Isaiah 30:19-26

4. THE SANCTIFICATION AND SALVATION OF THE PEOPLE

Isaiah 30:19-26

19          For 14the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem:

Thou shalt weep no more:He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry;When he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20     And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of 15affliction,

Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more,But thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21     And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,

This is the way, walk ye in it,

When ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22     Ye shall defile also the covering of 16thy graven images of silver,

And the ornament of thy molten images of gold:Thou shalt 17cast them away as a menstruous cloth;

Thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23     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 18fat and plenteous:

In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24     The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground

Shall eat 1920clean provender,

Which hath been winnowed with the 21shovel and with the fan.

25     And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every 22high hill,

Rivers and streams of waters

In the day of the great slaughter,When the towers fall.

26     Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,

And the light of the sun shall be seven-fold,As the light of seven days,In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people,And healeth the stroke of their wound.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 30:19. יָחְנְךָ for יְחָנְךָ as Genesis 43:29. Comp. Olshausen, Gr., § 243, a. כְּ before שׁמעתו marks coincidence. Comp. Genesis 24:30; Genesis 34:7; Genesis 39:15, et saepe. The Infinitive שְׁמֹעַ with the feminine ending is found only here.

Isaiah 30:20. מַים is in the absolute state instead of the construct. [On this kind of apposition the note in Delitzsch’s Commentary in loco may be consulted.—D. M.]. כָּנַף occurs as a verb only here. There is no reason apparent why this word should not be the root of כָּנָף covering, wing, and accordingly signify to cover, to hide, in the Niphal to hide one’s-self. The singular is used because יכנף is the prefixed predicate.

Isaiah 30:21. תאמינו for תֵּימִינוּ (comp. Ewald, (Gr., § 122, e). This form occurs only here.

Isaiah 30:22. [דָוהָ is abbreviation for כְּלִי דָוהָ. Del.].

Isaiah 30:23. מקניך could be in the singular. But forms such as מִקְנַי Exodus 17:3; Numbers 20:19, show that the word is also actually used in the plural. ירעה is therefore singular as יכנף in Isaiah 30:20. (See remark on the latter place).

Isaiah 30:24. זֹרֶרּ is either Pual part. for מְזֹרֶה, or Part. Kal as a verbal form in which the subject is implied (comp. Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 24:2; Isaiah 29:8).

Isaiah 30:26. Lowth, Gesenius, Hitzig, Hendewerk and Knobel regard the words כאור שׁבעת הימים as a gloss because they are wanting in the LXX. and form a needless epexegesis which disturbs the parallelism. But their absence in the LXX. is no reason for treating them as an interpolation. They are found in the Targum, in the Syriac and in Jerome. There is here no fixed metre. We can neither affirm that the verse consists of four members, nor that a definite length is required for each line. And in regard to the sense, the epexegesis is not so needless. For who is not sensible that the שבעתים is set more vividly before us by the addition that follows?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet, after preparing the way by Isaiah 30:18, looks into the distant future. It presents itself to him as a blessed time. He gives a general picture of it in colors borrowed from the present. We call it a general picture, because it will not be realized in a fixed time; but it comprehends as in a frame what will take place for the good of the people from the proximate till the most remote future. But this picture of the future is painted with colors of the present, for the circumstances of the present supply the images under which the Prophet represents the blessings of the future. He assumes that there will always be a people dwelling in Zion, i.e., Jerusalem. This people will not always have to weep; a time will come when its requests will be speedily answered (Isaiah 30:19). They will not indeed be without bread of distress and water of tribulation in the future, but their eyes will also be constantly able to see the teachers who will show them the way out of distress (Isaiah 30:20); and the ears of the people will hearken every moment to the voice which will call from behind the direction as to the way they should go (Isaiah 30:21). Then will the people put away the abominations of idolatry (Isaiah 30:22). And the Lord will grant rain and glorious fruit to nourish men and cattle (Isaiah 30:23-24). Springs of water, too, will gush forth on the high mountains in the time when the Lord by rivers of blood has made this possible (Isaiah 30:25). The light of sun and moon will shine many times brighter than now, in that time when the Lord shall have healed the wounds of His people (Isaiah 30:26).

2. For the people——Get thee hence.

Isaiah 30:19-22. The cheering prospect of which Isaiah 30:18 permitted a view, is now fully and completely unfolded. First of all, the Prophet promises that in Zion—Jerusalem a people will always dwell, i.e., the holy city will never like the world-city become a desert forsaken by men (Isaiah 13:19 sqq.; Isaiah 25:2; Jeremiah 50:13 et saepe). בירושׁלם is added for nearer explanation, and as if to prevent a misunderstanding. If the Prophet had written only Zion, it might have been supposed that he speaks of the kingdom whose proper centre was Zion, the seat of the house of David (comp. Psalms 2:6; Psalms 110:2 et saepe). By the addition “Jerusalem” the Prophet renders it impossible to mistake that he means the city. And in fact Jerusalem has never ceased to be inhabited, whereby it is distinguished from the world-cities Babylon and Nineveh, which have lain desolate for thousands of years. We may not take עַם as a vocative, though in that case תבכה would fitly follow; but the first clause would then have no meaning. The sudden change of person, which occurs frequently in this paragraph, should not cause surprise. Comp. Isaiah 30:20לָכֶם, Isaiah 30:21&לְכוּ אָזְנֶיךָ, ver.22כַּסְפֶֽךָ טִמֵּאתֶם. The infinitive absolute בּכָוֹ has evidently the force that the weeping will not be long continued, as the Lord will speedily have mercy. In the future to which the look of the Prophet is directed, Israel will not be without tribulation. But this tribulation the Prophet comprises in the expression bread of distress, water of affliction.לֶחֶם צַר is found only here. 1 Kings 22:27; 2 Chronicles 18:26 we find לחם לחץ ומים לחץ to designate the meagre fare of prisoners. As the Prophet according to what follows (comp. especially Isaiah 30:26) has the entire future in his eye, we cannot refer the expressions “bread of distress and water of affliction” merely to the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians (Isaiah 29:3 sqq.). But, although that siege stands in the fore-ground of the Prophet’s field of vision, we have to look upon that siege with its bread of distress and its water of affliction only as a type and representative of all the affliction which Israel must endure in the future. And if this affliction is here alluded to only in sparing terms, this is owing to the character of this second part of our prophecy, in which the threatening almost disappears behind the promise. But Israel will bear affliction quite otherwise than formerly. Hitherto they displayed in times of need their rage against the Prophets of the Lord. These were called those who trouble Israel (1 Kings 18:17), were treated as ring leaders of sedition (Amos 7:10), and traitors to their country (Jeremiah 38:4 sqq.); all misery was attributed to the forsaking of the worship of idols owing to their urgent effort (Jeremiah 44:16 sqq.). Then the Prophets were persecuted, and must conceal themselves (Matthew 23:37; Jeremiah 36:26). This will happen henceforth no more. But Jerusalem will, on the contrary, in affliction direct its eyes to the teachers in order to follow them; it will open its ears to the word of the Lord which the servants of God, who are conceived as commanders marching behind a procession, will call to it, and will direct its steps exactly according to their commands.

[“Their teachers were to be before them, but when they declined from the right way, their backs would be turned to them, consequently, the warning voice would be heard behind them. The first and last clauses of the verse closely cohere.”—Henderson. D. M.]. This obedience to the word of Jehovah implies that they will abandon idols. This will be done while they treat the silver and golden images, without (see command Deuteronomy 7:25) regard to the precious metal, as impure things, yea, cast them away as objects of abhorrence (comp. Isaiah 2:20). טִמֵּא as 2Ki 23:8; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Kings 23:16 (only here in Isaiah). צפוי is the metal covering of statues (Deuteronomy 17:3-4; Exodus 38:7; Exodus 38:19) אפדה is found besides only in Exodus 28:8; Exodus 39:5 in the expression הֵשֶׁב אֲפֻדָּה, a part of the priest’s dress. [“The word is the feminine of אֵפוֹד: but here, as parallel with צפוי, it signifies a covering or plating over the body of an image.”—Henderson]. מַסֵּכָה (Isaiah 30:1) fusio, fusura, fusile, a molten image (Exodus 32:4; Exodus 32:8 et saepe, further in Isaiah only Isaiah 42:17). The expression תזרםthou shalt scatter them, recalls Exodus 32:20. צֵא is a strong expression (comp. 2 Samuel 16:7). The singular לוֹ here involves the notion of something contemptible: Get out! thou wilt say to the trash.

3. Then shall he give——their wound.

Isaiah 30:23-26. To the change of life described there is now attached the promise of the richest blessing even of a temporal kind. First, to the seed the necessary rain is promised, a blessing which could never be wanting in an oriental picture of prosperity, and is therefore also so frequently referred to in the theocratic promises: Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 14:11; Joel 2:23; Jeremiah 5:24; Zechariah 10:1 et saepe. The rain which is to fructify the seed is the seed-rain or early rain (יוֹרֶה) which falls in October. The expression “He shall give the rain of thy seed” instead of “to thy seed” recalls places such as Genesis 39:21; Numbers 12:6. אשׁר תזרע = with which thou shalt sow (comp. Isaiah 17:10) זָרַע is here construed with a double accusative]. לחם is by תבואת הא׳ generalized. It is therefore all that the earth produces for the food of man, as לחם is used also in this comprehensive sense in the expression “to eat bread.” (Genesis 31:54; Genesis 43:16; Jeremiah 41:1 et saepe). All these products of the field serving for food shall be of the best quality, full of sap and strength (דָּשֵן as an adjective only here in Isaiah: comp. Psalms 92:15; Genesis 49:20). כַּר in the signification of pascuum only here and Psalms 37:20; 65:14. The Niphal נרחבdilatatum, spatiosum esse is likewise found only here. The oxen and asses which till [In the E. V., we have the word ear which is now obsolete and means to plough or to till.—D. M.] the land are the animals employed by the farmer for draught and carrying burdens. These shall be fed with the best provender.בְּלִיל (only here in Isaiah, besides Job 6:5; Job 24:6) is a mixture, a mash, provender consisting of grain (comp. the following זֹרֶה) and chopped herbs. חָמִיץ leavened, salted (comp. &חֹמֶץ חָמֵץ) is ἅπ. λεγ. The provender is salted with salt or saltish herbs, in order to make it more palatable. It has previously to be cleansed from impurities that it may be more excellent. This is done by winnowing. The implements which serve for winnowing are רַחַת and מִזְרֶח which are still called Racht and Midra. The former is a flat shovel and serves, according to the interesting Excursus of Wetzstein in Delitzsch’s Commentary, to winnow leguminous fruits, and the mixed remains of the better kinds of grain. The latter is a five or six pronged fork which is employed in winnowing the superior kinds of grain. If the Prophet had mentioned the winnowing shovel only (racht), the meaning would be that the cattle would be fed only with inferior provender. The mention of the מִזְרֶה intimates that they should also have grain of wheat and barley. רַחַת is ἅπ. λεγ.מִזְרֶה occurs further in Jeremiah 15:7. On all high mountains and towering hills were the places of idolatrous worship, where flowed the blood of the offerings so offensive to God, especially of the children sacrificed to Moloch (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6; Ezekiel 6:13; Ezekiel 20:28). Instead thereof there should now flow on the mountains and hills water-brooks, a blessing hitherto confined to the valleys (Isaiah 41:8). פלגים are certainly natural brooks; יְבָלִים (besides Isaiah 44:4) are perhaps water-courses turned off from them. But as the Prophet had already, Isaiah 30:20, intimated by the mention of bread of distress and water of affliction, that distress and affliction would not be wanting, so here at the close of his discourse he sets forth the prospect of great slaughter and falling of towers. By these intimations he lets us perceive that the glorious time of the end lies beyond a dreadful period which first must be passed through. This latter he has described often enough (comp. 24 sqq.), to be able to suppose that these brief allusions would be quite well understood by his readers. ביום is to be taken here in that general sense in which we have already frequently met it (comp. e.g., Isaiah 27:1); but in our place the occurrence following that time is placed first. It is implied, too, in the ביום that there is a certain connection between the occurrences mentioned. There is no chasm lying between them, so that the following time has absolutely nothing to do with the foregoing. That water-streams of blessing succeed streams of blood is not accidental. These streams of blood must atone and purify so as to prepare the ground for blessing. הֶרֶג occurs further Isaiah 27:7. I find in הרג and נפל מגדלים simply an allusion to the great judgments which must fall on people and city before the day of redemption. The old, theocratic Jerusalem with its towers and its temple is reduced to ruins, while streams of blood have at the same time flown. And here the Prophet takes in one view the first and second destruction of Jerusalem. But immediately behind this destruction he sees the time of blessing. That long periods of time must intervene between these occurrences is matter of no moment. Verse 26 transports us into a time which lies beyond the present state of things, though not into the time of the new heaven and new earth, for the present sun and the present moon still exist. But their influence is intensified; they are elevated in the scale of existence. Delitzsch is certainly right in saying: “It is not the new heaven of which the Prophet here speaks, but that glorification of nature promised both in Old and New Testament prophecy for the final period of the world’s history.” Comp. Revelation 20:1-4. The light of the moon (לבנה besides only Isaiah 24:23; Song of Solomon 6:10) will then be as the light of the sun (חמה, likewise in Isaiah 24:23 and Song of Solomon 6:10, besides Job 30:28); but the light of the sun will be the seven-fold (septuplum Genesis 4:15; Genesis 4:24; Psalms 12:7) of what it now is. For it will be as the light of seven days, i.e., the quantity of light which has hitherto been sufficient for seven days will then be concentrated in a single day. On this day all the wounds which the Lord must inflict on His people before and after the time of the Prophets (Isaiah 30:20; Isaiah 30:25), will be healed. שֶׁבֶר is a word of very frequent use by Isaiah. מחץ מכתו is the fracture, contusion of the bone caused by the stroke which it receives. מחץ seems to indicate a sorer evil than שׁבר. [Instead of the E. V., the stroke of their wound, we should rather render the wound of their stroke. It is doubtful whether the suffix in מכתו should be referred to עַם or יהוה—D. M.].

Footnotes:

[14]a people.

[15]Or, oppression.

[16]Heb. the graven images of thy silver.

[17]Heb. scatter.

[18]full of sap and fat.

[19]Or, savory. Heb. leavened.

[20]salted.

[21]fan and fork.

[22]Heb. lifted up.