8The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls on Israel.
9All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,
10“The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”
11Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,
12The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls on Israel.
9 All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,
10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,
12 The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
KJVKing James Version
8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
8 (9-7) The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
9 (9-8) And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in pride and in arrogancy of heart:
10 (9-9) 'The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but cedars will we put in their place.'
11 (9-10) Therefore the LORD doth set upon high the adversaries of Rezin against him, and spur his enemies;
12 (9-11) The Arameans on the east, and the Philistines on the west; and they devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
Malachi 1:4(v10)Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;” Yahweh of Armies says, “They shall build, but I…
2 Chronicles 28:18(v12)The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco…
Isaiah 5:25(v12)Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them. The mountains…
2 Kings 16:6(v12)At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived there,…
Psalms 79:7(v12)for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.
Show all 42 cross-references
Isaiah 46:12(v9)Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness!
Isaiah 9:17(v12)Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is…
Isaiah 9:21(v12)Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand…
Isaiah 10:4(v12)They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is…
Jeremiah 10:25(v12)Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob.…
Isaiah 10:9-11(vv9, 11)Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose…
Deuteronomy 31:17(v12)Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be…
1 Kings 10:27(v10)The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
1 Kings 22:25(v9)Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”
2 Kings 15:29(v11)In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead,…
2 Kings 16:9(v11)The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir,…
Job 21:19-20(v9)You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it. Let his own eyes see his…
Psalms 129:3-6(v12)The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long. Yahweh is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. Let them be…
Proverbs 16:18(v9)Pride goes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.
Isaiah 7:7-8(v8)This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.” For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of…
Isaiah 7:8(v11)For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it…
Isaiah 7:8-9(v9)For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it…
Isaiah 8:4-7(v11)For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried…
Isaiah 8:4-8(v8)For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried…
Isaiah 17:1-5(v11)The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken.…
Isaiah 26:11(v9)Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume…
Isaiah 48:4(v9)Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;
Jeremiah 4:8(v12)For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.
Jeremiah 32:24(v9)“Behold, siege ramps have come to the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of…
Jeremiah 35:11(v12)But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come! Let’s go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans,…
Jeremiah 44:28-29(v9)Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have…
Ezekiel 7:9(v9)My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will…
Ezekiel 7:27(v9)The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to…
Ezekiel 30:19(v9)Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”
Ezekiel 33:33(v9)“When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Micah 1:1-9(v8)Yahweh’s word that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria…
Zechariah 1:6(v8)But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said,…
Zechariah 5:1-4(v8)Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll;…
Malachi 4:1(v9)“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes…
1 Peter 5:5(v9)Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
1 Kings 7:9-12(v10)All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to…
Malachi 3:13(v9)“Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
42 distinct cross-references across this passage (43 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv8, 10, 11This is another prophecy against them of Samaria, which…
This is another prophecy against them of Samaria, which were mockers and contemners of God’s promises and menaces.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv8–12Isa 9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob,…
Isa 9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Ver. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob.] He sent it as a shaft out of a bow, that will be sure to hit. God loves to forewarn; but woe be to those that will not be warned. The Septuagint render it, The Lord sent a plague, or death, into Jacob; and indeed after the white horse followeth the red and the black. {Rev 6:2; Rev 6:4-5} Like as Tamerlane, that warlike Scythian, displayed first a white flag in token of mercy; and then a red, menacing and threatening blood; and then, lastly, a black flag, the messenger and ensign of death, was hung abroad.
Read full note →
And it hath lighted upon Israel.] (1.) They were not ignorant of such a word; {Isa 9:9} (2.) They could neither avert nor avoid his wrath.
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 vv8–12Sent a word; a prophetical and threatening message by…
Sent a word; a prophetical and threatening message by me; for now the prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for the support of God’s faithful people, returns to his former work of commination against the rebellious Israelites.
It lighted, Heb. it fell, i.e. it shall fall, in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished.
Read full note →
Israel; the same with Jacob in the former clause, the posterity of Jacob or Israel.
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 v8Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed primarily against…
Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed primarily against Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, Ephraim and Samaria, the ruin of which is here foretold, with all the woeful confusions that were the prefaces to that ruin, all which came to pass within a few years after; but they look further, to all the enemies of the throne and kingdom of Christ the Son of David, and read the doom of all the nations that forget God, and will not have Christ to reign over them. Observe,
I. The preface to this prediction (Isa 9:8): The Lord sent a word into Jacob, sent it by his servants the prophets. He warns before he wounds. He sent notice what he would do, that they might meet him in the way of his judgments; but they would not take the hint, took no care to turn away his wrath, and so it lighted upon Israel; for no word of God shall fall to the ground. It fell upon them as a storm of rain and hail from on high, which they could not avoid: It has lighted upon them, that is, it is as sure to come as if come already, and all the people shall know by feeling it what they would not know by hearing of it. Those that are willingly ignorant of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against sin and sinners shall be made to know it.
Read full note →
II. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, which provoked God to bring these judgments upon them. 1. Their insolent defiance of the justice of God, thinking themselves a match for him: "They say, in the pride and stoutness of their heart, Let God himself do his worst; we will hold our own, and make our part good with him. If he ruin our houses, we will repair them, and make them stronger and finer than they were before. our landlord shall not turn us out of doors, though we pay him no rent, but we will keep in possession. If the houses that were built of bricks be demolished in the war, we will rebuild them with hewn stones, that shall not so easily be thrown down. If the enemy cut down the sycamores, we will plant cedars in the room of them. we will make a hand of God's judgments, gain by them, and so outbrave them." Note, Those are ripening apace for ruin whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences; for God will walk contrary to those who thus walk contrary to him and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were stronger than he. 2. Their incorrigibleness under all the rebukes of Providence hitherto (Isa 9:13); The people turn not unto him that smiteth them (they are not wrought upon to reform their lives, to forsake their sins, and to return to their duty), neither do they seek the Lord of hosts; either they are atheists, and have no religion, or idolaters, and seek to those gods that are the creatures of their own fancy and the works of their own hands. Note, That which God designs, in smiting us, is to turn us to himself and to set us a seeking him; and, if this point be not gained by less judgments, greater may be expected. God smites that he may not kill. 3. Their general corruption of manners and abounding profaneness. (1.) Those that should have reformed them helped to debauch them (Isa 9:16): The leaders of this people mislead them, and cause them to err, by conniving at their wickedness and countenancing wicked people, and by setting them bad examples; and then no wonder if those that are led of them be deceived and so destroyed. But it is ill with a people when their physicians are their worst disease. "Those that bless this people, or call them blessed (so the margin reads it), that flatter them, and soothe them in their wickedness, and cry Peace, peace, to them, cause them to err; and those that are called blessed of them are swallowed up ere they are aware." We have reason to be afraid of those that speak well of us when we do ill; see Pro 24:24; Pro 29:5. (2.) Wickedness was universal, and all were infected with it (Isa 9:17): Every one is a hypocrite and an evil doer. If there be any that are good, they do not, they dare not appear, for every mouth speaks folly and villany; every one is profane towards God (so the word properly signifies) and an evil doer towards man. These two commonly go together: those that fear not God regard not man; and then every mouth speaks folly, falsehood, and reproach, both against God and man; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
III. The judgments threatened against them for this wickedness of theirs; let them not think to go unpunished.
1. In general, hereby they exposed themselves to the wrath of God, which should both devour as fire and darken as smoke. (1.) It should devour as fire (Isa 9:18): Wickedness shall burn as the fire; the displeasure of God, incurred by sin, shall consume the sinners, who have made themselves as briers and thorns before it, and as the thickets of the forest, combustible matter, which the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the mighty God, will go through and burn together. (2.) It should darken as smoke. The briers and thorns, when the fire consumes them, shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke, so that the whole land shall be darkened by it; they shall be in trouble, and see no way out (Isa 9:19): The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. God's wrath fastens upon none but those that make themselves fuel for it, and then they mount up as the smoke of sacrifices, being made victims to divine justice.
2. God would arm the neighbouring powers against them, Isa 9:11, Isa 9:12. At this time the kingdom of Israel was in league with that of Syria against Judah; but the Assyrians, who were adversaries to the Syrians, when they had conquered them should invade Israel, and God would stir them up to do it, and join the enemies of Israel together in alliance against them, who yet had particular ends of their own to serve and were not aware of God's hand in their alliance. Note, When enemies are set up, and joined in confederacy against a people, God's hand must be acknowledged in it. Note further, Those that partake with each other in sin, as Syria and Israel in invading Judah, must expect to share in the punishment of sin. Nay, the Syrians themselves, whom they were now in league with, should be a scourge to them (for it is no unusual thing for those to fall out that have been united in sin), one attacking them in the front and the other flanking them or falling upon their rear; so that they should be surrounded with enemies on all sides, who should devour them with open mouth, Isa 9:12. The Philistines were not now looked upon as formidable enemies, and the Syrians were looked upon as firm friends; and yet these shall devour Israel. When men's ways displease the Lord he makes even their friends to be at war with them.
3. God would take from the midst of them those they confided in and promised themselves help from, Isa 9:14, Isa 9:15. Because the people seek not God, those they seek to and depend upon shall stand them in no stead. The Lord will cut off head and tail, branch and rush, which is explained in the next verse. (1.) Their magistrates, who were honourable by birth and office and were the ancients of the people, these were the head, these were the branch which they promised themselves spirit and fruit from; but because these caused them to err they should be cut off, and their dignity and power should be no protection to them when the abuse of that dignity and power was the great provocation: and it was a judgment upon the people to have their princes cut off, though they were not such as they should have been. (2.) Their prophets, their false prophets, were the tail and the rush, the most despicable of all. A wicked minister is the worst of all. A wicked minister is the worst of men. Corruptio optimi est pessima - The best things become when corrupted the worst. The blind led the blind, and so both fell into the ditch; and the blind leaders fell first and fell undermost.
4. That the desolation should be as general as the corruption had been, and none should escape it, Isa 9:17. (1.) Not those that were the objects of complacency. None shall be spared for love: The Lord shall have no joy in their young men, that were in the flower of their youth; nor will he say, Deal gently with the young men for my sake; no, "Let them fall with the rest, and with them let the seed of the next generation perish." (2.) Not those that were the objects of compassion. None shall be spared for pity: He shall not have mercy on their fatherless and widows, though he is, in a particular manner, the patron and protector of such. They had corrupted their way like all the rest; and, if the poverty and helplessness of their state was not an argument with them to keep them from sin, they could not expect it should be an argument with God to protect them from judgments.
5. That they should pull one another to pieces, that every one should help forward the common ruin, and they should be cannibals to themselves and one to another: No man shall spare his brother, if he come in the way of his ambition of covetousness, or if he have any colour to be revenged on him; and how can they expect God should spare them when they show no compassion one to another? Men's passion and cruelty one against another provoke God to be angry with them all and are an evidence that he is so. Civil wars soon bring a kingdom to desolation. Such there were in Israel, when, for the transgression of the land, many were the princes thereof, Pro 28:2.
(1.) In these intestine broils, men snatched on the right hand, and yet were hungry still, and did eat the flesh of their own arms, preyed upon themselves for hunger or upon their nearest relations that were as their own flesh, Isa 9:20. This bespeaks, [1.] Great famine and scarcity; when men had pulled all they could to them it was so little that they were still hungry, at least God did not bless it to them, so that they eat and have not enough, Hag 1:6. [2.] Great rapine and plunder. Jusque datum sceleri - iniquity is established by law. The hedge of property, which is a hedge of protection to men's estates, shall be plucked up, and every man shall think all that his own which he can lay his hands on (vivitur ex rapto, non hospes ab hospite tutus - they live on the spoil, and the rites of hospitality are all violated); and yet, when men thus catch at that which is none of their own, they are not satisfied. Covetous desires are insatiable, and this curse is entailed on that which is ill got, that it will never do well.
(2.) These intestine broils should be not only among particular persons and private families, but among the tribes (Isa 9:21): Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, though they be combined against Judah. Those that could unite against Judah could not unite with one another; but that sinful confederacy of theirs against their neighbour that dwelt securely by them was justly punished by this separation of them one from another. Or Judah, having sinned like Manasseh and Ephraim, shall not only suffer with them, but suffer by them. Note, Mutual enmity and animosity among the tribes of God's Israel is a sin that ripens them for ruin, and a sad symptom of ruin hastening on apace. If Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, and both against Judah, they will all soon become a very easy prey to the common enemy.
6. That, though they should be followed with all these judgments, yet God would not let fall his controversy with them. It is the heavy burden of this song (Isa 9:12, Isa 9:17, Isa 9:21): For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, that is, (1.) They do nothing to turn away his anger; they do not repent and reform, do not humble themselves and pray, none stand in the gap, none answer God's calls nor comply with the designs of his providences, but they are hardened and secure. (2.) His anger therefore continues to burn against them and his hand is stretched out still. The reason why the judgments of God are prolonged is because the point is not gained, sinners are not brought to repentance by them. The people turn not to him that smites them, and therefore he continues to smite them; for when God judges he will overcome, and the proudest stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.
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 vv8–12The Lord sent a word unto Jacob,.... The prophet,…
The Lord sent a word unto Jacob,.... The prophet, having comforted Judah with the promise of the Messiah, returns to denounce the judgments of God upon the ten tribes, under the names of Jacob and Israel, which signify the same; for the "word" here is not the word of promise, the comfortable word concerning the Messiah before mentioned; but a word of threatening, ruin, and destruction, to the kingdom of Israel, after enlarged upon, which the Lord sent unto them by his prophets before hand, to warn them of it, and bring them to repentance; by which they would know, when it came to pass, that their destruction was of the Lord, and not a matter of chance: the Septuagint version is, "the Lord sent death upon Jacob"; and so the Arabic version, following it; the same word, differently pointed, being used for the pestilence, but is not the sense here; the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions, render it, "a word", as we do:
and it hath lighted upon Israel, or "hath fallen" (x); as an arrow shot out of a bow, as some think; or as seed cast upon the earth; or rather like a thunderbolt: it denotes the sure and full accomplishment of the word of God upon the persons to whom it was sent; for as his word of promise, so of threatening, does not return to him void and empty, Isa 55:10. The Targum is,
Read full note →
"the Lord sent a word into the house of Jacob, and it was heard in Israel.''
(x) "cecidit", Grotius, Cocccius.
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 vv8–12The Lord - The prophet, having inserted some consolatory…
The Lord - The prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for God's faithful people, returns to his former comminution against the rebellious Israelites. And - Hebrew. it fell, that is, it shall fall, in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv8–12Verse 8. Lord - "JEHOVAH"] For אדני Adonai, thirty…
Verse 8. Lord - "JEHOVAH"] For אדני Adonai, thirty MSS. of Kennicott's, and many of De Rossi's, and three editions, read יהוה Yehovah.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v8Isa 9:8-12. The Lord sent a word, &c. —…
Isa 9:8-12. The Lord sent a word, &c. — A prophetical and threatening message by me: for now the prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for the support of God’s faithful people, returns to his former work of commination against the rebellious Israelites; and it lighted — Hebrew, נפל, it fell, that is, it shall fall in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished; upon Israel — The same with Jacob in the former clause. We have here the third section of the fifth discourse, which reaches to the fifth verse of the next chapter, “and makes,” says Bishop Lowth, “a distinct prophecy, and a just poem, remarkable for the regularity of its disposition, and the elegance of its plan. It has no relation to the preceding or following prophecy, which relate principally to the kingdom of Judah; whereas, this is addressed exclusively to the kingdom of Israel. The subject of it is a denunciation of vengeance awaiting their crimes. It is divided into four parts, each threatening the particular punishment of some grievous offence; of their pride; of their perseverance in their vices; of their impiety; and of their injustice. To which is added a general denunciation of a further reserve of divine wrath, contained in a distich before used by the prophet on a like occasion, (Isa 5:25,) and here repeated after each part: this makes the intercalary verse of the poem; or, as we call it, the burden of the song.” And all the people shall know — Namely, by experience. They shall know whether my word be true or false. Even Ephraim, &c. — The people of the ten tribes, and particularly Ephraim, the proudest of them all. And Samaria — The strongest place, and the seat of the king and court. Here we have the first fault of the Ephraimites, namely, the pride and contempt with which they had received the threatenings of the true prophets of God, who had denounced to them the unhappy consequences of their undertakings. Elevated with vain hope, they had declared that they would never desist from their purpose of invading Judah for any denunciations of the prophets; on the contrary, they had boasted proudly, that, strengthened as they were by their present alliance with the king of Syria, though they had heretofore suffered great loss, they had no doubt of repairing their fortune. Though the bricks were fallen down, they would build with hewn stones, &c. — The expression is metaphorically elegant, and denotes the restoration of a fallen state for the better, and the change of a mean and low to a more honourable and excellent situation. For their pride and arrogance, the God who laugheth vain men to scorn, denounces their punishment in the two following verses; and, according to his usual justice, assures them that the union with Rezin, wherein they boasted, should itself prove their destruction. This prophecy was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser. See 2Ki 16:17, Vitringa, and Dodd. Dr. Waterland renders the beginning of the twelfth verse, “The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west.” Though Rezin, king of Syria, was destroyed, yet the body of the nation survived, and submitted themselves to the king of Assyria, and upon his command invaded Israel afterward. And they shall devour Israel, &c. — Like wild beasts.
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 vv8–12The Lord sent - Not Yahweh here, but “Adonai.”…
The Lord sent - Not Yahweh here, but “Adonai.” It is apparent that this verse is the commencement of a new prophecy, that is not connected with that which precedes it. The strain of the preceding prophecy had respect to Judah; this is confined solely to Israel, or Ephraim. Here the division of the chapter should have been made, and should not have been again interrupted until Isa 10:4, where the prophecy closes. The prophecy is divided into four parts, and each part is designed to threaten a distinct judgment on some particular, prominent vice.
I. “Crime” - their pride and ostentation, Isa 9:8-9. “Punishment” - the land would be invaded by the Syrians and the Philistines, Isa 9:11-12.
Read full note →
II. “Crime” - they had apostatized from God, and the leaders had caused them to err, Isa 9:13, Isa 9:16. “Punishment” - Yahweh would cut off the chief men of the nation, Isa 9:14-15, Isa 9:17.
III. “Crime” - prevalent wickedness in the nation, Isa 9:18. “Punishment” - the anger of Yahweh, consternation, anarchy, discord, and want, Isa 9:19-21.
IV. “Crime” - prevalent injustice; Isa 10:1-2. “Punishment” - foreign invasion, and captivity; Isa 10:3-4.
The poem is remarkably regular in its structure (Lowth), and happy in its illustrations. At what time it was composed is not certain, but it has strong internal evidence that it immediately followed the preceding respecting Judah.
A word - A message, or prediction; Note, Isa 2:1.
Into Jacob - Jacob was the ancestor of the nation. But the name came to be appropriated to the ten tribes, as constituting the majority of the people. It was at first used to denote all the Jews Num 23:7, Num 23:10, Num 23:23; Num 24:17, Num 24:19; Deu 32:9; 1Ch 16:13; Psa 14:7; Psa 20:1; but it came, after the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, to be used often to denote them alone; Amo 6:8; Mic 1:5; Mic 3:1; Mic 5:8. The word or message which was sent, refers undoubtedly to that which immediately follows.
And it hath lighted upon - Hebrew ‘It fell.’ This is but a varied expression for, he sent it to Israel.
Israel - The same as Jacob the ten tribes - the kingdom of Ephraim.
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 vv8, 9, 11, 12Word. Septuagint, "death." This also agrees with the Hebrew…
Word. Septuagint, "death." This also agrees with the Hebrew term, and with the context.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v8Isa_9:8 (Isa_9:7).– Isa_10:4.
B.—THREATENING OF JUDGMENT TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MEANS OF ASSYRIA, ADDRESSED TO ISRAEL OF THE TEN TRIBES
Isa_9:8 (Isa_9:7).– Isa_10:4.
Read full note →
To the prophecies that denounce impending judgment against Judah, of which Assyria was to be the agent, is joined a prophecy, that announces the same fate for the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. For, that the latter are the subject of this prophecy appears, 1) because, in the whole passage, only Israel or Jacob (Isa_9:7; Isa_9:11; Isa_9:13), the “Ephraimites and inhabitants of Samaria” (Isa_9:8) appear as those addressed; never Judah. For Isa_9:8 shows plainly that we must so understand Jacob and Israel (Isa_9:7), because those receiving the word spoken of in Isa_9:7 are designated as “the whole people,” and they in turn in the second clause of Isa_9:8 are specified, not as Judah and Israel, but as Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria: 2) because Isa_9:20 we notice that the totality who are there reproached with ruinous dissensions are divided into Ephraim and Manasseh. These are opposed to one another; if they unite it is for the purpose of attacking Judah. If Judah were included in the totality addressed there, it must read: “Ephraim Judah, Judah Ephraim.” But Ephraim and Manasseh are designated as the mutually contending members; Judah as one outside of the community and the common object of their hatred. We will show below that Isa_9:11 a does not conflict with this interpretation.
As to the period to which this prophecy belongs, we may ascertain it from Isa_9:9. It appears there that at this time pieces must have been rent away from the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. We know of only one such diminution of their territory occurring in that period. It is that related 2Ki_15:29. According to that account Tiglath-Pileser, who had been invoked by Ahaz, depopulated a great part of the eastern and northern region of that kingdom. At that time the Ephraimites must have boasted that it would be easy to repair the damage they had suffered. Isaiah felt that he must meet this foolish notion, which took the damage done by Tiglath-Pileser for the conclusion of their visitation, with the announcement that that visitation was only the beginning, only the first of many following degrees. If, then, the foregoing prophecies (7–9:6) fall in the time before the introduction of the Assyrians, then our present passage belongs to the period immediately after. And if chapters 7–9:6, are attributed to the beginning of the three years, when both Pekah and Ahaz were living, say about 743 B. C., then the present prophecy belongs to the close of this period, say about 740–39 B. C. (Comp. on Isa_7:15-17)
The form of our passage is artistic, yet simple. Proceeding from the underlying thought that what the Ephraimites took for the end, was only the first stage, the Prophet builds up his prophecy in three stages, each of which points to the succeeding one with the refrain: “for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Even the last concludes with these words to show that the judgment on Israel continues still beyond the immediate horizon of the prophetic view. This extreme visible horizon is the exile (Isa_10:4). Beyond that the Israel of the Ten Tribes has disappeared to the present day. They experienced no restoration like Judah did. But to “the day of visitation and desolation” (Isa_10:3) the punishments increase as the inward corruption grows. After that visitation to which the audacious words Isa_9:9 refer, Israel, instead of recovering and growing strong, is renewedly hard pressed on the East and the West. But still more comes (Isa_9:11 b). Still the people are not converted to Him that smites them. Therefore the punishment falls first of all on the leaders of the people, who have proved themselves betrayers, whose sins must be expiated by the betrayed down to the young men, the widows and the orphans (Isa_9:13-16). But still more comes. For the people are as a forest on fire: for the flames of discord spread on all sides with devouring and desolation (Isa_9:17-20). Injustice and violence, according to the constant Old Testament sentiment, the chief cause of the ruin of states, bring the people to the verge of the abyss. Then no seeking for aid from foreign nations will avail. Nothing remains but to submit to the horrors of exile. But still more comes. For even the carrying away into exile is not yet the end of God’s judgments on Israel (Isa_10:1-4).
Thus we have four sections, of which the first two have each five verses, the last two four verses. They may be set forth as follows:
1. The supposed end is the beginning of the judgment (Isa_9:7-11).
2. The deceivers the bane of the deceived (Isa_9:12-16).
3. Israel devouring itself by the flames of discord (Isa_9:17-20).
4. Injustice and violence fill up the measure and precipitate Israel into the horrors of exile (Isa_10:1-4).
____________________________
1. THE SUPPOSED END IS THE BEGINNING OF THE JUDGMENT
CHAPTER Isa_9:8-12. (Isa_9:7-11)
8 (7) THE LORD sent a word into Jacob,
And it hath lighted upon Israel.
(8) 9And all the people shall know,
Even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria,
That say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
(9) 10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:
The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 (10) Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him,
And ajoin his enemies together;
(11) 12The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with bopen mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa_9:8. גאוה according to Isa_13:3; Isa_13:11; Isa_16:6; Isa_25:11.—גדל לככ again only Isa_10:12.—לאמר does not depend on וידעו, but on גאוה and גדל לבב to which it relates as quotation marks, in as much as it introduces the speech that manifests that haughtiness.
On Isa_9:9. גזית, properly אַבְנֵי גָזִית, 1 Kings 5:31; Eze_40:42; lapides caesurae, i. e., caesi, only here in Isa.—That בָּנָה means not simply exstruere, construere, “build up,” “construct,” but also simply struere “to pile,” “pile up,” appears from passages like 1Ki_18:32; Exo_20:25.—שׁקמיס only here. גדע Isa_10:33; Isa_14:12; Isa_22:25; Isa_45:2 (from these examples it appears that it is wont to be joined with נכּל); but the context shows that not cutting down trees is meant, as DRECHSLER supposes, but breaking down wooden buildings. חלף (see on Isa_8:8) is “to exchange.” Hiph. is—“let come in as exchange, reparation;” comp. Isa_40:31; Isa_41:1.
On Isa_9:10. וישׂגב and also ויאכלו, Isa_9:11, are praeter. propheticum. The ו involves at the same time adverbial meaning. DRECHSLER remarks that שׂגכ Pi. has always the meaning “to make high, unattainable, place higher, defendere, munire.” But then it is construed with מן (Psa_59:2; Psa_107:41). That עלין stands here proves that the word is taken in an offensive sense, which it may very well have. Moreover it is to be noticed that שִׂגֵכ stands in contrast with the high structures which the Israelites purpose in Isa_9:9.—It is incomprehensible how EWALD can prefer שָׂרֵי, the reading of some MSS. to צָרֵי of the text; or how CHEYNE can construe צרי ר as genitive of the subject, seeing that the same power that slew Rezin and conquered his land, not twenty years later actually made an end to the kingdom of Ephraim.—סִכְסֵןְ is found only here and Isa_19:2. The verb סָכַןְ, with all its derivatives (סֻכָּה, סִכּוּת, מָסָןְ, סֹןְ) has the sense of “covering.” Now there is a word שֵׂןְ, spina (Num. 33:65) and שֻׂכָּה telum acutum (Job 40:31). As regards the exchange of ס for שׂ compare שָׂכַןְ Exo_33:22. Seeing the meaning “to cover” in the sense usual with the Hebrews, i. e., “to protect,” does not at all suit here (comp. Isa_9:11), and “to cover,” = “to cover with arms, to arm,” cannot be supported, I prefer, with TARG., SYR., SAAD., GESENIUS (Thes.), DELITZSCH, [J. A. ALEXANDER], to take סִכְסֵןְ in the sense of “to set on,” stimulate, concitare.
On Isa_9:11. The formula בכל־זאת וגו beside here and Isa_9:16; Isa_9:20; Isa_10:4, is found only Isa 9:25.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Lord sent—cedars.
Isa_9:8-10 (Isa_9:7-9). It seems to me that the words, “A word has the LORD sent,” etc., “is fallen,” etc., must be judged of according to passages like Job_4:12; Job_35:4; Psa_62:12. As in those, a single little word, tossed to them, as it were, from the mouth of the Lord as from a judging and destroying power, is opposed to human pride and haughtiness, so the Prophet here opposes a single, brief word of the LORD to the Ephraimites which, as it were, falls by the way, but which suffices to humble that foolish pride. “The word” (דָּכָרִ) therefore, stands first with emphasis, as if the Prophet would say: only a word, nothing more has the LORD sent. And this word has, as it were, fallen in Israel by accident. I prefer to compare Rth_3:18, for the meaning of נָכַּל “to fall,” rather than Dan_4:28, because there, too, is the underlying idea of (at least seeming) accident. This mode of expression, by which the Prophet represents the following language as something accidental and by the way, has its reason, likely, in this, that Isaiah is a Prophet primarily for Judah, and not for Israel. He therefore steps beyond the sphere of his own proper activity with these words, which fall like a morsel from the table prepared for the children.
Jacob stands only poetically for Israel. It can mean the whole nation, and the people of the Ten Tribes just as well as the name Israel (comp. Isa_2:3; Isa_2:5-6; Isa_8:17). Only the context decides in what sense the name is to be taken where it occurs. In the introduction to this section, we have showed that both Jacob and Israel mean the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. This antithesis of Jacob and Israel in parallelism occurs here for the first time. It is found again as designation of the entire Israel, Isa_10:20; Isa_14:1; Isa_27:6; Isa_29:23; Isa_40:27; Isa_41:8; Isa_41:14; Isa_42:24; Isa_43:1; Isa_43:22; Isa_43:28; Isa_44:1, (2), 5, 21, 23; Isa_45:4; Isa_46:3; Isa_48:1; Isa_48:12; Isa_49:5-6. This antithesis is found first in Hos_12:13 (of the Patriarch): then in Micah, and relatively the oftenest in him: Mic_1:5; Mic_2:12; Mic_3:1; Mic_3:8-9. In Nah_2:3. In Jer_2:4; Jer_30:10; Jer_31:7; Jer_46:27. Eze_39:25. From this it appears that the form of expression is pre-eminently characteristic of Isaiah. If it is asked; what kind of word the LORD sent? I would refer for answer neither to Isa_5:25 nor to Isa_7:14 sqq. For both are remote. Those are right that take Isa_9:8, or say Isa_9:10 sq., as the word referred to in Isa_9:7. Nothing is more natural; any word more remote must be more exactly designated. The word “they shall know it,” Isa_9:8, favors this. For what should the Ephraimites know? Certainly, the very word of which Isa_9:7 speaks. At the same time the context makes it clear, that they should learn how ill the plan of Jehovah (according to Isa_9:10) will suit their proud plans. Therefore, “the word,” Isa_9:7, is identical with the object of “they shall know,” Isa_9:8, and we are justified in translating “and shall know it.”
”Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria” are contrasted here just as “the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Isa_5:3, comp. Isa_1:1, Isa_2:1. The Ephraimites and Samaritans, then, shall come to a certain knowledge, as persons that are in a state of pride and height of courage, for which just that knowledge commends itself as the best remedy. Wherein the pride consists is said Isa_9:9.
The haughty language consists of two simple, easily understood contrasts. Wood and stone are the chief materials for building. Bricks are poorer than hewn stones, and sycamores than cedars. “Sycamore trees are common in Palestine,” as THEODORETin loc. says. Flourishing in low places, (signum camporum sunt sycamori,) says the JERUS. GEMARA, comp. 1Ch_27:28); they are prized as wood for building, but not compared with the cedar. (Comp. under Text. and Gram.) The sense of the figurative language is plain. They acknowledge that Ephraim has suffered, but they hope abundantly to repair all these damages.
2. Therefore the Lord——stretched out still.
Isa_9:11-12 (Isa_9:10-11). Jehovah’s doing Isa_9:10 sq. brings to nought the proud hopes of Isa_9:9, and is announced here as the contents of “the word” of Isa_9:7. They would rise high, but the LORD raises above even their high house, the oppressors of Rezin. These oppressors are the Assyrians. They had proved themselves such even at that time. They are called oppressors of Rezin, because Israel’s strength at that time, lay in the alliance with Rezin. The same power that killed Rezin, and conquered his kingdom, actually made an end of Ephraim not twenty years later. Syria itself, compelled by Assyria, is represented as marching against Ephraim. Because of the words, “the Philistines behind,” DELITZSCH supposes that the Prophet, from Isa_9:11 on, extends his view and has in mind all Israel, since the northern kingdom never had to suffer from the Philistines, whereas (acc. to 2Ch_28:16-19) an invasion by the Philistines in Judah is expressly mentioned as belonging to the judgments of Ahaz’s time. But if this were so, Isa_9:12 (11) would need to be more distinctly disconnected from Isa_9:11 (10). For, as they stand, the words “the Syrians—behind” must be taken as dependent on יסכסר “will set on,” and the nations named here as specifications of “the enemies” Isa_9:11 (10). But then those attacked by Syria and the Philistines are identical with Ephraim to whom “him” and “his” (the suffixes in איביו and עליו (Isa_9:10) refer. But Isa_9:12 a (11) is not to be taken in a literal sense. Syria and the Philistines represent East and West. Isa_2:6; Isa_11:14 puts the Philistines as representatives of the West as opposed to (קֶדֶם) the East. Moreover we must not take “eating with a full mouth” as meaning a complete destruction. On the contrary, we see from Isa_9:12 b (11), that recurs afterwards three times, that the Prophet would say: ye hold the damage that ye hope easily to repair, to be the end of your calamity. But I say to you: you are destined to have your oppressors come on you from every side in superior power, and yet even this will be but the beginning of the end.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.
2. On Isa_7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isa_28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Pro_28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jer_17:9).” Cramer.
3. On Isa_7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.
4. On Isa_7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.
But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Gen_24:14).
It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Heb_6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Mat_12:39; Mat_16:4; 1Co_1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.
5. On Isa_7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zec_2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.
6. On Isa_7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Mat_1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (Joh_1:11; Joh_1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2Co_5:19; 1Ti_2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (Joh_17:23; Joh_17:26; Joh_14:19-21; Joh_14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Mat_28:20; Heb_7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (Joh_10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:3; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.
Isa_8:7. On Isa_8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on Joh_9:7.
8. On Isa_8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.
9. On Isa_8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1Pe_2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Mat_21:44).” Cramer.
10. On Isa_8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again Joh_5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2Ti_3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2Pe_1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
Chap. 9–11. On Isa_9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ ἀπειλητική (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.
12. On Isa_9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isa_42:6; Isa_49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isa_60:1. And again Isa_9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” Joh_1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” Joh_9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, Joh_9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” Joh_9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” Joh_3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (Joh_8:12; Joh_9:5; comp. Joh_12:35).
13. On Isa_9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luk_1:76 sqq.
14. On Isa_9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isa_7:10 sqq.; Isa_8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1Ti_1:15; Luk_2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Heb_2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Rom_5:15; Joh_3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.
15. On Isa_9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.
16. On Isa_9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, Joh_3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”
“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.
On Isa_9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isa_46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isa_46:1; Isa_46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Heb_2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hos_13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.
17. On Isa_9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.
Isaiah 10-18. On Isa_10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.
19. On Isa_10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.
20. On Isa_10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Co_12:9).—Luther.
21. On Isa_10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isa_5:26; Isa_7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.
22. On Isa_10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.
Isaiah 11-23. On Isa_11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.
24. On Isa_11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isa_11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isa_11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.
25. On Isaiah 11 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isa_11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isa_11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isa_11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isa_11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isa_11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.
Chap. 12–26. On Isa_12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psa_147:1). Cramer.
27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv8–12PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4)
PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4)
Heading of the prophecy; (Isa 9:8-12), the first strophe.
Read full note →
unto Jacob--against the ten tribes [LOWTH].
lighted upon--fallen from heaven by divine revelation (Dan 4:31).
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 vv8–128. The Lord — Not Jehovah this time, but…
8. The Lord — Not Jehovah this time, but Adonai, the universal Lord and proprietor. — Furst.
Sent a word into Jacob — “Word,” is a direct revelation, by prophets and by Moses.
Read full note →
It… lighted upon Israel — Urgency of menace now enforces the broken divine law upon rebellious Israel.
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 vv8–128. Translate: A word hath the Lord sent into…
8. Translate: A word hath the Lord sent into Jacob and it shall light upon Israel. “The Word is in nature and history the messenger of the Lord” (Del.) cf. Psa_107:20; Psa_147:15; Psa_147:18; Isa_55:11. The “word” here is the following oracle, which has already been “sent,” and will “light” (cf. Dan_4:31) on Israel, bringing about its own fulfilment.
Jacob … Israel] here denote the Northern Kingdom, as is plain from the next verse.
Read full note →
8–12. The first strophe (Isa_9:8-10 being an introduction to the whole prophecy).
Chap. Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4 (+ Isa_5:25-30)
Jehovah’s hand stretched out in wrath over His people. An oracle against North Israel
The key-note of the prophecy is given in the recurrent refrain—Isa_9:12; Isa_9:17; Isa_9:21, Isa_10:4, Isa_5:25. (On the reasons for including ch. Isa_5:25-30 see on that passage.) It is the most artistically arranged of all Isaiah’s writings, being divided into regular strophes as follows:—
(i) Ch. Isa_9:8-12. The introduction (Isa_9:8-10) explains that the oracle concerns the inhabitants of Samaria, and points to the buoyant assurance and self-confidence which was the habitual temper of the Northern Kingdom. The prophet then enters on a review of the various calamities by which Jehovah had sought to bring the nation to repentance, the first of these being the aggressions of its powerful neighbours on the East and the West (Isa_9:11-12). This was the first stroke of Jehovah’s hand.
(ii) Isa_9:13-17. A second blow descends on the impenitent nation in some sudden disaster by which the state is bereft of its leaders, great and small (13–16); the condition of the people is then seen to be utterly corrupt, so that Jehovah withdraws His compassion even from the helpless widows and orphans (17).
(iii) Isa_9:18-21. The third visitation is a state of anarchy and internecine strife, which is described mainly in a succession of powerful and telling images. The nation is rent by the conflict of rival factions, the only bond of unity being a common hatred of Judah.
(iv) Ch. Isa_10:1-4. The fourth strophe opens with a “Woe” on the maladministration of the judges, which was always to Isaiah’s mind the chief symptom of a rotten republic (Isa_9:1-2). This is followed by an allusion to a day of slaughter in which the magnates shall vainly seek safety beneath the slain (3, 4).
[It is possible that another strophe originally stood here, the closing words of which are preserved in Isa_5:25.]
(v) Ch. Isa_5:26-30. The prediction of the Assyrian invasion forms, as has been already explained, the dénouement of this great drama of judgment. (For the exegesis, see on the passage above, pp. 40–42.) The refrain is of course dropped; Jehovah’s wrath is stayed, His hand is no longer stretched forth.
It is assumed in the foregoing analysis that the passage is in the main (down at least to the end of ch. 9) a retrospect of historical judgments; and this is the view naturally suggested by the tenses of the original, which are with few exceptions perfects, or the equivalents of perfects. A majority of commentators, however, taking the perfects as those of prophetic certainty, interpret the oracle as an ideal delineation of the stages of a judgment yet to come. And it is no doubt conceivable that the prophet might assume an ideal standpoint on the eve of the Assyrian invasion, regarding the preliminary chastisements as past, although they were in reality still future at the time of writing. But such a lavish and continuous use of the prophetic perfect would be unparalleled; and the change to the impf. at Isa_5:26 seems too significant to be explained on this hypothesis. It is, therefore, on the whole safer to assume that in Isa_9:8-21 the references are to past events, although it may not be possible in every case to specify the exact circumstances that are meant. A shorter oracle arranged on the principle here supposed is found in Amo_4:6-12.
The date of the prophecy is not easily determined. The most probable view is that it was composed just before the outbreak of the Syro-Ephraimitish war. A later date (though not perhaps impossible) is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the issues of that expedition, so disastrous to the Northern Kingdom, are not mentioned. The Assyrians, moreover, are described in terms so vaguely poetic as to suggest that they were as yet unknown to the Israelites at close quarters. Syria also is mentioned as the enemy of Israel, without any hint of an alliance between them; while it is thought by some that Isa_9:21 alludes to the incipient antagonism towards Judah which afterwards found vent in the invasion. None of these indications are very decisive, but there are none to neutralise them (see, however, on Isa_9:10-11 below); and the passage may at least be regarded provisionally as a product of the earliest period of Isaiah’s ministry.
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 vv8, 10, 11, 12(8).The Lord sent a word into Jacob . .…
(8).The Lord sent a word into Jacob . . .—For “hath lighted” read it lighteth. A new section, though still closely connected with the historical occasion of Isaiah 7, begins. The vision of the glory of the far-off king comes to an end, and the prophet returns to the more immediate surroundings of his time. The “word” which Jehovah sends is the prophetic message that follows. It is a question whether the terms “Jacob” and “Israel” stand in the parallelism of identity or contrast, but the use of the former term in Isa_2:3; Isa_2:5-6, makes the former use more probable. In this case both names stand practically for the kingdom of Judah as the true representative of Israel, the apostate kingdom of the Ten Tribes being no longer worthy of the name, and therefore described here, as in Isa_7:5; Isa_7:8; Isa_7:17, simply as Ephraim. The occasion of the prophecy is given in Isa_9:9. Pekah, the king of Ephraim, was still confident in his strength, and in spite of his partial failure, and the defeat of his ally (2Ki_16:9), derided the prophet’s prediction.
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 vv8–12Vers. 8-21. THE PROPHET RETURNS TO THREATS AND WARNINGS,…
Vers. 8-21. THE PROPHET RETURNS TO THREATS AND WARNINGS, ADDRESSED CHIEFLY TO THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. The remainder of this chapter, together with the first four verses of the next, seems to have formed originally a distinct and separate prophecy. The passage is a poem in four stanzas, with the same refrain at the end of each: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." A somewhat early date has been assigned to the prophecy, as; for instance, "some period in the reign of Jotham" (Cheyne); but the internal evidence only proves that it was written before the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians.
Jacob... Israel. These words do not show that the prophecy is directed against the kingdom of Israel only. "Jacob" designates Judah rather than Israel in Isa_2:3, Isa_2:5, Isa_2:6; and the expression, "both the houses of Israel," in Isa_8:14, shows that the term "Israel" embracesboth kingdoms. Tim distinctive names by which Isaiah ordinarily designates the northern kingdom are "Ephraim" and "Samaria.
One would naturally expect that so weak a creature as man, when chastised by the Divine anger, would readily and at once humble himself under the almighty hand of God," accept the chastisement as deserved, and entreat for mercy and forgiveness. But, weak as he is, man is unwilling to acknowledge his weakness, and, faulty as he is, dislikes nothing so much as acknowledging his faults. God"s judgments he will net allow to be judgments, but attributes them to any cause but God; as, for instance,
(1) to his own mistakes;
(2) to accident or chance;
(3) to fate;
(4) to some combination of circumstances not likely to recur.
God brought upon Israel four great chastisements, placing intervals between them, so that after each they might have repented and turned to him, had they so willed. But they would not. These chastisements were
I THE ASSYRIAN INVASION UNDER TIGLATH-PILESER. This was a comparatively "light affliction," as God"s earlier judgments commonly are. It fell, not on the whole land, but only on a portion land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali;" and it resulted in the loss, not of national life or national independence, but only of a province or two not very highly valued. "Galilee of the Gentiles" was overrun and annexed by Assyria; but Ephraim and Manasseh, the great tribes which formed the heart of the nation, were untouched. Still, the invasion was a warning which a wise nation would have taken to heart. When dismemberment begins, it is apt to be continued; each fresh act of spoliation is easier than the last. And the aggressor is encouraged by his success, and tempted to repeat his aggression. But Israel was not wise. She consoled herself by "pride and stoutness of heart," making light of her losses, and boasting that she would easily repair them (ver. 10). Her pride and impenitence provoked God to inflict a second chastisement.
II THE COMBINED PHILISTINE AND SYRIAN ATTACK. Of this we know no more than what is told us in the present chapter. Attack was made "before" and "behind from the east and from the west. Jehovah "joined the enemies of Israel together" (ver. 11), and caused them to make a combined, or at any rate a simultaneous, invasion. Both enemies were formidable, and Israel was unable to meet either with her full force. Consequently they were successful, and "devoured Israel with open mouth." Could not this second chastisement arouse the nation from its mistaken feeling of security, and bring it to cast itself down before God? Alas! no. The people "turned not to him that had smitten them, neither did they seek the Lord of hosts" (ver. 13). The result was that a third chastisement fell.
III THE INTERNAL ANARCHY AND DISTURBANCE. Hostility to the kindred tribe of Judah lay at the base of Israel"s existence as a nation, and was cherished by statesmen as a patriotic feeling. But it was impossible to keep the feeling as closely confined as statesmen would have wished. Within Israel itself one tribe grew jealous of another; and, under the diminished strength of the central authority caused by the external troubles of the time, jealousy led on to open conflict, "no man sparing his brother" (ver. 19). As Rome perished by her own strength, when faction became arrayed against faction in the forum and the field, so it seems to have been with Israel. Internal quarrel supervened upon foreign attack; and the weakened state, when a fresh assault from without came, necessarily succumbed to it. Repentance, even at this advanced hour, might have caused God to avert the danger and turn the current of Assyrian conquest in some other direction; but once more, there was no submission, no sign of any change of heart. And at last the dread fiat went forth for Samaria"s final destruction. The fourth and last chastisement was
IV THE CONQUEST OF SAMARIA, AND CARRYING AWAY OF ISRAEL INTO CAPTIVITY, BY THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SHALMANESER AND SARGON. The same instrument, Assyria, was employed for the first chastisement and the last. Shalmaneser, the successor of Tiglath-Pileser, towards the middle of his short reign, having "found conspiracy in Hoshea who-had murdered Pekah and succeeded him up throughout all the land of Israel, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years". (2Ki_17:5) At the end of the three years the city fell, about the same time (B.C. 722) that Sargon, having murdered Shahnaneser at Nineveh, caused himself to be proclaimed supreme ruler of the Assyrian empire. Sargon, following a recognized Assyrian practice, deported the principal part of the population, and settled it partly in Upper Mesopotamia, partly in the cities of Media. (2Ki_17:6) The life of the nation thus came to an end. God had borne with it for two centuries and a half tried it, tested it, sent it prophets and seers, (2Ki_17:13) chastened it, corrected it; but all in vain. Notwithstanding all that he could do and did, "they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, and rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, and left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger". (2Ki_17:14-17) Nothing, therefore, remained but to "remove them out of his sight to sweep them away with the besom of destruction.
The fate of Israel is a warning, primarily, to nations; but also, secondarily, to individuals. God lays his chastisements on them too, for the purpose of bringing them to repentance. If they resist and are impenitent, he follows up blow with blow. If they remain obdurate, he breaks their pride and crushes them.
Vers. 8-12. The evil spirit of defiance.
The spirit which is here rebuked is that of a guilty defiance of God. Jehovah had visited Israel with the signs of his displeasure had humbled and impoverished her. What attitude should she now assume? That of humility and amendment? Nothing was further from her mind. She would contend in her own strength against her fate, against the Lord who had abased her; she would show to him the futility of his correction. The bricks might be fallen down; it was of no consequence they would build with hewn stones. The sycamores were felled; it was all the better they would put cedars in their place (ver. 10). They would, in their proud independence, convert Divine chastisements into a national advantage. Thus they breathed the very spirit of defiance. Respecting this arrogant temper, we mark
I ITS COMMON COURSE.
1. First comes some serious departure from God or from his service on the part of the nation, the Church, the family, or the individual man.
2. Then comes the Divine correction. This may be in the form of prophetic, or parental, or pastoral rebuke, or of some serious reverse in temporal affairs, or of bodily sickness, or of painful bereavement.
3. Then comes the resentment and revolt of the human will against the Divine. Instead of hearkening, heeding, and repenting, the nation (or the individual) determines to act in a spirit of defiance. In its (his) own strength, it will rise above its present circumstances; it will make good its position; it will brave the worst perils; it will endure extremest hardships, the greatest losses; it will turn its fallen bricks into massive stones that will not fall; it will exchange its feeble sycamores that are cut down for strong cedars which the wildest gales will spare.
II ITS GUILT. The guilt of cherishing such a spirit is of a very aggravated character.
1. It goes beyond the ordinary sin of inattention. To be heedless when God is speaking, by whatever voice he may address us, is surely iniquitous enough; but to act in deliberate defiance of the Almighty is, by many degrees, worse.
2. It amounts to a positive rebelliousness on the part of the human will against that of the Divine. It is man resolving that, with his puny strength, he will match himself against his Maker and will prevail. It is sin which Contains the elements of insubmission, determined opposition, arrogance.
III ITS FOLLY. In the case of Israel it was to be followed with fearful penalty. That guilty nation was
(1) to be pressed on every hand by its enemies (ver. 12);
(2) to be devoured by them (ver. 12);
(3) to be prepared for still impending miseries: "For all this," etc. (ver. 12).
The nation (or the individual) that indulges in this evil spirit of defiance will find, in time, what a disastrous mistake it (he) has made. For the defiance of God
(1) shuts out immeasurable good whoso hearkens when God reproves, and, heeding his voice, returns in penitence to his side and his service, begins an upward path which leads to the heavenly hills; but it also
(2) shuts in to unimaginable woes. We may let the words of the text (ver. 12) suggest the form they take.
1. Inextricable difficulty. The being surrounded on every hand by enemies; for sin leads on and down to cruel captivities of many kinds, from which the soul struggles vainly to disengage itself.
2. Waste. The being devoured by adversaries; time lost; strength impaired; the soul ravaged; reputation despoiled.
3. Fear of the future. A dread of the outstretched hand of Divine retribution which has more strokes to deal. 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 vv10–12The bricks are fallen down, but we will build…
Isa_9:10
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones
Read full note →
A drinking song
It has been conjectured that these words are a fragment of a drinking song actually sung in Ephraim.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Israels presumption
In the first strophe Isaiah depicted the
Ephraimites proud superiority to danger, and their placid, assurance after defeat: The bricks, they say, are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place: no sooner, in other words, has one scheme miscarried than they are prepared with a more magnificent one to take its place; no sooner is one dynasty overthrown than another rises in its stead. The proverb gives apt expression to the temper habitually displayed by the northern kingdom. (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)
The sycamore
The commonest tree in the lowlands of Palestine, by the
Mediterranean Sea (1Ki_10:27). (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)
Beautiful words of varying import
There cannot be two opinions about the beauty of these words. What, then, will be your surprise, when you find that they express nothing more than a wicked thought on the part of
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria? This circumstance gives us our first point. Noble mottoes may be written upon unworthy banners. Religious words may be pronounced by irreligious lips. We must always look at the surroundings of a circumstance in order to understand its full value. Every circumstance, like every globe, has an atmosphere of its own, hence the wisdom of looking at the context as well as at the text itself. How needful it is to inquire into the surroundings of anything that may charm us. If you have seen a man in church, his mouth opened in praise, his head inclined in prayer, surely you have a right to argue from that individual circumstance to the whole circle and bearing of his daily life. It is impossible that a man can have bowed his head in prayer, and then allow the devil to roam through the whole circle of his intellect, there to inspire evil thoughts. He cannot allow anything that is mean and unworthy to touch and debase the life that has been consecrated by prayer. You know how fallacious would be such reasoning! But the rule should be applied impartially, and therefore I hasten with the noblest interpretation which my judgment can approve to those who may have been caught in some moment of evil passion. Surely a man is not a bad man utterly because he has once been in high excitement. If the one little beauty does not redeem the whole sterile place, in the midst of which it was found, surely the one act of evil cannot spoil the whole paradise of the life, and blight a heart beautiful as a garden in summer. We may learn from these words that wickedness is not mitigated by the beauty of the language in which it is expressed. Is there anything lovelier in all the universe, possible to the inspired imagination, than poetry, painting, and music? Do they not carry with them all elements of beauty and all qualities of high and noble strength. Yet even they have been uncrowned, robbed of their nobleness, and bound down to do menial work in the devils service. Let me guard the young, therefore, along this line. They will come from certain places and will say, the music was so beautiful! No doubt of it. They will come again and say, the whole scene was so lovely! No one questions its loveliness. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars,--what language, what music could be more beautiful! And yet through this beautiful speech, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria indicated their ambitious purpose to thwart the God of the universe! What would you say if I told you that this hand of mine was the hand of an assassin, but yet pleaded for it because of the jewel which flashed upon its fingers! Would you kiss a hand so decorated? Now, take the other view, and let us imagine beautiful words expressing a beautiful purpose. Then we shall have the wedlock which God loves. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Building with hewn stone
There are three classes of you who are building with bricks, and I will ask you if you had not better build with hewn stones.
1. Take those who make good vows limited by time. There are many such. A man, for example, has said to his father, I promise I will go to church once a week, for twelve months. It is very good so far as it goes, but it is building with bricks, not with hewn stones. A young man has said, Give me thin paper, and I will pledge myself to abstain from everything that can intoxicate for six months. Very good. I do not pour contempt upon such a resolution; so far as it goes, it is good. But the very limitation of the vow is a source of weakness. Thus--for the first few days you are strong in your purpose, but gradually you begin to count the days that you have yet to serve. The last week comes, and the vow is like a pale figure gradually disappearing; the last day but one comes, where then is the vow? tomorrow you say you will be free. Free what to do? To become a slave again! Now I want you to change that brick wall of temporary resolution for the hewn stone of an eternal vow.
2. Then there is another class building with bricks instead of hewn stones, namely, those who are inspired by inadequate motives. Where the motive is insufficient, conduct must go down. We live in motive. When the motive force fails the machinery must of necessity stand still There is a man who says he will do a certain thing to obtain a reward. That mans virtue is only suppressed vice. He who will do a good thing simply because he will earn a reward, will do a bad thing if you double the premium. The motive is insufficient, and the last state of that man will be worse than the first. Others will come to church to please an admirer. That is not church going. Would that I could speak in sufficiently forceful language to the young about this! Where the motive of church going is inadequate it will always be intermittent, and in the end it will expire. If you go to church because you love to be there, and would have Sunday doubled in its golden hours, then you will always be strong in your religious attachments, affections, and convictions. Then there are those who attempt to do right in order to escape a penalty. This is an insufficient motive. I know that fear plays a very important part in the constitution of the human mind, and in the direction of human conduct. But man can outlive fear. Man can become accustomed to the unexpected. There is but one true motive--a hearty love of God!
3. Then there is the third class to which I refer,--those who have not calculated the full force and weight of temptation. When you build a house, you build for the roughest day in the whole year. That should be the sovereign rule, in the building of the life house. The ship that left for the United States yesterday, probably took out three or fourfold the necessary provisions, according to the season of the year, and probably took out coal sufficient for a double journey. Why this excess? Why take more than is needed for the ten days voyage? Because of the unforeseen. If, therefore, in such things men make such arrangements, they condemn themselves--I do not hesitate to say the word--as fools, if they leave the spiritual life and the spiritual destiny without more than a transient consideration. Herein is the glory of Christianity, that it builds with hewn stones. Christs Gospel is full of soundness, life, and indestructible virility. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Wise lessons from wicked lips
Jesus said, The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, meaning by the statement that they excel them in the shrewdness and tact with which they manage their business when that has taken an adverse turn. Men of the world do not readily submit to defeat and failure, but strive to convert defeat into victory, and failure into success. Of this the text affords illustration.
I. These children of this world PROCEED WITH A DEFINED PURPOSE, and in this are worthy of imitation. The bricks mentioned as having fallen down were not a heap of burned clay which had got piled up, no one could tell how. They had been built by human hands, and the builders had heads as well as hands. We are not told what sort of buildings they were which Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria had constructed, and which had fallen down. They may have been dwelling houses, or a temple, round which the sycamores would be planted for groves in which idolatrous Israel worshipped the gods of her own evil devising and choice, and for which she had forsaken the God of her fathers. But let this be as it may, now that the bricks had fallen, and the sycamores were out down, in making up their minds as to what should be done--being anxious to repair the ruin and desolation--they proceed with a defined purpose. The architect precedes the builder: the head leads the hand. So when they set to work they know what they are about. Now, the same principle should underlie the building up of all Christian character and work. Knowledge and zeal should ever be in partnership.
II. These children of the world WERE INSPIRED WITH HOPEFULNESS, and, therefore, are worthy of imitation. Their bricks fell down, but their spirits fell not into the pit of despair. Their sycamores were cut down, but their ambition was not. Is not that the spirit of the world today as then? In 1865 men said England and America shall be connected by the electric telegraph, and they went to work. But the cable snapped, and for the present the enterprise failed. Were the promoters daunted, and persuaded that their scheme was beyond the reach of possible things? No, not they. The next year saw them again at their work, and saw not only a new cable successfully laid, but the broken one, searched for in the great wilderness of waters, at length found, after which it was lost and found again several times over, until the 2 nd September, when it was at last secured, and the following telegram flashed along its wire. I have much pleasure in speaking to you through the 1865 cable. So the Christian ought to be hopeful. You have fallen! Say, I will rise again. Your schemes have failed! Say, I will try again. You are afraid you have laboured in vain! Say, In labours I will be more abundant. You have stormed the citadel of indwelling passion and evil, and still you have to confess, The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do. Say again, By the grace of God I shall meet my spiritual foes. Have you with earnest soul entered the Holy of holies, desirous to know the deep things of God, and where you expected light, lo! great darkness; and where you sought for peace, and sunshine, and beauty, and harmony, lo! seeming contradiction, the howling waste, cloud, and storm? You searched for a way out of your intellectual doubts and difficulties, and behold mystery has added itself to mystery. Still hope thou in God.
III. These children of this world SHOW A SPIRIT OF INDUSTRIOUS PERSEVERANCE, and are therefore worthy of imitation. Their hands responded to the impulse of their hearts. They dreamed not that by mere wishing their ruined walls would rise again, or their gardens, laid waste, would blossom with the rose, and be made beautiful with the cedar. The moral here is plain. Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord (so hoping to enter), shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father. Hoping will not do everything. It must be backed by earnest effort.
IV. These children of the world IMPROVE MATTERS, and are, therefore, worthy of imitation. These tumble down buildings were, after all, but brick; but now they would build, not with bricks, but with hewn stones. Around them had flourished the sycamores, but now that these were cut down, they would plant no more sycamores. They would do better than that; they would plant cedars. In three different places (1Ki_10:27; 2Ch_1:15; 2Ch_9:27) the value of the sycamore as compared with the cedar is given as the value of stones compared to that of silver. Such is the spirit of the world. Is not this the spirit which ought to animate us Never to rest satisfied with present attainments in self-culture or success in our work. (A. Scott.)
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 vv8–10Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4. But His hand is stretched out…
THE OUTSTRETCHED HAND OF GOD
Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4. But His hand is stretched out still.
Read full note →
Much is said in the Bible concerning the hand of God [926] Consider what the hand is to man: it is the chief instrument by which he executes his purposes,—farmer, builder, artist, author, &c.; and by the hand of God is meant His executive force in all its varied forms. God has the means of doing all His will, and He is not an unconcerned spectator of human affairs—these truths inspire God’s people with hope, courage, and joy; and they ought to inspire with terror all who are in rebellion against Him. His hand is outstretched, not for, but against them; His irresistible executive forces are certain to be put forth for their overthrow. Alike for the warning of those whose lives are not governed according to the Divine will, and for the exciting of holy watchfulness in those who are trying to obey that will in all things, let us study this prophecy for the purpose of discovering.
[926] It is so vast that the mighty ocean lies in the hollow of it (Isa_40:12). It is a hand of power and skill, for by it the foundations of the earth were laid; and all the wondrous hosts of heaven fashioned (Isa_48:13; Isa_66:2). In it our life is (Dan_5:23). When He opens it, His creatures are filled with good, and all their desires are satisfied (Psa_104:28; Psa_145:16). By it the Good Shepherd feeds, guides, and protects His sheep (Psa_95:7). It is a good hand, helping all who are trying to serve God (Ezr_8:22; Neh_2:18). It is a mighty hand, delivering His people (Exo_13:3). It is a hand that controls those who control others (Pro_21:1). Even the shadow of it is sufficient protection (Isa_51:16). It is a heavy hand when it rests upon His people in chastisement (Job_19:21), and still more so when it rests upon the wicked in punishment (1Sa_5:11). It is outstretched to fight against His enemies (Jer_21:5).
I. The reasons why God’s hand is outstretched in anger. Reminding you that this is not an exhaustive statement of those reasons, and that no man is necessarily safe merely because his conduct is not here specifically described, I point out that among the things that put men in the most extreme peril of destruction by their Creator are—
1. Oppression (Isa_10:1-2.).
2. Hypocrisy (Isa_9:17.).
3. Stubbornness under Divine chastisements (Isa_9:9-10.).
II. The effects of the outstretching of God’s hand in anger. These are terrible, increasing, continuous.
III. The mode of escape for those against whom God’s hand is stretched out in anger. Not defiance, but submission and repentance (Isa_9:13).
IV. Let us note with reverent and thankful wonder, that against the wicked God’s hand is long stretched out; that it does not, as it so easily might, come down upon them instantly with destructive force. What a proof we have here that, while He is inflexibly righteous, He is tenderly pitiful! And what an encouragement we have here to return to Him with penitence of heart! [932]
[932] H. E. I. 2286.
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.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v8Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of Israel
Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of Israel
This section relates throughout to the kingdom of Israel. It belongs to the same period as the chapters immediately preceding, and treats of the ruin which Isaiah foresaw would shortly overtake the kingdom of the Ten Tribes: cp. Isa_7:16; Isa_8:4. The prophet traces the fall of Israel to the moral and social condition of its people. His prophecy was speedily fulfilled in the conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrian armies. The prophecy falls into four parts, each closing with the refrain, 'For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.' As the same phrase occurs in Isa_5:25, many commentators are of opinion that the short section Isa_5:25-30 is connected in date and subject with this prophecy.
Read full note →
Isa_9:8-21. Because of its pride and self-confidence foes are stirred up against Israel on all hands, and sudden calamity shall overtake it, followed by internal anarchy.
Isa_10:1-4. The kingdom being hopelessly corrupt cannot stand when attacked.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn vv8, 12Jacob (See Scofield "Gen 32:28").
Jacob (See Scofield "Gen 32:28").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v8Jehovah’s Hand Stretched our in Judgment
Jehovah’s Hand Stretched our in Judgment
v. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, a warning against His people, and it hath lighted upon Israel, falling from heaven like a morsel intended for the whole nation. God revealed His intention to His servant, and by the preaching of the prophet it reached the place for which it was intended.
Read full note →
v. 9. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, the northern kingdom with its capital being emphatically mentioned first, as being leaders in disobedience and haughtiness, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
v. 10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars, that is, they intended to replace their former lowly dwellings of dried clay and the cheap wood of the sycamore fig-tree by splendid palaces of stone and costly cedar-wood. It is the height of presumption and blasphemous pride if men scorn the punishment of the Lord.
v. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, namely, the Assyrians, who, according to God’s plan, conquered Syria and then advanced upon the northern kingdom, and join his enemies together, rather, Jehovah will stir up Ephraim’s enemies against him;
v. 12. the Syrians before, for as allies of the Assyrians they would attack Israel from the east, and the Philistines behind, for these ancient enemies made use of every opportunity to wreak vengeance upon Israel and Judah, Cf 2Ch 28:16-19; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, eating with a full mouth, pillaging the land almost to the point of destruction. Thus the Lord punishes the pride of unrepentant sinners. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. The misfortunes here described were but the beginning of the great destruction which would strike the entire nation for its disobedience, and so the Lord would not withdraw His chastening hand.
v. 13. For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. The object of His punishment, therefore, is not realized, they refuse to repent of their sins and thus give Him a new cause for punishing them.
v. 14. Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, in wreaking His final vengeance upon the rebellious people, head and tail, branch and rush, in one day, in one great destruction. The prophet explains the figure used in this connection:
v. 15. The ancient and honorable, the princes and nobles of the people, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. The false prophets considered themselves leaders among the people, but they are here told, with bitter irony, that they are morally the basest of the people, the vilest part of the nation.
v. 16. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, thereby showing themselves utterly unfit for leadership; and they that are led of them are destroyed, literally, "swallowed up," namely, by the error and its peril, just as the humble rush must perish if submerged and covered with a flood of filthy water.
v. 17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, the All-powerful, who formerly granted success to the arms of Israel’s young men, would withdraw His assistance, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows, who formerly had been the special objects of His fostering care; for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer; that is, corrupt, atrociously bad, inclined to every form of wickedness, and every mouth speaketh folly, blasphemous foolishness and villainy. And so once more the warning cry rings forth: For all this His anger Is not turned away, but His hand Is stretched out still, ready to apply further punishment.
v. 18. For wickedness burneth as the fire, challenging God to continue in His course of punishment, bringing forth its own destruction; it shall devour the briers and thorns, the great mass of the lowly people, who have become weeds and thistles on the face of the earth, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, of the standing timber, of the upper classes of Israel, and they shall mount up, the fire lifting them up in a heavy column, like the lifting up of smoke. Thus the fire of God’s wrath, growing out of the nation’s wickedness, would bring destruction upon the entire people, the picture being that of a devastating forest-fire.
v. 19. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, burned out to ashes, utterly destroyed, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire, to be devoured without mercy; no man shall spare his brother, for selfishness takes account only of its own safety, disregarding all considerations of charity, patriotism, and kinship.
v. 20. And he (impersonal subject), that is, every man, shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, like a beast snapping in every direction; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, the members of his own family and tribe:
v. 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and Epraim, Manasseh, in a form of civil war in which every man’s hand would be turned against his neighbor; and they together shall be against Judah, for the hatred which obtained between Israel and Judah continued in the nation even as late as the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, when their murderous selfishness reached its climax. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still; for if sinners will not heed His warning here in time, His destruction will be upon them throughout eternity.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8, 11The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it…
The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it fell on Israel
"Send a word" means to speak. AT: "The Lord has spoken against the people of Israel" (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
Jacob ... Israel ... Ephraim ... Samaria
These names all refer to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel.
All the people will know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria
What they will know can be made explicit. AT: "All the people will know that the Lord has judged them, even those in Ephraim and Samaria" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with chiseled stone; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place
The full meaning can be made explicit. This can be stated in active form. AT: "We will replace the common bricks of our destroyed cities with expensive cut stone, and we will plant great cedar trees where ordinary sycamore trees grew" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8, 10, 119:8-12 This prophecy of judgment was against the northern…
9:8-12 This prophecy of judgment was against the northern kingdom of Israel. Despite God’s message that the Assyrians would crush them (chs 7–8), the people of Samaria were foolishly confident that they could withstand the siege.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 11 This is another prophecy against them of Samaria, which…
This is another prophecy against them of Samaria, which were mockers and contemners of God’s promises and menaces.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–12 Isa 9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob,…
Isa 9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Ver. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob.] He sent it as a shaft out of a bow, that will be sure to hit. God loves to forewarn; but woe be to those that will not be warned. The Septuagint render it, The Lord sent a plague, or death, into Jacob; and indeed after the white horse followeth the red and the black. {Rev 6:2; Rev 6:4-5} Like as Tamerlane, that warlike Scythian, displayed first a white flag in token of mercy; and then a red, menacing and threatening blood; and then, lastly, a black flag, the messenger and ensign of death, was hung abroad.
Read full note →
And it hath lighted upon Israel.] (1.) They were not ignorant of such a word; {Isa 9:9} (2.) They could neither avert nor avoid his wrath.
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 vv8–12 Sent a word; a prophetical and threatening message by…
Sent a word; a prophetical and threatening message by me; for now the prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for the support of God’s faithful people, returns to his former work of commination against the rebellious Israelites.
It lighted, Heb. it fell, i.e. it shall fall, in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished.
Read full note →
Israel; the same with Jacob in the former clause, the posterity of Jacob or Israel.
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 v8 Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed primarily against…
Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed primarily against Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, Ephraim and Samaria, the ruin of which is here foretold, with all the woeful confusions that were the prefaces to that ruin, all which came to pass within a few years after; but they look further, to all the enemies of the throne and kingdom of Christ the Son of David, and read the doom of all the nations that forget God, and will not have Christ to reign over them. Observe,
I. The preface to this prediction (Isa 9:8): The Lord sent a word into Jacob, sent it by his servants the prophets. He warns before he wounds. He sent notice what he would do, that they might meet him in the way of his judgments; but they would not take the hint, took no care to turn away his wrath, and so it lighted upon Israel; for no word of God shall fall to the ground. It fell upon them as a storm of rain and hail from on high, which they could not avoid: It has lighted upon them, that is, it is as sure to come as if come already, and all the people shall know by feeling it what they would not know by hearing of it. Those that are willingly ignorant of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against sin and sinners shall be made to know it.
Read full note →
II. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, which provoked God to bring these judgments upon them. 1. Their insolent defiance of the justice of God, thinking themselves a match for him: "They say, in the pride and stoutness of their heart, Let God himself do his worst; we will hold our own, and make our part good with him. If he ruin our houses, we will repair them, and make them stronger and finer than they were before. our landlord shall not turn us out of doors, though we pay him no rent, but we will keep in possession. If the houses that were built of bricks be demolished in the war, we will rebuild them with hewn stones, that shall not so easily be thrown down. If the enemy cut down the sycamores, we will plant cedars in the room of them. we will make a hand of God's judgments, gain by them, and so outbrave them." Note, Those are ripening apace for ruin whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences; for God will walk contrary to those who thus walk contrary to him and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were stronger than he. 2. Their incorrigibleness under all the rebukes of Providence hitherto (Isa 9:13); The people turn not unto him that smiteth them (they are not wrought upon to reform their lives, to forsake their sins, and to return to their duty), neither do they seek the Lord of hosts; either they are atheists, and have no religion, or idolaters, and seek to those gods that are the creatures of their own fancy and the works of their own hands. Note, That which God designs, in smiting us, is to turn us to himself and to set us a seeking him; and, if this point be not gained by less judgments, greater may be expected. God smites that he may not kill. 3. Their general corruption of manners and abounding profaneness. (1.) Those that should have reformed them helped to debauch them (Isa 9:16): The leaders of this people mislead them, and cause them to err, by conniving at their wickedness and countenancing wicked people, and by setting them bad examples; and then no wonder if those that are led of them be deceived and so destroyed. But it is ill with a people when their physicians are their worst disease. "Those that bless this people, or call them blessed (so the margin reads it), that flatter them, and soothe them in their wickedness, and cry Peace, peace, to them, cause them to err; and those that are called blessed of them are swallowed up ere they are aware." We have reason to be afraid of those that speak well of us when we do ill; see Pro 24:24; Pro 29:5. (2.) Wickedness was universal, and all were infected with it (Isa 9:17): Every one is a hypocrite and an evil doer. If there be any that are good, they do not, they dare not appear, for every mouth speaks folly and villany; every one is profane towards God (so the word properly signifies) and an evil doer towards man. These two commonly go together: those that fear not God regard not man; and then every mouth speaks folly, falsehood, and reproach, both against God and man; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
III. The judgments threatened against them for this wickedness of theirs; let them not think to go unpunished.
1. In general, hereby they exposed themselves to the wrath of God, which should both devour as fire and darken as smoke. (1.) It should devour as fire (Isa 9:18): Wickedness shall burn as the fire; the displeasure of God, incurred by sin, shall consume the sinners, who have made themselves as briers and thorns before it, and as the thickets of the forest, combustible matter, which the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the mighty God, will go through and burn together. (2.) It should darken as smoke. The briers and thorns, when the fire consumes them, shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke, so that the whole land shall be darkened by it; they shall be in trouble, and see no way out (Isa 9:19): The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. God's wrath fastens upon none but those that make themselves fuel for it, and then they mount up as the smoke of sacrifices, being made victims to divine justice.
2. God would arm the neighbouring powers against them, Isa 9:11, Isa 9:12. At this time the kingdom of Israel was in league with that of Syria against Judah; but the Assyrians, who were adversaries to the Syrians, when they had conquered them should invade Israel, and God would stir them up to do it, and join the enemies of Israel together in alliance against them, who yet had particular ends of their own to serve and were not aware of God's hand in their alliance. Note, When enemies are set up, and joined in confederacy against a people, God's hand must be acknowledged in it. Note further, Those that partake with each other in sin, as Syria and Israel in invading Judah, must expect to share in the punishment of sin. Nay, the Syrians themselves, whom they were now in league with, should be a scourge to them (for it is no unusual thing for those to fall out that have been united in sin), one attacking them in the front and the other flanking them or falling upon their rear; so that they should be surrounded with enemies on all sides, who should devour them with open mouth, Isa 9:12. The Philistines were not now looked upon as formidable enemies, and the Syrians were looked upon as firm friends; and yet these shall devour Israel. When men's ways displease the Lord he makes even their friends to be at war with them.
3. God would take from the midst of them those they confided in and promised themselves help from, Isa 9:14, Isa 9:15. Because the people seek not God, those they seek to and depend upon shall stand them in no stead. The Lord will cut off head and tail, branch and rush, which is explained in the next verse. (1.) Their magistrates, who were honourable by birth and office and were the ancients of the people, these were the head, these were the branch which they promised themselves spirit and fruit from; but because these caused them to err they should be cut off, and their dignity and power should be no protection to them when the abuse of that dignity and power was the great provocation: and it was a judgment upon the people to have their princes cut off, though they were not such as they should have been. (2.) Their prophets, their false prophets, were the tail and the rush, the most despicable of all. A wicked minister is the worst of all. A wicked minister is the worst of men. Corruptio optimi est pessima - The best things become when corrupted the worst. The blind led the blind, and so both fell into the ditch; and the blind leaders fell first and fell undermost.
4. That the desolation should be as general as the corruption had been, and none should escape it, Isa 9:17. (1.) Not those that were the objects of complacency. None shall be spared for love: The Lord shall have no joy in their young men, that were in the flower of their youth; nor will he say, Deal gently with the young men for my sake; no, "Let them fall with the rest, and with them let the seed of the next generation perish." (2.) Not those that were the objects of compassion. None shall be spared for pity: He shall not have mercy on their fatherless and widows, though he is, in a particular manner, the patron and protector of such. They had corrupted their way like all the rest; and, if the poverty and helplessness of their state was not an argument with them to keep them from sin, they could not expect it should be an argument with God to protect them from judgments.
5. That they should pull one another to pieces, that every one should help forward the common ruin, and they should be cannibals to themselves and one to another: No man shall spare his brother, if he come in the way of his ambition of covetousness, or if he have any colour to be revenged on him; and how can they expect God should spare them when they show no compassion one to another? Men's passion and cruelty one against another provoke God to be angry with them all and are an evidence that he is so. Civil wars soon bring a kingdom to desolation. Such there were in Israel, when, for the transgression of the land, many were the princes thereof, Pro 28:2.
(1.) In these intestine broils, men snatched on the right hand, and yet were hungry still, and did eat the flesh of their own arms, preyed upon themselves for hunger or upon their nearest relations that were as their own flesh, Isa 9:20. This bespeaks, [1.] Great famine and scarcity; when men had pulled all they could to them it was so little that they were still hungry, at least God did not bless it to them, so that they eat and have not enough, Hag 1:6. [2.] Great rapine and plunder. Jusque datum sceleri - iniquity is established by law. The hedge of property, which is a hedge of protection to men's estates, shall be plucked up, and every man shall think all that his own which he can lay his hands on (vivitur ex rapto, non hospes ab hospite tutus - they live on the spoil, and the rites of hospitality are all violated); and yet, when men thus catch at that which is none of their own, they are not satisfied. Covetous desires are insatiable, and this curse is entailed on that which is ill got, that it will never do well.
(2.) These intestine broils should be not only among particular persons and private families, but among the tribes (Isa 9:21): Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, though they be combined against Judah. Those that could unite against Judah could not unite with one another; but that sinful confederacy of theirs against their neighbour that dwelt securely by them was justly punished by this separation of them one from another. Or Judah, having sinned like Manasseh and Ephraim, shall not only suffer with them, but suffer by them. Note, Mutual enmity and animosity among the tribes of God's Israel is a sin that ripens them for ruin, and a sad symptom of ruin hastening on apace. If Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, and both against Judah, they will all soon become a very easy prey to the common enemy.
6. That, though they should be followed with all these judgments, yet God would not let fall his controversy with them. It is the heavy burden of this song (Isa 9:12, Isa 9:17, Isa 9:21): For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, that is, (1.) They do nothing to turn away his anger; they do not repent and reform, do not humble themselves and pray, none stand in the gap, none answer God's calls nor comply with the designs of his providences, but they are hardened and secure. (2.) His anger therefore continues to burn against them and his hand is stretched out still. The reason why the judgments of God are prolonged is because the point is not gained, sinners are not brought to repentance by them. The people turn not to him that smites them, and therefore he continues to smite them; for when God judges he will overcome, and the proudest stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.
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 vv8–12 The Lord sent a word unto Jacob,.... The prophet,…
The Lord sent a word unto Jacob,.... The prophet, having comforted Judah with the promise of the Messiah, returns to denounce the judgments of God upon the ten tribes, under the names of Jacob and Israel, which signify the same; for the "word" here is not the word of promise, the comfortable word concerning the Messiah before mentioned; but a word of threatening, ruin, and destruction, to the kingdom of Israel, after enlarged upon, which the Lord sent unto them by his prophets before hand, to warn them of it, and bring them to repentance; by which they would know, when it came to pass, that their destruction was of the Lord, and not a matter of chance: the Septuagint version is, "the Lord sent death upon Jacob"; and so the Arabic version, following it; the same word, differently pointed, being used for the pestilence, but is not the sense here; the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions, render it, "a word", as we do:
and it hath lighted upon Israel, or "hath fallen" (x); as an arrow shot out of a bow, as some think; or as seed cast upon the earth; or rather like a thunderbolt: it denotes the sure and full accomplishment of the word of God upon the persons to whom it was sent; for as his word of promise, so of threatening, does not return to him void and empty, Isa 55:10. The Targum is,
Read full note →
"the Lord sent a word into the house of Jacob, and it was heard in Israel.''
(x) "cecidit", Grotius, Cocccius.
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 vv8–12 The Lord - The prophet, having inserted some consolatory…
The Lord - The prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for God's faithful people, returns to his former comminution against the rebellious Israelites. And - Hebrew. it fell, that is, it shall fall, in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–12 Verse 8. Lord - "JEHOVAH"] For אדני Adonai, thirty…
Verse 8. Lord - "JEHOVAH"] For אדני Adonai, thirty MSS. of Kennicott's, and many of De Rossi's, and three editions, read יהוה Yehovah.
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 v8 Isa 9:8-12. The Lord sent a word, &c. —…
Isa 9:8-12. The Lord sent a word, &c. — A prophetical and threatening message by me: for now the prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for the support of God’s faithful people, returns to his former work of commination against the rebellious Israelites; and it lighted — Hebrew, נפל, it fell, that is, it shall fall in the prophetical style. It shall certainly be accomplished; upon Israel — The same with Jacob in the former clause. We have here the third section of the fifth discourse, which reaches to the fifth verse of the next chapter, “and makes,” says Bishop Lowth, “a distinct prophecy, and a just poem, remarkable for the regularity of its disposition, and the elegance of its plan. It has no relation to the preceding or following prophecy, which relate principally to the kingdom of Judah; whereas, this is addressed exclusively to the kingdom of Israel. The subject of it is a denunciation of vengeance awaiting their crimes. It is divided into four parts, each threatening the particular punishment of some grievous offence; of their pride; of their perseverance in their vices; of their impiety; and of their injustice. To which is added a general denunciation of a further reserve of divine wrath, contained in a distich before used by the prophet on a like occasion, (Isa 5:25,) and here repeated after each part: this makes the intercalary verse of the poem; or, as we call it, the burden of the song.” And all the people shall know — Namely, by experience. They shall know whether my word be true or false. Even Ephraim, &c. — The people of the ten tribes, and particularly Ephraim, the proudest of them all. And Samaria — The strongest place, and the seat of the king and court. Here we have the first fault of the Ephraimites, namely, the pride and contempt with which they had received the threatenings of the true prophets of God, who had denounced to them the unhappy consequences of their undertakings. Elevated with vain hope, they had declared that they would never desist from their purpose of invading Judah for any denunciations of the prophets; on the contrary, they had boasted proudly, that, strengthened as they were by their present alliance with the king of Syria, though they had heretofore suffered great loss, they had no doubt of repairing their fortune. Though the bricks were fallen down, they would build with hewn stones, &c. — The expression is metaphorically elegant, and denotes the restoration of a fallen state for the better, and the change of a mean and low to a more honourable and excellent situation. For their pride and arrogance, the God who laugheth vain men to scorn, denounces their punishment in the two following verses; and, according to his usual justice, assures them that the union with Rezin, wherein they boasted, should itself prove their destruction. This prophecy was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser. See 2Ki 16:17, Vitringa, and Dodd. Dr. Waterland renders the beginning of the twelfth verse, “The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west.” Though Rezin, king of Syria, was destroyed, yet the body of the nation survived, and submitted themselves to the king of Assyria, and upon his command invaded Israel afterward. And they shall devour Israel, &c. — Like wild beasts.
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 vv8–12 The Lord sent - Not Yahweh here, but “Adonai.”…
The Lord sent - Not Yahweh here, but “Adonai.” It is apparent that this verse is the commencement of a new prophecy, that is not connected with that which precedes it. The strain of the preceding prophecy had respect to Judah; this is confined solely to Israel, or Ephraim. Here the division of the chapter should have been made, and should not have been again interrupted until Isa 10:4, where the prophecy closes. The prophecy is divided into four parts, and each part is designed to threaten a distinct judgment on some particular, prominent vice.
I. “Crime” - their pride and ostentation, Isa 9:8-9. “Punishment” - the land would be invaded by the Syrians and the Philistines, Isa 9:11-12.
Read full note →
II. “Crime” - they had apostatized from God, and the leaders had caused them to err, Isa 9:13, Isa 9:16. “Punishment” - Yahweh would cut off the chief men of the nation, Isa 9:14-15, Isa 9:17.
III. “Crime” - prevalent wickedness in the nation, Isa 9:18. “Punishment” - the anger of Yahweh, consternation, anarchy, discord, and want, Isa 9:19-21.
IV. “Crime” - prevalent injustice; Isa 10:1-2. “Punishment” - foreign invasion, and captivity; Isa 10:3-4.
The poem is remarkably regular in its structure (Lowth), and happy in its illustrations. At what time it was composed is not certain, but it has strong internal evidence that it immediately followed the preceding respecting Judah.
A word - A message, or prediction; Note, Isa 2:1.
Into Jacob - Jacob was the ancestor of the nation. But the name came to be appropriated to the ten tribes, as constituting the majority of the people. It was at first used to denote all the Jews Num 23:7, Num 23:10, Num 23:23; Num 24:17, Num 24:19; Deu 32:9; 1Ch 16:13; Psa 14:7; Psa 20:1; but it came, after the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, to be used often to denote them alone; Amo 6:8; Mic 1:5; Mic 3:1; Mic 5:8. The word or message which was sent, refers undoubtedly to that which immediately follows.
And it hath lighted upon - Hebrew ‘It fell.’ This is but a varied expression for, he sent it to Israel.
Israel - The same as Jacob the ten tribes - the kingdom of Ephraim.
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 vv8, 9, 11, 12 Word. Septuagint, "death." This also agrees with the Hebrew…
Word. Septuagint, "death." This also agrees with the Hebrew term, and with the context.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v8 Isa_9:8 (Isa_9:7).– Isa_10:4.
B.—THREATENING OF JUDGMENT TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MEANS OF ASSYRIA, ADDRESSED TO ISRAEL OF THE TEN TRIBES
Isa_9:8 (Isa_9:7).– Isa_10:4.
Read full note →
To the prophecies that denounce impending judgment against Judah, of which Assyria was to be the agent, is joined a prophecy, that announces the same fate for the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. For, that the latter are the subject of this prophecy appears, 1) because, in the whole passage, only Israel or Jacob (Isa_9:7; Isa_9:11; Isa_9:13), the “Ephraimites and inhabitants of Samaria” (Isa_9:8) appear as those addressed; never Judah. For Isa_9:8 shows plainly that we must so understand Jacob and Israel (Isa_9:7), because those receiving the word spoken of in Isa_9:7 are designated as “the whole people,” and they in turn in the second clause of Isa_9:8 are specified, not as Judah and Israel, but as Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria: 2) because Isa_9:20 we notice that the totality who are there reproached with ruinous dissensions are divided into Ephraim and Manasseh. These are opposed to one another; if they unite it is for the purpose of attacking Judah. If Judah were included in the totality addressed there, it must read: “Ephraim Judah, Judah Ephraim.” But Ephraim and Manasseh are designated as the mutually contending members; Judah as one outside of the community and the common object of their hatred. We will show below that Isa_9:11 a does not conflict with this interpretation.
As to the period to which this prophecy belongs, we may ascertain it from Isa_9:9. It appears there that at this time pieces must have been rent away from the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. We know of only one such diminution of their territory occurring in that period. It is that related 2Ki_15:29. According to that account Tiglath-Pileser, who had been invoked by Ahaz, depopulated a great part of the eastern and northern region of that kingdom. At that time the Ephraimites must have boasted that it would be easy to repair the damage they had suffered. Isaiah felt that he must meet this foolish notion, which took the damage done by Tiglath-Pileser for the conclusion of their visitation, with the announcement that that visitation was only the beginning, only the first of many following degrees. If, then, the foregoing prophecies (7–9:6) fall in the time before the introduction of the Assyrians, then our present passage belongs to the period immediately after. And if chapters 7–9:6, are attributed to the beginning of the three years, when both Pekah and Ahaz were living, say about 743 B. C., then the present prophecy belongs to the close of this period, say about 740–39 B. C. (Comp. on Isa_7:15-17)
The form of our passage is artistic, yet simple. Proceeding from the underlying thought that what the Ephraimites took for the end, was only the first stage, the Prophet builds up his prophecy in three stages, each of which points to the succeeding one with the refrain: “for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Even the last concludes with these words to show that the judgment on Israel continues still beyond the immediate horizon of the prophetic view. This extreme visible horizon is the exile (Isa_10:4). Beyond that the Israel of the Ten Tribes has disappeared to the present day. They experienced no restoration like Judah did. But to “the day of visitation and desolation” (Isa_10:3) the punishments increase as the inward corruption grows. After that visitation to which the audacious words Isa_9:9 refer, Israel, instead of recovering and growing strong, is renewedly hard pressed on the East and the West. But still more comes (Isa_9:11 b). Still the people are not converted to Him that smites them. Therefore the punishment falls first of all on the leaders of the people, who have proved themselves betrayers, whose sins must be expiated by the betrayed down to the young men, the widows and the orphans (Isa_9:13-16). But still more comes. For the people are as a forest on fire: for the flames of discord spread on all sides with devouring and desolation (Isa_9:17-20). Injustice and violence, according to the constant Old Testament sentiment, the chief cause of the ruin of states, bring the people to the verge of the abyss. Then no seeking for aid from foreign nations will avail. Nothing remains but to submit to the horrors of exile. But still more comes. For even the carrying away into exile is not yet the end of God’s judgments on Israel (Isa_10:1-4).
Thus we have four sections, of which the first two have each five verses, the last two four verses. They may be set forth as follows:
1. The supposed end is the beginning of the judgment (Isa_9:7-11).
2. The deceivers the bane of the deceived (Isa_9:12-16).
3. Israel devouring itself by the flames of discord (Isa_9:17-20).
4. Injustice and violence fill up the measure and precipitate Israel into the horrors of exile (Isa_10:1-4).
____________________________
1. THE SUPPOSED END IS THE BEGINNING OF THE JUDGMENT
CHAPTER Isa_9:8-12. (Isa_9:7-11)
8 (7) THE LORD sent a word into Jacob,
And it hath lighted upon Israel.
(8) 9And all the people shall know,
Even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria,
That say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
(9) 10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones:
The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 (10) Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him,
And ajoin his enemies together;
(11) 12The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with bopen mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa_9:8. גאוה according to Isa_13:3; Isa_13:11; Isa_16:6; Isa_25:11.—גדל לככ again only Isa_10:12.—לאמר does not depend on וידעו, but on גאוה and גדל לבב to which it relates as quotation marks, in as much as it introduces the speech that manifests that haughtiness.
On Isa_9:9. גזית, properly אַבְנֵי גָזִית, 1 Kings 5:31; Eze_40:42; lapides caesurae, i. e., caesi, only here in Isa.—That בָּנָה means not simply exstruere, construere, “build up,” “construct,” but also simply struere “to pile,” “pile up,” appears from passages like 1Ki_18:32; Exo_20:25.—שׁקמיס only here. גדע Isa_10:33; Isa_14:12; Isa_22:25; Isa_45:2 (from these examples it appears that it is wont to be joined with נכּל); but the context shows that not cutting down trees is meant, as DRECHSLER supposes, but breaking down wooden buildings. חלף (see on Isa_8:8) is “to exchange.” Hiph. is—“let come in as exchange, reparation;” comp. Isa_40:31; Isa_41:1.
On Isa_9:10. וישׂגב and also ויאכלו, Isa_9:11, are praeter. propheticum. The ו involves at the same time adverbial meaning. DRECHSLER remarks that שׂגכ Pi. has always the meaning “to make high, unattainable, place higher, defendere, munire.” But then it is construed with מן (Psa_59:2; Psa_107:41). That עלין stands here proves that the word is taken in an offensive sense, which it may very well have. Moreover it is to be noticed that שִׂגֵכ stands in contrast with the high structures which the Israelites purpose in Isa_9:9.—It is incomprehensible how EWALD can prefer שָׂרֵי, the reading of some MSS. to צָרֵי of the text; or how CHEYNE can construe צרי ר as genitive of the subject, seeing that the same power that slew Rezin and conquered his land, not twenty years later actually made an end to the kingdom of Ephraim.—סִכְסֵןְ is found only here and Isa_19:2. The verb סָכַןְ, with all its derivatives (סֻכָּה, סִכּוּת, מָסָןְ, סֹןְ) has the sense of “covering.” Now there is a word שֵׂןְ, spina (Num. 33:65) and שֻׂכָּה telum acutum (Job 40:31). As regards the exchange of ס for שׂ compare שָׂכַןְ Exo_33:22. Seeing the meaning “to cover” in the sense usual with the Hebrews, i. e., “to protect,” does not at all suit here (comp. Isa_9:11), and “to cover,” = “to cover with arms, to arm,” cannot be supported, I prefer, with TARG., SYR., SAAD., GESENIUS (Thes.), DELITZSCH, [J. A. ALEXANDER], to take סִכְסֵןְ in the sense of “to set on,” stimulate, concitare.
On Isa_9:11. The formula בכל־זאת וגו beside here and Isa_9:16; Isa_9:20; Isa_10:4, is found only Isa 9:25.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Lord sent—cedars.
Isa_9:8-10 (Isa_9:7-9). It seems to me that the words, “A word has the LORD sent,” etc., “is fallen,” etc., must be judged of according to passages like Job_4:12; Job_35:4; Psa_62:12. As in those, a single little word, tossed to them, as it were, from the mouth of the Lord as from a judging and destroying power, is opposed to human pride and haughtiness, so the Prophet here opposes a single, brief word of the LORD to the Ephraimites which, as it were, falls by the way, but which suffices to humble that foolish pride. “The word” (דָּכָרִ) therefore, stands first with emphasis, as if the Prophet would say: only a word, nothing more has the LORD sent. And this word has, as it were, fallen in Israel by accident. I prefer to compare Rth_3:18, for the meaning of נָכַּל “to fall,” rather than Dan_4:28, because there, too, is the underlying idea of (at least seeming) accident. This mode of expression, by which the Prophet represents the following language as something accidental and by the way, has its reason, likely, in this, that Isaiah is a Prophet primarily for Judah, and not for Israel. He therefore steps beyond the sphere of his own proper activity with these words, which fall like a morsel from the table prepared for the children.
Jacob stands only poetically for Israel. It can mean the whole nation, and the people of the Ten Tribes just as well as the name Israel (comp. Isa_2:3; Isa_2:5-6; Isa_8:17). Only the context decides in what sense the name is to be taken where it occurs. In the introduction to this section, we have showed that both Jacob and Israel mean the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. This antithesis of Jacob and Israel in parallelism occurs here for the first time. It is found again as designation of the entire Israel, Isa_10:20; Isa_14:1; Isa_27:6; Isa_29:23; Isa_40:27; Isa_41:8; Isa_41:14; Isa_42:24; Isa_43:1; Isa_43:22; Isa_43:28; Isa_44:1, (2), 5, 21, 23; Isa_45:4; Isa_46:3; Isa_48:1; Isa_48:12; Isa_49:5-6. This antithesis is found first in Hos_12:13 (of the Patriarch): then in Micah, and relatively the oftenest in him: Mic_1:5; Mic_2:12; Mic_3:1; Mic_3:8-9. In Nah_2:3. In Jer_2:4; Jer_30:10; Jer_31:7; Jer_46:27. Eze_39:25. From this it appears that the form of expression is pre-eminently characteristic of Isaiah. If it is asked; what kind of word the LORD sent? I would refer for answer neither to Isa_5:25 nor to Isa_7:14 sqq. For both are remote. Those are right that take Isa_9:8, or say Isa_9:10 sq., as the word referred to in Isa_9:7. Nothing is more natural; any word more remote must be more exactly designated. The word “they shall know it,” Isa_9:8, favors this. For what should the Ephraimites know? Certainly, the very word of which Isa_9:7 speaks. At the same time the context makes it clear, that they should learn how ill the plan of Jehovah (according to Isa_9:10) will suit their proud plans. Therefore, “the word,” Isa_9:7, is identical with the object of “they shall know,” Isa_9:8, and we are justified in translating “and shall know it.”
”Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria” are contrasted here just as “the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Isa_5:3, comp. Isa_1:1, Isa_2:1. The Ephraimites and Samaritans, then, shall come to a certain knowledge, as persons that are in a state of pride and height of courage, for which just that knowledge commends itself as the best remedy. Wherein the pride consists is said Isa_9:9.
The haughty language consists of two simple, easily understood contrasts. Wood and stone are the chief materials for building. Bricks are poorer than hewn stones, and sycamores than cedars. “Sycamore trees are common in Palestine,” as THEODORETin loc. says. Flourishing in low places, (signum camporum sunt sycamori,) says the JERUS. GEMARA, comp. 1Ch_27:28); they are prized as wood for building, but not compared with the cedar. (Comp. under Text. and Gram.) The sense of the figurative language is plain. They acknowledge that Ephraim has suffered, but they hope abundantly to repair all these damages.
2. Therefore the Lord——stretched out still.
Isa_9:11-12 (Isa_9:10-11). Jehovah’s doing Isa_9:10 sq. brings to nought the proud hopes of Isa_9:9, and is announced here as the contents of “the word” of Isa_9:7. They would rise high, but the LORD raises above even their high house, the oppressors of Rezin. These oppressors are the Assyrians. They had proved themselves such even at that time. They are called oppressors of Rezin, because Israel’s strength at that time, lay in the alliance with Rezin. The same power that killed Rezin, and conquered his kingdom, actually made an end of Ephraim not twenty years later. Syria itself, compelled by Assyria, is represented as marching against Ephraim. Because of the words, “the Philistines behind,” DELITZSCH supposes that the Prophet, from Isa_9:11 on, extends his view and has in mind all Israel, since the northern kingdom never had to suffer from the Philistines, whereas (acc. to 2Ch_28:16-19) an invasion by the Philistines in Judah is expressly mentioned as belonging to the judgments of Ahaz’s time. But if this were so, Isa_9:12 (11) would need to be more distinctly disconnected from Isa_9:11 (10). For, as they stand, the words “the Syrians—behind” must be taken as dependent on יסכסר “will set on,” and the nations named here as specifications of “the enemies” Isa_9:11 (10). But then those attacked by Syria and the Philistines are identical with Ephraim to whom “him” and “his” (the suffixes in איביו and עליו (Isa_9:10) refer. But Isa_9:12 a (11) is not to be taken in a literal sense. Syria and the Philistines represent East and West. Isa_2:6; Isa_11:14 puts the Philistines as representatives of the West as opposed to (קֶדֶם) the East. Moreover we must not take “eating with a full mouth” as meaning a complete destruction. On the contrary, we see from Isa_9:12 b (11), that recurs afterwards three times, that the Prophet would say: ye hold the damage that ye hope easily to repair, to be the end of your calamity. But I say to you: you are destined to have your oppressors come on you from every side in superior power, and yet even this will be but the beginning of the end.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_7:1. “Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.”—Foerster.
2. On Isa_7:2. “Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.”—Foerster.—“He that believes flees not (Isa_28:16). ‘The righteous is bold as a lion’ (Pro_28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jer_17:9).” Cramer.
3. On Isa_7:9. (“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”) “Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.”—Luther.
4. On Isa_7:10-12. “Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.
But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Gen_24:14).
It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Heb_6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Mat_12:39; Mat_16:4; 1Co_1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.
5. On Isa_7:13. “Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zec_2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of God’s eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.”—Foerster.
6. On Isa_7:14. “The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. ‘God with us’ comprises God’s entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means ‘God-man’ (Mat_1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (Joh_1:11; Joh_1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuel’s work of the atonement (2Co_5:19; 1Ti_2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (Joh_17:23; Joh_17:26; Joh_14:19-21; Joh_14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Mat_28:20; Heb_7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (Joh_10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:3; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5).”—Wilh. Fried. Roos.
Isa_8:7. On Isa_8:5 sqq. “Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,—thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-days—such that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon ‘set their bushel by the bigger-heap.’ It is but the devil’s temptation over again: ‘I will give all this to thee.’ ”—Cramer.—“Fons Siloa,” etc. “The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.”—Calvin on Joh_9:7.
8. On Isa_8:10. “When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.”—Luther.—“Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.”—Cramer.
9. On Isa_8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1Pe_2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Mat_21:44).” Cramer.
10. On Isa_8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. “They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! … Christ says, Luke 16 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again Joh_5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2Ti_3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2Pe_1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent.” Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
Chap. 9–11. On Isa_9:1 sqq. (2). “Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was νομικὴ καὶ ἀπειλητική (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ παραμυθητική, (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church.” Foerster.
12. On Isa_9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him “a light to the gentiles,” Isa_42:6; Isa_49:6. The same Prophet says: “Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come,” Isa_60:1. And again Isa_9:19 : “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.” In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: “The life was the light of men,” Joh_1:4, “and the light shined in the darkness,” Joh_9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, Joh_9:8. “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” Joh_9:9. And further: “And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,” Joh_3:19. “I am the light of the world,” (Joh_8:12; Joh_9:5; comp. Joh_12:35).
13. On Isa_9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophet’s gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luk_1:76 sqq.
14. On Isa_9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion “child,” inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isa_7:10 sqq.; Isa_8:1 sqq.—“He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1Ti_1:15; Luk_2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Heb_2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Rom_5:15; Joh_3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word ‘to us’ to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.”—Cramer.—“Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or θεάνθρωπον? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet.” Foerster.
15. On Isa_9:5 (6). “You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office.” Luther.
16. On Isa_9:6. “Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight.” Augustine. “Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual.” Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to “a child is born,” and “a son is given,” Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. יֶלֶד: “respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, Joh_3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.”
“In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us.” The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him.” J. J. Rambach, Betracht. über das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.
On Isa_9:6 (7). “The government is on His shoulders.” “It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isa_46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers’ womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,—on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isa_46:1; Isa_46:7).”—Rambach. “In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following.” “All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). ” “He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Heb_2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hos_13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.”—Rambach.
17. On Isa_9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.
Isaiah 10-18. On Isa_10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). God’s quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.
19. On Isa_10:5-7. “God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.”—Heim and Hoffmann.
20. On Isa_10:5 sqq. “Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Co_12:9).—Luther.
21. On Isa_10:15. “Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isa_5:26; Isa_7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).”—Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.
22. On Isa_10:20-27. “In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.”—Diedrich.
Isaiah 11-23. On Isa_11:4. “The staff of His mouth.” “Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.”—Cramer.
24. On Isa_11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isa_11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to “the remnant of Israel,” in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isa_11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.
25. On Isaiah 11 “We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isa_11:1-5 were understood of Christ’s prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isa_11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isa_11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isa_11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isa_11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under God’s mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh.” Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.
Chap. 12–26. On Isa_12:4 sq. “These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely” (Psa_147:1). Cramer.
27. On Chap. 12 “With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm!” Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–12 PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4)
PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4)
Heading of the prophecy; (Isa 9:8-12), the first strophe.
Read full note →
unto Jacob--against the ten tribes [LOWTH].
lighted upon--fallen from heaven by divine revelation (Dan 4:31).
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 vv8–12 8. The Lord — Not Jehovah this time, but…
8. The Lord — Not Jehovah this time, but Adonai, the universal Lord and proprietor. — Furst.
Sent a word into Jacob — “Word,” is a direct revelation, by prophets and by Moses.
Read full note →
It… lighted upon Israel — Urgency of menace now enforces the broken divine law upon rebellious Israel.
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 vv8–12 8. Translate: A word hath the Lord sent into…
8. Translate: A word hath the Lord sent into Jacob and it shall light upon Israel. “The Word is in nature and history the messenger of the Lord” (Del.) cf. Psa_107:20; Psa_147:15; Psa_147:18; Isa_55:11. The “word” here is the following oracle, which has already been “sent,” and will “light” (cf. Dan_4:31) on Israel, bringing about its own fulfilment.
Jacob … Israel] here denote the Northern Kingdom, as is plain from the next verse.
Read full note →
8–12. The first strophe (Isa_9:8-10 being an introduction to the whole prophecy).
Chap. Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4 (+ Isa_5:25-30)
Jehovah’s hand stretched out in wrath over His people. An oracle against North Israel
The key-note of the prophecy is given in the recurrent refrain—Isa_9:12; Isa_9:17; Isa_9:21, Isa_10:4, Isa_5:25. (On the reasons for including ch. Isa_5:25-30 see on that passage.) It is the most artistically arranged of all Isaiah’s writings, being divided into regular strophes as follows:—
(i) Ch. Isa_9:8-12. The introduction (Isa_9:8-10) explains that the oracle concerns the inhabitants of Samaria, and points to the buoyant assurance and self-confidence which was the habitual temper of the Northern Kingdom. The prophet then enters on a review of the various calamities by which Jehovah had sought to bring the nation to repentance, the first of these being the aggressions of its powerful neighbours on the East and the West (Isa_9:11-12). This was the first stroke of Jehovah’s hand.
(ii) Isa_9:13-17. A second blow descends on the impenitent nation in some sudden disaster by which the state is bereft of its leaders, great and small (13–16); the condition of the people is then seen to be utterly corrupt, so that Jehovah withdraws His compassion even from the helpless widows and orphans (17).
(iii) Isa_9:18-21. The third visitation is a state of anarchy and internecine strife, which is described mainly in a succession of powerful and telling images. The nation is rent by the conflict of rival factions, the only bond of unity being a common hatred of Judah.
(iv) Ch. Isa_10:1-4. The fourth strophe opens with a “Woe” on the maladministration of the judges, which was always to Isaiah’s mind the chief symptom of a rotten republic (Isa_9:1-2). This is followed by an allusion to a day of slaughter in which the magnates shall vainly seek safety beneath the slain (3, 4).
[It is possible that another strophe originally stood here, the closing words of which are preserved in Isa_5:25.]
(v) Ch. Isa_5:26-30. The prediction of the Assyrian invasion forms, as has been already explained, the dénouement of this great drama of judgment. (For the exegesis, see on the passage above, pp. 40–42.) The refrain is of course dropped; Jehovah’s wrath is stayed, His hand is no longer stretched forth.
It is assumed in the foregoing analysis that the passage is in the main (down at least to the end of ch. 9) a retrospect of historical judgments; and this is the view naturally suggested by the tenses of the original, which are with few exceptions perfects, or the equivalents of perfects. A majority of commentators, however, taking the perfects as those of prophetic certainty, interpret the oracle as an ideal delineation of the stages of a judgment yet to come. And it is no doubt conceivable that the prophet might assume an ideal standpoint on the eve of the Assyrian invasion, regarding the preliminary chastisements as past, although they were in reality still future at the time of writing. But such a lavish and continuous use of the prophetic perfect would be unparalleled; and the change to the impf. at Isa_5:26 seems too significant to be explained on this hypothesis. It is, therefore, on the whole safer to assume that in Isa_9:8-21 the references are to past events, although it may not be possible in every case to specify the exact circumstances that are meant. A shorter oracle arranged on the principle here supposed is found in Amo_4:6-12.
The date of the prophecy is not easily determined. The most probable view is that it was composed just before the outbreak of the Syro-Ephraimitish war. A later date (though not perhaps impossible) is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the issues of that expedition, so disastrous to the Northern Kingdom, are not mentioned. The Assyrians, moreover, are described in terms so vaguely poetic as to suggest that they were as yet unknown to the Israelites at close quarters. Syria also is mentioned as the enemy of Israel, without any hint of an alliance between them; while it is thought by some that Isa_9:21 alludes to the incipient antagonism towards Judah which afterwards found vent in the invasion. None of these indications are very decisive, but there are none to neutralise them (see, however, on Isa_9:10-11 below); and the passage may at least be regarded provisionally as a product of the earliest period of Isaiah’s ministry.
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 vv8, 10, 11, 12 (8).The Lord sent a word into Jacob . .…
(8).The Lord sent a word into Jacob . . .—For “hath lighted” read it lighteth. A new section, though still closely connected with the historical occasion of Isaiah 7, begins. The vision of the glory of the far-off king comes to an end, and the prophet returns to the more immediate surroundings of his time. The “word” which Jehovah sends is the prophetic message that follows. It is a question whether the terms “Jacob” and “Israel” stand in the parallelism of identity or contrast, but the use of the former term in Isa_2:3; Isa_2:5-6, makes the former use more probable. In this case both names stand practically for the kingdom of Judah as the true representative of Israel, the apostate kingdom of the Ten Tribes being no longer worthy of the name, and therefore described here, as in Isa_7:5; Isa_7:8; Isa_7:17, simply as Ephraim. The occasion of the prophecy is given in Isa_9:9. Pekah, the king of Ephraim, was still confident in his strength, and in spite of his partial failure, and the defeat of his ally (2Ki_16:9), derided the prophet’s prediction.
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 vv8–12 Vers. 8-21. THE PROPHET RETURNS TO THREATS AND WARNINGS,…
Vers. 8-21. THE PROPHET RETURNS TO THREATS AND WARNINGS, ADDRESSED CHIEFLY TO THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. The remainder of this chapter, together with the first four verses of the next, seems to have formed originally a distinct and separate prophecy. The passage is a poem in four stanzas, with the same refrain at the end of each: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." A somewhat early date has been assigned to the prophecy, as; for instance, "some period in the reign of Jotham" (Cheyne); but the internal evidence only proves that it was written before the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians.
Jacob... Israel. These words do not show that the prophecy is directed against the kingdom of Israel only. "Jacob" designates Judah rather than Israel in Isa_2:3, Isa_2:5, Isa_2:6; and the expression, "both the houses of Israel," in Isa_8:14, shows that the term "Israel" embracesboth kingdoms. Tim distinctive names by which Isaiah ordinarily designates the northern kingdom are "Ephraim" and "Samaria.
Read full note →
Vers. 8-21. Persistent impenitence brings repeated chastisements.
One would naturally expect that so weak a creature as man, when chastised by the Divine anger, would readily and at once humble himself under the almighty hand of God," accept the chastisement as deserved, and entreat for mercy and forgiveness. But, weak as he is, man is unwilling to acknowledge his weakness, and, faulty as he is, dislikes nothing so much as acknowledging his faults. God"s judgments he will net allow to be judgments, but attributes them to any cause but God; as, for instance,
(1) to his own mistakes;
(2) to accident or chance;
(3) to fate;
(4) to some combination of circumstances not likely to recur.
God brought upon Israel four great chastisements, placing intervals between them, so that after each they might have repented and turned to him, had they so willed. But they would not. These chastisements were
I THE ASSYRIAN INVASION UNDER TIGLATH-PILESER. This was a comparatively "light affliction," as God"s earlier judgments commonly are. It fell, not on the whole land, but only on a portion land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali;" and it resulted in the loss, not of national life or national independence, but only of a province or two not very highly valued. "Galilee of the Gentiles" was overrun and annexed by Assyria; but Ephraim and Manasseh, the great tribes which formed the heart of the nation, were untouched. Still, the invasion was a warning which a wise nation would have taken to heart. When dismemberment begins, it is apt to be continued; each fresh act of spoliation is easier than the last. And the aggressor is encouraged by his success, and tempted to repeat his aggression. But Israel was not wise. She consoled herself by "pride and stoutness of heart," making light of her losses, and boasting that she would easily repair them (ver. 10). Her pride and impenitence provoked God to inflict a second chastisement.
II THE COMBINED PHILISTINE AND SYRIAN ATTACK. Of this we know no more than what is told us in the present chapter. Attack was made "before" and "behind from the east and from the west. Jehovah "joined the enemies of Israel together" (ver. 11), and caused them to make a combined, or at any rate a simultaneous, invasion. Both enemies were formidable, and Israel was unable to meet either with her full force. Consequently they were successful, and "devoured Israel with open mouth." Could not this second chastisement arouse the nation from its mistaken feeling of security, and bring it to cast itself down before God? Alas! no. The people "turned not to him that had smitten them, neither did they seek the Lord of hosts" (ver. 13). The result was that a third chastisement fell.
III THE INTERNAL ANARCHY AND DISTURBANCE. Hostility to the kindred tribe of Judah lay at the base of Israel"s existence as a nation, and was cherished by statesmen as a patriotic feeling. But it was impossible to keep the feeling as closely confined as statesmen would have wished. Within Israel itself one tribe grew jealous of another; and, under the diminished strength of the central authority caused by the external troubles of the time, jealousy led on to open conflict, "no man sparing his brother" (ver. 19). As Rome perished by her own strength, when faction became arrayed against faction in the forum and the field, so it seems to have been with Israel. Internal quarrel supervened upon foreign attack; and the weakened state, when a fresh assault from without came, necessarily succumbed to it. Repentance, even at this advanced hour, might have caused God to avert the danger and turn the current of Assyrian conquest in some other direction; but once more, there was no submission, no sign of any change of heart. And at last the dread fiat went forth for Samaria"s final destruction. The fourth and last chastisement was
IV THE CONQUEST OF SAMARIA, AND CARRYING AWAY OF ISRAEL INTO CAPTIVITY, BY THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SHALMANESER AND SARGON. The same instrument, Assyria, was employed for the first chastisement and the last. Shalmaneser, the successor of Tiglath-Pileser, towards the middle of his short reign, having "found conspiracy in Hoshea who-had murdered Pekah and succeeded him up throughout all the land of Israel, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years". (2Ki_17:5) At the end of the three years the city fell, about the same time (B.C. 722) that Sargon, having murdered Shahnaneser at Nineveh, caused himself to be proclaimed supreme ruler of the Assyrian empire. Sargon, following a recognized Assyrian practice, deported the principal part of the population, and settled it partly in Upper Mesopotamia, partly in the cities of Media. (2Ki_17:6) The life of the nation thus came to an end. God had borne with it for two centuries and a half tried it, tested it, sent it prophets and seers, (2Ki_17:13) chastened it, corrected it; but all in vain. Notwithstanding all that he could do and did, "they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, and rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, and left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger". (2Ki_17:14-17) Nothing, therefore, remained but to "remove them out of his sight to sweep them away with the besom of destruction.
The fate of Israel is a warning, primarily, to nations; but also, secondarily, to individuals. God lays his chastisements on them too, for the purpose of bringing them to repentance. If they resist and are impenitent, he follows up blow with blow. If they remain obdurate, he breaks their pride and crushes them.
Vers. 8-12. The evil spirit of defiance.
The spirit which is here rebuked is that of a guilty defiance of God. Jehovah had visited Israel with the signs of his displeasure had humbled and impoverished her. What attitude should she now assume? That of humility and amendment? Nothing was further from her mind. She would contend in her own strength against her fate, against the Lord who had abased her; she would show to him the futility of his correction. The bricks might be fallen down; it was of no consequence they would build with hewn stones. The sycamores were felled; it was all the better they would put cedars in their place (ver. 10). They would, in their proud independence, convert Divine chastisements into a national advantage. Thus they breathed the very spirit of defiance. Respecting this arrogant temper, we mark
I ITS COMMON COURSE.
1. First comes some serious departure from God or from his service on the part of the nation, the Church, the family, or the individual man.
2. Then comes the Divine correction. This may be in the form of prophetic, or parental, or pastoral rebuke, or of some serious reverse in temporal affairs, or of bodily sickness, or of painful bereavement.
3. Then comes the resentment and revolt of the human will against the Divine. Instead of hearkening, heeding, and repenting, the nation (or the individual) determines to act in a spirit of defiance. In its (his) own strength, it will rise above its present circumstances; it will make good its position; it will brave the worst perils; it will endure extremest hardships, the greatest losses; it will turn its fallen bricks into massive stones that will not fall; it will exchange its feeble sycamores that are cut down for strong cedars which the wildest gales will spare.
II ITS GUILT. The guilt of cherishing such a spirit is of a very aggravated character.
1. It goes beyond the ordinary sin of inattention. To be heedless when God is speaking, by whatever voice he may address us, is surely iniquitous enough; but to act in deliberate defiance of the Almighty is, by many degrees, worse.
2. It amounts to a positive rebelliousness on the part of the human will against that of the Divine. It is man resolving that, with his puny strength, he will match himself against his Maker and will prevail. It is sin which Contains the elements of insubmission, determined opposition, arrogance.
III ITS FOLLY. In the case of Israel it was to be followed with fearful penalty. That guilty nation was
(1) to be pressed on every hand by its enemies (ver. 12);
(2) to be devoured by them (ver. 12);
(3) to be prepared for still impending miseries: "For all this," etc. (ver. 12).
The nation (or the individual) that indulges in this evil spirit of defiance will find, in time, what a disastrous mistake it (he) has made. For the defiance of God
(1) shuts out immeasurable good whoso hearkens when God reproves, and, heeding his voice, returns in penitence to his side and his service, begins an upward path which leads to the heavenly hills; but it also
(2) shuts in to unimaginable woes. We may let the words of the text (ver. 12) suggest the form they take.
1. Inextricable difficulty. The being surrounded on every hand by enemies; for sin leads on and down to cruel captivities of many kinds, from which the soul struggles vainly to disengage itself.
2. Waste. The being devoured by adversaries; time lost; strength impaired; the soul ravaged; reputation despoiled.
3. Fear of the future. A dread of the outstretched hand of Divine retribution which has more strokes to deal. 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 vv10–12 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build…
Isa_9:10
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones
Read full note →
A drinking song
It has been conjectured that these words are a fragment of a drinking song actually sung in Ephraim.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Israels presumption
In the first strophe Isaiah depicted the
Ephraimites proud superiority to danger, and their placid, assurance after defeat: The bricks, they say, are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place: no sooner, in other words, has one scheme miscarried than they are prepared with a more magnificent one to take its place; no sooner is one dynasty overthrown than another rises in its stead. The proverb gives apt expression to the temper habitually displayed by the northern kingdom. (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)
The sycamore
The commonest tree in the lowlands of Palestine, by the
Mediterranean Sea (1Ki_10:27). (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)
Beautiful words of varying import
There cannot be two opinions about the beauty of these words. What, then, will be your surprise, when you find that they express nothing more than a wicked thought on the part of
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria? This circumstance gives us our first point. Noble mottoes may be written upon unworthy banners. Religious words may be pronounced by irreligious lips. We must always look at the surroundings of a circumstance in order to understand its full value. Every circumstance, like every globe, has an atmosphere of its own, hence the wisdom of looking at the context as well as at the text itself. How needful it is to inquire into the surroundings of anything that may charm us. If you have seen a man in church, his mouth opened in praise, his head inclined in prayer, surely you have a right to argue from that individual circumstance to the whole circle and bearing of his daily life. It is impossible that a man can have bowed his head in prayer, and then allow the devil to roam through the whole circle of his intellect, there to inspire evil thoughts. He cannot allow anything that is mean and unworthy to touch and debase the life that has been consecrated by prayer. You know how fallacious would be such reasoning! But the rule should be applied impartially, and therefore I hasten with the noblest interpretation which my judgment can approve to those who may have been caught in some moment of evil passion. Surely a man is not a bad man utterly because he has once been in high excitement. If the one little beauty does not redeem the whole sterile place, in the midst of which it was found, surely the one act of evil cannot spoil the whole paradise of the life, and blight a heart beautiful as a garden in summer. We may learn from these words that wickedness is not mitigated by the beauty of the language in which it is expressed. Is there anything lovelier in all the universe, possible to the inspired imagination, than poetry, painting, and music? Do they not carry with them all elements of beauty and all qualities of high and noble strength. Yet even they have been uncrowned, robbed of their nobleness, and bound down to do menial work in the devils service. Let me guard the young, therefore, along this line. They will come from certain places and will say, the music was so beautiful! No doubt of it. They will come again and say, the whole scene was so lovely! No one questions its loveliness. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars,--what language, what music could be more beautiful! And yet through this beautiful speech, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria indicated their ambitious purpose to thwart the God of the universe! What would you say if I told you that this hand of mine was the hand of an assassin, but yet pleaded for it because of the jewel which flashed upon its fingers! Would you kiss a hand so decorated? Now, take the other view, and let us imagine beautiful words expressing a beautiful purpose. Then we shall have the wedlock which God loves. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Building with hewn stone
There are three classes of you who are building with bricks, and I will ask you if you had not better build with hewn stones.
1. Take those who make good vows limited by time. There are many such. A man, for example, has said to his father, I promise I will go to church once a week, for twelve months. It is very good so far as it goes, but it is building with bricks, not with hewn stones. A young man has said, Give me thin paper, and I will pledge myself to abstain from everything that can intoxicate for six months. Very good. I do not pour contempt upon such a resolution; so far as it goes, it is good. But the very limitation of the vow is a source of weakness. Thus--for the first few days you are strong in your purpose, but gradually you begin to count the days that you have yet to serve. The last week comes, and the vow is like a pale figure gradually disappearing; the last day but one comes, where then is the vow? tomorrow you say you will be free. Free what to do? To become a slave again! Now I want you to change that brick wall of temporary resolution for the hewn stone of an eternal vow.
2. Then there is another class building with bricks instead of hewn stones, namely, those who are inspired by inadequate motives. Where the motive is insufficient, conduct must go down. We live in motive. When the motive force fails the machinery must of necessity stand still There is a man who says he will do a certain thing to obtain a reward. That mans virtue is only suppressed vice. He who will do a good thing simply because he will earn a reward, will do a bad thing if you double the premium. The motive is insufficient, and the last state of that man will be worse than the first. Others will come to church to please an admirer. That is not church going. Would that I could speak in sufficiently forceful language to the young about this! Where the motive of church going is inadequate it will always be intermittent, and in the end it will expire. If you go to church because you love to be there, and would have Sunday doubled in its golden hours, then you will always be strong in your religious attachments, affections, and convictions. Then there are those who attempt to do right in order to escape a penalty. This is an insufficient motive. I know that fear plays a very important part in the constitution of the human mind, and in the direction of human conduct. But man can outlive fear. Man can become accustomed to the unexpected. There is but one true motive--a hearty love of God!
3. Then there is the third class to which I refer,--those who have not calculated the full force and weight of temptation. When you build a house, you build for the roughest day in the whole year. That should be the sovereign rule, in the building of the life house. The ship that left for the United States yesterday, probably took out three or fourfold the necessary provisions, according to the season of the year, and probably took out coal sufficient for a double journey. Why this excess? Why take more than is needed for the ten days voyage? Because of the unforeseen. If, therefore, in such things men make such arrangements, they condemn themselves--I do not hesitate to say the word--as fools, if they leave the spiritual life and the spiritual destiny without more than a transient consideration. Herein is the glory of Christianity, that it builds with hewn stones. Christs Gospel is full of soundness, life, and indestructible virility. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Wise lessons from wicked lips
Jesus said, The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, meaning by the statement that they excel them in the shrewdness and tact with which they manage their business when that has taken an adverse turn. Men of the world do not readily submit to defeat and failure, but strive to convert defeat into victory, and failure into success. Of this the text affords illustration.
I. These children of this world PROCEED WITH A DEFINED PURPOSE, and in this are worthy of imitation. The bricks mentioned as having fallen down were not a heap of burned clay which had got piled up, no one could tell how. They had been built by human hands, and the builders had heads as well as hands. We are not told what sort of buildings they were which Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria had constructed, and which had fallen down. They may have been dwelling houses, or a temple, round which the sycamores would be planted for groves in which idolatrous Israel worshipped the gods of her own evil devising and choice, and for which she had forsaken the God of her fathers. But let this be as it may, now that the bricks had fallen, and the sycamores were out down, in making up their minds as to what should be done--being anxious to repair the ruin and desolation--they proceed with a defined purpose. The architect precedes the builder: the head leads the hand. So when they set to work they know what they are about. Now, the same principle should underlie the building up of all Christian character and work. Knowledge and zeal should ever be in partnership.
II. These children of the world WERE INSPIRED WITH HOPEFULNESS, and, therefore, are worthy of imitation. Their bricks fell down, but their spirits fell not into the pit of despair. Their sycamores were cut down, but their ambition was not. Is not that the spirit of the world today as then? In 1865 men said England and America shall be connected by the electric telegraph, and they went to work. But the cable snapped, and for the present the enterprise failed. Were the promoters daunted, and persuaded that their scheme was beyond the reach of possible things? No, not they. The next year saw them again at their work, and saw not only a new cable successfully laid, but the broken one, searched for in the great wilderness of waters, at length found, after which it was lost and found again several times over, until the 2 nd September, when it was at last secured, and the following telegram flashed along its wire. I have much pleasure in speaking to you through the 1865 cable. So the Christian ought to be hopeful. You have fallen! Say, I will rise again. Your schemes have failed! Say, I will try again. You are afraid you have laboured in vain! Say, In labours I will be more abundant. You have stormed the citadel of indwelling passion and evil, and still you have to confess, The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do. Say again, By the grace of God I shall meet my spiritual foes. Have you with earnest soul entered the Holy of holies, desirous to know the deep things of God, and where you expected light, lo! great darkness; and where you sought for peace, and sunshine, and beauty, and harmony, lo! seeming contradiction, the howling waste, cloud, and storm? You searched for a way out of your intellectual doubts and difficulties, and behold mystery has added itself to mystery. Still hope thou in God.
III. These children of this world SHOW A SPIRIT OF INDUSTRIOUS PERSEVERANCE, and are therefore worthy of imitation. Their hands responded to the impulse of their hearts. They dreamed not that by mere wishing their ruined walls would rise again, or their gardens, laid waste, would blossom with the rose, and be made beautiful with the cedar. The moral here is plain. Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord (so hoping to enter), shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father. Hoping will not do everything. It must be backed by earnest effort.
IV. These children of the world IMPROVE MATTERS, and are, therefore, worthy of imitation. These tumble down buildings were, after all, but brick; but now they would build, not with bricks, but with hewn stones. Around them had flourished the sycamores, but now that these were cut down, they would plant no more sycamores. They would do better than that; they would plant cedars. In three different places (1Ki_10:27; 2Ch_1:15; 2Ch_9:27) the value of the sycamore as compared with the cedar is given as the value of stones compared to that of silver. Such is the spirit of the world. Is not this the spirit which ought to animate us Never to rest satisfied with present attainments in self-culture or success in our work. (A. Scott.)
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 vv8–10 Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4. But His hand is stretched out…
THE OUTSTRETCHED HAND OF GOD
Isa_9:8 to Isa_10:4. But His hand is stretched out still.
Read full note →
Much is said in the Bible concerning the hand of God [926] Consider what the hand is to man: it is the chief instrument by which he executes his purposes,—farmer, builder, artist, author, &c.; and by the hand of God is meant His executive force in all its varied forms. God has the means of doing all His will, and He is not an unconcerned spectator of human affairs—these truths inspire God’s people with hope, courage, and joy; and they ought to inspire with terror all who are in rebellion against Him. His hand is outstretched, not for, but against them; His irresistible executive forces are certain to be put forth for their overthrow. Alike for the warning of those whose lives are not governed according to the Divine will, and for the exciting of holy watchfulness in those who are trying to obey that will in all things, let us study this prophecy for the purpose of discovering.
[926] It is so vast that the mighty ocean lies in the hollow of it (Isa_40:12). It is a hand of power and skill, for by it the foundations of the earth were laid; and all the wondrous hosts of heaven fashioned (Isa_48:13; Isa_66:2). In it our life is (Dan_5:23). When He opens it, His creatures are filled with good, and all their desires are satisfied (Psa_104:28; Psa_145:16). By it the Good Shepherd feeds, guides, and protects His sheep (Psa_95:7). It is a good hand, helping all who are trying to serve God (Ezr_8:22; Neh_2:18). It is a mighty hand, delivering His people (Exo_13:3). It is a hand that controls those who control others (Pro_21:1). Even the shadow of it is sufficient protection (Isa_51:16). It is a heavy hand when it rests upon His people in chastisement (Job_19:21), and still more so when it rests upon the wicked in punishment (1Sa_5:11). It is outstretched to fight against His enemies (Jer_21:5).
I. The reasons why God’s hand is outstretched in anger. Reminding you that this is not an exhaustive statement of those reasons, and that no man is necessarily safe merely because his conduct is not here specifically described, I point out that among the things that put men in the most extreme peril of destruction by their Creator are—
1. Oppression (Isa_10:1-2.).
2. Hypocrisy (Isa_9:17.).
3. Stubbornness under Divine chastisements (Isa_9:9-10.).
II. The effects of the outstretching of God’s hand in anger. These are terrible, increasing, continuous.
III. The mode of escape for those against whom God’s hand is stretched out in anger. Not defiance, but submission and repentance (Isa_9:13).
IV. Let us note with reverent and thankful wonder, that against the wicked God’s hand is long stretched out; that it does not, as it so easily might, come down upon them instantly with destructive force. What a proof we have here that, while He is inflexibly righteous, He is tenderly pitiful! And what an encouragement we have here to return to Him with penitence of heart! [932]
[932] H. E. I. 2286.
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.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v8 Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of Israel
Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of Israel
This section relates throughout to the kingdom of Israel. It belongs to the same period as the chapters immediately preceding, and treats of the ruin which Isaiah foresaw would shortly overtake the kingdom of the Ten Tribes: cp. Isa_7:16; Isa_8:4. The prophet traces the fall of Israel to the moral and social condition of its people. His prophecy was speedily fulfilled in the conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrian armies. The prophecy falls into four parts, each closing with the refrain, 'For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.' As the same phrase occurs in Isa_5:25, many commentators are of opinion that the short section Isa_5:25-30 is connected in date and subject with this prophecy.
Read full note →
Isa_9:8-21. Because of its pride and self-confidence foes are stirred up against Israel on all hands, and sudden calamity shall overtake it, followed by internal anarchy.
Isa_10:1-4. The kingdom being hopelessly corrupt cannot stand when attacked.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv8, 12 Jacob (See Scofield "Gen 32:28").
Jacob (See Scofield "Gen 32:28").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 Jehovah’s Hand Stretched our in Judgment
Jehovah’s Hand Stretched our in Judgment
v. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, a warning against His people, and it hath lighted upon Israel, falling from heaven like a morsel intended for the whole nation. God revealed His intention to His servant, and by the preaching of the prophet it reached the place for which it was intended.
Read full note →
v. 9. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, the northern kingdom with its capital being emphatically mentioned first, as being leaders in disobedience and haughtiness, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
v. 10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars, that is, they intended to replace their former lowly dwellings of dried clay and the cheap wood of the sycamore fig-tree by splendid palaces of stone and costly cedar-wood. It is the height of presumption and blasphemous pride if men scorn the punishment of the Lord.
v. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, namely, the Assyrians, who, according to God’s plan, conquered Syria and then advanced upon the northern kingdom, and join his enemies together, rather, Jehovah will stir up Ephraim’s enemies against him;
v. 12. the Syrians before, for as allies of the Assyrians they would attack Israel from the east, and the Philistines behind, for these ancient enemies made use of every opportunity to wreak vengeance upon Israel and Judah, Cf 2Ch 28:16-19; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, eating with a full mouth, pillaging the land almost to the point of destruction. Thus the Lord punishes the pride of unrepentant sinners. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. The misfortunes here described were but the beginning of the great destruction which would strike the entire nation for its disobedience, and so the Lord would not withdraw His chastening hand.
v. 13. For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. The object of His punishment, therefore, is not realized, they refuse to repent of their sins and thus give Him a new cause for punishing them.
v. 14. Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, in wreaking His final vengeance upon the rebellious people, head and tail, branch and rush, in one day, in one great destruction. The prophet explains the figure used in this connection:
v. 15. The ancient and honorable, the princes and nobles of the people, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. The false prophets considered themselves leaders among the people, but they are here told, with bitter irony, that they are morally the basest of the people, the vilest part of the nation.
v. 16. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, thereby showing themselves utterly unfit for leadership; and they that are led of them are destroyed, literally, "swallowed up," namely, by the error and its peril, just as the humble rush must perish if submerged and covered with a flood of filthy water.
v. 17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, the All-powerful, who formerly granted success to the arms of Israel’s young men, would withdraw His assistance, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows, who formerly had been the special objects of His fostering care; for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer; that is, corrupt, atrociously bad, inclined to every form of wickedness, and every mouth speaketh folly, blasphemous foolishness and villainy. And so once more the warning cry rings forth: For all this His anger Is not turned away, but His hand Is stretched out still, ready to apply further punishment.
v. 18. For wickedness burneth as the fire, challenging God to continue in His course of punishment, bringing forth its own destruction; it shall devour the briers and thorns, the great mass of the lowly people, who have become weeds and thistles on the face of the earth, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, of the standing timber, of the upper classes of Israel, and they shall mount up, the fire lifting them up in a heavy column, like the lifting up of smoke. Thus the fire of God’s wrath, growing out of the nation’s wickedness, would bring destruction upon the entire people, the picture being that of a devastating forest-fire.
v. 19. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, burned out to ashes, utterly destroyed, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire, to be devoured without mercy; no man shall spare his brother, for selfishness takes account only of its own safety, disregarding all considerations of charity, patriotism, and kinship.
v. 20. And he (impersonal subject), that is, every man, shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, like a beast snapping in every direction; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, the members of his own family and tribe:
v. 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and Epraim, Manasseh, in a form of civil war in which every man’s hand would be turned against his neighbor; and they together shall be against Judah, for the hatred which obtained between Israel and Judah continued in the nation even as late as the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, when their murderous selfishness reached its climax. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still; for if sinners will not heed His warning here in time, His destruction will be upon them throughout eternity.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 11 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it…
The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it fell on Israel
"Send a word" means to speak. AT: "The Lord has spoken against the people of Israel" (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
Jacob ... Israel ... Ephraim ... Samaria
These names all refer to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel.
All the people will know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria
What they will know can be made explicit. AT: "All the people will know that the Lord has judged them, even those in Ephraim and Samaria" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with chiseled stone; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place
The full meaning can be made explicit. This can be stated in active form. AT: "We will replace the common bricks of our destroyed cities with expensive cut stone, and we will plant great cedar trees where ordinary sycamore trees grew" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)
translationWords
lord
word
Jacob
Israel
people group
Ephraim
Samaria
proud
arrogant
heart
cedar
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 vv8, 10, 11 9:8-12 This prophecy of judgment was against the northern…
9:8-12 This prophecy of judgment was against the northern kingdom of Israel. Despite God’s message that the Assyrians would crush them (chs 7–8), the people of Samaria were foolishly confident that they could withstand the siege.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.