Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 5:17
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
17. The obverse of the picture in Isa 5:14. The city, with all its tumult and gaiety, has vanished into the underworld, and now flocks are seen grazing amidst the ruins, an image of awful desolation rather than of “idyllic peace.”
Then shall the lambs manner ] And lambs shall grate as in their pasture (R.V.). strangers ] sojourners perhaps “nomadic shepherds.” But the reading of the LXX. ( = lambs) can be explained by a slight change in the text and is on some grounds to be preferred.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then shall the lambs feed – This verse is very variously interpreted. Most of the Hebrew commentators have followed the Chaldee interpretation, and have regarded it as desired to console the pious part of the people with the assurance of protection in the general calamity. The Chaldee is, Then the just shall feed, as it is said, to them; and they shall be multiplied, and shall possess the property of the inpious. By this interpretation, lambs are supposed, as is frequently the case in the Scriptures, to represent the people of God. But according to others, the probable design of the prophet is, to denote the state of utter desolation that was coming upon the nation. Its cities, towns, and palaces would be destroyed, so as to become a vast pasturage where the flocks would roam at pleasure.
After their manner – Hebrew, According to their word, that is, under their own command, or at pleasure. They would go where they pleased without being obstructed by fences.
And the waste places of the fat ones – Most of the ancient interpreters suppose, that the waste places of the fat ones here refer to the desolate habitations of the rich people; in the judgments that should come upon the nation, they would become vacant, and strangers would come in and possess them. This is the sense given by the Chaldee. The Syriac translates it, And foreigners shall devour the ruins which are yet to be restored. If this is the sense, then it accords with the first interpretation suggested of the previous verse – that the pious should be fed, and that the proud should be desolate, and their property pass into the hands of strangers. By others (Gesenius, etc.), it is supposed to mean that strangers, or foreigners, would come in, and fatten their cattle in the desert places of the nation. The land would be so utterly waste, that they would come there to fatten their cattle in the rank and wild luxuriancy that would spontaneously spring up. This sense will suit the connection of the passage; but there is some difficulty in making it out from the Hebrew. The Hebrew which is rendered the waste places of the fat ones, may, however, be translated the deserts that are rich – rank – luxuriant. The word stranger denotes foreigners; or those who are not permanent dwellers in the land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. The lambs – “And the kids”] gerim, “strangers.” The Septuagint read, more agreeably to the design of the prophet, carim, , “the lambs.” gedayim, “the kids,” Dr. Durell; nearer to the present reading: and so Archbishop Secker. The meaning is, their luxurious habitations shall be so entirely destroyed as to become a pasture for flocks.
After their manner – “Without restraint”] kedobram, secundum duetum eorum; i.e. suo ipsorum ductu; as their own will shall lead them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then; when God shall have finished that work of judgment upon the ungodly, he will extend mercy to a remainder. This is very usual in this prophet, in the midst of his threatenings, to insert something for the support of believers.
The lambs; the poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land when the rich are carried into captivity, as it fell out, 2Ki 25:12.
Feed after their manner; or, by their fold, as this word is manifestly used, Mic 2:12, the only place of Scripture, except this, in which this word is found. The waste places; the lands left by their owners, who were either slain or carried into captivity.
Of the fat ones; of the rich and great men, so called Psa 22:29; 78:31; Isa 10:16.
Strangers; the poor Israelites, who were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, 2Ki 25:12, who are called strangers, because they were so in reference to that land, not being the proper owners of it, nor related to them; as the Israelites of other tribes are called strangers, in opposition to the Levites, as Num 1:51, and elsewhere; yea, and the Levites are so called, in opposition to the seed of Aaron, Num 16:40.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. after their mannerliterally,”according to their own word,” that is, at will.Otherwise, as in their own pasture [GESENIUS]:so the Hebrew in Mic 2:12.The lands of the Scenite tent dwellers (Jer35:7). Arab shepherds in the neighborhood shall roam at large,the whole of Judea being so desolate as to become a vast pasturage.
waste . . . fat onesthedeserted lands of the rich (“fat,” Ps22:29), then gone into captivity; “strangers,” that is,nomad tribes shall make their flocks to feed on [MAURER].Figuratively, “the lambs” are the pious, “the fatones” the impious. So tender disciples of Jesus Christ (Joh21:15) are called “lambs”; being meek, harmless, poor,and persecuted. Compare Eze 39:18,where the fatlings are the rich and great (1Co 1:26;1Co 1:27). The “strangers”are in this view the “other sheep not of the” the Jewish”fold” (Joh 10:16),the Gentiles whom Jesus Christ shall “bring” to bepartakers of the rich privileges (Ro11:17) which the Jews (“fat ones,” Eze34. 16) fell from. Thus “after their (own) manner” willexpress that the Christian Church should worship God in freedom,released from legal bondage (Joh 4:23;Gal 5:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner,…. That is, the people of God, the disciples of Christ, either apostles and ministers of the Gospel, whom he sent forth as lambs among wolves,
Lu 10:3 who fed the flock of Christ after their usual manner, and as directed by him; even with knowledge and understanding, by the ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances; or the people of God fed by them, who are comparable to lambs for their harmlessness and innocence; and who feed in green pastures, “according as they are led”; as the word used may be rendered f; or “according to their word”; the doctrine of the ministers of the Gospel, by whom they are instructed and directed to feed on Christ, as he is held forth in the word and ordinances. The Targum is,
“and the righteous shall be fed as is said of them;”
and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the righteous:
and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat; that is, the Gentiles, who are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise; the other sheep that were not of the Jewish fold, Eph 2:12 these shall come in the room of the fat ones of the land of Judea, the rulers, elders, Scribes, and Pharisees; and feed on those pastures which were despised and left desolate by them; enjoy the Gospel they put away from them, and the ordinances of it, which they rejected. The Targum is,
“and they shall be multiplied, and the substance of the ungodly shall the righteous possess.”
f “juxta ductum suum”, Montanus, Vatablus; “juxta verbum ipsorum”, Forerius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And when we consider that the Holy Land is at the present time an extensive pasture-ground for Arab shepherds, and that the modern Jerusalem which has arisen from the dust is a Mohammedan city, we may see in this also a literal fulfilment of Isa 5:17: “And lambs feed as upon their pasture, and nomad shepherds eat the waste places of the fat ones.” There is no necessity to supply an object to the verb , as Knobel and others assume, viz., the waste lands mentioned in the second clause; nor is C edabram to be taken as the object, as Caspari supposes; but the place referred to is determined by the context: in the place where Jerusalem is sunken, there lambs feed after the manner of their own pasture-ground, i.e., just as if they were in their old accustomed pasture ( dober , as in Mic 2:12, from dabar , to drive). The lambs intended are those of the garim mentioned in the second clause. The garim themselves are men leading an unsettled, nomad, or pilgrim life; as distinguished from gerim , strangers visiting, or even settled at a place. The lxx have , so that they must have read either C arim or gedaim , which Ewald, Knobel, and others adopt. But one feature of the prophecy, which is sustained by the historical fulfilment, is thereby obliterated. Charboth m echim are the lands of those that were formerly marrowy, i.e., fat and strutting about in their fulness; which lands had now become waste places. Knobel’s statement, that acal is out of place in connection with garim , is overthrown by Isa 1:7, to which he himself refers, though he makes he-goats the subject instead of men. The second woe closes with Isa 5:17. It is the longest of all. This also serves to confirm the fact that luxury was the leading vice of Judah in the time of Uzziah-Jotham, as it was that of Israel under Jeroboam II (see Amo 6:1-14, where the same threat is held out).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17. And the lambs shall feed after their manner. Some render it according to their measure, or, in proportion to their capacity, but it means in the usual manner. There are various ways of explaining this verse; but we ought first of all to observe that the Prophet intended to bring consolation to the godly, who trembled at hearing the dreadful judgments of God; for the more powerfully a man is under the influence of religion, the more does he feel the presence of the hand of God, and the more is he impressed by the apprehension of his judgment. In short, fear and reverence for God cause us to be deeply moved by everything that is presented to us in his name.
Accordingly, after having heard such dreadful threatenings, they must have fainted, if this consolation had not been added as a seasoning, to give them a taste of the mercy of God. It is customary with the prophets always to pay attention to the godly, and to support their minds. “Although, therefore,” says Isaiah, “it may seem as if God were about to destroy the whole nation, still he will show himself to be a faithful shepherd to his lambs, and will feed them in his usual manner.”
This is one object; but it was also the intention of the Prophet to repress the haughtiness of the nobles, who oppressed with unjust tyranny the godly and poor, and yet boasted that they were the Church of God. He reminds them, therefore, that it is an idle and false boasting, when they assume the designation of God’s flock; for they are goats, not lambs. Not only will God have it in his power to feed his flock, when the goats have been cut off, but it will never fare well with the lambs till they have been separated from the goats.
And the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. There is a still greater diversity here among commentators; but I consider the true meaning to be, that the children of God, banished and treated as foreigners for a time, will regain their lost rights, and will then obtain those places which have been laid waste, or reduced to desolation by the fat ones, that is, by the proud and cruel men who had seized their property. For he calls the children of God strangers who would be exiles for a time, and by waste places, or forsaken places, he means those possessions which they had relinquished, and which others had seized. He refers to a custom well known and exceedingly common, which is, that if any one possess fields or houses, he keeps his hand, as it were, stretched over them, so that no one will venture to touch a clod; but if he forsake them they are seized. The people, therefore, had forsaken the possessions from which they had been expelled, so far as to despair of being ever able to regain them; so that they might justly be called forsaken places, with respect to themselves, and forsaken places of the fat ones, because they had been possessed by the mighty and powerful. We may, indeed, view the expression more simply as denoting forsaken fat places, but it is more probable that by the fat ones are meant tyrants.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Then shall the lambs feed after their manner.Better, feed even as on their pasture. The meaning is clear enough. The lands that have been gained by oppression shall, in the day of retribution, become common pasture ground instead of being reserved for the parks and gardens of the rich; and strangersi.e., invaders, Philistines, Assyrians, or nomadic tribesshall devour the produce (Isa. 1:7). Possibly, however, the lambs may stand for the poor and meek, as in contrast with the fat ones of the earth. The LXX. version follows a different reading in the second clause, and gives kids instead of strangers.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Then In the day when Jehovah is “sanctified” by Israel.
Lambs any body’s flocks (defined in the next parallel member of the verse) shall feed after their manner, that is, at their pleasure, (literally, at or according to their word,) over the fields of restored Israel. In other words, they shall feed as in their own pasture.
Strangers Nomadic tribes, Gentiles, the present Arabs, and any others who shall be their successors.
The “strangers” are allowed to eat only the waste places of the fat ones of God’s true Israel.
Third woe upon the energetic and defiant transgressors, 18, 19.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 5:17. Then shall the lambs feed, &c. Vitringa is of opinion, that this verse refers to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, who, seeing and deploring the destruction of the Jews, should rest safely under the protection of God; while, according to the next clause, the Gentiles should be brought into the communion of the church, and rejoice in those benefits, prerogatives, and privileges, whereof the carnal, rich, and luxurious Jews were deprived. See Joh 10:16. If this interpretation should not be approved, the verse may signify in general, that while severe judgments should fall upon the wicked, the righteous should enjoy the full protection of God, their great shepherd.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 5:17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
Ver. 17. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, ] i.e., Freely and quietly. By lambs here understand the godly poor – those lambs with golden fleeces – who shall be graciously provided for.
And the waste places of the fat ones.
Shall the strangers eat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
strangers = foreigners.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall the lambs: Isa 7:21, Isa 7:22, Isa 7:25, Isa 17:2, Isa 32:14, Isa 40:11, Isa 65:10, Zep 2:6, Zep 2:14
the waste: Isa 10:16, Deu 32:15, Psa 17:10, Psa 17:14, Psa 73:7, Psa 119:70, Jer 5:28, Amo 4:1-3
strangers: Isa 1:7, Deu 28:33, Neh 9:37, Lam 5:2, Hos 8:7, Luk 21:24
Reciprocal: Isa 14:30 – the poor Isa 49:9 – They shall feed Eze 34:16 – but I
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:17 Then shall {x} the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
(x) God comforts the poor lambs of his Church, who had been strangers in other countries, promising that they would dwell in these places again, of which they had been deprived by the fat and cruel tyrants.