For Yahweh said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
Parallel Translations
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For Yahweh said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
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For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
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For thus hath the LORD said unto me: I will hold Me still, and I will look on in My dwelling-place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Isaiah 18:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
- Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
- Isaiah 18:7 In that time, a present will be brought to Yahweh of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of Armies, Mount Zion.
- 2 Samuel 23:4 shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’
- Psalms 132:13-14 For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. “This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it.
- Isaiah 12:6 Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
- Isaiah 14:32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
- Psalms 72:6 He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
- Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.
- Isaiah 31:9 His rock will pass away by reason of terror, and his princes will be afraid of the banner,” says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 46:13 I bring my righteousness near. It is not far off, and my salvation will not wait. I will grant salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.
- Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.
- Joel 3:17 “So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening…
Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening of fruits, whereby he meaneth, that he will seem to favor them, and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.
I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 18:4 For so the LORD said unto me,…
Isa 18:4 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, [and] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Ver. 4. I will take my rest, I will consider.] He will sit and bethink himself, as it were, how he may best bestow his poor people. The Assyrian shall go on with his great design for a while, and none shall interrupt him; but the Church meanwhile shall not be unprovided for.
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Like a clear heat upon herbs.] Or, After rain which makes herbs and plants suddenly to sprout and shoot up amain. God will not only look upon his people, but refresh them in troubles.
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 I will take my rest, I will sit still,…
I will take my rest, I will sit still, and not bestir myself, either to help this people, or to hinder their enemies. God is said in Scripture to rest or sit still, when he doth not work on the behalf of a person or people; as, on the contrary, he is said to bestir himself when he acts for them.
I will consider; or, I will contemplate or look upon them, to wit, the people of whom I am here speaking. So it is only an ellipsis of the pronoun. Now God’s looking in Scripture is variously used; sometimes in way of favour and mercy, as Psa 25:18; Isa 66:2, &c.; and sometimes in a way of anger and judgment, as Exo 14:24; Psa 25:19, and, as I humbly conceive, in this place. I know some learned men render this and the next word, I will look upon my dwelling-place, and interpret the place of God’s gracious respect to his church or people, to preserve and deliver it in the midst of all the confusions and combustions that happen in the world; which interpretation seems altogether unsuitable to the scope and business of the chapter, which in all the foregoing and following verses speaks of another sort of people, even of the Egyptians or Ethiopians, of whom therefore this verse also must be understood, or otherwise we make a breach in the context.
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In my dwelling place; in heaven, the place where God dwells, and where he is said to hear prayers, 1Ki 8:30,32, as here to consider men and things as elsewhere he is said to hear and to look from heaven, as 2Ch 6:21; Isa 63:15; the Hebrew particles beth, in, and mern, from, being put promiscuously one for another, as hath been noted before.
Like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. The sense is, that God would look upon them, as the sun with a clear heat looks upon herbs, &c. But this may be understood either,
1. In way of mercy, as most take it. And so the sense is, that God would look out and shine forth upon his church and people, and be as comfortable and refreshing to them
as the clear heat which shines upon the herbs; or, as others render it, after the rain; or, as a cloud of dew is in the heat harvest. Or,
2. In way of judgment. And so the sense, that God would look upon them with as uncomfortable an influence as the sun with a clear heat upon the herbs, which are scorched and killed by it; and as a cloud of the dew, which brings dew or rain, in the heat of harvest, when it is unwelcome and hurtful. And this sense seems best to agree with the following verse, which continueth the metaphor of a harvest, and manifestly speaks not of refreshing, but of the destruction of the fruits thereof.
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 For so the Lord said unto me,.... The prophet…
For so the Lord said unto me,.... The prophet Isaiah, both what goes before, and follows after:
I will take my rest; these are not the words of the prophet, as some think, like those of Habakkuk, Hab 2:1 but of the Lord himself, signifying that he would, as he always did, enjoy himself, amidst all the commotions that were in the world; or that he would take up his rest among his people in Zion, of which he had said, this is my rest for ever, Psa 132:14 or rather that he would be still and quiet, and as one asleep and at rest, that took no notice of what was doing, nor interpose between parties preparing for war, and laying schemes for the ruin of each other; not help the one nor hinder the other, but let them go on a while with their designs:
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and I will consider in my dwelling place: in heaven, what is to be done; for though the Lord may seem sometimes to take no notice of what is done on earth, yet he sees and knows all things, and considers in his own mind what is fit and proper that he should do, who works all things after the counsel of his own will: or, "I will look upon my dwelling place" (o); Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the temple, the sanctuary, where his Shechinah dwelt; here he promises to look in a way of grace and favour, with delight and pleasure, to comfort and refresh his own people; so the Targum paraphrases this and the preceding clause,
"I will make my people to rest, I will make them to rest, and I will delight in my holy habitation to do them good:''
like a clear heat upon herbs; or "after rain", as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, see Sa2 23:4 when then the sun shines forth brightly after a shower of rain, which revives the plants and herbs, and makes them grow:
and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest; which is very desirable and welcome, which cools the air, refreshes the earth, plumps the corn, and is very grateful to the harvestman; and both metaphors may signify how grateful is the appearance of God to and for his people, his presence with them, the light of his countenance on them, and his protection of them; see Isa 4:5 and so the Targum,
"blessings and consolations will I bring to them quickly, as heat burning by means of the sun, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest:''
though the whole may be understood in a very different sense, as it is by some, thus; that though the Lord for a while may seem to take no notice of what is doing below, yet he in heaven beholds what is done, and looks in a way of wrath and anger upon his enemies, as the sun looks with its scorching heat upon the herbs, and dries them up; and as a cloud which brings a large dew or rain with it, which is very hurtful in harvest time; and this sense seems most agreeable to the context.
(o) "sed intusor in locum meum", Janius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Rest - I will not bestir myself, to help…
Rest - I will not bestir myself, to help this people. God is said in scripture to rest, or sit still, when he doth not work on the behalf of a person or people. Dwelling-place - In heaven, the place where God dwells. Harvest - The sense is, that God would look upon them with as uncomfortable an influence as the sun with a clear heat upon the herbs, which are scorched and killed by it; and as a cloud of the dew, which brings dew or rain, in the heat of harvest, when it is unwelcome and hurtful.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. For so the Lord said unto me…
Verse 4. For so the Lord said unto me - "For thus hath JEHOVAH said unto me"] The subject of the remaining part of this chapter is, that God would comfort and support his own people, though threatened with immediate destruction by the Assyrians; that Sennacherib's great designs and mighty efforts against them should be frustrated; and that his vast expectations should be rendered abortive, when he thought them mature, and just ready to be crowned with success; that the chief part of his army should be made a prey for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, (for this is the meaning of the allegory continued through the fifth and sixth verses;) and that Egypt, being delivered from his oppression, and avenged by the hand of God of the wrongs which she had suffered, should return thanks for the wonderful deliverance, both of herself and of the Jews, from this most powerful adversary.
Like a clear heat - "Like the clear heat"] The same images are employed by an Arabian poet: -
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Solis more fervens, dum frigus; quumque ardet
Sirius, tum vero frigus ipse et umbra.
Which is illustrated in the note by a like passage from another Arabian poet: -
Calor est hyeme, refrigerium aestate.
Excerpta ex Hamasa; published by Schultens, at the end of Erpenius's Arabic Grammar, p. 425.
Upon herbs - "After rain"] "אור aur here signifies rain, according to what is said Job 36:11: 'The cloud scatters his rain.'" - Kimchi. In which place of Job the Chaldee paraphrast does indeed explain אורו auro by מטריה matereyh; and so again Job 36:21 and Job 36:30. This meaning of the word seems to make the best sense in this place; it is to be wished that it were better supported.
In the heat of harvest - "In the day of harvest."] For בחם bechom, in the heat, fourteen MSS., (several ancient,) the Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate read ביום beyom, in the day. The mistake seems to have arisen from כחם kechom in the line above.
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 18:4. For so the Lord said unto me…
Isa 18:4. For so the Lord said unto me — That is, revealed this thing to me from his secret purposes; I will take my rest — While the Assyrian is forming designs for the destruction of my people, I will seem to rest, as if I had no regard for their preservation. The reader will observe, God is said in Scripture to rest, or sit still, when he does not work on the behalf of a person or people; as, on the contrary, he is said to bestir himself when he acts for them. And I will consider in my dwelling-place — Namely, in the heavens, what time will be most proper for the execution of my purpose upon these proud blasphemers of my name, and persecutors of my people. This is spoken after the manner of men. Like a clear heat upon herbs, &c. — The meaning of these metaphorical expressions is, that God would not so rest as to lay aside all care and regard for his people; but that he rested with the best and most benevolent purpose of comforting them after this affliction, and of giving them refreshment, like that of a serene heat after a heavy rain, or a cloud of dew in the time of harvest.
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 For so the Lord said unto me - So…
For so the Lord said unto me - So Yahweh has revealed his purpose, that is, to execute punishment on the people who have been described in the previous verses. Their state as there described is that of a fierce people making ready for war, and probably designing an alliance with the enemies of Judea, and marshalling their armies for that purpose. Yahweh here reveals to the prophet that they shall be discomfited, and shows the manner in which it will be done. He says he will sit calm while these preparations are going on - as the sun shines serenely on the earth while the harvest is growing, and the dew falls gently on the herb; but that “before” their plans are completed, he will interpose and destroy them, as if one should appear suddenly before the harvest is ripe and cut it down. The “design,” therefore, of this part of the prophecy is to comfort the Jews, and to assure them that there is no danger to them from the preparations which were made against them - for Yahweh calmly beholds the proud rage of the enemy.
I will take my rest - I will not interpose. I will remain calm - not appearing to oppose them, but keeping as calm, and as still, as if I seemed to favor their plans - as the sun shines on the herb, and the gentle dew falls on the grass, until the proper time for me to interpose and defeat them shall arise Isa 18:5-6.
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I will consider - I will look on; that is, I will not now interpose and disarrange their plans before they are complete. We learn here,
(1) That God sees the plans of the wicked;
(2) That he sees them “mature” them without attempting then to interpose to disarrange them;
(3) That he is calm and still, because he designs that those plans shall be developed; and
(4) That the wicked should not indulge in any dreams of security and success because God does not interpose to thwart their plans while they are forming them. He will do it in the proper time.
In my dwelling-place - In heaven. I will sit in heaven and contemplate leisurely the plans that are going forward.
Like a clear heat - A serene, calm, and steady sunshine, by which plants and herbs are made to grow. There seem to be two ideas blended here: the first, that of the “stillness” with which the sun shines upon the herbs; and the other, that of the fact that the sun shines that the herbs “may grow.”
Upon herbs - Margin, ‘After rain’ (עלי־אוי ‛ălēy 'ôry). The word אוי 'ôr usually signifies “light,” or “fire.” The plural form (ואורות ô'ôrôth) is used to denote herbs or vegetables in two places, in 2Ki 4:39, and Isa 26:19. For in the Shemitic languages the ideas of “sprouting, being grown, growing” etc., are connected with that of the shining of the sun, or of light; that which grows in the light; that is, vegetables. But in the singular phorm the word is not thus used, unless it be in this place. That it may have this signiphication cannot be doubted; and this interpretation makes good sense, and suits the connection. The rabbis generally interpret it as it is in the margin - ‘rain.’ In proof of this they appeal to Job 36:30; Job 37:11; but the word in these passages more properly denotes a cloud of light or of lightning, than rain. The common interpretation is probably correct, which regards the word אור 'ôr here as the same as אורה 'ôrâh - ‘herbs’ (see Vitringa). The Syriac reads it על־יאר ‛al-yeor - ‘upon the river.’ The parallelism seems to require the sense of “herb,” or something that shall answer to ‘harvest’ in the corresponding member.
And like a cloud of dew - Such a dew was still, and promoted the growth of vegetables. The idea is that of stillness and rest where there is no storm or tempest to dissipate the gently-falling dew. This is an emblem of the perfect quietness with which God would regard the preparations for war until the proper time would come for him to interpose. The whole passage is similar to Psa 2:4-5 :
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh;
Jehovah shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
And vex them in his hot displeasure.
The idea is, that he would be as calm as the sun is upon the herb, or the dew upon the harvest field, until the time should come when it would be proper for him to interpose, and disconcert their counsels. When and how this would be done is stated in the following verses; and the whole passage is most striking illustration of the manner with which God contemplates the machinations and evil designs of the wicked.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Place. God rules all with ease. --- Harvest. The…
Place. God rules all with ease. --- Harvest. The allies shall comfort my people, (Calmet) or Sennacherib shall threaten ruin. (Haydock) --- But I will frustrate his evil designs. His army shall perish unexpectedly, ver. 5. (Calmet) --- The Egyptians had sent messengers to assure the Israelites that they would come to assist them: but the prophet informs them of their own ruin. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain ב) The Deliverance of Ethiopia in the Near Future
ב) The Deliverance of Ethiopia in the Near Future
Isa_18:4-6
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4 For so the Lord said unto me, 13I will take my rest,
And I will 14 15consider in my dwelling-place
Like a clear heat 16 17upon herbs,
And like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the 18bud is perfect,
19And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
20He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,
And take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains,
And to the beasts of the earth,
And the fowls shall summer upon them,
And all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_18:4. According to K’thibh אֶשְׁקוֹטָה is to be read; according to K’ri אֶשְׁקֳטָה (comp. אֶשְׁקֽוֹלָה Ezr_8:25. Ewald, § 40 b; 41 c; 68 b). The form written plene with the accent drawn back, is of course not normal. Precisely for this reason the Masorets chose the other. But Hitzig may not be wrong when he says, that the double checking of the voice with twice raising it between depressions fittingly depicts the agreeable re pose in equipoise. שָׁקַט Isa_14:7; Isa_62:1—מָכוֹן principally used of the divine throne, comp. on Isa_4:5; Psa_33:13.——I take כְּ before חֹם in the sense of comparison, and not in that of coincidence as in Isa_18:3; Isa_18:5; see under Exegetical. For what “clear heat,” etc., and “a dew-cloud” is for harvest, such is Jehovah’s quiet waiting for the Assyrian.—חֹם is “warmth, heat;” only here in Isaiah.——צַח (comp. Isa_32:4) is “bright, clear.” עלי אור is = “by daylight” (comp. Amo_8:9; Hab_3:4, etc.). על is taken here in the cumulative sense, which it often has (Gen_32:12; Exo_35:22; 1Sa_14:32, etc.). Thus it is properly: “heat added to daylight;” for it can be cold during daylight.——עָב טַל “dew-cloud,” is the light cloud that at night dissolves in dew (comp. עָב טַלְקוֹשׁ Pro_16:15, whereas עַב Exo_19:9 = עֲבִי.)
Isa_18:5. כְּתָם־פֶּרַח (כְּ like Isa_18:3; ???Isa_5:24) is followed by a phrase in which, Hebrew fashion, the discourse relapses into the verb. finit.——בֹּסֶר (only here in Isaiah; comp. Jer_31:29 sq.; Eze_18:2) is the unripe grape.——גָּמַל, which elsewhere means “disaccustom, wean,” (Isa_11:8; Isa_28:9) is used here in a sense derived from that. The mother, that weans her child, has brought it to a certain degree of maturity. But, beside the present, the word occurs in the sense of “ripeness” only Num. 17:23; it must be noted beside that גָּמַל is to be taken in a transitive sense. For in Num. 17:23 this is undoubtedly the case, and Gen_40:10 it reads in the same sense הִבְשִׁילוּ אַשְׁכְּלֹתֶיהָ עֲנָבִים, “their grape-stalks cooked grapes;” בּסֶר is accordingly meant for a degree of development of the vine that produces ripe grapes.——It appears as if the Prophet had in mind Gen_40:10; for both כְּפֹרַחַת and נִצָּה and the words already quoted recall our passage.—נִצָּה “the flower, blossom,” occurs only here in Isaiah; beside this, Job_15:33. נִצָּה, moreover, is subject; thus the predicate is put emphatically in advance.——With וְכָרַת begins the apodosis. Jehovah need not be taken as subject, and therewith the substitution of the Prophet as speaker. The subject is indefinite. We express it by “one” (Isa_6:10; Isa_10:4; Isa_14:32).——זלזלים (ἅπ. λεγ.) are “the branches” of the vine; ינטישׁות “the shoots, sprouts” that develop from it (only here in Isaiah, Jer_5:10; Jer_48:32).——הֵתַז, ἅπ. λεγ.
Isa_18:6. עַיִט, beside here, only Isa_46:11.——קָץ, “summering,” and יֶֽחֱרַף, “wintering,” are both denominatives from קַיִץ and חֹרֶף, and are ἅπαξ λεγόμενα.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet has intimated that something great impends (Isa_18:3)—he now declares wherein it consists. He can say it because Jehovah revealed it to him. That is the Lord has announced to him, that He would keep altogether quiet as a mere observer. Like warmth and dew ripen the harvest, so, by the favor of His non-intervention, the power of the Assyrians will be brought almost to the greatest prosperity (Isa_18:4). Almost! For before this highest point is attained, the Assyrian power shall be destroyed, like one destroys a vine, by cutting off, not merely the grapes, but the grape branches and the sprouts (Isa_18:5). So terrible will this overthrow be, that the beasts of prey shall all through summer and winter find abundant to devour on the field of battle (Isa_18:6).
2. For so——winter upon them.
Isa_18:4-6. The Lord purposely abstains from interfering. He quietly allows matters to take their own course, He waits patiently till His time comes. This quiet, observant waiting the Prophet compares to that weather which is most favorable for maturing the harvest: warm days and dewy nights. The ancients conceived of the dew as originating like the rain. This appears, e.g., from Job_38:28, where the אֶגְלֵי טַל “drops of dew,” are the receptacula roris (Cod. Alex. συνοχαὶ δρόσου. The summer heat, the nightly dew, is an extraordinary benefit to vegetation. Therefore dew is so often used as the figure for blessing: Gen_27:28; Deu_33:13; Deu_33:28; Hos_14:6; Mic_5:6; Pro_19:12. The causal כִּי, “for,” at the beginning of Isa_18:5 connects two thoughts that are impliedly contained in Isa_18:4-5 : the Lord observes this expectant conduct, because only immediately before maturity of events will He interfere. “Harvest” is evidently to be taken in the wide sense that includes also the wine harvest. By an emphatic asyndeton wherein the second word (התז, “to cut down”) explains the first (הסיר, “to take away”), it is now affirmed that the enemy, that is, Assyria, shall be thoroughly destroyed. For there will not be merely a gleaning of grapes (comp. Isa_63:1 sqq.), but from the vine shall be cut off the very branches that yield fruit. The meaning of what has been said, becomes evident from the literal language of Isa_18:6. It means a terrible overthrow of the Assyrian army. Its dead bodies lie in such vast numbers that birds I and beasts of prey for a summer and a winter, shall find abundance of food on the field of battle. “Beasts of the earth,” comp. Deu_28:26, of which passage, moreover, our whole verse serves to remind one.
Footnotes:
[13]I will rest or be quiet.
[14]Or. regard my set dwelling.
[15]look on.
[16]Or, after rain.
[17]by daylight.
[18]the bloom.
[19]And the flower becomes a ripening grape.
[20]One.
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 take . . . rest . . . consider--I…
take . . . rest . . . consider--I will calmly look on and not interpose, while all seems to promise success to the enemy; when figuratively, "the sun's heat" and "the night dews" ripen their "harvest"; but "before" it reaches its maturity I will destroy it (Isa 18:5; Ecc 8:11-12).
like a clear heat--rather, "at the time of the clear (serene) heat" [MAURER].
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upon herbs--answering to "harvest" in the parallel clause. MAURER translates, "in the sunlight" (Job 31:26; Job 37:21; Hab 3:4).
like . . . dew--rather, "at the time of the dew cloud." God's "silence" is mistaken by the ungodly for consent; His delay in taking vengeance for forgetfulness (Psa 50:21); so it shall be before the vengeance which in the last day shall usher in the restoration of the Jews (Isa 34:1-8; Isa 57:11, end of the verse, Pe2 3:3-10).
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 4. All being thus ready, Jehovah comes now into…
4. All being thus ready, Jehovah comes now into the scene. In his watchful providence he looks on calmly from the high heavens, and waits up to the right time.
Like a clear heat upon herbs — “Clear heat” is serene, continuous heat, suited to ripen herbs, grasses, wheat.
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Like a cloud of dew — Moisture combining with heat to hasten the harvest. The Hebrew particle כkaph, here twice used, is a particle of comparison, not of time, and the meaning obviously is, that God not only does not hinder the operations of the enemy against Egypt and Ethiopia, but he even favours his success to a certain point, as dew and sunshine promote a ripening harvest.
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 4. I will take … consider] Better: I will…
4. I will take … consider] Better: I will quietly look on, the first verb being subordinate to the second.
like a clear heat upon herbs] Translate as R.V.: like clear heat in (or, along with) sunshine. The overpowering heat of the atmosphere in the height of summer seems something superadded to the effect of the sun’s rays.
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like a cloud of dew] The Hebr. word for “dew” means really a fine drizzling mist: what is meant is possibly the stationary cirrus-cloud in the upper air, which is called a ‘mist-cloud,’ in distinction from the rain-cloud near the earth (so Duhm).
Both expressions are rightly construed as comparisons. The temporal construction suggested by R.V. marg. (“when there is, &c.”) is grammatically possible in the first case, but hardly in the second. The points of comparison are apparently two: (1) the motionless stillness of the noon-tide heat and the fleecy cloud are an emblem of Jehovah’s quiescence. (2) As these natural phenomena hasten the ripening of the fruit, so all providential agencies appear to further and mature the schemes of Assyria. But the development is suddenly arrested just before its fruition.
4–6. The purpose of Jehovah, as disclosed to Isaiah by special revelation. The opening words point back to a definite time when this illumination came to him,—whether in a moment of ecstasy or not it is impossible to say.
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 (4, 5) I will take my rest . .…
(4, 5) I will take my rest . . .—The words that follow paint with marvellous vividness the calmness and deliberation of the workings of Divine judgments. God is at once unhasting and unresting. He dwells in His resting-place (i.e., palace or throne), and watches the ripening of the fruit which He is about to gather. While there is a clear heat in sunshine, while there is a dew-cloud in harvest-heat, through all phenomenal changes, He waits still. Then, before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the fruit becomes the full-ripe grape, He comes as the Lord of the vineyard, and cuts off the branches with His pruning-hooks. (Comp. the striking parallels of Æsch. Suppl. 90-98, and Shakespeare, Henry VIII., 3:2.)
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 For so; rather, for thus. The word koh is…
For so; rather, for thus. The word koh is prospective. I will take my rest, and I will consider; or, I will be still and look on. The rest of God is contrasted with the bustle and hurry of the Ethiopians and Assyrians. God "sits in his holy seat," calm and tranquil, knowing what the result is about to be, and when it will be; he waits while the influences of heat and moisture, sunshine and dew his own agencies ripen Assyria"s schemes, impassive, taking no part. Then, suddenly, he takes the part described in the latter portion of ver. 5, "cuts off the shoots and hews down the branches." Like a clear heat upon herbs, etc.; rather, while there is clear heat in the sunshine, while there is a cloud of dew in the harvest-warmth; i.e. while surrounding influences are such as must favor the growth of Assyria"s power and pride.
God can wait.
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"I will rest." God was apparently inactive and unobservant, while the Assyrian was maturing his plans and taking all his first steps. But God watches the influences gathering round the growing-time of the trees, though men trace his working almost only in their fruitage. The words of this passage "paint with marvelous vividness the calmness and deliberation of the workings of Divine judgments. God is at once unhasting and unresting. He dwells in his resting-place (i.e. his palace or throne) and watches the ripening of the fruit which he is about to gather. While there is a clear heat in sunshine, while there is a dew-cloud in harvest-heat, through all phenomenal changes, he waits still" (Dean Plumptre). The figure of a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest is well illustrated by Thomson, in "The Land and the Book," who writes of a cloud which "absolutely reposed upon the vast harvest-fields of Philistia, lying on the corn serene and quiet as infancy asleep. I have never seen such a cloud in this country except in the heat of harvest." Cheyne brings out the point of this verse. "In the midst of all the excitement, of the Assyrians on the one hand, and of the Ethiopians on the other, Jehovah is calmly waiting till the fruit of Assyrian arrogance is all but ripe. Favoring circumstances are hastening the process (clear heat, etc.), and when perfection seems just within reach, God will interpose in judgment." God can wait quietly wait until the fullness of time has come. God reproaches our restlessness by his example, for our time is "always ready," and by our impatience and failure in self-control we spoil a thousand things. This subject may be opened in the following way.
I IN SECURING MATERIAL ENDS THERE IS OFTEN GREAT NEED FOR WAITING. Illustrate from the failure of the general, because he did not wait until preparations were complete; or from the farmer who loses his crops by cutting them too soon, before the weather has become settled; or the artist who cannot wait to give his work the perfecting touches of his own criticism; or the pastor who injures the young blade by worrying anxiety over it, and cannot wait to let young soul-life gather quiet strength in its own simple ways. The wisdom of waiting is harder to learn and practice than the wisdom of acting and working. Yet the motto, by no means untruthfully, says, "All things come round to him who can wait.
II IN SECURING MORAL ENDS THERE IS OFTEN ABSOLUTE NEED FOB WAITING. Because moral processes can never bear forcing. They vary in different individuals. The lesson of virtue which one person learns at once, another grasps only as a final result of the training of a long life. This point may be opened up in relation to the work of mothers and teachers. They seek moral ends. They are often distressed by the slowness of the approach to the end. They must learn the importance of active, watchful waiting. And in the highest sense, in relation to God"s moral working, we all need to hear the voice that pleads, "Wait thou his time." Marvelous is the long-suffering patience of him who waited while the ark was building, and waited through the ages until the "fullness of times" for his Christ had come.
III IN MAN WAITING MAY BE EITHER STRENGTH OR WEAKNESS. It may be "masterly inactivity," and it may be that "procrastination" which loses golden opportunities.
IV IN GOD WAITING IS ALWAYS WISDOM AND STRENGTH. So we never need fret under it, or make mystery of it, or think untrustful things about it. God acts on the absolutely best moment, and we should wait on for ages, and never want a thing until God"s best moment for it has come. Because God can wait, we should trust. 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 For so the Lord said unto me, I will…
Isa_18:4-5
For so the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest
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The rest of providence
Although much diversity of opinion exists among commentators in regard to the primary design of the prophecy from which this passage is taken, there can be but one sentiment as to the sublime moral which it teaches concerning the mode in which the Almighty conducts His government.
There are times, probably, in every mans life, when he feels the temptations to scepticism unusually strong. They are the times of personal suffering, or of prosperous iniquity.
I. How often has the sincere Christian mourned in bitterness of spirit, BECAUSE NO IMMEDIATE ANSWER SEEMED GIVEN TO HIS PRAYERS. In such circumstances, the assurance that providence is only taking its rest and considering, is in the highest degree consolatory. It is not in judgment, but in tender mercy, that God apparently suspends His answer to His peoples prayers. Thus does He exercise their faith, and the trial of it is more precious than gold. Thus does He convince them of their needs, and the conviction leads them to greater self-abandonment. Thus does He call forth in them the feeling of Christian sympathy for those who are similarly tried, and this is better for them than hearts desire. Thus does He give unto them those experiences which, it is not improbable, may contribute to their felicity in heaven itself.
II. A second example of providence taking its rest, is to be seen in THE COMPARATIVELY SLOW AND LIMITED PROGRESS WHICH THE BLESSED GOSPEL OF CHRIST HAS YET MADE IN THE WORLD. The march of His administration is not the less sublime, because it is occasionally invisible.
III. Providence takes its rest WHEN SENTENCE AGAINST THE EVIL WORKS OF MEN IS NOT EXECUTED SPEEDILY. When the mystery of God is finished, His ways will appear at once marvellous and right. This rest of providence is beautifully illustrated by similitudes taken from nature--a clear heat upon herbs, and a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. You have observed, on a fine summer day, the sunshine resting calmly on the cornfield, or the dew covering the plants at eventide. All is peaceful and serene. It seems as if the winds had forgotten to blow, or the thunder to utter its voice. Thus calmly and silently does the Almighty rest in His dwelling place, till the time comes for interposition. The patience of God is a demonstration of His power, and His slowness to wrath a testimony to His infinite wisdom. The metaphor in Isa_18:5 is to be regarded as a continuation of the preceding one, and may be understood as intimating the utter disappointment of those plans which wicked men form against God, and which He so forbearingly allows them to mature. Afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. The meaning is, that at the very moment when the likelihood is, humanly speaking, greatest, that their projects shall be successful, He will awake to overturn them. Conclusion--
1. The passage under consideration, while it ought to alarm the enemies, may well enough bring comfort to the people of God. Let them look up for their redemption draweth nigh.
2. On the other hand, let not the impenitent flatter themselves into security because their Lord delayeth His coming. (J. L. Adamson.)
Stillness
A figure of perfect stillness. (A. B. Davidson.)
The arrest of evil men
It is as though Jehovah were quietly looking on, and permitting the Assyrians to do their worst. So far from arresting them, He seems even to favour their plans. He is to them, as the dew to the growth of plants. But before the bud is formed, He arises to cut them off. This probably refers to the fatal blow which overwhelmed Sennacheribs army in a single night. The gratitude of surrounding nations for so great a deliverance would cause them to bring sacrifices to Jehovahs temple (Isa_18:7). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods secret words
How striking are those secret words, whispered by God to His favoured servant, The Lord said unto me. It was as though He had called Isaiah aside, and spoken to him confidentially of matters which must not be uttered to uncircumcised ears. It was thus that God spake of old to Abraham and Moses. And in modern days it is remarkable, in reading the journals of George Fox, to find how conscious he was of similar confidences reposed in him by his ever-present and faithful Friend. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
God resting in His dwelling place
I. THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD AND HIS REPOSE. Let me ask where the queen rests in her love: You must pass and press beyond the regalia, beyond the throne-room, beyond the council, beyond the levee, there in the family, amidst her children, in a charmed family circle,--there she rests in love. And has not God such a circle, such a dwelling place, and home? The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him. God has revealed to us this great thing, that He, too, lives in the sympathies and affections of His intelligent creatures. Gods Church is His dwelling place. God descends to dwell in us, as we ascend to dwell in Him. I have been struck with a thought like this, when I have been on some quiet village hill, or in the deeps of some country forest, when, beneath me, or away from me, all the villagers were in the booths of some fair. I saw it, perhaps, at my feet, or heard the sounds dying away on my ear. So it is, as we rise to rest in God. At our feet the uproar the vice--the vanity--of the Babel booths--the dissoluteness and the song,--but with us deep peace, and quiet, and the rest of heart and soul, and the prospect of the glory and the vistas beyond; it is even so, as the world lies beneath us, and above us spreads the calm--when the soul possesses God, and God sinks into the soul--what does the soul look out upon: what does the soul look down upon? what does the soul look in upon: the soul one with God.
II. I WILL CONSIDER. So the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest. Exceedingly sublime are all those magnificent passages in which the calm of the Divine mind is contrasted with the passion and the agitation of human affairs. This is the connection of the preceding verses (chap. 17:12, 13). It is amidst that turbulence of the oceans of the population that God says, I will take My rest, and consider.
III. THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF DIVINE CONSIDERATION, the loving and beautiful result. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Gods all-sufficiency
There is that in God which is a shelter and refreshment to His people in all weathers, and arms them against the inconveniences of every change. Is the weather cool: There is that in His favour that will warm them. Is it hot: There is that in His favour that will cool them. Great men have their winter house and their summer house Amo_3:15); but they that are at home with God have both in Him. (M. Henry.)
When the bud is perfect
The flower bud
B--U--D--bud. Beauty; use; design, shall be our three points.
I. BEAUTY. Among the many kinds of beauty nature gives us, three are very noticeable--
1. Beauty of form.
2. Beauty of colour.
3. Beauty of scent. And to these man has added--
4. Beauty of association.
II. USE.
1. Food. In the economy of nature flowers are useful as food for insect and bird and man. Groundsel for the birds of the air! The honeysuckle really belongs to, and is the early home of, a green moth, brown round the edges, with transparent wings. It also belongs to a caterpillar, which afterwards becomes a brown and white and dull blue butterfly. And so list after list might be given of flowers upon which the insect world feeds, and by which it is nourished. Again, it is from flowers that the bees collect the honey! Thus the flowers may be said literally to feed man.
2. Medicine.
3. Fruit. Flowering is a stage on the way to fruit. What Christian graces will you have to show when the time of the ingathering comes:
III. DESIGN. Nature works on a plan. Who made the plan, the design? There cannot be a plan without someone to plan; nor a design without a designer. The Christian looks from nature to natures God. (C. H.Grundy, M. A.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
God uses a parable about a farmer in a vineyard in order to describe how he will punish a certain nation. That nation is either Ethiopia or Ethiopia's enemy.
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This is what Yahweh said to me
"Yahweh said to me." Here the word "me" refers to Isaiah.
I will quietly observe from my home
What God will observe can be stated clearly. AT: "I will quietly observe that nation from my home" or "From my home, I will quietly watch what the people of that nation do" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
like the simmering heat in sunshine, like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest
These phrases show how quietly God will watch the nation. (See: Simile)
Before the harvest
This is a harvest of grapes. This can be made explicit. AT: "Before the grape harvest" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
when the blossoming is over
It can be stated clearly that this refers to blossoms on grape vines. AT: "when flowers have finished growing on the grape vines" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
Yahweh will cut off the branches before the grapes can ripen. AT: "Yahweh will cut off the branches with knives before their produce fruit" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
pruning hooks
A pruning hook is a knife that people use to cut branches off of vines or other plants.
he will cut down and take away the spreading branches
Yahweh will throw away the branches in judgment.
translationWords
Yahweh
harvest
grape
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 18:4 The Lord is untroubled by human activities; he…
18:4 The Lord is untroubled by human activities; he watches quietly from his dwelling place and acts in his own time (see Ps 2:1-4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.