Verses 28-32
b) Prophecies relating to the nations threatened by Assyria, viz.: Philistia, Moab, Syria and Ephraim, Ethiopia and Egypt
1. AGAINST PHILISTIA
This short piece was occasioned by an embassy that the Philistines sent to Jerusalem in hypocritical courtesy, after the death of king Ahaz. It contains the most manifold correspondences to chap. 11, so that there can be no doubt about its having a contemporaneous origin. Yet chap. 11, originated before this piece, for the latter evidently leans on the former. It is seen that the young king Hezekiah, immediately on ascending the throne awakened great expectations. That the present piece comes just here, has, may be, its explanation in this, that Isaiah would begin with these western neighbors as the least dangerous. He then passes on to the East to the mightier Moabites, from them he ascends north to the still mightier Syro-Ephraimites, to conclude with the mightiest of all, the Egyptians and Ethiopians of the South. Jeremiah, chap. 47, goes from the Philistines to the Moabites, and then by a round-about to Damascus.
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28 In The Year That King Ahaz Died Was This Burden.
29 Rejoice not thou, 38whole Palestina,
Because 39the rod of him that smote thee is broken:
For out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a 40 41cockatrice,
And his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 And the first born of the poor shall feed,
And the needy shall lie down in safety:And I will kill thy root with famine,And he shall slay thy remnant.
31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city;
Thou, awhole Palestina, art dissolved:
For there 42shall come from the north a smoke,
And 43 44none shall be alone in his 45appointed times.
32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord hath founded Zion,And the poor of His people shall 46trust in it.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isaiah 14:28. מַשָׂא see Isaiah 13:1.
Isaiah 14:30. בכורי דלים is, so to speak, a superlative of בְּנֵי ד׳ = those on whom the essence of poverty and lowliness is impressed in full, unmitigated power.—To take the basilisk as the subject of יהרג (Delitzsch) does too much violence. I [thus, too J. A. A.] take simply רעב, which is gen. masc., as subject.
Isaiah 14:31. שַׁעַר metonymy for those assembled in the gates, the ישְׁבֵי שַׁעַר Psalms 69:13; hence the feminine construction: comp. יוֹדֵעַ כָל־שַׁעַר עַמִּי Ruth 3:11.—Niph. נמוג occurs in Isaiah only here. The form is to be regarded here as Inf. absol. Regarding the form comp. Isaiah 59:13; Ewald, § 240, c.——מוֹעָד, (the hordes united at their rendezvous, מוֹעֵד Joel 8:14) is ἄπ. λεγ.——בּוֹדֵד in Isaiah only here; comp, Hosea 8:8; Psalms 102:8.
Isaiah 14:32. עָנָה is according to rule construed with a double Accusative (comp. 1 Samuel 20:10; Micah 6:5; Jeremiah 23:37, etc.). The third pers. sing stands impersonally as is often the case (comp. Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 7:24; Isaiah 8:4; Isaiah 10:4, etc.).—חסה stands often with בְּ of the place whither one flees for refuge (Isaiah 30:2; Psalms 36:8; Judges 9:15, etc.).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Philistia is warned against rejoicing at the death of Ahaz. If Ahaz was a serpent, then out of his root (Isaiah 11:1—notice the Messianic reference!) shall proceed a basilisk and flying dragon (Isaiah 14:29). Israel shall pasture in peace; Philistia perish by poverty and care (Isaiah 14:30). From the northern quarter the enemy shall invade the land, scathing and burning (Isaiah 14:31). But to the embassy, in regard to the matters they sought to spy out, the short, haughty answer shall be given: Zion is Jehovah’s foundation, and in this the needy of His people find a sure refuge (Isaiah 14:32).
2. In the year——thy remnant.
Isaiah 14:28-30. The year of Ahaz’s death is 728 B. C. The Philistines, according to 2 Chronicles 28:18, had possessed themselves of territory belonging to Israel. They had made a conquest in the low country (שְׁפֵלָה) and in the south-land (נֶגֶב) of the cities Bethshemesh, Ajalon, Gederoth, Shocho, Timna and Gimzo, and dwelt in them. But of Hezekiah it is related (2 Kings 18:8): “He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.” He had, therefore, at last conquered back the lost territory. This is all that the historical books offer to us concerning the times of Ahaz and Hezekiah.
From Isaiah 14:32 it is seen that after the death of Ahaz the Philistines sent ambassadors to Jerusalem. Perhaps the ostensible object of this embassage was neighborly consideration: they would offer condolence. But in reality they were to sound the state of affairs. [See below comment of J. A. A., etc., at Isaiah 14:32.--Tr.] Isaiah knows this very well, and gives them an answer that, on the one hand, befitted their perfidy, and, on the other, the standpoint of a genuine representative of the Theocracy. That is not saying that Isaiah gave this answer in the name of the government. He gave it as Prophet, i.e., he uttered it like he published his other prophecies; whether publicly or to the ears of the embassy, or before a few witnesses, is a matter of indifference. His words concern primarily the rulers themselves. He says to them how, as the representatives of the people of God, they ought to reply. At any rate, he knew that his words would go to the right address, i.e., as well to the government in Jerusalem as to the Philistine ambassadors.
The introductory words (Isaiah 14:28) are the same as Isaiah 6:1. In our passage they have evidently the sense that Ahaz had already died. This appears from what follows. Rejoice notetc.—These words recall 2 Samuel 1:20, the lament of David over the death of Saul and his sons. For there it reads: “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph” (comp. Micah 1:10). Ahaz was as little as Saul a king after God’s heart. That did not hinder the Philistines from rejoicing at the death of either of their kings. To either event that occasioned sorrow to Israel there was attached joyful hope for them. Though so far as we know, Ahaz did them no harm, but was rather conquered by them; yet they might hope that under his young successor their interests would be still more fostered. Therefore Isaiah warns them against overflowing with too much joy—joy that would fill all Philistia. He describes the subject of the joy to be: because the rod of him that smote thee is broken.—As Ahaz did not smite the Philistines, but was much more smitten by them, we must not regard him as the rod that smote, but the kingdom of Judah in general. David broke their power (2 Samuel 5:17 sqq.; Isaiah 8:1; Isaiah 21:15 sqq.). Although from that period they were still dangerous enemies, yet the time of their superiority was past. It is related of Solomon (1 Kings 4:21) and of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:11) that the Philistines were tributary to them. Uzziah leveled the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod (2 Chronicles 26:6). The government of Ahaz was weak even toward the Philistines. Might they not hope that one still weaker would succeed Ahaz, and that thus the staff that had once smitten them would be entirely broken? For this reason we take שׁבט מכך (comp. Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 10:20) to be rather: “the staff that smote thee” than “the staff of him that smote thee.” Ahaz, though having no staff that smote, was, as king of Judah, a part of that staff that had smitten them.
But the Prophet destroys the hope of the Philistines. He says in advance, that out of the root of the serpent shall proceed a basilisk and a conquering dragon. The expression שׁרשׁ, root, applied to the serpent is strange. But it is to be explained as an allusion to the “root of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:10). Perhaps there lies in the נָחָשׁ even an allusion to the name אחז, and at the same time a reminder of the serpent that Dan was to be, according to Genesis 49:17, and whose realization we find in Samson. צֶפַע, basilisk (which occurs only here) evidently means the same as צִפְעִֹני which Isaiah 11:8, uses in the same discourse of which the expression “root” has reminded us. The expression must any way be meant as something stronger compared with “serpent,” as, on the other hand, שׂרף מעופף “flying dragon” (found again only Isaiah 30:6; comp. Herod, 2:75; 3:109 and Gesen.in loc.) is meant to express something stronger than צֶפַע. By the “basilisk,” the Prophet any way means Hezekiah; very likely by the “flying dragon,” he means the Messiah. For what is said Isaiah 14:30 of the happy circumstances of Israel, plainly recalls the representation of the Messianic salvation Isaiah 11:4 sqq.——But if the Prophet compares the typical and anti-typical king of Judah to serpents, we must consider that they must be serpents only for the hated enemies. God says of Himself that He will be the plague and destruction of death (Hosea 13:14).
First-born of the lowly it says Isaiah 14:30; not the first-born.” I do not think that the בכרי דלים here are the Jews. The Prophet lives quite in the sphere of the ideas of chap. 11. There it is said (Isaiah 14:4 sqq.), that the Messiah shall judge the lowly (דלים) with righteousness, and that wild and tame beasts shall pasture peacefully together. In our passage the Prophet unites both these thoughts, in that he draws from the one his subject and from the other his predicate. But, according to Isaiah 11:4, he means the lowly and poor in an individual sense. He is not thinking of political lowliness of the nation. It shall be a sign of the glory and blessedness of His kingdom, that people, that otherwise were poor and wretched, shall move in rich pasture and rest there securely. He means of course Jewish poor, but not the Jews as the poorest people. It appears to me, moreover, that Isaiah has before his mind a passage from Job (Job 18:12-13) where it says: “Be hunger his power, and destruction stand ready at his side; devour the members of his skin, devour his members the first-born of death.”
In contrast with the rich pasture that the poor of Israel shall find under their king, the Messiah, and in contrast with the glorious fruit that the root of the royal house of David shall produce, the Philistines shall be destroyed to the root of their existence by hunger and want, yea, the last remnant of them shall be strangled by this grim enemy.3. Howl, O gate——trust in it.
Isaiah 14:31-32. The Prophet describes in Isaiah 14:31, how Philistia will suffer and feel the destruction, which, according to 29b and 30b, is in prospect. The gates shall howl (comp. Isaiah 13:6; Jeremiah 48:20) and the entire population of the cities shall cry (comp. Ezekiel 21:17) the whole land shall dissolve in anguish and fear, i.e., shall be without courage, counsel, defence (comp. Exodus 15:15; Joshua 2:9; Joshua 2:24; ?????Joshua 10:18; Joshua 13:7). The reason for these utterances is assigned: for there shall come from the north a smoke.—It is plain enough that neither clouds of dust nor fire borne in advance of troops can be intended here. For neither of these would occasion terror like the smoke of towns already set on fire. Most expositors understand the Assyrian to be meant by the approaching enemy. But that is much too narrow a construction. According to Isaiah 14:29 b. and 30b. the Lord announces Himself, and His anointed as the enemy that will destroy Philistia. And if Isaiah 14:30 a. Messianic salvation is proclaimed to Israel, then the reverse of this for the Philistines is naturally Messianic destruction. But Philistia will have, too, its part to endure in the great judgments that the Lord will bring on the world of nations, and by which He will redeem His people. In Isaiah 11:14, which is so nearly allied to our passage, the Philistines are, in fact, expressly named among the nations out of whose power the Lord will deliver His people. Therefore, the Prophet means here the final judgment on Philistia, though, of course, this does not exclude that this final judgment has its preliminary stages, and that one of these, too, may be an Assyrian invasion, to which, in fact, “from the north” refers. The army of the enemy will be a compact and powerful body—no one runs away, no one strays off (comp. Isaiah 5:27).
The Prophet having said to the Philistines in general, what the reality of the future will be in contrast with the hopes of their malicious rejoicing, comes at last (Isaiah 14:32) to speak of the special fact that prompted him to this prophetic declaration. Ambassadors had come who ostensibly would manifest friendly sympathy, but, in fact, spy out how matters stood in Jerusalem. The Prophet knows that. It is important to give them an answer that is worthy of the Theocracy. Whether or not the powers that were were competent and willing to do this we know not. Any way the Prophet of Jehovah considered it as belonging to his office to express what, from the genuine theocratic point of view, ought to be said to these ambassadors.—–מּלֹאכי– ,גוי, messengers of a nation, stands significantly without article. גוי, nation, designates here very expressly a heathen people. He says therefore: what sort of answer have messengers of a heathen people to get, who come with such a purpose as these Philistines now do? None other than the curt: Jehovah founded Zion, (Isaiah 28:16) and therefore the wretched of His people (Isaiah 10:2) can hide themselves with confidence in this divine foundation. [“The very absence of the article (i.e., with גוי) implies that the expression (“messengers of a nation”) is indefinite, and that the whole sense meant to be conveyed is this, that such may be the answer given to the inquiries made from any quarter.”—J. A. A. This judicious remark may suffice to call attention to the very slender foundation there is for the conjecture which yet gives much of the coloring to the foregoing comment. If no special Philistine delegation is meant by Isaiah, then all that is said about pretended condolence, malicious satisfaction, spying, etc., is misplaced fancy. Much as we may desire to detect the historic facts connected with prophecy, we must be content without them if they are not supplied. The tendency of modern exposition is as much to license in conjecturing the historical basis of prophecy, as formerly it was to license in detecting the fulfilment of it. On Isaiah 14:29, J. A. A., comments: “All interpreters agree that the Philistines are here spoken of, as having recently escaped from the ascendancy of some superior power, but at the same time threatened with a more complete subjection.” Everything historically specific, beyond this obviously sure statement, is conjecture with no broader foundation than that pointed out above. Another commentater (Dr. B. Neteler,Das Buch Isaias—mit Berücksichtigung—der auf seinen Inhalt sick bezieenden assyrischen Inschriften erklärt, Münster, 1876), who reads the text in the light of recent interpretations of Assyrian inscriptions identifies the reference of the symbols as follows: “The staff that repeatedly smote the Philistines very seriously was Sargon. The basilisk proceeding out of the root of the serpent is Sennacherib, who, in his third expedition, conquered various Philistine cities. The flying dragon is Esarhaddon, who, in the beginning of his reign, undertook an expedition toward the sea coasts, and whose war against Egypt was doubtless a considerable burden for Philistia.” “The messengers of the nation (Isaiah 14:32) that came on like a devastating fire, and overcame the nation of Philistines with little trouble, must acknow ledge that worldly-power comes to grief against Zion. Sargon and Sennacherib had that experience." Birks makes the rod = the serpent = Tiglath-Pileser, etc.—Tr.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isaiah 14:32. It is to be remarked here that Isaiah holds out as a shield, the truth that the Lord has founded Zion. But when the Jews founded on this truth a wicked hope, in that they saw therein a passport for every sort of godless-ness, then it is said: “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, are these.” Jeremiah 7:4.
Footnotes:
[38]all Philistia.
[39]the rod that smote.
[40]Or, adder.
[41]basilisk.
[42]comes.
[43]Or, he shall not be alone.
[44]no straggler in his armies.
[45]Or, assemblies.
[46]Or, betake themselves unto it.
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