It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
Parallel Translations
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It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
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And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
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And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy travail, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve,
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Isaiah 14:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 30:10 Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid.
- Ezra 9:8-9 Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and revived us a little in our bondage. For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 32:18 My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places,
- Jeremiah 46:27-28 “But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don’t be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh; “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
- Zechariah 8:8 and I will bring them, and they will dwell within Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”
- Deuteronomy 28:48 therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
- Deuteronomy 28:65-68 Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
- Isaiah 11:10 It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.
- Jeremiah 50:34 Their Redeemer is strong: Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
- Ezekiel 28:24 “ ‘ “There will be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are around them that scorned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”
- Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
- Revelation 19:1-3 After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God; for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” A second said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.”
- Zechariah 8:2 Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.”
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 14:3 And it shall come to pass in…
Isa 14:3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
Ver. 3. That the Lord shall give thee rest, &c.] The Church hath her halcyons here; neither is she "smitten as those are that smote her, but in measure, in the branches," &c. God "stayeth his rough wind" {Isa 27:8} that is, such afflictions as would shake his plants too much, or quite blow them down. Yea, whether south or north wind bloweth, all shall blow good to them {Son 4:16} Blow off their unkindly blossoms, and refresh them both under and after all their sorrow, fear, and hardship.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain From thy fear; for besides their present hard service,…
From thy fear; for besides their present hard service, they were in perpetual fear of further severities and sufferings, at the pleasure of their cruel lords and masters.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it shall come to pass in the day…
And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow,.... In captivity, and on account of that, being out of their own land, deprived of the free exercise of their religion, and at a distance from the house of God, and continually hearing the reproaches and blaspheming of the enemy, and seeing their idolatrous practices, and their ungodly conversation; all which must create sorrow of heart to the sincere lovers and worshippers of God:
and from thy fear; of worse evils, most cruel usage, and death itself, under the terror of which they lived:
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and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve; as before in Egypt, so now in Babylon; but what that was is not particularly expressed anywhere, as the former is, see Exo 1:13 and when they had rest from all this in their own land, then they should do as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. In the day - "In that day"]…
Verse 3. In the day - "In that day"] ביום ההוא bayom hahu. The word ההוא hahu is added in two MSS. of Kennicott's, and was in the copies from which the Septuagint and Vulgate translated: εν τῃ ἡμερᾳ εκεινῃ, in die illa, (ᾑ αναπαυσει, MS. Pachom. adding ה,) in that day. This is a matter of no great consequence: however, it restores the text to the common form, almost constantly used on such occasions; and is one among many instances of a word apparently lost out of the printed copies.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 14:3-5. And in the day that the Lord…
Isa 14:3-5. And in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow — From thy grief, fear, and the hard bondage of former times; wherein thou wast made to serve — According to the pleasure of thy cruel lords and masters; thou shalt take up this proverb — Into thy mouth, as it is expressed; Psa 50:16; and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! — This is spoken by way of astonishment and triumph, as if he had said, Who would have thought this possible? The golden city ceased! — So they used to call themselves; which he expresses here in a word of their own language. The Lord hath broken the staff, &c. — This is an answer to the foregoing question. It is God’s own work, and not man’s; and therefore it is not strange that it is accomplished. But before we proceed with our remarks on some particular passages of this song, we shall present our readers with the general view which Bishop Lowth has given of its unparalleled beauties, which he has pointed out, in a very striking manner, as follows: “A chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their surprise and astonishment at the sudden downfall of Babylon, and the great reverse of fortune that had befallen the tyrant, who, like his predecessors, had oppressed his own, and harassed the neighbouring kingdoms. These oppressed kingdoms, or their rulers, are represented under the image of the fir-trees, and the cedars of Libanus, frequently used to express any thing in the political or religious world that is super-eminently great and majestic: the whole earth shouteth for joy: the cedars of Libanus utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant; and boast their security now he is no more. The scene is immediately changed, and a new set of persons is introduced; the regions of the dead are laid open, and Hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the departed monarchs: they rise from their thrones to meet the king of Babylon at his coming; and insult him on his being reduced to the same low estate of impotence and dissolution with themselves. This is one of the boldest prosopopœias that ever was attempted in poetry; and is executed with astonishing brevity and perspicuity, and with that peculiar force which, in a great subject, naturally results from both. The Jews now resume the speech; they address the king of Babylon as the morning-star fallen from heaven, as the first in splendour and dignity in the political world, fallen from his high state: they introduce him as uttering the most extravagant vaunts of his power, and ambitious designs in his former glory: these are strongly contrasted in the close with his present low and abject condition. Immediately follows a different scene, and a most happy image, to diversify the same subject, and to give it a new turn and an additional force. Certain persons are introduced, who light upon the corpse of the king of Babylon, cast out, and lying naked on the bare ground, among the common slain, just after the taking of the city; covered with wounds, and so disfigured, that it is some time before they know him. They accost him with the severest taunts, and bitterly reproach him with his destructive ambition, and his cruel usage of the conquered; which have deservedly brought upon him this ignominious treatment, so different from that which those of his rank usually meet with, and which shall cover his posterity with disgrace. To complete the whole, God is introduced declaring the fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, and the total desolation of the city; the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; confirming the irreversible decree by the awful sanction of his oath. I believe it may, with truth, be affirmed, that there is no poem of its kind extant in any language, in which the subject is so well laid out, and so happily conducted, with such a richness of invention, with such variety of images, persons, and distinct actions, with such rapidity and ease of transition, in so small a compass as in this ode of Isaiah. For beauty of disposition, strength of colouring, greatness of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands among all the monuments of antiquity unrivalled.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And it shall come to pass - That is,…
And it shall come to pass - That is, then thou shalt take up a taunting song against the king of Babylon Isa 14:4.
That the Lord shall give thee rest - (compare Isa 38:12). The nature of this predicted rest, is more fully described in Eze 28:25-26.
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From thy sorrow - The long pain of thy captivity in Babylon.
And from thy fear - Hebrew, ‘Trembling.’ That is, the apprehension of the ills to which they were continually exposed. Trembling is usually one effect of fear.
And from thy hard bondage - The severe and galling servitude of seventy years.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 3 And it shall come to pass in the…
3. THE JUDGMENT ON THE KING OF BABYLON
Isa_14:3-23
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3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest
From thy 4sorrow, and from thy 5fear,
And from the hard bondage
6Wherein thou wast made to serve,
4 That thou shalt 7take up this 8proverb 9against the king of Babylon, and say,
How hath the oppressor ceased!
The 1011golden city ceased!
5The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,
And the sceptre of the rulers.
6He who smote the people in wrath
With 12a continual stroke,
He that 13ruled the nations in anger,
14Is persecuted, and none hindereth.
7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:
They break forth into singing.
8Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee,
And the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
Since thou art laid down,
No feller is come up against us.
915Hell from beneath is moved for thee
To meet thee at thy coming:
It stirreth up the 16dead for thee,
Even all17 18the chief ones of the earth;
It hath raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10All they shall 19speak and say unto thee,
20Art thou also become weak as we?
kArt thou become like unto us?
11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave,
And the noise of thy viols:
The worm is spread under thee, and the worms 1cover thee.
12How art thou fallen from heaven,
21O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground,
Which didst 22weaken the nations!
1323For thou 24hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.
1525Yet thou 26shalt be brought down to hell,
To the 27sides of the pit.
16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
That did shake kingdoms;
17That made the world as a wilderness,
And destroyed the cities thereof;
That 28opened not the house of his prisoners?
18All the kings of the nations, even all of them,
Lie in 29glory, every one in his own house.
19But thou art cast out of thy grave
Like an 30abominable branch,
And as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword,
That go down to the stones of the pit;
As a carcase trodden under feet.
20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial,
Because thou hast destroyed thy land,
And slain thy people:
The seed of evil doers shall never be 31renowned.
21Prepare slaughter for his children
For the iniquity of their fathers;
That they do not rise, nor possess the land,
Nor nil the face of the world with cities.
22 32For I will rise up against them,
Saith the Lord of hosts,
And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And 33son, and nephew, saith the Lord.
23 I will also make it a possession for the 34bittern, and pools of water:
And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_14:3. ביום הניח וגו calls to mind Deu_25:19.—עֹצֶב in the sense of dolor, labor, only here in Isaiah. It is not to be confounded with עֹצֶב idolum (Isa_48:5).—Also רֹגֶז, which often occurs in Job, does not again occur in Isaiah.—אשׁר עבד does not stand for ‘א עֻבְּדָה as Gesenius supposes. And אשׁר is not to be rendered by the ablative, but it is accusative according to the well-known construction of the Passive with the accusative of the nearer object (comp. Isa_21:2; Gen_35:26).
Isa_14:4. Whatever may be the fundamental meaning of מָשַׁל, and whether מָשַׁל, to rule, and מָשַׁל, to compare, come from one or from two roots (Gesen. Winer, Delitzsch assume constitit erectus as the common radical meaning; comp. Del. Commentary and Zur Geschichte d. jud. Poesie, p 196), the word any way signifies a dictum in terse language, distinguished from a merely prosaic statement, let the dictum be fable, parable, allegory, aphorism, proverb, riddle, didactic poem, or satire. It is here used in the last named sense, i.e., sarcastic address, as in Hab_2:6; Mic_2:4; comp. Deu_28:37; Jer_24:9; Psa_69:12; 1Ki_9:7. [“Its most general sense seems to be that of tropical or figurative language. Here it may have a special reference to the bold poetic fiction following.”—J. A. A.]. The word does not again occur in Isaiah.—מדהבה is ἅπ. λεγ. The LXX., translates ἔπισπουδαστής, which means the driver, inciter. It is thus synonymous with נֹגֵשׂ. Vulg. tributum, according to which the word is derived either from זָהָב = דְּהַב. gold, or from רָהָב insistere, opprimere, so that the notion oppress would be taken in the sense of collecting tribute. In the latter sense the meaning as regards etymology would coinclde with the Greek ἐπισπουδαστής. For, according to the sense, the Greek translation seems to signify rather the driver who urges prisoners or slaves to make haste. The Peschito also, which translates operis exactor, and the Targ. Jonathan which translates fortitudo peccatoris appear to have read מַרְהֵכָה. So, too, perhaps Saadia (timiditas). As Aquila translates λιμός, he must either have taken מַרְעֵכָה = מַרְהֵבָה, or מַדְאֵבָה = מַדְהֵבָה, from דָּאַכ, languere. Delitzsch sides with the last meaning, construing מ as Mem loci, and translates, place of torture. Yet it seems to me that locus languendi, even if one overlooks the permutation of א and ה, is still a vocabulum satis languidum for place of torture. I would like therefore, with J. D. Michaelis, Gesenius, Knobel, Meier and others, to assume that מדהבה is an error of transcribing for מרהבה, as also an old edition (Thessalon, 1,600) actually reads. It favors this, too, that רָהַב (superbire, opprimire) and נָגַשׂ also correspond in parallelism, Isa_3:5.
Isa_14:5. שׁבט משׁלים (comp. Eze_19:11), as epexegesis of מטה רשׁעים is any way to be understood as a tyrant’s sceptre. This is confirmed by the statement of Isa_14:6.
Isa_14:6. The expression בלתי סרה occurs only here: סרה in Isa_1:5; Isa_31:6; Isa_59:13, in the sense of revolt. On בלתי see at Isa_10:4. The conjecture of Doederlein, that instead of מֻרְדָף we should read מִרְדַּת has, according to the analogy of מַכַּת, much plausibility. The confounding of ף and ת might easily happen in the unpointed text. Neither מִרְדָּה nor מֻרְדָּף occur elsewhere. מדדף is nom. passivum: the being pursued, being hounded on, like מֻנָד being scared off, cast away, 2Sa_23:6. מֻצָּב stations, Isa_29:3. מֻרְבֶּכֶת, stirred in, Lev_6:14, etc.—חשׂך occurs again Isa_54:2; Isa_58:1.—בלי kindred to בלתי (comp. Ewald, 322, a.), is poetic negation. It occurs in Isaiah, again only Isa_32:10. See on בַּל Isa_14:21.
Isa_14:7. פצח רנה is an expression peculiar to the second part of Isa. (Isa_44:23; Isa_49:13; Isa_52:9; Isa_54:1; Isa_55:12) and does not occur elsewhere.
Isa_14:8. שָׂמַח with לְ involves the notion of rejoicing at misfortune: Psa_30:2; Psa_35:19; Psa_35:24; Psa_38:17; Mic_7:8; Oba_1:12.
Isa_14:9. לְךָ after רגזה is constructio praegnans. (comp. Mic_7:14), לקראת בואך however is the nearer qualification of the לְךָ: hell gets into uproar toward thee, that is in order to welcome thee as an arrival.—עוֹרֵר Isa_10:26; Isa_23:13.—שְׁאוֹל is, in the first half of the verse, like Isa_5:14, construed as feminine. But when the discourse continues with the masculine form עוֹרֵר, the reason can hardly be because שׁאול elsewhere (Job_26:6) is used as masculine. For the question still arises, why does the Prophet vary the gender? I think the Prophet in the first clause has the totality in mind, whereas in עוֹרֵר וגו׳ he means that special dominant will that he ascribes to Sheol as to a person. The former, as with all collectives, he conceives as feminine: but this person, as a ruler he conceives of as masculine. [“Hitzig explains this on the ground that in the first clause Sheol is passive, in the second active: Maurer, with more success, upon the ground that the nearest verb takes the feminine or proper gender of the noun, while the more remote one, by a common license, retains the masculine or radical form, as in Isa_33:9, (see Gesenius, § 141, Rem. 1).”—J. A. A.]
Isa_14:10. יענו is employed according to well-known usage, whereby, not only the discourse responsive to other discourse, but discourse responsive to action is designated as answer (Isa_21:9; Deu_21:7; Deu_26:5; Job_3:2; Mat_11:25; Mat_22:1, etc.).—The Pual הֻלֵּיתָ only here. Comp. passages like Isa_53:10; Isa_57:10; Gen_48:1, etc.; Deu_29:21, etc., and the meaning cannot be ambiguous: tu quoque debilitatus es. Also אלינו נמשׁלת is a pregnant phrase: thou art made like us and brought to us. [Of this constr. praegn. J. A. A., says: “this supposition is entirely gratuitous.”]
Isa_14:11. הֶמְיָה from הָמָה strepere, synonymous with הָמוֹן (Isa_13:4), is ἅπ. λεγ. Concerning נֶכֶל comp. at Isa_5:12.—רִמָּה only here in Isaiah.—תּוֹלֵעָה, Isa_41:14; Isa_66:24.
Isa_14:12. הֵילֵל is by some expositors (Jerome, Aquila, Rosenmueller, Gesenius) taken as imperative from הֵילִיל = howl, in which sense, in fact, the word occurs Eze_21:17; Zec_11:2. But this meaning is forced and mars the context. Only that meaning will correspond with the context which takes this word in the sense of bright star, from הָלַל to shine (Job_29:3, etc.). The form הֵילֵל can be formed after analogy of שֵׁילָל ,הֵידָד (Mic_1:8 K’thibh). It is, however, possible, too, that הֵילֵל is derived from הִלֵּל, although there is no analogy for this, for אֵשֶׁת ,מֵאֵך are not analogous, and i before strong consonants always lengthens to i as substitute for doubling (Ewald, § 84 a.). It must only be that at the same time a sort of attraction took place, and thus the Tsere of the final syllable conformed to the vowel of the preceding syllable. Then helel could be identical with the name Hillel (Jdg_12:13; Jdg_12:15); to which the remark may be added, that Rabbi Hillel the younger (in the 4th Cent., after Christ) is named Ἑλλήλ by Epiphanius (Adv. Haer. II. p. 127. Ed. Paris.). Also Buxtorf (Lex. Chald. talm. et Rabb. p. 617) writes: הִילֵּל Hillel, olim Hellel ut Emmanuel et Immanuel, de qua scriptione vide Drus. Observ. L. IX. 100:1. ” That this bright star is the morning star appears from the addition בן־שׁחר.—חָלַשׁ with Accus. Exo_17:13 : with עַל only in this place, which seems to depend on the latent notion of lording it, like רָדַף חָבַשׁ ,רָפָא, are construed with the Accus., and לְ.
Isa_14:15. The adversative thought is introduced by אַךְ. The restrictive fundamental meaning (“only,” which receives adversative force in such a connection = nisi rectius dixeris i.e. sed. comp. Jer_5:5) seems to involve here a certain irony: but pity, that thou must own to Orkus.—ירכתי בור stands opposed to י׳ צפון. The deepest corner of the deep grave. בור properly, pit, grave, but the underworld, is, so to speak, the deepening and extending of the grave Isa_38:18 and often.—The imperf. תורד, according to Delitzsch, comes unsuitably both from the mouth of the dwellers in Hades, and from Israel that sings this Maschal; it is therefore to be construed as resumption of the discourse by the Prophet, who has before his mind as future, what the Maschal recites as past (comp. הורד Isa_14:11). But this departure from the role is improbable. Moreover it is grammatically unnecessary to take תורד as future. It is present. It describes the descent into Hades as something now taking place, a movement not yet concluded. Thus Joshua (Isa_9:8) questions the emissaries of the Gibeonites מֵאַיִן תָּבֹאוּ; but Joseph his brethren (Gen_42:7) מֵאַיִן בָּאתֶם. The former regarded those questioned as arrivals, as it were still in the act of coming; the latter as ones who had arrived.
Isa_14:16. שָׁגַח (only here in Isaiah; beside this in Psa_33:14; Son_2:9), with אל in connection with ראים evidently means attentively gazing. The same thought is still more strongly emphasized by יתבוננו. The word occurs in Isaiah again Isa_1:3; Isa_43:18; Isa_52:15. With אֵל or עַל it signifies an intent, scrutinizing contemplation (1Ki_3:21; Psa_37:10; Job_31:1).—מרגיז comp. on Isa_13:13, where it is associated with רעשׁ.
Isa_14:17. The masculine suffixes in עריו and אסיריו refer to a latent masculine notion in תבל, probably to ארץ, which Isaiah is wont to use as parallel with תבל (Isa_18:3; Isa_26:18), and uses as masculine oftener than all other Old Testament writers (Isa_9:18; Isa_18:2; Isa_26:18; Isa_66:8, beside these only Gen_13:6). This is favored, also, by אסיריו, for there is no אסירי תבל, but אסירי ארץ occurs (Lam_3:34). [“The anomaly of gender may be done away by referring both the pronouns to the King himself, who might just as well be said to have destroyed his own cities, as his own land and his own people (Isa_14:20), the rather as his sway is supposed to have been universal.—J. A. A.].—Concerning the pregnant construction פתח ביתה comp. Jer_50:33.—
Isa_14:19. נצר is an exclusively Isaianic word. It occurs, beside the present, only Isa_11:1, Isa_60:21, except where Dan_11:7 quotes Isa_11:1.—נתעב, in Isaiah only here, is probably chosen for the sake of the alliteration.—לְבוּשׁ in Isaiah again Isa_63:12.——מטען only here.—כְּ in כפגר is Kaph veritatis (comp. on Isa_13:6) and what has been said figuratively is now said without figure.—פֶגֶר occurs again Isa_34:3; Isa_37:36; Isa_66:24. Part. מובם only here; other forms of בוּם Isa_14:25; Isa_63:6; Isa_63:18.
Isa_14:20. תחד from יחד only here in Isaiah. Comp. Gen_19:6. Isa_14:21. בַּל poetic = אַל; occurs again Isa_26:10-11; Isa_26:14; Isa_26:18; Isa_33:20-21; Isa_33:23-24; Isa_35:9; Isa_40:24; Isa_43:17; Isa_44:8-9; comp. on Isa_26:8.
Isa_14:22. Of the pairs of alliterated words שׁאר is a current word with Isaiah (comp. at Isa_7:13; Isa_10:19), נין ונכד stand together in the three passages where they recur: Gen_21:23; Job_18:19 and here.
[“The specific meaning son and nephew (i.e., nepos, grandson), given in the Engl. Version, and most of the early writers, and retained by Umbreit, is derived from the Chaldee Paraphrase (בר ובר בר). Aben Ezra makes the language still more definite by explaining שׁם to be a man himself, שׁאר a father, נין a son, and נכד a grandson.——But the more general meaning of the terms now held to be correct, is given in the LXX. (ὄνομα καὶ κατάλειμμα καὶ σπέρμα) and the Vulgate (nomen et reliquias et germen et progeniem.)”—J. A. A.]
Isa_14:23. טִאְטֵאתִי is Pilp., of a root טָא (טוּא) pellere, protrudere, that occurs only here, from which also the substantive מַטְאֲטֵא is formed. Some have justly found in this word a reference to טִיט clay, out of which the brick-builded Babylon emerged. But the broom, of which Jehovah makes use, is הַשְׁכֵד (infin. nomin.), destruction.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. In that day wherein the Lord will grant Israel the deliverance described in Isa_14:1-2, Israel shall sing a song of derision about the king of Babylon (Isa_14:3-4 a). The Prophet has no particular king in mind, but the king of Babylon in abstracto. With wonderful poetic vigor and beauty he shows how the proud possessor of the world-power, who in titanic arrogance would mount to equality with the very Godhead, shall be cast down to the lowest degradation and wretchedness by the omnipotence of the true God. He begins with a joyful exclamation that the scourge of the nations is broken (Isa_14:4 b –6). The earth now has rest; the very cypresses and cedars rejoice that they are no more felled (Isa_14:7-8). On the other hand, the under-world, the kingdom of the dead, rises in commotion at the new arrival. Spectres hurry to meet him—the princes under them rise off their seats (Isa_14:9). “Thou, too, comest to us,” they call to him (Isa_14:10). Then the Prophet takes up the discourse again, personating Israel, into whose mouth he puts the words, and brings out the contrast in the history of the Babylonian: Thy pomp is cast down to hell, the sound of revel in thy palaces is hushed, and thy body moulders in the grave, a star cast down from heaven (Isa_14:10-12). Thou wouldst raise thyself to the level of the Godhead, and now descendest into the deepest depth of the lower world (Isa_14:13-15). Also the subjects of the dead king express their thoughts at the spectacle of the unburied, cast-away corpse, seeing in this present wretchedness the punishment of past wrong-doing: Is this the man that shook and desolated the earth (Isa_14:16-17)? While the bodies of other kings lie quiet in their graves, his corpse, without a grave, is cast away as a despised and trampled carcase (Isa_14:18-19). This is the punishment for his having ruined land and nation. Therefore shall his generation be exterminated (Isa_14:20-21). Finally Jehovah Himself confirms the announcement of destruction, extending the warning of punishment to Babylon entire, and presents to it the prospect of desolation in the same manner as occurs chap. 13. Isa_14:21 sq. (Isa_14:22-23).
2. And it shall come to pass——hindereth.
Isa_14:3; Isa_14:6. A song of derision about the representative of the Babylonish world-power cannot be appropriate while one is in its power. When one is out of reach of his arm, then the long pent-up resentment may find expression. The service (עֲבֹדָה. comp. Isa_28:21; Isa_32:17) is also called “hard” (קָשָׁה, Exo_1:6; Exo_6:9; Deu_26:6) in the description of the Egyptian bondage. Thus we have a reminder of the resemblance between the first and the second exile.
3. The whole earth——against us.
Isa_14:7-8. But not merely the world of mankind, the impersonal creatures were disquieted by this world-despot, who knew no law but his own passions, and they, too, rejoice, jubilant at the repose. Representative of all others, the elevated giants of the forest high up on Lebanon speak, to utter their joy that, since the end of the tyrant, they are no more felled. Cypress (Isa_37:24; Isa_41:19; Isa_55:13; Isa_60:13), a hard and lasting wood, was used, not only for house and ship-building (1Ki_5:8; 1Ki_5:10; Eze_27:5), but also in the manufacture of lances (Nah_2:4) and musical instruments (2Sa_6:5; comp. Isa_14:11). [“According to J. D. Michaelis, Antilibanus is clothed with firs as Libanus or Lebanon proper is with cedars, and both are here introduced as joining in the general triumph. J. A. A.]
4. Hell from beneath——like unto us.
Isa_14:9-10. On Sheol see Isa_14:14. [“The English word Hell, though now appropriated to the condition or place of future torments, corresponds in etymology and early usage to the Hebrew word in question. Gesenius derives it, with the German Hölle, from Höhle, “hollow;” but the English etymologists from the Anglo-Saxon helan, “to cover,” which amounts to the same thing,—the ideas of a hollow and a covered place being equally appropriate. As Sheol, retained by Henderson, and the Greek word Hades, introduced by Lowth and Barnes, require explanation also, the strong and homely Saxon form will be preferred by every unsophisticated taste. Ewald and Umbreit [and Naegelsbach] have the good taste to restore the old word Hölle in their versions. J. A. A.] As the Prophet has before personified the trees of Lebanon, so here he personifies the world of the dead. He presents it as governed by a common will. This will, so to speak, the will of the ruler, roused by the appearance of the king of Babylon, electrifies the entire kingdom, so that it gets into unusual commotion and turns to the approaching king in wonder (comp. Isa_14:16). Especially the kings already there in the kingdom of the dead, the colleagues of the Babylonian, are in commotion. רפאים (Isa_26:14; Isa_26:19) are the lax, nerveless, powerless, who have no body, and thus no life-power more, who are only outlines, shades. The word is without article, likely because not all רפאים, but only a part of them, i.e., all עתודים (the strong ones, or he-goats) shall be made to rise. These are called he-goats (Isa_1:11; Isa_34:6), not only because on earth they were the leader-goats of the nation-flocks (Zec_10:3; Psa_68:31; Jer_50:8), but because they are still such. It seems to me that there underlies here the representation of Psa_49:15 (14) : “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall pasture them” [feed on them, Eng. Version.]. Therefore, perhaps it reads ארץ, earth, and not the earth, for the latter would be the earth as abode of the living. In the kingdom of the dead the dead are like a great flock—death pastures them: but those that were he-goats on earth are such also in the under-world. For the latter has no independent life. It only reflects in outline what life accomplished in complete, corporeal existence. Only to the end of Isa_14:10 do the words of the shades extend. For, on the one hand, much discourse does not become them (Knobel), and, on the other, much of what follows does not become the mouths of shades, viz.: the derision of the Babylonian that would retort on themselves, and because Isa_14:16 a and 20a they would speak of themselves in the third person. Therefore from Isa_14:11 on the author of the Maschal again speaks. [“The ancient versions and all the early writers understand רפאים to mean giants. Its application to the dead admits of several explanations equally plausible with that of Gesenius (who in the earlier editions of his Lexicon and in his Commentary on Isaiah derives it from רפא, but in the last edition of his Lexicon derives it from רפה, to be still or quiet, a supposititious meaning founded on an Arabic analogy); and entitled to the preference according to the modern laws of lexicography, because instead of multiplying, they reduce the number of distinct significations. The shades or spectres of the dead might naturally be conceived as actually larger than the living man, since that which is shadowy and indistinct is commonly exaggerated by the fancy. Or there may be an allusion to the Canaanitish giants who were exterminated by divine command, and might be chosen to represent the whole class of departed sinners. Or, in this case, we may suppose the kings and great ones of the earth to be distinguished from the vulgar dead as giants or gigantic forms. Either of these hypotheses precludes the necessity of finding a new root for a common word, or of denying its plain use elsewhere. As to mere poetical effect, so often made a test of truth, there can be no comparison between the description of the dead as weak or quiet ones, and the sublime conception of gigantic shades or phantoms.” Some comment on the text as if it were “not a mere prosopopœia or poetical creation of the highest order, but a chapter from the popular belief of the Jews as to the locality, contents and transactions of the unseen world. Thus Gesenius, in his Lexicon and Commentary, gives a minute topographical description of Sheol, as the Hebrews believed it to exist. With equal truth a diligent compiler might construct a map of hell, as conceived by the English Puritans, from the descriptive portions of Paradise Lost. This kind of exposition is chargeable with a rhetorical incongruity in lauding the creative genius of the poet, and yet making all his grand creations commonplace articles of popular belief. The true view of the matter, as determined both by piety and taste, appears to he that the passage now before us comprehends two elements, and only two: religious verities or certain facts, and poetical embellishments. It may not he easy to distinguish clearly between these—but it is only between these that we are able or have any occasion to distinguish. The admission of a tertium quid in the shape of superstitious fables is as false in rhetoric as in theology.” J. A. A.]
5. Thy pomp——of the pit.
Isa_14:11-15. The contrasts between what the Babylonian would be and what he now is are here set forth. The pomp he prepared for his eyes to see, and the glorious sounds he let his ears hear are swallowed up by hell. His body, once so dearly cared for and couched, has now maggots for a couch and worms for a covering. Passages from Job (Job_7:5; Job_21:26) seem here to present themselves to the Prophet’s mind. Shining and high was he once, like the morning star; now he is fallen from heaven. הֵילֵל, shining star, is called “son of the morning,” because it seems to emerge out of the morning dawn (comes et alumnus aurorae). “In the southern heavens, when mirrored in the waves of the sea, this planet has a brighter gleam than with us” (Leyrer in Herz.R. Encycl. XIX. p. 563). Tertullian, Gregory the Great, and latterly Stier, with reference to Luk_10:18, have taken the star fallen from heaven for Satan. Hence originates the name Lucifer (Vulgate—although מַזָּרוֹת, Job_38:32, is also so rendered), ἑως φόρος (LXX.). Once he was mighty over the nations—but now he is himself broken and cast to the earth (Isa_22:25).
The following And thou hast said,etc. (Isa_14:13) seems at first sight to stand in antithesis to what precedes (Isa_14:12). But examination shows that Isa_14:13-15 belong together. For the תורד, “thou art brought down,” Isa_14:15, corresponds to the אעלה, “I will ascend,” of Isa_14:13-14, and Isa_14:12 is complete in itself, each clause of it containing a complete antithesis; the lofty star is fallen, the conqueror lies prostrate on the ground. Thus the וְ before אַתָּה is not adversative, but simply the copulative: and thou who thoughtst to mount to the heavens must go down to hell. The world-power is by its very nature inimical to God: its aim is to supplant God and put itself in His place. This tendency is indwelling in the world-power derived from its transcendental author, Satan, and is realized in every particular representative. Thus, then, here the Babylonian expresses his purpose of assuming the highest place, not simply on earth among the lords of the world, but in heaven itself, and that above the stars, which seem here to be conceived of as the residences of the spirits of God, the צבאות, Job_38:7, and the spheres of their manifestation, according to heathen notions, which very well suit in the mouth of the Babylonian. Let him be enthroned above the stars, and he, too, is “god of hosts.” Let the throne of the potentate be above the stars; then he shall stand on the pinnacle of the sacred mountain of the gods, about which the constellations circle, and which the heathen notions of the Orient represent as in the North. This mountain is variously named by the different nations. It is called Meru (Kailasa, in the direction beyond the Himalaia) by those in India, Alburg by the others; nor does the Olympus of the Greeks stand wholly disconnected herewith. Comp. Rhode,Heil. Saga des Zendvolkes, p. 229 sq.; Gesenius,Jes. II. p. 516 sqq.; Lassen,Ind. Alterthumskunde I. p. 34 sq.; Movers,Phön. II. 1, p. 414; Kohut,Jüd. Angelol. u. Daemonol. in den Abhh. f. d. Kunde des Morgenl., 1866, p. 57.
Many expositors down to Fuerst (Conc. p. 501) and Shegg [J. A. A. states both views without deciding; so also substantially Birks] have been led by the expression הַרֹ מוֹעֵד to hold that the mountain meant in the text is Zion, as the gathering place of the Israelites, for which they appeal especially to Psa_48:3. But Zion lay neither to the north of Palestine nor to the north of Jerusalem, nor does the mention of Zion in this sense become the lips of the possessor of the world-power. יַרְכָּתַיִם (remotest corners, Eng. Vers.sides), are the thighs, which (considered from within outwardly), form the extremest boundaries, as well as (regarded in their junction), the extremest points. Thus the word stands for the inmost corner (e.g., of a cave, 1Sa_24:4) as well as for the extremest boundary of a land. Thus Jer_6:22; Jer_25:32 says ירכתי ארץ (sides, coasts of the earth); and here Isa. (and after him Eze_38:6; Eze_38:15; Eze_39:2) says צפיןי׳ (extremest, highest North). The expressions “above the stars of God” and “mount of the congregation” signify the loftiest height intensively, “the heights of the clouds” (במותי עב—an expression found only here), in an extensive sense. For as far as the clouds extend (Psa_35:6; Psa_57:11; Psa_108:5) the dominion of the true God reaches, and everywhere the clouds are His air chariots and air thrones (Isa_19:1; Psa_97:2; Psa_104:3; Dan_7:13). If, then, the Babylonian reigns in the loftiest heights and every where, he has become like the highest God. But thereby he has supplanted the highest God: for two cannot at once occupy the highest place. And this, as remarked above, is the aim of Satan and of his earthly sphere of power, the world-power, which culminates in Antichrist (Dan_11:36; 2Th_2:3 sq.). This tendency of the world-power explains how, not only heathen, but now and then also Jewish and Christian princes, have laid claim to divine honors, or at least have suffered such to be paid them. Curtius (VIII. 5) praises the Persians because: non pie solum, sed etiam prudenter reges suos inter Deos colunt. In inscriptions Persian kings are explicitly called ἔκγονοι θεῶν, ἐκ γένους θεῶν, and even θεοί. Comp. Hengstenberg,Introd. to the O. Test. I. [p. 124 sqq. of the German Ed.]. This is well known in regard to the Roman Emperors. Such deification had its extremest illustration in the case of Diocletian, who made himself an object of divine worship as a representative of the highest God. Comp. Alb. Vogel,Prof., Der Kaiser Diocletian, ein Vortrag, Gotha, 1857. Herod let himself be called God, and had to suffer dearly for that assumption of honor such as belongs to God alone (Act_12:21 sqq.). In Christian Europe, too, there have not been wanting instances of such heathenish adulation of princes. See under Doctrinal and Ethical remarks below.
Isa_14:15 expresses, in contrast with the pretensions of the Babylonian, what his actual fate shall be. [See above in Text. and Gram.]
6. They that see——with cities.
Isa_14:16-21. “They that see” are not the denizens of hell, for they have before them the dead as an unburied corpse. The underlying thought of the passage is, however, that the sins of the deceased are enumerated (Isa_14:16-17), and his fate is designated as their merited punishment. Thus it says, “they that see thee,” i.e. they that see thee lying an unburied corpse look upon thee. Because he destroyed the rest of countries, he himself now finds no rest in the grave. Because he made a desert of the fruitful land (תבל to be taken in this sense here in contrast with מדבר, comp. on Isa_13:11), he lies himself a deserted carcase; because he showed no pity to prisoners, he is himself pitilessly dealt with.
I do not think it probable that the following words are to be ascribed to others than the ראים, those seeing thee, Isa_14:16, e.g. to the Prophet. The internal connection with Isa_14:16-17 is too close. “Is this the man,” says Isa_14:16? What kind of man? Why just that one who, according to Isa_14:19, lies as a trampled carcase. Then Isa_14:22, what the Prophet says in the name of the Lord, comes in all the more emphatically as confirming this. It is then the subjects of the king that remark, that whereas all other kings lie in state in the tombs of their ancestors (comp. 2Ki_21:18, 2Ch_33:20) their king is cast away far from his grave (מִן=procul, Jer_48:45; Lam_4:9).
But he is cast away as a despised branch. When trees are felled, or pruned, many a small branch, which compared to the whole tree is worthless, is cast aside and trampled in the mud.
Most expositors in explaining the following words take לְבֻשׁ as part. pass. But it seems to me that then the two following participles appear very superfluous. For what does it amount to to describe the Chaldean as covered with the slain that are thrust through and carried down to the pit? It is otherwise if, with Aqu., Theod., Luther, Fuerst (conc.), and others, we take לְבֻשׁ as substantive. Then it is said that the corpse of the Chaldean is cast away, not only as a despised branch, but also as the garment of the slain who were thrust through with the sword and buried. For were they thrust through with a sword, then, too, the garment would be cut into holes, and at least spotted with blood, and if they are buried, it is explained how their garment comes into the hands of others. When the dead are buried on the field of battle, their clothes are taken off them, but those that are torn and cut in holes and smeared with blood, are cast away, while those unharmed are retained as valuable booty. “The stones of the pit” cannot be the stones of a grave on the top of the earth. For neither the rock-hewn grave, nor a walled-up tomb, nor a grave covered with stones to avoid the trouble of shoveling up a mound, has any meaning in this connection; though it may be said by the way, that heaping up stones is no less troublesome than shoveling up a mound. Buried in general is the chief thing. But there is only one בּוֹר, pit, that has stones under all circumstances. It is the widening and deepening of the grave (שְׁאוֹל see Isa_14:15), that is on the surface. This is in the interior of the earth. This interior is any way closed about by the עַמּוּרִים, pillars, (Job_9:6), מְכוֹנִיםfoundations, (Psa_104:5) of the earth; but these are the mountains (comp. Pro_7:25) which are thence called “strong foundations of the earth” Mic_6:2. But that the foundations or the roots of the earth consist of rock was known to the ancients as well as to us. The king, as an unburied, thrown away corpse, shall not be reunited in the grave with those other dead which, according to Isa_14:19, are buried.—The king destroyed his land by despotism and wars, and sacrificed his subjects in masses. Thus, not only himself, but his entire dynasty shall be destroyed. The name of his race shall become extinct as godless. To this end his seed must be slain. The people themselves demand it. They resolve that this generation shall not be raised up to possess the land and fill it with cities. Building cities contributes to security, the establishment of dominion, the interests of trade, and the cultivation of the ground. A builder of cities must ever be a mighty man. There is no need, therefore, to change עָרִים, as some would do, to עָרִצִים (Ewald), עִיִּים (Hitzig), עָדִים (Meier). On the other hand one must be careful not to press all the particular traits of this prophecy. What we said above concerning the ideal coloring of prophecy is appropriate also here.
7. For I will——saith the Lord of hosts.
Isa_14:22-23. These are words of the Prophet which he speaks in the name of Jehovah. Therefore the word of God constitutes the, formal conclusion of the prophecy, the Prophet resuming the thread of discourse and keeping it to the end. He confirms thereby the words of the people by giving them a general and more comprehensive direction. What they had said only against the royal race is changed to a denunciation of punishment against the kingdom of Babylon in general. Its cities shall become the possession (Job_17:11; Oba_1:17) of the porcupine (Isa_34:11; Zep_2:14), and, (in consequence of the ruin of the embankments of the Euphrates), swampy marshes (Isa_35:7; Isa_41:18; Isa_42:15). By the porcupine appears to be meant the echinus aquatica, which was found of unusual size (according to Strabo, Isa_16:1) on the islands of the Euphrates. Comp. Bochart,Hieroz. II., p. 454 sqq.
Footnotes:
[4]labor.
[5]unrest.
[6]which was wrought by thee.
[7]raise.
[8]Or, taunting speech.
[9]upon.
[10]Or, exactress of gold.
[11]oppression.
[12]Heb. a stroke without removing.
[13]trod down.
[14]by persecution without sparing.
[15]Or, The grave.
[16]spectres, or giants.
[17]Heb. leaders.
[18]Or, great goats.
[19]answer.
[20]Thou art.
[21]Or, O day star.
[22]subdue.
[23]And yet.
[24]saidst.
[25]Only.
[26]art.
[27]remotest corners.
[28]Or, did not let his prisoners loose homewards.
[29]in state.
[30]despised.
[31]named.
[32]And.
[33]issue and offspring.
[34]porcupine.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_13:2-13. The prophecy concerning the day of the Lord has its history. It appears first in the form of the announcement of a scourge of locusts (Joel); then it becomes an announcement of human war-expeditions and sieges of cities. Finally it becomes a message that proclaims the destruction of the earth and of its companions in space. But from the first onward, the last particular is not wanting: only at first it appears faintly. In Joe_2:10, one does not know whether the discourse is concerning an obscuration of the heavenly bodies occasioned only by the grasshoppers or by higher powers. But soon (Joe_3:4; Joe_3:20) this particular comes out more definitely. In the present passage of Isaiah it presses to the foreground. In the New Testament (Mat_24:29; Mar_13:24 sq.; Luk_21:25) it takes the first and central place. We observe clearly that the judgment on the world is accomplished in many acts, and is yet one whole; and as on the other hand nature, too, is itself one whole, so, according to the saying: “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1Co_12:26), the catastrophes on earth have their echo in the regions above earth.
2. On Isa_13:4 sqq. “God cannot do otherwise than punish accumulated wickedness. But He overthrows violence and crime, and metes out to tyrants the measure they have given to others, for He gives to them a master that the heathen shall know that they too are men (Ps. 9:21; Psa_11:5).”—Cramer.
[On 13 Isa_13:3. “It cannot be supposed that the Medes and Persians really exulted, or rejoiced in God or in His plans.—But they would exult as if it were their own plan, though it would be really the glorious plan of God. Wicked, men often exult in their success: they glory in the execution of their purposes; but they are really accomplishing the plans of God, and executing His great designs.”—Barnes.]
[On Isa_13:9. “The moral causes of the ruin threatened are significantly intimated by the Prophet’s calling the people of the earth or land its sinners. As the national offences here referred to, Vitringa enumerates pride (Isa_13:11; Isa_14:11; Isa_47:7-8), idolatry (Jer_50:38), tyranny in general (Isa_14:12; Isa_14:17), and oppression of God’s people in particular (Isa_47:6).”—J. A. Alexander.]
3. On Isa_13:19 sqq. Imperiti animi, etc. “Unlearned minds when they happen on allegories, can hold no certain sense of Scripture. And unless this Papal business had kept me to the simple text of the Bible, I had become an idle trifler in allegories like Jerome and Origen. For that figurative speech has certain allurements by which minds seek to dispose of difficulties. … The true allegory of this passage is concerning the victory of conscience over death. For, the law is Cyrus, the Turk, the cruel and mighty enemy that rises up against the proud conscience of justitiaries who confide in their own merits. These are the real Babylon, and this is the glory of Babylon, that it walks in the confidence of its own works. When, therefore, the law comes and occupies the heart with its terrors, it condemns all our works in which we have trusted, as polluted and very dung. Once the law has laid bare this filthiness of our hearts and works, there follows confusion, writhing, and pains of parturition; men become ashamed, and that confidence of works ceases and they do those things which we see now-a-days: he that heretofore has lived by confidence of righteousnesss in a monastery, deserts the monkish life, casts away to ashes all glory of works, and looks to the gratuitous righteousness and merit of Christ, and that is the desolation of Babylon. The ostriches and hairy creatures that remain are Eck, Cochleus and others, who do not pertain to that part of law. They screech, they do not speak with human voice, they are unable to arouse and console any afflicted conscience with their doctrine. My allegories, which I approve, are of this sort, viz., which shadow forth the nature of law and gospel.” Luther.
4. On Isa_13:21 sqq. “There the Holy Spirit paints for thee the house of thy heart as a deserted, desolate Babylon, as a loathsome cesspool, and devil’s hole, full of thorns, nettles, thistles, dragons, spukes, kobolds, maggots, owls, porcupines, etc., all of which is nothing else than the thousandfold devastation of thy nature, in as much as into every heart the kingdom of Satan, and all his properties have pressed in, and all and every sin, as a fascinating serpent-brood, have been sown and sunk into each one, although not all sins together become evident and actual in every one’s outward life.”—Joh. Arndt’s Informatorium biblicum, § 7.
5. On Isa_14:1-2. “Although it seems to me to be just impossible that I could be delivered from death or sin, yet it will come to pass through Christ. For God here gives us an example; He will not forsake His saints though they were in the midst of Babylon.”—Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
6. On Isa_14:4 sqq. “Magna imperia fere nihil sunt quam magnae injuriae.
Ad generum Cereris sine caede et sanguine pauci
Descendunt reges et sicca mente tyranni.—Luther.
Impune quidvis facere id est regem esse.”—Sallust.
Among the Dialogi mortuorum of Lucian of Samosata the thirteenth is between Diogenes and Alexander the Great. This dialogue begins with the words: “Τί τοῦτο, ὦ Ἀλέξανδρε, τέθνηκας καὶ σὺ, ὥσπερ ἡμεῖσ ἅπαντες;” thereupon the contrast is ironically set forth between what Alexander was, as one given out to be a son of the gods, and so recognized by men, and possessor of all highest human glories, and what he is at present. It is, as is well known, doubtful whether Lucian really was acquainted with the Scriptures. See Planck, Lucian and Christianity in Stud. u. Krit., 1851, IV. p. 826 sqq. Comp. also Schrader, die Höllenfahrt der Istar., 1874.
7. On Isa_14:4 sqq. ”Omni genera figurarum utitur ad confirmandos et consolandos suos, ut simul sit conjuncta summa theologia cum summa rhetorica.”—Luther.
8. On Isa_14:12 sqq. As early as the LXX. this passage seems to have been understood of Satan. It points that way that they change the second person into the third; πῶς ἐξέπεσεν, etc. At least they were so understood. See Jerome, who thereby makes the fine remark: “Unde ille cecidit per superbiam, vos ascendatis per humilitatem.” But Luther says: “Debet nobis insignis error totius papatus, qui hunc textum de casu angelorum accepit, studia literarum et artium deccndi commendare tamquam res theologo maxime necessarias ad tractationem sacrarum literarum.”
9. On Isa_14:13-14. “The Assyrian monarch was a thorough Eastern despot … rather adored as a god than feared as a man.” Layard’s Discoveries amongst the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, 1853, New York, p. 632. “In the heathen period the pre-eminence of the German kings depended on their descent from the gods, as among the Greeks” (Gervinus, Einleit. in d. Gesch. d. 19 Iahrh., 1853, p. 14). Christian Thomasius, in his Instit. jurispr. divinae, dissert. proœmialis, p. 16, calls the princes “the Gods on earth.” In a letter from Luxemburg, after the departure of the Emperor Joseph II., it is said (in a description of the journey, of which a sheet lies before me): “we have had the good fortune to see our earthly god.” Belani, Russian Court Narratives, New Series, III. Vol., p. Isaiah 125: “The Russian historian Korampzin says in the section where he describes the Russian self-rule: “The Autocrat became an earthly god for the Russians, who set the whole world in astonishment by a submissiveness to the will of their monarch which transcends all bounds.”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain rest-- (Isa 28:12; Eze 28:25-26).
rest-- (Isa 28:12; Eze 28:25-26).
The whole earth rejoices; the cedars of Lebanon taunt him.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3, 4. The state of deliverance and rest expressed…
3, 4. The state of deliverance and rest expressed in the third verse is intensified by the contrast of exchanged positions between recovered Israel and the fallen oppressor, who poetically represents the whole series of the oppressors of Israel in that empire of the east, now crushed and ruined forever.
Thou shalt take up this proverb — Rather, This song. The meaning is, Thou shall raise in a musical sense, including the ideas of commencement, utterance, and loudness. “Proverb,” (mashal,) a word variously rendered; in Isa_24:3, a parable; in Eze_12:23, a proverb; in Joe_2:17, a song of derision; in Eze_17:2, a symbolical discourse, etc.; in Psa_69:12, a by-word. Here the tenor of discourse requires its meaning to be a derisive song or discourse.
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Golden city — From מדהבה, (madhebah,) a word formed in the manner of a Hiphil participle from זהב, (zahab,) the first radical interchanged with its cognate ד, (daleth,) and its own proper meaning, therefore, becomes gold maker, or gold exacter, all which terminates tropically in the feminine abstract idea of oppression: How hath oppressor and oppression ceased!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. thy fear] Rather thy unrest, or “trouble” (R.V.).
3. thy fear] Rather thy unrest, or “trouble” (R.V.).
the hard bondage] R.V. service. From Exo_1:14. The analogy of the Egyptian oppression is prominent in the writer’s thoughts.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) It shall come to pass . . .—The…
(3) It shall come to pass . . .—The condition of the exiles in Babylon is painted in nearly the same terms as in Hab_2:13. A monarch bent on building towers and walls and palaces, who had carried off all the skilled labour of Jerusalem, was likely enough to vex their souls with “fear” and “hard bondage.” So Assurbanipal boasts that he made his Arabian prisoners carry heavy burdens and build brick-work (Records of the Past, i. 104).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.…
The hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. (comp. Isa_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, (2Ki_20:18 Dan_1:3) and hold offices of trust; but with the bulk of the nation it was otherwise. Psalm 137, 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 Eze_34:27-29)
The Lord"s rest.
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"The Lord shall give thee rest." The word rest" summarizes God"s deliverances, and God"s protections, and God"s provisions, for his captive people. Assurbanipal boasts that he made his Arabian prisoners carry heavy burdens and build brickwork. And the wearied Hebrews in Egypt were promised the Lord"s rest in Canaan. Treating the topic in a comprehensive manner, we may say that the rest which God provides for his creatures must be like himself, and it must be adapted to the deepest and best in them.
I WHAT GOD"S REST IS. It must stand related to character, not to mere attributes, nor to mere conditions. God must, indeed, be thought of as feeling the differences of outward conditions; the varied states of his creatures do move him to pity, sympathy, anger, or grief. "In all their affliction he is afflicted." But he is always at rest, because the changes in circumstances never imperil the basis-principles of his character. Justice and judgment are always the habitation of his throne." We are "restless unquiet sprites," as Keble calls us, not because we are in the midst of variable conditions and circumstances, or because these affect our feeling, but because the varying circumstances put in peril the principles of our character. God has eternal rest, because if "the elements melted with fervent heat, the earth and all therein were burned up," God would never question the perfect fatness and righteousness of his rule. Or we may put it in this way. Rest comes from the dominion of one faculty in us; under that dominion all the various powers of our nature fall into order, take their place, keep the peace, and secure for us rest. War may be a thing of the soul as well as of the circumstances, and the inward war consists in the conflict of motives. Mind, and will, and judgment, and affections are out of harmony, and make the war in the soul. But we can conceive of nothing like this in God. He is at rest because in his Divine nature, which is the true after which we are imaged, there is the order and harmony that follow upon the rule of the highest faculty. And what, for God, may we think is the highest faculty? This surely is the fullest revelation of God is love." Ruling love secures rest. And if, for God, the highest is "love," what is the highest for man? Surely it must be "trust." Then the rest of God is the rest of character and of love; and the rest for man is the rest of character and of trust of that character which grows up out of the root "trust." But, treating the subject in another way, we may see what is involved in saying that God"s rest, as provided for man, must be adapted to man, to the deepest and best in him. Rest is the great longing of every heart. All men everywhere have this for their supreme quest.
1. Man, as man, is ever seeking rest. It is his "good time coming.
2. Man, as a sinner, is ever seeking rest.
3. Man, as redeemed, is ever seeking rest.
God"s rest for man is a glorious whole, beginning within us, in the faith we set on God, spreading through all the forces of our being its hallowing influence, and bringing the quietness and peace of settled, centered character; reaching even to the circumstances in which we are placed, modifying them, bringing them into its obedience, and so growing from the rest of the soul to the sublime, eternal, all-embracing rest of heaven.
II WHO MAY WIN THE LORD"S REST? It is very easy to say that, since it is the rest of faith, only believers win it. But we have come to talk about "faith" and "believing" in such a way that they are rather magical words to conjure with, than deep, full, rich expressions whose divinest meanings we grasp and use. Are believers only those who accept a particular creed, and have a common intellectual conception of the "plan of salvation?" Or is the true believer the man who possesses the spirit of trust; whose heart leans on God; whose loving reliances are on the heavenly Father? Surely the faith that saves is the yielding of the self to God; it is the heart"s grasp of the righteousness and mercy which are revealed in Jesus Christ. This we can all win, and this is the Lord"s rest.
III How FAR MAY THIS REST BE A PRESENT CONSCIOUS POSSESSION? It is a mistaken notion that all the facts and processes of the religious life must come into conscious recognition. Our Lord taught us that the growth of souls was like that of the plants. It goes on secretly, no man knoweth how; no man can trace all the processes of change from seed to blade, from blade to ear, from ear to full corn in the ear. Rest may be ours, and we may not think about it. It will never be won merely by seeking for it. It will be won by doing our duty, by simple obedience, by living in the grace of Christ, by perseverance in well-doing, by "holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering." Be "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," and it will be plain to others that you have reached the Lord"s rest; and it may be that sometimes the joy of that rest will come into your own consciousness, and you wilt feel that "peace passing understanding" which is the foretaste of the "sweet rest of heaven. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow
Isa_14:3
The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow
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Sorrows crown
I.
SORROW IS THE COMMON LOT. Though nobody is always sorrowful, there is in every life many a time when the mind is sore and the heart bruised. Yet people with a sore heart often sing; they find relief in breathing a hymn of prayerful trust. How beautiful is a good man under affliction! A child is often sore in mind because he is not understood and has not the heart-felt sympathy of those who direct him, Women also are sorrowful. Though a man be (n the most fortunate state of life he will have something to bruise his heart. I have heard of a lady whose husband was the worship of both her mind and heart; and when he was killed in a railway accident, her grief was so terrible that in a moment she seemed ten years older. A short time afterwards, she lost her children, and later on, through the failure of a bank, her fortune disappeared; but she endured these misfortunes with calmness, and her minister once asked, How is it that you can bear up so well after the loss of your children and your money? She replied, In the death of my husband the greatest wound came the first. It is unwise to meet sorrow halfway. But there is one sorrow that we should seek and cultivate; it is the sorrow that we are not more godly. There is another sorrow which is worth having; it is that pain of heart which feels for the man or woman who is wounded in the conflict of life. In the ancient world, sorrow was considered to be Gods curse, but the early Christians saw that God meant it as a sacred discipline: and therefore when sorrow came to them, they called it tribulatio, using the word and image to set forth an elevating truth, namely, the separation of the evil in them from the good.
II. Let us notice ONE OR TWO PERSONAL SORROWS IN WHICH SOME OF YOU ARE MORE OR LESS CONCERNED.
1. If you are sore in mind because you have done wrong, let your first thought be one of gratitude, that God can and does forgive your sins.
2. Many good people are sore in mind through a physical or temporal trouble. What is more unpleasant than to hear a cart wheel screeching every time it turns? So, you have in your lot something like a screeching wheel, and every move makes you feel the affliction. But the oil of Divine grace will cure it.
III. THE CROWN OF SORROW IS TRUSTING GOD. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, etc.
IV. Let us learn THE OBJECT OF SORROW. It is to teach us to be patient and kindly. If you put roses into a cracked pot of commonest clay, it will breathe forth perfume; and from the most prickly plant, the thorn, we gather the sweetest flowers, So if the peace of God perfume your sorrowing heart, the thorns and briars of your affliction shall make your life bright with the flowers of godliness and charity. Bear your sorrow with true courage and sublime cheerfulness, not only for your own sake, but for our sake who look on you; for we wish to learn the way to bear our pain. (W. Birch.)
God an island when fortunes are wrecked
Let me tell you of a man who went home one day, and sitting down in his armchair, put his hand on his brow as if in great trouble. His little child went up to him, saying, Father, whats the matter? Looking down upon her with eyes of despair, he replied, Ah, little Mary, Im ruined! She said, Ruined, father, whats that? He answered, Why, my child, Im like a man in a boat on the sea, and during a storm the boat has upset, and he is east on a desolate island. She climbed on his knee, stroking his face, and after awhile, exclaimed. Well but, father, you know, you have only lost the boat; you havent lost yourself, have you? With tears in his eyes, he said, Ah, no, thank God! I have only lost the boat; my heart and my life remain! Then she asked, Father, whats the name of the island? He replied, That is the worst of it Mary. I dont know. She said, But, father, I know; yea, I know the name of the island you are on; why, father, it is a nice island! The wretched man tried to smile, and drawing the dear little face to his breast, said, Mary, dear, tell me the name of the island! She replied, Oh, father, dont you know? you are dull tonight! why, father, the name of the island is God! The sorrowful man was very, still, and little Mary looking up in his face, put her arms round his neck, saying, Poor father, what makes you cry? Why dont you go upstairs and tell God about it? Then he gently lifted the dear child down, and went to tell out his hearts sorrow to God. It is true his business had fallen but a Divine hand upheld him. (W. Birch.)
Trusting God in affliction
A coloured preacher was in the habit of exhorting his people when they were in affliction to Truss de Lord. When they were in sore distress, he had only one remedy, Brudder, truss de Lord! One day, however, while the old parson was crossing a river, the boat upset, and being unable to swim, he made a great splutter and screamed like a madman. After much trouble, he was got out and brought safely to the river bank, when one of his congregation said, Masea Preacher, why didnt you truss de Lord; why did you holler and scream when you were in de river; why didnt you truss de Lord, and be patient? The dark minister exclaimed, Ah, you know, brudder, It is truss de Lord on de land, not on de water. Of course, anybody can trust in the Lord when they are on the land of peace and comfort; but it needs Christian faith and fortitude to be contented in the waters of affliction. (W. Birch.)
The Christian attitude towards trouble
Christians who give up their special religious work because they are in sorrow, may be likened to rusty nails in a bag under the counter of the ironmongers shop; while the man who keeps on doing his best, believing that God is with him, is a man in a sure place, ready to bear all the weight that is hung on it. (W. Birch.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_14:3-4. And it shall come to pass in the…
THE JOY OF SALVATION
Isa_14:3-4. And it shall come to pass in the day, &c.
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In these verses is described the feeling of relief and joy of Israel in view of release from the Babylonish captivity. So profound will be their sense of God’s deliverance and favour, that they will look with contempt even upon the imperious and exacting Babylon, whose glory will be smitten, whose strength will be destroyed.
This is an experience known to men in their spiritual seekings and findings of God. Blessed is that “rest” which follows many a season of sorrow, and fear, and hard bondage wherein men are made to serve. Consider—
I. SOME JOYFUL DELIVERANCES, of which we may be said to have here a type. Every soul engaged in a true search after God can recall such experiences: first there was the “sorrow,” then the “joy;” first the “fear,” then the confidence; first the “bondage,” and then the rescue and the liberty. E.g.,
1. The time of spiritual conversion. That is often preceded by deep conviction, anguish, and gloom. Alarming are those awakenings whose first mission is to show us our guilt and danger. Then we feel the grievousness of the bondage of sin. It is a time of exile, want, servitude. What a glorious day is that in which the Lord gives us rest from our sorrow and fear, by removing from us the terrors of the law, and leading us into the liberty of the Gospel! This is the deliverance to which our Saviour calls us (Mat_11:28).
2. The light which comes after a period of great mental conflict and doubt respecting Divine things also illustrates our subject. Honest and reverent doubt, which intercepts a true seeker after God, is no sin. To creatures who have everything to learn, doubt is but a part of the process of learning; all original research, all independent inquiry, has more or less of it. But doubt may become a hard master, a ruthless tyrant; that which comes from mere prying curiosity, idle speculation, empty cavilling, is certain to do so; in this case doubt, instead of being a pathway, becomes a prison (H. E. I., 4867, 4868). But doubt in any case is a source of unhappiness; it should lead, not to scepticism (H. E. I., 4867, 4868; P. D., 910), but to prayer (P. D., 915, 916). Those whose prayers for deliverance from it have been answered, know how blessed is that day when the Lord gives them “rest.”
3. The period of victory which follows a season of severe temptation is another illustration. In most virtues weak, there are sides of our character specially exposed to assault. The sin which most easily besets us proves our oppressor, our tyrant (H. E. I., 4482–4484, 4497–4499). Recall the conflicts you have often had, how often sin has wellnigh proved fatal to you. What a gracious day was that when the Lord came to your help, and gave you rest from your enemy!
4. The heavenly life hereafter will be a still better realisation of the thought before us. To many of God’s people the general character of their earthly life is so mysterious, burdensome, and sad, that it all seems a bondage to them. To such, death will come as the day of the Lord to give them “rest” (H. E. I., 220, 1623–1628).
II. THE REAL INSIGNIFICANCE OF OUR FOES, which in the day of our deliverance will be made plain to us, and which should be apprehended by our faith even now (Isa_14:4).
1. Greater is He that is for us than all that can be against us, and therefore, if we be faithful, our victory is sure (1Jn_4:4; Rom_8:37; H. E. I., 934, 2368, 2791).
2. By Him even our very foes and oppressors shall be made to help us. In the case of Israel, their masters were to become their servants, their oppressors their subjects (Isa_14:2). It is so in the spiritual life: our very sorrows, fears, nay, our sins, may be made to serve great ends; a vanquished fear, a defeated sin, will leave us stronger to meet the next. Let us so live and strive, by the grace of God, that, having triumphed over every evil habit, every ignoble doubt, every besetting sin, we may be able to say at last, “How hath the oppressor ceased!”—William Manning.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 from your suffering and anguish
from your suffering and anguish
The word "your" is singular, but it refers to the people of Israel. Also, "suffering" and "anguish" mean basically the same thing and are used together for emphasis. AT: "from the things that have caused you to suffer greatly" (See: Forms of You and Doublet)
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How the oppressor has come to an end
"The oppressor has come to an end." This is an exclamation.
the proud fury ended
The words "how and "has" are understood. AT: "how the proud fury has ended" or "his pride and fury have ended" (See: Ellipsis)
the proud fury ended
The "proud fury" refers to the king of Babylon being proud and treating other nations cruelly. AT: "his cruelty has ended" or "he can no longer oppress people" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Yahweh
rest
suffer
labor
king
Babylon
oppress
proud
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:3-23 This taunting song for the king of Babylon…
14:3-23 This taunting song for the king of Babylon is in the form of a funeral dirge (cp. Rev 18).
14:3 God gives . . . rest (i.e., relief; 28:12; see Deut 25:19; 2 Sam 7:11) from the sorrow and fear, . . . slavery and chains Israel experienced under foreign oppressors (see Isa 9:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.