Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
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LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
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LORD, Thy hand was lifted up, yet they see not; they shall see with shame Thy zeal for the people; yea, fire shall devour Thine adversaries.
Cross-references (25)
Passages linked to Isaiah 26:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
- Isaiah 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Micah 5:9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
- Exodus 9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
- 1 Samuel 5:6-11 But Yahweh’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” They carried the ark of the God of Israel there. It was so, that after they had carried it there, Yahweh’s hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent God’s ark to Ekron. As God’s ark came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to us, to kill us and our people.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
- 1 Samuel 6:9 Behold, if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us. It was a chance that happened to us.”
- Job 34:27 because they turned away from following him, and wouldn’t pay attention to any of his ways,
- Psalms 10:12 Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.
- Psalms 21:8 Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
- Psalms 86:17 Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.
- Isaiah 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim.
- Isaiah 18:3 All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!
- Isaiah 44:18 They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
- Isaiah 60:14 The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 5:3 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 to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Jeremiah 44:28 Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
- Malachi 4:1 “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 will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Matthew 25:41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Acts 28:27 For this people’s heart has grown callous. Their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, then I would heal them.’
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- 1 Peter 3:16 having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
- Revelation 3:9 Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
- Isaiah 44:9 Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Luke 16:23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
- Revelation 19:20 The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The fire and vengeance, wherewith thou dost destroy thine…
The fire and vengeance, wherewith thou dost destroy thine enemies.
Through envy and indignation against thy people.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 26:11 LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up,…
Isa 26:11 LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: [but] they shall see, and be ashamed for [their] envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
Ver. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, thou will not see,] i.e., Observe, consider, and take warning: let God’s hand be never so high and glorious, so lifted up and exalted, yet these buzzards will not behold his majesty, {as Isa 26:10} as being more blind than moles, more deaf than sea monsters they refuse to regard aught.
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But they shall see and be confounded.] But yet, maugre their head, as one well paraphraseth the words, they shall be driven both to see and to acknowledge to their shame the great and mighty hand of God, his zeal for his people, and the fire of his wrath to consume his foes. See Zec 1:15; Zec 1:19. Experientur suo magno malo; they shall to their cost feel the weight of God’s hand, which, the higher it is lifted, the heavier it will light at length. Mrs. Hutchinson, that Jezebel of New England, as she had vented about thirty misshapen opinions there, so she brought forth about thirty deformed monsters. She and her family were after this - because they would not be reclaimed, but turned off admonition, saying, This is for you, ye legalists, that your eyes might be further blinded by God’s hand upon us in your legal ways, &c. - slain, some say burnt, by the Indians, who never used to exercise such an outrage upon any. {a}
{a} Story of Sect. in New England, by Mr Weld, p. 44.
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 When thy hand is lifted up, they will not…
When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; and they are guilty of the same obstinate blindness when thou dost smite and punish them, which is commonly signified by lifting up the hand, as Eze 44:12; Mic 5:9. Compare also 2Sa 20:21; 1Ki 11:26. Or, as others render it, when thine hand is high or exalted, i.e. when thy works are most evident and most glorious, when thou appearest most gloriously for the defence of thy people, and for the punishment of thine and their enemies, they will not see.
They shall see: the same word is repeated in another sense. They shall feel and know that by sad and costly experience, which they would not learn by other and easier ways. Seeing is oft put for feeling; in which sense men are said to see affliction, Lam 3:1, and to see death, Psa 89:48, and the like. At the people; or, at or towards thy people, the pronoun thy being repeated out of the following clause, as it is in many other places of Scripture, as hath been before noted. Their envy and hatred against God’s people blinded their minds, that they neither could nor would see that God was on their side, though the tokens of it were most manifest and undeniable; which was the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were not sensible that the Lord fought for Israel against the Egyptians, as they said, Exo 14:25, till it was too late.
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The fire of thine enemies; not efficiently, but objectively; such fire or wrath as thou usest to pour forth upon thine implacable enemies. As my wrong, Gen 16:5, is not the wrong done by me, but to me; and my violence, Jer 2:35, is the violence done to me, as we translate it, not by me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will…
Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see,.... Or, "thy high hand they will not see" (y); when it is exalted, and become glorious in power, in punishing wicked men; though the punishment is visible, yet they will not consider that it comes from the hand of God, but attribute it to chance, misfortune, or second causes, Psa 28:5 or when the hand the Lord is manifest in doing good to his own people, in delivering them out of their oppressions, and the hands of their oppressors; in reviving his cause and interest, and enlarging the kingdom of his Son; they will not see, own, and acknowledge the power and glory of it. The Targum favours this latter sense,
"Lord, when thou shall be revealed in thy power to do good to them that fear thee, there will be no light to the enemies of thy people:''
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but they shall see; whether they will or not; the judgments of God will be manifest, both in his vengeance on antichrist, and in glorifying his own people:
and be ashamed for their envy at the people; their envy at the happiness and prosperity of the Lord's people; their malice towards them, and persecution of them: or, "for the zeal of thy people" (z); not for the zeal of the people to God, but for the zeal of the Lord to them; when they shall see him zealously affected to them, and concerned for them; as they shall see it, whether they will or not; they will then be confounded and ashamed, when he will vindicate his own people, and right their wrongs, and avenge their enemies; so the Targum,
"the revenge of thy people shall cover them:''
yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them: or, "fire shall devour them, thine enemies" (a); the wrath of God, which is like unto fire; or, fire out of the mouth of the witnesses, Rev 11:5.
(y) "elatam tuam manum non cernunt", Castalio; "celsitudinem manuum tuarum nequaquam vident", Syriac version. (z) "zelum populi tui"; so some in Vatablus; "zelum erga populum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (a) "ignis hostes tuos consumet eos", Pagninus, Vatablus, "comedet eos", Montanus.
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 Will not see - And they are guilty of…
Will not see - And they are guilty of the same obstinate blindness when thou dost smite and punish them, which is commonly signified by lifting up the hand. They shall see - They shall know that by sad experience, which they would not learn by easier ways. These - Such fire or wrath as thou usest to pour forth upon thine implacable enemies.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Lord, when thy hand is lifted up - This…
Lord, when thy hand is lifted up - This is an explanation of the sentiment expressed in the former verse. The lifting up of the hand here refers, doubtless, to the manifestations of the majesty and goodness of the Lord.
They will not see - They are blind to all the exhibitions of power, mercy, and goodness.
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But they shall see - They shall yet be brought to recognize thy hand. They shall see thy favor toward thy children, and thy judgment on thy foes. The divine dealings will be such that they shall be constrained to recognize him, and to acknowledge his existence and perfections.
And be ashamed - Be confounded because they did not sooner recognize the divine goodness.
For their envy at thy people - The word ‘their’ is not in the Hebrew, and the sense is, that they shall see the zeal of Yahweh in behalf of his people, and shall be ashamed that they did not sooner recognize his hand. The word rendered ‘envy’ (קנאה qin'âh) may mean envy Ecc 4:4; Ecc 9:6, but it more properly and frequently means zeal, ardor, 2Ki 10:16; Isa 9:6).
Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them - Or rather, ‘Yea, the fire in regard to thy enemies shall devour them.’ The sense is, that when his people were delivered, his foes would be destroyed; his zeal for his people would also be connected with indignation against his foes. The deliverance of his people from Babylon, and the commencement of the downfall of that city, were simultaneous, and the cause was the same.
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 Not see. Let them perish, or live to witness…
CHAPTER XXVI.
Not see. Let them perish, or live to witness the glory of the Jews.
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 11 Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they…
6. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AND THE CONCLUDING ACTS OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD
Isa_26:11-21
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11 Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see;
But 7they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy 8at the people;
Yea, 9the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
12 Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us:
For thou also hast wrought all our works 10in us.
13 O Lord our God!
Other lords beside thee have had dominion over us:
But by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14 They are dead, they shall not live;
They are 11deceased, they shall not rise:
Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
Thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified:
12Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
16 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee;
They poured out a 13prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery,
Is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
So have we been 14in thy sight, O Lord.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain,
We have as it were brought forth wind;
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;
Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men shall live: 15Together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
For thy dew is as the dew of 16herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,
And shut thy doors about thee:
Hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
Until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
The earth also shall disclose her 17blood,
And shall no more cover her slain.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_26:12. It is not inconceivable that תִּשְׁפֹט stood here originally, and was changed through ignorance into תשׁפת. In that case שׁפּט would include ideally the transitive notion of awarding, allotting by judicial sentence; and on this ideal transitive notion שׁלום לנו would depend. We are struck by the rare word שׁפּת, while שׁפט is suggested by the context. [The correction of the text suggested is unnecessary.—D. M.].
Isa_26:13. לְבַד stands here adverbially as Ecc_7:29. The normal form of expression would be בְּךָ לְבַדּךָ (Psa_51:6; Pro_5:17).
Isa_26:15. יסף is properly “to add.” But the word is not rarely employed in the sense of “to increase,” it being left to the reader to think either of that to which something is added, or of the addition which is made. Niphal נכבד is found besides here Isa_3:5; Isa_23:8-9; Isa_43:4; Isa_49:5. Piel רִחַק Isa_6:12; Isa_29:13.
Isa_26:16. צָקוּן (on this form which is found besides only Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16, comp. Olshausen Gr., § 226, p. 449), is = effundunt (besides here Job_28:2; Job_29:6; Job_41:14; Psa_41:9). Analogous is the Latin preces fundere (Virg. Aen. 6, 55) and יִשׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ Psa_102:1.—מוסרך למו corresponds to בַּצַּר in the first half of the verse, and is best taken as a circumstantial clause with a verb to be supplied (comp. Ewald, § 341 a, p. 823). לָמוֹ as לָאָרֶץ Isa_26:9. Comp. Isa_53:8.—כְּמוֹ is here, as afterwards, Isa_26:18 a, conjunction (comp. Isa_41:25; Gen_19:15), and signifies not only in Isa_26:17, but also in Isa_26:18, if we examine thoroughly the construction, tanquam, like as (כַּֽאֲשֶר). In Isa_26:17 this is quite evident, for the construction is simple: As a woman with child is in pain, so were we far from Thee. [Or rather, so we were from Thy presence, i.e., our evil condition proceeded from Thee.—D. M.].
Isa_26:18. The particle of comparison has the signification “quasi, as if.”
Isa_26:20. Instead of דְּלָתֶיךָ the K’eri reads דְּלָתֶךָ, undoubtedly because a chamber has only one דֶּלֶת, and not דְּלָֽתְךָ) דלָתַיִם, moreover, is not derived from דֶלֶת, but from a form דָּלָה which does not elsewhere occur). But both the assonance with חדרֹיך and the anomalous nature of the form דְּלָֽתְךָ speak in favor of חֲבִי ּדְּלָתֶיךָ is a singular form. It can be derived only from חָבָה, which is not met with elsewhere: חָבָא is the form in use (in Isa_42:22; Isa_49:2). The appearance of the radical Yod is also strange (חֲבִי instead of חֲבֵה). If this חבי is to be regarded as a feminine form, this too would be singular; for all the parallel verbal and nominal forms are masculine. The expression כמעט־רגע is found only here and in Ezr_9:8. Comp. Isa_54:7.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. A new wonderful scene of the great eschatological drama presents itself to the view of the Prophet: the resurrection of the dead! He introduces this revelation with three brief sentences addressed to Jehovah, each of them beginning with the name Jehovah. In the first sentence he expresses the thought that men do not perceive the hand of the Lord already lifted up for judgment. But they shall one day perceive it when God’s zeal will display itself. But then they will be confounded, and fire will consume the adversaries (Isa_26:11). On the other hand, the Prophet expresses the assurance that the judgment of God will promote the peace of the godly, as their works are wrought by God Himself (Isa_26:12). The Prophet in the third place introduces us into that sphere to which he means to direct especially our attention in what follows. For even this sphere stands in the closest relation to the manifestation of God indicated in Isa_26:11-12. He characterizes this region, first in general, as one whose inhabitants in a certain sense are not under the dominion of God, but are in the power of another lord. [Other lords, it should be said. And the verb is in the past tense.—D. M.]. An abnormal condition! The persons here meant cannot praise God; for this can be done only when a man is united to God, when he is in Him (Isa_26:13). It is at once apparent from Isa_26:14 that the Prophet means the dead. According to the prevailing opinion the dead cannot live again. God Himself has destroyed and blotted out forever their remembrance (Isa_26:14). This realm of death goes on increasing; its borders are ever further removed (Isa_26:15). Yet the longing for deliverance is by no means extinct even in the dead: they seek the Lord, and their whispered prayer ascends to God from their place of trial (Isa_26:16). Yea, the world of the dead even make exertions to restore themselves to life, which efforts can be compared with the pangs of a woman in travail (Isa_26:17). But the result is useless: only wind is brought forth (Isa_26:18). Yet their hope is not disappointed. But only the dead who are the Lord’s will rise to life. These are summoned to awake and rejoice. As a dew of luminous substances will it be, when the earth brings to the light the inhabitants of the world of shades (Isa_26:19). But the earth will restore not merely the bodies of the godly. She will bring to the light all the evil, especially all the blood-guiltiness which is buried in her bosom. This will be a terrible element of wrath and judgment. While this takes place, those who have risen from the dead are to conceal themselves. After a moment the wrath will be past, and then salvation and peace will reign forever (Isa_26:20-21). [It is a strange and unique imagination of Dr. Naegelsbach, that the Prophet gives us in Isa_26:13, the language of the dwellers in Sheol; as it is most manifest that the speakers in Isa_26:12, continue in what follows their speech addressed to Jehovah. See how verse 13 begins like the two preceding verses with the name Jehovah. There is nothing to indicate the assumed change of speakers, or to make us suppose that the occupants of an inframundane region, an infernal limbus, suddenly and without a pause, take up the address to the Almighty, abruptly dropped by the ecclesia militans. The perfect tense, too, in Isa_26:13, may not be arbitrarily treated as the present, to accommodate the language to the author’s theory. This earth, and not Sheol, is unquestionably the theatre of what is described in Isa_26:15-18. The prayer spoken of in Isa_26:16 comes not from the shades of the departed, but from the inhabitants of this world when God’s judgments are in the earth (comp. Isa_26:9). It is a purely gratuitous assumption, involving, too, an anti-scriptural error, that a place of trial under the earth is the scene of the vain endeavors so graphically depicted in Isa_26:18-19. I append Dr. J. A. Alexander’s brief analysis of Isa_26:12-21. “The Church abjures the service of all other sovereigns, and vows perpetual devotion to Him by whom it has been delivered and restored (Isa_26:12-15). Her utter incapacity to save herself is then contrasted with God’s power to restore His people to new life, with a joyful anticipation of which the song concludes (Isa_26:16-19). The additional sentences contain a beautiful and tender intimation of the trials which must be endured before these glorious events take place, with a solemn assurance that Jehovah is about to visit both His people and their enemies with chastisements (Isa_26:20-21).”—D. M.].
2. Lord——thy name.
Isa_26:11-13. The Prophet perceives the approach of great things, but men perceive nothing of them. He complains of this to the Lord.Thy hand is lifted up, says he, and they see it not. [The adverb “when” is unnecessarily supplied in the E. V. It is better to render literally “Thy hand is lifted up; they will not see” or “(but) they do not see it.”—D. M.]. The uplifted hand is ready, and able to smite. The expression יָד רָמָה is found in the Pentateuch in more senses than one. May it not signify here the menacing high hand? According to Scripture great signs on earth and in heaven will precede the coming of the Lord (Mat_24:3; Mat_24:8; Mat_24:29), but the wicked will not give heed to these signs (Mat_24:37-39). They will not be willing to see the hand of God in them. But they will be forced to their confusion (ויבשׁו is a parenthetical clause marking a circumstance) to recognize the hand of God in the signs from the correspondence between them and the decisive facts following on them, when they shall have perceived the zeal, i.e., the strict, judging, and avenging righteousness of God (comp. Isa_9:6; Isa_11:13; Isaiah 38:32; Isa_63:15) attesting itself on the people (comp. in regard to the construction, Psa_69:10). [The expression קנאת עם made dependent in the E. V. on יּבשׁו, and understood of the envy of the heathen toward the people of God, is rightly made dependent by our author on יחזו, and is also rightly understood of the zeal of the Lord of hosts (Isa_9:6 : Isa_37:32), but this zeal of the Lord is not directed against a people who are none of His, as Dr. Naegelsbach thinks, but is the zeal of the Lordfor His own people.—D. M.]. The fire of this zeal will consume those men who could see, but would not see; will devour thy adversaries (צריך, prefixed apposition to the suffix in תאכלם). From the wicked, who to their dismay are surprised by the judgment of God, the Prophet turns to the pious who wait for the day of judgment as the day of their redemption (Luk_21:28). These express the confident assurance that the Lord will assign, prepare them peace on that great day. שָׁפַת, ponere, statuere, is found in Isaiah only here, comp. 2Ki_4:38; Eze_24:3; Psa_22:16. The righteous justly expect from the judgment the peace of God. For how could the righteous Judge award them aught else, seeing that He Himself has wrought their works? Instead of the second לָנו we should perhaps rather expect בָּנוּ; but the Prophet, who delights in significant accords in sound, chose undoubtedly to make a second לנו correspond to the first, in order to indicate thereby that the fruit of the judgment must correspond to the fruit of the life. The third sentence begins with יהוה אלהינו. The address is thus more forcible, and forms an antithesis to the subject and predicate of the sentence. Is it not a contradiction which cannot be maintained, when it must be said: Thou art indeed our God, but others rule over us? [But the perfect tense should not be treated as a present.—D. M.]. To understand אדנים of the worldly powers alone, which is the common view, seems to me quite too restricted, and not to correspond to the context. I translate בְּךָ “in thee” [“By thee,” i.e., by thy power or help, is the common rendering.—D. M.]. The aim of Isa_26:13 is that of a general introduction into the region which is afterwards to be particularly spoken of. [“As to the lords who are mentioned in the first clause, there are two opinions. One is, that they are the Chaldees or Babylonians, under whom the Jews had been in bondage. This is now the current explanation. The other is, that they are the false gods or idols whom the Jews had served before the exile. Against the former and in favor of the latter supposition it may be suggested, first, that the Babylonian bondage did not hinder the Jews from mentioning Jehovah’s name or praising Him; secondly, that the whole verse looks like a confession of their own fault and a promise of amendment, rather than a reminiscence of their sufferings; and thirdly, that there seems to be an obvious comparison between the worship of Jehovah as our, with some other worship and some other deity.….. An additional argument in favor of the reference of the verse to spiritual rulers, is its exact correspondence with the singular fact in Jewish history, that since the Babylonish exile they have never even been suspected of idolatry.” Alexander.—D. M.].
3. They are dead——ends of the earth.
Isa_26:14-15. The Prophet proceeds now directly to the thought which he intends afterwards, Isa_26:19, to bring to light: the resurrection of the dead. But that the light of this wonderful divine revelation may shine more conspicuously he presents, as a foil to it, the opinion which had not been hitherto disputed, and which was supposed to be indisputable, viz., that the dead do not come to life again. [But what indication is given that the Prophet in the 14th verse means to relate an opinion said to prevail universally in regard to the impossibility of a resurrection of the dead? Why not rather understand this verse as a declaration that the other lords just spoken of should not merely cease to exist, but even to be remembered? The language used is applicable to the deities of an effete mythology once worshipped by Israel, as well as to the Babylonian and previous oppressors of Israel. In regard to the opinion which “hitherto has passed and even now passes in the whole world as incontrovertible truth, that there is no redemption from the bands of death,” does not Hosea, an earlier Prophet than Isaiah, announce that death and Sheol should be deprived of their prey? Hos_13:14. Isaiah himself, too, does not here for the first time make mention of the vanquishing of death. See Isa_25:8; comp. Job_19:25-27.—D. M.]. For this very reason (לָכֵן=with reference to this, in so far. Comp. on Jer_5:2; Isa_27:9) hast thou visited and destroyed them and made their memory to perish. Most interpreters understand verse 15 of the fall and resuscitation of the people of Israel. [And rightly do they so understand it. Few readers will assent to Dr. Naegelsbach’s singular opinion that the land that is enlarged is the region of the dead. In the E. V. the last clause of verse 15 is rendered “thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.” But the words “it” and “unto” are not in the original text, and the pluperfect is not warranted. Omitting these additions and discarding the pluperfect, we have the rendering, “thou hast removed the ends of the land,” i.e., extended the boundaries of the country. Thus we are told that extension of territory had been granted along with increase of population.—D. M.].
3. LORD in trouble——world fallen.
Isa_26:16-18. But even in the realm of the dead the longing for life and the hope of regaining it are not extinguished. Even the dead in their distress seek the Lord, the fountain of all hope. [“Visit is here used in the unusual but natural sense of seeking God in supplication.”—Alexander]. The prayer of the dead in a low whisper (לחש) ascends from their place of trial to the Lord. [If we take our theology from the book of Isaiah, there is no “place of trial” for the godly after this life. The righteous man when he dies enters into peace, Isa_57:2. I need hardly state here that a purgatory, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, is not intended for unbelievers.—D. M.]. Verse 17 obviously supposes that a deliverance from Sheol is possible, and that the hope of this deliverance is not extinct in its occupants. This hope produces rather, according to the view of the Prophet, in the dwellers of Hades, a struggle and endeavor after liberation from prison which can be compared with the pains of child-bearing. But this impulse of hope remains unsatisfied so long as it is a merely natural one. I take מִפָּנֶיךָ not in the causal but in the local signification=far from (comp. Isa_14:19; Isa_22:3; Jdg_9:21). Far from Jehovah, without vital union with Him, a dead man cannot raise himself to new life. [I prefer taking מִפָּנֶיךָ in the causal signification. The text runs—“So have we been” (הָיִנוּ), not “we are.”—D. M.]. All convulsive efforts of the dead which aim at a new life are ineffectual. They are like bringing forth wind, the issue of an apparent pregnancy in consequence of the disease called empneumatosis (Gesenius, Delizsch). The מֵתִים must learn by experience that without Jehovah they cannot bless (comp. on יְשוּעָה Isa_26:1) the land of their habitation, i.e., here, the earth (comp. afterwards תֵבֵל), because, however convulsive their pangs may be, through them no inhabitants of the world (Psa_33:8; Isa_18:3; Isa_26:9; Nah_1:5; Lam_4:12) will drop,i.e., no births to a new life will take place. נפל is used here and Isa_26:19 of the partus. Comp. the Greek πίπτειν, the Latin cadere, the German werfen (Ges.Thes. p. 897). [This meaning of נפל is in my opinion more than doubtful. But what are we to think of the Shades in Hades striving to give birth to themselves, fruitlessly laboring to get back into the world, and this, not so much for the purpose of releasing themselves from their gloomy abode, as with a view to bless the world with new inhabitants, and to work deliverance or safety for it? Generous Shades! So self-forgetful amid their sufferings in Hades! The judicious reader may be left to make his own comments on this strange notion.—D. M.].
5. Thy dead—the dead.
Isa_26:19. [“This verse is in the strongest contrast with the one before it. To the ineffectual efforts of the people to save themselves, he now opposes their actual deliverance by God.”—Alexander.]. The suffix of the first person in נבלתי corresponds to the suffix of the second person in נבלה .מתיך (Isa 26:25) is never used in the plural. It is a collective word (comp. Lev_11:8; Lev_11:11 sqq.; Jer_7:33; Jer_16:4 et saepe). We have to refer the suffix of the first person to the Prophet who here speaks in the name of the church. It is he who after the disconsolate words of the Shades [?] speaks as the interpreter of Jehovah here (and afterwards Isa_26:20-21) words of consolation, and in the spirit of prophecy utters the triumphant call to awake, which will one day be pronounced by a mightier voice that it may be fulfilled. שכני עפר only here, comp. Isa_18:3. The words כי טר וגו׳ graphically depict the thought expressed in what goes before. On the morning of the resurrection a wonderful dew will cover the earth. It is no more the earthly dew, it is a heavenly, a divine dew (therefore טַלֶּךָ). If even now the earthly dew, when the rays of the sun mirror themselves in it, sparkles like pearls, how resplendent will be the drops of that heavenly dew, every one of which will be a glorified luminous body, a body of the resurrection! The plural אורת is found only here; for אֹרוֹת2Ki_4:39 is a quite different word [?]. אוֹריִם also occurs only once; Psa_136:7. The singular אוֹרָה is found Psa_139:12; Est_8:16. That the signification “lights” suits the connection cannot be doubted. For the new resurrection life is a life in the light (Joh_1:4; Joh_8:12), and the δόξα of which our body, as σύμμορφον with the body of Christ, will partake (Php_3:21) is in its nature light (Mat_17:2). But whence come these forms of light which as heavenly dew-drops will on the morning of the resurrection shine on the surface of the earth? They have arisen, i. e., they come out of the earth in which they hitherto as רפאיּם, as gloomy shades have dwelt. At the almighty word of the Lord the earth was forced to give up (cast out, Isa_26:18) these רפאים that had been hitherto regarded as a spoil that could not be snatched from it (Isa_26:14).
6. Come my people——her slain.
Isa_26:20-21. If we receive the simple natural impression made by the Prophet’s representation, we must say that we are transported by these two verses into the time after the resurrection. [?] For what people can be addressed except that which according to Isa_26:19 has been awakened to new life? And why must this people after it had in Hades pined so long in suspense and anxiety, [?] conceal itself again after it had hardly come forth to the light? And why is it set forth as a characteristic mark of the time during which the people shall remain hidden, that in that time the earth shall disclose all the shed blood it had absorbed, and all corpses of the slain which it had concealed and kept? Is that not a clear reference to the time of the last judgment which brings everything to light and finishes everything? These are questions the answer to which was not known by the Prophet himself. It is the Apocalypse of the New Testament that first solves for us this riddle. It distinguishes a first and a second resurrection. And it makes the setting loose of Satan with the last assault on the city of God follow the first resurrection, after which there ensues the second general resurrection with the great universal judgment (Rev. xx.). [According to this exposition they who partake of the first resurrection were gloomy shades in misery till the earth cast them forth; and after having been raised from the dead they must hide themselves. But the dead in Christ were never shades in misery, and when they are raised, they shall be at once caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with Him. 1Th_4:16-17. The ingenuity displayed by our author in illustrating this passage of Isaiah from the Apocalypse is very striking.—D. M.]. What those chambers are into which the people should go (חֶדֶרּ only here in Isaiah) the Prophet does not explain. But when according to Rev_20:9 the παρεμβολὴ τῶν ἁγίων and the πόλις ἠγαπημένη is surrounded by enemies, I cannot doubt that the saints are enjoined during the short tribulation of the city to withdraw, and give themselves to solitary prayer in quiet expectation. At the same time this does not, I think, exclude the application of the counsel here given by the Prophet to all cases related to that final and highest storm of indignation as typical and preparatory events. Isa_26:21זַעַםa storm, storm of wrath, is a word which occurs not rarely in Isa_10:5; Isa_10:25; Isa_13:5; Isa_30:27. The storm is comparatively short, but in its intensity surpasses all others. For it comprehends according to Rev_20:9-15 nothing less than the overthrow of Satan, and the general judgment. Verse 21 answers to this exactly. If Jehovah rises from His place in order to visit the guilt of the inhabitants of the earth (ישׁב הא׳ collectively) on them, and if the earth then discloses all hidden blood-guiltiness, this plainly enough indicates that that storm of wrath involves a work of judgment. The words “for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place,” are taken literally from Mic_1:3 comp. Mat_25:31; Rev_20:11. As counterpart to the blessed fruits, which the earth according to Isa_26:19 will bring forth, and at the same time as proof of the all-comprehensive character of the judgment, the slain and the blood that has been shed are specified as what the earth will on that day cause to come to light. The earth opened its mouth to receive the blood of Abel who was the first person slain (Gen_4:11). And since that time it has taken in all the blood that has been shed, and all the dead bodies of the slain; and preserves them faithfully for the day of judgment, when they shall come forth as incontrovertible witnesses against the guilty. In the book of the Revelation, too, it is expressly declared that the sea, and death, and Hades will disclose all their dead (Rev_20:13).
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:
[7]they shall see to their shame thy zeal for the people.
[8]Or, toward thy people.
[9]fire shall devour them, thy enemies.
[10]Or, for us.
[11]Shades.
[12]thou hast removed far all the borders of the land.
[13]Heb. secret speech.
[14]far from thy sight.
[15]my dead body shall arise.
[16]lights.
[17]Heb. bloods.
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 lifted up--to punish the foes of God's people. They…
lifted up--to punish the foes of God's people. They who will not see shall be made to "see" to their cost (Isa 5:12).
their envy at the people--that is, "Thy people." LOWTH translates, "They shall see with confusion Thy zeal for Thy people."
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fire of . . . enemies--that is, the fire to which Thine enemies are doomed (Isa 9:18).
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 11. When thy hand is lifted up — The…
11. When thy hand is lifted up — The “hand” is the symbol of power, and when raised denotes power in exercise. Though divine power is conspicuous, the wicked recognise it not.
But they shall see — Non-recognition of it shall not long last.
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Ashamed — They shall be put to confusion.
Envy at — In observing God’s zeal for his own people.
Fire of thine enemies — That is, “fire of” judgment, which “thine enemies” deserve and shall receive.
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 11. To the eye of faith the lifting up…
11. To the eye of faith the lifting up of Jehovah’s hand has been manifest in the recent history of Israel, but, as in Isaiah’s time, there are some who “regard not the work of Jehovah nor see the operation of his hands” (ch. Isa_5:12); and for them further judgments are necessary. The first part of the verse is a categorical statement: Jehovah, thy hand hath been lifted up, [yet] they see not.
but they shall see … people] Lit., Let them see (and be ashamed) [thy] jealousy for the people; i.e. “let them be put to shame when they see, &c.” The clause “and be ashamed” is a parenthesis, separating the verb from its object. “Jealousy for the people” is gen. of the obj., as Psa_69:9. For the idea cf. Zep_1:18; Eze_36:5. Similarly, the fire of thine enemies means “the fire (reserved) for thine enemies.”
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 (11) They will not see . . .—Better, they…
(11) They will not see . . .—Better, they did not see, or, they see not, so as to bring out the contrast with the clause that follows. When the “arm of Jehovah,” the symbol of His power, was simply lifted up for the protection of His people, the evildoers closed their eyes and would not see it. A time will come when judgments shall fall on them, and so they shall be made to see.
Shall be ashamed for their envy at the people.—Better, they shall see (and be ashamed) the jealousy (of God) for the people. They shall understand something of God’s watchful and zealous care for those whom He loves. It shall be seen that it is as a consuming “fire” (Psa_79:5) that shall devour His adversaries.
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 When thy hand is lifted up, they will not…
When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see. The original is more graphic. It runs, "Lord, thy hand is lifted up, but they see not. They shall see to their shame thy jealousy for thy people; yea, fire shall devour thy adversaries" God"s jealousy "burns like fire" (Psa_79:9 Zep_1:18) in the cause of his people.
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 Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up they will…
Isa_26:11
Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up they will not see
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Mans blindness to the Divine working
Modern scepticism seeks to undeify the Deity; and yet, feeling that man must have a god of some sort, it deifies nature, and invests matter and the laws of the universe with the attributes of Divinity.
This is no new form of scepticism. The same evil existed among the Jews in the days of Isaiah. To this the prophet emphatically refers in our text. The lifting up of the hand refers to the gracious and loving tokens He had given of Himself; but a wilful blindness hid the Divine glory from the people.
I. MANS BLINDNESS TO THE DIVINE WORKING--
1. In the realm of matter. There are men who, while they behold and admire the work, care not to see or own the Worker.
2. In the realm of history. Men who look at events, whether small or great, in the lives of individuals or of nations, and are content to account for them by alluding simply to second causes, without learning to trace the hand of God, are guilty of the sin to which the text refers. National sins bring national judgments. One wicked king is often employed to scourge another, and when the scourger has done his work, then he himself in turn is also scourged. One wicked nation is employed to punish another for its sins, to humble its pride, and to check its guilty ambition.
3. In the realm of spirit. A vile and wicked person enters the sanctuary. His character is notoriously bad. He takes his seat in the pew beside you. During the service, God by His Spirit comes down upon him with mighty power. In answer to his prayer he experiences a renewal of heart. He announces the fact to you. And yet you think little or nothing about it. This does not affect you half as much as if you were told that you had made a hundred pounds by some fortunate speculation. Look at the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane. The ease is unique. Innocence is in agony. A merciful God pours the sorrows of abandonment and death into the soul of our holy Substitute. Yet His friends, His disciples, for whom He suffers, are fast asleep. But the disciples are only types of other men.
II. THE CAUSES OF THIS BLINDNESS.
1. Ignorance. The heathen, having no direct written revelation, are in darkness, and know not the truth. But their blindness to the supernatural can scarcely be pronounced wilful or criminal; it must be regarded as the fruit of ignorance. But as ignorance cannot be pleaded in our case, with our fulness of light, our blindness is wilful.
2. Indifference.
3. Absorption of thought in other things.
4. Pride of intellect. This reason reveals itself in the undue homage rendered to human reason. Thus saith the Lord must give way to Thus saith human reason.
5. Pride of heart. It develops itself in an obstinate refusal to submit to the authority of God.
III. THE REMOVAL OF THIS BLINDNESS. They shall see, and be ashamed, etc.
1. Sometimes men are brought to see by sad calamities and sore judgments.
2. Men are also brought to see by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
3. Many will see God in the hour of death. At the moment of dissolution, who will venture to say what strange visions of the supernatural will people the whole scene around them? Every object then will seem full of God.
4. In the day of judgment all men shall see. God will vindicate Himself, and overthrow the unbelief of His deniers by a personal revelation of Himself.
5. The result of all this unveiling will be shame and envy.
(1) Whether the discovery of God is made here or hereafter, shame must inevitably be the result. In the one ease it will be the shame of the penitent returning to God, full of conscious guilt; in the other it will be the shame of utter despair. It is to the latter our text refers. It is the shame of those who shall discover that they have wronged God, when there is no possibility of repairing the wrong. When the man discovers in the light of the future how full everything is of God, how God pervades all, he will be covered with shame--shame at his folly in resisting evidences so clear and conclusive; shame for having denied and rejected so reasonable and so elevating a system as Christianity; shame for having espoused so unreasonable and so degrading a theory as infidelity.
(2) Another result will be envy. They shall be ashamed for their envy at the people. In the margin it is rendered, Ashamed of their envy toward Thy people. It seems a startling truth, that the wicked, at some future period of their history, shall have such an insight into the glorious inheritance of the good as to have a clear conception of what they themselves might have obtained by grace, and of what they have lost by sin. This solemn truth is alluded to several times in the sacred Scriptures. Our Saviour saith, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. The rich man saw Lazarus in Abrahams bosom. When the unbelieving shall see the glorious portion of those who have believed, and contrast it with their own degrading wretchedness, they will envy the glorified, and be ashamed of that very envy. (R. Roberts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Concluding Scenes from the World’s History
Concluding Scenes from the World’s History
v. 11. Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, to punish the foes of His people, they will not see, they deliberately close their eyes against the manifestation of His majesty; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people, heaped with disgrace as they see the zeal of Jehovah for His people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them, rather, "fire will devour Thine adversaries. " That is the judgment of God upon the wicked, by which they would be both surprised and confused.
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v. 12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us, firmly establishing the condition of peace in the midst of His congregation; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us, the believers’ life of sanctification being a gift of the Lord and therefore acceptable in His sight.
v. 13. O Lord, our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, for various despots of the world attempt time and again to tyrannize the believers; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name, for Jehovah has overthrown the tyrants and enabled His children to worship Him as their Lord.
v. 14. They, the enemies, are dead, they shall not live, they cannot return to their former power; they are deceased, they shall not rise, the enemies of God cannot hope to be delivered from the everlasting destruction to which they are condemned; therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. That is the lot of the Lord’s adversaries. Over against that we have the blessings which He sends upon His own people.
v. 15. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation, for the Lord causes the number of His children to grow; Thou art glorified, by this act of mercy; Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth, for thus far the Church of God, by His own promise, is to be extended.
v. 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, thus the prophet once more cries out with reference to the night of affliction; they poured out a prayer, all the more fervent because it is made in secret, when Thy chastening was upon them, rendering them almost speechless with its severity. This is true to this day with regard to the consciousness of sin with its depressing effects.
v. 17. Like as a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord. The more unendurable the affliction seemed, the nearer was the time of deliverance.
v. 18. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind, this being ever the result of man’s sinfulness, of his life without God, which is all vanity; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, for by their own reason and strength men cannot produce salvation; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen, literally, "no inhabitants of the world will drop," that is, no new spiritual births can be brought out by the efforts of men, without the power of God. But in the hand of the Lord the matter assumes a different aspect:
v. 19. Thy dead men shall live, by the power of God’s mercy; together with my dead body shall they arise, delivered by the might of God. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, the divine glory imparting its heavenly power to the moldering dust of men, and the earth shall cast out the dead. The earth is forced to give up its victims, and the awakened believers join the number of those who are living the true life of the Spirit by the power of God.
v. 20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, hiding while God takes vengeance upon the ungodly, and shut thy doors about thee, to be secure from disturbance; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast, until the judgment of God has gone forth upon His enemies.
v. 21. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, reveal the murders committed, and shall no more cover her slain, everything being laid open before the eyes of the Judge of the world. Thus the chapter shows the deliverance and the resurrection of the believers in the midst of the judgment pronounced and carried out upon the ungodly.
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 your hand is lifted up
your hand is lifted up
Yahweh preparing to punish wicked people is spoken of as if his hand were raised and about to hit the wicked people. (See: Metaphor)
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but they do not notice
"but the wicked people do not notice"
they will see your zeal for the people
Here "see" represents realizing something. AT: "they will realize that you are eager to bless your people" (See: Metonymy)
be put to shame
This can be stated in active form. AT: "they will be ashamed" (See: Active or Passive)
fire of your adversaries will devour them
Yahweh punishing and completely destroying his adversaries is spoken of as if he would send a fire that will completely burn them up. (See: Metaphor)
fire of your adversaries
Here "of" does not mean the fire belongs to the adversaries but that the fire is intended to be used against the adversaries. AT: "your fire will completely burn them up"
for us
Here "us" refers to Isaiah and includes all the righteous people. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
translationWords
Yahweh
hand
zeal
people of God
shame
fire
adversary
devour
peace
works
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 26:11 An upraised fist expresses anger and the threat…
26:11 An upraised fist expresses anger and the threat of judgment (see also 19:16). • Fire was often an image for God’s judgment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.