Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
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Isaiah 28:18-22 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ” Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
Parallel Translations
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Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.
As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.”
For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.
For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act.
Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
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And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
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And your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with the nether-world shall not stand; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it,
As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be sheer terror to understand the message.
For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself; and the covering too narrow when he gathereth himself up.
For the LORD will rise up as in mount Perazim, He will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that He may do His work, strange is His work, and bring to pass His act, strange is His act.
Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bands be made strong; for an extermination wholly determined have I heard from the Lord, the GOD of hosts, upon the whole land.
Cross-references (75)
- 1 Chronicles 14:11 (v21) So they came up to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand, like waters breaking out.…
- Isaiah 7:7 (v18) This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.”
- Isaiah 8:10 (v18) Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand, for God is with us.”
- Joshua 10:12 (v21) Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel,…
- 2 Samuel 5:20 (v21) David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.”…
Show all 74 cross-references
- Isaiah 10:22-23 (v22) For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing…
- Joshua 10:10 (v21) Yahweh confused them before Israel. He killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth…
- Isaiah 28:15 (v18) “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes…
- Isaiah 24:1-23 (v22) 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…
- Isaiah 64:6 (v20) 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…
- 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (v20) For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,…
- 2 Samuel 5:25 (v21) David did so, as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.
- 1 Chronicles 14:16 (v21) David did as God commanded him; and they attacked the army of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer.
- Lamentations 2:15 (v21) All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men…
- Habakkuk 3:16 (v19) I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must…
- Romans 9:30-32 (v20) What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which…
- Daniel 9:26-27 (vv18, 22) After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city…
- Deuteronomy 29:21-24 (v21) Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the…
- 2 Kings 24:2 (v19) Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon,…
- 2 Chronicles 30:10 (v22) So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but people ridiculed them and mocked…
- 2 Chronicles 36:16 (v22) but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people,…
- Psalms 107:16 (v22) For he has broken the gates of bronze, and cut through bars of iron.
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (v19) Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the…
- Isaiah 28:3 (v18) The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.
- Isaiah 28:14-15 (v22) Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with…
- Isaiah 28:19 (v21) As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing…
- Isaiah 29:14 (v21) therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their…
- Isaiah 32:12-14 (v22) Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the…
- Isaiah 33:7 (v19) Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
- Isaiah 36:22 (v19) Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to…
- Isaiah 37:3 (v19) They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and…
- Isaiah 50:4 (v19) The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He awakens…
- Isaiah 57:12-13 (v20) I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you. When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver…
- Isaiah 59:5-6 (v20) They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.…
- Isaiah 66:3-6 (v20) He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who…
- Jeremiah 7:8-10 (v20) Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk…
- Jeremiah 15:17 (v22) I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.
- Jeremiah 19:3 (v19) Say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring…
- Jeremiah 20:7 (v22) Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day.…
- Jeremiah 25:11 (v22) This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
- Jeremiah 39:7 (v22) Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
- Lamentations 1:14 (v22) “The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are knit together. They have come up on my neck. He made my strength fail. The…
- Daniel 7:28 (v19) “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my…
- Daniel 8:27 (v19) I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick for some days. Then I rose up, and did the king’s business. I wondered at the vision, but no one…
- Daniel 11:40 (v18) “At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with…
- Malachi 4:1-3 (v18) “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…
- Matthew 27:39 (v22) Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
- Matthew 27:44 (v22) The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
- Luke 19:41-44 (v21) When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But…
- Luke 21:24 (v22) 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,…
- Luke 21:25-26 (v19) There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the…
- Acts 13:40-41 (v22) Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets: ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work…
- Acts 17:32 (v22) Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
- Revelation 22:18-19 (v22) I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, may God add to him the plagues which are…
- 1 Samuel 3:11 (v19) Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
- 2 Kings 17:6 (v19) In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the…
- 2 Kings 18:13 (v19) Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
- 2 Kings 21:12 (v19) therefore Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will…
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 (v22) Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and…
- Job 18:11 (v19) Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels.
- Isaiah 2:15 (v18) for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,
- Isaiah 8:8 (v18) It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will…
- Isaiah 10:12 (v21) Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the…
- Jeremiah 30:14 (v21) All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a…
- Jeremiah 44:28 (v18) 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…
- Jeremiah 47:2 (v18) Yahweh says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is…
- Ezekiel 17:15 (v18) But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will…
- Ezekiel 21:19-23 (v19) “Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out…
- Daniel 8:9-13 (v18) Out of one of them came out a little horn, which grew exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious…
- Zechariah 1:6 (v18) But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said,…
- Revelation 12:15 (v18) The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.
- Revelation 17:15 (v18) He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
- Lamentations 3:33 (v21) For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
- Ezekiel 33:21 (v21) In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me,…
74 distinct cross-references across this passage (75 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Terror and destruction shall make you to learn that,…
Terror and destruction shall make you to learn that, which exhortations and gentleness could not bring you unto.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–22 Isa 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be…
Isa 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Ver. 18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled.] See Isa 28:15. God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly; {Psa 64:7} and when they shall say, Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. {1Th 5:3} They made a covenant with death and hell, but death and hell make no covenant with them. Thus it befell the rich fool; {Luk 12:20} Alexander the Great, whom his parasites flattered into a fond conceit of an immortality; and Pope Sylvester the second, who dealt with the devil for the popedom, and was persuaded by him that he should never die till he sang mass in Jerusalem; but when he saw how he was cheated, and that he must die, he cried out,
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“ Ah miser! aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes. ”
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 vv18–22 Disannulled; made void, or of none effect; it shall…
Disannulled; made void, or of none effect; it shall stand you in no stead.
Ye shall be trodden down by it; which you flattered yourselves that it should not come unto you, Isa 28:15.
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 On vv18–22 From the time that it goeth forth, it shall…
From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you,.... Or, "as soon as it passeth through" (z), "it shall take you away"; as soon as it begins to overflow, and as it goes along, it shall make clear work, and carry you away with it; you will not be able to resist it, to withstand its motion, and stop its progress; but will be borne down by it, and carried away with it, either destroyed by it at once, or carried into captivity; so the Targum,
"in the time of its passing over, it shall carry you captive:''
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for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; signifying that it should come very early, before they were aware of it and prepared for it, and should be constant and incessant, day after day, day and night, continually, until it had done its work thoroughly, in the utter destruction of them; which was true of the Assyrian, but especially of the Roman army:
and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report; the fame, the rumour of the enemy's coming, of his invasion of the land, of the devastation he makes everywhere, and of his progress and near approach to Jerusalem; the bare report of this only being made and confirmed, so that there was reason to believe it, would produce anguish and distress of mind, cause a commotion, a fear and trembling, and shaking of the joints, as the word (a) signifies; and therefore, how dreadful must the calamity itself be! or else this may be meant of the report of the prophecy of the Lord, which before they would not believe; but now the judgments threatened coming upon them, they would be made to understand it; so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and only vexation alone shall give understanding to the report"; and to this sense the Targum,
"and it shall be, before the time of the curse comes, that ye shall understand the words of the prophets;''
and, when it was come, should know to their sorrow, and by sad experience, the truth of what they had said.
(z) "mox ut pertransierit", Tigurine version. (a) "commotio", Montanus, Piscator; "terror", Calvin; "pavor", Pagninus.
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 vv19–22 Pass over - It shall not only come to…
Pass over - It shall not only come to you, but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning; and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite. The report - So dreadful shall the judgment be, that it shall strike you with horror, when you only hear the rumour of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21, 22 Verse 18. Your covenant with death shall be disannulled…
Verse 18. Your covenant with death shall be disannulled - "Your covenant with death shall be broken"] For כפר caphar, which seems not to belong to this place, the Chaldee reads תפר taphar, which is approved by Houbigant and Secker. See Jer 33:21, where the very same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dissert. p. l.
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 vv18, 20, 22 Isa 28:18-19. And your covenant with death shall be…
Isa 28:18-19. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled — Made void, or of none effect. Ye shall be trodden down — Namely, by the overflowing scourge, which you flattered yourselves should not come unto you. From the time that it goeth forth — Namely, from me into the land, it shall assuredly, and with the first, seize upon and carry away you scoffers. Morning by morning it shall pass over, &c. — It shall not only come to you, but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning, and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite. It shall be a vexation to understand the report — So dreadful shall the judgment be, that it shall strike you with horror when you only hear the rumour of its approach.
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 vv18–22 And your covenant with death - (see the note…
And your covenant with death - (see the note at Isa 28:15).
Shall be disannulled - The word rendered ‘shall be disannulled,’ (וכפר vekupar from כפר kâphar), properly means “to cover, overlay;” then to pardon, forgive; then to make atonement, to expiate. It has the idea of blotting out, forgiving, and obliterating - because a writing in wax was obliterated or “covered” by passing the “stylus” over it. Hence, also, the idea of abolishing, or rendering nought, which is the idea here. “When the overflowing scourge” (see the note at Isa 28:15).
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Then ye shall be trodden down by it - There is in this verse a great intermingling of metaphor, not less than three figures being employed to denote the calamity. There is first the scourge, an instrument of punishment; there is then the idea of inundating waters or floods; then there is also the idea of a warrior or an invading army that treads down an enemy. All the images are designed to denote essentially the same thing, that the judgments of God would come upon the land, and that nothing in which they had trusted would constitute a refuge.
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 vv19–22 Hear. Under the last kings of Juda, the misery…
Hear. Under the last kings of Juda, the misery was continual. Captivity opened the eyes of the people, and they were afterwards more docile. The murder of Christ, and the subsequent evils which befell the nation, seem to have had a quite different effect. They will at last submit to his yoke. (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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18–22 disannulled--obliterated, as letters traced on a waxen tablet are…
disannulled--obliterated, as letters traced on a waxen tablet are obliterated by passing the stylus over it.
trodden down--passing from the metaphor in "scourge" to the thing meant, the army which treads down its enemies.
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 vv18–22 18. Covenant — Covenants secured by outside sorcery, black…
18. Covenant — Covenants secured by outside sorcery, black art, and oracle, shall be obliterated. So the literal word, in allusion to erasures of waxen tablets. Death and hell (original, sheol) are ghastly impersonations; very proper parties of the second part for such covenants and arguments.
Scourge — See on Isa_28:15; a mixed metaphor; — an invading army using blows heavily laid on, and trampling under feet as it advances.
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 vv18–22 18. See on Isa_28:15. shall be disannulled] lit. “smeared…
18. See on Isa_28:15. shall be disannulled] lit. “smeared over” (cf. Gen_6:14) i.e. “cancelled,” “obliterated.” The verb is the technical word for expiate (as e.g. Isa_22:14), and although it is nowhere else in the O.T. used exactly as here, the sense is supported by Syriac usage, and an alteration of the text is not necessary.
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 vv19–22 (19) From the time that it goeth forth it…
(19) From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you.—The words that follow remind us of Deu_28:66-67. Day by day would come the dread rumours of the Assyrian march. Then the “report” would no longer be unintelligible. Instead of the “line upon line, precept upon precept,” there would be “mourning upon mourning,” “day and night,” each with its sad burden of alarming tidings. To understand those tidings would be a vexation and a terror. The word for “report” is the same as the “doctrine” of Isa_28:9, and stands, in each case, for the deride “message” of the prophet.
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 vv18–22 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled; or,…
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled; or, wiped out. The entire clever arrangement, by which they thought to avert the danger from themselves and from Judaea, shall come to naught. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. As the prophet continues, his metaphor becomes still more mixed. "Treading down" was so familiar an expression for destroying, that, perhaps, its literal sense was overlooked. (comp. Isa_5:5 Isa_7:25 Isa_10:6 Dan_8:13 Mic_7:10 Zec_10:5, etc.)
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 vv20, 22 For the bed is shorter than that a man…
Isa_28:20
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it
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The short bed and the narrow covering
The Jewish beds were only mattresses, laid on the floor; and the cover was s sheet, or carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapped himself.
In this adage, there is an allusion to the condition of one who, being weary and inclined to rest, goes to bed, that he may get refreshing repose. Having betaken himself to a bed that is too short for him, and having got a covering that is too narrow to wrap himself in, he is disappointed of the comfortable rest that he expected to enjoy; and, instead of getting agreeable warmth and refreshment, he becomes cold, restless, and uneasy. This painful state represents the distressed, disappointed condition of those who hide themselves under falsehood and refuges of lies, in order to obtain either temporal or spiritual deliverance. The truth of this aphorism, thus explained, was exemplified in the Jews, who resorted to other expedients for safety than Divine wisdom had ordained, and found all their expectations frustrated. (R. Macculloch.)
The growth of religious conception
This proverb of Isaiah about the growth of religious conception has had many applications. Again and again it has happened since Isaiahs time that the framework of theological theory formed by the intellect has become too narrow for the growing knowledge and spirit of man; and there has followed the discomfort, the strain, the struggle, the stretching or the dissolution of conventional beliefs, and out of them the reconstruction on a larger scale of a theology that somewhat inadequately expresses the actual revelation to man of the Unseen and the Divine. The foundations of religion are ever the same--the elementary force in the heart of man, the sense of weakness, of sin, of fear; the upward reaching of man to the unattainable God, and the blessed shining downwards of God into the heart of man. But the speculations, the imagery, the language of theology have varied with human knowledge, and are varying now before our eyes. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
The expansion of the Jewish conception of God
It was in Isaiahs age that, for the first time, the Jews became pressingly conscious of their own littleness compared with the vast nations that pressed on them from either side. They lay between the vast continental empires of Assyria and Egypt, and in the grasp of these great barbaric, almost inhuman forces, they felt themselves as nothing. There was, for the first time, a painful contrast between the political insignificance of the Jews and their boundless pretensions to the favour of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts. They were stricken with terror. But Isaiah was inspired with heavenly wisdom to see that the agony of the terror sprang rather from the theology of the Jews than from the might of their enemies, for their theology was, in brief, this--that Jehovah was the God of the Jews only, and that the Assyrian was the foe of God. They now saw that he might be the victorious foe. To them the victory of the Assyrian would be the defeat of God and the shattering of their faith, and it seemed inevitable. It was the undivine, the material, relentlessly crushing God that they deemed Divine; it led straight to practical atheism, Now, Isaiah dared to think and to see that God was the God of the Assyrians also, that He wielded their forces in His hand, and that His one supreme aim was righteousness, and not favour to Israel; it was an extension of their theology, beyond what they could bear. It was not only latitudinarian; it was absurd. They ridiculed him and his message, and finally, it is said they put him to death. But, nevertheless, Isaiah had a vision of a truth which the world has now made its own--that Gods providence extends to all mankind, and that no nation and no Church can monopolise Gods blessing and protection, and that God has one moral aim only--the growth of righteousness and the coming of His kingdom on earth. He thus extended his conception of God. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
Present day need: a larger conception of God
The terror of our time to those who feel it is the aggregate of the brute unspiritual powers of nature, whether of human passion or material force, in whose ceaseless whirl man seems to be a mere plaything. Our Assyria is materialism. We may learn from Isaiah how to meet it,--not by denying the existence of these forces, or underrating them or their mystery, but by enlarging our conception of God. Perhaps if God would give England an Isaiah now, his message would be the consecration of natural forces, a declaration that all things are working towards spiritual end for the coming of the kingdom of God. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
Expansion in theology and religion
We need to expand also our whole conception of theology and of religion, giving it a wider foundation in human nature and in facts, and thus making faith more obviously compatible with intellectual honesty. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
The lengthening of the bed
The lengthening of the bed, the widening of the covering, is generally effected without a fracture or a rent. It is altered partly by the infusion of new life and meaning by the spiritual interpretation of what were thought to be physical and scientific statements, partly by the transference of emphasis from worship to life, partly by the ever-varying meaning assigned to old words and old forms. Jehovah did not cease to be Jehovah when the Jews ceased to regard Him as the God of the Jews only. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
A word of caution to the enthusiast for an enlarged and scientific theology
A word of caution to the enthusiast for an enlarged and scientific theology and for what might seem to him a rational religion. It cannot be invented prematurely; it must grow as daylight grows, and this is a very slow and gradual process. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)
The bed and its covering
God has so made men, that there are two things essential for their comfort, if not for their very existence, namely, sleep and clothing. Mans body is, after all, only a picture of his inner being; just what the body needs materially, that the soul needs spiritually. It requires rest, which is pictured to us in sleep. And it needs covering; the naked soul would be unhappy, noxious to the eye of God, and utterly miserable in itself.
I. MEN TRY TO MAKE BEDS ON WHICH THEIR SOULS MAY REST. One of the most uncomfortable things in the world, I should think, would be a spare bed--a bed so spare that a man should not have room to stretch himself on it. But that is just the condition of all men while they are seeking a rest anywhere else but in the rest that remaineth for the people of God.
1. As to the present world, how many beds are there of mans own invention.
(1) One man has made himself a bedstead of gold; the pillars thereof are of silver, the covering thereof is of Tyrian purple, the pillows are filled with down, such as only much fine gold could buy him; the hangings he hath embroidered with threads of gold and silver, and the curtains are drawn upon rings of ivory. Lo, this man hath ransacked creation for luxuries, and invented to himself all manner of sumptuous delights. He becomes a merchant prince, a millionaire, and he says unto himself, Soul, take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry; thou hast much goods laid up for many years. If he makes riches his God, and seeks in them his happiness, you never find the man has money enough, his lands are still too narrow and his estate too small The soul is wider than creation, broader than space; give it all, it would be still unsatisfied, and man would not find rest.
(2) Other men have been ambitious. Oh, says one, if I might be famous, what would I not do? Oh, if my name might be handed down to posterity, as having done something, and having been somebody, a man of note, how satisfied would I be! And the man has so acted, that he has at last made for himself a bed of honour. He has become famous. But did you ever read the history of famous men, or hear them tell their tale in secret? Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, even though it be the laurel coronet of honour. When the man is known, it is not enough; he asks for wider praise.
(3) There is another bed on which man thinks he could rest. There is a witch, a painted harlot, who wears the richest gems in her ears, and a necklace of precious things about her neck. Her name is Madam Wanton. She keeps a house wherein she feasteth men, and maketh them drunken with the wine of pleasure, which is as honey to the taste, but is venom to the soul This witch, when she can, entices men into her bed.
(4) You may have all the vices and pleasure and mirth of this metropolis, and when you have it all you will find it does not equal your expectation nor satisfy your desires. When the devil is bringing you one cup of spiced wine, you will be asking him next time to spice it higher; and he will flavour it to your fiery taste, but you will be dissatisfied still, until at last, if he were to bring you a cup hot as damnation, it would fall tasteless on your palate. Now think of the Christian, and see the picture reversed. In the Christian religion there is a rest that no one can enjoy elsewhere. And now let me stretch myself upon this bed. Let me think of the largest desire that heart ever had, and I find it not at all greater than this bed. I pant to be Gods child, I have it here. I pant to be rich to all intents of bliss, I have the promise here, and I shall have the fruition of it hereafter. I long for perfection. Is not that a stretch indeed? And that I have, perfect in Christ Jesus.
2. Now, think of this bed in the sense of another world. And here we may say of all the sinners hope, that it is a bed shorter than that he can stretch himself upon it. Let conscience strain you, let death put you on the rack, and pull you out a little, and the bed is not long enough for you. You are uneasy. There is no man who has a solid peace, a perfect satisfaction in his own mind, but the man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusts Him entirely for his souls salvation, and puts his hopes and his expectations only in the Lord his God.
II. MEN MUST HAVE A COVERING. And here we are told that there are some people who make a covering, but it is narrower than they can wrap themselves in it. There is one garment that never is too narrow, though the sinner be the hugest sinner that ever trod this earth, and that is the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The short bed and its scanty covering
You can hardly imagine a more unpleasant position for a man to find himself in. A traveller has just come a long journey, weary, footsore, cramped; he longs for tired natures sweet restorer, balmy sleep. On reaching his bed, however, he finds it altogether inadequate for purposes of rest. Man has been so constituted by his Almighty Creator that sleep and clothing are essential to his existence. Angels, for aught we know to the contrary, may be eternal watchers, sleepless workers. They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. It is otherwise with man. He must sleep or die. Inability to sleep has often been the punishment inflicted by the Almighty Avenger upon the murderer, as foretaste of the pains of hell. Between him and placid sleep a great gulf has been fixed. Pausanias, from the hour Cleonice fell pierced by his sword, is a haunted man. Sleep no more, is the dread fiat of Him who maketh inquisition for blood. The spectre of his victim, says the historian, disturbed him every night. Now, as every reader of the Bible knows well, God has seen fit to illustrate and set forth the needs of the soul by referring to the well-known wants and necessities of the body. Therefore, just as mans corporeal frame needs sleep and clothing, so the seal, the spiritual part of man, needs rest and covering, without which it can be neither happy nor safe. The prophets complaint in the context is not that man seeks for these things if haply he may find them, but seeks for them in wrong places, and in wrong ways--fashions for himself beds which are too short to give him comfortable repose, and weaves coverings which are too narrow to conceal his spiritual nakedness. Favour me with your company while I walk forth and watch some of these spiritual bed makers. We have not gone very far before our steps are arrested by the spectacle of a man who is fashioning for himself a golden bed. A very splendid piece of workmanship it is, and we can hardly wonder at the incredulous look and compassionate smile with which the maker turns upon us when we whisper, Too short, youll never be able to find soul rest there! Solomon lay in just such a bed as that, and he tossed and rolled from side to side, exclaiming, All is vanity and vexation of spirit. Over the front of this bed is written a text out of the Bible: Money answereth all things. Wait a moment: the splendid piece of upholstery is just receiving its finishing touch, the owner will lie down on it presently, and we shall hear what he thinks of his work. Hush! what is that you say, sir? No rest, no peace! Sleep is a shy goddess, which all this magnificence cannot woo. Do you really mean to tell us that you slumbered more peacefully and soundly when, a poor apprentice lad, you lay beneath the counter of your masters shop, ere you had heaped up all these thousands of gold and silver? Ay, ay, he says, it is even so. Oh, replies one of my hearers, I think I should be happy and satisfied if I only had a little more. Keep the wolf of poverty at a respectable distance from my door, give me all the necessaries of life, and a few of its comforts, and I should be as happy as the day is long. I must be rude enough to contradict you; you would not, you do not know yourself. If your affections and desires are of the earth, earthy, you would find your appetite growing with every fresh indulgence. The human heart is like the horse leech, ever crying, Give, give. Did you not assure me that your ambition would be satisfied with a revenue of one hundred thousand crowns? said Charles the Ninth, to a lordly abbot who was begging further preferment. Having been already made Bishop of Auxerre, Grand Almoner of France, and holder of numerous rich abbacies, the king thought his greed was inexcusable. How suggestive the reply of the insatiable pluralist: True, sire, but there are some appetites which grow as you feed them. Oh, here another dainty looking couch, it belongs to the man of ambition, worldly ambition. This man is an enemy to all greed and avarice. He says public opinion serves the money grubber right, when it fixes on him the stigma of miser, which, being interpreted, is wretch. Thank God, he says, I can give, and spend, and lend. The accursed thirst for gold has not struck its fangs into me. No, this man despises money, but he pants for fame. Oh, he says, that I could become famous. If my name were only handed down to posterity as the great , I should be satisfied. He thirsts for fame as the fever-stricken patient thirsts for the cool refreshing fountain. Well, after a while his wish is granted. The world gladly prepares his bed of honour, and bids her favourite lie down and rest. But, lo! the thorns are there. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, although it be the laurel coronet of honour and worldly fame. Oh, he says, these thorns, they pierce to the very quick--let me return to my original obscurity. I can get no rest here, the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow! Let them pursue the history of Alexander the Great; the life of Napoleon Buonaparte, of whom it was said by a companion in arms, when at the very zenith of his prosperity, He has gained everything, and yet he is unhappy; the life of Cardinal Wolsey, whose advice to Cromwell might well have been, as our great poet represents it, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels; how can man then, the image of his Maker, hope to win by it? and whose dying regret was that he had not served his God as faithfully as he had served the king who had forsaken him, and left him to die unhonoured and unwept. The truth is, the soul cannot live upon the incense of human applause any more than the body can exist upon the fumes of smoking frankincense. But look once more. See this pretty and, one would think, sleep-enticing couch, the bed of worldly pleasure. There are men who despise saving and hoarding, nor do they care to climb the slippery ladder of earthly fame. The cares of popularity are not for them. But they are seeking rest too, and they hope to find it in the pleasures of the world. Let us eat and drink, is their maxim, for tomorrow we die. A short life and a merry one. is their motto. Let us have our fill of pleasure. Let the most successful pleasure seekers relate their experience. Suppose we take the evidence of the celebrated Chesterfield. He was no fox crying sour grapes because the fruit was out of his reach. Probably s more fortunate man, so far as this world is concerned, never lived. He was high-born, wealthy, and honoured. In almost everything he undertook he was successful He was one of the most brilliant speakers in the House of Lords, a most accomplished gentleman, and one of the best scholars of the day. He had troops of friends, honours were showered upon him, ribbons, royal approbation, and diplomatic appointments. Prime ministers honoured him as the ablest of their supporters; princesses and peeresses gave him their smiles, and called him the greatest of men. In all history there is no greater instance of worldly success. All that the world could give of pleasure--he had good measure, shaken together, pressed down, and running over--men poured into his bosom. Did he fine] rest on this sumptuous couch? Hear his own testimony. I have recently read Solomon with a kind of sympathetic feeling. I have been as wicked and vain, though not as wise, as he; but I feel the truth of his reflection, All is vanity and vexation of spirit. I have been behind the worlds gaudy scenes, have smelt the tallow candies, and seen all the clumsy machinery by which the raree-show is worked, and the spectators deceived; I have no desire to repeat the nauseous dose. I have tried both services, God and the world, said Captain Hedley Vicars, who perished gallantly leading on his regiment in the war with Russia. For twenty-four years I lived under the yoke of sin. The retrospect of my past life is now miserable to me, and yet I thought and called it a life of pleasure. The very name, when applied to sin, makes my heart sicken; even then? could never enjoy reviewing the occupations of a single day. All who have tried this daintily spread couch assure us that soul rest comes not there. Is there a couch in all this wide world whereon man, wearied, deceived, disappointed, can find repose? There is a bed on which the sinner, were he as tall as the pole, and as broad as the earth, could not fail to find rest. Rest and peace are only to be found in God. In that dread yet sweet name is found the answer to mans sin, mans sorrow, and mans yearnings after something better, truer, and holier. Believe me, you will find that rest nowhere else. What a comfort it must be to stretch ones self upon this bed and to feel that all is well, for time and for eternity. (W. H. Langhorne.)
Delusive expectations
A proverb contains soul of truth for every age and people. The words apply to--
I. THE WORLDS OFFERS OF SATISFACTION TO MANS NATURE.
II. FALSE CONFIDENCES.
1. Self. In the expression self-help there is much that is commonly suggestive; but when it comes to religious interests we may soon make mistakes. Sin is too much for a man.
2. Mere formal religion.
3. Comparison with others. Common sins I shudder at; the self, indulgent, disgraceful life of many I hate. I love culture; am a good husband--wife--sister--brother. God looks at the heart.
III. SELF-EXCUSES.
1. Temptation was so subtle and my nature weak. Remember, the key of the door is inside. You must consent. Did you pray?
2. I was surrounded by bad examples and influences. But were there no times when conscience corrected and truth attracted? no means by which you may have been fortified?
3. I have no time for piety. If piety consisted in a succession of onerous duties this plea might stand. But it is the spirit of a life, the heart centred in Christ.
4. I have no power for self-renewal. Have you availed your self of impressions; allowed the attractions of Christ on your heart?
IV. VAIN HOPES.
1. After all, it may be otherwise than preachers say. Will a man be so mad as to trust his life to a peradventure?
2. I may feel more inclined as I advance in life. Are you likely to do so in resistance of impressions?
3. I may repent at the last. That is, you will sin no more when you have no more power to sin. May not accident or disease suddenly overtake you? Can anyone who has a spark of generosity or right feeling think such conduct a fit return to Christ? (G. MMichael, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 22 Isa_28:18. Your covenant with death shall be disannulled.
FALSE REFUGES
Isa_28:18. Your covenant with death shall be disannulled.
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Like the sinners spoken of in this chapter, most sinful men say in effect, “We have made a covenant with death,” &c. (Isa_28:15).
I. That he may escape the dreaded consequences of sin, the troubled sinner seeks a refuge. He flees—
1. From the voice of reason. The presence of a reasoning power in man is incompatible with the practice of sin. This is seen in the fact that when sinners can be brought to think, they at once admit themselves to be wrong. The moment a man commences to think about sin, that moment he becomes aware that it will not bear thinking about. It is because a sinful life is an unthinking life that God’s invitations to sinners are invitations to reason (chap. Isa_1:18; Psa_50:22).
2. From an accusing conscience. The authority of conscience is supreme, and no man can sin without feeling its sting. To escape remorse, which is conscience at work, men seek a refuge.
3. From an offended God. Sin is offensive to God’s holiness; for being pure, He must hate impurity. Because sinners are conscious that they have rendered themselves obnoxious to God, they seek a refuge.
4. From a broken law. In obedience to law there is safety, right, and happiness; while in disregarding law there is nothing but disaster. And from the consequences of the broken law—the broken law of God written on the heart, proclaimed in Nature, revealed in the Bible—the sinner tries to hide.
5. From an endless future. This more than anything else terrifies sinners and drives them to seek shelter.
II. Sinners, blindly infatuated, seek a refuge in wrong objects. They make a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. The terms “death” and “hell” stand for the whole class of false securities in which men seek shelter by making a covenant and agreement with them.
1. Unbelief is one of the more modern refuges of sin. When men can blot out of the universe the idea of God, quench the sense of moral responsibility, remove the belief in immortality, persuade themselves that there is no other world, that death is an eternal sleep, that heaven is only an air-castle, and hell a mere chimera, they may then indulge in evil to their hearts’ content.
2. Superstition is another. Not in open unbelief, but under the cover of a false religion others seek to shelter. Unable to shake off belief in God and in a spiritual world, they search for some system which will at once allow a profession of religion and a practice of wickedness. Nor are such systems wanting, nor are they without disciples. Romanism offers indulgences for gold and pardons for pence, and thus provides a refuge for the stronger in pocket than in brain.
3. Annihilation is another. According to some, such is the awfulness of the thought of extinction of being, that men revolt from it. Establish it that when sinners die they cease to live, and what better refuge for sin is possible, and what other is needed? Sinful men will soon say, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.”
4. Excess is another. When the previous ones have failed to give comfort, the sinner rushes madly into excess. The drunkard seeks in increased intemperance to drown the sorrow his indulgence has occasioned.
5. Indifference is the last. This is the only comfort some men can find in their career of evil. But indifference is impossible without a denial of human responsibility. Sad indeed must the condition of human nature be when brought to this.
III. The refuges so confidently trusted in are utterly insecure.
1. Because they are incompatible with the real need of man. Only that can be conducive to man’s safety which meets man’s need. No human need is met by infidelity, or by superstition, or by annihilation, or by indulgence, or by indifference. Any one of these, tested by this argument drawn from human necessities, will be found a refuge of lies.
2. Because they are at variance with human instincts. Instinctively men believe in a Divine existence, in moral accountability, and in immortality.
3. Because they contradict human experience. They have all been tried, and as often as they have been tried they have been found false.
4. Because they are opposed to the teaching of revelation, both natural and Biblical. Nature proclaims loudly against all sin-sought refuges. The teaching of Nature and the Bible is that man is incompetent to provide for his own security, and that God only, in the exercise of His Divine prerogative, can provide for sinners the security they need.
IV. By Divine appointment the refuges so madly sought shall be totally destroyed. “Your covenant with death shall be disannulled.”
1. By consequence of their inherent character. They are “refuges of lies,” and necessarily all refuges built on lies must perish.
2. By necessity of strict justice. “Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet” (Isa_28:17).
3. By the exertion of Almighty power. “And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.”
CONCLUSION.—God has mercifully provided a true refuge. He only cuts off the false that He may exhibit the true. “Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone,” &c. (Isa_28:16).—William Brooks: Study and the Pulpit, New Series, vol. 1 pp. 413–416.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v21
Isaiah
GOD’S STRANGE WORK
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Isa 28:21.
How the great events of one generation fall dead to another! There is something very pathetic in the oblivion that swallows up world-resounding deeds. Here the prophet selects two instances which to him are solemn and singular examples of divine judgment, and we have difficulty in finding out to what he refers. To him they seemed the most luminous illustrations he could find of the principle which he is proclaiming, and to us all the light is burned out of them. They are the darkest portion of the verse. Several different events have been suggested. But most probably the historical references here are to David’s slaughter of the Philistines {2Sa 5:1 - 2Sa 5:25, and 1Ch 14:1 - 1Ch 14:17}. This is probable, but by no means certain. If so, the words are made still more threatening by asserting that He will treat the Israelites as if they were Philistines. But the point on which we should concentrate attention is this remarkable expression, according to which judgment is God’s strange work. And that is made more emphatic by the use of a word translated ‘act,’ which means service, and is almost always used for work that is hard and heavy-a toil or a task.
I. The work in which God delights.
It is here implied that the opposite kind of activity is congenial to Him. The text declares judgment to be an anomaly, out of His ordinary course of action and foreign to His nature.
We may pause for a moment on that great thought that God has a usual course of action, which is usual because it is the spontaneous expression and true mirror of His character. What He thus does shows that character to His creatures, who cannot see Him but in the glass of His works, and have to infer His nature, as they best may, from His works. The Bible begins with His nature and thence interprets His work.
The work in which God delights is the utterance of His love in blessing.
The very essence of love is self-manifestation.
The very being of God is love, and all being delights in its own self-manifestation, in its own activity.
How great the thought is that He is glad when we let Him satisfy His nature by making us glad!
The ordinary course of His government in the world is blessing.
II. The Task in which He does not delight, or His Strange Work.
The consequences of sin are God’s work. The miseries consequent on sin are self-inflicted, but they are also God’s judgments on sin. We may say that sin automatically works out its results, but its results follow by the will of God on account of sin.
That work is a necessity arising from the nature of God. It is foreign to His heart but not to His nature. God is both ‘the light of Israel’ for blessing, and ‘a consuming fire.’ The two opposite effects are equally the result of the contact of God and man. Light pains a diseased eye and gladdens a sound one. The sun seen through a mist becomes like a ball of red-hot iron. The whole revelation of God becomes a pain to an unloving soul.
But God’s very love compels Him to punish.
Some modern notions of the love of God seem to strike out righteousness from His nature altogether, and substitute for it a mere good nature which is weakness, not love, and is cruelty, not kindness.
There is nothing in the facts of the world or in the teachings of the gospel which countenances the notion of a God whose fondness prevents Him from scourging.
What do you call it when a father spares the rod and spoils the child?
Even this world is a very serious place for a man who sets himself against its laws. Its punishments come down surely and not always slowly. There is nothing in it to encourage the idea of impunity.
That work is to Him an Unwelcome Necessity. Bold words. ‘I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner.’ ‘He doth not willingly inflict.’ The awful power of sin to divert the current of blessing. Christ’s tears over Jerusalem. How unwelcome that work is to them is shown by the slowness of His judgments, by multiplied warnings. ‘Rising up early,’ He tells men that He will smite, in order that He may never need to smite.
That work is a certainty. However reluctantly He smites, the blow will fall.
III. The Strange Work of Redemption.
The mightiest miracle. The revelation of God’s deepest nature. The wonder of the universe.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v18 Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
hell
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 20, 22 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak to the people of Jerusalem.
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Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand
This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will cancel the covenant you have with death, and I will cancel the agreement you have with Sheol" (See: Active or Passive)
covenant with death ... agreement with Sheol
Possible meanings are 1) the leaders of Jerusalem had used magic or sorcery to try to make an agreement with the gods of the place of the dead so that these gods would protect them from dying or 2) this is a metaphor that speaks of the leaders having made an agreement with the leaders of Egypt. The leaders of Jerusalem were so confident that the Egyptians would protect that it was like they had made an agreement with the gods of the place of the dead. See how you translated this in Isaiah 28:15. (See: Metaphor)
will not stand
"will not last"
When the raging flood passes through
Possible meanings are 1) "flood" is a synecdoche that represents anything in general that will cause destruction or 2) "flood" is a metaphor referring to the enemy army that Yahweh will send to destroy the people of Jerusalem. (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
you will be overwhelmed by it
This can be stated in active form. AT: "it will overwhelm you" or "it will destroy you" (See: Active or Passive)
morning by morning
This is an idiom. AT: "every day" (See: Idiom)
by day and night
This means "throughout the entire day" (See: Merism)
translationWords
covenant
die
Hades
flood
terror
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 vv20–21 28:20 The bed. . . . The blankets: The…
28:20 The bed. . . . The blankets: The leaders were ill-prepared for God’s coming in judgment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.