Isaiah 3:16(v9)Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are arrogant, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as…
Isaiah 28:23(v9)Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!
Matthew 13:9(v9)He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Isaiah 3:24(v11)It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness;…
Isaiah 7:23(v10)It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.
Show all 41 cross-references
Jeremiah 8:13(v10)“ ‘I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh. No grapes will be on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade. The things…
Deuteronomy 28:48(v11)therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will…
Judges 9:7(v9)When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice, cried out, and said to them, “Listen to…
Psalms 49:1-2(v9)Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together.
Isaiah 2:19(v11)Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his…
Isaiah 2:21(v11)to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his…
Isaiah 3:17-26(v10)therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.” In that day the…
Isaiah 5:5-6(v10)Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it…
Isaiah 15:3(v11)In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
Isaiah 16:10(v10)Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will…
Isaiah 20:4(v11)so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with…
Isaiah 22:4-5(v11)Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people. For…
Isaiah 24:7-12(v10)The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends.…
Isaiah 33:14(v11)The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live…
Isaiah 47:1-3(v11)“Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no…
Isaiah 47:7-8(v9)You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results. “Now…
Jeremiah 4:8(v11)For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.
Jeremiah 6:2-6(v9)I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion. Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their…
Jeremiah 6:26(v11)Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the…
Jeremiah 25:10-11(v10)Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the…
Jeremiah 48:11-12(v9)“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone…
Jeremiah 49:3(v11)“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the…
Lamentations 4:5(v9)Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
Hosea 2:3(v11)Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and…
Hosea 2:12(v10)I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make…
Hosea 3:4(v10)For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and…
Joel 1:7(v10)He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
Joel 1:12(v10)The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of…
Amos 6:1-6(v9)Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations,…
Micah 1:8-11(v11)For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls. For her…
Habakkuk 3:17(v10)For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are…
Zephaniah 1:13(v10)Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant…
Zephaniah 2:15(v9)This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a…
Luke 23:27-30(v11)A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said,…
James 5:5(v11)You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
Deuteronomy 28:56(v9)The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness,…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv9–10He prophesieth of such calamity to come, that they…
He prophesieth of such calamity to come, that they will not spare the women and children, and therefore willeth them to take heed and provide.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Isa 32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at…
Isa 32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Ver. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease.] Secure sedentes, ye court ladies, whose pride hath brought on the wars; {Isa 3:25} or, ye hen hearted Jews, Aχηιδες ουκ ετ Aχαιοι; or, ye lesser cities and villages of Judah, rise up, and rouse up yourselves, ad exhibendum honorem verbo Dei, In honour of God’s holy Word. {Jdg 3:20}
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Rise up; bestir and prepare yourselves to hear, as…
Rise up; bestir and prepare yourselves to hear, as it follows, and shake off sloth and carelessness.
That are at ease; that indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury.
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Careless, Heb. confident or secure, who are insensible of your sin and danger.
Daughters; the same before called women; whom he here reproveth and threateneth for their sins, as he did the men before for seeking to Egypt for help, and divers other sins, whereof the men were most guilty.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v9In these verses we have God rising up to…
In these verses we have God rising up to judgment against the vile persons, to punish them for their villainy; but at length returning in mercy to the liberal, to reward them for their liberality.
I. When there was so great a corruption of manners, and so much provocation given to the holy God, bad times might well be expected, and here is a warning given of such times coming. The alarm is sounded to the women that were at ease (Isa 32:9) and the careless daughters, to feed whose pride, vanity, and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the poor. Let them hear what the prophet has to say to them in God's name: "Rise up, and hear with reverence and attention."
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1. Let them know that God was about to bring wasting desolating judgments upon the land in which they lived in pleasure and were wanton. This seems to refer primarily to the desolations made by Sennacherib's army when he seized all the fenced cities of Judah: but then those words, many days and years, must be rendered (as the margin reads them) days above a year, that is, something above a year shall this havock be in the making: so long it was from the first entrance of that army into the land of Judah to the overthrow of it. But it is applicable to the wretched disappointment which those will certainly meet with, first or last, that set their hearts upon the world and place their happiness in it: You shall be troubled, you careless women. It will not secure us from trouble to cast away care when we are at ease; nay, to those who affect to live carelessly even little troubles will be great vexations and press hard upon them. They were careless and at ease because they had money enough and mirth enough; but the prophet here tells them, (1.) That the country whence they had their tents and dainties should shortly be laid waste: "The vintage shall fail; and then what will you do for wine to make merry with? The gathering of fruit shall not come, for there shall be none to be gathered, and you will find the want of them, Isa 32:10. You will want the teats, the good milk from the cows, the pleasant fields and their productions:" the useful fields that are serviceable to human life are the pleasant ones. "You will want the fruitful vine, and the grapes it used to yield you." The abuse of plenty is justly punished with scarcity; and those deserve to be deprived of the supports of life who make them the food and fuel of lust and prepare them for Baal. (2.) That the cities too, the cities of Judah, where they lived at ease, spent their rents, and made themselves merry with their dainties, should be laid waste (Isa 32:13, Isa 32:14): Briers and thorns, the fruits of sin and the curse, shall come up, not only upon the land of my people, which shall lie uncultivated, but upon all the houses of joy - the play-houses, the gaming-houses, the taverns - in the joyous cities. When a foreign army was ravaging the country the houses of joy, no doubt, became houses of mourning; then the palaces, or noblemen's houses, were forsaken by their owners, who perhaps fled to Egypt for refuge; the multitude of the city were left by their leaders to shift for themselves. Then the stately houses shall be for dens for ever, which had been as forts and towers for strength and magnificence. They shall be abandoned; the owners shall never return to them; every body shall look upon them to be like Jericho, an anathema; so that, even when peace returns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall be thrown to the waste: A joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks. Thus is many a house brought to ruin by sin. Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit - Corn grows on the site of Troy.
2. In the foresight of this let them tremble and be troubled, strip themselves, and gird sackcloth upon their loins, Isa 32:11. This intimates not only that when the calamity comes they shall thus be made to tremble and be forced to strip themselves, that then God's judgments would strip them and make them bare, but, (1.) That the best prevention of the trouble would be to repent and humble themselves for their sin, and lie in the dust before God in true remorse and godly sorrow, which would be the lengthening out of their tranquillity. This is meeting God in the way of his judgments, and saving a correction by correcting our own mistakes. Those only shall break that will not bend. (2.) That the best preparation for the trouble would be to deny themselves and live a life of mortification, and to sit loose to all the delights of sense. Those that have already by a holy contempt of this world stripped themselves can easily bear to be stripped when trouble and death come.
II. While there was still a remnant that kept their integrity they had reason to hope for good times at length and such times the prophet here gives them a pleasant prospect of. Such times they saw in the latter end of the reign of Hezekiah; but the prophecy may well be supposed to look further, to the days of the Messiah, who is King of righteousness and King of peace, and to whom all the prophets bear witness. Now observe,
1. How those blessed times shall be introduced-by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high (Isa 32:15), which speaks not only of the good-will of God towards us, but the good work of God in us; for then, and not till then, there will be good times, when God by his grace gives men good hearts; and therefore God's giving his Holy Spirit to those that ask him is in effect his giving them all good things, as appears by comparing Luk 11:13 with Mat 7:11. This is the great thing that God's people comfort themselves with the hopes of, that the Spirit shall be poured out upon them, that there shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace than formerly, according as the necessity of the church, in its desolate estate, calls for. This comes from on high, and therefore they look up to their Father in heaven for it. When God designs favours for his church he pours out his Spirit, both to prepare his people to receive his favours and to qualify and give success to those whom he designs to employ as instruments of his favour; for their endeavours to repair the desolations of the church are all fruitless until the Spirit be poured out upon them and then the work is done suddenly. The kingdom of the Messiah was brought in, and set up, by the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2), and so it is still kept up, and will be to the end.
2. What a wonderfully happy change shall then be made. That which was a wilderness, dry and barren, shall become a fruitful field, and that which we now reckon a fruitful field, in comparison with what it shall be then, shall be counted for a forest. Then shall the earth yield her increase. It is promised that in the days of the Messiah the fruit of the earth shall shake like Lebanon, Psa 72:16. Some apply this to the admission of the Gentiles into the gospel church (which made the wilderness a fruitful field), and the rejection and exclusion of the Jews, which made that a forest which had been a fruitful field. On the Gentiles was poured out a spirit of life, but on the Jews a spirit of slumber. See what is the evidence and effect of the pouring out of the Spirit upon any soul; it is thereby made fruitful, and has its fruit unto holiness. Three things go to make these times happy: -
(1.) Judgment and righteousness, Isa 32:16. When the Spirit is poured out upon a land, then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and turn it into a fruitful field, and righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field and make it yet more fruitful. Ministers shall expound the law and magistrates execute it, and both so judiciously and faithfully that by both the bad shall be made good and the good made better. Among all sorts of people, the poor and low and unlearned, that are neglected as the wilderness, and the rich and great and learned, that are valued as the fruitful field, there shall be right thoughts of things, good principles commanding, and conscience made of good and evil, sin and duty. Or in all parts of the land, both champaign and enclosed, country and city, the ruder parts and those that are more cultivated and refined, justice shall be duly administered. The law of Christ introduces a judgment or rule by which we must be governed, and the gospel of Christ a righteousness by which we must be saved; and, wherever the Spirit is poured out, both these dwell and remain as an everlasting righteousness.
(2.) Peace and quietness, Isa 32:17, Isa 32:18. The peace here promised is of two kinds: -
[1.] Inward peace, Isa 32:17. This follows upon the indwelling of righteousness, Isa 32:16. Those in whom that work is wrought shall experience this blessed product of it. It is itself peace, and the effect of it is quietness and assurance for ever, that is, a holy serenity and security of mind, by which the soul enjoys itself and enjoys its God, and it is not in the power of this world to disturb it in those enjoyments. Note, Peace, and quietness, and everlasting assurance may be expected, and shall be found, in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to be had only in true religion, and there it is to be had without fail. Those are the quiet and peaceable lives that are spent in all godliness and honesty, Ti1 2:2. First, Even the work of righteousness shall be peace. In the doing of our duty we shall find abundance of true pleasure, a present great reward of obedience in obedience. Though the work of righteousness may be toilsome and costly, and expose us to contempt, yet it is peace, such peace as is sufficient to bear our charges. Secondly, The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance, not only to the end of time, of our time, and in the end, but to the endless ages of eternity. Real holiness is real happiness now and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness, for ever.
[2.] Outward peace, Isa 32:18. It is a great mercy when those who by the grace of God have quiet and peaceable spirits are by the providence of God made to dwell in quiet and peaceable habitations, not disturbed in their houses or solemn assemblies. When the terror of Sennacherib's invasion was over, the people, no doubt, were more sensible than ever of the mercy of a quiet habitation, not disturbed with the alarms of war. Let every family study to keep itself quiet from strifes and jars within, not two against three and three against two in the house, and then put itself under God's protection to dwell safely, and to be quiet from the fear of evil without. Jerusalem shall be a peaceable habitation; compare Isa 33:20. Even when it shall hail, and there shall be a violent battering storm coming down on the forest that lies bleak, then shall Jerusalem be a quiet resting-place, for the city shall be low in a low place, under the wind, not exposed (as those cities are that stand high) to the fury of the storm, but sheltered by the mountains that are round about Jerusalem, Psa 125:2. The high forts and towers are brought down (Isa 32:14), but the city that lies low shall be a quiet resting-place. Those are most safe, and may dwell most at ease, that are humble, and are willing to dwell low, Isa 32:19. Those that would dwell in a peaceable habitation must be willing to dwell low, and in a low place. Some think here is an allusion to the preservation of the land of Goshen from the plague of hail, which made great destruction in the land of Egypt.
(3.) Plenty and abundance. There shall be such good crops gathered in every where, and every year, that the husbandmen shall be commended, and though happy, who sow beside all water (Isa 32:20), who sow all the grounds that are fit for seedness, who cast their bread, or bread-corn, upon the water, Ecc 11:1. God will give the increase, but then the husbandman must be industrious, and mind his business, and sow beside all waters; and, if he do this, the corn shall come up so thick and rank that he shall turn in his cattle, even the ox and the ass, to eat the tops of it and keep it under. This is applicable, [1.] To the preaching of the word. Some think it points at the ministry of the apostles, who, as husbandmen, went forth to sow their seed (Mat 13:3); they sowed beside all waters; they preached the gospel wherever they came. Waters signify people, and they preached to multitudes. Wherever they found men's hearts softened, and moistened, and disposed to receive the word, they cast in the good seed. And whereas, by the law of Moses, the Jews were forbidden to plough with an ox and an ass together (Deu 22:10), which intimated that Jews and Gentiles should not intermix, now that distinction shall be taken away, and both the ox and the ass, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be employed in, and enjoy the benefit of, the gospel husbandry. [2.] To works of charity. When God sends these happy times blessed are those that improve them in doing good with what they have, that sow beside all waters, that embrace all opportunities of relieving the necessitous; for in due season they shall reap.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Rise up, ye women that are at ease,.... On…
Rise up, ye women that are at ease,.... On beds of down, unconcerned about the present or future state of the nation; who had their share of guilt in the nation's sins, particularly pride, luxury, superstition, rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel, and so should have their part in its punishment. Some think that the men of the nation are so called, because of their effeminacy. The Jews interpret them of the other cities of Judea, besides Jerusalem; the Targum explains it by provinces:
hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear to my speech; the words of the prophet concerning the future desolation of their country; here it is thought the lesser towns and villages are intended by daughters, who dwelt in confidence and security, having no thought and notion of destruction coming upon them; so Ben Melech interprets the "women" of cities, and the "daughters" of villages.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Ye - That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury.…
Ye - That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury. Careless - Who are insensible of your sin and danger.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv9, 11Verse 9. Rise up, ye women - "ye provinces."…
Verse 9. Rise up, ye women - "ye provinces." Ye careless daughters - "ye cities." - Targum.
From this verse to the end of the fourteenth, the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans appears to be foretold.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v9Isa 32:9-12. Rise up, &c. — The prophet, to…
Isa 32:9-12. Rise up, &c. — The prophet, to show the sinners and hypocrites in Zion, (Isa 33:14,) that they must not expect to receive blessings from God, such as he had just now predicted, while they remained in a state of impenitence, denounces against them the calamities which should come upon them; 1st, By the Assyrian, and then by the Babylonish destruction. Ye women that are at ease — That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury; shake off your carelessness and sloth, and prepare yourselves to hear the sentence pronounced by God concerning you. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters — Hebrew, בשׂחות, ye confident and secure, who are insensible of your sin and danger. Many days and years — Hebrew, ימים על שׁנה, days above a year; that is, a year and some days: which, it seems, expresses the time of the continuance of the judgment by the Assyrians; that it should last some days above one year, as indeed it did, and no longer; for Hezekiah reigned in all but twenty-nine years, 2Ki 18:2. And Sennacherib invaded the country in his fourteenth year; and, after his defeat and departure, God promised and added to him fifteen years more, 2Ki 20:6. For the vintage shall fail — During the time of the Assyrian invasion. The gathering shall not come — Namely, of the other fruits of the earth; as that feast which was observed after the gathering of all the fruits was called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16. Tremble, ye women, &c. — It seems probable, from these repeated addresses to the women, that those of Jerusalem especially, and, perhaps, also of many of the other towns in Judea, were, at that time, peculiarly vain, luxurious, dissipated, and wanton, and regardless of all religion. The prophet, therefore, especially addresses them, and warns them that a time of trouble awaited them. Strip ye and make ye bare — Put off your ornaments, as God commanded upon a like occasion, (Exo 33:5,) that you may put on sackcloth instead of them, as mourners and penitents used to do. They shall lament for the teats — For the pleasant and fruitful fields which, like teats, yielded you plentiful and excellent nourishment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Rise up ... - Rosenmuller supposes that this commences…
Rise up ... - Rosenmuller supposes that this commences a new vision or prophecy; and that the former part Isa 32:9-14 refers to the desolation of Judea by the invasion of Sennacherib, and the latter Isa 32:15-20 to the prosperity which would succeed that invasion. It cannot be doubted that this is the general reference of the passage, but there does not seem to be a necessity of making a division here. The entire prophecy, including the whole chapter, relates in general to the reign of Hezekiah; and as these events were to occur during his reign, the prophet groups them together, and presents them as constituting important events in his reign. The general design of this portion of the prophecy Isa 32:9-14 is to show the desolation that would come upon the land of Judea in consequence of that invasion. This he represents in a poetical manner, by calling on the daughters of fashion and ease to arouse, since all their comforts were to be taken away.
Ye women that are at ease - They who are surrounded by the comforts which affluence gives, and that have no fear of being reduced to wang (compare Isa 3:16-26).
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Ye careless daughters - Hebrew, ‘Daughters confiding;’ that is, those who felt no alarm, and who did not regard God and his threatenings.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv9–10Women. Great cities. He announces the impending dangers.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Women. Great cities. He announces the impending dangers.
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 Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v99 Rise up, ye women that Ire at ease;
4.—THE PRESENT PUNISHMENT OF THE PROUD WOMEN, AND THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE NATION
Isa_32:9-20
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9 Rise up, ye women that Ire at ease;
Hear my voice, ye careless daughters;
Give ear unto my speech.
10 14 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women:
For the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease;
Be troubled, ye careless ones:
Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12 15 They shall lament for the teats,
For 16 the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars;
17 Yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
14 Because the palaces 18 shall be forsaken;
The multitude of the city b shall be left;
The 19 forts and towers 20 shall be for dens forever,
A joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high,
And the wilderness be a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 21 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace;
And the 22effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation
And in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19 23 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest;
And 24 the city shall be in a low place.
20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters,
That send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_32:9. בֹּטֵחַ is here used absolutely as in Jdg_18:7; Jdg_18:10; Jdg_18:27; Jer_7:8; Jer_12:5.——שׁאנן again Isa_32:9; Isa_32:11; Isa_32:18; Isa_33:20; Isa_37:29.
Isa_32:10. The singular שָׁנָה must be taken in the sense of one year, seeing there is nothing to indicate that it is a collective.——After the specification of time the sentence ought properly to proceed with the Vav. consec. and the perf. Yet there are also examples of the use of the imperf. with Vav. (Exo_12:3; Jer_8:1 K’thibh) or without it (Isa_27:6; Isa_7:8 comp. Isa_21:16; Jer_8:1 K’ri; Gen_40:13; Gen_40:19). The accusative ימים responds to the question “when,” to signify the point of time where the predicted event will intervene.——On נלי comp. at Isa_14:6.
Isa_32:11. In הִרְדוּ we have the masculine as the chief form that includes the feminine, as the man rules and represents the woman: In חֲֹגֽרָה ,עֹֽרָה ,פְּשֹֽׁטָה ,רֳגֽזָה we have also the chief form of the imperative, i. e., the masculine, with the cohortative He of motion toward. Thus these imperatives contain no individualized command, but one formed quite generally as to matter, without regard to person and number: similar to our way in giving words of command, wherein at least no regard is had to the number of those addressed as we use the infin., or past particip. [the illustration is drawn of course from the Germ. idiom.—Tr.]. This ver. shows plainly how in Hebrew the gender of words is not so rigidly fixed as in classical and modern languages, and hence it not so consistently adhered to.——Isaiah uses פשׁט only here.——Of עוּר “nudum esse” he uses the Piel Isa_23:13.
Isa_32:12. The same preponderance of the masc. gender appears in ספדים that is noticed in Isa_32:11, and has the same explanation.——ספד as verb in Isaiah, only here; comp. Isa_22:12; Jer_49:3,——Note the similarity in sound of עַל־שָׁדַיִם and עַל־שְׂדֵי.—חֶמֶד “amoenitas, deliciae” only here in Isaiah, comp. on Isa_27:2; Amo_5:11—פריה comp. Isa_17:6; Psa_128:3; Eze_19:10.
Isa_32:13 קוֹץ “thorn, thorn bushes,” again in Isaiah only Isa_13:12, and is joined with שָׁמִיר only here. Everywhere else Isaiah joins this word with שַׁיִת (Isa_5:6; Isa_7:23 sqq.; Isa_9:17; Isa_10:17; Isa_17:4). One might grammatically regard the words קוץ שׁמיר as having a genitive relation. But as the words שָׁמִיר שַׁיִת ,Isa_27:3, occur in apposition (שׁמיר which is שׁית), we may assume the same construction here. The general notion קוֹץ (resecandum, from קָצַץ = קוּץ comp. קְוֻצּוֹת “locks”) is more exactly defined as שָׁמִיר (“prickly thing”).—The בתי משׂושׂ are not necessarily the houses of קריה עליזה. For there are such houses of pleasure, not only in the capital, but in all cities and villages of the land. Therefore I can as little take מבתי in the genitive with קריה ע׳ as I could assume that construction Isa_28:1. As there הלומי י׳, so here קריה ע׳ is dependent on עַל.
Isa_32:14. This verse is subordinated to the last clause of Isa_32:13, for it explains how the city has become overgrown with thorns.—There is a metonymy in the expression המון עיר עזב, the effect being put for the cause, i.e., חמון עיר stands for עיר הֹמִיָה Isa_22:2.
Isa_32:15. The expression רוח ממרום occurs only here; מרום occurs in Isaiah, often: Isa_22:16; Isa_24:18; Isa_40:26; Isa_57:15; Isa_58:4, etc.
Isa_32:17. מעשׂה (comp. Isa_5:2; Isaiah 4:10; Hab_3:17) is "the yield;" עבדה in the sense of "fruit of service," comp. פְּעֻלָּה, occurs, as far as I can see, only here.—נָוֶה in the same sense as here Isa_33:20; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7.—מבטחים in Isaiah only here.—מנוחה Isa_11:10; Isa_28:12; Isa_66:1.
Isa_32:19. The verb בָּרַד occurs only here: but comp. Isa_28:2; Isa_28:17; Isa_30:30—שִׁפְלָה is ἅπ. λεγ—Note that בָּרַד and שִׁפְלָה ,בְּרֶדֶת and תִּשְׁפַּל on the one hand, and יַעַר and עִיר on the other correspond in assonance.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As in chapter 3. so here, the Prophet addresses men and women separately, having in mind especially those of the higher, and highest ranks. According to the foregoing exposition, Isa_32:1-8, under the guise of a glorious Messianic prophecy, contain a sharp reproof for powerful ones in Jerusalem. The second part of the chapter, on the other hand, is directed against the proud, secure women, announcing a season of disaster for them (Isa_32:9-14), [“until by a special divine influence a total revolution shall take place in the character, and, as a necessary consequence, in the condition of the people.”—J. A. A., on Isa_32:15] (Isa_32:15-20).
2. Rise up—pasture of flocks.
Isa_32:9-14. The form of the introduction calls to mind Isa_1:2; Isa_28:23, but more especially the address of Lamech to his wives Gen_4:23. I do not think that “rise up” demands a physical rising up. Like our German “auf” “up,” it may signify the merely inward rousing of the spirit to give attention (comp. Num_23:18). שׁאנן has elsewhere also the secondary meaning of proud ease: Psa_123:4; Amo_6:1; Zec_1:15. The specification of time in ימים על־שׁנה Isa_32:10, does not relate to the continuance of the desolation, as is evident from Isa_32:15 “until the spirit,” etc. According to Isa_29:1, which is manifestly related to our passage both as to matter and time (see the exposition there), it is probable that the Prophet means an indefinite number of days added to a year. (See Text. and Gram.). Evidently the Prophet has in mind women that have heretofore never known any want, but have continually lived in abundance and luxury. Just for this reason will trembling and dismay seize them. For they would assuredly not have dispensed with the products of the wine and fruit harvest, had not the enemy occupied the territory about Jerusalem and made gathering and plucking impossible. Thus the scarcity of those noble products, felt as a sure token of the enemy’s presence, most of all in the apartments of women of rank, will frighten the women out of their secure and proud repose. Comp. Isa_16:7 sqq. בציר “the wine harvest” (comp. Isa_24:13). אֹסֶף, elsewhere אָסִיף (Exod. 23:16; 24:22), is “the fruit harvest” (Mic_7:1). The word occurs again only Isa_33:4, and there only in its fundamental sense. That which Isa_32:10 is presented as in prospect, is announced in Isa_32:11 as the command, the will of God. Hence it must happen. Strip you,etc. The command to disrobe is that garments of mourning may replace those before worn (Joe_1:13; Isa_15:3; Isa_22:12).
Though we may translate כִּי, Isa_32:13 b, by “yea” (immo), as more accordant with our speech, still there underlies it a causal relation. That the land is overgrown with thorns and thistles, will appear the more credible, when it is perceived that even the houses of pleasure, indeed the very capital grows rank with such weeds. (See Text. and Gram.). The joyous city means Jerusalem (comp. Isa_22:2; Zep_2:15). עליז as was shown at Isa_22:2, has the secondary meaning “presumptuous joy.” The propriety of this sense here in reference to the women of careless ease is evident. (On the logical connection of Isa_32:14 see Text. and Gram.). Inasmuch as “joyous city” and “multitude of the city,” (which expressions are conjoined Isa_22:2), occur only in Isa_22:2 and our text, one properly infers a relationship between these chapters both as regards matter and time.
As not every city has an Ophel, and thus Ophel may not be taken as a general attribute of cities, but as something peculiar to Jerusalem (though not in distinction from all cities, for Samaria had an Ophel, 2Ki_5:24), so we may understand by it the locality mentioned, 2Ch_27:3; 2Ch_33:14; Neh_3:26 sq.; Neh_11:21, “the southern steep, rocky prominence of Moriah from the south end of the temple-place to its extremest point, the ’Οφλᾶ, Ὀφλᾶς of Josephus.” (Arnold in Herzog’sR. Ency. VIII., p. 632).—בַּחַן (ἅπ. λεγ.) is anyway kindred to בַּחוּן or בַּחִון (Isa_23:13) and must, according to the fundamental meaning of the verb בחן (probare, explorare, examinare) signify a locality suitable for this, a watch-tower, look-out. But whether towers in general or a particular tower is meant, is hard to say. בַּחַן does not occur elsewhere; yet the common word for “tower,” מגדל, signifies also watch-tower (2Ki_9:17; 2Ki_17:9, etc.), and wall-towers (Neh_3:11; Neh_12:38). Perhaps this would have been used here, were only towers in general spoken of. Hence it is rather probable that this word בחן, named along with עכּל and occurring only in this passage, signifies a tower especially designated by this name, located in Ophel; perhaps “the great tower” of Neh_3:27 that is mentioned in connection with Ophel. Ophel and בחן shall be pro speluncis or vice speluncarum.בִּעַד which everywhere involves the notion of something separating, has here the meaning “for, instead of.” For what intervenes for another, in a measure puts itself before it, and in this way forms a partition between it and the observer. Wild, lonely, and far remote from all human intercourse must be the caves in which the wild ass (פֶּרֶא only here in Isaiah) has as much joy as a man in his finely built dwelling (Isa_32:13).
3. Until the spirit—and the ass.
Isa_32:15-20. As all the preceding prophecies are double-sided, including as it were day and night, such too is the case with the present one. But here, too, the Prophet does not promise immediate salvation. He sets the glorious Messianic last time over against the pernicious present time, yet in a way that overleaps the long centuries that intervene, and sees that future directly behind the present. Thus עד that begins Isa_32:15 is both a restriction of the hyperbolical עד־עולם (immeasurable extent of time as e.g., Isa_63:16; Jer_2:20), and a bold bridge from the present into the remote future. He portrays the latter in that aspect that corresponds to the things he reproves in the present. Proud security now reigns, for which however there is no reason. But in that time there will reign security and repose, resting on the securest foundation. For Israel will then be filled with the spirit of God, and serve in this spirit, by which shall be assured to them God’s protection and support against all enemies. The expression יערה is very strong, meaning properly: the spirit from on high will be emptied out on us, completely poured out (comp. Isa_11:9, and respecting the word Gen_24:20 comp. Isa_3:17; Isa_22:6; Isa_53:12). How far-reaching and comprehensive is the gaze of the Prophet here! He regards the spirit from on high not merely as an ethical and intellectual, but also as a physical life-principle. He speaks here, as he does Isa_11:2-9, of nature and of persons as wholly pervaded by spirit. And the wilderness will be a fruitful field,etc., which has a proverbial sound, must certainly be taken in another sense than that of Isa_29:17. The latter passage speaks of retrogression; here progress is meant. There is a descending climax, Lebanon, fruitful field, forest; here an ascending, desert, fruitful field, forest, in which the Prophet manifestly treats the forest, not as representing absence of cultivation, but as representing the most prodigious development of vegetation. He would say: what is now waste will then be fruitful field, and what is now fruitful field will then be forest, i.e., will stand high as a forest. Then a very different, a higher principle of life, originating from the divine δόξα will penetrate even nature. Of course, then, the personal life of men also. And how beautifully the Prophet depicts this harmony of both! He names again the wilderness and the fruitful field (Isa_32:16) in order to say that judgment and righteousness shall dwell in them (comp. Isa_1:27; Isa_5:16; Isa_9:6; Isa_10:22; Isa_28:17). And the fruit of this spiritual right-being will in turn make its impress by a right glorious outward appearance, viz., in everlasting peace, rest and security. What a picture for the proudly secure women (Isa_32:9 sqq.)! They may see why they are so called in a reproving sense. Their ease and security lack foundation.
When it shall hail,etc. I can only regard Isa_32:19 as the sombre foil which the Prophet uses to enhance the splendor of that future which he displayed to his people. [Some think there is an allusion to the hail in Egypt while Goshen was spared; see Exo_9:22-26.—Tr.]. We have had several such pictures of the future with a dark background (Isa_11:14 sq.; Isa_25:10 sqq.; Isa_26:5 sq., etc.). Every one admits that 19a, relates to Assyria. We had the forest as emblem of Assyria Isa_9:17; Isa_10:18-19; Isa_10:34. This forest shall fall under a storm of hail. On ירד comp. Deu_28:52; Zec_11:2. It is not said that the forest shall break down by the hail, but that it shall hail when the forest breaks down. Thus this breaking down may be effected by something else, say by the blows of an axe. Anyway the forest will break down under a storm of hail, some phenomenon coming from on high and accredited as a divine instrument of judgment. Very many expositors understand the city in a low place to mean Jerusalem (Hitzig, Knobel, Caspari, Delitzsch,etc.). But why of a sudden this dark trait in the picture of light? Is not the abasement of Jerusalem sufficiently declared in Isa_32:13-14? Why a repetition here? or, if not repetition, why thus suddenly a new judgment in the midst of the blessed, spirit-effected condition of peace? If the forest means the world-power generally, then the city must mean the centre of it, the world-city (comp. Isa_24:10-12; Isa_25:2-3; Isa_25:12; Isa_26:5. It is worthy of remark that, Isa_25:12; Isa_26:5, the Prophet uses השׁפיל thrice in reference to the judgment on the world-city. That he does not elsewhere in 28–33, mention the world-city is no reason why he may not once mention it here. Why need he mention it oftener? Is it more probable that he would not mention it at all, than that he should do so once?
In Isa_32:20 the Prophet returns exclusively to Israel In contrast with the desolations (near for Israel, remote for the world-power), he promises to his people the possession of the land in its widest extent, and the freest use of it for cultivation and pasture. Blessed are ye (comp. Isa_30:18; Isa_56:2) he says, who sow beside all waters, i.e., on all fruitful lands. Thus all well-watered and so fruitful land-stretches will be at Israel’s service, and Israel shall cultivate them, and raising cattle shall be unhindered (comp. Isa_30:23). In fact the earth shall be theirs, and they may use as much laud as they wish for either. Cattle may pasture in full freedom, unrestrained by fetters or fence. The whole land “shall be for the sending forth of oxen,” Isa_7:25.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_31:1-2, “Against the perverted confidence and fleshly trust in human wisdom, power and might, because the people doubt God’s help, and because of such wicked doubt put their trust in human power, wit and skill. It is true the Scripture does not deny that one may use means and call in human aid in danger, yet so that even the heart looks rather to God, and knows that if He watches not and keeps not Israel, all other human help and means are in vain (Psa_127:1; Jer_17:5).”—Cramer.
2. On Isa_31:3. “Notetur diligenter sententia isthaec prophetae: Aegyptus homo et non Deus, adeoque symboli loco semper in ore habeatur et usurpatur tum ad doctrinam, tum ad consolationem (Psa_62:10; Psa_73:18 sq.).”—Foerster.
3. On Isa_31:4-5. The Lord, on the one hand, compares Himself to a lion, that will not suffer his prey to be torn away from him, and means by that that He will not suffer Himself to be turned from His counsel against Jerusalem by those false helpers, to which Jerusalem looks for protection against the punishments that it has deserved. But on the other hand the Lord compares Himself most touchingly and fittingly to the eagle that stretches its feathers over its young to protect them (Deu_32:11) [see Tr’s. note on Isa_32:5]. Blessed is he that sits under the shelter of the Highest, and abides under the shadow of the Almighty (Psa_91:1; comp. Matt. 33:27).
4. On Isa_31:7. Foerster remarks on this verse, that it is used by the Reformed as a proof-passage against the use of images in churches. He distinguishes between imagines superstitiosae, whose use is of course forbidden, and imagines non superstitiosae, the like of which were even, permitted and used in the worship of Jehovah, e. g., the cherubim and other images of art in the Tabernacle and in the Temple.
5. On Isa_31:8. “God has manifold ways by which He can head off tyrants, and does not need always to draw the sword over them. Examples: Sennacherib, 2Ki_19:35; Nebuchadnezzar, Dan_4:30; Herod, Act_12:23.”—Cramer.
6. On Isa_31:9. That the Lord has in Zion His fire and His hearth in Jerusalem is at once the strength and the weakness of the Old Covenant. It is its strength so far as, of course, it is a high privilege that Israel enjoys above all nations of the Gentile world, that the point of the earth’s surface that the Lord has made the place of His real presence on earth is the central point of their land and of their communion. But it is its weakness so far as this presence is only a transient and outward one, which, when misunderstood, can minister only to an outward worship and a false confidence (comp. Jer_7:4) that affords only a treacherous point of support that is dangerous to the soul. How totally different is the real presence of the Lord in the church of the New Covenant! To it the Lord is organically joined as a member, as on the other hand the Lord joins all members of His church really to Himself by His Spirit and His sacraments.
7. On Isa_32:1-8. “The picture which the Prophet paints here of the church of the last time is the picture of every true congregation of Christ. In it, the will of the Lord must be the only law according to which men judge, and not any fleshly consideration of any sort. In it, there must be open eyes and ears for God’s work and word; and if in some things precedence is readily allowed to the children of this world, still in spiritual things the understanding must be right and the speech clear. Finally, in it persons must be valued according to their true Christian, moral worth, not according to advantages that before God are rather a reproach than an honor. But the picture of the true congregation mirrors to us our own deformities. All this is not found in us. Everywhere appears worldly consideration, looking to the world, much weakness in spiritual judgment, and in speech far too much respect for the advantages that worldly position and wealth give the church member. May the Lord mend these things in us; and if only at the last He transforms the old church in its totality into the new, so let each of us pray the Lord that still He would more and more transform each worldling into a true, spiritual man.”—Weber. The Prophet Isaiah, 1875.
8. On Isa_32:1-4. Men of all times may learn from the Prophet’s words what sort of persons true kings, noblemen and officials ought to be. Underlying the whole discourse of Isaiah is the thought that those in authority are there for the sake of the people [comp. Luk_22:25-26.—Tr.], and that truth and honor are the first conditions of flourishing rule (comp. Herz., R-Encycl. XI. p. 24).
On Isa_32:8. Old Flattig once met the Duke of Wurtemburg on the latter’s birth day. “Well, Flattig,” inquired the Duke, what did you preach on my birth-day?” “Serene highness, what did I preach? I just preached that princes ought to have princely thoughts.” The Duke rode on without making any reply. Where there is no princely heart, there can come forth no princely thoughts. And only then does one have a princely heart when the Lord is the heart’s prince.
9. On Isa_32:9. “One must not suppose that it was no part of the Prophet’s office to reform women, seeing God includes all men under sin, and the proud daughters of Zion with their ostentation, were a great cause of the land being laden with sins (Isa_3:6).”—Cramer.
[“The alarm is sounded to women,—to feed whose pride, vanity and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the poor.”—M. Henry, in loc.].
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa_31:1-4. Warning against confiding in human help. 1) It is insulting to God. 2) It proves idle at last, for a, the power of men is in itself weak; b, it is wholly powerless against the strong hand of God.
2. On Isa_31:5-9. The Lord alone is the shelter of His Own. 1) He will be such (Isa_32:5); 2) He must be such (ver, 9 b, His own interest demands this); 3) He alone can be such (Isa_32:8); 4) He will be such on one condition (Isa_32:6).
3. [On Isa_31:6-7 1) It is general; every one shall cast away his own idols and begin with them before trying to demolish those of other people, which there will be no need of when every man reforms himself. 2) It is thorough: for they shall part with their idolatry, their beloved sin, made more precious by the gold and silver devoted to it. 3) It is on the right principle: a principle of piety and not of policy; because idolatry was a sin and not because it was profitless (“deeply revolted,” “sinfully made idols”). After M. Henry, in loc—Tr.].
4. On Isa_32:1-8. As there are always poor people, so there must always be persons of power and superior rank. The latter must know that they are there for the sake of the people, as guardians of right, as protectors of the poor and weak, so to speak, as the eyes, ears and tongues of the commonwealth. But as in God’s kingdom descent from Abraham counts for nothing any more, and true worship is no more that which is offered in Jerusalem, but that which is in spirit and in truth, so, too, the nobility of the flesh must yield precedence to nobility of the spirit. Not he that is noble according to the flesh, but a fool according to the spirit shall be called noble. Only he that has princely thoughts shall be called a prince; for truth reigns in the kingdom of God.
5. [On Isa_32:2. This may be given a spiritual application by a special reference to Christ, as eminently true of Him, the King of kings. This application is old and precious. Wind and tempest, rain and hail and burning heat are emblems of the calamities of life, and especially of God’s judgments on sin. Distress and impending judgment make men seek shelter. Christ is the only adequate hiding-place and covert. Let men run to Him with the eagerness of travellers in the burning desert taking refuge under a rock from the coming storm. The same rock-cliff often has a bountiful stream issuing just there where its cavernous recess affords the best shelter. While the traveller is safe from the tempest, he may rest and refresh himself from the distress he has endured. The rock “not only excludes the rays of the sun, but it has itself a refreshing coolness that is most grateful to a weary traveller.”—Barnes. “Some observe here, that as the covert, and hiding-place, and the rock, do themselves receive the battering of the wind and storm, to save those from it that take shelter in them, so Christ bore the storm Himself to keep it off from us.”—M. Henry. Tr.].
6. On Isa_32:9-11. When a land goes to ruin a great part of the blame of it rests on the women. For they are more easily prompted to evil, as they are to good. Where evil has once taken root, they are the ones that carry it to an extreme. “Und geht es zu des Bösen Haus, das Weib hat tausend Schritt voraus.” Therefore the punishment falls the hardest on them. As the weaker and more delicate, they suffer the most under the blows of misfortune.
7. On Isa_32:15 sqq. When once the Spirit of God is poured out on all flesh (Joe_3:1) then the personal and impersonal creation will be glorified. Then Satan will be bound, and the Lord alone will rule in men, and in nature. Then at last will it be beautiful on earth. For then right and righteousness will reign on earth, and peace, and that rest that is promised to the people of God (Heb_4:9).
Footnotes:
[14]Heb. Days above a year.
[15]They beat on the breasts for.
[16]Heb. the fields of desire.
[17]Or, Burning upon, etc.
[18]is.
[19]Or, clifts and watchtowers.
[20]are.
[21]And.
[22]service.
[23]And it will hail when the forest falls.
[24]Or, the city shall be utterly abased.
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv9–11Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves…
Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves little about the political signs of the times, but lived a life of self-indulgence (Isa 3:16-23); the failure of food through the devastations of the enemy is here foretold, being what was most likely to affect them as mothers of families, heretofore accustomed to every luxury. VITRINGA understands "women--daughters" as the cities and villages of Judea (Eze. 16:1-63). See Amo 6:1.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv9–119. There is an abrupt change here. From men…
APPENDIX TO THE FOURTH WOE-ADDRESS TO THE WOMEN.
9. There is an abrupt change here. From men in high life to women in high life the prophet now turns. All aglow with views of the glorious coming time in his closing address to the men, he comes suddenly back to the real state of things for a separate admonition to the women.
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Rise up, ye women — Not a physical rising up is meant, though the form of address is like to that of Lamech to his wives, (Gen_4:23.) but an inward rousing of the conscience.
At ease… careless ones — Women at ease, and self-secure in luxurious living, not dreaming of calamity and unprepared for it.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv9–119. The women are addressed partly as representing best…
9. The women are addressed partly as representing best certain aspects of the public mind, luxury and complacent ease (ch. Isa_3:16 ff.; Amo_4:1 ff.); partly because of their function as mourners in seasons of calamity (Jer_9:20).
that are at ease … careless] (or, confident) cf. Amo_6:1.
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Ch. Isa_32:9-20 To the Women of Jerusalem
Like the previous sections (Isa_29:1 ff., Isa_29:15 ff., Isaiah 30, 31) this passage is divided into two parts,—the announcement of judgment on Jerusalem, and a description of the Messianic salvation (see the analysis below). It presents, however, two remarkable peculiarities: (1) there is no reference to the overthrow of the Assyrians, and (2) it contemplates a complete destruction of Jerusalem and a protracted desolation of the land. For these reasons some critics have been led to assign the prophecy to a period much earlier than the invasion of Sennacherib; and this would be plausible if it were possible to separate the two parts of which it is composed (9–14 and 15–20). But this is difficult on account of the close connexion established by Isa_32:15; and since the latter portion presents some literary affinities with the other members of this group of discourses (ch. 28–31) it will probably be safer to regard the whole as belonging to the same period. It is possible, no doubt, that the Messianic conclusion might have been written later than the address to the women; but even on that assumption we should have to admit that the prophet retained the conception of an indefinitely prolonged depopulation of the land, at a late stage of his career.
The contents of the prophecy are as follows:—
i. Isa_32:9-14. A threatening oration, addressed to the women of Jerusalem. The introduction (Isa_32:9) shews that what roused the ire of the prophet was the careless unconcern and indifference of the women in face of the reiterated warnings he had uttered. He endeavours to shake them out of their light-hearted security by the announcement that “the ingathering shall not come” (10). So clear is the vision of calamity that he calls on his hearers to adopt the attitude of mourners over the ravaged vineyards, the desolate fields, and the deserted palaces of the “jubilant city” (11–14).
ii. Isa_32:15-20. Out of this state of collapse and ruin there will ultimately arise, but after an indefinite period, a new world. Under the vivifying influence of the Divine spirit, external nature will be renewed (15), righteousness will dwell in the land (16), and its blessed fruits will be undisturbed peace and security (17, 18). An unexpected allusion to the judgment (19) somewhat mars the continuity of the passage, which ends with a prophetic felicitation of the peaceful and industrious peasantry who inherit the golden age (20).
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv9–11(9) Rise up, ye women that are at ease…
(9) Rise up, ye women that are at ease . . .—The beginning of a new section, probably a distinct sermon, or, as it were, pamphlet, against the evils of which the prophet had spoken in Isa_2:16-22, and which continued, it would seem, unabated, in spite of Hezekiah’s reformation. It probably finds a place here as painting the harem influence, which then, as in the policy of modern Eastern monarchies, Constantinople and elsewhere, lay behind the counsels of the king and his ministers. The whole tone is that of invective against the women of the pseudo-aristocracy that had been covertly attacked in the preceding verses.
Give ear unto my speech . . .—Another echo of the teaching of the Proverbs (Pro_2:1; Pro_3:1; Pro_4:1; Pro_6:1; Pro_6:20.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv9–11SECTION IX FURTHER DENUNCIATIONS OF ISRAEL, JOINED WITH PROMISES.…
SECTION IX FURTHER DENUNCIATIONS OF ISRAEL, JOINED WITH PROMISES. (Isa_32:9-20)
Vers. 9-12. A REBUKE OF THE WOMEN. It might seem at first sight as if we had here a detached utterance of the prophet, accidentally conjoined with the preceding passage (vers. 1-8). But vers. 15-18 furnish a link of connection between the two portions of the chapter, and make it probable that they were delivered at the same time. Mr. Cheyne supposes that the indifference of a knot of women, gathered at some little distance from the men to whom Isaiah had addressed vers. 1-8, provoked the prophet suddenly to turn to them, and speak to them in terms of warning.
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Rise up. The "careless daughters" are sitting, or reclining upon couches, at their ease. The prophet bids them stand up, to hear a message from God. (comp. Jud_1:3:10) Ye women that are at ease ; i.e. "that are self-satisfied and self-complacent." The word employed has almost always a bad sense. (see 2Ki_19:28 Job_12:5 Psa_123:4 Amo_6:1 Zec_1:15) Hear my voice. This clause should be attached to the first half of the verse. The order of the words in the original is, "Ye women that are at ease, rise up and hear my words; ye careless daughters, hearken unto my speech.
Vers. 9-12. The need of rousing women in critical times from a state of self-satisfaction and self-complacency.
Women are less apprehensive than men, more inclined to suppose that the state of things to which they are accustomed will, as a matter el course, remain unchanged. They have, as a general rule, less historical knowledge than men, and less acquaintance with the condition of the world wherein they live. The self-complacency and unsuspiciousness of Marie Antoinette and the ladies of her court, when the French Revolution was drawing on, has been a matter of surprise to historians; but it is merely a striking instance of what is, in fact, the ordinary condition of things when great changes are imminent. Jezebel did not expect, or appreciate, the revolution initiated by Jehu; nor Athaliah that carried out under the auspices of Jehoiada the high priest. (2Ki_11:4-16) The instinctive belief in "continuance," of which Bishop Butler speaks ("Analogy," part 1: Isa 1), whereby we expect "all things to continue as we experience they are, in all respects, "and "to-morrow to be as to-day," only perhaps "more abundant", (Isa_56:12) is especially strong in women, and explains their inapprehensiveness. The result is:
1. That reverses come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly, without their being prepared to encounter them, and are thus sorer trials, under which they often fall into despair and recklessness, to their great hurt.
2. That the men, who are their associates, through the contagion of their security, are rendered themselves less apprehensive, and consequently less inclined to realize the coming danger and guard against it by wise measures of precaution. Under these circumstances, it becomes the preacher"s duty at such times to address himself especially to the rousing of the women from their "carelessness" and security, both for their own sakes, and still more for the sake of the community, whose prosperity or whose very existence they imperil.
Vers. 9-20. "Until the Spirit be poured out.
How constantly does Scripture speak of every happy reformation as due to the "outpouring of the Spirit," or the sending or breathing of the Spirit on human-kind! Language none the less expressive because mysterious. Those epochs cannot be forecast: no meteorology can explain to us these movements "from on high." But they may be waited for and prepared for, without fear of disappointment. Again and again they had come to the prophet"s heart; and from his heart he knew they must some time come also in a wider sphere of operation.
I UNTIL THEN WHAT? The women are addressed, the daughters of Zion. The manners of the women must be a sure index of the state of a nation. New religious feeling kindles quickly in their hearts; they welcome and further revivals. Their indifference to spiritual things seems to belie their nature; atheism in woman is monstrous. The Jewish women are in a state of careless unconcern. This attitude of "ease," of apathetic nonchalance, arouses the indignation and the alarm of the prophets, perhaps more than vivacity in sin. It is an ominous symptom in the bodily life, not less so in the soul. It offers a dull prosaic resistance to enthusiasm of any kind, which it holds in smiling, sensuous contempt. A psalmist"s soul is "exceedingly filled" with perturbation at this attitude; (Psa_123:4) Amos denounces woe, (Amo_6:1) and Zechariah the great displeasure of Jehovah against them that "are at ease." Perhaps the vintage-harvest was over when the prophet spoke. The time would come when a shudder would pass through those luxurious frames; the outer garment would be torn off, the sackcloth assumed, the breasts that once heaved only with the sigh of pleasure be beaten in wild lament for the "days that are no more," for the pleasant fields and the fruitful vine. Those fields will be thorn and briar overgrown; the houses of the city deserted, its mirth quelled. The wild cattle will sport around the temple hill, the palaces be forsaken. Impossible to dissociate in our minds the desolation of once populous scenes from the sin of man and the withdrawal of the gracious Spirit of God. Take these descriptions as figures of the state of the soul; then power and beauty remain. The well-kept garden, the sweet fields in the harvest-time, the mirth of reapers and in-gatherers; these sights, these sounds, provide unsought expression for the soul that feels itself "at ease." The untilled fields, the signs of wild nature creeping to old ascendency over the works of man, such sights carry symbolic meaning which depresses the most cheerful heart. "Until the Spirit be outpoured from on high that is our state, and that it must remain.
II AFTER THEN WHAT?
1. Justice shall inhabit the pasture-country, and righteousness shall dwell in the garden-land." Men ought not to be like cattle, which seek nothing but plenty of food and abundance of outward things. We should not, like hogs in a sty, judge of the happiness of life by abundance of bread and wine (Calvin). Righteousness alone exalts, righteousness alone can uplift a fallen nation.
2. "The fruit of righteousness shall be peace." This is inwardly and outwardly, subjectively and objectively, true. Peace in the heart is the companion of rectitude; it flows from right order in the home and family, and from just administration in the state. Peace, quietness, confidence: a triple blooming in one; a threefold band of prosperity and condition of all welfare. "Homes of peace, dwellings of confidence, easeful resting-places, these are the pictures that all men draw in fancy; this the life for which they dream they were made. Such a state depends upon piety, upon personal and social morality. "It is as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah. True religion would put an end to strifes and litigations; to riots and mobs; to oppressions and tumults; to alarms and robbery; to battle and murder and conflict among the nations.
3. These blessings cannot come without suffering. The hail of judgment will fall upon forest and upon city. The refuge of lies and the hiding-place of falsehood must be swept away. Renewing and reforming forces work destructively on one side, as creatively on the other. Upon whom these judgments will fall is not evident from the text. Hail is an image of Divine judgment. (Isa_28:2, 17 30:30)
4. The happiness of the tiller. He sows beside all waters a reference to the Oriental custom of casting the seed upon the waters of overflowing streams and rivers, so that, when the waters subside, it will be found again in the springing crop and the abundant harvest. The ox and the ass are employed to tread the moistened earth and prepare for the sowing. (cf. Ecc_11:1, Ecc_11:6) In a figurative sense happy those who go steadily on with useful work, the work that lies nearest them, the sowing which looks for a "far-off interest of good," amidst the most troubled times. No troubles of the lime should divert us from our daily task, or unsettle us from the habit of continuous useful labor. J.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv9, 11Rise up, ye women, that are at ease
Isa_32:9
Rise up, ye women, that are at ease
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Female complacency reproved
Isaiah turns aside abruptly from his main theme.
His eye, we may suppose, was arrested by the spectacle of some women, sitting down perhaps at a little distance from where he stood, and testifying their indifference to his words. In chap.
3. it was their vanity and love of display which called forth the prophets censure: here it is their complacency and unconcern. (Prof. S. B. Driver, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v9
CHAPTER XVI
ISAIAH TO WOMEN
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DATE UNCERTAIN
Isa_32:9-20
THE date of this prophecy, which has been appended to those spoken by Isaiah during the Egyptian intrigues (704-702), is not certain. It is addressed to women, and there is no reason why the prophet, when he was upbraiding the men of Judah for their false optimism, should not also have sought to awaken the conscience of their wives and daughters on what is the besetting sin rather of women than of men. The chief evidence for dissociating the prophecy from its immediate predecessors is that it predicts, or apparently predicts (Isa_32:13-14), the ruin of Jerusalem, whereas in these years Isaiah was careful to exempt the Holy City from the fate which he saw falling on the rest of the land. But otherwise the argument of the prophecy is almost exactly that of chapters 29-30. By using the same words when he blames the women for "ease" and "carelessness" in Isa_32:9-11 as he does when he promises "confidence" and "quiet resting-places" in Isa_32:17-18, Isaiah makes clear that his purpose is to contrast the false optimism of society during the postponement of the Assyrian invasion with that confidence and stability upon righteousness which the Spirit of God can alone create. The prophecy, too, has the usual three stages: sin in the present, judgment in the immediate future, and a state of blessedness in the latter days. The near date at which judgment is threatened-"days beyond a year"-ought to be compared with Isa_29:1 : "Add ye a year to a year; let the feasts come round."
The new points are that it is the women who are threatened, that Jerusalem itself is pictured in ruin, and that the pouring out of the Spirit is promised as the cause of the blessed future.
I. THE CHARGE TO THE WOMEN
(Isa_32:9-12)
The charge to the women is especially interesting, not merely for its own terms, but because it is only part of a treatment of women which runs through the whole of Scripture.
Isaiah had already delivered against the women of Jerusalem a severe diatribe (chapter 3), the burden of which was their vanity and haughtiness. With the satiric temper, which distinguishes his earlier prophecies, he had mimicked their ogling and mincing gait, and described pin by pin their fashions and ornaments, promising them instead of these things "rottenness" and "baldness," and "a girdle of sackcloth and branding for beauty." But he has grown older, and penetrating below their outward fashion and gait, he charges them with thoughtlessness as the besetting sin of their sex. "Ye women that are at ease, rise up, and hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear to my speech. For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, O careless women, for the vintage shall fail; the ingathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones." By a pair of epithets he describes their fault; and almost thrice does he repeat the pair, as if he would emphasise it past all doubt. The besetting sin of women, as he dins into them, is ease; an ignorant and unthinking contentment with things as they are; thoughtlessness with regard to the deeper mysteries of life; disbelief in the possibility of change.
But Isaiah more than hints that these besetting sins of women are but the defects of their virtues. The literal meaning of the two adjectives he uses, "at ease" and "careless," is "restful" and "trustful." Scripture throughout employs these words both in a good and a bad sense. Isaiah does so himself in this very chapter (compare these verses with Isa_32:17-18). In the next chapter he describes the state of Jerusalem after redemption as a state of "ease" or "restfulness," and we know that he never ceased urging the people to "trustfulness." For such truly religious conditions he uses exactly the same names as for the shallow optimism with which he now charges his countrywomen. And so doing, he reminds us of an important law of character. The besetting sins of either sex are its virtues prostituted. A mans greatest temptations proceed from his strength; but the glory of the feminine nature is repose, and trust is the strength of the feminine character, in which very things, however, lies all the possibility of womans degradation. Womans faith amounts at times to real intuition; but what risks are attached to this prophetic power-of impatience, of contentment with the first glance at things, "the inclination," as a great moralist has put it, "to take too easily the knowledge of the problems of life, and to rest content with what lies nearest her, instead of penetrating to a deeper foundation." Women are full of indulgence and hope; but what possibilities lie there of deception, false optimism, and want of that anxiety which alone makes progress possible. Women are more inclined than men to believe all things; but how certain is such a temper to sacrifice the claims of truth and honour. Women are full of tact, the just favourites of success, with infinite power to plead and please; but if they are aware of this, how certain is such a self-consciousness to produce negligence and the fatal sleep of the foolish virgins.
Scripture insists repeatedly on this truth of Isaiahs about the besetting sin of women. The prophet Amos has engraved it in one of his sharpest epigrams, declaring that thoughtlessness is capable of turning women into very brutes, and their homes into desolate ruins: "Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say unto their lords, Bring and let us drink. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by His holiness that, lo, the days shall come upon you that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks, and ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her, and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah." It is a cowherds picture of women: a troop of cows, heavy, heedless animals, tramping in their anxiety for food upon every frail and lowly object in the way. There is a cowherd s coarseness in it, but a prophets insight into character. Not of Jezebels, or Messalinas, or Lady Macbeths is it spoken, but of the ordinary matrons of Samaria. Thoughtlessness is able to make brutes out of women of gentle nurture, with homes and a religion. For thoughtlessness, when joined to luxury or beauty, plays with cruel weapons. It means greed, arrogance, indifference to suffering, wantonness, pride of conquest, dissimulation in love, and revenge for little slights; and there is no waste, unkind sport, insolence, brutality, or hysterical violence to which it will not lead. Such women are known, as Amos pictured them, through many degrees of this thoughtlessness: interrupters of conversation, an offence to the wise; devourers of many of the little ones of Gods creation for the sake of their own ornament; tormentors of servants and subordinates for the sake of their own ease; out of the enjoyment of power or for admirations sake breakers of hearts. And are not all such victims of thoughtlessness best compared, with Amos, to a cow-an animal that rushes at its grass careless of the many daisies and ferns it tramples, that will destroy the beauty of a whole country lane for a few mouthfuls of herbage? Thoughtlessness, says Amos, -"and the Lord God hath sworn it by His holiness"-is the very negation of womanhood, the ruin of homes.
But when we turn from the degradation of woman as thus exposed by the prophets to her glory as lifted up in the New Testament, we find the same note is struck. Woman in the New Testament is gracious according as she is thoughtful; she offends even when otherwise beautiful by her feeling overpowering her thought. Martha spoils a most estimable character by one moment of unthinking passion, in which she accuses the Master of carelessness. Mary chooses the better part in close attention to her Masters words. The Ten Virgins are divided into five wise and five foolish. Paul seems to have been struck, as Isaiah was, with the natural tendency of the female character, for the first duty he lays upon the old women is to "teach the young women to think discreetly," and he repeats the injunction, putting it before chastity and industry-"Teach them," he says, "teach them discretion". {Tit_2:4-5} In Mary herself, the mother of our Lord, we see two graces of character, to the honour of which Scripture gives equal place-faith and thoughtfulness. The few sentences, which are all that he devotes to Marys character, the Evangelist divides equally between these two. She was called "blessed" because she believed the word of the Lord. But trustfulness did not mean in her, as in other women, neglect to think. Twice, at an interval of twelve years, we are shown thoughtfulness and carefulness of memory as the habitual grace of this first among women. "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. His mother kept all these sayings in her heart." What was Marys glory was other womens salvation. By her logic the sufferer of Capernaum, whom many physicians failed to benefit, found her cure; by her persistent argument the Syrophenician woman received her daughter to health again. And when our Lord met that flippant descendant of "the kine of Bashan, that are in the mount of Samaria," how did He treat her that He might save her but by giving her matter to think about, by speaking to her in riddles, by exploding her superficial knowledge, and scattering her easy optimism?
So does all Scripture declare in harmony with the oracle of Isaiah, that thoughtlessness and easy contentment with things as they be, are the besetting sins of woman. But her glory is discretion.
The next new point in this prophecy is the
II. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
(Isa_32:13-15)
"Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: for the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; Ophel and the Watch-tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks." The attempt has been made to confine this reference to the outskirts of the sacred city, but it is hardly a just one. The prophet, though he does not name the city, evidently means Jerusalem, and means the whole of it. Some therefore deny the authenticity of the prophecy. Certainly it is almost impossible to suppose that so definite a sentence of ruin can have been published at the same time as the assurances of Jerusalems inviolability in the preceding orations. But that does not prevent the hypothesis that it was uttered by Isaiah at an earlier period, when, as in chapters 2 and 3, he did say extreme things about the destruction of his city. It must be noticed, however, that Isaiah speaks with some vagueness; that at the present moment he is not concerned with any religious truth or will of the Almighty, but simply desires to contrast the careless gaiety of the women of Jerusalem with the fate hanging over them. How could he do this more forcibly than by turning the streets and gardens of their delights into ruins and the haunts of the wild ass, even though it should seem inconsistent with his declaration that Zion was inviolable? License for a certain amount of inconsistency is absolutely necessary in the case of a prophet who had so many divers truths to utter to so many opposite interests and tempers. Besides, at this time he had already reduced Jerusalem very low. {Isa_29:4}
III. THE SPIRIT OUTPOURED
(Isa_32:15-20)
The rest of the prophecy is luminous rather than lucid, full of suffused rather than distinct meanings. The date of the future regeneration is indefinite-another feature more in harmony with Isaiahs earlier prophecies than his later. The cause of the blessing is the outpouring of the Spirit of God (Isa_32:15). Righteousness and peace are to come to earth by a distinct creative act of God. Isaiah adds his voice to the invariable testimony of prophets and apostles, who, whether they speak of society or the heart of individual man, place their hope in new life from above by the Spirit of the living God. Victor Hugo says, "There are no weeds in society, only bad cultivators"; and places all hope of progress towards perfection in proper methods of social culture. These are needed, as much as the corn, which will not spring from the sunshine alone, requires the hand of the sower, and the harrow. And Isaiah, too, speaks here of human conduct and effort as required to fill up the blessedness of the future: righteousness and labour. But first, and indispensably, he, with all the prophets, places the Spirit of God.
It appears that Isaiah looked for the fruits of the Spirit both as material and moral. He bases the quiet resting-places and regular labours of the future not on righteousness only, but on fertility and righteousness. "The wilderness shall become a fruitful field," and what is today "a fruitful field shall be counted as a forest." That this proverb, used by Isaiah more than once, is not merely a metaphor for the moral revolution he describes in the next verse, is proved by his having already declared the unfruitfulness of their soil as part of his peoples punishment. Fertility is promised for itself, and as the accompaniment of moral bountifulness. "And there shall dwell in the wilderness justice, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field."
And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect, or "service, of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass!"
There is not a prophecy more characteristic of Isaiah. It unfolds what for him were the two essential and equal contents of the will of God: a secure land and a righteous people, the fertility of nature and the purity of society. But in those years (705-702) he did not forget that something must come between him and that paradise. Across the very middle of his vision of felicity there dashes a cruel storm. In the gap indicated above Isaiah wrote, "But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city shall be utterly laid low." A hailstorm between the promise and fulfilment of summer! Isaiah could only mean the Assyrian invasion, which was now lowering so dark. Before it bursts we must follow him to the survey which he made, during these years before the siege of Jerusalem, of the foreign nations on whom, equally with Jerusalem, that storm was to sweep.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v11Isa_32:11. Be troubled, ye careless ones [1192]
A CALL TO THE CARELESS
Isa_32:11. Be troubled, ye careless ones [1192]
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[1192] See outlines on chap. Isa_1:3, p. 7–12.
I. Who are the careless ones in our own day?
1. Those who neglect the Bible. Its main object is to arouse the attention of sinners. Claims and deserves attention. That man is indifferent to the welfare of his country who never examines the principles of its constitution, the character of its laws, &c. So he who neglects the Bible can never be regarded as a serious man. He is careless on the most momentous of all subjects.
2. Those who neglect prayer. All who have any proper feeling towards God must regard this as a solemn duty. Nature teaches its necessity and importance, the Scriptures enjoin it with great earnestness (Luk_18:1; 1Th_5:17).
3. Those who neglect the Sabbath. This “made for man,” appointed for his convenience and spiritual good. An institution of unspeakable importance as regards eternity—in fact, no religion without it.
4. Those who neglect the institutions of the sanctuary. Those anxious to know “what they must do to be saved” always prize the preaching of the Gospel. On the other hand, as the interest in religion declines, so will be our indifference to the means of grace. See you one who makes his attendance on God’s house a matter of convenience, who avails himself of any trifling excuse to be absent, &c., there is a careless one. So also with those who are so absorbed in the pursuits of this life, so as to have neither leisure nor disposition to attend the place of prayer.
5. In a word, those are careless ones who live in impenitence and unbelief. Repentance and faith in Christ. The great interest of the soul cannot be secured without these, and no man can be said to take heed to the things that belong to his peace, without obeying Christ’s commands concerning them.
II. Why such ought to be troubled. Those who are indifferent are disposed to remain so—carelessness perpetuates itself. Still there are reasons why such should be troubled.
1. The fact that you are careless is a ground of alarm. Carelessness, an evidence of our ignorance of the true condition of the soul in the sight of God. Something truly frightful in false security where the danger is real and great. With such this fancied security is the most alarming symptom. The sinner suffering from a disease which no human skill can remove—in danger of eternal death. How fearful then the indifference, how appalling the apathy of such!
2. This indifference indicates a state of mind in which every blessing will be abused, and every warning neglected. A habit of body that would render everything received for nourishment or for medicine useless would be dreadful; what, then, of that moral disease which perverts every gift and makes the diversified means which God employs accomplish nothing for our good?
3. You ought to be troubled when you reflect what it is you are careless about, viz., your salvation. The man who is indifferent about his health, or regardless of his temporal interest, is unwise; what, then, of one who hazards the salvation of his soul by neglect? Salvation is offered in Christ—indifference is unbelief. Why so eager after the acquisition of wealth, and indifferent about the true riches?
4. Another cause of alarm is the exposure of your present position. Neglect of the Gospel ensures destruction (Heb_2:3). This apathy a crime for which no amiableness or morality can atone.
5. No more powerful means will be employed to awaken you to the concerns of your soul. God disclaims any responsibility for your loss (Isa_5:4; Mat_23:37). Ministers have preached, Christian friends have entreated, the Holy Spirit has been sent down, and still you are careless. The very heathen will rise up in judgment. If one rising from the dead would not make those hear who had Moses and the prophets, what shall awaken those who have Christ and the apostles?
6. This carelessness is induced, it is not natural. A long process of hardening the heart is gone through before such a state of apathy is reached. But once ours, it has all the force of habit, and is not easily broken up (Mat_11:21). This indifference is voluntary (Act_24:25). Felix might have taken a different course. No iron necessity binds men to the fatal course they take, but a perverse will and an unbelieving heart.
7. This carelessness is a state of mind that provokes God to withdraw His Spirit. Deeply criminal. No apathy in heaven, there ought to be none on earth. Must it not offend God, to say that He has failed to reveal Himself in a way to interest His creatures? And yet men can be interested in a novel while the Gospel is neglected. Under the old dispensation He said, “My people would not hearken to My voice, so I gave them up to their hearts’ lust.” What of those who then reject the ?Song of Solomon 8. This indifference will ultimately be broken up, and will aggravate condemnation a thousandfold. Though retribution sleep, it must come and will not tarry. The Jews were spared forty years after the Saviour had wept over their doomed city. So with the sinner; there comes a time when he can be indifferent no longer; the realities of judgment and eternity produce a conviction which will go on deepening for ever. How it will embitter the soul then to dwell upon this carelessness of the past. Recollection itself a source of misery. (Luk_16:25). What words can express the anguish of a soul thus reminded of lost opportunities, &c.?
Throw off this lethargy. From this moment seek the Lord with your whole heart, and call upon Him while He is near. Why run the desperate hazard of having to do all this on a dying bed?—Mark Tucker, D.D.: National Preacher, vol. vii. p. 138.
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v9Desolation and Restoration
Desolation and Restoration
v. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease, who lived a life of self-indulgence, without regarding the dangers of their times; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, heedless of the larger issues of life; give ear unto my speech.
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v. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, literally, "days upon a year," that is, an indefinite number of days, at the most a year, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come, there would be no harvest of fruit, since the enemy would occupy all the land about Jerusalem.
v. 11. Tremble, ye women that are at ease, resting in smug self-satisfaction; be troubled, ye careless ones, who fondly imagined that the circumstances to which they were accustomed would never change; strip you and make you bare, laying aside the costly garments in which they delighted, and gird sackcloth upon your loins, as a sign of trouble, sorrow, and mourning.
v. 12. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, rather, "Upon their breasts they will strike over the fields of pleasantness or desire, over the vine of fruitfulness," deeply grieving on account of the desolation which had come upon their fertile land.
v. 13. Upon the land of my people, which formerly had been a type of unexampled fruitfulness, shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy, which were so abundant in the capital city, in the joyous city. The Prophet, as in chapter 3, has in mind women who have never known any want, but have continually lived in abundance and luxury. His purpose was to frighten them out of their secure amid proud repose and to make them realize the condition in which their land was on account of tire sins of its inhabitants.
v. 14. Because the palaces, in which the rich were then living, shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left, the noisy din of the large city, that is, the city with its noisy multitude, forsaken; the forts and towers, Ophel, the rocky prominence of Moriah with its watchtower, shall be for dens forever, homes of wild animals, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, all this being a picture and type of spiritual desolation which had taken hold of the Jewish people,
v. 15. until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, in the time of the Messiah, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest, that is, men now barren of true religion would become fruitful as a result of the regeneration wrought in them, while those already converted would bring forth fruit in such rich abundance as to make their former life seem like a wilderness by comparison.
v. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, the justice of God being acknowledged where it was formerly unknown, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field, since the believers grow both in tire knowledge of the Lord and in good works.
v. 17. And the work of righteousness, the condition which is produced by the application of the Lord’s righteousness in all the affairs of the Church, shall be peace, a security resting upon the foundation of God’s protection; and the effect of righteousness, its reward, quietness and assurance forever, a firm reliance upon the mercy and grace of the Lord.
v. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, from which all strife would be far removed, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places, dwelling in the most fortunate and desirable circumstances of peace and security;
v. 19. when it shall hail, coming down on the forest, when the forest shall fall under a storm of hail, and the city shall be low in a low place, the reference being to the overthrow of all hostile world-powers as the Church of the Messiah is established.
v. 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, scattering their seeds in the fertile lowlands everywhere, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass, letting their beasts of burden roam freely on account of the great abundance of the harvest. This is again a picture of the prosperity and security of the Church under the blessing of the Lord in the New Testament: the world-powers, all spiritual enemies vanquished and the city of God with the fields of His Word happy and prosperous.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv9, 11Rise up
Rise up
"Stand up" or "Pay attention"
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at ease
"secure" or "carefree"
my voice
Isaiah refers to himself by his voice to emphasize what he says. AT: "me speak" (See: Metonymy)
your confidence will be broken
This can be stated in active form. Also, Isaiah speaks of them no longer being confident as if their confidence were a physical object that is broken. AT: "you will no longer be confident" (See: Active or Passive)
the grape harvest will fail
This means that there would not be good grapes to harvest. AT: "there will be no grapes for you to harvest" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv9–1132:9-15 This prophecy of judgment was against the complacent…
32:9-15 This prophecy of judgment was against the complacent women of Jerusalem. God’s promises regarding the future did not justify continuing in sin.
32:9 The women of Jerusalem lie around in ease. Complacent in their high standard of life and low standard of morality, they put their trust in wealth and status to maintain their way of life.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9–10 He prophesieth of such calamity to come, that they…
He prophesieth of such calamity to come, that they will not spare the women and children, and therefore willeth them to take heed and provide.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–11 Isa 32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at…
Isa 32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Ver. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease.] Secure sedentes, ye court ladies, whose pride hath brought on the wars; {Isa 3:25} or, ye hen hearted Jews, Aχηιδες ουκ ετ Aχαιοι; or, ye lesser cities and villages of Judah, rise up, and rouse up yourselves, ad exhibendum honorem verbo Dei, In honour of God’s holy Word. {Jdg 3:20}
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 vv9–11 Rise up; bestir and prepare yourselves to hear, as…
Rise up; bestir and prepare yourselves to hear, as it follows, and shake off sloth and carelessness.
That are at ease; that indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury.
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Careless, Heb. confident or secure, who are insensible of your sin and danger.
Daughters; the same before called women; whom he here reproveth and threateneth for their sins, as he did the men before for seeking to Egypt for help, and divers other sins, whereof the men were most guilty.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v9 In these verses we have God rising up to…
In these verses we have God rising up to judgment against the vile persons, to punish them for their villainy; but at length returning in mercy to the liberal, to reward them for their liberality.
I. When there was so great a corruption of manners, and so much provocation given to the holy God, bad times might well be expected, and here is a warning given of such times coming. The alarm is sounded to the women that were at ease (Isa 32:9) and the careless daughters, to feed whose pride, vanity, and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the poor. Let them hear what the prophet has to say to them in God's name: "Rise up, and hear with reverence and attention."
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1. Let them know that God was about to bring wasting desolating judgments upon the land in which they lived in pleasure and were wanton. This seems to refer primarily to the desolations made by Sennacherib's army when he seized all the fenced cities of Judah: but then those words, many days and years, must be rendered (as the margin reads them) days above a year, that is, something above a year shall this havock be in the making: so long it was from the first entrance of that army into the land of Judah to the overthrow of it. But it is applicable to the wretched disappointment which those will certainly meet with, first or last, that set their hearts upon the world and place their happiness in it: You shall be troubled, you careless women. It will not secure us from trouble to cast away care when we are at ease; nay, to those who affect to live carelessly even little troubles will be great vexations and press hard upon them. They were careless and at ease because they had money enough and mirth enough; but the prophet here tells them, (1.) That the country whence they had their tents and dainties should shortly be laid waste: "The vintage shall fail; and then what will you do for wine to make merry with? The gathering of fruit shall not come, for there shall be none to be gathered, and you will find the want of them, Isa 32:10. You will want the teats, the good milk from the cows, the pleasant fields and their productions:" the useful fields that are serviceable to human life are the pleasant ones. "You will want the fruitful vine, and the grapes it used to yield you." The abuse of plenty is justly punished with scarcity; and those deserve to be deprived of the supports of life who make them the food and fuel of lust and prepare them for Baal. (2.) That the cities too, the cities of Judah, where they lived at ease, spent their rents, and made themselves merry with their dainties, should be laid waste (Isa 32:13, Isa 32:14): Briers and thorns, the fruits of sin and the curse, shall come up, not only upon the land of my people, which shall lie uncultivated, but upon all the houses of joy - the play-houses, the gaming-houses, the taverns - in the joyous cities. When a foreign army was ravaging the country the houses of joy, no doubt, became houses of mourning; then the palaces, or noblemen's houses, were forsaken by their owners, who perhaps fled to Egypt for refuge; the multitude of the city were left by their leaders to shift for themselves. Then the stately houses shall be for dens for ever, which had been as forts and towers for strength and magnificence. They shall be abandoned; the owners shall never return to them; every body shall look upon them to be like Jericho, an anathema; so that, even when peace returns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall be thrown to the waste: A joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks. Thus is many a house brought to ruin by sin. Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit - Corn grows on the site of Troy.
2. In the foresight of this let them tremble and be troubled, strip themselves, and gird sackcloth upon their loins, Isa 32:11. This intimates not only that when the calamity comes they shall thus be made to tremble and be forced to strip themselves, that then God's judgments would strip them and make them bare, but, (1.) That the best prevention of the trouble would be to repent and humble themselves for their sin, and lie in the dust before God in true remorse and godly sorrow, which would be the lengthening out of their tranquillity. This is meeting God in the way of his judgments, and saving a correction by correcting our own mistakes. Those only shall break that will not bend. (2.) That the best preparation for the trouble would be to deny themselves and live a life of mortification, and to sit loose to all the delights of sense. Those that have already by a holy contempt of this world stripped themselves can easily bear to be stripped when trouble and death come.
II. While there was still a remnant that kept their integrity they had reason to hope for good times at length and such times the prophet here gives them a pleasant prospect of. Such times they saw in the latter end of the reign of Hezekiah; but the prophecy may well be supposed to look further, to the days of the Messiah, who is King of righteousness and King of peace, and to whom all the prophets bear witness. Now observe,
1. How those blessed times shall be introduced-by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high (Isa 32:15), which speaks not only of the good-will of God towards us, but the good work of God in us; for then, and not till then, there will be good times, when God by his grace gives men good hearts; and therefore God's giving his Holy Spirit to those that ask him is in effect his giving them all good things, as appears by comparing Luk 11:13 with Mat 7:11. This is the great thing that God's people comfort themselves with the hopes of, that the Spirit shall be poured out upon them, that there shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace than formerly, according as the necessity of the church, in its desolate estate, calls for. This comes from on high, and therefore they look up to their Father in heaven for it. When God designs favours for his church he pours out his Spirit, both to prepare his people to receive his favours and to qualify and give success to those whom he designs to employ as instruments of his favour; for their endeavours to repair the desolations of the church are all fruitless until the Spirit be poured out upon them and then the work is done suddenly. The kingdom of the Messiah was brought in, and set up, by the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2), and so it is still kept up, and will be to the end.
2. What a wonderfully happy change shall then be made. That which was a wilderness, dry and barren, shall become a fruitful field, and that which we now reckon a fruitful field, in comparison with what it shall be then, shall be counted for a forest. Then shall the earth yield her increase. It is promised that in the days of the Messiah the fruit of the earth shall shake like Lebanon, Psa 72:16. Some apply this to the admission of the Gentiles into the gospel church (which made the wilderness a fruitful field), and the rejection and exclusion of the Jews, which made that a forest which had been a fruitful field. On the Gentiles was poured out a spirit of life, but on the Jews a spirit of slumber. See what is the evidence and effect of the pouring out of the Spirit upon any soul; it is thereby made fruitful, and has its fruit unto holiness. Three things go to make these times happy: -
(1.) Judgment and righteousness, Isa 32:16. When the Spirit is poured out upon a land, then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and turn it into a fruitful field, and righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field and make it yet more fruitful. Ministers shall expound the law and magistrates execute it, and both so judiciously and faithfully that by both the bad shall be made good and the good made better. Among all sorts of people, the poor and low and unlearned, that are neglected as the wilderness, and the rich and great and learned, that are valued as the fruitful field, there shall be right thoughts of things, good principles commanding, and conscience made of good and evil, sin and duty. Or in all parts of the land, both champaign and enclosed, country and city, the ruder parts and those that are more cultivated and refined, justice shall be duly administered. The law of Christ introduces a judgment or rule by which we must be governed, and the gospel of Christ a righteousness by which we must be saved; and, wherever the Spirit is poured out, both these dwell and remain as an everlasting righteousness.
(2.) Peace and quietness, Isa 32:17, Isa 32:18. The peace here promised is of two kinds: -
[1.] Inward peace, Isa 32:17. This follows upon the indwelling of righteousness, Isa 32:16. Those in whom that work is wrought shall experience this blessed product of it. It is itself peace, and the effect of it is quietness and assurance for ever, that is, a holy serenity and security of mind, by which the soul enjoys itself and enjoys its God, and it is not in the power of this world to disturb it in those enjoyments. Note, Peace, and quietness, and everlasting assurance may be expected, and shall be found, in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to be had only in true religion, and there it is to be had without fail. Those are the quiet and peaceable lives that are spent in all godliness and honesty, Ti1 2:2. First, Even the work of righteousness shall be peace. In the doing of our duty we shall find abundance of true pleasure, a present great reward of obedience in obedience. Though the work of righteousness may be toilsome and costly, and expose us to contempt, yet it is peace, such peace as is sufficient to bear our charges. Secondly, The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance, not only to the end of time, of our time, and in the end, but to the endless ages of eternity. Real holiness is real happiness now and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness, for ever.
[2.] Outward peace, Isa 32:18. It is a great mercy when those who by the grace of God have quiet and peaceable spirits are by the providence of God made to dwell in quiet and peaceable habitations, not disturbed in their houses or solemn assemblies. When the terror of Sennacherib's invasion was over, the people, no doubt, were more sensible than ever of the mercy of a quiet habitation, not disturbed with the alarms of war. Let every family study to keep itself quiet from strifes and jars within, not two against three and three against two in the house, and then put itself under God's protection to dwell safely, and to be quiet from the fear of evil without. Jerusalem shall be a peaceable habitation; compare Isa 33:20. Even when it shall hail, and there shall be a violent battering storm coming down on the forest that lies bleak, then shall Jerusalem be a quiet resting-place, for the city shall be low in a low place, under the wind, not exposed (as those cities are that stand high) to the fury of the storm, but sheltered by the mountains that are round about Jerusalem, Psa 125:2. The high forts and towers are brought down (Isa 32:14), but the city that lies low shall be a quiet resting-place. Those are most safe, and may dwell most at ease, that are humble, and are willing to dwell low, Isa 32:19. Those that would dwell in a peaceable habitation must be willing to dwell low, and in a low place. Some think here is an allusion to the preservation of the land of Goshen from the plague of hail, which made great destruction in the land of Egypt.
(3.) Plenty and abundance. There shall be such good crops gathered in every where, and every year, that the husbandmen shall be commended, and though happy, who sow beside all water (Isa 32:20), who sow all the grounds that are fit for seedness, who cast their bread, or bread-corn, upon the water, Ecc 11:1. God will give the increase, but then the husbandman must be industrious, and mind his business, and sow beside all waters; and, if he do this, the corn shall come up so thick and rank that he shall turn in his cattle, even the ox and the ass, to eat the tops of it and keep it under. This is applicable, [1.] To the preaching of the word. Some think it points at the ministry of the apostles, who, as husbandmen, went forth to sow their seed (Mat 13:3); they sowed beside all waters; they preached the gospel wherever they came. Waters signify people, and they preached to multitudes. Wherever they found men's hearts softened, and moistened, and disposed to receive the word, they cast in the good seed. And whereas, by the law of Moses, the Jews were forbidden to plough with an ox and an ass together (Deu 22:10), which intimated that Jews and Gentiles should not intermix, now that distinction shall be taken away, and both the ox and the ass, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be employed in, and enjoy the benefit of, the gospel husbandry. [2.] To works of charity. When God sends these happy times blessed are those that improve them in doing good with what they have, that sow beside all waters, that embrace all opportunities of relieving the necessitous; for in due season they shall reap.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–11 Rise up, ye women that are at ease,.... On…
Rise up, ye women that are at ease,.... On beds of down, unconcerned about the present or future state of the nation; who had their share of guilt in the nation's sins, particularly pride, luxury, superstition, rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel, and so should have their part in its punishment. Some think that the men of the nation are so called, because of their effeminacy. The Jews interpret them of the other cities of Judea, besides Jerusalem; the Targum explains it by provinces:
hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear to my speech; the words of the prophet concerning the future desolation of their country; here it is thought the lesser towns and villages are intended by daughters, who dwelt in confidence and security, having no thought and notion of destruction coming upon them; so Ben Melech interprets the "women" of cities, and the "daughters" of villages.
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 vv9–11 Ye - That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury.…
Ye - That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury. Careless - Who are insensible of your sin and danger.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Verse 9. Rise up, ye women - "ye provinces."…
Verse 9. Rise up, ye women - "ye provinces." Ye careless daughters - "ye cities." - Targum.
From this verse to the end of the fourteenth, the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans appears to be foretold.
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 v9 Isa 32:9-12. Rise up, &c. — The prophet, to…
Isa 32:9-12. Rise up, &c. — The prophet, to show the sinners and hypocrites in Zion, (Isa 33:14,) that they must not expect to receive blessings from God, such as he had just now predicted, while they remained in a state of impenitence, denounces against them the calamities which should come upon them; 1st, By the Assyrian, and then by the Babylonish destruction. Ye women that are at ease — That indulge yourselves in idleness and luxury; shake off your carelessness and sloth, and prepare yourselves to hear the sentence pronounced by God concerning you. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters — Hebrew, בשׂחות, ye confident and secure, who are insensible of your sin and danger. Many days and years — Hebrew, ימים על שׁנה, days above a year; that is, a year and some days: which, it seems, expresses the time of the continuance of the judgment by the Assyrians; that it should last some days above one year, as indeed it did, and no longer; for Hezekiah reigned in all but twenty-nine years, 2Ki 18:2. And Sennacherib invaded the country in his fourteenth year; and, after his defeat and departure, God promised and added to him fifteen years more, 2Ki 20:6. For the vintage shall fail — During the time of the Assyrian invasion. The gathering shall not come — Namely, of the other fruits of the earth; as that feast which was observed after the gathering of all the fruits was called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16. Tremble, ye women, &c. — It seems probable, from these repeated addresses to the women, that those of Jerusalem especially, and, perhaps, also of many of the other towns in Judea, were, at that time, peculiarly vain, luxurious, dissipated, and wanton, and regardless of all religion. The prophet, therefore, especially addresses them, and warns them that a time of trouble awaited them. Strip ye and make ye bare — Put off your ornaments, as God commanded upon a like occasion, (Exo 33:5,) that you may put on sackcloth instead of them, as mourners and penitents used to do. They shall lament for the teats — For the pleasant and fruitful fields which, like teats, yielded you plentiful and excellent nourishment.
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 vv9–11 Rise up ... - Rosenmuller supposes that this commences…
Rise up ... - Rosenmuller supposes that this commences a new vision or prophecy; and that the former part Isa 32:9-14 refers to the desolation of Judea by the invasion of Sennacherib, and the latter Isa 32:15-20 to the prosperity which would succeed that invasion. It cannot be doubted that this is the general reference of the passage, but there does not seem to be a necessity of making a division here. The entire prophecy, including the whole chapter, relates in general to the reign of Hezekiah; and as these events were to occur during his reign, the prophet groups them together, and presents them as constituting important events in his reign. The general design of this portion of the prophecy Isa 32:9-14 is to show the desolation that would come upon the land of Judea in consequence of that invasion. This he represents in a poetical manner, by calling on the daughters of fashion and ease to arouse, since all their comforts were to be taken away.
Ye women that are at ease - They who are surrounded by the comforts which affluence gives, and that have no fear of being reduced to wang (compare Isa 3:16-26).
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Ye careless daughters - Hebrew, ‘Daughters confiding;’ that is, those who felt no alarm, and who did not regard God and his threatenings.
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 vv9–10 Women. Great cities. He announces the impending dangers.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Women. Great cities. He announces the impending dangers.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v9 9 Rise up, ye women that Ire at ease;
4.—THE PRESENT PUNISHMENT OF THE PROUD WOMEN, AND THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE NATION
Isa_32:9-20
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9 Rise up, ye women that Ire at ease;
Hear my voice, ye careless daughters;
Give ear unto my speech.
10 14 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women:
For the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease;
Be troubled, ye careless ones:
Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12 15 They shall lament for the teats,
For 16 the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars;
17 Yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
14 Because the palaces 18 shall be forsaken;
The multitude of the city b shall be left;
The 19 forts and towers 20 shall be for dens forever,
A joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high,
And the wilderness be a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 21 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace;
And the 22effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation
And in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19 23 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest;
And 24 the city shall be in a low place.
20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters,
That send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_32:9. בֹּטֵחַ is here used absolutely as in Jdg_18:7; Jdg_18:10; Jdg_18:27; Jer_7:8; Jer_12:5.——שׁאנן again Isa_32:9; Isa_32:11; Isa_32:18; Isa_33:20; Isa_37:29.
Isa_32:10. The singular שָׁנָה must be taken in the sense of one year, seeing there is nothing to indicate that it is a collective.——After the specification of time the sentence ought properly to proceed with the Vav. consec. and the perf. Yet there are also examples of the use of the imperf. with Vav. (Exo_12:3; Jer_8:1 K’thibh) or without it (Isa_27:6; Isa_7:8 comp. Isa_21:16; Jer_8:1 K’ri; Gen_40:13; Gen_40:19). The accusative ימים responds to the question “when,” to signify the point of time where the predicted event will intervene.——On נלי comp. at Isa_14:6.
Isa_32:11. In הִרְדוּ we have the masculine as the chief form that includes the feminine, as the man rules and represents the woman: In חֲֹגֽרָה ,עֹֽרָה ,פְּשֹֽׁטָה ,רֳגֽזָה we have also the chief form of the imperative, i. e., the masculine, with the cohortative He of motion toward. Thus these imperatives contain no individualized command, but one formed quite generally as to matter, without regard to person and number: similar to our way in giving words of command, wherein at least no regard is had to the number of those addressed as we use the infin., or past particip. [the illustration is drawn of course from the Germ. idiom.—Tr.]. This ver. shows plainly how in Hebrew the gender of words is not so rigidly fixed as in classical and modern languages, and hence it not so consistently adhered to.——Isaiah uses פשׁט only here.——Of עוּר “nudum esse” he uses the Piel Isa_23:13.
Isa_32:12. The same preponderance of the masc. gender appears in ספדים that is noticed in Isa_32:11, and has the same explanation.——ספד as verb in Isaiah, only here; comp. Isa_22:12; Jer_49:3,——Note the similarity in sound of עַל־שָׁדַיִם and עַל־שְׂדֵי.—חֶמֶד “amoenitas, deliciae” only here in Isaiah, comp. on Isa_27:2; Amo_5:11—פריה comp. Isa_17:6; Psa_128:3; Eze_19:10.
Isa_32:13 קוֹץ “thorn, thorn bushes,” again in Isaiah only Isa_13:12, and is joined with שָׁמִיר only here. Everywhere else Isaiah joins this word with שַׁיִת (Isa_5:6; Isa_7:23 sqq.; Isa_9:17; Isa_10:17; Isa_17:4). One might grammatically regard the words קוץ שׁמיר as having a genitive relation. But as the words שָׁמִיר שַׁיִת ,Isa_27:3, occur in apposition (שׁמיר which is שׁית), we may assume the same construction here. The general notion קוֹץ (resecandum, from קָצַץ = קוּץ comp. קְוֻצּוֹת “locks”) is more exactly defined as שָׁמִיר (“prickly thing”).—The בתי משׂושׂ are not necessarily the houses of קריה עליזה. For there are such houses of pleasure, not only in the capital, but in all cities and villages of the land. Therefore I can as little take מבתי in the genitive with קריה ע׳ as I could assume that construction Isa_28:1. As there הלומי י׳, so here קריה ע׳ is dependent on עַל.
Isa_32:14. This verse is subordinated to the last clause of Isa_32:13, for it explains how the city has become overgrown with thorns.—There is a metonymy in the expression המון עיר עזב, the effect being put for the cause, i.e., חמון עיר stands for עיר הֹמִיָה Isa_22:2.
Isa_32:15. The expression רוח ממרום occurs only here; מרום occurs in Isaiah, often: Isa_22:16; Isa_24:18; Isa_40:26; Isa_57:15; Isa_58:4, etc.
Isa_32:17. מעשׂה (comp. Isa_5:2; Isaiah 4:10; Hab_3:17) is "the yield;" עבדה in the sense of "fruit of service," comp. פְּעֻלָּה, occurs, as far as I can see, only here.—נָוֶה in the same sense as here Isa_33:20; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7.—מבטחים in Isaiah only here.—מנוחה Isa_11:10; Isa_28:12; Isa_66:1.
Isa_32:19. The verb בָּרַד occurs only here: but comp. Isa_28:2; Isa_28:17; Isa_30:30—שִׁפְלָה is ἅπ. λεγ—Note that בָּרַד and שִׁפְלָה ,בְּרֶדֶת and תִּשְׁפַּל on the one hand, and יַעַר and עִיר on the other correspond in assonance.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As in chapter 3. so here, the Prophet addresses men and women separately, having in mind especially those of the higher, and highest ranks. According to the foregoing exposition, Isa_32:1-8, under the guise of a glorious Messianic prophecy, contain a sharp reproof for powerful ones in Jerusalem. The second part of the chapter, on the other hand, is directed against the proud, secure women, announcing a season of disaster for them (Isa_32:9-14), [“until by a special divine influence a total revolution shall take place in the character, and, as a necessary consequence, in the condition of the people.”—J. A. A., on Isa_32:15] (Isa_32:15-20).
2. Rise up—pasture of flocks.
Isa_32:9-14. The form of the introduction calls to mind Isa_1:2; Isa_28:23, but more especially the address of Lamech to his wives Gen_4:23. I do not think that “rise up” demands a physical rising up. Like our German “auf” “up,” it may signify the merely inward rousing of the spirit to give attention (comp. Num_23:18). שׁאנן has elsewhere also the secondary meaning of proud ease: Psa_123:4; Amo_6:1; Zec_1:15. The specification of time in ימים על־שׁנה Isa_32:10, does not relate to the continuance of the desolation, as is evident from Isa_32:15 “until the spirit,” etc. According to Isa_29:1, which is manifestly related to our passage both as to matter and time (see the exposition there), it is probable that the Prophet means an indefinite number of days added to a year. (See Text. and Gram.). Evidently the Prophet has in mind women that have heretofore never known any want, but have continually lived in abundance and luxury. Just for this reason will trembling and dismay seize them. For they would assuredly not have dispensed with the products of the wine and fruit harvest, had not the enemy occupied the territory about Jerusalem and made gathering and plucking impossible. Thus the scarcity of those noble products, felt as a sure token of the enemy’s presence, most of all in the apartments of women of rank, will frighten the women out of their secure and proud repose. Comp. Isa_16:7 sqq. בציר “the wine harvest” (comp. Isa_24:13). אֹסֶף, elsewhere אָסִיף (Exod. 23:16; 24:22), is “the fruit harvest” (Mic_7:1). The word occurs again only Isa_33:4, and there only in its fundamental sense. That which Isa_32:10 is presented as in prospect, is announced in Isa_32:11 as the command, the will of God. Hence it must happen. Strip you,etc. The command to disrobe is that garments of mourning may replace those before worn (Joe_1:13; Isa_15:3; Isa_22:12).
Though we may translate כִּי, Isa_32:13 b, by “yea” (immo), as more accordant with our speech, still there underlies it a causal relation. That the land is overgrown with thorns and thistles, will appear the more credible, when it is perceived that even the houses of pleasure, indeed the very capital grows rank with such weeds. (See Text. and Gram.). The joyous city means Jerusalem (comp. Isa_22:2; Zep_2:15). עליז as was shown at Isa_22:2, has the secondary meaning “presumptuous joy.” The propriety of this sense here in reference to the women of careless ease is evident. (On the logical connection of Isa_32:14 see Text. and Gram.). Inasmuch as “joyous city” and “multitude of the city,” (which expressions are conjoined Isa_22:2), occur only in Isa_22:2 and our text, one properly infers a relationship between these chapters both as regards matter and time.
As not every city has an Ophel, and thus Ophel may not be taken as a general attribute of cities, but as something peculiar to Jerusalem (though not in distinction from all cities, for Samaria had an Ophel, 2Ki_5:24), so we may understand by it the locality mentioned, 2Ch_27:3; 2Ch_33:14; Neh_3:26 sq.; Neh_11:21, “the southern steep, rocky prominence of Moriah from the south end of the temple-place to its extremest point, the ’Οφλᾶ, Ὀφλᾶς of Josephus.” (Arnold in Herzog’sR. Ency. VIII., p. 632).—בַּחַן (ἅπ. λεγ.) is anyway kindred to בַּחוּן or בַּחִון (Isa_23:13) and must, according to the fundamental meaning of the verb בחן (probare, explorare, examinare) signify a locality suitable for this, a watch-tower, look-out. But whether towers in general or a particular tower is meant, is hard to say. בַּחַן does not occur elsewhere; yet the common word for “tower,” מגדל, signifies also watch-tower (2Ki_9:17; 2Ki_17:9, etc.), and wall-towers (Neh_3:11; Neh_12:38). Perhaps this would have been used here, were only towers in general spoken of. Hence it is rather probable that this word בחן, named along with עכּל and occurring only in this passage, signifies a tower especially designated by this name, located in Ophel; perhaps “the great tower” of Neh_3:27 that is mentioned in connection with Ophel. Ophel and בחן shall be pro speluncis or vice speluncarum.בִּעַד which everywhere involves the notion of something separating, has here the meaning “for, instead of.” For what intervenes for another, in a measure puts itself before it, and in this way forms a partition between it and the observer. Wild, lonely, and far remote from all human intercourse must be the caves in which the wild ass (פֶּרֶא only here in Isaiah) has as much joy as a man in his finely built dwelling (Isa_32:13).
3. Until the spirit—and the ass.
Isa_32:15-20. As all the preceding prophecies are double-sided, including as it were day and night, such too is the case with the present one. But here, too, the Prophet does not promise immediate salvation. He sets the glorious Messianic last time over against the pernicious present time, yet in a way that overleaps the long centuries that intervene, and sees that future directly behind the present. Thus עד that begins Isa_32:15 is both a restriction of the hyperbolical עד־עולם (immeasurable extent of time as e.g., Isa_63:16; Jer_2:20), and a bold bridge from the present into the remote future. He portrays the latter in that aspect that corresponds to the things he reproves in the present. Proud security now reigns, for which however there is no reason. But in that time there will reign security and repose, resting on the securest foundation. For Israel will then be filled with the spirit of God, and serve in this spirit, by which shall be assured to them God’s protection and support against all enemies. The expression יערה is very strong, meaning properly: the spirit from on high will be emptied out on us, completely poured out (comp. Isa_11:9, and respecting the word Gen_24:20 comp. Isa_3:17; Isa_22:6; Isa_53:12). How far-reaching and comprehensive is the gaze of the Prophet here! He regards the spirit from on high not merely as an ethical and intellectual, but also as a physical life-principle. He speaks here, as he does Isa_11:2-9, of nature and of persons as wholly pervaded by spirit. And the wilderness will be a fruitful field,etc., which has a proverbial sound, must certainly be taken in another sense than that of Isa_29:17. The latter passage speaks of retrogression; here progress is meant. There is a descending climax, Lebanon, fruitful field, forest; here an ascending, desert, fruitful field, forest, in which the Prophet manifestly treats the forest, not as representing absence of cultivation, but as representing the most prodigious development of vegetation. He would say: what is now waste will then be fruitful field, and what is now fruitful field will then be forest, i.e., will stand high as a forest. Then a very different, a higher principle of life, originating from the divine δόξα will penetrate even nature. Of course, then, the personal life of men also. And how beautifully the Prophet depicts this harmony of both! He names again the wilderness and the fruitful field (Isa_32:16) in order to say that judgment and righteousness shall dwell in them (comp. Isa_1:27; Isa_5:16; Isa_9:6; Isa_10:22; Isa_28:17). And the fruit of this spiritual right-being will in turn make its impress by a right glorious outward appearance, viz., in everlasting peace, rest and security. What a picture for the proudly secure women (Isa_32:9 sqq.)! They may see why they are so called in a reproving sense. Their ease and security lack foundation.
When it shall hail,etc. I can only regard Isa_32:19 as the sombre foil which the Prophet uses to enhance the splendor of that future which he displayed to his people. [Some think there is an allusion to the hail in Egypt while Goshen was spared; see Exo_9:22-26.—Tr.]. We have had several such pictures of the future with a dark background (Isa_11:14 sq.; Isa_25:10 sqq.; Isa_26:5 sq., etc.). Every one admits that 19a, relates to Assyria. We had the forest as emblem of Assyria Isa_9:17; Isa_10:18-19; Isa_10:34. This forest shall fall under a storm of hail. On ירד comp. Deu_28:52; Zec_11:2. It is not said that the forest shall break down by the hail, but that it shall hail when the forest breaks down. Thus this breaking down may be effected by something else, say by the blows of an axe. Anyway the forest will break down under a storm of hail, some phenomenon coming from on high and accredited as a divine instrument of judgment. Very many expositors understand the city in a low place to mean Jerusalem (Hitzig, Knobel, Caspari, Delitzsch,etc.). But why of a sudden this dark trait in the picture of light? Is not the abasement of Jerusalem sufficiently declared in Isa_32:13-14? Why a repetition here? or, if not repetition, why thus suddenly a new judgment in the midst of the blessed, spirit-effected condition of peace? If the forest means the world-power generally, then the city must mean the centre of it, the world-city (comp. Isa_24:10-12; Isa_25:2-3; Isa_25:12; Isa_26:5. It is worthy of remark that, Isa_25:12; Isa_26:5, the Prophet uses השׁפיל thrice in reference to the judgment on the world-city. That he does not elsewhere in 28–33, mention the world-city is no reason why he may not once mention it here. Why need he mention it oftener? Is it more probable that he would not mention it at all, than that he should do so once?
In Isa_32:20 the Prophet returns exclusively to Israel In contrast with the desolations (near for Israel, remote for the world-power), he promises to his people the possession of the land in its widest extent, and the freest use of it for cultivation and pasture. Blessed are ye (comp. Isa_30:18; Isa_56:2) he says, who sow beside all waters, i.e., on all fruitful lands. Thus all well-watered and so fruitful land-stretches will be at Israel’s service, and Israel shall cultivate them, and raising cattle shall be unhindered (comp. Isa_30:23). In fact the earth shall be theirs, and they may use as much laud as they wish for either. Cattle may pasture in full freedom, unrestrained by fetters or fence. The whole land “shall be for the sending forth of oxen,” Isa_7:25.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_31:1-2, “Against the perverted confidence and fleshly trust in human wisdom, power and might, because the people doubt God’s help, and because of such wicked doubt put their trust in human power, wit and skill. It is true the Scripture does not deny that one may use means and call in human aid in danger, yet so that even the heart looks rather to God, and knows that if He watches not and keeps not Israel, all other human help and means are in vain (Psa_127:1; Jer_17:5).”—Cramer.
2. On Isa_31:3. “Notetur diligenter sententia isthaec prophetae: Aegyptus homo et non Deus, adeoque symboli loco semper in ore habeatur et usurpatur tum ad doctrinam, tum ad consolationem (Psa_62:10; Psa_73:18 sq.).”—Foerster.
3. On Isa_31:4-5. The Lord, on the one hand, compares Himself to a lion, that will not suffer his prey to be torn away from him, and means by that that He will not suffer Himself to be turned from His counsel against Jerusalem by those false helpers, to which Jerusalem looks for protection against the punishments that it has deserved. But on the other hand the Lord compares Himself most touchingly and fittingly to the eagle that stretches its feathers over its young to protect them (Deu_32:11) [see Tr’s. note on Isa_32:5]. Blessed is he that sits under the shelter of the Highest, and abides under the shadow of the Almighty (Psa_91:1; comp. Matt. 33:27).
4. On Isa_31:7. Foerster remarks on this verse, that it is used by the Reformed as a proof-passage against the use of images in churches. He distinguishes between imagines superstitiosae, whose use is of course forbidden, and imagines non superstitiosae, the like of which were even, permitted and used in the worship of Jehovah, e. g., the cherubim and other images of art in the Tabernacle and in the Temple.
5. On Isa_31:8. “God has manifold ways by which He can head off tyrants, and does not need always to draw the sword over them. Examples: Sennacherib, 2Ki_19:35; Nebuchadnezzar, Dan_4:30; Herod, Act_12:23.”—Cramer.
6. On Isa_31:9. That the Lord has in Zion His fire and His hearth in Jerusalem is at once the strength and the weakness of the Old Covenant. It is its strength so far as, of course, it is a high privilege that Israel enjoys above all nations of the Gentile world, that the point of the earth’s surface that the Lord has made the place of His real presence on earth is the central point of their land and of their communion. But it is its weakness so far as this presence is only a transient and outward one, which, when misunderstood, can minister only to an outward worship and a false confidence (comp. Jer_7:4) that affords only a treacherous point of support that is dangerous to the soul. How totally different is the real presence of the Lord in the church of the New Covenant! To it the Lord is organically joined as a member, as on the other hand the Lord joins all members of His church really to Himself by His Spirit and His sacraments.
7. On Isa_32:1-8. “The picture which the Prophet paints here of the church of the last time is the picture of every true congregation of Christ. In it, the will of the Lord must be the only law according to which men judge, and not any fleshly consideration of any sort. In it, there must be open eyes and ears for God’s work and word; and if in some things precedence is readily allowed to the children of this world, still in spiritual things the understanding must be right and the speech clear. Finally, in it persons must be valued according to their true Christian, moral worth, not according to advantages that before God are rather a reproach than an honor. But the picture of the true congregation mirrors to us our own deformities. All this is not found in us. Everywhere appears worldly consideration, looking to the world, much weakness in spiritual judgment, and in speech far too much respect for the advantages that worldly position and wealth give the church member. May the Lord mend these things in us; and if only at the last He transforms the old church in its totality into the new, so let each of us pray the Lord that still He would more and more transform each worldling into a true, spiritual man.”—Weber. The Prophet Isaiah, 1875.
8. On Isa_32:1-4. Men of all times may learn from the Prophet’s words what sort of persons true kings, noblemen and officials ought to be. Underlying the whole discourse of Isaiah is the thought that those in authority are there for the sake of the people [comp. Luk_22:25-26.—Tr.], and that truth and honor are the first conditions of flourishing rule (comp. Herz., R-Encycl. XI. p. 24).
On Isa_32:8. Old Flattig once met the Duke of Wurtemburg on the latter’s birth day. “Well, Flattig,” inquired the Duke, what did you preach on my birth-day?” “Serene highness, what did I preach? I just preached that princes ought to have princely thoughts.” The Duke rode on without making any reply. Where there is no princely heart, there can come forth no princely thoughts. And only then does one have a princely heart when the Lord is the heart’s prince.
9. On Isa_32:9. “One must not suppose that it was no part of the Prophet’s office to reform women, seeing God includes all men under sin, and the proud daughters of Zion with their ostentation, were a great cause of the land being laden with sins (Isa_3:6).”—Cramer.
[“The alarm is sounded to women,—to feed whose pride, vanity and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the poor.”—M. Henry, in loc.].
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa_31:1-4. Warning against confiding in human help. 1) It is insulting to God. 2) It proves idle at last, for a, the power of men is in itself weak; b, it is wholly powerless against the strong hand of God.
2. On Isa_31:5-9. The Lord alone is the shelter of His Own. 1) He will be such (Isa_32:5); 2) He must be such (ver, 9 b, His own interest demands this); 3) He alone can be such (Isa_32:8); 4) He will be such on one condition (Isa_32:6).
3. [On Isa_31:6-7 1) It is general; every one shall cast away his own idols and begin with them before trying to demolish those of other people, which there will be no need of when every man reforms himself. 2) It is thorough: for they shall part with their idolatry, their beloved sin, made more precious by the gold and silver devoted to it. 3) It is on the right principle: a principle of piety and not of policy; because idolatry was a sin and not because it was profitless (“deeply revolted,” “sinfully made idols”). After M. Henry, in loc—Tr.].
4. On Isa_32:1-8. As there are always poor people, so there must always be persons of power and superior rank. The latter must know that they are there for the sake of the people, as guardians of right, as protectors of the poor and weak, so to speak, as the eyes, ears and tongues of the commonwealth. But as in God’s kingdom descent from Abraham counts for nothing any more, and true worship is no more that which is offered in Jerusalem, but that which is in spirit and in truth, so, too, the nobility of the flesh must yield precedence to nobility of the spirit. Not he that is noble according to the flesh, but a fool according to the spirit shall be called noble. Only he that has princely thoughts shall be called a prince; for truth reigns in the kingdom of God.
5. [On Isa_32:2. This may be given a spiritual application by a special reference to Christ, as eminently true of Him, the King of kings. This application is old and precious. Wind and tempest, rain and hail and burning heat are emblems of the calamities of life, and especially of God’s judgments on sin. Distress and impending judgment make men seek shelter. Christ is the only adequate hiding-place and covert. Let men run to Him with the eagerness of travellers in the burning desert taking refuge under a rock from the coming storm. The same rock-cliff often has a bountiful stream issuing just there where its cavernous recess affords the best shelter. While the traveller is safe from the tempest, he may rest and refresh himself from the distress he has endured. The rock “not only excludes the rays of the sun, but it has itself a refreshing coolness that is most grateful to a weary traveller.”—Barnes. “Some observe here, that as the covert, and hiding-place, and the rock, do themselves receive the battering of the wind and storm, to save those from it that take shelter in them, so Christ bore the storm Himself to keep it off from us.”—M. Henry. Tr.].
6. On Isa_32:9-11. When a land goes to ruin a great part of the blame of it rests on the women. For they are more easily prompted to evil, as they are to good. Where evil has once taken root, they are the ones that carry it to an extreme. “Und geht es zu des Bösen Haus, das Weib hat tausend Schritt voraus.” Therefore the punishment falls the hardest on them. As the weaker and more delicate, they suffer the most under the blows of misfortune.
7. On Isa_32:15 sqq. When once the Spirit of God is poured out on all flesh (Joe_3:1) then the personal and impersonal creation will be glorified. Then Satan will be bound, and the Lord alone will rule in men, and in nature. Then at last will it be beautiful on earth. For then right and righteousness will reign on earth, and peace, and that rest that is promised to the people of God (Heb_4:9).
Footnotes:
[14]Heb. Days above a year.
[15]They beat on the breasts for.
[16]Heb. the fields of desire.
[17]Or, Burning upon, etc.
[18]is.
[19]Or, clifts and watchtowers.
[20]are.
[21]And.
[22]service.
[23]And it will hail when the forest falls.
[24]Or, the city shall be utterly abased.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9–11 Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves…
Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves little about the political signs of the times, but lived a life of self-indulgence (Isa 3:16-23); the failure of food through the devastations of the enemy is here foretold, being what was most likely to affect them as mothers of families, heretofore accustomed to every luxury. VITRINGA understands "women--daughters" as the cities and villages of Judea (Eze. 16:1-63). See Amo 6:1.
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 vv9–11 9. There is an abrupt change here. From men…
APPENDIX TO THE FOURTH WOE-ADDRESS TO THE WOMEN.
9. There is an abrupt change here. From men in high life to women in high life the prophet now turns. All aglow with views of the glorious coming time in his closing address to the men, he comes suddenly back to the real state of things for a separate admonition to the women.
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Rise up, ye women — Not a physical rising up is meant, though the form of address is like to that of Lamech to his wives, (Gen_4:23.) but an inward rousing of the conscience.
At ease… careless ones — Women at ease, and self-secure in luxurious living, not dreaming of calamity and unprepared for it.
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 vv9–11 9. The women are addressed partly as representing best…
9. The women are addressed partly as representing best certain aspects of the public mind, luxury and complacent ease (ch. Isa_3:16 ff.; Amo_4:1 ff.); partly because of their function as mourners in seasons of calamity (Jer_9:20).
that are at ease … careless] (or, confident) cf. Amo_6:1.
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Ch. Isa_32:9-20 To the Women of Jerusalem
Like the previous sections (Isa_29:1 ff., Isa_29:15 ff., Isaiah 30, 31) this passage is divided into two parts,—the announcement of judgment on Jerusalem, and a description of the Messianic salvation (see the analysis below). It presents, however, two remarkable peculiarities: (1) there is no reference to the overthrow of the Assyrians, and (2) it contemplates a complete destruction of Jerusalem and a protracted desolation of the land. For these reasons some critics have been led to assign the prophecy to a period much earlier than the invasion of Sennacherib; and this would be plausible if it were possible to separate the two parts of which it is composed (9–14 and 15–20). But this is difficult on account of the close connexion established by Isa_32:15; and since the latter portion presents some literary affinities with the other members of this group of discourses (ch. 28–31) it will probably be safer to regard the whole as belonging to the same period. It is possible, no doubt, that the Messianic conclusion might have been written later than the address to the women; but even on that assumption we should have to admit that the prophet retained the conception of an indefinitely prolonged depopulation of the land, at a late stage of his career.
The contents of the prophecy are as follows:—
i. Isa_32:9-14. A threatening oration, addressed to the women of Jerusalem. The introduction (Isa_32:9) shews that what roused the ire of the prophet was the careless unconcern and indifference of the women in face of the reiterated warnings he had uttered. He endeavours to shake them out of their light-hearted security by the announcement that “the ingathering shall not come” (10). So clear is the vision of calamity that he calls on his hearers to adopt the attitude of mourners over the ravaged vineyards, the desolate fields, and the deserted palaces of the “jubilant city” (11–14).
ii. Isa_32:15-20. Out of this state of collapse and ruin there will ultimately arise, but after an indefinite period, a new world. Under the vivifying influence of the Divine spirit, external nature will be renewed (15), righteousness will dwell in the land (16), and its blessed fruits will be undisturbed peace and security (17, 18). An unexpected allusion to the judgment (19) somewhat mars the continuity of the passage, which ends with a prophetic felicitation of the peaceful and industrious peasantry who inherit the golden age (20).
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 vv9–11 (9) Rise up, ye women that are at ease…
(9) Rise up, ye women that are at ease . . .—The beginning of a new section, probably a distinct sermon, or, as it were, pamphlet, against the evils of which the prophet had spoken in Isa_2:16-22, and which continued, it would seem, unabated, in spite of Hezekiah’s reformation. It probably finds a place here as painting the harem influence, which then, as in the policy of modern Eastern monarchies, Constantinople and elsewhere, lay behind the counsels of the king and his ministers. The whole tone is that of invective against the women of the pseudo-aristocracy that had been covertly attacked in the preceding verses.
Give ear unto my speech . . .—Another echo of the teaching of the Proverbs (Pro_2:1; Pro_3:1; Pro_4:1; Pro_6:1; Pro_6:20.)
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 vv9–11 SECTION IX FURTHER DENUNCIATIONS OF ISRAEL, JOINED WITH PROMISES.…
SECTION IX FURTHER DENUNCIATIONS OF ISRAEL, JOINED WITH PROMISES. (Isa_32:9-20)
Vers. 9-12. A REBUKE OF THE WOMEN. It might seem at first sight as if we had here a detached utterance of the prophet, accidentally conjoined with the preceding passage (vers. 1-8). But vers. 15-18 furnish a link of connection between the two portions of the chapter, and make it probable that they were delivered at the same time. Mr. Cheyne supposes that the indifference of a knot of women, gathered at some little distance from the men to whom Isaiah had addressed vers. 1-8, provoked the prophet suddenly to turn to them, and speak to them in terms of warning.
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Rise up. The "careless daughters" are sitting, or reclining upon couches, at their ease. The prophet bids them stand up, to hear a message from God. (comp. Jud_1:3:10) Ye women that are at ease ; i.e. "that are self-satisfied and self-complacent." The word employed has almost always a bad sense. (see 2Ki_19:28 Job_12:5 Psa_123:4 Amo_6:1 Zec_1:15) Hear my voice. This clause should be attached to the first half of the verse. The order of the words in the original is, "Ye women that are at ease, rise up and hear my words; ye careless daughters, hearken unto my speech.
Vers. 9-12. The need of rousing women in critical times from a state of self-satisfaction and self-complacency.
Women are less apprehensive than men, more inclined to suppose that the state of things to which they are accustomed will, as a matter el course, remain unchanged. They have, as a general rule, less historical knowledge than men, and less acquaintance with the condition of the world wherein they live. The self-complacency and unsuspiciousness of Marie Antoinette and the ladies of her court, when the French Revolution was drawing on, has been a matter of surprise to historians; but it is merely a striking instance of what is, in fact, the ordinary condition of things when great changes are imminent. Jezebel did not expect, or appreciate, the revolution initiated by Jehu; nor Athaliah that carried out under the auspices of Jehoiada the high priest. (2Ki_11:4-16) The instinctive belief in "continuance," of which Bishop Butler speaks ("Analogy," part 1: Isa 1), whereby we expect "all things to continue as we experience they are, in all respects, "and "to-morrow to be as to-day," only perhaps "more abundant", (Isa_56:12) is especially strong in women, and explains their inapprehensiveness. The result is:
1. That reverses come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly, without their being prepared to encounter them, and are thus sorer trials, under which they often fall into despair and recklessness, to their great hurt.
2. That the men, who are their associates, through the contagion of their security, are rendered themselves less apprehensive, and consequently less inclined to realize the coming danger and guard against it by wise measures of precaution. Under these circumstances, it becomes the preacher"s duty at such times to address himself especially to the rousing of the women from their "carelessness" and security, both for their own sakes, and still more for the sake of the community, whose prosperity or whose very existence they imperil.
Vers. 9-20. "Until the Spirit be poured out.
How constantly does Scripture speak of every happy reformation as due to the "outpouring of the Spirit," or the sending or breathing of the Spirit on human-kind! Language none the less expressive because mysterious. Those epochs cannot be forecast: no meteorology can explain to us these movements "from on high." But they may be waited for and prepared for, without fear of disappointment. Again and again they had come to the prophet"s heart; and from his heart he knew they must some time come also in a wider sphere of operation.
I UNTIL THEN WHAT? The women are addressed, the daughters of Zion. The manners of the women must be a sure index of the state of a nation. New religious feeling kindles quickly in their hearts; they welcome and further revivals. Their indifference to spiritual things seems to belie their nature; atheism in woman is monstrous. The Jewish women are in a state of careless unconcern. This attitude of "ease," of apathetic nonchalance, arouses the indignation and the alarm of the prophets, perhaps more than vivacity in sin. It is an ominous symptom in the bodily life, not less so in the soul. It offers a dull prosaic resistance to enthusiasm of any kind, which it holds in smiling, sensuous contempt. A psalmist"s soul is "exceedingly filled" with perturbation at this attitude; (Psa_123:4) Amos denounces woe, (Amo_6:1) and Zechariah the great displeasure of Jehovah against them that "are at ease." Perhaps the vintage-harvest was over when the prophet spoke. The time would come when a shudder would pass through those luxurious frames; the outer garment would be torn off, the sackcloth assumed, the breasts that once heaved only with the sigh of pleasure be beaten in wild lament for the "days that are no more," for the pleasant fields and the fruitful vine. Those fields will be thorn and briar overgrown; the houses of the city deserted, its mirth quelled. The wild cattle will sport around the temple hill, the palaces be forsaken. Impossible to dissociate in our minds the desolation of once populous scenes from the sin of man and the withdrawal of the gracious Spirit of God. Take these descriptions as figures of the state of the soul; then power and beauty remain. The well-kept garden, the sweet fields in the harvest-time, the mirth of reapers and in-gatherers; these sights, these sounds, provide unsought expression for the soul that feels itself "at ease." The untilled fields, the signs of wild nature creeping to old ascendency over the works of man, such sights carry symbolic meaning which depresses the most cheerful heart. "Until the Spirit be outpoured from on high that is our state, and that it must remain.
II AFTER THEN WHAT?
1. Justice shall inhabit the pasture-country, and righteousness shall dwell in the garden-land." Men ought not to be like cattle, which seek nothing but plenty of food and abundance of outward things. We should not, like hogs in a sty, judge of the happiness of life by abundance of bread and wine (Calvin). Righteousness alone exalts, righteousness alone can uplift a fallen nation.
2. "The fruit of righteousness shall be peace." This is inwardly and outwardly, subjectively and objectively, true. Peace in the heart is the companion of rectitude; it flows from right order in the home and family, and from just administration in the state. Peace, quietness, confidence: a triple blooming in one; a threefold band of prosperity and condition of all welfare. "Homes of peace, dwellings of confidence, easeful resting-places, these are the pictures that all men draw in fancy; this the life for which they dream they were made. Such a state depends upon piety, upon personal and social morality. "It is as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah. True religion would put an end to strifes and litigations; to riots and mobs; to oppressions and tumults; to alarms and robbery; to battle and murder and conflict among the nations.
3. These blessings cannot come without suffering. The hail of judgment will fall upon forest and upon city. The refuge of lies and the hiding-place of falsehood must be swept away. Renewing and reforming forces work destructively on one side, as creatively on the other. Upon whom these judgments will fall is not evident from the text. Hail is an image of Divine judgment. (Isa_28:2, 17 30:30)
4. The happiness of the tiller. He sows beside all waters a reference to the Oriental custom of casting the seed upon the waters of overflowing streams and rivers, so that, when the waters subside, it will be found again in the springing crop and the abundant harvest. The ox and the ass are employed to tread the moistened earth and prepare for the sowing. (cf. Ecc_11:1, Ecc_11:6) In a figurative sense happy those who go steadily on with useful work, the work that lies nearest them, the sowing which looks for a "far-off interest of good," amidst the most troubled times. No troubles of the lime should divert us from our daily task, or unsettle us from the habit of continuous useful labor. J.
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 vv9, 11 Rise up, ye women, that are at ease
Isa_32:9
Rise up, ye women, that are at ease
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Female complacency reproved
Isaiah turns aside abruptly from his main theme.
His eye, we may suppose, was arrested by the spectacle of some women, sitting down perhaps at a little distance from where he stood, and testifying their indifference to his words. In chap.
3. it was their vanity and love of display which called forth the prophets censure: here it is their complacency and unconcern. (Prof. S. B. Driver, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v9
CHAPTER XVI
ISAIAH TO WOMEN
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DATE UNCERTAIN
Isa_32:9-20
THE date of this prophecy, which has been appended to those spoken by Isaiah during the Egyptian intrigues (704-702), is not certain. It is addressed to women, and there is no reason why the prophet, when he was upbraiding the men of Judah for their false optimism, should not also have sought to awaken the conscience of their wives and daughters on what is the besetting sin rather of women than of men. The chief evidence for dissociating the prophecy from its immediate predecessors is that it predicts, or apparently predicts (Isa_32:13-14), the ruin of Jerusalem, whereas in these years Isaiah was careful to exempt the Holy City from the fate which he saw falling on the rest of the land. But otherwise the argument of the prophecy is almost exactly that of chapters 29-30. By using the same words when he blames the women for "ease" and "carelessness" in Isa_32:9-11 as he does when he promises "confidence" and "quiet resting-places" in Isa_32:17-18, Isaiah makes clear that his purpose is to contrast the false optimism of society during the postponement of the Assyrian invasion with that confidence and stability upon righteousness which the Spirit of God can alone create. The prophecy, too, has the usual three stages: sin in the present, judgment in the immediate future, and a state of blessedness in the latter days. The near date at which judgment is threatened-"days beyond a year"-ought to be compared with Isa_29:1 : "Add ye a year to a year; let the feasts come round."
The new points are that it is the women who are threatened, that Jerusalem itself is pictured in ruin, and that the pouring out of the Spirit is promised as the cause of the blessed future.
I. THE CHARGE TO THE WOMEN
(Isa_32:9-12)
The charge to the women is especially interesting, not merely for its own terms, but because it is only part of a treatment of women which runs through the whole of Scripture.
Isaiah had already delivered against the women of Jerusalem a severe diatribe (chapter 3), the burden of which was their vanity and haughtiness. With the satiric temper, which distinguishes his earlier prophecies, he had mimicked their ogling and mincing gait, and described pin by pin their fashions and ornaments, promising them instead of these things "rottenness" and "baldness," and "a girdle of sackcloth and branding for beauty." But he has grown older, and penetrating below their outward fashion and gait, he charges them with thoughtlessness as the besetting sin of their sex. "Ye women that are at ease, rise up, and hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear to my speech. For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, O careless women, for the vintage shall fail; the ingathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones." By a pair of epithets he describes their fault; and almost thrice does he repeat the pair, as if he would emphasise it past all doubt. The besetting sin of women, as he dins into them, is ease; an ignorant and unthinking contentment with things as they are; thoughtlessness with regard to the deeper mysteries of life; disbelief in the possibility of change.
But Isaiah more than hints that these besetting sins of women are but the defects of their virtues. The literal meaning of the two adjectives he uses, "at ease" and "careless," is "restful" and "trustful." Scripture throughout employs these words both in a good and a bad sense. Isaiah does so himself in this very chapter (compare these verses with Isa_32:17-18). In the next chapter he describes the state of Jerusalem after redemption as a state of "ease" or "restfulness," and we know that he never ceased urging the people to "trustfulness." For such truly religious conditions he uses exactly the same names as for the shallow optimism with which he now charges his countrywomen. And so doing, he reminds us of an important law of character. The besetting sins of either sex are its virtues prostituted. A mans greatest temptations proceed from his strength; but the glory of the feminine nature is repose, and trust is the strength of the feminine character, in which very things, however, lies all the possibility of womans degradation. Womans faith amounts at times to real intuition; but what risks are attached to this prophetic power-of impatience, of contentment with the first glance at things, "the inclination," as a great moralist has put it, "to take too easily the knowledge of the problems of life, and to rest content with what lies nearest her, instead of penetrating to a deeper foundation." Women are full of indulgence and hope; but what possibilities lie there of deception, false optimism, and want of that anxiety which alone makes progress possible. Women are more inclined than men to believe all things; but how certain is such a temper to sacrifice the claims of truth and honour. Women are full of tact, the just favourites of success, with infinite power to plead and please; but if they are aware of this, how certain is such a self-consciousness to produce negligence and the fatal sleep of the foolish virgins.
Scripture insists repeatedly on this truth of Isaiahs about the besetting sin of women. The prophet Amos has engraved it in one of his sharpest epigrams, declaring that thoughtlessness is capable of turning women into very brutes, and their homes into desolate ruins: "Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say unto their lords, Bring and let us drink. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by His holiness that, lo, the days shall come upon you that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks, and ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her, and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah." It is a cowherds picture of women: a troop of cows, heavy, heedless animals, tramping in their anxiety for food upon every frail and lowly object in the way. There is a cowherd s coarseness in it, but a prophets insight into character. Not of Jezebels, or Messalinas, or Lady Macbeths is it spoken, but of the ordinary matrons of Samaria. Thoughtlessness is able to make brutes out of women of gentle nurture, with homes and a religion. For thoughtlessness, when joined to luxury or beauty, plays with cruel weapons. It means greed, arrogance, indifference to suffering, wantonness, pride of conquest, dissimulation in love, and revenge for little slights; and there is no waste, unkind sport, insolence, brutality, or hysterical violence to which it will not lead. Such women are known, as Amos pictured them, through many degrees of this thoughtlessness: interrupters of conversation, an offence to the wise; devourers of many of the little ones of Gods creation for the sake of their own ornament; tormentors of servants and subordinates for the sake of their own ease; out of the enjoyment of power or for admirations sake breakers of hearts. And are not all such victims of thoughtlessness best compared, with Amos, to a cow-an animal that rushes at its grass careless of the many daisies and ferns it tramples, that will destroy the beauty of a whole country lane for a few mouthfuls of herbage? Thoughtlessness, says Amos, -"and the Lord God hath sworn it by His holiness"-is the very negation of womanhood, the ruin of homes.
But when we turn from the degradation of woman as thus exposed by the prophets to her glory as lifted up in the New Testament, we find the same note is struck. Woman in the New Testament is gracious according as she is thoughtful; she offends even when otherwise beautiful by her feeling overpowering her thought. Martha spoils a most estimable character by one moment of unthinking passion, in which she accuses the Master of carelessness. Mary chooses the better part in close attention to her Masters words. The Ten Virgins are divided into five wise and five foolish. Paul seems to have been struck, as Isaiah was, with the natural tendency of the female character, for the first duty he lays upon the old women is to "teach the young women to think discreetly," and he repeats the injunction, putting it before chastity and industry-"Teach them," he says, "teach them discretion". {Tit_2:4-5} In Mary herself, the mother of our Lord, we see two graces of character, to the honour of which Scripture gives equal place-faith and thoughtfulness. The few sentences, which are all that he devotes to Marys character, the Evangelist divides equally between these two. She was called "blessed" because she believed the word of the Lord. But trustfulness did not mean in her, as in other women, neglect to think. Twice, at an interval of twelve years, we are shown thoughtfulness and carefulness of memory as the habitual grace of this first among women. "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. His mother kept all these sayings in her heart." What was Marys glory was other womens salvation. By her logic the sufferer of Capernaum, whom many physicians failed to benefit, found her cure; by her persistent argument the Syrophenician woman received her daughter to health again. And when our Lord met that flippant descendant of "the kine of Bashan, that are in the mount of Samaria," how did He treat her that He might save her but by giving her matter to think about, by speaking to her in riddles, by exploding her superficial knowledge, and scattering her easy optimism?
So does all Scripture declare in harmony with the oracle of Isaiah, that thoughtlessness and easy contentment with things as they be, are the besetting sins of woman. But her glory is discretion.
The next new point in this prophecy is the
II. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
(Isa_32:13-15)
"Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: for the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; Ophel and the Watch-tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks." The attempt has been made to confine this reference to the outskirts of the sacred city, but it is hardly a just one. The prophet, though he does not name the city, evidently means Jerusalem, and means the whole of it. Some therefore deny the authenticity of the prophecy. Certainly it is almost impossible to suppose that so definite a sentence of ruin can have been published at the same time as the assurances of Jerusalems inviolability in the preceding orations. But that does not prevent the hypothesis that it was uttered by Isaiah at an earlier period, when, as in chapters 2 and 3, he did say extreme things about the destruction of his city. It must be noticed, however, that Isaiah speaks with some vagueness; that at the present moment he is not concerned with any religious truth or will of the Almighty, but simply desires to contrast the careless gaiety of the women of Jerusalem with the fate hanging over them. How could he do this more forcibly than by turning the streets and gardens of their delights into ruins and the haunts of the wild ass, even though it should seem inconsistent with his declaration that Zion was inviolable? License for a certain amount of inconsistency is absolutely necessary in the case of a prophet who had so many divers truths to utter to so many opposite interests and tempers. Besides, at this time he had already reduced Jerusalem very low. {Isa_29:4}
III. THE SPIRIT OUTPOURED
(Isa_32:15-20)
The rest of the prophecy is luminous rather than lucid, full of suffused rather than distinct meanings. The date of the future regeneration is indefinite-another feature more in harmony with Isaiahs earlier prophecies than his later. The cause of the blessing is the outpouring of the Spirit of God (Isa_32:15). Righteousness and peace are to come to earth by a distinct creative act of God. Isaiah adds his voice to the invariable testimony of prophets and apostles, who, whether they speak of society or the heart of individual man, place their hope in new life from above by the Spirit of the living God. Victor Hugo says, "There are no weeds in society, only bad cultivators"; and places all hope of progress towards perfection in proper methods of social culture. These are needed, as much as the corn, which will not spring from the sunshine alone, requires the hand of the sower, and the harrow. And Isaiah, too, speaks here of human conduct and effort as required to fill up the blessedness of the future: righteousness and labour. But first, and indispensably, he, with all the prophets, places the Spirit of God.
It appears that Isaiah looked for the fruits of the Spirit both as material and moral. He bases the quiet resting-places and regular labours of the future not on righteousness only, but on fertility and righteousness. "The wilderness shall become a fruitful field," and what is today "a fruitful field shall be counted as a forest." That this proverb, used by Isaiah more than once, is not merely a metaphor for the moral revolution he describes in the next verse, is proved by his having already declared the unfruitfulness of their soil as part of his peoples punishment. Fertility is promised for itself, and as the accompaniment of moral bountifulness. "And there shall dwell in the wilderness justice, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field."
And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect, or "service, of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass!"
There is not a prophecy more characteristic of Isaiah. It unfolds what for him were the two essential and equal contents of the will of God: a secure land and a righteous people, the fertility of nature and the purity of society. But in those years (705-702) he did not forget that something must come between him and that paradise. Across the very middle of his vision of felicity there dashes a cruel storm. In the gap indicated above Isaiah wrote, "But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city shall be utterly laid low." A hailstorm between the promise and fulfilment of summer! Isaiah could only mean the Assyrian invasion, which was now lowering so dark. Before it bursts we must follow him to the survey which he made, during these years before the siege of Jerusalem, of the foreign nations on whom, equally with Jerusalem, that storm was to sweep.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 Isa_32:11. Be troubled, ye careless ones [1192]
A CALL TO THE CARELESS
Isa_32:11. Be troubled, ye careless ones [1192]
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[1192] See outlines on chap. Isa_1:3, p. 7–12.
I. Who are the careless ones in our own day?
1. Those who neglect the Bible. Its main object is to arouse the attention of sinners. Claims and deserves attention. That man is indifferent to the welfare of his country who never examines the principles of its constitution, the character of its laws, &c. So he who neglects the Bible can never be regarded as a serious man. He is careless on the most momentous of all subjects.
2. Those who neglect prayer. All who have any proper feeling towards God must regard this as a solemn duty. Nature teaches its necessity and importance, the Scriptures enjoin it with great earnestness (Luk_18:1; 1Th_5:17).
3. Those who neglect the Sabbath. This “made for man,” appointed for his convenience and spiritual good. An institution of unspeakable importance as regards eternity—in fact, no religion without it.
4. Those who neglect the institutions of the sanctuary. Those anxious to know “what they must do to be saved” always prize the preaching of the Gospel. On the other hand, as the interest in religion declines, so will be our indifference to the means of grace. See you one who makes his attendance on God’s house a matter of convenience, who avails himself of any trifling excuse to be absent, &c., there is a careless one. So also with those who are so absorbed in the pursuits of this life, so as to have neither leisure nor disposition to attend the place of prayer.
5. In a word, those are careless ones who live in impenitence and unbelief. Repentance and faith in Christ. The great interest of the soul cannot be secured without these, and no man can be said to take heed to the things that belong to his peace, without obeying Christ’s commands concerning them.
II. Why such ought to be troubled. Those who are indifferent are disposed to remain so—carelessness perpetuates itself. Still there are reasons why such should be troubled.
1. The fact that you are careless is a ground of alarm. Carelessness, an evidence of our ignorance of the true condition of the soul in the sight of God. Something truly frightful in false security where the danger is real and great. With such this fancied security is the most alarming symptom. The sinner suffering from a disease which no human skill can remove—in danger of eternal death. How fearful then the indifference, how appalling the apathy of such!
2. This indifference indicates a state of mind in which every blessing will be abused, and every warning neglected. A habit of body that would render everything received for nourishment or for medicine useless would be dreadful; what, then, of that moral disease which perverts every gift and makes the diversified means which God employs accomplish nothing for our good?
3. You ought to be troubled when you reflect what it is you are careless about, viz., your salvation. The man who is indifferent about his health, or regardless of his temporal interest, is unwise; what, then, of one who hazards the salvation of his soul by neglect? Salvation is offered in Christ—indifference is unbelief. Why so eager after the acquisition of wealth, and indifferent about the true riches?
4. Another cause of alarm is the exposure of your present position. Neglect of the Gospel ensures destruction (Heb_2:3). This apathy a crime for which no amiableness or morality can atone.
5. No more powerful means will be employed to awaken you to the concerns of your soul. God disclaims any responsibility for your loss (Isa_5:4; Mat_23:37). Ministers have preached, Christian friends have entreated, the Holy Spirit has been sent down, and still you are careless. The very heathen will rise up in judgment. If one rising from the dead would not make those hear who had Moses and the prophets, what shall awaken those who have Christ and the apostles?
6. This carelessness is induced, it is not natural. A long process of hardening the heart is gone through before such a state of apathy is reached. But once ours, it has all the force of habit, and is not easily broken up (Mat_11:21). This indifference is voluntary (Act_24:25). Felix might have taken a different course. No iron necessity binds men to the fatal course they take, but a perverse will and an unbelieving heart.
7. This carelessness is a state of mind that provokes God to withdraw His Spirit. Deeply criminal. No apathy in heaven, there ought to be none on earth. Must it not offend God, to say that He has failed to reveal Himself in a way to interest His creatures? And yet men can be interested in a novel while the Gospel is neglected. Under the old dispensation He said, “My people would not hearken to My voice, so I gave them up to their hearts’ lust.” What of those who then reject the ?Song of Solomon 8. This indifference will ultimately be broken up, and will aggravate condemnation a thousandfold. Though retribution sleep, it must come and will not tarry. The Jews were spared forty years after the Saviour had wept over their doomed city. So with the sinner; there comes a time when he can be indifferent no longer; the realities of judgment and eternity produce a conviction which will go on deepening for ever. How it will embitter the soul then to dwell upon this carelessness of the past. Recollection itself a source of misery. (Luk_16:25). What words can express the anguish of a soul thus reminded of lost opportunities, &c.?
Throw off this lethargy. From this moment seek the Lord with your whole heart, and call upon Him while He is near. Why run the desperate hazard of having to do all this on a dying bed?—Mark Tucker, D.D.: National Preacher, vol. vii. p. 138.
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 Desolation and Restoration
Desolation and Restoration
v. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease, who lived a life of self-indulgence, without regarding the dangers of their times; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, heedless of the larger issues of life; give ear unto my speech.
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v. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, literally, "days upon a year," that is, an indefinite number of days, at the most a year, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come, there would be no harvest of fruit, since the enemy would occupy all the land about Jerusalem.
v. 11. Tremble, ye women that are at ease, resting in smug self-satisfaction; be troubled, ye careless ones, who fondly imagined that the circumstances to which they were accustomed would never change; strip you and make you bare, laying aside the costly garments in which they delighted, and gird sackcloth upon your loins, as a sign of trouble, sorrow, and mourning.
v. 12. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, rather, "Upon their breasts they will strike over the fields of pleasantness or desire, over the vine of fruitfulness," deeply grieving on account of the desolation which had come upon their fertile land.
v. 13. Upon the land of my people, which formerly had been a type of unexampled fruitfulness, shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy, which were so abundant in the capital city, in the joyous city. The Prophet, as in chapter 3, has in mind women who have never known any want, but have continually lived in abundance and luxury. His purpose was to frighten them out of their secure amid proud repose and to make them realize the condition in which their land was on account of tire sins of its inhabitants.
v. 14. Because the palaces, in which the rich were then living, shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left, the noisy din of the large city, that is, the city with its noisy multitude, forsaken; the forts and towers, Ophel, the rocky prominence of Moriah with its watchtower, shall be for dens forever, homes of wild animals, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, all this being a picture and type of spiritual desolation which had taken hold of the Jewish people,
v. 15. until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, in the time of the Messiah, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest, that is, men now barren of true religion would become fruitful as a result of the regeneration wrought in them, while those already converted would bring forth fruit in such rich abundance as to make their former life seem like a wilderness by comparison.
v. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, the justice of God being acknowledged where it was formerly unknown, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field, since the believers grow both in tire knowledge of the Lord and in good works.
v. 17. And the work of righteousness, the condition which is produced by the application of the Lord’s righteousness in all the affairs of the Church, shall be peace, a security resting upon the foundation of God’s protection; and the effect of righteousness, its reward, quietness and assurance forever, a firm reliance upon the mercy and grace of the Lord.
v. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, from which all strife would be far removed, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places, dwelling in the most fortunate and desirable circumstances of peace and security;
v. 19. when it shall hail, coming down on the forest, when the forest shall fall under a storm of hail, and the city shall be low in a low place, the reference being to the overthrow of all hostile world-powers as the Church of the Messiah is established.
v. 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, scattering their seeds in the fertile lowlands everywhere, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass, letting their beasts of burden roam freely on account of the great abundance of the harvest. This is again a picture of the prosperity and security of the Church under the blessing of the Lord in the New Testament: the world-powers, all spiritual enemies vanquished and the city of God with the fields of His Word happy and prosperous.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11 Rise up
Rise up
"Stand up" or "Pay attention"
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at ease
"secure" or "carefree"
my voice
Isaiah refers to himself by his voice to emphasize what he says. AT: "me speak" (See: Metonymy)
your confidence will be broken
This can be stated in active form. Also, Isaiah speaks of them no longer being confident as if their confidence were a physical object that is broken. AT: "you will no longer be confident" (See: Active or Passive)
the grape harvest will fail
This means that there would not be good grapes to harvest. AT: "there will be no grapes for you to harvest" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the ingathering will not come
"the time for gathering crops will not happen"
translationWords
raise
voice
confidence
grape
harvest
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 vv9–11 32:9-15 This prophecy of judgment was against the complacent…
32:9-15 This prophecy of judgment was against the complacent women of Jerusalem. God’s promises regarding the future did not justify continuing in sin.
32:9 The women of Jerusalem lie around in ease. Complacent in their high standard of life and low standard of morality, they put their trust in wealth and status to maintain their way of life.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.