Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants. It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest. The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish. The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
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Isaiah 24:1-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants. It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest. The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish. The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it. The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction. For it will be so within the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.
Parallel Translations
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Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.
The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
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Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Show all 3 translations
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Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
The earth shall be utterly emptied, and clean despoiled; for the LORD hath spoken this word.
The earth fainteth and fadeth away, the world faileth and fadeth away, the lofty people of the earth do fail.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statute, broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore hath a curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth waste away, and men are left few.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (131)
- Hebrews 13:20 (v5) Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord…
- Isaiah 2:19 (v1) Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his…
- Nahum 2:10 (v1) She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
- Malachi 4:1 (v6) “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes…
- Isaiah 24:1 (v3) Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
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- Isaiah 24:20 (v1) The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will…
- Isaiah 42:15 (v1) I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
- Hosea 4:9 (v2) It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
- Romans 8:20-21 (v5) For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also…
- 2 Kings 21:13 (v1) I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping…
- Isaiah 6:11 (v3) Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isaiah 6:11-12 (v1) Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,…
- Ezekiel 12:20 (v1) The cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”
- Ezekiel 35:14 (v1) The Lord Yahweh says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
- Daniel 7:25 (v5) He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and…
- Hosea 4:3 (v4) Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field…
- Zechariah 5:3-4 (v6) Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according…
- Matthew 7:14 (v6) How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it.
- Hebrews 9:1 (v5) Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary.
- Deuteronomy 4:27 (vv1, 6) Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will lead you away.
- Isaiah 33:9 (vv1, 4) The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
- Genesis 3:17-18 (v5) To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall…
- Genesis 6:11-13 (v5) The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had…
- Leviticus 18:24-28 (v5) “ ‘Don’t defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. The land…
- Leviticus 20:22 (v5) “ ‘You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not…
- Leviticus 26:22 (v6) I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads…
- Numbers 35:33-34 (v5) “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that…
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (v1) Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which…
- Deuteronomy 32:26 (v1) I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
- 2 Kings 17:7-23 (v5) It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the…
- 2 Kings 22:13-17 (v5) “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s…
- 2 Kings 23:26-27 (v5) Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the…
- 2 Chronicles 33:9 (v5) Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the…
- Nehemiah 1:8 (v1) “Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples;
- Psalms 106:36-39 (v5) They served their idols, which became a snare to them. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent…
- Psalms 146:9 (v1) Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.
- Isaiah 1:2-5 (v5) Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. The…
- Isaiah 1:7-9 (v1) Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate, as overthrown…
- Isaiah 2:11-12 (v4) The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. For…
- Isaiah 3:26 (v4) Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
- Isaiah 5:6 (v1) I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no…
- Isaiah 7:17-25 (v1) Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from…
- Isaiah 27:10 (v1) For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will…
- Isaiah 29:16 (v1) You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t…
- Isaiah 32:13-14 (v1) Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. For the palace will be forsaken. The…
- Isaiah 50:1 (v5) Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you?…
- Isaiah 59:1-3 (v5) Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. But your iniquities have separated you…
- Isaiah 59:12-15 (v5) For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our…
- Jeremiah 3:1-2 (v5) “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that…
- Jeremiah 9:16 (v1) I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have…
- Lamentations 5:12-14 (v2) Princes were hanged up by their hands. The faces of elders were not honored. The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under…
- Ezekiel 5:2 (v1) A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part,…
- Ezekiel 5:3 (v6) You shall take of it a few in number, and bind them in the folds of your robe.
- Ezekiel 5:14 (v1) “ ‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
- Ezekiel 6:6 (v1) In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and…
- Ezekiel 7:12-13 (v2) The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. For the seller…
- Ezekiel 7:20-24 (v5) As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things…
- Ezekiel 20:13 (v5) “ ‘ “But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which…
- Ezekiel 20:24 (v5) because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their…
- Daniel 9:10 (v5) We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
- Malachi 4:6 (v6) He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth…
- Mark 7:7-9 (v5) But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to…
- Luke 21:24 (v1) They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles,…
- Romans 9:27 (v6) Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
- Genesis 41:50 (v2) To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.
- Leviticus 25:36-37 (v2) Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you. You shall not lend him your money at…
- Leviticus 26:30-35 (v3) I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul…
- Deuteronomy 23:19-20 (v2) You shall not lend on interest to your brother: interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest. You may…
- Deuteronomy 28:15-20 (v6) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Deuteronomy 28:62 (v6) You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s…
- Deuteronomy 29:22-28 (v6) The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see…
- Deuteronomy 29:23 (v3) that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow…
- Deuteronomy 29:28 (v3) Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
- Deuteronomy 30:18-19 (v6) I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to…
- Deuteronomy 32:15 (v5) But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
- Deuteronomy 32:20 (v5) He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no…
- Joshua 23:15-16 (v6) It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the…
- Joshua 24:25 (v5) So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
- 2 Samuel 23:5 (v5) Isn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation,…
- 2 Chronicles 36:14-17 (v2) Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they…
- 2 Chronicles 36:20 (v2) He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom…
- 2 Chronicles 36:21 (v3) to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to…
- Psalms 55:5 (v5) Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me.
- Psalms 105:10 (v5) and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
- Isaiah 1:31 (v6) The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”
- Isaiah 2:9 (v2) Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them.
- Isaiah 3:2-8 (v2) the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the…
- Isaiah 5:15 (v2) So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
- Isaiah 9:14-17 (v2) Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day. The elder and the honorable man is the head, and…
- Isaiah 10:6 (v5) I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the…
- Isaiah 21:17 (v3) and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has…
- Isaiah 22:25 (v3) “In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden…
- Isaiah 28:1 (v4) Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile…
- Isaiah 42:24-25 (v6) Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways,…
- Isaiah 64:6 (v4) For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our…
- Jeremiah 4:28 (v4) For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented,…
- Jeremiah 5:3-6 (v2) O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused…
- Jeremiah 12:4 (v4) How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals…
- Jeremiah 23:11-13 (v2) for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh. Therefore their way will be to them…
- Jeremiah 40:15 (v1) Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael the son of…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (131 total citations).
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 6 This prophecy is as a conclusion of that which…
This prophecy is as a conclusion of that which hath been threatened to the Jews, and other nations from chap. 13, and therefore by the earth he meaneth those lands which were before named.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Isa 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty,…
Isa 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Ver. 1. Behold the Lord emptieth.] It must needs be a matter of some rare and marvellous consequence, that "Behold" - the "oh yes!" of the Holy Ghost - is thus set before.
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The Lord emptieth,] i.e., Will empty; an idiom proper to God’s prophets, who saw in the Spirit things to come as if they were even then done.
The earth.] Or, The land, sc., Of Jewry, by a woeful desolation, Lege et luge, by law and lament. Some hold it to be a metaphor from ships overloaded, which therefore must be disburdened; so was the land to be eased of her inhabitants, which she could hardly stand under.
And waste.] Making havoc of persons and things of worth.
Turneth it upside down.] Ferens, agens sursum deorsum omnia, turning all things topsy turvy, as they say.
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6 The earth; or, the land, to wit, of Canaan,…
The earth; or, the land, to wit, of Canaan, or Israel, or Judea. It is usual with all writers, when they write of their own country, to call it the land, by way of eminency. There are many things in this prophecy which manifestly concern this land and people; and nothing, at least before Isa 24:21, which may be taken as a new and additional prophecy, which is necessary to be understood of other nations. But this I speak with submission, and due respect to those learned and judicious interpreters who take this to be a prophecy against Judea, and all the neighbouring nations.
Maketh it waste; he will shortly make it waste, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans. Turneth it upside down; bringeth it into great disorder and confusion.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 It is a very dark and melancholy scene that…
It is a very dark and melancholy scene that this prophecy presents to our view; turn our eyes which way we will, every thing looks dismal. The threatened desolations are here described in a great variety of expressions to the same purport, and all aggravating.
I. The earth is stripped of all its ornaments and looks as if it were taken off its basis; it is made empty and waste (Isa 24:1), as if it were reduced to its first chaos, Tohu and Bohu, nothing but confusion and emptiness again (Gen 1:2), without form and void. It is true earth sometimes signifies the land, and so the same word eretz is here translated (Isa 24:3): The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled; but I see not why it should not there, as well as Isa 24:1, be translated the earth; for most commonly, if not always, where it signifies some one particular land it has something joined to it, or at least not far from it, which does so appropriate it; as the land (or earth) of Egypt, or Canaan, or this land, or ours, or yours, or the like. It might indeed refer to some particular country, and an ambiguous word might be used to warrant such an application; for it is good to apply to ourselves, and our own hands, what the scripture says in general of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all things here below; but it should seem designed to speak what often happens to many countries, and will do while the world stands, and what may, we know not how soon, happen to our own, and what is the general character of all earthly things: they are empty of all solid comfort and satisfaction; a little thing makes them waste. We often see numerous families, and plentiful estates, utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, by one judgment or other, or perhaps only by a gradual and insensible decay. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth has become quite a different thing to man from what it was when God made it to be his habitation. Sin has also scattered abroad the inhabitants thereof. The rebellion at Babel was the occasion of the dispersion there. How many ways are there in which the inhabitants both of towns and of private houses are scattered abroad, so that near relations and old neighbours know nothing of one another! To the same purport is Isa 24:4. The earth mourns, and fades away; it disappoints those that placed their happiness in it and raised their expectations high from it, and proves not what they promised themselves it would be. The whole world languishes and fades away, as hastening towards a dissolution. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves too much with it, and lay it in their bosoms. And, as the earth itself grows old, so those that dwell therein are desolate; men carry crazy sickly bodies along with them, are often solitary, and confined by affliction, Isa 24:6. When the earth languishes, and is not so fruitful as it used to be, then those that dwell therein, that make it their home, and rest, and portion, are desolate; whereas those that by faith dwell in God can rejoice in him even when the fir-tree does not blossom. If we look abroad, and see in how many places pestilences and burning fevers rage, and what multitudes are swept away by them in a little time, so that sometimes the living scarcely suffice to bury the dead, perhaps we shall understand what the prophet means when he says, The inhabitants of the earth are burned, or consumed, some by one disease, others by another, and there are but few men left, in comparison. Note, The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears, and a dying world; and the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble.
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II. It is God that brings all these calamities upon the earth. The Lord that made the earth, and made it fruitful and beautiful, for the service and comfort of man, now makes it empty and waste (Isa 24:1), for its Creator is and will be its Judge; he has an incontestable right to pass sentence upon it and an irresistible power to execute that sentence. It is the Lord that has spoken this word, and he will do the work (Isa 24:3); it is his curse that has devoured the earth (Isa 24:6), the general curse which sin brought upon the ground for man's sake (Gen 3:17), and all the particular curses which families and countries bring upon themselves by their enormous wickedness. See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty and lays all waste; those whom he curses are cursed indeed.
III. Persons of all ranks and conditions shall share in these calamities (Isa 24:2): It shall be as with the people, so with the priest, etc. This is true of many of the common calamities of human life; all are subject to the same diseases of body, sorrows of mind, afflictions in relations, and the like. There is one event to those of very different stations; time and chance happen to them all. It is in a special manner true of the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful nations; when he pleases he can make them universal, so that none shall escape them or be exempt from them; whether men have little or much, they shall lose it all. Those of the meaner rank smart first by famine; but those of the higher rank go first into captivity, while the poor of the land are left. It shall be all alike, 1. With high and low: As with the people, so with the priest, or prince. The dignity of magistrates and ministers, and the respect and reverence due to both, shall not secure them. The faces of elders are not honoured, Lam 5:12. The priests had been as corrupt and wicked as the people; and, if their character served not to restrain them from sin, how can they expect it should serve to secure them from judgments? In both it is like people, like priest, Hos 4:8, Hos 4:9. 2. With bond and free: As with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress. They have all corrupted their way, and therefore will all be made miserable when the earth is made waste. 3. With rich and poor. Those that have money before-hand, that are purchasing, and letting out money to interest, will fare no better than those that are so impoverished that they are forced to sell their estates and take up money at interest. There are judgments short of the great day of judgment in which rich and poor meet together. Let not those that are advanced in the world set their inferiors at too great a distance, because they know not how soon they may be set upon a level with them. The rich man's wealth is his strong city in his own conceit; but it does not always prove so.
IV. It is sin that brings these calamities upon the earth. The earth is made empty, and fades away, because it is defiled under the inhabitants thereof (Isa 24:5); it is polluted by the sins of men, and therefore it is made desolate by the judgments of God. Such is the filthy nature of sin that it defiles the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants thereof, and it is rendered unpleasant in the eyes of God and good men. See Lev 18:25, Lev 18:27, Lev 18:28. Blood, in particular, defiles the land, Num 35:33. The earth never spues out its inhabitants till they have first defiled it by their sins. Why, what have they done? 1. They have transgressed the laws of their creation, not answered the ends of it. The bonds of the law of nature have been broken by them, and they have cast from them the cords of their obligations to the God of nature. 2. They have changed the ordinances of revealed religion, those of them that have had the benefit of that. They have neglected the ordinances (so some read it), and have made no conscience of observing them. They have passed over the laws, in the commission of sin, and have passed by the ordinance, in the omission of duty. 3. Herein they have broken the everlasting covenant, which is a perpetual bond and will be to those that keep it a perpetual blessing. It is God's wonderful condescension that he is pleased to deal with men in a covenant-way, to do them good, and thereby oblige them to do him service. Even those that had no benefit by God's covenant with Abraham had benefit by his covenant with Noah and his sons, which is called an everlasting covenant, his covenant with day and night; but they observe not the precepts of the sons of Noah, they acknowledge not God's goodness in the day and night, nor study to make him any grateful returns, and so break the everlasting covenant and defeat the gracious designs and intentions of it.
V. These judgments shall humble men's pride and mar their mirth. When the earth is made empty, 1. It is a great mortification to men's pride (Isa 24:4): The haughty people of the earth do languish; for they have lost that which supported their pride, and for which they magnified themselves. As for those that have held their heads highest, God can make them hang the head. 2. It is a great damp to men's jollity. This is enlarged upon much (Isa 24:7-9): All the merry-hearted do sigh. Such is the nature of carnal mirth, it is but as the crackling of thorns under a pot, Ecc 7:6. Great laughters commonly end in a sigh. Those that make the world their chief joy cannot rejoice ever more. When God sends his judgments into the earth he designs thereby to make those serious that were wholly addicted to their pleasures. Let your laughter be turned into mourning. When the earth is emptied the noise of those that rejoice in it ends. Carnal joy is a noisy thing; but the noise of it will soon be at an end, and the end of it is heaviness. Two things are made use of to excite and express vain mirth, and the jovial crew is here deprived of both: - (1.) Drinking: The new wine mourns; it has grown sour for want of drinking; for, how proper soever it may be for the heavy heart (Pro 31:6), it does not relish to them as it does to the merry-hearted. The vine languishes, and gives little hopes of a vintage, and therefore the merry-hearted do sigh; for they know no other gladness than that of their corn, and wine, and oil increasing (Psa 4:7), and, if you destroy their vines and their fig-trees, you make all their mirth to cease, Hos 2:11, Hos 2:12. They shall not now drink wine with a song and with huzzas, as they used to, but rather drink it with a sigh; nay, Strong drink shall be bitter to those that drink it, because they cannot but mingle their tears with it; or, through sickness, they have lost the relish of it. God has many ways to embitter wine and strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of them: distemper of body, anguish of mind, the ruin of the estate or country, will make the strong drink bitter and all the delights of sense tasteless and insipid. (2.) Music: The mirth of tabrets ceases, and the joy of the harp, which used to be at their feasts, Isa 5:12. The captives in Babylon hang their harps on the willow trees. In short, All joy is darkened; there is not a pleasant look to be seen, nor has any one power to force a smile; all the mirth of the land is gone (Isa 24:11); and, if it was that mirth which Solomon calls madness, there is no great loss of it.
VI. The cities will in a particular manner feel from these desolations of the country (Isa 24:10): The city of confusion is broken, is broken down (so we read it); it lies exposed to invading powers, not only by the breaking down of its walls, but by the confusion that the inhabitants are in. Every house is shut up, perhaps by reason of the plague, which has burned or consumed the inhabitants, so that there are few men left, Isa 24:6. Houses infected are usually shut up that no man may come in. Or they are shut up because they are deserted and uninhabited. There is a crying for wine, that is, for the spoiling of the vintage, so that there is likely to be no wine. In the city, in Jerusalem itself, that had been so much frequented, there shall be left nothing but desolation; grass shall grow in the streets, and the gate is smitten with destruction (Isa 24:12); all that used to pass and repass through the gate are smitten, and all the strength of the city is cut off. How soon can God make a city of order a city of confusion, and then it will soon be a city of desolation!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty,.... Some, by…
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty,.... Some, by the "earth", only understand the land of Israel or Judea, and interpret the prophecy of the captivity of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, as Kimchi, and other Jewish writers; and others, of the destruction of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar; but some take in along with them the neighbouring nations who suffered by the same princes at the same time. Vitringa interprets the whole of the times of the Maccabees, as also the three following chapters Isa 25:1; though it is best to understand it of the Papal world, and all the antichristian states; and there are some things in it, at the close of it, which respect the destruction of the whole world. The Septuagint version uses the word by which Luke intends the whole Roman empire, Luk 2:1 and the Arabic version here renders it, "the whole world": the "emptying" of it is the removal of the inhabitants of it by wars and slaughters, which will be made when the seven vials of God's wrath will be poured upon all the antichristian states; see Rev 16:1 and this being a most remarkable and wonderful event, is prefaced with the word "behold":
and maketh it waste; or desolate; the inhabitants and fruits of it being destroyed. R. Joseph Kimchi, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, renders it, "and opened it" (n); and explains it of the opening of the gates of a city to the enemy, so as that men may go out of it; to which the Targum inclines paraphrasing it,
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"and shall deliver it to the enemy:''
and turneth it upside down; or, "perverteth the face of it" (o); so that it has not the form it had, and does not look like what it was, but is reduced to its original chaos, to be without form and void; cities being demolished, towns ruined, fields laid waste, and the inhabitants slain; particularly what a change of the face of things will there be in the destruction of the city of Rome! see Rev 18:7. The Targum is,
"and shall cover with confusion the face of its princes, because they have transgressed the law:''
and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof; who will be obliged to fly from place to place from the sword of their victorious enemies. All is spoken in the present tense, though future, because of the certainty of it.
(n) So "aperuit totam portam", Golius, col. 321. (o) "et pervertet faciem ejus", Piscator.
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6 Judgments on Judah for their defilements and transgression, ver.…
Judgments on Judah for their defilements and transgression, ver. 1-12. A remnant shall praise God, ver. 13-15. God, by his judgments on his people and their enemies, will advance his kingdom, ver. 16-23.
The land - Of Canaan. Waste - He will shortly make it waste, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans. Turneth - Brings it into great disorder and confusion.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6 Dreadful judgments impending over the people of God, 1-4.
CHAPTER XXIV
Dreadful judgments impending over the people of God, 1-4.
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Particular enumeration of the horrid impieties which provoked
the Divine vengeance, 5, 6.
Great political wretchedness of the transgressors, 7-12.
The calamities shall be so great that only a small remnant
shall be left in the land, as it were the gleanings of the
vintage, 13.
The rest, scattered over the different countries, spread there
the knowledge of God, 14-16.
Strong figures by which the great distress and long captivity
of the transgressors are set forth, 17-22.
Gracious promise of a redemption from captivity; and of an
extension of the kingdom of God in the latter days, attended
with such glorious circumstances as totally to eclipse the
light and splendour of the previous dispensation, 23.
From the thirteenth chapter to the twenty-third inclusive, the fate of several cities and nations is denounced: of Babylon, of the Philistines, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Tyre. After having foretold the destruction of the foreign nations, enemies of Judah, the prophet declares the judgments impending on the people of God themselves for their wickedness and apostasy, and the desolation that shall be brought on their whole country.
The twenty-fourth and the three following chapters seem to have been delivered about the same time: before the destruction of Moab by Shalmaneser; see Isa 25:10, consequently, before the destruction of Samaria; probably in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign. But concerning the particular subject of the twenty-fourth chapter interpreters are not at all agreed: some refer it to the desolation caused by the invasion of Shalmaneser; others to the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; and others to the destruction of the city and nation by the Romans. Vitringa is singular in his opinion, who applies it to the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Perhaps it may have a view to all of the three great desolations of the country, by Shalmaneser, by Nebuchadnezzar, and by the Romans; especially the last, to which some parts of it may seem more peculiarly applicable. However, the prophet chiefly employs general images; such as set forth the greatness and universality of the ruin and desolation that is to be brought upon the country by these great revolutions, involving all orders and degrees of men, changing entirely the face of things, and destroying the whole polity, both religious and civil; without entering into minute circumstances, or necessarily restraining it by particular marks to one great event, exclusive of others of the same kind.-L.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIV
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5 Isa 24:1. Behold, &c. — According to Vitringa, the…
Isa 24:1. Behold, &c. — According to Vitringa, the third book of Isaiah’s prophecies begins with this chapter, and extends to the thirty-sixth, being divided into three discourses; the first comprehending four chapters, the second six, and the third two. The general subject of the book is the penal judgments denounced by God upon the disobedient Jews, and the enemies of the church, with the most ample promises to the true church. This first discourse, contained in this and the three following chapters, Bishop Lowth thinks, was delivered before the destruction of Moab by Shalmaneser, (see Isa 25:10,) and consequently before the destruction of Samaria, and probably in the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign. The Lord maketh the earth empty — The word הארצ, here translated the earth, may, with equal propriety, be rendered the land, as indeed it is in Isa 24:3; Isa 24:13 of this chapter, and very frequently elsewhere. The land of Canaan seems to be here meant, including both Israel and Judah, which was made empty when the inhabitants of it were carried into captivity, which they were, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans. And it was made still more empty and desolate in the last and great destruction of its cities and people, particularly of Jerusalem and its inhabitants by the Romans; of which see on Deu 28:62. To this destruction especially the prophet is thought to refer in many parts of this chapter.
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 On vv1–6 Maketh the earth empty - That is, will depopulate…
Maketh the earth empty - That is, will depopulate it, or take away its inhabitants, and its wealth. The word ‘earth’ here (ארץ 'ārets) is used evidently not to denote the whole world, but the land to which the prophet particularly refers - the land of Judea. It should have been translated the land (see Joe 1:2). It is possible, however, that the word here may be intended to include so much of the nations that surrounded Palestine as were allied with it, or as were connected with it in the desolations under Nebuchadnezzar.
And turneth it upside down - Margin, ‘Perverteth the face thereof.’ That is, everything is thrown into confusion; the civil and religious institutions are disorganized, and derangement everywhere prevails.
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And scattereth abroad ... - This was done in the invasion by the Chaldeans by the carrying away of the inhabitants into their long and painful captivity.
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 6 Earth. After the ten preceding threats, the prophet denounces…
Earth. After the ten preceding threats, the prophet denounces destruction to the whole world, (Worthington) at the day of judgment; though he may also allude to the desolation of the promised land, as our Saviour joins both in the same prediction, Matthew xxiv. (Calmet)
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 On v1 Isaiah 24-27
B.—THE FINALE TO THE DISCOURSES AGAINST THE NATIONS: THE LIBELLUS APOCALYPTICUS
Isaiah 24-27
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If there is a living God who concerns Himself with the history of mankind and directs the same according to His counsel, without detriment to that human freedom which is the basis of the moral responsibility of every individual,—and if consequently there is such a thing as prophecy which demonstrates the divine rule in history for our consolation and warning, then we need not be surprised if prophecy should refer even to the very close of history. Must not God, who directs history, foreknow what is most remote as well as what is near at hand? And can He have no reason for causing the things that will take place at the end of the world to be predicted by the interpreters of His will, the prophets? There is just the same reason for His doing this which there is for prophecy at all. We ought to know that the history of the world is moving toward a certain goal fixed by God, in order that one class may fear, and that the other may have a firm support in every temptation, and the certain hope of final victory. And we ought therefore not to be astonished if Isaiah, the greatest of all the prophets, penetrates by the spiritual vision given to him into the most distant future. This only would with reason surprise us,—if Isaiah should describe the distant future as one who had experienced it and passed through it. But this is not the case. For we clearly perceive that the pictures of the future which he presents to us are enigmatical to himself. He takes his stand in the present time; he is not only a man, but also an Israelite of his own age. He depicts the destruction of the earth in such a way that we can see that it appears to him as the occurrence on a grand scale of what was well known to him, “the wasting of cities and countries.” From his point of view he distinguishes neither the exact chronological succession of the different objects, nor the real distance which separates him from the last things. And he is so much an Israelite that the judgment of the world appears to him as the closing act in the great controversy of Israel against the heathen nations. For Delitzsch is perfectly right when he regards our chapters as the fitting finale to chaps. 13–23. The Prophet is, moreover, an Israelite of his own age. For, although he knows that the judgment will extend to all the nations that constitute the worldly power, nevertheless Assyria and Egypt stand in the foreground as its prominent representatives (Isa_27:12-13). Only once, when he places the countries of the second exile over against those of the first, do the former appear in their natural double form as the countries of the Euphrates and of the Tigris, or, as it is there expressed (Isa_27:1), the straight and the crooked Leviathan. Under the latter we are to understand Babylon (see the Exposition). And in another place (Isa_25:10 sqq.) Moab appears for a particular reason (see the Exposition) as the representative of all the nations hostile to the theocracy. The same criticism, which would make the Almighty get out of the way wherever He makes His appearance within our sphere, has endeavored in various ways to refer this prophecy to particular situations in the world’s history. But here one interpreter is arrayed against the other, and one testimony destroys the other. After Bertholdt (Einleit., p. 1390), Knobel is of the opinion (shared by Umbreit) that the prophecy points to the time when Jerusalem, which had been captured by the Chaldeans, was completely destroyed by Nebuzaradan (2Ki_25:8 sqq.). Eichhorn (Hebr. Proph. III., p. 206 sqq.) refers the piece to the destruction of the empire of the Chaldeans, and assumes as its anthor a Hebrew dwelling in the ruined and desolate Palestine. Rosenmueller (Scholia 1 Ed.), Gesenius and Maurer represent the piece as composed during the exile, at a time when the fall of Babylon was imminent (Isa_24:16 sqq.; Isa_26:20 sq.; Isa_27:1). Boettcher (de inf. § 435, 440) attributes the discourse to a merchant who, resident in the neighborhood of the country of the Moabites, journeyed on business between Assyria and Egypt, and appended his poem on the fall of Babylon (composed in the year 538) to that of another merchant on the fall of Tyre (23). Ewald refers the piece to the time “when Cambyses was preparing his Egyptian campaign.” These are the more important of the views of those who deny that Isaiah wrote these chapters. He who wishes to learn the other opinions may consult Rosenmueller, Gesenius, Hitzig and Knobel.
There are four points which seem to me to prove to a demonstration that the Prophet has not in view ordinary events of history. First, the destruction of the globe of the earth announced, Isa_24:18-20. For, when it is affirmed of the earth with a repetition of the word ארץ five times, that its foundations are shaken, that it is utterly broken, clean dissolved, moved exceedingly, and reels to and fro like a drunkard or a hammock, more is certainly intended thereby than a political revolution, or an occurrence in nature accompanying such a revolution. It is the shaking of the earth in a superlative sense—a shaking from which it will not rise again (Isa_24:20 b). Secondly, it is declared (Isa_24:21 sqq.) that the judgment will extend to the stars and the angelic powers, and that sun and moon will cease to rule the day and the night (Gen_1:16), because Jehovah alone will be the source of light and glory (comp. the Exposition). Thirdly, Isa_25:6-8, we have set before us in prospect the gathering together of all nations on Mount Zion, the removal of the covering from their eyes, the abolition of death and of every evil. This is no picture of earthly happiness. It points beyond the bounds of this world and of this dispensation.
Fourthly, the resurrection of the dead is foretold (Isa_26:19 sqq.) together with the last judgment which brings to light all hidden guilt. Every restriction of this prophecy to a mere wish involves a contradiction. For that this place really contains the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is acknowledged by all. But no one will affirm, much less be able to prove, that this resurrection was expected in the time of the exile, and in order to the re-peopling of Palestine; or, if the latter is the case, then the resurrection of the dead is not the subject of discourse. For it would be an unheard-of assertion to affirm that the Israelites expected that their return to Palestine and the resurrection should take place at the same time. And how arbitrary is the exegesis which limits “the inhabitant of the earth” Isa_24:21, to any particular people, and puts into the latter part of the verse the thought: the earth will restore the blood of those who were slain in a certain time! Passages can indeed be quoted in which we read of innocent blood that had been shed not penetrating into the earth (Job_16:18; Eze_24:7 sq). But the bringing forth again of all shed blood, and the coming forth of all that had been killed out of the earth belong naturally to eschatology. For these are preliminaries to the realization of the final judgment. If the view which refers this prophecy to events in the world’s history were correct, must there not be some mention of Nebuchadnezzar and of the Chaldeans, in order to justify the interpretation of Bertholdt, Umbreit and Knobel? When we reflect what a mighty impression this worldly power made upon Jeremiah, and how, after the battle of Carchemish, he never comes forth as a Prophet without mentioning Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, it is inconceivable how a Hebrew who was among those who suffered the crushing stroke from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, could speak only of Egypt and Assyria, and at most, allusively and covertly, of the Chaldeans (Isa_27:1) as enemies of the theocracy. But if our piece refers to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, why is there no mention of the Persians? And the same objection avails against all other interpretations which apply the passage to events in the history of the world. Against all of them the want of any specification of such events may be justly objected. In regard to the style, and to the range of thought that characterize this piece, the exact and minute investigation which lies at the basis of our exposition will show that the language is altogether that of Isaiah. If there are found in it manifold points of connection with other pieces which criticism has pronounced spurious, we have simply to say: in view of the large amount of words and expressions that we find here, undoubtedly germane to the authentic style of Isaiah, we are entitled to draw the reverse conclusion, and to affirm that those pieces must be genuine, because they resemble so much our prophecy which undoubtedly has proceeded from Isaiah. The accumulation of paronomasias, which are pronounced devoid of taste, has been made a cause of reproach to our piece. But it must be shown that these paronomasias are more tasteless than other such forms of speech, which we meet with in the acknowledged compositions of Isaiah, and that they are of a different kind. So long as this is not done, I venture to affirm that this ingenious facility in the management of language best corresponds to the eminent intellectual gifts of Isaiah, which we know sufficiently from other sources. Persons of such mental power, and possessing such a command of language, are at all times rare. According to our modern criticism there must have been dozens of them among the Israelites at the time of the captivity. But I fear that such a judgment is only possible when the critics, because they cannot, or will not perceive the divinely great in these works of genius, so degrade them by the aid of their intolerably petty and vulgar standard, that, in sooth, any bungler might have composed them. Further, against regarding Isaiah as the author of these chapters it has been objected that they contain many peculiar thoughts and expressions which occur only here. But what does this objection amount to? Do these thoughts and expressions contradict Isaiah’s manner of thinking and speaking? No one has yet been able to prove this. But if this is not the case, the circumstance that they occur only here is of no significance whatever. For among the chapters of Isaiah that are acknowledged genuine, there is not a single one which does not contain thoughts and words that are new and peculiar to it alone. This is not surprising in a mind so inexhaustibly fertile as that of Isaiah. The objection drawn from the occurrence of ideas that are said to belong to a later age, might be of more weight. To this class of ideas is referred the curse of the law (Isa_24:6). But apart from Deuteronomy 28-30 (comp. espec. Isa_29:19), that the curse should fall on transgressors of the law is so obvious an idea, that it is inconceivable that it should be regarded as the sign of a later time. That it happens not to occur in writings universally admitted to precede the age of Isaiah may appear strange, but is no proof of the later origin of these chapters. That gods are spoken of as protecting powers of kingdoms, Isa_24:21, is just as little established as that the sun and moon, Isa_24:23, are named as objects of idolatrous homage (comp. our Exposition). The cessation of death (Isa_25:8), and the resurrection of the dead (Isa_26:19) are closely connected. Both are confessedly ideas which could not have entered clearly into the consciousness of the Israelites till they had attained an advanced stage of religious culture. But that the Israelites first received this doctrine when, in exile, from Parseeism is, as Klostermann says, “an unfounded, unproved, modern tradition.” Von Hofmann is certainly right when he sees in the first, and fundamental promise [Gen_3:15] the basis of the hope that “finally everything will have an end that has come into the world through the enemy of God—sin and death.” This does not prevent this passage from belonging to the oldest documents of the awakening consciousness of this hope of faith. As we cannot see in this a proof of the composition of this piece during the exile, so it appears to us equally improbable that this event, which belongs to the final history of the world, could escape the eye of an Isaiah.
In regard to the time of composition, it is very difficult to say anything definite. More particular indications fixing the date are entirely wanting. The Prophet, as it were, soars high above his time, and as if cut loose from it, lives wholly in the future. Nevertheless, he beholds the theocracy in conflict with Assyria and Egypt; and even Babylon appears, although but dimly disclosed, among these foes. If we add that these chapters follow immediately the prophecies against the heathen nations, and appear as the winding up of the same, the supposition very readily suggests itself that they were composed in the time of Hezekiah, and as Delitzsch says, as finale to chapters 13–23. The manifold points of connection with later pieces by Isaiah, which we will particularly point out in the course of our exposition, favor this view.
The structure of the piece indicates no little art. The number two lies at its basis. There are twice two chapters, of which the first and third have the final judgment of the world for their subject, the second and fourth the deliverance of Israel. Each of these four chapters again consists of two parts.
We make out the following plan of the piece:
1) The beginning of distress; the destruction of the surface of the earth (Isa_24:1-12).
2) The destruction of the globe of the earth (Isa_24:13-23).
3) Israel’s song of praise for the deliverance experienced (Isa_25:1-5).
4) Zion as the place of the feast given to all nations in contrast to Moab that perishes ingloriously (Isa_25:6-12).
5) The judgment as the realization of the idea of justice (Isa_26:1-10).
6) The resurrection of the dead, and the concluding act in the judgment of the world (Isa_26:11-21).
7) The downfall of the worldly powers and Zion’s joyful hope (Isa_27:1-9).
8) The fall of the city of the world and Israel’s glad restoration (Isa_27:10-13).
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1. THE BEGINNING OF DISTRESS: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH
Isa_24:1-12
1 Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty,
And maketh it waste,
And 1turneth it upside down,
And scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2 And it shall be,
As with the people, so with the 2priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress;
As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3 The 3land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled:
For the Lord hath spoken this word.
4 The earth mourneth, and fadeth away,
The world languisheth and fadeth away,
The 4haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,
And they that dwell therein are desolate:
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
And few men left.
7 The new wine mourneth,
The vine languisheth,
All the merry-hearted do sigh.
8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,
The noise of them that rejoice endeth,
The joy of the harp ceaseth.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10 The city of 5confusion is broken down:
Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
11 There is a crying for wine in the streets;
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city is left desolation,
And the gate is smitten with destruction.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_24:1. בּוֹקֵק (comp. Isa_19:3 and Isa_24:3; Hos_10:1; Nah. 11:3; Jer_19:7; Jer_51:2), part. from בָּקַק to pour out, to empty, forms with בּולקה (devastare) a paronomasia, as also Nah_2:11, where only the word occurs again. עִוָּה pervertere, conturbare (comp. Isa_21:3 Niph., Piel besides only Lam_3:9) is here applied to the surface of the earth in the sense of throwing confusedly together everything found upon it.
Isa_24:2. On כְּ—כְּ = as, so, ὥς—ὥς comp. Ewald, § 360. The abnormal employment of the article in כַּגְּבִרְתָּהּ is occasioned by the endeavor to produce an assonance with נשֶׁה ּכַּשִפְחָה is creditor, and of like meaning with מַלְוֶה, but the idea of usury seems to be involved in נשֶׁה.
Isa_24:3. תִּבּוֹז ,תִּבּוֹק instead of תּבַּז ,תִּבַּק may be regarded as forms borrowed from the related עו—stems, and are here chosen for the sake of conformity with the infinitive forms הִבּוֹז ,הִבּוֹק.
Isa_24:4. The half pause, which is indicated by the punctuation אֻמְלָלוּ, has the force of a dash in our language. The application to personal beings of this predicate, that had been used previously of lifeless things, is thereby emphasized.
Isa_24:6. הרר in Kal only here, Niph. Isa_41:11; Isa_45:24.
Isa_24:7. אָנַח (current only in Niph.) is found only here in Isaiah, probably borrowed from Joe_1:18.
Isa_24:10. מִבּוֹא as Isa_23:1.
Isa_24:12. שְׁאִיָּה is ἅπ. λεγ. and stands in apposition to the object, or, as the word is passive, in apposition to the subject of יֻכַּת, to express what should be made of the object or subject. Translate: The gate is smitten to ruins. Comp. Isa_6:11; Isa_37:26. On the form יֻכַּת (Hoph. from כָּתַת contundere, Isa_11:4; Isa_30:14) comp. Olshausen, Gram., § 261.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet transports himself in spirit to the end of all things. He describes the destruction of the world. He sees, however, that this destruction will be gradually accomplished. He here depicts the first scene: the destruction of all that exists on the surface of the earth. This destruction bears the closest resemblance to such desolations of countries and cities as even now occur in consequence of wars. Hence the Prophet borrows the colors for this his first picture of the destruction of the world from such occurrences in actual history. Jehovah empties, devastates, depopulates the surface of the earth (Isa_24:1), and the inhabitants are without distinction of person swept away (Isa_24:2); and this work of emptying and devastation is thoroughly accomplished (Isa_24:3). In consequence, inanimate nature appears mourning, and every height and glory of creation has vanished (Isa_24:4); and this too is quite natural, for the earth has been defiled by the sins of men (Isa_24:5). Therefore the curse has, as it were, devoured the earth; therefore men, with the exception of a small remnant, are destroyed from the earth (Isa_24:6). Therefore the precious productions of the earth that gladden the heart of man have vanished, and with them all joy on earth (Isa_24:7-9). The head of the earth, the great city of the world is a chaos of ruins, its houses no man enters any more (Isa_24:10). In the streets nothing is heard save lamentations over the loss of what gladdens the heart of man. All joy has departed (Isa_24:11). Nothing remains in the city but solitude and desolation. The gates are broken to pieces (Isa_24:12).
2. Behold the LORD … do languish.
Isa_24:1-4. הִנֵּה, with a participle following, frequently introduces in Isaiah the prophetic discourse Isa_3:1; Isa_8:7; Isa_10:33; Isa_13:9; Isa_13:17; Isa_17:1; Isa_22:17 et saepe. In general, this usage occurs in all the Prophets. But it is peculiar to Isaiah, quite abruptly and without any introductory formula to begin the prophetic discourse with הִנֵּה. The description of the destruction of the earth begins with its surface (comp. Isa_24:18 b sqq.). To it the inhabitants also belong, for they can exist only on the surface. If now all things on the surface of the earth are thrown confusedly together, the inhabitants, too, are naturally scattered. הֵפִיץ, an expression which seems to be taken from the threatening words of Deuteronomy (comp. Deu_4:27; Deu_28:64; Deu_30:3) is found besides in Isaiah only Isa_28:25; Isa_41:16. The Lord knows no respect of persons. When the great forces of nature by God’s command assail our race, then all are alike affected. In a desolation wrought by human hands the case can be different. Then the more distinguished persons are often treated otherwise than the poor, and are reserved for a better fate (comp. 1Sa_15:8 sq.; 2Ki_25:27 sqq.). When “people” and “priest” are put in contrast, and not “people” and “prince” or “king,” the reason is to be sought in the fact that the priests in the theocracy form properly the nobility. The place, moreover, is a quotation from Hos_4:9. Any citizen may become a king; but he only can be a priest who is of the priestly race. Comp. Leviticus 21; Eze_44:15 sqq.; JosephusCon. Ap. I, 7; Mishna Kiddushin iv. 4. [The rightful King of Israel must according to the divine appointment be of the house of David.—D. M.] The sentence Isa_24:2 contains six comparisons. As in the first half of the verse, the second and third comparisons are not specifically distinct from one another, so is it too in the second half of the verse. With a repetition of assonant sounds, which like waves or shocks succeed one another, the Prophet paints the emptying and plundering of the earth. We have already remarked that he depicts the devastation of the surface of the earth in colors which are borrowed from the devastation of a single country by an earthly enemy. For that the subject treated of is the devastation of the earth, and not merely of the land of Palestine, appears from the whole scope of chapters 24–27, which are intended to depict the judgment of the world; and this point comes ever more clearly to light in the course of the prophecy. It might be asked: if ארץ is the earth, who then are the plunderers? But this is an idle question. For the Prophet sees in spirit an occurrence which appears to him at the first sight quite like the devastation of a country in war by a hostile military force. He sees great confusion, men shouting and fleeing, houses burning and falling down, smoke rising to heaven, etc. He sees no particular country; he sees no definite persons in the plundering enemies. It is a question if he really perceives plundering persons. For the whole representation is at first a comparatively indistinct picture which gradually attains greater clearness and definiteness. On the expression “For the Lord hath spoken,” which occurs more frequently in Isaiah than in the other Prophets, comp. on Isa_1:2. The addition “this word“ is found only here. It is evidently used in order to continue in the second half of the verse the play with words by means of lingual and labial sounds. The effect of the devastation is that the land appears mourning and exhausted (Isa_24:4). Here too the Prophet heaps together assonant words. אָבַל to mourn, is used by Isa_3:26; Isa_19:8; Isa_33:9. The description in Joe_1:9 sq. seems to have been here before his mind. נָבַל, to hall off, from being withered, is used by Isa_1:30; Isa_28:1; Isa_28:4; Isa_34:4; Isa_64:5. תֵּבֵל, the earth (either as terra fertilis, or as οἰκουμένη, never as designation of a single country) is a current word with Isaiah. Comp. on Isa_13:11. עם הארץ, an expression which Isaiah does not elsewhere employ, seems to denote here the inhabitants of the earth in general. This is the rather possible, as our place is the first and oldest in which the expression occurs. It has not here the specific sense of “common people,” plebs, in opposition to people of rank, in which sense it afterwards occurs. Comp. my remarks on Jer_1:18. מָרוֹם is the abstract for the concrete, the height for the high and eminent. Not only inanimate creation, man too presents the sad look of decay. What among men blooms and flourishes, as well as the fresh green vegetation, becomes withered and languid.
3. The earth also is defiled——covenant.
Isa_24:5. This verse must be regarded as related to what precedes as the statement of the cause. For here the sins of men are pointed out. But sin has punishment for its necessary consequence. We must say, therefore, that there lies a causal power in the wav with which this verse begins; as is not unfrequently the case. That the land is defiled through blood-guiltiness and other sin is declared Num_35:33, which place Isaiah has probably in his eye, (comp. Jer_3:1-2; Jer_3:9). תַּחַת is to be taken in the local sense. The earth lies as a polluted thing under the feet of its inhabitants. How could such polluted ground be suffered to exist? It is an object of wrath, it must be destroyed. The second half of the verse tells by what the earth has been defiled; men have transgressed the divine laws, have wantonly slighted the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant (Isa_30:8; Isa_55:3). תּוֹרוֹת only here in Isaiah, is frequent in the Pentateuch: Gen_26:5; Exo_16:28; Exo_18:16; Exo_18:20 et saepe.חָלַף of the law only here. Mark the assonance with חנף. The radical meaning of the word is “to change,” comp. on Isa_2:18; Isa_8:8; Isa_9:9; Isa_21:1. Not only to the people of Israel has God given a law, not merely with this people has God made a covenant; the Noachic covenant is for all men; yea, in a certain sense for all creatures on the earth (Gen_9:1 sqq., and Isa_24:9 sqq.). God has given witness of Himself to all men (Act_14:17), and made it possible for all to perceive His invisible power and godhead (Rom_1:20). The Prophet indicates here the deep moral reason why our earth cannot forever continue in its present material form.
4. Therefore hath the curse—drink it.
Isa_24:6-9. On the statement of the cause, Isa_24:5, follows anew with “therefore” the declaration of the consequences, so that Isa_24:5 serves as a basis both for what precedes and what follows. The same condition is described in the main by Isa_24:6-12 as by Isa_24:1-4. Only in so far are Isa_24:6-12 of a different import, as they prominently set forth not only the general, but the special experiences of men through the withdrawal of the noblest fruit, wine, and as they from verse 10 direct the look to the great centre of the earth, the city of the world. Jeremiah has our place in general before his eyes (Isa_33:10). The curse is conceived as the devouring fire of the divine wrath (Exo_24:17; Deu_4:24; Deu_9:3; Isa_10:16 sq.; Isa_29:6; Isa_30:27-30; Isa_33:14). The expression אלה אכלה (mark the assonance with Isa_24:4) occurs only here. אָשַׁם (in Isaiah only here) denotes in this connection, not “to be guilty, to contract guilt,” but “to suffer the punishment of guilt.” Comp. Hos_10:2; Hos_14:1 et saepe. The effect of that burning wrath which devours the guilty, extends first to men. These are parched by it, their sap is dried up (Psa_32:4). But where the sap of life is dried up, death ensues, and, in consequence, but few people remain on the earth. This surviving of a small remnant is confessedly a very significant point in Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa_4:3; Isa_6:13; Isa_10:19 sqq.; Isa_11:11; Isa_11:16; Isa_17:6). Isaiah uses the word אֱנֹושׁ more frequently than the other Prophets. He employs it six times beside the case before us; Isa_8:1; Isa_13:7-12; Isa_33:8; Isa_51:7; Isa_56:2. Of the other Prophets only Jeremiah uses it, and but once. In the book of Job the word occurs 19 times. מִזְעָר is found only in Isa_10:25; Isa_29:17; Isa_16:14. זְעֵיּר also is found only Isa_28:10; Isa_28:13, and Job_36:2. שִׂמְחֵי לֵב occurs only here. מָשׂוֹשׂ occurs 17 times in the Old Testament; of these 10 times in Isa_8:6; Isa_24:8 (bis), Isa_24:11; Isa_32:13-14; Isa_60:15; Isa_62:5; Isa_65:18; Isa_66:10. Isa_24:8תֹּף the tambourine Isa_5:12; Isa_30:32. שָׁאוֹן eight times in Isaiah (Isa_5:14; Isa_13:4; Isa_17:12 (bis), 13; Isa_24:8; Isa_25:5; Isa_66:6); in the whole Old Testament 17 times. עַלִּיז, save in two dependent places in Zeph. (Isa_2:15; Isa_3:11), only in Isa_13:3; Isa_22:2; Isa_23:7; Isa_32:13 comp. Isa_5:14. The only Prophet save Ezekiel (Isa_26:13) that uses כִּנּוֹר is Isaiah; he has it five times: Isa_5:12; Isa_16:11; Isa_23:16; Isa_24:8; Isa_30:32. In בַּשִׁיר observe the בְּ marking accompaniment. שִיר is used five times by Isaiah (Isa_23:16; Isa_26:1; Isa_30:29; Isa_42:10). No other Prophet employs the word so frequently. מָרַר, to be bitter, in Isaiah in different forms three times: Isa_22:4; Isa_24:9; Isa_38:17. שֵׁכָר intoxicating drink; with the exception of Micah who uses the word once (Mic_2:11), it is used by no other Prophet save Isa_5:11; Isa_5:22; Isa_24:9; Isa_28:7 ter;Isa_56:12. Isaiah, after having foretold, Isa_24:7, the destruction of the vine, the noblest fruit of the ground, depicts its consequence, the cessation of joy which wine produces (Psa_104:15).
5. The city of confusion——destruction.
Isa_24:10-12. In these three verses the Prophet proceeds to describe the destiny of the great worldly city, the head and centre of the kingdom of the world. It is not surprising that he gives particular prominence to it, when we consider how largely Babylon figures in prophecy (comp. my remarks on Jeremiah 50, 51 Introduction). I would not, however, be understood as affirming that our Prophet had Babylon specifically before his mind. Isaiah intends just the city of the world κατ̓ ἐξοχήν, whatever name it might bear. I do not think that קריה is to be taken collectively as Isa_25:3. (Arndtde Jes. xxiv–xxvii. Commentatio, 1826, p. 10, Drechsler,etc.). For it is unnecessary to emphasize the cities beside the level country. No one looks for their specification; for every one includes the cities in all that has been previously said of the ארץ or תבל. But an emphatic mention of the city of the world, the proper focus of worldliness, corresponds to its importance. The place Isa_25:3 cannot be compared; for there the context and construction (plural verbs) are decidedly in favor of our taking the word as a collective. That under this city we do not understand Jerusalem, as most do, is self-evident from our view of this passage. The city of the world is called the city of emptiness, [not confusion] because worldliness has in it its seat and centre, and worldliness is essentially תֹּהוּi.e., vanitas, inanity, emptiness, תֹּהוּ is used in this sense (Isa_29:21; Isa_34:11; Isa_40:17; Isa_40:23; Isa_41:29; Isa_44:9; Isa_45:18-19; Isa_49:4; Isa_59:4; 1Sa_12:21). The Prophet declares that the inward chaos would also be outwardly manifested. Every thing here is in accordance with the style of Isaiah. שָׁבַר is used very often by Isaiah (Isa_8:16; Isa_14:5; Isaiah 17:25, 29; Isa_27:11; Isa_28:13; Isa_30:14, et saepe). קּרְיָה is found sixteen times in the prophets; of these, ten times in Isaiah (Isa_1:21; Isa_1:26; Isa_22:2; Isa_24:10; Isa_25:2-3; Isa_26:5; Isa_29:1; Isa_32:13; Isa_33:20). תּהוּ occurs twenty times in the O. T.; of these, eleven times in Isaiah; one of the places is admitted to be genuine (Isa_29:21); the other places where it occurs are assailed by the critics. We might wonder how one could speak of closed houses in a destroyed city. We may not understand this, with Drechsler, of some houses that remained uninjured. It was rather the falling of the houses that rendered them incapable of being entered into. In the street too (Isa_24:11) the lamentation at the loss of wine and the departure of all joy is repeated (comp. Isa_16:7-10). עָרַב occurs only twice in the O. T.; viz.:Jdg_19:9 and here. Its meaning is nigrum esse, obscurari, occidere. When all joy and life have fled from the city, nothing remains in it but desolation (Isa_24:12). If I am to state what future events will correspond to this prophecy of the first act of the judgment of the world, it appears to me that the description of the Prophet, as it refers solely to occurrences which have for their theatre the surface of the earth, corresponds to what our Lord in His discourse on the last things says of the signs of His coming, and of the beginning of sorrows (Mat_24:6-8; Mar_13:7-8; Luk_21:9 sqq.). And the beginning of sorrows corresponds again to what the Revelation of John represents under the image of seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials (chap. 6 sqq.).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Isa_24:2. “When general judgments take place, no distinction is observed between man and wife, master and servant, mistress and maid, learned and unlearned, noble and plebeian, clergy and laity; therefore let no one rely on any external prerogative or superiority, but let every one without distinction repent and forsake sin.”—Cramer. Though this is right, yet we must, on the other hand, remember that the Lord declares in reference to the same great event, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Mat_24:10 sq.). There is no contradiction in these two statements. Both are true: outward relations will make no difference; there shall be no respect of persons. But the state of the heart will make a difference. According to the inward character there will, in the case of those whose external position in the world is perfectly alike, be some who enter life, others whose doom is death.
2. Isa_24:5 sq. “The earth is burdened with sins, and is therefore deprived of every blessing. The earth must suffer for our guilt, when we have as it were spoilt it, and it must be subject to vanity for our sakes (Rom_8:20). What wonder is it that it should show itself ungrateful toward us?”—Cramer.
[3. Isa_24:13 sq. “Observe the small number of this remnant; here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family, when the old world was drowned), who when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their head with joy. Luk_21:26-28.” Henry.—D. M.].
4. Isa_24:17-20. Our earth is a volcanic body. Mighty volcanic forces were active at its formation. That these are still in commotion in the interior of the earth is proved by the many active volcanoes scattered over the whole earth, and by the perpetual volcanic convulsions which we call earthquakes. These have hitherto been confined to particular localities. But who can guarantee that a concentration and simultaneous eruption of those volcanic forces, that is, a universal earthquake, shall not hereafter occur? The Lord makes express mention of earthquakes among the signs which shall precede His second coming (Mat_24:7; Mar_13:8; Luk_21:11). And in 2Pe_3:5 sqq. the future destruction of the earth by fire is set over against the destruction of the old world by water. Isaiah in our place announces a catastrophe whose characteristic features will be that, 1) there will be no escape from it; 2) destructive forces will assail from above and below; 3) the earth will be rent asunder; 4) it will reel and totter; 5) it will suffer so heavy a fall that it will not rise again (Isa_24:20 b). Is there not here a prophecy of the destruction of the earth by volcanic forces? And how suddenly can they break loose! The ministers of the word have every reason to compare this extreme exposedness of our earth to fire, and the possibility of its unexpectedly sudden collapse with the above-cited warnings of the word of God, and to attach thereto the admonition which is added in 2Pe_3:11.
5. Isa_24:21. The earth is a part of our planetary system. It is not what it appears to the optical perception to be, a central body around which worlds of a different nature revolve, but it, together with many similar bodies, revolves round a common centre. The earth according to that view of the account of the creation in Genesis 1, which appears to me the true one, has arisen with all the bodies of our Solar system out of one primary matter, originally united, common to them all. If our Solar System is a well-ordered, complete organism, it must rest on the basis of a not merely formal, but also material unity; i.e., the separate bodies must move, not only according to a principle of order which governs all, but they must also as to their substance be essentially like. And as they arose simultaneously, so must they perish simultaneously. It is inconceivable that our earth alone should disappear from the organism of the Solar System, or pass over to a higher material condition. Its absence, or ceasing to exist in its previous form and substance, would necessarily draw after it the ruin of the whole system. Hence the Scripture speaks every where of a passing away and renovation of the heaven and the earth (Psa_102:26; Isa_51:6; Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22; Mat_5:18; Mat_24:29; Mat_24:35; 2Pe_3:7; 2Pe_3:10; 2Pe_3:13; Heb_12:26; Rev_20:11; Rev_21:1). The heaven that shall pass away with a great noise, whose powers shall be shaken, whose stars shall fall, is the planetary heaven. The same lot will happen to the companions of our earth, to the other planets, and to the centre, the sun, and to all other co-ordinate and subordinate stellar bodies, which will befall the earth itself. This is the substance of the view which serves as a basis for our place. But personal beings are not thereby by any means excluded from the צבא מרום. The parallel expression מלכי האדמה, and the use in other places of the related expression צבא השׁמים lead us rather to suppose personal beings to be included. But I believe that a distinction must be made here. As the heavenly bodies which will pass away simultaneously with the earth, can only be those which arose together with it, and which stand in organic connection with it, so also the angelic powers, which are judged simultaneously with us men, can be only those which stand in connection with the heavenly bodies of our Solar System, i.e., with the earthly material world. There are heavenly bodies of glorious pneumatic substance. If personal beings stand in connection with them, they must also be pure, glorious, resplendent beings. These will not be judged. They are the holy angels, who come with the Lord (Mat_25:31). But it is quite conceivable that all the bodies of our Solar System are till the judgment like our earth suffered to be the theatre of the spirits of darkness.
6. Isa_24:21-23, It seems to me that the Prophet has here sketched the chief matters pertaining to eschatology. For the passing away of heaven and earth, the binding of Satan (Rev_20:1-3), the loosing of Satan again (Rev_20:7), and finally the reign of God alone, which will make sun and moon unnecessary (Rev_21:23)—are not these the boundary-stones of the chief epochs of the history of the end of the world?
7. Isa_25:6. [“The Lord of hosts makes this feast. The provision is very rich, and every thing is of the best. It is a feast, which supposes abundance and variety; it is a continual feast to believers: it is their fault if it be not. It is a feast of fat things and full of marrow; so relishing, so nourishing are the comforts of the Gospel to all those that feast upon them and digest them. The returning prodigal was entertained with the fatted calf; and David has that pleasure in communion with God, with which his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness. It is a feast of wines on the lees; the strongest-bodied wines, that have been long kept upon the lees, and then are well refined from them, so that they are clear and fine. There is that in the Gospel which, like fine wine, soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning for it, that they may drink and forget their misery (for that is the proper use of wine; it is a cordial for those that need it, Pro_31:6-7) may be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven, and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine.” Henry.—D. M.]
8. Isa_25:9. “In the Old Testament the vail and covering were before men’s eyes, partly because they waited for the light that was to appear, partly because they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luk_1:79). The fulfilment of this prediction has in Christ already begun, and will at last be perfectly fulfilled in the Church triumphant where all ignorance and sorrow shall be dispelled (1Co_13:12).” Cramer.
9. Isa_25:8. “God here represents Himself as a mother, who presses to her bosom her sorrowful son, comforts him and wipes away his tears (Isa_66:13). The righteous are to believe and appropriate this promise, that every one may learn to speak with Paul in the time of trial: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, Rom_8:18.” Cramer.
10. Isa_25:10. “This is now the hope and consolation of the church that the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain, that is, that He will be gracious, and let His power, help and grace be there seen and felt. But the unbelieving Moabites, i.e., the Jews, with all others who will not receive the gospel, shall be threshed to pieces as straw in the mire; these the Lord’s hand will not rescue, as it helps those who wait on Him, but it shall press them down so that they will never rise, according to the saying, Mar_16:16.” Veit Dietrich.
11. Isaiah 25 Three thoughts contained in this chapter we should hold fast: 1) When we see the world triumph over every thing which belongs to the Lord and His kingdom, when our hearts are anxious about the preservation in the world of the Church of Christ, which is sore oppressed, let this word of the Prophet comfort our hearts. The world-city which contains all that is of the world, sinks into the dust, and the church of Christ goes from her chains and bands into the state of freedom and glory. We have often seen that it is the Lord’s way to let every thing come to maturity. When it is once ripe, He comes suddenly with His sentence. Let us comfort ourselves therewith, for thus will it happen with the world and its dominion over the faithful followers of Christ. When it is ripe, suddenly it will come to an end. 2) No one who has a heart for the welfare of the nations can see without the deepest pain how all hearts are now seduced and befooled, and all eyes closed and covered. The simplest truths are no longer acknowledged, but the more perverse, brutal and mean views and doctrines are, the more greedily are they laid hold of. We cannot avert this. But our comfort is that even this seduction of the nations will reach its climax. Then men will come to themselves. The vail and covering will fall off, and the Gospel will shine with new light before the nations. Therewith let us comfort ourselves. 3) Till this happens, the church is sorrowful. But she shall be full of joy. The promise is given to her that she shall be fully satisfied with the good things of the house of the Lord. A life is promised to her which neither death nor any pain can affect, as she has rest from all enemies. The word of the Lord shall be fulfilled in her: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The Church that has such a promise may wait in patient quietness for its accomplishment, and praise the Lord in affliction, till it pleases Him to glorify her before all nations.” Weber, The Prophet Isaiah. 1875.
12. Isa_26:1. “The Christian church is a city of God. God has built it, and He is the right Master-builder. It is strong: 1) on account of the Builder; 2) on account of the foundation and corner-stone, which is Christ; 3) on account of the bond wherewith the living stones are bound together, which is the unity of the faith.” Cramer. [The security and happiness of true believers, both on earth and in heaven, is represented in Scripture under the image of their dwelling in a city in which they can bid defiance to all their enemies. We dwell in such a city even now, Psa_46:4-5. We look for such a city, Heb_11:10; Heb_11:16; Revelation 21—D. M.]
13. Isa_26:2. [These words may be taken as a description of the people whom God owns, who are fit to be accounted members of the church of the living God on earth, and who will not be excluded from the celestial city. Instead of complaining that only the righteous and the faithful will be admitted into the heavenly city, it should rather give us joy to think that there will be no sin there, that none but the just and true will there be found. This has been a delightful subject of reflection to God’s saints. The last words written by Henry Martyn were: “Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth; none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts—none of their corruptions which add to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more.”—D. M.]
14. Isa_26:4. “The fourth privilege of the church is trust in God the Rock of Ages, i.e., in Christ, who not only here, but also Matthew 16; 1 Corinthians 10; 1 Peter 2, is called a rock in a peculiar manner, because no other foundation of salvation and of the church can be laid except this rock, which is here called the rock of ages on account of the eternity of His being, merit and office. Hence a refutation can be drawn of the papistical fable which makes Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, to be the rock on which the church is built.” Foerster. [“Whatever we trust to the world for, it will be but for a moment. All we expect from it is confined within the limits of time; but what we trust in God for will last as long as we shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah, in Him who was, and is, and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon; and the house built on that rock will stand in a storm.” Henry.”—D. M.]
15. Isa_26:5. “It is very common with the prophets, when they prophesy of the kingdom of Christ to make reference to the proud and to the needy, and to represent the latter as exalted and the former as brought low. This truth is directed properly against the self-righteous. For Christ and His righteousness will not endure spiritual pride and presumption; but the souls that are poor, that hunger and thirst for grace, that know their need, these Christ graciously receives.” Cramer.
16. Isa_26:6. “It vexes the proud all the more that they will be overcome by those who are poor and of no consequence. For example, Goliath was annoyed that a boy should come against him with a staff (1 Sam. 13:43) Cramer.
17. Isa_26:8-10. That the justice of God must absolutely manifest itself that the majesty of the Lord may be seen, and that the wicked may learn righteousness, must even from a new Testament view-point be admitted. But the New Testament disputes the existence of any one who is righteous when confronted by the law, and who is not deserving of punishment. [But that there is none righteous, no not one, is taught most emphatically in the Old Testament also.—D. M.]. But it (the New Testament) while it shuts up all, Jews and Gentiles, without exception, under sin (Gal_3:22; Rom_3:9; Rom_11:32), sets forth a scheme of mediation, which, while it renders full satisfaction to justice, at the same time offers to all the possibility of deliverance. This mediation is through the Cross of Christ. It is only when this mediation has not been accepted that punitive justice has free course. It should not surprise us that even the Evangelist of the Old Covenant, who wrote chap. 53, did not possess perfect knowledge of this mediation. Let us remember John the Baptist (Mat_3:7; Mat_11:11) and the disciples of the Lord (Luk_9:54). [Let us not forget that Isaiah was a true Prophet, and spoke as he was moved by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul did not find fault with the most terrible denunciations of judgment contained in the Old Testament, or affect a superiority over the men who uttered them. On the contrary, he quotes them as words which could not be suffered to fall, but which must be fulfilled in all their dreadful import. See e.g. Rom_11:9-10.—D. M.].
18. Isa_26:12. “It is a characteristic of true, sincere Christians, that they give God the glory and not themselves, and freely confess that they have nothing of themselves, but everything from God (1Co_4:7; Php_2:13; Heb_12:2).” Cramer.
19. Isa_26:16. The old theologians have many comforting and edifying thoughts connected with this place: “A magnet has the power to raise and attract to itself iron. Our heart is heavy as iron. But the hand of God is as a magnet. When that hand visits us with affliction, it lifts us up, and draws us to itself.” “Distress teaches us to pray, and prayer again dispels all distress. One wedge displaces the other.” “Ex gravibus curis impellimur ad pia vota.” “Ex monte myrrhae procedimus ad collem thuris (Cant. 9:6). In amaritudine crucis exsurgit odor devotae precationis (Psa_86:6 sq.).” “Ubi nulla crux et tentatio, ibi nulla vera oratio. Oratio sine mails est tanquam avis sine alis. Optimus orandi magister necessitas. Τὰ παθήματα μαθήματα. Quae nocent, docent. Ubi tentatio, ibi oratio. Mala, quae hic nos premunt, ad Deum ire compellunt. Qui nescit orare, ingrediatur mare.” “When the string is most tightly drawn, it sounds best. Cross and temptation are the right prayer-bell. They are the press by which God crushes out the juice of prayer.” Cramer and Foerster.
20. Isa_26:20. As God, when the deluge was about to burst, bade Noah go into his ark as into his chamber, and Himself shut the door on him (Gen_7:6); so does the Lord still act when a storm is approaching; He brings His own into a chamber where they can be safe, either for their temporal preservation and protection against every might (Psa_91:1), or, on the other hand, to give them repose by a peaceful and happy death.” “His anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life (Psa_30:6).” Cramer.
21. Isa_27:1. [“Great and mighty princes [nations] if they oppose the people of God, are in God’s account, as dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with, and call to an account; and therefore the great God will take the doing of it into His own hands.” Henry.—D. M.].
22. Isa_27:2-5. “It seems to the world that God has no concern for His church and Christians, else, we imagine, they would be better off. But certain it is, that it is not the angels but God Himself that will be watcher over this vineyard, and will send it gracious rain.” Veit Dietrich. [“The church is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, Isa_5:4.” “God takes care (1) of the safety of this vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this, as glorying in it, that He is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel; those that bring forth fruit to God are, and shall be always, under His protection. (2) God takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment; and yet it shall not be over watered. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither and come to nothing.” Henry. D. M.].
23. Isa_27:4. “Est aurea promissio, qua praecedentem confirmat. Indignatio non est mihi, fury is not in me. Quomodo enim is nobis irasci potest, qui pro nobis est mortuus? Quanquam igitur appareat, eum irasci, non tamen est verum, quod irascatur. Sic Paulo immittitur angelus Satanae, sed non est ira, nam ipse Christus dicit: sufficit tibi gratia mea. Sic pater filium delinquentem castigat, sed non est ira, quanquam appareat ira esse. Custodia igitur vineae aliquando cogit Deum immittere speciem irae, ne pereat luxurie, sed non est ira. Est insignis textus, which we should inscribe on all tribulations: Non est indignatio mihi, non possum irasci. Quod autem videtur irasci est custodia vineae, ne pereas et fias securus. Luther. “In order to understand fully the doctrine of the wrath of God we must have a clear perception of the antithesis: the long-suffering of God, and the wrath of God, wrath and mercy.” Lange.
24. Isa_27:7-9. “Christ judges His church, i.e., He punishes and afflicts it, but He does this in measure. The sorrow and cross is meted out, and is not, as it appears to us, without measure and infinite. It is so measured that redemption must certainly follow. But why does God let His Christians so suffer? Why does He not lay the cross on the wicked? God answers this question and speaks: the sin of Jacob will thereby cease. That is: God restrains sin by the cross, and subdues the old Adam.” Veit Dietrich.
25. Isa_27:13. [“The application of this verse to a future restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. In itself considered, it appears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to events long past.” J. A. Alexander.—“This prediction was completely and entirely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus.” Barnes.—D. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Isa_24:4-6. Fast-day sermon. Warning against dechristianization of the life of the people. 1) Wherein such dechristianization consists: a, transgression of the commandments that are in force; b, alteration of the commandments which are essential articles of the everlasting covenant, as e.g. removing of all state institutions from the basis of religion. 2) Its consequences: a, Desecration of the land (subjectively, by the spread of a profane, godless sentiment; objectively, by the secularization of relations hitherto held sacred); b, the curse consumes the land, Isa_24:4.
2. On Isa_25:1-5. The Lord, the refuge of the needy. 1) He has the power to help. This we perceive a, from His nature (Lord, God, Wonderful); b, from His deeds (Isa_25:1 b, Isa_25:2). 2) He gives His strength even to the feeble, (Isa_25:4). 3) These are thereby victorious, (Isa_25:5).
3. On Isa_25:6-9. Easter Sermon, by T. Schaeffer (Manch. Gab. u. ein Geist III. p. 269):—“The glorious Easter-blessing of the Risen One: 1) Wherein it consists? 2) who receive it? 3) what are its effects? Christmas Sermon, by Romberg [ibid. 1869, p. 78): Our text represents to us Christmas joy under the image of a festive board. Let us consider, 1) the host; 2) the guests; 3) the gifts.”
4. On Isa_26:1-4. Concerning the church. 1) She is a strong city in which salvation is to be found. 2) The condition of having a portion in her is faith. 3) The blessing which she is instrumental in procuring is peace.
5. Isa_26:19-21. The comfort of the Christian for the present and future. 1) For the present the Christian is to betake himself to his quiet chamber, where he is alone with his Lord and by Him made cheerful and secure. 2) For the future he has the certain hope, a, that the Lord will judge the wicked, b, raise the believer to everlasting life.
6. Isa_27:2-9. How the Lord deals with His vineyard, the church. 1) Fury is not in Him towards it; 2) He protects and purifies it; 3) He gives it strength, peace and growth; 4) He chastens it in measure; 5) He makes the chastisement itself serve to purge it from sins.
Footnotes:
[1]Heb. perverteth the face thereof.
[2]Or, prince.
[3]earth.
[4]Heb. the height of the people.
[5]emptiness.
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 On vv2, 4, 5, 6 as with the people, so with the priest--All alike…
as with the people, so with the priest--All alike shall share the same calamity: no favored class shall escape (compare Eze 7:12-13; Hos 4:9; Rev 6:15).
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6 1. Behold — Here, as always with Isaiah, pointing…
1. Behold — Here, as always with Isaiah, pointing to something future.
The earth — The land of Judah. The prophet plunges into the midst of his subject, seizes its radical idea, and makes it an emblem here of far off events; as it were, those appertaining to the last days. The subject here is judgment.
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 On vv1–6 1. Behold, the Lord maketh … waste] The construction…
1. Behold, the Lord maketh … waste] The construction in Heb. is the fut. instans,—“is about to empty.” The metaphor of the verse (cf. Nah_2:10) is exceedingly expressive, the words being “those which were used for cleaning a dirty dish” (G. A. Smith). Cf. 2Ki_21:13. The language exhibits the fondness for assonance which is a marked peculiarity of the writer’s style, far in excess of anything of the kind in Isaiah.
the earth] Not “the land” (R.V. marg.) of Judah or Palestine. “The prophecy leaps far beyond all particular or national conditions.”
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1–3 briefly announce the theme of the whole discourse, a final and universal judgment on the world.
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 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (1) Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty .…
XXIV.
(1) Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty . . .—The chapters from 24 to 27, inclusive, are to be taken as a continuous prophecy of the overthrow of the great world-powers which wore arrayed against Jehovah and His people. Of these Assyria was then the most prominent within the horizon of the prophet’s view; but Moab appears in Isa_25:10, and the language, with that exception, seems deliberately generalised, as if to paint the general discomfiture in every age (and, above all, in the great age of the future Deliverer) of the enemies of Jehovah and His people. The Hebrew word for “earth” admits (as elsewhere) of the rendering “land”; but here the wider meaning seems to predominate, as in its union with the “world,” in Isa_24:4.
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 On vv1–6 Vers. 1-20. GOD"S JUDGMENTS ON THE WORLD AT LARGE.…
Vers. 1-20. GOD"S JUDGMENTS ON THE WORLD AT LARGE. From special denunciations of woe upon particular nations Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria of Damascus, Egypt and Ethiopia, Arabia, Judea, Tyre the prophet passes to denunciations of a broader character, involving the future of the whole world. This section of his work extends from the commencement of Isaiah 24. to the conclusion of Isaiah 27., thus including four chapters. The world at large is the general subject of the entire prophecy; but the "peculiar people" still maintains a marked and prominent place, as spiritually the leading country, and as one in whose fortunes the world at large would be always vitally concerned. (see especially Isa_24:23 Isa_25:6-8 Isa_26:1-4 Isa_27:6, Isa_27:9, Isa_27:13)
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty. Several critics (Lowth, Ewald, Gesenius, Knobel) prefer to render, "maketh the land empty;" but the broader view, which is maintained by Rosenm Kay, Cheyne, and others, seems preferable. The mention of "the world" in ver. 4, and of "the-kings of the earth" in ver. 21, implies a wider field of survey than the Holy Land. Of course the expression, "maketh empty," is rhetorical, some remarkable, but not complete, depopulation being pointed at (comp. ver. 6). Turneth it upside down. (comp. Eze_21:27) Scattereth abroad the inhabitants. The scanty population left is dispersed, and not allowed to collect into masses.
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HOMILETICS Vers. 1-20. God"s final judgment upon the earth.
In striking contrast with man"s self-complacent theories of continual progress and improvement in the world, resulting in something like the final perfection of our race, is God"s prophetic announcement that, as the years roll on, mankind will go from bad to worse, plunge deeper and deeper into wickedness, bring calamity after calamity upon themselves, and finally so provoke him that he will destroy the very earth itself as defiled"by its inhabitants (ver. 5), causing it to fall, and not rise again" (ver. 20). The judgment, as set forth in this chapter, is
I PROGRESSIVE. It begins with wars, which spread from country to country, until all nations are involved in them. Territories are wasted (ver. 3); cities are thrown into confusion (ver. 10); the population of the earth rapidly diminishes; the few men left" (ver. 6) are scattered widely over the face of the globe; there is general desolation; and there is general sadness and misery (vers. 7-12). All classes suffer (ver. 2); the haughty especially are brought down (ver. 4). If men escape one calamity, they are overtaken by another (ver. 18). Treachery is at work (ver. 16), and each man feels like a hunted animal, sure sooner or later to be the prey of the destroyer (ver. 17). The judgment passes on from man to the material fabric which he inhabits; man"s transgression lies heavy upon the earth (ver. 20); it totters and trembles from its foundations (ver. 18), reels to and fro (ver. 20), is broken up and shattered (ver. 19); finally, falls from its place.
II FINAL, AS FAR AS THIS DISPENSATION OF THINGS IS CONCERNED. "The inhabitants of the earth are burned" (ver. 6); the earth is utterly emptied" (ver. 3); the remnant that has previously escaped necessarily disappears with the earth that is their habitation; and that earth is "utterly broken down," "clean dissolved," fallen" so as never to rise again (vers. 19, 20).
III YET NOT UNCHEERED BY SOME RAYS OF HOPE. In the midst of the gloom, and the sadness, and the desolation, and the confusion, there are yet cheerful voices heard. All flesh has not corrupted its way before the Lord. There are still those who lift up their voice, and sing for the majesty of the Lord" (ver. 14), who glorify the Lord" in the midst of the "fires" of affliction, and pour forth songs whereof the burden is "Honor to the righteous." They constitute, it may be, a small minority; but they are not dismayed. "God," they know, is on their side;" and they do not fear what flesh can do unto them." They bear witness for God to the last; and when the final crash comes they are those blessed ones who meet the Lord in the air", (1Th_4:17) and are translated to the heavenly kingdom, without passing through the gates of death, there to be forever with the Lord.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-23. Prophecy of judgment.
The difficulties, historically considered, of this chapter must be left to the exegete. We concern ourselves with the larger sense it contains of a prophecy of a judgment upon the whole world.
I THE APPROACHING DESOLATION. (Vers. 1-3.) The figures of emptying, draining, are employed to denote the utter depopulation and impoverishment of the earth; also that of turning upside down, to denote disorganization and demoralization in every civil and religious institution, while the people will be driven as chaff before the wind by the scattering hand of the invader. All ranks will be alike affected and confused together in the coming calamity. "Distinction of rank is highly necessary for the economy of the world, and was never called in question but by barbarians and enthusiasts." A variety of interests and feelings is represented in the different orders of society. Each contributes an element of wealth or of culture to the commonwealth. The untutored instincts of the mass have a certain wisdom in them; but they need to be checked and guided by the intelligence of far-seeing minds. The instinct for progress only safely operates when it is met by a counter sentiment of conservatism. The minister of religion is a necessity in society, and equally necessary the free spirit of the people to check his usurpations. The theory of society is that of a complicated organism, where all the parts are mutually dependent, and each on the whole. If the servant is necessary to, the master, not less so the master to the servant; the lender to the borrower, and the reverse. One of our chief blessings is regular government and good order. How marvelous is the immense, all-teeming, yet quiet and ordered life of London! The slightest menace of disturbance to it makes us feel, or ought to make us feel, keenly the greatness of the privileges so long preserved to us. "We ought," says Calvin, "not only to acknowledge the judgment of God, but also lay it to the blame of our own sins, whenever he breaks down order and takes away instruction and courts of law; for when these fall, civilization itself fails along with them?" Again, God in his judgment is no respecter of persons. No rank is spared, not even the most sacred. On the contrary, to whom much has been given, of them much will be required. The higher the rank the deeper the fall, and the sorer the punishment where there has been ingratitude and unfaithfulness. It is secret disloyalty to the Eternal and his laws which saps the root of life, and causes in the end the mournful sight of a nation mourning, its vigor ebbing away, its great men hanging their heads like drooping flowers. The thought of many cities and Lands once flourishing, now like a flower withered down to the bare stalk, should remind us of the constancy of moral laws, of the fact that "Jehovah hath spoken the word.
II THE REASON OF THE JUDGMENT. It closely follows upon the guilt of men. And this guilt has polluted the earth. "Blood profanes the land; The land is polluted with blood". (Num_35:33 Psa_106:38) This may be taken literally or generally. Kingdoms and empires have often been "founded in blood". (cf. Isa_26:21) And this was a transgression of Divine commandment the violation of a Divine statute, the breach of a standing covenant of God with men. The allusion may be to the covenant with Noah. (Gen_9:16) But if the prophecy refers to mankind in general, then we must think of the "Law written on the heart the Divine teaching within. "It was with the whole human race that God concluded a covenant in the person of Noah, at a time when the nations had none of them come into existence" (Delitzsch). "There fore hath a curse devoured the earth." There is an awfulness in the logic of the Almighty; there is nothing arbitrary in his conduct, nor meaningless in his words. No curse "causeless comes." The premises of sin contain the conclusion of punishment; and from the fact of curse the fact of "bloodguilt," or of sin in general, may be certainly inferred. "All Israel have transgressed thy Law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against. (Dan_9:11) The simple and sublime reasoning of the prophets should ever be laid to heart by us and pressed upon the conscience of others. "The land mourns;" trade is dull, taxation is heavy, wars are rife; there is murmuring and discontent. Why? The prophets are ever ready with a because because of swearing or other falsehood, because of adultery or other impurity, because of the iniquity of statesmen, priests, or prophets, the pleasant places are dried up. (cf. Jer_23:10)
III THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CAUSE. It is conceived as personal. Zec_5:3 it is said to "go forth over the face of the whole earth," or to be "poured upon" men, (Dan_9:11) so here it is so said to "devour the earth." The Divine anger burns, (Isa_30:27) and the God of judgment is as a "consuming fire." And under this terrible doom Nature betrays her silent sympathy with the fortunes of man. The drooping grape and the languishing vine seem to reflect the sadness of the people, and visibly to mourn in response to their sighs. And that popular music which charms away the pain of excessive toil, and expresses the fund of health and mirth which lies at the heart of man and the world, ceases; timbrel and lute are hushed, and the merry shouts of the laborers no longer rise from the vineyards. "Jerusalem was uninhabited as a desert. There was none going in and coming out of her children; and the sanctuary was trodden down, and the sons of foreigners were in her high place, a place of sojourn for Gentiles. Delight was taken out of Jacob, and the flute and the lyre ceased". (RAPC 1Ma 3:45) This passage in the prayer of Judas the Maccabee is thought by Vitringa to allude to the fulfillment of the prediction. It is the doom which follows upon the abuse of the gifts of God. Abuse consists either in excessive indulgence or in oblivion of the Giver. He knows how in chastisement to insert a bitter flavor into the most favorite pleasures. The cup will be dashed from their lips, or a want of relish will be felt for it. A mind clouded by remorse will "darken the ruby of the cup and dim the glitter of the scene." If the time comes when a man is compelled to say of even innocent social pleasures, "I have no pleasure in them," can there be a keener mark of judgment on past excess or abuse? Better the crust and the draught from the spring, with healthy appetite and clean conscience, than the repast of luxury and the brimming wine-cup turned to gall on the lips by the secret chemistry of guilt. The city is chaos and the houses are closed, and in the fields, instead of the vintage shouts, are heard the howls of those who miss the sweet wine. (cf. Joe_1:5) It seems that the sun of joy has gone down, and the bright spirit of gladness has fled from the earth. The olive, as the vine, is a speaking symbol of fatness, plenty, wealth, and prosperity. But the land will be like an olive stripped and bared of its fruits a vineyard when the gleaning is over. Still a few will be left; (cf. Isa_17:5, Isa_17:6) for never does God suffer his Church to become extinct, the spiritual life of mankind utterly to fail, or his work to come to a standstill. Dark as every cloud of judgment is, it will yet pass, and crushed hearts will be healed and voices now dumb burst forth anew into song. It is at least glimpses of such a future which sustain the prophet"s heart under the "burden of the Lord.
IV RUMORS OF BETTER THINGS. A cry is heard from the sea, from the Mediterranean; it must be from some of that sacred remnant acknowledging Jehovah, extolling loudly his majesty, Israel"s God! "He follows out and increases the consolations which he had briefly sketched; for having formerly (Isa_10:19-22) said that out of that vast multitude a few drops would be left, which would nevertheless overflow the whole world, in like manner he now says that the small number of the godly, who shall be left out of an abundant vintage, will nevertheless rejoice and utter a voice so loud that it will be heard in the most distant lands. This was done by the preaching of the gospel; for as to the condition of Judaea, it appeared to be entirely ruined by it the national government was taken away, and they. were broken clown by foreign and civil wars in such a manner that they could never rise above them. The rest of the world was dumb in singing the praises of God, and deaf to hear his voice; but as the Jews were the firstfruits, they are here placed in the highest rank" (Calvin).
1. God can in a moment recreate and restore his Church, as it were, out of nothing. From death he brings life, out of the solitude can cause songs of praise to resound, and converts the scene of mourning into one of joy.
2. Worshippers are fitly employed in extolling God"s perfections, and not their own claims to approbation. His benefits should excite our gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises.
3. The time is to be looked forward to when all nations will call upon the true God. To call upon the Name of Israel"s God means the spread of true religion through the world. The knowledge of him merely as the wrathful and avenging God must strike man with dumbness; the knowledge of him as Redeemer must open the heart and unloose the tongue for praise.
4. True religion and human blessedness are coincident. "Honor for the righteous!" wilt be the burden of the song; "Hope to the pious!" the LXX render. The Jews are meant in the first place, as the chosen people; then probably the elect of all nations, as typified in them. "When the prophet predicted these things, how incredible might they appear to be! for among the Jews alone was the Lord known and praised. (Psa_76:2) To them destruction is foretold, and next the publication of the words and the celebration of the praises of God; but how shall these things be done, when the people of God had been destroyed? Hence we may infer that there were few who believed these predictions. But now that these events have taken place, it is our duty to behold with admiration so great a miracle of God, because, when the Jews had been not only beaten down, but almost annihilated, still there flashed from them a spark by which the whole world was enlightened, and all who were kindled by it broke forth into a confession of the truth" (Calvin).
V REVULSION OF FEELING. Before this spiritual restoration can come about, an interval of misery must be passed through. A cry of intense pain escapes the prophet"s heart: "Wasting away is for me! wasting away is for me!" He sees and feels, with realizing imagination and sympathy, the barbarous oppression from which his people will suffer. Wave upon wave of calamity seems to roll in from the horizon. To escape from the "terror" is to fall into the "pit," to come up from the "pit" is only to be taken in the snare. The windows of heaven will be opened, and a new deluge will cover the earth, which will tremble as with universal shock. Then Jehovah will "hold visitation upon the host of the highest in the height, and upon the kings of the earth upon the earth." They will be imprisoned and shut up in the prison of the lower world. Then there will be a visitation after many days: whether for the purpose of punishment or pardon, the prophet does not say, and commentators are divided. Amidst the obscurity of the passage, some truth that may be used for edification appears to glimmer. All that takes place on the earthly sphere has reference to a supernatural world. There are in a sense "angels" of nations and of men. The rabbinical saying runs that "God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince; i.e. the angel who, by whatever means he first obtained possession of the nation, has exerted an ungodly influence upon it. "Just as, according to the scriptural view, both good and evil angels attach themselves to particular men, and an elevated state of mind may sometimes afford a glimpse of this encircling company and this conflict of spirits; so do the angels contend for the rule over nations and kingdoms, either to guide them in the way of God, or to lead them astray from God; therefore the judgment upon nations will be a judgment upon angels also. The kingdom of spirit has its own history running parallel to the destinies of men" (Delitzsch).
VI FINAL APOCALYPSE OF DIVINE GLORY. The moon blushes and the sun turns pale, and Jehovah of hosts reigns royally upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the elders or representatives of the people are permitted to gaze upon his glory. (cf. Exo_24:9 Exo_34:29) The glory of nature fades before the surpassing glory of the spiritual and eternal. Our noblest sense is that of vision, and its exercise involves that of imagination. The bright heavenly bodies delight us in part because they are significant and symbolic of light in the intellectual and moral sphere, of him who set them yonder, and who is the Light of the world. We can think of nothing more glorious than the light of the sun, except the glory of the Sun of Righteousness. That must be seen in the soul, in the conscience. And to come finally to the beatific vision; in purity of heart to see God; to close with the great Object who lies behind all the finite objects of our intellectual research; to enjoy that reposeful contemplation of the eternal beauty, of which every imperfect flash and hint reminds us in this twilight of life; this is the goal of spiritual aspiration in every time, as it was of the prophet"s wishful thought, piercing through the darkness of the future. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-12. The charge and the calamity.
These words give a vivid and a terrible picture of calamity that should befall the people of God. It is suitably called "the curse" (ver. 6), for it should prove an evil of the severest kind; and it would be other than a national misfortune it would be the penalty of sin: therefore, because of the sins charged against the nation (ver. 5), these multiplied sorrows would overtake and overwhelm them; "for the Lord hath spoken this word" (ver. 3).
I GOD"S CHARGE AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. (Ver. 5.) This is threefold.
1. Disregard of his spoken Word. "They have transgressed the laws." Those plain statements of the will of God which had been revealed in "the Law" had been deliberately disobeyed requirements unfulfilled, prohibitions set at naught.
2. Perversion of Divine truth. "Changed the ordinance." The Jews were subtle and sinful enough to appear to keep the Law when they were habitually breaking it. This they did by changing or perverting it, by making it mean something different from the Divine intention, by taking the heart out of it, by minimizing and dwarfing it. (see Mat_15:3-9)
3. Violation of his will as revealed in our common human nature. "Broken the everlasting covenant." This covenant is well summarized in Psa_34:15, Psa_34:16; it has fallen into grievous and guilty disregard. Men refrained from righteousness and "did evil," yet they shrank not from the accusing eye and the uplifted hand of God. (see Rom_2:14, Rom_2:15) The people of God will do well to ask themselves whether they are not in danger of being obnoxious to the same charge; whether they are not neglecting the will of God as expressly revealed in the words of Christ and his apostles; or are not changing, by radical misconstruction, the purpose of their Lord; or are not setting aside some of the first principles written in their nature by the Father of spirits.
II THE CALAMITY WHICH ATTENDS DISOBEDIENCE. This is manifold, as indicated in the text.
1. Desolation. Emptiness, waste, dispersion (ver. 1), inaccessibility (ver. 10; see also vers. 3, 6, 12).
2. Degradation. The land "turned upside down," so that what was meant for higher ends is employed for baser ones (ver. 1); "utterly spoiled" (ver. 3); defilement (ver. 5); resort to stimulants for false courage (ver. 11).
3. Enfeeblement. The land "fadeth away," "languisheth" (ver. 4); the strength of the city is gone, for even the gate (the strong place) is "smitten with destruction" (ver. 12).
4. Abject misery. (Vers. 7, 8.) Even that which usually excites with pleasure has lost its charm (ver. 9).
Completeness and commonness of the scourge (ver. 2). Such, in various manifestations, according to the nature of the subject and the character of the guilt, is the calamitous issue of disobedience; so heavy is the devouring curse (ver. 6) when Divine laws are disobeyed and the Divine claims denied. The land, the Church, the family, the individual life, is desolate, is degraded, is enfeebled, is rendered joyless. The best companions are dispersed, and life is lonely; the loftier and worthier ends of existence are surrendered for those less worthy, and ultimately for those which are positively base; the strength of righteousness and virtue gives place to the feebleness of folly and to the degeneracy of vice; song dies into silence and then into a wail.
1. Beware of spiritual and then moral decline.
2. Seek and find, in repentance and faith, a way up even from the dark depths of ruin. C.
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 On vv1, 2, 5 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty
Isa_24:1-5
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty
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The earth,
The earth, not the land (R.. marg.) of Judah or Palestine. The prophecy leaps far beyond all particular or national conditions. (J. Skinner, D. D.)
The sources and consequences of anarchy
I. THE FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF ANARCHY. Of these we may be convinced, by viewing the greatness of the blessings which anarchy destroys. Happy the prince, happy the people, when lawful government is well established, wisely administered, duly honoured, and cheerfully obeyed! The persons, characters, and properties of the innocent are protected; good order is preserved; and the duties of every different situation, employment, and rank are faithfully discharged. The political body is healthy and safe. Distinguished genius and penetration, improved in wisdom by careful attention and long experience, are as eyes to the community: while the hands of the mechanic and labourer supply its necessities. These blessings are interrupted when the power of such a government is suspended; and, when it is destroyed, they cease. Anarchy, by levelling all ranks, transgresses a great law of nature, and of the God of nature; and stops a chief source of social happiness. Where abilities, dispositions, situations, and enjoyments differ, power and influence cannot be equal. A land, where there is no order, is a land of darkness and of the shadow of death. A community, which hath no eyes and guides, must wander and perish in the paths of destruction and misery.
II. THE SOURCES OF ANARCHY, in rulers, or subjects, transgressing the laws, and neglecting the maxims, which reason or revelation prescribes, for securing the happiness and peace of society.
1. Anarchy is occasioned by violating the laws which prescribe patriotism, public spirit, love of liberty, and regard to the rights of mankind.
2. Neglect of the maxims of wisdom, taught by reason or Scripture, is sometimes the immediate, and sometimes the remote, source of anarchy.
3. Anarchy is occasioned, and the power of preventing or removing it diminished, by rulers and subjects transgressing the precepts of industry and frugality.
4. Anarchy is occasioned by neglect of the laws of reason and revelation, which prescribe peaceableness and union. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.
5. Anarchy is occasioned by transgressing the great laws of religion. Religion produces the most perfect union: for it inspires, with the same general principle of action, supreme regard to the glory of God, unfeigned affection to our neighbour, and a willingness to sacrifice, whatever in its own nature opposes, or, through peculiar circumstances, becomes incompatible with these. (J. Erskine, D. D.)
National desolation
I. THE NATURE OF THE CALAMITY WHICH SHOULD COME UPON THE LAND--the emptiness or desolation of the earth. This is one of the rods which God holds over the heads of people, to make them stand in fear of Hun Lev_26:19; Deu_28:38).
II. THE AUTHOR OR EFFICIENT CAUSE OF SUCH DESOLATION is God. It does not happen by say blind chance.
III. THE MEANS OR SECOND CAUSES whereby God makes a land waste. Pestilence, sword, fire, unseasonable weather, noxious creatures, etc.
IV. THE MERITORIOUS CAUSE (verse 5). (W. Reading, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE EFFECT OF SIN ON OUR MATERIAL CIRCUMSTANCE
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DATE UNCERTAIN
Isaiah 24
THE twenty-fourth of Isaiah is one of those chapters which almost convince the most persevering reader of Scripture that a consecutive reading of the Authorised Version is an impossibility. For what does he get from it but a weary and unintelligent impression of destruction, from which he gladly escapes to the nearest clear utterance of gospel or judgment? Criticism affords little help. It cannot clearly identify the chapter with any historical situation. For a moment there is a gleam of a company standing outside the convulsion, and to the west of the prophet, while the prophet himself suffers captivity. But even this fades before we make it out; and all the rest of the chapter has too universal an application-the language is too imaginative, enigmatic, and even paradoxical-to be applied to an actual historical situation, or to its development in the immediate future. This is an ideal description, the apocalyptic vision of a last, great day of judgment upon the whole world; and perhaps the moral truths are all the more impressive that the reader is not distracted by temporary or local references.
With the very first verse the prophecy leaps far beyond all particular or national conditions: "Behold, Jehovah shall be emptying the earth and rifling it; and He shall turn it upside down and scatter its inhabitants." This is expressive and thorough; the words are those which were used for cleaning a dirty dish. To the completeness of this opening verse there is really nothing in the chapter to add. All the rest of the verses only illustrate this upturning and scouring of the material universe. For it is with the material universe that the chapter is concerned. Nothing is said of the spiritual nature of man-little, indeed, about man at all. He is simply called "the inhabitant of the earth," and the structure of society (Isa_24:2) is introduced only to make more complete the effect of the convulsion of the earth itself. Man cannot escape those judgments which shatter his material habitation. It is like one of Dantes visions. "Terror, and Pit and Snare upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth! And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the Terror shall fall into the Pit, and he who cometh up out of the midst of the Pit shall be taken in the Snare. For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake. Broken, utterly broken, is the earth; shattered, utterly shattered, the earth; staggering, very staggering, the earth; reeling, the earth reeleth like a drunken man: she swingeth to and fro like a hammock." And so through the rest of the chapter it is the material life of man that is cursed: "the new wine, the vine, the tabrets, the harp, the song," and the merriness in mens hearts which these call forth. Nor does the chapter confine itself to the earth. The closing verses carry the effect of judgment to the heavens and far limits of the material universe. "The host of the high ones on high" (Isa_24:21) are not spiritual beings, the angels. They are material bodies, the stars. "Then, too, shall the moon be confounded, and the stars ashamed," when the Lords kingdom is established and His righteousness made gloriously clear.
What awful truth is this for illustration of which we see not man, but his habitation, the world and all its surroundings, lifted up by the hand of the Lord, broken open, wiped out and shaken, while man himself, as if only to heighten the effect, staggers hopelessly like some broken insect on the quaking ruins? What judgment is this, in which not only one city or one kingdom is concerned, as in the last prophecy of which we treated, but the whole earth is convulsed, and moon and sun confounded?
The judgment is the visitation of mans sins on his material surroundings-"The earths transgression shall be heavy upon it; and it shall rise, and not fall." The truth on which this judgment rests is that between man and his material circumstance-the earth he inhabits, the seasons which bear him company through time, and the stars to which he looks high up in heaven - there is a moral sympathy. "The earth also is profaned under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."
The Bible gives no support to the theory that matter itself is evil. God created all things: "and God saw everything that He had made; and, behold, it was very good." When, therefore, we read in the Bible that the earth is cursed, we read that it is cursed for mans sake; when we read of its desolation, it is as the effect of mans crime. The Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt and other great physical catastrophes happened because men were stubborn or men were foul. We cannot help noticing, however, that matter was thus convulsed or destroyed, not only for the purpose of punishing the moral agent, but because of some poison which had passed from him into the unconscious instruments, stage, and circumstances of his crime. According to the Bible, there would appear to be some mysterious sympathy between man and Nature. Man not only governs Nature; he infects and informs her. As the moral life of the soul expresses itself in the physical life of the body for the latters health or corruption, so the conduct of the human race affects the physical life of the universe to its farthest limits in space. When man is reconciled to God, the wilderness blossoms like a rose; but the guilt of man sullies, infects, and corrupts the place he inhabits and the articles he employs; and their destruction becomes necessary, not for his punishment so much as because of the infection and pollution that are in them.
The Old Testament is not contented with a general statement of this great principle, but pursues it to all sorts of particular and private applications. The curses of the Lord fell, not only on the sinner, but on his dwelling, on his property, and even on the bit of ground these occupied. This was especially the case with regard to idolatry. When Israel put a pagan population to the sword, they were commanded to raze the city, gather its wealth together, burn all that was burnable and put the rest into the temple of the Lord as a thing devoted or accursed, which it would harm themselves to share. {Deu_7:25-26; Deu_13:7} The very site of Jericho was cursed, and men were forbidden to build upon its horrid waste. The story of Achan illustrates the same principle.
It is just this principle which chapter 24 extends to the whole universe. What happened in Jericho because of its inhabitants idolatry is now to happen to the whole earth because of mans sin. "The earth also is profane under her inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." In these words the prophet takes us away back to the covenant with Noah, which he properly emphasises as a covenant with all mankind. With a noble universalism, for which his race and their literature get too little credit, this Hebrew recognises that once all mankind were holy unto God, who had included them under His grace, that promised the fixedness and fertility of nature. But that covenant, though of grace, had its conditions for man. These had been broken. The race had grown wicked, as it was before the Flood; and therefore, in terms which vividly recall that former judgment of God-"the windows on high are opened"-the prophet foretells a new and more awful catastrophe. One word which he employs betrays how close he feels the moral sympathy to be between man and his world. "The earth," he says, "is profane." This is a word whose root meaning is "that which has fallen away" or "separated itself," which is "delinquent." Sometimes, perhaps, it has a purely moral significance, like our word "abandoned" in the common acceptance: he who has fallen far and utterly into sin, "the reckless sinner." But mostly it has rather the religious meaning of one who has fallen out of the covenant relation with God and the relevant benefits and privileges. Into this covenant not only Israel and their land, but humanity and the whole world, have been brought. Is man under covenant grace? The world is also. Does man fall? So does the world, becoming with him profane. The consequence of breaking the covenant oath was expressed in Hebrew by a technical word; and it is this word which, translated curse, is applied in Isa_24:6 to the earth.
The whole earth is to be broken up and dissolved. What then is to become of the people of God-the indestructible remnant? Where are they to settle? In this new deluge is there a new ark? For answer the prophet presents us with an old paradise (Isa_24:23). He has wrecked the universe; but he says now, "Jehovah of hosts shall dwell in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem." It would be impossible to find a better instance of the limitations of Old Testament prophecy than this return to the old dispensation after the old dispensation has been committed to the flames. At such a crisis as the conflagration of the universe for the sin of man, the hope of the New Testament looks for the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, but there is no scintilla of such a hope in this prediction. The imagination of the Hebrew seer is beaten back upon the theatre his conscience has abandoned. He knows "the old is out of date," but for him "the new is not yet born"; and, therefore, convinced as he is that the old must pass away, he is forced to borrow from its ruins a provisional abode for Gods people, a figure for the truth which grips him so firmly, that, in spite of the death of all the universe for mans sin, there must be a visibleness and locality of the Divine majesty, a place where the people of God may gather to bless His holy name.
In this contrast of the power of spiritual imagination possessed respectively by the Old and New Testaments we must not, however, lose the ethical interest which the main lesson of this chapter has for the individual conscience. A breaking universe, the great day of judgment, may be too large and too far off to impress our conscience. But each of us has his own world-body, property, and environment-which is as much and as evidently affected by his own sins as our chapter represents the universe to be by the sins of the race.
To grant that the moral and physical universes are from the same hand is to affirm a sympathy and mutual reaction between them. This affirmation is confirmed by experience, and this experience is of two kinds. To the guilty man Nature seems aware, and flashes back from her larger surfaces the magnified reflection of his own self-contempt and terror. But, besides, men are also unable to escape attributing to the material instruments or surroundings of their sin a certain infection, a certain power of recommunicating to their imaginations and memories the desire for sin, as well as of inflicting upon them the pain and penalty of the disorder it has produced among themselves. Sin, though born, as Christ said, in the heart, has immediately a material expression; and we may follow this outwards through mans mind, body, and estate, not only to find it "hindering, disturbing, complicating all," but reinfecting with the lust and odour of sin the will which gave it birth. As sin is put forth by the will, or is cherished in the heart, so we find error cloud the mind, impurity the imagination, misery the feelings, and pain and weariness infect the flesh and bone. God, who modelled it, alone knows how far mans physical form has been degraded by the sinful thoughts and habits of which for ages it has been the tool and expression; but even our eyes may sometimes trace the despoiler, and that not only in the case of what are preferably named sins of the flesh, but even with lusts that do not require for their gratification the abuse of the body. Pride, as one might think the least fleshly of all the vices, leaves yet in time her damning signature, and will mark the strongest faces with the sad symptoms of that mental break-down, for which unrestrained pride is so often to blame. If sin thus disfigures the body, we know that sin also infects the body. The habituated flesh becomes the suggester of crime to the will which first constrained it to sin, and now wearily, but in vain, rebels against the habits of its instrument. But we recall all this about the body only to say that what is true of the body is true of the souls greater material surroundings. With the sentence "Thou shalt surely die," God connects this other: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake."
When we pass from a mans body, the wrapping we find next nearest to his soul is his property. It has always been an instinct of the race, that there is nothing a man may so infect with the sin of his heart as his handiwork and the gains of his toil. And that is a true instinct, for, in the first place, the making of property perpetuates a mans own habits. If he is successful in business, then every bit of wealth he gathers is a confirmation of the motives and tempers in which he conducted his business. A man deceives himself as to this, saying, Wait till I have made enough; then I will put away the meanness, the harshness, and the dishonesty with which I made it He shall not be able. Just because he has been successful, he will continue in his habit without thinking; just because there has been no break-down to convict of folly and suggest penitence, so he becomes hardened. Property is a bridge on which our passions cross from one part of our life to another. The Germans have an ironical proverb: "The man who has stolen a hundred thousand dollars can afford to live honestly." The emphasis of the irony falls on the words in italics: he can afford, but never does. His property hardens his heart, and keeps him from repentance.
But the instinct of humanity has also been quick to this: that the curse of ill-gotten wealth passes like bad blood from father to child. What is the truth in this matter? A glance at history will tell us. The accumulation of property is the result of certain customs, habits, and laws. In its own powerful interest property perpetuates these down the ages, and infects the fresh air of each new generation with their temper. How often in the history of mankind has it been property gained under unjust laws or cruel monopolies which has prevented the abolition of these, and carried into gentler, freer times the pride and exclusiveness of the age, by whose rude habits it was gathered. This moral transference, which we see on so large a scale in public history, is repeated to some extent in every private bequest. A curse does not necessarily follow an estate from the sinful producer of it to his heir; but the latter is, "by the bequest itself," generally brought into so close a contact with his predecessor as to share his conscience and be in sympathy with his temper. And the case is common where an heir, though absolutely up to the date of his succession separate from him who made and has left the property, nevertheless finds himself unable to alter the methods, or to escape the temper, in which the property has been managed. In nine cases out of ten property carries conscience and transfers habit; if the guilt does not descend, the infection does.
When we pass from the effect of sin upon property to its effect upon circumstance, we pass to what we can affirm with even greater conscience. Man has the power of permanently soaking and staining his surroundings with the effect of sins in themselves momentary and transient. Sin increases terribly by the mental law of association. It is not the gin-shop and the face of wanton beauty that alone tempt men to sin. Far more subtle seductions are about every one of us. That we have the power of inflicting our character upon the scenes of our conduct is proved by some of the dreariest experiences of life. A failure in duty renders the place of it distasteful and enervating. Are we irritable and selfish at home? Then home is certain to be depressing, and little helpful to our spiritual growth. Are we selfish and niggardly in the interest we take in others? Then the congregation we go to, the suburb we dwell in, will appear insipid and unprofitable; we shall be past the possibility of gaining character or happiness from the ground where God planted us and meant us to grow. Students have been idle in their studies till every time they enter them a reflex languor comes down like stale smoke, and the room they desecrated takes its revenge on them. We have it in our power to make our workshops, our laboratories, and our studies places of magnificent inspiration, to enter which is to receive a baptism of industry and hope; and we have power to make it impossible ever to work in them again at full pitch. The pulpit, the pew, the very communion-table, come under this law. If a minister of God have made up his mind to say nothing from his accustomed place, which has not cost him toil, to feel nothing but a dependence on God and a desire for souls, then he will never set foot there but the power of the Lord shall be upon him. But there are men who would rather set foot anywhere than in their pulpit-men who out of it are full of fellowship, information, and infective health, but there they are paralysed with the curse of their idle past. How history shows us that the most sacred shelters and institutions of man become tainted with sin, and are destroyed in revolution or abandoned to decay by the intolerant conscience of younger generations! How the hidden life of each man feels his past sins possessing his home and hearth, his pew, and even his place at the Sacrament, till it is sometimes better for his souls health to avoid these!
Such considerations give a great moral force to the doctrine of the Old Testament that mans sin has rendered necessary the destruction of his material circumstances, and that the Divine judgment includes a broken and a rifled universe.
The New Testament has borrowed this vision from the Old, but added, as we have seen, with greater distinctness, the hope of new heavens and a new earth. We have not concluded the subject, however, when we have pointed this out, for the New Testament has another gospel. The grace of God affects even the material results of sin; the Divine pardon that converts the sinner converts his circumstance also; Christ Jesus sanctifies even the flesh, and is the Physician of the body as well as the Saviour of the soul. To Him physical evil abounds only that He may show forth His glory in curing it. "Neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." To Paul the "whole creation groaneth and travaileth with the sinner" till now, the hour of the sinners redemption. The Gospel bestows an evangelic liberty which permits the strong Christian to partake of meats offered to idols. And, finally, "all things work together for good to them that love God," for although to the converted and forgiven sinner the material pains which his sins have brought on him may continue into his new life, they are experienced by him no more as the just penalties of an angry God, but as the loving, sanctifying chastisements of his Father in heaven.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 The suffering child of God will "glorify Him in…
Isa 24:15
The suffering child of God will "glorify Him in the fires."
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I. By acknowledging His power.
II. By recognising His wisdom.
III. By a frank acknowledgment of His goodness.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 17.
Religion very much consists in taking things out of their common places, and in removing them from a lower to a higher level. To a Christian, everything becomes great; everything has an eternity; everything owns God as its Author, and God as its final end and object. And to feel this, to recognise in everything its own inherent grandeur, to see in it the infinite and realise its vast capability, to trace it from its first real source, to hold it in God, to use it for God, to dedicate it to God,—this is consecration.
Consider how we may consecrate suffering.
I. To consecrate, the first thing must be, by one express, deliberate act, to dedicate the suffering. From the time this is done, you may call your pain, or your sorrow, not so much a suffering, as an offering; as much as if you laid it upon an actually material altar, it is an offering.
II. You will do well always to remember that the consecration of the little things in a trial is quite as important as the consecration of what at first sight appeared to be the greater things. A great cross, as men see it, is not generally the real cross; but the lesser cross which the great cross brings with it consecrates this.
III. Consecrate the uses of suffering, whatever those uses may be. All our sorrows and sufferings are available for others, and are intended as means for usefulness.
IV. Of all this consecration of suffering, the great exemplar is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wish to know the way to consecrate, study Him. His aim is single to the Father’s glory. Self is nowhere; love and service everywhere. "For the joy set before Him"—the joy of a glorified Church—"He endured the cross, despising the shame."
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 85.
References: Isa 24:15.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 275; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 319. Isa 24:23.—R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, vol. iii., p. 83, vol. ii., p. 200. Isa 25:3, Isa 25:4.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages from the Prophets, vol. i., p. 54.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Coming Judgment and Establishment of Jehovah's Kingdom
The Coming Judgment and Establishment of Jehovah's Kingdom
The subject is the overthrow of a power hostile to God's people, with a description of the deliverance of the Jews and their future glory. The hostile power is not named, and the tone of the whole prophecy is so general that it is impossible to assign it to any occasion. With the anticipated overthrow of the enemy the prophet associates in thought Jehovah's final judgment of the world. Most modern scholars assign this whole section to a date later than the age of Isaiah, urging that (a) Isaiah's time does not afford a suitable occasion, (b) the literary style is unlike Isaiah's, and (c) some of the thoughts are characteristic of a later age, e.g. the conception of guardian spirits of earthly kingdoms (Isa_24:21), and the anticipation of a resurrection of God's people from the dead (Isa_26:19). In these particulars the section exhibits affinity with the book of Daniel (Dan_10:13; Dan_12:1-2). The wide and general expressions used in these chapters make it easier to apply the important spiritual teaching contained in them to God's people in every age.
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Isa_24:1-12. The imminent judgment caused by man's guilt.
13-15. The result—the remnant praise Jehovah.
16-23. The judgments that precede the establishment of Jehovah's kingdom.
Isa_25:1-5. The hymn of those delivered when Jehovah's kingdom is set up.
6-8. The blessings of which Zion shall then be the centre.
9-12. The thanksgiving of the redeemed for the fall of Moab.
Isa_26:1-4. Another hymn of the redeemed.
5, 6. The ground of this thanks-giving,. the overthrow of the hostile city.
7-14. Jehovah's judgments teach the world righteousness and destroy oppression.
15-21. The wonderful revival of God's people.
Isa_27:1-6. Jehovah's care for His people.
7-11. Their sufferings are due to their own sin and folly.
12, 13. But restoration awaits them.
2. All class distinctions are obliterated and confused.
5. Defiled] i.e. desecrated by bloodshed (Num_35:33). Everlasting covenant] The phrase seems to allude to Gen_9:16, the covenant with Noah and his sons. The bloodshed, upon which the great world-empires were founded, was a violation of this primitive covenant.
7-9. The meaning is that every form of enjoyment has ceased.
10. Confusion] or, 'chaos' (Gen_1:2), so called because of the desolation awaiting it. No man, etc.] the entrance being blocked with ruins,
11. Crying for, etc.] i.e. 'because of wine, the vintage having failed (Joe_1:5).
13. When.. people] RY 'For.. peoples.' Omit 'there shall be.'
14. They] i.e. the escaped remnant, figuratively described in Isa_24:13 : cp. Isa_17:6. The majesty] as shown in their deliverance. They shall cry.. from the sea] i.e. the dispersed remnant shall raise their cry of praise from the far West. The sea, as usual, denotes the Mediterranean.
15. Fires] RV 'east.' Songs of praise arise both in E. and W. (the isles).
16. Glory, etc.] i.e. splendid is the lot of the righteous. My leanness, etc.] RV 'I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! 'Songs of joy are premature; the barbariair has yet to complete the desolation.
17f. The desolation yet to come.
18. Windows, etc.] a judgment like the deluge (Gen_7:11).
20. Removed, etc.] RV 'moved to and fro like a hut.'
21. Host, etc.] i.e. the guardian spirits of the nations (Dan_10:13; Dan_12:1), who are responsible for their respective nations, and whose fate is bound up with theirs.
22. Visited] i.e. favourably, and set free.
23. The prophet has passed in thought to the final convulsion of nature, and the manifestation of Jehovah's kingdom in all its glory.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 (See Scofield "Gen 1:2") See Scofield "Is 4:23"
maketh
(See Scofield "Gen 1:2") See Scofield "Is 4:23"
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The Day of Jehovah
CHAPTER 24
The Day of Jehovah
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1. Jehovah dealing with the earth(Isa 24:1) 2. All classes affected (Isa 24:2) 3. The Desolations described (Isa 24:3-12) 4. The Jewish Remnant during the trouble (Isa 24:13-20) 5. The punishment of the high ones and kings (Isa 24:21-22) 6. Jehovah’s reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem (Isa 24:23)A marvellous chapter. Not a word of it has ever been fulfilled. The great day of Jehovah is that day of which Isaiah speaks in chapter 2, Zephaniah in chapter 1, Zechariah in chapters 12-14 and every other prophet. It is the day of 2Th 1:7-10.
Notice that chapters 24-27 are a continuous prophecy. To break them into chapters has been a mistake. Study the phrase “in that day.” Find what Jehovah will do in the day of His manifestation. He will judge and He will bless. Singing begins in that day.
The high ones in Isa 24:21 are the wicked spirits in the heavenly places Eph 6:1-24. The Kings on earth are the Kings mentioned in Psa 2:1-12 and Rev 19:19. Their visitation after many days will be a visitation of judgment and not of blessing.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Judgment upon the Earth.
The Judgment upon the Earth.
The four ers, 24 to 27 inclusive, form one continuous poetical prophecy, remarkable both for form and for content. It is a great chorus in four movements, describing the end of the world, the revelation of Jehovah, the establishment of the Church of Christ, and the glorious growth of the communion of saints. This chorus embraces every form and style of poetry, from the most elevated heavenly hymn to the most simple and appealing folk-song. "This entire finale is a great hallelujah to chapters 13 to 23, its contents hymnic, its form musical, and this to such a degree that, as in 25:6, the prophecy is like text and score together. Only Isaiah is such an incomparable master of language. " (Delitzsch. )
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The Destruction of Tile Surface of the Earth
v. 1. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, depopulating it, taking away its inhabitants, and maketh it waste, by a final devastation, and turneth it upside down, changing its form and appearance, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof, thereby making it desolate.
v. 2. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, all sharing the same calamities alike; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, the creditor, so with the giver of usury to him, the debtor. They are alike in the midst of this great catastrophe; no favored class shall escape.
v. 3. The land shall be utterly emptied, made altogether desolate, and utterly spoiled, consumed by plundering; for the Lord hath spoken this word, and according to His word things would come to pass.
v. 4. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, like a flower that is stepped upon and wilted, the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth, the most prominent persons, do languish, in utter despair.
v. 5. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, affected with the blood-guiltiness of its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant, that is, men disregarded the revelation of God in the works of creation, ignored the admonitions of Conscience, set aside the agreement made at the time of Noah: all mankind has returned to the baseness of the time before the Flood.
v. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, with the fire of the divine wrath, and they that dwell therein are desolate, compelled to do the most bitter penance; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left, namely, the small remnant of those who are true to Jehovah.
v. 7. The new wine mourneth, the grape-juice as extracted from the fruit becoming vapid, the vine languisheth, because there is none to cultivate it, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
v. 8. The mirth of tabrets, or tambourines, used to accompany merry songs, ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp, or zither, ceaseth.
v. 9. They shall not drink wine with a song, as in the days of peace and prosperity; strong drink, date-wine or a brandy-like liquor, shall be bitter to them that drink it. All the former incentives to joy are removed, and utter desolation prevails. The world with her lust is judged and therefore also the leading city of the world, in which this lust was concentrated.
v. 10. The city of confusion is broken down, there is nothing but ruin and desolation; every house is shut up that no man may come in, the entrance being choked up by ruins; everything is chaos.
v. 11. There is a crying for wine in the streets, lamentation on account of the destruction of vineyards out in the fields; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
v. 12. In the city is left desolation, only chaos and ruin to be found there, and the gate is smitten with destruction, battered down. Cf Mat 24:6-8; Mar 13:7-8; Luk 21:9-11.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6 to empty the earth
to empty the earth
"to make the earth desolate" or "to destroy everything on the earth"
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It will come about that
This phrase marks an important event. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.
as with ... so with
What Yahweh will do is not stated here, but it is understood. This shows that God will treat all people the same way. AT: "as Yahweh scatters ... so he will scatter"(See: Ellipsis)
the priest ... the giver of interest
In Isa 24:2 Isaiah lists several classes of people. They can be expressed as plural nouns as in the UDB. AT: "the priests ... those who give interest" (See: Generic Noun Phrases)
the receiver of interest
"the one who owes money." The word "interest" means the extra money someone has to pay so that he may borrow money.
the giver of interest
"the one who is owed money"
translationWords
Yahweh
people group
priest
servant
lord
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 On vv1, 4, 5, 6 24:1–27:13 This section is often referred to as the…
24:1–27:13 This section is often referred to as the “Little Apocalypse” because of its similarities to the book of Revelation. In these chapters Isaiah takes readers out of the present into a vision of the future world. The universal imagery of the Little Apocalypse makes it difficult to assign the events described to any precise historical situation. That means that these chapters cannot be used to outline a sequence of events or create a historical blueprint for the future. Instead, the imagery is intended to create an impressionistic drama of an unfolding world that is both like and unlike the present. The combination of aspects of the old era with aspects of the new era (for instance, people of Zion will all be righteous [new], but still long for their redemption [old]) is consistent with the New Testament concept of the future age breaking into and overlapping with the present evil age (2 Cor 4:4; Gal 1:4). Peter, for example, wrote of believers as living in the last days (1 Pet 1:12; 2 Pet 3:3) even though the last day remains yet future (2 Pet 3:10).
24:1-23 Here the judgments described in chs 13–23 are extended to the creation at large.
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24:1 destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland: There is a play here on the Hebrew words baqaq (destroy) and balaq (make a wasteland). The devastation will begin with Judah and be extended to the whole world (see 1 Pet 4:17). • All the earth will be destroyed, the people as well as national political structures.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.