verse 20 the prophet sees the destruction of Babylon as an accomplished fact. Thence let a ringing cry go forth to the end of the earth! Jehovah hath redeemed the people! Already they have drunk of the refreshing waters in the desert. And that peace, which is the sum of all blessings, and which can never be the portion of the ungodly, is theirs. III. APPEAL TO AND . Let the chosen people draw neat. and commune with their God. From the first he has spoken to them, not in dark and ambiguous oracles, but in words of clearness and unmistakable purport. And now he is to speak again by the mouth of his present servant, and to crown his revelations by the greatest of them all. And what of Israel? Doubly tender is the reproach and the expostulation. Why have the people not walked in the straight way in which he would have led them? He is their "Teacher to their profit;" why have they chosen what is unprofitable? and followed after the "not-profitable" gods (Jeremiah 2:11; cf. Micah 6:8; Psalms 23:3)? He would lead them in the straight path, but Israel has forced him, as it were, to lead them by the circuitous path of affliction. The appeal to experience turns upon this point—the profitableness of godliness, which has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. "Deep down in human nature lies the idea of a covenant between the worshipper and his god. In return for external service, the god gives help and protection. The prophets, with a generous freedom, retain so much of this theory as matches with the truths revealed to them. Jehovah’s protection is still conditional, but the conditions extend to the inner as well as the outer man" (Cheyne). Obedience alone brings peace and prosperity. If men had but hearkened to God, their peace would have been as the great volume of the Euphrates, and their blessedness, reflecting the favour of Jehovah, as the multitudinous waves of the sea; its posterity as the sand of the sea, or as the fishes that swarm in its waters. Its name would have been imperishable. It is, then, the "hearing ear" and the "perceiving heart" which above all are needed as conditions of true temporal and spiritual well-being. To hear so as to be pricked in heart; to hear so as to follow and prosecute the things we hear;—this alone is to hear in the Scripture sense. And here we are reminded of the need of the Holy Spirit’s influence, without which we may see and never perceive, and hear and never understand. There must be an aptness between the object and the faculty. Things sensible must be known by sense; things mental by the mind; and things spiritual by some principle infused into the soul from above. "Two sit together and hear the same sermon. One finds a hidden spiritual virtue in the Word, by which he lives and grows and thrives. Another finds no such virtue in it; perhaps it pleases his reason, and there is an end. This proceeds from the want of the spiritual, perceiving heart. Why is it that a man is so affected with music that all his passions are moved by it, while brutes are not at all pleased? Because there is in man a principle of reason concurring with his sense, which discovers the sweetness and harmony of the sounds that bare sense is not able to discern." And so of the things of God. Open thou mine eyes and mine ears; let my noblest faculties be ever in communion with the noblest, my spiritual nature be awakened by the Spirit, and again respond to his influence!—this should be our prayer. We will hearken unto and obey him who hath the words of eternal life: this should be our resolve.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The revealing truth. "I knew that thou art obstinate." We blame this in a child. We sometimes falsely call it firmness in a man. This is a mistake. Firmness is only in a Moral sense such, when it is infused by faith, governed by reason, approved by conscience, and consecrated to some noble and godlike end. I. HERE IS A OF HUMAN POWER. Man can stand out against God. This is marvellous, but it is at the basis of all moral freedom and responsibility. The original Hebrew means "hard"—so hard that the tenderest revelations of Divine love cannot melt the heart; so hard that the spectacle of the ruin and misery which rebellion everywhere brings does not create repentance and "returning." II. HERE IS A OF DIVINE . "I knew." Man cannot see his brother’s inner countenance. God can. "Thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." Let not man say that any law of necessity has compelled his defiant course. Let him not say that it has been demanded of him by the idols of fashion and custom. "Before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them." God knows that the soul has stood out against all Divine warnings, invitations, rebukes, and interpositions. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself!"—W.M.S. Hidden things. "Hidden things." The earth is full of latent forces, These are concealed. Take beat, for instance: how it hides in the secret places more stealthily than the panther! Take electricity: here it is quite close to us—within us; and what a masterful power it is!—how it can rend the rock and lay low the lofty palaces! These are beneficent forces, though, and do their work well, for the security, health, and comfort of man. There are hidden forces that are baneful. The latent seeds of disease lie hidden behind that pearly skin—that pure and radiant complexion. And when we have to speak of sin, what a latent force that is hidden in the breast of a child!—concealing itself under the cloak of outward respectability in manhood, and by its manifestations here and there like the volcano, telling us what depths of evil there are in the human heart, which only Christ and his cross can overcome. Men understand much, but they do not understand themselves. I. WE HAVE HIDDEN FORCES OF JOY IN US. In a human sense it is so. Look at those children, all eager for their own little possession, their own way; they know not now what love will do: how for that bright little maiden yonder, presently, in a few brief years, one human heart will give up time and thought, and all that earnest love can give! What a force! but hidden yet. So in marriage; that young wife cannot be informed, or instructed, or inspired by others to feel what maternal love is; but when the cry is heard, and a child is born into the world, the latent instinct leaps into life in the heart, and she knows for the first time what that slumbering force really is. So rare are in our souls hidden forces. We have latent faculties of faith in us which the Holy Ghost can call forth, whereby we walk in a new world of wonder and hope and joy in God. We have latent faculties of energy in us which, once awakened, will make us emulate the earnest of every age; and when religion sets a man to work, he finds that there is a joy in service which he was unconscious of before; he discerns that, whilst by love he serves others, he is also with each service opening up new joy-fountains in his own heart. II. WE HAVE HIDDEN FORCES OF PAIN IN US. We know not what they are, it may be, at present; but we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we shall be a surprise unto ourselves in this respect also. 1. There is the sorrow that hides in love. We know not the measure of love save by loss! Then we know. We are tempted to think in our youth that our older friends are too pensive sometimes, too little open to the all-gladdening influences around them. Alas! we know not the bread they eat. There are forces of memory in their hearts that we cannot see. 2. There is the sorrow that hides in sin. It is so bright-presenced at first, so fascinating, so attractive; speaks in such dulcet tones; no memory at work yet; no consciousness of shame yet; no sense yet of the disturbance that sin works in God’s beautifully ordered universe. To-morrow the serpent that hides at the bottom of the cup will have stung! 3. The sorrow that hides in wrong or neglect in relation to others. While they were with us here we did not feel it so much; but now! Oh, the curtain that hides! the silence in which there is no voice! the quivering heart that puts out the untouched hand! Eternal Father, we were not what we wished, or all we wished, to them. But they are gone, and the place which knew them once shall know them no more. Death is not a tidal river; its waters never return. III. WE HAVE HIDDEN FORCES OF EVIL IN US. Power to sin! Forces which temptation may set fire to, as a spark to the tow! We see this illustrated in nature. The officer who played with his beautiful glossy pair of cub-tigers did not understand his danger till they tasted blood as they licked a little cut in his hand; and then came the surly growl, and with the officer a sword for them or death for himself. We see this in the history of the disciples. How ignorant they were of their own hearts! What latent scepticism in Thomas! what cowardice beneath Peter’s enthusiasm! what pride in those who wanted chief places in Christ’s kingdom! Ah! yes; but they recovered from their folly. But think of Judas; think of Demas; think of Hymenaeus and Philetus. We see this in the warnings of our Saviour. "Watch and pray." Yes; Mark you, Christ does not say, "Watch and pray in youth," or "in manhood." He says it to us all. He knows the potency of evil, and that there are temptable places in our nature even unto the end. For instance, "When every other passion is old, covetousness is young," says the proverb. We must be on our guard till the last hour. Then will come release and victory. IV. WE HAVE HIDDEN FORCES OF WITHIN US. Christ revealed these. He "brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." All men do not equally feel these; but there is a "power of the world to come," which more or less affects everybody. When outward life pleases, and we have vivacities of friendship, extensive and elaborate functions of duty to fulfil; when we are absorbed in the outward life;—we do not always feel the great beatings of the pulses of immortality within us. But in silent meditative hours there comes over us all the consciousness alike of sin and immortality. "How abject, how august, is man!" The great conservative power of religion is the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Let that be ignored or denied, and materialism will make very rapid strides. 1. The sense of immortality alters our estimate of the world. Makes us feel the "tent-like" character of our homes. "We have here no continuing city, but we seek one to come." We knew that there remaineth a rest, and that affliction is but for a moment. 2. The sense of immortality alters our estimate of friendship. We long, even in that, to lay hold of the everlasting, to link our love with the immortal years—to feel that it is of such a character as to survive in glory. Hidden the force may be, but it is real, and the strongest of all the bulwarks against atheism and materialism. When Christ speaks we feel that he spake with authority. Men trembled before a vision of themselves so searching and severe. Not only the "hidden things "of darkness, however, did he reveal; the bright diamond of the mind flashed forth its beauty in the light of his all-revealing words. "Honour all men," says St. Peter. A beautiful commandment, for the gospel has shown the hidden glory behind the veil of the meanest life. "For I have shown thee hidden things" may therefore suggest to us the reverence which we ought to entertain for the soul. Sin is not a subject for mere scorn; it is a subject for deepest sorrow. "When Jesus came near the city, he beheld it, and wept over it." Something more magnificent than the marble temple filled his vision; he wept over souls where the altar was overthrown and the love of God cast out. Let preachers, teachers, authors, workers in the field of the Lord, realize once more the Divine grandeur of their work. The sublimest creation of this universe is hidden in the heart of man: "God made man in his own image."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 48:1-9 Things worth heeding concerning God and man. "Hear ye this:" this is something well worth the earnest attention of men; their truest worth and their lasting interests are bound up in the knowledge and regard of it. I. MAN’S WITH HIMSELF. (Isaiah 48:1, Isaiah 48:2.) Men may go very far in conduct which is quite at variance with "the spirit which is in them:" they may say or do one thing, and be the very opposite. One might think that though this were so in their dealings with one another, it would never be true in their attitude toward the heart-searching God. Yet in nothing is there more insincerity, more hypocrisy, than in religion. Men "swear by the Name of the Lord … but not in truth." To pretend before God, to affect a piety which is not felt, is not only useless and worthless; it is in the last degree offensive and perilous (see Matthew 23:1-39.). II. MAN’S OF HIMSELF. (Isaiah 48:4.) Men are obstinate, or hard (marginal reading): they harden their heart before God and against him, so that their neck is "an iron sinew, their brow brass." 1. They will not be what God requires that they should become—his children, his servants, his friends, his followers. 2. They will not do what he charges them to do—will not work righteousness, justice, equity; will not refrain from impurity, from intemperance, from dishonesty, etc. 3. They will not hear what he summons them to heed; they turn a deaf ear to his entreaties and his warnings (Proverbs 1:1-33.). They go so far in obduracy, in hardness, that, though they know that their Divine Father, their gracious Saviour, is speaking to them, they close their souls to his message of truth and love. III. GOD’S HIMSELF. (Isaiah 48:3, Isaiah 48:5-8.) God adduces proof from his foreknowledge and revelation that he is unquestionably the true and living God—that One in whom and in whom alone they should put their trust. It is not only by such proof as this, but by many evidences, that God establishes his claims upon us. He "leaves not himself without witness;" he abundantly confirms his truth: the material universe, with its beauty, its bounty, its order, its magnificence; the spiritual nature of man, including his conscience; the life, the works, the truth of Jesus Christ; the character and design of the gospel of peace and righteousness; its glorious achievements, etc. IV. GOD’S REASONS IN HIMSELF. (Isaiah 48:9.) 1. Ample reasons for Divine beneficence are to be found in the Divine nature—that God is what he is accounts for all the grace and mercy which abound in the earth. 2. In the interests of the universe God must act so that his children shall revere and praise him. Otherwise the most disastrous disbelief would prevail.—C. Isaiah 48:10, Isaiah 48:11 The Divine aim in human affliction. We infer— I. THAT THE OF THE ARE OF GOD’S SENDING. To the unrighteous they wear the aspect of inflictions, but to the servants of God they are chastisements or refining processes; either way, they are regarded as events which come in consequence of, or (at the least) in accordance with, the ordination of God (see Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6). Jesus Christ has taught us that the smallest incident cannot happen without Divine permission; much less (as he wishes us to infer)any serious trial to the people of God (Luke 12:6). II. THAT THE DIVINE AIM IS DOUBLY . 1. Our refinement. "I have refined thee." God refines its by passing us through the furnace of affliction, and he does this not for his advantage—"not for silver "—but for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness (see Hebrews 12:10). By the distresses of the soul the dross of worldliness, of selfishness, of trust in temporal securities or in human alliances, of sensuous indulgence, is purged away, and the pure gold of piety and purity is left. Our heavenly Father resorts to this refining process in one of two cases. (1) When he sees us falling under the power of temptation, and finds our Christian character becoming alloyed with error and evil. (2) When he wants agents of the highest kind for the noblest work on earth or in heaven, and knows that no abundance of privilege will purify and perfect as will the refining discipline of his own hand. It is a real and important feature of the Divine beneficence that in parental chastisement God is seeking: 2. His exaltation in the minds of men. "For mine own sake will I do it: for how should my Name be polluted," etc.? It is to the interest of his creation, in the very highest degree, that God’s Name should be exalted, that the glory which is his due should not be paid to another. For: (1) False worship shows a constant tendency to decline in the worthiness of its objects. When men abandon the service of the living God, and "go alter Baal," they pursue a downward course; they go from the high to the less high, from the low to the lower, from the lower to the lowest; until they worship devils. (2) The character of the Deity men adore is always reflected in that of its devotees: as is the god so is the idolater. We have the highest interest in rendering our homage to the righteous Father of all, and any discipline that weans us from any kind of idolatry renders us priceless service. If God regards the well-being of his creation, he cannot give his glory to another. III. THAT WE MUST CO-OPERATE WITH HIM, OR HIS PURPOSE, WILL BE . (See 2 Corinthians 7:10.)—C. Isaiah 48:17-19 Human freedom and Divine regret. In these fervent and eloquent words of the prophet we learn— I. THAT GOD DESIGNS GOOD AND EVEN GREAT THINGS FOR THE . If Israel had only been obedient to the Divine commandment, it would have rejoiced in: 1. Abounding prosperity. Its peace (prosperity) would have been "as a river," flowing on continuously, without break, night and day, generation after generation. Victory in war and fruitfulness in the field would have been their happy heritage (see Psalms 81:13-16). This is the offer which Christ makes to his obedient disciples. Not that prosperity always comes to the Christian disciple in the shape of "increase of corn and wine;" but it does come in one form if not in another—often in the shape of indwelling peace and overflowing joy when the home is of the humblest and the lot of the hardest kind. 2. Advancing rectitude. Its righteousness would have been "as the waves of the sea," coming on and coming in with steady, irresistible flow. Righteousness is an incomparably greater blessing than prosperity: To be a "righteous nation" is to be vastly more than a triumphant or wealthy nation. Christ promises to those who are the true subjects of his kingdom that their blest heritage shall be "righteousness as well as peace and joy in the Holy Ghost;" spiritual rectitude; the heart in its true and loyal attitude towards God, towards man, towards truth and life. 3. Abiding influence. (Isaiah 48:19.) II. THAT WE ARE LEFT FREE TO THWART HIS PURPOSE. Jehovah laments that Israel had forfeited its heritage, had used its freedom to disobey, had cut itself off from his generous design (Isaiah 48:18). What God would gladly have bestowed, the foolish nation had resolved to refuse. Such power of choice has the Creator given to his creature, man. And what fearful use has man made of this his freedom! It is not Israel alone that has elected to forego splendid opportunities. What might not Rome have been, and Egypt, and those European lands to which the knowledge of the gospel has been carried! It is not too late to ask—What may not England be? The record of her history is not yet complete; her sands are not yet run; her gate of opportunity is not yet closed. She may yet rise to the height of her privilege, as she may yet sink grievously and fatally beneath it. With the same solemn and awful; freedom every individual soul is invested by its Creator. Every one of us is at liberty to thwart his gracious purpose if we choose; at liberty also to realize it, in all its glorious fulness, if we will. III. THAT OUR AND ARE A SOURCE OF DIVINE REGRET. Do we not hear an undertone of deep sorrow in this lament? Our heavenly Father, our Divine Friend, regards the sad abuse of our freedom with a sorrow which is all his own. The human parent who has been deeply disappointed in the character and career of his beloved child is likely to have the truest insight into the grief of God when he witnesses our rejection of his truth and grace. But as "God only knows the love of God," so he only knows the depth and fulness of his grief. IV. THAT WE MAY RECOVER ALL IF WE LISTEN WHEN GOD SPEAKS AGAIN. The Holy One is our Redeemer: he "teaches us to profit;" he "leads us in the way," etc. (Isaiah 48:17). He comes in holy discipline, in fatherly correction, to call us from our folly, to save us from our sin. If we will only know the profitableness of his redeeming truth, we may be restored and reinstated; we may yet wear the robe and the ring of sonship, and sit down at the Father’s board.—C. Peace: appearance and reality. "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." We may look at— I. THE that there would be none. For the wicked are: 1. In rebellion against the Lord of all righteousness and power; i.e. against one who is bound to visit sin with penalty and who is able to do so. 2. In an element of disturbance and disorder. They are in a wrong and false position; they are in a sphere which is unnatural and unlawful; they stand where storms may be anticipated, where calms are things to be surprised at and suspected. II. THE of peace in the case of the unrighteous. It is continually happening that ungodly men, that unbelieving men, that even vicious men, spend lives of domestic comfort, prosper in the calling in which they are engaged, are untroubled in their conscience for considerable periods of time, die without great alarm or even serious apprehension. It often appears as if there were peace to the wicked. These facts, however, are consistent with— III. THE that guilt and peace are never found together. It is not only true: 1. That crime is almost always attended with a haunting dread of exposure and penalty. 2. That vice and irreligion are commonly associated with a sense of guilt and with the rebukings of conscience. But it is also true: 3. That no guilty soul can possibly have that in his heart which deserves the name of peace. He may have insensibility or false security; but these are not peace. Peace is the blessed calm which belongs to a consciousness of rectitude before God; it is the possession of those alone who are right with God, and who believe that they are so. No hardihood, no delusion, can confer this. A man who is living apart from God, unreconciled to him, unaccepted by him, must be destitute of the peace of God-of the peace which Christ gives to his own.—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 48:1, Isaiah 48:2 The offence of insincerity. "Not in truth, nor in righteousness." The prophet mentions the usual outward marks of the true Israelite; but, in the case of those whom he addressed, these were mere formalities, they were disconnected from a personal and living faith in God. These people said they were Jews, but they were not. Their professions could not stand the examinations of the Heart-searcher. To the good man—and how much more to the great and holy God!—insincerity is absolutely offensive; we have scarcely even pity for the man who has no reality of life and feeling to match his professions, whose words do not represent his heart. Unspeakably painful to the prophet must have been the condition of the many Jews in his day, and in his pleading the ideal attributes of Israel are pressed in contrast with their actual state of hypocrisy and unrighteousness. "How high their profession soared! what a fair show they made in the flesh! and how far they went towards heaven! what a good livery they wore! and what a good face they put upon a very bad heart!" (Matthew Henry). On the subjects of insincerity and hypocrisy there is much familiar teaching, which needs constant repetition. We only suggest two points. I. IS A DRIFT. We get into it, and it becomes a confirmed condition we scarcely know how; we are not conscious of having exercised any will in the matter. With some there is a great idea of "keeping up appearances," and the effort to do this tends to nourish insincere habits and ways. And sometimes we are carried into expressions of religious feeling and experience that are quite beyond us, by surroundings of religious excitement; and the pleasure of the insincere fascinates us. We drift into this evil by the use of sensational hymns, and by listening to ecstatic religious experiences; and there is no graver danger besetting the Church of our day than this tendency to nourish the insincere in the expressions of religious life. God’s reproaches fall on many who think themselves very holy, but whose professions are not really matched by heart and life. II. IS A SCHEME. Then it is a shame and disgrace, and brings us under the overwhelming judgments of God. Illustrate by Judas Iscariot. For selfish ends men determine to keep up before the world all the appearances of piety, when they know that the life of piety has died out of their souls. Christ’s sternest words were spoken to conscious and purposed hypocrites, those "whited sepulchres, fall of dead men’s bones." In view, then, of the danger of drifting into insincerity, and of the sin of scheming to be insincere, every good man will watch and strive and pray against the evil, lest, in some subtle form, it should assail and overcome him.—R.T. Obstinacy. The figures used are the stiff, unbending neck, that will yield to no persuasions; and the hard brow that can resist, as does the brow of the butting animal. The point which may be variously illustrated and enforced is that such obstinacy is a result of previous conduct. The obstinacy that is only a stubbornness of natural disposition can be dealt with efficiently by educational methods. The obstinacy which results from prolonged moral conditions is well-nigh irremediable, and brings a man under crushing Divine judgments. I. THE OF MORAL IS A LOSS OF . The proper attitude before God is one of openness, humility, and self-distrust. The renewed soul is delicately sensitive to every expression of the Divine will, and to everything that is in harmony with the Divine mind. And the maintaining of that sensitiveness is absolutely essential to the keeping of right relations with God. Piety is closely akin to meekness and gentleness. It loves to obey, to follow, to be led. We have no will but God’s will for us. To lose this "sensibility" is grave danger. It is to step on a slippery slide. Therefore should we "keep our heart with all diligence," and be most jealous over those various spiritual influences that help to make our hearts more tender. II. SUCH LOST MAY BE . At least in the earlier stages of it. But our peril lies precisely in this, that it is a very subtle form of spiritual disease, and, like some forms of bodily disease, it does not plainly show itself until it has gained strength, and gripped us with a firm hold. Our best sign of the presence of the evil is fading pleasure in Christian worship and devotion. We are in danger if we have lost the joy out of our religious duties and associations; and we should seek at once for the recovery of tone and fervour. III. SUCH LOST MAY PASS INTO SELF-. It certainly will if earnest efforts toward recovery are not made. The man who feels he is getting to be alone will try to stand alone. He who looses the hand that steadied him will try to walk steadily by himself. He who refuses to humble himself and recover his lost place will puff himself up with pride and vain confidences. IV. SUCH SELF- IS IN DANGER OF . The man who persists in forcing his own way finds that ever fresh strength must be put into the forcing, until, like Pharaoh of old, he becomes hardened to resist even God’s judgments.—R.T. God’s supreme motive. "For my Name’s sake I defer mine anger, and for my praise I am temperate towards thee, not to cut thee off" (Cheyne’s translation). It may seem strange that God did not utterly destroy the Jews as a nation, in his just indignation at their unfaithfulness, hypocrisy, and rebellion. God here explains the supreme reason which led him to deal so considerately with them. He was under covenant engagements with them. His Name and honour were pledged to the maintenance of the covenant. Overwhelming severities would have produced wrong impressions concerning God among the nations around. His Name would be dishonoured in their view. And it was of the utmost importance that this should not be, because, in good time, these heathen were to become subjects of the one Divine King. Junius very truly says, "Even legal punishments lose all appearance of justice when too strictly inflicted on men compelled by the last extremity of distress to incur them." (For God’s Name, see Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7.) For a New Testament plea, drawn from the jealousy for the honour of the Divine Name, recall the sentence, "Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." It may be shown that— I. GOD IS SEVERE, FOR THE SAKE OF HIS HONOUR. That he may not be blasphemed, and represented as indifferent to the obedience offered to his commandments. "Behold the severity of God," which should be a theme of admiration, and a bulwark of confidence to us. II. GOD IS PATIENT, FOR THE SAKE OF HIS HONOUR. In order that he might reveal himself as the Good, and win confidence. "Behold the goodness of God," into which we may run and find shelter. See the Name of God as revealed to Moses. The most marvellous triumphs over human self-willedness are won by patient mercy, Divine long-suffering. Forbearance and enduring love are some of the sweetest things in the Divine Name. A more subtle course of thought is indicated by the following two divisions. I. GOD IS ANXIOUS THAT MEN SHOULD HONOUR HIS NAME. And this anxiety he cherishes for their sakes. It is supremely important that men should have high thoughts of God. II. GOD IS ANXIOUS TO BE FOUND TRUE TO HIS OWN NAME. And this anxiety he cherishes for his own sake; for his rest involves the sense of being true to himself.—R.T. The refining power of affliction. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION III. THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (CH. 49-53). The connection of the present section is especially with Isaiah 42:1-7, where the mission of the Servant of Jehovah was first announced. That mission was there described with extreme brevity. It has now to be fully set forth, for the instruction, consolation, and comfort of all Israel, which is represented as sunk in despondency, deeming itself forgotten of God and forsaken by him (Isaiah 42:13, Isaiah 42:14). In the present chapter Jehovah’s attestation of his Servant’s mission is set forth (Isaiah 42:1-12), and Zion is comforted in her despondency (Isaiah 42:13 -26). Isaiah 49:1-12 JEHOVAH’S OF HIS SERVANT’S MISSION. Jehovah called his Servant from the womb; mentioned him by name; made his mouth a sharp sword; held him in his hand; caused him to be a polished weapon; appointed him his Servant; assured him of a right and a recompense; appointed him, not only to restore and recover Israel, but to be a Light to the Gentiles, and to give salvation to the ends of the world (Isaiah 49:1-6); chose him (Isaiah 49:7); will help him (Isaiah 49:8); through him will both deliver the captive everywhere (Isaiah 49:9), and cause joy to break out in every part of heaven and earth (Isaiah 49:11-13). It is quite impossible that these things can be said of aught but a person, or of any person other than him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Genesis 22:18). Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles (comp. Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 42:4, Isaiah 42:6). Since the beginning of Isa 43:1-28. Israel alone has been addressed. Now that the mission of the Servant of Jehovah is to be treated of, all the world must be summoned to hear, for all the world is directly interested. Ye people; rather, ye peoples, or ye nations. The Lord hath called me from the womb. Isaiah could not have said this of himself, for his "call" took place when he was of mature age. But Christ was designated for his office from the womb (Luke 1:31-33). He was also still "in the womb of his mother" when the name of Jesus was given to him (Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:31). Isaiah 49:2 He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that "the Word of God" generally "is … sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow" (Hebrews 4:12). Christian experience testifies that tiffs keen, searching, cutting power attaches in an especial way to the sayings of Jesus, which pierce the heart as no other words can do, and rankle in the soul, which is quite unable to forget them. The imagery recurs in the Revelation of St. John (John 1:16; John 2:12, John 2:16; John 19:15, John 19:21). In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me. Either keeping him safe from the malice of his enemies, or reserving him until, "in the fulness of time," it would be fitting to reveal him to the world. And made me a polished shaft, A weapon even keener than a sword, smoothed and polished, so as to make it pierce the deeper, and kept hid in God’s quiver until the time came when it could be launched with most effect against the hearts of ungodly men. Isaiah 49:3 Thou art my Servant, O Israel. That the literal "Israel," is not intended appears plainly from Isaiah 49:5. The Servant himself is addressed as "Israel," because he "would stand as a new federal head to the nation" (Kay), which would be summed up in him, and also because he would be, in a truer sense than any other, an "Israel," or "Prince with God." In whom I will be glorified (comp. John 13:31, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him"). He who is "the Brightness of the Father’s glory" sets forth that glory before men, and causes them to glorify him, both with their tongues and in their lives. Isaiah 49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain; rather, and I, for my part, had said. The Servant had momentarily desponded, seeing the small results of all his efforts to reclaim Israel, and had felt a natural human regret at so much labour apparently expended in vain; but his despondency had been soon checked by the thought that God would not suffer any "labour of love" to be wholly in vain, but would give it the recompense which it merited. The verse brings strongly out the true humanity of the "Servant," who feels as men naturally feel, but restrains himself, and does not allow his feelings to carry him away. Compare with this despondency the grief exhibited by our Lord on two occasions (Matthew 23:37; John 11:35), and the depression which extorted from him the memorable words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" (Matthew 27:46). My work; rather, my reward, or my recompense. Isaiah 49:5 And now, saith the Lord, etc.; rather, and now the Lord hath said—he that formed me from the womb to be a Servant to him, that I might bring back Jacob to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him; for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is become my Strength—he hath said—It is a light thing, etc. The whole of Isa 49:5, after the words, "and now the Lord hath said," is parenthetic. (On the service which our Lord continually rendered, while on earth, to the Father, see Luke 2:49; Luke 4:43; John 4:34; John 6:38; John 17:4.) The Revelation of St. John shows that in heaven he is still engaged in carrying out his Father’s behests. Though Israel be not gathered. This reading, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, "entirely spoils the symmetry of the verse." The practice of writing fresh copies of the Scripture from dictation is answerable for the double reading of לֹא and לוֹ both here and in other places. Yet shall I be glorious. The "Servant" would receive glory even by such a partial conversion of the Jews as took place through his ministry. It is never to be forgotten that all the original twelve apostles were Jews, that Matthias was a Jew, that Paul and Barnabas were Jews, and that the original Church was a Church of Jews (Acts 2:41-47). All that was truly spiritual in Judaism flowed into the Church of Christ, as into its natural home, and the Jewish element in the Church, if not numerically great, was yet the predominant and formative element. Isaiah 49:6 It is a light thing. God rewards his servants according to their works. He is supremely just. He was not content that even Nebuchadnezzar should be insufficiently rewarded for the service that he rendered against Tyre (Ezekiel 29:18), and he therefore gave him Egypt in addition as his recompense (Ezekiel 29:20). It would have been "a light thing"—"too light a thing" (Kay, Cheyne)—to have rewarded the labours of Jesus with the conversion of the Jews only. God therefore gave him as his recompense the gathering in of the Gentiles also, and made him a means of salvation even to the uttermost ends of the earth. The preserved of Israel; i.e. the "remnant" that had not perished through previous judgments. I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 34:1; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 55:5, etc.). Greeks Ἕλληνες were brought into contact with our Lord himself shortly before his crucifixion (John 12:20). He wrought a miracle for a Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30). His apostles, after a little time, understood that the gospel was for the world at large, and declared that in Christ there was no difference between Jew and Greek, nay! between Jew and barbarian. Christ had died for all—had come to be a Light to all, would have all come into his Church and obtain salvation through union with him. That thou mayest be my Salvation. Christ is called "Salvation," as the Bearer of salvation—he through whom alone can any man be saved (Acts 4:12). So he is called "Peace" (Micah 5:5), as the Giver of peace. Isaiah 49:7 His Holy One; i.e. "the Holy One of Israel." To him whom man despiseth; literally, who is despised of souls. This is the first place in the prophecies of Isaiah where this note of the Messiah is brought forward. It is found earlier in the Psalms, as especially in Psalms 22:6, et seq; "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people;" and later on it is expanded into a chapter (Psalms 53:1-6.). Whom the nation abhorreth; rather, whom mankind abhorreth. The term used is goi, which points to the Gentiles rather than to the Jews. Mankind at large dislikes a "Holy One," since he is a perpetual reproach to it (see Isaiah 30:11; and comp. Plut; ’Republ.,’ 7.2, ad fin.). It is not the Jews only who exclaim in such a case, "Away with him! away with him!" (John 19:15). There is such an antagonism between sin and holiness, that the ungodly everywhere and in all ages detest the godly and virtuous. A servant of rulers; or, a slave of despots; treated as a slave, i.e. by such irresponsible rulers as Herod (Luke 23:11) and Pontius Pilate (John 19:1, John 19:16). The "King of kings" bowed himself to a slave’s death. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship (comp. Psalms 72:10, Psalms 72:11; Isaiah 52:15; Isaiah 50:3, Isaiah 50:10,Isaiah 50:11, etc.). According to a tradition—which, however, cannot be traced back to any very ancient source—the Magi who came to worship our Lord at Bethlehem were "kings." The prophecy is, however, to be regarded as having its main fulfilment in the coming to Christ of so many kings and princes, since his ascension into heaven (comp Psalms 22:23). And the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee; rather, the Holy One of Israel, that hath chosen thee. Kings will rise from their thrones, and prostrate themselves before Messiah, convinced that Jehovah is faithful in the performance of his promises, and has chosen the Son of Mary to be the Redeemer so long announced as about to appear on earth. Isaiah 49:8 In an acceptable time; literally, in a time of good pleasure; i.e. the time fixed by my good pleasure from the creation of the world. Heard thee … helped thee. The Father "heard" and "helped" the only begotten Son through the whole period of his earthly ministry (Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52; John 3:2; John 8:28; John 12:28; John 14:10, etc.). I will give thee for a Covenant of the people (comp. Isaiah 42:6, and the comment, ad loc.). To establish the earth; rather, as in Isaiah 49:6, to raise up the earth, to lift it out of its existing condition of meanness and degradation. To cause to inherit the desolate heritages; i.e. to cause the desolate heritages of the earth—the places devoid of trite religion—to be possessed, and as it were "inherited," by those who would introduce into them the true knowledge of God. As Israel inherited Canaan (Deuteronomy 3:28; Joshua 1:6), so would Christian nations inherit many "desolate heritages," where ignorance and sin prevailed, with the result that light would penetrate into the dark regions, and, ultimately, all flesh see the salvation of God. Isaiah 49:9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth, "The prisoners" here are not the captives in Babylon, but the servants of sin throughout the world. Christ would say to them, "Go forth." He would summon them by his messengers to repent ,and be converted, and quit the service of sin, and "go forths" from the kingdom of darkness, and "show themselves" as lights of the world (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15), walking "as children of the light" (Ephesians 5:8). It is a narrow exegesis which confines the prophet’s forecast to the mere return of the exiles to Palestine, and their re-settlement on their ancestral estates. They shall feed in the ways, etc. The returning "prisoners" are now represented as a flock of sheep (comp. Isaiah 40:11), whom the good Shepherd will "lead" and "guide" by ways in which they will find sufficient pasture, which shall not fail them even when they pass over bare "hill-tops" (see John 10:11-16; John 21:15-17). Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst (cf. John 4:14; John 6:35). God’s grace is sufficient for his faithful ones. They are content with the sustenance which he awards them, and neither "hunger" nor "thirst." Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; rather, neither shall the glowing sand nor the sun smite them (see Isaiah 35:7). To those who walk at noonday over the "glowing sand" of the desert, the heat which "smites them" seems to come as much from below as from above, the white ground reflecting the sun’s rays with a force almost equal to that wherewith the rays themselves beat down upon them from the sky. The Lord’s faithful ones, in their passage through the wilderness of life, shall be free Item these fearful trials. "The sun shall not smite them by day, neither the moon by night" (Psalms 121:6) He that hath mercy on them; or, that hath compassion on them—that sympathizes with their sufferings, and pities them in their trials (comp. Isaiah 49:13 and Isaiah 49:15). Shall lead them (comp. Psalms 23:2; Isaiah 40:11). The Oriental shepherd for the most part goes before his flock. Isaiah 49:11 I will make all my mountains a way. No obstacles shall prevent the return of the wanderers. Mountains shall he as roads, and as highways lifted up. Isaiah 49:12 These shall come from far. The nations shall flow in from all sides to the Redeemer’s kingdom (Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 60:1-5, etc.). They shall come from the north and from the west; literally, from the north and from the sea, which generally means "the west," but which, in one enumeration of the points of the compass (Psalms 107:3), is certainly "the south." They shall also come from the land of Sinim by which most recent interpreters understand China. But it is highly improbable that an ethnic name which was not known to the Greeks till the time of Ptolemy should have recoiled Palestine by b.c. 700. And if "the sea" means "the south" in the preceding clause, the Sinim may be these of Phoenicia (Genesis 10:17), who were among the furthest inhabitants of Asia towards the west. In any case, the reference is, not to the dispersed Jews, but to the remote Gentiles, who would pass from all quarters lute the kingdom of the Redeemer. Isaiah 49:13-26 ZION IN HER . While the future is thus glorious, both for the "Servant of the Lord" and for his people Israel, the present is gloom and misery. Zion—not here the city, but the people of God—desponds and says, "Jehovah has forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isaiah 49:14). This burst of grief, though arising from weakness of faith, is forgiven by the compassion of God, and "afflicted" Israel is "comforted" and consoled through the remainder of the chapter (Isaiah 49:15-26). Isaiah 49:13 Sing, O heavens (comp. Isaiah 44:23). Heaven and earth are called upon to rejoice and "break forth into singing" (1) because of the glory that awaits the Redeemer (Isaiah 49:5-12); and (3) because of the gracious intentions of God with respect to Israel (Isaiah 49:16-26). O mountains The majesty of mountains seems to have deeply impressed Isaiah. Throughout his writings they are continually introduced as the grandest of the works of God (comp. Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 2:14; Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 22:5; Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 37:24; Isaiah 40:4, Isaiah 40:9, Isaiah 40:12; Isaiah 41:15; Isaiah 42:11, Isaiah 42:15, etc.). He expects them to be especially ready to sympathize with man. Such a feeling would be natural to one accustomed to the hill-country of Palestine and the lofty heights of Hermon and Lebanon, but could scarcely have been developed in an exile of the time of Cyrus, born and brought up in the dead level of Babylonia. Hath comforted … will have mercy. Both verbs designate the same action, which is really future, but in God’s counsels is already accomplished. The perfect is thus, once more, that of prophetic certitude. Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said. "Zion" is here the "daughter of Zion," or the people of Israel, as in Isaiah 51:16. The meaning is a rare one. The Lord hath forsaken me (comp. Isaiah 40:27). It is not surprising that Israel—even faithful Israel—sometimes desponded, or perhaps despaired, during the long and weary time of the Captivity. Even the "Servant of the Lord" knew moments of despondency (see above, Isaiah 51:4, with the comment). Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget?.… yea, they may forget. In the siege of Samaria by Benhadad, King of Syria, a mother, we are told (2 Kings 6:28, 2 Kings 6:29), boiled her son for food. In the last siege of Jerusalem similar horrors are reported (Joseph; ’Bell. Jud.,’ 6.3, 4). Mothers have even been known in England who have forced their tender and innocent daughters to commit deadly sin. Yet will I not forget, The love of God surpasses that of either father or mother. "When my father and my mother forsake me," says David, "then the Lord will take me up" (Psalms 27:10). "God is love" (1 John 4:8) in his very essence; and his infinite love is deeper, tenderer, truer, than finite love can ever be. Still, that which is nearest to it upon earth is, doubtless, the love of a mother for her children (see Isaiah 66:13). Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. The prophet has passed here from the living Zion, Isabel, to their material home, Jerusalem. The metaphor which he uses is no doubt drawn from the practice, common both in ancient and in modern days, of burning or puncturing figures and other mementos upon the hand, the arm, or some other part of the body, and then rendering the figures indelible by rubbing in henna, indigo, gunpowder, or some other coloured substance. Pilgrims in the East have almost always such marks put upon them when they have accomplished their pilgrimage. English sailors are fond of them, and few are without some such mark on their breast or limbs. The meaning here is that God has the thought of Zion as constantly present with him as if her image were indelibly marked on the palms of his hands. (On the anthropomorphic representation of God as having "arms" and "hands," see the comment on Isaiah 40:10.) Thy walls. It is the city, Zion, the emblem of the people, that can alone be "graven" or "portrayed." This city has, of course, walls. God bears them in mind perpetually, since he is about to cause them to be built up (Nehemiah 3:1-32, Nehemiah 4:1-23.). Isaiah 49:17 Thy children shall make haste; i.e. "thy exiled children shall hasten, when the appointed time comes, to return to Zion, and rebuild its temple and towers and walls." At the same time, thy destroyers and they that have made thee waste, who are regarded as still carrying on their devastations, shall leave thee and go forth of thee. Isaiah 49:18 Lift up thine eyes round about and behold (comp. Isaiah 50:4, where the same phrase occurs in connection with the conversion of the Gentiles). All these gather themselves together (comp. Isaiah 49:12). Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament (comp. Zechariah 9:16). The restored Church, receiving adhesions from the nations on all sides, will be like a bride who puts on her ornaments, and is thereby made glorious to look upon (Isaiah 61:10, ad fin.). The entire Church, not any one part, is designated as the "Bride" of Christ in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:29, Ephesians 5:32; Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9; Revelation 22:17). Isaiah 49:19 The land of thy destruction; or, of thy overthrow—i.e, where thou wert overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar—shall even now be too narrow, etc. This must not be understood literally. Palestine, after the return from the Captivity, was at no time over-populated; and when the conversion of the Gentiles took place it caused no influx of fresh settlers into the Holy Land. The object of the prophet is simply to mark the vast growth of the Church, which would necessarily spread itself far beyond the limits of Palestine, and would ultimately require the whole earth for its habitation. Isaiah 49:20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other; literally, the children of thy bereavement; i.e. the Gentiles who shall replace those many faithless Israelites who refused to return when Cyrus issued his edict, and became lost to the Church of God. The place is too strait for me (see the comment on Isaiah 49:19). Isaiah 49:21 Who hath begotten me these? The Jewish Church is astounded at the influx of the Gentiles, and asks, "Where did they come from? Who has made them my children? Who has trained them?" That they are not her natural children she is sure, since she knows that she has been for a long time "bereaved and unfruitful" (Cheyne)—a captive, and a "wanderer" (Kay). It is certain that the Jewish Church did not at first altogether welcome the incoming of the Gentiles (Acts 11:1-3; Acts 15:1-11; Galatians 2:11-14, etc.). But the guidance of the Holy Spirit surmounted the difficulty (Acts 15:28). Isaiah 49:22 I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles. The new children—the new converts—are to come from the Gentiles; the fresh "sons" and "daughters" will be carried by the nations in their arms, and by the peoples upon their shoulders. It is usual to expound this and parallel passages (Isaiah 60:4; Isaiah 66:20) of the return of the Jews to their own land by favour of the Gentiles, either when the decree of Cyrus went forth, or at some still future period. But perhaps the children intended are foster-children, actual Gentiles, whom their parents will bring to baptism. In the Assyrian sculptures, mothers are constantly represented as carrying their children upon their shoulders. Isaiah 49:23 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; or, thy foster-fathers … thy foster-mothers. Kings and queens (sultanas) shall put themselves at the disposal of the Church, to nourish and cherish such of the Church’s children as may be entrusted to their care. They shall bow down. They shall not seek to lord it over the Church, but shall acknowledge in the officers of the Church a spiritual authority superior to their own, before which they shall "bow down," as Theodosius did. They shall even be willing, when they are conscious of guilt, to "lick the dust" under the Church’s feet, or subject themselves to deep humiliation, that they may be restored. They shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Such as wait patiently and trust in the fulfilment of all these gracious promises shall escape shame, for the promises will assuredly be fulfilled. Isaiah 49:24 Shall the prey be taken, etc.? The incredulous among the exiles thought it well-nigh impossible that Babylon should be forced to disgorge her prey—the captives whose labours were so valuable to her. Babylon was mighty. By the laws of war she had a rightful claim to her captives. How was she to be induced or compelled to give them up? Isaiah 49:25 The captives of the mighty shall be taken away. The answer to the questions of Isa 49:24 is that, if Babylon is mighty, God is mightier. God will "take away" the captives, and "save" his "children." Isaiah 49:26 I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh (comp. Isaiah 9:20). Civil disunion is intended, which will break the power of Babylon, and render her an easy prey to the Persians. The recently discovered inscriptions clearly show that this was the case. Nabonidus had alienated the affections of his subjects by changes in the religion of the country, and during the course of the war with Cyrus, many Babylonian tribes went over to the invaders, and fought against their own countrymen. The mighty One of Jacob (see the comment on Isaiah 1:24). Isaiah 49:5-12 The lowest humiliation and the highest glory meet in Christ. The Messiah was to be "glorious in the eyes of the Lord" (Isaiah 49:5); God was to be "his Strength;" "kings" were to "see him and arise; ’ "princes also" were to "worship" (Isaiah 49:7); he was to "raise up the earth;" to "cause to inherit the desolate heritages" (Isaiah 49:8); he was to loose the prisoners (Isaiah 49:9), to "restore Israel" (Isaiah 49:6), and to carry salvation to the ends of the world (Isaiah 49:6); yet, at the same time, he was to be "despised of men, an object of abhorrence to the nations, a servant [or, ’slave’] of rulers" (Isaiah 49:7). That such opposites should meet in one person must have seemed, anterior to the event, most improbable; yet the prophet utters no "uncertain sound." He proclaims alike, with the greatest distinctness, both the glory (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 42:1-8; Isaiah 49:1-6) and the humiliation (Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 53:2-12), both the exaltation and the depression, of the Redeemer. And the event justified him, in both respects alike. I. CHRIST’S EXTREME . Christ "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:7, Philippians 2:8). Note the chief points of the humiliation. Being "in the form of God" and "equal with God," he consented (1) to be born on earth as a man; (2) in a humble station; (3) to be laid in a manger; (4) to be "subject" to earthly parents; (5) to be cast out of his native city by his fellow-townsmen; (6) to have not where to lay his head; (7) to have his teaching rejected by the mass of his countrymen; (8) to be betrayed; (9) bound; (10) smitten; (11) derided; (12) spit upon; (13) scourged; (14) crucified; (15) buried. The steps of the humiliation were progressive. First it was negative rather than positive, while he worked as a "carpenter" in his reputed father’s shop. Then it received aggravation, when he became a homeless wanderer, was "rejected of men," bidden to "depart out of their coasts," threatened with stoning, declared to "have a devil," "hated," plotted against. Finally, it culminated in that night and day of agony when one disciple betrayed him, and the rest forsook him and fled, and he was led before three tribunals, mocked, buffeted, crowned with thorns, smitten with a reed, scourged judicially, nailed to the cross, flouted, railed on, finally buried out of men’s sight, as though all was indeed "finished" with him, and the earth would hear no more of One who had lived an outcast’s life, and died the death of a malefactor! II. CHRIST’S AND GLORY. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-12). Note the chief points of the exaltation. No sooner is he dead than he descends to Hades, "preaches to the spirits in prison," and deprives hell of its prey; then rises, "loosens the bonds of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it," cheers his "little flock" with his presence for forty days, ascends to heaven, and sits at God’s right hand, King of kings and Lord of lords for evermore. On earth he has "a Name above every name." The Roman empire bows down to him; the barbarians are in great part converted; more and more nations flow into his kingdom; and at the present day three hundred millions of men, more than a fourth part of the world’s inhabitants, nominally at any rate, confess him for their Master and Lord. In heaven the angels worship him; he sits upon the great white throne, and before him are the four and twenty elders, and the host of angels, and the ten thousand thousand saints, and the song is sung, "Salvation unto our Gad which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb;" and all the angels stand about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fall on their face before the throne, and worship him, saying, "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 7:9-12). Isaiah 49:13-16 The love of God for his Church. The love of God for his Church is no doubt something mysterious, inscrutable, as are all the Divine attributes; but it is so pointedly set before us in many places, both of the Old and the New Testaments, that it must certainly be intended we should meditate upon it. We may with reverence consider it (1) in its origin; (2) in its action; (3) in its results. I. IN ITS ORIGIN. God’s love for his Church would seem to originate in the fondness with which all intelligent beings regard the work of their own hands; that on which they have spent toil, time, labour, thought, care. God in creating the world had, primarily, his Church in view; he made all material things for the sake of man; and he made mankind with a view to his Church. He was moved to the creation of the world by a desire to have for all eternity a body of pure, good, happy, intelligent worshippers dwelling with him in heaven. He began by making man "in his own image" (Genesis 1:27), with a moral nature, free-will, consciousness, personality, memory. He knew that, with these gifts, man would fall; but he determined from the first that out of fallen humanity he would raise up a certain number—as many as would allow him—save them, purify them, make them his "peculiar people" (Deuteronomy 14:2), his Church. In idea, we may say that God loved his Church before he had created it; for, knowing what it would be, he loved it by anticipation, recognizing in it the best, and so the dearest to him, of all his works. Such was his love for his Church in its origin. We have now to consider it— II. IN ITS ACTION. As a means of obtaining that Church triumphant in heaven which he desired, God saw good to create a Church militant on earth, which should be its shadow and representative, and to make that Church the peculiar object of his care. For this Church he showed his love by unwearied, ceaseless watchfulness, by supernatural interpositions from time to time, by patient endurance of provocations, by occasional chastisements, by warnings, by providential guidance, by direct teaching from Sinai, by indirect instruction through a long series of inspired prophets and seers. Never forgetting, never forsaking Israel, he delivered them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, gave them Canaan, subdued the nations before them, saved them from the power of Assyria, brought them forth out of Babylon, sustained and supported them, until, in the fulness of time, he gave the strongest possible evidence of his love by sending forth his Son to die for his Church, and by his death to infuse into it fresh life, and transform it from a national into a world-wide society, from the Church of the Jews into the "holy Catholic Church"—the Church of all nations. And this Church he has built upon a rock; he has promised to be with it always; he has declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This Church he "nourisheth and cherisheth" (Ephesians 5:29), guiding it with his Spirit, sanctifying and cleansing it (Ephesians 5:26), protecting it from its secret foes, delivering it from its avowed enemies. The Church of Christ for nearly nineteen hundred years has triumphed over all attempts to crush it and destroy it, not by its own strength, but through the love and care of the Almighty. The action of God’s love for his Church is thus, in the first place, to keep it in being; in the second, to purify and perfect it. It only remains to consider this precious love— III. IN ITS RESULTS. The present results are: 1. That there is a witness for God in almost every land—a witness which testifies unceasingly to the existence, power, and goodness of the Almighty; to the free offer of redemption through his Son, and to the free gift of sanctification through his Spirit. 2. There is a body which preaches holiness of life, even if it very imperfectly practises it. 3. There is a community which witnesses to the spirituality of man, to free-will, moral responsibility, the absolute and eternal difference of right from wrong, a future life, and judgment to come. 4. There is a body which hands on religion from age to age as a real living thing; a power seen in its fruits; a transforming, energizing power; not a philosophy, but a life. In the future the great result will be—that which the Revelation of St. John indicates—the eternal existence in heaven of a Church triumphant; "a multitude which no man can number," consisting "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who will "stand before the throne of God, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands," praising him and ready to do his pleasure for ever (Revelation 7:9, Revelation 7:10). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 49:1-13 Jehovah and his Servant. The Servant of Jehovah is wearied with the obstinacy of the Israelites, and turns to the lands afar off, that he may unfold to them his high mission and its purport. The offer of salvation is to be extended to the heathen world. I. HIS CALL. From his very birth he has been destined as a missionary to the heathen world (cf. Isaiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15; Luke 1:31). The emphasis is on the fact. He was not self-called, and there was no presumption on his part. There is all the difference in the world between calling one’s self missionary, or apostle, or minister, and feeling that "God has made mention of one’s name." II. HIS . His mouth has been made a sharp sword; a vehicle for that Word which is elsewhere compared to a sharp and two-edged sword, to pierce the conscience, to overcome the proud and the stubborn (cf. Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 51:16; Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 1:16; Revelation 19:15. See also, for the pungency of eloquence, Ecclesiastes 12:11). It is a lesson: pointless speech is no speech for the minister of God. We do not speak to "gain time," but to gain hearts. In some respects we may be compared to marksmen. In Gentile poets the like figures occur of the sword or the arrow. "His powerful speech Pierced the heater’s soul, and left behind, Deep in his bosom, its keen point infixt. Say through what paths of liquid air Our arrows shall we throw?" And so with the apostolic preaching. They told the world in plain terms "that he who believed should be saved, and that he who believed not should be damned." "This was the dialect which pierced the conscience, and made the hearers cry out, ’Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ It tickled not the ear, but sank into the heart; and when men came from such sermons, they never commended the preacher for his taking voice or gesture, for the fineness of such a simile or the quaintness of such a sentence, but spoke like men conquered with the overpowering force of truth." The Servant of God is also compared to a "polished shaft" (cf. Jeremiah 51:11). His words penetrate easily, because natural, familiar, and not above the capacity of the hearer. "Nothing is more preposterous than for those who profess to aim at men’s hearts to shoot over their heads" (South). III. HIS TO GOD. This polished shaft is covered in the quiver of God. The Almighty takes care of his tools, as every good workman does. Through Israel as his instrument, he designs to manifest his glory. "His Servant will become the Head of a regenerated and expanded Israel, which Jehovah will hold forth to the universe as his fairest prize" (Cheyne). This sense of being related to God and his purposes is the source of the purest consolation. It is true the Servant of God is tempted to despondency, as in the typical case of Elijah in the wilderness. The "flesh is weak." On the other hand, just when he is weak, then is the Servant of God strong. The cry of seeming despair in Psalms 22:1 is absorbed in the jubilant exultation of the singer at the close, in the prospect of the extension of the kingdom (cf. Matthew 27:46). So here, after the melancholy outburst, "I have laboured in vain," etc; the Servant of Jehovah "gives the lie to all delusive appearances," assured that his recompense is with God. The Servant of God has his rights founded on the nature of God himself and on his covenant. The missionary of the great King has a right to be protected, and to expect submission to his message. "The mention of recompense shows that ’Servant’ here has a special meaning of its own. A slave can have no recompense" (Cheyne). He will have a" portion among the great" (Isaiah 53:10,Isaiah 53:12). And what is the great "recompense of the reward"? The noblest that can be thought of—to "bring back Jacob," to "gather Israel," and still more, to be the Light of the nations, to be the Instrument of Jehovah’s salvation unto the earth’s end. It is natural, it is noble, it is Christian, to have respect to such a recompense. The quality of life’s rewards is the main throe to be considered. There can be no contradiction between the doctrines of grace and the hopes of reward, if that reward be conceived as, first and last. consisting in the favour, the friendship, the enployment of the righteous and merciful Governor of the world. IV. OF THE GREAT REWARD. Already faith, revived in the breast of Jehovah’s Servant, is encouraged by large views of the future. 1. His promised honours. He is now heartily despised by man; but the "God of Israel," the Redeemer and Avenger, saith that he stroll in his future fortunes be the Representative of Israel’s glories. He is now under the sway of great despots, heathen lords. The time shall come when kings shall rise up to do him homage, and princes shall-bow down before him; for behind him is Jehovah himself, the faithful Covenant-keeper, who has chosen, and therefore will support his Servant. 2. His mediatorial office. When the season of Providence has come, the Servant shall not only be helped and saved, but shall become the Source of salvation to others (cf. Psalms 22:23-27). He shall raise up the ruined land; he shall assign to the different families the heritages belonging to them; he shall say to the captive Jews, "Go forth!" and they shall return, like a well-shepherded flock, finding pasture everywhere on the way. They shall not be afflicted by the burning sun nor by the illusive mirage. Led by refreshing springs, and finding a highway through the mountains, they shall come from all quarters to the wished-for end of their pilgrimage. The description may be taken as an allegory of life’s pilgrimage.—J. Isaiah 49:14-26 Despondency comforted. I. THE . "Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me." The temptation is to ascribe the cause of feeling in our own mind to a Being outside us; forgetting that "’tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus." It does not follow, because our hearts are dry, that the fountain of comfort is sealed. It does not follow, because we feel ourselves lonely, that the good God has deserted us; nor, because we do not realize the Divine presence, that God has forgotten us. But the mind naturally leans on signs and symbols and outward manifestations. The act of faith—so simple to speak about—the "walk by faith, not by sight," is really most difficult. There are times when even the noblest of mankind are unequal to such an effort. Reason will hardly meet the case. "He that despairs," it has been said, "limits an infinite Power to a finite apprehension, and measures Providence by his own little contracted model." True; and the truth is not consoling. The sense and assurance of love alone can console. II. MET. Not by censure, not by argument, but by the assurance of uninterrupted and undying love. It is a Divine love; surpassing, therefore, the noblest manifestations of human love—that of father or moth, or. A woman may, like a Lady Macbeth, allow some mightier passion to get the better even of maternal love. But there is no mightier passion in the heart of God than the love to his children. Human memory is infirm; but God cannot forget. The picture of Israel is graven on the palms of his hands. "It is indelible, like the sacred marks of devotees. Jehovah inverts the usual order. A worshipper needs a consecrating mark to remind him of his relation to God. Zion’s God, though not needing such reminder, has condescended to grave Jerusalem on the palms of his hands. The objects of human interest are changing; God concentrates his thought on his people. "Thy walls are ever before me." The visible city was indeed destroyed, but God had his eye upon the preservation of the spiritual building for eternity. "Dost thou think that that is the city of which I said, ’I engraved thee on the palms of my hands’? Nay; that building is not now built in the midst of you. It is that which shall be revealed in my presence; it was prepared from the time when I meditated to produce a Paradise, and I showed it to Adam before he sinned; when he cast away my command, it was removed from him. And now, lo! it hath been kept by me, even as Paradise." Men’s thoughts decline to the material; God is concerned with the ideal and eternal. And in this truth lies profound encouragement. Forms decay, institutions come down with a mighty crash; the building of the ages is ever going on. And it must go on by means of the labours of Zion’s children. The desolate city will yet be clothed with ornaments like a lonely bride; and she who has been as a desolate widow will have a family too numerous to be contained within present narrow bounds. III. HOPE IN JEHOVAH. At his bidding, and with the hearty aid of the Gentiles, the exiles shall return to their own houses, as the foster-father carries the child in the bosom of his garment. The custom is Oriental (see on 2 Kings 10:1-36). The meaning is that the princes of the Gentiles shall favour and respect Israel. Some fulfilment may be seen in the conduct of the Persian kings, of Alexander and his successors towards the Jews; another kind of fulfilment in the patronage of the Church by Constantine. But the full accomplishment of the prediction remains for the future. But incredulity breaks in. "Can the tyrant be made to disgorge his prey?" This shall take place. Jehovah shall appear in battle-might, as Avenger and Hero of Jacob, and the foes shall be put to shame. Jehovah—those that hope in him shall not be ashamed. The strain that began with the mutterings of despondency ends in the triumph of confidence and exultation. Hope in the Eternal—this must be our sure stay in the times of the nation’s, the Church’s, the individual’s need. Our conduct cannot rise higher than our hopes, no more than the water in the pipe can rise higher than the spring-head. He who lives by the hopes of the present and passing world, acts and suffers with a strength that is less than might be his. Nothing in this world can support us against trials which threaten the loss of our worldly all. We can only be borne up by something mightier and greater than this world, not to be found in it, but in the Eternal himself.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM A mistaken estimate. "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain." Oft-repeated words. Human ignorance, surveying the fields, says, "No harvests; or at best no harvests accordant with the toil and tears of the sowing." What folly! As if we could see beneath the soil the slumbering seed waiting to spring forth; or the seeds that have been carried as by the birds of the heavens to far-away acres. I. THE WORKERS. The words have pain in them. "I have laboured in vain." No man likes to feel that. These are not the tears of indolence, but the sorrows of the toiler. We can sympathize with them; for we have all at seasons felt thus. But the words are: 1. Mistaken in their main idea. Who knows what success is, or where success is? "In vain?" Sometimes the largest harvests grow above the sower’s grave. 2. Mistaken in their central object. "I said." Yes; but who are you? God is the Judge. Let no man make the attempt to enter the Divine observatory. II. THE SAVING CLAUSE. "Yet!" Here comes wisdom after mistake. "Surely my judgment is with the Lord." 1. This quickens inspiration to duty. 2. This sanctifies the sorrow of disappointment. 3. This keeps alive the hope of reward. What a beautiful sentence!—"My work is with my God" It is in good hands.—W.M.S. A Light to the Gentiles. "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant, etc." How distinctly this prophesies concerning Christ!— I. IN TO THE TRUE GLORY OF HIS KINGDOM. Not to exalt Jacob, or to preserve Israel, but to be a Light to the Gentiles. II. IN TO THE HISTORY OF HIS . Why did the Jewish nation despise and crucify the Redeemer? It would have been a light thing to serve in such a cause as that which ministered to their glory by restoring their prestige and preeminence; but it was "heavy as the cross" to save the world.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 49:1-4 The claim, the confession, and the consolation of the Servant of God. We may treat this passage either historically or practically. We look at it— I. IN ITS TO JESUS CHRIST. He was, indeed, an Israel, a Prince with God, as never Jacob was. He was truly a Servant of Jehovah, doing his work as never prophet or nation did before. These words are most appropriate on his lips. 1. He claimed the attention of mankind. He said, in other words and ways, "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far." He said that "every one that was of the truth" would hear his words; that he would draw all men unto him. He summoned the weary hearts of men everywhere to come and find rest in him and in his service; he offered himself to mankind as the Light of the world, as the Bread of life, etc. He had the most penetrating truth to utter (Isaiah 49:2; see John 6:63). 2. He compressed a temporary, outward failure. He had to acknowledge that the men of social standing and of ecclesiastical position did not believe in him; that many of his disciples fell away from him in the time of difficulty and trial; that he was left "alone." 3. He found great consolation in God. (1) In the consciousness that the Eternal Father called him to his work (Isaiah 49:1). The thought that "the Father had sent him ’ was his continual refuge: (2) In the assurance that the Father was with him, encompassing him with his protecting love (Isaiah 49:2; and see Matthew 26:53). (3) In the confident belief that the future would justify his action and his words. He knew that the time would come when God would be glorified through his life and death (see John 12:24; John 17:4). (4) In the unfaltering conviction that his work would receive a Divine reward in his own exaltation (Isaiah 49:4). II. IN ITS TO . 1. We, as true teachers, make our claim. We confidently believe that we have something to say which is worth the world’s attention; which is fitted to penetrate, like a sharp sword, the thoughts, the purposes, the convictions, of mankind; which will give light to the understanding, peace to the conscience, nobility to the character, brightness and beauty to the life, of all who will listen and learn. 2. We have to make our confession of defeat—to acknowledge, often, that we have "laboured in vain’" (see Isaiah 53:1). The truth we preach, or teach, or print, does not penetrate; it is like the seed which falls on stony ground—it yields no fruit. Even the influence of our lives, and even the pleadings of our soul with God in earnest prayer, sometimes seem to be unavailing. 3. We find our consolation in God. In the conviction that he has called us to do the work in which we are occupied; that he is surrounding us with his Divine protection and inspiring us by his upholding Spirit; that God will grant increase to our toil in the distant if not in the near future; that he will bestow on us a full reward when the hour of blessed recompense arrives.—C. Isaiah 49:5-7 The greater mission. The main point of this passage is that far greater triumphs should await the Redeemer of Israel than any recovery of the scattered tribes; he was to be a Light to the whole Gentile world—to be "for salvation to the uttermost part of the earth." The fact that a true but small mission opens out into one that is very much larger, widening and deepening as it proceeds, is one that has many illustrations— I. IN THE WORK OF THE LORD HIMSELF. As he "grew in wisdom," he found that "his Father’s business" involved more than appeared to him when he was twelve years old. There was a time when he instructed his disciples to "go not into any way of the Gentiles:" and when he said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:6; Matthew 15:24). But later on, he not only recognized for himself that his work was to be wide as humanity and to embrace those furthest away from truth and from God, but he commanded his disciples to "baptize all nations," to "go unto all the world," etc. Under his holy hand his great mission grew, and it became that one which, for the vastness of its proportions and the beneficence of its aim, leaves every human enterprise immeasurably behind. II. IN THE WORK OF THE OF OUR LORD. James and John, when they were asked by their Master whether they could drink of his cup, answered with sure confidence, "We can;" but they little knew what were the contents of that cup; they little imagined how great, how stupendous, was the task which their Lord would leave in their hands. III. IN THE WORK OF . At different times men have addressed themselves to some work of necessary reformation. They supposed that they could measure the extent of their task; but they found that as they proceeded it enlarged, and what they first attempted proved to be "a light thing" in comparison with all that they ultimately accomplished. Witness the work of Luther, Knox, Cranmer, Wesley, etc. IV. IN THE WORK OF EACH CHURCH. A Christian Church, when first planted, is most anxious to establish and consolidate itself—to grow in numbers and in reputation and in strength. But before long it awakes to the truth that it has a greater mission to effect than this; it is called into being to exert a powerful influence for good on all the surrounding neighbourhood—to communicate spiritual health and eternal life to all human souls that can be reached and blessed. To establish itself is "a light thing" in comparison with this high and holy function. 1. The entrance on this greater mission should be in the spirit of pure devotion. We should feel that we are God’s servants (verse 5), called to do his work. 2. It should be carried on and completed in God’s strength. "My God shall be my Strength."—C. Isaiah 49:8-12 The kingdom of Christ: a missionary sermon. In an elevated strain, full of high hope and touched with the pure joy of anticipation, the prophet writes of Messiah’s kingdom. He calls our attention to— I. ITS MOST . 1. Spiritual restoration. "To establish the earth," or rather to restore the land, and to bring about the repossession by their true owners of the "desolate heritages." In the kingdom of Christ humanity, that had "lain waste" and had produced all kinds of noxious and ugly growths, should be recultivated, bear its own true feints of peace and righteousness, and be a land restored. 2. Spiritual freedom. To the prisoners of sin, of folly, and of vice, the commanding word will be addressed, "Go forth" (Isaiah 49:9); and they will walk in the atmosphere of sacred freedom. 3. Abundance of truth. The disciples of Christ are "the children of light;" they walk in the light of his holy truth (Isaiah 49:9). 4. The sheltering and providing power of the sovereign Saviour. The present Lord shall satisfy their hungering hearts, shall slake their spirits’ thirst, shall shelter them from the heats of strong temptation, shall supply them with all-sufficient grace for their recurring need (Isaiah 49:10). All its swings are in him and he is near to minister to all their wants. II. THE OF THE WAY TO ITS FULL . (Isaiah 49:11, Isaiah 49:12.) In the arrangements of Divine providence, when Jesus Christ came and introduced his gospel to the world, there were ready three things that were wanted to carry it over the world. 1. A missionary people—supplied by the Jewish nation, in whom were all the elements of moral worth and religious enthusiasm. 2. A suitable language—supplied by the Greeks. 3. A highway to distant lands—supplied by Roman roads and Roman laws. And the new faith, which seemed certain to perish as soon as it was born, grew and spread on every hand. It was as if the very obstructions were "away." Difficulties disappeared; a "great door and effectual was opened." And in our time the way is being further opened. Exploration, human science, international treaties, even war itself, is levelling the separating hills and bridging the dividing gulfs; and even into the very heart of China (Sinim?) the missionary is penetrating with the truth of Christ. III. ITS HOUR. The era in which we live is one in which the Father of all is disposed to bless and save. It is "a day of salvation." The atoning work is wrought; the Divine Spirit is ready to regenerate and renew; the Word of truth and grace is multiplied; great is the company of the preachers.; the Churches of Christ are fast awaking to a sense of their obligation and their opportunity. It is a time to pray, to work, and to look for God’s favouring presence and redeeming power.—C. Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 49:16 God thinking upon us. No language could be stronger than that which is here employed to assure us of God’s remembrance of us. We are thankful for the fulness and force of the promise; for there are at least— I. THREE TO THINK . There is: 1. A consciousness of our littleness. Thinking of the smallness of this earth as one little planet among the Whole stellar universe; of the insignificance of any nation, group, or family of mankind; of the infinitesimal character of the individual,—we are apt to suppose that each one of us is, in the matter of intrinsic worth, undeserving of God’s regard. This is very shallow reasoning; but it is not uncommon, nor is it without influence among men. 2. A sense of our sin. It is natural enough that we should conclude that our guilt in God’s sight has so "separated between us and him" that he banishes us from his thought, as a human father who has been grievously wronged by his son dismisses him from his mind. 3. An appearance off desertion. When trial comes upon trial, when all the waves and billows of affliction go over our soul, when all things seem to be against us as they seemed of old to Jacob, it is not surprising if we look up despondently, or even despairingly, to heaven and say, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There may come times to us, as to others, when we shall seem abandoned by men, and at length deserted of God—the darkest,. bitterest, saddest hour of our life, even as it was of his (Matthew 27:26). II. THE STRONG DIVINE . The tone of the text is as pathetic as its argument is convincing. The appeal is made to the tenderest human affection—that of motherly love. God says to us, "Though your love for one another may fail, even where the tie is the tenderest and strongest, yet my remembrance of you shall not fail." Human attachments do not suffice to indicate the fulness of Divine fidelity; that surpasses anything which our experience will illustrate. He further grants us the assurance that he is as one who has taken the most effective measures to secure the necessary mindfulness; he has, so to speak, made indelible impressions where he cannot fail to see them. He goes as far as language can go to implant in our minds the conviction that, however our logical understanding may argue, however appearances may be against it, we are never out of his mind; he always has us in his heart. The extremity will never come in which we may not say, "I am poor and needy, but the Lord thinketh upon me."—C. Isaiah 49:23, Isaiah 49:25 The fear which may be fearless, etc. We have two conditions indicated in these two texts which present us with a perfect contrast. We have— I. THE FEAR WHICH MAY BE . "They shall not be ashamed that wait for me," or "that hope in me." Reverent trust in the living God, in the Divine Friend of man, has nothing to fear. It may be seriously threatened, but it is secure. Sickness may come, adversity may assail, friends may forsake, bereavement may afflict, death may cast its shadows; but a confiding trust in the love and the faithfulness of God will never be put to shame. It will retain its calmness under all; it will triumph over all. II. THE HOPE WHICH MUST BE . "I will contend with him that contendeth with thee." He who fights against the people, the truth, the cause of God, is fighting against the Almighty One himself. However promising outward appearances may be, he is foredoomed to utter and disastrous failure: his hope is hopeless.—C. BY R. TUCK Fitness for God’s service. The general idea of this section of Isaiah’s prophecies needs to be borne in mind. In it "Israel himself, in all his contradictory characteristics, becomes the engrossing subject of the prophet’s meditations. His restoration, still future, but indubitable, is celebrated in Isaiah 50:1-11. by an ode somewhat similar to that on the fall of Babylon in the preceding part. But the nearer the great event arrives, and the more the prophet realizes the ideal Israel of the future, the more he is depressed by the low spiritual condition of the actual Israel. Strange to say, this combination of apparently inconsistent data—the splendour of the future and the misery of the present—supplies the material for a specimen of dramatic description surpassing anything in the rest of the Old Testament" (Cheyne). By the "servant of Jehovah" we may understand those sent forth by God as the prophets and teachers of each age, bearing Divine messages of warning and of duty. These are personified, as it were, in the one great Divine Teacher, the Messiah. It was one of the most important features of the ministry in every age that it should convict of sin; therefore the work of the mouth is likened to that of a "sharp sword" (comp. Hebrews 4:12, "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,… and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"). Pindar employs the metaphor of the arrow in application to powerful eloquence. And the metaphor of a sword and an arrow, both in the best state of preparation, aptly sets forth the penetrating and subduing efficacy of the gospel. This one feature of fitness for doing God’s work in the world—the eloquent, persuasive, convincing tongue—may introduce to us the general subject of "fitness for God’s service." I. IT LIES IN . The true servant of God is a gifted man—one to whom special powers have been committed, which powers indicate his work, and make him responsible for the doing of it. The proper idea of a Christian ministry is the separation to the work of preaching and teaching of all those who are evidently divinely endowed for preaching and teaching work. The right of a man to do any particular kind of work in the world is simply the right which comes from the divinely given capacity for doing it. If God made us painters, we must paint; if he made us poets, we must shape beautiful thoughts in verse; if he made us preachers, we must preach. Canon Liddon eloquently describes the endowed teacher. "Picture to yourselves a teacher who is not merely under the official obligation to say something, but who is morally convinced that he has something to say. Imagine one who believes alike in the truth of his message, and in the reality of his mission to deliver it. Let this teacher be tender, yet searching; let him win the hearts of men by his kindly humanity, while he probes, ay, to the quick, their moral sores. Let him pursue and expose the latent evil of the human heart through all the mazes of its unrivalled deceitfulness, without sullying his own purity, and without forfeiting his strong belief in the present capacity of every human being for goodness Clearly, such a teacher must be a moral power;" a "sharp sword." One thing greatly needed in our day is quickness to recognize Divine endowments in men, and brotherly aid to all endowed men in the due exercise of their gifts. II. IT LIES IN THE DIVINE CALL. For the fact of possessing power is not, standing alone, authority for its being put forth and exercised. There must be the inward Divine call, which may or may not be heard through the voice of outward circumstances. This is the lesson taught by the records of the prophets—Elijah, Isaiah, Jonah, etc. They were endowed, but they did not act until they were called. The distinction is expressed, poetically, in Psalms 39:3, "While I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue." Illustrate from apostles, who were endowed with the Holy Ghost, symbolized in tongues of fire; but who were also sent ones. It is one thing to be able to speak, it is quite another to be called to speak. III. IT LIES IN GOOD WILL. A man may actually deliver God’s message unwillingly and grumblingly, as Jonah did, but it is clear that this cannot be regarded as fit service. Only when we say, "Lord, just what thou wouldst have me do is exactly what I desire to do," can we be regarded as servants indeed. This does not say that our good will towards what is God’s will for us involves no effort, no conflict with sell The way of earthly prosperity may be the way of our own will; and the way of lifelong disability may be the way of doing God’s will and work. Many a man has given up every earthly prospect to preach Christ to his fellow-men. And he is no fit preacher who does not preach with good will—preach from the heart. He should preach because he must; he should preach because he wishes to. IV. IT LIES IN CULTURE OF GIFT. This is the human element in the fitness, which is as truly essential as the Divine clement, the natural endowment. We cannot give the gift, but we can train it into efficiency. It has to be prepared for the work of a particular age, and for the demands of a particular sphere. The sword has to be furbished and sharpened. The "gift" has to use instruments; it must gain skill in the use of instruments. The culture properly takes two forms. 1. Self-culture, the whole responsibility of which lies on the would-be minister. 2. Culture by agencies, which can be secured by those who recognize in the would-be minister the Divine "gift." Let the endowed and cultured man wait on God, and of this we are sure—he will find both his place and his work.—R.T. Mistaken ideas of success. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ This chapter seems to be made up of short fragments, which the collector, or collectors, of Isaiah’s writings regarded as too precious to be lost, and which they consequently here threw together, though in reality they were detached utterances, and are not even connected in subject-matter. Verses 1-3 are a rebuke to the exiles for deeming themselves wholly rejected, and not rising to the occasion now that deliverance is at hand. Verses 4-9 carry on the account of "the Servant of the Lord" from Isaiah 49:12, further describing his humiliation, and declaring his steadfastness and his faith. Isaiah 49:10, Isaiah 49:11 are an exhortation to weak believers generally, and contain an encouragement and a warning. Isaiah 50:1 Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? On account of her persistent "backsliding," God had "put away Israel," Judah’s sister, and had "given her a bill of divorce" (Isaiah 3:8). But he had not repudiated Judah; and her children were wrong to suppose themselves altogether cast off (see Isaiah 49:14). They had, in fact, by their transgressions, especially their idolatries, wilfully divorced themselves, or at any rate separated themselves, from God; but no sentence had gone forth from him to bar reconciliation and return. Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you! Neither has God exercised the right, regarded as inherent in a parent (Exodus 21:7; 2 Kings 4:11; Nehemiah 6:5, Nehemiah 6:8), of selling his children to a creditor. They are not sold—he has "taken no money for them" (Psalms 44:12; Isaiah 52:3); and the Babylonians are thus not their rightful owners (Isaiah 49:24)—they are still God’s children, his property, and the objects of his care. For your iniquities … for your transgressions; rather, by your iniquities … by your transgressions. The separation, such as it was, between God and his people was caused by their sins, not by any act of his. Isaiah 50:2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? Such being the condition of things; Judah having rejected me, not I them—why, "when I came" and announced deliverance from Babylon, was there no response? Why did no champion appear? Is it that my power was doubted? that it was feared my hand was shortened, so that it could not redeem or deliver? But I am he who has power with his rebuke to dry up the sea (Exodus 14:21), to make rivers a wilderness (Exodus 7:20; Joshua 3:16, Joshua 3:17); in fact, to change the course of nature as seemeth him good, and accomplish his will against all obstacles. Is my hand shortened? i.e. "is my power less than it was?" Can any one suppose this? Surely what I have once done I can do again. If I delivered from Egypt, I can redeem from Babylon. Their fish stinketh (comp. Exodus 7:21). But the object is rather to assert an absolute control over nature than to take the thoughts of the hearers back to any special occasions when control was exercised. Isaiah 50:3 I clothe the heavens with blackness. The Egyptian plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21-23) is not adequate to the expressions here used. God means to assert his power of leaving all nature in absolute darkness, if he so choose—a power necessarily belonging to him who said, "Let there be light; and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). I make sackcloth their covering (see Revelation 6:12, "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair"). Isaiah 50:4-9 A OF THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH. The separateness of this passage has been maintained in the opening paragraph. That it is not of himself that the prophet here speaks, appears (1) from the self-assertion (Isaiah 50:4, Isaiah 50:5, Isaiah 50:9); (2) from the depth of humiliation declared in Isaiah 50:6, which is beyond anything recorded of Isaiah. But if he does not speak of himself, he can scarcely speak of any other besides "the Servant," of whom he has already said much (Isaiah 42:1-8; Isaiah 49:1-12), and of whom he has still much more to say (Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12). Isaiah 50:4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned; literally, the tongue of disciples; i.e. a trained tongue, a well-taught tongue. Christ "did nothing of himself; as the Father had taught him," so he spoke (John 8:28). That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; rather, that I shall know how to sustain by a word him that is weary. Compare, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). He wakeneth morning by morning … mine ear. God held immediate and constant communication with the "Servant"—not enlightening him occasionally, as he did the prophets, by dreams and visions, but continually whispering in his ear. At no time did the Father "leave him alone" (John 8:29) or cease to speak to him. "Morning by morning" is not to be narrowed to the bare literal meaning, but to be taken in the sense of "un-interruptedly." To hear as the learned; rather, to hear as disciples hear; i.e. attentively, submissively, gladly. Isaiah 50:5 The Lord hath opened mine ear. Some understand this of the boring of the ear for perpetual service (Psalms 40:6; Exodus 21:6); but it is perhaps better to regard it as intended to mark a contrast between the true Servant and the professed servants, or children of Israel. They "did not hear; their ear was not opened; they were treacherous and rebellious from the womb" (Isaiah 48:8). His ear was opened to receive God’s word perpetually; he was not rebellious, did not turn away back. Even when most tried, his final word was, "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters (see Isaiah 53:5, ad fin.; and comp. Matthew 26:67; Matthew 27:26; John 19:1). My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. This is a detail not historically recorded by the evangelists; but it may have had a literal fulfilment. Plucking off the hair was not unknown to the Jews as a punishment (see Nehemiah 13:25). I hid not my face from shame and spitting (see Matthew 26:67; Matthew 27:30). Spitting in the East marked at once contempt and abhorrence. It is a practice which continues to the present day. Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord God will help me; rather, but the Lord God will help me. I shall not be left always in the hands of my enemies. In this confidence the Servant rests, and is not confounded, even when the worst happens to him. He sets his face like a flint; i.e. makes it hard, impassive, expressionless, and at the same time determined, fixed not to give way (comp. Ezekiel 3:8, Ezekiel 3:9). Isaiah 50:8, Isaiah 50:9 He is near that justifieth me. God, who knows his innocence, is near at hand, and will shortly "make his righteousness clear as the noonday." This was done when God raised up from the dead "the Holy One and the Just" (Acts 3:14). whom cruel men "by wicked hands had crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). By the resurrection God acquitted Christ of the charge of blasphemy on which he had been condemned, and proclaimed him "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). Who will contend with me? (compare St. Paul’s words in Romans 8:33, Romans 8:34, "It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?"). God is the sole Judge of all men—of the "Servant" in his human capacity, no less than of others. If he acquits, it is idle for any accuser to stand forth and "contend" or "condemn" (Isaiah 50:9). God will help the innocent, whom he has acquitted, and will destroy the accuser by a secret but most sure destruction. The moth shall eat them up (comp. Psalms 39:11, and infra, Isaiah 51:8). Isaiah 50:10, Isaiah 50:11 AN ADDRESS OF JEHOVAH TO HIS CHURCH. Some suppose that the Church of Hezekiah’s reign is addressed; others the exiles towards the close of the Captivity period. The first verse is an exhortation, encouraging those who fear God, but have insufficient light, to trust in him. The second threatens such as "kindle fire," or cause strife, with retribution. Isaiah 50:10 That obeyeth the voice of his servant; that is, of "his servant" for the time being, whether Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or "the Servant" κατ̓ἐξοχήν That walketh in darkness. Not clearly seeing his way or knowing what his duty is, and so inclined to despond and doubt. Every such person is bidden to put aside his doubts, and trust wholly in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Hence light will shine in upon him, and his doubts will be resolved, and sufficient light will be granted him to direct his paths. Isaiah 50:11 All ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; or, with firebrands. The persons intended seem to be those whose "tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity" (James 3:6), and who by means of it are employed in "stirring up strife all the day long." They are condemned to be scorched by the fire which they have themselves kindled, to be made wretched by the strife which they have themselves caused to spring up. Their end, moreover, will be to lie down in sorrow; or, in torture (Cheyne). God will punish them in the next world for the misery which they have brought about in this, and will thus exercise retributive justice upon the wicked ones, whose main object in life has been to embitter the lives of their fellow-men. Isaiah 50:2, Isaiah 50:3 God’s power over nature. Modern pseudo-science, or "un-science," as it has been called, seems to hold that nature, having been once for all arranged and ordered by God, was thenceforth left to itself, being an automatic machine, bound to work in a certain way, needing no superintendence, and brooking no interference thenceforward. Hence miracles are regarded as impossible, or at any rate as non occurrent; and we are invited to ascribe to the combined influence of priestcraft and credulity all the statements with respect to supernatural interferences with nature which we find in the history of our race. The view of the sacred writers is the direct opposite of this. God is not regarded as having ever left nature to itself’. On the contrary, he is always represented as working with nature and in nature. He" covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth, and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry He giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow" (Psalms 147:8-18). He is, in fact, ever in his laws, executing them continually—making the sun to shine, and the moon to give her light, and the stars to sparkle in the canopy of heaven, and the mountains to stand firm, and the winds to blow, and the rain to fall, and the earth to give her increase. The secret of the quasi-unvarying character of nature’s laws is his unchangeableness—the fact that "with him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). But, as he thus holds nature in his hand, and does not let it go, so he is necessarily at all times omnipotent over nature, and can suspend or change any "law of nature’ at his pleasure. In point of fact, he does not do so unless upon emergencies. But, let a fitting occasion come, and it is as easy for him to reverse a law as to maintain it. He can "dry up the sea" in a moment, "make rivers a desert" (Isaiah 50:2), "clothe the heaven with blackness" (Isaiah 50:3), cause the stars to fall (Matthew 24:29), create a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), cast death and hell into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). To regard miracles as impossible is to be an atheist; to say that they are non-occurrent is to fly in the face of history. No doubt many false miracles have been alleged, and an alleged miracle is not to be received without a searching scrutiny. But the summary rejection of all miracles, which modern pseudo-science proclaims, is as little reasonable as the wholesale acceptance of all alleged miracles without exception. No condemnation for those whom God justifies. Those whom God has justified may still be, sometimes are, arraigned (1) by Satan; (2) by their fellow-men. I. SATAN’S VAIN. "Hast thou considered my servant Job," said Jehovah to Satan, "that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" To which the answer was given, "Doth Job fear God for nought?" (Job 1:8, Job 1:9). Satan arraigned Job as selfish, hypocritical, irreligious, and was allowed to put him to the proof; but with the result that Job’s integrity was established, and the accuser put to shame. Satan, however, gains no wisdom by experience. Still he remains "the accuser of the brethren, which accuseth them before God day and night" (Revelation 12:10). All that can be said against them, doubtless, he says—misrepresents their motives, exposes their shortcomings, exaggerates their failings and their sins. But to what purpose? "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 12:11). To them whom God has justified, whom God has forgiven, past sins are blotted out, past shortcomings are made up. The merits of Christ suffice to cover all their iniquities. Let them but have true faith in him, let them but cling to him, and then "their sins, though they be as scarlet, shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). II. MAN’S IDLE. Man’s arraignment of his fellow-men can have no effect at all excepting in this world. He may bring them before tribunals, obtain their condemnation, their execution, their temporal disgrace. He may gibbet them in history, misrepresent, malign, blacken their names and their reputations. But over their real selves he is powerless. God justifies them, pardons them, receives them into his kingdom, looks on them with favour, reckons them among his saints, gives them the blessing of eternal communion with him in heaven. What matters it to them that somewhere, in a paltry planet, ignorant and ephemeral mortals speak evil of them and brand their memories? "It is God that justifieth." One justifying word from him may well outweigh any amount of human dispraise, of human contumely. Their end in this world may have been "without honour;" but their entrance into the next is with words at once of promise and of high honour, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," BY E. JOHNSON Jehovah and his Servant. The passage is to be compared with Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-9. The manner in which God is referred to is peculiarly solemn—by his double name, the Lord Jehovah. I. THE SERVANT’S AND TEMPER. The tongue of disciples. The "facility of well-trained scholars" (Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 54:13)—"a discipled tongue, speaking nothing but what it has learned from God." A tongue the object of which is comfort to the weary. Not to astonish, dazzle, bewilder, but to edify and console. "The wisdom of Heaven does not bespeak man in an unknown tongue; nor design, what would be more miraculous than all miracles, that men should be saved by what they could not understand." But true eloquence implies the faculty of listening. "The things we have heard declare we unto you." They are things imparted to the wakened soul, in the clear conscious hours of calm contemplation, and in the mood of devout sympathy. "The Servant was not a mechanical organ of revelation, but had a spiritual sympathy with it, even when it told of suffering for himself. It is not that bare assent to the truth which is seldom followed by spiritual effects. Nothing is more common than to see men of rare knowledge and raised speculations in the things of God, who have no relish and savour of them in their hearts and affections. Their practice bids defiance to their knowledge. They never know God so as to obey him, and therefore never know him at all. To hear the Word of God, and to hear God speaking in his Word, are things vastly different" (South). Now, Jehovah had opened an ear to his Servant; and he "had not been defiant, had not turned back." All our duties as servants of God resolve themselves into faith, obedience, and patience; and the vital principle of all is submission. Faith, the submission of the understanding; obedience, the submission of the will to what God bids us to do; and patience, submission to what God bids us suffer. In contrast to this temper Jonah may be cited; and in exemplification of it, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 20:7). in such a temper humiliation and scorn may be patiently endured. II. THE DIVINE AND HELP. "Against the crowd of mockers he places the Lord Jehovah." Jehovah is on his side; and therefore he can (in a good sense) harden his face like a flint against his foes, be confident, and not be disappointed. A good conscience is a tower of strength. "Near is he that justifieth me." "To justify," in the Old Testament, almost always means to pronounce a man righteous, or prove him so in act. The Servant is thinking of a trial through which he is passing, and where God is the Judge. But "while Job shrinks in terror from the issue, the Servant has no doubt as to a favourable result." The passage is full of a holy and strong confidence, in the strength of which he can face all his foes. Only he who has not defied God (verse 5) is able to defy the world, and speak of his enemies as falling to pieces like a rotten, moth-eaten garment. And thus from personal experience he is able to comfort and to exhort others. "He that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in the Name of Jehovah, and rely upon his God." The opposition is between outward darkness and inward light—in the man’s own "clear breast," where he "may sit in the centre, and enjoy clear day." To have a conscience defiled and obscured is to be left, in the time of adversity, "wholly in the dark." The man cannot tell whether God is his enemy or his friend; or rather, has cause to suspect him of being his enemy. Then, "if we would have our conscience deal clearly with us, we must deal severely with it. Often scouring and cleansing it will make it bright." We learn from the passage how the habit of submission to the Spirit of God, and hearty obedience to his will, tends to promote a reasonable confidence in every hour of trial. Not, indeed, one that is secure against all vicissitudes of wavering and distrust, any more than a strong physical constitution can be exempt from occasional attacks of disease. But in the will absolutely submitted to the Divine, vigorously exerted in the cause of right, may be found a confidence—short, indeed, of perfect assurance, yet "for the purposes of a pious life much more useful."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM A searching query. "Who is among you," etc.? What wonderful discrimination of character there is in Scripture! It is "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." And it is ever associated with the Divine remedies. Go to a physician, and you often fear the worst. That never is so with the great Physician. Beautiful idea of trust! We cannot force either conviction or feeling. 1. The position described. 2. The remedy proposed. I. THE . Human life has its terrible side. So has nature. You see the broad Sea in her bewitching and entrancing beauty, and you forget how many boats have been lost in the wild tempest. This is said of a devout man: "one who fears God." Not, of course, strange that a man who does not fear God should feel like this. We may be children, knowing God’s will, trying in our poor way to do it. 1. A season of deep distress. Other griefs are great; but we feel the religious life cold and indifferent! Not only at times do we feel weakened confidence in man, but in God! Light is so beautiful. It quickens life- It stirs the pulses of joy. It keeps the home in view. 2. A season of weak faith. Not so much in a Providence as in the ability to lay hold on the promises. To doubt our sincerity. To doubt our love. Given a man of exceeding faith: he will minimize his troubles, according to the extent of his faith. 3. A season of pilgrimage. Still has to walk on. Avocations call him forth. Relationships to others must be sustained. Opportunities must be made use of. Life is a continual forthgoing; and we walk on. What meditations! What regrets! II. THE REMEDY . 1. A Name. How simple! God is not merely everlasting, or almighty: he is known to us by a Name. Christ has shown us the Father. Well, we cannot understand God apart from intuitions and relationships. I thank God for the lexicon of the family. 2. A trust. Not trying to hurry events. Refusing to judge by appearances. Why should I? Did the Old Testament heroes? Appearances have deceived. Even untoward health and untoward fortune. 3. A stay. This is an old English word. I cannot stay myself on myself—cannot anchor a boat to itself. I can and do stay upon that which I see not. I can rely upon a God whose promise invites me. I may refuse to give up that rest, and say, amid human disappointments, "Beautiful tree, under whose shadow I pasture! Blessed rock, where I have refuge from the heat!" We love to feel that we are in him that is "true."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 50:1-3 Explanation of exile. The Lord would impress on his exiled people that their calamities found their explanation not in him but in themselves; and we shall find, when we look, that this is the account of our estrangement and distance from God. I. WHAT FOR ISRAEL’S EXILE? 1. It was not any fickleness in God. He had not acted toward Israel as a husband often acted toward the wife of whom he was weary; there had been no changeableness on his part. 2. It was not his necessity. The father might sell his son when hard pressed by pecuniary straits; but God could never, by any supposition, be reduced to such necessities. He who can say, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills," the generous Donor of all gifts, and bountiful Source of all treasures, cannot be in want of anything. 3. It is not his inability to protect or to redeem. There was abundance of Divine power to preserve from captivity or to rescue from it. He who could "dry up the [Red] sea," and in whose hand are the storms and tempests of the sky, could defeat any armies of the invader, or could bring out of bondage, if he chose. 4. It was their own disobedience which accounted for it—their iniquities, their transgressions (Isaiah 50:1); it was their heedlessness and disobedience when the voice of the Lord was heard rebuking and inviting (Isaiah 50:2). II. WHAT FOR OUR FROM GOD? 1. Nothing in him. He is not unwilling that we should return and be reconciled; he does not weary of his children; he has been obliged to condemn us, but he "earnestly remembers us still." His attitude is one of gracious invitation: all the days of our life long he "stretches out his hands" toward us. He is not unable. The power which God shows in nature, in his control of the elements, in regulating the tides of the sea, and directing the tempest in the sky, is small and slight in comparison with that he shows in redeeming a fallen race; mechanical or miraculous power is of a far inferior kind to that which is moral and spiritual. And the Author of nature is the Redeemer of man; he has completed a glorious work of mercy and restoration. He has made it possible for the most guilty to be forgiven, for the foulest to be cleansed, for the most distant to return. There is no obstacle to our restoration in God. 2. Everything in us. We "will not come unto him that we may have life." (l) We do not listen when he speaks; we go on our way, regardless of the fact that God is speaking in his Word, in the sanctuary by Jesus Christ, in his providence. (2) Or we do not reflect when we hear. We may come and listen and understand, but go away" hearers only, and not doers; "we are the "people that do not consider." (3) Or we do not decide. We feel and we entertain the question of returning; we may say, "I will arise," but we do not; conviction loses the name of action; we defer, and remain in exile.—C. The hearing ear and the helpful tongue. The whole passage (Isaiah 50:4-9) is strikingly appropriate to the spirit and the work of the Messiah; and this verse as much as the rest. For it was true in no small measure: 1. That Jesus received continual communications from the Divine Father. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19; see also John 3:11; John 5:30; John 8:28, John 8:40). 2. That he spoke many words of cheer and succour (Matthew 11:28; John 14:1-4, John 14:16-18, John 14:27, etc.). Many and manifold were "the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." But we will take the text as applicable to the faithful servant of Christ now—more particularly to him who is the minister of Christ. And thus regarded, we infer— I. THAT WE SHOULD HAVE AN OPEN EAR TO WELCOME ALL THE TRUTH GOD HAS TO TEACH US. Between the man who knows enough to find admission into the kingdom of Christ and the man who has been best instructed in that kingdom, there is a very great difference, a very large distance. We stand somewhere along this line. But where? Near the starting-point or near the goal? It is a question of grave consequence. Not only because it is most desirable for our own sake that we should reach the highest attainable point of heavenly wisdom; but also, and principally, because the extent of our knowledge of God and of his truth is the measure of our power to influence and bless our fellow-men. A man who is learning daily of God is a man who is daily gaining power to teach and help his brethren. Therefore have the ear to hear, the mind to understand, the spirit of reverent, earnest docility. Learn of the written Word, of the human ministry, of Divine providence, of the discipline of life. Morning by morning be receptive of the truth which the Father is desirous of teaching; let no day pass on which something more of holy wisdom is not treasured in the mind, is not hidden in the heart. II. THAT WE SHOULD STUDY TO BE HELPFUL IN OUR SPEECH. Some men speak as often to wound as they do to heal, to disturb and distress as to comfort and to cheer. Immeasurable is the opportunity we possess in the way of rendering help by simple but kindly speech. Not by a few elaborate endeavours, but by a multitude of friendly utterances, unchronicled and unconsidered, do we benefit and even bless our kind. To comfort the sad, to cheer the weary on their hard way, to guide the perplexed, to help the wavering to a wise decision, to strengthen those who are ready to faint in some field of holy usefulness, to whisper Christian hope in dying ears,—this may satisfy the ambition of the good and wise.—C. Isaiah 50:5-10 Signs of faithful service. Whether this is intended to point to the Person and work of the Messiah, or to that of some living prophet, it treats of the faithful servant of God; it is applicable to any one among us "that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant" (Isaiah 50:10). We find here marks of fidelity in holy service. I. COMING INTO THE SHADOW OF . In doing this the faithful one: 1. Follows in the train of the noblest men of ancient time (Matthew 5:12). 2. Treads in the footsteps of the Divine Master (Matthew 16:24, Matthew 16:25; Matthew 10:22-25). 3. Takes the necessary consequence of his faithfulness. For the man who fearlessly speaks the truth, and unwaveringly follows the example of Christ, must come into conflict with the error and the evil which is in the world. He must (1) teach that against which the pride of human intellect will rebel (Mark 10:15; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 3:18); (2) say and do things which reflect upon the habits of men; (3) take up positions which militate against the temporal interests of men (see Acts 19:25). It is still true, though the provocation and the resentment take different forms in our time, that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). II. IN THE PATH OF . Not "turning away back; setting our face like a flint"—immovably determined to go on in the direction in which truth is pointing, to which God is calling. "None of these things [neither bonds nor afflictions] move me," is the language of Christian fidelity (see Acts 20:24; Philippians 1:20). III. FINDING REFUGE IN GOD. "The Lord God will help me; and I know that I shall not be ashamed" (Isaiah 50:7); "He is near that justifieth me" (Isaiah 50:8). Let him that obeyeth and walketh in darkness trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God—upon his near presence, upon his parental pity, upon his upholding grace, upon his overruling, victorious power, which will make truth and righteousness to triumph in the end.—C. Ineffectual light and guilty darkness. These words are not applicable to those who have had no special privileges, and to whom there has been no alternative but that of groping their way in such light as they could gain from their own reason and from the conclusions of other men. They apply to those only who will not walk in the light which is offered them. There are— I. THOSE WHO SEEK NO DIRECT IN THEIR COURSE. If we would order our Christian life according to the will of our Divine Master, we must not content ourselves with regulating our daily conduct by the rules and maxims which are current in the circles in which we move, or by the notions of propriety we happen to have formed from our elders and associates. We are bound to ask and to consider what the will of Christ is, as revealed in his Word and as illustrated in his life; and we are bound to seek the illumination of his Divine Spirit. Otherwise, we shall walk along a very much lower level than our Lord intended us to take. And though we be not finally condemned, yet will the time come when we shall awake to our grievous error, and be afflicted with a profound regret. II. THOSE WHO PERSIST IN THEIR OWN . God has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ; in him and through him we know his nature, his disposition, his will concerning us; we know the way by which we can regain his favour, return to his likeness, ascend to his home in heaven. But there are those who will not learn and live; who proudly turn away from the Teacher that came from God to tell us of the holy Father of man. They prefer to construct their own theology; it is an utterly unsatisfying one; it is not the Bread of life, but the ashes of disappointment. And they pay, in a great and awful privation, the penalty of their folly and their sin. III. THOSE WHO WILL NOT LEARN FROM GOD THE MEANING AND THE WORTH OF HUMAN LIFE. What are we here for? Can anything be made of the mortal life we are living? Is everything vanity? May we treat our life as a game to be played out; or as a mart where all things can be turned into money; or as a selfish scramble in which the strongest and swiftest secure the best prizes? There are many that say, "Who will show us any good? Life is not worth living." They walk in the light of the poor sparks their own wit has kindled. They will "lie down in sorrow;" they will come to mourn their great mistake, to reproach themselves for the greatness of their folly, the seriousness of their sin. For all the while that they were cynically dismissing their opportunities, there was shining on their life the light that comes from heaven. Christ was inviting them to make of their earthly life a holy sacrifice unto the living God, a noble and valuable service to their fellow-men, a time of pure and sacred joy, a discipline that would train the docile and obedient spirit for a broader sphere and a brighter life in a higher kingdom.—C. BY R. TUCK Selling ourselves. "For your iniquities have ye sold yourselves." Reference is to the right which fathers in the East possessed, of selling their children into slavery; and also to the power of judges to condemn malefactors to slavery. The Jews sold themselves to work wickedness, and the judgment which came upon them, in their being sold into the hands of their Babylonian enemies, was consequently, in fact, their own work. They might say that they were sold; God convicts them by reminding them of the truth they preferred not to see. The deeper truth was that they, sold themselves. Illustrate from Goethe’s drama of ’ Faust.’ In Scripture a man who is fully resolved on a course of action, is said to have "sold himself" to that course (see 1 Kings 21:20); and a Divine judgment, which takes form as the conquest of a nation by its enemies, is called a "selling" to the enemy (see Judges 2:14; Judges 10:7). St. Paul even uses the same figure in Romans 7:14, saying, "The Law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." The figure suggests that, by giving himself up to wilfulness, self-indulgence, and sin, a man expects to get a price, and deludes himself into the idea that the price will be worth the risk. Practical applications may be made by considering— I. MAN, THE SELLER. 1. What has he to sell? Himself—his powers, time, gifts, relationships, influence, and possibilities. 2. Has he any right to sell? No real right, but an apparent right. It is the first sign of man’s going wrong, that he claims the right to sell himself, or do what he pleases with his life. A man is really not his own. He has nothing that is his own, and so he has nothing to sell. He must take himself out of the hands of God before he can sell himself to anybody; and the possibility of doing this is the peril involved in trusting man with a limited free-will. Still, it should be clearly seen that, when any man sells himself, he sells stolen property, for a man is not his own—he is God’s. II. SELF, THE BUYER. It is the custom to personify evil, and call it Satan, and in the early stages of religious knowledge such personifications are helpful. But the worst Satan, the true Mammon, is Self. He is the purchaser; and no slave-master ever figured the tyranny with which "Self" rules the slaves he purchases. "He is the free man whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves besides." III. , THE PRICE. Self-gratification, indulgence of the lower over the higher powers and faculties. Is the price ever, even at first, worthy of the thing sold? Christ has redeemed us from this slavery to self. The purchase price is spoken of as "his own blood." Redeeming us for himself is really buying back for us our own true selves.—R.T. Words in season. The ability to speak suitable words, timely, wise, and helpful, is God’s gift, and one of his best gifts, which we should covet earnestly. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). We are often pleasantly, and often sadly, reminded how words which we spoke years ago lie in the memories of those who heard, and have exerted continuous influence for weal or woe. And there are few of us who look back over life without regret that golden opportunities for speaking helpful words were missed. "What awakened you? ’ said a Christian minister on one occasion to a young friend. "It was what you said to me one evening coming out of the lecture-room. As you took me by the hand, you said, ’Mary, one thing is needful’ You said nothing else, and passed on; but I could not forget it." It was a word spoken in the Spirit, and the Lord accompanied it with saving power. The words commended by the prophet are more especially those spoken to the weary; but Scripture connects a very wide meaning with that term. It includes (1) him that is weary with the overtoil of life; (2) him that is weary of the commonness and comparative meanness of labour; (3) him that is weary through the perplexities and difficulties of life; (4) him that is weary through prolonged bearing of pain; (5) him that is weary in well-doing; and (6) him that is weary of the strife with sin. "Lost for want of a word— A word that you might have spoken! Who knows what eyes may be dim, Or what hearts may be aching and broken?" Words in season may be— I. WORDS OF CHEER. Brightly toned. Full of hope. The words of those who can see the "bright side of the shield," and find a smile resting like soft sunlight on everything. In our "bearing" and our "doing" we feel thankful to all who can speak cheerily to us. II. WORDS OF WARNING. Spoken by the far-sighted men, who can see the issues of our conduct, to which we are blind. III. WORDS OF COUNSEL. Wise; prudent. The issue of large knowledge; quick observation; varied experience; established character. IV. WORDS OF REPROOF. Brave words, that show us our faults. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." V. WORDS OF COMFORT. The human agency through which God gives us the resting of his "everlasting arms." Words are "out of season" when they are (1) unadapted; (2) untimely. They are always out of season when they find expression for pride of self rather than for care of others.—R.T. Contumely endured in God’s service. This is part of a soliloquy of Messiah, and in it he dwells upon the sufferings which would attend his effort to carry out obediently his Divine mission; and upon his confidence that God would uphold his Servant through all the suffering and shame. This passage should be compared with Psalms 22:1-31 and Psalms 53:1-6. The point more especially presented in this verse is the insult offered to Christ in the closing scenes of his life. This insult seems the strangest part of our Lord’s life-experience; but, if he had not known it, he could not have been "in all points tempted like us." The scenes here prophesied are narrated in Matthew 26:67, Matthew 26:68; Matthew 27:26-30; Mark 14:65; Mark 15:15-20; Luke 22:63-65; Luke 23:11; John 18:22, John 18:23; John 19:1-3. Three forms of indignity are mentioned—smiting, or scourging; plucking of hair; and spitting. Each must be estimated in the light of historical descriptions and Eastern sentiments. I. . The severity and barbarity of a Roman scourging has been brought out by Dr. C. Geikie, who says," Jesus was now seized by some of the soldiers standing near, and, after being stripped to the waist, was bound in a stooping posture, his hands behind his back to a post, or low pillar, near the tribunal. He was then beaten till the soldiers chose to stop, with knots of rope or plaited leather thongs, armed at the ends with acorn-shaped drops of lead, or small sharp-pointed bones. In many cases, not only was the back of the person scourged cut open in all directions; even the eyes, the face, and the breast were tern and cut, and the teeth not seldom knocked out. The judge stood by, to stimulate the sinewy executioners by cries of ’Give it him!’ but we may trust that Pilate, though his office required his presence, spared himself this crime. Under the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes sank, amidst screams, convulsive leaps, and distortions, into a senseless heap; sometimes died on the spot; sometimes were taken away, an unrecognizable mass of bleeding flesh, to find deliverance in death, from the inflammation and fever, sickness and shame." Few New Testament readers duly appreciate the sufferings which Messiah endured in the judgment-hall. The cross so fills their vision that they fail to see how much he endured before the cross and its final strain and agony were reached. II. THE HAIR. Easterns have great respect for the beard, and plucking it was as extremely insulting as it was extremely painful. Eastern sentiment on this matter may be illustrated by the treatment of David’s ambassadors, one-half of whose beards were shaven off (2 Samuel 10:5). See also David’s action when he would feign madness. III. . This was the Eastern expression of contemptuous abhorrence; and so Job poetically expresses his sense of the treatment he had received, by saying, "They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face" (Job 30:10). Hanway, in his book of travels, says, "This instance of contempt and reproach offered to Christ was at the same time an expression of malice and a compliance with custom. The practice has descended to later generations; for in the year 1744, when a rebel prisoner was laid before Nadir Shah’s general, the soldiers were ordered to spit in his face—an indignity of great antiquity in the East." And Gadsby tells us that "spitting in the face is still practised as a mark of contempt. An officer in Cairo had two Circassian concubines who died suddenly. He charged his wife with being the cause of their death, when she spat in his face. He drew his sabre and killed her. Mehemet All once spat in the face of one of his officers, because he used his wife badly." The practical application of the fact that Messiah bore such insults in doing his work may be made on the following lines. 1. God’s message, sent by us, may be an offence to men. 2. If it is, they will be very likely to persuade themselves that we are the offence. 3. And when they take up that notion, they will be sure to vent on us the feeling which they have against the message. But this is apostolic consolation: "If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you."—R.T. God’s help in time of need. "For the Lord God will help me." This one assurance suffices, and gives the Servant of Jehovah an indomitable strength. "Against the crowd of mockers he places Adonai Jehovah." "Those whom God employs he will assist, and will take care they want not any help that they or their work call for. God, having laid help upon his Son for us, gave help to him, and his hand was all along with the Man of his right hand" (Matthew Henry). "Greater is he who is with us than all that can be against us." "God is my strong Salvation: What foe have I to fear?" John Ashworth, in his ’Strange Tales,’ dwells on the satisfying fulness of the short and simple prayer, "Lord, help me!" It will fit in everywhere and to everything. It stuns up all our need. It appropriately meets us whatever may be our circumstances. In the text, the special need of Divine help is felt in the doing of God’s work. If we are resolutely set, as Christ was, upon doing and finishing just that which God has given us to do, then— I. WE MAY MEET WITH . And this is often harder to bear than opposition. Men pass us by. We are not interesting. We are a "voice crying in the wilderness.’’ Sometimes we are behind our age, and God has bidden us remind men of things they ought not to have lost; and then they pass us by as old-fashioned. Sometimes we are called to be critics of the age in which we live; and then men pass us by because we annoy them by showing up their faults. And sometimes we are before our age, and prepare for the changes that are to come; and then men pass us by, with a smile at our unpractical talk, and call us "foolish dreamers." But we must witness on, whether men will or will not hear; and God will be sure to keep us cheerful. II. WE MAY MEET WITH . Messengers for God usually do. It is a bad sign when all men speak well of them. God’s messages are always likely to offend self-seeking men, and, as a consequence, God’s messengers have to stiffer. But God’s help will tide us over all times of trial. We only have to learn the holy lesson "how great things we must suffer for his sake." God’s help is our unfailing support—a "rock that cannot move." The help of God stands always waiting for us as promise. It never actually comes to us until the need has arrived for it. Then we find it is always ready. The grace is there, for the day, for every day. "We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us."—R.T. Isaiah 50:8 The Justifier’s protection. "Near is he that justifieth me." Reference is to the Servant of Jehovah, whom we identify as the Messiah. The associations of our Lord’s trial and death may suggest that he was a malefactor. God allows no such impression to remain. He justifies him, by raising him from the dead and granting him full acceptance. He declares him to have been innocent and righteous. The security of those who have a standing in Christ lies in the plea made for them by their Justifier (see Romans 8:33, Romans 8:34). (For the earlier form of appeal to God as Justifier, see Job and David: Job 27:5; Psalms 28:1-9:20, etc.) Compare the expressions, "It is God that justifieth;" "Raised again for our justification;" "Justified in the Spirit." "The Father justified him when he accepted the satisfaction he made for the sin of man, and constituted him ’the Lord our Righteousness,’ who was made sin for us." It is not, however, the doctrine of justification which is first suggested by the text. Its reference is to the confidence which a wronged, slandered, persecuted ’good man may have, that God will stand by him, and in due time justify him, bringing forth his righteousness as the light. Our Lord and his servants may say, with misrepresented Job, "I know that" God, my Goel, "my Redeemer, liveth." I. GOD BY GIVING THE INWARD WITNESS OF HIS . It is plain that he gave such witness to Christ in his last hours. Even in the dreadful sense of "being forsaken," our Lord could say, "My God, my God," add commit himself into the Father’s hands. Before Pilate he held such confidence in God’s approval that he could calmly reply to him, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me unless it were given thee from above." A divinely whispered "Fear not," from our Justifier, enables us to bear all things. II. GOD BY THE LASTING THE GOOD MAN . Illustrate from the exclamation of the centurion, "Truly this was the Son of God." A careful estimate of the inward struggles of Saul of Tarsus brings to view a deep feeling that the claims of Jesus of Nazareth possibly might be true. The good man only gains more power when his goodness is shown on a background of persecutions. III. GOD BY THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE GOOD MAN’S WORK. The slandering and the suffering pass, but the work a man does, and the witness a man makes, abide. Men mistook the Christ. We know the results of his work, and they become the fullest justification of him.—R.T. Counsel for those who walk in the dark. "Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." Christians "walk in darkness when their evidences for heaven are clouded, their joy in God is interrupted, the testimony of the Spirit is suspended, and the light of God’s countenance is eclipsed." The first reference of this passage is to the anxieties of the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign, when national dangers were great, and many political parties existed, one recommending one course, and one another. It was very difficult to decide what course to take. Good men, who wanted to do right, "walked in darkness." Use the figure of going an unknown path on a dark night. We only feel safe as we hold some one’s hand, and let him guide us. God is the true Guide, and darkness and light are both alike to him. There is a sense in which one must always be walking in the dark. "We are not sufficient of ourselves even to think anything as of ourselves." "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." We can never see more than one step at a time. The future is altogether unknown. If we were sure of ourselves, we can never be sure of others. There is no possibility of our knowing how they wilt act under given circumstances. Only in vague and uncertain ways can we ever plan, for all our plans are formed in the dark. It is God’s law for us that we shall walk through life in the dark. The question is—Must we walk alone? That question our text answers. No; we may stay ourselves on our God. Illustrate by the artistic conception of Noel Paton concerning the guide through the death-valley, in his ’Mors Janua Vitae’ picture. God would have us cherish the spirit which says— "I’d rather walk in the dark with God Than go alone in the light." The "Name of God," in which we are to trust, is the name of a safe Guide—so the ages say, so the saints of all the ages say. He is the Great-Heart for pilgrims, whether they walk on the hill-ridges of prosperity in the light, or along the valleys of fear and trouble, where the shadows lie thick and heavy.—R.T. Disappointed self-trust. Various interpretations of the fire here referred to have been given. Probably the allusion is to the ordinary domestic fire, taken as a figure for the various comforts and supports which men can find for themselves. A self-kindled fire contrasts with divinely given light. Matthew Henry says, "They place their happiness in their worldly possessions and enjoyments, and not in the favour of God. Creature-comforts are as sparks, short-lived and soon gone; yet the children of this world, while they last, warm themselves by them, and walk with pride and pleasure in the light of them. Those that make the world their comfort, and their own righteousness their confidence, will certainly meet with a fatal disappointment, which will be bitterness in the end." The figures of the verse may receive explanation from the Eastern fires made with grass, which, while burning, emits many a dancing spark, that, after a vain promise to enliven the surrounding gloom for a moment, suddenly sink into darkness. The wet and shivering inmates of the hovel seek for light and heat by crowding close to the blazing hearth, but after many fruitless attempts, and the consumption of their stock, they are compelled to retire to their ill-covered pallets—"they lie down in sorrow." Let the subject be self-confidence. I. THE SHOW IT MAKES. A man in the power of it starts out bravely; defies the darkness; and easily overcomes first difficulties. The early efforts of self-reliant people attract attention and excite hope. We like to see the working of energy and strong will. II. THE IT BRINGS. To feel power; to find that men yield to our resoluteness, and that circumstances are mastered by our energy. III. THE BREVITY OF ITS . For our strength does not endure. The strain of life steadily increases. Circumstances at last prove greater than we are. We cannot do the things that we would. Peters, who for a while can gird themselves, by-and-by find that another must gird them. Do what we may, we cannot keep the fire of self-trust steadily burning. IV. THE MISERY WHEN SUCCESS CHANGES TO FAILURE. As it surely does when God puts his hand upon us, damps the fire, puts out the light we have made, keeps away his light, and leaves us alone, cold, smitten: to feel with such a one as Byron— "The worm, the canker, and the grief are mine alone." Impress the folly and the danger of self-trust by the figures given in Jeremiah 17:5-8.—R.T. Isaiah 51:1-8 AN ADDRESS TO ISRAEL, TOPICS OF COMFORT. The address consists of three nearly equal strophes or stanzas, each commencing with a call, Shim’u elai, "Hearken unto me," or Haqshibu elai, "Attend to me." The prophet appears to be the speaker, and to address himself to the more faithful portion of the people. Isaiah 51:1 Ye that follow after righteousness; i.e. "ye that endeavour to lead righteous lives" (comp. Isaiah 51:7). Ye that seek the Lord. And do not "seek after idols," as too many of the exiles did (Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:9-20; Isaiah 46:5-8, etc.). Look unto the rock … the hole; i.e. look back at your past history, especially at the early beginnings of it. Consider from what a slight and poor commencement—an aged man and a barren woman (Isaiah 51:2)—ye were raised up to be God’s people, a numerous nation, a multitude like the sand of the sea. How came this result about? Was it not simply by the blessing of God? Isaiah 51:2 I called him alone; or, I called him when he was but ode; i.e. before he had any children (comp. Ezekiel 33:24, "Abraham was one, and he inherited the land"). And blessed him (see Genesis 24:1, Genesis 24:35). And increased him; i.e. "made him a father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5). If God could multiply the progeny of ode man, much more could he make a flourishing nation out of the exiles, who, though but a "remnant" of the pro-Captivity Israel, were yet many thousands in number (see Ezra 2:64). Isaiah 51:3 The Lord shall comfort Zion (comp. Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 52:9, etc.). Literally, the word used is has comforted; i.e. has so determined the matter in his counsels that it may be considered as already accomplished. Her waste places … her wilderness … her desert. Though Nebuchadnezzar "left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen" (2 Kings 25:12; Jeremiah 52:16), yet the population was not sufficient to maintain cultivation generally. Thus, much of Judaea, during the absence of the exiles, became a "wilderness" and a "desert" (see Ezekiel 36:34). Like Eden … like the garden of the Lord. The Prophet Joel compares Judaea before its desolation to "the garden of Eden" (Joe 2:3): and Ezekiel, like Isaiah, prophesies that it shall once more become "like the garden of Eden," when the exiles have returned to it (Ezekiel 37:1-28:35). With the last-named writer, Eden represents all that is glorious, not in nature only, but in art (Ezekiel 28:13; Ezekiel 31:8, Ezekiel 31:9, Ezekiel 31:16, Ezekiel 31:18). The voice of melody (comp. Isaiah 35:10, and infra, verse 11). As music ceases out of the land in time of affliction (Isaiah 24:8), so when a "time of refreshing from the Lord" arrives, there is at once singing and "melody" (comp. Revelation 5:8; Revelation 14:2; Revelation 15:2). Isaiah 51:4 Hearken unto me; rather, attend to me—a stronger term than "hearken"—attend, and hear of a greater blessing than the restoration of the land of Judah to cultivation and fruitfulness. God, enthroned anew in Zion, will from thence send forth his light and his truth to the nations, will make his Law known to them, and allow them to partake of his salvation. O my nation. Some manuscripts have "O ye nations." But the reading is undoubtedly a wrong one. A law shall proceed from me. The Christian "law"—the new covenant—is probably intended. This became, by the preaching of the apostles, a light of the people, or rather, of the peoples. Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and. a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). Isaiah always speaks as if the Messianic kingdom was to supervene almost immediately on the return of the exiles to Palestine. It was not revealed to him that there would be an interval of from five hundred to six hundred years between the two events. By God’s "righteousness" here we must understand his righteous plans for the redemption of his people through Christ, and for the punishment of those who resist his will and remain impenitent. The salvation and the judgment are the two parts of the "righteousness.’’ The isles shall wait upon me (comp. Isaiah 41:1, Isaiah 41:5; Isaiah 42:4, Isaiah 42:10, Isaiah 42:12; Isaiah 49:1; Isaiah 60:9, etc.; and the comment on Isaiah 42:4). On mine arm shall they trust. God’s "arm" is his executive power—that might by which he effects his purposes. The "isles" or "countries" that have been expecting the coming of a Deliverer will have faith in his power to redeem and save them. Christianity was received with more readiness by the Gentiles than by the "peculiar people" (Acts 11:21; Acts 13:42, Acts 13:46; Acts 14:1, Acts 14:2; Acts 17:4, Acts 17:5; Acts 18:6, etc.). Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look to that which seems to you most stable and most certain to endure—the vast firmament of the heavens, and the solid earth beneath it, of which God "bears up the pillars" (Psalms 125:3). Both these, and man too, are in their nature perishable, and will vanish away and cease to be. But God, and his power to save, and his eternal law of right, can never pass away, but must endure for evermore. Let Israel be sure that the righteous purposes of God with respect to their own deliverance from Babylon, and to the conversion of the Gentiles, stand firm, and that they will most certainly be accomplished. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke (comp. Psalms 102:26; Matthew 24:35; 2 Peter 3:10-12). And the earth shall wax old like a garment. So also in Psalms 102:26 and Hebrews 1:11. The new heaven and new earth promised by Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22), St. Peter (2 Peter 3:13), and St. John (Revelation 21:1) are created in the last times, because "the first heaven and the first earth have passed away." They that dwell therein shall die in like manner. Dr. Kay observes that the Hebrew text does not say, "in like manner," but "as in like manner.’’ Man is not subject to the same law of perishableness as the external world, but to a different law. External things simply "pass away" and are no more. Man disappears from the earth, but continues to exist somewhere. He has, by God’s gift, a life that is to be unceasing. Isaiah 51:7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness. The highest grade of faithfulness is here addressed—not those who "seek" (Isaiah 51:1), but those who have found—who "know righteousness," and have the "law" of God in their "hearts." Such persons may still be liable to one weakness—they may "fear the reproach of men." The prophet exhorts them to put aside this fear, remembering (1) the nothingness of humanity, and (2) the eternity and imperishableness of God’s judgments. Isaiah 51:8 The moth shall eat them (comp. Isaiah 50:1-11: 9). If men themselves never wholly pass away (see the comment on Isaiah 51:6), yet it is otherwise with their judgments. These perish absolutely, disappear, and are utterly forgotten. Isaiah 51:9-11 AN APPEAL OF THE PROPHET TO GOD TO AROUSE HIMSELF, WITH A PROMISE OF ISRAEL’S . There has been much doubt as to the utterer of this "splendid apostrophe." Zion, the prophet, the angels, Jehovah, and God the Son pleading with God the Father, have been suggested. To us it seems simplest and best to assign the passage to the prophet. Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake (comp. Psalms 7:6; Psalms 35:23; Psalms 44:23; Psalms 78:65). When God neglects the prayers and supplications of his people, he is spoken of as "asleep," and needing to be awoke by a loud cry. The anthropomorphism is obvious, and of course not to be taken literally (see 1 Kings 18:27, ad fin.). Put on strength. Gird the strength to thee (Psalms 93:1) which thou hadst laid aside while thou wept asleep. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab? rather, was it not thou that didst cleave Rahab in pieces? Here, as in Psalms 87:4 and Psalms 89:10, "Rahab" would seem to be a symbolical expression for Egypt. "Rahab" is literally "pride," or "the proud one." The event alluded to, both here and in Psalms 89:10, is the destruction of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea (see Psalms 89:10). And wounded the dragon. "The dragon" is another symbol of the Egyptian power (comp. Ezekiel 29:3, "Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers"). Originally designating God’s great enemy, Satan (Genesis 3:14; Revelation 12:7-9; Revelation 20:2), it is a term which comes to be applied to the adversaries of the Almighty generally. Isaiah 51:10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea? rather, was it not thou that didst dry up the sea? (comp. Exodus 14:21, Exodus 14:22). The waters of the Red Sea are called those of "the great deep," because they are a portion of the circumambient ocean, not a tideless land-locked basin, like the Mediterranean. That hath made; rather, that madest. The allusion is to the single occasion of the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. Isaiah 51:11.—The redeemed of the Lord (see the comment on Isaiah 35:10. where the same passage occurs with scarcely any variation). Isaiah is not averse to repetitions (see Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12, Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 65:25; Isaiah 48:22;Isaiah 57:21, etc.). Isaiah 51:12-16 AN ADDRESS OF GOD TO HIS CAPTIVE PEOPLE. There is no very clear connection between this passage and the preceding, to which it is certainly not an answer. God comforts the captives under the oppression which they are suffering (1) by reminding them of their oppressors’ weakness and short-livedness; (2) by assuring them of speedy deliverance (Isaiah 51:14); and (3) by impressing upon them his own power as shown in the past, which is a guarantee that he will protect them in the future (Isaiah 51:15, Isaiah 51:16). Isaiah 51:12 I am he that comforteth you (comp. Isaiah 51:3, and the comment ad loc). Who art thou? Art thou a poor, weak, powerless, unprotected people, which might well tremble at the powerful Babylonians: or art thou not rather a people under the special protection of Jehovah, bound, therefore, to fear no one? As grass (comp. Isaiah 37:27; Isaiah 11:6-8). Isaiah 51:13 And forgettest the Lord thy Maker. It is not so much apostasy as want of a lively and practical faith with which captive Israel is here reproached. They did not deny God—they only left him out of sight, neglected him, forgot him. That hath stretched forth the heavens (comp. Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12, etc.). And laid the foundations of the earth (see Isaiah 48:13; Psalms 102:25; Hebrews 1:10). And hast feared continually … because of the fury of the oppressor. (On the sufferings of the Israelites under their Babylonian oppressors, see the comment on Isaiah 42:22, and again on Isaiah 47:6.) By the present passage it would appear that life itself was not safe from their cruel fury, when their victims had exasperated them. Where is the fury of the oppressor? All their violence and rage will come to nought, when they in their turn become subject to the conquering Persians. Isaiah 51:14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed; rather, he that is bent down hasteneth to be released; i.e. such of the exiles as were cramped and bent by fetters, or by the stocks, would speedily, on the fall of Babylon, obtain their release. They would not "die unto the pit," i.e. so as to belong to the pit and to be east into it, but would live and have a sufficiency of sustenance. Isaiah 51:15 But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea; rather, for I, the Lord thy God, am he that divided the sea (comp. Isaiah 51:10). The reference is once more to the great miracle wrought at the Exodus, when the Red Sea was "divided" before the host of Israelites (Exodus 14:21; comp. Psalms 74:13). Whose waves roared (see Exodus 14:27; Exodus 15:10). Isaiah 51:16 And I have put my words in thy mouth. Some commentators detach this verse altogether from the preceding passage, and regard it as a fragment intruded here out of its proper place by some unaccountable accident. From the close resemblance of the expressions used to those in Isaiah 49:2, they consider that the person addressed must be "the Servant of Jehovah," and hence conclude that the verse "originally stood in some other context" (Cheyne). It is, however, quite possible to regard Israel as still addressed; since Israel too was the recipient of God’s words (see Isaiah 59:21), and was protected by God’s hand from destruction, and kept in existence until the happy time should come when God would create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17) for Israel’s dwelling-place, and say unto Zion—i.e. to the "new Jerusalem" Revelation 21:2)—Thou art my people. This crowning promise well terminates the comforting address wherewith Jehovah at this time saw fit to cheer and encourage his captive people. Isaiah 51:17-23 AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO . The comfort afforded to Israel generally is now concentrated on Jerusalem. Her condition during the long period of the Captivity is deplored, and her want of a champion to assert her cause and raise her out of the dust is lamented (Isaiah 51:17-20). After this, an assurance is given her that the miseries which she has suffered shall pass from her to her great enemy, by whom the dregs of the "cup of trembling" shall be drained, and the last drop wrung out (Isaiah 51:21-23). Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake (comp. Isaiah 51:9 and Isaiah 52:1). Isaiah marks the breaks in his prophecy, sometimes by a repetition of terminal clauses, which have the effect of a refrain (Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12, Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4; and Isaiah 48:22; Isaiah 57:21); sometimes by a repetition of initial clauses of a striking character (Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:11, Isaiah 5:20; Isaiah 13:1; Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 17:1; Isaiah 19:1; Isaiah 21:1,Isaiah 21:11; Isaiah 22:1; Isaiah 23:1; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 29:1; Isaiah 30:1; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 33:1; Isaiah 48:1, Isaiah 48:12, Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 50:4, Isaiah 50:7, Isaiah 50:9, etc.). Here we have thrice over "Awake, awake"—not, however, an exact repetition in the Hebrew, but a near approach to it each summons forming the commencement of a new paragraph or subsection. Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. The cup of God’s fury was poured out on Jerusalem when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles burnt (2 Kings 25:9), the walls broken down (2 Kings 25:10), and the bulk of the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon. "The cup of God’s fury" is an expression used by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:15). The dregs of the cup; rather, perhaps, the goblet-cup (Cheyne), or the out-swollen cup. It is the fulness of the measure of Jerusalem’s punishment, not its character, which is pointed at. Isaiah 51:18 None to guide her. From the time that Johanan, the son of Kareah, and the other "captains of the forces," quitted Judaea and fled into Egypt, taking with them Jeremiah and Baruch (Jeremiah 43:5-7), there was no one left in the country with any authority or any ability to direct affairs. The city, no doubt, suffered by this state of things, becoming more ruined and more desolate than it would have been otherwise. Had Johanan and the Jews under him remained in the land, God had promised to "build them, and not pull them down;" to "plant them, and not pluck them up" (Jeremiah 42:10). Thus Jerusalem’s extreme desolation was not wholly the result of the Babylonian conquest, but was partly due to the after-misconduct of the Jews left in the country. Isaiah 51:19 These two things. What are the "two things," it is asked, since four are mentioned—desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword? The right answer seems to be that of Aben Ezra and Kimchi, that the two things are "desolation,’’ or rather "wasting" within, produced by "famine;" and "destruction" without, produced by "the sword." Who shall be sorry for thee? rather, who will mourn with thee? Jerusalem is without friends; no man condoles with her over her misfortunes. God alone feels compassion; but even he scarce knows how to comfort. By whom? rather, how? (comp. Amos 7:2, Amos 7:5). Isaiah 51:20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie; rather, thy sons fainted; they lay. The prophet describes the siege and capture of Jerusalem as past, because his standpoint is the time of the Captivity. He depicts tile inhabitants of Jerusalem as "faint" through famine, and so weak that they lie prostrate about the streets. As a wild bull in a net; rather, like a gazelle in a net—panting, exhausted, incapable of the hast resistance. They are full of the fury of the Lord; i.e. the fury of the Lord has been fully poured out upon them. Isaiah 51:21 Drunken, but not with wine (comp. Isaiah 29:9; and see above, Isaiah 29:17, which shows that the appearance of drunkenness had been produced by Jerusalem drinking the cup of God’s wrath). Isaiah 51:22 The Lord … that pleadeth the cause of his people (comp. Jeremiah 50:34, which contains an allusion to this passage). As his people have a relentless adversary, who accuses them continually, and pleads against them (Revelation 12:10), so it is needful that they should have an untiring advocate. God himself is this Advocate. The dregs of the cup (see the comment on Isaiah 51:17, ad fin.). Isaiah 51:23 I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee. Babylon, the oppressor of Judah, shall in her turn be made to drink of the cup of which Judah had so long drunk, and shall suffer nearly the same woes which she had inflicted. Meanwhile, Judah should cease to drink of the cup, and have "a time of refreshing." Bow down, that we may go over; i.e. "submit yourselves to the uttermost, that we may put upon you the most extreme indignity." The metaphor is drawn from the actual practise of conquerors, who made captive kings prostrate themselves, and placed their feet upon their necks, or otherwise trampled upon them. The servants of God must not fear the reproach of men. The reproach of men is a thing of small account— I. BECAUSE MEN ARE APT TO BE IN THEIR . The bulk of men have no wish even to be fair in their judgments. They praise and blame, acquit and condemn, either as their own interests—party or other—are concerned, or sometimes quite at random, according as the fancy takes them. Even such as wish to be fair very often misjudge, either (1) from a want of capacity to judge aright in a delicate ease; or (2) from not possessing sufficient data upon which to form a right judgment. It is to be remembered that men’s motives are hidden, and can only be guessed at by others; yet the motive is the main point in an action, and that on which its moral character almost wholly depends. If we mistake the motive, we may condemn severely what, if we had really known the motive, we should have highly praised. II. BECAUSE MEN’S SO CHANGE. The idol of a nation to-day becomes their detestation to-morrow; or, if not to-morrow, at any rote within a few years. Nothing is more fickle than the popular voice, which will cry one day, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" and, a week later, "Crucify him! crucify him!" The opinion formed of a man by his contemporaries is frequently reversed by posterity; and even posterity is not always steadfast, a later age often contradicting the decisions of an earlier. Historic characters, long condemned with almost absolute unanimity, are rehabilitated from time to time by clever writers, and are given niches in the Valhalla of the future. III. BECAUSE MAN HIMSELF IS SO , SO WEAK, AND SO LITTLE WORTHY OF REGARD. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22). At the best, what is human praise or blame? An opinion, founded on imperfect data, which can at most affect us during the brief term of our sojourn here. What are reproaches and revilings? The weak ways which men have of venting their spite or their ill humour, when some one, of whom they know very little, has acted otherwise than they expected or wished. "Hard words," it is often remarked, "break no bones." Human censure is but a breath. Why should we allow it to affect us at all? It does not matter what men think of us, but what God thinks. No one was ever more reviled than the One only perfect Man whom the world has ever seen. Isaiah 51:11 No sorrow nor mourning in the final kingdom of the Redeemer. The promise here set forth with all brevity is graciously expanded in the revelation of St. John, and is inexpressibly comforting to grieved and harassed souls. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men," says the apostle, "and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:3, Revelation 21:4). It may be well to consider— I. THE CAUSES OF THE CHANGE. The apostle notes two causes of the change. 1. There is no more death. The "first death" is past, and the "second death" is not for those who have attained to the glories of the Redeemer’s final kingdom. They are secure of "life for evermore" 2. There is no more pain. No bodily pain, since the resurrection-body shall not be liable to any of those pains and sufferings which cause our present body to be a burden to us here below. No mental pain, since the mind shall be at rest, securely stayed upon him who has given it life, and who is its Life. To these causes we may add two more: 3. There is no more parting: no more separation of loving souls, no more loss of friends, or parents, or children, or wife, or brother. or sister; no more tearing of heartstrings through such separation; no more giving or receiving of last adieus. 4. And there is no more sin. "Old things have passed away; all things have become new." New hearts have been given to the redeemed—hearts that are "from sin set free;" hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and so made clean and pure. The sense of sin is gone; shame is gone; remorse, regret, are gone; and so the worst of all the pains of which man is susceptible are fled away. II. THE OF THE CHANGE. This world is well called "a vale of tears." Pain and suffering cling to us throughout the whole course of our lives from our first breath to our last. We enter life with a cry. All the bodily functions are painful, till use dulls the pain. Life is little but "labour and sorrow," disappointment and illusion. Hunger, thirst, toil, weariness, cold, heat, desire, passion, accompany us through the whole of our worldly existence, and are all of them pains. All of us experience sickness at times, and many of us have chronic ailments which never quit us, and from which we suffer constantly, more or less. There is so much misery in life that numbers quit it voluntarily, at, d thousands more would do the same were they not restrained by a religious motive. Can a greater change be imagined than a transfer from "the miseries of this sinful world" to the glories of the heavenly kingdom? "There is a blessed home Beyond this hind of woe, Where trials never come, Nor tears of anguish flow; Where faith is lost in sight, And patient hope is crown’d, And everlasting light Its glory throws around. "Look up, ye saints of God, Nor fear to tread below The path your Saviour trod Of daily toil and woe. Wait but a little while In uncomplaining love, His own most gracious smile Shall welcome you above." III. THE OF THE CHANGE. It is scarcely necessary to enlarge on this—it is involved in all that has been said. On the one hand, pain, grief, labour, sickness, partings, tears, qualms of conscience, fear of coming evils, sense of sin; on the other, rest, peace, the sense of pardon, of security, of God’s favour, of God’s love; no more vicissitudes, no more partings, no more lapses into sin—one constant, unending life of perfect peace and restful joy, in the midst of those we love, and in the continual presence and sight of him who so loved us as to die for us! "O Paradise, O Paradise, ’Tis weary waiting here; We long to be where Jesus is, To feel and see him near— Where loyal hearts and true Stand ever in the light, All rapture through and through, In God’s most holy sight." A just confidence in God is a security against cowardly fears. Men "fear continually every day" because of the emnity, or fury, or malignity, or cunning, of those who oppress them, or of those who would fain oppress them. They tremble before the wrath of men; they give little thought to the wrath of God. Half the sins that are committed spring from cowardice—a short-sighted cowardice, which consists in fearing those who can, at most, "kill the body," and not fearing him who after death can "destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 5:28). A just confidence in God will secure us against such cowardice, since it will make us feel— I. UPON GOD’S WILL TO SAVE US. God’s mercy is "over all his works," over man especially; in a peculiar manner over such as love him and trust in him. He will not suffer them to be tried "above that they are able." He loves them, and watches over them, and sympathizes with their sufferings, and counts their wrongs, and hears their groans (Exodus 2:23), and "knows their sorrows" (Exodus 3:7). Oppressors are hateful to him (Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:7, etc.). They provoke him to send upon them "swift destruction." The greater their fury, the more they rouse against them God’s indignation, and the closer their destruction draws nigh. II. UPON GOD’S POWER TO SAVE US. Men are finite; God is infinite. Man is the creature of a day; God is "from everlasting to everlasting." Man fades as grass; God is "strong in power" (Isaiah 40:26), unwearied, unfailing. The "fierceness of man turns to God’s praise," for that fierceness he is able at any moment to "refrain" (Psalms 76:10). He who "has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth," and created man and placed him on the earth, and alone sustains him in life, can at any time sweep him into nothingness, destroy him, and make "all his thoughts perish." God pleads the cause of his people. How can God, it may be asked, be at once Judge and Advocate? Can he plead at his own tribunal; entreat himself to show mercy; deprecate his own anger? if not, before what tribunal does he plead? whose mercy does he entreat? whose anger does he deprecate? The prophet himself could, perhaps, scarcely have explained his own words; but the Holy Spirit who inspired them knew exactly in what sense they were true. The riddle has to be solved by the consideration of the distinction of Persons in the Godhead. God the Father is the Judge of man, before whose tribunal all men must one day appear. God the Son is the Advocate (1 John 2:1), who pleads with the Father on their behalf, intercedes for them (Hebrews 7:25), deprecates the Father’s wrath, implores his mercy, entreats for and obtains their pardon. Satan, on the one side, accuses (Revelation 12:10); but on the other, the Lord Jesus Christ defends. He defends his own, and he overcomes by his own blood (Revelation 12:11), wherewith he has washed away their sins. He "justifieth" (Romans 8:33), and then "who is he that condemneth?" Assuredly, no one. BY E. JOHNSON Instructions to the spiritual Israel. The people are described as "possessing righteousness," i.e. following a way of life in accordance with the Divine commands; and "seeking Jehovah," i.e. attending to all that his mind approves and his will commands. I. THE LESSON OF THEIR ORIGIN. They had been, as it were, hewn from a rock and dug out of a pit. The allusion is to Abraham. They had sprung from one, and him as good as dead (Hebrews 11:12). They had been as rough as unhewn materials fresh from the quarry when Jehovah took them in band for his moulding. He had formed the nation out of its primary materials—had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and formed them into a nation for his own purpose. And then the argument is that he who had done this in the past was able to do as great things in the future—to restore the people from captivity to their own land. The words may be applied more generally (cf. Matthew 3:9, "God is able to raise up of these stones children unto Abraham"). From the rudest material God can fashion masterpieces of grace. The greatest sinner may furnish the elements of character for the greatest saint. In any true and humble view of his condition the Christian will feel that the language is apposite to himself. "He was found in his natural state as a block of marble; he was moulded and formed by the agency of the Holy Spirit; he was fitted into the spiritual temple. Christians owe all the beauty and grace of their Christian deportment to him. This is an argument to prove that they are dependent on him for all that they have, and that he will keep them and accomplish all his purposes by them. He who has transformed them from rough and unsightly blocks to polished stones fitted for his spiritual temple on earth, is able to keep them still, and to fit them wholly for his temple above." II. COMFORT FOR THE FUTURE. 1. External blessings. The ruined places of Zion are to be restored, the present wilderness of Judaea to be transformed into a garden of Eden—a scene of joy, thanksgiving, and music. The idea of a terrestrial paradise enters into the lore of other nations. Arab legends tell of a garden in the East, on a mount of jacinth, inaccessible to man, of rich soil and equable temperature, well watered and abounding in trees and flowers of rare colours and fragrance. "In the background of man’s visions lay a paradise of holy joy, secured from profanation and inaccessible to the guilty; full of objects fitted to delight the senses and elevate the mind; a paradise that granted to its tenant rich and rare immunities, and fed with its perennial streams, the tree of life, and immortality" (Hardwick). There is no reason why we should not think of heaven under such a figure; and every happy renewal of the soul by Divine grace may be termed a transformation of the waste and desert of the heart into the garden of God. 2. Spiritual blessings. "Enthroned anew in Israel, Jehovah shall send forth his light and his truth among the distant nations." His righteousness is new—which means "his consistent adherence to his revealed line of action which involves deliverance to faithful or at least repentant Israel, and destruction to those who thwart his all-wise purposes." "Mine arms shall judge the peoples" includes "the darker side of Jehovah’s righteousness" (Cheyne). The countries "shall wait" for Jehovah, and trust upon his "arm," i.e. his mighty help. Distant lands shall become interested in the true religion, and acknowledge and worship the true God. 3. The eternity of God’s salvations. The order of the world is elsewhere described in Scripture as everlasting (Genesis 8:21, Genesis 8:22; Genesis 9:9-11; Genesis 49:26; Psalms 148:6). The heavens and the earth appear to be firm and fixed. Yet—against all appearance and probability, against all that specious constancy—they are doomed to vanish away. The most mighty and fixed of created things must disappear; but the promise of God is unfailing, This is one of the finest passages in all poetry. The heavens are to "glide away," disappearing like wreaths of smoke in the air (cf. Isaiah 34:4; Hebrews 1:11, Hebrews 1:12; Psalms 102:26; 2 Peter 3:10-12). The Hebrew was wont to look upon the sky as a "firmament," a solid overarching vault. Yet here it seems thin as a soap-bubble, which the breath of a child may blow into nothingness. There are times when the soul is sick (like Hamlet), and all the magnificence of the heavens seems to pall upon it—a hint that the soul feels it partakes of a life higher than that of the natural world. There are times when the soul triumphs in the transiency of the natural world, conscious that it enjoys an immortality in common with the Eternal. "The earth shall fall to pieces like a garment, and the dwellers therein shall die like gnats; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be annulled." It is not the contempt of a self-poised soul for the material world and its dimensions and its splendours; but the joy of a trustful soul in affiance with the Saviour-God. That this world will pass away, and that God will remain, are certain. But of what comfort is this to me, unless I am united to the Eternal? He by whose will material things perish and pass away is he by whose will the soul is redeemed and saved for ever. To live in faith upon God is to live the life of intellect and the life of love, neither of which can pass away; for they belong to the eternal essences. In such assurance material things may be seen evaporating, heaven turning to smoke, earth becoming as a tattered robe, "ocean’s self turning dry;" while we ourselves pass to him who has been and will be the Dwelling-place and the Saviour of all successive generations.—J. The arm of Jehovah. Either the people call on Jehovah, or he is concerned as calling on himself to awake and rouse up his might for the defence of his people as in the days of old, I. THE ARM OF JEHOVAH AS OF HIS POWER. It is the symbol of spiritual power opposed to that of darkness, death, the under-world, He is said to have "smitten Rahab, and wounded the dragon." Commonly this has been understood of Egypt, but the reference seems to be more general. It was in ancient thought, generally, the property of a god to be the slayer of monsters, who all of them represent hellish influences. It is spiritual power opposed to worldly violence. He had dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, and made therein a way for the released to pass over. Egypt was the dark historic memory of the people. Its king might well be compared with the fiendish monster of darkness (Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2; Psalms 34:13, Psalms 34:14). And so the passage of the Red Sea was the standing symbol of deliverance, of redemption (see Psalms 105:1-45). And in our own hymns and sacred allusions Egypt stands for the bondage of sin, the captivity of the mind to sense, to the devil. And the passing over the Red Sea may be fitly symbolic of salvation by grace, of regeneration or conversion. The argument is from the past to the future. The God who had overcome all obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Egypt was able to overcome all obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Babylon. He might be expected again to manifest his mercy, and save the nation from oppression. And so, in general, the argument holds good for the Church and for the individual: "Because thou hast been my Refuge, under the shadow of thy wings I will put my trust." The principle is ever applicable. All God’s past interpositions on behalf of his people constitute an argument that he will continue to regard them. II. THE FUTURE SEEN BY THE LIGHT OF THE PAST. 1. The ransomed of Jehovah shall return. The power that lies in the word "redeemed," "ransomed! All the notions of love, sacrifice, purchase, that are connected with it! The assurance that flows from the realization of such a state! God will not desert; he cannot lose those whom he has made by so many ties his own. 2. The joy of the return. "The custom of singing on a journey is still common in the East. It relieves the tediousness of a journey over extended plains, and stirs the camels to greater speed. So the long tedium of the way from Babylon shall be cheered by songs expressive of gladness and praise." "We are travelling home to God." We are under the guidance of a good Pastor, who goes before, who knows his sheep; of a Leader of salvation who has released his people, and will crown his work el’ redemption by glorification. "Then let our songs abound, And every tear be dry." We are on the way to new releases and fresh redemptions from ill.—J. Expostulation against unbelief. If the Eternal be the Pastor and the Comforter of Israel, what has Israel to fear? I. THE NATURAL OF THE HEART. We are cravens, all of us. We stand in dread of our own image; we quail before "frail man that dieth, and the son of the earth-born who is given up as grass." A frown makes us tremble; a menace unmans us. We are the slaves of custom and opinion. Anxiety is ever conjuring up dangers which exist not, and forecasting calamities which do not occur. So were the Jews ever "on the tenter-hooks of expectation. When the ’aiming’ of the enemy seems to fail, their spirits rise; when it promises to succeed, they fall." How much do we all suffer from "ills that never arrive"! II. BY . Its cause is touched—forgetfulness of God. Is forgetfulness the result of want of faith, or the origin of faithlessness? Both may be true. Faith needs to be fed from memory, and memory exerts its proper activity under the instigation of faith. Old truths need constantly to be recalled, and to become new truths through the act of attention—the "giving heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip." That God is Creator of heaven and earth is an elementary truth of religion. How much may be deduced from it! He who made the earth made the nations that dwell on the face of it; therefore made Israel, and every member of Israel. God creates to preserve. His character of Deliverer flows from that of Creator. There is, then, hope for the fettered captive. For he who is Almighty in nature is equally so in the sphere of human life. He who raises storms is able to still them, so that his friends have no cause to fear. The commitment of the truth to the Jewish people, their protection and restoration, seems to be compared to the vast work of creation. The lesson for the timid apprehensive heart is to learn that Omnipotence is engaged in its protection and defence. "This awful God is ours. Our Father and our Friend." —J. Encouragement for Jerusalem. The prophet, or chorus of prophets, is supposed to salute the holy city with a cheering cry. I. OF . The draught from the cup of Divine wrath. "The cup of his fury"—"the goblet-cup of reeling." These are figures for the horror and bewilder-meat caused by a (great catastrophe. It is "to drink the wine of astonishment" (Psalms 60:3; Ezekiel 23:2). Then there is utter helplessness. No guide for Jerusalem to be found in all her sons; no strong and helping hand to grasp hers in the hour of her dire need. Desolation, death, famine, and sword—the latter without, the former within (Ezekiel 7:15)—such is the state of the city. The afflicted mother and her sons. It is a picture resembling that of Niobe and her doomed offspring. The sons of this mother-city swoon, and lie at the corners of the streets. "Israel the mountain people is likened to a gazelle, which all its swiftness and grace have not saved from the hunter’s snare." All these things are signs of "the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of God." II. . "The transition from threatening to promise is marked by "therefore "(Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 27:9; Isaiah 30:18). The Lord Jehovah, the God who is the Advocate of his people, speaks. This cup, which makes men reel with the madness of bewilderment, shall be taken from them, and put into the hands of their tormentors—the proud conquerors who had placed their feet upon their necks (c.f. Joshua 10:24; Psalms 129:3). Such sudden transitions remind us of the fact of providence, and of the coincidence of human extremity with Divine opportunity. God will not leave himself at any age without a witness in the world—which shall see that the hand of Divine power is not shortened, nor the bowels of Divine goodness straitened; but that God is as able and ready to save his Church as ever. "The difficulty of affairs has baffled and laughed at all resistances of created power, and so made the omnipotent Author of the deliverance visible and conspicuous."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Ancient memories. "Look unto Abraham your father." It is wise to surround the young with the statues of great and brave and wise men, and to have hanging in the halls of a nation the portraits of their true leaders. So in the Hebrews we are in a chamber of inspired images of the heroes and heroines of faith. I. THE EYE IS ALWAYS ON SOME OBJECT. We are looking always to objects that elevate or that debase us. Israel at this time was looking to military leaders, longing for some Messiah who should gather together a power sufficient to break the iron yoke of oppression. They were looking, not to the faithful Abrahams, but to the warrior Sauls. The eye thus becomes a window to the heart. II. THEY HAD THEIR ANCIENT POWER. Abraham was a man of faith. He believed in God, and he lived a life of faith in God. When the spirit of Abraham filled their hearts, then they acted as men who believed that "righteousness exalteth a nation." The true Hebrew power was righteousness. Their psalms glorified, not the sword, but the moral Law of God. The right hand of the Most High was with them when they were a nation that loved righteousness and hated iniquity. "Therefore God, thy God, hath exalted thee above thy fellows." The call to all godly men in every age is, "Look to Abraham."—W.M.S. God the Comforter. "I, even I, am he that comforteth you." All depends upon who it is that comforts us in the great crises of life. We are so apt to lean on those that excuse our weaknesses and comfort us in our sins. I. GOD HIMSELF IS A . This is his nature. There is emphasis in it. "I even I"—the Lord of hosts; the God of whom it is said, "There is nothing too hard for the Lord." We gain comfort when we gain confidence. It is faithlessness that makes us feeble. Let us read the revelation of what God is, and study the history of what God has done for his saints in every age, and we shall find comfort. II. MAN AT THE BEST IS BUT MAN. Why be afraid of him? Study yourself, your failings, timorousness, and frailty, and be sure that your brother man is just like this. 1. We are unreasonably afraid of men. Their power is limited. Their pretension is greater than their power. Do not be deceived by appearances. 2. We are the subjects of forgetfulness. "Man shall be made as grass!" We cannot have a better image of the feebleness of human strength. We think too much of man, and forget the Lord our Maker. Look at the heavens.. Look at the foundations of the earth. What can shake what God upholds? "Where is the fury of the oppressor?" Ask Pharaoh; and be at rest.—W.M.S. The nervous temperament. "Hast feared continually every day." We are not all constituted alike. The instrumentalities by which the great soul within us does its work are diverse in quality. In a material sense we are but dust, yet the dust itself has more steel in it with some than with others. Many have iron nerves and hereditary health, which make them strangers to the trepidations of others. They never walk those caves of terrible gloom in which others often are doomed to wander, nor have they felt the sensitiveness which often turns the experiences of life into torture. We are to meditate now on the nervous temperament, and to study especially the relation which the gospel occupies in relation to it. There may be other anodynes of consolation, physical and mental; but my argument will be this—that the religion of Christ stands in special relationship of solace and succour to those who feel with the psalmist, "I am feeble and sore broken, because of the disquietness of my heart." We cannot help being, in one sense, what we were born. The mimosa plant cannot avoid being a mimosa plant, and nothing else. The sensitiveness of a highly wrought nervous system is born with many, and, do what they will, they must carry it with them to the grave. Often misunderstood and misrepresented, often verging on despair, they are bowed down greatly, and go mourning all the day long. Much depends, of course, on the law of association, and on relationships of persons and things. Much, too, depends on religious ideas. There is, for instance, a form of piety sincere enough in itself which feeds perpetual introspection, and is ever tremulous concerning its own state. How different this from the rest which comes from entire trust in Christ! Then, again, there are human relationships which, instead of being ministrants of consolation, strain the heart and irritate the nerves. Oh, the depression that must come, the anxiety that will do its wear and tear, which is derived from alliance with unthankful and foreboding hearts, from fellowship with those who, if they do not consciously know the science of disheartenment, are at all events au fait at its practice! When Moses spake with Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, he had in his thought the carping spirit of those whose criticism suggests difficulty and danger too great to be overcome. Some men always see lions in the way, and do an anticipative roaring themselves. Thus he spoke of some who said," Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven." What an insight this gives on those whose imagination creates giants! Now though we may apply specially the words of our text to a nervous temperament—they simply represent a special occasion of depression in the prophet’s life; they represent inward fears. I. THE TRUE OF LIFE IS LIFE IN CHRIST. Not in self. Not in society. But in Christ. We must go out of ourselves, out of our "moods" and "feelings," that we may look unto Christ and be saved! I am speaking of those who are ever nervously anxious and sensitive. First of all about their salvation, which, alas! is like a "variable quantity" with them. But I wish, also, to apply the idea to human life. Christ is a perfect Brother as well as a perfect Saviour. Redemption is his. Yes; and so is common home-life; so is the gift of daily bread. The great realm of providence is under his sceptre. 1. Meditate well on this dual aspect of the subject. First of all, when you are tempted to be morbid analysts of your own spiritual state, to use the scales of weight and measurement for the depth of your love and the height of your faith. There can be no escape from trepidatory alarms so long as we apply aquafortis to the gold of our affection, so long as we microscopically survey the minutiae of our neglected duties and our multitudinous sins. We must ponder the consolatory words, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." And this argument applies as much to the ordinary life of every day. Do things happen to us, or are our times in God’s hands? Our dread of fatalism, with its results of inertia and indifference, has sometimes hindered that quiet trust in God which is the secret of all true strength. Events are in his hand. You cannot make one hair black or white, or add one cubit to your stature. You will become worn and weary by retrospective fears. And what power have you over the dark, deep waves of coming tribulation, or over the advent-hours of grief and death? Bewise. Resolve with promptitude. Persevere with energy. Rise early with alacrity for the service of the day, but cast all anxious thoughts of to-morrow on your Lord. 2. I do not say that so doing all your fears will cease. No act of faith is so complete as to shut out all weakness of the soul. But I do say this will be your most perfect anodyne. Other things will help. The bracing air, the oxygen and ozone of the sea-coast, may tone your nerves, but it cannot create new ones. The gospel the weak-hearted? Sometimes a sense of rectitude sustains us in trouble, for unquestionably the upright Corinthian column can bear a greater weight than the leaning one. That erect attitude of the soul which the Scriptures call" uprightness" will enable many a man to be strong. But this cannot do all. We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and we have sinned against each other also. We want, above all else, a Saviour. Some suspect their own motives, and are questioners, not of their Lord’s Divinity, but of their own sincerity. Yea! and some are sensitively anxious concerning the very foundations of their first repentance towards Go,t, and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Study, then, Christ’s infinite compassion, his perfect knowledge of every human heart—yes, of yours. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." Never rest in yourself alone. Wait and pray! Not for ever will you tremblingly bear the burden of nervous sensibility. Not for ever will the immortal spirit dwell in so frail a tabernacle. In God’s own good time, you will be clothed upon with your house from heaven. The day will come when the poor harp will be restrung, sorrow and sighing will be done away; and there shall be no night there.—W.M.S. BY W. The garden of the Lord. The Lord would comfort Zion, and make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness would. be found therein. The expression, "garden of the Lord," signified everything that was choice, inviting, eligible, that ministered to peace and satisfaction. It may be taken as suggestive of the Church of Christ, which ought to be, to the outside and unreclaimed world, what the cultivated garden is to the surrounding wilderness. The Church—each separate Church—of Christ should be as the garden of Lord in respect of— I. CULTURE, DIVINE AND HUMAN. The garden is marked out from other spaces by the superior culture which it receives; every square inch of it has attention flora the gardener’s hand. The ideal garden is carefully and regularly weeded, digged, planted, pruned, etc. The Church of Christ should show the signs of heavenly, of spiritual culture. On it the Divine Husbandman has bestowed the greatest care. He has wrought upon it, suffered for it, watched over it, tended it with wondrous condescension and inexhaustible love. Human culture has also been expended upon it: the ministry of man, the watchful love, the earnest ’prayer, the faithful admonition, the solemn vows of its own members, have been given to improve and perfect it: it is, or it should be, well-cultivated ground. II. . The garden is fenced on all sides, that no wild animal, that no intruder of any kind, may enter, to steal or to ravage. The Church of Christ should be a sphere of the greatest possible security. In it there should be no occasion to be dreading the presence of the marauder, of "the thief who comes … to steal or to destroy," of the enemy that undermines faith, or that wins away holy love, or that deadens sacred zeal. There we should be free to walk without apprehension, without fear of harm. III. BEAUTY. We aim to make our gardens as beautiful as the finest taste can make them; to exclude all that is unsightly, and so to introduce and arrange everything that, in part and in whole, it shall be attractive and inviting. From the Church of Christ should be excluded all that is distasteful to the Divine Lord—all that is irreverent, untruthful, discourteous, ungenerous, inconsiderate. Within the Church should grow and flourish all these graces of the Spirit of God which are fair and comely in the sight of God and man. IV. . What the fruitage of the productive garden is to the house-bolder, that the many-sided usefulness of the active and earnest Church is to the Lord of the vineyard. V. VARIETY. That is a poor and imperfect garden in which are only two or three kinds of flowers, and where the beds and lawns are laid out so as to suggest monotony. That is a poor and imperfect Church where only one or two orders of intelligence or moral excellence or piety are found. Our Lord does not want to see all the flowers and shrubs and trees in his garden cut and trimmed so as to be of an unvarying pattern. VI. PEACE AND . We associate with the garden the thought of tranquility and peace. It is the abode of domestic felicity; there friendship spends its golden hours; it is the resort of happy love. The Church should be the home of peace and joy. To it we should be glad to retire from the bustle and strife of life; in its fold we should find the purest and the sweetest satisfaction which earth can yield. There have been Churches which might justly be called the arena of conflict or the wilderness of neglect. The ideal Church—that at which we should aim, and for which we should strive and sacrifice—is one that might be appropriately designated, "The garden of the Lord."—C. Isaiah 51:7, Isaiah 51:8, Isaiah 51:12,Isaiah 51:13 A sure criterion of character, etc. This address of Jehovah to the good and worthy among his people contains— I. A SURE OF . 1. It is well to be hearers of God’s Word. All the Jews were that; they were all the children of privilege. This, however, was by no means sufficient to prove that they were the children of God. 2. It is better to know his Word and to understand his will. It says something for us if we can be thus addressed, "Ye that know righteousness." But there are many who clearly apprehend their duty, and who, for one reason or another, refrain from doing it. 3. The certain test of spiritual worth is that God’s Law is in the heart: "In whose heart is my Law." They who can say with the psalmist," Oh how love I thy Law! it is my meditation all the day" (Psalms 119:97, Psalms 119:111); who esteem God’s precepts as more desirable than gold and more sweet than honey (Psalms 19:10); who delight to do his will, for his Law is within their heart, the object of their affection, the source of their joy, the well-spring of their comfort, the treasury of their hope;—these are they whom God loves and honours; and theirs is the kingdom of heaven (see John 14:15, John 14:16, John 14:21, John 14:23; Matthew 7:21). II. A OF A LIFE. "Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings." It is highly probable, indeed morally certain, that if we are thoroughly loyal to our Lord and true to our own convictions we shall incur the secret dislike and also the active opposition of men. Implicitly, if not explicitly, we shall condemn their theories and their doings, and they will turn upon us in anger or in self-detente. He who never comes into sharp collision with the sentiments and habits of wicked men must either live a life of very unusual seclusion or else have grave reason to suspect his fidelity to Christ. III. TWO . 1. Fidelity to conviction means the preference of God to man. Men are saying, "Hearken unto us"—unto us, thy fellows, thy partners, thy confederates; unto us who will share thy responsibility and thy sin, and perish with thee when thou tallest. But God is saying, "Hearken unto me"—unto me, thy Creator, thy Benefactor, thy Divine Friend. A Divine Saviour is saying unto us, "Follow me," in the paths of purity, of integrity, of piety, of consecration (see Isaiah 51:12, Isaiah 51:13). 2. Fidelity to conviction means ultimate triumph, but unfaithfulness means final ruin. The devices of iniquity will come to nought, and the guilty themselves will perish. "The moth shall eat them up like a garment." But "he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." "God’s righteousness shall be for ever," and they who are loving and living it shall never be confounded. Theirs is the present favour and everlasting friendship of the Eternal.—C. Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 51:10 The force in reserve. It has been said that the battle goes to him who has the best force in reserve. The general who brings all his regiments to the front may expect to be beaten; but he who holds a strong force in reserve may look for victory. ]n the great spiritual struggle now proceeding, the people of God have in reserve that on which they can and will fall back with infinite advantage to their cause. I. OUR URGENT NEED OF SUCCOUR. The battle seems to go against us. We note: 1. The prevalence of evil—of poverty, of misery, of vice, of crime, of unbelief, of superstition, of gross idolatry. 2. The comparative failure of the Church to subdue it. Looking at the entire field of activity, we are obliged to own that complete victory is a very long way off; that the millions of men and women whom the gospel has not reached, and those other millions whose spirit and whose life it has not succeeded in transforming, present a view which is very disappointing. Or looking at particular fields of Christian work, either at home or abroad, regarding the towns and villages of our own land, we do not find that the truth of God has the redeeming and elevating influence which answers to our hopes. We am not conquering the evil which surrounds and assails us; our heart sinks at the thought of the stupendous work before us, which seems to grow rather than to lessen, spite of all our struggle. II. THE DIVINE FORCE IN RESERVE. Behind us is the arm of the Lord, and on this we lean. 1. It is a great thing that we are armed with a truth which is so fitted to do the renewing work on which we are engaged, a truth which so exquisitely meets the necessities of the human soul. 2. It is a great thing that this truth has triumphed gloriously in the case of individual men, families, tribes, and even nations. 3. But our last and best hope is in the presence and power of God. "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge." There are two sustaining thoughts here. One is that Almighty God cannot be defeated. The "arm of the Lord" is the power of the Omnipotent; it is the overcoming energy of him who is the Source of all might and strength, and in whom reside all riches and all resources whatever. The other is that God has shown the exceeding greatness of his power many times before, and can work as glorious marvels in the future as in the past. He who smote Egypt could slay Assyria; he who made a passage across the sea could open a way from Babylon to Jerusalem. The God who has smitten the idolatries of Europe can slay the superstitions of Asia. He who has turned the sensuality and savagery of the islands of the sea into purity and peace can and will overcome the mightiest obstacles which remain. subdue the most hostile forces, and cause the "armies of Israel" to be crowned with victory. (1) Strive with all strenuousness and self-sacrifice, as if everything depended on our fidelity. (2) Look with confidence to the action of the arm of Omnipotence.—C. Spiritual stupefaction. The passage presents one of the most pitiable of all possible spectacles—a nation reduced to utter helplessness and prostration, lying like one that is brought down by intoxication to a motionless stupidity. We learn from this picture, and from the opening summons and concluding promise— I. THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT AS WELL AS THE HUMAN BODY IS SUBJECT TO . It is a striking and suggestive fact that the very thing which at first excites will ultimately stupefy. This is notoriously the case with intoxicants; these first stimulate, then dull and deaden the system. It is also true, though in a less degree, of those things which are called narcotics: both opium and tobacco at first awaken and enlarge faculty; but this condition soon passes away, and is succeeded by one of depression, inactivity, and (in the case of the more noxious drug) stupor and insensibility. So is it with things which act hurtfully upon the soul. At first they excite, then they blunt and deaden. This applies to: 1. Continuous enjoyment of any kind. 2. Excessive responsibilities, demanding exertion beyond the power to maintain them. 3. Heavy and repeated trials. It was from this last that Israel was suffering. The nation had been required to drink of the cup of Divine retribution, and, owing to her persistency in evil, had been compelled to drain that cup. Beside the two evils specified (Isaiah 51:19), desolation or famine and the violence of the enemy, was the sense of her utter friendlessness (Isaiah 51:18); and in addition to this was her abject humiliation (Isaiah 51:23). These calamities would account for her pitiable despondency, her attitude of despair. The sore and accumulated trials which sometimes befall individual men may not justify, but they explain, the complete brokenness and despondency of their spirit. They give themselves up as those abandoned to an evil course and a fatal doom; they are in a state of spiritual stupefaction. II. THAT THE AND SUMMONS TO AROUSE IS THE VOICE WE CAN THEN HEAR. "Awake, awake, stand up." These are the words of the God of Israel. And from whomsoever or from whatsoever shall come the summons to arouse ourselves from a guilty and perilous spiritual torpor, however harsh be the tone, however startling be the terms of the awakening, that voice is of the friendliest, and may be taken to be none other than the voice of God. III. THAT FOR THE NATION OR THE SPIRIT THAT AND ARISES THERE MAY BE . (Isaiah 51:22, Isaiah 51:23.) Jehovah would turn humiliation into triumph for his people, arrogance into disaster for her enemies. As complete a reversal, though of an entirely different kind, will God grant to those who arouse themselves from spiritual torpor and walk in his ways: for them shall be peace instead of insensibility: holy usefulness instead of disgraceful helplessness; sacred joy instead of a miserable despair.—C. BY R. TUCK Lessons of the past. This passage has been somewhat misused. The appeal is not made to the miserableness of our spiritual condition before receiving the Divine redemption. It is simply a recalling of the early history of the race, and an appeal that the goodness, care, and mercy of God to the first progenitors of the race should be recognized. The wonder involved in the origin of Israel may be treated as a ground of faith in its restoration and perpetuity. Cheyne gives the meaning thus: "Unlikely as the fulfilment of such exceeding great and precious promises may seem, it is not more unlikely than the original wonder of a great nation being descended from one man, and him as good as dead." Abraham may be understood by the "rock," and Sarah by the "pit." Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of God, and take example by him to follow God with an implicit faith. The metaphors are taken from the quarry, and express the general idea of extraction or descent. Retrospection is an important, though difficult and dangerous, Christian duty. It ought to (1) deepen our humility; (2) inflame our love; (3) stimulate our obedience and (4) perfect our dependence and trust. But it may, and often does, nourish that subtle form of spiritual pride which poisons the soul, and which is peculiarly difficult to cure. We only recall the past healthily when it is our set purpose to find the traces of God’s gracious working in it all. Studied aright— This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 52:1-6 FURTHER ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO . Zion is exhorted to rise from the dust, throw off her bonds, and assert her freedom (Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 52:2). God will deliver her from this third captivity for his Name’s sake, which her oppressors blaspheme (Isaiah 52:3-6). Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength (comp. Isaiah 51:9). God can help those only who help themselves. The "arm of the Lord" having been called upon to "put on strength" in order to help Zion, Zion is now exhorted to do her part, and put on her own strength. Nor is she to stop there; she is further to rut on her beautiful garments—to array herself in the glorious robes which befit her as a royal and a holy city, and show herself once more a queen, instead of being content to remain grovelling as a captive (Isaiah 51:20, Isaiah 51:21). Henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised. Foreigners shall no more visit Jerusalem to injure her or exult over her misfortunes (comp. Joe 3:17). When the influx of the Gentiles comes (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 49:22, etc.), it will be one of Gentiles who are "circumcised in heart and lips," and no longer "unclean" (Acts 10:15). Isaiah 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust (compare the opposite command given to Babylon, "Come down, sit in the dust" Isaiah 47:1). Zion was to arise, shake from her all trace of the dust in which she had been so long lying, and then calmly seat herself upon a seat of dignity. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck. The Hebrew text has. "The bands of thy neck are unloosened;" i.e. I have caused thy chains to fall from thee—thou hast only to "rise," and thou wilt find thyself free. Captives in ancient times were often fastened together by a thong or chain passed round their necks. Daughter of Zion. The prophet passes, by an easy transition, from the city to the nation, which continues to be the object of address in the remainder of the discourse. Isaiah 52:3 Ye have sold yourselves for nought; rather, for nought were ye sold. God received nothing when he allowed his people to become the slaves of the Babylonians. He took no price for them (see Isaiah 50:1), and therefore is free to claim them back without payment (comp. Isaiah 45:13). He has but to say the word; and he is about to say it. Isaiah 52:4 My people went down … into Egypt … the Assyrian oppressed them. Israel had experienced three captivities. They "went down" voluntarily into Egypt, on invitation, to sojourn, and were there cruelly and unjustly reduced to a servile condition (Exodus 1:13, Exodus 1:14). They (or a great part of them) were violently carried into captivity by the Assyrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29), Sargon (2 Kings 17:6), and Sennacherib, who, without cause, grievously "oppressed" them. Now they are suffering under a third captivity in Babylonia. What is to be the Divine action under these circumstances? Isaiah 52:5 What have I here? rather, what have I to do here? i.e. what is the task before me—the work that I have to perform? There are three principal considerations by which the answer to this question has to be determined. (1) The Babylonians have obtained possession of the Israelites without purchase—for nought; (2) they use their authority harshly and brutally; and (3) they continually blaspheme the Name of Jehovah. All three are grounds for bringing the captivity to an end, and coming forward with the cry of a deliverer, "Here I am." Make them to howl; rather, howl; i.e. insult over the captives with shouts and yells of triumph. The prophet is speaking of the Babylonian oppressors, not of the native "rulers," who exercised a certain amount of authority over the captives (see Delitzsch and Cheyne). My Name … is blasphemed. Cruel taskmasters vexed the captives by insulting their God. Isaiah 52:6 Therefore. Because of the "howling" and the "blasphemy." My people shall know my Name; i.e. "my people shall know by practical experience that I am all that my name of El or Elohim—’the Strong,’ ’ the Powerful’—implies." They shall know in that day. The "day" when God would come to their help and deliver them from their oppressors—when they would call upon him, and he would manifest himself (Isaiah 58:9), responding to their appeal as distinctly as though he said, "Here I am." Isaiah 52:7-12 A VISION OF THE DAY OF . The prophet sees the messenger come bounding over the mountains of Judaea, to bring the news to Jerusalem that her deliverance is come (Isaiah 52:7). The angelic watchers sing with joy (Isaiah 52:8). The prophet calls upon the waste places of Jerusalem to do the same, and dwells on the greatness of the mercy wrought (Isaiah 52:9, Isaiah 52:10). Finally, he exhorts the exiles to avail themselves of the permission to quit Babylon, and prophesies that they will go forth in peace, without hurry, under the guidance and protection of God (Isaiah 52:11, Isaiah 52:12). Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! (comp. Nahum 1:15, which is almost a repetition of the passage). The primary meaning is undoubtedly that assigned to the words in the introductory paragraph; but this does not hinder there being also a secondary meaning, viz. the Messianic one of Rom 10:15. Jerusalem’s deliverance is a type of the redemption of the world by Christ. That saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! So long as Israel was in captivity, and Jerusalem in ruins, God’s earthly sovereignty (1 Samuel 12:12) was in abeyance. The moment that the Jews were set free and allowed to return and to rebuild their city, his. sovereignty was re-established. Isaiah 52:8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; literally, The voice of thy watchers. They have lifted up the voice; they sing (or, shout joyfully, Kay) together. The "watchmen" are regarded by some as the prophets of the Captivity-time (Delitzsch), by others—as the faithful who "waited for the redemption of Israel" (Kay); but are considered by the best critics (Cheyne, Alexander) to be "supersensible beings," or, in other words, angels, who "watch" over the fortunes of Israel, and sympathize with their weal and woe (see Daniel 4:13, Daniel 4:17, Daniel 4:23, etc.). These "watchers" now "sing" or "shout" with joy. They shall see eye to eye (compare the "face to face" of Numbers 14:14; Deuteronomy 34:10). The "watchers" would watch closely God’s dealings with his Church, and would see them as clearly as a man sees his friend when he leeks into his face. When the Lord shall bring again Zion. It is, perhaps, best to translate, with Houbigant and Mr. Cheyne, "When the Lord shall return to Zion." The prophet sees God as the Leader of his people, not merely by his providence bringing them back, but "returning" at their head (camp. Isaiah 52:12). Isaiah 52:9 Ye waste places of Jerusalem (comp. Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 49:19; Isaiah 64:10, Isaiah 64:11). The city had not been wholly destroyed. Only the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles had been "burnt with fire" (2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 36:19). The poorer houses had been left. Even these, however, must in the space of fifty years have for the most part fallen into decay. The ruins are now called upon to join in the general chorus of rejoicing, as they rise from their ashes. Hath comforted … hath redeemed. Perfects of prophetic certitude. Isaiah 52:10 The nations … the ends of the earth. It may well add to the general joy that the work wrought for Israel is not "a thing done in a corner," but one on which the eyes of the" nations" have been turned. and to which the attention of" the ends of the earth" has been called (comp. Isaiah 41:5). The holy arm of Jehovah, made bare for battle, has been seen far and wide. The world has stood to gaze at the contest between Persia and Babylon. Isaiah 52:11 Go ye out from thence; i.e. "from Babylon"—the standpoint of the prophet in the present chapter being Jerusalem. When the time came, earnest exhortations to depart would be found not superfluous, for there would be an indisposition on the part of some to quit their possessions, and of others to affront the perils of the way. Touch no unclean thing. Bring with you none of the Babylonian idols, none of the Babylonian charms, spells, and the like (see the comment on Isaiah 47:9). Be ye clean; rather, purify yourselves. The departing captives generally are called upon to avoid polluting themselves with the unclean things of Babylon; but for those who bear the vessels of the Lord this negative purity is insufficient. They are for-really to purify themselves (2 Chronicles 29:34) before undertaking their sacred office. By "the vessels of the Lord" we must understand those which Nebuchadnezzar carried off from the temple (2 Kings 25:14-16; Daniel 1:2), and which, on the return of the Jews from captivity, were restored by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7-11) and Artaxerxes (Ezra 8:25-34). Isaiah 52:12 With haste … by flight. As at the going forth from Egypt (Exodus 12:33; Exodus 16:5). Then they were "thrust out;" now there would be no need of hurry. They would have the free permission of their sovereign to depart at their own time, and might proceed with calm deliberateness. God would go before them, as he did on that former occasion (Exodus 13:21), though not now visibly; and he would also defend them from attacks by the way, being at once their Guide and their Rereward, or Rearguard. Isaiah 52:13-15 PRELUDE TO THE "GREAT ." It is generally allowed by modern commentators that this passage is more closely connected with what follows it than with what precedes. Some would detach it altogether from Isaiah 52:1-15. and attach it to Isaiah 53:1-12. But this is not necessary. The passage has a completeness in itself. It is a connecting link. The exaltation of Israel, the collective "Servant of the Lord" (Isaiah 44:1, Isaiah 44:21), brings to the prophet’s mind the exaltation of the individual "Servant" (Isaiah 42:1-7; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 49:1-12), through which alone the full exaltation of Israel is possible. He is bound to complete his account of the individual "Servant" by telling of his exaltation, and of the road which led to it. This is done in Isaiah 53:1-12; in what has been called the "Great Passional." But the "Great Passional" needs a "prelude," an "introduction,’’ if only as indicative’ of its greatness. And this prelude we have here, in these three verses, which briefly note (1) the fact of the exaltation; (2) the depth of the humiliation preceding it; and (3) the far-extending blessedness which shall result to the world from both. Isaiah 52:13 My Servant shall deal prudently; rather, shall deal wisely; i.e. shall so act throughout his mission as to secure it the most complete success. "Wisdom is justified of her children," and of none so entirely justified as of him "in whom were all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid away" (Colossians 2:3). Exalted and extolled; or, high and lifted up—the same expressions as are used of the Almighty in Isaiah 6:1 and Isaiah 57:15. Even there, however, seems to the prophet ,rot enough; so he adds, "and exalted exceedingly" (comp. Isaiah 53:10-12 and Philippians 2:6-9). Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at thee. The world was "astonied" to see, in One come to deliver it, no outward show of grandeur or magnificence, no special beauty or "comeliness" (Isaiah 53:2), but a Presence unattractive to the mass of men at all times, and in the end so cruelly marred and disfigured as to retain scarcely any resemblance to the ordinary form and face of man. The prophet, as Delitzsch says, sits at the foot of the cross on Calvary, and sees the Redeemer as he hung upon the accursed tree, after he had been buffeted, and crowned with thorns, and smitten, and scourged, and crucified, when his face was covered with bruises and with gore, and his frame and features distorted with agony. Isaiah 52:15 So shall he sprinkle many nations. The Septuagint has, "So shall many nations marvel at him;" and this translation is followed by Gesenius and Ewald. Mr. Cheyne thinks that the present Hebrew text is corrupt, and suggests that a verb was used antithetical to the "astonied" of Isaiah 52:14, expressing "joyful surprise." It is certainly hard to see how the idea of "sprinkling," even if it can mean "purifying," comes in here. Kings shall shut their mouths at him; rather, because of him. In reverential awe of his surpassing greatness (comp. Micah 7:16). That which had not been told them shall they see. They will learn the facts of Christ’s humiliation, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven—events that it had never entered into the heart of man to conceive, and of which, therefore, no tongue had ever spoken. Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 52:2 God helps those who help themselves. It is a law of God’s providence to require of men, as conditional to his assisting them, some corresponding effort. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). He is always ready to give; but he will have men stretch out their hand to receive. For the careless and the apathetic, he will—perhaps we might say, he can—do nothing. Thus he calls men into his Church, but they must arise and obey the call; he offers them grace, but they must use the means of grace; he is willing to grant them eternal life, but upon this life they must "lay hold" (1 Timothy 6:12). When he delivered his people out of Egypt, he required them to "rise up, and go forth," and make long and toilsome marches through a dreary wilderness; and only after forty years of effort did he bring them to Canaan. So, too, when he would deliver them from Babylon, those only were delivered who braced themselves for a great exertion, left all that they had, affronted peril (Ezra 8:31), undertook the difficult and wearisome journey (Isaiah 43:19) from Chaldea to Palestine. The reason would seem to be that God, in all his dealings with man, is disciplining him and training him, eliciting the good that is in him, and causing it to acquire strength by active exercise, thus fitting him for a higher state of existence than the present, and leading him onward toward the perfection which he designed him to reach. The special need of purity in them that bear the vessels of the Lord. It is the duty of all to avoid impurity, to "touch no unclean thing," to "perfect holiness in the fear of God." But a special purity is required of those who, by holding any sacred office, are brought nearer to God than others, and as it were serve continually in his presence. Hence the numerous directions in the Jewish Law with respect to the priests—their consecration, their ablutions, their vestments, their sin offerings, and the like (Le Isaiah 8:2 -35; Isaiah 9:1 -24). Hence, moreover, such injunctions as the following: "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou [Aaron], nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean" (Le Isaiah 10:9, Isaiah 10:10). "They [the priests] shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the Name of their God: for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God they do offer: therefore, shall they be holy" (Le Isaiah 21:5, Isaiah 21:6). "He that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the annointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife in her virginity" (Le Isaiah 21:10-13). Everything approaching to uncleanness is to be carefully eschewed by such as minister in holy things; they are to be under a law more strict than that which binds ordinary men; they are to avoid everything at which weak brethren might take exception—to shrink from even the shadow of an impure stain. Many things are harmless in the ordinary layman which are not harmless in the clergyman, who is especially bound to "walk warily," to be a pattern to the flock, to abstain from even the appearance of evil, to "let not his good be evil spoken of" (Romans 14:16). The wisdom of Messiah’s life upon earth. Perhaps nothing shows more clearly the perfect "wisdom" of our Lord’s life upon earth than the fact that, among all his detractors, not one has been able to point out any unwisdom in any part of it. Almost all men do unwise things, things which they regret to have done, things which do them harm, which injure instead of promoting the objects that they have in view. But our Lord’s whole course was guided by the most perfect wisdom (Isaiah 11:2). Wisely he conformed in all respects to the Jewish Law, though he was above the Law. Wisely he led, not the ascetic life, but the life of ordinary humanity. Wisely he chose his disciples among those who were poor and ignorant and powerless, so that it might be evident they did not convert the nations by their natural gifts, but by wielding a supernatural influence. Wisely he declined to be made an earthly king, so that ambition cannot be laid to his charge. Wisely he submitted himself to the powers that be, that neither revolutionist nor anarchist might be able to make a shelter of his example. Wisely he covered himself with a cloud, hid up his glory, did his great miracles comparatively in secret (John 7:4), let the knowledge of his true Divinity steal upon men by degrees. The wisdom wherewith he executed his mission is seen in the success of that mission. How quickly did the "little flock" grow into a Church to be counted by thousands (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4), and the thousands become tens of thousands, and the tens of thousands increase into millions, until the whole Roman empire was converted, and the "kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ" (Revelation 6:15)! And what but infinite wisdom could have inspired a teaching which should attract both Jew and Gentile, both civilized man and barbarian, both haughty noble and down-trodden slave; which should, moreover, suit alike the requirements of both ancient and modern times, and be as much valued in the nineteenth century after its publication as in the first? By the wisdom’’ science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20)—of Greece and Rome "the world knew not God" (1 Corinthians 1:21); by the wisdom, the true wisdom, of Christ the whole civilized and much of the barbarian world now knows God. The result is the effect of that "prudent dealing," or true wisdom in act and word, which Jesus Christ, the "Servant of Jehovah," showed forth during the three and thirty years of his life upon this earth. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 52:1-12 The redemption of Jerusalem. I. THE SUMMONS. It comes from the Divine representatives. She had been called upon to arise and to stand up, and now she is to put on her strength and her robes. "Strength returns to Zion when the arm of Jehovah is mighty within her." It is useless to counterfeit the semblance of strength which does not exist. Nor is strength merely a matter of the will; but there ever is a secret fund of strength in the hearts of those who know that God has not forsaken them. In a sense, hope comes to those who rouse themselves from dejection, and "power to him that power exerts." The highest success promised is to human endeavour, and is not to be enjoyed without human endeavour. The beautiful garments are to be put on in preparation for the era of moral beauty and holiness. There is a true symbolism in dress. There is a garb appropriate to mourning and woe; another attire becomes the spirit of gladness and expectation. And there is, so to speak, a dress of the soul—a habit of the mind which expresses the hope of better things even amidst darkness and disappointment. As there were robes, figuratively speaking, which became a holy and priestly city; as there were seemly robes for Aaron the priest;—even so for him who looks upon himself as a "king and priest unto God," there is a suitable bearing and character, determined by the sense of the high destiny in store. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." So high a destiny is in store for Jerusalem; no more are the unclean to enter her sacred precincts (cf. Joe 3:17), but only the worshippers of the true God. Typically, the promise points to future times, when the Church of God shall be pure as when, in the great world-harvest, the tares shall be gathered out, and the wheat be gathered into the eternal garner. Let, then, Jerusalem shake herself from the dust—from that posture which expresses mourning and humiliation (Job 2:13), and take a lofty and honourable place. "Ascend thy lofty seat!" (Louth). "Arise and sit erect" (Noyes). "Rise, sit upon the throne of thy glory" (Chaldee). She is to shake the chains from her limbs, for her captivity is drawing to an end. Has she been sold? Nay; Jehovah has received naught for her. "It is not a sale, but only a temporary transfer." He can receive them back and renew his covenant with them. "You shall be redeemed." There was to be a remarkable proof of the power and sovereignty of God. For usually slaves and captives are not given up without a ransom. That they may expect this to be done, Jehovah reminds them of what has been done. He who had delivered from Egypt could deliver also from Babylon. And the like applies to the sufferings under Sargon, and Sennacherib, and Tiglath-Pileser. And now what was fitting for him to do in the case of the third great captivity, that of Babylon? He has come down to see and consider. And the result is that he "must return to Jerusalem, else his gracious purposes will be frustrated. But in its present state he cannot do so; therefore Jerusalem must arise from its humiliation." In their pride and contumely, the Babylonians both oppress the people and blaspheme the Name of their God. Another reason, then, for his interposition. Therefore—for all these reasons—the people shall know his Name, shall experience what it is to have a God whose Name is Jehovah; as in the days of deliverance from Egypt. He is One who, in answer to the people’s cry, responds, "Here am I!" Thus the leading thought remains, that Israel is Jehovah’s people, and he is their God. "Enclosed by God from amidst all other nations, to be the seat of his worship, and the great conservatory of all the sacred oracles and means of salvation. The Gentiles might be ca]led God’s own, as a man calls his hall or his parlour his own, which yet others pass through and make use of; but the Jews were so as a man accounts his closet or his cabinet his own—that is, by a peculiar incommunicable destination of it to his own use." And again, "The whole work of man’s redemption carries in it the marks, not only of mercy, but of mercy acting by an unaccountable sovereignty. He gives the world to know that his own will is the reason of his proceedings. If the sun is pleased to shine upon a turf, and to gild a dunghill, when perhaps he looks not into the chamber of a prince, we cannot accuse him of partiality. The short but significant saving, ’May I not do what I will with mine own?’ being a full and solid answer to all such objections" (South). II. VISIONS OF . "The prophet passes into an ecstasy. What he sees with the inner eye he expresses pictorially. He has told us already of the ideal Zion ascending a high mountain, and acting as herald of the Divine Deliverer. Now he varies the picture. It is Zion to whom the herald is seen to come—bounding over the mountains" (Cheyne). The feet give a greeting before the mouth utters it (Stier). The soul of prophet and of poet delights in the mountains; they give forth in visible form the sublimity with which his soul is charged (cf. Ezekiel 6:1). The mountains speak of the eternity of God; upon them the epiphany of the Deliverer may in a sense be expected, as they silently speak of his righteousness, of a constancy which is not to be moved. How welcome the messenger who tells of the fall of a city of the oppressors (Nahum 1:15), such as Nineveh! How still more welcome he who comes to bear tidings from the spiritual world to the spirits of men (Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15)! The proclaimer of peace is at hand, and "peace" is another word for "salvation." But there can be neither peace nor salvation in this distracted world, except under a strong government—the government of the King of kings. :Now the tidings are that "God has resumed the crown which he had laid aside." "Thy God has become King!" Celestial watchers are heard, lifting up their voices with a ringing cry, as they from their high seat behold the return of Jehovah to Zion. They "note every advance of the kingdom of God, seeing it eye to eye, as a man looks into the face of his friend; so near are the two worlds of sight and of faith" (Cheyne). The return of Jehovah to Zion means the return of spiritual power and joy and freedom. All earthly relations melt away into the spiritual realities. The real banishment is the separation of the soul from God; the true return from exile is when the soul can say, "God exists; God is near—is for me." Bondage is in ourselves; redemption and comfort are when we realize again that there is another—a "Not-ourselves that makes for righteousness," an Eternal Love, in short, in the sense of which all limitation must be forgotten. Jehovah has bared his holy arm for action in the face of all the nations; and the whole world has seen the salvation of God. Then, in prospect of such a redemption, what should be the conduct of the faithful? They must refuse to touch the unclean thing; they must be purified and become pure. They must regard themselves as armour-bearers of Jehovah, since he, as a man of war, is going forth to fight the battles of his people, and to establish his kingdom in the earth. The king, upon solemn occasions, had with him a troop of armour-bearers (1 Kings 14:28). And so must he, to whom the shields of the whole earth belong (Psalms 47:10), be followed by his band of faithful warriors. And not again in hurrying fearfulness, as in the days of the exode from Egypt, but rather with the calm and solemn march of troops who are marching to assured victory are they. to go forth from Babylon. The application was made by St. Paul, and ever may be made, to Christians (2 Corinthians 6:17, 2 Corinthians 6:18). Babylon is a type of the world; the necessity of "coming out" from that Babylon is the necessity of the disciples of Jesus separating themselves from the evil that is in the world. So in Revelation 18:4 Babylon stands for the evil course of the present world—the spirit of pride and impurity and persecution. If, instead of armour-bearers, the rendering "bearers of the vessels of Jehovah" be preferred, then the allusion will be to the priests and Levites (Numbers 1:50; Numbers 4:15). Upon such officials the obligation to be holy rests. Whether in war, or in the peaceful service of tabernacle or temple, the principle is the same. Men set apart to such service are bound to illustrate their office by an apartness of manners and of life. A select calling implies a select spirit. It has not been "finely touched" except to "fine issues." There may be an allusion in the "vessels" to Ezra 1:7, Ezra 1:8, or the facts there mentioned. How marked is that "boundless exhilaration" which belongs to these prophecies of restored Jerusalem! "Much good poetry is profoundly melancholy; now the life of the people is such that in literature they require joy. If ever that ’good time coming,’ for which they long, was presented with energy and magnificence, it is in these chapters; it is impossible to read them without catching its glow. And they present it truly and with the true conditions. It is easy to misconceive it on a first view, easy to misconceive its apparent condition; but the more these chapters sink into the mind and are apprehended, the more manifest is the connection with universal history, the key they offer to it, the truth of the ideal they propose for it" (Matthew Arnold).—J. Verse 13-Isaiah 53:3 The Servant of Jehovah: his wondrous career. "Behold!" A new and remarkable object calls for attention. It is the "Servant of Jehovah." He has been humiliated and rejected, but he is on his way to exaltation and honour. I. HIS WISDOM. There enters into the idea of the word here used prosperity and good success, as in Joshua 1:8; Jeremiah 10:21. For wisdom, the devout wisdom, the wisdom of duty in obedience to the Divine commands, alone can bring that good success. Compare what is said of the Righteous Branch in Jeremiah 23:5; and see also for the word, 2 Kings 18:7; Proverbs 17:8. Some render the words "shall be intelligent; ’ others, "shall be prosperous." The description applies to any who are endued with the Divine Spirit for practical ends. II. HIS . There is a heaping up of verbs denoting exaltation—he shall be high, and lifted up, and lofty exceedingly. The highest pitch of honour, the loftiest possible rank, shall be his, and that in view of the universe. The right hand of God—the subjection of angels and authorities and powers, and every name that is named—are similar images (Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20-22; Philippians 2:9; 1 Peter 3:22). If the Servant be not the Messiah, at least very similar language is used of him (Psalms 89:27). The exaltation bears a direct relation to the previous humiliation. The last would become first; the most despised would yet become the most honoured. Having volunteered for the lowest place on behalf of man’s good, he would be exalted by the Divine hand to the highest possible. Once men were stupefied as they looked on his disfigured form, hardly bearing the semblance of a man. So did Job’s friends stand aghast as they beheld him from a distance in his misery. But there shall be a magnificent contrast. Kings shall yet be dumb for admiration in his presence—owning his superior dignity (Job 29:9; Job 40:4). They will be eye-witnesses of things which had been previously inconceivable (cf. also Micah 8:16; Psalms 147:1-20:42; Job 5:16). III. IN THIS . The popular heart has everywhere delighted in such contrasts, between princely greatness and lowly guise or disguise. So the Greek Odysseus, on his return, is seen sitting lowly amidst the ashes of his hearth. And the Indians (Lyall, ’Asiatic Studies’) relish in the highest degree such representations. We not only love surprise, but we feel that it is a Divine method to work by surprise. "Power keeps quite another road than the turnpikes of choice and will, namely, the subterranean and invisible tunnels and channels of life. Life is a series of surprises. God delights to hide from us the past and the future. ’You will not remember,’ he seems to say, ’and you will not expect.’ Every man is an impossibility until he is born, everything impossible until we see a success. The ardours of piety agree at last with the coldest scepticism, that nothing is of ourselves or our works—that all is of God. There is nothing at last in success or failure, but more or less of vital force supplied from the Eternal. The results of life are uncalculated and incalculable" (Emerson). IV. HUMAN ABASHED. HOW few believed the prophecies concerning the Servant! How few had eyes to see "such supramundane sights, when nothing on earth seemed to suggest them"! to discern the arm of Jehovah, that mysterious Divine Power, in its secret working! They were blinded by the evidence of the senses. He was as a slight and insignificant plant—but a shoot or sucker from the root brought up out of Egypt. Without that winning grace or imposing majesty that might have been expected, he failed to captivate men’s hearts. He seemed isolated, sad sick, and men fled from his presence as it he had been a leper. But the result shows how little Providence reeks of our poor logic of appearances, our connections of cause and effect. Life is not so plain a business as it appears. "Presently comes a day, with its angel-whisperings, which discomfits the conclusions of nations and of years!" We boast of our common sense and experience; yet there is a Divine element ever at work to defeat our calculations and to astound us with its operations. The lesson is to be ever waiting and expecting—ever looking up for manifestations of that Divine wisdom which hides to reveal itself, that Divine power which is energizing unspent when all our resources are at an end, that Divine beauty which lurks beneath the dimmest forms and the meanest disguises.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Beautiful messengers. "How beautiful upon the mountains," etc.! Not so with the warrior. His garments are dyed in blood; his track is over desolated cornfields and ruined vineyards. Look at the footsteps of the servants of God. I. THE . They are not self-inspired or self-commissioned. They are sent of God. From Jerusalem the apostles are to go forth; over her all-surrounding mountains they go to tell the story of the angels’ song, the Messiah’s ministry, and the redeeming cross. How beautiful!—to publish peace! 1. Peace between man and man. 2. Peace between God and man. 3. Peace between nation and nation. 4. Peace in a man’s own soul. II. THE MESSAGE. "Good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation." Blessed word! But how often narrowed and marred through human interpretation! 1. We are saved from ourselves. And this salvation is going on within us day by day, as we grow in grace. 2. We are saved from guilt. As we can only be by an atonement where the offering is without spot. 3. We are saved from all that is inimical in the evil that is without us. For the Saviour knows our enemies, is stronger than our enemies, and will subdue them under his feet. "Thy God reigneth," and, mystery of mysteries, the cross is his sceptre. "I, if I be lifted up; will draw all men unto me."—W.M.S. BY W. The strength of the Church. The Zion of Old Testament Scripture is the Christian Church of the New. We have here, therefore, a commanding summons to clothe ourselves, as Churches of Christ, with the strength which is especially our own: "Put on thy strength, O Zion." I. IS WHAT THE OF THE CHURCH . Not, as we are too apt to imagine, in wealth, in territory, in buildings, in material defences of any kind: all this is the strength of the world, but not of the Church. Its strength is in: 1. Steadfastness in truth and holiness. The reed by the river-side, shaken with every ripple of the water, bent with every breath of the breeze, is the type of weakness; the massive granite rock, against which the waves of centuries have dashed, but which remains unmoved from base to summit, is the type of strength. Jesus Christ wants his Church to be strong, in that it stands fast (1) in the truth (Ephesians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 16:3; Philippians 1:27): (2) in spiritual freedom (Galatians 5:1); (3) in holiness. The very success of the Church has occasioned danger here. There is much less of gross iniquity in modem society than in past times. The distinction between the people of God and the enemies of his truth is not so apparent. The spirit of worldliness does not show itself in such malignant forms. Evil, by "losing all its grossness," has lost half its hideousness, and is therefore more seductive and successful than it was. The Church needs to be peculiarly strong in holiness to repel the insidious attacks of our day on its purity. 2. Fruitfulness. The strength of the fruit-bearing tree is in bearing much and good fruit. Herein is God glorified in us, as a Church, that we "bear much fruit." What fruits does a strong Church bear? Those of pure and gentle thoughts, of kind and generous feelings, of true and helpful words, of upright and honourable deeds, of acceptable and spiritual worship. 3. Usefulness. The strongest object we know of is the sun; and its strength is found in radiating life-giving light and heat, century after century: it is the strength of ceaseless, unmeasurable beneficence. To this strength Christ is calling his people. They are to be clothed with and to exercise this benign and blessed power; they are to be distributing on every hand, to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the sorrowful, to guide the perplexed, to reclaim the fallen, to bring into the kingdom of God them that are afar off. II. THE WAY TO SECURE IT. Physical strength cannot, indeed, be assumed at will; but it can be attained by a sick man arousing himself from his lethargy, sloth, and folly, and adopting the measures which minister to bodily well-being. Let the spiritually feeble: 1. Take due spiritual nourishment. The Bread of life, the Water of life, invigorating privileges, are within our reach. 2. Take due spiritual exercise. To him that hath is given, and the man who labours imperfectly at first will gain strength and skill as he puts out his power; every effort to do good is so much strength gained for future usefulness as well as so much power put forth in present activity. 3. Seek the inspiring influences which come from God: "They that wait on him shall renew their strength."—C. The beauty of the Church. We are more apt to thank God for the bounty than for the beauty of the earth; but if one is the more necessary, the other is the higher gift of the two; if the one satisfies the cravings of the body, the other ministers to the hunger and the thirst of the soul. With what lavish hand has God supplied it! What colour, what variety, what elegance, what symmetry, what loveliness, and what grandeur on the surface of the earth, in hill and mountain, in sea and sky! And if we appreciate the beauty of his handiwork, does not he delight in the beauty of our service? does not he say to us, "Put on thy beautiful garments"? What are the beautiful garments of the Church of Christ; what is it that makes it attractive and comely in his pure sight? I. IN ITS WORSHIP. It is better to worship God in a beautiful structure than in a barn; in skilful, artistic song than with unregulated voice; in becoming language than in distracted exclamations. It is better, because (1) we ought to give to a Divine Saviour the very best we can bring, and therefore our taste and culture rather than our crudeness and our vulgarity; and because (2) we should seek to attract by excellency to the house of the Lord, and not repel by unsightliness and discord. But this is not the beauty for which Christ looks: the beauty of the Church’s worship is in its genuineness, its spirituality, its inward and intrinsic worth (see Psalms 50:14; John 4:23, John 4:24; Hebrews 13:15). The reverent thought, the hallowed feeling, the solemn vow, the consecrated spirit, the song which comes from a grateful heart, the attitude of earnest docility that longs to learn that it may hasten to obey,—these are the beautiful garments of devotion. II. OF LIFE. A good profession is a good thing, but integrity of character and blamelessness of life is a better thing. The uprightness which would rather suffer than sin; the faithfulness that keeps the unremunerative engagement; the purity that repels the ugly thought as well as the filthy word and the foul action; the truthfulness which prefers to offend man rather than to grieve the Spirit of God; the generosity which loses all sight of self in the needs and cries of weakness or sorrow;—these are the beautiful garments in which the Divine Lord would see his servants clothed. III. OF LABOUR. Much more, in quantity, is now done in Christ’s name than heretofore. But whether the life of the Church is so much the fairer in its Master’s view depends chiefly on the spirit of its service. If our work in the sanctuary, or the Sunday school, or the committee-room, or the cottage, be perfunctory, constrained, tinged or it may be coloured with self-seeking, unspiritual, there is but little beauty in it in the sight of the Pure One. We should aim to make our whole life beautiful in the sight of our Saviour; let obedience be prompt and cheerful, the discharge of duty conscientious and thorough; let submission be ready and unrepining, liberality generous and hearty, courtesy cordial and graceful, etc. So shall we be arrayed in beautiful garments.—C. The dignity of the Church. Jerusalem was to arise from the dust of humiliation, and to sit down "with dignity and composure" on a seat of honour, taking her true position among the nations of the earth. The Church of Christ is called to rise from any undignified position into which she may have fallen, and to assume One that is in keeping with her origin and her estate. But the question is, in what the dignity of the Church consists. It is clear that dignity has various applications, according to its subject. The dignity of a sovereign is in one thing; that of a scholar is in another thing; that, again, of a servant is something quite different. It is not found in any particular deportment or in any especial surroundings. The Church that seeks to secure its dignity by attaching to itself those external honours or trappings which worldly kingdoms demand for the maintenance of their honour completely mistakes its position. To be truly dignified is to act in a way that is worthy of our origin and in harmony with our position. The true dignity of the Church is realized by its acting in a way that becomes the offspring of Christ, and that is suited to an institution which exists to illustrate his truth and to extend his reign. It consults its dignity and commends itself to the honour of the wise when— I. IT MAKES ITS APPEAL TO THE HUMAN , and not to superstitious fears. II. IT RELIES ON THE OF ITS FRIENDS for the necessities of its existence. III. IT REFUSES TO COUNT THAT WHICH ITS MASTER CHARGES IT TO , viz. the subjection of the whole world to his sway. IV. IT LISTENS WITHOUT ALARM TO THE OF ITS FOES, and goes calmly and energetically on its way of holy service.—C. Isaiah 52:2-9 The liberty of the Church. "Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." I. THE RIGHT OF THE CHURCH TO LIBERTY. The sight of the daughter of Zion in chains was very pitiable in the prophet’s eye. How much more grievous the spectacle of a Christian Church in bondage, enslaved and oppressed! The Christian Church, being composed of those who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and being called into existence for the purpose of extending a spiritual kingdom amongst men, cannot possibly submit itself to the rule of the world without abdicating its functions and forfeiting its essential privileges. It has a native, Christ-given right to decide upon its own constitution, to choose its own officers, to worship God according to its own convictions, to act freely upon the world in disseminating its principles. It is oppressed and (more or less) enslaved when authority presumes to dictate, or when rank or wealth claims to direct, in these high, and spiritual matters. II. THE OF ITS FREEDOM. The Church is not free to "do what it likes" in all these matters; that is licence, not liberty. Its freedom is limited by the will, and defined by the word, of its Divine Lord. Under all circumstances, it is bound to consider what Christ would have it do. Beyond his will it may not move. III. ITS UNDER . 1. A patient submission to the absolutely inevitable. In early Christian times, and under the domination of tyrannical powers since then, the Church has had to accept such share of liberty as was allowed, patiently and devoutly waiting for an extension. 2. A calm, brave assertion of its duty to its Lord; often under censure, hardship, cruel suffering. 3. A seizure of the earliest opportunity to enter upon its right. "Loose thyself," God says to his people. When the bonds can be broken, break them; when the door can be opened, unbar it; when the way is clear to holy liberty, take it without hesitation or delay. IV. ITS IN THE HOUR OF RELEASE. (Isaiah 52:7-10). The prophet foresees the liberation of Israel, and breaks out into a strain of surpassing eloquence and joy. Probably the escape from bondage to freedom is calculated to excite the keenest transports of delight of which the human heart is capable. So has it been in many hundreds of instances of individual release, and so it has been in cases of national and of ecclesiastical deliverance. Speech and song have been far too feeble to utter the rapture of the hour. At such a time the best forms which abounding and overwhelming joy can take are: 1. Gratitude to God, showing itself in praise. It is the Lord whose providence opens the way, whose arm strikes off the shackles (see Isaiah 52:3, Isaiah 52:6, Isaiah 52:10). 2. Recognition of the fact that liberty is useless, and even dangerous, unless it is well employed, and a consequent determination to spend the acquired freedom in holy service.—C. Isaiah 52:11, Isaiah 52:12 Christian pilgrimage. We may regard the departure and journey of the Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem as pictorial of our departure from the "far country" of sin for the heavenly Zion. Thus considered, we are taught— I. THAT ON THE NEW PATH SHOULD BE AN ACT OF AS WELL AS WISDOM. It was an eminently wise thing on the part of the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. Whatever interests, pecuniary or social, they may have formed in exile, their true heritage was in the land of their fathers; the politic in their policy remained, but the wise in their wisdom left. This, however, was not the only or the main inducement. They were called to return as an act of obedience. The Lord their God summoned them. It was a Divine voice that arid, "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence." Our true interest demands that we should leave "the City of Destruction" and seek "another which is an heavenly." Only a false prudence detains; wisdom, deep and true, urges to depart. But this is not the only consideration. God our Divine Father, Jesus Christ our righteous Lord, commands us. tie calls us to leave the kingdom of unrighteousness and to enter the path of holy service. To linger is to be guiltily disobedient; to set forth is to do the will of God. II. THAT ON SHOULD BE AN ACT OF . "Ye shall not go out with haste." There should, indeed, be no delay; but, on the other hand, there should be no hurry. More than once Jesus Christ checked the advances of disciples who were acting on impulse rather than conviction (Matthew 8:18-22; Luke 14:28-33). Do not take the greatest step which can possibly be taken without earnest thought, deep deliberation, repeated prayer. III. THAT , THE DIRECT SERVICE OF GOD, SHOULD BE BY PURITY. "Touch no unclean thing;… be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord." The Israelites were not to soil their hands with any forbidden or ill-acquired treasures; and the Levites were to take peculiar care that their hands were clean, for they would bear the sacred vessels of the temple. All Christian men must see to it that their hearts are uncorrupted and their hands undefiled by the many evils which are in the world. Anything like covetousness, envy, unchastity, intemperance, vindictiveness, makes service unworthy, and Divine worship unacceptable. By watchfulness and prayer let the ministers of Christ, more especially, cleanse their hearts and their hands. IV. THAT THE OF GOD MAY BE COUNTED UPON ALL THE WAY. "The Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward;" i.e. there shall be a complete defence from danger; though enemies should threaten you before and behind, you shall find an ample security in God. We find ourselves assailed by spiritual perils coming from opposite quarters: we are tempted by fanaticism on the one side and by indifference on the other; by pietism and secularism; by presumption and distrust; by undue asceticism and laxity; by superstition and scepticism; but if we are obedient and reverent in spirit, our God will be a shield against every foe.—C. The wisdom of suffering service. The fact that these and the following verses refer to the Messiah is no reason why we should not find in them practical lessons for the guidance of our own life, the culture of our own character. For Christ came, not only to do for us a work which we could not possibly do ourselves, but also to be the Exemplar whom we are to follow in the paths of righteousness and peace. I. OUR FIRST CARE SHOULD BE TO SERVE. He who is the Anointed of the Lord, the Highest among the highest, is spoken of as "my Servant." And from the beginning to the end of his course he thought and spoke of himself as of One that "was sent," that was charged to do an appointed work. The spiritual greatness he manifested was in giving himself up to the service of mankind. "I am among you as he that serveth." We should count it not our dishonour but our honour that we live to serve. We act worthily of him from whom we came, and of that One who was the very Son of man, when we spend our faculties in humble, holy service. We miss the end of our being and take the lowest rank that can be taken when we fail to serve God and our kind. We commit the greatest wrong and we make the supreme mistake. II. AS WE MUST BE WILLING TO SUFFER. A good soldier endures hardship and runs great risks. A good servant of God will be prepared to do the same. Jesus Christ went on to the work before him by surrendering himself to the blows and buffetings that awaited him. He endured enough sorrow to change his countenance; he went through trials enough to leave a deep mark upon his outer manhood. He did not stop to inquire how many or how grievous were the afflictions in store for him. The only thing he asked about was the Father’s will and the world’s necessity. If we are true servants of our Saviour and of mankind, this will be our spirit too. III. SERVICE WILL BE BY BLESSED . According to the severity of the suffering was the greatness of the exaltation with the holy Servant of Jehovah (Isaiah 52:14, Isaiah 52:15). To the depth of his humiliation answered the height of his uplifting, to the gloom of the darkened path on earth the glory of the heavenly home. So shall it be with us: if we suffer with our Lord we shall reign with him; and as we suffer so shall we reign. The deeper we go beneath the waves of sacrificial suffering the higher shall we rise in the celestial kingdom. Herein is heavenly wisdom. Had Jesus Christ elected to take the crown which was offered him at the outset (see Matthew 4:8), he might have gained some glories without the shame through which he passed. But he would have forfeited the "many crowns" he now wears and will for ever wear. But God’s Servant "dealt prudently," i.e. chose wisely and not with superficial, short-sighted policy; and now he is "exalted and extolled and made very high." Let it be our wisdom, after him, to choose suffering service, looking for the large and the long, though it be the far, reward of reigning in glory by the side and in the service of our Saviour.—C. BY R. TUCK The restored castaway. "Arise, and sit down … O captive daughter of Zion." "The verses are a poetical description of the liberation of a female captive from degrading slavery, and it is designed to represent the complete emancipation of the Church from tyranny and persecution." The call is peculiar as judged by Western associations, but quite natural in view of Eastern habits. The female is pictured as crouching on the ground, huddled in the dust, in the depressed and miserable attitude of the slave. She is called to "arise," shake off the dust of her degradation, put on beautiful garments, and sit down like a lady. Jerusalem, or Zion, as it is called, is regarded as a "castaway," given over for a time, by God, into the power of the Babylonians. Now her restoring-time has come. She is to put on again the garments of beauty, which belonged to her as the priestly queen of cities. Jowett puts the point of these verses in the following sentences: "The captive daughter of Zion, brought down to the dust of suffering and oppression, is commanded to arise and shake herself from that dust; and then, with grace, and dignity, and composure, and security, to sit down; to take, as it were, again her seat and rank amid the company of the nations of the earth, which had before afflicted her and trampled her to the earth." Dealing with the truths suggested in their applications to us, we consider— I. GOD IS THE STERN OF LIFE. We lose much by not carefully discriminating the kinds of things that are gathered up into the word "affliction." Disasters and failures—the various forms of trouble that come in our outward sphere of relations—give us, and are intended to give us, quite other ideas of God than we get from bodily pains or bereavements. To see God in a captivity, a slavery, a business ruin, is an altogether harder thing than to see God in a disease or a family anxiety. The danger of Israel while in Babylon was that it might wrongly regard God’s stern dealing, and, helplessly, hopelessly grovel in the dust of despair. And still there is the grave danger of our responding by hardness, stubbornness, self-willedness, when God’s ways with us seem stern. But the stern may be the precise expression of perfect love finding adaptations and adjustments. A distinction may be helpfully made between God’s work of softening and God’s work of humbling. We may see the softening work illustrated in Job or in Hezekiah. We may see the humbling work illustrated in Manasseh, who must be dragged off into captivity, and feel the bitterness of the prison-house; or in Israel as a corrupt, self-willed nation, which must feel what it was for the Babylonian "iron to eat into its soul." II. GOD THE STERN OF LIFE. As a rule, such Divine dealings are not greatly prolonged. It is, indeed, in the very nature of them that they should not be long continued. They are like punishment by whipping, which is soon over and clone with. Relatively to the life of a nation, seventy years of captivity is only a "little while." And in a later verse of this prophecy we find God exactly expressing how limited his stern experiences had been: "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment." And the expression of the apostle most strictly applies to this class of Divine dealings: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment." If we come, then, into God’s stern hands, they are our Father’s hands, and love will strictly limit the stern dealings to the "needs be;" and this great confidence may quiet our souls and give peace, even while we suffer, or endure, or struggle. III. GOD FROM THE STERN OF LIFE. Zion is restored; Jerusalem is rebuilt; Manasseh comes back to his throne; Job’s latter end is brighter than his beginning. Justice is God’s strange work, mercy is his delight. Above everything else he is the Redeemer, the Restorer, finding ever more joy in restoring than we can find in being restored. It is as if he were glad with infinite gladness when he can take the cloud away, and let his smile break through again upon us. What seem to us extravagant, ecstatic pictures of the restored glory of the Jewish nation, are really intended to impress on us what a joy God finds in his redeemings. This is expressed for us in the assurance of the Lord Jesus, that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that rcpenteth." And so far as we are really good, and like God, we find singular pleasure in putting things straight again, in reconciliations, in helping others to recover themselves and start afresh. IV. MAN GLADLY TO THE NEW JOY OF GOD’S . To this God calls in our text. It is as if he had said, "I am glad; now be you glad." There could be restorings, accept them at once, and lovingly and thankfully. Rise up out of all those depressions and despairings of captivity. Shake the very dust of the old troubles off. Dress in festal robes. Sing joy-songs. Realize your swiftly coming honours. "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." Sit down in stately, royal style, as if the promise were possession, and you entered on it when God gave his assurances. How sadly we fail in hesitating about the acceptance of what God gives!—R.T. A priceless redemption. "Ye shall be redeemed without money." This truth is more fully stated in Isaiah 55:1. Here we only note two senses in which God’s redemption of Israel from the captivity of Babylon, and of us from the captivity of sin, may be called a priceless redemption. I. BECAUSE ITS VALUE IS BEYOND ANY PRICE MAN CAN FIND. A man may hear of a "pearl of great price," and be willing to sell all else that he may have in order to get possession of it. But redemption is a pearl of such price that no man’s all could suffice for its purchase. Illustrate what returning to a regenerate Jerusalem was for the captives. And what had they by which they could buy such a national restoration? What relation would it bear to the matter if they put all their wealth together? And we are not redeemed from sin with "corruptible things, such as silver and gold," so that we could recompense him who gave the silver and gold for us, by giving him our silver and gold; "but with the precious blood of Christ," the value of which no human scales can measure, and which no human wealth could buy. The price of our redemption is "beyond all measure of so much." Compare the poetical estimate of the value of "wisdom," in Job 28:12-19. II. BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN WITHOUT ASKING ANY PRICE AT ALL. We could not pay the price. We should not have it at a price, if we could pay. It cannot be bought. Illustrate how men put a fictitious price on things which they do not wish to sell; and how they refuse to name any price at all when they are determined that the thing shall be a free gift. So God’s redemption is priceless, for he does not want to sell. Nay, it is priceless, for it can only be received as a gift. "God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." How strange that this very "pricelessness" should be our greatest stumbling-block! We have a saying that "only nothing worth can be got for nothing;" and we find ourselves applying it to God’s free gift of salvation. To illustrate this very human weakness, a man bought the entire stock of a herring-vendor, and sent him round a district of poor people, to cry, "Herrings for nothing!" and give them away. He was laughed to scorn, and not one person was found willing to receive. It is hard to believe that a priceless redemption is offered to us "without money and without price."—R.T. Knowing God’s Name. By that is meant finding out for ourselves all that is involved in his Name; proving for ourselves what he can and will do, even for us. The prophet has recalled to mind the deliverance from Egypt, and is full of the revelation which was then made, to Moses, of God’s Name. Elsewhere it has been shown that God’s Name is twofold. 1. An incommunicable name—a bare assertion of existence, "Jehovah, I am." 2. A relational name, that sets us upon observing what God has done and does. "The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Now we gain illustration from another incident in the Mosaic history. Moses, in one of the sternest experiences of his life, asked for the infinite comforting of being shown the Lord’s glory; and this was the Divine response, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee." Evidently the adequate impression of God’s goodness is "knowing God’s Name." And the special point of goodness dwelt on in our text is the goodness that restores us from the consequences of our own follies and sins. I. THE OF GOD’S NAME THAT COMES BY . This is mainly a head knowledge, and does not, of necessity, influence the spirit or the conduct. II. THE OF GOD’S NAME THAT COMES THROUGH THE OF OTHERS. 1. As recorded in the Word. 2. As met with in life. This is helpful, but it is secondary knowledge. And the response we make to it is goodness upon other people’s persuasion, and is only likely to last so long as the persuasion lasts. Like the parasite, we are ,good just as long as we have somebody else’s life to drink of. III. THE OF GOD’S NAME THAT COMES THROUGH OUR OWN . We never really know God until we know him for ourselves, by our own soul-sight and soul-touch. This is well expressed by the saint of old, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." In the text God assures his people that his restoring mercies shall be a personal revelation of himself to them; and, knowing him, they shall know the full joy of full trust.—R.T. The message glorifying the messengers. Immediate reference is to the heralds who go on in advance of the returning exiles to proclaim to Jerusalem that "the time to favour her, yea, the set time has come." And to those who send the heralds, as well as to those who receive them, they seem beautiful for the sake of their message. And this is the only worthy reason for glorying in the ministers of Christ—we love them "for their work’s sake" (see St. Paul’s use of this verse in relation to the first preachers of the gospel, in Romans 10:15). In the poetical style of the East, the watchmen are represented as standing upon their watch-tower, or post of observation, and stretching their vision to the utmost point of the horizon, as if in eager expectation of a news-bearing messenger. On a sudden the wished-for object appears in sight, on the summit of the distant mountain, speeding his rapid way to the city, while the watchmen, anticipating the tenor of his tidings, burst forth in a shout of gratulation and triumph. The imagery strikingly represents the expectant attitude and heedful vigilance of the believing part of the teachers and pastors of the nation of Israel on the eve of the Messiah’s manifestation. Illustrating the precise point indicated in the heading of this homily, we note— I. THE SNARE OF A IS SETTING HIMSELF BEFORE HIS MESSAGE. Even an apostle felt the power of this temptation, and, having overcome it, he says, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." The snare is felt especially when there is pride of intellect; a notion of remarkable individuality; the conceit of genius; a rhetorical delivery; or a popular, attractive power. We are sometimes obliged, with grieved hearts, to acknowledge that, in those to whom we listen, there is "more of the man than the message." The messenger may stand in front of the King. All workers for Christ need to deal watchfully with themselves, lest they be overcome of this fault, and find the people forgetting themselves in the flattery of the herald. Popular preachers are in sore need of great grace. Self-conceit takes strangely subtle forms when it enters in and dwells with God’s ministers. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ THE , OR THE GREAT OF THE OF CHRIST, AND OF HIS LATER . Polycarp the Lysian calls this chapter "the golden passional of the Old Testament evangelist." Delitzsch says of it, "It is the centre of this wonderful book of consolation (ch. 40-66), and is the most central, the deepest, and the loftiest thing that the Old Testament prophecy, outstripping itself, has ever achieved". Mr. Urwick remarks on it, "Here we seem to enter the holy of holies of Old Testament prophecy—that sacred chamber wherein are pictured and foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow". The Messianic interpretation of the chapter was universally acknowledged by the Jews until the time of Aben Ezra. It was also assumed as indisputable by the Christian Fathers. Almost all Christian expositors down to the commencement of the nineteenth century took the same view. It was only under the pressure of the Christian controversy that the later Jews abandoned the traditional interpretation, and applied the prophecy (1) to Jeremiah; (2) to Josiah; (3) to the people of Israel. In the present century a certain number of Christian commentators have adopted one or other of the late Jewish theories, either absolutely or with modifications. It is impossible to examine and refute their arguments here. We must be content to repeat what was urged in the introductory paragraph to Jeremiah 42:1-22; namely: (1) that the portraiture of "the Servant of the Lord" in this place has so strong an individuality and such marked personal features that it cannot possibly be a mere personified collective—whether Israel, or faithful Israel, or ideal Israel, or the collective body of the prophets; and (2) that it goes so infinitely beyond anything of which a mere man was ever capable, that it can only refer to the unique Man—the God-Man—Christ. It is, moreover, applied directly to Christ in Matthew 8:17; Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37; John 12:37, John 12:38; Acts 8:32, Acts 8:33; Romans 10:16; and 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 2:25. The Messianic interpretation is maintained, among moderns, by Hengstenberg, Keil, Umbreit, (Ehler, Delitzsch, Kay, Cheyne, Henderson, Alexander, Urwick, and others. Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed? Isaiah felt that he spoke, mainly, to unbelieving ears (see above, Isaiah 28:9-15; Isaiah 29:10-15; Isaiah 30:9-11; Isaiah 42:23, etc.). The unbelief was likely to be intensified when so marvellous a prophecy was delivered as that which he was now commissioned to put forth. Still, of course, there is rhetorical exaggeration in the question, which seems to imply that no one would believe. Our report; literally, that which has been heard by us. But the word is used technically for a prophetic revelation (see Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:19; Jeremiah 49:14). Here it would seem to refer especially to the Messianic prophecies delivered by Isaiah. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The "arm of the Lord," which has been "made bare in the eyes of all the nations" (Isaiah 52:10), yet requires the eye of faith to see it. Many Jews would not see the working of God’s providence in the victories of Cyrus, or in the decision to which he came to restore the Jews to their own country. Unbelief can always assign the most plainly providential arrangements to happy accident. Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up; rather, now he grew up. The verbs are, all of them, in the past, or completed tense, until Isaiah 53:7, and are to be regarded as "perfects of prophetic certitude." As Mr. Cheyne remarks, "All has been finished before the foundations of the world in the Divine counsels." Before him; i.e. "before Jehovah"—under the fostering care of Jehovah (comp. Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52). God the Father had his eye ever fixed upon the Son with watchfulness and tenderness and love. As a tender plant; literally, as a sapling, or as a sucker (comp. Job 8:16; Job 14:7; Job 15:30; Psalms 80:12; Ezekiel 17:4, Ezekiel 17:22; Hosea 14:6). The "branch" of Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10—a different word—has nearly the same meaning. The Messiah will be a fresh sprout from the stump of a tree that has been felled; i.e. from the destroyed Davidic monarchy. As a root (so Isaiah 11:10; Revelation 5:5). The "sapling" from the house of David shall become the "root" out of which his Church will grow (comp. John 15:1-6). Out of a dry ground. Either out of the "dry ground" of a corrupt age and nation, or out of the arid soil of humanity. In the East it is not unusual to see a tall succulent plant growing from a soft which seems utterly devoid of moisture. Such plants have roots that strike deep, and draw their nourishment from a hidden source. He hath no form nor comeliness; rather, he had no form nor majesty. It is scarcely the prophet’s intention to describe the personal appearance of our Lord. What he means is that "the Servant" would have no splendid surroundings, no regal pomp nor splendour—nothing about him to attract men’s eyes, or make them think him anything extraordinary. It is impossible to suppose that there was not in his appearance something of winning grace and quiet majesty. but it was of a kind that was not adapted to draw the gaze of the multitude. And when we shall see him. Some connect this clause with the preceding, and translate, "He hath no form nor comeliness, that we should regard him; no beauty, that we should desire him" (Lowth, Vitringa, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, Henderson, Urwick. But Stier, Delitzsch, Kay, and Mr. Cheyne prefer the construction found in the Authorized Version). No beauty; literally, no sightliness; i.e. nothing to attract the eye or arrest it. The spiritual beauties of holy and sweet expression and majestic calm could only have ben spiritually discerned. Isaiah 53:3 He is despised; rather, was despised (comp. Isaiah 49:7 and Psalms 22:6). Men’s contempt was shown, partly in the little attention which they paid to his teaching, partly in their treatment of him on the night and day before the Crucifixion. Rejected of men; rather, perhaps, forsaken of men—"one from whom men held themselves aloof" (Cheyne); comp. Job 19:14. Our Lord had at no time more than a "little flock" attached to him. Of these, after a time, "many went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66). Some, who believed on him, would only come to him by night (John 3:2). All the "rulers" and great men held aloof from him (John 7:48). At the end, even his apostles "forsook him, and fled" (Matthew 26:56). A Man of sorrows. The word translated "sorrows" means also pains of any kind. But the beautiful rendering of our version may well stand, since there are many places where the word used certainly means "sorrow" and nothing else (see Exodus 3:7; 2 Chronicles 6:29; Psalms 32:10; Psalms 38:17; Ecclesiastes 1:18; Jeremiah 30:15; Jeremiah 45:3; Lamentations 1:12, Lamentations 1:18, etc.). Aquila well translates, ἄνδραἀλγηδόνων The "sorrows" of Jesus appear on every page of the Gospels. Acquainted with grief; literally, with sickness; but as aeger and aegritudo are applied in Latin both to the mind and to the body, so kholi, the word here used, would seem to be in Hebrew (see Jeremiah 6:7; Jeremiah 10:19).The translation of the Authorized Version may therefore be retained. We hid as it were our faces from him; literally, and there was as it were the hiding of the face from him. Some suppose the hiding of God’s face to be intended; but the context, which describes the treatment of the Servant by his fellow-men, makes the meaning given in our version far preferable. Men turned their faces from him when they met him, would not see him, would not recognize him (comp. Job 19:13-17; Job 30:10). Despised. A repetition very characteristic of Isaiah (see Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 3:12; Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 15:8; Isaiah 17:12, Isaiah 17:13, etc.). Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs; or, surely they were our griefs which he bore. The pronouns are emphatic. Having set forth at length the fact of the Servant’s humiliation (Isaiah 53:2, Isaiah 53:3), the prophet hastens to declare the reason of it. Twelve times over within the space of nine verses he asserts. with the most emphatic reiteration, that all the Servant’s sufferings were vicarious, borne for him, to save him from the consequences of his sins, to enable him to escape punishment. The doctrine thus taught in the Old Testament is set forth! with equal distinctness in the New (Matthew 20:28; John 11:50-52; Romans 3:25; Romans 5:6-8; Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 2:24, etc.), and forms the hope, the trust, and the consolation of Christians. and carried our sorrows. The application which St. Matthew makes of this passage to our Lord’s miracles of healing (Matthew 8:17) is certainly not the primary sense of the words, but may be regarded as a secondary application of them. Christ’s sufferings were the remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God. They who saw Christ suffer, instead of understanding that he was bearing the sins of others in a mediatorial capacity, imagined that he was suffering at God’s hands for his own sins. Hence they scoffed at him and reviled him, even in his greatest agonies (Matthew 27:39-44). To one only, and him not one of God’s people, was it given to see the contrary, and to declare aloud, at the moment of the death, "Certainly this was a righteous Man" (Luke 23:47). Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions. This verse contains four asseverations of the great truth that all Christ’s sufferings were for us, and constituted the atonement for our sins. The form is varied, but the truth is one. Christ was "wounded" or "pierced" (1) by the thorns; (2) by the nails; and (3) by the spear of the soldier. The wounds inflicted by the nails caused his death, He was bruised; or, crushed (comp. Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 19:10; Isaiah 57:15. Psalms 72:4). "No stronger expression could be found in Hebrew to denote severity of suffering—suffering unto death" (Urwick). The chastisement of our peace was upon him; i.e. "the chastisement which brought us peace," which put a stop to the enmity between fallen man and an offended God—which made them once more at one (comp. Ephesians 2:15-17, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the Law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off;" Colossians 1:20, "Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself"). With his stripes we are healed; rather, we were healed. Besides the blows inflicted on him with the hand (Matthew 26:27) and with the reed (Matthew 27:30), our Lord was judicially scourged (Matthew 27:26). Such scourging would leave the "stripe-marks" which are here spoken of. Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray. "All we" means either the whole nation of Israel, which "went astray" in the wilderness of sin (Psalms 107:4; Psalms 119:176; Ezekiel 34:6), or else the whole race of mankind, which had wandered from the right path, and needed atonement and redemption even mere than Israel itself We have turned every one to his own way. Collectively and individually, the whole world had sinned. There was "none that did good" absolutely—"no, not one" (Psalms 14:3). All had quitted "the way of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:3) to walk in their "own ways" (Isaiah 66:3). The Lord hath laid on him; literally, the Lord caused to light upon him. God the Father, as the primary Disposer of all things, lays upon the Son the burden, which the Son voluntarily accepts. He comes into the world to do the Father’s will. He prays to the Father, "Let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). So St. John says that the Father "sent the Son to be the Propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). And St. Paul tells us that God (the Father) "made him to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). It does not lessen the Son’s exceeding mercy and loving-kindness in accepting the burden, that it was laid upon him by the Father. The iniquity of us all (compare the initial "All we"). The redemption is as universal as the sin, at any rate potentially. Christ on the cross made "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice … for the sins of the whole world." Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed. As Israel under the Egyptian taskmasters (Exodus 3:7). The cruel ill usage in the high priest’s house, and before Herod is, perhaps, specially pointed at. He was afflicted; rather, he abased himself (comp. Isaiah 31:4 and Exodus 10:3). The position of the emphatic pronoun (hu’) between the first participle and the second detaches the second clause from the first and conjoins it with the third. Otherwise the rendering of the Authorized Version might stand. Translate, He was oppressed, but he abased himself and opened not his mouth. The silence of Jesus before his judges (Matthew 26:22, Matthew 26:23; Matthew 27:14), when he could so easily have vindicated himself from every charge, was a self-abasement. It seemed like an admission of guilt. He opened not his mouth (comp. Psalms 38:13, Psalms 38:14; Psalms 39:2, Psalms 39:9). The contrast of the Servant’s silence and passivity with men’s ordinary vehemence of self-assertion under ill usage is most striking. Who was ever silent but he under such extremity of provocation? He is brought as a lamb; rather, as the lamb. The Paschal lamb is, perhaps, intended, or, at any rate, the lamb of sacrifice. The prophet has often seen the dumb, innocent lamb led in silence to the altar, to be slain there, and thinks of that touching sight. It was probably the use of this imagery here which caused the Baptist to term our Lord "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). As a sheep before her shearers. A second image, a reflex of the first, somewhat weaker, as so often in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:22, Isaiah 1:30; Isaiah 5:18, Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah 10:27, Isaiah 10:34; Isaiah 11:8; Isaiah 13:14; Isaiah 24:13; Isaiah 25:7, etc.). Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment; rather, by oppression and a judgment was he taken away; i.e. (us Dr. Kay says) "by a violence which cloaked itself under the formalities of a legal process." The Septuagint Version, which is quoted by Philip the deacon in the Acts (Isaiah 8:1-22:33), must have been derived from quite a different text. It preserves, however, the right rendering of the verb, "was he taken away," i.e. removed from the earth. Who shall declare his generation? literally, his generation who considereth? The meaning is obscure. Dr. Kay understands by "his generation," his lifetime or his life, comparing Isaiah 38:12, "Mine age is departed," where the same word is used and accompanied by a pronominal suffix. Mr. Urwick suggests that it includes (1) his origin; (2) his earthly life; and (3) his everlasting reign in heaven. Others (Delitzsch, Gesenius, Cheyne) take "his generation’’ to mean "the men of his generation," and join the clause with what follows: "As for those of his generation, which of them considered that he was cut off," etc.? He was cut off; i.e. taken away before his time, cut down like a flower (comp. Job 14:2; Lamentations 3:54; Ezekiel 37:11). The land of the living. The present world, the earth (see Isaiah 38:11; and comp. Job 28:13; Psalms 27:13; Psalms 52:5; Psalms 116:9; Psalms 142:1-7 2; Jeremiah 11:19). For the transgression of my people was he stricken. The sentiment is the same as in Isaiah 38:5, but with the difference that there it was suffering only, here it is death itself, which the Servant endures for man. "My people" may be either "God’s people" or "the prophet’s people," according as the speaker is regarded as Isaiah or Jehovah. Jehovah certainly becomes the Speaker in verses 11, 12. Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked; rather, they assigned him his grave with the wicked. The verb is used impersonally. Those who condemned Christ to be crucified with two malefactors on the common execution-ground—"the place of a skull"—meant his grave to be "with the wicked," with whom it would naturally have been but for the interference of Joseph of Arimathaea. Crucified persons were buried with their crosses near the scene of their crucifixion by the Romans. And with the rich in his death; or, and (he was) with a rich one after his death. In the preceding clause, the word translated "the wicked" is plural, but in the present, the word translated "the rich" is singular. The expression translated "in his death" means "when he was dead," "after death". The words have a singularly exact fulfilment in the interment of our Lord (Matthew 27:57-60). Because. The preposition used may mean either "because" or "although." The ambiguity is, perhaps, intentional. He had done no violence; or, no wrong (see Genesis 16:5; 1 Chronicles 12:17; Job 19:7; Psalms 35:11 (margin); Proverbs 26:6). The LXX. give ἀνομία while St. Peter renders the word used by ἀμαρτία (1 Peter 2:22). The sinlessness of Christ is asserted by himself (John 8:46), and forms the main argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the superiority of the new covenant over the old (Hebrews 7:26-28; Hebrews 9:14). It is also witnessed to by St. Peter (1 Peter 2:22), by St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5:21), and by St. John (1 John 3:5). As no other man was ever without sin, it follows that the Servant of the present chapter must be Jesus. Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him (see the comment on Isaiah 53:6, ad fin.). The sufferings of Christ, proceeding from the "determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23), and being permitted by him; were in some sort his doing. It "pleased him," moreover, that they should be undergone, for he saw with satisfaction the Son’s self-sacrifice, and he witnessed with joy man’s redemption and deliverance effected thereby. He hath put him to grief; rather, he dealt grievously—a sort of hendiadys. "He bruised him with a grievous bruising." When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. It is proposed (Ewald, Cheyne), by the alteration of a letter, to make the passage run thus: "When he shall make his soul an offering," etc; and argued that "he who offers the Servant’s life as a sacrifice must be the Servant himself, and not Jehovah" (Cheyne). No doubt the Servant did offer his own life (see Matthew 20:28," He gave his soul a ransom for many"); but that fact does not preclude the possibility of the Father having also offered it. "Believest thou not," said our Lord to Philip, "that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). This perienchoresis, as the ancient theologians called it, makes it possible to predicate of the Father almost all the actions which can be predicated of the Son—all, in fact, excepting those which belong to the Son’s humanity, or which involve obedience and subordination. As the Father had "laid on Christ the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6), as he had "bruised him and put him to grief," so he might be said to have "made his soul an offering for sin." All was settled in the Divine counsels from all eternity, and when the ideal became the actual, God the Father wrought with God the Son to effectuate it. "Offerings for sin," or "guilt offerings," were distinct from "sin offerings." The object of the former was "satisfaction," of the latter "expiation." The Servant of Jehovah was, however, to be both. "As in Isaiah 53:5 the Divine Servant is represented as a Sin Offering, his death being an expiation, so hero he is described as a Guilt Offering, his death being a satisfaction ". He shall see his seed. The "seed" of a teacher of religion are his disciples. St. Paul speaks of Onesimus as one whom he had "begotten in his bends" (Philemon 1:10). He calls himself by implication the "father" of his Corinthian converts (1 Corinthians 4:15). Both he and St. John address their disciples as "little children" (Galatians 4:19; I John 2:1, John 2:18, John 2:25; John 3:7, John 3:18; John 4:4; John 5:21). It had long previously been promised that "a seed should serve" Messiah (Psalms 22:30). Our Lord himself occasionally called his disciples his "children" (Mark 10:24; John 21:4). He has always "seen his seed" in his true followers. He shall prolong his days. A seeming contradiction to the statement (verse 8) that he should be "cut off" out of the land of the living; and the more surprising because his death is made the condition of this long life: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering [or, ’sacrifice’] for sin," then "he shall prolong his days." But the resurrection of Christ, and his entrance upon an immortal life (Romans 6:9), after offering himself as a Sacrifice upon the cross, exactly meets the difficulty and solves the riddle (comp. Revelation 1:18). The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. "In his hand" means "by his instrumentality." The "pleasure of the Lord" is God’s ultimate aim and end with respect to his universe. This would "prosper"—i.e. be advanced, wrought out, rendered effectual—by the instrumentality of Christ. "Taking the verse as a whole, it sets forth (1) the origin, (2) the nature, and (3) the result of the Saviour’s sufferings. Taking the last clause by itself, we have (1) the Divine complacency in the purpose of human salvation; and (2) the successful issue of that purpose as administered by the Messiah". Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; rather, because of the travail of his soul he shall see, and be satisfied (comp. Philippians 2:7-11, "He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"). No cross—no crown. First, suffering, then glory. Because Christ suffered, and was bruised, and put to grief, and made a sacrifice for sin; because of all this "travail of his soul,"—therefore it was given him to see the happy results of his sufferings—the formation of that Church which will live with him for ever in heaven (Revelation 7:4-17), and therewith to be "satisfied." By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; i.e. "by his knowledge of the Divine counsels and purpose, which he will impart to his disciples, shall my righteous Servant justify many" (literally, the many), or, in other words, "turn them from sin to righteousness" (comp. Daniel 12:3). Nothing is so effectual in turning men to righteousness as teaching them the true knowledge of God—his nature, his purposes with regard to them, his feelings towards them. Christ, from his own knowledge, gave men this knowledge, and so did all that could be done to draw them to his Father. And his efforts were not without result. The fruit of his teaching has been the justification of many—ay, of "the many," as both Isaiah and St. Paul (Romans 5:19) testify. For he shall bear their iniquities; rather, and their iniquities he himself shall bear. The initial part of the clause is not "causal," but merely connective. There are two main things which Christ does for his people—he makes them righteous by infusing into them of his own righteousness; and he bears the burden of their iniquities, taking them upon himself, ,and by his perpetual intercession obtaining God’s forgiveness of them. As Delitzsch says, "His continued taking of our trespasses upon himself is merely the constant presence and presentation of his atonement, which has been offered once for all. The dead yet living One, because of his one self-sacrifice, is an eternal Priest, who now lives to distribute the blessings which he has acquired". Isaiah 53:12 Therefore (see the comment on Isaiah 53:11, sub init.). Will I divide him a portion with the great; i.e. "I will place him among the great conquering ones of the earth"—an accommodation to human modes of thought analogous to the frequent comparison of Christ’s kingdom with the kingdoms of the earth (Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:9-14. etc.). The apostle goes deeper into the true nature of things when he says, "Therefore also hath God highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). He shall divide the spoil with the strong. A repetition of the thought in the preceding clause (comp. Proverbs 16:19). Because he hath poured out his soul unto death. Christ not only died for man, but, as it were, "poured out his soul" with his own hand to the last drop. The expression emphasizes the duration and the voluntariness of Messiah’s sufferings. And he was numbered with the transgressors; rather, and he was reckoned with transgressors (see Luke 22:37, Μετὰἀνόμωνἐλογίσθη where our Lord applies the words to himself). Christ was condemned as a "blasphemer" (Matthew 26:65), crucified with malefactors (Luke 23:32), called "that deceiver" (Matthew 27:63), and regarded generally by the Jews as accursed (Deuteronomy 21:23). And he bare the sin of many; rather, and himself bare the sin of many (compare the last clauses of Isa 53:6 and Isaiah 53:11; and see also Hebrews 9:27). And made intercession for the transgressors. The future is used, with van conversive, instead of the preterite, to mark that the act, though begun in the past, is inchoate only, and not completed. The "intercession for transgressors" was begun upon the cross with the compassionate words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). But it has continued ever since, and will continue until the last day (see Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). Isaiah 53:2-11 The sufferings of Jesus. It is the great object of Isaiah, in this chapter, to declare to his countrymen (1) that the Messiah would be a suffering Messiah; (2) that his sufferings would be vicarious; and (3) that they would have a propitiatory or atoning character. I. THE MESSIAH A MESSIAH. Hitherto Isaiah had looked upon the promised Redeemer on the side of his glories and his triumphs. His names were to be "Immanuel," or "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14), "Wonderful," "Counsellor," "The Mighty God," "The Everlasting Father," "The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). "Of the increase of his government and peace there was to be no end, upon the throne of David, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isaiah 9:7). "The Spirit of the Lord was to be upon him … and with righteousness was he to judge the poor, and to reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips to slay the wicked" (Isaiah 11:2-4). He was to "bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:1); he was not to "fail nor be discouraged" (Isaiah 42:4); he was to be "upheld ever by God’s hand" (Isaiah 42:6); "the isles were to wait for his Law" (Isaiah 42:4). But now the prophet has to speak in another strain. Psalms probably written before his time (as Psalms 2:1-12; Psalms 22:1-31; Psalms 31:1-24; Psalms 40:1-17; Psalms 49:1-20; etc.) had partially drawn aside the veil, and given indications that the career of the Deliverer would not be all glory or all triumph. But it was difficult to determine how far they were historical, how far prophetic. It was a part of Isaiah’s mission to reveal, in language that could scarcely be mistaken, the darker aspect of Messiah’s coming, the "contradiction of sinners" which he would encounter, and its consequences. Messiah was to be "despised," "forsaken" (verse 8), "pierced," "crushed," made sore with "stripes" (verse 5), "oppressed" (verse 7), "cut off" before his time, "stricken" (verse 8), "dealt with grievously" (verse 10). He was to be condemned by an iniquitous "judgment" (verse 8), to be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (verse 7), to be "assigned his grave with the wicked" (verse 9), and "reckoned with transgressors" (verse 12). His earthly life was to be such as would be best summed up in the brief phrase, "A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (verse 3). II. THE OF MESSIAH . Men make a difficulty about vicarious suffering; but half the suffering in the world is of this nature. Who that watches by a sick-bed, and supports and props the sufferer, and stays unmoved in a cramped position not to disturb the sick one’s snatch of slumber, but suffers to assuage or remove another’s pain? Who that, hungry himself, passes on to another the food that he might eat himself, but does the same? What mother but bears a thousand discomforts to shield her child from them? What soldier but tries to take himself the blow which he sees must otherwise prostrate his chief? How are the young, who rush into ruinous extravagance which would cripple them for life, saved but by a father or a guardian taking on him the grievous trouble of paying the debts incurred? What do not refined ladies undergo to rescue and recover those among their sisters who have fallen? Men’s and women’s kindness of heart is continually leading them to undergo vicarious suffering; nor is there often any other way by which the sufferings of our fellow-creatures can be removed. If I take the load that is galling another’s back and put it on my own, I do it with the full knowledge that my back will soon ache. If I transfer my wraps to a sick fellow-traveller on a wintry day, I am quite aware that the cold will clutch me instead of him. The vicarious character of Messiah’s sufferings is the direct subject of seven distinct assertions: (1) "He hath borne our griefs;" (2) "He hath "carried our sorrows;" (3) "He was wounded for our transgressions; (4) "He was bruised for our iniquities;" (5) "The chastisement of our peace was upon him;" (6) "With his stripes we are healed" (verses 4, 5); (7) "For the transgression of my people was he stricken" (verse 8). It is indirectly implied in four others: (1) "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all;" (2) "Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin;" (3) "He shall bear their iniquities;" (4) "He bare the sins of many" (verses 6, 10-12). III. THE OF MESSIAH . The idea of propitiation is implied in the three passages where Messiah is said to have borne the sins of men. No otherwise can one man bear the sin of another than by doing something which propitiates him whom the sin has offended. But it is further distinctly asserted in verse 10, when it is said that the soul of the Servant should be "made an offering for sin." As the whole notion of offering for sin was grounded on the idea of expiation, so it was now made plain that the real expiation, the real atonement, the real propitiation, to which the entire ritual system of the Israelitish nation pointed, was the offering up of that "righteous Servant" of the Lord, who, "having done no wrong," having been guilty of no "guile," nevertheless was made sin for man, and became a willing and meritorious Sacrifice. "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin" (Hosea 10:4). It is impossible for sinful man to redeem his fellow-man (Psalms 49:7, Psalms 49:8). Only One who was without sin, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hosea 7:1-16:26), could make atonement for others’ sins; only One who was perfectly pure himself could purify them; only One who needed none to intercede for him could intercede for his brethren. It is strange how men dislike, and kick against, and endeavour to explain away, the doctrine of vicarious suffering and substitution, and of atonement made for man by the blood of Christ. Yet why should this be? "The doctrine," as Mr. Urwick says, "is in perfect keeping with all that the Jewish ceremonial embodied, and with the teaching alike of the Redeemer himself (Matthew 20:28; John 10:11; Luke 22:20) and his apostles, St. Paul (Romans 3:24-26), St. Peter (1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 2:25), and St. John (1 John 2:2). It satisfies the Divine holiness, and the demands of the sinner’s own conscience. It fully recognizes the reality of sin and its exceeding sinfulness, whereas all other attempted explanations tend to make light of sin, or at least to represent it more or less as a matter of human weakness, which a good-natured God will readily pass over and forgive without a ransom. It presents the way of salvation as simple and straightforward; all can understand it; whereas other attempted explanations of the efficacy of Christ’s redemptive work are cloudy, indefinite, mystified, abstruse, and difficult of apprehension even by the learned". BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 53:4-6 The suffering Servant of Jehovah. I. THE OF THE . It depicts, by simple force of language, its extreme intensity—not a suffering springing from internal weakness of nature, and so withering and dying like a lamp for want of oil, but "like a torch in its full flame bent and ruffled, and at length blown out by the breath of a north wind." It was a diffused suffering, according to the expression of the psalmist, "like water in his bowels, or oil in his bones." "In his person we may see grief in its height and supremacy, triumphant, crowned and arrayed in purple, grief reigning and doing the utmost that it was able." In proportion to the fineness of the nature is the sensitiveness, and in proportion to the sensitiveness, the capacity for suffering. In these words, "stricken, pierced, afflicted, crushed, beaten with stripes," we have a cumulation of strong touches in the picture. Add to this, "smitten of God." The allusion is said to be to leprosy, regarded as a punishment for grievous sin (Numbers 12:9, Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 15:5; Psalms 51:7). "The measure of every passion is the operation of the agent. We must not measure the Divine strokes by the proportion of those blows which are inflicted by the greatest and most exasperated mortal. Every blow inflicted by the fiercest tyrant can reach no further than the body, and the body is but the dwelling-place, not any part, of the soul. None can reach the conscience but he who made it. God is able, merely by letting a few drops of his wrath fall upon the guilty conscience, so to scald with a lively sense of sin, that the man shall live a continual terror to himself. His own breast shall echo peals of vengeance to him every hour. Suffering must needs be grievous when infinite justice passes sentence, and infinite power does execution" (South). An "unparalleled greatness" of suffering is, then, here indicated. II. THE NATURE OF THE . He bore our sicknesses; "the first of twelve distinct assertions in this one chapter of the vicarious character of the sufferings of the Servant." They are "because of our rebellions" and of "our iniquities." The punishment which is the means of "our peace" and welfare fell upon him; we have been healed through his stripes. The iniquity of all has been made to light upon him. "As the avenger of blood pursues the murderer, so punishment by an inner necessity overtakes the sinner (Psalms 40:12; Numbers 32:23; cf. Deuteronomy 27:15). And inasmuch as the Servant, by Jehovah’s will, has made himself the Substitute of the Jewish nation, it follows that the punishment of the latter must fall upon him." After all that has been written for ages upon this difficult subject of vicarious suffering or punishment, there remain difficulties not to be surmounted by our reason. How can punishment be transferred? How can the suffering due to the sinner be imposed upon an innocent person? How can any honest mind admit such a confusion of relation, even were it offered, as a means of escape from penalty? The answers to these questions are given in poetic metaphors, and analogies which do not reach to the heart of the matter, and forensic quibbles which are not lovely in connection with spiritual matters. For all that, there is something the heart of all men fixes upon as lovely, Divine, adorable, in the idea of a man laying down his life for his brethren, a patriot for his country. Much of this deep feeling enters into the old legends, often of a woman—an Alkestis, a Makaria, an Hesione; often of a man—a son of Mesa, King of Moab, a Menoikeus, a Curtius. If we begin to criticize, we lose the sense and spirit of these sweet stories. So with the great tradition of the Servant of Jehovah, and with the still greater tradition by which our lives and hearts have been formed. III. . Every Christian thinks of Christ when he reads these beautiful words. Who but he can inspire us with the willingness to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts"? "Nature, indeed, cannot, will not, prompt it; but Christianity, which rises many strains above nature, must and will. The best sacrifice to a crucified Saviour is a crucified lust, a bleeding heart, and a dying corruption. Let the ambitious man lay his pride in the dust, the covetous man deposit his treasures in the banks of charity and liberality, and let the voluptuous epicure renounce his cups and his whores,—and this will be a present to Heaven better than a whole hecatomb; nor could the fruit of his body fall so grateful a sacrifice upon God’s altar as the sin of his soul" (South).—J. Isaiah 53:7-12 Patience and the Divine purpose. In the picture of the Servant of Jehovah we have an exemplification of the force of quiet endurance which prevails over violence, even to victory. I. AN EXAMPLE OF TO WRONG. The slave-driver (Exodus 3:7; Job 3:18), or the exactor of a tax or a debt (Deuteronomy 15:2, Deuteronomy 15:3; 2 Kings 23:35), is the image of oppression in its urgency and its contumely· And the silence of the suffering One eloquently speaks of his resignation (Psalms 38:14; Psalms 39:9). The gentle uncomplaining lamb may well set him forth "with power at his disposal, yet as meek as if he had no power; with consciousness of impending fate, yet calm as if ignorant of it" (cf. Jeremiah 11:19; 1 Peter 2:23). The idea of the Lamb of God in the New Testament rests in part upon this passage "The two or three who can win it may be called victors in life’s conflict; to them belongs the regnum et diadema tutum." His was the lot represented by our great poet as tempting in its extreme anguish to thoughts of suicide. But from another source the Servant obtains his quietus. He was not supported by the thought that the meaning of his sufferings was understood and laid to heart by his contemporaries. They did not see that for the rebellion of the people he was stricken. And even after death insult pursued his memory (cf. Jeremiah 26:23). They buried his body, not amidst the remains of his departed friends, but with the wicked and the criminal, the proud deniers of God, or with the rich and haughty Gentiles. This was the last mark of an ignominy (Isaiah 14:19), and it was all undeserved. How mighty the contrast of appearances and results! The despised of men is in reality the eternally honoured of God. II. THE DIVINE PURPOSE AND DECREE. There was no cruel accident or misunderstanding in all this; it was the result of Divine deliberate will—the pleasure of Jehovah. The Servant was to lay down his life as a guilt offering. He was to fulfil and crown the idea of all sacrifice in his own Person. Restitution was to be made for injured rights of property. Israel had become de-consecrated. Her life had been forfeited, and satisfaction must be rendered. And this is provided in the self-dedication of the Servant. And the result will be that he will become the Head of a spiritual posterity (cf. Psalms 22:30). His piety will be rewarded by length of days. Both these are figures of highest blessing among the Hebrews (Genesis 12:2; Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalms 91:16; Psalms 127:5; Psalms 128:6; Proverbs 3:2; Proverbs 17:6). He will be promoted to a scene of high spiritual employment (Isaiah 52:13), the "pleasure of Jehovah" prospering under his conduct. His former spiritual agony and toil of spirit, his travail (Psalms 110:1-7:10; Job 3:10; Jeremiah 20:18; Ecclesiastes 2:11-20; Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 for the word), will be abundantly compensated by the joy of contemplation of the progressing work of salvation, as the husbandman is satisfied with the sight of the harvest, for which he has "sown in tears." On the foundation of his sacrifice and his teaching many will be redeemed from sin and become a righteous and a holy people. And so, without bloodshed and the din of battle, he will become a glorious Conqueror, and the spiritual kingdom of the Eternal will be among the world-subduing powers. All this because he humbled himself, because he was devoted, because he loved. III. LESSONS. How mighty the power of patience! The hero of God is not clothed in purple, nor fed on sweets; "daily his own heart he eats." His hope sets not with the setting of suns; his faith is earlier in its rising than the stars. Amidst all his seeming weakness he cannot be crushed; and the blows of his adversaries miss their aim. The spiritual element is immortal, indefeasible, finally victorious. "They say, through patience, chalk Becomes a ruby stone; Ah, yes! but by the true heart’s blood The chalk is crimson grown." Who was originally meant by the servant of Jehovah may remain obscure. We at least cannot but apply the representation to the Captain of salvation, the Leader and Finisher of faith, who endured the cross for the joy set before him. And also to every true servant of the Eternal, who feels that he was brought into the world to witness for the truth and devote himself in the cause of love. "This is he who, felled by foes, Sprang harmless up, refreshed by blows; He to captivity was sold, But him no prison-bars would hold; Though they sealed him in a rock, Mountain-chains he can unlock; Thrown to lions for their meat, The crouching lion kissed his feet; Bound to the stake, no flames appalled, But arched o’er him an honouring vault. This is he men miscall fate, Threading dark ways, arriving late, But e’er coming in time to crown The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down." —J. BY W.M. STATHAM The depraved eye. "No beauty that we should desire him." In this prophetic picture of the Christ the question arises, "Who hath believed our report?" What wonderful attestation history gives to this!—"He came unto his own, and his own received him not." Whether the words, "he hath no form nor comeliness," apply to the physical features of Christ, we cannot say; for the Jews had no "art." They interpreted the words, "Thou shalt not make to thyself … the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath," not as an injunction against "idols" alone, but against all statuary and all art. So, though we have the likenesses of the emperors on the Roman coins, and the Greek statues of Socrates and their wise men, we have no likeness of Christ or his apostles. But we do know the meaning of this, "There is no beauty that we should desire him." I. THE EYE ADMIRES ONLY WHAT THE HEART LOVES. The beauty that eye desired was quite different. It was superficial and carnal, not inward and spiritual. II. THE WORLD DOES NOT ALTER ITS TASTE. The classic virtues of paganism—pride, self-reliance, honour—are more prized by men of the world than patience, gentleness, pity, forbearance, and charity. Christ is not beautiful to the proud, nor to the selfish, nor to the ambitions and the vain. Only the pure in heart admire and love him!—W.M.S. The rejected Saviour. "He is desvised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He! Who? The incarnate Lord, who has grown up in childhood as a "tender plant;" who is the one "living root," while all others are the dry soil of a decrepit and degenerate humanity. I. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT THE HEBREW CHURCH WAS. Christ was the "touchstone" of that Church. Its conduct to him made manifest to what a condition they had come. Think of the contrast. Pharisaism was triumphant—Christ was despised. The outward, the formal, the ritual, was preferred before the holy, the inward, and the spiritual. Christ was "rejected." They had the first opportunity of welcoming the "Lord from heaven." "To the Jew first." How learned men may be in tradition! how well acquainted with the ’Mishna’ and the ’Gemara,’ and yet know ail of ancient revelation except its meaning! The great gates of prophecy open wide to lot the true King through; and then treat him as a Pretender, and crown him with thorns. II. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT CHRIST WAS ON THE HUMAN SIDE. "A Man of sorrows." Think of his exquisite moral sensitiveness in a world of sin. Think of his tender human sympathies in a world of sorrow. "Acquainted with grief." Not in one special form, but in all its spheres, that he might be a Brother born for adversity. Acquainted with it. So that he had daily fellowship with it; not passing through its transient experiences, but familiar with it as the companion of his life.—W.M.S. The Divine atonement. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." We shall never understand the atonement. From Anselm’s day to our own there have been ever-changing theories of it. But the fact remains; and, mysterious as it is, we learn that there was a Godward aspect of it, as well as a manward aspect. But into "the cup which my Father hath given me to drink" no man, no angel, can look. I. THIS IS THE OF DIVINE . "He gave himself." But he was more than wounded by the treatment of his character, and by the contempt of his claims, and by the forsakings of his own disciples. It is not enough to say that the pride of the Jew and the scorn of the Greek and the power of the Roman crucified him. He was "delivered up for our offences." So here "the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." II. THIS IS THE SUBJECT OF ETERNAL SONG. Heaven rings with the grateful acclaim, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,… to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." And the presence of the redeemed there at all is distinctly stated to rest upon the sacrifice of Christ. Because "they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God." This, at all events, has been the Catholic teaching of Christendom in all ages; and fill the hymnology of the Church in all its various branches. Roman and Anglican, Lutheran and Puritan, have united in a common adoration of the cross and passion, thus antedating the praises of eternity.—W.M.S. BY W. The attractive and the unattractive in Jesus Christ. The whole passage is exceedingly remarkable in that it ascribes to one man qualities and surroundings which are so opposed to one another that they seem to be positively inconsistent with each other. And the difficulty has been to find a reconciliation. But all perplexity disappears when they are referred to Jesus Christ; for in him were combined features of character and changes of circumstance which could not be united in any other child of man. We have here a very strong statement as to the unattractive and unpromising appearance of the Servant of Jehovah, and this has to agree and does agree with the power and the dignity which are afterwards predicted of him (Isaiah 53:10, Isaiah 53:12), and with the attractive power he has exercised in all ages of the world. We look at both. I. THE IN JESUS CHRIST. He grew up as a tender twig or as a sprout that struggles for life in a dry ground; he lacked the beauty that draws attention, the comeliness which wins regard, in that: 1. He came of a fallen family. 2. He was a native of a despised and detested nation, probably the moat hated and contemned of all nations. 3. He was brought up in a disreputable village, and the reproach of its dishonour fell on him. 4. He was untrained in the learning which is held in the highest regard among men. 5. He made no pretence to be a deliverer of the kind popularly desired; he dispensed with military arms, officers, honours; he made no attempt to effect a political revolution; he disregarded and even shunned mere popular favour. 6. He taught truth which was above the appreciation and against the prejudices of his hearers; his thought was too profound for their understanding, his aims were too broad and liberal for their liking. His truth still cuts across the prejudices, passions, and lowest interests of men; and his purpose is to establish a kingdom which is far too spiritual to meet the sympathies of the selfish and the worldly. Nevertheless, he accomplished his purpose. That little shoot has become a strong tree, the strongest and fairest that has ever grown, the leaves of which are for the healing of all the nations. That One in whom was no beauty that men should desire him is proving to be "altogether lovely." II. THE IN JESUS CHRIST. What is there in him that draws the eyes and wins the hearts of men? 1. Elements of attraction in his character. His patient dignity in moments of trial and provocation; his gentleness toward the young and the feeble; his interest in the unworthy and unbefriended; his magnanimity toward his enemies, his stainless purity of heart and life; his compassion for the suffering and the sorrowful, etc. 2. Elements of attraction in his gospel. He offers forgiveness of sin to those burdened with a sense of guilt; rest of heart to those who are spiritually weary; holy and fruitful activity to the earnest and energetic; an unfailing friendship to the troubled and the lonely; a heavenly home to the tired travellers along the path of life.—C. The Man of sorrows. We feel that there is but One of our race to whom this title properly belongs; One who may wear it as a crown upon his brow, inasmuch as his sorrows do him higher honour than the most conspicuous success ever conferred on human spirit. It does belong to him, not in virtue of the fact that his outward career involved more cruel hardships than those ever borne before; but in virtue of the fact that his spirit was such as to make his endurance more grievous than that ever experienced by man. It was Jesus Christ’s capacity of sorrow that made all the difference. Capacity to endure rises with the greatness of the spiritual nature; the larger the nature, the greater the possibility and likelihood of suffering. When, therefore, we remember that Jesus Christ, as a perfect Man, had the fullest and keenest possible sensibility of nature, and when we remember that the Divine was so associated in him with the human as immeasurably to deepen and enlarge every faculty of his soul, we shall see that his capacity of sorrow was almost boundless. I. THE SOURCES OF HIS SORROW. These were, among others: 1. The failure on the part of his own best friends to understand and appreciate him. "They who knew him best could hardly be said to know him;" they entered only a very little way into his purpose, and could not sympathize with him in his deeper disappointments; "he trod the wine-press alone." But for his Father’s presence he often was absolutely alone (John 16:32). 2. The frailty and even the treachery of his disciples. Those who followed him and called him Master had but little care for his truth or love for himself. In a moment of simple perplexity of mind they fell away from him, and abandoned his cause (John 6:66). One of his disciples grieved his spirit by distinct denial, and another pierced his heart by utter and open treachery. 3. The malignity of his enemies. There are men who do not care that their brethren whose confidence they have tried to win are cherishing toward them the bitterest hatred; not such was he of the tender heart and loving spirit. 4. The rejection of the people. He was rejected of men. Several men and women, in most places whither he went, may have flocked to hear him; and the common people heard him gladly, we know. But he had to acknowledge to himself that his principles made no way, that his truth was not apprehended and loved, that citizens did not enrol themselves in his spiritual kingdom. 5. The near presence of human suffering and sorrow. By partaking of our humanity as he did, Jesus came into the closest contact with the pains, the privations, the deformities, the diseases, and the sorrows of mankind. And by the power of an intense and living sympathy he made these his own (Matthew 8:17; John 11:33, John 11:35). He bore them on his own heart; they weighed upon his spirit as a heavy burden. 6. A deep sense of human sin,culminating in a sacrifice for it. If the near presence of sorrow grieved and troubled him, how much more that of human sin in all its forms! With our lesser purity, we cannot tell how painful to his heart was the sight of all the selfishness, hypocrisy, greed, worldliness, malignity, corruption which he beheld, most of it affecting the language and the bearing of devotion. Yet with all these sources of sorrow, there were not wanting— II. SPRINGS OF SACRED JOY IN THE HEART AND LIFE OF OUR LORD. 1. Unbroken communion with the heavenly Father. 2. The sincere attachment of many who, though they were imperfect disciples, yet trusted and loved him as their Teacher and Friend. 3. The gratitude of many whom he healed, and the deeper gratitude of many whom he saved. 4. The consciousness of faithful fulfilment of his great mission. 5. A calm, profound assurance of victory through death and shame (John 12:24, John 12:32). In the heart of the Man of sorrows were deep springs of joy, such as they who wounded him and triumphed over him knew not of. In our case, as in his, there may be the light of a blessed peace and even of heavenly joy in a soul that moves under darkest skies through a clouded life.—C. Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 53:5 The Divine account of the sufferings of Christ. In these words, which remain ever fresh and sacred, though they are so familiar to our hearts, we have— I. A SAD AND PICTURE. It is the picture of the Servant of the Lord, wounded, bruised, chastened, stricken. We cannot fail to see in it the sufferings of the holy Saviour. We see him: 1. Wounded in body; not only a-hungered and athirst, not only weary with long-continued labours and without the promise of the soft pillow. of rest when the day was done, but suffering, beyond this, the laying on him the hard, rough hand of a brutal soldiery, the cruel smiting and scourging, the piercing of hand and foot with the remorseless nail, the pains and pangs of crucifixion. But beyond this, immeasurably more serious and more severe than this, we see him: 2. Wounded in spirit; bruised in soul by the shortcoming, the inconstancy, even the treachery of his own friends, by the superficiality and frailty of the outer band of his disciples, by the intense and inappeasable malignity of his enemies, by the sight of sickness and sorrow, by the pressure and burden of human sin; all this weight of evil crushing his holy and tender spirit. II. A NATURAL BUT A FALSE . "We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," i.e. on account of his own sins. It was natural that men should think thus; there are facts which go to support though they do not justify it. 1. It is true that sin and suffering are very closely and causally connected. All sinners are, as such, sufferers. 2. It is true that, as a rule, great sinners are great sufferers. It was not accidental that Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the Great, Philip II. of Spain, and other men, who, like them, committed enormities of wrong-doing, endured terrible pains of body and fearful remorse of spirit. But it does not follow that a very great sufferer is a very great sinner. For it is also true (1) that some of the purest and saintliest of mankind have been visited with severest bodily pains, or have passed through most trying troubles, or been called to endure heaviest afflictions. (2) And that the great Teacher warned us against pushing this doctrine to a perversion of the truth (Luke 13:3). (3) And we know that it was wholly inapplicable to the Lord himself. He who suffered mere than any other of the children of men was that one Son of man who "did no sin, and in whose mouth no guile was found;" he was the innocent, the pure, the just, the righteous One. III. THE DIVINE ACCOUNT OF IT. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows … he was wounded for our transgressions," etc. But is it credible or is it even possible that the innocent One would or could suffer for us the guilty ones? Why not? Being such a One as he is—the pitiful, compassionate, magnanimous One, it is exactly what we might expect he would do. 1. Involuntarily, we are continually bearing one another’s griefs. One sins and another suffers, beneath every sky and from generation to generation. 2. Voluntarily we suffer in one another’s stead. The father willingly suffers and strives that his son may not endure all the threatened consequences of his guilty folly; the mother eagerly endures greatest privations that her daughter may be spared the dishonour which is her due; the friend gladly shares, halves the trouble, the anxiety, the loss, into which his old companion has fallen. Just as men are magnanimous and noble-minded, so do they carry the sorrows of their fellows, so are they willingly wounded and bruised for the transgressions of their kindred and their friends. And if we, being evil, will do this, how much more our Father who is in heaven! if we, whose thoughts and ways are so comparatively low, how much more he whose thoughts and whose ways are as much higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth! It is just the very thing we should look for from the heavenly Father. IV. THE . That we should, by a living faith in the Divine Redeemer, avail ourselves of the work he wrought when he suffered for us. Otherwise we shall not know the peace and rest of heart which he came to secure us.—C. Departure and distance from God. These words, though very pictorial and poetical, indicate with great clearness the cardinal truths of religion and even of Christianity, and they express for us the thought and feeling common to all devout spirits. We see in them— I. THE HOME WHENCE WE HAVE . It is not stated, but it is clearly implied, that the fold or home whence we have gone astray is. 1. That of God, our Creator, our Father, our Divine Friend; it is that where he dwells, where he rules, where he sheds the sunshine of his presence and favour. 2. It is that of righteousness; of gratitude, of love, of reverence, of obedience, of submission. 3. It is that of peace; of spiritual order, rest, joy. II. THE PATHS WE HAVE PURSUED. "We have turned every one to his own way." Sinful error takes many directions. Sometimes it wanders into unbelief and denial; sometimes into rebelliousness of spirit, disdainful rejection of Divine claim; at other times into a sinful indulgence, in one or other of its various forms; or again into a guilty negligence and unconcern, or a criminal procrastination of sacred duty; or yet again into a hollow and worthless formalism, which has the show of piety without the substance of it. But in these various paths of sin there is one thing which is common to all, viz. the setting up of the human will against the will of God. Every one of us has gone his own way. We have "followed the devices and desires of our own hearts." We have determinately set our own inclination against the will of God. And herein we have— III. THE GUILT WHICH WE HAVE ALL . "All we … have gone astray." Some men have wandered farther away from God than others; some have gone in an opposite direction to that of others; but all men have guiltily preferred their own way to the home and the fold of God. All have forsaken and disregarded and grieved him. And thus all have sinned; all, without exception; not only those who have fallen into gross and most shameful enormities, but they also who have kept to the proprieties of outward behaviour, and have observed the decencies and requirements of the religious life t—all have withheld from God what is his due, and reserved to themselves what was not theirs to keep. IV. THE GOD HAS MADE FOR OUR RETURN. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." This does not signify that Jesus Christ bore the penalty due to all human sin—a part of that penalty it was absolutely impossible that the Innocent One should beat: It means that the redemptive work he wrought, and wrought by his submission to sorrow and death, avails for every child of man who will accept it; it means that in Christ is forgiveness of sin, acceptance with God, entrance into life eternal to every one who humbly but heartily receives him as Saviour and Lord.—C. The submissive spirit. Those who have a high appreciation of the more minute scriptural correspondences will naturally find a reference here to the fact recorded in Matthew 27:14. But we prefer to dwell on the submissiveness rather than the silence of our Lord, on the inward spirit rather than the outward incident. I. THE OF OUR SAVIOUR’S SPIRIT. The unspoken word of repining or reproach was of real value, because, in him, it indicated the unquestioning spirit, the unresentful heart. 1. The spirit of acquiescence. There is a silent, sullen acceptance of fate which is removed from the spirit of obedient acquiescence as far as evil is distant from good. Our Lord’s was the obedient spirit, that which cheerfully and heartily consented to the ordination of God. With willing hand he raised the bitter draught to his lips, and in the spirit of filial readiness he uttered those strengthening words," The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" And in his attitude toward man there was not only the unresisting hand, but also: 2. The unresentful heart. He did indeed declaim against the conduct of the scribes and Pharisees in uncompromising language (Matthew 23:1-39 but we detect no note of personal vindictiveness; he is affected and inspired throughout by pure indignation. When he is illegally and shamefully smitten there is no touch of unholy resentment in his reply, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" (John 18:23). And who, in this connection, can fail to remember the magnanimous prayer, breathed in the midst of the most excruciating pain, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"? II. THE WHICH CHRIST ASKS OF US. He demands of us: This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION IV.—A RENEWAL OF TO ISRAEL, WITH (CH. 54-56:8). Isaiah 54:1-10 A PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF GREAT , AND OF GOD’S . There is no close connection between this chapter and the last, or even between this section and the preceding. Isaiah 54:1-5 take up the thought of Isa 49:19-21, and expand it. Israel is assured of a great enlargement of her numbers, and bidden to rejoice thereat. She is then further comforted with a promise that she shall never be forsaken (Isaiah 49:6-10). Isaiah 54:1 Sing, O barren. Israel in captivity is addressed as "barren," because, in the time of suffering, her numbers rather diminished than increased. Still, she is bidden to "sing" on account of the prospect that is opening upon her. She that is now desolate and solitary will soon have more children than she formerly had, when she was a married wife, enjoying the fellowship of Jehovah, her Husband (Isaiah 54:5). The "children" spoken of are in part those who gathered themselves together in Jerusalem and the adjacent territory after the issue of the decree of Cyrus (1 Chronicles 9:2-34; Ezra 2:1-65; Ezra 8:1-20; Nehemiah 7:6-72; Nehemiah 11:3-36), but mainly such as flocked in from the Gentiles, both before and after Christ’s coming (see Isaiah 54:3). Isaiah 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent (comp. Isaiah 33:20 and Jeremiah 10:20). The memory of the old nomadic life caused the "tent" to be the symbol and representative of the dwelling-place. Israel will have so many more children that her "tent" will need enlarging. The curtains; i.e. the tent-cloth (comp. Exodus 26:1-37 and Exodus 36:1-38; where the word used occurs repeatedly). Thy cords … thy stakes (comp. Exodus 35:18; Exodus 39:40, etc.). The ropes and tent-pegs, which kept the tent-cloth in place, are intended. The enlargement of the tent would make longer ropes and larger pegs necessary. Isaiah 54:3 For thou shalt break forth; or, thou shalt increase (see Genesis 30:30, Genesis 30:43; Exodus 1:12). An overflow, like that of the bursting out of water, is pointed at. On the right hand and on the left; i.e. "on all sides" (comp. Genesis 28:14). Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. The Christian Church is viewed as a continuation of the Jewish Church; and the conversion of nation after nation to the gospel is regarded as the extension of Jewish dominion over fresh lands. The cities of these lands—desolate hitherto, i.e. without godly inhabitants—will under these circumstances come to be inhabited; i.e. will be peopled by faithful men. Isaiah 54:4 Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; rather, of thy maidenhood; i.e. of the time when thou wert a maiden, before by the covenant of Sinai Jehowth became thy Husband (Isaiah 54:5). The "shame" of this period was ’the Egyptian bondage. Israel’s later condition would be such that the very recollection of this bondage would fade away and cease. The reproach of thy widowhood. Israel became a "widow" when Jehovah withdrew his presence from her, when the Shechinah disappeared from the temple, and the temple itself was destroyed, and Jerusalem was a desolation, and the people captives in a far land. The special "reproach of her widowhood" was the Babylonian captivity, with the sins that had brought it about. This too would be forgotten in the good time to come, amid the glories of the Messianic kingdom. Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine Husband; rather, for thy Husband is thy Maker. The verse is exegetical of the terms, "married with" in Isaiah 54:1, and "widowhood" in Isaiah 54:4. "I," says the prophet, "have called thee married and widowed, thereby yoking thee to a husband, for thou hast a Husband, namely, thy Maker." (The Hebrew has both words in the plural, to accord with the following Elohim.) This relationship of God to his Church is often asserted by the prophets (Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 31:32; Hosea 2:19; So Hosea 1:4, etc.), and lies at the root of the oft-recurring metaphor by which idolatry is called "lewdness," "adultery," or "playing the whore." Thy Redeemer the Holy One; rather, thy Redeemer is the Holy One. (On the title itself, see the comment on Isaiah 1:4.) The God of the whole earth (comp. Psalms 24:1; Psalms 47:2, Psalms 47:7; Psalms 133:1-3:18, etc.). Materially, he was always this. Now, from this time, he will be "God of the whole earth" morally; not God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles (see Romans 3:29). Isaiah 54:6 For the Lord hath called thee; i.e. recalled thee to himself—summoned thee to return, and once more resume the office of a wife. As a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit; i.e. as one whom her husband has cast off, and whose spirit is grieved by the repudiation. No doubt a large number of the captives had the same spirit of penitence as Daniel (Daniel 9:5-19). A wife of youth. One wooed and won in youth, therefore more dearly loved, more regretfully repudiated, more joyfully restored when seen to be penitent. When thou wast refused; rather, when she has been cast off. Jehovah takes back Israel into the old relationship, as a man takes back "the wife of his youth," when she has been for a long time "cast off." Isaiah 54:7, Isaiah 54:8 For a small moment have I forsaken thee. The sixty or seventy years of the Captivity were but as a moment of time compared with the long ages during which God had tenderly watched over and protected his Church, and, still more, compared with the eternity during which he was now about to show himself her constant Guardian and Protector. There had been a little wrath; or rather, one burst of wrath; and then Mercy had resumed her sway. The face hid for a moment had been allowed once more to shine upon the afflicted people; and the momentary indignation would be followed by, and swallowed up in, ever-lasting kindness. Isaiah 54:9 This is as the waters of Noah unto me. The existing calamity—Israel submerged in the flood of Babylonian captivity-is as it were a repetition of the calamity of the Deluge in God’s eyes. Its object is to purify his Church, as the object of the Flood was to purify the world. A righteous household survived in the one case; a righteous remnant would go forth in the other. And as God bound himself in Noah’s time not to repeat the calamity of the Deluge, so now he binds himself not again to submerge his Church in a captivity like the Babylonian. It has been said that the promise was not kept, since the Jewish Church was, in a.d. 70, carried captive by the Romans. But the prophet views the Jewish Church as continued in the Christian, into which all its better and more spiritual members passed at the first preaching of the gospel; and the promise here made is thus parallel to that of our Lord, "Upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Much as the Christian Church has suffered from the world, it has never been in like cases with the Jewish Church in Babylon, and, as God is faithful, never will be reduced to such extremity. As I have sworn; i.e. "pledged myself." It does not appear from Genesis 8:20-22 or Genesis 9:8-17 that God actually bound himself by oath. So have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. That is to say, not to the same extent, not so as to visit her with the same punishment. Isaiah 54:10 The mountains shall depart … but my kindness shall not depart (comp. Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away"). Everything material may fail, depart, perish; but God’s promises remain firm and secure for ever. The covenant of my peace; or, my covenant of peace—any promise which God makes to his creatures for their advantage (comp. Numbers 25:12; Ezekiel 34:25; Ezekiel 37:26; Malachi 2:5). Here there is a special allusion to the promise just made and confirmed by oath (Isaiah 54:9). Isaiah 54:11-17 THE GLORY OF THE NEW , AND THE OF ITS . Hitherto Israel has been addressed; now the direct object of address is Jerusalem. The eye of the prophet passes, however, with a glance, from the actual present to the far-distant future, and sees the Zion of God in her heavenly setting, all bedecked with precious stones, as she was seen by the exile of Patmos more than seven centuries later (Revelation 21:16-21). After briefly describing the heavenly city, he passes to her inhabitants, and promises them peace, protection, and righteousness. Isaiah 54:11 O thou afflicted (comp. Isaiah 49:14-17). Jerusalem is seen as she was during the Captivity—"afflicted" by God’s hand, vexed with all his storms, and not yet comforted (Comp. Isaiah 64:10, Isaiah 64:11). Then a fresh vision obliterates the mournful sight. I will lay thy stones with fair colours; literally, I will lay thy stones in antimony; i.e. I will give them a setting and adornment like that which beautiful women were in the habit of giving to their eyes when they wished to attract admiration (see 2 Kings 9:30). Puk, or antimony, was used to stain both the upper and the under eyelid, in order to increase the apparent lustre of the eye, and so impart to it greater beauty. The passage is not to be understood as implying that coloured marbles were ever really set in antimony. And lay thy foundations with sapphires; or, make thy foundations of sapphires. In Revelation the first foundation is "jasper," the second "sapphire" (Revelation 21:19). Sapphire was the foundation on which the throne of God appeared to be set, when it was seen by Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders (Exodus 24:10). The throne itself had the appearance of sapphire, as seen by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 10:1). Sapphire is the hue of heaven. Isaiah 54:12 I will make thy windows of agates. Most moderns translate, "I will make thy battlements," or "thy pinnacles of rubies." The exact meaning is very doubtful. Thy gates of carbuncles. In the Revelation of St. John the gates are each of them composed of one pearl (Revelation 21:21)—the pearl betokening purity, the carbuncle the glow of devotional feeling. We must not expect consistency in descriptions which are entirely allegorical. All thy borders of pleasant stones; or, all thy boundaries. An enclosing wall seems to be meant (comp. Revelation 21:17). Isaiah 54:13 All thy children shall be taught of the Lord (comp. Isaiah 44:3; Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:34; Ezekiel 11:19; Joe 2:28; Acts 2:17, Acts 2:18, etc.). Christians are all of them "taught of God" (John 6:45; 1 Thessalonians 4:9). The "anointing," which they have from the Holy Ghost, "teaches them, and is truth, and is no lie" (1 John 2:27), and causes them to "know all things" (1 John 2:20). And great shall be the peace of thy children. Messiah was to be "the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). His birth heralded the coming of "peace on earth" (Luke 2:14). So far forth as men are true Christians, does peace reign in the conscience and show itself in the life. Externally there may be persecution, tumult, wars, fightings; but internally, in each heart, there will be a "peace that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). God "keeps in perfect peace" those" whose minds are stayed on him" (Isaiah 26:3). Isaiah 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established; rather, through righteousness. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 48:22); and conversely, where righteousness abounds, peace prevails, and the nation "is established." Thou shalt be far from oppression; rather, be thou far from anxiety (Delitzsch). Thou shalt not fear; rather, thou needest not fear. There is no danger—nothing to be afraid of. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (Isaiah 11:9). So long as thou art "established through righteousness," there shall no harm happen unto thee. Isaiah 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, etc.; rather, behold, should they gather themselves together; i.e. should enemies collect and threaten thee with harm, be assured that the attack is not by me—not my doing—and that, therefore, it will come to nought. All those who gather together against thee shall fall—i.e. stumble and be overthrown—through striking against thee. The rendering of the Authorized Version, "for thy sake," is quite indefensible. Isaiah 54:16 Behold, I have created, etc. The Church is encouraged to fear no danger by being reminded that all power to do hurt is from God. Whether it be the smith that forges a weapon, or the waster that destroys and lays waste whole countries, or any other worker of woe to man, all are equally brought into being, and sustained in life, by God. None can do a hurt that God does not allow. The smith that bloweth the coals. In ancient times the smith worked his metal into shape by the help of a blow-pipe, which he blew himself (see Rosellini, ’Monumenti Civili,’ pl. 51, fig 4, and pl. 52, fig. 4). For his work; or, for its work: i.e. destruction. The waster; i.e. the conquering king, such as Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus. Isaiah 54:17 No weapon … every tongue. Whether weapons are used against Israel, or whether she is attacked, as in Sennacherib’s time, by "the tongue that speaketh proud things" (Isaiah 36:4-20; Isaiah 37:10-13), the result will he the same. She will triumph over her enemies, and condemn them or put them to shame. Her security is her righteousness, which she derives from Jehovah (comp. Isaiah 45:24, Isaiah 45:25). Isaiah 54:1-6 The relation of the Church to God that of a wife to her husband. The analogy set forth by the prophet in the first six verses of this chapter is one to which equal prominence is given in the Old Testament and the New. It forms the basis of one entire book of the Old Scriptures—the Canticles, or Song of Solomon. It pervades the whole teaching of the prophets, which declares apostasy from God to be "adultery" (Isaiah 57:3-5; Jeremiah 3:9; Jeremiah 5:7; Jeremiah 13:27; Jeremiah 23:10-14; Ezekiel 16:32-36; Ezekiel 23:37; Hosea 3:1; Hosea 4:12-14, etc.). It is asserted repeatedly with the utmost plainness (verse 5; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 31:32; Hosea 2:16-20). In the New Testament, it is hinted at in the Gospels (Matthew 25:1-10), taught plainly in the Epistles (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23-32), and made part of the imagery of the Revelation of St. John (John 21:2, John 21:9; 22:17). The only difference is that, in the Old Testament, the "husband" is, vaguely, Jehovah or God; in the New he is, definitely, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ. The relationship involves, on the part of God: 1. Love. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church" (Ephesians 5:25). 2. Tender guardianship and care. "The Lord nourisheth and cherisheth the Church" (Ephesians 5:29). 3. Exertion of a purifying and elevating influence. Christ "loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). 4. Everlasting kindness—kindness that "shall not depart," or be withdrawn, for ever (Isaiah 54:8,Isaiah 54:10). On the part of the Church there are involved corresponding duties; as: 1. Love (1 John 4:16-21). 2. Reverence (Ephesians 5:33). 3. Subjection. "As the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5:24). 4. Never-ending fidelity. The desire of the Church should be towards her Lord, as his is towards her (So John 7:10), incessantly. Man’s righteousness is of God. Whatever there is in man of goodness, virtue, sound or right feeling, high aspiration, spiritual strength, comes to him from the Almighty, from whence descends "every good gift and every perfect gift" (James 1:17). Original righteousness was from God (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 1:31). When man fell, and "corrupted his way," recovery was impossible, unless God both devised a method by which it should be possible, and also superintended the working of his own method, and at each step made it effectual. The righteousness of the servants of God is a double righteousness, imputed and infused; but both come equally from the perfectly "righteous Servant" (Isaiah 53:11), who alone "justifies many." I. IMPUTED IS OF GOD. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of God; for it is the righteousness of Christ, who is God. Christ is made to us" wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). The righteousness which is properly his, and which is a perfect righteousness, is, through our mystic union with him, imputed to us, as if it were ours, and so becomes ours, and justifies us. It is also "of God," since it is imputed to us by God. God the Father condescends to look upon us as so bound up in his Son that he passes on to us the merits of his Son, and, as it were, makes them ours. II. INFUSED IS OF GOD. Infused righteousness is the work of the Holy Spirit, who "sanctifies us, and all the elect people of God." It admits of infinite degrees, and in this life is always imperfect. The true Christian is always making progress in it, adding grace to grace, going on from strength to strength, perfecting holiness in the tear of God. But every step is made by God’s help. Without him man can do nothing. Every virtue that we have is also a grace—a grace from the Divine point of view, a virtue from the human; with struggle and effort acquired by man, yet given to him by God. Imputed righteousness is that which justifies us; infused righteousness is that which sanctifies us. The one is a gift to us; the other is a gift in us. But both alike are the gift of God (see Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Galatians 5:22, Galatians 5:23; Ephesians 5:9, etc.). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 54:1-17 The future of the Church. "The person addressed is the ideal Zion, who is practically identical with the ideal or spiritual Israel." I. HER . Nothing to an Israelitish mind can suggest more forcibly the idea of desolation and sorrow in a nation or spiritual community than the childless woman. Historically, the restored exiles may be referred to; physically and to some extent spiritually Israelites, but, while on a foreign soil, and unbaptized with the Spirit, their union was not complete. In a wider spiritual application, the Church of God, in the Old Testament, confined within the narrow limits of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect to the very small number of true believers, and which seemed sometimes deserted of God her Husband (Lowth). The conversion of the Gentiles is the accession of a vast progeny to the spiritual Israel—a vast extension of the Church of God (Isaiah 49:20-22). II. HER . The figure of a tent is employed. The canopy or coverings of the tent are to be widened, its cords lengthened, and the tent-pins made strong. The wandering is to be exchanged for the permanent habitation (For the image cf. Jeremiah 10:20.) The boundaries of the Church are to be enlarged to accommodate the vast accession from the pagan world. On all hands she is to break forth, even as it had been promised to Jacob (Genesis 28:14), to take possession of the nations, and inhabit desolate cities. The period of reproach, figured by maidenhood or widowhood, is to come to an end. III. HER TO GOD. 1. He is Maker and Goel, Mediator and Redeemer, of her family rights. (For the Christian application, see Ephesians 2:19, "Fellow-citizens of the saints, and members of the family of God.") As the nearest kinsman is bound to interpose for the defence of members of his family, so the Almighty is bound to avenge and succour his chosen. In his Name, Jehovah of hosts, is found a further guarantee of his saving mercy for the future. It means that he is God of the whole earth, that his glory fills the creation. (For the application to the Christian Church, see Romans 3:29, "God of the Gentiles also.") 2. The relation of marriage in its Divine application points to an indissoluble and eternal union. The Church may appear in times of distress as "an outcast and downcast woman," divorced from her God. But "even many an earthly husband cannot bear to see the misery of his divorced wife, and therefore at length recalls her: how much more, then, Jehovah!" In a "gush of wrath" it was that his face was hidden from her. In everlasting kindness he will have mercy; the sea being contrasted with the momentary outburst, or "gush" of displeasure. "Never shall this dispensation of wrath be repeated, no more than that of Noah’s floods. Mountains are symbolic of the unchangeableness of the Eternal (cf. Psalms 36:6; Psalms 65:6). They seem to be the solid pillars and foundations of the earth. They may totter; but the loving-kindness of God must be like himself, eternal. The covenant of peace, which has been ratified between him and his people, will abide amidst all vicissitudes of nature and of history. The love of the Eternal is, then, the first and last secret of all things. At the basis of the universe lies law, and law itself is the expression of love. Law wears to us often a stern face; it is the expression of wrath. But a holy wrath is itself the expression of a loving heart. He who has made the world cannot hate it. He who is the Author of the soul is its affianced Spouse and self-constituted Protector. Language and imagination labour in vain with so immense a conception as that of the Divine love. It must follow from this that the Church, as a spiritual and mystical community, must be safe through all the change of time. IV. THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE CHURCH. She appears under the figure of a city, the new Jerusalem. Her brilliant stones will be set in a beautifying cement. Her battlements will be of rubies, her gates of carbuncles, her outer walls of precious stones. Yet this will only be the outward manifestation of an inward and spiritual glory. The people will be disciples of Jehovah (cf. Numbers 11:29; Joe 2:23, Joe 2:29), that is, in effect, prophets, filled with utterance as with inspiration. Her constitution will rest upon a sound, because a moral basis—on righteousness, on fidelity to her covenant with God. Not being built, like the cities of the heathen, of fraud and rapine, oppression and destruction will be far from her thoughts. She will enjoy security. Should any foe presume to molest her, he will stumble—he will be like a blind traveller who falls headlong over an obstacle. For all the agencies which work either a people’s weal or woe are in the hands of the Eternal. He is the Creator of the smith, and so mediately of the destroying weapon he forges. So the great Oriental kings are his tools. But no weapon turned against Israel shall succeed in its aim; and every abusing tongue shall be pronounced guilty in the day of judgment. Such is the spiritual inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, such their justification at his hands. "It is not gold and the triumph of battle. It is not the laurel won in fields of blood. The inheritance is the protection of God in all times of trouble; his friendship in all periods of activity; complete victory in all the contests with error and false systems of religion; and prevention when foes rise up in any form and seek to destroy the Church, and to blot out its existence and its name." "God defend the right!" has been an ancient prayer in times of anxiety and conflict. He does defend the right and the righteous at all times, the prophet declares.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Perennial kindness. "My kindness shall not depart from thee." Much kindness does. It is fervid, but fickle, and is too often conditioned by mood and temper and circumstance. Moreover, it may depart through lack of power and opportunity. I. THE SAVIOR’S IS TRUE . He knows what kindness is. We too often mistake favour and indulgence for kindness. God is often kindest when he is most severe. II. THE SAVIOUR’S IS . It costs him something. Much kindness evaporates in sentiment and speech. It does not impinge on the ease and the comfort of our friends. Jesus Christ said, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God!" and, "although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." His kindness was tested: 1. By the treatment he received. 2. By the nature that suffered. So deep in feeling; so infinite in its capacity for enduring sorrow. 3. By the sacrifice he offered. 4. By the permanence of his work, as "Head over all things to the Church." Then let the faint-hearted rest on the promise, "It shall not depart."—W.M.S. The eternal constancy: a meditation on change. "My kindness shall not depart from thee." How much does depart in this world! There are departed sorrows, departed joys, departed friends; and in one sense, concerning life and joy and duty, the world is full of graves. But we have an unchanging Lord, Jesus Christ, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "My kindness!" Is there not a comfort in the very emphasis? For much kindness does depart. Fervent, but evanescent, it has its little day, and then vanishes away. "We are such stuff as dreams are made of." The nobility of our nature fails before the strains of littleness in character of others and distance of place and time. The eternal constancy is beautiful. Mark the connection of thought. The mountains may depart, Galilee’s lake may embosom the surrounding hills, but the great Father’s love is immutable and eternal. To take to heart these words would be to dispel our darkest fears. A faith strong enough to grasp this will light up every forest, and overcome every foe. There are strange mysteries of suffering in this world. Sorrow has many synonyms in human speech answering to the many phases of human experience. There are agonies of endurance, breaches of trust, sighings of solitude, sadnesses of disappointment, wailings of bereavement. To-day there are disciples terrified in the storm, Rachels mourning for their departed, Peters dropping scalding tears over denials of the Lord. Can it be wondered at that in such a world, amid such human trials and such spiritual experiences, kindness—the Divine kindness—should be so precious a thing? Let us recall the multitude of God’s mercies; let us remember his hand in the glacier-passes of temptation, and the nights of tribulation. The strings of our human harps must sweep forth the music of love. There has been no change in Christ. 1. THE . Think of what we are! Fickle, irresolute, ungrateful, unfaithful. Our God is a God of insight. He searcheth the heart. He sees not only conduct, but character. No disguise can cloak from him. And what secrets there are in these hearts of ours! There are mirrors there which flash hack, even to ourselves, the hidden things of darkness. Yet he loves us still! The previous chapter says, "All we like sheep have gone astray." Yet it is the stray lambs the Saviour seeks, and the poor prodigal wanderer the Father loves! The strongest ties we know of are in our human relationships; they are images of the Divine love. Only an artificial theology has made the rectoral character of God override the paternal. Think you that on some wild Christmas, amid home’s most festive scenes, with the children and the children’s children about him, that father, whose hair is whiter than the winter snow, can forget the prodigal? With the ruddy fire-glow around him, and the yule logs piled high, his mind wanders over the bleak and barren moorland of the outside world; and one faint knock at the portal, one weary step, one quivering lip, brings more music to his heart than the tabret and the dance. He knows all about the squandered wealth, the profligate life, the reckless pilgrimage of vanity. But his kindness cannot depart from him, for he is a father still. I claim for God the very amplest application of that analogy. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,… we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." "In Christ’s stead!" What words! Many evil things the Church has done—Roman, Anglican, and Puritan—would look strange enough if Christ’s gentle image had been thought upon, and men had inscribed above it, "We are Christ’s!" God gave such tension and tenderness to the human heart to make our fatherhood a parable of his own! "If we knew all!" Thus even we who love him, who have been reconciled to him, say sometimes in our darker moods. Does God know all? Then could he be kind to us still. We have served other gods. We have been faithless stewards. We have been at heart callous and cold. Yet to us comes this message of the eternal constancy: "My kindness shall not depart from thee." II. THE . Think of what human nature is. We make retrospect concerning ourselves. We do not depreciate humanity when we say that kindness is an uncertain thing. We do not charge it upon others to the exclusion of ourselves. We are all unstable as water. We find how difficult it is to be unselfish. And no kindness can be perpetual without that. There are occasions when kindness is lacking in us; when a feeble witticism has wounded a friend; when a cruel sarcasm has bruised a brother’s sensibilities; when a personal enjoyment has inflicted deprivation on others. Kindness is easy when its manifestations are costless. Nay, it cannot be dignified with the name; for it ministers to our own pride and satisfaction. But we cannot conceal the fact that courtesy, compassion, and care do fail, and, in one word, "love" is absent. I am not speaking of the false kindness of the deceiver, or the tender mercies of the gay, or the heartless mannerism which feigns affection. This is devils’ work, and fills the sinner’s night of death with spectres worse than the genius of Dante ever described or Dore ever designed. I am speaking of the common fact of instability in human feeling, inconstancy in human love. Explainable, indeed, sometimes by the detection of selfishness, superficiality, or unworthiness, as we think, in others, but manifest, in some measure, in us all. Now, the Divine Saviour is the ideal of all unselfishness. He gave himself. He humbled himself. He became obedient unto death—even the death of the cross—for us. While we were yet enemies, he died for us. And this was no solitary embodiment of his nature. It was a revelation of what his eternal nature is. Take, then, a review of yourself; take a review of society—and forget not all the revelations you have had of blessed contrast in God, whose kindness has not departed from you. III. THE REVIEW. Think of what the past time says. Life has been full of mercy to us all. Homes have been revisited, friends have been restored, love has been consummated, new homes have been set up, accident has been averted, health has been restored, deliverance has been vouchsafed, affliction has been sanctified, and religious faith has in some cases been renewed and restored. Most wonderful of all is this. We have lived through seasons in which subtle temptations have had their enchanter’s wand broken, and difficulties in our Christian faith have been removed. True, indeed, it is that to some these words would mean nothing—would, perhaps, raise a smile of condescending pity for those of us who still believe in a God at all. Some there are who wonder at the worship which rises above "the stream of tendency," or the laws of evolution, to the Fountain of Life and Power which fills the universe with life and joy; and to others the words would sound like the bitter irony of fate. Kindness! when the fig tree has withered, and there is slender produce in the vine? for some have not yet learned that Providence has higher ends than to weave purple robes and to grow costly fruits. What blessedness there is to most of us in the continuous belief in a personal God and Father—in a hand that rules, a voice that speaks, and a heart that loves! Truly it sufficeth us to show us the Father; for, try as men may, they can never create an impersonal religion. Greece raised her altars to Pity and Fame, and the abstract virtues; but the testimony of history was the total neglect of them all. The human heart can worship a Divine heart only—must seek after a God, even if he be "the Unknown God." Certainly, also, we cannot worship, adore, praise, and glorify any embodied idea of humanity—the positivists cannot make a beautiful image of that. No; its shame, its vice, its corruption, its evil, remain; the statue may have gold in it, but it has iron and clay as well. The Lord revealed in the Bible is our God and Father to-day! "My soul thirsteth for God, the living God;" "Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing;" "Great is the Lord, and of great power, and his understanding is infinite." We retain our prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven." We retain our pathway of approach. "Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life." We retain our altar of love, the one Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking back, then, and taking a review of life preserved and life sustained, of friends given or restored, of love cemented and consecrated, of faith purified and elevated, must not our seal be set afresh to the truth of the words, "My kindness shall not depart from thee"? IV. THE . Think what the future will bring. The coming days. These are the most constant theme of our meditation. We project ourselves into life’s to-morrow. We never live wholly for the present time. We are all artists in this wise, colouring our picture by means of our faith or our experience. We are sometimes morbid, and doubt whether good times will come to us again, forgetful of the past seasons of trouble which gave place in time to the brighter morrow. Alas! we too often say, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercy?" Kindness departed! That is our earthly and our spiritual dread. But the bow in the cloud is God’s silent prophecy. And there is a bow in every cloud, if we will but gaze upon the heaven of mercy above us. To-morrow is coming, but on its wings mercy and love will also come. God will still show forth his loving-kindness in the morning. The throne of God is not to be covered with the crape of a departed majesty. We believe in "the Eternal. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." God is the Good! His sceptre is no iron mace of authority, but he is the Father of our spirits, and the God of our salvation. What will to-morrow bring? The seed-time and the harvest. The summer sky and the song of the reaper. The release of the ice-bound fountain and the beauty and fragrance of a thousand fields. To-morrow there is to be more and more departure of ignorance and wrong, of desolation and darkness. The light is to shine more and more unto the perfect day; for Christ must reign. Every season of life will have its kindness. If father and mother forsake us in childhood, the Lord will take us up. If widowhood comes, Christ will be the Husband of the widow. Frosty, but kindly, as Shakespeare says, will old age be itself, when the evening comes, and death too will be kind when it comes, taking down the tabernacle with a quiet hand, and gently hushing us into the calm sleep of the child whose morning is heaven. Let us get rid, then, of the habit of dark foreboding, for thereby we deprive ourselves of the music of to-day. We all sometimes think of Divine mercy as though its meridian had passed, and as though God’s grace was setting over the plains of life. We have an ever-living Saviour, an indwelling Spirit, the blessing of spiritual sonship, the foretaste of the sweet vineyards of Canaan, and a fountain ever open for sin and uncleanness. Let us seek to make God’s kindness in its constancy the image of our own. Love is the law of heaven; the angels are all ministering spirits. When poor Hagar, with haggard eyes and dishevelled hair, was in the wilderness, it was an angel-hand which led her to the well. When Gideon was threshing his wheat, his face pictures forth the great sorrow of his people, and we hear him saying, "O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" And an angel’s voice then reassures him with the promise, "Surely I will be with thee." When the ship is driven helplessly through the storm, an angel-voice says to the apostle, "Fear not, Paul!" Yes; there is a sympathy and a constant kindness in the angelic ministry. And we are to be ministering spirits too. A part of our nature, constituted as it is to live in others, would be shorn of its blessedness if we could not also be ministers of kindness. Onward, then, my brethren, with these words on your banner. The light which falls on the letters of gold will attract the eyes of others, as you show them what a religious faith can do in renewing the life of the world. Faith in God our Saviour will change the countenance, strengthen even the physical nerves, and make us better companions and brighter friends. Like a talisman, these words will keep you from the dread which has darkened man’s earthly life in every age. You will bear them aloft on your banner, not as rejoicing in a God who loves and cares for you alone; but you will say to the world, "Let our people be your people, and our God your God." Yield your hearts to him. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." You will fear no evil, for the Lord is with you! There. will be manna in the wilderness; the Jordan itself will be dry; the warder will throw wide the open gates at your home-going, and the Saviour will give you the welcome rest. These words are those of the faithful and true. "My kindness shall not depart from thee."—W.M.S. BY W. Enlargement and consolidation. "Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." Applying these words to the Church of Christ in its attitude of holy expectation, and its sacred duty under all circumstances, but particularly in the time of growth, we learn of it— I. THAT IT SHOULD BE . The challenge comes from its Lord, "Spare not, lengthen thy cords;" i.e. take the attitude and the action of those who are looking for increase, for the incoming of those who are outside. The Church of Christ is well warranted in doing this; for it has: 1. Ample scope in a vast unredeemed world beyond its borders; souls that are capable of brotherhood, of sonship, of heirship. 2. All the materials it wants for successful enterprise, in authority to work and win, in truth perfectly fitted to the deepest wants of the human heart, in the potency of Christian love and zeal. 3. Divine promise that its labour shall not be in vain. II. THAT IT SHOULD BE ENGAGED IN . AS a multitude of armed men do not make an army, so a number of people with Christian words on their lips and Christian ordinances in their practice do not make a Christian Church after Christ’s ideal. The accession of numbers is not everything; it may prove to be very little; before now, in certain cases, it has proved to be "less than nothing and vanity." The Church must "strengthen its stakes" as well as "lengthen its cords." It must not spare its strength in providing for permanence and stability as well as increase. It must aim at, and must pray and labour for: 1. The intelligent acceptance of the truth of Christ in its integrity. 2. Spirituality in worship. 3. Consistency of conduct and consequent illustration of a large part of Christ’s will in its daily life. 4. Order and discipline in its regular action.—C. Isaiah 54:6-10 Superabounding goodness. The prevailing thought here is the prevalence of God’s goodness over his severity. For a small moment he had forsaken, but with great mercies he would comfort his people. Against the "little wrath" in which his face was hidden there was to be set the "everlasting kindness" with which he would redeem them. The largely preponderant, completely outweighing, superabounding goodness of the Lord is manifest on every side. We see it— I. IN THE NATURAL WORLD. There is a great deal of misery beneath the sky. How could it be otherwise when there is so much of cruelty and sin? But if we look long at all that happens as the direct result of God’s handiwork, we shall find that "mercy triumphs over wrath," good over ill. There is a large and blessed preponderance of light over darkness, of pleasure over pain, of joy over sorrow, of hope over despair, of confidence over distrust, of fertility over barrenness, of plenty over poverty, of society over solitude, of life over death. But for the disturbing and destructive element of sin, this would obviously be the case in a very much larger degree than it is now. II. IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. The Church of God has been represented at different times by different communities. At one time by the suffering community in Egypt; at another, by the Church in the wilderness; at another, by the distracted society under the judges; at another, by the triumphant nation under David and Solomon; at another, by Israel in exile; at another, by the returned and rejoicing people of God who had. come home from captivity. It is now represented by the Churches of Christ scattered over many lands, and forming apparently many distinct religious bodies. Sometimes God has lifted upon his people the light of his countenance, and they have rejoiced in his manifested favour; at other times he has withdrawn his face, and made his people to feel the weight of his chastening hand. But upon the whole it has been found, and in the end it will be found, that his manifestations of mercy and grace have triumphed greatly over those of wrath and penalty. There were times in the history of the Jewish Church when its light nearly went out in the surrounding darkness, but it did not expire; by the Divine hand it was guarded and fed, and has now become, under other conditions, a glorious sun, giving light and heat to all the nations. Mountains and hills, in the shape of kingdoms and powers, have departed and been removed; but God’s kindness to his Church will not depart, nor will his faithfulness fail. With everlasting kindness will God be merciful to the Church which bears the name, and teaches the truth, and extends the kingdom, of his Son. III. IN THE CAREER OF HIS . There is no uniform course which the life of piety is found to take; it takes almost every variety of ways. Sometimes it lies much in the sunshine and but little in the shadow; and sometimes it is shaded nearly the whole way through. And how many kinds of shadow fall on the good man’s path! It is the apparent withdrawal of God’s favour from his soul; or it is the false charge which takes away his fair fame; or it is overwhelming loss involving others as well as himself in struggle or even in penury; or it is early separation from those most dearly beloved. There is "the hiding of God’s face;" the hour comes when nothing but the Master’s words will utter the feelings of the heart, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But all this is temporary; nay, everything being counted, it is but momentary. God has in reserve infinite resources which, afterwards if not now, yonder if not here, will make up a thousandfold for all that he sends of trial and suffering. Let the faithful soul build on the immovable rock of God’s integrity. Mountains may melt and hills may flee away, the foundations of the solid earth may be broken up, but God’s kindness cannot depart, because his Word cannot fail; that is the one absolutely and eternally impossible thing.—C. The prize of life, and its pursuit. "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." We gather from this text— I. THE TRUE PRIZE OF LIFE. What is that thing which is most worth having, most worth the thought of our minds, the strenuous striving of our soul, the labour of our hands? Nations, communities, individual men, have given different replies. One has said case, another wealth, another pleasure, another power, another glory. The inspired Hebrew said peace. The blessing he invoked on those he loved, and that which he lauded in speech and song, was peace. And he was right. Peace is the indispensable, the immeasurably precious thing. 1. It is a profound blessing. It goes down to the depth of our compound nature; it is the excellent result of complete rightness—rightness of heart with God, rightness of life with man. 2. It is a lasting thing. Other prizes may be snatched away by untoward circumstances, or their worth dims and lessens with the passing years, or even (with some of them) with the fleeting days. But this abides; prosperity does not injure it, adversity does not remove it, age does not diminish its excellency. 3. It is the condition of holy usefulness. We can serve our race in higher and greater things without the other prizes of life, but not without this. Not until our hearts have found rest in God’s truth and in himself can we be and say and do that which will guide the feet of our fellow-men into and along the paths of righteousness and wisdom. II. THE ONE WAY OF WINNING IT. The children of Zion would have great peace, inasmuch as they would be "taught of the Lord." :Nothing else will give to the human heart the peace which it craves. 1. Comfortable circumstances will not ensure it. These circumstances cannot be generally commanded, and, if they could, there would still be a craving of the soul which no comforts or successes of any earthly kind would satisfy. 2. Philosophy is not equal to the task. Stoicism tried its hand, and with some of its disciples there was the appearance of success; but it has no power to minister to the necessities of the multitudes of mankind, to the ordinary human heart, to men and women as we meet and know them every day. To the common, questioning, thirsting human heart it is a fountain without water, a name without the power behind it. 3. A Divine Saviour alone can supply the need. He only who brings everlasting truth to our mind, the sympathy and love of an unfailing friendship to the heart, spiritual excellence to the soul, meaning and worth to human life, a hope bright with immortal glory to the closing hour,—he only is entitled to say, "Come unto me … I will give you rest." "My peace I give unto you." Great peace—peace that passeth understanding, and that outliveth mortal life, have they who learn of him and take his yoke upon them.—C. The heritage of faithful service. From the beginning to the end of the Scriptures the service of God is represented as the only wise course for men to take. All paths of disobedience are spoken of as ways of folly as well as of sin. It is godliness that has the promise of all things, here and hereafter. The heritage of the holy is very variously defined, the most remarkable definition being that given by our Lord in reply to Peter. In the text we have it presented to us as a continual victory. No weapon formed against the righteous shall prosper, and every accusation shall be silenced. God will justify them. The faithful service of Christ is marked by victory over— I. SUCCESS IN OUTWARD LIFE. Few weapons are so powerful as this in the hand of the enemy. Many are they who, in their folly, have allowed their prosperity to destroy them (Proverbs 1:32). The sense of power, the enjoyment of popularity, the command of comforts, the continuance of success in the chosen vocation,—these things prove too much for many souls. Under their influence men swerve from the straight line of simplicity of life, humility of spirit, purity of heart, integrity of character. II. ADVERSE . These are often found to be victorious over men, triumphing over their faith in God, their gratitude, and their submission; leading down to sullenness and moroseness of spirit; in some cases conducting to unbelief and impiety. III. OF . When it is a man’s fortune to be separated from the community and to lead a life of comparative loneliness, he is cast much on his own resources. He misses the encouragement and inspiration which come from social worship and collective piety. Without the aid and influence of these, he is in danger of fainting and falling in his Christian course. IV. TO CORRUPT . This is often a matter of necessity and not of choice. The best may have to submit to it, and the peril of spiritual injury from it is very great. V. THE FORCE OF A . A force which either vigorously assaults the main fortress of the faith or sedulously and stealthily undermines the wails—a great and growing peril. It is promised to the servants of the Lord that they shall triumph over these various enemies. "No weapon that is formed," etc. But while (1) God’s promise may well cheer his servants, helping them to pursue their troubled path, and to do their difficult or dangerous work with alacrity and hope; it is well that (2) his conditions should be remembered. There is no absolute, unconditional guarantee; the careless, the disobedient, the negligent servant will be, nay, he is, defeated by the enemy; he yields and falls. But let a man be a faithful servant, studious of Christ’s will and daily seeking his Holy Spirit’s aid, and he will find that his Divine Lord will "always cause him to triumph;" he will know "the exceeding greatness of his power" to uphold and to perfect. Meantime, to those who are observers, (3) God’s sustaining grace will prove the sign and seal of his Divine favour. "This is their righteousness [justification] of me."—C. BY R. TUCK Divine enlargements. The figure employed is taken from tent-life, and it is used in a similar way by Jeremiah. "My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains ’ (Jeremiah 10:20). "The Orientals have two kinds of tents—the one larger, and the other smaller; but both constructed much in the same way. They are sustained by poles, more or fewer in number, according to the size of the tent, but the tallest is always in the midst, while the others suspend the covering round the sides. This covering is made of a stuff woven from wool and camel’s hair; it hangs down like a curtain over the side poles, and is fastened by cords to wooden pegs, which are firmly driven into the ground. Other cords, fastened at one end to the top of the poles, and at the other to pegs or stakes, keep the tent steady, and secure it against the violence of storms. As the family increases, it is proportionally enlarged, and requires the cords to be longer and the stakes to be stronger in proportion. One cause of depression, at the time of the return, was that so few of the Israelites responded to the Divine call, and it seemed hopeless work to attempt to revive the old glories of Jerusalem with such a feeble company. The divinely comforting assurances of the text are designed to revive hope and renew confidence. "The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation." And the promise was fulfilled. Those that first came out of Babylon were but forty-two thousand (Ezra 2:64), about a fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt; many came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be the greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet, above five hundred years after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a calculation was made by the number of the Paschal lambs, and the lowest computation by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb, whereas there might be twenty) made the nation to be nearly three millions. Further reference may be found to the enlargement of the Christian Church after Pentecost, and especially after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the scattering of the disciples which followed upon that sad event. The general topic suggested for consideration is the duty of cheerfully following on, when God opens before us wider and larger spheres of influence and usefulness, and the following points may be illustrated. I. IT IS WRONG TO FORCE INTO BEFORE GOD CALLS. II. IT IS WRONG TO HOLD BACK WHEN GOD DOES CALL. III. LARGER SPHERES, AND WIDER , ARE GOD’S SIGNS OF AND OF THE WORK WHICH WE HAVE DONE. IV. THOSE WHO ENTER ON SPHERES NEED TO BE .—R.T. The husband-figure for God. "For thy Maker is thine Husband" (comp. Hosea 2:16), "And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me, Ishi [my Husband], and shalt call me no more, Baali [my Lord]"). The figure Isaiah uses is that of the Goel, or next of kin, and this very suggestive and beautiful illustration may be taken from the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was a "next of kin," and on him rested the formal duty of recovering Ruth’s property, if the nearest kinsman failed to do his duty. But all formal relations were swallowed up in the tender love that knit Boaz and Ruth together as husband and wife. I. THE CLAIMS OF GOD IN THIS HUSBAND-FIGURE. The points to illustrate and enforce are two. 1. Claims come out of the love which brings us into such a relationship. Love-claims are altogether the most searching and the most sacred. The wife is bound with cords of love. In view of this relation we lose all sternness from the commands and requirements of God; love glorifies them. 2. Claims come out of the honour which such a relationship brings us. We must "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called." II. THE OF GOD ASSURED BY THE HUSBAND-FIGURE. The wife is in the care of her husband, and because of his care she is free from care. He provides for the supply of all need. Apply the figure to the anxieties of the Church in exile, when required to set out on the long journey to Palestine, and enter upon unknown scenes, that would surely be full of toil and worry and danger. Infinite comfort came from the assurance that they were not as lone and friendless women, in view of the perplexities and anxieties of life. They had one who would shield them and keep them. "Their Maker was their Husband." The two figures for God, Father and Husband, still are for us full of gracious assurances. Helpless children have a Father; lonely women have a Husband—"the Lord of hosts is his Name." III. THE OF GOD MADE THROUGH THE HUSBAND-FIGURE. The relation is a constant impulse to active duty. In the text it is a persuasion to energy in undertaking the journey, and impulse to the work of rebuilding the ruined city. It was persuasion to a bright and joyous acceptance of the Divine will, and a full belief in the largeness of the Divine restorations. Eastern sentiments concerning the protection and honour of having a husband put a keenness and fulness into this figure which we can hardly reach. What is evident to us is that God will put himself into any relation which may call out from us perfect trust in him.—R.T. God-worshippers outside Judaism. "The God of the whole earth shall he be called." To our fathers the world seemed but small; to us it is great, and its bounds are ever enlarging. In olden times the few travellers came back with marvellous stories of griffins and dragons and mermaids, at which ignorant crowds gaped, but at which we can afford to smile. Now almost every part of the earth is searched again and again, and distant lands have become almost as familiar to us as our own. Men still chafe, indeed, because the vast northern seas will not yield the last mysteries which they conceal, though even the secret of the North Pole seems to be almost reached. How greatly our thoughts about God’s world differ from the thoughts of our fathers! How greatly the thoughts of our own manhood and age differ from the thoughts of our youth! We find it difficult to realize to ourselves some of the opinions of our forefathers, and to fit them into the Word of God, as we read it. This especially refers to their opinions about humanity as a whole, and about the destiny of the race. England, "encompassed by the inviolate sea," is in danger of being as exclusive as was Palestine, hemmed in by the mountains, the desert, and the sea; and unless we watch ourselves, and resist the evil tendency, there may grow up in us a pride as unlovely as that which marked the privileged Jew, and made him brand all other nations as heathen, who were wholly excluded from Jehovah’s love and care. The later Jewish prophets plead earnestly against that proud exclusiveness that led the people to think themselves the favoured of the Lord, and so to despise others. Prophets taught the people to look abroad, and see that God is working, both by his mercies and by his judgments, in all those nations around them which they called "heathen." The prophets, in effect, speak thus: "It is quite true that you are set in the midst of the world to be a witness and a blessing to surrounding nations; but it is equally true that those nations are set about you to be example and impulse and warning to you. God is dealing with them for their sakes and for yours, just as truly as he is dealing with you for your sake and for theirs." That there might be no ground whatever for the exclusive appropriation of God by the Jews, God says, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance" The nature of God’s relation to the entire race is the foundation of religious truth. All our religious ideas are toned by the view we take of this relation. Men but feebly grasp the notion of one only God, supreme in and over all things. They can much more readily grasp the conception of many gods, each one supreme in his own limited department. When God gives a particular revelation to one nation, that nation is tempted to say, "God is specially our God. He belongs to us, and to nobody else." So St. Paul’s appeal needs to be heard again and again, "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?" No doubt we shall all agree that there is but one Creator, and that he who made all provides for all. tie is interested in all humanity; "his tender mercies are over all his works." But what a singular distinction has grown up in our minds! We have come to think that this one God is interested in the physical well-being of the million heathen, graciously watching over life, and health, and food, and pleasures, and relationships, but not really concerned for their moral and spiritual well-being. We do not find ourselves unutterably distressed, as we should be, with the thought, which is in many of our minds, that the million heathen brothers are outside the pale of God’s revelation, and eternally lost. But surely, if God made men moral beings; if there is, in the wildest savage, the sense of right and wrong;—then God bears saving relations to the moral life of man everywhere. He must see and reward the man everywhere who offers him worship, as he apprehends him who struggles for the good as he knows it. He must see and punish the man everywhere who yields to the evil which he knows to be evil. So St. Paul thought, breaking free from the exclusive bondages of his Judaism. And so St. Paul teaches us to think. We must not venture to sweep all the vast mass of humanity, outside Christianity, into some terrible under-world of woe. There is but one God for them and for us. Everywhere he is Light, and he is Love—Light and Love in his response to every poor heathen soul as truly as to us Christians. No matter what may be the name by which the heathen seeker may call the great Spirit—be it Tangaroa, or Morimo, or Tsikuap, or Varuna, or Brahma—he seeks the One, the Living, the Source of all. And he may gain the answering smile of the one God’s acceptance. St. Paul is very plain and very firm in his statement: "When the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and. their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." We may wisely try to break clown this tendency to limit the operations of God’s grace just to ourselves. Mission work is breaking it down, by wakening our sympathy with seeking souls. The study of comparative religions is breaking it down, by showing us, hidden deep in heathen religions, penitence, confession, humility, love, faith, consecration, prayer, hope, virtue, and submission. Everywhere we find yearning hearts, the sense of sin, the prayer for pardon, the dependence of faith, the cry after God, who is "God of the whole earth."—R.T. Lessons from Noah’s times. In the ancient time God was wroth with mankind, when he "looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Then in Divine judgment he swept the earth clean with a flood of great waters. But in wrath he remembered mercy: a restoring-day came, and in that day God was pleased to enter into covenant with the race, and make solemn pledge and promise that never again should "all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor should there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." Isaiah saw a parallel to this in the Divine dealings with the idolatrous kingdom of Israel. It had become so utterly corrupt that ordinary forms of chastisement would not suffice; overwhelming judgments were demanded. The Divine wrath found expression in the destruction of the nation, and the bitterness of the Babylonish captivity. But mercy limited judgment; a restoring-time came, and brought with it new covenant assurances and promises: "My loving-kindness from thee shall not remove, neither shall the covenant of my peace totter, saith he that hath compassion on thee, Jehovah." In this we are to see exhibited in history—earlier and later—the methods of Divine dealing which may apply also to us. I. OUR SINS MAY AROUSE THE DIVINE . Scripture impresses on us that in God is always responsive feeling towards sin. In this we may find foreshadowings of the fatherly relations of God toward us. He must never be thought of as merely concerned with wrong-doing because of its disturbing Divine order, as a king or a judge would be. Sin always bears a personal relation to God. It is disobedience, it is insult, it is unfaithfulness. He feels it as fathers feel the wrong-doing of their children. II. DIVINE WRATH MAY STILL FIND EXTREME . Such as are represented in the Flood or in the Captivity. Such as are suggested by the stern necessity fathers sometimes know; they must shut the home-door against hardened prodigal sons. In the spiritual life there are times when God must "cover himself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." III. DIVINE MERCY ALWAYS WAITS TO PUT LIMIT ON THE . That "mercy" makes the worst judgments to be but corrections. And that "mercy" watches for the moment when the correcting work is done, and restorings can be granted. IV. WHEN GOD HE DOES IT WITH SUCH AND AS DISPELS ALL THE OF THE -TIME. illustrate from the tender language of the context. See also the warmth of parental feeling when the prodigal son came back home.—R.T. Divine favour reaching to the children. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 55:1-7 AN TO AND . The prophet passes from the ideal to the actual, from the glorious future to the unsatisfactory present. The people are not ripe for the blessings of the Messianic kingdom—they do not sufficiently value them. Hence a tender exhortation is addressed to them by God himself, inviting them to become more spiritually minded (Isaiah 55:1-3), and fresh promises are held out to the obedient (Isaiah 55:3-5). The disobedient are then somewhat sternly exhorted to turn from their evil ways and repent (Isaiah 55:6, Isaiah 55:7). Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth! Though the mass are gross and carnally minded, there will ever be some who have higher aspirations—who hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matthew 5:6), and desire spiritual blessings. These are invited, first of all, to come and partake of the good things provided for them in Messiah’s kingdom. Come ye to the waters (on the spiritual symbolism of water, see the homiletics on Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 44:4). Here the "peace" and "righteousness" of the Messianic kingdom (Isaiah 54:13, Isaiah 54:14) are especially intended. Our Lord’s cry on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:7) is clearly an echo of this. Wine and milk. These are not symbols of temporal blessings, as many have thought. "Wine, water, and milk are," as Delitzsch says, "figurative representations of spiritual revival, re-creation, and nourishment." Without money and without price. God’s spiritual gifts are freely given to men; they cannot be purchased. Being in their own nature "more precious than rubies," their value transcends human means of payment. They cannot even be earned by man’s best works; for man’s best works are comprised in his duty to God, and have, therefore, no purchasing power. God may choose to reward them; but if he does it is of his free grace. Isaiah 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money? literally, wherefore do ye weigh silver?-silver being the ordinary currency, and money transactions, in default of a coinage, being by weight (cf. Genesis 23:16; Zechariah 11:12). For that which is not bread; i.e. "for that which has no real value—which cannot sustain you, which will do you no good." The affections of the great mass of the Israelites were set on worldly things, on enriching themselves—adding field to field, and house to house (Isaiah 5:8). They did not care for spiritual blessings, much less "hunger and thirst" after them. That which satisfieth not. Worldly things can never satisfy the heart, not even the heart of the worldly. "What fruit had ye then in those things," says St. Paul, "whereof ye are now ashamed?" (Romans 6:21). Hearken diligently unto me; rather, hearken, oh, hearken unto me. The phrase is one of earnest exhortation. It implies the strong disinclination of Israel to listen, and seeks to overcome it (compare the opening words of the next verse). Let your soul delight itself in fatness (comp. Psalms 36:8; Psalms 63:5; and Isaiah 25:6). The spiritual blessings of the Messianic kingdom are richer dainties than any that this world has to offer. The soul that obtains them "delights" in them, and is satisfied with them (Psalms 17:15). Isaiah 55:3 Come unto me (comp. Isaiah 55:1, "Come ye to the waters"). God dispenses the waters (see Isaiah 44:3). I will make an everlasting covenant with you. That the "everlasting covenant" once made between God and man had been broken by man, and by Israel especially, is a part of the teaching contained in the earlier portion of Isaiah (Isaiah 24:5). We find the same asserted in the prophecies of his contemporary, Hosea (Hosea 6:7). It would naturally follow from this that, unless God gave up man altogether, he would enter into a new covenant with him. Accordingly, this new covenant is announced, both in Hosea (Hosea 2:18-20) and in the later chapters of Isaiah, repeatedly (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:8; Isaiah 54:10; Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 56:4, Isaiah 56:6; Isaiah 54:1-17:21; Isaiah 61:8). Having been thus set before the nation, it is further enlarged upon by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Jeremiah 32:40; Jeremiah 11:5) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:60-62; Ezekiel 34:25; Ezekiel 37:26-28). Almost all commentators allow that the Christian covenant is intended—that "new covenant" (Hebrews 9:15) under which man obtains pardon and salvation through the Mediatorship of Christ. Even the sure mercies of David. The "sure mercies of David" are the loving and merciful promises which God made to him. These included the promise that the Messiah should come of his seed, and sit on his throne, and establish an everlasting kingdom (Psalms 89:2-5, Psalms 89:19-37), and triumph over death and hell (Psalms 16:9, Psalms 16:10), and give peace and happiness to Israel (Psalms 132:15-18). The promises made to David, rightly understood, involve all the essential points of the Christian covenant. Isaiah 55:4 Behold, I have given him for a witness. By ordinary rules of grammar, the pronoun "him" should refer to David; and so the passage is understood by Gesenius, Maurer, Hitzig, Ewald, Knobel, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne. But, as Isaiah frequently sets aside ordinary grammatical rules, and as the position to the person here spoken of seems too high for the historical David, a large number of commentators, including Vitringa, Michaelis, Dathe, Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Dr. Kay, consider that the Messiah is intended. It is certainly difficult to see how the historical David could be, at this time and in the future, a "leader and commander to the peoples" who were about to flock into the Messianic kingdom. A witness … a leader and commander. Christ was all these. He "came to bear witness to the truth" (John 18:37), and "before Pilate witnessed a good confession" (1 Timothy 6:13). He "feeds and leads" his people (Revelation 7:17), and is the "Commander" under whose banner they serve (2 Timothy 2:3, 2 Timothy 2:4). What he is to his people, he is also of the "peoples" generally; for they have been called into his kingdom, People … people; rather, peoples. Isaiah 55:5 Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not (comp. Psalms 18:43). The object of address in this verse appears to be the Messiah. He, at his coming, will "call" into his kingdom "a nation," or rather, "people," with whom he has had no covenant hitherto; and they will readily and gladly obey the call. Thus God’s kingdom will be enlarged, and Israel’s glory will be increased, Because of the Lord … for he hath glorified thee. The great cause of the attraction will be the "glory" which God the Father has bestowed upon his Son, by raising him from the dead, and exalting him to a seat at his right hand in heaven (Acts 2:32-35; Acts 3:13-15). Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the Lord. Again the strain changes. The people are once more addressed, but in a tone of reproach. Israel must "seek the Lord" without delay, or the opportunity will be past; God will have withdrawn himself from them. He "will not alway be chiding, neither keepeth he his anger for ever" (Psalms 103:9). Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way; i.e. his mode of life. A general promise of forgiveness of sin upon repentance and amendment of life was first given to Israel through Solomon (2 Chronicles 7:14). The doctrine is largely preached by the prophets; but is nowhere more distinctly and emphatically laid down than in this place. God’s will is to "multiply pardon," if man will only turn to him. Isaiah 55:8-13 A FRESH or FROM BABYLON. Man can scarcely conceive of the deliverance which God designs; but God’s thoughts are not as man’s (Isaiah 55:8, Isaiah 55:9). God’s word, once pronounced, is potent to effect its purpose (Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 55:11). Deliverance from Babylon, having been promised, will take place, and will be accompanied by all manner of spiritual blessings (Isaiah 55:12, Isaiah 55:13). Isaiah 55:8, Isaiah 55:9 My thoughts are not your thoughts. Though man is made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), yet the nature of God in every way infinitely transcends that of man. Both the thoughts and the acts of God surpass man’s understanding. Men find it hard to pardon those who have offended them; God can pardon, and "pardon abundantly.’’ Men cannot conceive of coming changes, when they pass certain limits. God knows assuredly what changes are approaching, since they are his doing. Isaiah 55:10 As the rain … and the snow. The rain and the snow are God’s ministers (Psalms 148:8), and go forth from him, just as his word does. They have an appointed work to do, and do not return to him, whose ministers they are, until they have done it. It is best to translate, with Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne, "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, except it hath watered the earth," etc. The writer is, apparently, aware, as the writer of Ecclesiastes is, that the water which falls from heaven in the shape of rain does return thither again in the shape of vapour (see Ecclesiastes 1:7). Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be. God’s word is creative. With the utterance the result is achieved. Hence the sublime passage, which even heathenism could admire (Longin; ’De Sublim.,’ § 9), "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Hence, too, the more general statement, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth" (Psalms 33:6; comp. Psalms 148:5). But it shall accomplish; rather, unless it has accomplished. There is a mixture of two constructions, "It shall not return void," and "It shall not return unless it has accomplished," etc. It shall prosper. Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God has a prosperous course. It is endued with life from God, and (as Delitzsch says) "runs like a swift messenger through nature and the world of man, there to melt the ice, as it were, and here to heal and to save; and it does not return from its course till it has given effect to the will of the Sender. "The special "word" which the prophet has here in mind is the promise, so frequently given, of deliverance from Babylon and return in peace and joy to Palestine. But he carries his teaching beyond the immediate occasion, for the benefit of the people of God in all ages. Isaiah 55:12 Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace (comp. Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 40:9-11; Isaiah 43:3-6, Isaiah 43:19-21, etc.). A strong contrast is frequently drawn between the exodus from Babylon and that from Egypt. On the former occasion all was hurry, alarm, disquiet, danger. The later exodus will be accompanied with "peace" and "joy" (see Isaiah 51:9-16, etc.). (For the fulfilment, see Ezra 1:1-11; Ezra 2:1-70, and Ezra 7:1-28; Ezra 8:1-36.) The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. All nature shall rejoice at your deliverance, especially the noblest and the grandest parts of nature—"the mountains and the hills." Isaiah’s admiration of mountains continually reveals itself throughout the work (Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 13:2, Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 22:5; Isaiah 30:17, Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 40:4, Isaiah 40:9, Isaiah 40:12; Isaiah 42:11, Isaiah 42:15, etc.). It is quite in his manner to speak of nature as bursting forth into singing (Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:13). All the trees of the field shall clap their hands. The metaphor is not found elsewhere in Isaiah, but appears in Psalms 98:8. Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree. "Briars and thorns" were to overgrow the unfruitful vineyard, according to Isaiah 5:6; and to cover the land of God’s people, according to Isaiah 32:13. This would be literally the case to a large extent, while the land was allowed to lie waste. The literal meaning is not, however, the whole meaning, or even the main meaning, here. "Briars and thorns" represent a general state of wretchedness and sin. The "fir" and "myrtle" represent a happy external condition of life, in which men "do righteously." It shall be to the Lord for a name. This "regenerated creation" will show forth the glory of God to mankind at large, and "get him a name" among them (comp. Isaiah 63:12; Jeremiah 13:11). For an everlasting sign. It will also he to God himself an enduring sign of the covenant of peace which he has made with his people, not to hide his face from them any more, but to have mercy on them "with everlasting kindness" (Isaiah 54:7-10). The earthly objects of desire do not satisfy; the heavenly objects not only satisfy, but delight. Man is so constituted as to desire a great variety of objects, often with extreme eagerness, but rarely to find in these objects, when they are attained, the satisfaction for which he looked. "Man never is, but always to be, blest," says one of our poets; and the fact is so nearly universal, that some tell us it is the pursuit of an object, not its attainment that gives us pleasure. Manifestly, the child’s objects do not satisfy the boy, or the boy’s the man; nor do the man’s objects at his entrance on the struggle of life generally appear very desirable as he nears the close. Most men’s history is a long series of disappointments. The boy desires freedom from restraint, and to have his time at his own disposal; but no sooner does he obtain his wish than time hangs heavy on his hands, and he does not know what to do with it. The best-loved amusement, does not please for long—the pleasures of eating and drinking pall; drunkenness and excess are found to have attached to them an overplus of painful sensations; the praise of men, distinction, fame, when they have been enjoyed for a short time, appear worthless; wealth, comfort, ease, equally fail to satisfy. Men labour, as a general rule, during the greater part of their lives," for that which satisfieth not." Only a fortunate few learn early to set their affections on objects of a different character. Heavenly objects are satisfying. He that drinks of that water of life which Christ supplies, thirsts no more (John 4:14). The heavenly things do not pass away—they remain. The water that Christ gives us becomes, in us, "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). God’s favourable regard, God’s peace, God’s blessing, are eternally objects of desire, and their possession is happiness. He who has them needs nothing more, desires nothing more, finds them sufficient for him. Nor is his state one of mere passive acquiescence—his "soul is delighted with fatness" (Isaiah 55:2). He "enters into the joy of his Lord" (Matthew 25:21). The vital force of the Word of God. There is a strange force in every utterance of God. In the account of creation given in Genesis we find, not only light, but all the other portions of the universe which it pleased God to make, created by an utterance—a word (see Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:9, Genesis 1:11,Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:20, Genesis 1:24, Genesis 1:26). God said, "Let there be," and at once there was. "He commanded, and they were created" (Psalms 148:5). So the Son of God, when upon earth, gave life with a word (John 11:43, John 11:44), and destroyed it with a word (Matthew 21:19); with a word cast out devils, healed diseases (Matthew 12:13), calmed the tempest (Mark 4:39), caused his enemies to "fall to the ground" (John 18:6). Isaiah, in the present place, declares three things of God’s Word. I. GOD’S WORD DOES NOT RETURN TO HIM VOID. His Word accomplishes itself. It is "sent forth," whether upon earth or in the heavenly sphere; and in either case "runneth very swiftly" (Psalms 147:15). In no case does it "return to him void." It has always an object, an end; and it would contradict the omnipotence of God that that end should be in no way advanced by a means which God made use of in order to advance it. II. GOD’S WORD THAT WHICH GOD PLEASES THAT IT SHOULD . God’s Word often does not accomplish all that we might have expected from it. His offer of salvation freely to all does not effect universal salvation. His call of individuals is disobeyed by numbers of those who hear it. Yet always his Word accomplishes something; and that "something" is what he designed it to accomplish. He "knows the end from the beginning," and is not disappointed, even when the results are most scanty. III. GOD’S WORD, IN EVERY CASE, IN RESPECT OF THE END WHERETO HE SENDS IT. Every work that God takes in hand "prospers" more or less. The end aimed at is often quite other from that which we should have imagined; and what seems to us failure is only failure from our point of view, not from the Divine standpoint. God cannot fail to accomplish any end that he really proposes to himself. Every word that proceeds from his mouth has an end, but that end is known only to him; and it may often be that he alone knows of its accomplishment. Its accomplishment is always, with respect to the intention, full, complete, such as satisfies him. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 55:1-5 The Messianic blessings. I. THE . "Ho!" A cry arousing attention (Isaiah 1:4) or expressing pity (Isaiah 17:12). 1. It is addressed to thirsty ones. The figure occurs in Isaiah 44:3 also. What more powerful figure can there be for desire, and for the pain of unsatisfied desire? It is especially Oriental. It brings up the image of the hot, sandy waste, and by contrast that of the cool, bubbling fountain. Hunger and thirst are the "eldest of the passions," and it may be added, in a sense, the youngest; for age cannot still them, nor constant satisfaction take off their edge. They are daily, they are recurrent, they are the expression of life itself. Hence they may well symbolize the ardent desire for salvation (cf. John 7:37; Psalms 42:2; Psalms 63:1; Psalms 143:6). And what can better represent salvation than water—the well that springs up into everlasting life? Waters, floods, overflowing streams, or copious showers, are often used to denote abundant blessings from God, especially blessings under the rule of the Messiah (Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 44:3). 2. It is addressed to each and all. The invitation is bounded only by the thirst—the felt need. Not the rich, the noble, the great; not the select and the few; but those who partake of a common want, and are capable of a common satisfaction. "It proves that provision has been made for all. Can God invite to a salvation which has not been provided? Can he ask a man to partake of a banquet which has no existence? Can he ask a man to drink of waters when there are none? Can he tantalize the hopes and mock the miseries of men by inviting them to enter a heaven where they would be unwelcome, or to dwell in mansions which have never been provided?". It is addressed especially to the poor. "No man can excuse himself for not being a Christian because he is poor; no man who is rich can boast that he has bought salvation." II. THE . "Buy." The word is properly used of grain. "Its use here shows that the food referred to can be called equally well ’bread’ or ’wine and milk,’ i.e. it belongs to the supernatural order of things" (Cheyne). And the buying is to be understood spiritually. The blessings are only to be obtained for "that which is not money and not a price." It is faith, or the hearing of the inner ear (Isaiah 44:3), which is meant. In the wine we may find a symbol of gladness (Judges 9:13; 2 Samuel 13:28; Psalms 104:15). The blessings of salvation cheer men amidst their sorrows; and one of the firstfruits of the Spirit is joy. Milk, again, is the symbol of nourishment (Deuteronomy 32:14; Judges 4:1; Judges 5:25; John 7:22; 1 Corinthians 9:7). It is joined with "wine" and with "honey" in So 4:11; Isaiah 5:1. These blessings are rich and satisfying as compared with the pleasures of the world. The latter may be emphatically described as not-bread—less satisfying. Happiness is our being’s aim. But men seek it in erroneous ways. Bread is the support of life, and stands as the symbol of all that conduces to support life in the spiritual sense. "In ambition, vanity, and vice, men are as disappointed as he who should spend his money and procure nothing that would sustain life." Men toil for that which defeats their aim, because it does not satisfy. The blossom of pleasure "goes up as dust;" the fruits are those of the Dead Sea, "turning to ashes on the lips." The desire of the human soul is as insatiable as the grave. Where is the man who has been satisfied with ambition? Alexander wept on the throne of the world, and Charles V. came down from the throne to private life, because he had not found royalty to satisfy the soul. In one respect we are all like Alexander—our happiness is disproportioned to our appetites. Nature seems scanty, and, though we have never so much, we still long for something or other more. But to those who hearken to God, there is promised a perfect luxuriation (Isaiah 66:11) in good things. "Fatness" stands for the richest food (Genesis 27:28-39; Job 36:16; Psalms 65:11), and hence for the abundance of blessing flowing from the favour of God (Psalms 36:9; Psalms 63:5). "Man seems as boundless in his desires as God in his Being: and therefore nothing but God can satisfy him." All else is "love lost"—is part of "the great lie or cheat that overspreads the world." III. THE . Mention of it is made seven times in Isaiah. The idea of the original covenant, broken by Israel and renewed by Jehovah, is specially characteristic of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Jeremiah 32:40; Jeremiah 50:5). The loving-kindnesses shown to David by Jehovah are meant (cf. Isaiah 63:7; Psalms 89:49; Psalms 107:43; Lamentations 3:22). "David is probably to be understood in a representative sense; he is radiant with the reflected light and spirituality of the Messianic age." These loving-kindnesses are "unfailing" (Psalms 89:28). For Jehovah’s word cannot be broken, and the reward of piety extends to the latest posterity (Exodus 20:5, Exodus 20:6). David is termed a "witness to the people," apparently in the same representative sense. God, then, binds himself by solemn promises to be their God, their Protector, and their Friend. The promise was not to be revoked, was to remain in force for ever; and he would be their God to all eternity. Let them, then, hear, and their soul shall live. Religion is life (John 6:33; John 5:40; John 8:13; John 20:31; Romans 5:17, Romans 5:18; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:6; 1 John 5:12; Revelation 2:7-10). Hearing is the means whereby the soul is enlivened (John 6:45; John 5:25; Acts 2:37; Matthew 13:1-58).—J. Isaiah 55:6-13 Exhortations and assurance. I. . "Seek ye Jehovah." This is the beginning of a religious life—to seek for God, to inquire for his ways (Deuteronomy 4:29; Job 5:8; Job 8:5; Psalms 9:10; Psalms 14:2; Psalms 27:8). "While he may be found" (Psalms 32:6)—"in a time of finding." For a bitter "day" will come, when woe to his foes (Isaiah 65:6, Isaiah 65:7)! It is hinted that a time will come when the offer will be withdrawn. "If a man will not do so simple a thing as seek for mercy, as ask for pardon, he ought to perish. The universe will approve the condemnation of such a man." "Who knows what a day may bring forth, and what may be the dangers of an hour’s delay? This is most sure, that every particular repeated act of sin sets us one advance nearer to hell. Who can tell, while we go on our audacious course of sin, but God may swear in his wrath against us, and register our names in the black rolls of damnation? And then our condition is sealed and determined for ever." "Call upon him;" i.e. implore his mercy (Joe 2:32; Romans 10:13). How easy the terms of salvation! how just the condemnation of the sinner who calls not on God, first for pardon, then for a share in the promises (Jeremiah 29:12-14)! God (according to the manner of man’s thoughts) seems to be nearer at some times than at others to men. Some special influences are brought to bear; some facilities of salvation. "He comes near to us in the preaching of his Word, when it is borne home with power to the conscience; in his providence, when he strikes down a friend, and comes into the very circle where we move, or the very dwelling where we abide; when he lays his hand upon us in sickness. And he is near to us by day and by night; in a revival of religion, or when a pious friend pleads with us, God is near to us then, and is calling us to his favour. These are favourable times for salvation—times which, if unimproved, return no more." "Let the ungodly forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts." To seek Jehovah must involve the renouncing of all other gods; the calling upon him, the cessation of prayer in heathen temples; and, with this, all the "thoughts," the habits and feelings, of impure heathen life. It is to renounce corruption and destruction for blessedness and peace, which are contained in the thoughts of Jehovah (Psalms 36:5, Psalms 36:6; Jeremiah 29:11). "He has plans for accomplishing his purposes which are different from ours, and he secures our welfare by schemes that cross our own. He disappoints our hopes, foils our expectations, crosses our designs, removes our property or our friends, and thwarts our purposes in life. He leads us in a path we had not intended, and secures our ultimate happiness in modes which we should not have thought of, and which are contrary to all our designs and desires." II. OF FUTURE . 1. The certainty. God’s purposes fulfil themselves. They are as certain as the law of gravitation, as the falling of rain and snow. In poetic religious thought these elements of nature are his angels (cf. Psalms 148:8; Psalms 102:4). They fulfil his purpose in inanimate nature; so shall his Word fulfil his purpose in the moral world—it shall not return empty, nor until it has done its work. (On truth compared to rain or dew, see Deuteronomy 32:2; Psalms 72:6; 2 Samuel 23:4; Isaiah 5:6.) 2. Its glory and joy. The exode from Babylon is not only meant, but the glorious condition of Israel after the return. It is compared to the transition from the wilderness (the misery of the exile), with its monotonous dwarf shrubs, to a park of beautiful trees (Isaiah 41:18, Isaiah 41:19), in the midst of which Israel is to walk "in solemn troops and sweet societies" (so in Isaiah 35:9). 3. The sympathy of nature. (For similar views, see Isaiah 14:8; Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2, Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 42:10, Isaiah 42:11; Isaiah 44:23. So in Virgil, ’Ecl.,’ 5:62; and in Oriental poetry generally.) When the god Rama was going to the desert, it was said to him, "The trees will watch for you; they will say, ’He is come! he is come!’ and the white flowers will clap their hands. The leaves as they shake will say, ’Come! come!’ and the thorny places will be changed into gardens of flowers." A change will be produced in the moral condition of the world, as great as if the useless thorn should be succeeded by beautiful and useful trees. It is of the very soul of poetry that it hints and presages spiritual events which cannot be made clear to the senses nor certain to the understanding.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The soul’s thirst satisfied. "Ho, every one that thirsteth!" This is a Divine invitation, and as such shows us the nature of God, which is in itself a healing and a satisfying nature, finding expression in the incarnation and redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. I. THE SOUL. "Thirsteth." When the soul is quickened and feels new life, then is consciousness of need—need of God. New thirsts are sometimes awakened in human nature—thirsts for love and friendship; and in the intellectual nature, thirsts for knowledge and mental light. This is the highest thirst—soul-thirst—which God by his Spirit alone can satisfy. II. THE or THE SOUL. "Come ye." We must seek for friendship, seek for knowledge, and so we must be searchers after God. Finding Christ, we must also follow him, and come to the waters of forgiveness, of purity, and of immortal blessedness. III. THE CHARITY OF GOD. "God is love." Amazing, free, boundless love. Having made provision for our salvation, God says, "All things are now ready; come." The marriage-banquet is open to us all. The spread table is God’s own table, and we are to be receivers of his fulness of grace, "without money and without price."—W.M.S. Foolish investments. "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" This is man’s great misery, that he has the "deceived heart ’ which leads him to false investments. I. SOUL-. The soul is made for God, and there is no bread that will satisfy man but God himself. "I am the living Bread," says Christ. Bread of fortune, bread of gold, bread of aesthetic beauty, bread of worldly honour,—these only satisfy the outward man, and leave "the hidden man of the heart" hungry and starven. Yet men spend their money—that is, their time, strength, enthusiasm, and energy—on sham bread. II. SOUL-. "Hearken diligently unto me." For God has spoken—in nature, in conscience, by the prophets and by his own Son, the express Image of his Person. 1. God, who made the soul, knows all its mysterious depths and needs. 2. God, who redeemed the soul, knows that without pardon man knows no peace, and without life in God he knows no blessedness. The "delights" of a godly man attest the change in his nature—he "joys in God, by whom he has received the atonement."—W.M.S. Man’s true glory. "The Holy One of Israel, he hath glorified thee." We need to fill the word "glory," which often has such false renderings, with its true and ancient meaning. I. TRUE MAN. He cannot he really glorified by titles or splendours of fame, but only by beauty and majesty of being. God says, "I will make a man as the gold of Ophir." Man is only truly glorified as he fulfils the great end of his being, which is to be in his moral nature like God. II. THE HOLY ONE THIS. Christ took our manhood up into God. He redeemed body, soul, and spirit; so that all parts of our complex nature might be complete in all the will of God. 1. Christ glorified the body. He became man, not taking the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Thus he shows us how to live a heavenly life in an earthly citizenship. False philosophies of religions had, in the East, put—as the Manichaeans did-disdain on the body. 2. Christ glorified man’s estate. He lived in humble estate, and showed that the poorest framework might enclose a Divine picture of character. 3. Christ glorified the soul. He lifted man as man above all grandeur of mere outward estate and honour, and propounded this great question, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own life?" That life was to be supreme in grandeur as a God-like life. "And the glory which thou gavest me," said our Saviour, "I have given them."—W.M.S. BY W. The provision which cannot be purchased. In a country like our own we hardly know what thirst means. Few Englishmen have suffered from intense thirst. A man must live or travel in other latitudes to be exposed to this evil. But judging from the accounts of those who have suffered, we conclude that it is almost, if not absolutely, the severest and most intolerable sensation to which "flesh is heir." It may very well be taken as a picture of— I. THE CRAVING OF THE HUMAN SOUL. The hunger and thirst of the human heart must necessarily be more serious by far than the cravings of the body; for they are the longing, the yearning, the keen and imperious demand of our higher and truer self. Man thirsts after God. Spite of all the downward tendencies, the earthward inclinations, the sensuous leanings of our human nature, it remains true that there is a profound, ineradicable crying of our soul after the living God (see Psalms 42:1; Psalms 63:1). 1. The intelligence of man thirsts for the ultimate Cause of all things. 2. The immortal spirit which man (not has, but) is, thirsts for the satisfying joy which is only found in his fellowship and his service. 3. The guilty heart of man thirsts for a thorough reconciliation with him. Man knows that he has sinned, that he is condemned, that his guilt stands as an impassable barrier between him and his God, and he earnestly longs to be forgiven and restored, so that he may again lift up his face to his Divine Father in filial confidence and joy. But he asks—How? "How shall man be just with God?" (Job 9:2). "Wherewith shall we come before the Lord?" (Micah 6:6, Micah 6:7). Beneath all the louder cries that fill the air, deep in the soul of man is the demand—What shall we do that we may live before God and with him? There can be no final rest in our heart until this question has been answered in our experience. II. THE WHICH IS OFFERED US. In the truth which God has revealed in his Word, and more particularly in that Son of God who is himself the great Revelation of the Father, we have that which satisfies our spiritual need. 1. It is that which slakes our spiritual thirst. "Come ye to the waters." Water relieves and removes thirst as nothing else will. The forgiveness, the restoration, the reinstatement which is in Jesus Christ perfectly satisfies the intense craving of the soul. It brings a surpassing, transcendent peace. 2. It is that which nourishes the soul in all spiritual strength. "Buy … milk." 3. It is that which gladdens it with true and abiding joy. "Buy wine." III. THE OF THIS DIVINE . The prophet may indeed say, "Buy;" for these provisions are worth all the wealth that the most opulent can offer. But he has to add, "without money and without price;" for these blessings cannot be earned or purchased by us. God cannot sell his love, his mercy, his restoration of erring children. He does not meet us on the ground on which a creditor meets his debtors. He is, indeed, a Divine Creditor; we owe him ten thousand talents of reverence and gratitude and service we have never paid. But he does not demand of us some pence in the pound before he certifies that we are free. We frankly confess that we have nothing to pay, and he "frankly forgives us all" (Luke 7:42). God offers us his redeeming love, everlasting life, as the gift of his grace—a glorious gift, freely offered on his part, and to be gladly accepted on ours. He necessarily imposes conditions; but these are open to every soul, and none need reject them; they are the turning away of our hearts from sin, and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Divine Saviour and Lord.—C. Isaiah 55:2, Isaiah 55:3 Wasted strength. It has often been remarked of the criminal population that, if they would only give to honest and honourable pursuits the same patient attention, the same untiring energy, the same keen ingenuity, which they now devote to illegal schemes, they would soon rise to competence and honour. Perhaps the essence of this great mistake may be found in those who are very far removed from the criminal class; there are many in all vocations and positions of life who are wasting their strength on that which is unprofitable, who might be effecting great things for others or for themselves if they would only "labour for that which satisfies." This principle will apply to— I. THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. What immense pains were taken by the scribes of our Lord’s time in mastering the minute points of Old Testament Scripture! It ended in a barren and guilty formalism which called down the severest condemnations that came from the lips of Christ. If they had only spent their strength on gaining the heavenly wisdom with which those sacred pages are enriched, they would have been much better men, and would have received the Messiah in a very different spirit. We, too, may expend a vast amount of unprofitable labour on the Scriptures, trying to secure their sanction for our fancies or foibles, and leave untouched their springs of truth and power and life. II. THE WORK IN THE MASTER’S . We shall certainly not include in wasted strength or unsatisfying labour the energy spent in laying, the foundation, although the workman may not live to see the walls of the building use; this may be the most honourable, remunerative, profoundly satisfying work of a man’s life: this, indeed, was the work of the Saviour of mankind. But we shall include: 1. Labour which is merely superficial, which the wind of changing circumstance soon "driveth away." 2. The deliverance of one-sided truth—a statement of doctrine which is so partial as to be practically false. This must issue in disappointment; it is building of "wood, hay, and stubble," which will be burned. 3. Irreverent activity, on which the blessing of God is not sought, and on which, consequently, it does not descend. III. THE PURSUIT OF WELL-BEING. 1. All men seek happiness; they give freely of their various resources to obtain it—money, strength, ingenuity, patience; they endure hardship and even suffering in order to secure it. 2. A very large proportion of mankind is bitterly disappointed. What promised to be bread turns out to be chaff; what looked like satisfaction in the distance proves to be weariness and heartache in experience. 3. The disappointment is due to one fundamental mistake—they adopt a false method. They risk everything on some one object—wealth, fame, power, pleasure, friendship—which either eludes their grasp or proves unsatisfying and vain. They should become the active servants of God, listening when he speaks, accepting what he offers, going whither he directs. In the earnest, faithful service of a Divine Saviour is happiness of the truest kind—blessedness, well-being, life; the pure, lasting satisfaction of the soul.—C. The leadership of Christ. These words, primarily applicable to David, are true of that Son of David whose course was to be so different, but whose work was to be so much deeper and greater than that of the King of Israel. David was a man who showed himself possessed of all the essential qualities of a great leader of men. He had the power of attaching them to his own person with a strong affection; he shared their hardships and their perils; he impressed on them his own principles and habits; he lifted them up with his own elevation. In these respects, but with a depth and fulness to which the earthly monarch can lay no claim at all, Jesus Christ is the great "Leader to the people" of God. I. HE US TO HIMSELF. The devotion of his soldiers to Napoleon Bonaparte was extraordinary; but that great commander, with all his egotism, acknowledged that this was nothing compared with the devotion of Christian men to the Person of Jesus Christ. The pity with which he pitied us in our low estate, the tender interest with which he has sought and rescued us, the shame and the sorrow which he bore for us, the death he died for us, the patient love with which he has been loving us,—all this will well account for the fact that, as no king, or general, or statesman has ever done before, Jesus Christ has shown himself the Leader of men by attaching them to his Person with a passionate and unwavering devotion. II. HE HAS SHARED OUR AND OUR . He does not bid us go the way he went not himself. "He leads us through no darker rooms Than he went through before." He asks us to drink of his cup, but it is only to taste that bitter draught which he himself drained even to the dregs. Whether it be bodily pain or spiritual distress; whether it be suffering, or poverty, or loneliness, or disappointment, or desertion, or shame, or death,—Christ has himself endured darker and sadder trials than any he calls us to encounter. III. HE US TO LIVE HIS OWN LIFE. He not only demands of us that our minds shall be possessed with his own principles, and that our lives shall illustrate them, but he has the power of constraining us to think as he thought, to feel as he felt, to do as he did, to be what he was. If this purpose of his is not accomplished or is not being wrought in us, then are we not his "disciples indeed." IV. HE SHARES WITH US HIS OWN . If we bear his cross, we shall sit down with him on his throne. To us all he says, "I appoint unto you a kingdom." If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him.—C. God’s especial nearness. It is one of the familiar Scripture truths, open even to the little child, that God is always near to us; and that there is no time we can think of when he may not be found by the humble, believing heart. But there are times when he is comparatively near, and when, if we are wise, we shall go to him in the spirit of full self-surrender, shall enter the kingdom of his grace, and secure his everlasting favour. I. THE PERIOD OF YOUTH; when the mind is open, the conscience tender, the soul responsive. II. THE DAY OF ; when the stricken and wounded heart wants a Divine Healer, and can find none but in him who binds up the broken heart and heals its wounds. III. THE TIME SPECIAL ; when we listen to the minister, read the book, have fellowship with the friend whose true and earnest voice has an unusual power to penetrate to the secret places of our soul. IV. THE HOUR OF DIRECT DIVINE CONTACT; when God lays his hand upon us, touches the springs of our sacred thought, reveals to us our sinfulness and our need, awakens us to the seriousness of our life and the nearness of eternity, and calls us to return unto himself. Wise is it beyond all earthly wisdom then to hearken and obey, to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he is near; foolish is it beyond all other folly to turn a deaf ear or to show a disobedient spirit then; for God may never again come so near to our souls—may never again be so readily found by our human spirits; the distance between us and our Saviour may be continually enlarging, until some great gulf of sin or hard-heartedness separate us from his side and from his service evermore.—C. Distance, return, welcome. Few more gracious words than these can be found in Scripture: they are of those which the world would not willingly let die; whole libraries could be better spared from human literature than this single verse. We may express the thoughts it offers to us by four simple propositions. I. SIN MEANS —the separation of the soul from its Creator. The distance we can calculate in miles or in degrees is nothing to that which divides one spirit from another; it is nothing to that which separates the erring, guilty soul of man from the Holy Spirit of the living God. We may be in the same room with another of our race or even of our family, and yet feel further apart than if many leagues of ocean came between us. We are always near to him who is everywhere, and yet our ingratitude, our unworthiness, our guilt, may compel us to feel terribly far off from him. II. MEANS RETURN—the abandonment by the sinful soul of its evil way, and its return to the righteous God whom it has forsaken. It signifies much more than a change of creed and of profession; or than a passing emotion of sorrow, however violent the feeling may be; or than an alteration in outward habit. It signifies: 1. The aversion of the heart from the thought and love of evil. "Let the unrighteous man forsake his [evil] thoughts." 2. The consequent change of the habit of life. "Let the wicked forsake his way." 3. The return of the soul to God. The man who has neglected, forsaken, disregarded, and disobeyed God, coming back in penitent thought and with the language of confession on his lips to the Father from whom he has wandered. III. THE WAY BACK IS OPEN. Can the sinner be forgiven? Is the way clear? Are there not insuperable obstacles in the way—grievous transgressions of Law, accumulated guilt, darkening and deepening iniquity? How can all this be removed from the path of reconciliation? The answer is m the gospel statement: "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." "He is the Propitiation for … the sins of the whole world." IV. THE WELCOME HOME IS SURE. There is an assurance, here as elsewhere, which is "doubly sure." The mercy of God is not only enough for our necessities, it is far more than enough. It is not only a lake, it is a deep and wide sea; it is not merely a hill, it is an overtowering mountain; there are not only riches, there are exceeding riches, unsearchable riches of grace; on the repentant and believing sinner God will not only have mercy, he will abundantly pardon him; the returning prodigal will not merely be taken in when he arrives; the Father will run to meet him. and lavish upon him all possible proofs of his parental love.—C. The human and the Divine. Man was made in the image of God, and once bore his likeness; then his spirit was like that of the Spirit of God. Under the debasing influences of sin he has become utterly unlike his Maker, and, instead of being compared with him, he is placed in sad and painful contrast with his heavenly Father. "My thoughts are not your thoughts," etc. I. THE SPIRIT OF THE HUMAN. 1. The spirit of man is selfish. Not that he is incapable of generosity, but the prevailing and penetrating spirit which runs through his acts and his institutions is that of self-love, self-interest. What will it profit me? What shall I gain by it? How will it affect my interests? These are the questions which come up from the depths of the human heart, and are perpetually recurring. 2. The spirit of man. is vindictive. Men hate their enemies; they wish ill to those who have in any way done them an injury. Men are secretly if not openly glad when any harm happens to those who have successfully opposed them, or to those who have outstripped them in the race, or to those whose material interests clash with theirs, or to those who have rebuked and shamed them, or to those whom they have wronged and thus made their enemies. Their thoughts are vindictive and malignant, and their ways answer to their thoughts. By pronounced hostility, or by artful intrigue, or by a criminal silence and inaction, they further the end for which they look,—the discomfiture of their fellows. II. THE SPIRIT OF THE DIVINE. 1. The Spirit of God is beneficent. God lives to bless—to communicate life, love, beauty, joy, throughout his universe. That Son of man who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" perfectly represented the Spirit of the Father, who occupies his eternity and expends his omniscience in doing good to all his creation. 2. The Spirit of God is magnanimous. God delights not to give pain or to send sorrow to those who have offended him; that is his "strange work." He delights to pardon. He "abundantly pardons." He receives back and reinstates his penitent children with abounding joy. His mercy, his grace, is inexhaustible ― it is an overarching sky with no horizon-line; it is a sea without a bottom or a shore. III. THE DIVINE OFFER. So great, so surpassing, so all-sufficient, is the magnanimity of God that we may east ourselves on his mercy with the utmost confidence. "Iniquities may prevail against us," but the pardoning grace of God will prevail against them. IV. THE HUMAN . Jesus Christ summons us to rise from the level of the human to the height of the Divine; to breathe his spirit of forgiveness, to live his life of love, to move on the noble and lofty plane of a sustained magnanimity, "that we may be the children of our Father who is in heaven;" that we may "be perfect as he is perfect."—C. Isaiah 55:10-13 The fruitfulness of sacred truth. It may be said that the rain and the snow do, in fact, return to the heavens whence they came, drawn up by the sun as it shines on sea and lake, on stream and river, everywhere. But not until they have done the work for which they came, not until they have "accomplished that which God pleases," until they have prospered in the purpose for which he sent them; not until they have fertilized the soil, and made it bring forth its precious fruits. The vast amount of rainfall which the earth receives during every year renders incalculable service before it returns to the skies. So also does all the outpouring of Divine truth on the mind and heart of men. There may be times when the human spokesman may question this—when he may have grave misgivings as to its utility, when it may seem unprofitable and vain. But we have the strong assurance that God’s Word "shall not return unto him void"—that the issue shall be one in which all surrounding nature may well take its part with jubilant acclaim (Isaiah 55:12, Isaiah 55:13). The excellency of sacred truth will be seen if we regard— I. OUR IN ITS ABSENCE. 1. The unproductiveness of the human mind when thus untaught; the sad fact that men who are capable of the loftiest conceptions, the most ennobleing convictions, the most elevating feelings and aspirations, live and die without cherishing any one of these, in blank and dreary ignorance. 2. The noxious growths which flourish: the errors, the superstitions, the dark and foul imaginations. which defile the mind in which they spring up, and those also on whom these are acting. II. THE POWER WHICH ST EXERTS. 1. The outward transformations it works—great and happy reformations in the conduct, the career, the condition of individual men, of families, and of nations. 2. The inward blessedness it confers—peace, freedom, purity, love, joy, hope. III. ITS , . Even as the rain and the snow often fall on rock and sand and sea without seeming to produce any beneficent result, so does the truth of God, as preached, or taught, or printed, often seem to be unavailing; and there is discouragement, despondency, even despair, in the heart of the Christian worker. But we look at,— IV. ITS ACTUAL . 1. There is much of actual efficacy which we can discover—of incidental result, bringing strength and sanctity to those whose benefit is not sought; of indirect result; of ultimate result, being "found after many days." 2. There is more which we take on trust. God has ways of using material things which long escaped our notice, and doubtless many ways which still elude our observation. Has he not ways of using our spiritual efforts, of turning them to account, so that one day we shall find that his own Word never returns to him void—that it always prospers in the thing whereto it is sent? "He that goeth forth weeping … shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."—C. BY R. TUCK Man’s need and God’s provision. This well-known and much-used verse is the model of gospel invitations. "Ho!" as to persons at a distance; beyond the pale, according to Jewish thought. "Wine," that cheers; "water," that refreshes; "milk," that nourishes. "Buy without money" impresses the worth, as well as the freeness, of the thing obtained. I. THE CRY OF SOULS IS SO VARIED, THEY NEED LARGE AND . So various, so large, so intense, so immediate, so urgent. 1. Think of the cry of creation to God, rising day and night for precise blessings, from the world of vegetable and animal life. 2. Then think of the cry of man’s bodily nature. How complex are its demands if it is to be kept in vigour! But souls are altogether more wonderful, more mysterious, than bodies, and body-needs do but suggest and illustrate soul-needs. What is the cry of all souls? What is the cry of some souls? It is impossible to press the cries of souls into any one mould. There is difference between men’s cry and women’s cry; between the cry of the shallow and of the thoughtful; between the cry of the educated and uneducated; between the cry of the moral and the profligate. And yet there is one word in which the deep want of all men everywhere can be expressed—they want God, though so many do not know his Name, or cannot articulate it. If we carefully distinguish the cries of men, we may say, (1) some cry for light amid the dark perplexities of our time; (2) some for guidance amid difficulties; (3) some for earnestness amid frivolities; (4) some for pardon under pressure of the sense of sin; (5) some for truth amid the allurements of error; and (6) some for rest from the weariness of toil and failure; and (7) some for comfort under woes that press heavily. What a cry that must be which enters into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth! IX. NONE BUT GOD CAN MAKE LARGE ENOUGH AND VARIED ENOUGH, TO MEET THE CRIES. The cry for happiness is too big for the world to meet; the cry for truth is beyond all the skill of science to satisfy. "The fountains of this earth are dried, and I am thirsty still." 1. Human conscience cries for pardon. In Christ is proclaimed "forgiveness of sins." 2. Human affection cries for love. It may spend its uttermost and best on Christ, and be fully satisfied with his response. 3. Human intellect cries for truth. Jesus, by his Spirit, leads into a]! truth. 4. Human will cries for a supreme authority. And Christ is Lord. For every want we can translate into a cry, Christ is the Supply. For every want we can feel, but cannot translate into a cry, Christ is still the infinitely adapted and all-satisfying Supply.—R.T. The thirst of the soul quenched. Compare the assurances and invitations of Christ, in John 4:13, John 4:14; John 6:35; John 7:37, John 7:38. It is singular to note that the prophet chose a form of speech very common in the East. In Jerusalem the shopkeepers cry to the passers-by, "Ho, every one that hath money, let him come and buy!" "Ho, such a one, come and buy!" They indeed expect to get full value, though they offer for nothing. God intends a free and sovereign gift. I. THIRST. A figure for unresting desire, setting us upon pursuit and effort. Thirsting differs from hungering in this—the hungering man will quietly lie down and die; the thirsting man will spend himself in mad strivings. Illustrate from desert scenes. So thirsting is the more impressive figure of a man’s condition. Everybody is eagerly wanting something. Of this there are both painful and pleasing signs. Illustrate how this thirst takes special religious forms at special times, as in opening youth, seasons of sickness, scenes of revival, death of first friend, as in cases of Luther and Norman Macleod. This restless soul-thirsting is (1) man’s suffering; (2) man’s glory; (3) man’s hope. He may satisfy the thirsting, but it would be a sign of soul-death simply to lose it. The thirst of the soul is ever for one satisfaction—it is thirst for God. II. AGAIN. This is the result of all attempts to quench the thirst of the soul by anything earth can offer. There are lines upon which temporary supplies seem to come. Man offers "cups of cold water." 1. Thirst quenched for a time in worldly pleasure. Illustrate from the familiar picture, ’The Pursuit of Pleasure.’ There never were such strivings for sense-gratification as there are now. Life makes a loud noise to drown the soul’s cries. 2. Thirst quenched for a time in the externalities of religion. Satiated with pleasure, men sometimes turn to religion. Illustrate from experience of Ignatius Loyola. Also see confidence in holy wells and shrines. There is a fascination at first in ceremonial religion, but it soon pails. You can soon empty these cups, and then there is nothing for your thirsty soul when you come again. III. . Christ does not destroy the thirsting, but sets us down close beside the living spring. And all the bitterness is gone, if the supply is close beside us, and we may drink when we please. Apply to the soul’s love. The love of Christ is the satisfying response. To the soul’s trust. The work of Christ is the satisfying response. To the soul’s ideal. The Person of Christ is the satisfying response. To the soul’s anxiety about the future. The promises of Christ are the satisfying response. The soul that has Christ has an upspringing well beside him; he lives close near to the waters of life.—R.T. Vain expenditure on things. Comp. Isaiah 44:20, "He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside." A very striking illustration of unsatisfying food is given by the Rev. H. Macmillan. "A strange plant, called the nardoo, grows in the deserts of Lento, Australia. Its seeds formed for months together almost the sole food of the party of explorers who, a few years ago, crossed the continent. When analyzed, the nardoo bread was ascertained to be destitute of certain nutritious elements indispensable to the support of a European, though an Australian savage might, for a while, find it beneficial as an alterative. And thus it happened that these poor, unfortunate Englishmen perished of starvation, even while feeding fully day by day upon food that served to satisfy their hunger." An old author, date 1600, says, "It is a thing that the Emperor Caligula is laughed at in all stories. There was a mighty navy provided, well manned and victualled, and every one expected that the whole country of Greece should have been invaded; and so it might have been; but the emperor had another design in hand, and employed his soldiers to gather a quantity of cockleshells and pebble-stones, and so returned home again. Just such another voyage doth almost every man make here in this world, were the particulars but truly cast up." J.A. Alexander makes an important distinction. "Observe, too, that he does not seek to remedy the evils which arise from perverted and unsatisfied desire, by the extinction of the appetite itself—of that immortal, inextinguishable craving, which can only cease by annihilation or by full fruition. This, indeed, is a distinctive mark of true religion, as opposed to other systems. Since the evils under which the human race is groaning may be clearly traced to the inordinate indulgence of desires after happiness, under the influence of ’strong delusions’ as to that which can afford it, we are not to wonder that when unassisted reason undertakes to do away with the effect, it should attempt the extirpation of the cause; and you will find, accordingly, that every system of religion or philosophy, distinct from Christianity, either indulges, under some disguise, that perversion of man’s natural desire after happiness which makes him wretched, or affects to cure it by destroying the desire itself." "While one voice cries to the. bewildered sinner, ’Cease to hunger, cease to thirst;’ and another from an opposite direction bids him ’Eat and drink; for to-morrow we die;’ the voice of God and of the gospel is, ’Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?’" I. SOUL-HUNGER CAN NEVER BE WITH THINGS. It is easy to confuse the soul’s hunger with the bodily cry for pleasure, the mental cry for knowledge, the society cry for place and wealth, or the aesthetic cry for the beautiful. Men readily enough mistake their own longings, their own unrest. There is much that we have not, and we think the craving is to get what others enjoy. Men need to have translated for them their own restlessness and desire. Augustine does it. "Man was made for God, and can find no rest till he finds rest in him." The hymn does it— "My heart is pained, nor can it be At rest till it finds rest in thee." Things can never rest and satisfy souls. Angels cannot feed on man’s broad. Things can satisfy some things in man—his taste, his passions, his sentiments—but not the man himself. They who have had the most of the good in things that this world can command have complained most deeply of the yawning and yearning of their unsatisfied souls. "If a man ask a fish, will ye give him a stone?" If a man wants love, what good is it to give him gold, or fame, or pleasure? The gains and honours and so-called "good" of this world are not only brief in their duration, but unsuited, in their very nature, even while they last, to satisfy the wants of an immortal spirit. II. SOUL-HUNGER CAN ONLY BE IN A PERSON. Therefore Jesus said, "I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." On Christ, as the Gift of God to us, our souls may "eat, and live for ever." There is in verse 4 a first allusion to King David, but a further final allusion to Jesus. "He that hath the Son hath life." The points which may be illustrated and impressed are suggested in the following paragraph: "The prophet, speaking in the name of God, after calling men to come to him, to hear him that their souls may live, annexes to this gracious invitation the specific promises of a sure salvation—a salvation not contingent or fortuitous, but one provided by a gracious constitution on the part of God himself; a salvation promised and confirmed by oath; a covenant of mercy, eternal in its origin and everlasting in its stipulations, comprehending in its wonderful provisions the essential requisite of an atonement, a priest and sacrifice, an all-sufficient Saviour; not a Saviour whose performance of his office should be partial, or contingent, or uncertain from the change of person, but the one, the only Saviour—the same ’yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,’ the Son of God, the Son of man, the Son of David." Soul-rest in the living personal Saviour finds expression in the familiar verse "I came to Jesus as I was, Weary, and worn, and sad; I found in him a Resting-place, And he has made me glad." R.T. The time for seeking after God. Compare "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." After showing the need for seeking after God, and the duty of seeking, dwell on the appropriate time for the seeking, unfolding and illustrating two points. I. THE TIME FOR SEEKING IS NOT FIXED BY OUR . Yet men constantly act as if it were. They assume that they can find God when they please. But such an idea proves that they neither know themselves nor God. 1. They do not know themselves; for a man is not at all sure of feeling the desire when he thinks he will and arranges to. If a man plays with his deeper emotions, and puts off responding to them until some unknown time, he has no security that the feelings will return. If a man resists good inclinations, he will find that he cannot get them when he would. 2. And they do not know God; for he can never permit man to play with his offers of mercy and willingness to accept. Rejected gifts, neglected gilts, cannot he still pressed on acceptance. It is inconceivable that God can ever wait on man’s convenience. We must take advantage of God’s time for seekers, for he can never recognize times that seekers are pleased to arrange for themselves. II. THE TIME FOR SEEKING IS FIXED BY GOD’S . It must be; for the gift is an absolutely sovereign and free gift, and the Giver must be allowed to find his own time and way. If salvation were a matter of purchase, we might expect it to be dependent on our good will. It is wholly a matter of grace, and so absolutely dependent on God s good will. Our Lord even said, "No man cometh unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him." The general invitations of God stand in his Word; the precise and special invitations to individuals, in which we find our golden opportunities of salvation, are, in the text, called times when "God may be found," or when God is propitious towards us; and times when "God is near," or gives an impressive sense of his nearness. Such times may appear to us as (1) providences,—circumstances that arouse, awaken, humble us; or as This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 56:1-8 AN TO OBSERVE THE LAW, THE LAW OF THE SABBATH, WITH . There was much of the Law which it was impossible to observe during the Captivity. Sacrifice had ceased, the temple was destroyed, almost all the ceremonial law must have been suspended; even the command to do no work on the sabbath day cannot have been kept by a nation of slaves, whose masters would certainly not have permitted them to be idle one day in seven. Still, the spirit of the ordinance might be kept by devoting the day, so far as was possible, to religious observance, as to prayer and to meditation upon holy things. This is now enjoined on the captive Jews, with the promise of a blessing—a blessing in which even the most despised part of the nation, the proselytes and the eunuchs, might participate. Isaiah 56:1 Keep ye judgment, and do justice; rather, keep ye Law, and observe righteousness. The exhortation is general, and has no special bearing on trials or law-courts. It is a call on the Jews, in their captivity, to keep, so far as was possible, the whole Law given on Sinai. My salvation is near to come. The nearer the time of deliverance approaches, the more faithful and exact ought Israel to be in life and conduct. God’s "salvation" and his "righteousness" go hand-in-hand. It is as his righteous people, "a holy seed" (Isaiah 6:10), that he is about to vindicate and rescue them. If they are no holier than others, why should he do more for them than for those others? Isaiah 56:2 That doeth this … that layeth hold on it; i.e. that doeth according to the exhortation in Isaiah 56:1. That keepeth the sabbath. The prominent place assigned to this duty by the evangelical prophet is remarkable. We may observe, however, (1) that the spirit of obedience is better tested by a positive than by a moral ordinance; and (2) that as, probably, there could be little outward keeping of the sabbath by the captives, it would have had to be kept inwardly by spiritual exercises, by silent prayer and praise, together with prolonged meditation upon holy things. In the absence of all the ordinary aids to devotion, the religious condition of the people must have depended very much on their keeping up the recollection of the sabbath, and hallowing it so far as was possible; e.g. doing no work for themselves, neither buying nor selling, making their devotions longer, and keeping God in their thoughts throughout the day. Isaiah 56:3 The son of the stranger; i.e. the foreigner, who has become a proselyte. During the depression of the Captivity these are not likely to have been many. Still, there were doubtless some; and these, who had embraced Judaism under such unfavourable circumstances, were entitled to special consideration. As Messianic hopes prevailed, and the time of restoration to Palestine drew near (Isaiah 56:1), they might naturally be afraid that they would not be looked upon as equals by the native Israelites, but would be made into a lower grade, if not even excluded. The Lord hath utterly separated me; rather, the Lord will utterly separate me. They do not suppose it done, but think it will be done. The eunuch. Isaiah had prophesied to Hezekiah that a certain number of his seed should serve as eunuchs in the royal palace of the King of Babylon (2 Kings 20:18). Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were such persons (Daniel 1:3-6), and there may have been others. By the letter of the Law (Deuteronomy 23:1), they were cut off from the congregation, but practically it would seem that during the Captivity they were on a par with other Israelites. These persons feared, with more reason than the foreign proselytes, that, on the return of Israel to their own land, a stricter practice would be established than had prevailed during the Captivity, and the letter of the Law would be enforced against them. I am a dry tree. Therefore useless, and entitled to no consideration at all. Isaiah 56:4 The eunuchs that … take hold of my covenant. The law of Deu 23:1 shall be abrogated under the new condition of things, for such as "take hold of God’s covenant." Isaiah 56:5 In mine house; i.e. "in my Church". Within my walls. Within the walls of my "holy city" (see above, Isaiah 54:11, Isaiah 54:12; Isaiah 50:1-11:14; Isaiah 42:12). A place and a name; or, a memorial and a name; i.e. honourable mention, like that promised to the woman who anointed Christ for his burial (Matthew 26:13). Such mention is found in Matthew 19:12; Acts 8:27-39. Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger (comp. Isaiah 56:3). The proselytes shall not be treated as they fear. On the contrary, God will treat them in exactly the same way as his original people—will conduct them to Palestine, settle them in his "holy mountain,’’ admit them to the temple services, accept their burnt offerings and their sacrifices. All this will be a foretaste of their position in the Christian Church, where there will be neither Jew nor Gentile, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but a community where all are brethren and all have equal privileges. Isaiah 56:7 My house of prayer. In Solomon’s address to God at the dedication of the temple, its character, as a house of prayer, is abundantly laid down (1 Kings 8:29-53). And no doubt it was used for the purpose of prayer, as well as for the purpose of sacrifice, from its first erection to its final destruction. But the purpose of sacrifice so far predominated, in fact, over the other, that the expression, "my house of prayer," comes upon us in this place to some extent as a surprise. The prophet seems to anticipate the time when the temple should be emphatically a προσευχή the legal sacrifices having received their fulfilment (Isaiah 53:10), and being thenceforth superfluous and out of place. For all people; rather, for all the peoples. All the ends of the earth were to see the salvation of God (Psalms 98:3); "All nations were to fall down before him; all people to do him service" (Psalms 72:11). Isaiah 56:8 The Lord God; rather, the Lord Jehovah—Adonai Jehovah. An unusual phrase. Which gathereth together the outcasts of Israel; i.e. the Lord who has pledged himself to bring back Israel from captivity, and to gather together Israel’s outcasts from all regions (Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 27:13; Isaiah 43:5, Isaiah 43:6, etc.). This same Lord now promises something further: "He will gather others also to Israel, besides his own gathered ones." Introduced with such emphasis and formality, this was probably, when delivered, a new revelation. In the present arrangement of the prophecies, however, it announces no novelty. The addition of Gentile members to the Israelite community has been declared frequently (see Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 55:5, etc.). Isaiah 56:9-12 SECTION V.—A WARNING TO THE WICKED (ISAIH Isaiah 56:9 -57.). THE BLIND GUIDES OF ISRAEL REBUKED. A sudden change of style marks the introduction of an entirely new prophecy. The eye of the prophet, apparently, goes back from the period of the exile, which he has been so long contemplating, to his own day, or at any rate to the pre-exile period, and rests upon Israel in their own land. He sees them misled by their teachers (Isaiah 56:10-12), given to idolatry (Isaiah 57:3-9), and offering themselves a ready prey to their enemies (Isaiah 56:9). Many modern critics regard the passage as the composition of an unknown prophet belonging to the time of Manasseh. But there is no sufficient evidence of this. The prophecy has many Isaiah characteristics. Isaiah 56:9 Beasts of the field … beasts in the forest; i.e. "all wild beasts of whatever kind"—all the enemies of God’s flock (see Jeremiah 12:9; Ezekiel 34:8). Come to devour. Make haste, now is your opportunity. The people have none to protect them, and will be an easy prey. Come, set to work; devour. Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind. Israel’s "watchmen" are his guides and teachers, the prophets (Isaiah 6:1-13:17; Ezekiel 3:17; Habakkuk 2:1, etc.). At the time of which Isaiah speaks, they are "blind" (Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 42:16, Isaiah 42:18, Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:8, etc.), or without knowledge—like the "blind guides" of the Gospel (Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39, etc.). They have not the spiritual discernment which would enable them to lead the people aright. Further, they are dumb dogs. Instead of acting as faithful watch-dogs, who give warning of the approach of danger by their barking, they remain apathetic, and utter no warning at all. It is as if they passed their lives in sleep. Isaiah 56:11 Yea, they are greedy dogs. Another defect is noted. Not only do they fail in the way of neglect of duty, but they are actively culpable. Being worldly and not spiritually minded, they are "greedy" after gain. Anciently, the taking of a gift, or fee, from those who came to consult them was regarded as no dishonour to the prophetic office (Numbers 22:7; 1 Samuel 9:7; 1 Kings 14:3); but the nobler class of prophets declined to make a profit of their spiritual powers, and would receive no fee (2 Kings 5:16; Matthew 10:8; Acts 8:20). In Ezekiel and Micah the taking of gifts by prophets is regarded as discreditable (Ezekiel 13:19; Ezekiel 22:25; Micah 3:3). From his quarter; rather, to the uttermost (Kay), or every one, without exception (Cheyne). Isaiah 56:12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine. Here we have mention of a third defect. The prophets of the time are not only negligent of their duty, and covetous, but they are given to excess in wine and to long revels, such as even the heathen considered to be disgraceful (comp. Isaiah 28:7, where both priests and prophets are taxed with habitual drunkenness). To-morrow shall be as this day; i.e. the drinking shall continue—we will have a two days’ bout of it. And much more abundant; rather, very exceedingly abundant. There is no comparison of one day with the other; but simply a promise that on both days the drinking shall be without stint. Isaiah 56:3-7 Outward defects and defilements no hindrance to full communion in the Church of God. In the infancy of humanity, and with a people so carnal as the Israelites, it was necessary to teach the great doctrines of purity and holiness by a material symbolism. Hence the multitude of regulations in the Law concerning defects, blemishes, sources of outward defilement, methods of removing defilements, clean and unclean meats, and the like. God strove to train his people by these out ward shows to the recognition of the eternal distinction between inward purity and impurity, and to a proper sense of the fact that impurity is an utter disqualification for communion with him and with his Church. But these distinctions were never intended to be lasting." Our Lord himself declared to his disciples, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man" (Matthew 15:11-20). It was long before the Jews could fully understand this doctrine, or believe that the Levitical Law on all points of external defilement was absolutely done away (see Acts 10:9-35; Acts 11:3-18; Acts 15:5-20; 1 Corinthians 8:4-13). There was at first a great objection to receive any Gentiles into the Christian Church, and many miracles had to be wrought to overcome it. There was, after this, a line of separation drawn, and a claim set up by those of the favoured nation to form a higher grade than the Gentile Christians, with whom they refused to eat (Galatians 2:11-14). So persistent is the spirit of formalism, that, notwithstanding our Lord’s teaching and that of his apostles, it was centuries before the Church was wholly freed from dissension and difficulty in this matter. When their spiritual guides go astray, the flock of Christ suffers Spiritual guides are bound to watch for the flock, as "they that must give account" (Hebrews 13:17). It is ill for the flock when they are even negligent in their duties—still worse when they engage actively in evil courses. Israel’s guides at this time were open to both charges, and are blamed on both accounts. Isaiah taxes them with being— I. BLIND GUIDES, destitute of spiritual wisdom and spiritual discernment. "The priest’s lips should keep knowledge" (Malachi 2:7). It is the office of priests and ministers to guide aright the souls committed to their charge, and for this purpose they require a large fund of "the wisdom which is from above," a large experience of human life and of the human heart, and a deep acquaintance with the written Word, wherein treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid away. "Blind guides" constitute a terrible danger. "If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the pit?" (Matthew 15:14). What havoc may not be wrought by a "blind guide," who undertakes to be the director of thousands or even hundreds of souls! And yet how lightly do young men, after no more than a year or two of experience, seek to obtain "sole charges"! "Sole charges" should be reserved for those who have been thoroughly tried and tested, and have shown themselves able ministers of the Word and wise directors of men’s consciences. II. DUMB DOGS. If we are without knowledge, it is better to be "dumb" than to speak. But to have knowledge, to be able to direct and improve others, and, having undertaken the ministerial office, then to draw back and remain silent, through sloth and laziness, because we would fain "lie down, and dream, and slumber," and pass our life without care, or anxiety, or trouble,—this is a most "dangerous downfall," a shirking of our responsibilities, a "drawing back unto perdition of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39). There are ministers even now, in this latter part of the nineteenth century, whose object in their ministerial life seems to be to do as little as possible, who preach little, visit less, reprove and rebuke vice least of all, whose desire seems to he always for "a little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep" (Proverbs 6:10). Such persons will one day experience a terrible awakening! III. GREEDY DOGS. Ministers are bound to be patterns to the flock. If they preach the doctrines of the gospel—self-sacrifice, spirituality, unworldliness—and are themselves greedy of gain, conspicuous examples of the worldly and covetous spirit which they denounce, what possible effect for good can their preaching have? Such men do more harm than infidels. They dishonour their Master, bring scorn and contempt upon religion, do their best to create the impression that Christianity is a sham, a make-believe, a device for bolstering up a rotten state of society and repressing revolutionary effort. "The labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7), and they that preach the gospel are entitled to "live of the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:14); but a hard, grasping, or even niggardly spirit in a Christian minister is a disgrace to his profession, a scandal to the Church whereto he belongs, and a danger to society. Such as "look to their own way," and seek their own gain, "to the uttermost," as did the pseudo-prophets of Isaiah’s day, are wholly unfit to bear the message of him who, "though rich, for man’s sake became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9), and chose "the poor of this world" for his ministers (James 2:5). IV. WINE-BIBBERS. Intemperate habits are, if possible, more unbecoming to the minister of Christ than even covetousness. Covetousness may be secret, and escape detection; intemperance is a public scandal. The man of intemperate habits can scarcely have the face to rebuke any vice in others, seeing that his own vice is so open and patent to all. He is thus utterly disqualified for the ministerial office, which he degrades and disgraces so long as he bears it. Fortunately, at the present day, intemperance is recognized as incompatible with the cure of souls; and the intemperate minister, in modern Churches, can scarcely remain a minister for many months. BY E. JOHNSON The true observance of the sabbath. Foreign converts are commended for their observance of the sabbath, and promised an appropriate reward. The day was more strictly observed during the Babylonian and Persian periods (Jeremiah 17:19-27; Ezekiel 20:11-21; Ezekiel 22:8, Ezekiel 22:26; Nehemiah 13:15-22; cf. 2 Kings 11:11-16 with 1 Macc. 2:32-38). Its estimation rose with the estimation of prayer (Cheyne). I. THE DUTY OF . The Law is "the objective rule of life, the Law of Jehovah." Or, with others, "equity, justice." And the "practice of righteousness" is ever a necessity with him. The more so as every serious crisis draws on. My salvation is near—the kingdom of heaven is at hand. A crisis means a time of sifting and separation. "God’s salvation is not indiscriminate. And the grounds on which he distinguishes his people from his enemies are not external, but internal. It is the Israel within Israel, the spiritual circumcision, the holy seed, that he acknowledges, vindicates, rescues, glorifies" (Cheyne). II. SABBATH-KEEPING AS AN OF . How significant the sabbath in the institutions of Judaism! True, the seventh day belonged also to Babylonian religion, but we know its beauty and its blessing through the Jews. It was a sign of the great standing covenant between God and the nation (Exodus 31:13-17). By this the Jews were marked as a nation. Narrow notions, Puritan superstitions, have gathered about the sabbath; still, the idea of it is very beautiful. Ewald brings it under the idea of sacrifice of time. It is the representative of the duties of the first table (Ezekiel 20:11-21). But mere sabbath-keeping avails not without the honest heart and the upright life—the man must "keep his hand from evil." III. THE OF . The prophet would remove a misunderstanding. The beatitude is universally applicable to those who keep God’s commandments. The foreigner might be anxious about his position in the spiritual commonwealth. For there were exclusive injunctions directed against him (Deuteronomy 23:4-7). During the Captivity probably an exclusive spirit was growing; it may be observed in the restored exiles (Nehemiah 13:1-31.). They are here assured that they shall be admitted to the spiritual commonwealth on an equal footing with the Jews. National barriers are broken down before the new expansive spirit of love. There was also a law against eunuchs (Deuteronomy 23:2). But this disability is also to be removed. This class of men may stand for the outcast and degraded in general. They are to be admitted to communion, and are to receive some "trophy and monument’’ (1 Samuel 15:12; 2 Samuel 18:18) in the temple itself—provided they have been faithful to the commands and covenant of Jehovah. Probably a spiritual and everlasting memorial is meant (cf. Revelation 3:12; Matthew 26:13). Then the foreign proselytes who should (1) join them to the Lord, (2) with intent to serve him, (3) and who should love the Name of the Lord, (4) who should be his servants, (5) who should keep his sabbaths, (6) and take hold of his covenant, were to be admitted to all the privileges of the chosen people. The same terms of salvation were to be applicable to all. In 1 Kings 8:41-43 Solomon prays that God should do "according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for." In Psalms 135:19, Psalms 135:20 the proselytes are called to bless Jehovah, after the house of Israel, of Aaron, of Levi. IV. THE OF THE HOUSE OF PRAYER. All shall be brought to God’s holy mountain—shall be admitted to the one sacred fellowship. They shall be made joyful by the revelation of the Shechinah—the presence of the Eternal in his power and mercy. Their offerings (those of the proselytes) shall be accepted on his altar. There should be no invidious distinctions. The house should be a "house of prayer to all peoples" (cf. Matthew 21:13). Moreover, other nations, not now of Israel, would be united to the one spiritual stock. The exiles in distant lands would be gathered; also other Gentiles of whom the proselytes are the firstfruits—"other sheep not of this flock" (John 10:16)—and they will become fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). The race—"on a level with respect to moral character, all having sinned and come short of the glory of God—is on a level with respect to redemption; the same Saviour died for all, the same Spirit is ready to sanctify all. The wide world may be saved, and there is not one of the human race so degraded in human estimation by rank, or colour, or ignorance, who may not be admitted to the same heaven with Abraham and the prophets, and whose prayers and praises may not be as acceptable to God as those of the most magnificent monarch who ever wore a crown."—J. Verses 56:9-57:2 The neglectful shepherds. Here in a series of powerful pictures religious indifference on the part of pastors is described. I. THE BLIND . Nothing can be more beautiful than the idea of the shepherd as descriptive of the true teacher and minister to souls; tenderness, watchfulness, self-denial, all are his. So, on the other hand, nothing can more hold up the faithless pastor to scorn than the character of the faithless shepherd (John 10:1-42.). As the flock becomes a prey to the wild beasts when there is no shepherd, or when he neglects his care, so Israel, bereft of her natural defenders, lies at the mercy of the great heathen empire (cf. Ezekiel 13:4; Ezekiel 34:8; Ezekiel 39:4; Jeremiah 12:9; Revelation 19:17, Revelation 19:18). Especially the prophets are referred to (cf. Ezekiel 3:17; Isaiah 21:11). These "dumb dogs" are opposed to the faithful shepherd dogs (Job 30:1). "We must suppose that the prophets referred to were no better than the ancient soothsayers, who gave oracles respecting the difficulties of everyday life, but were silent on the great moral questions" (Cheyne). Immersed, perhaps, in sin themselves, they were blind to the national sins. "God requires knowledge in his ambassadors. Ignorance of the truth; of the nature, existence, and pollution of sin; of the claims of God and of the way of pardon,—is an effectual disqualification for the office." II. THEIR AND GREED. They are like those who rave in sleep, moving among idle phantasms rather than serious realities. The false teacher not only does not know the truth, he falls into some species of delusion, and leads his flock along with him. He "loves to slumber." "Alas! that this should be too true of multitudes who bear the sacred office, and are appointed to warn their fellow-men of danger! Some are afraid of giving offence; some have no deep sense of the importance of religious truth; some embrace false opinions; some engage in worldly projects, and fill up their time with the cares and plans of this life; and some are invincibly indolent. An inactive and unfaithful ministry suffers the great enemy to come and bear away the soul to death, as an unfaithful mastiff would suffer a thief to approach the dwelling without warning the inmates. Instinct prompts the faithful animal to act the part God intends; but alas! there are men whom neither conscience, reason, hope, fear, nor love will rouse to put forth efforts to save a soul from hell! Their greed. They "keep up the old custom, rejected by the higher prophets as an abuse, of taking fees" (see references in Cheyne). Each and all are bent upon private interest and gain, and upon selfish enjoyment. One of them is represented as inviting another to a carouse of two days. III. THE FATE OF THE . They "perish"—prematurely cut off; a contradiction peculiarly great from an Old Testament point of view (Ecclesiastes 7:15). It seemed as if this premature departure were an ill reward for faithful service; but it was dictated by mercy. The godly were delivered from sights of horror which might have vexed their souls. "O Brettinoro! wherefore tarriest still, Since forth of thee thy family hath gone, And many, hating evil, join’d their steps?" Moreover, they were spared from the coming retribution; so Abraham goes to his fathers in peace, and Isaiah is not to see all the evil which God will bring upon the place. "His soul is pleasing to God; therefore he hastens with him out of the evil life" (Wis. 4:14). Here was a warning to the wicked; great must be the evil doomed to be so punished. A few remaining righteous might have saved the city (Genesis 18:23-32). Sorer punishment was therefore at hand. The departure of a good man is a public calamity. His example and his influence are among the richest blessings of the world. If men are not deeply affected by the withdrawal of them, it is a proof of guilt and stupidity. Who knows, asked a heathen poet, if dying be not life, and life dying? On the hither side of the grave the wicked remain steeped in sin and sloth; on the further side there is rest and peace. "Let them rave, thou art quiet in thy grave." "Who does not envy those who have seen to an end their manful endeavour? Who that sees the meanness of our public life, but in]y congratulates the pure statesman or teacher that he is long wrapped in his shroud, and for ever safe; laid sweet in his grave, the hope of humanity not subjugated in him? Who does not sometimes envy the good and brave, who are no more to suffer from the tumults of the natural world, and await with curious complacency the speedy term of his own conversation with finite nature? Yet the love that will be annihilated sooner than treacherous, has already made death impossible, and affirms itself no mortal, but nature of the deeps of absolute and inextinguishable being" (Emerson).—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Service. "The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him," etc. This word is often degraded in human speech. "Service" is con-sidereal humiliating, and only mastership is glorious. But "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." We are all of us "debtors" to others; we owe them much, and we owe Christ all. I. SERVICE CALLS OUT WHAT IS BEST IN MEN. 1. Their unselfishness. 2. Their heroism. 3. Their patience. II. SERVICE THE NOBLEST AND THE BEST OF MEN. 1. Think of the world’s great leaders. 2. Think of the Church’s sufferers and martyrs. III. SERVICE IS IN MANY FORMS. There is a service of gift; a service of speech; a service of submission. "They also serve who only stand and wait." All God’s universe is alive with blest activity. The idler is out of harmony with the entire creation of God.—W.M.S. BY W. The attitude of holy expectation. God evidently requires of us that, when we are anticipating any special manifestation on his part, there should be special purity on our part. We look at— I. OUR . This is one of complete dependence on God. We need the action of the Divine power to give efficacy to all our labour; nothing that we do, of any kind whatever, is effectual without the energizing touch of his hand. We need also the manifestation of this Divine power for deliverance from danger and trouble. Salvation from any evil, temporal or spiritual, can come only from God. "All our springs are in him." II. OUR . We hope for great things of God. He has taught us to hope from the beginning (Psalms 22:9). It is with a true instinct that the farmer looks up to God for his annual harvest; that the soldier trusts for victory in the favour and the aid of the God of battles; that the sailor cries to Heaven for help when his ship is tossing on the waves in the overwhelming storm; that the faithful witness of Jesus Christ appeals to his Divine Lord when the persecutor is on his track or has him in his cruel grasp. We hope in God, for we know (1) the benignity of his Spirit, his desire to bless his children, and his compassion for them in their distresses; (2) the faithfulness of his word, and that he has said, "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee" (Psalms 50:15). III. THE RIGHT OF . It is that of special purity or righteousness; separating ourselves from all that is offensive in the sight of God. To expect any unusual manifestation of Divine power or grace when we are holding any iniquity to our heart, is only to delude ourselves, and to be the heirs of disillusion and disappointment. 1. When God manifested himself at Sinai he required that the people should be sanctified in readiness for his coming (Exodus 19:10). 2. When the Lord of hosts would give victory to the armies of Israel he required that they sanctified themselves, not only by religious rite, but by cleansing themselves of their sin (Joshua 3:5; Joshua 5:1-15; Joshua 7:1-26.). 3. When the children of Israel were delivered from the land of captivity they fasted and prayed that the hand of God. might be upon them (Ezra 8:21-23). 4. When the kingdom of God was announced there was a solemn summons to repent (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17). 5. When we seek Divine mercy and eternal life in Jesus Christ we must put away evil from our heart and life; repentance never has been and never can be dissociated from a living and saving faith (Acts 20:21). 6. When we draw near to God in worship we must come to him with clean hands and a pure heart (Psalms 15:1-5:24;Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 33:15, Isaiah 33:16; Matthew 5:8; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Timothy 2:8). 7. When we look for a manifestation of God’s power in the renewal of a Church, or the regeneration of a community, we must appear before him in purity of heart and integrity of life; or his "salvation ’ will not "come," his "righteousness" will not "be revealed."—C. Isaiah 56:3-8 The open gate. The temple or house of God (Isaiah 56:7) stands for his kingdom of righteousness; and in exalted vision the prophet foresees the time when it shall stand open to every man—to the stranger or heathen, and even to those physically debarred. It is to be called "a house of prayer for all people." It is worthy of note that it should be called a house of prayer; the truth is intimated that, in the kingdom of God, sacrifice performed by the few on behalf of the many will yield to the spiritual approach by all to the Father of souls; that one principal purpose of worship is that of coming into close, holy, personal fellowship with the living God. But the main truth of the passage is found in the thought of— I. THE OPEN GATE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. When God’s full purpose should be revealed, there would be a kingdom or Church which should be open to every child of man, irrespective of his nationality or his physical peculiarities; the time should come when there would be neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. The gracious purpose of God is fulfilled only in the gospel of his Son. There we find "the common salvation," broad as the race of man. 1. It is adapted to all men everywhere, however apart and afar they may be from the scene of its birth. Judaism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, have local features; they are peculiarly adapted to men living in certain latitudes and longitudes, with certain surroundings and national habits and wants; they have their limitations. But into the gospel of Jesus Christ limitation or partiality does not enter; it is as perfectly suited to men of one clime as to those of another; we cannot think of men under any earthly conditions whatever for whose elevation and happiness it is not thoroughly fitted. 2. It is intended for, and is powerful over, those furthest removed from the knowledge and the likeness of God. It purified the corrupt Corinthian; it softened the hard Roman; it sobered and solemnized the flippant Athenian; it has civilized the most savage barbarian; it has rescued and transformed the most degraded citizens of our modern civilization; it has proved itself the power of God to redeem and regenerate the very worst that have defaced the human image and disgraced the human name. 3. It is needed by those who are nearest the sources of truth; for it convicts even the best of unworthiness and guilt, and it finds for them a Saviour and a reconciliation. II. THE OF . The gate is open into the blessed kingdom, but it is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy (Romans 14:17). Only they can be accounted citizens who fulfil certain spiritual conditions. These are indicated here. They are: 1. Drawing nigh to God through the appointed means—the sabbath day, the house of prayer, etc. 2. Accepting God’s method of reconciliation; i.e. by faith in his Son, our Saviour; "taking hold of his covenant" (see —Philippians 3:7-9). 3. Conforming the life to God’s holy will; "choosing the things that please haul," rather than those which please ourselves or others; engaging in his service (Isaiah 56:6).—C. Unfaithful ministry. Three truths appear as we consider these strong words. I. THAT GOD HAS PLACED THE WELFARE OF THE MANY IN THE CHARGE OF THE FEW. Practically, the moral and material condition of the country in the course of the next twenty years depends greatly on the character of those of its citizens who are parents. The fathers and mothers in the land are determining its future to a large extent by their parental wisdom or folly. But we may narrow the issue considerably; we may say that what the next generation will be, in respect of conviction and conduct, depends on the character of the ministry it is receiving at the hands of its religious teachers. If these are loyal to their Lord, and do faithfully the work committed to their care, the community will know the truth and do the will of God. And so long as the nation walks in the light of the Lord it will be prosperous and strong; its worst enemies will not prevail against it; it will grow in wisdom, in honour, in power. II. THAT MEN MAY PROVE UTTERLY OF THE HIGH TO WHICH THEY ARE CALLED. It may be said that no one has a right to take a step which may result in the responsibilities of parentage, unless he or she is prepared to teach and train children in the knowledge and fear of God. It must certainly be said that no one has a right to take on himself the functions of a Christian minister unless he is qualified to teach Christ’s truth and to commend his gospel to the minds and the hearts of men. It is the grave misfortune of the Church and the world that so many have incurred responsibility without any such qualifications. They have failed either in doctrine, having been as "dumb dogs," not warning sinners of the perils besetting them, wilfully and culpably silent; or in understandably, being "blind" and "ignorant," never having understood the truth, or having become insensible to its excellence by reason of their unfaithfulness; or in consistency of life, failing into the sin of idleness (Isaiah 56:10), or that of covetousness and consequent rapacity (Isaiah 56:11), or that of bodily indulgence (Isaiah 56:12). And sin is never so ugly a garment as when it clothes the person of a minister of Jesus Christ. III. THAT AN SEALS THE FATE OF THE COUNTRY ON WHICH IT IS IMPOSED. There is little hope for a land cursed with an unfaithful and an ungodly ministry. Not only is the truth of God withheld from men, but it is made positively distasteful and repugnant to the more spiritual by being associated with such professors. Its power is reduced to the very lowest possible point; the people are abandoned to error and to folly. It will soon be time for the enemy to appear at the gates—for the destroying beast to ravage the flock (Isaiah 56:9). 1. Let all but those whom God has fitted for it shrink with holy diffidence from the sacred office. 2. Let the Church of Christ take the greatest care whom it invites to be "over it in the Lord."—C. BY R. TUCK God’s nearness a plea. "My salvation is near to come;" therefore "keep ye judgment, and do justice." Isaiah announced God’s delivering and redeeming from Babylon as close at hand, and used this fact as a plea by which to urge immediate moral preparation. "When God is coming to us in a way of mercy we must go forth to meet him in a way of duty." Illustration may be found in Psalms 50:23; Malachi 4:4 6. John the Baptist had a similar commission to this of Isaiah. He was to call to repentance on the ground of the fact that the "kingdom of heaven was at hand." Further illustration may be found in the preparing of roads for a coming Eastern king, and the preparations made in our towns when the sovereign is about to visit them. The general subject suggested is the call to be ready for every display of Divine grace. Our getting the blessing of any near coming of God to us depends on our preparedness for the manifestation. We may note two points. I. FOR GOD’S COMING ARE . They are right states of mind and feeling. They are cleansings of thought and heart. They are humiliations on account of sin and shortcoming. They are the putting away of doubts, and the nourishing of trust. They are cherishings of all reverent sentiments. They are earnest efforts to gain an open and receptive mood of soul. Sabbath worship and sacramental seasons are times of special nearness of God, and they are dependent on the spiritual moods with which we approach them. Fitting moods are gained by times of meditation and prayer. A point of importance to impress is that spiritual preparations are quite as necessary in view of God’s mercies, benedictions, and prosperities, as in view of his chastisements and judgments. So easily we miss observing the necessity for spiritual readiness to receive Divine bestowals and blessings. See St. Paul’s teaching concerning self-examination before partaking of the sacramental feast (1 Corinthians 11:28). II. FINDS IN ALTERED CONDUCT. On this the prophet dwells. Because God’s salvation is near, men ought to readjust their conduct and rearrange their relations. They should keep judgment and do justice; or love the right and try to do it, remembering always that the "right" includes the "kind." Just as, if a visitor is expected at a house, all kinds of house-preparations are made, but the heart-welcome is the chief thing, so when God would come to us, we must fit up the house of conduct for him, but take good heed that this only expresses the hearty welcome of our souls. In conclusion, show how these two mutually help each other. Soul-culture aids in mastery of life and conduct. The wise ordering of life brings good opportunity for soul-culture. Jesus came to save from sin; but there was little preparation for him. He came as a babe, and there was no room for him in the inn.—R.T. The sabbath a test of obedience. It is singular to find Isaiah now making so much of the sabbath when, in the earlier part of his prophecy, he had, in the name of God, spoken of it so scornfully (see Isaiah 1:13, "The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with"). Matthew Arnold refers to this contrast, and says, "That related to a time when the kingdom of Judah yet stood, when the service of the temple was in full course, the whole exterior part of the Jews’ religion splendid and prominent. At such a time a prophet might naturally undervalue the whole of this exterior part in comparison with the inward part. But during the exile in Babylon all the services and sacrifices of the temple had ceased, and the one testimony of faithfulness to their religion which the Jews among an idolatrous people could give, was the observance of their sabbath; their sabbath was the one outward thing which brought their religion to their mind. Hence its observance acquired quite a special value." Inquire what signs of their allegiance to Jehovah, and their obedience to his commands, pious Jews in Babylon could give to those around them. None could be so important or so effective as to show themselves a nation of sabbath-keepers, because Jehovah, their God, had commanded sabbath-keeping. I. SABBATH-KEEPING A FORMAL ACT. As such it is of comparatively small importance. It bears good relation, indeed, to the physical health and the social order of a community, providing seasons of rest and change, and reminding of the claims of soul as well as body. But if sabbath-keeping be the mere formal act, with no deeper meaning in it, then it may be judged as a matter of expediency, and valued as a wise and excellent Mosaic arrangement, mere or less wisely imitated by other rulers. II. SABBATH-KEEPING A MORAL STATE. Souls must keep sabbath, or it is not really kept. Souls must keep sabbath (1) as an act of obedience to God; (2) as an expression of love for worship; (3) as a sign of loyalty and affection for God. There is never any difficulty about the proper ordering of the day when the soul is full of the sabbath-spirit. III. SABBATH-KEEPING THE FORMAL ACT WHICH THE MORAL STATE. Man cannot test the soul-conditions of his fellow-man save by observing the expressions of that condition in his conduct. God can read soul-states, but, for purposes of revelation and teaching, he treats us as we treat each other, and asks for signs in the life of what may be in the soul. Therefore he still looks for careful and faithful sabbath-keeping.—R.T. Isaiah 56:4-6 Disabled ones sharing Divine blessings. From the points of view of the earlier Judaism, eunuchs and strangers were persons placed under special disability. Neither could take full share in national or sanctuary privileges (Deuteronomy 23:1-8). To understand the feeling towards eunuchs we must remember the two prevailing ideas among the Jews, which made offspring seem so desirable. 1. A man found a sort of quasi-immortality in the feeling that he would live over again in his children. 2. It was possible to any Jewish parents that they might be progenitors of the promised Messiah. Eunuchs were persons who, either by reason of physical infirmity or cruel custom, could not have children born to them. They were despised because of their infirmity. The prophet assures such that the new spiritual kingdom of Messiah would have room for them, and gather them, as well as the foreigners and strangers, into its embrace, and even put special honour on them if they were found men of faith. "The prophet’s whole conception of the Gentiles in relation to the religion of Israel is unexampled in the Old Testament for its admirable width, depth, and grandeur." The term "dry tree" is still a phrase used in the East of a person of either sex who has no children. Roberts, writing of Hindoo customs, says, "People without posterity, of both sexes, are called dry trees; which, strictly speaking, means they are dead, having neither sap, nor leaves, nor fruit." Matthew Arnold says, "It must be remembered that, attached to a great Eastern court like that of Babylon, were a multitude of eunuchs, some of whom had perhaps adopted the religion of Israel. It is probable, also, that some of the Jewish youths were taken for the court service as eunuchs, and their countrymen would afterwards have been likely to abhor them on that account." These considerations will enable us the better to feel the exquisite tenderness and mercifulness of this passage. The general topic suggested is the gracious way in which the gospel kingdom embraces all the disabled. This may be illustrated from— I. THOSE UNDER . II. THOSE UNDER RACE-. III. THOSE UNDER SOCIAL . IV. THOSE UNDER MENTAL . V. THOSE UNDER FROM PAST EVIL LIVING. Christ’s salvation is for man as man. In his kingdom there are found black and white, bond and free. Its gate is open to whosoever will.—R.T. God’s house of prayer for everybody. "Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." These words were quoted by the Lord Jesus when he drove out the shopkeepers who defiled the temple (see Matthew 21:13). The prophet declares that the "prayers and praises (those spiritual sacrifices) of devout Gentiles shall be as pleasing to God as those of the pious Jews, and no difference shall be made between them; for, though they are Gentiles by birth, yet through grace they shall be looked upon as the believing seed of faithful Abraham, and the praying seed of wrestling Jacob, for in Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision." God’s house, the old temple, had been thought of as a place of sacrifices. The new temple, and above all the spiritual temple, the Christian temple, must be thought of as a place of prayer. This contrast gives the following topics. I. THE OLD IDEA OF GOD’S HOUSE WAS A HOUSE OF . The old worship was one of multiplied and varied rites and ceremonies. It was a round of bodily services; it was honouring God by the devotion to him of the things that men possessed. It had its deeper spiritual meanings, but the prominent things were exact obediences, minute services, gorgeous and impressive spectacles. The "shadow of good things to come." II. THE NEW IDEA OF GOD’S HOUSE IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER. Prayer comprehensively indicates all forms of spiritual worship, of communion with the Divine Being. Illustrate by the essential differences between the Jewish temple and the Christian Church. Even the Jewish worship, when a synagogue could not be built, was held in a נסןףוץמחו̔̀, or place of prayer. It was the work of the prophets to lift men’s minds away from the more formal to the more spiritual associations of God’s house. Explain the senses in which prayer may stand for the whole of Christian worship. III. THE OLD IDEA FITTED GOD’S HOUSE FOR A LIMITED FEW. Just those to whom his particular directions about ritual and sacrifice had been given. If God has to be served by formal acts, they must be such as he requires and has duly explained to us. So God’s house was of old exclusively for Jews. IV. THE NEW IDEA FITS GOD’S HOUSE FOR . Because prayer is just the great human commonplace. Man has been satirically, yet truthfully, called "a praying animal." Prayer is characteristic of him. He has uplooking eyes and a yearning heart. When men know the unutterable value of prayer, "then shall the nations from the east and from the west build the last great temple of all—the temple of an eternal religion—whose foundations shall be wide as the whole nature of man, and whose dome, reaching up to heaven, shall shelter and overshadow the world."—R.T. Isaiah 56:10-12 Worthless shepherds. "Dumb dogs;" "Greedy dogs;" "Shepherds that cannot understand." The prophet’s messages are in the main addressed to the pious and believing among the exiles. But he knows well how many of them were living in self-indulgence and sin, and were not in the least likely to heed his words, and prepare themselves for the coming deliverance. The evils were especially manifest in the leading people, who ought to have been leaders in goodness to the people. Instead of this, they were neglecting their duty, and presenting a debasing example of self-indulgence, and even of covetousness. The term "watchmen’ is used for chief men, princes, priests, prophets. These were utterly unable to comprehend or to meet the spiritual wants of the nation at this time, when God was so near, for carrying out his redeeming purpose. "The language here employed strikingly depicts the feelings of the voluptuous in every age." I. THE OF THE LEADERS AND OF THAT AGE. Observe the blending of figures suitable to the shepherd and to the shepherd’s dog. Such a blending of figures is common in poetry and in Scripture. Inefficiency and sinful neglect are suggested in the terms (1) blind; (2) ignorant; (3) dumb; (4) loving to slumber; (5) greedy; (6) void of understanding; (7) drunken. II. THE REAL SECRET OF THEIR . They thought of self. They did not live for their charge, but for themselves. "They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter." And this is the root of evil in all who are placed in positions of responsibility, authority, and influence—all who are in any sense leaders and teachers. They must serve others, not get for self. Therefore the Apostle Paul pleads, saying, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake." Compare the plea of the noble Samuel, on giving up his life-ministry, "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?" (1 Samuel 12:3). In this way St. Paul counsels the young teacher Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." And a bishop is thus described, "Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous" (1 Timothy 4:12; 1 Timothy 3:3). St. Paul complains of the teachers of his time, "All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s" (Philippians 2:21).—R.T. Isaiah 57:1, Isaiah 57:2 THE EARLY DEATH OF MEN FOR. The Hebrews were given to expect that long life should, as a general rule, accompany righteousness (Exodus 20:12; 1 Kings 3:14; Psalms 91:16; Proverbs 3:1, Proverbs 3:2, etc.); and under the Mosaical dispensation we must suppose that it did so. But there were exceptions to the rule. Wicked persecutors, like Ahab, Jezebel, and Athaliah, cut off the righteous ere they had seen half their days. So probably did Manasseh (2 Kings 24:3, 2 Kings 24:4). And God sometimes removed the righteous from earth by a natural death before they had grown old (Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 8:14). At the time of which Isaiah is here speaking there had been such removals; and of this he takes note, partly to rebuke those who lightly passed over the phenomenon, partly to justify God’s ways to such as were perplexed by it. Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perisheth. The word translated "perisheth" does not imply any violence; but the context implies a premature death. The righteous disappear—are taken from the earth before their natural time. Yet no man layeth it to heart; i.e. no one asks what it means—no one is disturbed, no one grieves. The general feeling was either one of indifference, or of relief at the departure of one whose life was a reproach to his neighbours. Merciful men; rather, godly men, or pious men (comp. Micah 7:2). Are taken away; literally, are gathered in. Compare the phrase so frequently used, "gathered to his fathers" (Genesis 49:29; Numbers 27:13; Judges 2:10; 2 Kings 22:20; 2 Chronicles 34:28). From the evil; or, out of the way of the evil—in order that he may escape it, in order that he may escape the sight of the evil that was coming on Jerusalem soon after his decease. Isaiah 57:2 He shall enter into peace. Not merely into "stillness" or "silence" (Psalms 115:17), but into "peace," or, as the word might be rendered (Cheyne), "a state of peace." There is, no doubt, primarily, "a contrast to the awful troubles which the survivors will have to encounter" (Hengstenberg); but perhaps this contrast is not all that is meant. The "peace" is positive rather than negative, or it would scarcely be a consolation to any one. They shall rest in their beds; or, upon their beds. This expression seems to imply a consciousness of rest, and so a certain enjoyment of it. Each one walking in his uprightness; rather, whosoever hath walked uprightly, or in a straight path (see Proverbs 4:25-27). The phrase is an equivalent for "the righteous" of Isaiah 57:1, and refers to the life on earth of those who have gone down into silence, not to their life after they have reached the silent shore. Of that life the evangelical prophet is not commissioned to give us any information. Isaiah 57:3-14 ISRAEL REBUKED FOR . Though Hezekiah had made a great reformation of religion when he ascended the throne(2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chronicles 29:3-19), and had done his best to put down idolatry, yet it was still dear to large numbers among the people, and was easily revived by Manasseh in the earlier portion of his reign (2 Chronicles 33:2-9). Isaiah now rebukes various kinds of idolatrous practices, and shows the vanity of them. Isaiah 57:3 Draw near hither. Approach, to hear the reprimand which ye so well deserve. Ye sons of the sorceress; rather, of a sorceress. Judah herself, the nation, is the" sorceress" and "adulteress," whose individual children are summoned to draw near. She is an adulteress; for she has transgressed against the mystic marriage-tie which bound her to Jehovah (see Isaiah 54:5, and the comment ad lot.). She is also a "sorceress," since she has bewitched her children, and given herself up to magical as well as to idolatrous practices (2 Chronicles 33:6). Seed of the adulterer and the whore; rather, seed of an adulteress, and that thyself committest whoredom. The congenital tendency has broken out into act. The Israel addressed is as "adulterous," i.e. idolatrous, as the Israel of former times. Isaiah 57:4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? The idolatrous Israelites here addressed, no doubt, made a mock of the few righteous who were still living among them, and vexed their souls, as his fellow-towns-men did the soul of "just Lot" (2 Peter 2:7). They "made wide the mouth" at them, and "drew out the tongue" in derision (comp. Psalms 22:7; Psalms 35:21). The prophet asks, "Against whom do ye do this? Is it not rather against God, whose servants these men are, than against them?" Are ye not children of transgression? rather, are ye not, yourselves, children of apostasy? and therefore more truly objects of scorn than they? A seed of falsehood. Idols were viewed by Isaiah as "lies" (Isaiah 45:20; cf. Romans 1:25; Revelation 22:15). Idolaters were therefore "a seed of falsehood"—men who put their trust in a lie. Isaiah 57:5 Inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree (comp. Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 65:3; Isaiah 66:17; and see also 2 Kings 16:4; 2 Kings 17:10; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6, etc.). The reference is, as Mr. Cheyne says, to the "orgiastic cults’ in the sacred groves of Palestinian heathenism." The nature of these cults is well stated by Professor Dollinger: "At the spring festival, called by some the ’brand-feast,’ by others that of torches, which was attended by streams of visitors from every country, huge trees were burnt, with the offerings suspended on them. Even children were sacrificed; they were put into a leathern bag, and thrown the whole height of the temple to the bottom, with the shocking expression that they were calves, and not children. In the fore-court stood two gigantic phalli. To the exciting din of drums, flutes, and inspired songs, the Galli cut themselves on the arms; and the effect of this act, and of the music accompanying it, was so strong upon mere spectators, that all their bodily and mental powers were thrown into a tumult of excitement; and they too, seized by the desire to lacerate themselves, deprived themselves of their manhood by means of potsherds lying ready for the purpose." Slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks. The sacrifice of their children to Moloch was largely practised by the Jews in the later period of the kingdom of Judah. It seems to have been originally introduced by the superstitious Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, who "made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen" (2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chronicles 28:3). Suspended during the reign of Hezekiah, it was renewed under Manasseh, who followed the example of his grandfather in himself sacrificing one of his sons (2 Kings 21:6). Under the last three kings it prevailed to a very wide extent, and the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel are loud in their denunciations of it (Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 7:32; Jeremiah 19:2-6; Jeremiah 32:35; Ezekiel 16:20; Ezekiel 20:26; Ezekiel 23:37, etc.). Arguments have been brought forward to prove that the child was merely passed before a fire, or between two fires, and not burnt; but the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. The rite belonged especially to the worship of Chemosh and Moloch by the Moabites and Ammonites (2 Kings 3:27; Micah 6:7), from whom it was adopted by the Israelites (2 Kings 17:7) and Jews. The sacrifice was supposed to be expiatory (Micah 6:7). In the later times of the Jewish kingdom the place of sacrifice was the valley of Hinnom, west and north of Jerusalem, which is overhung by rugged rocks. Isaiah 57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. Smooth stones, rounded by water-action, were among the objects worshipped by many Semitic peoples. Such stones were called βαίτυλοι or βαιτύλια—Bethels, or "houses of God "—and received libations of oil and wine from their worshippers. Stones of this kind, the prophet says, had now become "the portion" of Israel, instead of Jehovah (Psalms 119:57; comp. Psalms 16:5). To such objects they offered their "meat offerings" and "drink offerings." Should I receive comfort in these? Can I, Jehovah, be comforted, when my people indulge in such practices? Isaiah 57:7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Instead of reserving thy marriage-bed for me, Jehovah (Isaiah 54:5), thou hast set it up on those "high places," with which the hill-tops of Judaea are everywhere crowned (see 1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 16:4; 2 Chronicles 33:17; Ezekiel 15:1-8:16, etc.). Almost every hill-top is still, in a sense, held sacred in Palestine. Even thither wentest thou up, etc. (On the persistency of the Jews in maintaining the high-place worship, see 1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 15:14; 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 14:4; 2 Kings 15:4; 2 Kings 21:3, etc.) The best kings failed in their attempts to put it down Isaiah 57:8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance. It has been usual to explain this of a removal from its proper place into an obscure position of the formulae which the Israelites were commanded in the Law to write on their doorposts and on their gates (Deuteronomy 6:9; Deuteronomy 11:20). But, in the first place, there is no evidence that anciently these passages were understood literally, or that such inscriptions were ever set up; and secondly, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, they would have been more, rather than less, conspicuous in a new place. Probably, therefore, the "memorial" (zikkaron) of this place is some idolatrous symbol or emblem newly adopted by the Jews, and made use of as a sort of talisman. Many commentators think that it was of a phallic character (see Ezekiel 16:17). Discovered thyself; rather, uncovered thyself. Thou hast enlarged thy bed; i.e. multiplied thy idolatries. It is a feature of the idolatry of the time, that it was a mixture adopted from many quarters. It included Baal and Ashtoreth-worship from Phoenicia, Moloch-worship from Moab and Ammos, worship of the Queen of Heaven from Syria, high-place worship from the Canaanites, and stone-worship from their own remote Mesopotamian ancestors. And made thee a covenant with them; i.e. "a bargain for wages," that aid and protection should be rendered in return for worship and sacrifice. Where thou sawest it. The original is very obscure, but can scarcely have this meaning. It is certainly a distinct clause, and may perhaps be best translated, "thou sawest indecency." Isaiah 57:9 And thou wentest to the king, Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne understand "the King of Assyria," and regard the verse as bringing forward a new subject of complaint: "Not only hast thou deserted me tot other gods, but thou trustest for aid, not to me, but to the Assyrian monarch." But there is no indication of the Jews having put any trust in Assyria after the reign of Ahaz, to which this chapter, by its position in the prophecy, cannot belong. Moreover, the King of Assyria is never called simply" the king." It is, therefore, better to regard "the king" as Moloch, whom the Jews of Isaiah’s time certainly worshipped (see verse 5), and whose name was a mere dialectic variety of Melech, "king". Ointment … perfumes. Either bearing them as offerings, or herself perfumed with them, as was the practice of lewd women (Proverbs 7:17). And didst send thy messengers far off; i.e. to distant Moloch-shrines. And didst debase thyself even unto hell; i.e. "didst take on thee the yoke of a mean and grovelling superstition, which debased thee to the lowest point conceivable.’’ There was nothing lower in religion than the worship of Moloch. Isaiah 57:10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way. Judah had travelled far from God, seeking aid from all quarters, and might well be "wearied" with her quest; but she would not confess her weariness she would not say. There is no hope; she stirred up her remaining strength, and persisted in her course, not suffering herself to "grieve." Isaiah 57:11 Of whom hast thou been afraid? Judah’s abandonment of Jehovah and devotion to new deities was caused by fear—the fear of man, especially of Assyria. This induced them to seek for help in each new superstition that presented itself, and produced the enlarged syncretism which has been noticed in the comment on Isaiah 57:8. But how absurd to be driven by fear of man into offending God! That thou hast lied (see the last clause of Isa 57:4, with the comment). Have not I held my peace, etc.? i.e. "Is it not because I have for so long a time held my peace, that thou fearest me not?" God had for a long time suffered them to "go on still in their wickedness"—he had not interposed with any severe judgment; therefore they had ceased to fear him, and had feared men instead. Isaiah 57:12 I will declare thy righteousness, etc. The Syriac Version has "my righteousness," which gives a much better sense, and is adopted by Bishop Lowth, Dr. Weir, and Mr. Cheyne. God will be silent no longer. He will" declare," or show forth, "his righteousness," by visiting Judah with some righteous punishment. Then it will be seen of what value are those things in which Judah has hitherto trusted. Her works—whether her "idols" are meant (Cheyne, Delitzsch), or her "deeds of iniquity" (Kay)—what will they profit? She will "cry" out under the rod of chastisement—cry to her false gods to save her. Isaiah 57:13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee. Then, when she thus cries, let her mixture of gods (Isaiah 57:8), if they can, deliver her; they will fail utterly to do so. The wind—or rather, a breath—shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them. The idol gods shall be shown to be wholly futile, unable to save, incapable of rendering any the slightest assistance. But he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land. If, however, at that dread hour, there be any among the people who are not idolaters, but "trust in Jehovah," the crisis shall turn to their advantage. They shall "possess the land," i.e. have the promised land for their inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:1; Deuteronomy 5:33; Psalms 37:11-29, etc.); and inherit Zion, God’s holy mountain. Isaiah 57:14 And shall say; rather, and one said. The prophet hears a voice, saying, Cast ye up, cast ye up; i.e. make a highway to the holy mountain by heaping up material (Isaiah 62:10); and, having made it, remove every obstruction from the path of my (righteous) people. The voice is, probably, an angelic one. Isaiah 57:15-21 A PROMISE OF TO THE HUMBLE AND , WITH A FURTHER THREAT AGAINST THE WICKED. The prophet, in this portion of his discourse, whereof "comfort" is the key-note (Isaiah 40:1), can never continue threatening long without relapsing into a tone of tenderness and pity. He now sets against his long denunciation (in Isaiah 57:3-12) an ample promise (Isaiah 57:15-19), and against his brief encouragement (in Isaiah 57:13, Isaiah 57:14) a short menace (Isaiah 57:20, Isaiah 57:21). Isaiah 57:15 For. The ground of the promise of salvation in Isaiah 57:15 is God’s combined might and mercy, which are now set forth. The high and lofty One (comp. Isaiah 6:1, where the same words are translated "high and lifted up"). In God’s loftiness are included at once his exalted majesty and his almighty power. He is "high" in himself, transcending thought, and "lofty" or "lifted up" in that he is absolute Lord of his creatures, and therefore high above them. That inhabiteth eternity. So the LXX; κατοικῶντὸναἰῶνα But the Hebrew is less abstract, and would perhaps be best translated "that liveth eternally." I dwell in the high and holy place. Solomon’s "heaven of heavens" (1 Kings 8:27), which, however, "cannot contain him;" St. Paul’s "light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16); Zechariah’s "holy habitation" (Zechariah 2:13). With him also that is of a contrite—literally, crushed—and humble spirit. "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly "(Psalms 138:6); "He humbleth himself to consider the things that are in heaven and earth" (Psalms 113:6). He is not an Epicurean Deity, too far exalted above man to have any regard for him, or concern himself with man’s welfare (see Job 22:12, Job 22:13). On the contrary, he condescends to "dwell with" man, only let man have a "humble" and "crushed," or "bruised," spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble. When God condescends to visit the contrite and humble spirit, the immediate effect is to comfort, console, revive. His presence is a well of life. springing up within the soul to everlasting life (John 4:14). Isaiah 57:16 I will not contend for ever. God "will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever" (Psalms 103:9). If he were "extreme to mark what is done amiss," none could abide it (Psalms 130:3). He remits somewhat, therefore, from the claims of strict justice, and is content to take lower ground. Were it otherwise, man’s spirit should fail before him. Man, i.e; would be utterly unable to justify himself, and would faint and fade away before the Divine fury. The souls which God has made would, one and all, perish. He, however, has not made them for this purpose, but that they should live (Deuteronomy 30:19; Ezekiel 18:31); and has therefore devised for them a way of salvation (see Isaiah 53:5-10). Isaiah 57:17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth. Among the sins that angered God most against the Jews of the later kingdom of Judah was their covetousness—that desire of unjust gain which led them continually to oppress their weaker brethren, to remove their neighbours’ landmarks, to harass them with lawsuits, to obtain from the courts corrupt judgments against them, and so to strip them of their inheritances (see Isaiah 1:15-23; Isaiah 3:5, Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:23; Jeremiah 6:13; Ezekiel 33:31, etc.). This was far from being their only sin; but it was their besetting sin, and it led on to a number of others. It would seem even to have been the principal cause of those judicial murders with which they are so constantly taxed by the prophets (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:21: Isaiah 33:15; Isaiah 59:3; Jeremiah 2:34; Jeremiah 19:4; Ezekiel 7:23; Ezekiel 11:6; Hosea 4:2; Micah 3:10; Micah 7:2, etc.). Isaiah selects the sin of covetousness here, as typical or representative of the entire class of Judah’s besetting sins—the most striking indication of that alienation of their hearts from God, which constituted their real guilt, and was the true cause of their punishment. And smote him. The form of the verb marks repeated action. God gave Judah many warning’s before the final catastrophe. He punished Judah by the hand of Sargon, by that of Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14-16), by that of Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:11), by that of Pharaoh-Necho (2 Chronicles 35:20-24), by that of the Syrians, the Moabites and the Ammonites (2 Kings 24:2), and others, during the hundred and forty years which intervened between the accession of Hezekiah and the completion of the Captivity. I hid me (comp. Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 54:8). Isaiah 57:18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him. God had seen the wanderings of his people in perverse ways, and his heart had been touched with pity thereat. The good Shepherd follows and recalls the wanderers of the flock. When they have suffered hurt he "heals" them. He is willing to "lead" them also—to go before them, and show them the way that they should walk in (Isaiah 49:10; Ezekiel 34:11-16), and "restore comforts" to them, especially to such of them as have begun to "mourn" over their perversity. Isaiah 57:19 I create the fruit of the lips; literally, creating the fruit of the lips. The clause is best attached to the preceding verse. By his tender treatment of the wanderers, God brings forth fruit from their lips in the shape of praise and thanksgiving. Peace, peace; or, perfect peace, as in Isaiah 26:3. Judah’s prophets were apt to say to her, "Peace, peace," when there was no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11; Ezekiel 13:10). Isaiah is now commissioned to give the promise from the mouth of God (comp. John 14:27; John 20:21, John 20:26). To him that is far off, and to him that is near; i.e. either "to both the Gentiles and the Jews," or "to both the scattered members of the Jewish body" (Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 43:5, Isaiah 43:6) "and the collected nation in Canaan." Isaiah 57:20 The wicked are like the troubled sea. A striking metaphor, but one which occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, and once only in the New (Jude 1:13). The sea’s restless action well expresses the unquiet of the wicked; and the mud and mire that it casts up resembles their evil thoughts and evil deeds. "There is no peace" for such persons, either bodily or spiritual, either in this world or the world to come. Isaiah 57:21 Comp. Isaiah 48:22, where the prophet ends another section of this part of his work with almost the same words. The ministry of angels. Without intruding it on the reader’s attention, Isaiah is continually implying the interest which angels take in all God’s dealings with his Church, and the assistance which they render. Voices fill the heavenly sphere around him and about him, which can only be angelic utterances, and from time to time he records the sayings. Sometimes he records them openly as angelic; e.g. the seraph’s words, when he took the live coal from the altar in the court of heaven, and therewith touched the prophet’s lips (Isaiah 6:7). But more often he names no speaker, but simply gives the words or introduces them impersonally with the phrase, "and one said" (see Isaiah 21:11; Isaiah 26:2; Isaiah 40:6, etc.). It is sometimes said that the Jews first learnt to believe in the existence of angels from the Babylonians. But Isaiah’s writings furnish a proof, if proof were needed, that this was not so. Isaiah shows us angels— 1. AS TO GOD IS HEAVEN. Above the throne of God in heaven were seen by Isaiah, in vision, a number of seraphim, or winged creatures of the angelic class, attendant upon the great King, and ready at each moment to do his pleasure (Isaiah 6:2). They "stood," to show respect and reverence; they had two of their wings outspread, to show readiness to fly at once whithersoever God should send them; they had two others veiling their faces, to indicate a sense of their unworthiness to look on the face of the Almighty. As they stood, they praised God, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). The scene drawn reminds us of St. John’s vision in Patmos (Revelation 4:1-11), and also, to some extent, of the vision of Miciah the son of Imlah, in the First Book of Kings (1 Kings 22:19-22). The teaching of all these passages is consentient. God has always attendant upon him, in the courts of heaven, angelic beings of varied powers and capacities, who stand before him in adoration, and at the same time are eager to go whithersoever he may send them, and carry into effect his purposes. II. AS DOING SERVICE TO MEN ON EARTH. Angels are represented by Isaiah as interested in the life of God’s faithful ones, as watching God’s dealings with them, and occasionally showing their sympathy. Christians are expressly taught that all angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who are heirs of salvation" (Hebrews 1:14). Isaiah seems to have divined their functions in this respect. He "sees indeed through a glass darkly," and not yet "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12); but still he not obscurely intimates from time to time their close relationship to man.. God places them upon the wails of the new Jerusalem to watch (Isaiah 62:6). They stand there, and "take no rest." They are Jehovah’s "remembrancers," not reminding him of human sin or human shortcomings, but of his promises to his people, and of their need that he should give them succour (see Mr. Cheyne on Isaiah 62:6). It is, perhaps, a cry of the angels that rings out in the "splendid apostrophe," "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old" (Isaiah 51:9). Angels exchange "cries" when the promise of Christ’s coming is given (Isaiah 40:6-8). Angels are interested in a path being made by which the faithful ones may reach God’s holy city (Isaiah 57:14). Angels call on their fellows to open to the saints the gates of heaven (Isaiah 26:2). The dwellers in the empyrean are joined with the believers on earth in the bonds of charity and love, and form with them one community in the city of the living God (Isaiah 62:6; comp. Hebrews 12:22-24). The humility of God. An ancient Jewish writer says, "Wherever the Scripture bears witness to the Divine mightiness, it brings out side by side with it the Divine humbleness" (’Megilla,’ 31, a); and this is nowhere more strikingly manifested than m the present passage. God "dwells in the high and holy place"—in the most exalted sphere to which human thought can possibly mount; and yet at the same time he dwells with the human spirit that is humble and crushed. As Delitzsch says, "The heaven of heavens is not too great for him, and a human heart is not too small for him, to dwell in." He who sits upon the cherubim, and hears the seraphim praise him with ceaseless voice, does not scorn also to "dwell among the sighs of a poor human soul." Note, in connection with this theme— I. THAT ALL GOD’S WITH THE THINGS THAT HE HAS CREATED ARE A . It is necessary that he should "humble himself" even to "behold the things which are in heaven and earth" (Psalms 113:5). He is infinitely above these things—their "goodness extendeth not to him" (Psalms 16:2). All contact with them is contact of the higher with the lower, and involves necessarily the higher stooping from his high estate. The distance between him and the highest of the angels is an infinite distance. His condescending to accept the praises of the angels is an infinite condescension. II. THAT IT IS A GREATER FOR GOD TO HAVE WITH MEN THAN WITH ANGELS. Angels are pure, at any rate, from the taint of sin. God may "tax them with folly" (Job 4:12), but he does not tax them with sin. There is no barrier of iniquity or impurity between God and the lowest angel. But with man the case is different. Man is "very far gone from original righteousness." He has corrupted his way before God. The best man "has sinned, and come short of God’s glory" (Romans 3:23). "What then is man, that God should be mindful of him? or the son of man, that he should visit him?" (Psalms 8:4). It is an extraordinary condescension and humility that God should bring himself down to the level of man, hold communion with him, "dwell" with him, "heal" him. Yet he does this. Although his throne is in heaven, "yet his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men" (Psalms 11:4). He "looks down from heaven upon them" (Psalms 14:2). "From the place of his habitation he beholdeth all the dwellers on the earth" (Psalms 33:14). The gratitude of men should correspond to the condescension of God. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 57:3-10 Pictures of idolatry. The idolaters are summoned to hear the judgment upon them. They are characterized as "sons of a sorceress, seed of an adulterer." The source of all idolatry is unfaithfulness to God regarded as the Husband of his people (Ezekiel 16:44, Ezekiel 16:45). Yet, in their pride, these idolaters make sport of and scoff at the true servants of God. I. THE RITES OF . There were enthusiastic orgies in the sacred groves of oak and in the gardens (Isaiah 1:29; Ezekiel 6:13; Hosea 4:13). There were sacrifices of children to Moloch. There were fetish-stones, which were anointed with oil, and these continued to be devoted to heathen uses. And Israel, having by covenant a "portion," or property, so to speak, in God, has exchanged this for the senseless stones; and to these food-offerings are made. The pictures of Phoenician, Israelitish, and Greek superstitions are in this respect much the same. Jehovah, in that jealousy which is the expression of a holy love, is deeply grieved by these things. II. THE OF . On the high hills shrines were erected, and tombs are still seen upon them, overshadowed by the tree on which votive offerings hang. Saints or prophets have replaced the old gods. Here idolatrous symbols were set up. And idolatry polluting politics, the people negotiated and coquetted with heathen powers, and humbled themselves to the lowest servility. And yet these negotiations and journeys had been in vain. For all that, the attempts had been renewed. "It is a striking illustration of men seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object to object; become weary in the pursuit, yet do not renounce it; still cling to hope, though often repulsed; though the world gives them no permanent comfort, though wealth, ambition, and gaiety, all fail of imparting happiness,—yet they do not give up the pursuit in despair. The world is still pursued with just as little success, with continually augmenting evidence that it cannot satisfy the desires of the immortal soul, with just as much reluctance to seek permanent bliss in God." III. DIVINE . The tone is one of gentleness and softness. "Who is there so strong and so terrible as to justify thee in thy infidelity to Jehovah? None." Yet there may be some excuse for them in his long silence. Passed over again and again, it might seem that God had forgotten to be gracious—that they were hidden from him. But now he will draw near again: "The speech of mingled mercy and judgment shall work more effectually on the heart" (cf Isaiah 46:13; Psalms 22:31; Psalms 98:2). Or the words may be taken ironically—it depends on whether we read "my righteousness" or "thy righteousness." In the coming trial, no help but Jehovah’s will avail thee. "Her medley of gods" will not deliver her—the Pantheon of various divinations set up by her (cf. Micah 1:7). The wind shall carry them off like all dwellings and defences of merely human structure (cf. Matthew 7:26, Matthew 7:27). IV. ETERNAL . "To take refuge in Jehovah," in the Eternal, is the only safety, the only guarantee of stability and possession, amidst the flux and change of things. To say that they shall "possess the land" is to say, according to the manner of the Hebrew, everything that denotes favour for this life (Isaiah 49:8; Psalms 37:11, Psalms 37:29; cf. Matthew 5:5; Psalms 69:35, Psalms 69:36). And to "inherit the holy mountain" is to enter upon all spiritual privileges and joys—"as great as if they had possession of a portion of the mount on which the temple was built, and were permitted to dwell there." And then mysterious voices are heard, hinting that all obstacles shall be removed from the path of those who trust in God. The language is suitable to the return from exile, as if persons should go before them, crying, "Cast up!" So before a pacha the labourers go and remove stones out of the way, with the cry," Cast up the way; remove the stones!" (cf. Isaiah 26:7; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 40:3, Isaiah 40:4; Isaiah 62:10). He who places obstacles in the path (Jeremiah 6:21) is he who gives command in his own time for their removal. War and peace, welfare and hindrances to welfare, are from the same hand.—J. The character of Jehovah I. HIS . "High and holy:" high because holy, exalted far above the meanness of human thoughts and the impurity of human ways. Far above creatures of all species and all ranks, it is needless further to designate him. He is the Incomparable One. He dwells in eternity (cf. Isaiah 9:6). His Name is "the Holy One" (Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 30:11; Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:3, Isaiah 43:8; Isaiah 47:4); his place the high and holy place, or temple (Isaiah 6:1). II. HIS "Wherever the Scripture bears witness to the Divine mightiness, it brings out side by side with it the Divine humbleness (Deuteronomy 10:17, Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 57:15; Psalms 68:4, Psalms 68:5). It is not an Epicurean view of God (Acts 17:18), nor the Gnostic view that God had left the world to the management of inferior beings, by himself created. Though illimitable and unapproachable, he delights to make his abode with men. "He cannot direct the affairs of his people from without. He desires to be enthroned in their hearts." He is with them that are of a contrite, or crushed, spirit—souls bowed down with a sense of sin and unworthiness (Psalms 34:18; Psalms 138:6), to make alive their spirit, to impart strength and comfort, even as genial rains and dews fall upon the drooping plant. Such a lowly state of mind can only have been produced by affliction (Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 65:14;Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 34:18; Psalms 147:2, Psalms 147:3). III. HIS AND LOVE. He will not be angry with his people for ever (Psalms 103:9). The soul could not hold out in a prolonged contention with its Maker. Its power must fail; it must sink into destruction. "If we are God’s children, we are safe. We may suffer much and long. We may suffer so much, it may seem scarce possible we should endure more. But he knows how much we can bear, and will lighten the burden and remove the load" (Psalms 128:1-6:38, 39). Why has he smitten them at all? It is because of their sin. Unjust gain is put for sin in general (cf. Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 5:1; Ezekiel 33:31; Psalms 119:36), even, as in other places, the shedding of blood, He has seen their ways, both of sin and aberration, of suffering and amendment. Having hidden himself, he will now interpose to heal their wounds, and to guide them by a clearer path (Isaiah 58:11). (For sin as disease, and pardon as healing, cf. Jeremiah 33:6; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalms 41:4; Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 17:4; 53: Jeremiah 14:4.) And as the result of all this, he creates the "fruit of the lips" (cf. Hosea 14:2), i.e. praise and thanksgiving; of which the subject would be peace (cf. Ephesians 2:14-17) to the near and remote, Jew and Gentile, or with reference to the holy city; no degree of remoteness was to disqualify true Israelites from the enjoyment of the promise. IV. THE . The impure and the unpardoned alone shall know no peace. Those who are in a state of alienation from Jehovah shall be, on the contrary, like the restless, ever-shifting sea (Jude 1:13; cf. Ovid, ’Tristia,’ 1.10. 33). They have no fixed happiness, no substantial peace; a rage of passion ever ferments within them; past guilt casts up its mire in memory; feat’s of the future torment. How different from the scene where "the good man meets his fate, quite in the verge of heaven"! So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o’er; So gently shuts the eye of day; So dies a wave along the shore. J. BY W. Three pictures of the human. Our attention is called to— I. A PICTURE OF HUMAN . A good man is represented as "the righteous," as "the merciful," as one who "walketh in uprightness." These characterizations include: 1. The fear of God—reverence for his Name, the worship of his Divine Spirit, the recognition of his righteous claims, a supreme regard for his holy will. 2. The love of man—a practical acknowledgment of his claims on our sympathy and our succour, a hearty and practical desire to promote his well-being. 3. The regulation of daily life, in all stations and spheres, by the laws of truth, purity, honesty, sobriety. A righteous, merciful, and upright man is one who will be making an honest and earnest endeavour to realize all this in his character and his career. Nothing less will satisfy his aspiration. II. A PICTURE OF HUMAN . "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart." When a community—nation or Church—has not been living and walking in the light of the Lord, it becomes dull of apprehension, spiritually blind, incapable of estimating the true character of events. 1. It fails to appreciate the worth of one good man’s life. What an incalculable blessing a single true, pure, and holy life may be, and indeed must be! and what a fountain of good is dried up when one who leads such a life is taken away! It is a bad time, indicative of evil and prophetic of decline and death, when human worth is disregarded. 2. It fails to feel the injury and wrong done by arbitrary violence; it ought to resent it with keenest indignation, and to take vigorous steps to arrest and remove it. 3. It fails to recognize a valuable mitigation: "None considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." It is natural enough for men to wish to go on into the future, that they may see what is coming, and that they may help to shape the event; but the wise and thoughtful will consider that there may be a future impending from which they would earnestly pray God to save them. It was not a threat, but a promise, sent to Josiah, "I will gather thee to thy fathers … neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place" (2 Kings 22:20). Many are they who have outlived the period of prosperity and peace, to whom an earlier death would have been a happier lot. We cannot be sure that a sudden and even (what we call)a premature death may not be a most merciful removal from intolerable pain, or from overwhelming temptation, or from grievous burdens and sorrows. We sing, "Our times are in thy hand," and we do well to continue, "O God, we wish them there." III. A PICTURE OF HUMAN REPOSE. "He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds." From the tumult and the strain, from the battle and the burden of life, even the rest of the grave is welcome. But how much more welcome to the weary spirit is that rest which Jesus Christ has revealed, and which remaineth for the people of God!—rest in the home, in the likeness, in the glory, in the untiring service of the ascended Saviour.—C. Weariness in sinful error. Whether the guilty error of Israel consisted in its departure into idolatry, or in its having recourse to the arm of flesh instead of to the power of its Divine Redeemer, we reach the same conclusion, viz.— I. THAT SIN GOES TO TEDIOUS LENGTHS IN ITS FROM GOD. It is "wearied in the greatness of its way." Whatever may be the particular course which iniquity may take—whether it moves in the direction of disbelief, or of covetousness, or of any one of the vices, or of worldliness—it goes far enough to find that the path of sinful error is a long and tedious road, that it is one in which the soul finds no lasting satisfaction, that there continually recurs a sense of want and spiritual craving, a hungering of the heart for that which is not supplied. Their name is legion who find their own chosen course of sin a weary round, an unsatisfying pursuit. II. THAT, SPITE OF ITS OWN , ST IN’ ITS PATH. It is weary enough, yet it "says not, There is no hope." It finds just enough to maintain some kind of existence—"the life of thine hand"—to go on without being altogether changed and restored. Are there not multitudes of men who are dragging on a weary life, profoundly dissatisfied with what they are in themselves and what they are accomplishing, and yet allowing themselves to continue in their guilty course? The path of sin is a very pitiable one; it is no wonder— III. THAT IT CALLS DOWN A STRONG DIVINE . (Isaiah 57:11.) God reproaches his erring children: 1. That they have given themselves up to that which is utterly unworthy of their devotion: "Whom hast thou feared?" 2. That they have neglected the strong claims he has on their worship and service—he who has laid them under such deep obligations and has held out to them such glorious prospects; "Hast not remembered me." Nor must it be forgotten— IV. THAT GOD’S SILENCE, AS WELL AS HIS SPEECH, IS AN FOR RETURN. "Have not 1 held my peace … and thou fearest me not?" 1. God’s silence is strangely and grievously misinterpreted (Psalm l. 21). 2. Instead of making it an encouragement to sin, it ought to be employed as an opportunity for repentance. It is a Divine pause, in order that, while it lasts, the guilty may reconsider and return. 3. God’s silence is temporary; it is imposed on himself by a strong and merciful restraint. But it cannot be very long continued; the interests of righteousness demand that it shall be broken. Let not the impenitent presume— "For tho’ mercy be kind and its patience endure, To the path of repentance it seeks to allure, And they who are deaf to its voice may be sure That God will not always be silent. Oh, Time brings the hour—we shall soon all be there— When the Judge on his judgment-throne shall appear, And his sentence of mercy or wrath shall declare, And then win no longer be silent." C. Isaiah 57:12, Isaiah 57:13 The fate of folly and the reward of wisdom. The Divine One whom Israel has so grievously wronged (Isaiah 57:4-9) intimates (Isaiah 57:12) that he will make known to his people the results of their apostasy from him; he will tell them "how unprofitable are their works," how suicidal is their policy; he will tell them also how great is the reward of the wise—of those who abide in his service. I. THE BITTER FATE OF THE UNGODLY. Departing from God, they have no resort but that which they find in their own poor divinities, in those "heaps of idols" whose power is blown away with the first breath of adversity; they may cry to these wretched images, but they will meet with no response. This will prove the portion of the ungodly. in every age: the powers to which, in God’s absence, they have recourse will fail them utterly in their time of need; they may be numerous, they may be "companies," they may be highly esteemed, but they will certainly tail when the hour of trial arrives. Worldly wealth, a great reputation, troops of friends, high social position, varied attainments, strength of bodily constitution,—any one or all of these, or other resources besides these, may be possessed, but they will ignominiously fail in the hour of supreme necessity; they will not, for they cannot, deliver a human soul in its deepest troubles, in its darkest hours; they will be as impotent as "the chaff which the wind driveth away." "Vain things for safety" are they all. The soul of man has wants which strike deeper and which rise higher than any of them can reach. II. THE BLESSED OF THE GODLY. "He that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land." To him may come, will come, hours of darkness, of loss, of trial; but he has a stay and a resource in God his Father, in Jesus Christ his unfailing Friend, which will make him blessed at every point of his pilgrimage, in every stage of his career. For him will be: 1. The rest of heart which comes with a consciousness of spiritual integrity. 2. Growth in all that is good and wise. 3. The happiness of heart which is found in the worship of God: "He shall inherit my holy mountain." 4. The joy of sacred service, of rendering succour, of imparting strength to the weak and comfort to the sad, of rescuing and reinstating the fallen and despairing. 5. The hope of the heavenly inheritance.—C. Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 57:16 The greatness of God and the hope of the humble. The prophet presents us with a most noble contrast as he draws for us the surpassing greatness of the infinite God, and then pictures him to us as resident in a humble human soul— I. THE OF GOD. And this whether we have regard to (1) the duration of his existence,—the fact that he "inhabits eternity," that he is "from everlasting to everlasting;" or to (2) his position in the universe,—he is the "high and lofty One," King of kings, Lord of lords, immeasurably removed in his majesty and authority above the highest and mightiest of his creatures; or to (3) his character,—"his Name is Holy." This name of holiness is indicative of all moral excellence, and reminds us that God is he in whom all goodness of every kind whatsoever has its residence and its source. So surpassingly great, in all respects, is he whom we worship, with whom we have everything to do. II. THE HOPE OF THE HUMBLE IN REGARD TO HIM. We naturally ask—What hope is there that finite and guilty men can ever be brought into a close relationship with this infinite and holy God? what chance is there of anything like happy fellowship with him? Our text provides the answer. 1. The conclusion to which our philosophy and our experience point us—this is to a hopeless separation from him. Our human thought (see Isaiah 55:8) would lead, has continually led, to the conclusion that God would dwell apart from man in some remote, select region of illimitable space, not concerning himself with creatures so small and insignificant as we are. Our experience of guilt would lead us to the conclusion that we are hopelessly barred from his presence, and that those who have grieved and wronged him, as we have done, must be content to be banished for ever from his royal presence. But against this reasoning and this instinctive dread we have to place: 2. The fact which Divine revelation establishes; "with him also [does God dwell] who is of a contrite and humble spirit." It is a well-established fact, built on sure premises, on words which are stronger than the hills and the skies (Matthew 24:35), that God abides with all penitent souls, manifesting himself to them as their Father and their Friend, inviting their trust, their love, their joy in himself and in his near presence (see text; Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 34:18; Psalms 51:17; Psalms 138:6; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 18:4; 1 Peter 5:5). 3. The explanation of this fact lies in two Divine attributes: (1) His mercy. The merciful Father desires to restore and "to revive" the heart that has been crushed under a weight of sin. He wounds, but it is in order that he may heal. He desires to see, and he promotes both by word and action, the contrition of spirit which appropriately follows a sinful deed or a guilty course; then the gracious and pitiful Lord extends his Divine mercy, and he heals the broken heart, restoring to it "the joy of his salvation," the blessedness of "the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." (2) His considerateness. "I will not contend for ever … for the spirit should fail before me," etc. We have to do with a considerate Father, who "knows our frame, and who remembers that we are dust;" with a considerate Saviour, who remembers that the spirit is willing though the flesh be weak; with One who has a gracious forbearance in his chiding, lest too severe a sentence should crush the spirit he only means to bend and bless. We can hardly take too humble a view of ourselves, of the heinousness of our guilt and of the imperfection of our service; but our hope is this—we have to deal with a merciful and considerate Lord, and his friendliness toward us may be measured by the lowliness of the view we are taking of ourselves. Well may the proud of heart be afraid, for the heaviest penalties impend above their head; but let the humble-hearted be full of hope, for God is with them, and he will dwell in them, making their hearts his home.—C. Isaiah 57:17-21 The course of the soul. These words of Isaiah indicate the course which the human spirit often takes in its downward and upward path. We have— I. THE ESSENCE OF —THIS IS . "The iniquity of his selfishness," as it may be rendered. Whether it takes the specific form of rapacity, of unholy ambition, of self-indulgence or of any other special sin, you may trace iniquity home to the evil spirit of selfishness—the withholding from God, for self, of that which is due to him. Those who are transgressing none of the ten commandments in the letter, but are yet living to themselves, are living in iniquity. II. DIVINE AND REBUKE. "I was wroth and smote him: I hid me." Our wilful departure from God and refusal of our hearts and lives excite his profound displeasure, his sacred grief—call forth his parental wrath and displeasure. In a very solemn sense "God is angry with the wicked;" they abide under his "wrath." He is compelled to withhold from them the light of his countenance; he rebukes them; he sends the penalty which is due to sin, and Which is appropriate to the particular sin which is being committed. He hides his face; he withdraws his blessing; he causes pain, disappointment, sorrow, to visit the doer, to afflict the heart. III. HUMAN AND OF SPIRIT. "He went on frowardly in the way of his heart." That which is intended to draw near, sometimes drives away. Godly sorrow works repentance; but sorrow, taken ill and treated wrongly, works death. If the heat does not melt, it hardens. IV. THE VICTORY OF DIVINE LOVE. Still, in spite of a growing waywardness, the pity of God pursues the wandering soul. And though deceived and led astray, man travels far and wanders long, God "sees his ways;" he stretches forth the hand of power and grace, and he "heals him;" he leads him home and comforts him with the priceless blessings which are under the Father’s roof. These blessings are: 1. Reconciliation: the being spiritually healed, being restored to God after the saddest of all separations—spiritual distance from God. 2. Peace: peace offered and granted to those who were more distant and also to those less far removed from truth and righteousness and purity—the peace of conscious acceptance. 3. Praise: "the fruit of the lips," joyful ascription unto him that redeemed and restored; the daily song of gratitude that wells up from a heart filled with gratitude and love. V. A TO RETURN. Perhaps it may be taken as one "fruit of the lips" that the healed and restored soul now speaks for God to men; now becomes his spokesman; now teaches transgressors his way (Psalms 51:12, Psalms 51:13). And one convincing and impressive truth which a home-brought wanderer can enforce better than an unfallen angel is the hardness of the transgressor’s road, the weariness of the way to him who is leaving God for the far country, the restlessness of a heart that is separated from its Divine Source and Friend; the truth that the mirth of unhallowed enjoyment is very shallow and short-lived, that fast on the heels of guilty pleasure come pursuing pain of body and misery of soul; the fact that there is no peace to the wicked, no lasting joy to any one who has abandoned the fountain of living waters for the broken cisterns of earth and time. The plaintive cry which comes from the aching hearts and troubled lives of guilt is answered by one voice alone—by that of him who stands before all generations of men, and says, in the accents of sweet and sovereign pity "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."—C. BY R. TUCK Mercy and wrath in the death of the righteous. Possibly the good king -Josiah is here prophetically referred to. His untimely death seems a strange dispensation of Providence even to us now. Josiah’s case may be taken as illustrating the general truth which is thus stated by Bishop Wordsworth: "Good and merciful men, who are taken away in the midst of their efforts to do good in their generation, and whose endeavours appear to be disowned by God, and to be blighted and withered by him, may perhaps seem to men to be cut off by a violent stroke of Divine indignation, and may be mourned by some as having died an untimely death; but the truth is—which these Scriptures reveal—they are gently gathered by God in love, and are in peace." The terms used have precise significations. The "righteous" means "those who walk straight, and stand upright." An honoured pastor lay upon his dying bed, and a member of his congregation stood beside it, whose business ways were known to be somewhat shifty. Beckoning him to bend down close to him, the pastor solemnly said these few, but searching, words, "William, go straight!" "Merciful men" are men of kindness; gracious men, who, having themselves felt the loving-kindness of God, deal kindly with their fellow-men. I. MERCY IS SHOWN IN SPARING THE FROM COMING . We have often to notice how graciously the death of our friends is timed. At first we wonder why they were taken just then, but the lapse of a few months satisfies us that they were taken "from the evil to come." The widow is removed before her little estate is wrecked by some inefficient or unfaithful trustee. The honorable business man is gathered in before some wrong-doer brings disgrace on his firm which would have broken his heart. Methuselah died the year before the Flood; Augustine a little before the sacking of Hippo. Pareus just before the taking of Heidelberg; Luther a little before the wars broke out in Germany. We have known beloved ones who all their life long prayed that they might not be spared to become troublesome to anybody, and mercy called them away almost suddenly, ere bodily powers began to decay. Most graciously the time, the place, the manner, of our exit from earth are divinely arranged; and in this matter too we may perfectly trust. II. WRATH IS SHOWN IN THE TO . This is one point which the prophet would enforce. The death of good men should be regarded as a sign that calamity is at hand. Righteousness can held back judgment, as is seen in Abraham’s pleading for Sodom. Prayers and intercessions can hold back judgment. Then the removal of the righteous men and the intercessors removes barriers and lets free the flood.—R.T. Insult of good men is insult of God. "The righteous dies, and is at rest; but ye, what will ye make at last of your derision of the righteous, and of the follies and idolatries wherein ye trust? Nothing." Matthew Henry says, "Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem’s measure-filling sin; for what was done to them God took as done to himself. When they were reproved for their sins, and threatened with the judgments of God, they ridiculed the Word of God with the rudest and most indecent gestures and expressions of disdain. They sported themselves and made themselves merry with that which should have made them serious, and under which they should have humbled themselves. They made wry mouths at the prophets, and drew out the tongue, contrary to all the laws of good breeding; nor did they treat God’s servants with the common civility with which they would have treated a gentleman’s servant that had been sent to them on an errand." Illustrations may be found in the treatment of Isaiah (see Isaiah 28:7-15); of Jeremiah; and, above all, by the insults offered to the Lord Jesus by the men of Jerusalem. The "wide mouth" and the "drawn-out tongue," are the natural symbols of derision (see Psalms 35:21). We may note some of the conditions under which the messengers of God are likely to be insulted and misunderstood. I. WHEN THEY DO NOT COME IN THE REGULAR AND ORDER. God has his order of ministrants in every age, and his ordinary messages to men may be expected to come through them: patriarchs in one age, priests in another, prophets in yet another, clergy in still another. And all due honour should be put on the Divine order for the particular time. But God has always held the right of sending messengers outside the order, as he sends comets into our solar system, and there is as real a law for the sending of seemingly erratic messengers as of the seemingly erratic comets. But there is always the disposition in those who belong to the order, and the attaches of the order, to reject the outside man. Compare our Lord’s disciples saying to the Master," We found one teaching in thy Name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us." The questions concerning any apparent messenger from God, which we ought to ask, are these—Will his work bear the test of God’s revealed Word? And does God seal his work with his Divine benediction? To reject any man’s work which can stand this dual test is to insult God, whose messenger he certainly is. II. WHEN THERE ARE IN THE MAN HIMSELF OR IN THE MANNER OF HIS MESSAGE. Just as we have established the notion that there must be an "order" through whom Divine messages alone can come, so we have convinced ourselves that there are particular styles and methods in which alone Divine messages do come. So if a message is not to pattern, we think we are right in rejecting it. The personal peculiarities of a messenger may touch the humorous faculty, and so close men’s minds and hearts against the reception of the message. But this is to insult the messenger, and in him the God who chose him and sent him with the message. We have not to ask what a man is; but we have to ask—Is he of God? If he is, we must hear him. III. WHEN THE MAKES SEVERE DEMANDS. Illustrate from Jonah at Nineveh. No doubt there were many who scorned him on this ground. Also see the demand of Savonarola which led to the great burning in the market-place of Florence. Many of the wilder spirits of Florence did jeer at him. Men in every age have preferred the prophets who prophesied smooth and soft things; and they have always been disposed to reject the prophets who had to do the nobler and more necessary work of prophesying rough things and hard things. Exactly what our over-civilized generation needs is some prophet of God, who will tell us strongly, plainly, sternly, what God would have us do. But of this we may be quite sure, even in this enlightened nineteenth century, such a prophet and teacher would have a hard time of it. IV. WHEN THE MESSAGE GOES AGAINST THE FASHION OF THE AGE. For there are fashions in thinking and religion, as well as in manners and dress. And none of us like to be out of the thinking or religious fashion. But Fashions may become slavery to us, and degrade us as slavery always does. Let a man of God come and show us the evils into which fashions—mental and religious—have brought us, and we hate the man; we cry out against him, we are all alarm, because we have deluded ourselves with the notion that fashion is synonymous with truth. Urge that we are bound to test every public witness, and decide for ourselves whether he is of God. If he is, then to neglect his message is to sin against God, and to insult him is to insult God.—R.T. The worship of stones. "In the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion … even to them hast thou poured out drink offerings." A good deal of information is at command on this subject, Illustrative matter will be found in Kitto’s ’Daily Bible Illustrations,’ vol. ’Isaiah,’ p. 209. Matthew Arnold sums up the matter in the following note: "The worship of stones is a very early form of idolatry, and originated, probably, in the veneration paid to meteoric stones—stones which, as the people said, ’fell down from heaven.’ But the worship extended to other stones also. Traces of this worship occur in Genesis, in Jacob’s consecration of the stones in his passage by Bethel (Genesis 28:18). The Greeks, too, had this stone-worship. ’In the earlier times,’ says the Greek traveller Pausanias, ’all the Greeks worshipped, in place of images of the gods, undressed stones.’ We find the name Baetylia given to these stones, and it has even been conjectured that this name comes from Bethel." Smooth stones (named salagrams), chiefly from the river Gandaki, are treated as sacred objects by the Vaishnavas all over North India. Dr. Turner writes, "I have several’ smooth stones of the stream’ from the New Hebrides, which were used as idols, and have heard of precisely similar stones being used in other parts of the Pacific." At Inniskea, off the coast of Mayo, a stone, carefully kept wrapped up in flannel, used to be brought out at certain periods to be adored; and when a storm arises, this god is supplicated to send a wreck on their coast! It is narrated that there is a stone set up to the south of St. Columba’s Church, in the island of Eriska, about eight feet high and two feet broad. It is called by the natives the bowing-stone; for when the inhabitants had the first sight of the church, they set up this stone, and then bowed, and said the Lord’s Prayer. Three points may be illustrated. I. GOD IS WHEN THINGS ARE PUT IN PLACE OF HIM. This is the coarser form of idolatry. Material things are superstitiously invested with powers, and become actual idols. II. GOD IS WHEN THINGS ARE USED TO HIM. This is the refined form of idolatry which some thinking and educated persons approve. The thing—stone or figure—becomes for them a material representation of the invisible God. This is offensive because of the limitations it puts on men’s conceptions of the Divine Being. III. GOD IS WHEN THINGS ARE MADE THE MEDIUM FOR GETTING TO HIM. This is one phase of modern idolatry. It is an offence because the essence of the last, the Christian, revelation is that each individual soul can have direct and immediate access to God. There is no place for idol-mediators.—R.T. The weariness of sinful ways. Cheyne thinks the first reference of this verse is to the ceaseless quest of the nation, in this its troublous time, for help and protection, including, of course, embassies to foreign kings, and also every other specimen of untheocratic policy. "Nothing could convince these idolatrous Jews of the folly of their misplaced trust and vain confidence." Barnes given the following suggestive note on the general application of the passage: "This is a striking illustration of the conduct of men in seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object to object; they become weary in the pursuit, yet they do not abandon it; they still cling to hope though often repulsed, and though the world gives them no permanent comfort, though wealth, ambition, gaiety, and vice all fail in imparting the happiness which they sought, yet they do not give it up in despair. They still feel that it is to be found in some other way than by the disagreeable necessity of returning to God, and they wander from object to object, and from land to land, and become exhausted in the pursuit, and still are not ready to say, ’ There is no hope; we give it up in despair, and we will now seek happiness in God.’" Matthew Henry keenly, if somewhat quaintly, says, "Prosperity in sin is a great bar to conversion from sin." Henderson puts in a good sentence the immediate and local association of the verse: "The idolatrous Jews wearied themselves with their unhallowed practices; but finding that they had not entirely exhausted their strength, they would not give up their pursuits as hopeless, but rather emboldened themselves in wickedness." I. IT IS A FACT—SINFUL WAYS DO WEARY US. Illustrate the pursuit of pleasure by means of self-indulgence. Or the "quest of the chief good" on purely human lines (illustrate this from the Book of Ecclesiastes). Or the mastery of evil by effort of serf-will. Or the effort to get eternal life by our own doings and strivings. In every case we are soon left wearied out and sick at heart. II. THIS FACT MEN ARE SLOW TO . They will not say, "There is no hope." By all kinds of delusions men persuade themselves to try once again. The last thing men will give up is hope in themselves and their own self-schemes. III. MAN’S CHANCE COMES ONLY WHEN HE IS HUMBLE ENOUGH TO THIS FACT. He must he willing to say, "Myself I cannot save." Then, turning to God, he will say, "Thou canst save, and thou alone."—R.T. Wrong thoughts of God keep men from repentance. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION VI. AND , BY A AND A PROMISE (Isaiah 58:1-14; Isaiah 59:1-21.). Isaiah 58:1-12 REBUKED AND GIVEN WITH RESPECT TO FASTING. As in the last section, so here, the prophet’s eye seems to rest upon his contemporaries rather than upon the exiles; and to note the vices of the time, which have a general resemblance to those rebuked in Isaiah 1:1-31. The whole Law seems to be in force, and the People to make a show of keeping it, and to complain that they are not properly rewarded for their religiousness. God tears the mask from their face, and shows the difference between true religion and the pretence of it. Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud; literally, cry from the throat; "a plein gosier," as Calvin says. The command is addressed to the prophet by Jehovah, who will have him warn the people in such sort as to compel their attention. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet (comp. Hosea 8:1; Joe 2:1). The trumpet gives a note of alarm. Show my people their transgression; i.e. "show them how they are especially offending me at this time" (see Micah 3:8). Isaiah 58:2 They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways (compare the picture drawn in Isaiah 1:11-15). We have there exactly the same representation of a people honouring God with their lips, but whose hearts are far from him—zealous in all the outward forms of religion, even making "many prayers" (Isaiah 1:15), but yet altogether an offence to God. They are not conscious hypocrites—quite the reverse; they are bent on "doing righteousness," on not forsaking God’s ordinance, on continually "approaching" him; but they are wholly without a proper sense of what religion is—they make it a matter of outward observance, and do not understand that it consists in the devotion of the heart. That did righteousness, and forsook not; rather, that hath done righteousness, and hath not forsaken. The righteousness is, of course, forensic legal righteousness-the offering of the appointed sacrifices, the abstaining from unclean meats, the avoidance of external defilement, the payment of vows, the observance of the one appointed fast, and the like. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. Either "they claim at God’s hands righteous judgments on their enemies" (Delitzsch); or "they demand of God a fidelity to his covenant engagements correspondent to their own (assumed) fidelity to theirs." They take delight in approaching to God. So the LXX; the Vulgate, Calvin, Vitringa, and Kay. Others prefer to render, "they desire the approach of God" (Knobel, Delitzsch, Cheyne); i.e. they desire that he will come to help them against their foes. Isaiah 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? The fasting’ spoken of is probably that of the great Day of Atonement. the only fasting commanded in the Law (Leviticus 16:29, 31). Other fasts were from time to time appointed by civil or ecclesiastical authority (1 Kings 21:9, 1 Kings 12:2 1 Kings 20:3; Joe 1:14; Joe 2:12, Joe 2:15); but they were rare, and do not seem to be here intended. Still, the lesson is general, and would apply to all occasions of fasting. The Jews of the time expected, it would seem, some special definite result, in the way of victory or relief, to follow from their observance of the Atonement fast. As it did not follow, they regarded themselves as ill used, and accordingly made complaint. Their feelings approached to those of the Vedic worshippers, who regarded their religious observances as "not merely pleasing. the god who was the object of them, but as laying him under a binding obligation, and almost compelling him to grant the requests of the worshipper". Afflicted our soul These are the exact words of Le 16:29, 31, by which the fast of the great Day of Atonement was instituted. And thou takest no knowledge; rather, no notice. In the day of your fast ye find pleasure. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne render, "ye carry on business," which accords better with the clause which follows. The great Day of Atonement was, like the sabbath, a day on which no work was to be done (Leviticus 16:29). The Jews, while priding themselves on their observance of the day, did not really observe it in this particular. And exact all your labours; i.e. "require of your servants and subordinates all the services that they have to render on other days." Days of religious observance, even under the Law, were always intended to be days of kindly forbearance towards the poor, of the remission of burdens, or even of the actual giving of relief. Isaiah 58:4 Ye fast for strife and debate. Delitzsch explains, "When fasting, they are doubly irritable and ill tempered; and this leads to quarrelling and strife, even to striking with angry fists." This is quite a possible explanation. Or there may have been two parties, one for, the other against, fasting; and those who practised fasting may have done it, as some preached Christ, "of envy and strife" (Philippians 1:15)—to provoke the opposite side. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high; i.e. "ye must not fast as ye do at present, if ye would have your voices heard in heaven." God will not hear the prayer of which such a fast is the accompaniment. Isaiah 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen, etc.? Do you suppose that such can be the fast commanded by me in the Law—a fast which is expressly called "a day for a man to afflict his soul"? Is afflicting one’s soul simply bowing down one’s head as a bulrush, and making one’s couch on sackcloth and ashes? Surely it is much more than this. (On the employment of "sackcloth and ashes" in fasting, see Esther 4:3; Daniel 9:3; Jonah 3:6.) Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? This passage, as Dr. Kay observes, "stands like a homily for the Day of Atonement." Such homilies are found in the uninspired Jewish writings, and are conceived very much in the same spirit. The Jews call the true fast "the fasting of the heart." To loose the bands of wickedness. To set free those whom wicked persons have wrongfully imprisoned or entangled. To undo the heavy burdens; literally, to untie the thongs of the yoke. The liberation of a man’s slaves, or of Jews captive among the heathen (Nehemiah 5:8), is probably intended. To let the oppressed (literally, the bruised) go free. Remission of debts and restoration of pledges (Nehemiah 10:31; Ezekiel 18:7) are, perhaps, the acts pointed at. Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? In the early Christian Church almsgiving was connected with fasting by law. It was also accepted as a moral axiom that "fasting and alms were the wings of prayer." Cast out; or, homeless ἀστέγους LXX.). That thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Their "flesh" were not merely their near kindred, but their countrymen generally (see Nehemiah 5:5). Isaiah 58:8 Then. When thou hast taken this advice to heart, and adopted it, and made it the rule of thy conduct. Upon such a change in thee, all good things shall follow. Thou shalt have no more to complain of unanswered prayers or covenant promises left in abeyance (see the comment on Isaiah 58:2 and Isaiah 58:3). Shall thy lightbreak forth; i.e. thy glorious, time shall begin (comp Isaiah 50:1). Thine health—rather, thine healing; the "healing of thy bruise," or thy recovery from the low estate to which thy sins have brought thee down—shall spring forth speedily; i.e. shall soon manifest itself; and the result will be twofold: (1) thy own righteousness will go before thee—will be, as it were, thy vanguard; and (2) The glory of the Lord; i.e. the glory which he will confer upon thee, will follow thee up, and be, as it were, thy rearguard (comp. Isaiah 52:12). Isaiah 58:9 If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke (comp. Isaiah 58:6). The putting forth of the finger. The pointing of the finger at any one in scorn. And speaking vanity; rather, speaking evil, or plotting evil, against others. Isaiah 58:10 If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry; i.e. not merely giving him bread, but giving him sympathy and compassion with it. Then shall thy light rise in obscurity (comp. Psalms 112:4, "Unto the godly there riseth up light in the darkness;" and see above, Psalms 112:8). Isaiah 58:11 The Lord shall guide thee continually; i.e. "direct thee in all thy paths—teach thee the way that thou shouldst walk in." In drought. In time of spiritual depression and weariness. Make fat thy bones; i.e. sustain thy strength. Thou shall; be like a watered garden (comp. Jeremiah 31:12). Isaiah 58:12 They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thy descendants shall restore all that has fallen into decay in Israel, whether it be cities or customs. They shall restore "breaches" of every kind, and bring back the old paths for thee to walk in. The restoration of the ruined cities of Judah may be glanced at, but is far from exhausting the writer’s meaning (comp. Isaiah 61:4). Isaiah 58:13, Isaiah 58:14 A STRICT OF THE SABBATH . While the fasting of the day only required to be spiritualized, the sabbath observance needed both spiritualizing and increased strictness. From 2 Chronicles 36:21 we learn that the sabbatical years had been little observed during the later Jewish kingdom; and it would Seem from the present passage (comp. Jeremiah 17:21-23) that even the observance of the sabbath itself had been neglected. Not that the neglect was total. The sacrifices proper to the sabbath were duly offered—the "solemn assembly" was duly called and attended (Isaiah 1:13); but during the rest of the day business flowed in its usual course—the complete sanctification of the entire day was set aside. We find a similar laxity prevalent after the return from the Captivity (Nehemiah 10:31; Nehemiah 13:15, Nehemiah 13:16). Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath; i.e. treat it with reverence, as if it were "holy ground" (Exodus 3:5; Proverbs 4:27). From doing thy pleasure; rather, from doing thy business—the same expression as in Isaiah 58:3. It is by "business," not by pleasure, that the sabbath was polluted both in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:21-23) and of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:31, etc.). And call the sabbath a delight. This is the spiritualization of the sabbath—"to call" and feel it "a delight," a real satisfaction to the soul, not a weariness (Amos 8:5), as it was to many. And shalt honour him; rather, and shalt honour it; i.e. the sabbath, which is made masculine here, as in Isaiah 56:2. The sabbath was to be honoured by men not pursuing their own ordinary ways, or engaging in their regular business, or even carrying on their ordinary everyday talk. Literally, the command is, not to "speak words;" but no Jews were ever such strict sabbatarians as to understand this as prohibiting all speech on the sabbath. Some have held that sabbatical talk should be scanty, limited, restrained as much as possible; but even for this there is no warrant. It is the quality, rather than the quantity, of the words uttered that is of real importance. Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. Then shall communion with Jehovah become a real pleasure to thee. The acts of worship shall not be done merely from a sense of duty, because commanded, but because they are congenial to the soul of the worshipper. A right use of the sabbath will help to form in men habits of devotion, which will make religion a joy and a delight to them. I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; i.e. "I will give thee a prominent position in the earth, and cause thee to occupy its high places, and hear rule over many nations." Something more than a "taking triumphal possession of Palestine" is evidently pointed at (see Deuteronomy 32:13). And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. The world itself was the "heritage of Jacob," since in him and his seed "all the families of the earth were to be blessed" (Genesis 28:14). Israel, having laid aside its formalism, and turned to God sincerely. keeping fast and sabbath as God would have them kept, not in the letter, but in the spirit, would enter upon the promised heritage, and occupy the position originally assigned to it. Israel’s rejection of the gospel made the mixed Christian Church the inheritress of the old promises. Isaiah 58:3-7 Rightful and wrongful fasting need to be carefully distinguished. Among wrong kinds of fasting may be noticed the following. I. PURELY FORMAL FASTING IS WRONG. The fasting that consists in mere abstinence from food, without any accompaniment of prayer or meditation or almsgiving, has in it nothing religious, and is an indifferent act, unless it be viewed as in some sort a pious exercise. Viewed in this light, it is a delusion and a snare—an encouragement to men to make all their religion formal, and to trust in mechanical acts as having a power to justify and to save. That which was indifferent in itself becomes wrong through the ill results to which it leads. II. FASTING FOR ’S SAKE IS STILL MORE WRONG. In the time of our Lord’s ministry there were persons among the Jews who, when they fasted, purposely made themselves "of a sad countenance, that they might appear unto men to fast" (Matthew 6:16). Their sole object was to attract attention, and obtain a reputation for asceticism in religion beyond their contemporaries. They looked to making a gain out of godliness, and were so far successful that our Lord says, "They had their reward." Men accounted them holier than others, and respected them accordingly, whereas their ostentatious fasting deserved no respect. III. FASTING FOR STRIFE AND DEBATE IS ALSO WRONG. Wherever the practice stirs up "strife and debate," it is for men to ask themselves whether such "strife and debate" are their incentives for maintaining it or no. If they fast for other, sufficient. reasons, it may well be that there is no call upon them to relinquish the practice, because it calls forth opposition—even violent and bitter opposition. Christ declared that he "came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). Whatever is good is sure to be evil spoken of. But, on the other hand, opposition may be courted, may be the real end and aim of those who head the movement. The Jews in Isaiah’s time "fasted for strife and debate;" it is not impossible that Christians may do so now. But if they do, this is certainly not such a fast as is acceptable to the Almighty, or such as will cause the voices of those who keep it to be heard on high. Rightful fasting—such fasting as both the Old and the New Testaments allow and require—has also certain tolerably distinct characteristics. I. FASTING MUST BE . "Thou, when thou fastest," says our blessed Lord, "anoint thy head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast." There must be no desire to obtain the praise of men by the observance; there must be no parade of it; so far as possible, it must be done "in secret." Then, and then only, will the "Father, which seeth in secret, reward it openly" (Matthew 6:17, Matthew 6:18). II. FASTING MUST BE NOT MERELY OUTWARD, BUT ALSO INWARD. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness," etc.? Unless fasting be with a spiritual object and accompanied by distinctly spiritual acts, it is absolutely vain and idle. Its natural spiritual concomitants are (1) repentance (1 Kings 21:27; Nehemiah 9:1, Nehemiah 9:2; Joe 2:12, Joe 2:13; Jonah 2:5-10, etc.); (2) prayer (Daniel 9:3; Joe 2:17); (3) almsgiving, and other acts of charity and mercy towards our fellow-men (Isaiah 58:5-7). To neglect such acts, and to regard the mere opus operatum of fasting as having any spiritual efficacy, is a most dangerous delusion, and one akin to the heresy of Montanus. Rightful and wrongful keeping of the sabbath need to be distinguished. I. The more worldly among the Jews were inclined to a mere perfunctory keeping of the sabbath. They shut up men’s religious duties on the day within the corners of the Levitical enactments; and considered that, if the legal sacrifices were offered, and the "holy convocation" held and duly attended, the rest of the day might be employed exactly as they pleased. They pursued their secular occupations on the sabbath day with all freedom—bought and sold, carried their corn, trod the wine-press, conveyed commodities from place to place, and engaged in every form of traffic and merchandise (Nehemiah 13:15, Nehemiah 13:16). This was the lowest theory of sabbath-observance propounded by any, and it received direct and severe condemnation from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:21-23) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:15, Nehemiah 13:16). II. A second form of observance added to the Levitical enactments with respect to sacrifices and the "holy convocation," an abstinence during the rest of the day from work of every sort—an abstinence which was sometimes pushed to excess, as when it was interpreted to forbid self-defence in war (1 Macc. 2:34-38). These religionists were content to remain in a negation, and, so long as they preserved the sabbatical rest unimpaired, were fully satisfied in their consciences. Something of the same spirit, it is to be feared, still pervades certain parts of Christendom. Mere abstinence from work—a negative "folding of the hands" appears to be thought acceptable to God; and the sabbath is given a morose aspect by the disallowance of occupations which are innocent, which conduce to cheerfulness, and which are in no way at variance with piety. III. The third and only rightful form of observance, here touched by Isaiah, and more fully taught by our Lord (Matthew 12:3-13), consists, in the first place, in "making the sabbath a delight." It should be made a delight, both to ourselves and to others. God’s people should look forward to their sabbaths as times of refreshment and of "joy in the Lord"—oases in the wilderness of life, glimpses and foretastes of heaven. Music should ]end its charm to them, intensifying and elevating devotion; the aid of other arts should be called in; churches should be aglow with floral beauty; preaching should be warm and heart-stirring; and the highest act of Christian worship should be viewed as the crowning perfection of the feast-day. In the next place, our Lord’s example should be followed, and his words remembered, "It is lawful to do good on the sabbath day." Acts of mercy and loving-kindness to our fellow-men are pointed out by him as our best employment on the sabbath; it is the special day on which to visit the sick, to clothe the naked, to give our bread to the hungry, to relieve the oppressed, to carry the glad tidings of the gospel to the poor and ignorant. It is also a day part of which may well be devoted to the strengthening of family affection by oral or written communications with relations from whom the business of life commonly separates us, and also for kindly talk with our neighbours and friends. Without in any way secularizing the sabbath, we may give it a cheerful, kindly, friendly aspect, and cause it to be regarded in our families, not as a "dull time," with difficulty to be "got through," but, as it was intended to be, the crown of the week—the special "day which the Lord hath made," to the end that we should "rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalms 118:24). BY E. JOHNSON True and spurious fasting. Loudly, with all the strength of throat and as with trumpet-voice, the prophet is to cry and denounce the rebellion and the sins of the people. I. THEIR AND , They consult Jehovah daily; they apply to the prophet or the oracle; they offer prayer. They profess to desire to know God’s ways, his commands, and his dealings with his people. Just as if they were a holy people, and were not really far in heart from God, they demand of him "judgments of righteousness;" i.e. manifestations of his pleasure as the God of the covenant, his approach as the God of justice. They adhered to the forms of religion, but the heart was not in them. Relying on those forms, they were surprised the Divine favour was not vouchsafed to them. "A hypocrite has no true and real delight in the service of God or in his truth; but, at the same time, there may be a great deal of professed interest in the ways of God. A great deal of busy and bustling solicitude about the order of religious services, the external organization of the Church, the ranks of a clergy, the claims of a liturgy. There may be a great deal of pleasure in theological discussion, in the metaphysics of theology, in the defence of what is deemed orthodoxy. There may be much pleasure in the music of devotion, in the pleasant voice of a preacher, in the triumphs of party, the advancement of our sect. But true religion is delight in religion itself—in the service of God as such, and because it is holy. It is pleasure, not even in the triumph of Christianity as a mere party measure, but in God as he is, his holy service and truth" (Barnes). II. FASTING. Formal fasting appears to have increased from the time of the Captivity. Another phrase for it was "humbling the soul" (Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:27, 32; Numbers 29:7; Numbers 30:13). In connection with this outward observance, they keenly pursue business ends, exacting the full tale of tasks. "Like Shylock, they demand the pound of flesh, at the same time that they may be most precise, punctual, and bigoted in the discharge of the duties of religion. If we desire to keep a fast acceptable to God, it should be such as shall make us kind, mild, benignant; such as shall take effect in the unbinding heavy burdens from the poor, and relaxing the rigidness of the claims we have on others." Moreover, the fasting is connected with strife and contention; and so their prayers cannot rise to the seat of Jehovah (Isaiah 57:15). "Thou hast covered thyself with clouds, so that prayer may not pass through" (Lamentations 3:44). "Their words fly up, their thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go." The inclination of the head, the sackcloth and the ashes,—these make not the fast in the eyes of Jehovah. "It is not a mournful expression, a solemn dress, or a thin table that God so much regards. It is the heart, and not the stomach, that he would have empty; and, therefore, if a man carries a luxurious soul in a pining body, or the aspiring mind of a Lucifer on the hanging head of a bulrush, he fasts only to upbraid his Maker, and to disgrace his religion, and to heighten his final reckoning, till he becomes ten times more the son of perdition than those who own their inward love of sin by the open undissembled enmities of a suitable behaviour. Let a man not count himself to have fasted to any purpose, if by it he has not got ground of his corruption, in some measure supplanted his sin, and estranged his affections from the beloved embraces of sinful objects" (South). III. THE TRUE FASTING. There was elaborate and merciful legislation for the protection of Hebrew slaves (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Leviticus 25:39); yet it appears to have become a dead letter, which called for severest castigation (Jeremiah 34:8, etc.). "To loose the bands of wickedness," to release those borne down by exactions contrary to the Law, to "untie the thongs of the yoke" (to free those detained beyond the legal time), to raise up the "crushed" (in the spirit of him who cherishes the crushed reed, Isaiah 42:3; Cheyne), this was the chosen fast of Jehovah. It was "to break bread to the hungry, and to bring miserable outcasts to their home" (cf. Ezekiel 18:7, Ezekiel 18:16). It was "to clothe the naked, and not to hide one’s-self from one’s own flesh." It is known that from time to time, both in the Jewish and the Christian Churches, alms-giving has been exalted into a religion and a morality, instead of remaining the expression and fruit of a pure heart. None the less it may be true that at certain times the duty may stand in the forefront of piety, and the neglect of it leave the reproach of "worse than the infidel" on the conscience. Righteousness is not coincident with almsgiving; but almsgiving, like any other external act, may be perverted into a formalism (as we see from Matthew 6:14). Charity must begin at home. The outcasts (Joe 3:2-8; Nehemiah 5:8), and those of the same flesh (Nehemiah 5:5), are especially those of one’s own house and country. "The condition of a truly religions fast is that it be attended with alms and works of charity. Amongst our other emptinesses, the evacuation of the purse is proper to this solemnity, and he that inflicts a thorough penance upon this, stops the fountain of luxury and the opportunities of extravagance. Charity is the grand seasoning of every Christian duty; it gives it a gloss in the sight of God, and a value in the sight of man; and he fasts properly whose fast is the poor man’s feast, whose abstinence is another’s abundance. God here roundly tells his people what is truly a fast and what is no fast in his esteem—not to abstain from bread, but to deal it to the hungry; "this is properly to fast. Not to wrap ourselves in sackcloth, but to cover and clothe our naked brother; this is to be humbled. Alms have so much the pre-eminence over prayer, that one is a begging of God, the other a lending to him" (South). IV. TO THE . "Thy light shall break forth as the morning" (cf. Job 11:17). Like the spreading welcome light of" rosy-fingered dawn," prosperity will come to gladden their hearts. "Thy new flesh shall quickly shoot forth." Old wounds shall be healed, and the vital forces, which have been checked, shall resume their activity. "Thy righteousness shall go before thee." Personal rectitude (Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 33:5, Isaiah 33:6) shall be as a leader, conducting them in the paths of prosperity and peace; and in the rear of the host shall be Jehovah’s glory (Isaiah 52:12). Here, then, is joy, vigour, confidence, all connected with rightness; this rightness found, where alone it can be found, in mind and heart conformed to the Divine will. Prayer will be heard and answered (contrast Isaiah 58:2, Isaiah 58:4). A God distant and exiled will give place to one so near that a cry will bring his presence and his help. As the last note of despair is, "Where is our God?" the highest point of faith is reached by those who hear him say, "Here I am!" But God would ever be near, were it not for the "thick cloud" of sin between the heart and him. Only let the oppression and the contumely and the defilement of the tongue, reflected in the defilement of the mind, cease, and the better springs of the inner life will rise. When they rise, there will be blessing around one, and other lives will be gladdened; and, when this shall be, then "thy thick darkness shall be as noon;" life shall be a progress under Divine direction; there shall be refreshment, comfort, exhilaration, and restoration of the ruins of the past.—J. The claims of the sabbath. I. THE OF THE SABBATH. "The prophet regards the fast-days as forms without authority and significance. All the more strict is his view of the claims of the sabbath" (Cheyne). It is emphatically a consecrated day, and the foot is to be turned aside from it as if it were holy ground, like that where Moses put the shoes from his feet (Exodus 3:5). The foot, as instrument of travel, is to be "removed from evil" (Proverbs 4:27), and its "path is to be pondered" (Proverbs 4:1-27:29). Selfish, merely human business, is not to be done on that day, which may be viewed as a part of that great duty of sacrifice which runs through the Law. The day was to be peculiarly Jehovah’s own. A particular temperance and modesty of the tongue was suitable to its observance. Falsehood (Hosea 10:4; Job 15:13) would especially desecrate it. Scripture is especially strong on the significance of words. For they express the soul, and reflect in their expression influences of good or evil on the soul again. There should be reserve and economy of speech (a lesson disregarded too much in modern times), for an element of sin is certain to find its way into excessive loquacity (Proverbs 10:19; Ecclesiastes 5:3). A "tonguey man" almost means the same as a malicious talker (Psalms 140:11). The regulation of the tongue may, therefore, in great part, be taken as the measure of spiritual self-control and sobriety, as the expression of the living sacrifice of the heart. II. THE — DELIGHT. Joy in Jehovah, the Eternal, is manifested to men in grace, in proportion as they approach him in obedience. "You shall no longer be left to barren ordinances and to unanswered prayers. No one has ever properly observed the sabbath who did not find as a consequence that he had increased pleasure in the existence, character, and service of Jehovah" (cf. Job 22:21-26; Psalms 37:4, for the illustration of the principle involved). Triumphant possession of the land of promise. (For the phrase, see Deuteronomy 32:13; cf. Habakkuk 3:19; Psalms 18:1-50:83; Amos 4:13. For the idea, see Isaiah 65:9; Ezekiel 34:13, Ezekiel 34:14; Ezekiel 36:1-12.) The hills and fortresses of Palestine, so greatly beloved by the patriot-hearts of the prophets, shall be recovered by the people, once following the righteous moral lead of Jehovah.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Delight in God. "Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways." Religion is little if it is not delight in God. This is its true touchstone. It is what we love that constitutes an abiding test. If we do not feel at heart the blessedness of religion, we may discover that we are only seeking it for selfish safety, or for the world’s approval of a respectable name. I. THE DAILY ORISON. We seek that which we desire; and how ingenious is love in finding words of communication and opportunities of intercourse of heart with heart! A look may carry with it prosperity and hope. Prayer is not in words, nor, let us remember, is it in thoughts; it is what we desire that we really pray for. Our wishes are our supplications. What your heart is eager after is the devotion that God sees. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts." "They seek me daily." Communion with God is not a cry in danger, or a beseechment in hours of special anxiety and necessity; it is an Enoch-like life—a "walk with God." II. THE . "Delight to know my ways." 1. That they may follow God. 2. That they may see God in everything. 3. That they may please God. 4. That they may be prepared to live in him and with him for ever.—W.M.S. Practical godliness. "As a nation that did righteousness." No word occurs oftener in the Bible than this word "righteousness." It is the granite foundations of God’s government. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And it is this which is the salt of a nation. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." There may be much sentimentality in human beings without the cardinal virtues; but, wanting these, all else is meretricious and hollow. I. THE GLORY OF ISRAEL. They were not a large nation, nor were they in the strict sense a military people. But they had this high vantage-ground of influence—the God-given laws of Sinai, and the prophets of the Lord of hosts to counsel and reprove them. But their glory was not simply that they had the Law, or knew the Law, but that they did righteousness. And this was their true guerdon. Whilst they so lived they were safe, honoured, and happy. Their fall was from within. The armies of Rome only overthrew them because the nation’s heart was corrupt. The rotten fruit drops—the storm only expedites its fall. II. THE GLORY OF ANY NATION. This, and this alone, is glory. Not vast fleets and imposing armies, not a full exchequer and extensive colonies, but righteousness. 1. Equity in jurisprudence. 2. Honour in trade. 3. Justice to all and for all. 4. Purity in morals, or a right government of the passions. 5. Fairness to all other nations.—W.M.S. A religious fast. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Which? The contrast is seen in the inclusive words from the fourth to the ninth verses. God does not delight in outwardness. The mere mannerism of religion, or the head bowed as a bulrush, with sackcloth and ashes beneath, is hateful to the Most High. I. FASTING IS TO BE REALLY . It is to "loose the bands of wickedness"—to free one’s own soul from the last shackles of lust and selfishness, and to aid in liberating the souls of others. Religious effort is to deal directly with character, and not with the countenance; with the habits of evil, and not the ritual of ceremonies. II. FASTING IS TO BE DEEPLY HUMAN. It is to care for our brethren in the world. 1. Many are heavily burdened. Care writes its lines on the anxious brow, and often the heart is grey while the hair is yet black. 2. Many are oppressed. Justice is the subject of bribery, and wealth lords it over poverty; moreover, slavery existed then, and has done till recent years, and the war against slavery has come from religious men. 3. Many are under varied yokes. Yokes of intemperance and pernicious habit—of selfishness in its worst forms of cruelty to others. 4. Many are helplessly poor. Not through crime, or faults of their own, such as indolence and inebriety, but through sudden calamities and severe illnesses. We must feed the hungry and cover the naked. 5. Many are neglected by their own. The workhouse has received to its dull shelter those connected with the well-to-do and the well-born; or "relatives" have never been inquired after, sympathized with, or succoured. "And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh." These words in Isaiah teach us that the ancient Law was not simply legal and ceremonial, and outwardly sacrificial, but social, moral, and religious in the highest degree. Such Law Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfil.—W.M.S. The break of day. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." The hindrances to progress in God’s Church are not in Divine limitations, but in human perversions. I. THE LIGHT IS THERE. We hide it under the bushel of our formalism and worldliness. Divine revelation gives it—yea, keeps it alive; and it’ we remove the obstacles to its glory, it will burst forth. Many blame religion for the faults and formalities of nominally religious men. II. THE OF THIS LIGHT IS A MORNING. Mornings have often come alike in Jewish and Christian history. Isaiah awakened the Hebrew nation to a new life. Mediaevalism with its dark superstitions, the inquisition with its abhorrent cruelties, did not destroy Christianity. What has been well called the "morning of the Reformation" came. Look back now to Savonarola, and you will see what one man can do to herald a better day in darkest times. Then! Not by an accident in history, nor by an arbitrary decree of God; but by obedience to his Word and by the baptism of his Spirit. And beautiful as are all mornings, when the sun touches the clouds with gold, and fills the earth with splendour, and makes dancing sunshine on the sapphire sea, none are so beautiful as the mornings of new moral life for the world.—W.M.S. The sabbath ideal. "Call the sabbath a delight." It cannot be a holy day unless it is a happy day. For only souls that joy in God are really devout. Unless religious exercises have a charm for the soul, they are only routine; they are not religious. I. A SEEMING . "Turn away thy foot … from doing thy pleasure." And again, "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure." But there is no real contradiction. Many things are rightly enough pleasant to us in daily occupation and association; but things right in themselves may be wrong if indulged in under improper conditions; and the sabbath is to be holy unto the Lord—and in the Christian dispensation it is called "the Lord’s day." This is to dominate everything. Those who seek worldly pleasure upon this day hinder others from fellowship with God, and keep from that constancy of vision on heavenly things by which alone they can be indelibly impressed on the mind and the heart. II. A SOLEMN . It is a day that should be made pleasant, not merry nor mirthful, but full of all the highest and best enjoyments. Praise is pleasant—it awakens a remembrance of mercy. Fellowship is pleasant—it nerves the fainting soldier’s heart to look at his companions in arms, and it cheers the weary to hear of "the rest that remaineth." Christian parents should take heed to this. Dulness and moroseness are not religion. Literature is none the less Christian that is well illustrated, and written with all the charm of an attractive style; and the church of God is none the less the house of the Lord and the gate of heaven, that the service is in itself cheerful and bright. There is no memory more potent for good than the remembrance of the happy sabbaths of our childhood. And service for others helps our joy; to call the sabbath a delight, we must be, if possible, givers as well as receivers—like Nehemiah, "cup-bearer of the King," handing the living water to others.—W.M.S. Religion: its semblance, its substance, its reward. I. THE OF . It argues nothing whatever against religion that there is a great deal of hypocrisy in the world; indeed, the absence would be a more formidable argument than the presence of it. For men imitate that which is most worthy of esteem, and if nobody-pretended to be religious it would be fair to conclude that religion itself was of very small account. Imitation implies the respect, and indicates the value, which is attached to anything which is copied. It speaks well, therefore, for religion that men more often affect to be religious than they pretend to any other excellency. There may be: 1. Acts of devotion. "Seeking God daily"—"Approaching him" in the attitude and engagement of "prayer," whether in the secret chamber, the family circle, or in the house of God. 2. Consultation of his Word. "Asking of God the ordinances of justice"—the regular and systematic reading of Scripture. 3. Special acts of piety. Like that of fasting, which was not enjoined by Mosaic Law (except on one day in the year); or observing certain particular days as days of humiliation and devotion, or ostentatious deeds of beneficence. Concerning these outward shows of piety, it has to be observed: (1) That, begun in insincerity, they may become positively pleasurable to those who practise them. There are many who always go through religious rites with labour and weariness of spirit; but there are others who find enjoyment in the ceremonies and services in which they engage. They may be said to delight in them (verse 2). Love of the artistic, fondness for distinction, or other earthly considerations, may account for this; but it is also an undeniable fact that many who do not please God with their observances do greatly please themselves. (2) That it is the solemn and urgent duty of the minister of Christ to show the utter insufficiency of these things. He is to "cry aloud, and spare not, to lift up his voice like a trumpet," to show those who pass for God’s people that, if they have nothing better to bring to the heart-searching God than hollow phrases, formal services, outward actions which are not animated by inward feeling, they are living in transgression and in sin (verse 1). He is to. insist upon it with utmost earnestness, that only they can worship God acceptably who worship him "in spirit and in truth;" and that if the semblance of piety be divorced from a holy and useful life (verse 4), it weighs nothing whatever in the balances of heaven (verse 5). Those who have the form of piety without the substance may consider themselves to be of the number of the faithful (verse 3); but they are miserably mistaken. God decisively and peremptorily rejects such empty formalities (verse 5); nay, they are positively offensive in his sight (Isaiah 1:13-15). II. THE OF . The teaching of the text is that real piety is to be found in such fear of God as will manifest itself in doing his holy will in all the relations of human life; such reverence for the Supreme as will constrain men to do what is right and good in all their dealings with their equals and their inferiors; such piety as bears the fruits of: 1. Peaceableness: the exact opposite of strife and smiting (verse 4). 2. Justice: loosing the bands of wickedness, letting the oppressed go free, etc. (verse 6). 3. Kindness: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. (verse 7); practical recognition of the claims of the suffering humanity which we can pity and can succour (verse 10). This is "the fast," this is the piety, which God has chosen—that love of God which shows itself in the love of our neighbour (Le Acts 10:25, Acts 10:37; Romans 12:20, Romans 12:21; James 1:27; James 2:14-26). III. THE REWARD OF . It is quite true, profoundly true, that real religion is its own reward. Well does the active servant of Jesus Christ beg to be continued in his holy work, saying- "And I will ask for no reward, Except to serve thee still." But God offers to us, and even presses on our acceptance, his ample and generous rewards for our genuine and faithful service. These are, under Christ: 1. Spiritual illumination (verse 8); being made to be the children of light and of the day, walking in the light of Divine truth, receiving the communications of the enlightening Spirit. 2. Soundness of soul, wholeness of heart and character—"health" within (verse 8). 3. Divine guidance and protection. (Verses 8, 11.) 4. Communion with the living and present Saviour (verse 9). 5. Fruitfulness; ourselves being as a "watered garden" for beauty and productiveness (verse 11); and our work resulting in moral and spiritual restoration (verse 12).—C. The day of sacred rest. The institution of the weekly sabbath is certainly one of the "water-marks" of revelation. It is not possible to conceive of anything more wise and beneficent than this provision for our bodily and spiritual well-being. Who can calculate the material or the moral benefit which it has conferred on the human race? Who can estimate the blessing it will have proved to humanity when time has run its course? Whether we regard it in the lower or in the higher aspect of the question, its value is simply inestimable. We may look at— I. THE GROUND OF ITS . The Jews had special reasons for honouring the day. Its observance was part of their statute law (Exodus 20:8-11). But all mankind have reason enough for giving it a conspicuous place in their custom and their commandment. 1. It has its commencement at the very dawn of human history (Genesis 2:2, Genesis 2:3). 2. It was inculcated in the most solemn form, and enforced by the weightiest sanctions on the Hebrew people; and although it is not, on that account, binding on us as a Divine enactment, yet the fact that it was made of so much consequence in the judgment of the Divine Legislator, and had so large a part in the training of the healthiest and purest people the world has ever known, is a very strong argument in favour of its perpetuity: we may surely elect to continue that which we are not formally bound to adopt. We find a powerful reason for so doing in the text anal in similar passages, where we have the significant fact that: 3. It finds a prominent place in prophetic utterance. Inasmuch as the prophets were the strong and even vehement opponents of ceremonialism, and (as in the previous verses of this chapter) made everything of the moral and the spiritual, their testimony concerning the sabbath day has peculiar value. It points to a Divine intention that it should not pass away with the local, the rudimentary, the temporary, but hold its ground with the abiding and the permanent. 4. It was stated by our Lord to have been "made for man" (Mark 2:27). 5. In the new form of the "Lord’s day," commemorating the crowning work not of creation but of redemption, it was honoured by the apostles of our Lord. We may, therefore, conclude, in the exercise of our reason, that it is the will of Christ that we should observe one day in seven as a day of sacred rest. II. THE TRUE SPIRIT OF . 1. The spirit of self-renunciation. The Hebrew saint was to "turn away his foot from the sabbath, from doing his pleasure on God’s holy day;" i.e. he was to lay aside his customary labours, and to refrain from ordinary amusements on a day on which God asked for contemplation and worship. As Christians, we come to the conclusion that it is the will of our Saviour that we should give to him our homage, our docility, our sacred zeal; we therefore gladly forego the common engagements and enjoyments of our life, "not doing our own ways," in order that we may do his will and gain his good pleasure. 2. The spirit of devotion. The corollary of the cheerful renouncement of our own business is the adoption of God’s worship and service as the appropriate engagement of the day. Quitting our home and shunning the mart and the place of amusement, whither should we go but to the house of the Lord, to the field of sacred usefulness? And how can we better spend our time or occupy our powers than in the manly, the lofty, the elevating engagements of devotion and sacred service? Then do we reach our highest mark, and most nearly attain the true standard of our manhood, the richest heritage of our race. Then do we "delight ourselves in the Lord;" then is God what he was to Abraham, and what he will be to us all when we receive the fulness of our inheritance—our "exceeding great Reward." 3. The spirit of sacred joy. We shall "call the sabbath a delight," shall find it so, and shall do our best to make it so—to the children, to the employed, to the lonely and the confined, who can be visited and cheered in the quiet home, in the sick-chamber. III. ITS LARGE REWARD. 1. In immediate spiritual enjoyment; in the gladness of heart with which the worship of God is anticipated (Psalms 122:1); in the joy of holy fellowship and sacred song; in the happiness of domestic piety. 2. In the continuous spiritual blessedness to which it leads; for a true use of Christian privileges ends in the reconciliation of the soul to God, and in the possession of his abiding favour, in the lifelong friendship of Jesus Christ; there is daily, continual "delight in the Lord." 3. In the realization of the kindest promises of God. To Israel was offered the excellency of "riding on the high places of the earth," and being "fed with the heritage of Jacob." To us, if we truly seek God’s face until we find his favour, is offered (1) the guidance of an unerring finger and the protection of an almighty arm along all the path of life, whether along higher or lower levels; (2) the exercise of a benign and gracious influence on human hearts—an influence which will live when we are gone; (3) entrance into the heavenly kingdom.—C. BY R. TUCK The offence of merely external religiousness. "And [yet] me they consult daily, and to know my ways they desire: as a nation that hath done righteousness, and hath not forsaken the Law of God, they ask of me judgments of righteousness’’ (Cheyne). "The words point, to the incongruous union, possible in the reign of Manasseh, but hardly possible after the exile, of the formal recognition of Jehovah with an apostate life. Every phrase rings in the tone of an incisive irony, describing each element of a true devotion which the people did not possess" (Dean Plumptre). External worship is insufficient, a change of heart is needed; God asks what we have, and what we can do, only because through these things hearts can find expression. I. AND SYMBOLS ARE GOOD. Within due limits. We cannot conceive the sort of religion that may suit angels or pure spirits. Perhaps it has no ritual. But our religion must be that of spirits working through human bodies, and therefore it must have form. For man God instituted or recognized sacrifices. For some men he appointed Judaism. Heart-feeling may be strengthened by expression, but capacity of feeling may be exhausted by expression. There is a measure of truth in the saying that, for many persons, religions truth needs to be set in the picture-teaching of ceremonial. They are not wise who refuse to see value in organization and ordinances. II. AND HEART-SERVICE ARE BETTER. Because the thing expressed must be better than the expression. Ceremony can have no moral value apart from the heart and the will (see Psalms 40:6-8; Psalms 51:16, Psalms 51:17; Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah 1:11, Isaiah 1:12-16;Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 7:22, Jeremiah 7:23; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:6-8). We should not be able to conceive of God as a moral Being, if we were not sure that he puts obedience first; a father does; a king even does. III. TRUE HEARTS WISELY TO BLEND BOTH. They find out the practical value of well-ordered and well-kept religious habits. Three things occupy serious attention. 1. How to get good religious habits formed. 2. How to keep the forms instinct with life. 3. How to keep the forms within wise limitations. Every man finds out that the "seen" is constantly endeavouring so to satisfy him that he shall cease to care for the "unseen." IV. IF WE CANNOT HAVE BOTH, WE MUST THE FORM, NOT THE SPIRIT. There are times when it seems as if one must be sacrificed. The tone of an age may give extraordinary force to ceremonial; e.g. an age of decayed religion, such as the time of Christ; an aesthetic age such as ours is. Now it has become our duty to limit ceremonial to the efficient expression of spiritual life and feeling.—R.T. Isaiah 58:3, Isaiah 58:4 Selfishness spoiling religious habits. "Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure." That is, you make your religion a mode of pleasing yourselves. You really enjoy your fastings. Two points may be illustrated and enforced. As introductory, it may be shown that externalism is the special temptation of a people who have been cured of idolatry. Pharisaic formalism is the evil that threatens a nation that rebounds from the notion of many gods to the idea of one, spiritual God. "Self" becomes, in a subtle way, the idol of men’s worship. I. SELF- IS AN END GAINED IN DUTIES. Those who give themselves heartily to the religious life do come positively to enjoy it. It is the Divine reward of their devotion that they find personal pleasure in their pious works and ways. What strikes us as a most marked contrast between the older and the new religious life is this—our fathers found their pleasure in their religion, while we find our pleasure in anything and everything but our religion. The irksomeness of religious services and religious works is the sure sign that we have little or no pleasure in these things. God does not give us this reward because our hearts and energies are not in such things. A kind of force and fear holds us to a round of engagement; relics of old association and of an old sense of duty, keep us to formal acts of worship; but when the heart is gone out of religious service joy goes too. The lost sense of pleasure is not the worst thing’ in our spiritual condition, but it may be one of the signs of the worst. Self-pleasure is God’s reward—is one of the proper ends of the pious life. II. SELF- MUST NOT BE THE END SOUGHT IN DUTIES. We need not dwell on the case of the hypocrite, who purposely seeks ends of his own in making his show of piety. It is more searching to deal with the case of the self-deceived, who mistakes the idea of religion, and thinks himself to be serving God when he is only gratifying himself; and with the case of those who act from divided motives, and are always in danger of making self-pleasing the ruling one. God is to be honoured, obeyed, and served for his own sake alone, no matter what a man may get or lose by his service. It is the sternest reproach of some professed followers of God, that "they feared Jehovah, but served their own gods;" it would adapt the expression to modern mistakes if we read it, "They feared the Lord, but lived for ends of self-pleasing." It may be shown that the teachings concerning the heaven which is to be obtained through a religious life are too often presented as an encouragement to self-pleasing. Illustrate by the calamity that befell Pliable, in ’Pilgrim’s Progress,’ who was going on pilgrimage for the sake of what he himself would get by it.—R.T. Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 58:7 God’s idea of fasting. It should be noticed, as giving special point to this reference to fasting, that, besides the regular fasts of the Jewish religion, there were, during the Captivity in Babylon, special fasts appointed as days of repentance and prayer for Israel. God complains that these fasts did not say to him exactly what those who fasted intended them to say, because he looked at the whole conduct of the men to see if it was in harmony with the fasting. The important principle is here illustrated that, if a man be right with God, he will be right also with his fellow-men. If a man does not forgive his brother his trespasses, he cannot be in such a state of mind as makes it any use to him for God to forgive his trespasses. If a man is harsh, exacting, violent, in his dealings with his fellow-creatures, God will take no notice of his sad countenance, fasting, and fine pretences of penitence. God is never deceived by the excellent appearance of our Sunday ways. He judges us by the records of all the week. I. GOD’S IDEA OF FASTING IS NOT A FINE OUTWARD SHOW OF . (Isaiah 58:5.) Bowed head. Starved body. Sackcloth dress. Ashes for a seat. That rooks fine, and men may be deceived by it, but not God. Compare our Lord’s teaching in the sermon on the mount. "Be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast." "The prophet finds fault with the fasting of the Jews in two respects. 1. Because they did not combine fasting with works of righteousness. 2. Because they held the bodily exercise to be the chief thing." Outward appearances may speak for us to God, only we must take care that they have something sincere and true and worthy to say to him, from our hearts. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments;" "The Lord searcheth the heart." II. GOD’S IDEA OF FASTING IS SELF- IN ORDER TO GAIN HIGHER FOR SERVICE. And such fasting needs to make no show. The man who fasts in this sense may "anoint his head, wash his face," and look cheerful. The best signs of fasting are the good works which we can accomplish, which we gain power, through our self-restraints, to accomplish—loosing bands, freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, blessing all. Fasting, in the sense of a refusal of all food, belongs to ceremonial religion and had its origin in Eastern lands. Fasting in its most spiritual form, as personal self-restraint, will-mastery over habits and preferences, must ever be binding upon all Christians. As explained by an apostle, it is "knowing how to possess the vessel of the body in sanctification and honour."—R.T. Conditions of answer to prayer. Were these men, whose lives were spent for self, but who made a show of seeming to want God, proper persons to receive answers to their prayers? Let the Apostle James answer. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). God wants signs of right character in those whose petitions he grants; for such character is the only guarantee that what he gives is rightly accepted and rightly used. Here with special reference to the particular sins of the age, we have these conditions laid down. 1. Ceasing from stern and cruel dealings with those who serve us. "Take away the yoke" (see verse 6). 2. Taunts of those who are recognized as the faithful servants of God, but de not make just the same expression of their piety that we do. "Putting forth the finger;" a gesture of derision. "Indicative of mockery and insolence towards the pious and persisting part of the nation" (Matthew Arnold). 3. Boasting. A spirit of self-satisfaction, which is quite inconsistent with any approach to God with expressions of need and fervent desires. "Speaking vanity." While these evils must be put away, it is made a further condition of answer to prayer, that he who prays shall be positively set upon doing good, caring for the hungry and the afflicted. As the immediate reference is to the prayers offered on the national fast-days, this homily may be made to hear specially upon national days of humiliation, Lenten times, etc. Such times are useful, and are necessary. They are called for by the Divine judgments. But the special danger of them is insincerity. The special condition of their acceptance with God is national turning from sin to righteousness and charity. Therefore, at such seasons, the work of God’s ministers is to produce due convictions of national sins. Our Lord taught conditions of prayer for his individual disciples, in his sermon on the mount. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."—R.T. Guided, provided, and refreshed. "Guide thee;" "Satisfy thy soul in drought;… Make fat thy bones;… Make thee like a watered garden." These figures are all plain and simple, but the last of them gains point by some knowledge of Eastern sentiments. Van Lennep tells us that, in the East, "almost every house has more or less of a garden adjoining. There is neither system nor regular laying out. Trees are scattered about with little or no plan, and patches for vegetables are laid out as most convenient, onions and cabbages being the universal favourites. But the ornament most prized in a garden, one which all seek to possess if they can possibly afford it, is the marble tank—square, oblong, or octagonal—with a spout in the centre, always out of order. They would not give up that spout in the centre for a good deal, although it does not play once in a generation; but they sit there and think how fine it would be to see it work, and it is almost the same as if they did see it. These tanks are often very tastefully cut and ornamented. The ground around them is always well smoothed, and fine grass is sown in it, and kept fresh by frequent sprinkling." The immediate reference of the text is to the restoration of the exiles. Their journey they well might fear. Weariness, drought, peril, they could but expect. So the Divine assurances come meeting the three points of their special need. Their need is ours in the journey of life, our journey home to the new Jerusalem. I. GOD HELP FOR ALL THE OF LIFE. "Guide thee continually.’’ We are very familiar with journeyings. We are always going to and fro. By land we are constantly within the flange or’ a wheel of destruction. By sea only a plank or a plate of iron keeps us from foundering. Yet how securely we go! Is it human science or skill that we trust? Nay, God guideth. To every man the life-path is unknown. We have never gone the way heretofore. No matter. God guideth. II. GOD SUPPLY FOR THE OF LIFE. "Satisfy" thee. Compare "Verily thou shalt be fed." Forty years in the wilderness Israel was fed. For months Elijah was fed. Through the long march the exiles were fed. Manna did not more truly come from God than does our daily supply. None of his people are left desolate. III. GOD RELIEF FOR THE OF LIFE. Such as comes to drooping flowers in the garden when the soft rains fall. Such as comes to parched travellers when in the desert they find the living, sparkling spring. Who of us cannot recall sweet memories of Divine refreshings, winds of God, waters of life?—R.T. The universal sabbath-law. "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." The peculiarity of the day, the essential thing about the day, is that it is God’s day, not ours. We only keep it aright when we keep it for God. We misuse it when we fill it with any ends of our own. The one sabbath-work is a special effort to honour and obey God, and we shall surely find that the one-day effort helps us in establishing and confirming the everyday habit. Do only God’s pleasure on the sabbaths, and it will be easy to put God’s will and pleasure first every day. Importance attached to keeping the sabbath in Babylon, because it was the most prominent thing in which the people publicly witnessed to their separation from idolatry, and allegiance to Jehovah. Faithful observance of it was the test by which the faithful ones were known. Equal importance attaches to the keeping of the sabbath in our day. It is, as much as ever it was, the searching test that reveals all the humble and faithful followers of God. Still a Christian is known by the Sunday test, "Does he seek his own pleasure on God’s day?" Henderson well says, "The observance of the sabbath has, in all ages, been found essential to the maintenance and prosperity of spiritual religion." Blackstone says, "A corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the sabbath." It should be carefully noticed that this prophet, who is so stern against forms and ceremonies in religion, is thus severe in demanding loyalty to the day which is not ours, but God’s. So familiar a subject needs no more than an outline of thought; illustrative material will readily be suggested. I. WE MUST KEEP THE DAY. As a separate day. Showing its distinctness from other days in the change made in our life-habits and associations. Some illustrations may be taken from our keeping wedding-days or birthdays. At such times our minds are full of some particular persons—the days are kept in their honour. So we should separate Sundays for God. II. WE SHOULD ENJOY THE DAY. Here is a paradox. We are not to do our own pleasure on the day, but we are to find our pleasure in the day. Sunday should be the brightest day of the week. III. WE OUGHT TO HONOUR GOD ALL THE DAY. What precisely, in an age, a town, a community, a family, or a life, the best honouring of God is, the preacher must think out and present in his own way.—R.T. Isaiah 59:1-8 A GENERAL REBUKE OF ISRAEL FOR ITS SINS, The command given to the prophet in Isaiah 58:1 to "show God’s people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins "—partly executed in Isaiah 58:4-7 and Isaiah 58:13—is now further carried out by a scathing denunciation of various forms of wickedness, more or less prevalent in Israel, the effect of which has been to separate between Israel and God, to "shorten God’s hand" and "make his ears heavy." The passage has many analogies with Isaiah 1:2-23. Isaiah 59:1 The Lord’s hand is not shortened; i.e. God is not less able to help than of old; his "hand" has lost none of its power. That he does not help is owing to the iniquities of his people, which have separated between him and them (Isaiah 59:2). It is the same fact which has made his ear heavy. He cannot hear prayers that are not sincere—not from the heart. Isaiah 59:2 Have separated; literally, have been separating. The force of the form used is continuous, and implies that Israel had now for a long time been heaping up a barrier between itself and Jehovah. Your sins have hid his face; literally, your sins have caused his face to be hidden from you, i.e. "have made him avert it." Isaiah 59:3 Your hands are defiled with blood (comp. Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:21). (On the "innocent blood" shed by the Jews of the later Judaean kingdom, see 2 Kings 21:6, 2 Kings 21:16; 2 Kings 24:4; 2 Kings 25:25; 2 Chronicles 24:21; 2 Chronicles 28:3; 2 Chronicles 33:6; 2 Chronicles 36:16, etc.) It consisted in (1) sacrifices of children to Moloch; (2) persecution of prophets; and (3) judicial murders, either actual (like that of Naboth, in Israel) or virtual, i.e. such perversion of justice as produced general poverty and misery, and tended to shorten men’s lives (see the comment on Isaiah 1:15). Your lips have spoken lies (comp. Isaiah 32:7). The wicked oppressors "devised wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words." Isaiah 59:4 None calleth for justice; rather, none preferreth his suit in justice (so Lowth, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne). "No one," that is, "who engaged in a suit, limited himself to just pleas and honest courses in his prosecution of it." Nor any pleadeth for truth; rather, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity; literally, in chaos; i.e. "in a mass of false and vain statements." The whole basis of the dealings between man and man was unsound, corrupt, chaotic. Where truth and plain dealing are set aside, all shortly becomes ruin and confusion. They conceive mischief, etc. (comp. Psalms 7:14). Isaiah 59:5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs. (On the cockatrice, see the comment upon Isaiah 11:8.) The meaning here is that the people gave themselves to brooding on and hatching purposes which were as pernicious and destructive as the eggs of venomous serpents. And weave the spider’s web; i.e. "their purposes were as flimsy and unsubstantial as the web of the spider." He that eateth, etc. If a man partake of their plans, he becomes morally as bad as they, and is smitten with spiritual death. If an attempt be made to "crush" and destroy their plans, the only result is the premature birth of a viper. Isaiah 59:6 Their webs shall not become garments. The unsubstantial fabrics which they weave shall not serve them in any way as garments, or be of any real value or utility. Their devices shall not take objective shape in such sort as to afford them "cover" or protection. Their works are works of iniquity; rather, works of nothingness, works that make a mere pretence of being works at all, and are in reality mere shams, impotent and delusive. And the act of violence is in their hands; rather, and it is an act of violence that is in their hands. Violence creates nothing. At the best, it destroys. Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil. It is, however, only too true that they have a power to work evil. They cannot construct, their devices fall through, their "spinning" is to no purpose; but they can, in a rough and blind way, do enormous mischief. "Their feet run to evil"—rush to it at full speed—brook no delay, but hurry on into act. It is an easy thing to shed innocent blood; and those who are conscious of constructive impotence are very apt to seek compensation by doing destructive work, which at least shows that they have a power of some kind. Hence "Reigns of Terror" when revolutions are at the last gasp. The strong expressions with respect to shedding innocent blood, used here and in 2 Kings 21:16 and 2 Kings 24:4, seem to imply something like a massacre of the more godly Israelites by the ungodly in Manasseh’s time. Wasting and destruction (compare the "destruction and misery" of Romans 3:16, which is a quotation of the present passage). Isaiah 59:8 The way of peace they know not. They have no desire for "peace," and neither "seek" it nor "ensue" it (1 Peter 3:11). Peace can only be obtained through righteousness (Isaiah 32:17). There is no judgment in their goings; rather, no justice—no recognition of other men’s rights, no endeavour to observe right in their own acts and proceedings (comp. Isaiah 59:4; and see also Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:21, Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15, etc.). They have made them crooked paths (comp. Proverbs 2:15; Proverbs 10:9; Proverbs 28:6). The way that leadeth to life is straight. They have wandered from it, and made for themselves "crooked" paths, which can only lead to destruction. In such paths there neither is nor can be "peace." Isaiah 59:9-15 ISRAEL HUMBLY ITS SIN’S TO GOD. Isaiah, anxious to bring the people to confession and amendment, makes humble confession in their name, joining himself with them, as if he had been a participator in their iniquities. Isaiah 59:9 Therefore—i.e. on account of these sins—is judgment far from us; i.e. "does God refrain from judging our enemies." Neither doth justice—i.e. the righting of the wrongs which we suffer at the hands of the heathen—overtake us. We are left by God unavenged, and our enemies are left unpunished on account of our many transgressions. We wait for light. We look for a bright dawn to succeed the night of our trouble; but we wait in vain—the obscurity continues. Isaiah 59:10 We grope for the wall; rather, we grope along the wall (comp. Deuteronomy 28:29; and for the "blindness that had happened unto Israel" see above, Isaiah 29:10, Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:16, etc.). We stumble at noonday. It was not that light was really wanting, but they had no eyes to behold it. We are in desolate places; rather, in dark places (Vulgate, Rodiger, Kay, Knobel). The word occurs only in this place, and is of doubtful signification. Isaiah 59:11 We roar all like bears; rather, we growl. The verb is used commonly of the "roaring" of the sea (Isaiah 17:12; Isaiah 51:15; Jeremiah 6:23; Jeremiah 31:1-40:45; Jeremiah 50:42; Jeremiah 51:55); but is applied also to the noise made by a dog (Psalms 59:6, Psalms 59:14). Here it represents the deep murmur of discontent, which alternates with the mournful tones of Israel’s despondency—the latter being compared to the melancholy cooing of the dove (see Isaiah 38:14). We look for judgment, but there is none, etc. The same complaint as in Isaiah 59:9, clause 1. Isaiah 59:12 Our transgressions are multiplied before thee; i.e. they are very numerous; and they come "before God," so as to attract his attention and call for his animadversion. Our sins testify against us; i.e. "rise up against us as witnesses, whose evidence we cannot disprove, and have not even the face to dispute." Our transgressions are with us—i.e. "constantly haunt us"—and as for our iniquities, we know them; i.e. we are aware of them, we acknowledge them, we have them continually in our memories. It is one of the most certain phenomena of consciousness that grievous sins, deadly sins, haunt the mind, and cannot in this life be wiped out from the memory. Isaiah 59:13 An enumeration of special sins. First, sins of the heart. Transgressing and lying against the Lord; or rather, treason and unfaithfulness to Jehovah (Cheyne); followed by departing away from God, or the secret act of apostasy. Next, sins of the tongue: Speaking oppression and revolt; or, oppression and wrong—the "wrong," probably, of false accusation (comp. Deuteronomy 19:16); and, lastly, conceiving and uttering · words of falsehood generally. Isaiah 59:14 Judgment is turned away backward. In conclusion, the crying sin of perversion of justice is admitted with much amplification. (1) Right judgment is exactly inverted—the innocent are condemned, the guilty acquitted. (2) Justice standeth afar off—too far off to be able to hear those who make appeal to it. (3) Truth is fallen in the street; i.e. false witness prevails over true in the courts of justice. (4) Equity cannot enter—is not admitted inside the courts, but waits without. Isaiah 59:15 Yea, truth faileth. Truth itself is altogether gone, is missing, not forthcoming. "Tetras Astraea reliquit." This is the worst of all. For truth is the basis of the social fabric, the groundwork of all morality. Once let there be no regard for truth in a state, no discredit attaching to lying, and all virtue is undermined, all soundness is vanished—nothing remains but "wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores" (Isaiah 1:6). He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. Evil-doers prosper. The man who "eschews evil," and declines to employ (as others do) the weapons of fraud and violence, simply gives himself over as a prey to those who are less scrupulous than himself. Isaiah 59:15-21 A PROMISE OF . TO ISRAEL. The godly in Israel were suffering a double oppression: (1) at the hand of their ungodly brethren; (2) at the hand of the heathen. The prophet promises a deliverance from both. The deliverance will be followed by the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, which will continue for ever. And the Lord saw it. The division of the verses here requires alteration. The opening clause of Isa 59:15 belongs to what precedes; the second clause to what follows. "The Lord saw" that condition of things in Israel which is described in Isaiah 59:3-15; and it displeased him; literally, it was evil in his eyes, especially in that there was no judgment. Justice was not done between man and man; no one thought of pronouncing just judgments. The circumstances were such as to invite a Divine interposition. Isaiah 59:16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; i.e. God looked for some champion of the oppressed to arise; it was to be expected under the circumstances. But, alas! "there was no man." None stood up to resist the unrighteous and protect the innocent; much less did any stand up to deliver Israel from its heathen adversaries. When it is said that God "wondered" at no champion appearing, we must understand the expression as an anthropomorphism· Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him. As them was no human champion, it became necessary that God should arise in his own Person, and show himself. "His arm" and "his righteousness" were enough; no human aid was needed, or could have added anything to the resistless strength of his might (comp. Isaiah 63:5). Isaiah 59:17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate. The Isaiah anthropomorphism is far less gross than the Homeric. The gods in Homer put on actual armour, and take sword and shield. Jehovah arms himself for the battle in a way that is manifestly metaphoric. He puts on a "Divine panoply"—righteousness as his breastplate, salvation as his helmet, vengeance for garments, and zeal, or jealousy, for a cloak. He takes no offensive weapons—"the out-breathing of his Spirit (verse 19) is enough" (Kay). Isaiah 59:18 According to their deeds; rather, according to their deserts (comp. Psalms 28:4, ad fin.). He will repay. The ordinary future here, and in the remainder of the prophecy, replaces the "perfect of prophetic certitude," which has been employed in Isaiah 59:16, Isaiah 59:17. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. God’s "adversaries" are those of his own household—his people, the ungodly Israelites; his "enemies" are the heathen that oppress his people (comp. Isaiah 1:24, which is very similar). To the islands; i.e. the maritime lands, which, under Assyria, and afterwards under Babylon, took part in the oppression of his people. Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear; rather, and they shall fear. The result of the triumphant exhibition of God’s might will be a conversion of the Gentiles, who will flock in both from the west—the quarter of "the islands"—and from the east, to do reverence to the name and to the glory of the Lord. When the enemy shall come in (rather, come on) like a flood; literally, like the river; i.e. the Euphrates (comp. Isaiah 8:7, "The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory," etc.). When this shall be the case, then the Spirit of the Lord—hypostasized or nearly so—shall lift up a standard against him (comp. Isaiah 10:18; Zechariah 9:16), and easily vanquish him. The metaphor of "lifting a standard" for making an armed resistance is common in Isaiah (Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 31:9, etc.). Isaiah 59:20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion; rather, and there shall come a Redeemer for Zion, and for those who turn, etc. When the "adversaries "and the "enemies" shall have been punished, repentant Israel shall be saved by the coming of Messiah. As usual, the prophet does not note, or perhaps see, intervals of time, but blends events of various periods into one glorious vision of triumphant deliverance, redemption, and prolonged spiritual life in the Redeemer’s kingdom. Isaiah 59:21 As for me; literally, and I. The prophet begins with one construction, and then checks himself, and introduces another. This is my covenant (comp. Jeremiah 31:31-34; and see the comment on Isaiah 53:3). The new covenant involved the giving of God’s Spirit to his people (Joe 2:28); and this Spirit, it is here promised, shall not depart from God’s people while time endures. The Spirit will be accompanied with certain "words" which will be put into the Church’s mouth; and these words will remain unchanged and pass on from mouth to mouth, age after age, for ever. The "words" intended are probably those of the entire Bible—"all God’s revelations’’ (Cheyne)—which the Church will maintain as inspired truth through all ages. Upon thee; i.e. upon Israel. The change of number and person ("with them … upon thee") is not unusual in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 33:2; Isaiah 49:5; Isaiah 62:11, Isaiah 62:12, etc.). Isaiah 59:2-8 The unsatisfactoriness of sinful courses. "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye now are ashamed?" asks the apostle of those whom he had converted from a life of sin to a life of righteousness (Romans 6:21). What good did the life of sin seem to do you? Of course, if the life of sin had no pleasures at all to offer, it would have no attractiveness, and would not be led by any. But what, after all, are the attractions, compared with the counterbalancing disadvantages? I. THE OF SIN ARE SLIGHT, EVEN WHILE THEY LAST, No doubt there is a gratification in the satisfaction of every desire, in the venting of every passion, in the full indulgence of every lust and appetite. There is a pleasure also in the mere indulgence of self-will, the setting aside of every restraint, and the determination to be free and do exactly what we choose. But put all these things together; and to what do they amount? What is their value? Is the game worth the candle? Are not the pleasures themselves always mixed with pains, which detract from them? Do they not generally involve as their consequences worse pains, so that mere selfishness should make us decide to decline the pleasures? Does not conscience offer a continual protest against the life of sin? and is not that protest painful—often severely painful? Again, are not those who lead a life of sin, even while they lead it, always more or less ashamed of it? And is not that shame a very bitter feeling? Is not the disapproval of the life by friends and relatives, especially the nearest, who should be the dearest, a very substantial set-off against any balance of pleasure that might otherwise remain? Do the wicked ever "know peace"? Can they ever calmly review their lives, and derive from the review any feeling of satisfaction? Can they even boast in all their life of a moment’s perfect restfulness, content, calm, quiet, sense of ease? II. THE OF SIN ARE ; THEY DIE OUT AS TIME GOES ON. The great pleasure-seekers have always acknowledged that the end of all indulgence is satiety. The cry of the sensualist is for "a new pleasure;" but the cry is vain. New pleasures are not forthcoming. Sensualists tread the same weary round over and over again, with’ less of satisfaction each time it is traversed, and with a growing feeling that they are slaves, compelled to grind perpetually on the same futile treadmill. Almost every passion dies out after a time. If any one remains, it is avarice, which reduces its victim to the most miserable condition possible. III. THE OF SIN FROM GOD. If God is, as even the heathen acknowledged, the supreme good; and if man’s highest good is, as some of them also allowed, communion with him,—then anything whatsoever that separates from him is weighted with a disadvantage which must necessarily overbalance all possible good that it can possess. Were the pleasures of sin ten thousand times greater than they are, and were they absolutely permanent, instead of being, as they are, fleeting and evanescent, the single fact, here mentioned by Isaiah (verse 2), that they erect a barrier between man and God, should render them utterly unsatisfactory to a reasonable being. To be cut off from God is to be cut off from the source of all joy and peace and happiness; it is to be shut out from light, to lose contact with the Life which sustains all other life, and to be left to our own miserable selves for the remainder of our existence. Nothing could possibly be a compensation to man for such losses. Isaiah 59:14, Isaiah 59:15 Truth the foundation of morality. Surprise is sometimes expressed at there being no distinct prohibition of all lying in the ten commandments. "False witness" alone is forbidden. But the reason may be that truth is assumed as too fundamentally necessary for any one to suppose that it could possibly be dispensed with. Similarly, piety is assumed as a duty in the commandments, where men are not bidden to worship God, but warned against worshipping more than one God, and against worshipping him in an improper way. Truth throughout Scripture appears as a quality assumed to be possessed by men, rather than as a virtue which they are to be exhorted to "put on." It lies, in fact, at the root of all real goodness. I. TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF JUSTICE. The administration of justice consists primarily in a series of efforts to find out the truth. There is always a question before the court, and the first question is one of fact, "Has the thing charged been done or no?" What is the truth of the matter? When this has been decided, if decided on the affirmative side, then a second question arises, "What is the degree of the guilt?" It is essential for the judge to have the most earnest desire to discover the truth, and the highest power of eliciting the truth. Nor is this all. To every one concerned in a cause—whether prosecutor, defendant, witness, counsel, or attorney—the sole object ought to be the discovery of the truth. The importance of veracity in the witnesses is universally admitted; but veracity is really incumbent on all concerned. A prisoner who knows himself guilty would do best to confess his guilt. It is no real benefit to him to be acquitted unless he is innocent. Truth ought to govern all the utterances of counsel, who are not entitled to make any suggestions but such as they think may be true. Chicanery, quibbles, special pleading, are unworthy of those who take part in the administration of justice and exercise what is really a sacred function. The first requisite of all those who bear part in the solemn work of "doing justice" is that they should be "men of truth" (Exodus 18:21). II. TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF . The desire to be kind is independent of truth; but the moment that the desire has to pass into action, considerations of truth come in. Am I prompted to praise a person? But if I praise him when he is deserving of blame, I am doing him the greatest unkindness. If I even overpraise him when he deserves praise, I am doing him an unkindness to a certain extent—an unkindness and a wrong. I am helping him to content himself with a low standard of goodness. Again, suppose that I am prompted to relieve a person who appears to me poor and distressed. To decide aright whether I ought to relieve him at all, and, if so, to what extent, I require a true knowledge of his circumstances. I do him an injury if I allow him to impose upon me. I do him an injury if I repress efforts that he would otherwise have made to help himself. In all the kindly acts that we seek to do to others there is always room for, and generally much need of, careful consideration of facts, discovery of the exactly true state of the case, before we allow ourselves to follow our impulses. Otherwise we may make great blunders, and, while striving to be kind, be guilty of many an unkindness. III. TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF PIETY. Piety is a feeling of love and reverence towards some being, or beings, whom we feel to be superior to ourselves, and believe to afford us help and protection. It is impossible to say that many of the heathen, many even of the grossest idolaters, were not, in a certain sense, pious. But for piety to attain its full proportions, and to be the virtue that it was intended to be, it needs to rest upon a basis of truth. We need to have true conceptions of the nature of that which is the object of our love and reverence. Until we conceive of that "eternal something outside us that makes for righteousness" as One, as a Person, as the Creator of all things, as omnipotent, as omniscient, as beneficent, and as perfectly good, we cannot have the feelings towards him that we ought to have, or worship him acceptably. True piety is the worship of the true God. The votaries of false religions possess only a semblance of piety—a dwarfed and cramped, sometimes a distorted, imitation of it. Isaiah 59:20, Isaiah 59:21 The Church indefectible. The Church of God, being a body of men and women, each one of whom is weak, fallible, and liable to fall from the truth, ay, even to apostasy, must, by the nature of things, be of itself and in itself detectible. A weakness which attaches to all the individuals of a body must attach to the body which those individuals make up. The Church, therefore, is not, per se, indefectible. If indefectible in fact, it can only be so by the will of God, and can only be by us known to be so if God had declared to us his will. But this has been done— I. GOD BY THE AND THE THAT HE WOULD SET UP ON EARTH AN KINGDOM, CITY, OR OF MEN. A promise to this effect was first given to David. God said to him, by the mouth of :Nathan, "I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever" (2 Samuel 7:12, 2 Samuel 7:13); and again, "Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever" (2 Samuel 7:16). Hence David himself spake of "the city of the Lord of hosts, which God would establish for ever" (Psalms 48:8). And Ethan the Ezrahite spoke of the promise as a "covenant" to which God had "sworn:" "His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Psalms 89:34-37). Isaiah’s declarations as to a coming kingdom are to the same effect. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 9:7). And the declaration of the present chapter: "My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed … from henceforth and for ever." II. God THESE , THROUGH THE OF HIS SON, TO THE WHICH HE CALLED HIS CHURCH. "Thou art Peter," said our blessed Lord, "and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18); "Go,… teach all nations," our Lord said again, "and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19, Matthew 28:20). The apostles are confident, therefore, that the Church will always continue. St. Paul, in his directions concerning the Eucharist, declares that, through their partaking of it, Christians "do show the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). And he speaks of the members of the Church who are living at the last day as "caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). St. John traces the fortunes of the Church from his own time to the consummation of all things, and finds a remnant of faithful ones upon the earth to the last, who give testimony for Jesus (Revelation 2:21.). Christians are therefore justified in believing that the Church of Christ is practically, if not ideally, indefectible—that in point of fact, it will never fail, but will continue to the end of the world Christ’s great witness upon earth, testifying to his Godhead, to his redeeming love, and to the sufficiency of his one sacrifice. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 59:1-15 The separation of the soul from God. Why in the hour of need is there no deliverance? Why are prayers for aid unanswered? A theory might obtain, or an objection might be raised, that Divine power was not sufficient, that the Divine sensibility was dulled. And yet this cannot be. The simplest knowledge of what God is must contradict an assumption so foolish. There must be another explanation; and that, the conscience says, is to be found on the human side of the relation. I. THE CHANNEL OF DIVINE CLOSED. Only to the upright does Jehovah show himself upright, only pure to the pure. There is a state of the soul in which men see God, because his face is therein reflected; but those addressed have long been "belying their professions by their acts, and thus precluding an answer to their prayers" (Isaiah 58:2-4). The face is "the self-manifesting side of the Divine nature" (cf. Isaiah 63:9;Isaiah 1:12; Isaiah 40:10). Where that is not given, there must be darkness in the mind, and bitterness in the heart. II. SINFUL TO BE BEHOVED. The defilement of the hands. With the guilt of blood. But probably this stands, by a strong figure, for sin in general. The lips are lying, and the tongue depraved. Here the organs of the body, ministers of the mind, express and set forth the state of the latter. There is a certain correspondence between cleanliness of the person and truthfulness and honesty of the soul. And it is just this which is wanting. Society is resting on a foundation of chaos. Men weave their schemes, vain and brittle as spiders’ webs, or hatch policies pernicious as the eggs of basilisks. They tread with swiftness the paths of mischief; their thoughts are full of hate and destruction. They ignore the way of peace and the track of justice, and follow crooked paths of their own (Proverbs 10:9; Proverbs 28:18; Proverbs 2:15). It is a picture of extreme social demoralization. III. AND OF SINS. The prophet speaks in the name of the people. And here all the true elements of repentance and confession may be found. 1. The connection of sin with Divine disfavour. The first thing is to see that the curse does not "causeless come;" the next to fix upon the true cause. It is not because of want of will or want of power in God (Isaiah 59:12). They were entitled to expect his help, according to the covenant, but not apart from conditions on their side to be fulfilled. If, then, the judicial interference of Jehovah on their behalf was not witnessed, the cause must lie in the breach of those conditions—in "our sins." 2. Human darkness and bewilderment without God. "Jehovah shall be thy Light and thy Salvation." That light withdrawn,—what can there be groping and stumbling in the thick darkness? (Deuteronomy 28:29). How extreme the contrast of the "way which Jehovah knows," of the "path of the just, shining to the perfect day;" and the "knowing not whither he goeth," the "staggering as at noonday," the groping and stumbling of the man God-abandoned and left to himself. 3. Human sorrow and despair without God. Compared to the growling or moaning of beast or bird. Men long to have their own will and way, and find that to be "lords of themselves" is a "heritage of woe." Sooner or later they must find that their passionate autonomy means "rebellion" before God and in their own consciousness. And peace cannot be where they know that they are thus "kicking against the goads." The passage strongly shows how a violated conscience must be a tormenting conscience. God will not let us sin and forget. "As for our iniquities, we know them." 4. Human shame and self-contempt without God. It is contempt that "pierces through the shell of the tortoise;" above all, one’s own contempt. The worst is when we look into the mirror held up, not by hand of enemy or critic, but by our own, and see the lineaments of the traitor, the expression of the infidel at heart, the base attitude of the deserter and backslider from the Holy One, the downcast mien of the convicted liar. There has been no truth, no rectitude, no justice. These, as fair spirits, have been banished from a polluted earth. And if one would live an innocent life, he is but game for any rude spoiler. In all this there is the deepest sense of the evil of sin, and of the need of humiliation. It is felt that humiliation cannot remove the evil, unless it first remove the sin. Misery is the natural effect of iniquity; and he that seeks to rid himself of the one before he is freed from the other would hinder the stream before he has stopped the fountain. "’Rend your hearts, and not your garments." If the heart be not torn off from sin, to rend only the garment further provokes God, and makes the breach wider. There is no religious duty attains its end, but when it weakens our sin." True fasting draws down, as here seen, the pity and invites the help of the Almighty.—J. Jehovah as Champion of the people. I. HE IS THE OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. He "considers in his dwelling-place" (Isaiah 18:4). He "causes his ear to hear"—to judge the fatherless and oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress (Psalms 10:18). He is not like the gods of the Epicureans, "sitting apart, careless of mankind." He is a God who can feel pleasure in goodness and the good, displeasure in the prevalence of wrong and injustice. To doubt it is to doubt of the existence of God himself. II. HE TAKES UPON HIMSELF THE CAUSE OF THE . He saw that there was "no man," no champion, and was "stupefied," or in "consternation" (cf. Jeremiah 14:9), that none was at baud to interpose in battle on behalf of his own. He therefore armed himself with sword and bow, with coat of mail and helmet, and the garments of zeal and vengeance. A great world-struggle is coming on, in which he will inflict retribution upon his foes. III. THE OF THE NATIONS FOR HIM. The Gentiles who are spared are imagined as hastening from their distant abodes in tremulous anxiety to meet Jehovah. His Name (cf. Deuteronomy 28:58; Micah 6:9; Nehemiah 1:11; Psalms 86:11; Psalms 102:15) shall be universally feared. His advance will be like that of a rushing stream, driven by the might of the wind, and so as a Goel he will come to Zion, and to all the obedient—those that have "turned from rebellion." The effect of his coming will be the turning of men from their sins, and only to such regenerate ones will he come. IV. HIS . He makes solemn promises to men conditional on their compliance with his terms. To the repentant his Spirit will be imparted, as a continuous gift. His words, or revelations, shall be in their mouth, therefore in their minds and hearts, for ever—flowing on, a holy stream of tradition, from generation to generation (cf. Deuteronomy 7:9; Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 5:29; Psalms 89:24-36; Jeremiah 32:39, Jeremiah 32:40). The majority of religious people are descendants of those who were the friends of God. A large proportion of American piety has descended from the Pilgrim Fathers. Barnes says "I am acquainted with the descendants of John Rogers, the first martyr in Queen Mary’s reign, of the tenth and eleventh generations. With a single exception, the eldest son in the family has been a clergyman—some of them eminently distinguished for learning and piety."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The Divine ability. "Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save." We note here something that awakens surprise. Behold!" Let Israel know where her help lies. There has been wrong looking, viz. to self. I. GOD STILL WORKS IN THE WORLD. It is "his hand." He "formed" us, and he "redeems" us. II. WE MAY MAKE HUMAN HISTORY. His "hand is not shortened." It can always reach to every length, and raise from every depth. The future must be, therefore, in ourselves. III. IS ALWAYS ON EARTH. 1. In all forms of sin. 2. In all degrees of sin. 3. In all depths of distress and despair, human as well as spiritual.—W.M.S. Attention from God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." Here is the secret. We can resist God’s arm. Until the "iniquities" be confessed, deplored, and forsaken, there can be no salvation. God is ready to forgive; but are we ready to be forgiven? God has provided a Saviour; but it may be true of us, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Man is not a heart only; he is a will. And here lies our condemnation, not that we are not sometimes ashamed and even sorry, but that we will not repent, return, and believe. I. THE TERM GIVEN TO SIN. "Iniquities;" that is, "inequities." Read the fourth verse, "None calleth for justice;" and the sixth verse, "The act of violence is in their hands." Unless we are willing to forgive and love and do justice to our brother, it is idle to talk about turning to God. Such religion is a sentiment, not a salvation. Then there are "inequities" in relation to God. We have been: 1. Unjust to his government. 2. We have robbed him of ourselves. 3. We have aided the forces of rebellion. 4. We have, in one word, done iniquity. II. THE CREATED BY SIN. The separation is moral. He is near to us—close, indeed, to us as the air we breathe. But we are at opposite poles of the moral universe. 1. Separated in nature. We are not renewed in his image. 2. Separated in purpose. Our will is set against his will. All separations are painful. We see them in the family and in the nation. Wars and feuds abound on every side. So’ we are alienated from the life of God. Christ, and he alone, can break down the middle wall of partition, and through faith in him we may be reconciled by one Spirit unto the Father.—W.M.S. Salvation, not in man. "And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor." It seemed a dark hour for the world. Evidently a dead nation cannot arise of itself, any more than a dead man. It is a time of wonderment. Great men often arise for great occasions; but there is no man, that is, no mere man, equal to this occasion. But— I. "GOD IS HIS OWN ." He makes plain his own mysteries alike in providence and in redemption. There is silence everywhere, that he himself may be heard, There is no other hand, that his own may be made bare before the nations. II. GOD IS THE WORLD’S ONLY SAVIOUR AND . in the Person of his Son, he fulfils all the evangelic strains of Isaiah. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." 1. It is still wonderful. "Lo! I come to do thy will, O God!" "Behold the Lamb of God!" Angels cannot see into the depths of such a mystery as this. 2. It is true as wonderful. "His arm brought salvation." Look and see. Christianity can be tested as a history as well as a prophecy. When we see that dark degraded Roman world, with its lust and licence, its cruelties and pageantries, its very worship turned to aids to vice, and then read, "Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified," we exclaim, "What hath God wrought?"—W.M.S. The successful standard. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." The standard is highly prized in war. On it are engraven the names of special victories and the fields of old renowned. It is the last disgrace to lose the standard, and in many a foray and fierce campaign men have fallen in heaps around the standard-bearer. Think— I. OF THE ON THE OF THE LORD. Of truth over error; righteousness over injustice; purity over lust; God over mammon. II. OF THE SPECIAL SEASONS IN WHICH COMES IN LIKE A FLOOD. Times such as those of the profligate Stuarts, when the sabbath was desecrated and debasing plays were acted. Times when the pride of priestcraft and power drove out the faithful from the land. Times when the Bible itself was put under a ban, and the flood-gates of evil were left open. Nothing then withstood, and nothing will ever withstand, the tides of sin, but the Word of God. Utility, expediency, propriety,—these are but thin "withes" that the giant snaps; these are but gossamer gates through which the torrent roars. Nothing is strong but the Spirit of the Lord working in us and with us.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 59:1, Isaiah 59:2 The true and the false account of Divine inactivity. How comes it to pass that the people of the Lord are in such distress? How do we account for the fact that the cause of Christ makes such slow progress or even shows symptoms of decline and failure? Where is the Lord God of Israel? Is the Spirit of God present in the midst of the Churches? I. THE FORCES AT OUR COMMAND. For our resources we have: 1. The fulness of Divine pity. The ear of God is open to the cry of destitution, of pain, of sorrow, of spiritual yearning. His heart of tenderness is touched by the miseries and necessities of his children. 2. The almightiness of Divine power. The "right hand of the Lord" is on all the springs and forces of the universe; he can compel all things to serve him, to minister to his people and to establish his kingdom. 3. The perfectness of Divine wisdom. Who shall measure "the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God"? II. THE POVERTY OF RESULTS. In how many instances have we occasion to be profoundly discontented with the condition of things, spiritually considered! It is so in regard to: 1. Individual character. Considering the resources at command, men do not make the progress in spiritual growth, in moral attainment, or in excellency of behaviour, which might be expected of them; they remain where they were, or move backward and forward, making no substantial progress toward "the mark [goal] which is set before them." 2. Christian Churches. Taking into account the number of privileges which are theirs, and the variety of opportunities which are within reach, there is a very considerable proportion of Churches compelled to acknowledge retrogression rather than advancement, defeat rather than success. 3. Missionary operations. After all that has been done through the centuries, by all societies of Christian men, how much land "remains to be possessed"! III. THE FALSE AND THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE MATTER. It is not Divine negligence that explains our position. It is not that God’s hand is shortened or that his ear is heavy; it is not that his power is diminished or that his pity has failed in the very smallest degree. He abideth faithful and omnipotent. We are not straitened in him, but in ourselves. It is sin that has come between our praying lip and his hearing ear between our pressing need and his opened hand. 1. Refusal of his righteousness makes our prayer ineffectual, his interposition impossible. If we "regard iniquity in our heart, he will not hear us;" i.e. if we decline to enter his service, if we "will not have him to reign" over us, if we stubbornly and haughtily reject the salvation which he offers us in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:3), we take an attitude in which we have no right to expect any answer to our petitions. The first thing, the only right and acceptable thing, for one that has not yet returned to God in self-surrender, is to "arise and go to the Father" in penitent submission; then he may call, and the Lord will answer. 2. Special sins may prove a stumbling-block; some are specified in the following verses—cruel violence, falsehood, litigiousness. We are expressly told in the later revelation that some particular sins are absolutely inconsistent with personal piety, and therefore with the efficacy of prayer—impurity (Ephesians 5:5); strife (Galatians 5:20); drunkenness; lying (Revelation 21:8). 3. The absence of essential Christian graces will account for the nonintervention of God on behalf of a Christian Church: of unity (Psalms 133:3); of faith (Hebrews 11:6; Matthew 13:58); of zeal (Revelation 2:4; Revelation 3:15, Revelation 3:16); of fidelity to the truth (Revelation 2:14). The true account of our failure is not in Divine indifference, but in human shortcoming.—C. Webs that will not make garments. It is the virtue of a garment that it covers. The ideas of covering and of atoning were very closely allied in Hebrew thought. The prophet intimates that there were webs of their own spinning which would never hide their sin from the sight of God. Such are there now. We look at— I. THE SOUL’S SUPREME . The presence of sin is the sternest of all facts; the mark which it has made on our manhood is by far the deepest and darkest of any; all others are mere touches, mere scratches in comparison. This is true of the individual as well as of the community. The thing that we have done, more serious and of greater consequence than any other, is that we have sinned against the Lord and come beneath his condemnation. What we most urgently want is a covering for our soul. Our naked and guilty soul imperatively and sorely needs that under which it may appear before God without shame and shrinking, and take its place, in this world or in any other, among the pure, the holy, the righteous. The question is—What is that garment which will cover the sinful human soul? II. THE OF THE WHICH SOME MEN ARE MAKING. Many are providing for themselves that which is utterly inadequate; they are spinning webs—poor, thin, gossamer productions—which "will not become garments" available for this purpose. There is: 1. The web of Christian profession. Some find comfort and complacency of soul in the fact that they are acknowledged members of a Church, ancient, or catholic, or established, or scriptural. Desirable, in many ways, as is an avowal of attachment to Christ, it is not a thing in which to put any trust; a man may be a member of the most scriptural Church, and yet be destitute of that which is vital and essential. "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly," etc. Christian profession is a poor thing for a soul to hide in; it is no true refuge for the human heart; it is a "web that will not make a garment." 2. The web of ceremony and ordinance. Many have an undefined but strong confidence in having passed through Christian ceremonies (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), or in having been constant in attendance on Divine worship, or in having taken on their lips apostolic and evangelical language; but to trust in these things as garments of salvation is to put "confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:1): they may exist without any faith or love prompting and vitalizing them. 3. The web of correct behaviour—abstinence from impurity, inebriety, untruthfulness, trickery, profanity. This is altogether and in every way desirable, and it may be eminently praiseworthy from a human standpoint; but it will not atone for the supreme omission—the failure to respond to a heavenly Father’s love, to subject the will to the will of the Creator, to dedicate the life to the service of God. It, too, is a web that will not make a garment with which to cover a sinful soul. III. THE ONE GARMENT TEAT . What did Christ mean by that "wedding garment" without which the guest might not sit down to the marriage-feast (Matthew 22:11)? May it not have been the abounding mercy of God unto eternal life, received through faith in a Divine Saviour (Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; Philippians 3:7-9)? Men will be just with God, their sins wilt be covered and hidden for evermore, when, in the spirit of penitence and faith, they accept the Saviour of mankind as the Lord in whom they hide and to whom they yield themselves in glad surrender.—C. Isaiah 59:9, Isaiah 59:10 The goal of guilt. A course of conduct or a principle of action is rightly judged by the issue to which it tends. All is well that ends well, and all is ill that ends ill. If we look far enough and deep enough in our estimate of consequences, we shall always find that the goal of guilt is wretchedness and ruin. It ends in— I. A SENSE OF WRONG. The nation feels that "judgment and justice" are lacking and the enemy is triumphant; the individual feels that he is injured, that his rights are withheld from him, and he goes on his way dispirited and complaining. II. DEEP . "We wait for light, and behold obscurity," etc. Men who seek not their refuge and their portion in God and in his service are always subject to a profound dissatisfaction. Life does not yield the good they crave. They look for success, and behold failure; for joy, and behold weariness, heartache, ennui; for sweet communion, and behold isolation and loneliness; for laughter, and behold disgust. III. . "We grope … like the blind … we stumble at noonday," etc. It is one of the saddest consequences of sin that the power of spiritual perception continually lessens; the "eyesight" of the soul becomes weaker and weaker. Great truths are less clearly apprehended. Confusion takes the place of distinctness, until at length good is mistaken for evil, and evil for good: "the light that is in us becomes darkness;" the very organ of spiritual understanding misleads us. And the aggravating circumstance is that this failure of the soul’s sight takes place "at noonday," when others are walking and rejoicing in the light of the Lord. IV. . "In desolate places [or perhaps rather, ’in luxuriant fields,’] we are as the dead." The thought of Christ and of his apostles is that to live in selfishness, in ungodly pleasure, is death in life. To exist apart from God; to be severed from him in thought and feeling, in speech and act; to be utterly regardless of his will and then defiantly antagonistic to his cause;—this is death indeed, and it is consummated in the death which is eternal.—C. Isaiah 59:15-17 Human hopelessness and Divine redemption. This vivid picture of the nation’s demoralization, and of its incapacity to produce a citizen who could regenerate and reform, may appropriately suggest— I. THE OF THE HUMAN RACE UNDER THE LONG TYRANNY OF SIN. Man had fallen so far that there was not the smallest prospect of redemption from anything he could originate. The all-seeing eye of God rested on "no man, no intercessor." Reformer there might be, but Redeemer there was none. No human arm could uplift a sin-slain and fallen race from its degradation and ruin. Hence came— II. THE POWER OF GOD. "It displeased the Lord;" the iniquity of the world pained, grieved, distressed, his pure and pitiful heart. And his compassion found fitting utterance in redemption. "His arm brought salvation." The redemption of the world by Jesus Christ was indeed a work wrought; it was a putting forth of Divine power; it was the mighty act of God’s righteous "arm." The work of the strong brute is to carry great weights, of the human giant to deal mighty blows, of the trained intellect to solve subtle problems or make intricate calculations; but the work of the holy and merciful Spirit of God is by self-sacrifice to redeem and to restore. Here is the exercise of the truest, noblest, most beneficent power. In comparison with this all other power is weakness itself. III. THE OF THE DIVINE . 1. A sense of perfect rectitude. "His righteousness, it sustained him." It was much, it was everything to the aspersed and incriminated Saviour to know that he was absolutely right in the sight of the holy Father. 2. Compassion. "The helmet of salvation." 3. Holy indignation. "He put on the garments of vengeance." Hatred of sin is quite as indispensable to a Saviour as pity for its victim (vide Matthew 23:1-39.). 4. Consecration. "Clad with zeal as a cloak;" with that utter and entire devotedness which led him to drink quite up that bitter cup which the Father placed in his hands.—C. The hope of the rued. Wherein shall we find the true hope of the human race? It would be but a sorry prospect if man had nothing better to build upon than the results of physical science, or political economy, or mental and moral philosophy. These are helpful handmaids, but they have shown themselves inefficient regenerators of mankind. We build our hope ultimately on— I. THE OF THE DIVINE PROMISE. God has "covenanted" or promised to do great things for us. Our hope is in him: it was in his Divine pity, unpledged, unexpressed. It is in his promise to befriend, to illumine, to renew. The world went utterly wrong, and in the greatness of his compassion he interposed with a marvellous redemption. The Church became utterly corrupt, and in the fulness o[ his faithfulness he did not desert it, but cleansed and raised it. II. THE OF DIVINE TRUTH. We may have a good hope for mankind if "God’s words are in the mouth" of men. Not enactments on the statute-book, nor institutions in society, nor the sword in the magistrate’s hand, but God’s truth in the mind, is the source of strength, the criterion of advancement, and the condition of security. When God’s thoughts are precious (Psalms 139:17), and God’s words are loved, the people are in the way of wisdom and of life. III. THE OF HIS SPIRIT. "My Spirit is upon thee." The indwelling, illuminating, transforming Spirit will make all holy truth effectual and mighty. IV. THE OF FROM TO . "Nor out of the mouth of thy seed," etc. The "promise is to us and to our children." Far more than to evangelistic efforts or missionary labours do we look to the upgrowing in godly homes of a devout and holy generation. The future of the world is in the hands of Christian fathers and mothers! Let them be what they should be, and their sons and daughters will strengthen the cause of God and fulfil the hope of mankind.—C. BY R. TUCK Misconceptions of the Divine delay. This is a plea with the murmurers, who doubtingly asked—Where are the signs of the fulfilment of these great Divine promises? Things looked black and hopeless right up to the time of Cyrus. The Lord appeared to be delaying his coming, and it was easy for unbelievers to say that God delayed because "his hand was too short to deliver, and his ear too heavy to hear" Keble renders the text thus— "Wake, arm Divine! awake, Eye of the only Wise! Now for thy glory’s sake, Saviour and God, arise, And may thine ear, that sealed seems, In pity mark our mournful themes! "Thus in her lonely hour Thy Church is fain to cry As if thy love and power Were vanish’d from her sky; Yet God is there, and at his side He triumphs who for sinners died." It may suffice to answer the murmurers who remind us of the Divine delayings, and would have us misunderstand them, and join them in doubtings of the Divine power or the Divine good will, that there are high and gracious ends served by this particular method of Divine dealing. These things at least we can see— I. IT OUR ON GOD. It teaches us that we have not just to "ask and have," but "ask and have" in accordance with God’s will, in dependence on God’s wisdom, and in agreement with God’s time and way. We should never learn that, if we were not sometimes made to wait. We teach our children to trust us by making them wait until we think best. II. IT THE VALUE OF THE . What we wait long for becomes increasingly valuable in our eyes. What is obtained easily and at once is sure to be under-estimated. The value of a gift very constantly depends on the moral preparation of those who receive it; and delay is a cultivator of moral preparation. III. IT A MORE EARNEST AND MORE FOR THE DESIRED . It does, if we regard the delay aright. It does not, if we persist in misconceiving the purpose of the delay. Then delay will weary us, and we shall leave off to watch and be sober. Delay may be borne wisely and cheerfully when we recognize it as only the hush, the stillness, the breathlessness that ushers in the glorious showers of Divine awakening and Divine comforting.—R.T. Sin-clouds between us and God. In a former homily it has been shown how, in judgment, and in order to awaken us to a sense of our sin, God may pass a cloud across between us and him, hiding from us his smiling face, and leaving us in the dark and the chill. Now we see how, in our heedlessness and wilfulness, we may put clouds, even little clouds, into our own sky, and hide his face. The reference of the text is to the doubting ones, the unfaithful ones, in Babylon, who let their own sinfulness spoil their vision, and either hide God from them or distort their view of him. The prophet reminds them that they had put the clouds, and in reminding them thus he calls on them to put the clouds away. These are our two divisions. I. MEN PUT THE SIN-CLOUDS BETWEEN THEM AND GOD. 1. They may be very small clouds, yet suffice to hide. Often a cloud no bigger than a hand will keep the light and warmth from us. Illustration: David Rittenhouse, of Pennsylvania, was a great astronomer. He was skilful in measuring the size of planets, and determining the position of the stars. But he found that, such was the distance of the stars, a silk thread stretched across the glass of his telescope would entirely cover a star; and, moreover, that a silk fibre, however small, placed upon the same glass, would cover so much of the heavens that the star, if a small one and near the pole, would remain obscured behind that silk fibre several seconds. So small faults, secret sins, little doubtings, can become effective fibres, dark clouds, obscuring veils, that hide the "face." "Little foxes spoil the grapes." The psalmist puts a passion of holy feeling into his prayer, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults." 2. They may be very big clouds, and mean long hiding and deep misery for us under the darkness, and in the chill. Illustrate from David’s open and shameless iniquity. It was right that "his bones should wax old through his roaring all the day long," while the black storm-clouds of passion, and its consequences, hid away his God. We cannot negligently sin, and hope to keep the smile; if we openly and wilfully sin we shall not even care to keep the smile, but we shall gladly put our clouds across, and hide the "face." II. MEN MUST PUT AWAY THE SIN-CLOUDS THAT ARE BETWEEN THEM AND GOD. And there is only one way of doing this. Men must put away the sins that make the clouds. God will not burst through such clouds. He will not dispel such clouds, until men turn from their iniquities, their big or little sins; but then he will breathe on the cloud, as the hot Eastern sun breathes on the clouds of morning, and they shall fade away from the sky, and we shall see the face, and live in that heaven which is the "shining of the face upon us."—R.T. Sin in thoughts. "Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity." I. THE OF A MAN’S . A man is as his thoughts. This is the fact and truth on which we may dwell. Any one who would truly judge his fellow-mart must know his secrets and judge his thoughts. Therefore man’s judgment of his fellowman is always imperfect and uncertain. God alone can judge perfectly, because he is the "Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." There is an impression resting on the minds of many religious persons that they have no control over the suggestions that are made to their minds, and no responsibility for the contents of their thoughts, only for the cherishing of the thought and dwelling upon it, and letting it take shape in action; or, as the Apostle James puts it, only when "lust is allowed to conceive, and bring forth sin." This, however, is true only within very narrow limits, and it is altogether healthier for us to accept a large measure of responsibility, even for the contents of our minds; for only then shall we be likely to watch over what goes in as over what goes out. The importance that attaches to our thoughts may be seen: 1. In our observation of men. We misjudge because we cannot read thoughts. 2. In the experiences of friendship. We trust our friend more than outsiders can do, because, in some measure, we do know his thoughts. 3. In view of the heart-searching claims of God, who desires "truth in the inward parts." Sin does not consist in mere act; it really lies at the back of the action—in the thought, the intention, and the motive that inspire it. 4. In consideration of the work of Divine redemption; which is really a heart-regeneration, a purifying of the very springs of thought and feeling. It seeks out the fountains and cleanses them. II. THE CONTROL A MAN MAY HAVE OVER HIS . 1. He has control over the materials of thought. Thought is really the comparison, selection, and association of the actual contents of our minds, under the guidance of our wills. All that has impressed us during our lives, by the eye, the ear, or the feeling, has passed into our mental treasury. Then we may take some care as to what goes in. We need not go into scenes or read books which will leave behind bad impressions. 2. We have control over the processes of thought. We can deliberately choose to think about evil things; we can start such thoughts, we can dwell on them, we can follow them on their foul way, we can collect from our associations things that match them. And, in a similar way, we can dwell upon and encourage the good. If our will is a renewed and sanctified will, then we shall find it may gain presidency over our thoughts, so that we may choose and follow only that which is good.—R.T. Isaiah 59:15, Isaiah 59:16 Salvation by God through man. This text contains, in part, the confession of social iniquity. "Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil is accounted mad. There is no judgment"—that is, no social righteousness, no sense of the "right" manifestly ruling in the common relations of life. God looked down upon this degenerate and hopeless condition. He knew how far the evil spread, until the whole people was corrupted, and there was no man able to plead against the prevailing evil; no days-man to stand up for righteousness and truth; no intercessor to check the on-coming judgments, and plead for their withdrawal—none such as Moses, or as Aaron, or as Phinehas. As no human intercessor could be found among the exiles, God himself wrought salvation; "his arm brought salvation unto him." The point suggested is this: Social and moral evils, being but inadequately dealt with by man, demand Divine intervention; but the Divine operations for redemption from evil are committed to men, as agents, to apply and carry out. I. MAN CANNOT SAVE MAN. In every age the experiment has been tried. In every form of the trial it has proved a failure. There have been a great variety of religions in the world; they were all just this—man trying to save man. Great teachers and reformers have appeared—they were men trying to save man. There have been philosophical, and moral, and educational, and scientific, and ceremonial, and artistic systems, but no one of them was ever anything more than this—man trying to save man. The issue of nineteenth-century humanity schemes will exactly repeat the old story; it has been proved, over and over again, until we wonder that any one should be foolish enough to try a fresh experiment, that man cannot save man. II. GOD ALONE CAN SAVE MAN. This is stating the truth again, with an important addition. It is entirely a question between man saving himself, and God saving him. There is no third party to the question. And God can save man. He has always been ridding out man’s extremity, and making it his gracious opportunity; ever saving tribes, saving cities, saving societies, saving families, saving individuals. God, the Redeemer, is the name for God that is blazoned on the history of every age and clime. "God can save man" is the great truth written in the large record of the whole human race. Spared for four thousand years that he might try to save himself, man ]earned at last to put away the schemes in which he had trusted, and then, when the fulness of the times had come, God sent forth his Son, and called his name Jesus Immanuel, because he was to be in the world, "God himself saving men from their sins." III. GOD ONLY SAVES MAN BY MAN. One of the most difficult truths for which to get men’s acceptance is the truth that man’s salvation is a moral miracle, for the accomplishment of which man is made the agent. God’s salvation for moral beings is not a display of august force, as is his correction of disorder in his world of created things; it is the exertion of moral power upon them through moral influences and moral agents. The great deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage was manifestly God’s redemption, altogether God’s; and yet even in that case God only saved man by man. He found an instrument and agent by whom to carry out his purposes. The man Moses is prominent throughout the whole scene, and yet he never stands before God; he is only the agent. Illustrate further by the salvation from Babylon. In that case too a man was found. Cyrus was the Divine agent. The law is working in all the society around us. God is in the midst of men, saving still. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION VII. THE GLORIES OF THE (Isaiah 60:1-22.). Isaiah 60:1-22 A SONG OF TRIUMPH UPON ZION. This is rather a detached poem than an integral portion of a book. It is complete in itself, and but slightly connected, either with what precedes or with what follows. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne regard it as a "counterpart" to the magnificent ode in Isaiah 47:1-15, which describes the fall and ruin of Babylon. It is composed of five stanzas, of nearly equal length: (1) Isaiah 47:1-4; (2) Isaiah 47:5-9; (3) Isaiah 47:10-14; (4) Isaiah 47:15 -18; and (5) verses 19-22. Isaiah 60:1-4 The first stanza. Zion’s brightness and numbers. Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine. The subject of the address does not distinctly appear until Isaiah 60:14, where it is found to be "the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Zion has long been prostrate in the dust from the prophet’s standpoint, and covered with thick darkness. Now she is bidden to "arise" and "shine forth as the day." For thy light is come. Zion cannot shine with her own light, for she has no light of her own, having preferred to "walk in darkness" (Isaiah 59:9). But she may reflect the radiance which streams from the Person of Jehovah, whose glory is risen upon her. "In thy light shall we see light" (Psalms 36:9). Isaiah 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth. As in Egypt a "thick darkness" covered the whole land at the word of Moses (Exodus 10:22), while still "the children of Israel had light in their dwellings," so now the world and "the nations’ of the world lay in a deep obscurity, into which scarcely a ray of light penetrated, while on Israel there dawned a glory which streamed from the throne of God, and at once transfigured her, and gave her the appearance of an angel of the Most High. In the radiance of this light she was to stand up and show herself, and then great results would follow. Isaiah 60:3 The Gentiles shall come to thy light. Plunged in darkness themselves (Isaiah 60:2), the Gentiles shall be astonished and attracted by Israel’s radiance, and shall draw near to it and seek to partake of it. Among them shall come even their "kings," drawn by the brightness of the glory (comp. Isaiah 49:23). Isaiah 60:4 Lift up thine eyes (see Isaiah 49:18). Thy sons … thy daughters. Not so much Jews of the dispersion, as Gentiles, who will become thy adopted "sons" and "daughters." Shall be nursed at thy side; rather, shall be carried on thy side. Oriental mothers often carry a small child on their hip, with the ,arm round it to prevent its falling off. Isaiah 60:5-9 The second stanza. Zion’s wealth. Isaiah 60:5 Thine heart shall fear; rather, shall throb; "beat with excitement." Because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee; i.e. the maritime commerce, which has hitherto enriched other nations, shall be turned thy way and be at thy disposal. The forces of the Gentiles; rather, the riches of the Gentiles—as in Isaiah 8:4; Isaiah 10:14; Isaiah 30:6; Isaiah 61:6. Details of the riches fellow in Isaiah 61:6-9. Isaiah 60:6 The multitude of camels; rather, a multitude—a continual stream of caravans (Kay). These would be composed of merchants from Midian and Ephah, and would bring goods from Sheba. The Midianite caravans of camels are mentioned as early as the time of Jacob, when they carried "spicery and balm and myrrh" from the land of Gilead into Egypt (Genesis 37:25, Genesis 37:28, Genesis 37:36). Ephah is a sub-tribe of Midian (Genesis 25:4). These nomads would visit the distant Sheba, in Happy Arabia, for purposes of trade, and would procure there gold and incense, which they would convey to Palestine. The "Sheba" intended is doubtless that whose queen visited Solomon, and brought with her gold in abundance, and "of spices very great store, and precious stones" (1 Kings 10:10). The Egyptians appear to have called the kingdom of the Shebaim (Sabaeans) "Punt," and to have traded with it from a very early time, especially for frankincense. The dromedaries; rather, the young camels, or the camel colts. All they from Sheba shall come; rather, they (i.e. the camels of Midian and Ephah) shall come all together from Sheba. Isaiah 60:7 Kedar … Nebaioth. Arab tribes, like the Midianites and Sabaeans. (With respect to Kedar, see the comment on Isaiah 21:15.) "Nebaioth" stands for the tribe called by the Greeks and Romans the "Nabataeans," and by the Assyrians the "Nabaiti," who were one of the most powerful in the peninsula. About me. 645 Nathan, their king, warred with Asshur-bani-pal. During the Maccabee period we find the Nabataeans in alliance with the Jews, and giving them some valuable assistance (l Macc. 5:25; 9:35). The locality of the Nabataeans was northern Arabia, or the tract lying between the Elanitic Gulf and the Lower Euphrates. The wealth of the Nabataeans and the Kedarenes was in their flocks and herds; and this wealth, it is prophesied, they will place, at the disposal of Israel. Mine altar … the house of my glory. The renovated Zion contains a glorious temple, and the temple has in it an altar, to which the sheep and rams are brought—not, however, to be offered in sacrifice, but to be presented to God and become a part of the wealth of the Church. Isaiah 60:8 Who are these, etc.? The prophet beholds the waters of the Mediterranean Sea covered with numerous ships, whose sails remind him of white clouds moving across the blue expanse of heaven, and again of doves wending their way homewards to their accustomed dove-cotes. The "windows" of the dove-cotes are the openings through which the birds pass into the towers where they breed. Isaiah 60:9 Surely the isles shall wait for me. The "isles," or maritime countries of the West, have long waited for a Redeemer (Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 49:1; Isaiah 51:5, etc.). They shall send their sons, and their gifts, in ships, which will come from far, and cover the Mediterranean (see the preceding verse). The ships of Tarshish. Either ships belonging to the people of Tartessus, in Spain, who had a widely extended commerce in ancient times (Herod; 1.163; 4.152; 1 Kings 10:22; Ezekiel 27:12; Jonah 1:3; etc.), or ships of a peculiar class, such as were considered suitable for the long and dangerous voyage to the distant Western port (see the comment on Isaiah 2:16). To bring thy sons from far (see the comment on Isaiah 60:4). Unto the Name of the Lord; i.e. "to the place where the Lord has set his Name" (comp. Isaiah 18:7). Isaiah 60:10-14 The third stanza. Zion’s reconstruction. Isaiah 60:10 The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls. Cyrus aided in the supply of timber for the construction of the second temple (Ezra 3:7). Artaxerxes Longimanus sanctioned the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 2:5-8). The passage has, however, a meaning beyond the literal one. "Strangers" of all kinds, Greeks, and Romans, and Syrians, and Africans, and Cauls, and Spaniards, and others, assisted in building and enlarging the walls of the Church as it spread over the world, set up its bulwarks in the Creeds, and fenced it round about with various decrees and canons. Their kings shall minister unto thee (see the comment on verse 3). Among ministrant kings may be mentioned Cyrus, Darius the son of Hystaspes, Artaxerxes Longimanus, Alexander the Great, Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne, St. Louis, etc. I had mercy on thee. A preterit of prophetic certitude. Mr. Cheyne translates, "I will have compassion upon thee." Isaiah 60:11 Thy gates shall be open continually. That all who seek salvation may have free access at all times. There is no fear of enemies entering, since war has ceased (Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:9, etc.). The forces of the Gentiles; rather, the wealth of the Gentiles, as in Isaiah 60:5. That their kings may be brought; i.e. forced to come by their subjects, who know that their own prosperity is involved in complete submission to the Church established in Zion, and therefore compel their kings to come and render their homage in person. Isaiah 60:12 The nation … that will not serve thee shall perish. God’s curse shall be upon them; they shall wither and decay for lack of the Divine favour and of the graces which God dispenses to mankind through his Church (comp. Zechariah 14:17-19). Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come (comp. Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 41:19). Considered as imagery, the representation is that the barren hills which stand about Jerusalem shall, in the new state of things, be decked with tall and beautiful forest trees, all the sylvan scenery of Lebanon being transported to Southern Palestine, so as to encompass the city of God with a garden as delightful as that of Eden. The spiritual meaning is that graces of all kinds shall abound in and around the holy city, and shall make it beautiful and glorious. The fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together (comp. Isaiah 41:19, where the same words occur in the same order; and, for the trees intended, see the comment on that passage). To beautify the place of my sanctuary. Not with "avenues of cedars and plane trees leading up to it" (Delitzsch), which was a style of ornamentation quite unknown to the lie-brews; but with groves, and thickets, and sylvan glades, and wooded slopes all around it, as round the Syrian temples in the Lebanon. The place of my feet. The Jewish temple, as the special place of God’s presence upon earth, was frequently termed "God’s footstool" (1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalms 99:5; Psalms 132:7; Lamentations 2:1). He that towers above the heavens had there set his foot. The metaphor is transferred to the renovated Zion. Isaiah 60:14 The sons (i.e. descendants) also of them that afflicted thee; i.e. of the various nations that at different times oppressed and afflicted Israel—as Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, etc. Shall come bending unto thee. Bowing themselves down to the new Israel—the Israel of God—as the eleven sheaves bowed themselves down to Joseph’s sheaf (Genesis 37:7). At the soles of thy feet (comp. Isaiah 49:23). Shall call thee, The city of the Lord. Hitherto her enemies had bestowed on Jerusalem disparaging names, as "Forsaken,’’ or "Desolate" (Isaiah 62:4). Now they will substitute for such names titles of honour, such as "City of Jehovah," "Zion of Israel’s Holy One." Isaiah 60:15-18 The fourth stanza, Zion’s prosperity. Isaiah 60:15 Thou hast been forsaken and hated (comp. Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 62:4). Zion has been a wife repudiated for her adulteries, "forsaken" by her husband, and the object of his just "hate." So that no man went through thee. The mixed metaphor is awkward, but readily intelligible. Zion is at once a city and a wife. As a wife, she is "hated and forsaken," as a city, no man goes through her. An eternal excellency (comp. Isaiah 59:21, and see the Homiletics on the passage). Isaiah 60:16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles (comp. Deuteronomy 33:19). As a child at the mother’s breast, thou shall obtain kindly nourishment through the means of the Gentiles, who acknowledge thee for their superior, and place all their means at thy disposal (supra, Isaiah 60:5-11). Among these, the most liberal, and the most prompt to render aid, will be their kings (see the comment on Isaiah 60:10). Thou shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour. This clause is repeated from Isaiah 49:26. It is a phrase containing in it a mysterious depth of promise. Isaiah 60:17 For brass I will bring gold; rather, for copper. "Brass" was an alloy little known to the Oriental nations. The general idea is that the glorious age of Solomon would return (1 Kings 10:21, 1 Kings 10:27), and Zion be as resplendent and as wealthy as in his time. The material splendour is, no doubt, throughout the whole description, typical in the main of spiritual glories and excellences. I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. "Peace" and "righteousness" are here personified; and the declaration is that they shall bear rule in the community whereof the prophet is speaking (comp, Isaiah 32:16, Isaiah 32:17). Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land (comp. Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 35:9). The entire cessation of war and violence is one of the most characteristic features of the "last times," when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks. "The Prince of Peace" shall ultimately establish peace. It is not surprising that men of earnest religious feeling should have thought, at various times, that they saw the actual commencement of the reign of peace upon earth, so distinctly promised, so earnestly longed for, so necessary for the happiness of mankind. But to a calm and dispassionate observer the nineteenth century seems scarcely more advanced upon the road which leads to this desirable end than the first. Thou shall call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The true wall of the city will be the "salvation" of which God assures it, and the true gates will be the "praise," or renown, which it has among the nations of the earth (comp. Isaiah 26:1). Isaiah 60:19-22 The fifth stanza. Zion’s crowning glories. Isaiah 60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day. Here Isaiah anticipates one of the most sublime thoughts in the Revelation of St. John the Divine, viz. that the heavenly Jerusalem, illuminated perpetually by the radiance of the Divine Presence, shall need neither light of the sun by day, nor of the moon by night, but shall be sufficiently illumined by the direct and primary light which streams down upon it from God himself. Whether the sun and moon will continue to exist or not is beyond the prophet’s ken—he makes no announcement on the subject; sufficient for him that the redeemed bask perpetually in a Divine radiance shed upon them by the "Father of lights" (see Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). The germ of the idea appears in the earlier prophecies (Isaiah 24:23). For brightness; rather, for illumination. The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light. God is "the Father of lights" (James 1:17)—"the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John 1:9). All other light is but his shadow and his reflex—his creature (Genesis 1:3)—therefore perishable, not to be reckoned on for continuance (Psalms 102:26; Hebrews 1:11). But God abides; therefore his light will abide. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). And thy God thy glory (comp. Zechariah 2:5). God will not only be the Light of the Church, but her "Glory" and boast. As the Shechinah was the glory of the first, so "the eternal unchangeable light of Jehovah, with its peaceful gentleness and perfect purity" (Delitzsch), will be the glory of the final temple. Isaiah 60:20 Thy sun … thy moon. That which is to thee instead of sun and moon—Jehovah’s brightness. The days of thy mourning shall be ended. Till the new Jerusalem descends from heaven (Revelation 21:2), and Christ reigns personally over his people (Revelation 22:5), the Church is always, more or less, in a state of mourning. The Bridegroom is away (Matthew 9:15); his light shines upon his Church only by snatches; his Church feels itself unworthy of him—cold, unloving, stained with sin. Fasting, weeping, and mourning befit such a state of things. But in the final condition of the redeemed their mourning shall be ended, "sorrow and sighing shall have fled away" (Isaiah 35:10); God shall have "wiped away all tears from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4); "There shall be no more death" (Revelation 21:4); "no more curse" (Revelation 22:3); "neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4). The days of mourning shall be ended. Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous. Here the prophet touches the root of the matter. Pain and sorrow are the fruit of sin. Once let sin disappear, and sorrow goes with it. It is the foundation of all the glory and all the happiness of the redeemed in their Lord’s final kingdom, that they are cleansed from all defilement of sin, and "are as the angels" (Mark 12:25). They shall inherit the land; rather, the earth—the "new heavens and new earth" of Isaiah:17; Isaiah 66:22. The branch of my planting; rather, a sprout of my planting; i.e. a sprout which I have planted. Isaiah 60:22 A little one; i.e. the "little flock" of our Lord’s own time on earth (Luke 12:32), will become a strong nation—a countless multitude (Revelation 7:9). In his time; rather, in its time, when the time fixed in God’s counsels for the final establishment of Christ’s kingdom arrives. The characteristics of the final Church of the Redeemer. Isaiah’s teaching on this subject divides itself under three heads. I. THE CHURCH SHALL BE RADIANT WITH A LIGHT DERIVED FROM HER LORD. The radiance spoken of (verses 1-3) is a radiance of moral and spiritual goodness. The absolute moral perfection of the Son of man can, of course, be but faintly and feebly imitated by his followers. Still, they are bound to imitate him; for he "left them an example, that they should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). And they are helped in their imitation by their Lord himself, who infuses into them of his own righteousness, and gives them "grace for grace" (John 1:16). And the result is that ultimately they, even in this life, more or less bear his image and are made like to him. "We all," says St. Paul, "with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). And the resemblance will be greater hereafter. For in their final state they will be cleansed from all stain of sin. II. THE CHURCH SHALL BE A GREAT NATION, A VAST , WHICH SHALL FILL THE NEW EARTH AND NEW HEAVENS. The "little one" was to "become a thousand," and the "small one a strong nation" (verse 22). The Gentiles from every quarter were to flock in (verses 3, 4, 14), and haste to the brightness of Zion’s rising. Distinctions of race were to be abolished, and Zion’s gates were to stand open always, to receive all comers (verse 11). The result was to be a vast influx; and in the ultimate kingdom of the Redeemer would be contained people from every nation under heaven. Besides the mystical hundred and forty-four thousand, representative of the twelve tribes of Israel, St. John saw in the apocalyptic vision "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, which stood before the throne, and before the Lamb" in the heavenly kingdom, "clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands" (Revelation 7:9). III. THE CHURCH SHALL CEASE TO HAVE ENEMIES OR SUFFER , AND SHALL ENJOY PEACE. When the pit has closed on the ungodly, and Satan has been bound and shut up, and her sins have not only been forgiven, but purged away (Isaiah 1:25), then the Church will find herself kept in perfect peace, with no trouble either from within or from without, with no enemy to vex her, with no faults to mourn (verse 20), with no temptations against which to struggle. Rest and peace are main objects of human desire; only the peace, to be satisfactory, must be a prolonged quiet energy, instinct with consciousness and life. Such an energy is the reverential and loving adoration which the blessed souls render continually to their present God, as they cast their crowns before his throne, and cry, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (Revelation 7:10). The Divine presence will be a perpetually present joy, contenting those who live in it, and causing them to feel an eternal peaceful delight. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 60:1-14 The rebuilding of the temple. I. THE DAWN OF THE NEW DAY. Zion, lying like a prostrate woman on the ground, is bidden to arise, because the glory of her God has dawned upon her. And this in contrast to the thick darkness enwrapping the earth in general. This darkness means alienation from God. As the Israelites had light in their dwellings when thick darkness was on the land of Egypt, so again now. Israel is the "central and mediatorial people." Here a community of God; yonder a world exiled from God. The contrast continues, and ever must continue. "We are of God; the whole world lieth in the evil one." The glory of the pure Church is nothing but a reflection from the Eternal. He is a Sun to enlighten the understanding, open the eyes of the mind, thrill the heart with love. When through the faithlessness of the Church that splendour fades from her, there are no conversions, there is little interest in religion. When it reappears, nations set forth to that light, kings to the brilliance of that dawn. II. THE RETURN FROM EXILE AND INFLUX OF WEALTH. Here the prophet exults in the contemplation of Arabian wealth flowing into the holy city. Their gifts are viewed as religions, as sacrificial,—consecrated to God. "The wealth of the heathen world shall be consecrated to the service of the Church. In part this has been the case. No small part of the great wealth of the Roman empire flowed into the Christian Church. The time will come when the wealth of India and China, and of Africa, and of the entire world, shall be devoted to the service of God." III. THE NEW . The walls shall be raised by the willing hands of strangers, probably the converted heathen, whose kings shall become servants of Zion; an endless stream of caravans shall flow through the open gates. And "eager to minister to Israel, the far-off nations force their reluctant chiefs to join them." For the very existence of these nations must depend on their organic connection with Israel. The Prophet Zechariah significantly declares that the nations who refuse to come up to Jerusalem to worship shall not enjoy the blessing of rain (Zechariah 14:17, Zechariah 14:18), which means they must perish, and their land become desolate. Whatever is said of the territory is said of the nation. To Zion, thus effulgent in her revived glory, shall be attracted also the beauty of natural products—the splendour of the trees of Lebanon, that the courts of the temple and the whole city may be decorated in honour of Jehovah. The oppressors, once so hated and feared, will come in the attitude of crouching suppliants, and they will call the city, "City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel." This magnificent picture may be construed: 1. As a picture of the ideal Church in relation to mankind. True, in this imperfect state, the prophecy can be but imperfectly realized. The glorious Church, without spot or blemish, remains the dream of lofty prophets and apostles. But without such dreams religious life must become despondent and dreary, fiat and sad. While we listen to such oracles, translate them into song and set them to music, we purify and uplift our hearts. Sursum corda! We rise a little nearer to heaven, or bring heaven a little nearer to earth. 2. As a picture of heaven. There stands the heavenly temple; thither a vast multitude has congregated; and there a vast fund of spiritual riches has accumulated. Prophecy and religious poetry in general are but illusory enchantments unless they point to a reality in that state unseen.—J. Isaiah 60:15-22 The favour of Jehovah to his people. Zion is again imagined as the bride of Jehovah. No more is she to be "hated," i.e. neglected (Genesis 29:31; Deuteronomy 21:15), like one less beloved. No more are her streets to be deserted of passengers. She is to be made an "everlasting pride, the delight of successive generations." The kings of the earth are to be tender over her, and she is to be enriched by the resources of the nations. I. JEHOVAH THE SAVIOUR AND THE RULER. (Repeated from Isaiah 49:26.) Happy the people whose God is Jehovah, the "Hero of Jacob"! Every image of temporal riches and prosperity, such as the gold of Solomon’s palace, or the silver common as stones, and the cedars as sycamores (1 Kings 10:21, 1 Kings 10:27), may but faintly shadow forth the splendour of the city under the true and eternal King. Better still, the politics will be those of peace. By a figure of speech, peace itself and righteousness are said to govern the city. And so spiritual shall be the sources of its strength, "it shall need no walls nor gates; for Jehovah shall be a constant source of salvation, and of a renown which shall keep all foes at a distance" (Isaiah 26:1; Isaiah 33:21). Nothing less than righteousness prevailing in every department of Church and state can satisfy that ideal which has been revealed to us, and which our souls thirst to see realized. Violence is to cease. "The pure gospel of the Redeemer has never originated a single war of invasion, nor produced a scene of bloodshed or prompted to strife. Let us look forward to a time when the mad passions of kings and nations will be subdued, and wars only be known among the sad and disgraceful records of the past." THE ETERNAL OF THE CITY OF GOD. Jehovah himself, and material luminaries, shall enlighten it (Isaiah 30:26; cf. Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). All the wonders of the natural world must pale and turn lustreless before the effulgence of moral beauty. The glory of the Church is its great Head—his Name, attributes, laws, and protecting care. Not so much wealth, talent, numbers, influence, but the character of her sovereign Lord, is her boast. The Church shall enjoy a perpetual existence, living through all changes and surviving all revolutions. Discipline and sorrow shall one day have done their work, and the people shall "all be righteous." They will possess the land, will inherit all that God has done for its welfare, will enter into all his plans and purposes, enjoy the fruit of his agelong spiritual husbandry. And from this state of things fresh lustre will ever be reflected upon his holy Name. There would be immense increase by accessions from the Gentile world. Nor will there be unnecessary delay. The lesson is to wait, pray, and toil until the day dawn—till, "Crowned with light, imperial Salem rise, Exalt her towering head, and lift her eyes!" "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:37). These inspired visions have deep relation to the truth; if they he not translated into fact in our time, we may be translated to the sphere where they are realities.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The blessed dawn. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The original reads, "Be enlightened; for thy light cometh." For it does not follow that all are enlightened to whom the light comes. There must be a receptive and a reflecting power in us. I. ARE NOT ENOUGH. These come to nations and to men; but we must arise, and shake ourselves from slumber and indifference. Israel is to live as a witness for God. We are not to be as the vortex swallowing up all heavenly privileges; but a fountain, to send them abroad. A lighthouse is not for our own vessels, but for the merchandise of the world. The light shines there in Israel that the Gentiles may come to the brightness of its rising. Light is come. What an advent! How valueless is all else in creation without light! 1. The light of a new morning of national life. 2. The fight of an evangelical prophet, like Isaiah, who sees not only Israel’s ruin, but Israel’s remedy too. II. HUMAN ARE NOT ENOUGH. Isaiah does not say, "I have come." He does not point to the medium, but to the light itself. "The glory of the Lord." This is seen to be such: 1. By its unique character. There is no light like the light of inspiration. 2. By its glorious influence. It brings safe guidance, sure prosperity, and spiritual peace.—W.M.S. A promise to Israel. "I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations." God’s estimate of honour is the only real and permanent one. Nations have sought other excellences. The Egyptians excelled in architecture; the Greeks in art and beauty; the Romans in government and military prowess. The Jew was to excel in righteousness and religion. I. GOD’S IDEAL IS . "An eternal excellency." 1. Military empire passes from kingdom to kingdom. 2. Taste changes alike in art and architecture. But the moral law is eternal. II. THE IS . The "forsaken" shall have arise among them One who shall fulfil the words of the sixteenth verse, "Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." The "hated" shall find and feel the tender love of God; for (verse 10) "In my favour have I had mercy on thee." Scorn and contumely, what are they when the heart glows with the love of God, and the character wins his everlasting favour?—W.M.S. Eternal day. "Thy sun shall no more go down," etc. We are told in the preceding verse who this sun is. It is God. As the Light of the soul, he shall live for ever. We speak of sun and moon, not only as they exist in nature, but figuratively, as symbolic of joy and gladness to the human heart. Many things are in this sense lights to us here, but their glory is often dimmed, often eclipsed in darkness; but hereafter "the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy Glory." Night is indispensable to nature here. Its dews and darkness answer numberless purposes of good in the wide creation. And must we not say that the gloom and mystery of life have all a meaning, a Divine intent? and that the spirit of the probationer for eternity is perfected in it? To have all sunshine in a world so stained with sin would argue that God thinks lightly of evil. It is not so. This life of ours has much of gloom; but all its darkness, directly or indirectly, springs from sin. The eclipse is caused by the selfishness of man coming between God and the soul. Will God always cause us to endure so much of darkness? No. But we must wait his time. We must wait his place. We may put off our black dress and dress in bridal robes when, as our text says, "the days of our mourning shall be ended." Light is beautiful. "Surely light is sweet." Think how many golden harvest-fields the all-ripening sun has looked down upon; how many scenes of blest content its rays have rested on. Many of our frames of mind are materially affected by the merry sunshine. The sun not only ripens the corn, it gladdens the heart. But there is a sunshine of the soul not at all connected with this. There are joys which nothing outward can bestow or remove. Yes; there are many miserable hearts on the brightest days. The sunshine cannot replace the smile of a vanished face. Likewise there are many glad hearts on the gloomiest days. Nothing can steal from them the blessedness of being loved and doing good. I would remark, however, that— I. THE OF LIFE IS . Do dark days come suddenly on mariners in distant seas, in other zones? So imperceptibly comes sorrow to human hearts. We have no control over the landscape and the heart. Its fairest scenes may be darkened in an hour! Imagine a belated traveller seeing the sun go down. This is so! What sad intelligence may come! What unbidden conjecture may arise! What surmise] What thought may come forth from the chambers of memory! What spoken words—what sad scenes may quench the light of joy and gladness in the human countenance! Yes; you have marked this; perhaps your own words may have produced it. How many can bear evidence of this! They will be ready to echo my words when I say, "Let us be very thankful for so much bright sunshine as we have, for the joys which are the rewards and accompaniments of Christian life." Yes; "they will bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp, with the psaltery;" they will be glad, but they will rejoice with trembling, for they "know not what a day," etc. II. THE OF LIFE IS MUCH ON THE STATE OF OUR SOULS. We may be surrounded by the sweetest natural and the holiest moral associations, and yet sometimes be very sad. It may be at home, or even in the sanctuary of God. A little pebble placed near the eye will intercept the light of the sun; and a little object may keep away from us the smile of God and the sweet sanction of our own conscience. We feel discontented with ourselves, that, having a cross so near to go to, we should yet bear the burden of so many sins; that, having a Friend so near, we should let him share so few of our sorrows. But the cause of this is the explanation of our sadness: we so often love the sins we cherish; we so often forsake the Friend we should make our own. As it is with a sermon, so it is with all the aspects of life, so much hangs on the state of our own soul. But look up higher. The souls that listened where you do, trod the same earth, wept the same tears as you do,—they are sad nevermore, for the state of their souls is purer than the purest lake which reflects the overhanging hills; so pure that they consciously and clearly bear the image of him who knew no sin. III. THE OF HEAVEN WILL BE SOFT AS WELL AS BRIGHT. It is likened to the moon as well as to the sun. Heaven is not only pictured to us by the symbols of the waving palms, and the majestic multitude, and the thrilling anthem, and the reverberating choir, and the glad hosannah! No; there will be soft moonlight as well as sunlight. Much and most of our happiness here is not of the outwardly buoyant and ecstatic character. It is calm and peaceful joy which you crave no vivid image for. This one suits it though—the moonlight. Yes; how many voyagers has it lent its soft light to guide amongst the breakers! How many travellers, imperilled by the way, has it kept in safety from the precipice and the watercourse! How many will sing of the beauty as well as the safety it gives] Never did the sleeping city stand out in such calm and stately grandeur. Never did the overhanging worlds glow with a serener or a steadier beauty. We cannot always bear the gaze of the sun; but ask the Indian missionary, and he will tell you the sweet loveliness of the moon. It is a type, then, as I think, of a calmer joy; the blessedness of a being who, no longer vexed with anger, hate, or jealousy, no more burdened with pride, or prejudice, or selfishness, sees and enjoys God in all around and all within him. Who—what shall disturb this joy? "Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself." IV. THE OF HEAVEN WILL BE COMMON TO ALL . Some of us here to-day may be for a time walking in darkness, whilst some are rejoicing in the light. There sits the sad widower, and there the joyful husband; there the pensive widow, there the glad wife; there the fatherless orphan, there the fond child. Yea, and deeper are the differences. There is one who, by the grace of God, has just conquered some besetting sin; beside him, one who stilt indulges it. There, one whose commerce with the court of heaven is small; and there, one who, like Enoch, walks with God. There, one who pitches his tabernacle with the open door towards the cross; there, one who has his tent open towards the world. Here are different phases of human experience, different states of physical health, and different degrees of the spiritual life. Consequently the sunshine of one is not the sunshine of all. In heaven it wilt be common. I do not say all will have the same degree of blessedness. I believe they will not. But all will be at rest. There will be no such difference as between sorrow and joy. All will be happy up to the measure of their being; all will participate in a joy of which the sublimest foretastings on earth are but the faintest shadows. Mark, then, the language. "Thy sun shall no more go down." It belongs to thee. We are not of the night, as we are in the night. V. THE OF HEAVEN SHALL NEVER REST ON GRAVES. "The days of thy mourning shall be ended." I have often thought on the brightest days of the many new tombs which the sun’s light falls on. But a few days since, closed eyes rejoiced in the light as well as mine. Ah! and there are eyes looking on the world which looked on it with them; scenes of sea and land, hill and vale, forest and flood, which photographed themselves on both hearts alike. One is now a clod of the valley. Much of the description of heaven, to inspirit our hearts, rests in what there is not there. And there are no more graves. There is no new tomb for Joseph in the garden of the better country. We shall hear no lamentation for the dead there—"Rachel weeping for her children, because they are not." We shall never, as did the disciples, stand with Jesus at the grave there. No voice will ever say, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!" "Lazarus, come forth!" No; there are no graves, neither in the sea nor in the rock; for "the days of thy mourning shall be ended."—W.M.S. Departed grief. "The days of thy mourning shall be ended.". What a glorious perspective there is in these words! In the fairest skies we are accustomed to expect some clouds to start up from the bed of the sea, or to come suddenly across the blue firmament heralded by some fleecy outrider. Nor do we expect perpetuity of joy in human life. Life is ever the subject of risk and danger. We never part without uncertainty as to meeting again; we never know but our day of glory may set in tears. There comes, too, in time, to us all that "last glance of love which becomes the sharpest pang of sorrow." I. NIGHT. On earth our experience is often that of mourning. We are sorrowful. 1. Over the ravages of sin in ourselves and in the world. 2. Over the contrast between our ideals and our imperfections. 3. Over the influences of mutability and mortality. 4. Over the weakness of our faith and the coldness of our love to Christ. II. MORNING. "Ended." Some things end for a time only. We are liable to them again. Fear returns. Disaffection of friends, awhile ago removed, recommences once more. Pain eased gives place to after-anguish. Friend after friend departs. After one victory over temptation comes another and a fiercer conflict. "Mourning ended." Why? God is our everlasting "Light;" for: 1. We are all righteous. (Isaiah 60:21.) The new nature is perfected in those who have the new name; there is no sorrow where there is no sin. 2. We are all at home. "They shall inherit the land for ever." At last the craving for rest is satisfied. At last what we have so long sought here we shall find there. All here mocks us with a sense of change, disruption, and death. There "thy sun shall no more go down."—W.M.S. Multiplication. "A little one shall become a thousand," etc. This is a Divine rebuke of our estimates. We look at outward magnitudes; God looks at that which has inward extension in itself. I. THIS IS TRUE . Israel found it so. The Pilgrim Fathers found it so. And many Churches have found it so, where there has been loving co-operation and personal consecration. Look how the despised mission work in India grew to a mighty force, despite the satirical review of Jefferies. Look how the native schools, with their slender beginnings, have grown to millions of disciples. II. THIS IS TRUE . God must be with us! "I the Lord will hasten it." "It is to be in his time." There is no promise to the "little one," whatever skill, energy, or endeavour there may be—only God is with them. When we are on the side of truth, we are on the side of conquest. When we are waiting in disappointed moods, God is hastening on the sure foundation, which he is laying. When we are fascinated with the meretricious glory of the world, we see it laid low and Christ’s kingdom established on its ruins.—W.M.S. BY W. The Church triumphant. With other eyes than ours the Jews must have read these glowing words. They saw in them a fascinating picture of a triumphant people; they saw the Jerusalem of their knowledge and of their love made strong and glorious in some coming time. Their patriotic hopes were kindled and must have been raised to a white heat of intensity as they dwelt on the gladdening, transporting promise. In the midst of surrounding darkness covering the whole earth (Isaiah 60:2), Zion shines forth with a light which proceeds from nothing less than the Divine Presence itself (Isaiah 60:1, Isaiah 60:2). Attracted by its radiant beams, her exiled sons and daughters return from the strange lands whither they have gone into captivity, while from every quarter the wealth of Gentile nations flows to her feet. She trembles for very joy, her heart expands with the fulness of its emotion, as she welcomes her children to her heart, as she receives these treasures into her gates (Isaiah 60:4-6). The produce of other lands is laid on the altar of Jehovah, and brightens the lustre of that glorious house (Isaiah 60:7). Precious tribute is brought from distant coasts (Isaiah 60:9), and they who once contemptuously humiliated her, now build up the walls of her strength and find their safety in her service (Isaiah 60:10-12, Isaiah 60:14). In place of saddest desolation and signs of Divine departure shall be proofs of national supremacy and the recovered favour of the Lord (Isaiah 60:15, Isaiah 60:16). The excellences of earlier days will be eclipsed by the future splendour; the rude arm of force shall give place to the gentle hand of righteousness; the salvation of Jehovah shall surround the city; and songs of praise shall be on the lips of the citizens (Isaiah 60:17, Isaiah 60:18). The light of noon in all its radiance is but a picture of the glory which will rest upon her in the abiding presence of Jehovah; and joy, rectitude, and enlargement will be her blessed portion (Isaiah 60:20-22). There may be intervening days before this is realized; but when the hour is reached for it to come, the Lord will hasten its arrival. But "God fulfils himself in many ways;" he redeems his promises to us otherwise than we hope and even confidently expect. Jerusalem has never attained, and is not likely to realize, the prosperity and power here depicted; in some other way than that of national glory must we look for the fulfilment of this brilliant vision. We shall find it in the triumph of the Church of Christ, of the "Israel of God," which the Divine Redeemer has lived and died to establish. The features of this "golden age," as thus realized, are indicated in the text; they are— I. THE OF THE DIVINE. Its glory will be manifestly the "glory of the Lord" (Isaiah 60:1, Isaiah 60:2). And everything is to work for the exaltation of Christ (Isaiah 60:20, Isaiah 60:21). Whatever does not aim at this or make for this is alien, intrusive, harmful. II. THE OF VITAL . (Isaiah 60:12.) All that opposes itself to those truths and principles of which the Church of Christ is the exponent and depository will fail and perish. III. PERFECT . (Isaiah 60:11.) Its gates are never to be shut. The Church which is exclusive, the Christian society which is repelling, the minister or messenger of Christ who is forbidding, the message which does not welcome the wandering, bears on the face of it a decisive condemnation. IV. TRIUMPH OVER ITS ENEMIES. (Isaiah 60:10, Isaiah 60:14, Isaiah 60:15.) Those who smote and scorned shall acknowledge its heavenly origin, and their lips shall utter the redeeming truth; their own hands shall build the walls of Zion. V. THE OF THE . (Isaiah 60:6, Isaiah 60:8, Isaiah 60:9.) 1. Those most distant in space. They shall seek entrance who come from furthest latitudes, whose language, laws, customs, are most strange. 2. Those most distant in spirit—they who have been farthest from God, dwelling in the thickest and grossest darkness with which the land has been covered (Isaiah 60:2). VI. LAYING ALL THINGS UNDER TRIBUTE. NOt only the glory of nature (Isaiah 60:18), but also the greatness of mankind (Isaiah 60:16); fairest and finest fruits of the field, and the proudest products of society, shall minister to its strength and promote its cause. VII. SPECIAL TO THE KINGDOM AND GLORY OF CHRIST. (Isaiah 60:7.) As the flocks and herds of Kedar and Nabathea would add something, by their novelty and peculiarity, to the glories of the temple; so will the especial characteristics of Christian converts, of the Englishman, of the Italian, of the Indian, of the Chinaman, etc; contribute to the glories of the Church: so will "the imagination of the East, the passion of the South, the vigour of the North, and the enterprise of the West," bring their own tribute to the glory of Christ. VIII. THE OF PEACE. (Isaiah 60:17, Isaiah 60:18.) IX. THE REIGN OF . (Isaiah 60:17, Isaiah 60:21.) X. EVER- . (Isaiah 60:17, Isaiah 60:22.) The special lessons to be learnt from this description of the Church triumphant are: 1. That in all matters pertaining to the kingdom of God, it is his glory that should be sedulously kept in view. 2. That the Church of Christ must expect to prove an attractive power in the midst of encompassing evil. 3. That it must address itself to the restoration and acquisition of those that seem least likely to be gained. 4. That each community should consider what is the particular contribution it can bring to adorn the doctrine and strengthen the cause of its Master. 5. That the Church should be incessantly active in its holy mission. 6. That it should take care that moral Had spiritual excellency marks it course as well as numerical growth and the brilliancy of its conquests. 7. That it must maintain the attitude of devout expectancy and holy gratitude, remembering that all its strength and hope are in "the Lord, its Saviour and its Redeemer."—C. BY R. TUCK The call to shine if we have light: or, the duty of doing as well as knowing. Our first response to God is the reception of his light; but the second is the giving forth of that light. We read this truth and duty in its Christian phases, and urge it by the use of Christian persuasions. Our Lord made very much of the connection between knowing and doing, profession and practice. His disciples must be salt, that savours something or somebody; light, that shines forth on somebody. See the parables of the ten talents, the husbandmen, the sower and the seed, and the barren fig-tree. God always looks for fitting signs and expressions wherever there is life. See the direct teachings of Christ. "He that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them;" "He that doeth the will … the same is my brother;" "Yea, blessed are they that hear the Word, and do it." This union of doing with professing is necessary: 1. To satisfy us of the reality of our own piety. Illustrate from the seed—if there is life in it, that life will show itself to the light. Men expect to see religion influencing conduct. We expect this in others. Others expect it in us. They look for our shining if we profess to have received God’s light. No excellence of creed can excuse unsubdued tempers, unrestrained habits, indifference to the welfare of others, and silence concerning what we have tasted and handled and felt of the Word of life. We must test ourselves if we would be assured of our own vitality. No breath, no life. No shining, no light. 2. To prove the truth of Christianity. It makes great pretensions. How shall it support and prove them? Only by living examples. Experiment tests everything, and constantly fresh experiments are needed. After all argument and evidence are exhausted, we ought to be able to say, "See what Christianity has done: the demon-possessed, the blind, the lame, the drunken, the strong-tempered, the selfish, are changed, and now they shine." Then, if we would offer to the men around us the best plea for Christianity, we must just shine. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come." 3. To extend the work of the Light-bringer, the Redeemer. Christian living is the supreme persuasion. Men may resist eloquence, reasoning, force,—they cannot resist the power of godliness; it is like the influence of leaven; it is like the testimony of the dawning day, which men must heed. Jerusalem of old—Jerusalem spiritualized as the modern Church—may well be bidden to "put on the beautiful garments" of godly living, and "arise and shine."—R.T. God’s presence the glory of God’s house. "I will glorify the house of my glory" (comp. Haggai 2:7-8; Malachi 3:1). Rendered literally, the sentence would read, "My house of beauty will I beautify." Foreshadowings of this spiritual truth are found in God’s presence making the charm of the Eden-home; God’s presence abiding as a glory between the cherubim in the holy of holies; and God’s presence coming in the symbol of the descending cloud on Solomon’s temple. It was the great glory of Herod’s restored temple, that the God-Man walked and worshipped and taught within its courts. It is the exceeding great glory of the Church, the spiritual temple, that God the Spirit comes to it, dwells in it, is the inspiration of it, and glorifies it. There is no glory in a shrine without the Deity. The sunshine, streaming through the windows of the old cathedral, fills the whole place with wondrous and solemnizing lights and shades; and the sunshine of the Divine presence fills the heart and the sanctuary with the only true glory and beauty and joy. "The Church is the house of God’s glory, where he manifests his glory to his people, and receives that homage by which they do honour to him." I. WE OUGHT TO GLORIFY GOD’S HOUSE. One idea of the text is that the restored temple at Jerusalem would be honoured by abundant supplies of sacrifices. That old way of worshipping has given place to spiritual forms, such as prayer and praise and instruction; then we should give the best possible attention to these, that in so doing we may honour God’s house. The best song, the best gifts, the best architecture, all should be devoted to the glorifying of God’s house. And the best, most regular, most reverent, attendance at public worship may be our way of honouring God. "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord." That is the way to glorify God for his goodness. II. GOD ALONE CAN TRULY GLORIFY GOD’S HOUSE. If he is not present, accepting the worship, inspiring the worship, and sanctifying the worship, then it is all vain show, empty form, deluding ceremony. Write up "Ichabod," for the "glory is departed." God’s presence is known in the enduement of his ministers with righteousness, and in the making of his chosen people joyful.—R.T. Open gospel-gates. "Thy gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night." Compare the picture of the new Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:25, "And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there): and they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it." The figure is taken from a country in which the cities were defended by walls and gates, and these gates were closed at night. Closed gates represented the old limitation and exclusiveness of Judaism. Open gates suggest the fulness and freeness of the gospel provision and the gospel offer. "Here the open gates have their special reason assigned—to admit the ever in-streaming world, with its offerings and homage." "The words of the text imply a state of peace, in which there would be no danger of attack; and the constant stream of pilgrims, with their offerings, entering by night as well as by day." I. OPEN GATES ARE A OF PEACE. The Church does not want to hurt anybody, so it feels no fear of anybody wanting to hurt it. Illustrate from the open country of America; it can keep its gates open, because it does not want to injure or take advantage of any other nation, and so it is unable to conceive of other nations wanting to injure it. George Macdonald has, in ’Thomas Wingfold, Curate,’ a very curious, but very striking, conception of a heaven of sweetest peace, where there is no money to create greed, and where everybody wants to serve his neighbour, and nobody wants to injure his neighbour. That place can keep its gate open; and so can Christ’s Church. Even in some parts of our country, people’s doors are never locked. It is a delightful sign of peaceful living. II. OPEN GATES ARE AN TO ENTER. Illustrate by the silent, yet powerful, call of the open church doors on the sabbath day. We hear them singing to us and saying- ’’Come in, come in, Eternal glory thou may’st win!" The gospel’s "whosoever will" is Divine persuasion. It gives us confidence; we all can come under that "whosoever." III. OPEN GATES ARE AN OF WELCOME AND . There is something inside the temple, inside the city, which thus boldly dares to open its doors. There must be a "feast of fat things,… of wines on the lees well refined." Illustrate from our Lord’s parable of the gospel-feast. He would not open thus wide his doors if the oxen were not killed and the fatlings ready. Unfold what precious and all-satisfying things for souls the Lord Jesus has provided, and plead that, whether it be morning-time of life, noontime, evening, or night, the gates are open, and we may enter now.—R.T. The condition of national prosperity. "Every nation shall fall unless it serves the Lord, the righteous God, the God of Israel, through whom alone is salvation. The figure of serving Israel means serving the God of Israel" (Matthew Arnold). Foerster remarks that "the Roman pontiffs abuse this oracle of the prophet to establish their tyranny over monarchs. In particular, it is recorded of Pius IV; that at the time of his election he caused a coin to be struck, on one side of which was his own image, adorned with a triple crown, and on the other these words of the prophet were inscribed." Barnes gives suggestions for the historical illustration of the passage: "The idea of the verse is that no nation can flourish and long continue that does not obey the Law of God, or where the true religion does not prevail, and the worship of the true God is not maintained. History is full of affecting illustrations of this. The ancient republics and kingdoms fell because they had not the true religion. The kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria, Macedonia, and Egypt; the Roman empire, and all the ancient monarchies and republics, soon fell to ruin because they had not the salutary restraints of the true religion, and because they lacked the protection of the true God. France cast off the government of God in the first Revolution, and was drenched in blood. It is a maxim of universal truth that the nation which does not admit the influence of the laws and the government of God must be destroyed. No empire is strong enough to wage successful war with the great Jehovah; and, sooner or later, notwithstanding all that human policy can do, corruption, sensuality, luxury, pride, and far-spreading vice will expose a nation to the displeasure of God, and bring down the heavy arm of his vengeance." The precise form in which this subject is dealt with must depend on the standpoint of the preacher. It is better, therefore, only to give the lines in which thoughts, arguments, and persuasions may run. The conditions of national prosperity are— I. BELIEF IN GOD. Atheism never has built up, and never can build up, a stable nation. An atheistic nation is like a wall of loose stones. There is nothing to bind it into a unity of strength. II. OF GOD. From different points of view the absolute necessity for some public and authorized testimony of the national faith may be urged. III. TO GOD. By the recognition of his Law as the absolute standard of national righteousness, the final court of appeal. IV. TO GOD. In all times of national perplexity or peril. "Righteousness exalteth a nation," but righteousness is this—trying to know God’s will, and trying to do it.—R.T. Glorifying the second temple. There are no records of such overwhelming manifestations of the Divine glory at the dedication of the second temple as were granted when Solomon consecrated the first. And yet its glory was to be higher than any reached in the experiences of Solomon’s temple. There was to be a spiritual presence of God, which was to be realized by the help of the human presence of Christ. I. OF THE OF This PROMISE. Or signs of the spiritual presence and spiritual power of God in his Church. 1. Quickening of religious life; or conversions. 2. Renewals of religious life; or sanctification. 3. Enlargement of religious feelings. This, however, may be spurious, or it may be sound. 4. Reconsecration to religious work. II. THE ON WHICH THE OF THIS PROMISE DEPEND. Our moral attitudes. We must be set for the blessing. The Church that would have the spiritual presence of God must be (1) maintaining the Christian spirit; (2) living the Christian life; (3) upholding the Christian worship; (4) working the Christian work. Then there is much preparing and fitting work for us to do, if God is to "make the place of his feet glorious" where we unite in his worship.—R.T. The Mighty One of Jacob. "And thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." It is singular and significant that Jehovah should here be so closely identified with Jacob, and not, as usual, with the three great patriarchs. We are to get our ideas of him as a Saviour and Redeemer precisely from what he was to Jacob, and what he did for Jacob. Now, the striking thing in the life of Jacob is that he had much more trouble with himself than with his circumstances. The cursory view might make much of the changeableness and the hardships of Jacob’s checkered life; but he easily mastered his circumstances. The deeper view sees throughout the career a constant struggle with the bad self, which never gets more than a partial victory, until life draws near to its close, and then the hero of a thousand fights with the bad self is enabled to speak of "the angel that redeemed me from all evil." That angel the prophet suggestively calls the "Mighty One of Jacob." This, then, is our point. The glory of God our Redeemer is that he can redeem us from our bad selves. Show what is meant by and included in the "bad self." I. THE WITH THE BAD SELF IS A SECRET , We do not talk about it. We do not put forth any signs of it. Men think our earthly troubles are our great troubles, but the truth is that no cry goes forth from us with such intensity of passion as the cry which no fellow-creature hears, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Nobody knows how hard we are trying to put away the "old man with his corruptions." II. THE WITH THE BAD SELF IS A . It is if we carry it on in our own strength. "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" What Jacob-like man or woman ever yet sang a victory-song over his own giant self, and praised the weapons and the skill that gained the triumph? Jacobs that try to get quit of the bad self in their own strength end in the dust, under giant Self’s foot. III. THE WITH THE BAD SELF IS JUST THE IN WHICH WE MAY HAVE, AND SHOULD REJOICE TO HAVE, A DIVINE HELPER. He, the "Mighty One of Jacob," has access to souls, and influence on souls. He "strengtheneth us with strength in the soul." He will not cease his gracious working until his people are "all glorious within." Of this we may be sure, in this we may have supreme consolation-over the secret inner strife of our souls, the Lord, the Saviour, the Redeemer, graciously presides.—R.T. Our everlasting Light. Contrasts are suggested with brief days that darken into night, and cloudy days that hide the sunshining. It passes our comprehension, indeed, but it kindles our imagination, to conceive of a day that knows no ending, and a sunrising that never reaches its meridian. Yet we often feel as if we wanted life to be all sunshine; it shall be when we are altogether good. While we are encompassed with infirmities, and must be under discipline, God cannot be to us an "everlasting Light;" there must be clouds coming betwixt, Which our fearing, trembling souls fashion into his forms. In the white heavens, white souls need no sun and no moon to shine upon them, for the glory of God doth lighten them. But this is ideal glory, and the question for us is—How near can we get to it now? I. FOR US GOD MAY BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. To let ourselves be so engrossed with business affairs that there is no room for God in thought, or heart, or life, is to lose the everlasting light—to be unable to see God in common everyday things. It is hardly conceivable that any man could wish to have this fair earth with its vales and hills, without the gilding beautifying sunshine. O poor earth, dull and dead, like sunless winter in Arctic climes! And yet thousands are willing to have this earth of material relationships without the sunshine of God. Exactly what men want, but do not know that they want, is God their everlasting Light. Common life, with him, is lived in the sunshine. II. FOR US GOD MAY BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. In our day he is only allowed to shine intermittently in this world, and there are many who would blot him out of this sky if they could. Others, who would not go so far as that, would gladly make a thick, foggy atmosphere of their own wisdom, through which he can only shine dimly. We shall never get the full glory of the treasures of the intellectual world until we let the revealing rays of the "everlasting light" fall everywhere upon them. III. FOR US GOD MAY BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Indeed, there is no light at all in the spiritual world if he does not shine. And the one thing above all others which they crave after who dwell in that spiritual world is the full, constant, unshaded, glowing, life-renewing power of the everlasting Light.—R.T. The heaven of universal righteousness. "Thy people also shall be all righteous." "There are no people on earth that are all righteous; there is a mixture of some bad in the best societies on this side of heaven; but there are no mixtures there. They shall be ’ all righteous,’ that is, they shall be entirely righteous; as there shall be none corrupt among them, so there shall be no corruption among them; the spirit of just men shall there be made perfect" (Matthew Henry). Universal righteousness includes the following things. I. THAT EVERY MAN HAS WON HIS OWN WILL WHOLLY FOR GOD. II. THAT EVERY MAN HAS WON HIS OWN LIFE AND CONDUCT FOR GOD. III. THAT EVERY MAN—AS WON HIS OWN FOR GOD. IV. THAT EVERY MAN HAS WON ALL HIS OWN FOR GOD. No picture of a material heaven can be so inspiring to us as this sublime picture of a moral state, in which everybody tries to do the right, and finds triumphant grace given to him for the doing.—R.T. SECTION VIII.— OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, WHO GLORY AND TO (Isaiah 61:1-11; Isaiah 62:1-12.). Isaiah 61:1-3 THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. The words of our Lord in Luke 4:21, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears," preclude the application of this passage to any other than the Lord himself. It is simply astonishing that some Christian commentators (Ewald, Hitzig, Knobel) have not seen the force of this argument, but, with the Jews, imagine the prophet to be speaking of his own ministry. It is contrary to the entire spirit of Isaiah’s writings so to glorify himself, and specially unsuitable that, after having brought forward with such emphasis the Person of "the Servant" (Isaiah 42:1-8; Isaiah 49:1-12; Isaiah 1:4-9; Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12), he should proceed to take his place, and to "ascribe to himself those very same official attributes which he has already set forth as characteristic features in his portrait of the predicted One" (Delitzsch). Hence most recent commentators, whatever their school of thought, have acquiesced in the patristic interpretation, which regarded the Servant of Jehovah as here speaking of himself. Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; literally, the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah (Adonai Jehovah) is upon me. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and one manuscript omit adonai. In the original announcement of "the Servant" it was stated that God had "put his Spirit upon him" (Isaiah 42:1). The sanctification of our Lord’s human nature by the Holy Spirit is very explicitly taught in the Gospels. The Lord hath anointed me. The "anointing" of Jesus was that sanctification of his human nature by the Holy Spirit, which commenced in the womb of the blessed Virgin (Luke 1:35), which continued as he grew to manhood (Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52), which was openly manifested at his baptism, and never ceased till he took his body and soul with him into heaven. Of this spiritual anointing, all material unction, whether under the Law (Le Isaiah 8:10-12, 30; 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 16:13; 1 Kings 1:39; 1 Kings 19:15,1 Kings 19:16, etc.) or under the gospel (Mark 6:13; James 5:14), was symbolical or typical. To preach good tidings (comp. Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 41:27; Isaiah 52:7; and Nahum 1:15). Unto the meek (see Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:29; and comp. Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 29:19). To bind up the broken-hearted. "Binding up" is an ordinary expression in Isaiah’s writings for "healing" (see Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 3:7; Isaiah 30:26). To proclaim liberty to the captives. This was one of the special offices of "the Servant" (see Isaiah 42:7). The "captivity’’ intended is doubtless that of sin. And the opening of the prison to them that are bound. St. Luke, following the Septuagint, has, "and recovering of sight to the blind." It is thought by some that the original Hebrew text has been corrupted. Others regard the Septuagint rendering as a paraphrase. Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. An "acceptable year," or "year of acceptance," is a space of time during which God would be pleased to accept such as repented and turned to him. It is, of course, not intended to limit the space to a "year." The space is rather the term of our sojourn here below. The day of vengeance. The "day" of vengeance is contrasted with the "year" of acceptance, to indicate God’s long-suffering and patience towards sinners (comp. Isaiah 34:8; and see also Exodus 20:5, Exodus 20:6). To comfort all that mourn; i.e. all who "sorrow after a godly sort" (2 Corinthians 7:11)—all who mourn their transgressions and shortcomings, their "sins, negligences, and ignorances," with a hearty desire to be rid of them, and to serve God truly in the future. Isaiah 61:3 To appoint … to give. The latter expression is a correction of the former, which was not wide enough. Messiah is sent to give to the godly mourners (1) beauty for ashes; or "a crown for ashes," i.e. a crown of glory in lieu of the ashes of repentance which it was customary to sprinkle upon the head; (2) the oil of joy for mourning; or the anointing of the Spirit in lieu of that plenteousness of tears which naturally belonged to mourners; and (3) the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, or a glad heart inclined to praise God, in lieu of a heavy one inclined to despair. Christian experience witnesses to the abundant accomplishment of all these purposes. That they might be called trees of righteousness; literally, oaks of righteousness, or strong and enduring plants in the garden of God, planted by him, in order that through them he might be glorified. Nothing gives so much glory to God as the proved righteousness of his saints. The planting of the Lord; i.e. "which he has planted" and caused to grow, and rendered righteous. The righteousness, though it is their own, an indwelling quality, has nevertheless come from him (comp. Isaiah 60:21). Isaiah 61:4-9 GOD’S PURPOSE OF DEALING WITH ISRAEL. Having proclaimed the objects of his own mission, "the Servant" proceeds to declare God’s gracious purposes towards Israel. Taking the Captivity period for his standpoint, he promises, first, the restoration of the cities of Judah (Isaiah 61:4), and then a flourishing time in which Jews and Gentiles shall dwell together in one community peacefully and gloriously, Israel having a certain pre-eminence (Isaiah 61:5-9). Isaiah 61:4 They shall build the old wastes. (On the "waste" condition, not of Jerusalem only, but of the cities of Judith generally, see Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 49:8, Isaiah 49:19; Isaiah 64:10, Isaiah 64:11, etc.) The first step in the recovery of Israel from the misery of the Captivity would be a return to Palestine, and a general restoration of the ruined towns. It was a ruin of "many generations," having commenced, probably, with the invasion of Pharaoh-Necho in b.c. 608, and being continued till the edict of Cyrus. Isaiah 61:5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks (comp. Isaiah 14:1, Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 45:14; Isaiah 60:10). The Gentiles who join themselves with the Jews, and form with them one community, are constantly represented in the writings of Isaiah as occupying a subordinate position. In the New Testament, Jew and Gentile are put upon a par. Is the explanation that Isaiah assumes that the Jews generally will accept the gospel, and therefore, to some extent, retain their privileges in the new community, whereas, in fact, they rejected the gospel, and so lost their natural position (see Romans 11:7-20)? Or does Isaiah look onward to a later date? And is there to be a restoration of "Israel according to the flesh" upon their conversion, and a reinstatement of them in a position of privilege? Such a condition of things seems glanced at in Romans 11:23-29, and in Revelation 7:4-9; Revelation 14:1. The sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vinedressers. Not so much compelled, like the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:21-27), to perform menial offices, as undertaking them voluntarily out of good will. Isaiah 61:6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord. By the covenant made at Sinai, Israel was to be "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). Had they risen to the height of their calling when our Lord and his disciples offered them salvation before offering it to the Gentiles, they might have "been in the midst of the heathen who had entered into the congregation of Jehovah and become the people of God, what the Aaronites farmerly were in the midst of Israel itself" (Delitzsch). Will they ever now obtain this position? Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 60:5-9 and Isaiah 60:16). The Gentiles, when they came in, would freely offer to the Church of their substance. Isaiah 61:7 For your shame ye shall have double. Instead of the shame and confusion of face which were the portion of Israel during the Captivity (see Isaiah 51:7, Isaiah 51:23; Isaiah 54:4; Daniel 9:7, Daniel 9:8, etc.), they should after their restoration to Palestine "have double" their former glory and double their former territory. An increase of territory had been already prophesied (Isaiah 49:18-21)—an increase which, however, was not so much an extension of the bounds of Palestine as a spread of the Church over the whole earth (comp. Zechariah 9:12). For confusion; rather, as for disgrace. So far from feeling disgraced, they will rejoice, or exult, in their portion; i.e. in the territory assigned them. It will be ample; and their life in it will be one of everlasting joy. The speaker passes on in his thought to the time of the "new heavens and the new earth," which he regards as continuous with that of Israel’s return. Isaiah 61:8 For I the Lord love judgment. Either "the Servant" here identifies himself with Jehovah, or he cites a declaration of Jehovah which he has authority to announce. Jehovah will restore the Israelites to their land because he "loves judgment" (equivalent to "justice") and hates injustice. The Babylonian conquest, though a judgment sent by him, is, so far as the Babylonians are concerned, a wrong and a "robbery." I hate robbery for burnt offering; rather, I hate robbery with wickedness (comp. Job 5:16; Psalms 58:3; Psalms 64:7; 92:16). The transplantation of nations was a gross abuse of the rights of conquest. I will direct their work in truth; rather, I will give them their recompense faithfully. As they have been wronged, they shall be righted; they shall be faithfully and exactly compensated for what they have suffered. Nay, more—over and above this, God will give them the blessing of an "everlasting covenant" (comp. Isaiah 55:3). Isaiah 61:9 Their seed shall be known; or, shall be illustrious (Lowth), renowned (Cheyne). A halo of renown still, in the eyes of many, attaches to Jewish descent. Among the people; rather, among the peoples. The seed which the Lord hath blessed; rather, a seed. The blessing has passed in the main to "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16). Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 61:11 ACCEPTS THE , AND GLORIES IN JEHOVAH. So the Targum and Rosenmuller. Others think that "the Servant" is still speaking, or that Isaiah speaks in the name of the people. To us the exposition of the Targum appears the most satisfactory. It is in the manner of Isaiah suddenly to introduce a new speaker. Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord (comp. Habakkuk 3:18). The promises made were such as naturally to call forth on the part of Israel the most heartfelt joy and rejoicing—including, as they did, restoration, rule over the Gentiles, a universal priesthood, a wide territory, "everlasting joy," a high renown, and an "everlasting covenant. He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation (comp. Isaiah 59:17 and Isaiah 61:3). The metaphor occurs also in the Psalms (Psalms 71:6; Psalms 109:18). God clothes Israel with "righteousness" derived from himself (Isaiah 54:17, ad fin.), and then with its natural consequence—"salvation." The result is to make Israel as a bridegroom who decketh himself with a priestly crown, and as a bride who adornoth herself with her jewels. That bridegrooms ordinarily wore crowns appears from the Mishna. Isaiah 61:11 As the garden; rather, as a garden. The Hebrew is without the article. Righteousness and praise. The essential result of righteousness is "salvation" (see verse 20); its accidental result is "praise" or "renown." Men cannot but recognize the benefits which flow to themselves from goodness in others; and a perfectly righteous nation would attract to itself universal praise (comp. Zephaniah 3:20, "I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord "). The purposes of Messiah’s mission. We are not to suppose that the prophet unfolds to us in the present passage the whole purpose of God in sending his Son into the world. Such logical exactness is alien to the spirit of prophecy, and especially unsuited to the rhetorical tone which everywhere characterizes Isaiah. Still, as the subject is one of transcendent interest, and as our Lord himself cites the passage as descriptive of his mission, it may be useful to note how many, and what purposes, it sets before us as included in the counsels of the Father, and intended to be realized by Christ’s coming. They seem to be some nine or ten. I. THE OF GOOD TIDINGS. Christ "came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17). The angels who announced his birth intimated that it was a subject for joy and rejoicing—"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). His forerunner declared it to be the object of his coming, "that all flesh should see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6). He himself came with "gracious words" (Luke 4:22), and called men into his kingdom. Hence from a very early date his message to man was known as the gospel, i.e. "the good tidings." What could be better tidings than the announcement of free pardon on repentance, of salvation, of atonement, of deliverance from sin, of a Comforter to support, and sustain, and cleanse the heart, and give men peace and joy in believing? Man, lost without him, was by him sought and saved, and brought out of darkness and misery into light and happiness. II. THE HEALING OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED. By "the broken-hearted" seem to be meant, not so much those whom misfortune and calamity have afflicted and reduced to despondency, as those who are deeply grieved on account of their sins. Among the objects of Christ’s coming was the healing, or restoring to health, of such persons. He "healed the broken in heart, and bound up their wounds" (Psalms 147:3). He made atonement for their sins, and thus secured them forgiveness; he assured them of God’s mercy and readiness to pardon; he bade them "come to him," and promised to "give them rest" (Matthew 11:28). Through his actions and his teaching all the contrite in all ages have their wounds bound up; are strengthened, sustained, and comforted; obtain, even in this life, a "peace that passeth all understanding." III. THE GIVING OF LIBERTY TO THE . "The captives" are the servants of sin—the unfortunates whom Satan has made his prisoners, and compels to labour in his service. Christ came to "proclaim" to them "liberty," to make them an offer of release. "Christ Jesus," St. Paul tells us, "came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). He himself declared, "I came not to call ,he righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:18). It is one of his greatest glories that he delivers men "from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). He offers to do this for all; but unless his offer is accepted he can do nothing. Men must not only be sinners, but must pass into the class of repentant sinners, before he can aid them. Then, however, his aid is effectual. All the bonds of sin may be struck off; the service of Satan may be renounced and quitted; and the captives have only thenceforth to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free" (Galatians 5:1). IV. THE GIVING OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND. (See Luke 4:18.) Our Lord, when-on earth, gave recovery of sight, in the most literal sense, to several persons who were literally blind. But this is scarcely the "giving of sight" which was one of the main purposes of his coming. He came to open the eyes of men’s understandings, to give them spiritual intelligence and spiritual insight, to enable them to discern between right and wrong, between good and evil. Men at the time were so far gone from original righteousness, that they were to a large extent blind to moral distinctions—"put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, darkness for light, and light for darkness’ (Isaiah 5:20), were "vain in their imaginations,and had "their foolish hearts darkened (Romans 1:21). Christ dispelled this spiritual darkness. He taught a pure and broad morality, which re-established moral distinctions in the general conscience, and at the same time, through his Spirit, he gave to each individual Christian an inward light, which man did not possess before, by which he might direct his paths. V. THE OF A TIME OF . Christ proclaimed a "time of acceptance" in various ways. To the Jews generally the three years of his ministry formed "the acceptable time," during which, if they had received him (John 1:11), they would have maintained their position as a nation, and have held pre-eminence in the Church of Christ. To individuals who heard him the "time of acceptance" was that between such hearing and a hardening of the heart consequent on the rejection of his gracious message. To mankind at large the "time of acceptance" is the time of their sojourn here below, during which it is always possible for them to repent and turn to him, unless perchance they have been guilty of the "sin against the Holy Ghost." Such sin is probably still possible; but it may be hoped that few have committed it, and that the apostle’s declaration, which he made to all his converts (2 Corinthians 6:2), may still be repeated to professing Christians generally, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." VI. THE OF A DAY OF . It was among the purposes of our Lord’s coming that he should "proclaim a day of vengeance." 1. To the nation of the Jews, which by rejecting him caused its own rejection from the position assigned it under the first covenant, and was delivered up for punishment to the Romans. This he did by a number of remarkable prophecies (e.g. the following: Matthew 21:40-43; Matthew 24:4-28; Luke 13:34, 85; Luke 21:20-22), which announced that Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and that there was to be "great wrath upon the people" (Luke 21:23). 2. To the enemies of God universally. The general day of vengeance upon God’s enemies is that "last day," which our Lord announced so often, when he "will come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead" (see Matthew 7:22, Matthew 7:23; Matthew 24:29-31; Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 26:64, etc.). Then all his enemies will be "put under his feet." Then will be fulfilled the apocalyptic vision, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12-15). VII. THE OF . It was indicative of the tenderness of Jesus, that in his life on earth he had ever such great compassion for mourners. In his sermon on the mount he assigned to them the second Beatitude, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). Thrice only in his ministry does he seem to have come across actual death, and then each time he had such pity on those who mourned their dead, that he worked miracles on their behalf, and comforted them by raising their lost ones to life again (Mark 5:22-42; Luke 7:12-15; John 11:32-44). After his resurrection, he hastened to comfort the women who mourned him, by special appearances to them. These, however, were but samples of his power and of his good will. Through the long ages that have elapsed since he founded his Church, mourners have ever found in him a true and potent Comforter. Through him it is that Christians "sorrow not as they that have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13); through him that they have resignation, and are able to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord;" through him that they look to receive their dead again raised to life (Hebrews 11:35), and to be joined with them in a land where there is no parting. VIII. THE OF THE SAINTS IN BLISS. "Henceforth," said St. Paul, as he approached the end of his life, "there is laid. up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8). We shall receive, says St. James, "the crown of life" (James 1:12). "When the chief Shepherd shall appear," says St. Peter, "ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 5:4). Such crowns were seen by the beloved disciple as worn by the elders in the heaven]y region (Revelation 4:4), and were promised to all who should remain "faithful unto death" (Revelation 2:10) by him that is "Faithful and True" (Revelation 19:11). A part of the intention of Christ’s mission was to purify to himself a people to whom such crowns might without unfitness be awarded in his heavenly kingdom. The term "crown" is, no doubt, a metaphor; but it signifies some definite and positive degree of glory, having a substantial value, and forming a proper object of the Christian’s desire. IX. THE THEM WITH THE OIL OF JOY. Christ himself was to be "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows" (Psalms 45:7). His mission on earth was, in part, to extend the blessing of this anointing to his disciples. The "oil of gladness," whatever else it may mean, cannot but primarily symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is called by St. John an "unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20), and which was, in fact, the unction wherewith Christ himself was anointed (see the comment on verse 1). To give the Holy Spirit to Christians was a very main object of his coming. The Spirit was essential to the sanctification of Christians; and he must "send the Spirit," and he could not send him until he himself was first "glorified" (John 7:39; John 16:7). St. Luke tells us how soon after his ascension the Spirit was given (Acts 2:4-33); and our Lord promised that, after he once came, he would abide with the Church "for ever" (John 14:16). Of all the immediate consequences of our Lord’s mission the gift of the Spirit was perhaps the most precious, embracing as it did regeneration, sanctification, comfort, strength, gladness. X. THE CAUSING THEM TO BE CALLED, AND TO BE, . All the other objects had this final end in view. The good tidings were preached, and the brokenhearted healed, and the captives set free, and the dull of sight given moral discernment, and the acceptable time proclaimed, and the day of vengeance threatened, and the mourners comforted, and the crowns of glory promised, and the Holy Spirit given, in order that "oaks of righteousness" might be planted in the garden of the Lord—that men might burst the bonds of sin, and become righteous, "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Christ "gave himself for us," says St. Paul, "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). This was the principal object of our Lord’s coming—to "save men from their sins." Other objects were rather means to cuds. This was the great end. Christianity is a success just so far forth as it weans man from sin, and creates and maintains in the world a "company of faithful men," who deserve to "be called oaks of righteousness," who persistently and determinately "eschew evil and do good," who lead holy lives, who "shine like lights in the world," "adorning the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things" (Titus 2:10). Rejoicing in the Lord. "Rejoice in the Lord alway," says the apostle: "and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). It reflects shame on Christians that their religion should appear, so much as it does, to those without as a religion of gloom and melancholy. In Scripture true religion wears a wholly different aspect. Faithful Israel rejoices constantly in the Lord, is perpetually joyful in its God. The Book of Psalms is one almost continuous jubilation. The worship of David, of Solomon, of Hezekiah, of the Old Testament saints generally, is a glad worship (2 Samuel 6:12; 1 Chronicles 29:9-22; 2 Chronicles 5:2-13; 2 Chronicles 29:20-36; 2 Chronicles 30:21-26, etc.). In the Gospels we find Christ’s coming on earth the immediate occasion of canticles of praise (Luke 1:46-55, Luke 1:68-79; Luke 2:14, Luke 2:29-32). The apostolic practice is delivered to us in the following words: "They, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people" (Acts 2:46, Acts 2:47). And such gladness and rejoicing will certainly appear to be reasonable, if we consider— I. THE CAUSES THAT HAVE FOR SUCH . 1. In the past. The whole scheme of redemption is a thing to be joyful and thankful for, including as it does atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation, renewal of the Divine image in man, revelation of saving truth, assisting grace, etc. The bringing them within the scheme, so as to make its blessings theirs, is a ground for special thankfulness and joy, since the privilege has been granted to them without being deserved by any merit of their own, and has not been taken from them despite their subsequent demerits. The granting of a written revelation, and the preservation of that precious deposit in purity, is another special ground for rejoicing; as also is the institution and continuation of the Church to the present day as an organized corporate body. 2. In the present. Christians have abundant ground for rejoicing in God’s goodness to them individually—in his providential care of them, in the patience and long-suffering which he has shown towards their shortcomings, in their enjoyment of Christian privileges, and in the many other temporal and spiritual blessings vouchsafed to them. 3. In the future. They have an imperishable hope, a confident expectation of eternal life through the merits of Christ, an assurance of an inheritance that is "incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them" (1 Peter 1:4). II. THE RESULTS THAT FLOW FROM SUCH . 1. Such rejoicing is good for Christians themselves. It makes them realize their blessings and their privileges, and take as it were a firmer hold on them. It helps them to make light of the small trials and hindrances that more or less beset every one, and that, if dwelt upon exclusively, may be magnified until they assume very undue proportions. It actually increases the feeling of joy, and so the feeling of happiness, for every active principle within us is strengthened by being exercised. 2. Such rejoicing has a beneficial effect on others. It attracts them to Christianity in the same degree that a gloomy presentation of the Christian religion repels them. It wakes responsive echoes in their hearts. It stirs up latent and undefined longings in their souls. It leads sometimes to inquiry and conversion. 3. Such rejoicing is, further, for the glory of God. God wills that his saints should praise him and rejoice in him. Such rejoicing sets forth his power and his goodness. It is a proclamation to angels and to men that "the Lord is good, and that his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalms 136:1). It is borne through the empyrean, and enters into the courts of heaven, and wakes angelic sympathies and intensifies angelic devotions. It is an offering of a sweet savour to God. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 61:1-9 Message of grace to Zion. I. THE OF THE . Under the Law, the priests were anointed (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 7:36), and also the kings (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 16:13). It was the sign of appointment to a high office or commission from God. Hence, by a figure, it is applied to the appointment of Elisha to the prophetic office (1 Kings 19:16), and to the designation of Cyrus as the instrument of the purpose of Jehovah. Similarly, in 1 John 2:20, the use is figurative. The idea is that of consecrated dedication (cf. Psalms 45:7; Hebrews 1:9). II. THE PURPOSE OF THE . 1. That he may evangelize, or preach the gospel. To whom? To those who need good tidings—the afflicted, the distressed and needy, the poor (Luke 4:18), or those borne down by long captivity or other calamity (cf. Matthew 11:5). 2. To bind up the broken-hearted. In temporal or spiritual reference, "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds" (Psalms 147:3). And this by the proclamation of liberty. The sound of the words would remind of the great "year of jubilee" (Leviticus 25:10; cf. Ezekiel 46:17; Jeremiah 34:8). If nothing is said in the law of jubilee about the release of prisoners or the remission of debts, all the associations of the time led to its being spoken of as a symbol of manumission, emancipation, and so of universal joy. 3. To proclaim a time of grace and of retribution. A "year" of mercy, a "day" only of vengeance. Punishment descends to the third and fourth generation, but mercy to the thousandth (Exodus 20:5, Exodus 20:6; cf. Deuteronomy 7:9). But the coming or deliverance must ever mean also the coming in destruction (cf. Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). 4. To comfort mourners. Especially those of Zion. But an application of evangelical promises must be equally larger with human need, human receptivity, human willingness, human power to receive, i.e. faith. Upon such the "coronet" is to be placed instead of ashes; the associations of the wedding (1 John 2:10) are to replace those of the funeral (2 Samuel 13:19), the nuptial song the former lamentation. Instead of the failing spirit," described under the image of a wick burning out, or of dimness, or faintness (Isaiah 42:3; 1 Samuel 3:2; Leviticus 13:39), there will be the "mantle of renown." In the Orient, especially, the apparel expresses the mood of the mind. See an illustration in Judges 10:3, Judges 10:4: she "put on her garments of gladness, wherewith she was clad during the life of Manasses her husband." 5. To produce a vigorous and beautiful life. Men shall call them "oaks of righteousness, the plantation of Jehovah for showing himself glorious" (cf. on the simile, Psalms 92:12-14, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree," etc.; Psalms 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8). A mystic plantation under the care of the Divine Gardener (cf. Matthew 15:13). The exiles will return, will "build up the ruins of antiquity, and raise up the desolations of the forefathers, and renew the ruined cities. As ruins suggest all the pathos of the decay of families and nations, so does the act of rebuilding remind of that ever-recreative energy which lies in the religious heart of mankind, and which breaks forth afresh after every epoch of calamity. Strangers are to feed their flocks, aliens are to be their ploughmen and vinedressers, and all classes are to partake in the Messianic blessings. The people of Israel themselves will be called the "priests of Jehovah." For the priests, as a class only, represented the idea of Israel, as a nation consecrated to the service of the Eternal, destined to perform a holy ministry to the rest of mankind. Men will take hold of the skirts of the Jew (Zechariah 8:23). There will be compensation, double compensation, in the possession of the land in increased fertility and. with enlarged boundaries. III. THE OF JEHOVAH. 1. The principle of justice and compensation. He "hates things torn away unjustly," and will compensate his people for their past sufferings. How grand and all-consoling that truth of compensation! "All things are moral. That soul which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; yonder in history we can see its fatal strength." "It is in the world, and the world was made by it. Justice is not postponed. A perfect equity adjusts its balance in all parts of life. The dice of God are always loaded. Every secret is told, every crime is punished, every virtue rewarded, every wrong redressed, in silence and certainty. What we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears" (Emerson). 2. The everlasting covenant. (Isaiah 55:3.) Part of the condition of that covenant is the securing of an illustrious position for Israel among the nations; to be "known" is to be honoured, as in Psalms 67:2; Psalms 76:1; Psalms 79:10. The time shall come in a larger sense, when the friends of the lowly and despised Nazarene shall be regarded as the favoured of the Lord; instead of being persecuted and despised, the whole earth shall regard them with confidence and esteem. Providence throws a veil of obscurity over its deepest designs, and the seed of glorious futures lies slumbering in the rough husk until the appointed time for its germination and growth.—J. Spiritual joy in the Eternal. We may regard the city as the speaker, and the city may typify the Church. I. HER . As garments are for protection and ornament, so it may stand as a figure of a community arrayed in the strength and righteousness of Jehovah. And so the Church still sings— "Jesus, thy robe of righteousness My beauty is, my glorious dress." There is an allusion to the dress of the bridegroom and of the priest; for at one time the bridegroom wore a crown, and the priest wore a mitre, with the plate or crown of gold in front of it (Exodus 29:6). Such portions of the dress mark out the wearer in his sacred character and in his solemn functions. They are not for mere ornament. The Church, the saints in general, are designated as a" royal priesthood," to offer praise and prayer continually. II. NATURE’S PARABLE OF JOY. (cf. Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 55:11; Isaiah 58:11.) The joy with which we see the earth becoming all "one emerald" with the new verdure of spring; the burgeoning of the trees, the disclosure of the rudiments of future leaves and flowers, is in a sense prophetic of some analogous process in the spiritual world. For self-fulfilling is the power of the Divine Word. And even when the aspect of Church and state is most dark and depressing, life is stirring, seeds of better development are germinating, and events are being set in motion which shall stir men up to praise Israel and the God of Israel.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The coming Saviour. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me," etc. These words are specially memorable as being those which the Saviour read in the synagogue at Nazareth. We have had it described to us "with its pillared portico of Grecian architecture, with its scats on one side for the men; on the other, behind a lattice, are seated the women, shrouded in their long veils." When the lesson from the Pentateuch was over, Jesus ascended the steps of the desk, and the chazzan, or clerk, "drew aside the silk curtain of the painted ark, which contained the sacred manuscripts," and from the roll of the Prophet Isaiah, either read the lesson for the day, or chose the portion himself. We can scarcely read these words here without thinking of him there, the whole congregation standing up to listen to him. The words contain— I. THE OF CHRIST. Anointed of the Father. No mere prophet or teacher, but the Holy One of Israel. This prophecy, written some seven hundred years before, and thus attested by the Saviour as written concerning himself, gives Divine testimony to the ancient inspiration. II. THE WORK OF CHRIST. 1. It was a proclamation. "Good tidings." Think of the iron power of Rome; the selfishness of the rich; the pride of the patrician; the helplessness of the slave; the hopelessness of the philosopher. Christ came to the meek, not the mighty. 2. It was a consolation. "To bind up the brokenhearted." To heal by the touch of his sympathy, and to save by the power of his cross. 3. It was a deliverance. "To proclaim liberty to the captives," etc. Sin had woven its silken cords into iron bands. Men were slaves of lust and habit. The prison was opened; and the fetters which they could not shake off Christ struck from their souls.—W.M.S. Comfort and cheer. "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion," etc. There is a triple exchange spoken of in these words, which ought to quicken thought. I. . "Beauty for ashes." The penitent is uplifted from the dust. Instead of standing before God in sad confession, with all the stains of sin upon his heart and the liturgy of woe upon his lips, he has new life. The beauty of the Lord is given to him—there is transformation. II. EMOTION. "The oil of joy for mourning." No longer looking at the dark side of personal history and personal prospect. The very countenance is anointed with fresh oil—a type of what has taken place within the man. Because you cannot force joy, nor can yon pretend it. Nature sets herself against all forgeries. Such joy as a godly man experiences can only come from the good treasure of his heart. III. . "The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." The outward life is all so different. As God is said to clothe himself with light as with a garment, so the Easterns understood the garment of light to be the expression of the man himself, even as we now look to the habiliments of the mourner as testifying to his grief. The spirit of heaviness is distressing. It is not a thankful spirit, nor a hopeful spirit, nor an inspiring spirit. But the garment of praise is like the melody of the temple choir; like the music of the river; like the "lark that sings at heaven’s gate." "Awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake right early."—W.M.S. Restoration. "They shall build the old wastes." All waste is wicked. It is so in war. Even taken at its lowest estimate, think of the ruin of glorious temples, and exquisite sculptures, and works of art,—all ground to dust, as Mr. Ruskin says, by mere human rage. Florence, and many of the Southern cities, have been the war-fields of Europe. What waste! There genius toiled; there multitudes, in sweat of brow, built the aqueduct and decorated the capitol; and there, from time to time, the rude hand of the despoiler has come. History has made record of victories and glorified conquerors, and some minstrel has caught the infection and sung the lay of the wasters. What a satire on man! Why smile at the child who builds houses for the sea to smite down? Man builds, and then with the waves of maddened war-lust dashes to pieces his own best works. So it is. The history of Europe has been, in this sense, a history of waste, and instead of the glorious works of Phidias to gaze upon, we have broken arms, fractured columns. In devastated districts we dig for relics. This is only the material side of the waste of war. I say all waste is wicked. And I have to speak of human hearts and lives. Much more precious these than sculptured column or lofty fane. Yes; do not let us forget that the words of Christ refer to life present as well as life to come. "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own life?" I. ALL LIVES WERE TO HAVE A DIVINE IDEAL IN THEM. We cannot understand the "why" of creation at all apart from that. "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions’’ (Ecclesiastes 7:29). They have, in fact, invented many ideals for themselves, and have wasted in these inventions the fine God-created faculties of their souls. If the end is missed all is missed. If the column does not stand erect and uphold the building, it is nothing to me that you decorate it when on the ground. That is not its place, its use; it is a pillar or nothing. So man was made in this highest end to glorify God; and his life is blighted—if it is rich in cultivation, elevated in taste, artistic in style, comprehensive in erudition, useful in applied mechanics—if he does not glorify God. Our Saviour said, "My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." 1. Lives are blighted, if certain seasons of spring and seed-time, which cannot return, pass idly by. Men may be saved; for the precious blood of Christ can cleanse from all sin, even in old age. But they cannot bear the fruit of a spiritual manhood, or of a Christian childhood. 2. Lives are blighted, if not filled with the power of immortality. However noble and glorious they may appear, their fruits wither; there is no deep soil; the roots do not strike into the eternal life. 3. Lives are blighted, if not influential as good soil to be used for harvests. Man does not live for the mere enjoyment and admiration of spiritual beauty in hours of meditation. There must be fruit in the tree for others to gather. It is disappointing in the autumn to lift the leaves and find no rich bloom of purple fruit, "Abide in me." "So," says Christ, "shall ye bear much fruit." II. ALL WASTING OF LIFE IS . What to? Well, you can trace the blight to something in the atmosphere, something at the root, or some confinement from the free breath of heaven. So you can trace human waste and moral waste. 1. Sometimes it comes from absence of faith. There has been energy or heroic determination to conquer evil, to pursue the good, but this has been mere doing, not being; men need faith to win Christ; to have him in them, the Hope of glory. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." 2. Sometimes it comes from absence of love. It is love that makes the other graces grow and bring forth fruit. Love is warmth and life when inspired by Christ. Let me say also that I wanted to speak of lives in a human sense blighted, and there are some such. Why? Because love is absent; they are treated coldly, contemptuously, cruelly; the fire of love, at first damped, has now died out in their hearts; they know, they feel it is. Mated to coarseness and rudeness, with the first thin superficial refinement and tenderness all worn away, they find life worse than a blank—it is a bitter, bitter bondage to the selfishness and tyranny of others. Poor heart! God help thee wherever thou art. Love can bear much and hope on. But when love’s ashes are white, life is blighted indeed. 3. Sometimes it comes from indifference. Let it alone. That is enough. Leave religion to take care of itself. Then, like the best garden, it soon becomes desolate. III. WASTED LIVES ARE ONLY BY . In the body there is a kind of self-healing after sickness. Not so with the soul; that requires a Divine Physician. 1. Christ does more than forgive. He renews and restores. Perhaps you desire now that God should restore unto you the joy of salvation. You are sad about your own fruitlessness. So little peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Then, just as spring—sweet spring—comes in time, and the tender herb appears, and Nature puts on her new garment of beauty, rejoicing to have her incense-cup filled again by the hand of the Most High, so you desire that new graces should spring forth. Christ can make you abound with life through the abundant grace which he is waiting to bestow. 2. Christ does wore than teach. He will live in you. The fruit is not yours, but Christ’s. He is the Vine, we are the branches. A closer union with him is what we need. If we seek to be grafted into the true Vine, then, and then only, shall we bring forth fruit in our season. Christ is sometimes tailed the great Teacher. So he is! All his teaching is that of the infinite mind. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." What, then, is his first teaching? Believe on me! Then we become one with him, and our character has life in it. 3. Christ does more even than commence this life. He completes it. He carries it on to perfection. So that we, sinful and weak as we are, are made perfect in every good work. Waste, then, is not to be mourned over only; it is to be restored. The satirist speaks scornfully of evil when seen and lived out. The optimist says all is the best possible in the best of worlds, could we but understand all. The Christian says, "No; evil is here, and evil is not of God." And then by the aid of the Holy Ghost he seeks to have the old man crucified with Christ, and to live unto God. May renewal come to us all! May blight and waste give place to life and fruit!—W.M.S. Fulness of joy. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God." This does not certainly seem like the ease with the anchorite and the ascetic and the hermit. A religion that fails in the direction of felicity would seem to lose claim, at all events, to be considered a true ideal of the gospel. Mediaevalism rejoiced in pictures of the saints, who could not fairly be said to have an aureole, of gladness about their heads. I. THERE ARE GREAT REASONS FOR . 1. God has forgiven and forgotten our sin. He has blotted it out of his book of remembrance. "He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation." 2. God has made us one with himself. The highest pleasures are those of fellowship with mind. To know the author is more than to read the book; to know the heart of a beautiful nature is to discover a greater world than Columbus did. What, then, is it to walk as Enoch did with God, and to know him whom to know is life eternal! Here we have introduced the relation of bride and bridegroom—so condescending is the love of Christ. II. THERE ARE GREAT DEPTHS OF . "My soul." Joy may be superficial. It is idle to deny the fact that there are pleasures which have their root in the passions, or in the imagination, or in the accumulative faculty. But all these joys have their reactions, their limitations, their exhaustions. But spiritual joy is connected with the soul, and as such it is (1) ever capable of increase; (2) never liable to exhaustion; (3) and immortal in its sphere of development. At God’s right hand there are pleasures for evermore.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2 The beneficent mission. These words are undeniably Messianic; that is their secondary, if not their primary, import. Of the mission of Christ they remind us— I. THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS SENT OF GOD. Our Lord not only stated but insisted that he came forth from God. He constantly took up the position here asserted, "the Lord hath anointed me" (John 4:34; John 5:19, John 5:30; John 8:28; John 9:4; John 12:49). II. THAT HE WAS FILLED WITH THE STRAIT OF GOD. "The Spirit of the Lord God" was upon him, and dwelt in him as in no other child of man. God gave not the Spirit "by measure" unto him (John 3:34; John 14:10, etc.). III. THAT HE WAS CHARGED WITH A MISSION OF DIVINE . "Anointed to preach good tidings." Well might the human world have expected that a special messenger from heaven would come with ill tidings on his lips; would come to announce wrath, penalty, destruction; would pass through town and village with such a "burden" as that of Jonah to the thousands of Nineveh (Jonah 3:4). But the coming of Christ was the advent of grace; he came to promise peace, to publish salvation. The thoughts and ways of the Supreme are not as ours; they are immeasurably magnanimous. IV. THAT THE OF CHRIST WAS AND . He came to effect something more and better than the overthrow of a tyrannical government and the establishment of an earthly kingdom, than the removal of abounding poverty and the supply of material prosperity, than the introduction of any visible and transient good. He came: 1. To confer spiritual freedom on those who were in bondage. "To proclaim liberty to the captives;" to open the prison-doors and emancipate human souls from the thraldom of sin, of vice, of error, of folly, and to lead them into the glorious liberty of the children of God—the liberty of truth and righteousness. 2. To convey comfort to the sorrowful. "To bind up the broken-hearted:" to comfort all that mourn. He came to furnish us with those facts and principles which can light up the dark shadows of deepest affliction with rays of peace and hope. (See next homily.) V. THAT EVEN THE LIGHT OF DIVINE CASTS A SHADOW OF . The day of deliverance to the righteous is a "day of vengeance" or retribution to the guilty. The brightest light of truth must fling the darkest shadow of responsibility and condemnation. The corner-stone of salvation to the penitent and believing must prove a stumbling-block to the impenitent and the unbelieving.—C. Christ our Comforter. We think of our Lord as of our Divine Friend; and there is no way in which any one can show himself so true a friend as in the time of trouble. Well says the old adage, "A friend in need is a friend indeed." I. OUR URGENT NEED OF HIS DIVINE SUCCOUR. "Them that mourn in Zion." In virtue of his relation to us as our Saviour, Jesus Christ delivers ,s from the power and bondage of sin, and so from the remorse which attends its presence and constitutes a principal part of its penalty. But there are other things from which he does not profess to save his people in this world; these are suffering and sorrow. His very best disciples may inherit a bodily constitution which has in it the seeds of feebleness and pain, and which may develop these evils in their acutest form; or they may be the victims of some terrible accident or of human cruelty; or they may be called on to pass through trying straits, or to bear hitter disappointment, or to endure grievous losses and long-continued loneliness. There is no mark on the lintel of their doors to tell the angel of sorrow to pass by. He enters every home; he has a message for every heart, and the children of the kingdom hear his voice, and feel the touch of his hand, even as do the citizens of the worldly kingdom. II. THE OF OUR SAVIOUR’S SUCCOUR. Christ saves us in suffering and sorrow, though he does not here deliver us from it. Such is the transforming power of his mighty touch, that he converts it into another thing; under his hand it changes its aspect and is something else; the disfiguring ashes become a diadem of beauty; instead of the signs of mourning there is seen the anointing with the oil of joy; divested of the spirit of heaviness, the soul is clothed in the blessed garment of praise. The power of the wonderful Worker (Isaiah 9:6) has transfigured everything—has turned the curse into a blessing. And how? 1. By a sense of his gracious presence. The sorrowing spirit rejoices to feel that its Lord is near—is nearer than closest relative, than dearest friend. 2. By a consciousness of his tender pity. The known and felt compassion, the assured sympathy of the Lord of love, fills the heart with peace. 3. By the direct, sustaining influences of his Holy Spirit. 4. By the assurance that he is seeking our highest good; that things are not happening by accident or mistake; that the gracious and wise Lord of all hearts and lives is working out an issue, dark and afar off, perhaps, but kind and good, righteous and beneficent; that he is planting and nourishing "trees of righteousness," and that these can only be grown with drenching rains and searching winds as well as with sweet sunshine and balmy airs. 5. By the promise of unshadowed blessedness a little further on.—C. Isaiah 61:6-9 Privilege, reputation, hope. We have here— I. AN OPEN to be eagerly employed. "Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord." Under the Law the priesthood was limited to one family of one tribe; the rest of the nation had rights and duties outside and inferior. There stand, indeed, the ancient words, "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests," but this promise finds no complete fulfilment in the history of Israel. It is realized only in the kingdom of Christ. Under him the whole community is a "holy priesthood," a "royal priesthood." Christ "has made us (all) kings and priests unto God." It is open to every one of us to draw nigh unto God in closest spiritual communion; to intercede with him in earnest, believing prayer; to present unto him "spiritual sacrifices" of obedience, of resignation, of consecration. The way is open now into the holiest of all, and they please God most who approach him most frequently, and offer to him most continually the sacrifice which comes from clean hands and a pure and loving heart. II. AN to be greatly coveted. "Men shall call you the Ministers [servants] of our God." What is it that we would have men say about us? By what do we most desire to be distinguished and remembered? By our bodily strength or muscular skill? By our intellectual powers? By our possessions? These things "profit a little;" they "have their reward" in momentary satisfaction, in pleasure that lives awhile and dies. But they are not significant of the best and worthiest, of that which endures amid the wreck and passage of the things which perish. The one reputation worth possessing is that of being a true "servant of God." It is worth while doing much and endeavouring much, if need be, that the thing which our contemporaries shall associate with our name, and by which those who survive us shall distinguish us from others, is our faithful and devoted service of the Divine Master. So let us live that the first thought which will arise in men’s minds concerning us is that we are servants of our God. III. AN HOPE to be devoutly cherished. "All that see them [their offspring] shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." What are our deepest solicitudes concerning our children? That they will rise, will be enriched, will be honoured of men? These might prove curses rather than blessings. The wise parent will hope, will live and strive, will pray that his children may be such in spirit, in character, in behaviour, that all who see them will feel about them that the blessing of God is in their heart and upon their head.—C. Wise exultation. I. OUR OF . Our human spirit is capable of great emotion. Our feeling may sink to great depths of sorrow, or may rise to great heights of joy. We have no language which will express the degrees of spiritual distress and agony which are possible to the stricken and despairing, or which will measure the degrees of joy and ecstasy possible to the blessed and the victorious. II. OUR in this matter. The warning of the prophet of the Lord (Jeremiah 9:24) proves that in other lands and other times than ours the wise (learned) man has been tempted to glory in his wisdom, the rich man in his wealth, the mighty man in his power and prowess. But such glorification is our weakness and our folly; it is not built on truth; it conducts to complacency; it ends in disappointment, if not in shame. III. OUR WISDOM. This is to rejoice in God, to ’;glory in this, that we understand and know him," and are ranked among his people. We cannot go too far in our delight in him. 1. His character provides a source of spiritual satisfaction absolutely inexhaustible. We say everything in one word as to his sufficiency when we say that he is "our God." 2. He has done greatest things for us. He has (1) wrought for us the greatest of all deliverances—salvation; and (2) bestowed on us the greatest of all blessings—righteousness, inward and spiritual rectitude. 3. He stands pledged to accomplish that in which we shall greatly triumph (Isaiah 61:11). As the well-cultivated garden has in it living forces which will show themselves in fairest flowers and richest fruits, so has the Lord our God in himself all the wisdom, grace, and power which will be manifest in righteousness and praise, springing forth in the sight of all the nations.—C. BY R. TUCK Messiah’s mission, to the troubled. Those more especially addressed by Messiah are called the "meek," the "broken-hearted," the "captives," and the "bound." It at once comes to mind that precisely such persons were addressed in the sermon on the mount: and it may be remarked, as distinguishing Christ from all ordinary human teachers, who have their own personal gain and success to consider, that he never sought out the great, the rich, or the learned, but gave his best to the heart-sore, the body-smitten, and the life-humbled. Our Lord makes a very striking reference to this passage in his sermon at Nazareth (Luke 4:18). Before entering on the proper subject of this homily, it may be well to note that the only credentials which our Lord cared to present were the manifest signs and proofs that the Spirit of God was upon him. And what better credentials would any true-hearted man wish to offer.’? Material figures of moral conditions may be found in the depressed, afflicted, almost despairing state of the captives in Babylon. I. MESSIAH’S MISSION TO THE MEEK. This term is used in several senses in Scripture. Sometimes it stands for the humble, who think lowly things concerning themselves. Sometimes it stands for the disinterested, who are willing to give up their own things for the sake of others. Here it stands for crushed and hopeless ones, who have lost all spirit, and think there is no light, no cheer, in this life for them. The battle with sin sometimes leaves men hard, and then it is of little use to bring "good tidings." But sometimes it makes men meek, sort, impressible, and to them Messiah comes with "good tidings:" for them is born a Saviour. II. MESSIAH’S MISSION TO THE BROKEN-HEARTED. This term best expresses the state of conviction and penitence. It is the sign of that supreme grief which a man knows when he sees himself as he is, and as God regards him. To such a man Messiah comes with the message of a free and full forgiveness, which is a binding up, a healing; the joy of acceptance and welcome of love. III. MESSIAH’S MISSION TO THE . Those between whose circumstances and whose souls there is constant conflict. Sin gets power to enslave through the body. "Whoso committeth sin is the slave of’ sin." Messiah comes to energize souls for victory over enslaving bodies and enslaving circumstances. Giving life to souls, he gives liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." IV. MESSIAH’S MISSION TO THE BOUND. The moral suggestion is of those who are mastered by old evil habits, easily besetting sins. These become the distress of souls that have been forgiven and accepted. And Messiah comes to give "more grace," so that they may "resist unto blood, striving against sin." So Messiah meets all our gravest human troubles. He is Burden-bearer and Burden-lifter.—R.T. The year of acceptance and the day of vengeance. Very striking is the frequency with which this, and other prophets, set together the two sides of Messiah’s work. Deliverance of those who trust him goes together with judgment on those who reject him. In a most impressive way the Old Testament canon closes with this dual aspect of Divine dealings, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble But unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings" (Malachi 4:1, Malachi 4:2). And the New Testament opens with the prophetic exclamation of Simeon, as he held the infant Saviour in his arms, "This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." Some make a distinction between the long year of acceptance and the short day of vengeance. No doubt the first reference of the text is to the Divine indignation against those faithless or selfish Jews who would not respond to the Lord’s call to return to their ancient land. So it may stand for the Divine indignation against those who are "condemned already, because they have not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God." This subject is so frequently and variously treated, that we here confine ourselves to two points. I. FOLLOWS . Messiah proclaims acceptance because he brings forgiveness. It is of the utmost importance that there should be no uncertain sound as to the necessity for "forgiveness." Vague sentiments prevail concerning the Divine acceptance; and there is a notion that all we can need is a sort of educating into goodness. Man, every man, needs to be forgiven. No man can be accepted until he is forgiven. This may lead to a full consideration of that work of Messiah which bears on the ensuring of forgiveness. It is a mediatorial work, which has relations of propitiation towards God and relations of conviction towards man. The acceptancetime is proclaimed to guilty rebels who lay down their arms and ask for mercy. II. FOLLOWS THE THAT WILL NOT SEEK . That is the "day of vengeance of our God." If put into a word, that word may be this—they are left to their fate. If put into a figure, it may be this—they are outside the lighted halls, in the "outer darkness." If fashioned in human images, the offended king must put to death those who rebelliously refuse to touch his offered golden sceptre. There is a mystery of profound and awful meaning in the expression, "the wrath of the Lamb."—R.T. God glorified in the joyous and the beautiful. "A garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness … that he might be glorified." The figures used arc drawn from Eastern customs and sentiments. The afflicted clothe themselves in sackcloth, sit in ashes, and throw dust on their heads. In gladness and feast-time men crown themselves with garlands or wreaths. In sickness men do not use oil at toilet; when restored to health they resume the oil which "makes the face to shine." Festal days call forth bright-coloured garments; troublous seasons find men crouched on the ground heedless of the robes that cover them. But God is not honoured with ashes; he wants garlands. Nor is he honoured with neglected toilets; he wants the oil of joy. He asks for songs by the way from all who are journeying to Zion. His call ever is, "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." I. GOD’S MESSIAH FINDS MEN SAD. And they had abundant reason for being sad. Illustrate from the state of the Jewish nation when deliverance from captivity came; also from the state of the world when Jesus the Saviour came. "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Dr. Kane and His shipwrecked crew might well be sad when, in the polar regions, they never saw the sun for one hundred and forty long and weary days. Those out of Christ have good reason to be sad. It is even a hopeful sign that they are. Philosophers and scientific teachers who do not "like to retain God in their thoughts" are always sad—affectingly, impressively sad. The saddest hook ever written is John Stuart Mill’s autobiography. II. GOD’S MESSIAH MAKES MEN GLAD. Jesus Christ cannot do with people who, in moral senses, stay in the ashes, neglect their toilet, and keep up miserable groans. He wants to get a song into men’s set, is—even praise unto a redeeming God—which shall compel them to put garlands and festal garments on, and make their faces shine. We cannot keep Jesus and sadness both with us, any more than the world can keep both sunshine and mists. This homily should be used for pleading against a long-faced, dreary religion, and in behalf of the smiles and song that should characterize all who know the grace in Christ Jesus unto life eternal. "I came to Jesus as I was, Weary, and worn, and sad; I found in him a Resting-place, And he has made me glad." R.T. The world’s priests and preachers. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 62:1-12 FURTHER MADE TO ISRAEL BY "THE SERVANT." Some regard the speaker in this chapter as Jehovah; some as the prophet, or the prophetical order; some as "the Servant." The last supposition appears to us the simplest and the best. The close connection with the preceding chapter is evident. If that then be, in the main, "a soliloquy of the Servant," this should he a continuation of the soliloquy. Israel is promised "righteousness," "glory," "a new name," a guard of angels, a time of peace and prosperity, deliverance from Babylon, and triumphant establishment in Zion under God’s protection. Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace. In the past God has kept silence (Isaiah 42:14; Isaiah 57:11). "The Servant" has not caused his voice to be heard. Babylon has been allowed to continue her oppression unchecked. But now there will be a change. God will lift up his voice, and the nations will hear; and the "salvation" of Israel will be effected speedily. For Jerusalem’s sake. "Zion" and "Jerusalem" are used throughout as synonyms (Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 4:3, Isaiah 4:4; Isaiah 31:4, Isaiah 31:5, and Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 41:27; Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 64:10, etc.), like "Israel" and Jacob." Strictly speaking, "Zion" is the mountain, "Jerusalem" the city built upon it. Until the righteousness thereof go forth (comp. Isaiah 54:17; Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 61:11). As brightness; or, as the dawn (comp Isaiah 60:3; Proverbs 4:18; Daniel 6:19). Salvation … as a lamp that burneth; rather, as a torch that blazeth (comp. Judges 15:4; Nahum 2:1-13:14; Zechariah 12:6). Israel’s "salvation’’ would be made manifest; primarily by her triumphant return from Babylon, and more completely by her position in the final kingdom of the Redeemer. Isaiah 62:2 The Gentiles shall see, etc. A continuation of the account of Israel’s final glory, as given in Isaiah 61:6-9. What the Gentiles are especially to see and admire is Israel’s righteousness. This may point to those acknowledgments of the purity and excellence of the early Church which were made by the heathen (Plin; ’Epist.,’ 10.97), and which culminated in the saying, "See how these Christians love one another!" The sceptic Gibbon acknowledges, among the causes of the success of Christianity, "the virtues of the early Christians." All kings (comp. Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 60:3; Psalms 50:22:11). Thou shalt be called by a new name (comp. Isaiah 61:4 and 12; and see also Isaiah 65:15). It is not altogether clear what the "new name" is, since in the remainder of the present chapter more than one name is suggested. Rosenmuller supposes" Hephzibah" to be meant. Dr. Kay suggests "the holy people," and notes that the title of "holy ones," or "saints," is given by St. Paul to all Christians (Acts 26:10; Romans 1:7; Romans 16:15; 1 Corinthians 1:2, etc.). Mr. Cheyne thinks that it is some unknown title of honour, akin to that mentioned by Jeremiah "Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jeremiah 33:16). "New names" will be given to individual saints in the heavenly kingdom (Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:12). Isaiah 62:3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory, etc. God will exhibit Israel to an admiring world, as a man might exhibit a "crown" or "diadem" which he held in his hand. They will look on with admiration and reverence—"for they shall perceive that it is his work" (Psalms 64:9). Isaiah 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken. Judah had believed herself" forsaken" of God (Isaiah 49:14), and had actually been, in a certain sense, forsaken "for a small moment" (Isaiah 54:7). Her enemies, it would seem, had gone so far as to give her the name in derision. Neither shall thy land … be termed Desolate. Judaea had not only been desolated by the Babylonian invaders under Nebucbarlnezzar, but had remained "desolate" during the whole period of the Captivity (Isaiah 32:13, Isaiah 32:14; Isaiah 49:19, etc.). It had come to be spoken of as Sh’marnah, "a desolation" (see Jeremiah 34:22; Jeremiah 44:2, Jeremiah 44:6; Ezekiel 33:29; Ezekiel 36:34). Now all should be altered. As Ezekiel prophesied, "The land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited" (Ezekiel 36:35). Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah; i.e. "my delight is in her." Hephzi-bah was the name of Hezekiah’s queen, Manasseh’s mother (2 Kings 21:1). And thy land Beulah. Beulah, or rather Be’ulah, means "married" (comp. Isaiah 54:1). Judaea would be "married" to her sons, or her people, when they quitted Babylon and once more took possession of her. The Hebrew verb toe "to marry" means literally "to be lord over." Isaiah 62:5 As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride. There is a double employment of the analogy with marriage here. The land, Judaea, personified as a female, is married to her sons, or her people, regarded (in this connection) as a male. The people, regarded as a female ("the virgin daughter of Zion," Isaiah 37:22) is also married to Jehovah, and recognizes him as her Bridegroom (Comp. Isaiah 54:5). As Bridegroom, God calls his bride "Hephzi-bah"—"my delight is in her." Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls. "The Servant" has appointed watchers upon the walls of Zion—either "prophets" (Delitzsch), or "priests and prophets" (Kay), or, more probably, "angelic beings" (Cheyne), who keep perpetual watch and ward (Comp. Isaiah 52:8). Neither day nor night do they hold their peace, or keep silence, but ever intercede with God for his people, like the "angel of Jehovah" in Zechariah 1:12, reminding him of his covenant with them, and his promises to them, and exhorting him to "awake, awake" for his own honour’s sake (Isaiah 51:9-11). It is generally allowed that the "watchers" in Daniel 4:13, Daniel 4:17, Daniel 4:23 are angels; and the same interpretation best suits the "watchmen" of the present passage. Ye that make mention of the Lord; rather, as in the margin, ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers; i.e. "ye whose business it is to call to God’s remembrance the needs and claims of his people, and the obligations of his covenant promises." Isaiah 62:7 Give him no rest. Compare the teaching of our Lord with respect to the efficacy of importunity (Luke 11:5-8; Luke 18:1-8). Isaiah 62:8 The Lord hath sworn. In answer to the representations of the "remembrancers," God solemnly binds himself by an oath to come to the relief of the people, to restore them to their own land, and to give them the enjoyment of its fruits in peace. By his right hand. God commonly swears "by himself" (Genesis 22:16; Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 51:14; Amos 6:5), or "by his holiness" (Psalms 89:35; Amos 4:2). Once he swears "by his great Name" (Jeremiah 44:26), and once "by the excellency of Jacob" (Amos 8:7). There is no other place in Scripture where he swears "by his right hand and arm"—emblems of his power to act. Thy corn … thy wine; i.e. the fruits of thy land. Hitherto, even when Israel was in possession of Palestine, its fruits were constantly destroyed, or carried off, by the raids of hostile neighbours. Henceforth this plundering should cease. Isaiah 62:9 Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. This is not to be understood literally, at any rate, of the whole produce of the laud. What is meant is, that the produce will be consecrated by such festal means as the Law enjoined (Deuteronomy 14:22-27), and that then the remainder will be consumed with due thanks and acknowledgments. Isaiah 62:10 Go through, go through the gates. The speaker returns to the period of the exile, and exhorts the people to pass forth from Babylon, and speed on their way homewards (comp. Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 52:11). Some of them are to clear away obstacles, others are to bring materials and construct a highway along which the stream of emigrants may march (comp. Isaiah 57:14), while a third body removes such stones as might cause stumbling, and a fourth lifts up a standard to direct the march. Isaiah 62:11 Meanwhile Jehovah, by his angels or his prophets, causes it to be made known to the ends of the earth that the redemption of Israel draws nigh, and that Zion’s" salvation" approaches. His reward is with him, etc. The words are repeated from Isaiah 40:10. Here they are certainly said of Israel. They go forth from Babylon, having their reward with them—i.e. liberty, honour, riches to some extent (Ezra 1:4-11), and their work, or rather their recompense—the possession of Palestine—before them. Isaiah 62:12 They shall call them; or, men shall call them, equivalent to "they shall be called." The holy people. The Persians in some degree recognized this character in the Israelites (Ezra 1:2, Ezra 1:3; Ezra 6:8-12: Ezra 7:12-26). So did Alexander, according to Josephus. The Romans, on the contrary, regarded them as the votaries of a degrading superstition. Since the Roman conquest, they have been almost universally despised. Perhaps the prophecy may be considered to still await its complete fulfilment. Thou shalt be called. "Thou" refers to Zion or Jerusalem. She should be called Sought out—i.e. a special object of God’s care—and A city not for-saken—the very opposite of her former name (verse 4), which was "Forsaken." All the conditions of her former existence would be altered, nay, reversed, in the future. Isaiah 62:2, Isaiah 62:4, Isaiah 62:12 The teaching of Scripture with respect to names. Names are not spoken of in the Scriptures as unimportant, but as of a very high importance. I. A SPECIAL VALUE IS SET ON THE NAMES OF GOD. The names of God are significant, and set forth his nature. "El" is "the Great;" "Shaddai," "the Strong;" "Jehovah," "the Alone-existent." God selected this last name as that by which he would be especially known to the Jews (Exodus 3:14), and it became a sort of proper name with them and their neighbours. It was this name which was not to be taken in vain (Exodus 20:7). It came to be regarded as so holy that the Jews would not venture to pronounce it, but substituted the word "Adonai," or "Lord," whenever they read the Scriptures aloud. God himself is, in fact, in all his names; and nearly the same reverence is due to them which is due to him. Christians are baptized into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). The Name of the God of Jacob defends them (Psalms 25:1). The Father keeps them through his Name (John 17:11). They give thanks to his Name (Hebrews 13:15), fear and glorify his Name (Revelation 15:4), confess and sing praise unto it (Romans 15:9). Christ’s Name, through faith in his Name, makes them strong, yea, gives them perfect soundness in the presence of all (Acts 3:16). II. A CERTAIN VALUE IS SET ON MEN’S NAMES. God assigns men names (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:3; Hosea 1:4, Hosea 1:6, Hosea 1:9; Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:13, etc.); alters or modifies their names (Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:15; Genesis 32:28; 2 Samuel 12:25, etc.); explains the mystical meaning of their names (Matthew 16:18); gives them wholly new names (Revelation 3:12). The sacred writers also sometimes alter men’s names in contempt, or as a punishment. Thus Esh-Baal, "man of Paul," becomes Ish-Bosheth, "man of shame;" Merib-Baal becomes Mephi-Bosheth, and the like. The true name of Hezekiah’s father seems to have been Jehoahaz, "possession of Jehovah"; but the sacred writers, offended with him on account of his idolatries, would only call him Ahaz, "possession." Conquering kings sometimes required names of subject kings to be changed, apparently as a mark of submission and subserviency. Thus the name of Eliakim was turned to Jehoiakim by Pharaoh-Necho (2 Kings 23:34), and the name of Mattaniah to Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:17). Altogether, human names are recognized as having an importance which profane writers are rarely found to attach to them. III. A CERTAIN VALUE IS SET ALSO ON THE NAMES OF PLACES. Importance is attached to the significance of place-names, and a meaning is found for them not always in accordance with their real etymologies. Babel (Babylon)was no doubt intended by the Babylonians to mean "the gate of God;" but the sacred writers saw in the name a derivation from balal, "to confound" (Genesis 11:9). When places ceased to correspond to their names, the sacred writers freely altered the names, to suit the circumstances. Thus the Bethel of the patriarchs becomes the Beth-avert of Hosea (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5), Jeroboam’s idolatries having turned "the house of God" into "the house of nothingness.’’ In the present chapter Jerusalem is supposed to have become "Azubah" on her destruction by the Babylonians, and to be about to be called "Hephzi-bah" on her restoration by the returned exiles. Another name given to her by Isaiah is "Ariel" (Isaiah 29:1). Each name expresses some phase in her history or feature of her character. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 62:1-9 Promises of future glory. Let us assume that Jehovah is the Speaker, and that he utters this oracle in a time of darkness and despondency. What is expressed is the intense passion, if we may so say, of God for the realization of his ideas in the world. The prophet fears not to use the boldest anthropomorphic imagery in setting forth this view of God. I. THE DESIRES AND OF THE ETERNAL. He will not be silent nor will he rest. In dark times it seems that God is refraining himself, putting a restraint upon his lips, holding his peace, etc. Four times in the latter portion of Isaiah that thought occurs (Isaiah 42:14; Isaiah 57:11; Isaiah 64:12; Isaiah 65:6). When impiety and oppression are rampant, the wicked exclaim, "How doth God know?" and the righteous, "Why is he silent?" And yet there should befears and scruples on both sides. Silence and reserve need not mean indifference. Nor would the voice of the Eternal be so impressive were it not for the long spaces of silence that lie between. Sooner or later he will uprouse himself, and his mighty voice will go forth, and there will be a turn in affairs. II. THE IDEAL ON WHICH HE HAS SET HIS HEART. It is the glory of the ideal Jerusalem, the spiritual city of God, or his Church. 1. The glory of righteousness and salvation. The two terms seem here nearly to denote the same thing. Negatively, freedom from all external calamity and from all internal impurity; positively, attainment of all prosperity and all moral rectitude. This is to be an all-pervading brilliance, or a torch carried far from hand to hand. 2. The beauty of holiness. "Crown of adorning in Jehovah’s hand," or "diadem of royalty," shall she be. All the associations of forsakenness, desolation, and widowhood shall pass away, and be replaced by those of nuptial beauty and joy. Her name shall be exchanged for a new one, i.e. her afflicted for a glorious condition. III. THE ANGELIC . Angelic watchers are on the walls of the city, incessantly engaged in intercession. The idea of them is that of mediatorial beings. Here they intercede with Jehovah that he will raise the city (or Church) to her proper renown among the nations of the earth. And an answer to the prayer seems indicated, when Jehovah swears that the harvest and the vintage shall no more be pillaged by her foes.—J. Isaiah 62:10-12 The homeward call. "The prophet returns to the exiles in Babylon, and urges them not to delay their homeward march." It is the same call which resounded in the two former divisions of the prophecy (Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 52:11). I. THE WAY CLEARED. The gates of Babylon are to be thrown open. Invisible servants of Jehovah are to prepare the way (Isaiah 40:3; Isaiah 57:14). A great highway (as in Isaiah 11:16) is seen stretching homeward, from which the party of pioneers is removing obstructions; and on high there floats a banner over the escort of Gentile people (Isaiah 44:22; Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12). II. THE . The news of the approaching salvation of Israel is to be published to the ends of the earth. Meanwhile Zion, by means of angelic or prophetic ministry, is to be informed of her coming deliverance. He who is Retributor and Compensator is at hand. III. THE OF ZION’S DESTINY. The people are to be known once more by that great appellation given them in the Law (Exodus 19:6), the holy people, partaking of the nature of the holy God—by him redeemed, by him sanctified—a title which passed over into Christian use. In contrast to her former isolation and neglectedness (Jeremiah 30:17), the city will be "sought out," the object of the nations’ love and care. In Christians as the elect, the beloved of God, in the Church as the "city set on a hill," or as a glorious and spotless bride, may be found the Christian fulfilment of these prophecies.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Fellowship with God. "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken." Mistaken we may be—our judgment is so weak, our hearts so worldly—but not forsaken. It is a beautiful word, and it is enough. God will not condescend to explain all his ways to men; but he is a Father, and the Father will never forsake his child. Isaiah is called the evangelical prophet, and he is so; he heralds the kingdom of Christ, describes the nature of the kingdom, under a King who shall reign in righteousness, and gives us the pathetic picture of his sorrows. In one word, as a prophet of the Redeemer, he describes the theophany, the appearance or manifestation of God himself; the great coming age of Immanuel, "God with us." Wars are prophesied of, even after the advent of Christ—tribulations and shaking of nations. Much has to be overturned; but amid all there is the pathway of the true King. Jesus comes, and comes to reign. Much is transient here. It is declared so to be. Man is said to be a pilgrim, and yet utters a cry of wonder that he cannot make earth a home. Riches are said to have wings, and then man is surprised that they flee away. Life is said to be like the grass, and then man is staggered that it is cut down. Friends turn false or fickle, and then man is surprised that evil hearts act in evil ways. Nature has her seasons, and then man marvels at the analogue of life which has its night as well as its day. On the one hand man scoffs at and scorns the Bible, and on the other refuses to see how full of realism and truth all its moral revelations are. It is equally true on its restful side. It tells us that amidst all we have a Father in heaven, whose will is wise and just, whose heart is kind and true and good. It assures us in that coming of Christ, to which all the ages looked forward, that God "remembers us in our low estate, for his mercy eudureth for ever," and that, though often mistaken, we shall never be termed Forsaken. I. THIS IS A DIVINE REPLY. A reply to what? Why, to Zion’s utterance in Isaiah 49:14, "The Lord hath forsaken me." Not, mark you, that there have been no Divine footprints in the past, no Divine provision and protection in Zion’s yesterday; but now he hath forsaken us. Study life, especially what is called religious life, and you will find that this is always the foolish cry of the Church. It will live in the past. It will not believe that there are prophets and righteous men to-day. It will decorate the sepulchres of the fathers. It did so in Isaiah’s time; it does so now. It glorifies the days of Wickliffe and Luther, of Whitefield and Wesley, forgetful that God is the living God, and his voice is heard, his hand outstretched, his purpose working now. I know nothing in which the human mind is so fatally biased as in this backward looking and longing, whilst he is still nigh us in our breath and in our heart. Forsaken? No, there are prophets of truth still; heralds of mercy still; national seers still, who search the very heart of nations. Wherever the Spirit of Christ is, there he is. There are wars, vices, wrongs, still; but their time is not so easy as it was—not so easy, indeed, as in some past ages which we glorify. The Spirit of Christ is becoming more and more the test of good and evil, of wisdom and unwisdom, of the real and the false, of the righteous and unrighteous. There is a light shining to-day that no breakers can put out, no wild storms of passion extinguish. "The Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world" is here. Christ’s arm is not shortened; more worn and weary spirits lean on it than ever. Christ’s mercy is not exhausted; his forgiveness is still the good cheer of millions of hearts. His revelations of immortality have not faded through the lapse of years. He alone has given to the world its all-covering sky. We feel that whilst we still believe in him and cleave to him, the prophetic words are real and true, "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken." II. A DIVINE HARMONY. The words do not stand alone. They are not merely a beautiful text, or an isolated flower, or a separate jewel. We have to take the moral strain of a book to see into the mind and meaning of the plan. We do not interpret Mendelssohn or Mozart by separate passages, neither should we so treat Isaiah. He is evidently the prophet of a golden age, no matter whether there are ten hands visible in the work or one. We test truth by its voice, not by its mere speaker. All prophets were not to be listened to and obeyed simply because they were prophets. "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers … Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:14, Jeremiah 23:16); and again, "Let not your prophets deceive you" (Jeremiah 29:8); and again, "Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies" (Ezekiel 13:9); "Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets O Israel, thy prophets are like foxes" (Ezekiel 13:3, Ezekiel 13:4). Yes; there was a moral test then; an instinct which revealed the true prophet, as it reveals the true Saviour. Our Lord rested all on this: "If ye were of the truth, ye would hear my voice:" "My sheep hear my voice." A remarkable instance of this moral test is given us in Ezekiel 13:22. The people were to set their faces against the prophets. Why? "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." That which was against righteousness and assisted evil was not to be believed. Why will men be so afraid of this test? Why do they seek to rest authority on the authors and writers of books, and not rest it, as God does, and ever did, and only could, on the truth itself? It was Isaiah’s way, it was our Lord’s way, it was St. Paul’s way. "Commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God." I thus come to my word "harmony." It is harmonious with all within us. Isaiah is a prophet of righteousness, of Divine forbearance, of Divine forgiveness, of Divine pity, of Divine ministry, of Divine sacrifice. If asked—Is this a God to be trusted, worshipped, loved? the whole inward being exclaims, "Amen, and amen." III. A DIVINE . It is really part of the "comfort ye" strain, as that reaches to the depths of our being. Not forsaken. The same Isaiah is here. We feel sin. Israel felt it. We cannot by any philosophy of heredity escape from the consciousness of personal guilt. Alone the flame burns. At night the thorn pierces through the pillow. Are we left to bear the great sorrow unpitied and unaided? Out of Zion the Deliverer shall come. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." We feel social evils; we are hurt by unrighteousness, galled and wounded by selfishness. Amid all, fierce wars seem again and again to stir the mad passions of humanity. What thought can light our gloom, can give strength to our hopes? Only this—"A King shall reign in righteousness." If there be no hope for the supremacy of the Christ, all is lost, for beside him there is no Saviour. But are there not signs that a better spirit is abroad? I think so. Men are sighing for a Prince of peace, and with the sigh there is a sob too, "O Lord, how long?" We feel our own solitude. We seem to be forsaken. Change comes. Fortune is turned to misfortune, health to sickness. But there are restful hours in all Christian hearts. Say what men’ will of the mysteries, let them ponder the facts; there is a touch of Christ, there is a tender sense of an encircling arm, there is a consciousness of the good Shepherd’s care and love. We want to bring home the music of this promise to weary hearts. If we want to exercise more influence than philosophers and moralists, we must have a better message. When Ulysses passed by the island of the syrens, the classic story tells us that, to save himself from their snares, he bound himself with mighty thongs to the masts, and secured his sailors’ safety by filling their ears with wax, that they might not be bewitched. But when the sweet singer, when Orpheus, voyaged by the same syren island, he bound himself to no mast. He started a sweeter, nobler music than the syrens could ever reach, and so sailed by in triumph. If we are to win men and keep men—men who have been charmed with the syren voices of the world all the week—our melody must be one that comes down from heaven; the music of forgiveness and mercy, of grace and help, of God’s love, and God’s care, and God’s everlasting throne. We are in him that is true, in him of whom all prophecy is full, who was the Spirit of it all. In life with all its mysteries, and in death with all its leave-takings. We shall never be termed "Forsaken."—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 62:1-7 From night to noon. The passage rather implies than states a very sad condition in which Israel is found, and it suggests to us, as a starting-point— I. DARK DAYS THROUGH WHICH A CHURCH MAY PASS, The evils and miseries which may then be endured may include, as with Israel at the time of this prophecy: 1. Reduced numbers, causing weakness and humiliation, perhaps approaching extinction. 2. Submission to some kind of bondage; either to the tyranny of some spiritual delusion, or to the despotism of some other master than the Lord of love and righteousness. 3. The actual withdrawal of Christ; a condition in which it is rightly called "the Forsaken," for "he does not many mighty works because of unbelief." He does not dwell there, but passes by; he does not manifest his presence and his power in regenerating, or renewing, or sustaining grace. 4. The appearance of utter forgetfulness on the part of its Divine Head. There is such an absence of all fruitfulness, all usefulness, all moral and spiritual beauty, that its most appropriate name is "The Desolate One." II. THE DUTY OF ITS and its best friends in these dark days (Isaiah 62:1-6). 1. Pleading with God for his people. For Zion’s sake not holding peace, for Jerusalem’s sake not resting, but continually and earnestly interceding with God that he will pity, will interpose, will restore. 2. Pleading with his people in God’s name. The function of the prophet was to speak for God, and especially when his truth was forgotten and his will neglected. The duty and privilege of the minister of Christ is to declare with all fearlessness and fidelity, and with all needful reiteration, the truth which has been forgotten, the commandment which is being disregarded. This duty is shared by any others, particularly by any other officers, to whom the Spirit of God may reveal his will. III. THE FUTURE WHICH IT IS IN THE POWER AND IN THE HEART OF GOD TO CONFER. 1. Deliverance from these distressing evils. There shall be "salvation" (Isaiah 62:1). The bonds shall be broken, the delusions dispelled, the assumption of power removed, the "evil thing in the midst" which prevented the indwelling of Christ shall be cast out. 2. Manifestation of the Master’s favour. Its "righteousness" in his sight shall "go forth as brightness:" there shall be such tokens of Divine favour that all who dwell around and observe shall "see its righteousness" asserted and behold its "glory" (Isaiah 62:2). 3. The possession of its Lord’s regard. Its new name, "Hephzi-bah," shall indicate that its Lord delights in it, looks upon it with a glad approval, holds it in his right hand (Revelation 2:1) as a man holds a crown or diadem, as something of rare value, of great price in his esteem (Isaiah 62:3). 4. The outpouring of its Lord’s affection. Its new name is also to be "Beulah:" for it is to be dear to his heart as is the bride to the bridegroom, the object of his fervent love. We may be so conscious of our shortcomings and of our departures from God’s will that we may fail to realize the fulness of our privilege. But it is our sacred duty to be dissatisfied with ourselves, as portions of the Church of Christ, until we are such as he can regard with Divine love and affection, such as he can prize as very precious crowns or diadems. If this seems impossible as things are, it behoves us to humble ourselves before him, to plead with him in penitent prayer, to rededicate ourselves to his service, until the hour comes when not only will the darkness have given way to dawn, but the dawn to noontide brightness.—C. Isaiah 62:8, Isaiah 62:9 The value of security, etc. The principal lesson here is the inestimable advantage of national independence and consequent individual security. But other lessons also stand out from the passage, viz.— I. THE REALITY OF . It is very clearly implied that Israel had suffered grievously in the past as a nation, because of God’s wrath. She had sinned and had been condemned, and she had paid the penalty of suffering from a cruel and rapacious invasion; so that her citizens ate not of the corn they had sown, and drank not of the wine they had planted. God makes nations as well as individuals to pay due penalty for their transgressions. Hence we have— II. THE which this fact entails. It is impossible for any man to sever himself from the community of which he is a member; he is not at liberty to leave the national course, to be decided by other men, while he gives himself up to more congenial labours. No man can divest himself of his responsibilities as a citizen of his country; every man is bound to exert his influence on behalf of liberty, righteousness, peace, virtue, godliness. III. THE VALUE OF . If it be uncertain whether men will reap what they sow, if it is probable that strangers will partake of the fruit of men’s toil, there will be a constantly and powerfully disturbing force at work. But security will promote: 1. Order and good government. 2. Industry—occupation, enterprise, the useful arts. 3. Benevolence—the origination and growth of philanthropic institutions. 4. Piety—the erection of sacred structures and the establishment of religious organizations. 1. Let the prosperity which is the fruit of security be consecrated by gratitude and benevolence. "Eat and praise the Lord," bring the wine "into the courts or his holiness." Beware of a selfish and complacent spirit (see Deuteronomy 6:12), and cultivate carefully and devoutly a spirit of gratitude toward God and kindness toward man. 2. Appreciate at its full worth and give God thanks for the national security which is enjoyed. It is not one of the smaller mercies we have received at his hand that we have no fear of being displaced by any "stranger," that we are so secure of the fruits of our toil. This sense of safety and stability has contributed largely to the resources at our command, and is adding incalculably to the best movements and measures of our time. 3. Rejoice in and bless God for the fact that even though we may not reap all that we sow here, there is a future in which the workman shall be amply and gloriously rewarded (Psalms 126:6; 1 Corinthians 15:58).—C. God’s summons to the enslaved. Taking the language of the tenth verse as an energetic address to the captive people of God to "go through" the gates of Babylon, and make their way with all diligence to Zion, the home of freedom and sacred joy, we have— I. A DIVINE SUMMONS TO THE . To the individual soul, that has been brought into some spiritual bondage, perhaps under the tyranny of some enslaving habit; to the Christian Church, which has allowed itself to become subject to some outside power other than that of its Divine Lord; to the betrayed and subjected nation, which has enjoyed and is capable of an independent government,—comes the summons from above; "Call forth all thy powers, leave no means untried, prepare the way, make a supreme and sacrificial effort to break the bonds, to walk in the way, to reach the goal of a true and lasting liberty." II. THE REWARD OF . "His reward is with him," etc. The first recompense is found in: 1. A blessed sense of deliverance from bondage. The man, or the Church, rejoices greatly that he is one of the "redeemed of the Lord." The fact that God has struck off his shackles and made him breathe the sweet air of freedom, the consciousness that iniquity "has no dominion over him," is the greatest and happiest of all facts to him. Life holds no heritage which is equal to the "salvation" which has come to his heart, to his life. 2. A restored reputation. He did belong to the unholy, the guilty, perhaps to the vicious or to the violent; now he is one of "the holy people" whom all men honour. This conducts to: 3. Communion and friendship with the best and worthiest; with the Highest himself, and with the wise and good among men; he is among those who are "sought out," "not forsaken." Other rewards accompany obedience, not here stated or hinted. We may suggest: 4. Capacity for usefulness to others, occupying a position in which he (or it, the Church) may lead other enslaved ones into spiritual freedom (Psalms 51:12, Psalms 51:13; John 21:15; Acts 26:18; James 5:19, James 5:20). 5. A good hope of an inheritance where perfect freedom dwells.—C. BY R. TUCK Godly desires for the Church. The Jews were remarkably attached to localities. They cherished the national associations with such places as Bethel, the Red Sea, the Jordan, etc.; but they loved most intensely Jerusalem and Mount Zion. To the better Jews localities were only shrines of spiritual truths. Bethel meant "God near:" the Red Sea meant "God redeeming:" Jordan meant "God faithful to his word." Those Jews saw the spiritual through the local; we are expected to see the spiritual without the help of the local. I. THE FERVENT DESIRES OF A GODLY SOUL. To see Zion—the type of Christ’s Church—delivered and established in righteousness. 1. Delivered from (1) its weaknesses, in motive, aim, and work; (2) its hindrances, in body, business, and relationships; (3) its prejudices, both individual and sectarian. The Church in the world is like a lamp burning dimly in impure air. 2. Established in righteousness. (1) The internal character of a Church is the subject of greater anxiety than its outward condition. The King’s daughter must be "all glorious within." (2) The internal character of a church is only preserved as it has a capacity for growing. The figure in the text is of a "brightness," not a mere flash, but brightness brightening, or going forth. II. THE VARIETY OF MOTIVES THAT THE DESIRES. 1. Our consecration vow. We gave ourselves first to Christ, and then to his Church. 2. The emotions of the Christian life. These inspire us to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." 3. Love to Christ. This, John tells us, is sure to find expression in love for the brethren. III. THE ONE SUPREME MOTIVE IN THE TEXT, The real welfare of the Church itself. "For Zion’s sake." We ought to feel the utmost anxiety that (1) the joy of the Church should be increased; (2) the beauty and Christ-likeness of the Church should be perfected; (3) the efficiency and power of the Church should lye enlarged. Its righteousness—which is its true strength—should shine more and more unto the perfect day. IV. THE MAN WHO HAS GOOD DESIRES WELL NOT HIS EFFORTS. "I will not hold my peace," etc. The real greatness of prayer is only knows to the man who works, and the greatness of work only to him who prays.—R.T. The Lord’s new name for his people. "And men shall call thee by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall appoint" (compare, for the promise of a new name, Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:12). Abram, brought into covenant with God, receives a new name—Abraham. Jacob finds his triumph seal his acceptance with God, and he is henceforth known by a new name—Israel. What the name is to be God only knows, but it will recognize the fact that the people had been faithful, and were rewarded for their faithfulness. A singular sentiment prevailed among the Jews in connection with this new naming. The possession of a new name came to be regarded among the pious as a demonstration that all sins committed under the old name were forgiven, and all decrees annulled which were issued against the sinner while possessed of his former appellation. Accordingly, at the approach of death, the Jews were wont to change the name of the dying person, and the reason of this custom will be perceived from the following prayer offered for the dying, to whom the new name has been given: "O God, take pity on A (his former name), and restore him to health, and let him henceforth be called B (the new name); and let him be glad in his new name, and let it be confirmed to him. Be pleased, we entreat thee, O God, that this change of name may abolish all the hard and evil decrees against him, and destroy the broad sentence. If death be decreed upon A (the former name), it is not decreed upon B (the new name), if an evil decree was made against A, lo! this hour he is another man, a new creature, and like a child born to a good life and length of days." I. THE NEW SAME THE END OF THE OLD LIFE. Illustrate: 1. By the new name given in marriage, which closes up the old life in the father’s home. 2. By the new name given to those restored to Jerusalem, which intimated the close of the time of captivity in Babylon. 3. By the new name" Christian," which marks the end of the old heathen life, or pagan life. 4. By the new heavenly name (as in Revelation 2:17), which tells that the earth-conflict has ended in the victory of holiness. Apply to the Divine recognition of our final triumph over the old Adam, which is "corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." II. THE NEW NAME REMINDS MEN OF THE GRACE OF WHICH THEY ARE . It is very positively stated that God gives the name, to remind men of what he has done for them. The name "redeemed" keeps in mind the "Redeemer." The name "Christian" sets "Christ" ever before us. It is not our name for ourselves; it is God’s name for us, and so a constant reminder of what Almighty grace has done, and can do. III. THE NEW NAME THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW LIFE. The name "holy city" calls attention to the fact that the people should be all holy, as those who are fully consecrated unto God.—R.T. The Bunyan figure of the Beulah-land. Hephzi-bah was the wife of Hezekiah, and mother of Manasseh. Very uncertain tradition says she was a daughter of the Prophet Isaiah. The name means, "My delight is in her," and Dr. C. Geikie says, "Her name, whether given at her marriage or earlier, wakes a thought of old-world tenderness and poetry. Was it a fond reminiscence of one he had loved and respected, when Isaiah tells us that Jehovah will make Zion, after her long desolation, once more his Hephzi-bah?" The word "Beulah" means "married," and the figure rests upon the Eastern notion of the desolate condition of a maiden or a widow, and the happy satisfied state of the married woman, who has husband and home. A "married" land is one watched over, tended, cared for, and loved. Bunyan uses the name to represent the "waiting time" of old age, or of frailty, in which God’s people tarry awhile ere they pass over the river. If somewhat fanciful, his picture is both beautiful and suggestive. "Now I saw in my dream, that by this time the pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah; … whose air was very sweet and pleasant; the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds, and, saw every day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day: wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair; neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the city they were going to: also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the shining ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven. In this land also the contract between the Bride and the Bridegroom was renewed; yea, here ’as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so doth thy God rejoice over thee.’ Here they had no want of corn and wine; for in this place they met with abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimages." This passage is taken from the first part of the ’Pilgrim’s Progress,’ but a similar passage at the close of the second part should be examined. The following divisions may serve as guides in the spiritualizing of this Beulah-figure. I. BEULAH-LAND TIMES OF PEACE AFTER WITH SIN. Such times come in various parts of our life, and are times of refreshing. II. BEULAH-LAND TIMES OF COMFORT AND REST AFTER DIVINE . God is very tender over the healing of his smitten ones, and gives seasons when the very heavens drop balm. III. BEULAH-LAND TIMES OF WAITING WHEN EARTH’S TOIL IS ENDED. The beautiful time of holy old age, full of sweet memories and patient trust.—R.T. Isaiah 62:6, Isaiah 62:7 The work of the praying men amongst us. "Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchers; all day and all night they are never silent: ye that are Jehovah’s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give no rest to him, until he establish and until he make Jerusalem a renown in the earth" (Cheyne). If the watchers are men, the idea is that during all the years of Israel’s captivity, her watchmen, remembrancers, or praying men, are to keep at their work without ceasing, as it were, every day reminding God of his people and of his promise. The figure of the verse is taken from the temple-service, in which there was appointed a constant watch day and night by the Levites. The watches in the East, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time by the watchmen, both to mark the time and to show that they are constantly attentive to their duty. Possibly the first reference of the figure is to angel-guards appointed by Jehovah; but we may reasonably use the figure for the earth-messengers of Jehovah, the pious praying souls who are his intercessors among his people. As intercessors, these men— I. KEEP GOD OF HIS PEOPLE. It is a small objection, indicating very superficial thinking, that "God cannot need to be reminded of anything." The answer is easy. If God is pleased graciously to reveal himself in certain relations, he graciously condescends to accept all the conditions involved in those relations. Children tell their parents what the parents know, and both children and parents are blessed in the telling. The prayers preserved for us in the Bible are full of things which God must know. It might be a thought full of help and cheer to us all that while, busied with our earth-cares, we may be forgetting God, our pious brothers and sisters, our praying men and women, Zion’s watchmen, are keeping God reminded of us. The bells that sound for morning prayers throughout our land are a voice that God hears as truly as man. Praying men keep Zion’s walls ever before her King. II. KEEP GOD’S PEOPLE EVER OF THEIR GOD. Of this there is abundant necessity. Both prosperity and adversity tend to make us forgetful of our God. Even the steady ongoing, that has no ups and. downs, makes the thought of God fade in our minds. So we need the witness of our watchers, our praying men, and their muezzin, or call to prayer. Especially bring out that we need to be kept in mind of the Lord’s provisions and promises—the assurance of our full and final redemption. They who pray amongst us, "Thy kingdom come," keep us constantly reminded that there is a necessary preparation for all who are to share in the kingdom.—R.T. The mission of those who remove hindrances. The point of interest here is that, so far as Jehovah was concerned, all things were arranged for the return of the exiles, and the restoration of the long-depressed nation. But some men were hindering the return by their hesitancies and doubtings and selfishnesses. Therefore Jehovah pleads with all who trust his Word, urging them to clear the way of the people, and get these hindrances moved out of their path. There are always hinderers to every good work, and there is always the Lord’s call to us not to let these hinderers do their evil work. They take the heart out of all good schemes, and often do much worse mischief than the active opponents, because they me a foe within the city, and have deceptive ways which are seldom fully recognized. I. THE WORK OF THE . There is a good work done by the conservative-minded among us, which must not be confounded with the work of the hinderer. It is good to have a drag put on the wheels of impulsiveness. It is well to be compelled patiently to consider schemes which have been thoughtlessly and enthusiastically taken up. But the hinderer is not the man of prudence and caution, but the man of selfishness and doubt. Some men cannot see good in anything, even though to other men the thing may be rich in promise. Others delight in prophesying failure, and plucking the spirit out of enterprise. Others see that proposed schemes will make heavy demands on self-denial, and as they are not prepared for this, they put stones in the way. No good thing was ever started that did not rouse the hinderers. And no good thing was ever carried through that did not overbear and carry away, or brush aside, the hinderers. II. THE WORK. OF THOSE WHO REMOVE . They are either energetic men, who will not be repressed, or else men of faith in God, who make their loyalty master difficulties. Men of firmness and persistency are needed in every sphere of Christian enterprise; and it is all the better if they have some pleasantness and even humour, and can remove hindrances without offending hinderers. Men of faith are always needed, who, clearly seeing what God would have done, go steadily on towards its accomplishment, refusing to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left. If we cannot, or will not, help toward the on-coming of Christ’s kingdom, at least we can get out of the way of those who will work.—R.T. The nearness of the Lord’s coming used as a persuasion. The immediate reference here is to the Lord’s manifestation in the providences that led to the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. The Church has in every age had some great hope held out before it, and that hope could always be conceived of as a coming or manifestation of the Lord. Three "comings’ are commonly recognized. Our Lord’s coming in the flesh, as the Babe of Bethlehem, and the "Man Christ Jesus." Our Lord’s coming in the Spirit, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord’s coming in some manifestation of himself for the judgment of sinners and the glorifying of his saints. This is the special persuasion to holiness, activity, and. spiritual preparedness which now rests on Christ’s Church. I. THIS BELIEF THE SECOND COMING HAS ALWAYS BEEN HELD BY THE CHURCH; and the fact that some sections have held distorted and extravagant views of it must not be allowed to deprive us all of the inspiration that comes from so sober, yet so great and so glorious a hope. The belief was plainly held by the apostolic Church, and used by the early teachers as a persuasion to watchfulness, quietness of trust, and godly living. Bulwer Lytton is true to life when he describes Olynthus and a party of Christians singing amid the awful desolations of Pompeii, within hearing of the multitude that was rushing hither and thither for precious life—singing with the calm assurance that their Lord was now very near— ’’Woe to the proud ones who defy him, Woe to the wicked who deny him, Woe to the wicked, woe!" II. THE OF THE SECOND COMING HAS ALWAYS HAD ITS PLACE IN THE CHURCH’S CREED. In the Apostles’ Creed: "From thence he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead." In the Creed of St. Athanasius: "From whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works." III. THE OF THE SECOND COMING IS TAUGHT IN OUR HYMNS. The real faith and hope of the Church may be better shown by its favourite hymns even than by its formal creed. In every collection of hymns for Christian use some portion is devoted to the Lord’s second advent, and not a few of these hymns have become very sacred and dear to Christian hearts. A few may be recalled to mind— ’’Lo, he comes with clouds descending." "When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come." "Great God, what do I see and hear?" "The Lord shall come, the earth shall quake." Or that magnificent song of the ancient Church— "Day of Wrath! that awful day, Shall the bannered cross display, Earth in ashes melt away." IV. DEVOUT SOULS USE THIS HOPE IN URGING THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST ON . For instance, J. A. James says, "We are to be waiting for the Son of God from heaven, and to be looking for his coming as our blessed hope, above all other hopes. This waiting for Christ was in an eminent degree characteristic of the primitive Christians; it is frequently mentioned by the apostles, and seems to have been a prevailing feeling of the Churches. All earnest Christians now have the same spirit. The bride, the Lamb’s wife, is, and must be, supposed to be ever looking for the return of the heavenly Bridegroom. The want of tiffs habitual looking for the return of Christ indicates a low state of piety, a prevalence of worldly-mindedness among professing Christians." There is often much foolish talk about the "lost hope of the Church;" and it is strongly asserted that the Church generally is no longer looking for the coming of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. All that is true in connection with such statements is, that the great majority of Christian people fail to see that Scripture teaches the Lord’s coming in any prescribed mode and time and form. The Church has been content with the inspiration and persuasion of the great fact and the large hope. The universal Church keeps her eyes fixed on the east, watching for the first signs of the dawning of the day of God; but the Church also accepts her Lord’s declaration, that it is not for her "to know the times and the seasons."—R.T. SECTION IX.—THE OF GOD ON IDUMAEA (Isaiah 63:1-6). Isaiah 63:1-6 A ON IDUMAEA. Isaiah had already, in the first portion of his prophecy, announced" a great slaughter in the land of Idumaea" as resolved on in the counsels of God (Isaiah 34:5-10). He now recurs to the subject, and represents Jehovah ,as a warrior with blood-stained garments, fresh from the field of battle in Edom, where he has trodden down his foes and taken a fierce vengeance on them. The Idumaeans probably represent the world-power; and the "day of vengeance" may be one still future, in which the enemies of God will feel the weight of his hand. The description stands by itself, neither connected with what goes before nor with what follows. It has the appearance of a separate poem, which accident has placed in its present position. In form it is "a lyrico-dramatic dialogue between the prophet as a bystander and a victorious warrior (i.e. Jehovah) returning from battle in Idumaea" (Cheyne). Isaiah 63:1 Who is this? The prophet opens the dialogue with an inquiry, "Who is it that presents himself before him suddenly in a strange guise?" He comes from Edom, from Bozrah—a principal Edomite city (see the comment on Isaiah 34:6)—with dyed garments; or, rather, with blood-red garments—garments incarnadined with gore. "Who is this," again he asks, "that is glorious (or, splendid) in his apparel"—the blood-stained vesture of the conqueror was a glory to him (Nahum 2:3; Revelation 19:13)—"as he travels" in the greatness of his strength—exhibiting in his movements a mighty indomitable strength? Who is it? The reply is immediate—I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save; i.e. I, whose every word is "holy, just, and true," who alone am able to "save to the uttermost all that come to me" (Hebrews 7:25). The answer unmistakably indicates that the figure which has appeared to the prophet is that of Jehovah. Isaiah 63:2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel? The prophet resumes his questioning. What means the redness of thine apparel? Whence the stains? Are they wine-stains consequent on treading the winepress? Among the Hebrews, as among the Egyptians, the juice of the grape was trodden out by the feet of men, who often splashed some upon their garments (Genesis 49:11). Isaiah 63:3 I have trodden the wine-press. The warrior replies. He accepts the suggestion of the prophet; but metaphorically, not literally. He has indeed been "treading a wine-press," but it is the wine-press of his fury, in which he has trampled down his enemies; and the stains upon his raiment are, consequently, not wine-stains, but stains of blood (comp. Joe 3:13; Lamentations 1:15; Revelation 14:19, Revelation 14:20; Revelation 19:15). Alone. In mine own might, with none to aid me. The literal wine-press was always trodden by a band of men. Of the people; rather, of the peoples; i.e. of the neighbouring nations none took part with God against the special enemies of his people, the Idumaeans. All more or less sympathized with his adversaries, and therefore participated in their punishment (see Isaiah 63:6). For I will tread them … trample them; rather, so I trode them … trampled them (Lowth, Rosenmuller, Delitzsch, Cheyne, by an alteration of the vowel-points). The whole is a prophecy of the future; but the dramatic form of the narrative requires that the verbs should be in the past. As "the peoples" would not help God, but took the side of his enemies, they too were placed in the winepress, and crushed under his feet. Their blood; literally, their juice. Lowth and Kay translate, "life-blood;" Delitzsch, "life-sap;" Mr. Cheyne, excellently, "life-stream." Shall be sprinkled … will stain; rather, was sprinkled … stained. Isaiah 63:4 For the day of vengeance is in my heart. Translate, for a day of vengeance was in my heart (comp Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 61:2). "A day" is time enough for God to take vengeance, to kill, and to destroy. He hastens over work that is necessary, but uncongenial. But he lengthens out the time of release and redemption for his loved ones. The "day of vengeance" ushers in the "year of redemption." Is come; rather, was come. The Divine speaker goes back to the time preceding the actual punishment of the nations. Isaiah 63:5 And I looked, and there was none to help (comp. Isaiah 5:2, "He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes:" also Isaiah 41:28, "I beheld, and there was no man"). By an anthropomorphism God is represented as looking for and expecting what might reasonably have been expected, and even as surprised when he does not find it (comp. Isaiah 59:16). Out of all the many nations it was reasonable to suppose that some would have chosen the better part and have been on the Lord’s side. But the fact was otherwise (comp. Isaiah 63:3). Mine own arm brought salvation unto me; or, mine own arm helped me (comp. Isaiah 59:16). Nothing more is needed. If God arises, his enemies at once "are scattered" (Psalms 68:1). "His own right hand, and his holy arm, get him the victory" (Psalms 98:1). Isaiah 63:6 I will tread down … make drunk … bring down; rather, I trode down … made drunk … brought down. See the comment on Isaiah 63:3. The destruction was to be utter, overwhelming, absolute—one from which there could be no recovery (comp. Revelation 19:11-21, where the simile of the wine-press, and the "vesture dipped in blood," seem introduced with a special reference to this passage). Isaiah 63:7-14 SECTION X.—AN ADDRESS OF THE EXILES TO GOD, , OF SIN, AND (Isaiah 63:7 -64.). GOD PRAISED FOR HIS MERCIES. The address opens with pure and simple thanksgiving of the most general kind, God being praised for his loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathy with his people (Isaiah 63:7-9). An historical survey is then commenced, and Israel’s shortcomings contrasted with God’s mercies, but with a predominantly thankful and even jubilant tone (Isaiah 63:10-14). Isaiah 63:7 I will mention; or, celebrate. The loving-kindnesses; or, mercies (see Isaiah 55:3; and comp. Psalms 89:1). Isaiah 63:8 He said, Surely they are my people. Israel was first recognized as "a people" in Egypt, when the creel Pharaoh, probably Sethos I; said, "The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we "(Exodus 1:9). Soon afterwards God acknowledged them as "his people" (Exodus 3:7). The exiles probably go back in their thoughts to this time. Children that will not lie; or, deal falsely, as the same word is translated in Psalms 44:17. The meaning is, that surely they will be faithful to God, and not fall away from him into idolatry or irreligion. Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted. The "affliction" of Israel began in Egypt (Genesis 15:13), probably not long after the death of Joseph. It became an intense oppression, when the king "arose who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). God’s sympathy with Israel’s sufferings at this time is strongly marked in the narrative of Exodus (Exodus 2:23, Exodus 2:24; Exodus 3:7, Exodus 3:17). An alternative reading of the Hebrew text gives the sense, "In all their affliction he was not an adversary;" i.e. he did not afflict them for their hurt, but for their benefit. But the reading followed by our translators, and most moderns, is to be preferred. The angel of his presence saved them. "The angel of his presence" occurs nowhere but in this place. It is probably equivalent to "the angel of God" (Exodus 14:19; Judges 15:6; Acts 27:23), or "the angel of the Lord" (Genesis 16:7; Numbers 22:23; Judges 13:3, etc.), and designates either the Second Person of the Trinity, or the highest of the angelic company, who seems to be the archangel Michael. (For the angelic interpositions which "saved" Israel, see Exodus 14:19; Judges 6:11-23; Judges 13:3-21; 2 Kings 19:35, etc.) In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. The "redemption" of this passage is probably that from the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:13; Deuteronomy 7:8, etc.), which belonged to "the days of old"—not the spiritual redemption from the bondage of sin, which was reserved for the time of the Messiah. Having "redeemed" them, i.e. delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and thereby, as it were, purchased them to be his own, he hare them—"Carried them on eagles’ wings" (Exodus 19:4), and brought them safely through the wilderness to Palestine (comp. Deuteronomy 32:10-12). Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled. The rebellions of Israel against God commenced in the wilderness. They rebelled at Sinai, when they set up the golden calf; at Meribah (Numbers 20:24); at Shittim, when they consorted with the daughters of Moab (Numbers 25:6). Under the Judges, their conduct was one long rebellion (Judges 2:11; Judges 3:7, Judges 3:12; Judges 4:1; Judges 6:1; Judges 8:33; Judges 10:6; Judges 13:1). They rebelled in Samuel’s time by asking for a king (1 Samuel 8:5, 1 Samuel 8:19, 1 Samuel 8:20). The ten tribes rebelled under Jeroboam, and set up the idolatry of the calves at Dan and Bethel. Worse idolatries followed, and in two centuries and a half had reached such a height, that God was provoked to "remove Israel out of his sight" (2 Kings 17:23). Judah remained, but "rebelled" under Manasseh, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, "transgressing very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluting the very house of the Lord at Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 36:14). These rebellions against God vexed his Holy Spirit—"provoked him," "grieved him," "moved the Holy One in Israel" (Psalms 78:40, Psalms 78:41; Psalms 106:43). Therefore he was turned to be their enemy (comp. Jeremiah 30:14; Lamentations 2:4, Lamentations 2:5). Judah had "filled up the measure of her iniquities," had gone on "until there was no remedy" (2 Chronicles 36:16). God’s indignation was therefore poured out upon her without let or stint. "He cut oft’ in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he drew back his right hand from before the enemy; he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He bent his bow like an enemy; he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his fury like fire. The Lord was as an enemy" (Lamentations 2:3-5). He fought against them; rather, he himself fought against them. God himself, though they were "his people," yet fought against them and for the Chaldeans in that final struggle. He "gave the city into the hand of the King of Babylon" (Jeremiah 34:2). Isaiah 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old. It is questioned who remembered, God or his people. Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewald, Nagelbach, Delitzsch, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne are in favour of the people; Bishop Lowth and Dr. Kay of God. The reflections which follow (Isaiah 63:11-13) seem certainly most appropriate to the people, or to the prophet speaking in their name. Where is he that brought them up out of the sea? i.e. "the Red Sea" (comp. Isaiah 51:10). What has become of the protecting God who then delivered them? With the shepherd of his flock; or, shepherds, according to another reading. The "shepherd" might be either Moses, or "the angel of his face" (Isaiah 63:9). The "shepherds"—if that reading be preferred—must be Moses, Aaron, and perhaps Miriam (Micah 6:4). Where he that put his Holy Spirit within him? The "him" of this passage undoubtedly refers to "the people" (Rosenmuller, Knobel, Delitzsch, Kay, Cheyne). God gave to the people in the wilderness "his good Spirit to instruct them" (Nehemiah 9:20), and guide them (Haggai 2:4, Haggai 2:5), and govern them (Numbers 11:17). Isaiah 63:12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm; rather, that caused his glorious arm to attend at Moses’ right hand—ready (as Dr. Weir says) to grasp him if he should stumble. Dividing the water before them; literally, cleaving the waters before their face (comp. Exodus 14:21). To make himself an everlasting name (see Exodus 15:11-16). It was one of the main purposes of the entire series of miracles wrought in Egypt, "that God’s Name might be declared throughout all the earth" (Exodus 9:16). Isaiah 63:14 As a beast goeth down into the valley. Bishop Lowth’s version seems the best," As the herd descendeth to the valley." Israel’s passage through the Sinaitic peninsula into Canaan is compared to tile movement of a herd of cattle from its summer pastures in the mountains to the valley at their base, where for a time it rests. So God gave his people, after their many trials, "rest" in Canaan (Hebrews 3:11-18). So didst thou lead thy people. "So" refers, not to the last simile only, but to the entire description contained in Isaiah 63:11-14. To make thyself a glorious name (comp. Isaiah 63:12, and see also Ezekiel 36:21-23; Malachi 1:2). Isaiah 63:15-19 A PRAYER FOR FROM SIN AND . From thanksgiving and confession, the people betake themselves to prayer, and beseech God to look down from heaven once more, to have compassion on them, to acknowledge them, and to save them alike from themselves (Isaiah 63:17) and from their adversaries (Isaiah 63:18, Isaiah 63:19). "It is difficult to overrate the spiritual beauty of the prayer contained in this passage. We may admit that the most prominent motive urged by the speaker has a nationalistic air; but behind this, and strengthening it, is a sense of the infiniteness of the Divine mercy, and of the strong vitality of the union between Jehovah and his people" (Cheyne). Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven (comp. Deuteronomy 26:15; Psalms 80:14; 2 Kings 8:1-29:30). "The Lord’s seat" was "in heaven." While the temple lay in ruins, the Jews would naturally address their prayers to God in his heavenly abode. From the habitation of thy holiness. Mr. Cheyne translates, from the height of thy holiness," taking the meaning of the rare word z’bul from the Assyrian. "Height" certainly suits well most of the other places where the word z’bul occurs (1 Kings 8:13; 2 Chronicles 6:2; Psalms 49:14; Habakkuk 3:11). Where is thy zeal? i.e. What has become of it? Has it ceased altogether, or is it only in abeyance for a time? Will not God "stir it up" once more (Isaiah 42:13)? And thy strength; rather, and thy great acts (comp. Psalms 106:2; Psalms 145:4; Psalms 150:2). The sounding of thy bowels; i.e. their thrilling or vibration—an indication of sympathy (see Isaiah 16:11). Jeremiah has a similar expression (Jeremiah 31:20). Are they restrained? rather, they are restrained. They no longer show themselves. There was no room for questioning the fact. Isaiah 63:16 Doubtless thou art our Father; rather, for thou art our Father. This is the ground of their appeal to God. As their Father, he must love them, and must be ready to listen to them. Abraham and Isaac, their earthly fathers, were of no service, lent them no aid, seemed to have ceased to feel any interest in them. It cannot be justly argued from this that the Jews looked to Abraham and Isaac as actual "patron saints," or directed towards them their religious regards. Had this been so, there would have been abundant evidence of it. Thou, O Lord, art our Father (comp. Isaiah 64:8; and see also Deuteronomy 32:6, and Jeremiah 3:4). Though the relationship was revealed under the old covenant, it was practically realized only upon the rarest occasions. Our Redeemer; thy name, etc.; rather, our Redeemer has been thy name from of old. "Redeemer" first appears as a name of God in Job (Job 19:25) and in the Psalms (Psalms 19:14; Psalms 78:35). It is an epitheton usitatum only in the later portion of Isaiah. There it occurs thirteen times. Isaiah 63:17 Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? Confession is here mingled with a kind of reproach. They have erred and strayed from God’s ways, they ’ allow; but why has he permitted it? Why has he, the shepherd of his flock (Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 49:10), not restrained his wandering sheep, and kept them in his "ways "or "paths" ? The reproach borders on irreverence, but is kept within the limits of piety by the affection and trust that underlie it. They are like wayward children reproaching a tender mother, not quite believing in the justice of their reproaches, but with a very confident faith in her love and in her power to aid. They entertain no doubt but that God will "return" to them, and acknowledge them as his sheep, and resume their guidance and direction. And hardened our heart (comp. Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:1), "When men have scornfully and obstinately rejected the grace of God, God withdraws it from them judicially, gives them up to their wanderings, dud makes their hearts incapable of faith" (Delitzsch). If the process has not gone very far, God may relent, and "return," and soften the proud heart, and renew in it "his fear." This is what Israel now entreats him to do. For thy servants’sake. There was always "a remnant" in the worst times, which had not" bowed the knee to Baal." This was God’s true "inheritance," which he might be expected to protect and aid. Isaiah 63:18 The people of thy holiness; or, thy holy people (comp. Isaiah 62:9; Isaiah 63:15: Isaiah 64:11). Some critics read har, "mountain," instead of ’am, "people," and translate, "But for a little while have they" (i.e. thy servants) "had possession of thy holy mountain." The general meaning is the same in either case. "Israel, God’s people, has held Palestine but for a little while"—a few centuries—and now the heathen have been allowed to make themselves masters of it, (comp. Ezra 10:8). Isaiah 63:19 We are thine. There is no "thine" in the original, and so important a word cannot possibly be supplied from without. Translate, We are as those over whom thou hast not ruled from of old, as those upon whom thy Name has not been called; i.e. we have lost all our privileges—we have become in God’s sight no better than the heathen—he has forgotten that we were ever his people. The Idumaeans a type of God’s enemies. There was a time when Esau sought to slay his brother Jacob (Genesis 27:41); and the same spirit of violence and hatred possessed the Edomite nation during its entire career. Edom strove to debar Israel from entrance into the Holy Land by refusing to give them a passage through her borders (Numbers 20:14-21). She was always ready to join Israel’s enemies, and sought perpetually to take Israel at a disadvantage (2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chronicles 20:10, 2 Chronicles 20:22; 2 Chronicles 28:17; Ezekiel 25:12; Ezekiel 35:5; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:10, etc.). When the Babylonian conquest came she rejoiced, and made a mock of Israel’s distress (Psalms 137:7). She was still hostile in the time of the Maccabees, and supported the Syrian monarchs in their endeavours to crush Jewish independence (1 Macc. 5:3; 6:31; 2 Macc. 5:15). Herod the Great, who sought to put our Lord to death in his infancy, was an Idumaean; and so, on the father’s side, was Herod Antipas, who mocked him and set him at nought. The Idumaeans are well selected to represent God’s enemies generally— I. ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR PRIDE. Pride was the sin by which Satan and his evil angels lost heaven; and no sin is more hateful to God or more characteristic of his enemies. Of the Idumaeans it is said, "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocks … that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?" (Obadiah 1:3); and again," Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart" (Jeremiah 49:16). "Pride was the root of Edom’s sin," says a recent commentator on Obadiah—pride of an unnatural kind, since God had assigned to Edom a low estate. Now "a low estate, acquiesced in by the grace of God, is the parent of lowliness; when rebelled against, it generates a greater intensity of pride than greatness, because that pride is against nature itself and God’s appointment. The pride of human greatness, sinful as it is, is allied to a natural nobility of character … The conceit of littleness has the hideousness of those monstrous combinations, the more hideous because unnatural, not a corruption only, but a distortion of nature". II. ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR HATRED. All hatred of one race towards another is hated by God, but the hatred of a kindred race is especially displeasing to him. It was one of the special reproaches against Ephraim that he vexed a brother, Judah. Now, Esau and Israel were not only brothers, but twin brothers. They ought to have been drawn closely together by this relationship, and to have supported each ether against the alien races of the neighbourhood. But the tie of blood was not felt. Edom had "a perpetual hatred of Israel" (Ezekiel 35:5). They would gladly have conquered their brethren, and held them in subjection (Ezekiel 35:10); but as this could not be, they rejoiced in their brethren’s destruction (Obadiah 1:12) and gazed delightedly on their sufferings (Obadiah 1:13). "Unrelenting, deadly hatred against the whole people of Israel, and a longing for their extermination, were inveterate characteristics of Esau". III. ON ACCOUNT OF THE ENVY IN WHICH THEIR HATE WAS ROOTED. Ezekiel, declaring God’s intention to punish Edom: says, "As I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thy envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them" (Ezekiel 35:11). The ground of all Edom’s hatred of Israel was that jealousy and envy roused by the Divine preference which put the younger before the elder, and gave to Israel superior, to Esau inferior, blessings. Edom had much for which to be thankful—a good pasture country, a secure capital, commercial advantages, wisdom of a certain kind (Jeremiah 49:7); but these things did not satisfy her. They were all rendered vain, and of no account, by the fact that Israel enjoyed more numerous and greater blessings. She could not forgive this superiority; and hence her hatred and rancour. Hence the joy with which she witnessed the walls breached, and Jerusalem taken by the Babylonians; hence the loud cries to which she gave utterance, of "Down with it, down with it [or, ’raze it, raze it’ ], even to the ground" (Psalms 137:7). IV. ON ACCOUNT OF THE AND CRUEL TO WHICH THE HATRED LED. Edom "shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity" (Ezekiel 35:5). When the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem, they "stood in the crossway, to cut off those that did escape" (Obadiah 1:14), shutting them up with the enemy, driving them back on their pursuers. Not only did they rejoice in Judah’s destruction, and speak proudly in the day of her distress (Obadiah 1:12), but they flew upon the spoil, entering into the gates with the conquerors and laying hands upon the substance of the conquered (Obadiah 1:13). Such fugitives as escaped and settled among them they slew (Joe 3:19). Such captives as they could induce the Philistines or the Phoenicians to sell to them they also put to death (Amos 1:6, Amos 1:9, Amos 1:11). It was their earnest desire that Israel should be no more a nation, and they therefore made every effort to exterminate it. Next to extermination, they desired complete subjugation. Hence the support which they lent to the Syrians against the heroic Maccabee princes. Idumaea’s fate should be a warning to the enemies of God. Her reward returned upon her own head. As she had done, so was it done to her (Obadiah 1:15). By the time of Malachi, Edom’s mountains and heritage had been "laid waste for the jackals of the wilderness" (Malachi 1:3). She was "impoverished;" her cities were thrown down; she strove to rebuild them, but was unable (Malachi 1:4). A century later her territory, or great part of it, was occupied by the Nabathaeans, who made Petra their capital (Diod. Sic; 19:94-98). After suffering various defeats at the hands of the earlier Maccabee princes, the Edomites were finally conquered, and incorporated into the Jewish nation by John Hyrcanus. The last that we hear of them is in the Roman war, when a body of twenty thousand, admitted into Jerusalem by John of Giscala, filled the city with bloodshed, and ending by pillaging it. Thenceforth they disappear from history. The greater part perished in the terrible siege conducted by Titus. The remainder, confounded with the Jews, were sold into slavery. Idumaea became "a geographical expression." God afflicted in the afflictions of his people. It is questioned by some whether God can really feel pain. Doubtless, the inner essence of the Divine nature is so far removed from us, and so inscrutable by us, that answers must be given with extreme hesitation to any questions which touch that inner essence. And in using words of God, which derive their whole meaning from our consciousness of feelings which we experience in ourselves, we must beware of supposing that the terms which we employ are used univocally of God and of men. They are, at best, used analogously. Still, as Delitzsch says, "the question whether God can feel pain seems to be answered by the Scriptures in the affirmative." Pity, and compassion, and indignation, and anger are ascribed to God in Scripture, and all of them are pains. God’s "soul" is said to have been "grieved for the misery of Israel" (Judges 10:16). There is nothing derogatory to the Divine greatness in the mere fact of God feeling pain; and certainly the fact is of a nature to raise our conception of the Divine goodness. God seems to be afflicted in the afflictions of his people— I. WHEN THEY SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF WICKED MEN. It was the cruel oppression of the Israelites in Egypt which first called forth the compassion and sympathy of God for his people, and caused him to draw near to them, and to enter into a closer relationship. "The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage; and God heard their groaning" (Exodus 2:23, Exodus 2:24). "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people … and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows" (Exodus 3:7). It was, again, the "sore distress" which Israel suffered at the hands of the children of Ammon that caused "the Lord’s soul to be grieved" in the days of the Judges, and induced him to raise up Jephthah as a deliverer (Judges 10:9, Judges 10:16; Judges 11:1). The oppression of Babylon wrought similarly, and by stirring God’s indignation and compassion induced him to save his people and execute judgment upon Babylon by means of Cyrus (Isaiah 42:22-25, etc.). II. WHEN THEY SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF GOD HIMSELF. God "has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." When he is forced to punish, it is with reluctance and regret that he punishes. Witness his long pleadings with his people before he consents to let judgment go forth against them, his long forbearance, his long endurance of their perversity. "All the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed at Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy" (2 Chronicles 36:14-16). As the "fathers of our flesh, which correct us" (Hebrews 12:9), grieve to do so, suffering often more than those they chasten suffer, so the heavenly Father is himself afflicted as he afflicts; his "heart is turned within him, his repentings are kindled together" (Hosea 11:8). The right of God’s people to address him with complaint and expostulation. No doubt the ordinary attitude of God’s people towards their Maker and Ruler should be one of the most profound resignation and submission to his will. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). Yet on occasions it is allowed them to "speak with him as a man speaketh with his friend" (Exodus 33:11), to plead, expostulate, complain; even, in a certain sense, to reproach. Job pleaded with God at great length, and God was not angered, but "accepted" him (Job 42:9), and testified in his favour that he had "spoken right "(Job 42:8). In the Psalms David pleads, complains, expostulates. "Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" (Psalms 10:1). "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? For ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" (Psalms 13:1, Psalms 13:2). "Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions … Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me … For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters … This thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me. Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord’ (Psalms 35:17-23). "Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?… Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake" (Psalms 44:18-26). Such expostulations as these do not anger God, but, on the contrary, arc pleasing and acceptable. They show earnestness, confidence, faith, a trust in his goodness, a conviction that he will surely show himself on the side of truth and righteousness. They are within the limits of the "liberty wherewith Christ has made us free" (Galatians 5:1). Caution, however, must be used, lest liberty degenerate into licence—lest complaint and expostulation pass into "murmuring." After all, God best knows what is best for us, and will assuredly do what is best for us. We are safe in his hands. In his own good time he will give us all that we need. Let us not be impatient, or imagine ourselves wiser than he. If he delays to give us that which we desire, we may be sure that there is a reason for the delay. In quietness and confidence should be our strength. BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 63:7-9 An outburst of thanksgiving. A deep heart-effusion, in which all that the religious imagination, inspired by love, can suggest, is projected upon the picture of Jehovah, the redeeming God of Israel. I. HIS LOVING-. (Cf. Isaiah 55:3; and the Hebrew word in Isaiah 63:7; Psalms 89:28-49; Psalms 107:43; Lamentations 3:22.) The word (הֶסֶד) suggests a world of love. When used of men it implies pity, benignity, especially in circumstances of misfortune, as Genesis 21:23; 1 Samuel 10:2; Job 6:14. How fine is the saying in 2 Samuel 9:3, "I will act kindly toward him like unto God"! So that all human expressions of kindness may be and should be conceived as flowing from the one eternal Fountain. Sometimes, by a figure, God himself is called Favour, Mercy (Psalms 144:2; Jonah 2:9). II. HIS GREAT DEEDS. "Renown," or "deeds of renown." The divorce of feeling from deed, of sentiment from action, that we so often see in feeble humanity, we do not find in God. With him, heart and head are one. His deeds are daily, world-extended, historical, eternal. Every commotion of the nations, every war, every revolution, must be traced to the influence of his Spirit in the last resort. III. HIS . There is an exuberant outflow of thought, feeling, and language here. Jehovah is to be celebrated "according to that which is due for all that he hath bestowed, according to his compassion and his abundant loving-kindnesses." Were it not that the impression of pain is keener and deeper with us than that of pleasure, it would be seen that at every moment life teems with mercies, gifts from the Giver of all good. IV. His IN HISTORY. They were his people in virtue of the primeval covenant. They were his sons by adoption. The great salvation out of Israel was prototypical of all acts in which Jehovah "became unto them a Saviour. Distinct and strong is the representation of the sympathy of God with their suffering; distressed in all their distresses." His love and his clemency are again mentioned. He was ever, in that long and strange history of rebellion, "overcoming evil with good "—a pardoning God. His care was that of a mother’s heart—carrying the people, as it were, from their birth, promising to carry them even to hoar hairs. "I bare made, and I will bear; I will carry, and I will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:3, Isaiah 46:4). Yet it is part of such providential dealing to chastise. There were especially times when the people did evil in the sight of Jehovah (Judges 2:11; Judges 3:7). Secretly a Holy Spirit, or Spirit of holiness, was striving with them, and they were constantly resisting it. The great covenant with God was founded on this principle of holiness; this was the distinctive characteristic of the people as of their God. By their untruth to the covenant, they changed him as it were from a friend to an enemy. Thwarted love turns to jealousy (Exodus 34:14), and the gracious face of the Father becomes that of the wrathful Judge.—J. Isaiah 63:10-14 The remembrance of the past. I. THE MEMORY OF GOD. If God is thought of, as he must be thought of, after the analogy of human experiences, he must be thought of as remembering, calling the past to mind, and as undergoing changes of mind in consequence. These are ways of representing first to thought, then in language, an infinite love, which must be capable of all the scale and gamut of feeling—anger, wrath, jealousy, and the revulsion almost to the tenderness of tears. So in the wilderness, he, being full of compassion, forgave the iniquity of the rebels in the wilderness, turning his anger away, because he remembered that they were flesh, or but as the passing wind; he called to mind his covenant; he repented according to the multitude of his mercies (Leviticus 26:45; Psalms 78:39; Psalms 106:45). In the history of Israel there was nothing more memorable than the coming up out of Egypt, and the leadership of Moses and Aaron. II. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL FROM THE OF GOD. The outward wonders, the deeds of might, were but the manifestation of an inward waking of his Spirit in the breast el the people. A Spirit of instruction, of "providential guidance and sagacious government"—"Thy good Spirit to instruct them" (Nehemiah 9:20). A holy light seemed in the retrospect to rest upon that period. It was said that the people "served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua," for "they had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel." The next generation knew not the works of the Lord, nor the works he bad done for Israel (Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:6-10). The Spirit of Jehovah appears to mean much the same as the face of Jehovah above (cf. Exodus 33:14; Haggai 2:4, Haggai 2:5; cf. Numbers 11:10-30). The term "holiness" reminds of the covenant, and the covenant of the obligations of fidelity on the part of the people, in response to the oath-keeping of God. Another image, almost carrying the same meaning, is that of the "arm of Jehovah’s splendour" (Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 45:1), ready to support Moses, to hold him up from falling (Isaiah 41:10-13). Then the sublime picture of the crossing of the Red Sea rises up in imagination (Exodus 14:21; cf. Psalms 106:9; Psalms 77:16), and the wide and dreary steppe. Finally, as a herd goes down from the mountain-side into the pasture-land of the plain, so, under the same guidance, the people came to their rest—a beloved word (Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 3:20; Deuteronomy 12:9; Joshua 1:13; Joshua 22:4; Psalms 95:11; Jeremiah 31:2; Hebrews 4:1, Hebrews 4:9). The spiritual sum and substance of all is, "Thus thou didst guide thy people to make unto thyself a monument of glory." By his work he became for ever known among the heathen. It was a work not to be executed by any false god, nor by any human arm. "Egypt was at this time the centre of all science, art, and culture; arid what occurred there would be known in other lands. God designed to make a signal demonstration of his existence and power, that should be known in all lands and should never be forgotten." God’s glory is the grand end of all he does, and consequently ought to be likewise of all that we either do or suffer. And whatever, therefore, befalls any man makes for God’s glory and for his own good, if he be a child of God. We should learn, then, to estimate things by their use and tendency. Poison may enter into the composition of an antidote; and things essentially good may, under certain circumstances, become pernicious. Prosperity may harden and adversity may humble us; the one may prepare us for judgment, the other for mercy.—J. The Church’s prayer. One of extreme "spiritual beauty" (Cheyne). I. THE MAJESTY OF GOD. He is contemplated as in heaven, upon "a height of holiness and splendour:" and here, as in Psalms 80:14, is besought to "look down and behold" as if "he had given up caring for his people, and withdrawn into his heavenly palace." It expresses the thought that he, to interpose for them, must ever condescend. The vastness of the distance between God and the creature is expressed—in other words, the sense of the creature’s lowliness and unworthiness. Yet elsewhere, "He is nigh unto all that call upon him." The chasm then presented in the imagination may be, and is, bridged over. How? By prayer—by calling upon him. "A sigh may bring the blessing down." II. THE SEEMING OF GOD. Nevertheless, there are times when the "heavens are ,as brass," and when the God believed to be "living" stirs not, speaks not, gives no sign that he hearkens. As if callous to his people’s need, his "jealousy" slumbers, and needs to be "stirred." Then comes the "pain of finite hearts that yearn," for the sympathy (the "sounding of the bowels," Isaiah 16:11; Jeremiah 31:20; Jeremiah 48:36) and the compassion which seem withheld and as if deliberately kept back. Such is the tragedy of religious experience—the old conflict between the intellect which absolutely affirms the goodness of God, the heart which is denied the present sense of it. III. FAITH IN THE OF GOD. "Thou art our Father" is the cry, the confession, and the appeal of the Church. In Isaiah 64:8 the image is associated with that of the "Potter." In 1 Chronicles 29:10 it is "Lord God of Israel, our Father." And with this image again is associated the Maker and Purchaser, or Redeemer (Deuteronomy 32:6). The nation is to him as the primitive family is to the father, the head, who enjoys the peculiar patria potestas. The people is "his son, even his firstborn" (Exodus 4:22); "beloved, called out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1); "nourished and brought up" by Jehovah (Isaiah 1:2); as the Guide of its youth (Jeremiah 3:4); who will not disown the tie nor the title (Jeremiah 3:19); Father of Israel, to whom Ephraim is firstborn (Jeremiah 31:9); a Father whose heart is sore troubled for his children’s sake, and who is full of mercy and compassion to them (Jeremiah 31:20); who demands the honour and reverence. due to a father (Malachi 1:6; Malachi 2:10). And here the name is associated with that of the goel, the avenger and deliverer; for the people’s history was a series of deliverances. If God is a Father, a childlike way of speech is not misbecoming in prayers. And here they ask why Jehovah "makes them to stray," as if they would throw the blame of their aberrations upon him, and he was the Cause of the hardening of their hearts. "They speak as if it is not they who need to return to Jehovah, but Jehovah who is reluctant to return to them; as if, instead of feeding his flock like a Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11), he has driven it out of the safe fold into the howling wilderness" (Cheyne). Yet the confidence of the child beats passionately below such language. God looks not at the mere words, but at the heart in the words. And it is true, again, that from the difficult problems of thought, this way of thinking seems a better relict than the dualism of the Orientals. It is better to leave the problem with the confession, "God knows best" (cf. Romans 9:17-22). Jehovah is also King. The other peoples have kings as their gods; but he is the incomparable One. The calling on his Name signifies the union of him with his people—the eternal covenant (Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 65:1; Deuteronomy 28:10; Jeremiah 14:9). The spiritual life moves between opposite poles. It has been said that in the highest mood of faith there lurks some doubt. So in extreme despondency there is still living the germ of faith and hope. And prayer brings that germ into life and power.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The coming Saviour. "Mighty to save." The question is asked, Who is this?" and the answer is given in Eastern figures of speech, which represent Christ’s character and work. I. THE SAVIOUR COMES WITH A GREAT . With "dyed garments;" for the cross lies at the foundation of the world’s recovery. We are weary of all theories of atonement from Anselm’s day downwards, but the atonement remains as the central truth of our religion. It rests on our Lord’s own authority as well as upon St. Paul’s; for he said himself, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins." II. THE SAVIOUR COMES IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. He is the express Image of the Father. "Glorious in his apparel," so that through all the ages men may see truth turned into life. Once in all history we see One who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Christ was "clothed with light as with a garment," III. THE IS IN EVERY AGE. 1. Mighty—in his own revealed grace and power. 2. Mighty—in that every degree of guilt and sin is reached by his infinite arm. 3. Mighty—in that he saves right through, which is the meaning of the word "to the uttermost."—W.M.S. BY W. The earlier and the later redemption. The energetic and graphic language of the text applies only in part to that Messianic kingdom to which the prophet makes such frequent reference. It obviously relates, primarily and principally, to the deliverance wrought by Jehovah in favour of his people Israel, and is concerned with the redressing of their political wrongs. But the expressions used are strongly suggestive of a far greater redemption, in which all the children of men are vitally interested. We look at— I. THOSE WHICH THE EARLIER RATHER THAN THE LATER . 1. The employment of the outwardly impressive. "This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength." Something, if not much, of the stately, the striking, the magnificent, of that which was fitted to awe and overwhelm belonged to the older dispensation—to the theocracy and the divinely permitted monarchy. Under Christ it is not so. He himself "came not with observation" (ostentation); he was a "King that came, meek," devoid of all the shows and trappings of royal state. And it is his will that his Church should shrink from rather than secure the dignities and majesties of the earthly kingdoms (Matthew 20:25-28). 2. The use of violence. "With dyed garments … Their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments" (Isaiah 63:1, Isaiah 63:3). Jesus said, and surely still says in respect of all efforts to advance his kingdom, "Put up thy sword into the sheath" (John 18:11). 3. The manifestation of Divine anger. "The day of vengeance is in mine heart" (Isaiah 63:4). Contrast with this, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17; John 12:47; Luke 9:56). II. THE WHICH ARE COMMON TO BOTH, but are most strikingly characteristic of the later redemption. 1. The manifestation of Divine power. "Mighty to save." Great as were the deliverances accomplished in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Canaan, in Assyria, these were small and insignificant compared with "the redemption of the world by Christ Jesus," the rescue of a guilty and degenerate race and its reinstatement in the favour and the likeness of God. Hence is by far the noblest exhibition of Divine power. 2. The illustration of Divine faithfulness. "I that speak in righteousness." By his interposition God fulfilled his word of promise, and showed himself a covenant-keeping Lord. But in the granting of his "great salvation," and in all the outworkings of it, both collectively and individually, there are more abundant reasons for exclaiming, "God is faithful" (1 Corinthians 1:9). 3. The completeness of the Divine work. The picture here is, throughout, one of victorious strength. It is the return of a warrior who has thoroughly accomplished his work, by whom his enemies have been utterly subdued. He has "brought down their strength to the earth" (Isaiah 63:6). The work of Christ was perfected. He finished the work the Father gave him to do (John 17:4; John 19:30). He offered himself "without spot" to God (Hebrews 10:14). He has prepared for mankind a "common salvation;" as exquisitely adapted to the most cultured intelligence as it is fitted for the most barbarous and savage peoples. He is working out the redemption of the race, and will not rest until humanity has been redeemed and restored. 4. The single-handedness of the Divine Conqueror. "I have trodden the wine-press alone’ (Isaiah 63:3 and Isaiah 63:5). Though God did use the instrumentality of his people, it was the presence of his overcoming arm which made all the difference between victory and defeat. And there were occasions when he thought well to dispense with human agency altogether; e.g. the destruction of the Egyptians under Pharaoh, and of the host under Sennacherib. Although the Lord Jesus Christ did not disdain, and does not refuse to employ his disciples in his cause, yet was there a very deep and real sense in which he was alone in his redemptive work (see Robertson on ’The Loneliness of Christ’). (1) He was of such spiritual stature that none could walk with him. (2) He was engaged in a mission of such deep and lofty character that none could then enter into his great design. (3) He came to make a sacrifice of himself in the offering of which none could join. Here are reasons why we, as Christian men and as workers with Christ, should (a) look back with deepest gratitude; (b) submit under disappointment with ready acquiescence; (c) anticipate with full assurance the triumph which is in the future.—C. The greatness of God’s goodness. There is music in the sound and great comfort in the sense of these exquisite words. They speak to us of— I. THE OF GOD’S TO US. 1. The bountifulness of his gifts to us. "All that the Lord hath bestowed on us." "The multitude of his loving-kindnesses." His gifts night and day, in every season, through every stage of life; all material for the body, all stores of knowledge for the mind, all wealth of affection for the heart. 2. The distinguishing favours he has shown us. His "great goodness toward the house of Israel." Every "house," every family, every man, has some special reason to speak of Divine goodness. 3. The love which prompts his bestowals. All his kindnesses are "loving-kindnesses," prompted by parental affection, granted in a loving spirit. 4. His kindness toward us in affliction (Isaiah 63:8). He grants us Divine sympathy—"In all their afflictions;" and tender succour—"He bare them," etc; as the mother carries her sick child, the shepherd the wounded lamb. His hand may be upon us, but "underneath are the everlasting arms." 5. His grace in redemption. "The angel of his presence," etc. II. OUR WISDOM AND DUTY IN VIEW OF IT. "I will mention." Here are two parts: 1. Recalling to our own thought. 2. Reminding those around us. This is our duty; for it is the clear will of Christ that we should make known the fulness of his kindness and the riches of his grace. We exist, as his people, that we may be witnesses to the world of all that we have learned of him. This is also our wisdom; for therein is found the one antidote to dissatisfaction, the one unfailing source of gratitude and joy. III. GOD’S US. (Isaiah 63:8.) As God gave to Israel all the peculiar proofs of his remembrance that they might prove a loyal and faithful people or family, so with us as a Christian Church. He has manifested marvellous love, patience, pity, succour, toward us. And in what expectation? That we should show ourselves loyal to himself and true to our trust; that we should prove ourselves the "people" and "children" of God, by reverence of bearing, by submissiveness of spirit, by integrity of character, by faithfulness in the field of sacred work.—C. How God feels and why he acts. The revolt or disobedience of Israel is said to have "vexed [grieved] his Holy Spirit." We learn from this and from a similar expression in Ephesians 4:30— I. THE GRIEF TO WHICH GOD IS SUBJECT. Men have argued thus. God is a blessed or happy Being; he is infinite in all his attributes; therefore he is infinitely, perfectly happy; therefore there is no possibility of sorrow in his Divine nature. But such reasoning is very precarious and unreliable. We can argue little from infinity of which we know nothing, and we must not think of weighing any inference thus obtained against plain statements of Scripture. We are there assured that God is capable of grief, and we must believe that he is, our logical conclusions notwithstanding. And, looking from another point of view, we might well conclude that he is and must be so. For is he not a Divine Father? And has he not undutiful, rebellious children? How, then, could he fail to be grieved at heart? The fact of God’s fatherhood is the most certain of all truths established by Divine revelation; no ground is more solid than that. Our human fatherhood is indicative of the Divine; it is the reflection of it; it is immeasurably less than it; its best, its tenderest, its most holy and generous feelings, are hints and shadows of corresponding feelings in the heart of the heavenly Father. If, then, in our thought, we purify, magnify, multiply that parental grief which father feels when his children go astray, we understand something of the grief of God. 1. Our Divine Father has expended on us boundless thought, affection, treasure, training, patience—a "multitude of loving-kindnesses." He has "given himself for us" in one supreme act of self-sacrificing love. 2. He looks for filial response from us, for eager attention to his voice when he speaks; for the acceptance of his pardoning love, for daily remembrance of him and communion with him; for cheerful obedience to his holy will. 3. He too often finds stubborn and protracted inattention, persistent refusal of his overtures of mercy, forgetfulness and neglect, a painful disregard of his will in our relations with one another—disobedience. 4. Then his heart is grieved. He who should be satisfied with us (Isaiah 53:11) is disappointed in us; looking for fruit, he finds none; his Holy Spirit is vexed, is grieved, in a way and in a degree beyond our human understanding, with a grief which is Divine. II. THE ACTION WHICH HE TAKES. "Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." God’s attitude towards his people, consequent on their guilt, seemed that of an enemy. He was as one who strove with them; he sent them discomfiture, calamity, exile. God may seem to be our enemy, to contend with us. He may send us: 1. Unhappiness of heart, a sense of the insufficiency and uselessness of our life, dreariness and despondency of spirit. 2. Failure of our temporal plans and schemes, and sense of miserable defeat. 3. Bereavement. 4. A wounded heart through the inconstancy or the unfaithfulness of a friend; or some other blow which bends and threatens to break our spirit. God is against us, we feel. III. THE END HE HAS IN VIEW. However we read Ephesians 4:11, it is clear that the purpose of God in thus striving with his people was restorative. He meant to give them rest, thus filling their hearts with joy and "making to himself a glorious Name." This is the meaning of all his adverse action toward us. He seeks our restoration to himself and to his service. There are with us, as with Israel, two strong securities. 1. His past loving-kindnesses. He who had bound his people to his heart as the God of Israel had done (Ephesians 4:11-14) could not and would not desert them in their distress. 2. The honour of his holy Name. God is establishing a kingdom of peace and righteousness, and he wants us as his loyal citizens. This is the meaning of all we are enduring. It is a summons from God to return to ourselves, to enter on our true heritage, to have fellowship with him.—C. Isaiah 63:15-17 The unvarying Father. The habitation of God’s holiness is the habitation of his glory; his glory is in his goodness, in his faithfulness (Exodus 33:19). His fatherhood of man remains and may be counted upon most confidently, although there may appear great obstacles in the way of it. I. OUR AMONG MEN is no indication of the absence of God’s interest in us. Abraham might be ignorant of any one of his children; our illustrious ancestors, our honoured contemporaries, may know nothing of us; we may be dwelling in the humblest obscurity; but that need not diminish in the very smallest degree our assurance that God is interesting himself in us. Doubtless he is our Father. "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me." II. OUR AMONG MEN is no measure of God’s regard for us. Israel might not be prepared to acknowledge one of his descendants. Men in high authority may withhold from us the light of their countenance; but if there be integrity in our heart and soundness in our life, that need not greatly move us. It is better to have than to lack the confidence of such men, but we can do without it, if necessary. With God for our Father, with Christ for our Divine Friend, we can dispense with "the honour that cometh from man only." III. GOD’S OF US is no disproof of his desire or determination to bless us. God may seem to have forsaken us. He once seemed to have forsaken his well-beloved Son. We may be inclined to use such language as he then used (Matthew 27:46), or as that of the text (Isaiah 63:15; and see Psalms 67:7 -9). But we may be reassured. Everything he has done or is doing is consistent with his unchanging love. with a fatherhood that never fails. God is only searching, pruning, purifying us. He smites that he may heal us with a wholeness that wilt make us truly blessed, most excellently established and enriched. 1. Therefore let the voice of prayer be heard in dark and distressing hours. "Look down from heaven." 2. Therefore let the tried and stricken heart anticipate relief and recovery. God’s Name is, from everlasting, that of "a Redeemer."—C. BY R. TUCK The Conqueror from Edom. The land of Edom was the country inhabited by the descendants of Esau. The original enmity between Esau and Jacob was kept up by the two races. The Edomites were regarded by the Israelites as their hereditary enemies, and no doubt the feeling was reciprocated. The Edomites had special opportunities for harassing Israel, by reason of the proximity of their country. Bozrah was one of the chief cities, if not the chief city, of Edom. We may try to realize the scene so graphically sketched in this passage. At a time when war had been raging, and enmity was at its height, one of the Israelites is represented as walking on the hill that overlooked the plains of Edom. He heard sounds of triumph; turning to the direction whence the sounds proceeded, he saw in the distance the dust arising from a crowd of people, shouting and rejoicing as they came marching on. They evidently came from the chief city of Edom. Now he discerns one in the very midst of the crowd, all stained with the blood of battle, but crowned with the victor’s crown, and having a mien and attitude that tell of readiness to do and dare even yet greater things. The man glories in the triumph that has been won over the national foe, and hasting down to join the victors, he asks, in admiration rather than in inquiry, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?’ Quickened spiritual vision sees the Messianic meaning of this prophetic picture. We take our stand in the garden, where was Joseph’s new tomb, on the greatest Sunday morning that ever dawned on sinful earth. Forth from the grave came One, stained indeed with the marks of conflict, but glorious in his victory; able to "speak in righteousness," able to "save." I. WHENCE HE COMES. "From Edom and Bozrah," the land and chief town of Israel’s enemies, the Champion came. The great enemy of the human family is sin, and the sign of the worst that sin can do is the grave. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Christ came forth from the grave, bursting asunder its bars and gates, as the assurance that he was, once and for ever, Conqueror over sin, and Conqueror for us. II. HOW HE APPEARS. "With dyed, stained garments." These indicate that he has waged a fierce, bloody contest. Even in our day, rent and blood-stained garments would tell of a great fight; but these were surer signs in Isaiah’s days, when battles were direct band-to-hand encounters. In the Apocalypse, John saw our Redeemer—the Word of God—and he was "clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." The greatness, the severity, the seriousness, of our Redeemer’s conflict may be seen by considering (1) the power and bitterness of the foes he encountered; (2) the wounds they gave; and (3) the fact that they actually had him down. Illustrate this third point by reference to Bunyan’s figure of the fight between the pilgrim Christian and Apollyon, in the Valley of Humiliation. III. WHAT HE CAN DO. He travels "in the greatness of his strength." He is "mighty to save." He is proved to be strong; shown to be "able to save." He is a proved Samson; a tested David. He is worthy to be trusted with the whole work of redeeming us from sin, (1) its penalty; (2) its power; (3) its consequences. In conclusion, it may be urged: 1. That Christ is willing to apply to us the full benefits of his redemptive victory. 2. That Christ has, since his resurrection, made some glorious displays of his power to save. Illustrations: St. Paul, the jailor at Philippi, John Newton, Africaner, etc. 3. That there is no limit to the power of his saving grace. Each one of us may say, "He is able to save even me."—R.T. Edom on the skirts of Palestine. Sin hangs on the borders of goodness everywhere, as just across her southern boundary-line Edom always lay threateningly upon the skirts of Palestine. We open any page of human history and what do we see? There is a higher life in man. It is imperfect, full of mixture, just like that mottled history of Hebrewdom. But always right on its border lies the hostile Edom, watchful, indefatigable, inexorable, as the redoubtable old foe of the Jews. Always it is the higher life pressed, watched, haunted by the lower; always it is Judah with Edom at its gates. No one great battle comes to settle it for ever; it is an endless fight with an undying enemy. But "who is this that cometh from Edom?" Is it possible that this One that we see coming, this One on whose step. as he moves through history, the eyes of all the ages are fastened—is it possible that he is the Conqueror of the enemy and the Deliverer of the soul? He comes out of the enemy’s direction. The whole work of the Saviour has relation to and issues from the fact of sin. If there had been no sin there would have been no Saviour. He comes from the right direction, and he has an attractive majesty of movement as he appears. He seems strong. What does he say to the anxious questioner; what account of himself does he give; what has he done to Edom; and what mean those blood-stains on his robes? I. He replies to the question, "Who is this?" by saying, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." This reassures us. The Saviour comes in the strength of righteousness. Any reform or salvation of which the power is righteousness must go down to the very root of the trouble. II. He replies to the question, "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?" by saying, "I have trodden the wine-press." It is no holiday monarch coming with a bloodless triumph. It has been no pageant of a day, this strife with sin. The power of God has struggled with the enemy and subdued him only in the agony of strife. What pain may mean to the Infinite and Divine, what difficulty may mean to Omnipotence, I cannot tell. Only I know that all they could mean they meant here. "This symbol of the blood—and by-and-by, when we turn from the Old Testament to the New, from the prophecy to the fulfilment, we find that it was not only the enemy’s blood, but his own blood too, that stained the victorious Deliverer’s robes—this symbol of the blood bears this great truth, which has been the power of salvation to millions of hearts, and which must make this Conqueror the Saviour of your heart too, the truth that only in self-sacrifice and suffering could even God conquer sin. Sin is never so dreadful as when we see the Saviour with that blood upon his garments. And the Saviour himself, surely he is never so dear, never wins so utter and so tender a love, as when we see what it has cost him to save us. Out of that love born of his suffering comes the new impulse after a holy life; and so when we stand at last purified by the power of a grateful obedience, it shall be said of us, binding our holiness and escape from sin close to our Lord’s struggle with sin for us, that we ’ have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ "(condensed from Phillips Brooks).—R.T. The Lord’s loving-kindnesses. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Isaiah 64:1-12 ISRAEL’S PRAYER AND . Not content with praying God to look upon them once more with favour (Isaiah 63:15), Israel now asks for a theophany, or manifestation of the Divine Presence, such as they have experienced in the times of old, and such as shall suffice to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies (Isaiah 64:1-4). With profound humility confessing their manifold and grievous iniquities, they beseech God once more, as their Father and Maker, to have pity upon them, reminding him of the desolate condition of Judaea and Jerusalem, and urging him no longer to "refrain himself" (Isaiah 64:5-12). "The manner," as Mr. Cheyne observes, "is that of a liturgical psalm; the prophet, as it were, leads the devotions of the assembled Church," and utters in impassioned language the feelings which deeply move them. Isaiah 64:1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens! God "dwells in the thick darkness’’ (2 Chronicles 6:1). "Thick clouds are a covering to him" as he "walketh in the circuit of heaven" (Job 22:14). The Church would have the covering "rent," and God show himself openly, both to his people and to their enemies. That thou wouldest come down! God" came down" ou Sinai in the sight of all the people (Exodus 19:11, Exodus 19:20). David saw him in vision "bow the heavens and come down; and there was darkness under his feet" (Psalms 18:9). It is such an "epiphany" which the Church now desires—a revelation of God in all his glory, in his might as against "the nations" (Isaiah 64:2), in his mercifulness as towards themselves. That the mountains might flow down; or, quake. When God descended on Sinai, "the whole mount quaked greatly" (Exodus 19:18). When he appeared to David, "the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken" (Psalms 18:7). When he was seen of Elijah, "a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; and after the wind was an earthquake" (1 Kings 19:11). Micah saw the Lord "coming forth out of his place," and "the mountains were molten under him, and the valleys cleft" (Micah 1:3, Micah 1:4). The mountains represent that which is most firm and solid and strong upon the face of the earth. If even they "melt and flow and tremble" at the presence of God, what might must his be! And who may abide him? Isaiah 64:2 As when the melting fire burneth, etc.; rather, as when fire kindles brushwood, and makes water to boil. Connect the similes with the last clause of Isa 64:1. The mountains shall be as powerless to resist Jehovah, as brushwood or water to resist fire. To make thy Name known (comp. Isaiah 63:12). Such an "epiphany" as the Church prays for would make the Name of Jehovah known far and wide, exalting him high above all gods, and causing "the nations"—i.e. the whole heathen world—to "tremble at his presence" and refrain from injuring his people. Isaiah 64:3 When thou didst terrible things (comp. Deuteronomy 10:21; 2 Samuel 7:23; Psalms 49:4; Psalms 106:22). The phrase, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, is a "standing" one for the wonders of the Exodus. Which we looked not for; i.e. which transcended our utmost expectations. Thou earnest down (see Exodus 19:11, Exodus 19:20). Isaiah 64:4 Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared, etc.; rather, as in the margin, neither hath the eye seen a God, beside thee, which worketh for him that waiteth upon him. The only "living God" who really works for his votaries, and does them good service, is Jehovah (comp. Isaiah 41:23, Isaiah 41:24; Isaiah 44:9, etc.). Isaiah 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth. God "meets" with gracious welcome and ready aid whoever rejoices in doing righteousness and serving him, whoever "remembers him in his ways." But this, alas: is not the present relationship between God and Israel. God is "angry" with them—they must, therefore, "have sinned;" and so they proceed to confess their sin. In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. This is a very difficult passage. Mr. Cheyne regards it as hopelessly corrupt. Bishop Lowth and Ewald attempt emendations. Of those who accept the present text, some understand "in those" of God’s ways, others of the "sins" implied in the confession, "We have sinned:" some make the last clause an affirmation, others a question. Delitzsch renders, "Already we have been long in this state (of sin), and shall we be saved?" Grotius and Starck, "If we had remained in them (i.e. thy ways) continually, we should have been saved." Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing; rather, we are all become as one who is unclean (comp. Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 52:1). A moral leprosy is upon us. We are like the leprous man, who has to rend his clothes, and to go about crying "Tame! tame!" "Unclean: unclean!" that those who hear may get out of his way. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; or, as a menstruous garment (see Lamentations 1:17). In the best deeds of the best men there is some taint of evil. As Hooker says, "Our very repentances require to be repented of." We all do fade as a leaf (comp. Isaiah 1:30, "Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth;" see also Isaiah 34:4). Our iniquities … have taken as away; or, carried us away; i.e. taken us far from God, carried us into a region where God is not, or where at any rate "his presence is not felt" (Cheyne). Isaiah 64:7 There is none that calleth on thy Name. A hyperbole, like Psalms 19:1, Psalms 19:3, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." A general lethargy and apathy had come over the people, so that they could with difficulty rouse themselves to faith and calling upon God. But this general lethargy was not universal; there was a "remnant" which "prayed and did not faint." That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. This expresses more than mere prayer; it is earnest, intense, "effectual fervent’’ prayer. Perhaps none among the exiles may have been capable of such supplication as this, especially as God had hid his face from them, and no longer looked on them with favour. And hast consumed us, because of our iniquities; rather, and hast delivered us into the power (literally, hand) of our iniquities. Men’s sins are their masters, and exercise a tyrannical control over them, which they are often quite unable to resist (comp. Ezekiel 33:10, "If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?"). God at times judicially delivers the wicked into the power of their sins (see Romans 1:24, Romans 1:26, Romans 1:28). Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, thou art our Father (see the comment on Isaiah 63:16). We are the clay, and thou our Potter (comp. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9). Thy hands have made us and fashioned us, both as individuals and as a nation. Thou hast lavished thy labour and thy skill upon us. Surely thou wilt not "forsake the work of thine own hands" (Psalms 138:8). Isaiah 64:9 Be not wroth very sore. At the time of the Captivity God was wroth very sore (Lamentations 5:22). His auger was hot against the sheep of his pasture (Psalms 74:1). But they had suffered, they had been afflicted many years. Might he not now relent, and remit somewhat from his fierce anger? Neither remember iniquity (comp. Psalms 79:8). God had already made a promise by the mouth of Isaiah, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trangressions, and will not remember thy sins" (Isaiah 43:25). The captives lay hold, as it were, on this promise, and entreat that their "iniquity" may be not only forgiven, but forgotten (Jeremiah 31:34). We are all thy people. A fresh argument. "We are thy children," individually (verse 8); "we are thy work, thy creatures" (verse 8), again individually; but also, "we are all of us (kullanu), collectively, thy people"—the people whom thou hast chosen to thyself, and over whom thou hast watched for so many centuries. Surely this consideration, if no other, will induce thee to forego thy wrath and forgive our iniquity. Isaiah 64:10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness. Commonly Jerusalem stands alone as "the holy city" (Isaiah 48:2; Isaiah 56:1; Daniel 9:24; Nehemiah 11:1, Nehemiah 11:18); but here the epithet is applied to the cities of Judah generally. They were all in a certain sense "holy," as being comprised within the limits of "the holy land" (Zechariah 2:12) and "the holy border" (Psalms 78:54). Zion … Jerusalem (see the comment on Isaiah 62:1). Isaiah 64:11 Our holy and our beautiful house. This is the true meaning. The exiles have the tenderest and most vivid remembrance of the holiness and the beauty (or glory) of that edifice, which had formed the centre of the national life for above four centuries, and had been a marvel of richness and magnificence. Many of them had seen it with their own eyes (Ezra 3:12), and could never forget its splendours. Where our fathers praised thee. Though in the later times of the Captivity there were still some of the exiles who had seen the temple, and probably worshipped in it, yet with the great majority it was otherwise. They thought of the temple as the place where their "fathers" had worshipped. Burned up with fire (see 2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 52:13). Our pleasant things; or, our delectable things—as in Isaiah 44:9; the courts, gardens, outbuildings of the temple, are probably meant. Isaiah 64:12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things? rather, at these things—seeing that these things are so. Will they not provoke thee to interfere? Isaiah 64:8-12 Pleas for mercy. Israel had three main grounds on which they could rely in pleading to God for mercy. I. GOD WAS THEIR MAKER. The framer of a work cannot see without dissatisfaction the destruction of his work, or its deterioration, or its depravation to purposes lower. than those intended for it. This dissatisfaction is the greater, the more considerable the labour and the thought that has been expended upon the work, the greater the care that has been taken of it, the longer that it has been watched over. Israel, as far as earth was concerned, was God’s master-work, that in which God’s creative efforts had culminated. He had created the world for mankind, and mankind (in a certain sense) for Israel. He had loved and cherished Israel, watched over his work, protected and guarded it, for well-nigh a millennium. Israel might well feel that it had a tower of strength in the plea, "We are the work of thy hand" (Isaiah 64:8). II. GOD WAS THEIR FATHER. God had condescended to reveal himself as their "Father" at the time of the Exodus (Deuteronomy 32:6); and ever since had constantly addressed them, through his prophets, as his "children" (Exodus 3:22; Deuteronomy 32:19, Deuteronomy 32:20; Psalms 80:15; Psalms 82:6; Psalms 103:13; Proverbs 3:12; Proverbs 8:32; Isaiah 1:2, Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 30:9; Isaiah 43:6; Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 63:8; Hosea 1:10; Hosea 11:1, etc.). Rebellious, backsliding children, indeed, had they been; yet still not wholly renounced, not wholly cast off, not deprived of the name or of the rights of children. Thus they could plead with God his fatherhood (Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 64:8), and therewith claim his tender care, and kind consideration, and merciful forgiveness, and gracious protection, and powerful aid against their enemies. A Father could not but pity his children, could not but be ready, on their turning to him with true penitence and humble confession of sin (Isaiah 64:5-7), to receive them and reinstate them in his favour. III. GOD WAS THEIR KING. The Israelites were not only God’s "children"—they were "his people." He had acknowledged them as such from the days of Moses (Exodus 3:7, Exodus 3:10; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1, etc.). He had taken them to himself to be his "peculiar treasure—a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:5, Exodus 19:6). He had actually directed the policy of their state, as king, for several centuries (Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12). They had rejected him, when they insisted on having a king "like the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5); but, with the Captivity, his kingly right had revived (Hosea 13:10), and they could properly appeal to him as "his people" (Isaiah 64:9). The Christian Church, "Israel after the Spirit," is equally entitled to make these pleas with "Israel after the flesh." God is their Maker; God is their Father (Matthew 5:45, Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:1-9, etc.). Christ is their King (John 18:36). But they have also a further plea; Christ is their Redeemer; he has borne their sins—he has suffered in their stead—he has made atonement for them. In his Name they can "go boldly to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16), secure that they will "obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 64:1-5 Longing for the appearance of God. "Widely yawns the gulf between Israel and her God. A revelation on the widest possible scale is necessary to smite down unbelief and annihilate opposition; God himself must appear." I. FIGURES OF THE OF GOD. The rending of the heavens. For the time of trouble is as the hiding of the face of God behind thick clouds (Job 22:13, Job 22:14). The word given, rend, is very strong—tear asunder, as garments in grief (Genesis 37:29; 2 Samuel 13:31), or as a wild beast the breast of any one. The faithful firmly believe that he will find a way to show himself through the densest darkness of the most unhappy time. The idea is that of a coming in power to destroy his foes (cf. Psalms 44:5, Psalms 44:6). The shaking mountain, the fire causing the boiling of the waters, the terror of the nations, and the terrible deeds of Jehovah—all this imagery belongs to the memory of the Exodus, where he proved himself to be the living God. II. . Isaiah 64:4 is cited by St. Paul as illustrating the effect of the gospel in producing happiness and salvation (1 Corinthians 2:9). If the prophet urges that no god had ever done what Jehovah had done, and no human being had witnessed such manifestations from any other quarter, the apostle applies the thought to the manifestation of God in Christ. For waiting men salvation is prepared. Piety may be defined—is so defined in Scripture—as waiting upon God (Psalms 25:3, Psalms 25:5, Psalms 25:21; Psalms 27:14; Psalms 37:9; Psalms 130:5). God had given manifestations of his existence in the past, of his power and goodness, which had been furnished to none other than his friends. And to those interpositions the suppliants appeal as a reason why he should again interpose and save them in their sore calamities.—J. Isaiah 64:5-11 The cry of humiliation and of hope. I. THE . "Woe are we, for we are unclean!" Like the leper, dwelling alone without the camp (Leviticus 13:44-46), so is the people; as he is cut off from the society of men, so they from the converse of God; or as something ceremonially polluted and defiled (Le Isaiah 5:2; Deuteronomy 14:19), or morally defiled (Job 14:4). The language carries a feeling of intense abhorrence. Under another figure, their penal offences have "carried them away like the wind," whither Jehovah is not; and they are as the leaves fallen and faded, from which all beauty has disappeared. In this degeneracy the very conscience and the religions instinct is dead, or in a state of lethargy. "How aptly is the state of a sinful world described! How indisposed to rouse itself to call upon God!" No man rises to God without an effort; and unless men make an effort for this, they fall into the stupidity of sin as certainly as a drowsy man sinks back into deep sleep. So nerveless are they, they cannot "stir themselves" to take hold on God. He, on the other hand, seems to have hidden his face from them, and to have given them over into the hand of their sins—if this be the true rendering. Their iniquities tyrannize over them; they pine in them, and moral life seems, under such conditions, hopeless. II. THE PLEA OF THE CHURCH. 1. She reminds him of the fatherly relation. This includes creative energy and providential will. He has made them and moulded them, as clay is moulded by the potter. He, therefore, must restore them, and he alone; for they are wholly in his hand, and under his control. "The whole verse is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God. It expresses the feeling which all have under the conviction of sin, when sensible that they are exposed to the Divine displeasure for their transgressions. Then they feel, if they are to be saved, it must be by the mere sovereignty of God; and they implore his interposition to ’mould and guide them at his will.’ Only when sinners have this feeling do they hope for relief; and then they feel that if they are lost, it will be right; if saved, it will be because God moulds them as the potter does the clay." 2. She reminds him of other motives for his interference. His holy cities have become waste, the holy and splendid house of Jehovah reduced to ruins, with all its precious objects. The land and the temple were alike dedicated, consecrated to God, hallowed also by the memory of ancestral piety. And what attachment stronger than that to places of worship where our forefathers engaged in the service of God? "It would be difficult to find any passage in the Bible, or out of it, to equal this in pathos. Here was an exiled people, long suffering in a distant land, with the reflection that their homes were in ruins, their splendid temple long since fired and lying in ruins, the rank grass growing in their streets, their country overrun by beasts and with a rank vegetation. To that land they sighed to return; and here, with the deepest emotion, they plead with God on behalf of their desolate country. We should go to God with deep emotion when his Church is prostrate, and then is the time when we should use the most tender pleadings, and our heart should be melted within us." We are reminded also of the lesson of childlikeness in prayer. Why should we ever be ashamed of the child-heart and the child’s utterance, "crying in the night, and with no language but a cry"? "Wilt thou hold thy peace?" If there is any meaning in the names "Father" and "child" in religion, then such language is natural, reverent, justifiable; and the energy of the soul from which it springs is prevailing with the All-powerful and the All-merciful. "Here is a model of affectionate and earnest entreaty for Divine interposition in the day of calamity. Thus may all God’s people learn to approach him as a Father, and feel that they have the inestimable privilege, in times of trial, of making known their wants to the Most High. Thus pleading, he will hear us; thus presenting our cause, he will interpose to save us."—J. BY W.M. STATHAM The averted face. "Thou hast bid thy face from us." If so we cannot be happy. The universe itself will refuse to strike out its sweetest notes of joy for us. It is a Father’s world, and must have a Father’s love in it all to make us blessed! One of the oldest, sweetest prayers in the Bible is, "God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us." The Christian must have this blessing. You say, "Ah! but men of the world can enjoy nature and society without God." It is manifest, you declare, that they do. Certainly; but even then it is a surface-joy, even then it may be disturbed by the Egyptian death’s-head at the feast; by memories flashing across the mind; some vulture may suddenly swoop down upon its prey in their hearts. But a Christian has his joy in God, and without him he is out of health, sick, faint, weary, sad. Spiritual health is necessary to the soul who has known God, to make enjoyment complete and real. I. THIS IS NOT AN ACT. Some parents are by turn tender and severe; they indulge and they punish in hasty moods. Their frame of mind is not regulated by high principle, by a healthy estimate of things. It is otherwise with God. The earliest records tell us that to deal with the righteous as with the wicked is far from him. Yes, very far! We read in Isaiah that God had hidden his face from the house of Jacob, but it was because they had "sought out them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards." "Should not," says the prophet, "a people seek unto their God?" And again Isaiah says, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you" This is the secret of the hiding. Sin is against the peace, purity, beauty, order of the universe, and it wrongs a man’s own soul. Would it be right to smile, then? Mark, God does not hide his face because of old sins that have been repented of and forgiven. Remember that there is no human meanness in God’s nature. He does not touch the heart with pain about old delinquencies. "Thy sins and thine iniquities will I remember no more." I am told that there are some people who do not pray for the forgiveness of sins, because they are Christians, and all has been forgiven them unto the end. What a perversion! Is not the very test of their being Christ’s at all something more than present feeling; viz. that enduring unto the end they shall be saved? Then they find the Lord’s Prayer a difficulty—"Forgive us our trespasses," and they suggest that that was only a provisionary prayer, until the dispensation of the Spirit came! Such methods would destroy the whole authority of Scripture. A man might hear me take a text and say, "That was said to apostles," implying it was only meant for them. No! we sin every day, and we need a fountain ever open for sin and uncleanness. We need as much the prayer for daily forgiveness as we do for daily bread. It is when sin is indulged in by us who profess to love him—when it becomes sweet, when it becomes habitual, when it has withdrawn us from the Divine fellowship—that God hides his face. II. THIS IS TO ALL JOY. We are made to enjoy nature and men. We are constituted for every variety of joy. But as one nerve in agony can destroy all the rest of night, so a sin that separates us from God can darken all other joy. Even in the sweet summer-time, when holiday comes, we still need him. The golden-sanded bay, the landscape full of greens and greys, the iridescence of light through the clouds above the mountains, the scent of the pines, the delicate harmonies of colour in the fields, the mossy carpet of the woods, the russet roofs of cottages half hidden in the blossoms of summer,—all these, so restful and refreshing, lose their charm if the Saviour’s smile be absent, if we cannot hear his voice amid the groves and hills, and at evening feel "we have walked with God to-day." It was true in the old dispensation, when the revelation was through patriarchs, and prophets, and symbols, and sacrifices; but it is intensely true now, that we have seen God in the face of Jesus Christ—that God’s averted face is the soul’s severest punishment. We have come very near to God. No human priesthood intervenes now. We have boldness of access by faith to the throne of God. No veil is over the holy of holies now. We draw near through the rent veil—that is to say, Christ’s flesh. Consequently enjoyment deepens; consequently also the sorrow deepens when I sin. Why? Because the more clearly I have seen the face, the more I feel its averted glance. III. THIS IS THE MOST OF ALL TESTS. It has to do with the life within as well as the conduct without. There, where no eye of man reaches—there, in the galleries where no foot of man ever treads—are the sights and sounds which may drive away the Divine Guest. Long before sin incarnates itself in deeds, before it becomes actual and open, the evil is at work. The tree is rotten while the bark is sound. First make the tree good. Yes; and remember that decay always begins at central points outside the reach of man’s observation. Yes, and outside the reach of our own observation sometimes. Hence the prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 1. Men like other tests. Their "opinions," their attendance at sacraments, their absolution by confessors, their consistency of conduct. 2. Men realize the power of this in times of anxiety and trial, Now that they are brought low in sickness; now that friends are separated from them who used to cheer and inspire them; now that they are very near to the valley of the shadow of death—nothing will do but reality then. The words of others, their good opinions of us,—all these stand for less than nothing then. May God’s face shine in again upon our souls now! That is heaven—at least, it is the premonition of it. All our worst sorrows will flee like the weird shadows on the mountains before the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. It is pleasant for others to smile on us—to walk in the light of human appreciation and love. Households feel this; Churches feel it. Sometimes noble and valiant men in great Reformation eras have to do without it. The light varies so, too; it is so uncertain at the best. But this shining of the face of God makes the heart restful and gladsome everywhere. We shall one day enjoy it to the full. No clouds of sin or doubt will intervene between us and God. So is it with the blessed dead. Many times the beautiful descriptions St. John gives of heaven in the Apocalypse are negative. "No curse," "no night," "no sorrow," "no more death." But once it is positive: "They shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their foreheads."—W.M.S. BY W. Hope in God. The fervent language of the text is indicative of an intense spiritual struggle; the heart of the prophet is filled with conflicting hopes and fears. Sensible of great national sins, but mindful of great mercies at the hand of God, he now fears lest Israel has gone beyond redemption, and now prays for Divine rescue and restoration. We have— I. A SENSE OF GOD’S POWER. Israel was brought very low; her land was desolate, her people scattered, her ordinances unobserved; but let God once appear in his majesty and his strength, and everything would be subdued before him; the enemy would be utterly routed, the cause of truth and piety would immediately triumph (Isaiah 64:1-3). Low as the Church may be found at any time, it only needs that God’s presence should be manifested, and his power be exercised, and the strongest mountains of difficulty will melt away, prejudice be uprooted, hatred be cast out, unbelief be dislodged, indifference and indecision be consumed, earnest thought be enkindled, piety and virtue be made to burn and to enlighten. II. A OF HIS . (Isaiah 64:5.) God meets with the tokens of his favour those that rejoice to work righteousness, that remember him in his appointed ways—in worship, in thanksgiving, in obedience, in filial submission; but he is wroth with Israel, and righteously so, for Israel has sinned. In every age and land he that works righteousness is accepted and blessed of God; at all times and in every place the man that sins against his conscience must confront the anger of God, showing itself in one or more of a number of ways—in compunction, in ignominy, in desolation and ruin, in sickness, in desertion and loneliness, or in early death. III. A OF UTTER . "In those [sins] is continuance;" or long have we continued in our sins, "and shall we be saved?" (Isaiah 64:5). Is there salvation to be found for the nation that for whole generations has forsaken its God? is there mercy to be had for the individual soul that for whole periods of life has lived in guilty negligence of a Divine Father and Saviour? IV. A OF HIS . (Isaiah 64:4.) It is. "Jehovah of hosts" alone that wrought these marvellous deliverances for his expectant people. All other deities ignominiously and pitiably failed their devotees in the hour of trial. Their idols had mouths, but they spake not; they had hands, but they handled not; their voice could not command the storm, nor their arm arrest the tide. But the history of the people of God and of the Church of God is a history of Divine goodness and grace, of interposition in the time of peril, of redemption from ruin, of gracious and glorious manifestations of Divine affection and attachment. This encourages to— V. A PRAYER FOR HIS . "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens! that thou wouldest come down!" (Isaiah 64:1). Our unworthiness is very great, but thy mercy is large and free; make thy presence known, thy power felt, in the midst of us.—C. Life as a leaf. There are three volumes in the great work of God by which he is educating us—the written Word, Divine providence, and the world in which he has placed us. There are many pages in this last volume, and we do well to read them with reverent spirit. We may learn many things from the vegetation which clothes and adorns the world, and which supplies us with food and medicine and shelter. The fading of the leaf is particularly suggestive; we are reminded that— I. ALL IS NOT LOST TO THE TREE WHEN THE LEAF FALLS. The leaf has been a recipient from the trunk, drinking in its vital juices, but it has been giving as well as receiving; it has been absorbing sunshine and air and moisture, and has been passing these on to the trunk, doing this in the very act of decaying, so that when the leaf has fallen its most precious part remains behind. We are large recipients from the society to which we belong, but we should be continually giving as well as taking. Before we fall, and even as we fade, we may be, and should be, imparting wisdom and truth, all wholesome and helpful principles, a reverent and holy spirit, by which the community will be the better and the richer when we are no longer seen or even remembered. II. THERE IS AN BUT BEAUTY IN DECAY. The russet tints of autumn are very exquisite, but it is the beauty of decay. Each particular leaf is pitted and spotted and torn, and it owes its colour to the decomposition which has begun. So is it with some fair human institutions: there may be the grandeur or the brilliancy of external prosperity—superficially regarded they are interesting, fair, admirable—but there is no inward soundness; it is not the excellency of growing life we are looking upon, but the melancholy beauty of decay. III. THE OF DECLINE. A psalmist and a prophet speak poetically of" trees whose leaves do not fade." But such trees, we know, are not found in the vegetable kingdom. Human hearts need not fade. They who are ever drinking in the sunshine of Divine truth, who bathe in the waters of Divine wisdom, on whom fall continually the dews of the Divine Spirit—these are "trees planted by the rivers of water," and "their leaf does not wither; ’ they keep their freshness, their purity, their joy to the last; they never lose it. But human lives must. We all do fade as a leaf; the time must be reached when the physical and mental powers begin to decline, and then life lessens in its force and its range from year to year, until the gust comes which brings down the faded leaf to the earth. Prudence may put off the date, but the experience is inevitable and must be faced. We must be provided with a true and real consolation. IV. THE OF THE GRADUAL WITH THE SUDDEN IN THE DECLINE OF LIFE. Everything, in the history of the leaf, is a gradual process, until the last killing frost or pelting rain detaches it from the bough. Death is seldom quite sudden, usually much less so than it seems. It is generally the case that the vigour of the frame has been impaired and the vital powers lessened before the attack proves fatal. We all do fade as a leaf; we decline before we die, we fade before we fall, we walk down the hill by many paces before we take the last step and touch the bottom. Yet is there, almost always, something sudden in the great removal. The day of the Lord still comes as a thief in the night. V. HUMAN LIFE, UNLIKE THE LEAF, HAS NO FIXED TIME TO DROOP AND DIE. We know the season of the falling leaf, but the time of failing health and of the departing spirit we do not know. Well sings Mrs. Hemans— "Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north wind’s breath, And stars to set; but all— Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death." C. Taking hold of God. We do well to associate with the words of the text those of Isa 27:5, "Let him take hold of my strength;" thus connected, we have before us— I. THAT WHICH GOD’S TO US, or that in him of which we have the greatest need. The strength of the father is, to the family, his providing and directing power; the strength of the mother is her affection and her unfailing sympathy; the strength of the elder brother is his protection, of the elder sister her example. The strength of any one to whom we are related is that in him which most powerfully affects our welt-being. There may be in creation many millions of beings to whom God’s strength appears to be that of his majesty, his infinity, his omniscience, his holiness. We also, the children of men, have a very large and deep interest in these, especially in his holiness. We give thanks at the remembrance of it (vide Psalms 30:4; Psalms 97:12). Without it we should not be what we are, and should have no hope of rising to the noble heights we have before us. But that in God of which we have most conscious need is (1) Divine mercy; (2) Divine bounty and guidance; (3) Divine succour. The one hope we have is in the assurance that God is strong in these, and we feel that if they are but directed toward us and embrace us in their beneficent course, all will be well with us. II. THE WE ARE UNDER TO IT. It may be said that God is so generous a Being that he does not wait for any action on our part to bestow his blessings upon us; that, notwithstanding human disregard and rebellion, he multiplies his mercies unto us; that the magnanimous Father in heaven makes his sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good. This is true, but it is far from exhausting the truth. To what extent we shall be recipients of Divine mercy depends on whether or not we "take hold" upon it. God is so strong, so abundant in mercy, that his grace overflows to those who seek not for it, and they are not "dealt with according to their sins;" they derive great benefit from the abundance of God’s patience. But if we wish to know all the fulness of Divine mercy as it is to be known by any seeking human spirit, we must lay hold on God’s strength in this direction. We must "call upon his Name" with penitential spirit and with true faith in Jesus Christ, and we shall have not merely the overflow, but the full cup of Divine mercy, his grace in all its richness and fulness outpoured upon our own heart—the forgiveness of all past sin and all present unworthiness, admission to his full friendship, freedom to partake of all the privileges which belong to the child at home, heirship of the heavenly kingdom. In the same way, it is necessary, if we would experience the fulness, the height and depth, and length, and breadth, open to us of God’s bounty and guidance, or of his succour in a time of special need, that we should "lay hold on him," on "his strength," in all these things; and we do lay hold by (1) maintaining toward him the attitude of sonship, and (2) going to him in the act of earnest, believing prayer. III. THE NEED FOR HOLY ENERGY IN OUR LIFE. "There is none that stirreth up himself," etc. If men complain that they have not felt the peace and joy, or found the provision and the guidance, or experienced the delivering succour which they looked for from waiting on God, the answer and the explanation may be this—that they have been cold in their approach and their requests to God, when they should have been eager and ardent; formal, when they should have been spiritual; unexpectant, when they should have been full of faith and hope; languid, when they should have been energetic; easily daunted, when they should have been earnestly persistent. They have made a feeble and futile effort, when they should have thrown their whole soul into the sacred exercise, into the spiritual work. They must arouse themselves, "stir themselves up."—C. A twofold plea. The prophet addresses himself to God in earnest prayer for Divine interposition, and he uses a twofold plea. I. THE AND FULNESS OF GOD’S . 1. God was their Creator. He made them as truly as the potter fashions the clay; they were his workmanship (Isaiah 64:8). 2. God was their Father. He had cared for them and bestowed on them his parental love; would he abandon his own children? 3. God was their Redeemer. He had rescued them from bondage, had given them their heritage, had made them "his people" (Isaiah 64:9). So fully and so intimately is God related to us now, and we can use the same terms with a deeper and larger meaning, taught of Christ and redeemed by his blood. II. THE OF THEIR . Zion a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, "the holy and beautiful house" a calcined ruin, the beauty of the land a barrenness and a blot. The extremity of the Church’s misery, its utter helplessness without Divine relief, is a strong plea with which to come to him who gave himself for it and lives to establish it.—C. BY R. TUCK Prayer for humbling manifestations of God. "Isaiah 64:1-3 are parallel to Isaiah 63:15, but grander and bolder. There the prophet, in the name of the Church, petitioned that Jehovah would look down on the misery of his people. Here a look is felt to be insufficient, so widely yawns the gulf between Israel and his God. A revelation on the largest possible scale is necessary to smite down unbelief and annihilate opposition; God himself must appear" (Naegelsbach). The prayer is for a Divine manifestation suited to the circumstances and necessities of God’s people as truly as the fire-manifestation of Sinai had been. The prophet seems to think that some overwhelming manifestation of God would silence the unbelievers, and put the hinderers out of the way, as nothing else could. There is always a tendency to trust in the extraordinary rather than in the ordinary methods of Divine working. We think men will repent, if only some one would rise from the dead and witness of eternal things to them; and God’s answer in every age is, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." I. SUCH PRAYER OFTEN SHOWS THAT WE FAIL TO NOTICE GOD’S WORKING IN QUIETER WAYS. Men do not pray for "lightning" who duly recognize what the "light" is doing. Yet the silent forces are the mighty ones. Atmosphere does more than wind; dew does more than storms; moisture does more than rains. God works his best work silently, quietly. We think big things must make a big noise. It is true of our everyday lives; the things that make our happiness and success are not prominent things that happen occasionally, but the ten thousand little things that pass almost unheeded, and that seem to us too small to hold God. It is true of our spiritual life. Living in the warmth of the smile of God does more for us than any special times of manifestation. It is true of the kingdom of God in the world. It cometh on secretly, no man knoweth how. II. SUCH PRAYER SHOWS THAT WE WANT GOD TO WORK BY RATHER THAN BY MERCIES. It means, "Appear, O Lord, to overthrow our adversaries." That, indeed, seems to be the tone of the prophet’s prayer in the text. He at least wants the hinderers and enemies forcibly persuaded, if, indeed, he does not pray for them to be taken out of the way. But it is never consistent with the Christian spirit to take prayers to God for the judgment of anybody. That is not the way in which to pray for hinderers, slanderers, or enemies. We are properly taught to pray that God would "baffle their designs and turn their hearts." If we rightly felt God’s presence with us now, we should not want to ask for any coming of his from heaven.—R.T. Man’s ignorance of God’s goodness to him. "For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee, which worketh for him that waiteth for him" (Revised Version). A very old weakness of humanity it is to try and find somebody who may be preferred to God, and this comes out of the fact that God is so very imperfectly known, or else is so very strangely misunderstood. A hint is here given us of the reason why there is so much misunderstanding of God—he has to be waited for. It is quite true of him that he is always working for us; but it is also true that he is often a long time in the working out of his purposes. Then, because men cannot get what they want done done quick, they foolishly begin to think that God cannot do it for them, or will not do it for them. They fail to see the Lord’s goodness. The point of impression may be, that in all the reviews we can take of the past, God has surely wrought good things, even if he has been long at the working. We may, therefore, cherish trustful thoughts concerning him, and be quite willing to leave the unfoldings of all the future in his supreme control. I. REVIEW GOD’S WAYS or THE WORLD. What a long time of preparation before he could manifest his Son, and, through him, teach the world the Divine fatherhood! II. REVIEW GOD’S WAYS OF THE JEWS. Their good things were always long in coming. Canaan was forty years away from Egypt. Restoration was seventy years away from judgment. III. REVIEW GOD’S WAYS OF HIS CHURCH. Our hardest work nowadays is to hold fast the conviction that the Church is sanctifying, for the process seems so long, and the waiting-time is so trying. IV. REVIEW GOD’S IN LIVES. Who of us has not had to learn the lesson of the goodness of God in what he holds off, out of our reach, and makes us wait for and work for long? Do not let us, then, ever mistake God. It is ours to wait for him, and to wait on him, but we may hold the good cheer of this faith—he is surely "working for every one that can wait for him."—R.T. The sincere man’s estimate of himself. "For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." This is the language indeed of an intercessor, of one who speaks as representing the nation, and tries to speak as the nation should speak. But such a man must get at the knowledge of the condition of the nation by a deep and true estimate of his own real self. There is no sign of conscious separation of himself from his people. Right reading of his own life alone enables him to read theirs. And this is true for us also. No man who fails to apprehend the "plague of his own heart" will ever properly realize the evils of his own times. Pharisee-souls can never know the real sins of their age. Sincere and humble souls find themselves—as they know themselves—the measure of the men around them, as they stand in God’s sight. I. THE SINCERE MAN FINDS HIS IS . A man’s own goodness is no more than a crust put over a state of uncleanness. Before God a man sees it to be no more than a crust. A man’s own goodness is a dainty garment, which makes a brave appearance. Before God a man sees that it does but cover a foul person, and the foul person has polluted the dress. There is no place where we find out the worthlessness of our own goodness like the place of prayer. II. THE SINCERE MAN IS WITH his OWN FRAILTY. It is not that he finds life fading; the thing that oppresses him is that he can never keep at a high level of goodness; he is always fading from his standards; he can no more keep on in goodness than the leaves can keep on the trees all autumn and winter through. One writer says, on the expression "we fade as a leaf," "This means that sin brings with it the curse of God, and deprives us of his blessing, both for the body and the soul, so that the heart is dissatisfied and distressed." III. THE SINCERE MAN . The past calamities of life are read aright, and seen to be a man’s iniquities taking him away from peace and prosperity. There is no standing steady for any of us who keep in our sins. If we cannot find out how our iniquities can be taken away, we shall be sure to find that our iniquities will take us away. When we are truly humbled under God’s hand concerning ourselves, we are fitted to make confession before God in the name of our nation.—R.T. Our Father and our Potter. "But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou cur Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." The prophet here is making no such assertion of the absolute sovereignty of God as we associate with the figure of the potter because of St. Paul’s use of it in Romans 9:20, Romans 9:21. Here the power of the great Potter is made the ground of prayer. "The clay intreats him to fashion it according to his will, and has faith in his readiness, as well as in his power, to comply with that prayer. The thought of the ’potter’ becomes, in this aspect of it, one with that of the fatherhood of God." Fausset says, "Unable to mould themselves aright, they beg the sovereign will of God to mould them into salvation, even as he made them at first, and is their Father." The idea of the fatherhood of God, as held by the Jews, differs as materially from the idea held by us, as our impressions of human fatherhood differs from theirs. To us the association of "father" and "potter" is incongruous; but to Easterns, who hold the absolute rights of fathers, it was quite a natural association. What may we learn by the linking of the two terms together? I. Potter reminds us that God can answer our prayer BY THE MASTERY OF OUR . The clay must yield under the potter’s hands. He makes of it what. vessel he pleases. He makes or mars as he pleases. So we say, "Our times are in thine hands." All belonging to us is fully within the Divine control. He can mould as he pleases the "clay" of our circumstances, so that our prayers shall be answered. The "we" of the text is not "we as individuals," but "we inclusive of all our surroundings and associations." II. Father reminds us that God can answer our prayers UPON DUE OF US. Father brings in the element of feeling and personal relationship. Beyond what God can do, we have the most gracious assurances as to what he will do. This should lead us on to the Christian conception of answer to prayer, based on our Lord’s words, "If ye then know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him?"—R.T. SECTION XI.—GOD’S ANSWER TO THE EXILES’ PRAYER (Isaiah 65:1-25.) Isaiah 65:1-7 ISRAEL’S THE JUST MEED OF THEIR SINS. God’s mercy is such that it even overflows upon those who are outside the covenant (Isaiah 65:1). It has been offered to Israel, but Israel has rejected it. Their rebellion, their idolatries, and their pride have caused, and must continue to cause, their punishment (Isaiah 65:2-7). Isaiah 65:1 I am sought; rather, inquired of, or consulted (comp. Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 20:3, Ezekiel 20:31). The application of the text by St. Paul (Romans 10:20) to the calling of the Gentiles will be felt by all believers in inspiration to preclude the interpretation which supposes Israel to be the subject of Isa 65:1 no less than of Isa 65:2-7. I said, Behold me. This was the first step in the conversion of the Gentiles. God called them by his messengers, the apostles and evangelists. A nation that was not called by thy Name (so Gesenius, Delitzsch, Kay, and others). Bishop Lowth, Ewald, Diestel, and Mr. Cheyne, following the Septuagint and other ancient versions, render, "a nation that has not called upon thy Name." But this requires an alteration of the vowel-points, which seems unnecessary. Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands. Not exactly in prayer, but in expostulation (comp. Proverbs 1:24, "I have stretched out my hand," where the verb in the Hebrew is the same). All the day; or, all day long, as in Romans 10:21; i.e. continually, day after day, for years—nay, for centuries. A rebellions people (comp. Isaiah 30:1; and see also Isaiah 1:4, Isaiah 1:23; Hosea 4:16; Jeremiah 5:23; Jeremiah 6:28). The "rebellions people" (’am sorer) is undoubtedly Israel. In a way that was not good; rather, in the way that is not good; i.e. the "way of sinners" (Psalms 1:1)—the "way that leadeth to destruction" (Matthew 7:13). Isaiah 65:3 That sacrificeth in gardens (comp. Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 57:5; Isaiah 66:17). The groves and "gardens" of Daphne, near Antioch. became famous in later times as the scene of idolatrous practices intimately bound up with the grossest and most shameless sensualism. We have few details of the ancient Syrian rites; but there is reason to believe that, wherever Astarte, the Dea Syra, was worshipped, whether at Daphne, or at Hierapolis, or at Balbek, or at Aphek, or at Damascus, or in Palestine, one and the same character of cult prevailed. The nature-goddess was viewed as best worshipped by rites into which sensualism entered as an essential element. Profligacy that cannot be described polluted the consecrated precincts, which were rendered attractive by all that was beautiful and delightful, whether in art or nature-by groves, gardens, statues, fountains, shrines, temples, music, processions, shows—and which were in consequence frequented both day and night by a multitude of votaries. And burneth incense upon altars of brick; literally, upon the bricks. It is not clear that "altars" are intended. More probably the incense was burnt upon the tiled or bricked roofs of houses, where the Jews of Jeremiah’s time "burned incense unto all the host of heaven" (Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). Brick altars are nowhere mentioned. The Assyrians and Babylonians made their altars of either stone or metal. The Hebrews in early times had altars of earth (Exodus 20:24). The "altar of incense" in the tabernacle (Exodus 30:1-3) was of wood plated with gold; that of burnt offering, of wood plated with bronze (Exodus 27:1, Exodus 27:2). Solomon’s altars were similar. Elijah on one occasion made an altar of twelve rough stones (1 Kings 18:31). The Assyrians used polished stone, as did the Greeks and Romans. Isaiah 65:4 Which remain among the graves. The rock tombs of Palestine seem to be meant. Persons "remained among" these, in spite of the ceremonial defilement thereby incurred, either with the object of raising the dead, and obtaining prophecies from them, or of getting prophetic intimations made to them in dreams (see Jerome’s ’Comment.,’ ad loc.). And lodge in the monuments; or, in the crypts. "N’tsurim may refer to the mysteries celebrated in natural caves and artificial crypts" (Delitzsch). An account of such mysteries is given by Chwolsohn in his’ Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus,’ vol. it. pp. 332, et seq. Which eat swine’s flesh. Not in mere defiance of the Law, but in sacrificial meals (Isaiah 66:17) of which swine’s flesh formed a part. Swine were sacrificial animals in Egypt (Herod; 2.47, 48), in Phoenicia (Lucian, ’De Dea Syra,’ § 54), and with the Greeks and Romans. They do not appear to have been employed for the purpose either by the Assyrians or the Babylonians. It was probably in Palestine that the Jews had eaten "swine’s flesh," at sacrifices to Baal or Astarte (Ashtoreth). In later times to do so was regarded as one of the worst abominations (1 Macc. 1:41-64; 2 Macc, 6; 7.). Broth of abominable things. Either broth made from swine’s flesh, or from the flesh of other unclean animals, as the hare and rabbit (Le Romans 11:5, Romans 11:6), or perhaps simply broth made from the flesh of any animals that had been offered to idols (Acts 15:29). Isaiah 65:5 Stand by thyself; i.e. "keep aloof—come not into contact with me; for mine is a higher holiness than thine, and I should be polluted by thy near approach." Initiation into heathen mysteries was thought to confer on the initiated a holiness unattainable otherwise. Thus the heathenized Jew claimed to be holier than the true servants of Jehovah. These are a smoke … a fire (comp. Psalms 18:8, "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it"). The heathenized Jews are fuel for the wrath of God, which kindles a fire wherein they burn continually (comp. Isaiah 66:24). Isaiah 65:6 It is written before me. The misconduct of his people is "written" in God’s book, which lies open "before him," so that their sin is ever in his sight (comp. Psalms 56:8; Malachi 3:16; Revelation 20:12). I will not keep silence (comp. Psalms 1:3). "Keeping silence" is a metaphor for complete inaction. But will recompense, etc.; rather, until I have recompensed, yea, recompensed [them] into their bosoms (comp. Luke 6:38). Gifts were given and received into the fold of the beged, or cloak, which depended in front of the bosom. Isaiah 65:7 Your iniquities. This is a new sentence, not a continuation of Isa 65:6, which should be closed by a full stop. It is an incomplete sentence, needing for its completion the repetition of the verb shillamti, "I will recompense." Which have burned incense upon the mountains (see 2 Kings 17:11; Hosea 4:13; Ezekiel 6:13; and comp. Isaiah 57:7). And blasphemed me; rather, reproached me (see Isaiah 37:4, Isaiah 37:17, Isaiah 37:23, Isaiah 37:24). Therefore will I measure their former work; rather, therefore will I, first of all, measure their work into their bosom. The expression, "first of all," prepares the way for the encouraging promises of Isa 65:8-10. Isaiah 65:8-10 TO A REMNANT. In Isaiah, and especially in the "Book of Consolation" (Isaiah 40-66.), promises are almost always intermingled with threatenings. The threats extend to the bulk of the nation; the promises are limited to "a remnant," since a remnant only could be brought to "seek" and serve God (verse 10). Here the announcement that a remnant would be spared is introduced by a simile from men’s treatment of their own vineyards (verse 8). Isaiah 65:8 As the new wine is found in the cluster; rather, as when new wine is found in a grape-bunch; i.e. as when even a single cluster of grapes is spied on a vine-stem, the vine-pruners say one to another, "Destroy not that stem, but spare it," so will God refrain from destroying those stocks in his vineyard, which give even a small promise of bearing good fruit. Destroy it not. The words are thought to be those of a well-known vintage-song, which is perhaps alluded to in the heading (Altaschith) prefixed to Psalms 57:1-11; Psalms 58:1-11; Psalms 59:1-17. "Each of these psalms was probably sung to the air of this favourite song" (Cheyne). A blessing is in it; i.e. "a boon from God" (comp. Isaiah 36:16; 2 Kings 5:15). Isaiah 65:9 A seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah. Scarcely, "the people of the two captivities" (Delitzsch), though no doubt many Israelites of the ten tribes did return with Zerubbabel (1 Chronicles 9:3; Ezra 2:2, Ezra 2:70; Ezra 3:1; Ezra 6:17; Ezra 8:35, etc.). Rather, a mere pleonasm, as in Isaiah 9:8; Isaiah 10:21, Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 27:6; Isaiah 29:23; Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 41:8, etc. (see the comment on Isaiah 40:27). An inheritor of my mountains. The whole of Palestine is little more than a cluster of mountains. The cluster may be divided into three groups: (1) The mountains of Galilee, extending from Hermon to Tabor, separated from the next group by the plain of Esdraelon; (2) the mountains of Samaria and Judaea, extending from Carmel and Gilbea to the plateau of Mature above Hebron, which Isaiah 3600 feet above the sea; (3) the mountains of the trans-Jordanic region, including those of Bashan, Gilead, Moab, and Edom, separated from the two other groups by the Jordan valley. The highest elevation attained is that of Hermon; other minor heights are Jebel Jurmuk, in Galilee, 4000 feet; Safed, also in Galilee, 2775 feet; Ebal and Gerizim, in Samaria, 2700 feet; Sinjil, 2685; Neby Samwill, 2650; and the Mount of Olives, 2724 feet. The plateau of Mature reaches a height of 3600 feet. The only Palestinian plains are those of Esdraelon, Sharon, and the Ghor, or Jordan valley. Thus the land may well be spoken of as "my mountains." Mine elect (comp. Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 45:4). The same expression is used of Israel in 1 Chronicles 16:13; Psalms 89:3; Psalms 105:6, Psalms 105:43; Psalms 106:5. God "chose" Israel out of all the nations of the earth to be his "peculiar people." Isaiah 65:10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks. "Sharon," instead of being "like a wilderness" (Isaiah 33:9), shall once more be "a place for flocks "—a rich pasture for the flocks and herds of the returned exiles. (On the position and fertility of Sharon, see the comment upon Isaiah 33:9.) The valley of Achor (see Joshua 7:24-26). The ’Emeq ’Akor was near Jericho. The two places seem to be selected on account of their position, one on the eastern, the other on the western border. My people that have sought me; or, inquired of me—the same verb as that used at the beginning of the chapter. Isaiah 65:11-16 A MIXTURE OF THREATS WITH . The prophet returns, in the main, to his former attitude, and resumes his denunciations (Isaiah 65:11, Isaiah 65:12); but, with Isaiah 65:13, he begins to intermingle promises of favour to God’s servants with threats against the rebellious, and finally (in Isaiah 65:16) turns wholly towards the side of grace and favour, announcing the coming of a time when "the former troubles" will be altogether "forgotten," and the kingdom of truth and right will be established. Isaiah 65:11 But ye are they that forsake the Lord; rather, but as for you who forsake the Lord. And forget my holy mountain; i.e. either, literally, forget Zion. being absent from it so long (Psalms 137:5), or, possibly, neglect Zion, though you might worship there if you pleased. That prepare a table for that troop; rather, that prepare a table for Gad. There is ground for believing that "Gad" was a Phoenician deity, perhaps "the god of good fortune" (Cheyne), though this is not clearly ascertained; sometimes worshipped as an aspect of Baal, whence the name, Baal-Gad (Joshua 11:17; Joshua 12:7); sometimes connected with other deities, as Moloch and Ashtoreth. The practice of "preparing tables" for the heathen gods was a common one, and appears in Herod; 1.181; in Baruch 6:30; in Bel and the Dragon, verse 11; and in the Roman lectisternia. The tables prepared for the dead in Egyptian tombs were not very different, and implied a qualified worship of ancestors. And that furnish the drink offering unto that number; rather, and that fill up mixed drink for M’ni. M’ni appears, like Gad, to have been a Syrian deity, the name Ebed-M’ni, "servant of M’ni," occurring on Aramaeo-Persian coins of the Achaemenian period. The word may be suspected to be cognate to the Arabic "Manat," a god recognized in the Koran as a mediator with Allah; but can scarcely have any connection with the Aryan names for the moon deity, ΜήνΜήνη, Mena, and the like. Its root is probably the Semitic manah, "to number" or" apportion," the word designating a deity who" apportions" men’s fortunes to them (τύχη, LXX.). Isaiah 65:12 Therefore will I number you; or, apportion you (maaithi)—a play upon the name of M’ni. The sword … slaughter. Not, perhaps, intended literally. Wicked men are God’s sword (Psalms 17:13), and deliverance into their hand would be deliverance to the sword and slaughter. The exiles suffered grievously at the hands of their Babylonian masters (Isaiah 47:6; Isaiah 49:17, etc.). The character of their sufferings is given in the ensuing verses (Isaiah 65:13, Isaiah 65:14). When I called, ye did not answer (see 2 Chronicles 36:15, 2 Chronicles 36:16; Proverbs 1:20-25; Isaiah 66:4). Isaiah 65:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; rather, thus saith the Lord Jehovah (comp. Isaiah 7:7; Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 49:22; I. 4, 5, 7, 9; Isaiah 52:4; Isaiah 56:8; Isaiah 61:1, etc.). My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry, etc. This entire series of contrasts may be understood in two ways; literally, of the two classes of exiles, the religious and the irreligious; metaphorically, of God’s servants and his adversaries at all times and in all places. The religious exiles would return to the land of promise as soon as permitted, and would there prosper in a worldly sense—have abundance to eat and drink, rejoice, and sing for joy (Ezra 3:11-13). The irreligious, remaining in Babylonia, would suffer hunger and thirst, endure shame, cry and howl for sorrow and vexation of spirit. This would be one fulfilment of the prophecy; but there would also be another. God’s servants at all times and in all places would be sustained with spiritual food, and "rejoice and sing for joy of heart." His adversaries would everywhere feel a craving for the "meat" and "drink," which alone satisfy the soul, and would be oppressed with care, and with a sense of shame, and suffer anguish of spirit. Isaiah 65:15 Ye shall leave your name for a curse (comp. Jeremiah 29:22). In their formulas of imprecation the Jews were in the habit of saying, "The Lord make thee like" this or that person, or this or that class of persons. The name of the exiles should be used in this manner. Unto my chosen (see the comment on Isaiah 65:9). The Lord God shall slay thee (see the comment on Isaiah 65:12). Some, however, take the words as part of the formula of imprecation. And call his servants by another name (compare what is said of "new name" in Isaiah 62:2). Isaiah 65:16 That he who blesseth himself; rather, so that he who blesses himself. The sequence of the argument is not altogether clear. Perhaps it is recant that God will call them by his own Name (Amos 9:12)—"the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9); and thence it will become natural for them to use no other name, either when they call for a blessing on themselves, or have to confirm a covenant with others. In the God of truth; literally, in the God of the Amen; i.e. the God who keeps covenant and promise, to which the strongest formula of consent was the word "Amen" (see Numbers 5:22; Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 1 Kings 1:36, etc.). Similarly, St. John calls our Lord "the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness" (Revelation 3:14). Because the former troubles are forgotten. When the blessed time has come wherein men call themselves by the Name of the Lord, and know of only one God as the Source of blessing and the confirmation of an oath, then the former state of human affairs, with all its "troubles," will have passed away, and the new era will be inaugurated, which the prophet proceeds to describe at length (verses 17-25). Isaiah 65:17-25 A PROMISE OF NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH. The final answer of God to the complaint and prayer of his people (Isaiah 64:1-12.) is now given. The entire existing state of things is to pass away. God will create a new heaven and a new earth, and place his people therein; and the old conditions will be all changed, and the old grounds of complaint disappear. In the "new Jerusalem" there will be no sorrow, neither "weeping" nor "crying" (Isaiah 65:19); life will be greatly prolonged (Isaiah 65:20); men will always enjoy the fruit of their labours (Isaiah 65:21, Isaiah 65:22), and see their children grow up (Isaiah 65:23). Prayer will be answered almost before it is uttered (Isaiah 65:24). Finally, there will be peace in the animal world, and between the animal world and man. No living thing will kill or hurt another in all God’s "holy mountain" (Isaiah 65:25). Isaiah 65:17 I create. The same verb is used as in Genesis 1:1; and the prophet’s idea seems to be that the existing heaven and earth are to be entirely destroyed (see Isaiah 24:19, Isaiah 24:20, and the comment ad loc.), and a fresh heaven and earth created in their place out of nothing. The "new Jerusalem" is not the old Jerusalem renovated, but is a veritable "new Jerusalem," "created a rejoicing" (Genesis 1:18; scrap. Revelation 21:2). The germ of the teaching will be found in Isaiah 51:16. The former shall not be remembered. Some suppose "the former troubles" (see Isaiah 51:16) to be meant; but it is best (with Delitzsch) to understand "the former heavens and earth." The glory of the new heavens and earth would be such that the former ones would not only not be regretted, but would not even be had in remembrance. No one would so much as think of them. Isaiah 65:18 I create Jerusalem (comp. Revelation 21:2, "I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband"). The description which follows in Isaiah 65:11, Isaiah 65:12 is quite unlike that of the old Jerusalem. A rejoicing. The "new Jerusalem" was to be from the first all joy and rejoicing—a scene of perpetual gladness. Her people also was to be "a joy" or "a delight," since God would delight in them (Isaiah 65:19). Isaiah 65:19 The voice of weeping shall be no more heard (comp. Revelation 21:4). The reasons there given are satisfactory: "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow … neither shall there be any more pain." But these reasons scarcely apply here. For Isaiah’s "new Jerusalem" is not without death (verse 20), nor without sorrow, since it is not without sin (verse 20), nor, as there is death there, is it without pain. Isaiah’s picture, according to Delitzsch, represents the millennial state, not the final condition of the redeemed; but this trait—the absence of all weeping—can only be literally true of the final state. Isaiah 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days; i.e. there shall not go from the new Jerusalem into the unseen world any infant of a few days old. On the contrary, even "the youth" shall reach a hundred; i.e. one who dies when he is a hundred shall be regarded as cut off in his youth. The general rule shall be, that old men shall "fill their days," or attain to patriarchal longevity. Even the sinner, who is under the curse of God, shall not be cut off till he is a hundred. What is most remarkable in the description is that death and sin are represented as still continuing. Death was spoken of as "swallowed up in victory" in one of the earlier descriptions of Messiah’s kingdom (Isaiah 25:8). Isaiah 65:21 They shall build houses, and inhabit them. The curse pronounced on apostasy in Deuteronomy 28:30 shall no more rest on God’s people. They shall have the fruition of their labours. No enemy shall be able to deprive them of their crops and houses. Isaiah 65:22 As the days of a tree are the days of my people. Trees endure for many hundreds, perhaps for thousands of years. The cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, were known to have an antiquity of centuries. Isaiah may have had a knowledge of other trees to which attached the tradition of a yet longer existence. In our own day Brazil and California have furnished proofs of vegetable growths exceeding a millennium. Mine elect shall long enjoy; literally, shall wear out; i.e. have the full use and enjoyment of the work of their hands. Isaiah 65:23 They shall not … bring forth for trouble. Their women shall not bear children to see them carried off after a few days, or months, or years, by disease, or accident, or famine, or the sword of the invader. There shall be an end of such "troubles," and, God’s blessing resting upon those who are his children, their children shall, as a general rule, "be with them;" i.e. remain to them during their lifetime, and not be lost to them by a premature decease. Isaiah 65:24 Before they call, I will answer. God is always "more ready to hear than we to pray." In the "new Jerusalem" he will be prompt to answer his people’s prayers almost before they are uttered. It is involved in this, as Delitzsch notes, that the will of the people shall be in harmony with the will of Jehovah, and that their prayers will therefore be acceptable prayers. Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together (comp. Isaiah 11:6-8; Hosea 2:18). The portraiture here is far less elaborate than in the earlier chapter, to which the present passage may be regarded as a refer-once. (For the sense in which the entire picture is to be understood, see the comment upon Isaiah 11:6-9). Dust shall be the serpent’s meat. Here we have a new feature, not contained in the earlier description. Serpents shall become harmless, anal instead of preying upon beasts, or birds, or reptiles, shall be content with the food assigned them in the primeval decree, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" (Genesis 3:14). Mr. Cheyne appositely notes that "much dust is the food of the shades in the Assyrio-Babylonian Hades". They shall not hurt nor destroy. Repeated from Isaiah 11:9, word for word. In neither case should we regard the subject of the sentence as limited to the animals only. The meaning is that there shall be no violence of any kind, done either by man or beast, in the happy period described. Men’s sins recorded in God’s book. As far back as the time of Moses, God announced through him that men’s sins were "laid up in store with him, and sealed up among his treasures" (Deuteronomy 32:34). The later prophets (Malachi 3:16), with the Psalms (Psalms 56:8), and the Revelation of St. John (John 20:12-15), speak of "a book," or "books, of remembrance," which contain the record of human frailty. Jeremiah says, "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1); and Daniel, like St. John, tells of a time when the judgment will be set, and "the books opened" (John 7:10). The heavenly registers record the acts of men, both good and bad; and in one register seem to be written the names of those whom God regards as "living ones" (Isaiah 4:3). This register is called "the book of life" (Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:12, Revelation 20:15). Such are the biblical statements on the subject. The expressions used are doubtless accommodations to human modes of thought, and are not to be taken literally. The great truth, however, which they convey is to be understood in the most absolute literalness. Men’s sins will not be forgotten, even when they are forgiven. They are all registered in God’s memory; and perhaps it may be found that each man’s sins are also registered in some secret place of his own memory, though at present he is unable to recall the greater part of them. All will be taken into consideration at the time of judgment, and all will be set forth in the sight of men and angels. There is nothing "secret" which shall not then be "revealed," or "hid" which shall not be "known." Men will be judged and sentenced "according to their works" (Revelation 20:13)—"according to that they have done, whether it be good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Where sin abounds, grace yet more abounds. The portrait of Israel in Isaiah 65:2-7 is painted in such dark colours as to suggest that it must almost necessarily be followed by the absolute renunciation of the whole nation. A people "rebellious," "walking in the way that is not good," "provoking God to anger continually," given over to a sensualistic idolatry, and yet proud, piquing itself upon its elevated religious position as a participant in certain heathen mysteries (Isaiah 65:5),—what can be done with such a nation of backsliders? Must not God sweep it from the earth? Certainly, if it were not for God’s abounding mercy; if the sight of a people given up to sin did not raise in him as much pity as indignation, as much compassion as resentment. After all, they are his children; they are his people; they are "all the work of his hands" (Isaiah 64:8). God, in his compassion, pours out his grace freely under such circumstances. He seeks among the lost, if so be that any among them may be saved. He offers his grace to them all, presses it upon them, "spreads out his hands all the day" to the rebels, entreating them to return and submit themselves, and be saved. What mercy does he show to Nineveh! Because it is "a bloody city … all full of lies and robbery" (Nahum 3:1), because "their wickedness is come up before him" (Jonah 1:2), therefore he goes out of his way to send his prophet to preach repentance to them. He forces his prophet to go to them; he puts his word into his prophet’s mouth, and makes that word, for the moment at any rate, effectual. Nineveh "repents at the preaching of Jonah," and, on its repentance, is "spared" for above two centuries. Israel now is spared, invited to return to Judaea, bidden to "dwell there" and "inherit it." And "a remnant" hearkens, and returns, and repents, and "does the first works" (Revelation 2:5), and becomes a great and flourishing and religious people. Isaiah 65:13-15 The contrasts of the religious with the irreligious life. The prophet notices three main contrasts. I. GOD’S ARE FED WITH A FOOD THAT ; HIS ARE BY A CRAVING. Man is so constituted that nothing short of his highest good contents him. Earthly blessings, health, wealth, success, fame, power, glory, leave a void in the heart which nothing earthly can fill up. The worldling is always dissatisfied, always desires more than he has, craves some fresh excitement, desires some "new pleasure." "Hungry and thirsty, their souls faint in them" (Psalms 107:5). With God’s servants the case is different. A Divine contentedness fills their hearts. They have been given to drink of a water of which "whosoever drinketh shall never thirst," but it "shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). They have God for their Saviour; they are at one with him; and in this communion they rest satisfied; they neither hunger nor thirst. II. GOD’S SING FOR JOY OF HEART; HIS HOWL FOR OF SPIRIT. "The voice of joy and thanksgiving is in the dwellings of the righteous" (Psalms 118:15). The love of God, which "casts out fear" (1 John 4:18), reigns in their hearts, and elevates them above the troubles and anxieties of ordinary human life. They "know whom they have believed;" they know in whom they trust. All their care they have cast upon God; and hence they are without care; their souls are full of an ineffable joy and satisfaction; they want nothing, unless it be to have their communion with God complete (Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 5:2, 2 Corinthians 5:4; Philippians 1:23, etc.). But the adversaries of God are always vexed in spirit. Worldly cares trouble them; worldly disappointments annoy them; doubts and misgivings with respect to the future weigh on them; an awful fear lest they have entirely mistaken the true end and aim of life broods over them. In the expressive language of Scripture, they "howl" through anguish of heart—complain, murmur, proclaim themselves pessimists. The world, to their thinking, is the worst of conceivable worlds; the scheme of the universe, if there be any such scheme, a gigantic fraud and mistake. III. GOD’S BRING A UPON THE EARTH; HIS LEAVE THEIR NAME AS A CURSE TO IT. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump": (1 Corinthians 5:6). God would have spared Sodom if it had contained "ten righteous" (Genesis 18:32). It is the existence of his servants upon the earth that especially commends the earth to his care, and causes him to watch over it, to sustain it, and to bless the increase of it. Moreover, the servants of God are a blessing to mankind at large, (1) as an example to them; (2) as a real help to them if they desire to amend their ways; (3) as in many respects ameliorating and elevating their condition. God’s adversaries, on the contrary, are in every respect a curse to the earth. They debase its moral tone; they stir up strife in it; they are the authors of war, bloodshed, enmities, calumnies, uncleanness, variance, sedition, heresy, blasphemy, and the like; they caused God once to "repent that he had made man on the earth" (Genesis 6:6), and they cause him continually to look upon the earth with more or less of disfavour. Their presence pollutes the earth, and makes it necessary that "the first heaven and the first earth" shall "pass away" (Revelation 21:1), and he superseded by "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). The new creation. It is difficult to harmonize the various passages of Scripture which touch on "the new creation." In one place (Acts 3:21) it is called an ἀποκατάτασις, in another (Matthew 19:23) a παιγγενεσία. Sometimes its scene appears to be the present world purified (Isaiah 2:2-4); sometimes an entirely new world created for the habitation of God’s people (Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 65:18). Perhaps the best explanation is that of Delitzsch, that there are to be altogether three worlds, or three ages. 1. The first age, or ordinary human life, as we have hitherto known it—a checkered scene of sin and holiness, of happiness and misery, of sorrow and rejoicing. 2. The second age, or the period of the millennium, in which "the patriarchal measure of human life will return, in which death will no more break off the life that is just beginning to bloom, and in which the war of man with the animal world will be exchanged for peace without danger." 3. And the third age, or a final state of happiness in heaven; or the heavenly Jerusalem, when death will be destroyed, and sin will be no more, and tears will be wiped from all eyes, and the former things will be passed away altogether (Revelation 21:4). The three ages are distinctly marked only in the apocalyptic vision of St. John the divine (John 20:1-31; John 21:1-25.). Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets have an indistinct view, in which the second age and the third age are confused together, the characteristics being chiefly those of Age II; but some of the characteristics of Age III. being intermingled. Age I. and Age III. are common to all the redeemed. Age II. will belong only to a select few—"the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands," who will "live and reign with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4). BY E. JOHNSON Isaiah 65:1-10 Threatenings and promises. Both, as it would appear, addressed to the chosen people, though many, including St. Paul, apply the earlier part of the passage to the conversion of the Gentiles. There is a polytheistic party, and a party of true believers in the nation. I. GOD WITH MEN. He "allows himself to be consulted;" he "offers answers," or "is heard" by those who came not to consult him. He was "at hand to those who did not seek him." To a nation that did not call on him he cried, "Here I am!" (Isaiah 64:7; Isaiah 43:22). It is actually he who "spreads out his hands"—"in the gesture of prayer; what a condescension!" (cf. Proverbs 1:24). And this "all the day," or continuously—"as if God did beseech you." It is a thought full of deep pathos and Divine beauty, that God no less seeks men than they seek him. He in a sense prays them to be reconciled to him. While, therefore, prayer is in one aspect the going forth of active desires after God, on the other hand it is the response to his action upon us. Not a day passes but the gentle mercy and love expressed in his providence offers its silent plea to heart and conscience: "Child of man! I love thee; come to me, and be at peace." II. THE OF MAN. The people are described as "unruly," and as "walking in a way which is not good, after their own thoughts." In the will and its licence, falsely called liberty, lies the mischief. The carnal mind is not "subject to God, neither indeed can be." In "will-worship" the indulgence of the senses and the caprices of the fancy, lies the source of idolatry. And thus they irritate Jehovah to his face continually. They sacrifice in the gardens and on the bricks, i.e. the tiles of the houses (2 Kings 23:12; Zephaniah 1:5; Jeremiah 19:13), or on altars of materials forbidden by the Law (Exodus 20:24, Exodus 20:25). They appear to be guilty of necromancy, of the consultation of dreams or citation of the departed. They incur ceremonial pollution by eating of swine’s flesh and other animals. And, initiated into some heathen rites, they had actually assumed a superior holiness to that of the people of God, thus caricaturing the true religion. III. THE WRATH AND OF JEHOVAH. Here, again, the strongest figures arc employed. These abominations are "a smoke in his nose, a fire burning all the day long." Nothing can more strongly express what is offensive and irritating. So in Deuteronomy 32:22, "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell" (cf. Psalms 18:5; Ezekiel 38:18). And with equal force the certainty of Divine vengeance is described. Either the sin of the Jews, or the Divine decree for its punishment, is written before Jehovah. The allusion is to the custom of kings of recording decrees in a volume or on a tablet, and kept in their presence, so that they might not be forgotten. Moreover, "the fortunes of men, past, present, and future, are all noted in the heavenly registers" (Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalms 66:8; Daniel 7:10). A book of remembrance was written before Jehovah (Malachi 3:16). From this follows the justice of Divine punishment. He will not keep silence; nothing shall suppress his just edict or sentence. He will certainly recompense, and in full measure; the large and loose besom of the Oriental garment being, by a figure, viewed as the receptacle of those Divine penalties (Psalms 79:12; Jeremiah 32:18; Luke 6:38; Exodus 4:6, Exodus 4:7; Proverbs 6:27). The firm scriptural doctrine that the consequences of ancestral sin pass over to posterity here appears (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Job 21:19; Numbers 14:18; Luke 11:50, Luke 11:51). There seems to have been a founding and an accumulation of crime which now threatens to sweep down every barrier before it. IV. THE BEAM OF HOPE. In this extreme of denunciation and despair a transition, as ever, occurs. His mercy is not "clean gone for ever." The majority of Israel may be evil, for all that there is ever a "remnant" according to the election of grace. The vintagers, finding but a few good grapes on a cluster, say to each other—perhaps it is the snatch of a vintage-song—"Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it." We are too ready to deal with men in the lump and in the mass—they are a "bad lot," in familiar language we say. But the Divine eye marks the element of worth amidst the most corrupt and worthless mass (cf. Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 10:21; Isaiah 11:11-16). That which has the germinal principle, the seed-life in it, he cherishes; he will, in spite of all that is of another quality in the midst of which it may be imbedded, preserve. So here, the mountains and the whole land from east to west shall be preserved by the people (Isaiah 33:9; Joshua 7:24-26). Tillage is the very symbol of peace, plenty, prosperity (Isaiah 30:23, Isaiah 30:24). A traveller may see in the valley of Sharon, when the sun gilds the mountain-top, and the flocks are returning to their fold, a visible expression of the future Paradise of God. "What a Paradise was here when Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, and sang of the roses of Sharon! What a heaven upon earth will be here again, when he that is greater than Solomon shall sit on the throne of David; for in his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth!"—J. The doom of the idolaters. I. THE SINS. On the one hand it is the forsaking of Jehovah, the forgetting of his holy mountain. It is the keeping aloof from the true worship celebrated on Mount Moriah. But the heart of man knows no deeper need than that of worship; and the setting of the tables before the images of heathen deities (lectisternia) witnesses, even as an aberration and a caricature, to that yearning for communion with the Divine which true religion and revelation recognize and offer to satisfy. Here Gad, a Canaanitish god, is named; and M’ni, a Syrian deity. Similar rites prevailed among the Greeks and Romans, and other peoples of antiquity. In the first ’ Iliad,’ at the sacrificial feast, the god is supposed to be present, himself a partaker, and a listener to the people’s song of praise. Between such worship and that of the Eternal, the sole and incomparable Holy One of Israel, there could be no compromise. II. THE CAUSE. The sword. There may be an extreme of human obstinacy and perversity for which there is no cure but the sword. And thus we may even see in war a Divine purgative, and allow some truth in the stern saying of one of our poets, "Yea! carnage is thy daughter." So the invasion of the Chaldeans was recognized as a scourge sent to chastise the abominations of the priests and the people (2 Chronicles 36:14, 2 Chronicles 36:16, 2 Chronicles 36:17). Want and poverty, and all the associated sufferings. And here again it must be admitted the "curse does not causeless come." There is a general connection at least between poverty, famine, and some neglect of Divine commands; and it may be seen in the lore of ancient nations in general. The time of drought was ever recognized as a time for special prayers and sacrifices. The name of the unfaithful ones shall become as a byword in formulas of imprecation. III. THE AND TRUE GOD. Ever, against the background of human infidelity and fickleness, he shines out in the splendour of self-consistency, the "God of the Amen," the "Faithful and True Witness." The "Amen" seems to refer to the solemn associations of the oath and the covenant (Deuteronomy 27:15). He stands in a sacramental mutual relation to his people. "They my people, I their God." If they be true to him, he will be certain to bless them. Religion has a deep mystical root—a conscience toward God, which in purity is the fount of all blessing, the defilement of which is the origin of all curse.—J. It seems that the leading thought of the prophet is the transformation of nature in harmony with the changed nature of man. Its grandeur needs not to be pointed out. Ordinarily, indeed, we think of man’s dependence on nature. If the thought be pushed to its limits, it ends in materialism. Spiritual religion, on the contrary, sees in the changes of nature a human pathos; its waste and desolation the effect of human sin, of violated Divine laws; its flourishing aspect and fertility the effect of human obedience and true religion (cf. Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 51:16). Upon the difficult interpretation of such language much difference of opinion naturally arises; but it is open to all to catch the inspiration of the thoughts. I. THE DIVINE ON THE NEW . It Was said of the Creator at the beginning that he looked with complacent joy upon his works. All was very good. It was the "joy of God to see a happy world." How much deeper the Divine complacency in moral renewal! Note the emphasis and iteration of the thought. Rejoicing, exultation, is the very key-note of the passage; weeping and the sound of crying is to be as unheard as at the gayest scene of festival. And may we not feel that beneath all the sadness, the discord, the gloom of this enigmatic world, the prophetic pulse of the Divine creation, love, is ever exultantly beating? May we not believe that there is ever before his eye the picture, rising to clearness of outline and brilliancy of colour out of Erebos and Chaos, of eternal day, of the new heavens and earth wherein dwell righteousness? There should be in every heart a prophetic sympathy, which should vibrate in unison with these oracles of God. II. . Under imagery, partly endeared to the Hebrew heart and fancy, partly of Oriental tinge in general, the heart of man resents the doom of an "untimely" death—it seems contrary to the intention of nature; and aspires to length of days as a good. Here it is predicated that no death in infancy shall occur; that one who dies at the age of a hundred shall be regarded as early lost, and even the wicked shall not be cut off before their hundredth year. "The number of their days shall they complete, and they shall grow old in peace, and the years of their happiness shall be many" (Book of Enoch, 5.9). Similar is the picture of the silver race in the ’Works and Days’ of Hesiod, ver. 130. The human race shall attain the longevity of the oak, the terebinth, the cedar, or the cypress. The proverbial sic vos non vobis will have lost its applicability. One will not build, and another enter the finished habitation; one will not sow, and another reap; but each man will "see the fruit of his labour;" the work of their hands the elect shall use to the full. The rising hope of parents shall not be nipped in the bud; nor shall the travail of body or of mind be mocked, as it too often seems now, by an empty result. That element of contradiction or seeming contradiction to the benevolent scheme of the world, which has perplexed the thought of sages in every time, shall disappear even from the animal world. The wild animals shall lose their ferocity, and the malignant infernal serpent, as it would seem, shall be banished to his subterranean domain. Here, again, we find parallel pictures in Oriental poets, and in the Romans Virgil and Horace. Perhaps few would be disposed to take these descriptions literally. It is, perhaps, impossible to conceive of the animal world remaining what it is in other respects, yet with its native instincts changed. Yet how great a marvel is the conversion of a single human soul! If the savage passions which rage there can be subdued and brought under the obedience of Christ, why need we despair of a nation, of a race? At any rate, all things assume a changed aspect to the renewed soul, which means the purged eyes, the deeper insight into the perfect wisdom and love which preside over the universe. The discontent we feel with the present scheme of things is a hint that the soul is secretly acquainted with their other, their ideal or Divine side.—J. BY W.M. STATHAM Requited toil. "They shall not labour in vain." This is God’s comfort to all his faithful servants. Success is not to be measured by our sight, or by the statistics and seemings of superficial men. I. ARE LONG DELAYED. It has been so in our foreign mission fields, and it is so often here at home in our Christian Churches, and it is so in our families. But the Divine seed only "slumbers;" it does not "perish." Harvests often sprout in greenness and wave in golden glory over men’s graves. II. ARE NOT TO BE BY THEIR . There, in a school or a church, some Henry Martyn, some Wilberforce, some Heber, some Livingstone, is brought into Christ’s fold. Perhaps that soul is the only one soul we can make estimate of in a whole year’s toil. We may, perhaps, feel disappointed—only one; but that one soul may be, under God, the means of giving spiritual life to a new continent. We must wait and work, and never weary, for Christ must reign. And the sower shall in due season reap, if he faint not.—W.M.S. BY W. The offensiveness and the doom of sin. The passage brings out in a very graphic form— I. THE OF SIN. 1. Assumption. "Walking after their own thoughts" instead of reverently inquiring God’s will (Isaiah 65:2). 2. Positive disobedience in the manner of Divine worship (Isaiah 65:3). 3. Superstitious practices, implying discontent with the disclosures God had made in his holy Word (Isaiah 65:4). 4. Irreligious self-indulgence (Isaiah 65:4). 5. Spiritual pride. "I am holier than thou" (Isaiah 65:5) All these things were hateful to the Holy One of Israel; they constituted "rebellion" in his sight (Isaiah 65:2); they amounted to a defiant provocation of his wrath (Isaiah 65:3); they were as a continual smoke in the nostrils (Isaiah 65:5). All sin, whatever be its form or name, is "an abominable thing which God hates:" it is to his pure eyes unutterably loathsome; it is as the leprous skin to the eyes of man—he "cannot look upon" it. It draws down his righteous condemnation. II. ITS DOOM. 1. We must not argue non-observance or indifference from temporary silence. "Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence" (Isaiah 65:6; Psalms 1:1-6:21). 2. Guilt accumulates with time (Isaiah 65:7). God mercifully postpones punishment, thus giving opportunity for repentance and escape. But if there be impenitence and continuance in sin, there is an awful "treasuring up of wrath," an accumulation of guilt against a day of account. Nations, families, Churches, individual souls, may well take earnest heed to this solemn truth. 3. There is an absolute certainty and fulness of penalty to the obdurate. "I will recompense, even recompense," etc.; "I will measure their work," etc. 4. Those who have abused their trust must look for a humiliating displacement (Isaiah 65:1). God will remove the chosen instrument of his truth and grace, and he will find another to do his work. Let the too-confident "children of the kingdom" beware lest they have to make room for those whom they have been accustomed to despise.—C. The hopeless. The husbandman is often tempted to tear up the vine, or to pluck up the herb, or to plough up the crop, when patience and painstaking would result in flower and fruit. In the spiritual world, it is often found that where death seemed to prevail, there was life beneath the surface. I. THE OF DEATH. The Church is so degenerate, that the teaching of Divine truth is found to be ineffectual; the nation so corrupt, that the statesman and the magistrate and the teacher are powerless; the family so depraved, that it is a pest to the community; the child so wayward, that parental authority is no restraint. Then is entertained— II. THE POLICY OF . Those who are pure, reverent, loyal; they to whom iniquity is found to be hateful; men that are anxious to use their opportunities, so as to get some spiritual returns:—these say, or are inclined to say," Let us leave these souls so fast imbedded in sin whom we cannot extricate, and let us seek and save those who can be reached and rescued." Then comes— III. THE PLEA OF FAITH AND PITY. "Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it." "Let it alone this year" (Luke 13:6-9). That root that looks dead is not dead, and under careful nourishment it will revive. That soul that seems dead is not dead; there is a seed of life in it still; beneath all its folly, its waywardness, its vice, its guilt, there is a possibility of true repentance; there is a sensibility which will respond to patient, human love; there is a spiritual capacity which the truth of God, made mighty by the Spirit of God, will touch with renewing power, and from which unsuspected beauties and graces will arise. Within the ugliest and most worthless souls there may lie concealed germs of real nobility. Wait long, very long, before you abandon to destruction. Over them, and of them, the Divine voice may be whispering, "There is a blessing in them for the loving, patient, prayerful workman."—C. Isaiah 65:9, Isaiah 65:10 From depression to prosperity. We learn here— I. THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD MAY FALL INTO A STATE OF SAD . "Jacob" and "Judah," at the time of this prophecy, were reduced to a very low estate. It seemed as if they would produce nothing. II. THAT COMFORT MAY THEN BE FOUND IN GOD’S TO THEM. They are still "mine elect;" still those whom the Divine Father pities and purposes to bless, for whom the Divine Saviour died, with whom the Divine Spirit pleads. III. THAT THEY SHOULD SPEND THEIR IN SEEKING AND IN SERVING. "My servants shall dwell there … for my people that have sought me." In the time of difficulty and distress let good men be earnest and constant in prayer; let them be consistent in life and active in holy labour. Then they will find— IV. THAT THEY MAY LOOK FOR A RENEWED AND A NOBLE . From end to end of the land (from Sharon to Achor) the scenes of pastoral industry shall be witnessed, and God’s servants shall dwell in the land; there shall be fulness and permanence of blessing.—C. The Christian view of age. These words are not to be taken literally; they are distinctly pictorial, highly hyperbolical; they indicate a state of future blessedness, employing images most likely to be impressive and inspiring at the time of utterance. They may suggest to us the Christian aspect of old age. I. THAT LIFE TENDS TO LENGTH OF DAYS, Health, and therefore life, depends most on habit. What shortens life is folly, irregularity, excess, anxiety, sorrow; Christian principles guard against these, or materially modify them. What lengthens life is purity, temperance, serenity, and cheerfulness of spirit; Christian principles are a security for these. II. THAT LIFE TENDS TO THE CHILD-HEART IN THE AGED MAN. A beautiful object is a "green old age;" an excellent thing it is when "he that is a hundred years old dies a youth." The best preservative of freshness of spirit, openness of mind, youthfulness of heart, is an unselfish habit. Disinterestedness of soul, broad and generous sympathies, active participation in all onward movements,—this will keep the heart of youth in the form of age. III. THAT THE PROMISE POINTS TO THE LONG FUTURE. "The shorter life, the earlier immortality." IV. THAT WE MAY DIE YOUNG, AND YET FILL UP THE MEASURE OF OUR DAYS. Our Lord died a young man, and yet he "finished the work which the Father gave him to do." Many martyrs, many devoted labourers in the field of usefulness, have failed to reach extreme old age, but they have not failed to accomplish the task which the great Leader had set them. The excellency of life depends on its quality, not on its quantity. "One day in thy courts is better than a thousand," etc. "Though the sinner die a hundred years old, he shall be accursed," and his life will be a bane and a blot. A very few years (or months) of holy service may be of inestimable service to the cause of Christ and of man.—C. The Divine readiness. Man is slow to respond. 1. His limited intelligence makes him slow to apprehend what is needed. 2. His imperfect sensibility makes him slow to feel the urgency of the need. 3. His feebleness of execution makes him slow to inter.pose and to effect. God is not under these limitations. His perfect readiness is seen in— I. HIS OF OUR . Providing this world for our habitation; preparing its soil and its seed; storing its coal and its metals, etc.; providing for our wants in sunshine and in rain, etc; which come without our asking for them; having all kinds of truth and knowledge ready for our inquiry; etc. II. HIS ANSWERS TO OUR PRAYERS. 1. Sometimes literally granting our requests at the very time of our asking (Daniel 9:20, Daniel 9:21). 2. Always virtually meeting us with an immediate response; for when he does not grant us all we ask instantly, as he could not do with any regard to our real and spiritual interests, he does hear us and heed us, and determine in what way he will bless us. III. HIS TO OUR APPEAL IN SORROW AND IN . There are two things in regard to which the words of our text are emphatically true. 1. When in sorrow we ask for his sympathy. When the cares, anxieties, disappointments, losses, separations of life, overtake us, then the stricken heart of man turns and looks for the healing hand of God, then the troubled child goes to his heavenly Father; and never vainly. For in the very act of an appeal, while we are yet upon our knees, before we have left the sanctuary, God has laid his kind hand upon us, Jesus Christ has spoken "peace" to our agitated spirit. 2. When in penitence we ask for his pardon. When, away in the far country of unbelief, or of wrong-doing, or of irreligion, or of unfaithfulness and Backsliding, or of indecision and procrastination, we hear the summons from the Father’s home, and when we say, "I will arise and return," what happens then? A Divine readiness to receive us, even as the great Teacher has shown us. Then the Father of souls does not wait to be convinced, and to be induced to pardon and reinstate us. He comes forth to meet us; he anticipates our action; he breaks in upon our confession with his words of forgiving and accepting love (Luke 15:21, Luke 15:22); he overwhelms us with the proofs of his Divine affection.—C. BY R. TUCK Isaiah 65:1-3 Divine reproaches. In the two previous chapters we find. the prophet, pleading in the name of Israel, had urged that God kept strange silence when his people were so long held captive, and their land lay so desolate. In this chapter we have the Divine answer to the prophet’s plea. There was good reason for the long delay. Instead of the people reproaching their God, their God might much more reasonably reproach them, for they had rejected his long and earnest appeals; they had put the stumbling-blocks in the way of their own restoration. They were not "straitened in God;" they were "straitened in their own selves." "He has called his people, but in vain; they have been obstinately deaf to him, unfaithful, and superstitious. The unfaithful shall be punished; but a faithful remnant shall be saved and restored to Zion, and from them the promises shall take effect" (Matthew Arnold). The Divine reproaches here may be regarded as addressed to three classes—the negligent, the wilful, and the insolent. I. DIVINE OF THE . There are always among us those who give no heed to God, whether he speaks in thunder-voice, or with the still small voice; in judgments or in mercies; from Sinai or from Zion. This is the most perplexing difficulty with which God’s ministers have to deal. Men hear, but give no heed. They even recognize the truth and importance of what is declared, but fail to see any relation in which it stands to them. No harder work is set before the servants of God than to break down pride and self-satisfaction, and awaken personal concern. Indifference to heavenly and Divine things keeps men away even from God’s "feast of fat things, and wines on the lees well refined." Ministers have constantly to be the arousing trumpet-blast, which cries, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." II. DIVINE OF THE WILFUL. The secret of wilfulness is over-confidence in self. A man persuades himself that it "is in man that walketh to direct his steps." Or, as Isaiah puts it, a man is quite comfortable, walketh "after his own thoughts," even though he goes in a way that is not good. Such a man opposes all Divine voices and messages, because he finds the beginning of every one of them is this, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God." Wilful people will have their way, but they will not have God’s way. III. DIVINE OF THE . (Verse 3.) "Provoketh me to anger continually to my face." It is strange that we must recognize a more hopeful condition in active opposition to God, than in dogged and sullen resistance, or in weak indifference. The man who can oppose has strength of character, and Divine reproach may be convincing to him.—R.T. The pride of superior holiness. Dr. W. Kay has a suggestive note on this verse: "A deep insight is here given us into the nature of the mysterious fascination which heathenism exercised on the Jewish people. The Law humbled them at every turn with mementoes of their own sin, and of God’s unapproachable holiness. Paganism freed them from this, and allowed them (in the midst of moral pollution) to cherish lofty pretensions to sanctity. The man who had been offering incense on the mountain-top despised the penitent who went to the temple to present ’a broken and contrite heart.’ If Pharisaism led to a like result, it was because it, too, had emptied the Law of its spiritual import, and turned its provisions into intellectual idols." Henderson says, "The conceit of imaginary holiness, accruing from certain external relations, and the performance of certain ritual or bodily exercises, such as the Jews have long entertained, and which is also awfully prevalent among nominal Christians, Jehovah here declares to be peculiarly offensive to him." The illustration of this "stand-by’ attitude is found in our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican. I. OF RITUAL. Religion may be a doing or a being. The religion of doing is the minute and careful observance of ritual. It may be ritual as appointed by God, or it may be ritual as arranged by man. A certain goodness, righteousness, bringing with it much self-satisfaction, and a great disposition to despise others, may come out of a religion of doing. Thousands have been fascinated by it in every age. And yet it is but an external matter, of the senses and of the mind; and it has always been found possible to keep it up along with heart-impurities and life-immoralities. The ritualist is not at all bound to be a clean-living man. Pharisees thought themselves holy, on the ground of their precise obediences; and it was a Pharisaic commonplace to live in self-indulgence and sin. Matthew Arnold, writing of such mere ritual holiness, says,:’ Doing all this out of superstition, and out of the vain notion that it will be of religious avail to them, they insolently repel their unsuperstitious and faithful brethren as less holy than themselves." In a thousand ways, and constantly, it is needful to press on attention that ritual is an aid to holiness, not holiness, and the danger of ritual is (1) that it may blind us to the goodness of those who are not holy in the same way; and (2) it may make us indifferent to the claims of spiritual holiness. II. OF HEART. (See the kind of holiness acceptable to God, shown in former homily on Isaiah 66:1, Isaiah 66:2.)—R.T. Contrasted lots of those who serve God and those who forsake him. This passage should be compared with Luke 6:20-26. "The blessedness of those that serve God, and the woeful condition of those that rebel against him, are here set, the one over against the other, that they may serve as a foil to each other." I. THE TWO KINDS OF LIFE. The man who fears God and sets his heart upon serving him, finds the promises fulfilled—"Verily thou shalt be filled;" "None of them that trust in him shall be desolate." He may take his place in anxious and troublous times, but since he is God’s servant, he shall be even as Elijah, fed by ravens, or by poor widows, if need be. The man who fears not God is left to ordinary human devices, and may be left hungry and thirsty and desolate. He holds no guarantee. The Giver of all good is under no covenant-pledge to see that he wants no good thing. "God’s servants shall eat and drink; they shall have the bread of life to feed, to feast upon continually, and shall want nothing that is good for them. But those who set their hearts upon the world, and place their happiness in it, shall be hungry and thirsty, always empty, always craving. In communion with God and dependence upon him there is full satisfaction; but in sinful pursuits there is nothing but dissatisfaction and disappointment." II. THE TWO KINDS OF . Trust in God brings peace and heart-rest. Those who know what soul-rest is, find it easy to sing and give thanks. "The joy of the Lord is their strength." There is good cheer and high hope in their souls. "God’s servants shall rejoice and sing for joy of heart; they have constant cause for joy, and there is nothing that may be an occasion of grief to them but may have an allay sufficient for it. But, on the other hand, they that forsake the Lord shut themselves out from all true joy, for they shall be ashamed of their vain confidence in themselves, and their own righteousness, and the hopes they had built thereon. When the expectations of bliss, wherewith they had flattered themselves, are frustrated, oh, what confusion will fill their faces!" (Matthew Henry). "The joy of the world resembles a torrent. As upon a glut of rain, you shall have a torrent come rolling along with noise and violence, overflowing its banks, and bearing all before it; yet it is but muddy and impure water, and it is soon gone and dried up: such is all the joy this world can give. It makes a great noise, it is commonly immoderate, and swells beyond its due bounds; yet it is but a muddy and impure joy; it soon roils away, and leaves nothing behind but a drought in the soul. Now, since the world’s joy is but such a poor empty thing as this, it is most gross folly for us to lay out our best love upon that which cannot repay us with the best joy" (Bishop Hopkins).—R.T. A new earth. The idea is that God will be sure to take care that a man’s surroundings match the man himself. He will have a new earth for regenerate men. He will have heaven for those who can be "holy still." The fundamental idea of the verse is that nature itself must be transformed to be in harmony with regenerate Israel. Long life shall be one of the marked peculiarities of the "new earth." Cheyne quotes the following similar passage to Isaiah 65:20 from the Book of Enoch: "And they shall not be punished all their life long, neither shall they die by plagues and judgments; but the number of their days shall they complete, and they shall grow old in peace, and the years of their happiness shall be many, in everlasting bliss and peace, their whole life long." Some take this text as a poetical representation of the new condition into which the returned exiles entered; and in that view we have an ideal picture of what ought to have been. We, however, take the more general principle that God makes a new earth for the new-born man; everything to him becomes new. And God makes a new earth for his sanctified Church—does make it, in a sense, now, and will make it, in a larger sense, by-and-by. In what sense, then, can we be said to want a "new earth"? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ SECTION XII.—FINAL AND (Isaiah 66:1-24.). Isaiah 66:1-4 THE UNGODLY EXILES REBUKED. Israel, being about to return from the Captivity, had the design of rebuilding the temple and re-establishing the temple worship. God rebukes this design in persons devoid of any spirit of holiness, and warns them that mere formal outward worship is an abomination to him (Isaiah 66:1-3). In Isaiah 66:4 he threatens them with punishment. Isaiah 66:1 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool (comp. Psalms 11:4; Psalms 103:19). The Hebrews, while they earnestly desired to have a material emblem of the presence of God in their midst, were deeply impressed with the feeling that no temple could be worthy of him, or other than most unworthy. "Will God," said Solomon, "indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heavens of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27). And again, "Who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before trim?" (2 Chronicles 2:6). Thus Isaiah’s note of warning was no novelty, and might rind responsive echoes in the hearts of many. Where is the house that ye build unto me? rather, what manner of house is it that ye would build to me, add what manner of place for my rest? God needs no "house;" and they cannot build him a house that could be in any way worthy of him. They, moreover, are unworthy to build him any house, which is the real ground of the refusal. There was no refusal, when the better part of the exiles, having returned, took the building in hand (see Ezra 3:8-13; Ezra 6:14, Ezra 6:15; Haggai 1:8-14; Zechariah 1:16; Zechariah 4:9, etc.). Isaiah 66:2 All these things—i.e. heaven and earth hath mine hand made; i.e. have I, Jehovah, brought into existence. How, then, can I need that men should build me a house? All these things have been, saith the Lord. The sentence seems incomplete. Mr. Cheyne supplies, "I spoke." The sentence will then run, "I spoke, and all these things crone into being, saith Jehovah;" i.e. heaven and earth, and all things that are therein, came into being at my word (comp. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:1). But to this man will I look; i.e. though I have made all things and all men, I will not equally regard all. Him only will I respect who is of a poor and contrite spirit, etc. (comp. Isaiah 57:15). Isaiah 66:3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; literally, is a manslayer. The full meaning seems to be, "He that, not being of a poor and contrite spirit, would offer me an ox in sacrifice, is as little pleasing to me as a murderer." Sacrifice, without the true spirit of sacrifice, is an abomination (comp. Isaiah 1:11, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord," etc.). There, however, the sacrifices are actually offered; here they are hypothetical. The ungodly exiles design to offer sacrifice to God in his temple, when they have rebuilt it (Isaiah 66:1). God rejects their offerings by anticipation. As if he out off a dog’s neck; i.e." would no more please me by the sacrifice than if he were to make an offering of the unclean dog." (On the uncleanness of the dog, see Deuteronomy 23:18.) He that offereth an oblation; or, a meat offering (see Le Isaiah 2:1-15). He that burneth incense. With his meat offering, as directed in Le Isaiah 2:1, Isaiah 2:2. Such a one is no better than he that blesseth (i.e. worships) an idol. It may be suspected that the ritual acts selected for comparison with those of the Levitical law are practices to which the exiles were given (comp. Isaiah 65:3, Isaiah 65:4). Yea, they have chosen, etc.; rather, as they haw chosen. The clause stands over against the first clause of Isa 2:4, "As they (gam hemmah) have chosen their ways, so I (gam ani) have chosen their delusions." Isaiah 66:4 Their delusions; or, their childish follies (LXX; ἐμπαίγματα). As God sends on some men "strong delusion that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11), so on others he sends a spirit of childish folly, which makes their conduct silly and headstrong. Persons whose characters are of this stamp are especially liable to vain and groundless "fears." When I called, none did answer (comp. Isaiah 65:12, and see the comment on that passage). Isaiah 66:5-14 THE GODLY EXILES . The scoffs which have long greeted those who believed God’s promises and expected the restoration of Zion, will be put to shame. The silence in which Zion has lain will be broken; she will be once more a city "full of stirs, a tumultuous city" (Isaiah 22:2). Suddenly, without any pains of travail, she will bring forth; and her offspring will be "a nation born at once" (Isaiah 66:8). The godly exiles are called upon to rejoice at the prospect (Isaiah 66:10), and promised peace and comfort in the restored city (Isaiah 66:11-14). Isaiah 66:5 Hear … ye that tremble. The godly are addressed—those that have a reverent fear of God’s word (comp. Isaiah 66:2, ad fin.; and see also Ezra 9:4; Ezra 10:3). Your brethren that … cast you out; rather. that put you away (Cheyne), or thrust you from them (Delitzsch). The verb used came in later times to designate formal excommunication; but here it points merely to a practical renunciation of fellowship. Said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy; rather, said, Let Jehovah glorify himself, that ice may see your joy; i.e. "said sarcastically, May the prophecies be fulfilled, and God humble Babylon, and release Israel, and restore her, that we may witness your rejoicing. We should gladly see all this; but we do not in the least expect it." And they shall be ashamed; rather, but as for them (i.e. those who so speak) they shall be ashamed. The event shall shame them. Isaiah 66:6 A voice of noise from the city … from the temple. The "city" and "temple" are suddenly in existence—they have sprung into being. The prophet sees Jerusalem rebuilt, restored, and hears sounds go forth from it—partly, perhaps, the sounds of ordinary city life; but amid these, there is a voice of the Lord, rendering recompense to his enemies. The Jewish state, restored by Zerubbabel, did, after a time, bring under subjection several of its ancient adversaries. Isaiah 66:7, Isaiah 66:8 Before she travailed, etc. Without any long delay, without any labour pains, Zion will bring forth a man-child—a whole nation, which wilt be born at once, and not grow up by slow degrees. The occupation of Jerusalem by the great body of the returned exiles (Ezra 2:1; Ezra 3:1) is intended. Such a second birth of a nation was strange, and without precedent (comp. Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19). Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? rather, can a land be brought forth in one day? It is not only a people, but a country, that is born anew; not only the Jews, but Judaea. Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth, etc.? i.e. "Should I arrange all the preliminary circumstances for the restoration of my people, and stop there?" (Cheyne). Nay, should I, having done so much, interpose at the last moment, to shut the womb? Without such interposition, matters have progressed so far, that the result must come. Isaiah 66:10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem … all ye that love her. The call to rejoicing is general. Restored Jerusalem is to be hailed with joy "by all who love her," whether her own children or foreigners. To both she will be a blessing (Isaiah 66:11-13). Isaiah 66:11 That ye may suck. Restored Jerusalem will be as a mother to all who love her, to all who have mourned for her when she lay as it were dead (1 Samuel 15:35; 2 Samuel 14:2). She will have "milk" to give to all—"the sincere milk of the Word" (1 Peter 2:2)—and from her both Jew and Gentile will "suck out no small advantage" (Psalms 73:10). She will also impart to them from the abundance of her glory. Isaiah 66:12 I will extend peace to her like a river; literally, I will direct peace to her, like a river. The waters of streams are in the East directed hither and thither by the agriculturist. God would have given his people "peace, as a river," long previously, had they permitted him (Isaiah 48:18). And the glory of the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 60:5, Isaiah 60:11; Isaiah 61:6, etc.). Like a flowing stream; literally, as an overflowing torrent. There is perhaps a contrast intended between the former and the latter times. In the former times Assyria had swept over Israel like an overwhelming flood to destroy her (Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 8:8); now the glory of the whole Gentile world should similarly overflow and overwhelm, but only to enrich and exalt. Ye shall be borne upon her sides (see the comment on Isaiah 9:4). It is Jerusalem, and not the Gentile world (Delitzsch, Cheyne), that will thus care for and caress her children. The continuance of the metaphor from Isaiah 66:11 is marked by the repetition of the verb, "ye shall suck." Isaiah 66:13 As one; literally, as a man. Israel is now looked upon as grown up, and receiving comfort from God himself in Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:14 Your bones shall flourish like an herb (comp. Isaiah 58:11). In the time of calamity, Israel’s "bones" have been "consumed’’ (Psalms 31:10), and "waxed old" (Psalms 32:3), and "burned with heat" (Job 30:30). Now they shall enjoy a time of refreshing from the Lord. New life shall enter them, and health and growth shall follow. The nation shall be rejuvenated, and "flourish" in more than its pristine strength. The hand of the Lord shall be known; or recognized, both in this merciful treatment of his servants, and also in the indignation with which he will visit his enemies. This last clause conveniently introduces the following "theophany" (Isaiah 66:15-18). Isaiah 66:15-18 THE WHICH GOD WILL TAKE ON HIS ENEMIES. A signal outpouring of God’s vengeance upon his enemies precedes the settlement of the Church in its final glorious condition, both in Isaiah and in the Revelation of St. John (see ch. 34; 35, and Revelation 19-21.). The wicked have to be removed before the righteous can be established in peace. Here the agencies employed against the wicked are "fire" and "sword"—fire pointing (as Delitzsch remarks) to destructive occurrences of nature, and the sword to destructive occurrences of history. God himself is represented as guiding and directing both agencies, to the punishment of the ungodly and the relief of those who trust in him. Isaiah 66:15 Behold, the Lord will come with fire. "Fire" is a usual accompaniment of a "theophany." God descended on Sinai "in fire" (Exodus 19:18), and led the Israelites through the wilderness by the pillar of the cloud and of fire (Exodus 13:21, Exodus 13:22), and filled the tabernacle with a glory as of fire (Exodus 40:34), and "answered David from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering’’ (1 Chronicles 21:26), and in the same way answered Solomon (2 Chronicles 7:1) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). Isaiah almost always describes a theophany as a "coming with fire" (see Isaiah 10:16-18; Isaiah 27:4; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:27, Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 33:12, Isaiah 33:14, etc.). The agency of fire in the judgment that will overtake the wicked simultaneously with Christ’s second coming, appears in 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Peter 3:7-10. With his chariots (comp. Psalms 68:17; Habakkuk 3:8). "Chariots," in the plural, may be regarded as symbolizing the "hosts" of natural and supernatural forces that God has at his command (Cheyne). Like a whirlwind. The whirring of the wheels of chariots, their noise, the swiftness of their pace, and the destruction that they cause, make this simile most appropriate. To render his anger; or, to expend his anger—to vent it. Isaiah 66:16 By fire and by his sword (see the introductory paragraph). The "sword of Jehovah" is spoken of also in Isaiah 27:1 and Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 34:6 (comp. Revelation 19:15, Revelation 19:21). Will the Lord plead with all flesh; rather, will the Lord judge all flesh (comp. Jeremiah 25:31, where the same phrase occurs). Isaiah 66:17 They that sanctify … themselves in the gardens (comp. Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 65:3; and see the comment on the latter passage). Behind one tree in the midst; literally, behind one in the midst. It seems quite impossible that "one" can mean "one tree," when no tree has been mentioned, and gardens do not necessarily contain trees. The marginal rendering, "one after another," is also impossible. The "one in the midst" must have been either a hierophant who directed the ceremonies (Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, Delitzsch), or an image of a deity (Scaliger, Voss, Grotius, Lagarde, Cheyne). In the latter case, we must suppose that the worshippers had a scruple about mentioning the deity’s name, and were accustomed to call him "one," or "a certain one" (comp. Herod; 2.171). Isaiah adopts their usage. Eating swine’s flesh (comp. Isaiah 65:4). And the abomination. The word is used generically of all the "abominable things" forbidden to be eaten in Le Isaiah 11:4 -30, as the camel, the coney, the hare, the eagle, the vulture, the ferret, the chameleon, the lizard, etc. The mouse. Probably the jerboa (see Leviticus 11:20). Isaiah 66:18 For I know their works. There is no verb in the Hebrew text, from which something has evidently fallen out. Mr. Cheyne supplies, "I will punish;" Gratz, "I have seen." "I know" is supported by the Targums, the Syriac Version, several manuscripts of the Septuagint, and the authorities of Saadiya, Vitringa, and Gesenius. And their thoughts; i.e. I know, not only their works, but even the thoughts from which the works proceeded. It shall some; i.e. "the time shall come." (For the full phrase, see Jeremiah 51:33; Ezekiel 7:7, Ezekiel 7:12.) All nations and tongues. This expression has been corn-pared with Daniel’s "kindreds and nations and languages" (Daniel 3:4, Daniel 3:7, Daniel 3:29; Daniel 4:1; Daniel 5:19, etc.), and has been regarded as a sign of late authorship. But "nations’ and "tongues" are coupled together in Scripture as early as Genesis (Genesis 10:5, Genesis 10:20). They shall come, and see my glory; i.e. "see the glory that I shall get me upon my enemies" (verses 15-17). Isaiah 66:19-24 THE FINAL OF THE CHURCH OF THE ON EARTH. When the enemies of God have been consumed, there shall go out from the Church missionaries, who shall convert the distant Gentiles, and unite them, and the Jews who dwell among them, into a single body of worshippers, which shall inhabit the new Jerusalem on equal terms, and join continually in a common worship of Jehovah. The awful destruction of the wicked, and their eternal sufferings, shall at the same time be held in remembrance. Isaiah 66:19 .—I will set a sign among them. Dr. Kay suggests that the "sign" is the resurrection of our Lord, or possibly a miraculous manifestation of Christ which is to precede his coming in judgment. Mr. Cheyne, less venturesome, finds in the prophet’s words merely a suggestion of "some mysterious event, which he leaves his awestruck readers to imagine." Those that escape of them. Not, surely, those of God’s enemies that survive the slaughter, but "the remnant" of Jews, that are not among God’s enemies, and so "escape." These shall be sent (as missionaries) to the distant nations; not literally to those enumerated, but to such as at the end of the world occupy a position which the nations mentioned occupied on Isaiah’s horizon. Of these nations, Tarshish (Tartessus) was at the furthest limit westward, Pul and Lud, or rather Phut and Lud, at the furthest limit southward, Tubal and Javan at the furthest limit northward, Pul, which occurs nowhere else in Scripture as a geographic name, is almost certainly a wrong reading for Phut, which occurs in Genesis 10:6, and also three times (Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 30:5) in connection with Lud. Phut designates an African nation, probably the Nubians, whom the Egyptians called Pet, and who were noted as bowmen. Wetstein’s conjecture of "Pun" (Punici, ’Phoenicians ’), commended by Mr. Cheyne, is quite unsupported and highly improbable. Lud. It is tempting to connect "Lud" with the Lydians, who were certainly known as "Lndi" to the Assyrians of the time of Asshur-bani-pal. But the other scriptural notices of "Lud" (Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 30:5), which uniformly connect it with Phut, point rather to an African people. See also Genesis 10:13, where the Ludim are a subdivision of the Egyptians. That draw the bow (comp. Jeremiah 46:9). To Tubal, and Javan. Tubal stands, no doubt, for the Tibareni, a people of the Asiatic highland west of the Upper Euphrates, called Tuplai or Tabali by the Assyrians. They would occupy Isaiah’s northern and north-western horizon, in company with Javan, or the Ionians (Ἰάβονες), who were among the chief people of Asia Minor. Javan, Tubal, and Mesheeh (Μόσχοι, Muskai) are joined in Genesis 10:2 and Ezekiel 27:13. The isles afar off; i.e. the shores and islands of the Mediterranean. Isaiah 66:20 They shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord. When the distant Gentiles have been converted, they shall bring to Christ the Jews of the dispersion, who dwell with them in the remote parts of the earth (comp. Zephaniah 3:10). Upon horses. The "new Jerusalem" being localized, the converts from the distant regions are represented as journeying from their own lands to the "holy mountain," and bringing the Jewish exiles with them by various methods of conveyance—upon horses, mules, and dromedaries, in chariots, and finally in palanquins or litters. "Litters" were used by the great men among the Egyptians from a very early date. They were also employed by the Persians (Herod; 3.146) and by the later Romans. As the children of Israel bring an offering; rather, bring the meat offering. The existence of the temple, and the continuance of the Levitical rites at the time of the delivery of this prophecy, are clearly implied. Isaiah 66:21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites; literally, and I will also take of them unto the priests and unto the Levites; i.e. I will add to the existing body of priests and Levites, who are pro-sumably Jews, fresh members from the newly converted Gentiles. The existence of a sacerdotal order, with distinctions of ranks, in the Church of the redeemed, is implied, and the gracious declaration is made that the privilege of furnishing members to both ranks of the order shall be conferred upon the Gentile proselytes. Isaiah 66:22 .—As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain. The "new heavens and the new earth," once created, continue for ever (comp. Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-5). So shall your seed and your name remain. This statement is usually taken to be a promise of some special pre-eminence to the Jew over the Gentile in the final kingdom of the redeemed. But St. Paul speaks of all such privileges as already abolished in his day (Colossians 3:11); and, if the priesthood is to be common to both Gentile and Jew, the principle of equality would seem to be conceded. Perhaps no more is here meant than that, as the "new heaven and new earth" will always remain, so there will always remain a seed of true believers to worship God in them. Isaiah 66:23 From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another. Not that "new moons" and "sabbaths" will continue to be observed, for "new moons" have already lapsed, and "sabbaths" too will lapse when life is one perpetual sabbath passed in the worship of God. The phrase, used by the prophet is intended to express absolute continuance without an interval. Shall all flesh come to worship before me (comp. Psalms 65:2). The prophet still uses habitual modes of expression, though speaking of a time and circumstances to which they are no longer appropriate. "The literal meaning," as Dr. Pusey says, "was physically impossible." "All flesh," in all regions of the "new earth," could not worship in one spot, "and so it was plain that Isaiah spoke of a worship other than that at any given place"—of a worship such as that whereof our Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father" (John 4:21). Isaiah 66:24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases, etc. Here is more imagery, which it is impossible to understand literally. The carcases could not remain always to be looked at, nor while they remained could the sight of them be otherwise than loathsome to God’s redeemed saints. Again, they could not be at the same time burnt with fire and eaten by worms. "The prophet, by the very mode of description adopted by him, precludes the possibility of our conceiving of the thing set forth as realized in any material form in this present state. He is speaking of the future state, but in figures drawn from the present world" (Delitzsch). Does he mean more than this—that the redeemed shall have in their thoughts, at any rate from time to time, the fact that, while they have by God’s great mercy been saved and brought into His kingdom, there are those who have not been saved, but lie for ever under the awful sentence of God’s wrath? This is a knowledge which the redeemed must have, and which may well produce a salutary effect on them, intensifying their gratitude and maintaining in them a spirit of reverent fear. Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. It cannot be by chance that the evangelical prophet concludes his glorious prophecy with this terrible note of warning. Either he was divinely directed thus to terminate his teaching, or he felt the need that there was of his emphasizing all the many warnings dispersed throughout his "book" by a final, never-to-be-forgotten picture. The undying worm and the quenchless fire—images introduced by him—became appropriated thenceforth to the final condition of impenitent sinners (Jud. 16:17; Ecclesiasticus 7:17), and were even adopted by our Lord himself in the same connection (Mark 9:1-50.). The incongruity of the two images shows that they are not to be understood literally; but both alike imply everlasting continuance, and are incompatible with either of the two modern heresies of universalism or annihilationism. They shall be an abhorring unto all flesh (comp. Daniel 12:2, where the word deraon is rendered "contempt"). The Jewish rabbis regarded it as anomalous that any portion of Scripture should conclude with words of ill omen. When, therefore, this chapter was read in the synagogue, or the last of Ecclesiastes, or Lamentations, or Malachi, they directed that after the reading of the last verse, the last verse but one should he repeated, to correct the sad impression that would otherwise have been left upon the mind. But Isaiah thought it salutary to leave this sad impression (comp. Isaiah 48:22; Isaiah 57:21). God to be worshipped in buildings, though no building can be worthy of him. Of a surety, God "dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 7:48) in any such sense as to be accessible in such places exclusively. There is truth, as well as grandeur, in the words— ’’My altars are the mountains, and the ocean, Earth, air, sea, all that springs from the Great Whole, Who hath produced, and will receive, the soul." And it is always to be borne in mind that we are in his presence everywhere; that he may be worshipped everywhere; that "the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him" (2 Chronicles 2:6); that he inhabits all space, as he inhabits all eternity (Isaiah 57:15). But, in condescension to the infirmity of human nature, he has been pleased in all ages that men should build him "houses" and has condescended, in a certain sense, to localize himself therein. At Sinai he gave exact and most elaborate commands for the construction of the tabernacle and its appurtenances (Exodus 25-30.) To David he communicated by his Spirit "the pattern" of the first temple’’ of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat, and of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, and of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things" (1 Chronicles 28:11, 1 Chronicles 28:12). On the return from the captivity he required the Israelites to "go up into the mountain, and bring the wood, and build the house," and declared that he would "take pleasure in it and be glorified" (Haggai 1:8). Under Christianity the first church was the "upper room" where "all continued with one accord with prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:13, Acts 1:14). Churches are human, not Divine, necessities; but God has been pleased to give them his sanction, as needed by man. Without them worship would decay, if not disappear; for men cannot live in the rare atmosphere of mere spiritualism. Isaiah 66:10-14 The blessedness of the restored Church. The restored Church is to Isaiah the Church that will endure from the return of the captives to the end of the world. The later Jewish period and the entire Christian period are with him blended into one, and present themselves to him as constituting a single phase of the Church’s life. Here he speaks to encourage the exiles, and dwells especially, though not exclusively, on the immediate blessings. I. THE CHURCH WILL TEACH HER SOUND . This is the special object of the existence of a Church, which claims to have a revealed "deposit" committed to it by God, and has, as the first end and aim of its being, to communicate this revelation to all who come within the sphere of its teaching. Doctrine is the milk on which the Church nourishes her children, and the restored Church will teach a doctrine which may well "satisfy" and which will be full of "consolation" (verse 11). II. THE CHURCH WILL BE , AND WILL IMPART TO HER OF HER GLORY. Though the Church is frequently, if not even continually, oppressed and downtrodden by the world, yet a glory attaches to her, whereof no persecution, no contempt, no contumely, can altogether deprive her. She is, whatever the world may think or say, "the holy Catholic Church," with Christ as her Founder, with Christ as her Lord and Master, with Christ as her King, the oldest and most venerable society in the Western world at any rate, and one in which membership cannot but ever be a high honour. III. THE CHURCH WILL ENJOY, BY GOD’S , MUCH OUTWARD AND INWARD PEACE. Peace was our Lord’s legacy to his Church: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27); and notwithstanding the facts of external persecutions, and internal quarrels and schisms, which occupy so large a space in Church histories, and so large a share in the thoughts of most Christians, it is nevertheless true that, on the whole, peace has flowed over the Church "like a river," and has flowed into the hearts of the bulk of her true members like an abounding stream. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21); but in the soul of the true Christian is a "peace that passeth all understanding," that wells up continually as from an inexhaustible fountain, and spreads around him an atmosphere of happiness. IV. THE CHURCH WILL DERIVE HONOUR FROM THE COMING IN OF THE . Further and further, as time goes on, does the light of Christianity shine, and more and more are the dark places of the earth illuminated. Long since did the Gentiles begin to come to the Church’s light, and "kings to the brightness of her rising" (Isaiah 60:3). But the process is not yet complete. Not a year passes but the gospel is carried into some new region by faithful and true missionaries, and the Lord adds to the Church fresh souls whom he wills to be saved. The incoming of the Gentiles does not now bring her wealth or worldly honor; but it is yet more for the true honour of the Church than it was when she converted the court and camp and people of the Caesars. For now her efforts bring her no worldly gain. She has to go out into the highways and hedges—the wild lauds of savage tribes or the yet wilder courts and allies of great towns—and to bring in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, the downtrodden, and the ignorant, and the criminal, and the houseless; to civilize and train them, and frequently to feed them and clothe them; thus following the commands of her blessed Master, and preparing for herself the high honour of hearing one day the glorious words, "Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" V. THE CHURCH WILL DERIVE COMFORT FROM HER LORD. "I will not leave you comfortless," said the blessed Jesus; "I will come to you" (John 14:18). In all their difficulties, in all their troubles, Christ comforts his people—comforts them with his Word of truth, comforts them with his gracious promises, comforts them with his presence in their hearts and souls. He comes to them, and makes his abode with them, and is a continual inward sustaining power, raising them above the cares and troubles and vexations of the world, inspiring in their hearts love and joy and peace. Isaiah 66:15-17 The purging of the earth by the destruction of the wicked. The kingdom of Christ cannot be fully set up in all its blessedness until the earth is prepared for its reception; and the main preparation required is the elimination from it of those wicked persons who, while they remain, must always constitute a disturbing element, inimical to the earth’s peace and a hindrance to the Church’s happiness. The teaching of Scripture is that, before the Church is finally established in the blissful position which it is intended to occupy, the removal of this element will have taken place. Partly by wars and tumults, by their swords being turned against each other, but still more completely by some miraculous outpouring of God’s wrath, typified under the figure of fire, the wicked will be cleared out from all parts of the earth’s surface, and only the godly will remain. The description of the day of vengeance is given, with the greatest fulness, in the Revelation of St. John (John 19:11-21), where, however, it is difficult to determine how much is imagery, how much literal description. "I saw heaven opened," says the beloved apostle, "and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True [comp. Isaiah 3:14], and in righteousness does he judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God [comp. Isaiah 63:1-6]. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him,… these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Isaiah 66:22-24 Eternal suffering and eternal glory. Holy Scripture sets before us,. as Moses set before the people of Israel in the wilderness, a tremendous alternative—"life and death;" one the eternal foil and counterpart of the other, with the exhortation a thousand times repeated in a thousand different forms—"Choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Man’s desire is to separate what God has inseparably connected, and to retain "everlasting life," "eternal glory," "endless bliss," but to get rid altogether of their counterparts—"eternal suffering," "everlasting contempt," "endless death." But man cannot alter the system of God’s universe, nor, could he do so, is it to be supposed that he would find himself able to improve it. Deep down in the nature of things lies the eternal antagonism between good and evil—an antagonism which would seem to be necessary to the very existence of good in created beings; and the teaching of Scripture clearly is that this antagonism continues for ever. Of the nature of the eternal glory and the eternal suffering reserved for souls in the world to come, it is impossible for us in this life to have anything more than a dim and faint conception. But some points may be laid down negatively. I. THE PAINS AND JOYS ARE NOT, , IN ANY SENSE . For (1) they exist in the intermediate state (Luke 16:23-25), where men have no bodies, the resurrection not having as yet taken place; and (2) they are described by contradictory material images, which would certainly not have been the case had the descriptions been intended literally. II. THE PAINS AND JOYS ARE OF VARIOUS DEGREES OF . For (1) we hear of "few stripes" and "many stripes," of rule over "five cities" and over "ten cities" (Luke 12:47, Luke 12:48; Luke 19:17, Luke 19:19); and (2) we are told that the rewards and punishments shall be apportioned exactly according to men’s deserts, and men’s deserts vary infinitely by infinitesimal degrees. III. THE MAIN OF MANY MAY NOT CONSIST IN PAIN AT ALL. Mediaeval divines spoke of many souls in the place of punishment as suffering only the paena damni, or "sense of loss" inseparable from being shut out from God’s presence, from the presence of the holy angels, and from that of the spirits of just men made perfect. This is quite possible, and in no way contradictory to the statements of Scripture. IV. THERE MAY NOT BE AN IN THE OF SOME OF THE . It cannot but be the case that the sufferers may bear their punishment with different degrees of patience, of obduracy, or of rebellion. As the determinedly rebellious would deserve, and may receive, an augmentation of punishment, so the more submissive and patient may conceivably have their burdens lightened. The very act of submission lightens the weight of a suffering, and a merciful God might be expected to show his approval of the submission by some positive alleviation of the pain. These are thoughts which may tend to mitigate the horror wherewith some persons regard the entire doctrine of eternal punishment, and prevent them from viewing it as incompatible with God’s essential attribute of mercy. At the same time, it must be granted that the whole subject is mysterious, and awful in the extreme—so mysterious and so awful that the greatest caution is needed lest we dogmatize upon it beyond the teaching of Scripture. Here, if anywhere, the warning of the preacher applies, "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou on earth: therefore let thy words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2). BY E. JOHNSON Spiritual and unspiritual worship. I. THE ORACLE OF JEHOVAH. "The heavens are my throne." What majestic poetry in that word! How sacred, then, the heaven! How profane, if once we rightly think of the force of what we say, to use the adjuration, "By heaven"! So Jesus teaches (Matthew 5:34; Matthew 23:22). It is natural to "look up" when we think of God; and then to "look down" on the "things of earth," which is but his footstool. "What manner of house would ye build for me?" The Infinite cannot be defined; God may not be localized. All forms may represent him; none can adequately set him forth. "His abode is not known; no shrine is found with painted figures; there is no building that can contain him". Herodotus says that the Persians impute folly to those who raise statues and temples and altars to the gods, "because they do not think the gods to be of human nature, as do the Greeks" (1:131; cf. Acts 17:24). But why should God despise the beautiful temple? Is anything more beautiful or true than the work of art? To disparage art we have to give way to dark superstition. Everything that proceeds from the mind God has made, he must delight in—it is his work. But, above all, he delights in the humble, throbbing, trembling human soul. "The most acceptable temple is a pious mind." The allusions which follow are to some of the darkest features of heathen worship—the animal sacrifice, and the animal worship—a form of religion hardly intelligible to ourselves, but once widely diffused in ancient times, and prevailing still in some parts of the world. According to the religion of Jehovah, man is made in the image of God, and in the כןדןע or reason of man must be found the true reflection of him. To worship an animal must be to lower the intelligent and spiritual tone of religion. And some consciousness of this we must believe to have been dimly present in such worshippers’ minds. II. THE OF JEHOVAH. False worship is rooted in the depraved will. They have "chosen their own ways;" they "have pleasure in their abominations." For religion is either stagnant or progressive. The soul rests in sloth upon custom, upon the clear and apprehensible object, or it strives and strains after the higher and yet higher and invisible good—not to be found in the creature, but only in the Creator. God will exercise retribution upon such idolaters, sending on them calamity and terror. "The man who places all his confidence, hope, and comfort in his estate, his friend, or greatness, so that upon the failure of any of these his heart sinks, and he utterly desponds as to all enjoyment or apprehension of any good or felicity to be. enjoyed by man, does as really deify his estate, his friend, or his greatness, as if in direct terms he should say to each of them, ’Thou art my god,’ and should rear an altar or temple to them, and worship before them in the humblest adoration. Nay, it is much more; since God looks upon himself as treated more like a deity by being loved, confided in, and depended upon, than if a man should throng his temple with a whole hetacomb, sacrifice thousands of rams, and pour ten thousand rivers of oil upon his altars" (South). III. WORDS TO THE . "Men who tremble at his Word." It is another way of describing those of humble and contrite heart. They are hated by their brethren; they have suffered in the cause of true religion. They are exposed to taunts—Where is their God? Let Jehovah show himself glorious! Nevertheless, his fiat has gone forth, "They shall be ashamed." Shame and pain are the inseparable effects of sin; the "wages assigned to it by the laws of Heaven:" the rightful inheritance of the sinner. Nor is there anything which the nature of man does so abhor as these. They are destructive of all our enjoyments. They touch both soul and body—shame being the torment of the one, and pain of the other. "The mind of man can have no taste or relish of any pleasure in the world while it is oppressed and overwhelmed by shame. Nothing does so intolerably affect the soul as infamy; it drinks up and consumes the quickness, gaiety, and activity of the spirit; it dejects the countenance made by God to look upwards; so that this noble creature, the masterpiece of the creation, dares not much as lift up either his head or his thoughts, but it is a vexation to him even to look upon others, and yet a greater to be looked upon by them" (South).—J. Isaiah 66:6-9 The enemies of Jehovah and his people. I. HE IS HEARD FROM HIS TEMPLE. With "a sound of uproar, a sound from the temple." He is issuing forth to render their deserts to his foes. "He will render to every man according to his deserts" is a great leading word in religion. God must be feared as well as loved—nay, cannot be truly loved unless feared. From that same seat whence go forth the sweet sounds of reconciliation, the sound of the gospel’s silver trumpet, go forth the thunders of the God who appears to execute judgment upon human guilt. He is a "consuming Fire." His wrath may be "kindled;" we need to beware "lest he be angry." He is an awful God of whom, nevertheless, it may be said, "This awful God is ours." II. THE OF ISRAEL. With great energy the thought is put before us that Israel in these last days has sprung into new birth and life. The gift of male children was especially dear to the Israelitish heart. Now there is to be a great and sudden increase of Zion’s children. "This refers, probably," says Barnes, "to the sudden increase of the Church when the Messiah came, and to the great revivals of religion which attended the preaching of the gospel. Three thousand were converted on a single day (Acts 2:1-47.), and the gospel was speedily propagated over the known world." Something unlike the usual course of nature and of human affairs is hinted. Slow is the growth of vegetation, slow the growth of human institutions. Here an event as startling as the breaking forth of the tree out of the seed in a single day is contemplated; "a nation born at once!" In fact, Christianity is such a wonder. A plant out of a dry ground, mysterious in its origin, despised in its professors, humble in its early associations, yet speedily, almost suddenly, overshading the lands with its branches, and yielding fruit and healing for the nations. "The expansiveness of Zion is such that nought but Omnipotence will be able to check it; and as Omnipotence has no motive for checking it, Zion has nothing to fear in heaven or earth" (Cheyne).—J. Sympathy with the Church’s joy. I. SHOULD BE FELT WITH THE OF THE CHURCH. Zion stands for the Church of the ages; in her weal is wrapped up the weal of the world. If we love humanity, we love the institution created for the good and salvation of humanity. Every revival of religion at home, every fresh conquest in the fields of heathendom, affords fresh occasion of such joy. "Those who have no true joy when souls are born into the kingdom of God; when he pours down his Spirit, and in a revival of religion produces changes as sudden and transforming as if the earth were suddenly to pass from the desolation of winter to the verdure and bloom of summer; or when the gospel makes sudden and rapid advances in the heathen world,—have no true evidence that they love God or his cause. They have no religion. Such scenes are fitted to excite the highest joy and praise. They awaken deep interest in the bosoms of angels, and of God the Saviour, and they who love that God and Saviour will rejoice at such scenes, and mingle their joys and thanksgivings with those of the converted and saved" (Barnes). II. THE IDEAL OF THE CHURCH. She is like a mother, and the blessings she imparts are like mother’s milk (cf. Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 60:16). "They who sympathize with her shall be nourished by the same truth and comforted with the same sources of consolation.’’ She is a mother full of tenderness, even of caressing, towards her children; full also of sweetest power to comfort. Such is in every age the true ideal of the Church. All that is rich and sweet, deep and tender, should be associated with her; and in her the hearts of weary men should find full expansion and rest. Peace is also strongly associated with the Church; and that in the comprehensive sense in which the prophet uses the word—for all manner of prosperity (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 26:12; Isaiah 32:17; Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 46:1-13:16; Isaiah 52:7; Isaiah 54:13; Isaiah 55:12; Isaiah 57:19). The image seems to be that of a broad majestic river, like the Nile, overflowing its banks, and producing prosperity on every hand. Another image is that of the bones, dried up like the branches of a withered tree, now full of sap and vigour (Isaiah 58:11; Proverbs 3:8; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 16:24). It is true religion which causes the family, the home, the ecclesiastical institution, the state, to flourish. Religion stimulates all that it touches—morality, art, political life; and decay of patriotism and of morals may be traced to the languor of religious life.—J. Isaiah 66:15-24 The manifestation of Jehovah. I. IT IS A IN FIRE. Very common is the representation of this coming by or in the element of fire. Its associations are of judgment, vengeance—devouring fire (Psalms 50:3). So it is associated with the pestilence (Habakkuk 2:5). It consumes God’s enemies (Psalms 97:3). Nor can we deny that such representations do in part enter into Christianity (2 Thessalonians 1:8; Hebrews 10:27; 2 Peter 3:7; cf. also Psalms 18:8; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:30). The whirlwind is poetically congruent with the fire: a swift and sudden descent is thought of (Psalms 104:3: Jeremiah 4:13). The image of the charioteer is full of warlike energy (cf. Habakkuk 3:8), and the furious and fiery anger of his advance points to the same conception; and the slain will fall before him in multitudes. Do these figures strike us as inconsistent with the Christian conception of God—the "Father of Jesus, God of love"? How are we to reconcile them? If there is a Providence in the violent revolutions of the nations; if "the wrath of man praises him;" if no terrible war but becomes the means of a purification:—then these figures may be taken as the poetic representation of a great truth. We can hardly conceive deep-rooted evils giving way except to some violent agency of change. II. THE OF . This is the great evil, in all its forms, which draws down God’s fulminations. Men are seen undergoing purifications preparatory to initiation into heathen mysteries, probably of some licentious god or goddess. Unclean things have been indulged in, contrary to the Law of Moses. We may, perhaps, take the general description of idolatry and of idolaters as pointing to the enemies of God, who are destined to be consumed by his vengeance. These enemies are to be gathered together—in some valley, perhaps (Joe 3:2); and the glory of his judicial splendour will be unveiled to them. The section closes with vague adumbrations of coming judgments. III. VISIONS OF FUTURE WORSHIP. Amid all that is obscure in the imagery, we may discover some great leading thoughts. 1. There is the universal effulgence of Jehovah’s glory, which is to shine among distant lands, and those that have not hitherto heard of his Name. And this is equivalent to the spread of one religion throughout the earth. 2. There is to be unity of worship. Jerusalem and the sacred hill of Zion are to form the great centre. From all quarters, and by different modes of conveyance, the dispersed ones are to come thronging thither. There will be a renewed consecration of the chosen people to its God; they will be like the sacred meal offering. 3. Exclusiveness will be broken down. The strict Levitical system, it seems, will give way; and Gentile converts as well as Jews will be admitted to share in the sacred ministry of the temple. For the Jewish priestly system was only for a time, was provisional; and the people were one day to be, as a whole, "priests of Jehovah" (Isaiah 61:6). 4. The permanence of true religion. The seed and the name of the people shall stand, even so the new heavens and the new earth. No more of the old order changing and giving place to the new, the successive efforts of men after frivolity in religion being successively defeated; but at last fixity and rest. 5. Simplicity of true religion. "The old forms of religion have been reduced to the utmost; new moons and sabbaths alone remain." For the multitude of times and seasons and of ceremonies is burdensome to flesh and blood, and they tend to obscure the spirituality of true religion. We are reminded of the first chapter, where it is said that" Jehovah cannot away with them." 6. Universality of true religion. We take the language as poetical, symbolic, to be understood in the ideal and inward sense. Where is the true seat of worship? Not on Mount Gerizim, nor even on Mount Zion (John 4:21). The spirit of man is the true temple. And who, in best and most loving moments of worship, does not feel that the heart of humanity beats with one pulse, is stirred by one faith, is secretly gathering around one spiritual centre? Let us cease with this verse, which we are told the Jewish readers repeated to correct the sad impression of the last.—J. Tender condition. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." These are the analogies of truth that reach the heart through the life-experience when mere intellectual disquisition is vain. I. THE MOTHER-IDEAL CREATES THE OF . God is the great Mother as well as the great Father of all flesh. Therefore Christ, who came to reveal the Father, was perfect humanity. In taking, as the Divine Son of the Father, our flesh, he revealed in "humanity" not only perfect manhood, but perfect womanhood too. II. THE MOTHER-IDEAL REVEALS WHAT TRUE COMFORT MEANS. 1. Sympathy with our frailties and mistakes. 2. Succour at supreme self-cost. 3. Hopefulness even to the last.—W.M.S. BY W. Isaiah 66:1, Isaiah 66:2 (Vide homily on Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 57:16.)—C. Isaiah 66:3, Isaiah 66:4 The rebuke of unrighteousness. We have— I. FOUR HATEFUL TO THE HOLY ONE. 1. Insincerity. These worshippers who brought their bullocks, their lambs, their prescribed oblations, were as guilty in the judgment of God as if they brought to his altar that which was an abomination in his sight. Their guilt lay in their insincerity; their heart was far from God when their feet were nigh his house. 2. Heedlessness. When God calls and we pay no heed to his voice, we commit an aggravated offence against him. 3. Wilfulness. The "choosing of our own ways," instead of submitting to the Divine will, is a perpetual disobedience, a sustained disloyalty. 4. Arrogance. "Doing evil before mine eyes," though conscious of the presence and the observation of God. II. GOD’S GRAVE REBUKE OF THIS . 1. He will make the fears of the guilty to be fulfilled—will "bring their fears upon them." The apprehensions of guilt may safely be taken as prophecies of evil. Sin is at least as mischievous as it seems to the sinner. If men who are living in obdurate rebellion against God have impressions or intimations of evil consequences, they may be sure that ruin is on the road, and will before long confront them. 2. He will visit with unexpected sorrow. "I will choose their delusions [calamities]." Not that God ever arbitrarily punishes his children, but that he does often bring down upon the guilty sorrows and calamities which they did not apprehend—from which, indeed, they imagined themselves to be secure. No man can possibly foresee where a sinful course will lead him, and in what it will land him.—C. God our Comforter. It is the province of the teacher to instruct, of the father to direct, of the elder brother to lead, and of the mother to console. She is the comforter of the troubled heart. God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, is to us all of these in one. Like as a mother comforts her children, he comforts us. I. AS AS SHE. In a way so gracious and considerate that one who had received much of his healing ministry could write— "Oh, ’tis a blessed thing for me To need thy tenderness!" II. AS AS SHE. No child feels that the number of times he (or she) has come before us is any reason for doubting the welcome that ha will receive if he comes again. There is an inexhaustible supply of sympathy in that pitying heart. III. AS AS SHE. The true mother knows in what way to comfort, whether in silence, or by speech, or by action. God, who knows our hearts as even a parent does not, will adapt his comforts to our natures and our necessities.—C. The slain of the Lord. While it is doubtful as to what special juncture the prophet refers when he says that" the slain of the Lord shall be many," it is painfully and practically certain that at all times these slain ones are many. For— I. THE VICTIMS OF SIN ARE THE SLAIN OF THE LORD. The laws which work the penalty they suffer are God’s laws. It is under his administration that pain, weakness, impotence, trouble, sorrow, death, slay guilty souls. These are his sword, and they do his work, his "strange work," but yet his. II. THEIR NUMBER IS LARGE. Who shall count the number of those that have fallen, or of those that are falling now? In every city, town, village, hamlet, men are to be found who, through their folly, or their vice, or their crime, or their ungodliness, are suffering pitifully from the sword of Divine retribution. III. WE MAY BRING THEM INTO THE OF THE DIVINE HEALER. Many of the slain survive. Our mission is to bring these to that merciful and mighty One who can and will "make them whole."—C. Isaiah 66:19-23 A vision of the future. From these verses, which present us with a glowing vision of future triumph and blessedness, we learn— I. THAT GOD MAY CALL US TO BUT SERVICE. The Jews could not have anticipated, nor would they have desired, such a disposition of themselves, and such a use of their powers as is indicated in the nineteenth verse. It was strange to their thought, alien to their sympathy. Yet it was a most admirable service, with which they might well be contented. Thus God often blesses us now with opportunities we do not court, hut which prove to be excellent and admirable indeed. Possibly he may deal with us in a way very similar to that before us. As the persecution of the early disciples resulted in their going everywhere, away from home and friends, preaching the gospel (Acts 8:8), so some providential ordering which is unpleasant at the time, removing us from scenes that are inviting or from persons that are dear to us, may place us in conditions of great usefulness and blessing. II. THAT GOD INVITES US ALL TO A NOBLE VICTORY. There had been bitter hatred and bloody strife between Jew and Gentile; each had sought to triumph over the other on the battle-field; each longed to have his feet on the other’s neck. The peaceful picture of the text (Isaiah 66:20) supplies a beautiful and blessed substitute. One is to bring the other, in friendly and honourable conveyance, and to present him in holy sacrifice to God. Not to wreak vengeance; not to obtain civil supremacy; but to bring to God’s house and to introduce to his service, is to gain the true victory over our brother. III. THAT GOD IS A AND LASTING . He is creating new heavens and a new earth which will endure (Isaiah 66:22 and Isaiah 65:17). He will make all things new. This kingdom of sin and folly which has so long prevailed shall disappear, and in its place shall be seen a kingdom of "righteousness, peace, and joy;" a far greater change, more wonderful, more difficult of accomplishment, more to be desired, than the displacement of the material elements and the substitution of others in their place. This new kingdom is one which will be essentially Divine. 1. It will be of God. He "will make it." 2. It will be characterized by reverence for him, and one of its main features will be regular and universal worship (Isaiah 66:23). It will be durable as the strongest of his handiworks. It "shall remain." IV. THAT GOD WILL RECEIVE THOSE AWAY TO NEAREST WITH HIMSELF. Of the Gentiles themselves God would take "for priests and for Levites" (Isaiah 66:21). This was a startling promise, and never was literally fulfilled. But it finds a glorious fulfilment in the kingdom of Christ. Now we (Gentiles) who were afar off are brought nigh. We worship and serve in the sanctuary; we sit down at "the table of the Lord;" we have freest and fullest access to God; every harrier in the way of perfect intercourse has disappeared; we are admitted to the royal presence, and "stand before the King;" nay, we ourselves are "kings and priests unto God." That which once seemed hopelessly impossible has become a constant privilege under Jesus Christ.—C. The place of God’s rest. This passage should be associated with that second temple which was raised by the returned captives from Babylon, at the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah, and under the inspirations of the prophets Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. A subtle peril lies in building any house for God. That peril lay in the building of the first house. It still lies in the erection of every new house. It is the danger of thereby limiting and materializing our idea of God. If, in our thought, God actually comes to dwell in any earthly temple, we limit the infinite; we lose that wide, sublime, spiritual, unnameable glory that properly belongs to the Deity. We are in danger of making him take a place among the idol-gods who are attached to a certain mountain, or stream, or wind, or country, or shrine. To this peril the people were exposed who watched the second temple arise from amidst the ruins of the first. Though cured of their idolatries by their sufferings in Babylon, they yet might fail to retain those nobler thoughts of God which were the treasure of their race. Therefore Isaiah pleads with them as in this text. I. GOD HIMSELF. By the aid of outward, sensible figures God discloses his spiritual nature, his moral attributes, his character. "The heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool." We are bidden to look for help towards realizing God from the great, the solemnizing things of nature. All creation with which we have to do was made to serve the moral and spiritual culture of God’s reasoning and free creatures. Everywhere around us things are full of God. They are pictures, illustrations, words, suggestions, of the Divine. The great, the majestic, the oppressive, is around us. The noonday sky, with its serene height of blue; the midnight sky, with its myriad worlds crowding the infinite depths; mountains rising to pierce the clouds, or hanging in frowning precipice; the great floods of water rolling in their ceaseless tides:—all compel us to say, "How marvellous are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy greatness." One instance, illustrating the figure "Heaven is my throne," may be given. A star in the far depths attracted the attention of an observer. it seemed to be a single star, but to his educated eye it resolved itself into two stars. Those two proved to be each a star, centre of a planetary system like our own. Those two stars, which seemed but one, were really distant from each other five hundred times the distance separating our earth and the sun. Who of us can conceive such sublime spaces as are thus unfolded? What must he be who walketh among the shining lights, whose throne rises higher than these stars, whose canopy is gemmed with myriad suns! And if the telescope can put such meaning into the figure of the heavens, the microscope puts equal meaning into the figure of the earth. God needs this whole earth for a" footstool." This great earth, with its giant trees, and inaccessible mountains, and unfathomable waters, and millionfold forms of life, cannot hold God; it is but a resting-place for his foot. II. GOD TO MAN TO FIND HIM REST. "Where is the place of my rest?’ We should not have dared to represent God as seeking rest. The marvel of his condescension is, that he does need his creatures, and even seeks his rest in them. If God were only the embodiment of wisdom, greatness, and power, then his rest might be found in some of the everlasting hills. But every being seeks rest according to his spiritual nature, his character. The infinitely pure One can only seek rest in goodness. The infinitely condescending One seeks rest in humility. The infinitely loving One seeks rest in love. The eternal Father finds his satisfaction in his sons and his daughters. III. MAN VAINLY GOD REST IN THINGS. The first shrine for human worship was the open firmament of heaven. It was the only worthy one. The only befitting walls were the distant horizon and the eternal hills; the only suitable roof was the illimitable sky. Yet, from the first of human sin, this temple has proved too vast, too glorious, for man to use. So he has planted groves to circle God to a space; and consecrated mountain-peaks to fix God to a point; and built temples and churches to narrow the Infinite to human grasp. Too often man has offered his temples as an act of sacrifice. He has given them to God in the vain hope that, satisfied with them, God would cease to ask for higher and holier things. We, indeed, in these days, flood no altars with the blood of sacrifices, yet do we not think to offer God rest in the beauty of our churches and the charm of our services? Are we not, even under this spiritual dispensation, offering God things instead of persons? And yet even we men cannot be satisfied with things; then how can we expect our God to be? Our hearts cannot rest in the artistic fittings of our dwellings, the creations of genius, or the associations of culture. We want love; we must have persons. Lord Lytton expresses our deepest feeling thus— "O near ones, dear ones! you in whose right hands Our own rests calm; whose faithful hearts all day Wide open wait till back from distant lands, Thought, the tired traveller, wends his homeward way! "Helpmates and hearthmates, gladdeners of gone years, Tender companions of our serious days, Who colour with your kisses, smiles, and tears, Life’s warm web woven over wonted ways. "Oh, shut the world out from the heart ye cheer! Though small the circle of your smiles may be, The world is distant, and your smiles are near, This makes you more than all the world to me." We are "the figures of the true:" shadows in our feeling of the feeling of God. He, too, puts aside all the things we offer him, be they temple, or gold, or work, and persuasively pleads thus with us, "My son, give me thy heart." We may give him our things, if we have given him ourselves. Things dead cannot please him. Things alive with holy love, quickened by the humble, contrite, thankful heart, may find for him the rest he seeks. We may give him our buildings when they are alive with the spirit of consecration, our services when they are filled with the spirit of reverential worship, our works when they are animated with gratitude and devotion. Of the living temple he will say, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread." This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/