Isaiah 30:15-18

3. THE PRESUMPTUOUS AND THE WELL-FOUNDED CONFIDENCE

Isaiah 30:15-18

15          For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel;

In returning and rest shall ye be saved:In quietness and in confidence shall he your strength:And ye would not.

16     But ye said, No; for we will 11flee upon horses;

Therefore shall ye flee:And, We will ride upon the swift;Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17     One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one;

At the rebuke of five shall ye flee:Till ye be left as a 12 13beacon upon the top of a mountain,

And as an ensign on an hill.

18     And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you,

And therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you:For the Lord is a God of judgment:

Blessed are all they that wait for him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. That the way of deliverance pursued by Israel was wrong, appears not only from its roots (Isaiah 30:9-11) and from its fruit (Isaiah 30:12-14), but also from setting over against it that which is declared by Jehovah to be alone salutary: Returning and rest in Him; quiet, patient trust in Him who only is strong and makes strong. But Israel declined to take this latter way (Isaiah 30:15). According to their notion, only Egypt’s horses could help them. But these horses are to serve only for precipitate flight. Runners, too, there shall be, but at the disposal of the pursuers of fleeing Israel (Isaiah 30:16). A great number of Israelites will flee from a petty band of enemies, and Israel’s whole might will be reduced to but a small remnant, that might be compared with a single pine or a solitary banner on a mountain-height (Isaiah 30:17). And the final consequence will be that the Lord, as He is a God who exercises justice, must delay His help, which eventually will not be withheld. Then will it appear that only they are, to be pronounced happy who hope on the Lord (Isaiah 30:18). [I understand the purport of Isaiah 30:18 differently. See exegetical and critical remarks on it.—D. M.]

2.Isaiah 30:15-18. For thus saith——wait for him.—שׁוּבָה [ἅπ. λεγ.) is certainly not quickening, vivificatio, but returning. For the question here relates to what Israel was bound to do. And שוּב is that very significant leading term in the prophecy of Isaiah, and especially in that of Jeremiah, which we have already (Isaiah 1:27) taken notice of, and have particularly remarked in the name שׁאר ישׁוב (comp. on Isaiah 7:3). נחת from נוּחַ, to rest (comp. Isaiah 30:30, et saepe), as רַחַת, Isaiah 30:24, from רוּחַ, marks, as it were, the point where the שׁוּבָה ends. For Israel has to return to the Lord and then rest in the Lord (comp. “Syria resteth on Ephraim,” Isaiah 7:2). This meaning seems to me more appropriate than that of “rest from one’s own self-confiding endeavor” (Del.). [Delitzsch appears to me to set forth the exact idea intended by נחת. It is hard to assume an ellipsis of the words “in the Lord” after rest.But the supplement proposed by Delitzsch is naturally suggested by the context.—D. M.]—השׁקט includes the idea of abstaining from making one’s self outwardly busy, as well as that of inward composure. Isaiah called הַשְׁקֵט (Isaiah 7:4) to Ahaz, who was seeking safety in external military and political measures. בטחה (ἅπ. λεγ.) forms a fine counterpart to השׁקט: the true repose rests on the confidence which casts every concern on the Lord (comp. Isaiah 32:17, where also השׁקט and בטח stand together. In this union of self-restraint and of yielding one’s self to the Lord would consist Israel’s strength (גבורה, Isaiah 3:25; Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 28:6; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 33:13; Isaiah 36:5; in the second part only the plural גְּבוּרוֹת63:15, occurs). But alas! Israel refuses to make this self-surrender to the Lord (Isaiah 30:9). The people say rather: על סום ננום (Isaiah 30:16). The Vulgate translates: ad equos fugiemus, as in Isaiah 10:3. But it is apparent that the rhyme between נוּם and סוּם is designed; and for the sake of the rhyme a modification of the meaning of נוּם is allowable. The following words—we will ride upon the swift—make clear the thought which the Prophet desired to express by על סום נ׳. I therefore take נום, as many modern interpreters do, in the sense of celeriter ferri, festinare (comp. &נוּע נוּץ, in German fliehen and fliegen [in English to flee and to fly). If the clause signified “on horses will we flee” (Drechsler), then it must be said in opposition: therefore shall ye flee on foot. We should then expect a word which would indicate slow flight. But in using this language the Israelites were thinking of meeting the enemy on swift horses. The appropriate antithetic statement which the Prophet makes is: no, horses will serve you only for flight. Parallel to “we will hasten upon horses” is the clause על־קל נרכב. Only here is קל, celer, κέλης (comp. Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 18:2; Isaiah 19:1) used of the swift horse. The Israelites were warned in the Law against the horses of Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16; comp. 1 Kings 10:25; 1 Kings 10:28), and our Prophet utters soon after (Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 31:3) in plain words the same blame which we find here. [Beside the play of words in &נוּם סוּם and תְּנוּסוּן, that in קַל and יִקַּלּוּ should not be overlooked.—D. M.] Isaiah 30:17 depicts the disgraceful haste and senselessness of their flight in terms that evidently allude to passages in the Law (comp. Leviticus 26:17; and especially Deuteronomy 32:30). [Lowth supposes that after חֲמִשָׁח there stood originally רבבה, which has dropped out of the text. But the connection with the following words would be disturbed by this proposed emendation: “at the rebuke of five shall ye flee till ye be left,” etc.Henderson properly quotes the censure of Kocher on such intermeddling with the sacred text: Quin tandem aliquando suae sibi viae certum vatem ire sinentes nostros errores corrigimus?—D.M.] This wasting, destructive flight will last till there remains of Israel only a small remnant. The smallness of this remnant is set forth by the Prophet under a double image. He compares it first with a single pine (תֹּרֶן אֹרֶן44:14, originally the pine, then the mast made out of it, Isaiah 33:23; Ezekiel 27:5), on a high mountain, which is all that remains of a thick wood; and then with a solitary signal-pole (Numbers 21:8 sq.; Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 11:12, el saepe) set up on a bare height (Isaiah 13:2). The choice of this second image was perhaps determined by the resemblance in sound between נֵם and נוּם Isaiah 30:18 describes the second and last effect of the לא אביתם in Isaiah 30:15. The first was destruction and dispersion, the second is the delay in God’s showing favor [?] חִכָּה with לְ to wait for something, Psalms 106:13; Job 3:21; Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 64:3. The sense of delaying lies in this word in 2 Kings 7:9; 2 Kings 9:3. This sense, too, is not foreign to the passage, Job 32:4. The parallelism indicates that the words ירום לרחמכם must have an analogous sense. I understand רוּם here with Rashi (comp. Gesen.Thes. p. 1274) in the sense of יְתְרַהֵק, he is high, i. e., gone away upwards, because he dwells on high. He takes a high, i.e., retired, distant position in relation to pitying you (comp. מרום משׁפטיך, Psalms 10:5). It must be admitted that we should expect מֵרַחֶמְכֶם instead of לְר׳. The matter is still dubious. Perhaps we should read יָדוֹם or יִדּוֹם (with Houbigant, Lowth, Ewald, Cheyne, and some Codices). That God delays in granting deliverance, is according to His justice. He must punish you. Divine justice requires this. If He should only show mercy, this would not be good for the sinner himself (Isaiah 26:10). It is therefore on the ground of the declarations Exodus 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18 said of him [rather the Lord Himself says]: “I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28). Yet from this correction in measure, which satisfies justice and love, there is a deliverance to the enjoyment of the full light of salvation for those who wait on the Lord in faith. This thought forms the transition to the second part of the chapter, which is of a consolatory character. The last clause of Isaiah 30:18 recalls to mind the closing words of the second Psalm. [Must we then give up using the hallowed phrase: “The Lord waiteth to be gracious” as an encouragement to come to Him, and in deference to just criticism regard these words as rather a threatening that the Lord will delay to show favor? Though one or two instances of the rare use of חכה in the sense of delaying may be adduced, yet the word more naturally marks a tending or inclining to the object of waiting. Here we have חכה followed by לְ, which forces us to give the word a sense the very opposite of deferring or delaying. Dr. Naegelsbach confesses the unsatisfactoriness of the explanation which must be given to the following parallel clause, if the first clause of the verse is to be understood of Jehovah delaying to be gracious. But, it may be asked, how is לָכֵן at the beginning of the verse to be explained, if it does not contain a threatening? I connect “therefore” with the miserable condition of Israel described in the preceding verse. This misery awakens the divine compassion. Therefore the Lord “repents Himself for His servants when He seeth that their power is gone,” Deuteronomy 32:36. He seeks opportunity to relieve the distressed because “He delighteth in mercy.” And “He is exalted above the heavens,” not to be remote, not to withdraw Himself and to withhold aid, but that “His beloved may be delivered,” Psalms 108:5-6. Need I add that it is in accordance with Scripture to represent the Lord as displaying His righteousness when He fulfils His promise to show mercy, and is faithful in keeping His gracious covenant? See how in the next, the 19th, verse the Prophet illustrates what he means by the Lord waiting that He may be gracious to Israel, when He declares “He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.”—D. M.]

Footnotes:

[11]hasten.

[12]Or, a tree bereft of branches: Or, a mast.

[13]a pine.