17Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
20Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of Yahweh’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19 These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of Yahweh’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
KJVKing James Version
17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the beaker, even the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
19 These two things are befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?
20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isaiah 52:1(v17)Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and…
Revelation 14:10(vv17, 20)he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and…
Job 21:20(v17)Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Psalms 60:3(v17)You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.
Isaiah 51:9(v17)Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in…
Show all 73 cross-references
1 Corinthians 15:34(v17)Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Psalms 11:6(v17)On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
Psalms 75:8(v17)For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and…
Zechariah 12:2(v17)“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.
Ephesians 5:14(v17)Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Revelation 18:6(v17)Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her…
Judges 5:12(v17)‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’
Psalms 75:10(v17)I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Psalms 88:18(v18)You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
Isaiah 47:9(v19)But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full…
Isaiah 49:21(v18)Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and…
Isaiah 60:1-2(v17)“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness…
Jeremiah 25:15-17(v17)For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you…
Jeremiah 25:27(v17)“You shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword…
Lamentations 2:11-12(v20)My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,…
Ezekiel 23:31-34(v17)You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’ “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘You will drink of your…
Amos 7:2(v19)When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
Revelation 16:9-11(v20)People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and…
Revelation 16:19(v17)The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to…
Deuteronomy 14:5(v20)the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois.
Deuteronomy 28:28(v17)Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.
Deuteronomy 28:34(v17)so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad.
Psalms 88:15-16(v20)I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your…
Psalms 142:4(v18)Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.
Isaiah 5:25(v20)Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them. The mountains…
Isaiah 8:21(v20)They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king…
Isaiah 9:19-21(v20)Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother. One will…
Isaiah 29:9(v20)Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Isaiah 41:13(v18)For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’
Isaiah 45:1(v18)Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open…
Isaiah 49:26(v20)I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall…
Isaiah 51:17(v20)Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of…
Isaiah 51:21(v20)Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Jeremiah 14:16(v20)The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to…
Jeremiah 14:18(v20)If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine!…
Lamentations 1:15(v20)“The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men within me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has…
Lamentations 1:19(v20)“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for…
Lamentations 3:15-16(v20)He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood. He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
Lamentations 4:2(v20)The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
Lamentations 5:13(v20)The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood.
Ezekiel 12:13(v20)I will also spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will…
Ezekiel 17:20(v20)I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for…
Ezekiel 39:19(v20)You shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
Matthew 9:36(v18)But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a…
Matthew 15:14(v18)Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Mark 8:23(v18)He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spat on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he…
Job 2:11(v19)Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad…
Job 8:20(v18)“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
Job 42:11(v19)Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him…
Psalms 69:20(v19)Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found…
Ecclesiastes 4:1(v19)Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no…
Isaiah 3:4-8(v18)I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by…
Isaiah 14:30(v19)The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be…
Isaiah 22:4(v19)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.
Isaiah 40:30(v20)Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
Isaiah 61:2(v19)to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
Jeremiah 9:17-21(v19)Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skillful women, that they may come. Let…
Jeremiah 31:32(v18)not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of…
Lamentations 1:9(v19)Her filthiness was in her skirts. She didn’t remember her latter end. Therefore she has come down astoundingly. She has no comforter. “See,…
Lamentations 1:12(v19)“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh…
Lamentations 1:16-17(v19)“For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children…
Ezekiel 14:21(v19)For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and…
Acts 9:8(v18)Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
Acts 13:11(v18)Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell…
2 Corinthians 7:6-7(v19)Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort with…
2 Corinthians 7:13(v19)Therefore we have been comforted. In our comfort we rejoiced the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been…
Hebrews 8:9(v18)not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of…
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17(v19)Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your…
73 distinct cross-references across this passage (74 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv17, 19Thou hast been justly punished and sufficiently as Isa.…
Thou hast been justly punished and sufficiently as Isa. 40:2, and this punishment in the elect is by measure, and according as God giveth grace to bear it: but in the reprobate it is the just vengeance of God to drive them to an insensibleness and madness, as Jer. 25:15, 16.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv17–20Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which…
Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, [and] wrung [them] out.
Ver. 17. Awake, awake.] Suscita te, suscita te. As the Church had stirred up the arm of the Lord to awake, {Isa 51:9} so here he doth the Church, cheering her up, and, as it were, drinking to her in a cup of nepenthe, after her bitter cup of gall and aloes, which she had drunk to drunkenness, and had none to guide her, {Isa 51:18} as a drunken man had need to have.
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That hast drunk at the hand of the Lord.] Herein happy yet, that God had a hand in the mingling of thy cup; who, being a wise and gracious physician and father, would be sure not to overdo; for "he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." {Psa 103:14}
The cup of his fury.] Or, His cup of poison; {Deu 32:24; Deu 32:33} so thou mistakest it, and therefore sputterest as if poisoned indeed. {Lam 3:19}
Thou hast drunk the dregs.] Crassamentum, that thick stuff that settleth in the bottom, and usually is reserved for the worst of wicked ones, {Psa 75:8} while the saints sip only of the top of the cup. {a} See Eze 23:1-49; Eze 34:1-31.
Of the cup of trembling.] Poeuhtm horrifieentissimum bibisti, exsuxisti, The cup of concussion or horror, as a just punishment of thy cup of slumbering and security, wherein thou hadst before caroused. {Isa 29:9-10}
{a} Illud tantrum bibunt quod est suavius et limpidius; est propemodum proverbialis locutio "bibere calicem," pro eo quod est perferre adversa. - Hyper.
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 vv17–20Awake; either,
Awake; either,
1. Out of the sleep of security. Or,
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2. Out of the sleep of death. Heb. Rouse up thyself; come out of that forlorn and disconsolate condition in which thou hast so long been. This sense suits best with the following words. Stand up upon thy feet, O thou who hast fallen, and been thrown down to the ground.
Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; which hast been sorely afflicted; for so this metaphor is used. Psa 75:8; Jer 25:15, &c.; Jer 49:12.
The cup of trembling; which striketh him that drinketh it with a deadly horror.
Wrung them out; drunk every drop of, it. See Poole "Psa 75:8".
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 v17God, having awoke for the comfort of his people,…
God, having awoke for the comfort of his people, here calls upon them to awake, as afterwards, Isa 52:1. It is a call to awake not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary in order to their being ready for deliverance) as out of the stupor of despair. When the inhabitants of Jerusalem were in captivity they, as well as those who remained upon the spot, were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart or spirit to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; they were as the disciples in the garden, sleeping for sorrow (Luk 22:45), and therefore, when the deliverance came, they are said to have been like those that dream, Psa 136:1. Nay, it is a call to awake, not only from sleep, but from death, like that to the dry bones to live, Eze 37:9. "Awake, and look about thee, that thou mayest see the day of thy deliverance dawn, and mayest be ready to bid it welcome. Recover thy senses; sink not under thy load, but stand up, and bestir thyself for thy own help." This may be applied to the Jerusalem that was in the apostle's time, which is said to have been in bondage with her children (Gal 4:25), and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber (Rom 11:8); they are called to awake, and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes and lulled them asleep. Now,
I. It is owned that Jerusalem had long been in a very deplorable condition, and sunk into the depths of misery.
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1. She had lain under the tokens of God's displeasure. He had put into her hand the cup of his fury, that is, her share of his displeasure. The dispensations of his providence concerning her had been such that she had reason to think he was angry with her. She had provoked him to anger most bitterly, and was made to taste the bitter fruits of it. The cup of God's fury is, and will be, a cup of trembling to all those that have it put into their hands: damned sinners will find it so to eternity. It is said (Psa 75:8) that the dregs of the cup, the loathsome sediments in the bottom of it, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them; but here Jerusalem, having made herself as the wicked of the earth, is compelled to wring them out and drink them; for wherever there has been a cup of fornication, as there had been in Jerusalem's hand when she was idolatrous, sooner or later there will be a cup of fury, a cup of trembling. Therefore stand in awe and sin not.
2. Those that should have helped her in her distress failed her, and were either unable or unwilling to help her, as might have been expected, Isa 51:18. She is intoxicated with the cup of God's fury, and, being so, staggers, and is very unsteady in her counsels and attempts. She knows not what she says or does, much less knows she what to say or do; and, in this unhappy condition, of all the sons that she has brought forth and brought up, that she was borne and educated (and there were many famous ones, for of Zion it was said that this and that man were born there, Psa 87:5), there is none to guide her, none to take her by the hand to keep her either from falling or from shaming herself, to lend either a hand to help her out of her trouble or a tongue to comfort her under it. Think it not strange if wise and good men are disappointed in their children, and have not that succour from them which they expected, but those that were arrows in their hand prove arrows in their heart, when Jerusalem herself has none of all her sons, prince, priest, nor prophet, that has such a sense either of duty or gratitude as to help her when she has most need of help. Thus they complain, Psa 74:9. There is none to tell us how long. Now that which aggravated this disappointment was, (1.) That her trouble was very great, and yet there was none to pity or help her: These two things have come unto thee (Isa 51:19), to complete thy desolation and destruction, even the famine and the sword, two sore judgments, and very terrible. Or the two things were the desolation and destruction by which the city was wasted and the famine and sword by which the citizens perished. Or the two things were the trouble itself (made up of desolation, destruction, famine, and sword) and her being helpless, forlorn, and comfortless, under it. "Two sad things indeed, to be in this woeful case, and to have none to pity thee, to sympathize with thee in thy griefs, or to help to bear the burden of thy cares, to have none to comfort thee, by suggesting that to thee which might help to alleviate thy grief or doing that for thee which might help to redress thy grievances." Or these two things that had come upon Jerusalem are the same with the two things that were afterwards to come upon Babylon (Isa 47:9), loss of children and widowhood - piteous case, and yet, "when thou hast brought it upon thyself by thy own sin and folly, who shall be sorry for thee? - a case that calls for comfort, and yet, when thou art froward under thy trouble, frettest, and makest thyself uneasy, by whom shall I comfort thee?" Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. (2.) That those who should have been her comforters were their own tormentors (Isa 51:20): They have fainted, as quite dispirited and driven to despair; they have no patience in which to keep possession of their own souls and the enjoyment of themselves, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of the comfort of that. They throw themselves upon the ground, in vexation at their troubles, and there they lie at the head of all the streets, complaining to all that pass by (Lam 1:12), pining away for want of necessary food; there they lie like a wild bull in a net, fretting and raging, struggling and pulling, to help themselves, but entangling themselves so much the more, and making their condition the worse by their own passions and discontents. Those that are of a meek and quiet spirit are, under affliction, like a dove in a net, people, as their patron and protector, who takes what is done against them a done against himself." The cause of God's people, and of that holy religion which they profess, is a righteous cause, otherwise the righteous God would not appear for it; yet it may for a time be run down, and seem as if it were lost. But God will plead it, either by convincing the consciences or confounding the mischievous projects of those that fight against it. He will plead it by clearing up the equity and excellency of it to the world and by giving success to those that act in defence of it. It is his own cause; he has espoused it, and therefore will plead it with jealousy. 3. That they should shortly take leave of their troubles and bid a final farewell to them: "I will take out of thy hand the cup of trembling, that bitter cup; it shall pass from thee." Throwing away the cup of trembling will not do, nor saying, "We will not, we cannot, drink it;" but, if we patiently submit, he that put it into out hands will himself take it out of our hands. Nay, it is promised, "Thou shalt no more drink it again. God has let fall his controversy with thee, and will not revive the judgment." 4. That their persecutors and oppressors should be made to drink of the same bitter cup of which they had drunk so deeply, Isa 51:23. See here, (1.) How insolently they had abused and trampled upon the people of God: They have said to thy soul, to thee, to thy life, Bow down, that we may go over. Nay, they have said it to thy conscience, taking a pride and pleasure in forcing thee to worship idols. Herein the New Testament Babylon treads in the steps of that old oppressor, tyrannizing over men's consciences, giving law to them, putting them upon the rack, and compelling them to sinful compliances. Those that set up an infallible head and judge, requiring an implicit faith in his dictates and obedience to his commands, do in effect say to men's souls, Bow down, that we may go over, and they say it with delight. (2.) How meanly the people of God (having by their sin lost much of their courage and sense of honour) truckled to them: Thou hast laid thy body as the ground. Observe, The oppressors required souls to be subjected to them, that every man should believe and worship just as they would have them. But all they could gain by their threats and violence was that people laid their bodies on the ground; they brought them to an external and hypocritical conformity, but conscience cannot be forced, nor is it mentioned to their praise that they yielded thus far. But observe, (3.) How justly God will reckon with those who have carried it so imperiously towards his people: The cup of trembling shall be put into their hand. Babylon's case shall be as bad as ever Jerusalem's was. Daniel's persecutors shall be thrown into Daniel's den; let them see how they like it. And the Lord is known by these judgments which he executes.
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 vv17–20Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,.... As persons out…
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,.... As persons out of a sleep, or out of a stupor, or even out of the sleep of death; for this respects a more glorious state of the church, the Jerusalem, the mother of us all, after great afflictions; and especially if it respects the more glorious state of all on earth, signified by the New Jerusalem, that will be preceded by the resurrection of the dead, called the first resurrection, when the saints will awake out of the dust of the earth, and stand upon their feet; see Dan 12:2, though the last glorious state of the church, in the spiritual reign of Christ, is also expressed by the rising of the witnesses slain, by their standing on their feet, and by their ascension to heaven, Rev 11:11, before which will be a time of great affliction to the church, as here:
which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the judgments of God, upon a nation and people, or on particular persons, to be signified by a cup, and especially on wicked men, as the effect of divine wrath, Psa 11:6. Here it signifies that judgment that begins at the house and church of God, Pe1 4:17, which looks as if it arose from the wrath and fury of an incensed God: and though it may greatly intend the wrathful persecutions of men, yet since they are by the permission and will of God, and are bounded and limited by him, they are called "his cup", and said to come from his hand; and the people of God take them, or consider them as coming by his appointment:
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thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out; alluding to excessive drinking, which brings a trembling of limbs, and sometimes paralytic disorders on men, and to the thick sediments in the bottom of the cup, which are fixed there, as the word (u) signifies, and are not easily got out, and yet every drop and every dreg are drunk up; signifying, that the whole portion of sufferings, allotted to the Lord's people, shall come upon them, even what are most disagreeable to them, and shall fill them with trembling and astonishment.
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 vv17–20Awake - Hebrew. Rouse up thyself: come out of…
Awake - Hebrew. Rouse up thyself: come out of that forlorn condition in which thou hast so long been. Stand up - Upon thy feet, O thou who hast been thrown to the ground. Drunk - Who hast been sorely afflicted. The cup - Which strikes him that drinks it with deadly horror. And wrung - Drunk every drop of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv17, 19, 20Verse 17. The cup of trembling] כוס התרעלה cos…
Verse 17. The cup of trembling] כוס התרעלה cos hattarelah, "the cup of mortal poison," veneni mortiferi. - MONTAN. This may also allude to the ancient custom of taking off criminals by a cup of poison. Socrates is well known to have been sentenced by the Areopagus to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock, which occasioned his death. See Clarke on Heb 2:9, and see also Bishop Lowth's note on Isa 51:21.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv17–18Isa 51:17. Awake, awake — God having awoke and…
Isa 51:17. Awake, awake — God having awoke and arisen for the comfort of his people, here calls on them to awake, as afterward, Isa 52:1. This is a call to awake, not so much out of the sleep of sin though that also was necessary, in order to their being ready for deliverance, as out of the stupor of despondency and despair. Hebrew, התעוררי, rouse up thyself; come out of that forlorn and disconsolate condition in which thou hast so long been. When the Jews were in captivity they were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart left to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; and therefore when the deliverance came, they are said (Psa 126:1) to be like them that dream. The address may be applied to the Jerusalem, or Jewish Church, which was in the apostles’ time, which is said to be in bondage with her children, (Gal 4:25,) and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber, Rom 11:8. They are called to awake and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes, and brought stupor insensibly upon them. Stand up — Upon thy feet, O thou who hast been thrown to the ground. Who hast drunk, &c., the cup of his fury — Who hast been sorely afflicted; the dregs of the cup of trembling — Which strikes him that drinks it with a deadly horror; and wrung them out — Drunk every drop of it.
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 vv17–20Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isa 51:9).…
Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isa 51:9). This verse commences an address to Jerusalem under a new figure or image. The figure employed is that of a man who has been overcome by the cup of the wrath of Yahweh, that had produced the same effect as inebriation. Jerusalem had reeled and fallen prostrate. There had been none to sustain her, and she had sunk to the dust. Calamities of the most appalling kind had come upon her, and she is now called on to arouse from this condition, and to recover her former splendor and power.
Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord - The wrath of Yahweh is not unfrequently compared to a cup producing intoxication. The reason is, that it produces a similar effect. It prostrates the strength, and makes the subject of it reel, stagger, and fall. In like manner, all calamities are represented under the image of a cup that is drunk, producing a prostrating effect on the frame. Thus the Saviour says, ‘The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?’ (Joh 18:11; compare Mat 20:22-23; Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42). The effects of drinking the cup of God’s displeasure are often beautifully set forth. Thus, in Psa 75:8 :
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In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red;
It is full of a mixed liquor, and he poureth out of the same,
Verily the dregs thereof all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.
Plato, as referred to by Lowth, has an idea resembling this. ‘Suppose,’ says he, ‘God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear; so that the more anyone should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of everything present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of people, should become totally possessed by fear; and afterward, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again.’ A similar image is used by Homer (Iliad, xvi. 527ff), where he places two vessels at the threshold of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil. He gives to some a mixed potion of each; to others from the evil vessel only, and these are completely miserable:
Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood
The source of evil one, and one of good;
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,
Blessings to these; to those distributes ills.
To most he mingles both: The wretch decreed
To taste the bad unmix’d, is curs’d indeed;
Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,
He wanders, outcast by both earth and heaven:
The happiest taste not happiness sincere,
But find the cordial draught is dash’d with care.
But nowhere is this image handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah. Jerusalem is here represented as staggering under the effects of it; she reels and falls; none assist her from where she might expect aid; not one of them is able to support her. All her sons had fainted and become powerless Isa 51:20; they were lying prostrate at the head of every street, like a bull taken in a net, struggling in vain to rend it, and to extricate himself. Jehovah’s wrath had produced complete and total prostration throughout the whole city.
Thou hast drunken the dregs - Gesenius renders this, ‘The goblet cup.’ But the common view taken of the passage is, that it means that the cup had been drunk to the dregs. All the intoxicating liquor had been poured off. They had entirely exhausted the cup of the wrath of God. Similar language occurs in Rev 14:10 : ‘The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation.’ The idea of the dregs is taken from the fact that, among the ancients, various substances, as honey, dates, etc., were put into wine, in order to produce the intoxicating quality in the highest degree. The sediment of course would remain at the bottom of the cask or cup when the wine was poured off. Homer, who lived about a thousand years before Christ, and whose descriptions are always regarded as exact accounts of the customs in his time, frequently mentions potent drugs as being mixed with wines. In the ‘Odyssey’ (iv. 220), he tells us that Helen prepared for Telemachus and his companions a beverage which was highly stupefactive, and soothing to his mind. To produce these qualities, he says that she threw into the wine drugs which were:
Nēpenthes t' alochon te kakōn epilēthon apantōn -
Grief-assuaging, rage-allaying, and the oblivious antidote for every species of misfortune. Such mixtures were common among the Hebrews. It is possible that John Rev 14:10 refers to such a mixture of the simple juice of the grape with intoxicating drugs when he uses the expression implying a seeming contradiction, κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου kekerasmenou akratou - (mixed, unmixed wine) - rendered in our version, ‘poured out without mixture.’ The reference is rather to the pure juice of the grape mixed, or mingled with intoxicating drugs.
The cup of trembling - The cup producing trembling, or intoxication (compare Jer 25:15; Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7; Lam 4:21; Hab 2:16; Eze 23:31-33). The same figure occurs often in the Arabic poets (see Gesenius Commentary zu. Isa. in loc.)
And wrung them out - (מצית mâtsiym). This properly means, to suck out; that is, they had as it were sucked off all the liquid from the dregs.
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 vv17, 19, 20Dregs. Take courage: Babylon’s turn is come, ver. 23.…
Dregs. Take courage: Babylon’s turn is come, ver. 23. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv17–20Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, &c.-- (Isa 52:1).
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, &c.-- (Isa 52:1).
drunk--Jehovah's wrath is compared to an intoxicating draught because it confounds the sufferer under it, and makes him fall (Job 21:20; Psa 60:3; Psa 75:8; Jer 25:15-16; Jer 49:12; Zac 12:2; Rev 14:10); ("poured out without mixture"; rather, "the pure wine juice mixed with intoxicating drugs").
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of trembling--which produced trembling or intoxication.
wrung . . . out--drained the last drop out; the dregs were the sediments from various substances, as honey, dates, and drugs, put into the wine to increase the strength and sweetness.
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 vv17–1817. Awake, awake — Earnest address to Jerusalem under…
17. Awake, awake — Earnest address to Jerusalem under a new image, that of a man reeling as an inebriate. The city now is deeply stupified from drinking of the wrath of God, a retribution due to all nations who defy and abandon Jehovah.
Stand up — Her punishment is just, but on repentance she may be restored. The vision of Zion just given is in strange contrast. She is now arrayed in robes of peace, and desires reinstatement in her old home. The cup of wrath is a common figure. Psa_75:9; Jer_25:15; Jer_25:17; Jer_25:28; Eze_23:31. The word dregs is now generally held to mean cup or bowl.
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Trembling — Rather, reeling, as through intoxication.
Wrung… out — Better, sucked out — to the last drop.
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 vv17, 19, 2017–20. The description of Jerusalem’s degradation. The rhythm is…
17–20. The description of Jerusalem’s degradation. The rhythm is that of the qínah, and the resemblances to the book of Lamentations are so striking that Ewald has conjectured that the passage is taken from one of the elegies composed during the Exile.
Awake] Better Arouse thee (Cheyne); the verb being a reflexive as distinct from the simple “Awake” of Isa_52:1 (and Isa_51:9).
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which hast drunk … the cup of his fury] The image of the cup of the Divine wrath originated in Jeremiah’s great vision of judgement (ch. Jer_25:15 ff.), where the prophet hands the cup to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. Cf. also Jer_49:12; Hab_2:16; Eze_23:31-34; Lam_4:21; Oba_1:16; Rev_14:10.
the dregs of the cup of trembling] R.V. the bowl of the cup of staggering. “Dregs” is a mistaken Jewish rendering of a word (qubba‘ath), found only here and in Isa_51:22. It means undoubtedly a “bowl” or “chalice,” and the pleonasm “bowl of the cup” has probably arisen through the common word for cup being added as an explanatory gloss.
of trembling] of intoxication. Psa_60:3 (A.V. “wine of astonishment”).
and wrung them out] drained (cf. Eze_23:34)—an asyndetic construction in the Hebr.—“hast drunk, hast drained,” i.e. “hast drunk to the dregs.” The whole clause reads:—
Thou who hast drunk from Jehovah’s hand—the cup of His wrath, The chalice of intoxication—hast thou drunk to the dregs.
Ch. Isa_51:17 to Isa_52:12. The Lord will turn the Captivity of Zion
The three oracles into which this passage naturally falls are these:—(1) Isa_51:17-23. The prophet, returning to the thought with which the book opens (ch. Isa_40:2), announces that the period of Jerusalem’s degradation has expired. The city is figured as a woman lying prostrate and senseless, intoxicated with the cup of the Lord’s indignation which she has drunk to the dregs, her sons unable to help her (17–20). But the cup is now taken from her and passed to the enemies who had oppressed and insulted her (21–23).
(2) Isa_52:1-6. In a new apostrophe, the image is carried on; let Zion lay aside her soiled raiment, and the emblems of her slavery, and put on her holiday attire (1, 2). Jehovah will no longer endure that His name should be blasphemed through the banishment of His people (3–6).
(3) Isa_51:7-12. A description of the triumphal return of Jehovah to Zion, obviously based on the last section of the Prologue (ch. Isa_40:9-11). The writer pictures the scene of joy within the city when the heralds of the King arrive (7, 8); he calls on the waste places of Jerusalem to break forth into singing (9, 10); and finally, turning to the exiles (as in Isa_48:20 f.) he summons them to hasten their escape from the land of their captivity (11, 12).
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 vv17, 19, 20(17) Awake . . .—The words present a strange…
(17) Awake . . .—The words present a strange parallelism to Isa_51:9. There they were addressed to the arm of Jehovah, and were the prelude of a glorious promise. Here they are spoken to Jerusalem as a drunken and desperate castaway, and introduce a painfully vivid picture of her desolation. They seem, indeed, prefixed to that picture to make it bearable. They are a call to Zion to wake out of that drunken sleep, and therefore show that her ruin is not irretrievable.
The dregs of the cup.—Literally, the goblet cup, but with the sense, as in the Authorised version, of the cup being drained.
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 vv17–20Vers. 17-23. AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO JERUSALEM.…
Vers. 17-23. AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO JERUSALEM. The comfort afforded to Israel generally is now concentrated on Jerusalem. Her condition during the long period of the Captivity is deplored, and her want of a champion to assert her cause and raise her out of the dust is lamented (vers. 17-20). After this, an assurance is given her that the miseries which she has suffered shall pass from her to her great enemy, by whom the dregs.of the "cup of trembling" shall be drained, and the last drop wrung out (vers. 21-23).
Awake, awake. (comp. ver. 9 and Isa_52:1) Isaiah marks the breaks in his prophecy, sometimes by a repetition of terminal clauses, which have the effect of a refrain; (Isa_5:25 Isa_9:12, Isa_9:17, 21 10:4; and Isa_48:22 Isa_57:21) sometimes by a repetition of initial clauses of a striking character. (Isa_5:8, Isa_5:11, 20 13:1 15:1 17:1 19:1 21:1, 11 22:1 23:1 28:1 29:1 30:1 31:1 33:1 48:1, 12, 16 1:4, 7, 9, etc.) Here we have thrice over "Awake, awake not, however, an exact repetition in the Hebrew, but a near approach to it each summons forming the commencement of a new paragraph or subsection. Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. The cup of God"s fury was poured out on Jerusalem when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles burnt, (2Ki_25:9) the walls broken down, (2Ki_25:10) and the bulk of the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon. (2Ki_25:11; comp. 2Ch_34:25 Jer_42:18 Jer_44:6 Eze_22:31, etc.) "The cup of God"s fury" is an expression used by Jeremiah. (Jer_25:15) The dregs of the cup; rather, perhaps, the goblet-cup (Cheyne), or the out-swollen cup. It is the fulness of the measure of Jerusalem"s punishment, not its character, which is pointed at.
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Vers. 17-23. Encouragement for Jerusalem.
The prophet, or chorus of prophets, is supposed to salute the holy city with a cheering cry.
I PICTURES OF DISTRESS. The draught from the cup of Divine wrath. "The cup of his fury goblet-cup of reeling." These are figures for the horror and bewilder-meat caused by a (great catastrophe. It is "to drink the wine of astonishment". (Psa_60:3 Eze_23:2) Then there is utter helplessness. No guide for Jerusalem to be found in all her sons; no strong and helping hand to grasp hers in the hour of her dire need. Desolation, death, famine, and sword the latter without, the former within (Eze_7:15) such is the state of the city. The afflicted mother and her sons. It is a picture resembling that of Niobe and her doomed offspring. The sons of this mother-city swoon, and lie at the corners of the streets. "Israel the mountain people is likened to a gazelle, which all its swiftness and grace have not saved from the hunter"s snare." All these things are signs of "the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of God.
II UNEXPECTED ENCOURAGEMENT. "The transition from threatening to promise is marked by "therefore". (Isa_10:24 Isa_27:9 Isa_30:18) The Lord Jehovah, the God who is the Advocate of his people, speaks. This cup, which makes men reel with the madness of bewilderment, shall be taken from them, and put into the hands of their tormentors the proud conquerors who had placed their feet upon their necks. (c.f. Jos_10:24 Psa_129:3) Such sudden transitions remind us of the fact of providence, and of the coincidence of human extremity with Divine opportunity. God will not leave himself at any age without a witness in the world which shall see that the hand of Divine power is not shortened, nor the bowels of Divine goodness straitened; but that God is as able and ready to save his Church as ever. "The difficulty of affairs has baffled and laughed at all resistances of created power, and so made the omnipotent Author of the deliverance visible and conspicuous. J.
Vers. 17-23. Spiritual stupefaction.
The passage presents one of the most pitiable of all possible spectacles a nation reduced to utter helplessness and prostration, lying like one that is brought down by intoxication to a motionless stupidity. We learn from this picture, and from the opening summons and concluding promise
I THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT AS WELL AS THE HUMAN BODY IS SUBJECT TO STUPEFACTION. It is a striking and suggestive fact that the very thing which at first excites will ultimately stupefy. This is notoriously the case with intoxicants; these first stimulate, then dull and deaden the system. It is also true, though in a less degree, of those things which are called narcotics: both opium and tobacco at first awaken and enlarge faculty; but this condition soon passes away, and is succeeded by one of depression, inactivity, and (in the case of the more noxious drug) stupor and insensibility. So is it with things which act hurtfully upon the soul. At first they excite, then they blunt and deaden. This applies to:
1. Continuous enjoyment of any kind.
2. Excessive responsibilities, demanding exertion beyond the power tomaintain them.
3. Heavy and repeated trials. It was from this last that Israel was suffering.The nation had been required to drink of the cup of Divine retribution, and, owing to her persistency in evil, had been compelled to drain that cup. Beside the two evils specified (ver. 19), desolation or famine and the violence of the enemy, was the sense of her utter friendlessness (ver. 18); and in addition to this was her abject humiliation (ver. 23). These calamities would account for her pitiable despondency, her attitude of despair. The sore and accumulated trials which sometimes befall individual men may not justify, but they explain, the complete brokenness and despondency of their spirit. They give themselves up as those abandoned to an evil course and a fatal doom; they are in a state of spiritual stupefaction.
II THAT THE STRONGEST AND SHARPEST SUMMONS TO AROUSE IS THE FRIENDLIEST VOICE WE CAN THEN HEAR. "Awake, awake, stand up." These are the words of the God of Israel. And from whomsoever or from whatsoever shall come the summons to arouse ourselves from a guilty and perilous spiritual torpor, however harsh be the tone, however startling be the terms of the awakening, that voice is of the friendliest, and may be taken to be none other than the voice of God.
III THAT FOR THE NATION OR THE SPIRIT THAT HEARKENS AND ARISES THERE MAY BE COMPLETE RECOVERY. (Vers. 22, 23.) Jehovah would turn humiliation into triumph for his people, arrogance into disaster for her enemies. As complete a reversal, though of an entirely different kind, will God grant to those who arouse themselves from spiritual torpor and walk in his ways: for them shall be peace instead of insensibility: holy usefulness instead of disgraceful helplessness; sacred joy instead of a miserable despair. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v17Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem
Isa_51:17
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem
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Brighter time for exiled Israel:
Jerusalem is pictured as a woman, prostrate through misfortune, lying helplessly as though drunken, on the roadside, her sons unable to guide or assist her: but she is to stand up; the past is now solemnly reversed.
; and the cup of reeling which she has drunk is to be given to them that afflicted her (Isa_51:17-23). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
A call to abandon despair
It is a call to awake, not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary, in order to their being ready for deliverance), as out of the stupor of despair. (M. Henry.)
The cup of trembling.
The cup of trembling
Such a cup is sooner or later placed in all our hands. Some may ask us, indeed, if Christianity is not a religion of joy? Yes! But it is not a religion of hilarity. The Christian life is the reproduction of the Masters image in the world! And as He was the Man of Sorrows, so beneath all there will be tribulation in our hearts, even when we share the legacy of the Masters joy! The cup must be taken. The red wine is poured out by the good hand, and the child with bowed knee and bruised heart says, Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight. Good in the sight which sees the end from the beginning, which culminates in the ultimate issues of glory and reward.
I. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESENT LIFE CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We are in a world of instability and uncertainty. Tremendous possibilities are involved in our daily lives. Health is so soon undermined. Disaster so suddenly comes. This life needs indeed a Brother and a Saviour. There must be with the Christian an element of sobriety in all human joys.
II. THE ALL-SURROUNDING PRESENCE OF TEMPTATION CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Vain self-confidence is contemptible.
III. THE LAW OF DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING.
1. Illness comes, and we are dependent on the wisdom of the physician and the watchfulness of the nurse; great risk comes, and we are dependent on the command of the captain and the sobriety of the crew; or we need the safety of the wisest jurisprudence, and we are dependent on the carefulness of the lawyer and the skill of the counsel.
2. Or we have to take care of others. Wives and children who may presently be alone in the world--alone where there is such eager competition and self-concern, such neglect of the weakest and the neediest; and we must leave our simple savings to directors or to others who may mismanage our affairs, or to trustees who may be false to their trust. And who shall say that this is not to many anxious parents a cup of trembling!
3. Then we are citizens--men who have vast interest in all that appertains to the life and honour of the fatherland; and all these, representatively, we have to leave in the hands of men, who may through pride or ambition risk the nation s highest weal.
4. Then we are living souls, dependent on the great law of moral influence around us to a much greater extent than we think. And we cannot altogether escape from the contagion of the fashion of this present world.
IV. THE NEAR APPROACH OF THE GREAT ACCOUNT CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Have you ever thought how nearness affects you? Disease in a near city--in your city--m your street--next door to your house!
Have you ever thought how even the judgment of earth, as it comes nearer and nearer, affects the indifference of the criminal? But I am supposing that we are Christians. We have an account to render of lifes stewardship. Into each of our hands God has placed the cup of personality, responsibility and accountability; and now, after a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. This is no mere figure of speech.
V. THE SEASON OF SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We can in no sense ever feel this as Christ our Lord and Master did. But though in this He stands alone, His whole earthly history was a spectacle of submission. Every man must bear his own burden, must drink his own cup. But Christs comfort is ours! With trembling heart we seek the quiet pavilion of our Father. Better anything than a God-emptied life. Christ our Brother and Saviour alone can succour us in hours of submission. (W. M. Statham.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn vv17, 20Isa_51:17; Isa_51:20; Isa_51:22. The fury of the Lord, &c.…
JEHOVAH’S ANGER
Isa_51:17; Isa_51:20; Isa_51:22. The fury of the Lord, &c. [1587]
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[1587] See vol. i. pp. 284–286, and H. E. I. 2288–2294. God’s anger must, of course, be understood in a manner in accordance with the Divine nature; and we are not to suppose that precisely the same passions or the same feelings are referred to when this language is used of God which is implied when it is used of men. It means that His nature, His laws, His government, His feelings, are all arrayed against the wicked; that He cannot regard the conduct of the wicked with favour; that He will punish them. He is angry with the wicked continually, constantly, always. It is not excitement, it is not a temporary passion, such as we see in men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be succeeded by a different feeling when the passion passes off. It is the steady and uniform attribute of His unchanging nature to be always opposed to the wicked,—to all forms of sin; and in Him, in this respect, there will be no change. The wicked will find Him no more favourable to their character and course of life to-morrow than He is to-day; no more beyond the grave than this side of the tomb.… This is a fearful truth in regard to the sinner, and should make him tremble:—(1.) that God is angry with him—that all His character, and all the principles of His government and law, are and must be arrayed against him; and (2.), that in this respect there is to be no change; that if he continues to be wicked, as he is now, he will every day and always—this side the grave and beyond—find all the attributes of God engaged against him, and pledged to punish him. God has no attribute that can take part with sin or the sinner.—A. Barnes, D.D.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the higher the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose. If God should only withdraw His hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.—Jonathan Edwards.
I. It is real. There is such a thing as anger in God. Many are the expressions used concerning it—jealousy, vengeance, fury, wrath; all to indicate its existence, and to show us that the human theories of Divine universal benevolence are not true, being got up for a purpose, and that purpose to persuade the sinner’s own conscience that he need not be alarmed because of his guilt; and that no one need dread the infliction of punishment, except perhaps a few of the most wicked of our race. But God’s words are not exaggerations, nor words of course. There is a terrible truth contained in these oft-repeated words of Scripture, “His anger was kindled.” Loving and gracious as Jehovah is, His anger is real. When Jesus comes the second time, He comes to “take vengeance.”
II. It is righteous. It is not the rage of selfishness, or passion, or affront. It is judicial anger; the anger of the righteous judge. It is anger against sin, against the sinner, anger because of insulted law and dishonoured righteousness. Nothing in it is unjust, or cruel, or arbitrary. Then the condemned soul will be compelled hereafter to say, “It is all right and just,” it shall be right and just to all eternity.”
III. It is terrible. Though calm, it is unutterably awful; nay, overwhelming. No power and no numbers shall be able to stand before it. It shall sweep everything before it like a whirlwind. The expulsion from paradise, the Deluge, the ruin of Sodom, are specimens of its terribleness. The lost soul shall be utterly overwhelmed. (β)
IV. It is inexorable. Nothing but genuine repentance shall turn it aside, or soften it when once it is kindled. “The vengeance of eternal fire,” the “everlasting burning,” the “worm that dieth not,” these are awful words, and however figurative they may be, they represent terrible realities (H. E. I. 2804).—Horatius Bonar, D.D.: Light and Truth, Old Testament, p. 345.
THE MEMORIAL NAME
Isa_51:22. Thy LORD the LORD, and thy God.
The history, which includes the textual statement. Consider—
1. The character which God here claims for Himself.
1. Independent and self-existent in Being, and therefore—Infinite—fills all space; everlasting—fills all time; the source of all being.
2. Unlimited in perfection. All perfections. Infinite in each.
3. Unlimited in sovereignty. He does according to His will. His will the highest reason. None can counsel Him.
4. Unlimited in the extent of His government. None are exempted from it.
5. Himself the end of all things. Everything originates with Him. Everything terminates in Him.
II. The limitations which men put upon the claim which is thus made by God. They put limits upon,
1. His being. The having and worshipping false gods. That is not God which is not self-existent; and two self-existent Gods cannot be conceived.
2. His perfections. The conceptions which men form and express. The preference which man gives to the creature. The silence of man in His praise. The little imitation there is of Him. The manner in which men expect to recommend themselves to His favour. The manner in which His servants are treated.
3. On His absolute sovereignty. Confining our attention to systems of doctrine called Christian, men question God’s absolute sovereignty, in the election, calling, justification, and perseverance of His people.
4. On the extent of His government. Some exclude Him from creation, providence, in prayer, conversation, conduct, civil authority, the government of the Church, and conscience.
5. As the end of all things. Men make themselves the end.
CONCLUSION.—He is not, and cannot be limited. In acting, He disregards the limits of men. He punishes the pride and insolence of man for limiting Him. He calls the notice of His people to the vindication of His glory.—James Stewart: Outlines of Discourses, pp. 2–4.
THE STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE CHURCH
(Preached before a Presbyterian General Assembly.)
Isa_52:1. Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.
This language is a direct address from God to His ancient Church. The image which it presents is that of a sleeping giant. The Church of God had been a giant power in the world; but at the time in which God speaks it had relapsed into slumber—had put off its strength, and, being beset with enemies, this position of torpor and inaction was one of peril. Hence this arousing note of alarm, “Awake, awake!” The slumbering giant is not only summoned to arouse to consciousness, but to put on and put forth his strength for conflict and for victory.
The text is a forcible reminder of the mysterious and discouraging fact that the Church of God, in all ages, may have its times of weakness, as well as its times of power. When the Church first went forth from Jerusalem, a little flock, scattered hither and thither by the storm of persecution, it was a time of power. It was then but an infant of days, but it “lifted empires off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel.”—(Richter.)
But a time of weakness followed this era of power—the dark night of the middle ages. Again there came a time of power when, on the morning of the Reformation, the Church heard the cry, “Awake, awake!” and, springing up with renewed youth, it put on its strength. The chill of formalism followed the track of the Reformation, and the Church sank into the coma of wide-spread paralysis; a disguised Romanism riveted her fetters; the Socinian apostasy spread its blight over Great Britain. But then came times of power, when the Church arose in quickened majesty; and still again, times of wondrous spiritual revival, when the call sounded by Wesley and Whitefield, like the voice of the prophet in the valley of vision, seemed to awake the dead.
I. Why these periods of weakness? If the Church is a giant begirt with power, and that power is divine; if it is commissioned to exercise the evil spirit from the world, and goes forth with the promise of help and victory, then why these times of weakness? Answer:—The power of the Church is divine, but it is also human. What man can do, he must do. To roll away the stone from the grave of Lazarus was something that man could do; hence our Lord commanded human hands to do it. This act of human strength must antecede the word of power which raises the dead. Divine power and human strength must work together, each in its appropriate sphere. Divine efficiency does not supersede human agency, but only supplements its weakness. If man’s part in the work or warfare of the Church is properly executed, God’s part will never fail. But, as the terror of the iron chariots of the enemy paralysed the strength of Judah—so that, the human part being wanting, the victory was lost (Jdg_1:19)—so, in the Church, if any cause supervenes to weaken, or render ineffective, the strength which God expects us to put forth, He will not depart from His plan, or interpose to save us from the result of our own weakness, or to hide us from the scorn and derision of the world.
II. What is the strength of the Church, and when is it put off?
1. The first element of power is the Gospel. This is the one element for our work, the one weapon for our warfare—it is the power of God. The astronomer looks at the heavens. These stars are to be counted; these constellations are to be mapped; the orbits of these planets are to be observed. Here is a vast and complicated work; but how is it to be done? By the telescope. He has this, and nothing else. All the great results of astronomy must spring, first of all, from this single instrument. Just so the Church looks out upon its work. It is commissioned to bring this world in captivity to the obedience of Christ. A mighty and multiform work; how is it to be achieved? By the Gospel. God has given us this, and nothing else, to save the world. It is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” “It pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” Moses was commanded to smite the rock at Horeb, and bring from its bosom streams of water. How? He was given but one instrument—the slender rod that he held in his hand. To human view the rock would be more likely to break the rod than the rod to rend the rock; but that fragile rod was God’s ordained instrument of power; and, when it smote, the riven rock gushed with the living waters. Just so, the Word of God is the rod of power. We are commanded to smite with it alone, for by nothing else can the stony heart be broken. For every work which the Church is sent to do, this is the instrument of power.
This being so, we can readily see from this standpoint how this strength may be put off, and power give place to weakness. To neglect, to withhold, to minimise, to obscure in any manner the truth of God, is to put off this element of power, and to bring in a time of weakness.
This may occur
(1.) When the truth is depreciated, or its necessity not clearly recognised. Thus, for example, some say, “Preach morality; let us hear more about the duties of life, and less about the doctrines of the Cross.” Morality, without principle, is a sham; it is tinselled fruit tied upon a Christmas-tree—the only connection is the tape that ties it. Morality is the fruit of principle, but principle is doctrine—and the only doctrine that bears this fruit is the doctrine of the Cross.
(2.) Whenever the Gospel is subordinated to human themes. If the Church dispenses essays upon history, antiquities, philosophy, politics, science, or reflects the light of the secular press, &c., it will be no marvel if it sinks into imbecility.
(3.) Our strength is crippled when the Gospel is caricatured by sensational themes, discussions, illustrations and expedients, which attract attention, indeed, but which belittle the sacred doctrine of the Cross.
But whilst causes like these paralyse our power, there are others which produce simply an abatement of strength. For example, the Church can only put forth half its strength when the Gospel is but half told. If it sets out in full light the Divine love, whilst it keeps back Divine justice under the shadow of a dark eclipse; if it tells of Christ’s teachings, and is silent about Christ’s sacrifice; if it points to Christ’s life, and not to Christ’s blood, as the centre of saving efficiency; if it sets out the freedom of man, and holds in abeyance Divine sovereignty and efficacious grace; or if it minimises the Gospel in the one sentence, “Come to Jesus;” or if it lays Christ as a humble suppliant at the feet of men until proud sinners imagine that it is a stoop of condescension to permit Jesus to save them—then, surely, it is no marvel that men turn away from a belittled Gospel and a belittled Saviour, and that the Church sits in weakness.
2. The second element is the ministry. Let us not lose sight of the figure of the text. The Church is a giant; the Gospel is the instrument of his work—the weapon of his warfare. But what wields the weapon? The giant’s arm—this is the ministry. It is the arm or the agent of the Church’s power. The symbol of the Gospel is a hammer, a word; but a hammer is powerless without a strong hand to use it; the sword is ineffective without a skilful arm to wield it. This arm, this sword, this agent of strength and skill, is the ministry.
This figure seems to describe accurately the kind of power with which the ministry is invested. It is not an original power inherent in itself, but a delegated power. It is the power of an agent, and it has an instrument of power put into its hands. It is not a power to infuse grace, or to forgive sins, or to bind the conscience, but simply an administrative power. It is a power of vocation to utter the Gospel call, to summon God’s sons from afar, and His daughters from the ends of the earth. A teaching power—go teach all nations; preach the Gospel to every creature. A dispensing power to break the Bread of Life, and to distribute, with a liberal hand, to all God’s children, giving to each a portion in due season. A power to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
We may readily see when this strength is put on, and when it is put off. Whatever cripples or weakens or interferes with the right use and proper functions of a giant’s arm, weakens and abates the effectiveness of the giant himself; so whatever weakens the ministry, or hinders its effectiveness, puts off to that extent the strength of the Church, and introduces a time of weakness and defeat.
(1.) The ministry, as an arm of power, may be withered by a perfunctory education. Ministers may be taught to know about God, but not to know God. They may learn to explain and defend the Gospel, without having ever felt that a single Gospel truth has been riveted as a living, burning power in their own souls. A minister who knows what it is to be a saved sinner, can tell of it with such power as to make others feel that there is nothing between them and eternal death but the blood of Jesus. But, without this experience, the minister will be a perfunctory drone, stepping in a treadmill, or doing out his lifeless essay whilst sinners are slipping through his fingers into perdition.
(2.) The ministry must be a source of weakness instead of power to the Church, if it is not in sympathy with the hearts of the people, and the souls of perishing men. He who was once lost but is found again, will know how to feel for the lost, and the lost will listen to him who once was lost himself. This is the natural power of the minister, the link of sympathy that binds him to the hearts of the people and the souls of men. If this be lost the ministry is powerless.
3. The third and principal element of the Church’s power is the Holy Ghost. The implement of the Church’s work is the Word; the arm of the Church’s power is the ministry; but the power itself is the Holy Ghost. As He causeth the earth to bring forth and bud by showers from heaven, so He causes His Church to abound in the fruits of righteousness by times of refreshing from on high. A revival is a day of the Spirit’s power, when the enemy is repulsed; when sinners are made willing; when doubt and unbelief are dissipated. If such a day of power were granted to us now, you would see rationalism, scepticism, and infidelity driven like smoke before the wind.
III. Such being the elements of the Church’s power, and the causes which convert its strength into weakness, let us now listen to God’s call to the Church to put on and put forth her strength. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion!” An army puts on its strength when it goes forth to battle, but this is strength to destroy. A fireman puts on his strength when he enters a burning dwelling, and plucks its sleeping inmates from the flames. This is strength to save. Oh, it is a glorious thing to put on strength to save! How, then, shall we put on this strength?
Physical strength is put on in one way, and spiritual strength in another. Some seem to imagine that they have only to arouse and stir themselves into an agony of effort. Samson arose and shook himself, and thought he would go forth and smite the Philistines, as aforetime; but, alas! the strength was not there—it had departed from him. So the Church may shake herself and advance to the conflict, but the strength is not there; the Philistines are upon her, and she wists not that the Lord has departed. This is not the way! One who is physically strong is conscious of his strength, but one who is spiritually strong is conscious of nothing but weakness. Spiritual power, in its first element, is the sense of our own weakness.
No man ever puts on spiritual strength except on his knees. It was there that the apostles found it. When Peter stood forth and preached to the multitude, that day of Pentecost was a day of power; it was the Spirit’s power; but how did the apostles put it on? Upon their knees; in those days of prayer, in the upper chamber in Jerusalem. It is upon our knees that the Church must put on its strength! Then shall our work be “mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.”—W. M. Paxton, D.D.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv17, 19Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem
Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem
Here "Jerusalem" represents the people who live there. Yahweh speaks to the people of Jerusalem as if they were there listening to him. AT: "Awake, awake, stand up, you people of Jerusalem" (See: Metonymy and Apostrophe)
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Awake, awake, stand up
"Be alert and arise." The repetition of the word "awake" emphasizes the urgency of the call to arouse the people of Israel. It is not used to wake them from literal sleep.
you who have drunk out of the hand of Yahweh ... from the cup of staggering
Yahweh speaks of having punished his people as if he had forced them to drink from a bowl that was filled with his anger. And when they drank from the bowl of his anger, they staggered as if they had drank a lot of wine. (See: Metaphor)
down to the dregs
The word "dregs" means the solid pieces at the very bottom of a container that has a liquid in it. AT: "down to the very bottom"
out of the hand of Yahweh
Here Yahweh is referred to by his hand to emphasize that he is the one who gave the bowl to his people. AT: "that he gave to you" (See: Synecdoche)
from the cup of staggering
"from the cup that caused you to stagger as if you were drunk on wine"
staggering
not walking straight, or stumbling while walking
There is no one ... to guide her; there is no one ... to take her by the hand
These two clauses have the same meaning and can be combined. This speaks of Jerusalem being helpless as if the city were a drunk woman without a son to help her walk safely. AT: "You have no one to help you! You are like a drunk old woman without a son to take her by the hand and guide her" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv17, 2051:17-23 The prophet called the people of Israel to…
51:17-23 The prophet called the people of Israel to be done with their past and to anticipate God’s future for them.
51:17 Wake up, wake up: Israel used these words in a prayer to the Lord (51:9). Israel’s problems were not the result of God’s slowness to act; rather, the people were slow to believe God’s promises. • the cup of the Lord’s fury: The Lord will appropriately measure out his judgment; those who fall under his judgment must figuratively drink from his wrath (see also Matt 26:39).
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 Thou hast been justly punished and sufficiently as Isa.…
Thou hast been justly punished and sufficiently as Isa. 40:2, and this punishment in the elect is by measure, and according as God giveth grace to bear it: but in the reprobate it is the just vengeance of God to drive them to an insensibleness and madness, as Jer. 25:15, 16.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–20 Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which…
Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, [and] wrung [them] out.
Ver. 17. Awake, awake.] Suscita te, suscita te. As the Church had stirred up the arm of the Lord to awake, {Isa 51:9} so here he doth the Church, cheering her up, and, as it were, drinking to her in a cup of nepenthe, after her bitter cup of gall and aloes, which she had drunk to drunkenness, and had none to guide her, {Isa 51:18} as a drunken man had need to have.
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That hast drunk at the hand of the Lord.] Herein happy yet, that God had a hand in the mingling of thy cup; who, being a wise and gracious physician and father, would be sure not to overdo; for "he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." {Psa 103:14}
The cup of his fury.] Or, His cup of poison; {Deu 32:24; Deu 32:33} so thou mistakest it, and therefore sputterest as if poisoned indeed. {Lam 3:19}
Thou hast drunk the dregs.] Crassamentum, that thick stuff that settleth in the bottom, and usually is reserved for the worst of wicked ones, {Psa 75:8} while the saints sip only of the top of the cup. {a} See Eze 23:1-49; Eze 34:1-31.
Of the cup of trembling.] Poeuhtm horrifieentissimum bibisti, exsuxisti, The cup of concussion or horror, as a just punishment of thy cup of slumbering and security, wherein thou hadst before caroused. {Isa 29:9-10}
{a} Illud tantrum bibunt quod est suavius et limpidius; est propemodum proverbialis locutio "bibere calicem," pro eo quod est perferre adversa. - Hyper.
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 vv17–20 Awake; either,
Awake; either,
1. Out of the sleep of security. Or,
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2. Out of the sleep of death. Heb. Rouse up thyself; come out of that forlorn and disconsolate condition in which thou hast so long been. This sense suits best with the following words. Stand up upon thy feet, O thou who hast fallen, and been thrown down to the ground.
Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; which hast been sorely afflicted; for so this metaphor is used. Psa 75:8; Jer 25:15, &c.; Jer 49:12.
The cup of trembling; which striketh him that drinketh it with a deadly horror.
Wrung them out; drunk every drop of, it. See Poole "Psa 75:8".
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 v17 God, having awoke for the comfort of his people,…
God, having awoke for the comfort of his people, here calls upon them to awake, as afterwards, Isa 52:1. It is a call to awake not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary in order to their being ready for deliverance) as out of the stupor of despair. When the inhabitants of Jerusalem were in captivity they, as well as those who remained upon the spot, were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart or spirit to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; they were as the disciples in the garden, sleeping for sorrow (Luk 22:45), and therefore, when the deliverance came, they are said to have been like those that dream, Psa 136:1. Nay, it is a call to awake, not only from sleep, but from death, like that to the dry bones to live, Eze 37:9. "Awake, and look about thee, that thou mayest see the day of thy deliverance dawn, and mayest be ready to bid it welcome. Recover thy senses; sink not under thy load, but stand up, and bestir thyself for thy own help." This may be applied to the Jerusalem that was in the apostle's time, which is said to have been in bondage with her children (Gal 4:25), and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber (Rom 11:8); they are called to awake, and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes and lulled them asleep. Now,
I. It is owned that Jerusalem had long been in a very deplorable condition, and sunk into the depths of misery.
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1. She had lain under the tokens of God's displeasure. He had put into her hand the cup of his fury, that is, her share of his displeasure. The dispensations of his providence concerning her had been such that she had reason to think he was angry with her. She had provoked him to anger most bitterly, and was made to taste the bitter fruits of it. The cup of God's fury is, and will be, a cup of trembling to all those that have it put into their hands: damned sinners will find it so to eternity. It is said (Psa 75:8) that the dregs of the cup, the loathsome sediments in the bottom of it, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them; but here Jerusalem, having made herself as the wicked of the earth, is compelled to wring them out and drink them; for wherever there has been a cup of fornication, as there had been in Jerusalem's hand when she was idolatrous, sooner or later there will be a cup of fury, a cup of trembling. Therefore stand in awe and sin not.
2. Those that should have helped her in her distress failed her, and were either unable or unwilling to help her, as might have been expected, Isa 51:18. She is intoxicated with the cup of God's fury, and, being so, staggers, and is very unsteady in her counsels and attempts. She knows not what she says or does, much less knows she what to say or do; and, in this unhappy condition, of all the sons that she has brought forth and brought up, that she was borne and educated (and there were many famous ones, for of Zion it was said that this and that man were born there, Psa 87:5), there is none to guide her, none to take her by the hand to keep her either from falling or from shaming herself, to lend either a hand to help her out of her trouble or a tongue to comfort her under it. Think it not strange if wise and good men are disappointed in their children, and have not that succour from them which they expected, but those that were arrows in their hand prove arrows in their heart, when Jerusalem herself has none of all her sons, prince, priest, nor prophet, that has such a sense either of duty or gratitude as to help her when she has most need of help. Thus they complain, Psa 74:9. There is none to tell us how long. Now that which aggravated this disappointment was, (1.) That her trouble was very great, and yet there was none to pity or help her: These two things have come unto thee (Isa 51:19), to complete thy desolation and destruction, even the famine and the sword, two sore judgments, and very terrible. Or the two things were the desolation and destruction by which the city was wasted and the famine and sword by which the citizens perished. Or the two things were the trouble itself (made up of desolation, destruction, famine, and sword) and her being helpless, forlorn, and comfortless, under it. "Two sad things indeed, to be in this woeful case, and to have none to pity thee, to sympathize with thee in thy griefs, or to help to bear the burden of thy cares, to have none to comfort thee, by suggesting that to thee which might help to alleviate thy grief or doing that for thee which might help to redress thy grievances." Or these two things that had come upon Jerusalem are the same with the two things that were afterwards to come upon Babylon (Isa 47:9), loss of children and widowhood - piteous case, and yet, "when thou hast brought it upon thyself by thy own sin and folly, who shall be sorry for thee? - a case that calls for comfort, and yet, when thou art froward under thy trouble, frettest, and makest thyself uneasy, by whom shall I comfort thee?" Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. (2.) That those who should have been her comforters were their own tormentors (Isa 51:20): They have fainted, as quite dispirited and driven to despair; they have no patience in which to keep possession of their own souls and the enjoyment of themselves, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of the comfort of that. They throw themselves upon the ground, in vexation at their troubles, and there they lie at the head of all the streets, complaining to all that pass by (Lam 1:12), pining away for want of necessary food; there they lie like a wild bull in a net, fretting and raging, struggling and pulling, to help themselves, but entangling themselves so much the more, and making their condition the worse by their own passions and discontents. Those that are of a meek and quiet spirit are, under affliction, like a dove in a net, people, as their patron and protector, who takes what is done against them a done against himself." The cause of God's people, and of that holy religion which they profess, is a righteous cause, otherwise the righteous God would not appear for it; yet it may for a time be run down, and seem as if it were lost. But God will plead it, either by convincing the consciences or confounding the mischievous projects of those that fight against it. He will plead it by clearing up the equity and excellency of it to the world and by giving success to those that act in defence of it. It is his own cause; he has espoused it, and therefore will plead it with jealousy. 3. That they should shortly take leave of their troubles and bid a final farewell to them: "I will take out of thy hand the cup of trembling, that bitter cup; it shall pass from thee." Throwing away the cup of trembling will not do, nor saying, "We will not, we cannot, drink it;" but, if we patiently submit, he that put it into out hands will himself take it out of our hands. Nay, it is promised, "Thou shalt no more drink it again. God has let fall his controversy with thee, and will not revive the judgment." 4. That their persecutors and oppressors should be made to drink of the same bitter cup of which they had drunk so deeply, Isa 51:23. See here, (1.) How insolently they had abused and trampled upon the people of God: They have said to thy soul, to thee, to thy life, Bow down, that we may go over. Nay, they have said it to thy conscience, taking a pride and pleasure in forcing thee to worship idols. Herein the New Testament Babylon treads in the steps of that old oppressor, tyrannizing over men's consciences, giving law to them, putting them upon the rack, and compelling them to sinful compliances. Those that set up an infallible head and judge, requiring an implicit faith in his dictates and obedience to his commands, do in effect say to men's souls, Bow down, that we may go over, and they say it with delight. (2.) How meanly the people of God (having by their sin lost much of their courage and sense of honour) truckled to them: Thou hast laid thy body as the ground. Observe, The oppressors required souls to be subjected to them, that every man should believe and worship just as they would have them. But all they could gain by their threats and violence was that people laid their bodies on the ground; they brought them to an external and hypocritical conformity, but conscience cannot be forced, nor is it mentioned to their praise that they yielded thus far. But observe, (3.) How justly God will reckon with those who have carried it so imperiously towards his people: The cup of trembling shall be put into their hand. Babylon's case shall be as bad as ever Jerusalem's was. Daniel's persecutors shall be thrown into Daniel's den; let them see how they like it. And the Lord is known by these judgments which he executes.
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 vv17–20 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,.... As persons out…
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,.... As persons out of a sleep, or out of a stupor, or even out of the sleep of death; for this respects a more glorious state of the church, the Jerusalem, the mother of us all, after great afflictions; and especially if it respects the more glorious state of all on earth, signified by the New Jerusalem, that will be preceded by the resurrection of the dead, called the first resurrection, when the saints will awake out of the dust of the earth, and stand upon their feet; see Dan 12:2, though the last glorious state of the church, in the spiritual reign of Christ, is also expressed by the rising of the witnesses slain, by their standing on their feet, and by their ascension to heaven, Rev 11:11, before which will be a time of great affliction to the church, as here:
which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the judgments of God, upon a nation and people, or on particular persons, to be signified by a cup, and especially on wicked men, as the effect of divine wrath, Psa 11:6. Here it signifies that judgment that begins at the house and church of God, Pe1 4:17, which looks as if it arose from the wrath and fury of an incensed God: and though it may greatly intend the wrathful persecutions of men, yet since they are by the permission and will of God, and are bounded and limited by him, they are called "his cup", and said to come from his hand; and the people of God take them, or consider them as coming by his appointment:
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thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out; alluding to excessive drinking, which brings a trembling of limbs, and sometimes paralytic disorders on men, and to the thick sediments in the bottom of the cup, which are fixed there, as the word (u) signifies, and are not easily got out, and yet every drop and every dreg are drunk up; signifying, that the whole portion of sufferings, allotted to the Lord's people, shall come upon them, even what are most disagreeable to them, and shall fill them with trembling and astonishment.
(u) "crassamentum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.
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 vv17–20 Awake - Hebrew. Rouse up thyself: come out of…
Awake - Hebrew. Rouse up thyself: come out of that forlorn condition in which thou hast so long been. Stand up - Upon thy feet, O thou who hast been thrown to the ground. Drunk - Who hast been sorely afflicted. The cup - Which strikes him that drinks it with deadly horror. And wrung - Drunk every drop of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 20 Verse 17. The cup of trembling] כוס התרעלה cos…
Verse 17. The cup of trembling] כוס התרעלה cos hattarelah, "the cup of mortal poison," veneni mortiferi. - MONTAN. This may also allude to the ancient custom of taking off criminals by a cup of poison. Socrates is well known to have been sentenced by the Areopagus to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock, which occasioned his death. See Clarke on Heb 2:9, and see also Bishop Lowth's note on Isa 51:21.
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 vv17–18 Isa 51:17. Awake, awake — God having awoke and…
Isa 51:17. Awake, awake — God having awoke and arisen for the comfort of his people, here calls on them to awake, as afterward, Isa 52:1. This is a call to awake, not so much out of the sleep of sin though that also was necessary, in order to their being ready for deliverance, as out of the stupor of despondency and despair. Hebrew, התעוררי, rouse up thyself; come out of that forlorn and disconsolate condition in which thou hast so long been. When the Jews were in captivity they were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart left to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; and therefore when the deliverance came, they are said (Psa 126:1) to be like them that dream. The address may be applied to the Jerusalem, or Jewish Church, which was in the apostles’ time, which is said to be in bondage with her children, (Gal 4:25,) and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber, Rom 11:8. They are called to awake and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes, and brought stupor insensibly upon them. Stand up — Upon thy feet, O thou who hast been thrown to the ground. Who hast drunk, &c., the cup of his fury — Who hast been sorely afflicted; the dregs of the cup of trembling — Which strikes him that drinks it with a deadly horror; and wrung them out — Drunk every drop of it.
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 vv17–20 Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isa 51:9).…
Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isa 51:9). This verse commences an address to Jerusalem under a new figure or image. The figure employed is that of a man who has been overcome by the cup of the wrath of Yahweh, that had produced the same effect as inebriation. Jerusalem had reeled and fallen prostrate. There had been none to sustain her, and she had sunk to the dust. Calamities of the most appalling kind had come upon her, and she is now called on to arouse from this condition, and to recover her former splendor and power.
Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord - The wrath of Yahweh is not unfrequently compared to a cup producing intoxication. The reason is, that it produces a similar effect. It prostrates the strength, and makes the subject of it reel, stagger, and fall. In like manner, all calamities are represented under the image of a cup that is drunk, producing a prostrating effect on the frame. Thus the Saviour says, ‘The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?’ (Joh 18:11; compare Mat 20:22-23; Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42). The effects of drinking the cup of God’s displeasure are often beautifully set forth. Thus, in Psa 75:8 :
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In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red;
It is full of a mixed liquor, and he poureth out of the same,
Verily the dregs thereof all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.
Plato, as referred to by Lowth, has an idea resembling this. ‘Suppose,’ says he, ‘God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear; so that the more anyone should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of everything present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of people, should become totally possessed by fear; and afterward, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again.’ A similar image is used by Homer (Iliad, xvi. 527ff), where he places two vessels at the threshold of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil. He gives to some a mixed potion of each; to others from the evil vessel only, and these are completely miserable:
Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood
The source of evil one, and one of good;
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,
Blessings to these; to those distributes ills.
To most he mingles both: The wretch decreed
To taste the bad unmix’d, is curs’d indeed;
Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,
He wanders, outcast by both earth and heaven:
The happiest taste not happiness sincere,
But find the cordial draught is dash’d with care.
But nowhere is this image handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah. Jerusalem is here represented as staggering under the effects of it; she reels and falls; none assist her from where she might expect aid; not one of them is able to support her. All her sons had fainted and become powerless Isa 51:20; they were lying prostrate at the head of every street, like a bull taken in a net, struggling in vain to rend it, and to extricate himself. Jehovah’s wrath had produced complete and total prostration throughout the whole city.
Thou hast drunken the dregs - Gesenius renders this, ‘The goblet cup.’ But the common view taken of the passage is, that it means that the cup had been drunk to the dregs. All the intoxicating liquor had been poured off. They had entirely exhausted the cup of the wrath of God. Similar language occurs in Rev 14:10 : ‘The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation.’ The idea of the dregs is taken from the fact that, among the ancients, various substances, as honey, dates, etc., were put into wine, in order to produce the intoxicating quality in the highest degree. The sediment of course would remain at the bottom of the cask or cup when the wine was poured off. Homer, who lived about a thousand years before Christ, and whose descriptions are always regarded as exact accounts of the customs in his time, frequently mentions potent drugs as being mixed with wines. In the ‘Odyssey’ (iv. 220), he tells us that Helen prepared for Telemachus and his companions a beverage which was highly stupefactive, and soothing to his mind. To produce these qualities, he says that she threw into the wine drugs which were:
Νηπενθες τ ̓ ἀλοχον τε κακων ἐπιληθον ἁπαντων -
Nēpenthes t' alochon te kakōn epilēthon apantōn -
Grief-assuaging, rage-allaying, and the oblivious antidote for every species of misfortune. Such mixtures were common among the Hebrews. It is possible that John Rev 14:10 refers to such a mixture of the simple juice of the grape with intoxicating drugs when he uses the expression implying a seeming contradiction, κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου kekerasmenou akratou - (mixed, unmixed wine) - rendered in our version, ‘poured out without mixture.’ The reference is rather to the pure juice of the grape mixed, or mingled with intoxicating drugs.
The cup of trembling - The cup producing trembling, or intoxication (compare Jer 25:15; Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7; Lam 4:21; Hab 2:16; Eze 23:31-33). The same figure occurs often in the Arabic poets (see Gesenius Commentary zu. Isa. in loc.)
And wrung them out - (מצית mâtsiym). This properly means, to suck out; that is, they had as it were sucked off all the liquid from the dregs.
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 vv17, 19, 20 Dregs. Take courage: Babylon’s turn is come, ver. 23.…
Dregs. Take courage: Babylon’s turn is come, ver. 23. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17–20 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, &c.-- (Isa 52:1).
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, &c.-- (Isa 52:1).
drunk--Jehovah's wrath is compared to an intoxicating draught because it confounds the sufferer under it, and makes him fall (Job 21:20; Psa 60:3; Psa 75:8; Jer 25:15-16; Jer 49:12; Zac 12:2; Rev 14:10); ("poured out without mixture"; rather, "the pure wine juice mixed with intoxicating drugs").
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of trembling--which produced trembling or intoxication.
wrung . . . out--drained the last drop out; the dregs were the sediments from various substances, as honey, dates, and drugs, put into the wine to increase the strength and sweetness.
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 vv17–18 17. Awake, awake — Earnest address to Jerusalem under…
17. Awake, awake — Earnest address to Jerusalem under a new image, that of a man reeling as an inebriate. The city now is deeply stupified from drinking of the wrath of God, a retribution due to all nations who defy and abandon Jehovah.
Stand up — Her punishment is just, but on repentance she may be restored. The vision of Zion just given is in strange contrast. She is now arrayed in robes of peace, and desires reinstatement in her old home. The cup of wrath is a common figure. Psa_75:9; Jer_25:15; Jer_25:17; Jer_25:28; Eze_23:31. The word dregs is now generally held to mean cup or bowl.
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Trembling — Rather, reeling, as through intoxication.
Wrung… out — Better, sucked out — to the last drop.
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 vv17, 19, 20 17–20. The description of Jerusalem’s degradation. The rhythm is…
17–20. The description of Jerusalem’s degradation. The rhythm is that of the qínah, and the resemblances to the book of Lamentations are so striking that Ewald has conjectured that the passage is taken from one of the elegies composed during the Exile.
Awake] Better Arouse thee (Cheyne); the verb being a reflexive as distinct from the simple “Awake” of Isa_52:1 (and Isa_51:9).
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which hast drunk … the cup of his fury] The image of the cup of the Divine wrath originated in Jeremiah’s great vision of judgement (ch. Jer_25:15 ff.), where the prophet hands the cup to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. Cf. also Jer_49:12; Hab_2:16; Eze_23:31-34; Lam_4:21; Oba_1:16; Rev_14:10.
the dregs of the cup of trembling] R.V. the bowl of the cup of staggering. “Dregs” is a mistaken Jewish rendering of a word (qubba‘ath), found only here and in Isa_51:22. It means undoubtedly a “bowl” or “chalice,” and the pleonasm “bowl of the cup” has probably arisen through the common word for cup being added as an explanatory gloss.
of trembling] of intoxication. Psa_60:3 (A.V. “wine of astonishment”).
and wrung them out] drained (cf. Eze_23:34)—an asyndetic construction in the Hebr.—“hast drunk, hast drained,” i.e. “hast drunk to the dregs.” The whole clause reads:—
Thou who hast drunk from Jehovah’s hand—the cup of His wrath, The chalice of intoxication—hast thou drunk to the dregs.
Ch. Isa_51:17 to Isa_52:12. The Lord will turn the Captivity of Zion
The three oracles into which this passage naturally falls are these:—(1) Isa_51:17-23. The prophet, returning to the thought with which the book opens (ch. Isa_40:2), announces that the period of Jerusalem’s degradation has expired. The city is figured as a woman lying prostrate and senseless, intoxicated with the cup of the Lord’s indignation which she has drunk to the dregs, her sons unable to help her (17–20). But the cup is now taken from her and passed to the enemies who had oppressed and insulted her (21–23).
(2) Isa_52:1-6. In a new apostrophe, the image is carried on; let Zion lay aside her soiled raiment, and the emblems of her slavery, and put on her holiday attire (1, 2). Jehovah will no longer endure that His name should be blasphemed through the banishment of His people (3–6).
(3) Isa_51:7-12. A description of the triumphal return of Jehovah to Zion, obviously based on the last section of the Prologue (ch. Isa_40:9-11). The writer pictures the scene of joy within the city when the heralds of the King arrive (7, 8); he calls on the waste places of Jerusalem to break forth into singing (9, 10); and finally, turning to the exiles (as in Isa_48:20 f.) he summons them to hasten their escape from the land of their captivity (11, 12).
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 vv17, 19, 20 (17) Awake . . .—The words present a strange…
(17) Awake . . .—The words present a strange parallelism to Isa_51:9. There they were addressed to the arm of Jehovah, and were the prelude of a glorious promise. Here they are spoken to Jerusalem as a drunken and desperate castaway, and introduce a painfully vivid picture of her desolation. They seem, indeed, prefixed to that picture to make it bearable. They are a call to Zion to wake out of that drunken sleep, and therefore show that her ruin is not irretrievable.
The dregs of the cup.—Literally, the goblet cup, but with the sense, as in the Authorised version, of the cup being drained.
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 vv17–20 Vers. 17-23. AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO JERUSALEM.…
Vers. 17-23. AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO JERUSALEM. The comfort afforded to Israel generally is now concentrated on Jerusalem. Her condition during the long period of the Captivity is deplored, and her want of a champion to assert her cause and raise her out of the dust is lamented (vers. 17-20). After this, an assurance is given her that the miseries which she has suffered shall pass from her to her great enemy, by whom the dregs.of the "cup of trembling" shall be drained, and the last drop wrung out (vers. 21-23).
Awake, awake. (comp. ver. 9 and Isa_52:1) Isaiah marks the breaks in his prophecy, sometimes by a repetition of terminal clauses, which have the effect of a refrain; (Isa_5:25 Isa_9:12, Isa_9:17, 21 10:4; and Isa_48:22 Isa_57:21) sometimes by a repetition of initial clauses of a striking character. (Isa_5:8, Isa_5:11, 20 13:1 15:1 17:1 19:1 21:1, 11 22:1 23:1 28:1 29:1 30:1 31:1 33:1 48:1, 12, 16 1:4, 7, 9, etc.) Here we have thrice over "Awake, awake not, however, an exact repetition in the Hebrew, but a near approach to it each summons forming the commencement of a new paragraph or subsection. Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. The cup of God"s fury was poured out on Jerusalem when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles burnt, (2Ki_25:9) the walls broken down, (2Ki_25:10) and the bulk of the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon. (2Ki_25:11; comp. 2Ch_34:25 Jer_42:18 Jer_44:6 Eze_22:31, etc.) "The cup of God"s fury" is an expression used by Jeremiah. (Jer_25:15) The dregs of the cup; rather, perhaps, the goblet-cup (Cheyne), or the out-swollen cup. It is the fulness of the measure of Jerusalem"s punishment, not its character, which is pointed at.
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Vers. 17-23. Encouragement for Jerusalem.
The prophet, or chorus of prophets, is supposed to salute the holy city with a cheering cry.
I PICTURES OF DISTRESS. The draught from the cup of Divine wrath. "The cup of his fury goblet-cup of reeling." These are figures for the horror and bewilder-meat caused by a (great catastrophe. It is "to drink the wine of astonishment". (Psa_60:3 Eze_23:2) Then there is utter helplessness. No guide for Jerusalem to be found in all her sons; no strong and helping hand to grasp hers in the hour of her dire need. Desolation, death, famine, and sword the latter without, the former within (Eze_7:15) such is the state of the city. The afflicted mother and her sons. It is a picture resembling that of Niobe and her doomed offspring. The sons of this mother-city swoon, and lie at the corners of the streets. "Israel the mountain people is likened to a gazelle, which all its swiftness and grace have not saved from the hunter"s snare." All these things are signs of "the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of God.
II UNEXPECTED ENCOURAGEMENT. "The transition from threatening to promise is marked by "therefore". (Isa_10:24 Isa_27:9 Isa_30:18) The Lord Jehovah, the God who is the Advocate of his people, speaks. This cup, which makes men reel with the madness of bewilderment, shall be taken from them, and put into the hands of their tormentors the proud conquerors who had placed their feet upon their necks. (c.f. Jos_10:24 Psa_129:3) Such sudden transitions remind us of the fact of providence, and of the coincidence of human extremity with Divine opportunity. God will not leave himself at any age without a witness in the world which shall see that the hand of Divine power is not shortened, nor the bowels of Divine goodness straitened; but that God is as able and ready to save his Church as ever. "The difficulty of affairs has baffled and laughed at all resistances of created power, and so made the omnipotent Author of the deliverance visible and conspicuous. J.
Vers. 17-23. Spiritual stupefaction.
The passage presents one of the most pitiable of all possible spectacles a nation reduced to utter helplessness and prostration, lying like one that is brought down by intoxication to a motionless stupidity. We learn from this picture, and from the opening summons and concluding promise
I THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT AS WELL AS THE HUMAN BODY IS SUBJECT TO STUPEFACTION. It is a striking and suggestive fact that the very thing which at first excites will ultimately stupefy. This is notoriously the case with intoxicants; these first stimulate, then dull and deaden the system. It is also true, though in a less degree, of those things which are called narcotics: both opium and tobacco at first awaken and enlarge faculty; but this condition soon passes away, and is succeeded by one of depression, inactivity, and (in the case of the more noxious drug) stupor and insensibility. So is it with things which act hurtfully upon the soul. At first they excite, then they blunt and deaden. This applies to:
1. Continuous enjoyment of any kind.
2. Excessive responsibilities, demanding exertion beyond the power tomaintain them.
3. Heavy and repeated trials. It was from this last that Israel was suffering.The nation had been required to drink of the cup of Divine retribution, and, owing to her persistency in evil, had been compelled to drain that cup. Beside the two evils specified (ver. 19), desolation or famine and the violence of the enemy, was the sense of her utter friendlessness (ver. 18); and in addition to this was her abject humiliation (ver. 23). These calamities would account for her pitiable despondency, her attitude of despair. The sore and accumulated trials which sometimes befall individual men may not justify, but they explain, the complete brokenness and despondency of their spirit. They give themselves up as those abandoned to an evil course and a fatal doom; they are in a state of spiritual stupefaction.
II THAT THE STRONGEST AND SHARPEST SUMMONS TO AROUSE IS THE FRIENDLIEST VOICE WE CAN THEN HEAR. "Awake, awake, stand up." These are the words of the God of Israel. And from whomsoever or from whatsoever shall come the summons to arouse ourselves from a guilty and perilous spiritual torpor, however harsh be the tone, however startling be the terms of the awakening, that voice is of the friendliest, and may be taken to be none other than the voice of God.
III THAT FOR THE NATION OR THE SPIRIT THAT HEARKENS AND ARISES THERE MAY BE COMPLETE RECOVERY. (Vers. 22, 23.) Jehovah would turn humiliation into triumph for his people, arrogance into disaster for her enemies. As complete a reversal, though of an entirely different kind, will God grant to those who arouse themselves from spiritual torpor and walk in his ways: for them shall be peace instead of insensibility: holy usefulness instead of disgraceful helplessness; sacred joy instead of a miserable despair. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem
Isa_51:17
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem
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Brighter time for exiled Israel:
Jerusalem is pictured as a woman, prostrate through misfortune, lying helplessly as though drunken, on the roadside, her sons unable to guide or assist her: but she is to stand up; the past is now solemnly reversed.
; and the cup of reeling which she has drunk is to be given to them that afflicted her (Isa_51:17-23). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
A call to abandon despair
It is a call to awake, not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary, in order to their being ready for deliverance), as out of the stupor of despair. (M. Henry.)
The cup of trembling.
The cup of trembling
Such a cup is sooner or later placed in all our hands. Some may ask us, indeed, if Christianity is not a religion of joy? Yes! But it is not a religion of hilarity. The Christian life is the reproduction of the Masters image in the world! And as He was the Man of Sorrows, so beneath all there will be tribulation in our hearts, even when we share the legacy of the Masters joy! The cup must be taken. The red wine is poured out by the good hand, and the child with bowed knee and bruised heart says, Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight. Good in the sight which sees the end from the beginning, which culminates in the ultimate issues of glory and reward.
I. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESENT LIFE CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We are in a world of instability and uncertainty. Tremendous possibilities are involved in our daily lives. Health is so soon undermined. Disaster so suddenly comes. This life needs indeed a Brother and a Saviour. There must be with the Christian an element of sobriety in all human joys.
II. THE ALL-SURROUNDING PRESENCE OF TEMPTATION CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Vain self-confidence is contemptible.
III. THE LAW OF DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING.
1. Illness comes, and we are dependent on the wisdom of the physician and the watchfulness of the nurse; great risk comes, and we are dependent on the command of the captain and the sobriety of the crew; or we need the safety of the wisest jurisprudence, and we are dependent on the carefulness of the lawyer and the skill of the counsel.
2. Or we have to take care of others. Wives and children who may presently be alone in the world--alone where there is such eager competition and self-concern, such neglect of the weakest and the neediest; and we must leave our simple savings to directors or to others who may mismanage our affairs, or to trustees who may be false to their trust. And who shall say that this is not to many anxious parents a cup of trembling!
3. Then we are citizens--men who have vast interest in all that appertains to the life and honour of the fatherland; and all these, representatively, we have to leave in the hands of men, who may through pride or ambition risk the nation s highest weal.
4. Then we are living souls, dependent on the great law of moral influence around us to a much greater extent than we think. And we cannot altogether escape from the contagion of the fashion of this present world.
IV. THE NEAR APPROACH OF THE GREAT ACCOUNT CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Have you ever thought how nearness affects you? Disease in a near city--in your city--m your street--next door to your house!
Have you ever thought how even the judgment of earth, as it comes nearer and nearer, affects the indifference of the criminal? But I am supposing that we are Christians. We have an account to render of lifes stewardship. Into each of our hands God has placed the cup of personality, responsibility and accountability; and now, after a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. This is no mere figure of speech.
V. THE SEASON OF SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We can in no sense ever feel this as Christ our Lord and Master did. But though in this He stands alone, His whole earthly history was a spectacle of submission. Every man must bear his own burden, must drink his own cup. But Christs comfort is ours! With trembling heart we seek the quiet pavilion of our Father. Better anything than a God-emptied life. Christ our Brother and Saviour alone can succour us in hours of submission. (W. M. Statham.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv17, 20 Isa_51:17; Isa_51:20; Isa_51:22. The fury of the Lord, &c.…
JEHOVAH’S ANGER
Isa_51:17; Isa_51:20; Isa_51:22. The fury of the Lord, &c. [1587]
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[1587] See vol. i. pp. 284–286, and H. E. I. 2288–2294. God’s anger must, of course, be understood in a manner in accordance with the Divine nature; and we are not to suppose that precisely the same passions or the same feelings are referred to when this language is used of God which is implied when it is used of men. It means that His nature, His laws, His government, His feelings, are all arrayed against the wicked; that He cannot regard the conduct of the wicked with favour; that He will punish them. He is angry with the wicked continually, constantly, always. It is not excitement, it is not a temporary passion, such as we see in men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be succeeded by a different feeling when the passion passes off. It is the steady and uniform attribute of His unchanging nature to be always opposed to the wicked,—to all forms of sin; and in Him, in this respect, there will be no change. The wicked will find Him no more favourable to their character and course of life to-morrow than He is to-day; no more beyond the grave than this side of the tomb.… This is a fearful truth in regard to the sinner, and should make him tremble:—(1.) that God is angry with him—that all His character, and all the principles of His government and law, are and must be arrayed against him; and (2.), that in this respect there is to be no change; that if he continues to be wicked, as he is now, he will every day and always—this side the grave and beyond—find all the attributes of God engaged against him, and pledged to punish him. God has no attribute that can take part with sin or the sinner.—A. Barnes, D.D.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the higher the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose. If God should only withdraw His hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.—Jonathan Edwards.
I. It is real. There is such a thing as anger in God. Many are the expressions used concerning it—jealousy, vengeance, fury, wrath; all to indicate its existence, and to show us that the human theories of Divine universal benevolence are not true, being got up for a purpose, and that purpose to persuade the sinner’s own conscience that he need not be alarmed because of his guilt; and that no one need dread the infliction of punishment, except perhaps a few of the most wicked of our race. But God’s words are not exaggerations, nor words of course. There is a terrible truth contained in these oft-repeated words of Scripture, “His anger was kindled.” Loving and gracious as Jehovah is, His anger is real. When Jesus comes the second time, He comes to “take vengeance.”
II. It is righteous. It is not the rage of selfishness, or passion, or affront. It is judicial anger; the anger of the righteous judge. It is anger against sin, against the sinner, anger because of insulted law and dishonoured righteousness. Nothing in it is unjust, or cruel, or arbitrary. Then the condemned soul will be compelled hereafter to say, “It is all right and just,” it shall be right and just to all eternity.”
III. It is terrible. Though calm, it is unutterably awful; nay, overwhelming. No power and no numbers shall be able to stand before it. It shall sweep everything before it like a whirlwind. The expulsion from paradise, the Deluge, the ruin of Sodom, are specimens of its terribleness. The lost soul shall be utterly overwhelmed. (β)
IV. It is inexorable. Nothing but genuine repentance shall turn it aside, or soften it when once it is kindled. “The vengeance of eternal fire,” the “everlasting burning,” the “worm that dieth not,” these are awful words, and however figurative they may be, they represent terrible realities (H. E. I. 2804).—Horatius Bonar, D.D.: Light and Truth, Old Testament, p. 345.
THE MEMORIAL NAME
Isa_51:22. Thy LORD the LORD, and thy God.
The history, which includes the textual statement. Consider—
1. The character which God here claims for Himself.
1. Independent and self-existent in Being, and therefore—Infinite—fills all space; everlasting—fills all time; the source of all being.
2. Unlimited in perfection. All perfections. Infinite in each.
3. Unlimited in sovereignty. He does according to His will. His will the highest reason. None can counsel Him.
4. Unlimited in the extent of His government. None are exempted from it.
5. Himself the end of all things. Everything originates with Him. Everything terminates in Him.
II. The limitations which men put upon the claim which is thus made by God. They put limits upon,
1. His being. The having and worshipping false gods. That is not God which is not self-existent; and two self-existent Gods cannot be conceived.
2. His perfections. The conceptions which men form and express. The preference which man gives to the creature. The silence of man in His praise. The little imitation there is of Him. The manner in which men expect to recommend themselves to His favour. The manner in which His servants are treated.
3. On His absolute sovereignty. Confining our attention to systems of doctrine called Christian, men question God’s absolute sovereignty, in the election, calling, justification, and perseverance of His people.
4. On the extent of His government. Some exclude Him from creation, providence, in prayer, conversation, conduct, civil authority, the government of the Church, and conscience.
5. As the end of all things. Men make themselves the end.
CONCLUSION.—He is not, and cannot be limited. In acting, He disregards the limits of men. He punishes the pride and insolence of man for limiting Him. He calls the notice of His people to the vindication of His glory.—James Stewart: Outlines of Discourses, pp. 2–4.
THE STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE CHURCH
(Preached before a Presbyterian General Assembly.)
Isa_52:1. Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.
This language is a direct address from God to His ancient Church. The image which it presents is that of a sleeping giant. The Church of God had been a giant power in the world; but at the time in which God speaks it had relapsed into slumber—had put off its strength, and, being beset with enemies, this position of torpor and inaction was one of peril. Hence this arousing note of alarm, “Awake, awake!” The slumbering giant is not only summoned to arouse to consciousness, but to put on and put forth his strength for conflict and for victory.
The text is a forcible reminder of the mysterious and discouraging fact that the Church of God, in all ages, may have its times of weakness, as well as its times of power. When the Church first went forth from Jerusalem, a little flock, scattered hither and thither by the storm of persecution, it was a time of power. It was then but an infant of days, but it “lifted empires off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel.”—(Richter.)
But a time of weakness followed this era of power—the dark night of the middle ages. Again there came a time of power when, on the morning of the Reformation, the Church heard the cry, “Awake, awake!” and, springing up with renewed youth, it put on its strength. The chill of formalism followed the track of the Reformation, and the Church sank into the coma of wide-spread paralysis; a disguised Romanism riveted her fetters; the Socinian apostasy spread its blight over Great Britain. But then came times of power, when the Church arose in quickened majesty; and still again, times of wondrous spiritual revival, when the call sounded by Wesley and Whitefield, like the voice of the prophet in the valley of vision, seemed to awake the dead.
I. Why these periods of weakness? If the Church is a giant begirt with power, and that power is divine; if it is commissioned to exercise the evil spirit from the world, and goes forth with the promise of help and victory, then why these times of weakness? Answer:—The power of the Church is divine, but it is also human. What man can do, he must do. To roll away the stone from the grave of Lazarus was something that man could do; hence our Lord commanded human hands to do it. This act of human strength must antecede the word of power which raises the dead. Divine power and human strength must work together, each in its appropriate sphere. Divine efficiency does not supersede human agency, but only supplements its weakness. If man’s part in the work or warfare of the Church is properly executed, God’s part will never fail. But, as the terror of the iron chariots of the enemy paralysed the strength of Judah—so that, the human part being wanting, the victory was lost (Jdg_1:19)—so, in the Church, if any cause supervenes to weaken, or render ineffective, the strength which God expects us to put forth, He will not depart from His plan, or interpose to save us from the result of our own weakness, or to hide us from the scorn and derision of the world.
II. What is the strength of the Church, and when is it put off?
1. The first element of power is the Gospel. This is the one element for our work, the one weapon for our warfare—it is the power of God. The astronomer looks at the heavens. These stars are to be counted; these constellations are to be mapped; the orbits of these planets are to be observed. Here is a vast and complicated work; but how is it to be done? By the telescope. He has this, and nothing else. All the great results of astronomy must spring, first of all, from this single instrument. Just so the Church looks out upon its work. It is commissioned to bring this world in captivity to the obedience of Christ. A mighty and multiform work; how is it to be achieved? By the Gospel. God has given us this, and nothing else, to save the world. It is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” “It pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” Moses was commanded to smite the rock at Horeb, and bring from its bosom streams of water. How? He was given but one instrument—the slender rod that he held in his hand. To human view the rock would be more likely to break the rod than the rod to rend the rock; but that fragile rod was God’s ordained instrument of power; and, when it smote, the riven rock gushed with the living waters. Just so, the Word of God is the rod of power. We are commanded to smite with it alone, for by nothing else can the stony heart be broken. For every work which the Church is sent to do, this is the instrument of power.
This being so, we can readily see from this standpoint how this strength may be put off, and power give place to weakness. To neglect, to withhold, to minimise, to obscure in any manner the truth of God, is to put off this element of power, and to bring in a time of weakness.
This may occur
(1.) When the truth is depreciated, or its necessity not clearly recognised. Thus, for example, some say, “Preach morality; let us hear more about the duties of life, and less about the doctrines of the Cross.” Morality, without principle, is a sham; it is tinselled fruit tied upon a Christmas-tree—the only connection is the tape that ties it. Morality is the fruit of principle, but principle is doctrine—and the only doctrine that bears this fruit is the doctrine of the Cross.
(2.) Whenever the Gospel is subordinated to human themes. If the Church dispenses essays upon history, antiquities, philosophy, politics, science, or reflects the light of the secular press, &c., it will be no marvel if it sinks into imbecility.
(3.) Our strength is crippled when the Gospel is caricatured by sensational themes, discussions, illustrations and expedients, which attract attention, indeed, but which belittle the sacred doctrine of the Cross.
But whilst causes like these paralyse our power, there are others which produce simply an abatement of strength. For example, the Church can only put forth half its strength when the Gospel is but half told. If it sets out in full light the Divine love, whilst it keeps back Divine justice under the shadow of a dark eclipse; if it tells of Christ’s teachings, and is silent about Christ’s sacrifice; if it points to Christ’s life, and not to Christ’s blood, as the centre of saving efficiency; if it sets out the freedom of man, and holds in abeyance Divine sovereignty and efficacious grace; or if it minimises the Gospel in the one sentence, “Come to Jesus;” or if it lays Christ as a humble suppliant at the feet of men until proud sinners imagine that it is a stoop of condescension to permit Jesus to save them—then, surely, it is no marvel that men turn away from a belittled Gospel and a belittled Saviour, and that the Church sits in weakness.
2. The second element is the ministry. Let us not lose sight of the figure of the text. The Church is a giant; the Gospel is the instrument of his work—the weapon of his warfare. But what wields the weapon? The giant’s arm—this is the ministry. It is the arm or the agent of the Church’s power. The symbol of the Gospel is a hammer, a word; but a hammer is powerless without a strong hand to use it; the sword is ineffective without a skilful arm to wield it. This arm, this sword, this agent of strength and skill, is the ministry.
This figure seems to describe accurately the kind of power with which the ministry is invested. It is not an original power inherent in itself, but a delegated power. It is the power of an agent, and it has an instrument of power put into its hands. It is not a power to infuse grace, or to forgive sins, or to bind the conscience, but simply an administrative power. It is a power of vocation to utter the Gospel call, to summon God’s sons from afar, and His daughters from the ends of the earth. A teaching power—go teach all nations; preach the Gospel to every creature. A dispensing power to break the Bread of Life, and to distribute, with a liberal hand, to all God’s children, giving to each a portion in due season. A power to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
We may readily see when this strength is put on, and when it is put off. Whatever cripples or weakens or interferes with the right use and proper functions of a giant’s arm, weakens and abates the effectiveness of the giant himself; so whatever weakens the ministry, or hinders its effectiveness, puts off to that extent the strength of the Church, and introduces a time of weakness and defeat.
(1.) The ministry, as an arm of power, may be withered by a perfunctory education. Ministers may be taught to know about God, but not to know God. They may learn to explain and defend the Gospel, without having ever felt that a single Gospel truth has been riveted as a living, burning power in their own souls. A minister who knows what it is to be a saved sinner, can tell of it with such power as to make others feel that there is nothing between them and eternal death but the blood of Jesus. But, without this experience, the minister will be a perfunctory drone, stepping in a treadmill, or doing out his lifeless essay whilst sinners are slipping through his fingers into perdition.
(2.) The ministry must be a source of weakness instead of power to the Church, if it is not in sympathy with the hearts of the people, and the souls of perishing men. He who was once lost but is found again, will know how to feel for the lost, and the lost will listen to him who once was lost himself. This is the natural power of the minister, the link of sympathy that binds him to the hearts of the people and the souls of men. If this be lost the ministry is powerless.
3. The third and principal element of the Church’s power is the Holy Ghost. The implement of the Church’s work is the Word; the arm of the Church’s power is the ministry; but the power itself is the Holy Ghost. As He causeth the earth to bring forth and bud by showers from heaven, so He causes His Church to abound in the fruits of righteousness by times of refreshing from on high. A revival is a day of the Spirit’s power, when the enemy is repulsed; when sinners are made willing; when doubt and unbelief are dissipated. If such a day of power were granted to us now, you would see rationalism, scepticism, and infidelity driven like smoke before the wind.
III. Such being the elements of the Church’s power, and the causes which convert its strength into weakness, let us now listen to God’s call to the Church to put on and put forth her strength. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion!” An army puts on its strength when it goes forth to battle, but this is strength to destroy. A fireman puts on his strength when he enters a burning dwelling, and plucks its sleeping inmates from the flames. This is strength to save. Oh, it is a glorious thing to put on strength to save! How, then, shall we put on this strength?
Physical strength is put on in one way, and spiritual strength in another. Some seem to imagine that they have only to arouse and stir themselves into an agony of effort. Samson arose and shook himself, and thought he would go forth and smite the Philistines, as aforetime; but, alas! the strength was not there—it had departed from him. So the Church may shake herself and advance to the conflict, but the strength is not there; the Philistines are upon her, and she wists not that the Lord has departed. This is not the way! One who is physically strong is conscious of his strength, but one who is spiritually strong is conscious of nothing but weakness. Spiritual power, in its first element, is the sense of our own weakness.
No man ever puts on spiritual strength except on his knees. It was there that the apostles found it. When Peter stood forth and preached to the multitude, that day of Pentecost was a day of power; it was the Spirit’s power; but how did the apostles put it on? Upon their knees; in those days of prayer, in the upper chamber in Jerusalem. It is upon our knees that the Church must put on its strength! Then shall our work be “mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.”—W. M. Paxton, D.D.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 19 Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem
Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem
Here "Jerusalem" represents the people who live there. Yahweh speaks to the people of Jerusalem as if they were there listening to him. AT: "Awake, awake, stand up, you people of Jerusalem" (See: Metonymy and Apostrophe)
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Awake, awake, stand up
"Be alert and arise." The repetition of the word "awake" emphasizes the urgency of the call to arouse the people of Israel. It is not used to wake them from literal sleep.
you who have drunk out of the hand of Yahweh ... from the cup of staggering
Yahweh speaks of having punished his people as if he had forced them to drink from a bowl that was filled with his anger. And when they drank from the bowl of his anger, they staggered as if they had drank a lot of wine. (See: Metaphor)
down to the dregs
The word "dregs" means the solid pieces at the very bottom of a container that has a liquid in it. AT: "down to the very bottom"
out of the hand of Yahweh
Here Yahweh is referred to by his hand to emphasize that he is the one who gave the bowl to his people. AT: "that he gave to you" (See: Synecdoche)
from the cup of staggering
"from the cup that caused you to stagger as if you were drunk on wine"
staggering
not walking straight, or stumbling while walking
There is no one ... to guide her; there is no one ... to take her by the hand
These two clauses have the same meaning and can be combined. This speaks of Jerusalem being helpless as if the city were a drunk woman without a son to help her walk safely. AT: "You have no one to help you! You are like a drunk old woman without a son to take her by the hand and guide her" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
translationWords
Jerusalem
anger
son
raise
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 vv17, 20 51:17-23 The prophet called the people of Israel to…
51:17-23 The prophet called the people of Israel to be done with their past and to anticipate God’s future for them.
51:17 Wake up, wake up: Israel used these words in a prayer to the Lord (51:9). Israel’s problems were not the result of God’s slowness to act; rather, the people were slow to believe God’s promises. • the cup of the Lord’s fury: The Lord will appropriately measure out his judgment; those who fall under his judgment must figuratively drink from his wrath (see also Matt 26:39).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.