Isaiah 10:28-34

3. THE IMPETUOUS ONSET OF THE CONDEMNED WORLD—POWER IN THE LIGHT OF ITS FINAL RUIN

Isaiah 10:28-34

28          He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron;

At Michmash he hath laid up his 30carriages:

29     They are gone over the passage:

They have taken up their lodging at Geba;Ramah is afraid;Gibeah of Saul is fled.

30     31Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim:

32Cause it to be heard unto Laish,

O poor Anathoth.

31     Madmenah 33is removed;

The inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

32     34As yet shall he remain at Nob that day:

He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion,

The hill of Jerusalem.

33     Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,

Shall lop the 35bough with terror:

And the 36high ones of stature shall be hewn down,

And the haughty shall be humbled.

34     And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,

And Lebanon 37shall fall 38by a mighty one.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

On Isaiah 10:28. בָּא with עַלֹ like Judges 18:27, it means “the falling over on.”—הפקיד, commisit, mandavit, deposuit, Jeremiah 36:20; Jeremiah 40:7; Jeremiah 40:10.

On Isaiah 10:32. ינפף Pilel, only here; Hiph. with similar meaning, Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 13:2; Isa 19:16 : 2 Kings 5:11. The swinging of the hand is the gesture of one threatening.—הר וגו׳ stands in accus. localis; K’thibh has בּית־ציון, which is found nowhere else, and probably results from a confounding with הַר בֵּית יהוה.

On Isaiah 10:33. סֵעֵף (comp. סָעִיף Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 27:10), Pi. denominativum and privativum like the German aesten from Ast, Koepfen from Kopf (comp. זֵנֵּב “to cut off the tail,” Joshua 10:19; שֵׁרֵשׁ “to eradicate,” Psalms 52:7; סִקֵּל “to remove stones,” Isaiah 5:2. [Like in English one says “to stone,” i.e., take the stones out]. This סעף is ἅπ. λεγ.——פֻּארָה ἅπ. λεγ., as regards meaning is certainly identical with פֹארָה, Ezekiel 17:6; Ezekiel 31:5-6; Ezekiel 31:8; Ezekiel 31:12-13. It appears to be a poetic expression for the grand, luxurious branch and leafy growth of the tree (פאר original meaning splendere, nitere, comp. &תִּפְאֶרֶת פְאֵר.—מערצה, ἅπ. λεγ. is “terror” in an active sense = perterrefactio.—קוֹמָה “that which is standing, the trunks, the standing timber” (comp. Isaiah 37:24).

On Isaiah 10:34. נִקַּף only here in Isaiah may be either Niph. or Piel.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The foregoing disposes the reader to look for an immediate portrayal of the destruction of Assyria. But to his surprise the Prophet translates him back into the commencement of the hostilities of Assyria, against Israel (Isaiah 10:28-32). This first onslaught of Assyria was so impetuous, that it seemed as if Jerusalem could not resist. But it only appeared so. How little dangerous that onslaught was appears from the brief description of the inevitable, impending ruin of the world-power, that immediately follows (Isaiah 10:33-34). A contrast is hereby presented that gives a most striking effect, which is still more enhanced by the masterly, dramatic representation of the march of the Assyrians against Jerusalem. So that this little passage proves to be a master-piece of Art, both by its arrangement as a whole and its execution in detail.

2. He comes—the hill of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 10:28-32. These verses describe the last part of the march to Jerusalem. For, no doubt, Aiath is the same as Ai that lay North-east of Jerusalem (עַי or הָעַי “the stone heap,” Joshua 7:2 sqq., עַיָּאNeh 11:31, עַיָּה [false reading עַזָּה]; 1 Chronicles 7:28), which is probably identical with עַוִּים (Joshua 18:23) comp. Fayin loc.). Finn, Van de Velde, Arnold, Knobel, identify Aiath in Tell-el-Hadschar that lies less than an hour South-east of Beitin (Bethel). On the other hand Delitzsch, following Schegg who personally investigated the spot, locates Aiath about six hours north of Jerusalem in Tejjibe, that is situated on a hill with an extended prospect, in whose neighborhood there is still found a small village, Churbet Ai. It will perhaps depend on whether the locality of Tejjibe corresponds with Joshua 8:11; Joshua 8:13, according to which there was a valley North of the city. [Concerning the location of all the places named in the text consult “Robinson and Smith’sBib. Res. in Palestine, Vol. II.].

Migron, which is mentioned beside only 1 Samuel 14:2 (but in all probability this passage is corrupt: Arnold in Herz.R. Encycl. XIV. p. 755) appears to have been quite insignificant. Delitzsch regards it as identical with Burg-Magran, a cluster of ruins eight minutes from Bethel. But, then, would they not have marched backwards? Michmash, a city of Benjamin as all the rest named here, plays an important part in the history of Saul and Jonathan, 1 Samuel 13:14 It still exists as a small deserted village with the name Muchmas one hour North of Geba (now Dscheba), three hours and a half North of Jerusalem (Robinson and S. II. comp. Ruetschi, Herz.R. Encycl. IX. p. 526). There the Assyrians left their baggage in order to press on quicker. “The passage of Michmash” is mentioned 1 Samuel 13:14. It is the Wady-es-Suweinit (according to others es-Suweikeh—comp. Ruetschi,l. c.)—a deep, rough ravine, forty-eight minutes wide, immediately below Michmash. As it runs from East to West, they must cross it obliquely to approach Jerusalem. The ravine is difficult to traverse. It is hardly credible that the proper highway from Shechem or Nabulus (comp. Arnold in Herz.R. Encycl. XV. p. 163 sq. Art. “Strassen in Palaestina,”) passed through it. The Prophet’s description is ideal. He depicts not what is past but what is future, and that, not in the manner of historical accuracy, but as became his prophetic interests. He would depict how the enemy presses forward with utmost speed, by the shortest way, deterred by no obstacles. On the arduous way they cheer one another with the cry: “Geba give us lodging.” Thus they promise themselves good quarters in Geba, that lay so charmingly on an elevated plateau (comp. Schegg in Delitzsch). Geba cannot be the same as Gebea of Saul, as appears evident from our text. For if it were the same, why is it mentioned twice with a difference in the form of the name, and with the name of another city coming between? Rama, now er-Ram, the city of Benjamin, made notorious by Saul (1 Samuel 1:19; 1 Samuel 2:11, etc.), seems to have lain aside from their route though near by. For it looks with trembling on the passers by; but Gebea of Saul opposite, lying perhaps still nearer, fled outright, It lay on the summit of Tuleil-el-Tul (the Bean mountain, see Arnold, Herz.Real. Encycl. p. 744) which commands a view of the whole neighborhood. In a direct line the expedition encounters Gallim, (1 Samuel 25:44) which Valentiner (Ztschr. d. D. M. G. XII. p. 169) thinks he has discovered in the hill Chirbet el-Dschisr that lies South of the Bean mountain. Because immediately threatened, Gallim shall shriek out (קולך accus.). Laishah, by no means identical with לַיִשׁJdg 18:29, cannot be located. But Knobel is likely correct in finding evidence of its being a place near Gallim in 1 Samuel 25:44, where is mentioned Phaltiel son of Laish from Gallim (comp. 2 Samuel 3:15). עניה ענתות, “O poor Anathoth,” is evidently a play on words. By this and the emotion of the orator is to be explained the order of the words, which is not quite normal (comp. Isaiah 54:11). Anathoth, now Anata, is only three-fourths of an hour distant from Jerusalem—Madmenah (Dung-heaps) and Gebim (fountains, Jeremiah 14:3) are not mentioned elsewhere, nor are any traces of the places discovered as yet. Both are directly threatened; so nothing remains but to flee and save their goods. “Saving their goods” seems to be indicated by העיזו (comp. Exodus 9:19); yet it may very well be construed as synonymous with נָֹדְדָה according to Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 6:1. “To-day still in Nob, to make a halt,” is likewise the enemies’ shout to one another. The thing is to pass on to Nob to-day, but there make a preliminary halt in order to make the necessary dispositions for the attack on Jerusalem. Nob (comp. 2Sa 21:16; 2 Samuel 21:18; Nehemiah 11:32) without doubt quite near Jerusalem, is to the present not certainly identified. Schegg contends very decidedly that it may be Isawije that lies South-west of Anata fifty-five minutes North of Jerusalem.

3. Behold the Lord—a mighty one.

Isaiah 10:33-34. The proud expedition of the Assyrian falls like trees felled by the axe. Like the tempest tears away the branches, so the terror that goes forth from Jehovah breaks the power of the Assyrian. “The high ones of stature (of the standing wood)” shall be cut down (Isaiah 9:9) the lofty ones must bow. The entire forest thicket (Isaiah 9:17) shall be cut down with the iron; but Lebanon (notice how the Prophet before distinguished branches, trunks and thicket, but at last combines all in the common, all comprehending name Lebanon) shall fall by a Mighty One. Who this Mighty One will be the Prophet does not say. That it is the Lord Himself as the remote cause, who Isaiah 33:21, comp. Psalms 93:4, is called אַדִּיר “glorious, mighty,” is of course. But it may convey also an allusion at the same time to that one among the Lord’s ministers, that was the principal instrument in annihilating the Assyrian army before Jerusalem (Isaiah 37:36). For the ministers of the Lord, too, are called אדִּירְים “the excellent or mighty,” (Psalms 16:3).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.

2. On Isaiah 7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isaiah 28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Proverbs 28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jeremiah 17:9).” Cramer.

3. On Isaiah 7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.

4. On Isaiah 7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.

But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Genesis 24:14).

It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Hebrews 6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; 1 Corinthians 1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.

5. On Isaiah 7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zechariah 2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.

6. On Isaiah 7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Matthew 1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (John 1:11; John 1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Timothy 2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (John 17:23; John 17:26; John 14:19-21; John 14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (John 10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:3; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.

Isaiah 8:7. On Isaiah 8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on John 9:7.

8. On Isaiah 8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.

9. On Isaiah 8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1 Peter 2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Matthew 21:44).” Cramer.

10. On Isaiah 8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16:0 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again John 5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2 Timothy 3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2 Peter 1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.

Chap. 9–11. On Isaiah 9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.

12. On Isaiah 9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isaiah 60:1. And again Isaiah 9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” John 1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” John 9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, John 9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” John 9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” John 3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (John 8:12; John 9:5; comp. John 12:35).

13. On Isaiah 9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luke 1:76 sqq.

14. On Isaiah 9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isaiah 7:10 sqq.; Isaiah 8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1 Timothy 1:15; Luke 2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Romans 5:15; John 3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.

15. On Isaiah 9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.

16. On Isaiah 9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, John 3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”

“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.

On Isaiah 9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isaiah 46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isaiah 46:1; Isaiah 46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Hebrews 2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hosea 13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.

17. On Isaiah 9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.

Isaiah 10-18. On Isaiah 10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.

19. On Isaiah 10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.

20. On Isaiah 10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).—Luther.

21. On Isaiah 10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.

22. On Isaiah 10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.

Isaiah 11-23. On Isaiah 11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.

24. On Isaiah 11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isaiah 11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isaiah 11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.

25. On Isaiah 11:0 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isaiah 11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isaiah 11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isaiah 11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2:0, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isaiah 11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.

Chap. 12–26. On Isaiah 12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psalms 147:1). Cramer.

27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.

Footnotes:

[30]baggage.

[31]Heb. Cry shrill with thy voice.

[32]Hark Laish.

[33]takes flight.

[34]yet to-day in Nob to halt.

[35]leafy coronal.

[36]the giants of the standing wood are felled.

[37]he fells.

[38]Or, mightily.