Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 6:13
But yet in it [shall be] a tenth, and [it] shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves: so] the holy seed [shall be] the substance thereof.
13. The verse reads:
And should there still be in it a tenth,
It must again pass through the fire,
Like the terebinth and like the oak,
To which a stump (remains) when they are felled;
A holy seed is the stump thereof.
The last clause is wanting in the LXX., and with its omission it undoubtedly becomes possible to understand the figure of the verse as a sentence of final rejection; not only will the tree be cut down, but its stump will be destroyed by fire. The usual interpretation (which there is no reason to abandon) is: As the terebinth and oak when cut down retain the principle of vitality in their roots, which will again spring up into a great tree (cf. Job 14:7 ff.), so the ruined Israel contains the indestructible germ of the future kingdom of God, the “holy seed” is wrapped up in it. The difference is not material, since in any view Isaiah speaks of an extermination of the actually existing people: but the first explanation excludes Isaiah’s characteristic doctrine of the Remnant, which we should certainly expect to find in his inaugural vision. It must have been shortly after this time that he gave a significant expression to that doctrine in the name of his son Shear-jashub (see on next chapter).
a tenth ] Perhaps an allusion to Amo 5:3.
A symbolical representation of the idea of this verse is given in Eze 5:1-4. Cf. also Zec 13:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But yet … – The main idea in this verse is plain, though there is much difficulty in the explanation of the particular phrases. The leading thought is, that the land should not be utterly and finally abandoned. There would be the remains of life – as in an oak or terebinth tree when the tree has fallen; compare the notes at Isa 11:1.
A tenth – That is, a tenth of the inhabitants, or a very small part. Amidst the general desolation, a small part should be preserved. This was accomplished in the time of the captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar. We are not to suppose that literally a tenth part of the nation would remain; but a part that should bear somewhat the same proportion to the entire nation, in strength and resources, that a tenth does to the whole. Accordingly, in the captivity by the Babylonians we are told 2Ki 25:12, that the captain of the guard left the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers; compare 2Ki 24:14, where it is said, that Nebuchadnezzar carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths, none remained save the poorer sort of the people of the land. Over this remnant, Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah king; 2Ki 25:22.
And it shall return – This expression can be explained by the history. The prophet mentions the return, but he has omitted the fact that this remnant should go away; and hence, all the difficulty which has been experienced in explaining this. The history informs us, 2Ki 25:26, that this remnant, this tenth part, arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldees. A part also of the nation was scattered in Moab and Edom, and among the Ammonites; Jer 40:2. By connecting this idea with the prophecy, there is no difficulty in explaining it. It was of the return from Egypt that the prophet here speaks; compare Jer 42:4-7. After this flight to Egypt they returned again to Judea, together with those who were scattered in Moab, and the neighboring regions; Jer 40:11-12. This renmant thus collected was what the prophet referred to as returning after it had been scattered in Egypt, and Moab, and Edom, and among the Ammonites.
And shall be eaten – This is an unhappy translation. It has arisen from the difficulty of making sense of the passage, by not taking into consideration the circumstances just adverted to. The word translated eaten means to feed, to graze, to consume by grazing to consume by fire, to consume or destroy in any way, to remove. Gesenius on the word baar. Here it means that this remnant shall be for destruction; that judgments and punishments shall follow them after their return front Egypt and Moab. Even this remnant shall be the object of divine displeasure, and shall feel the weight of his indignation; see Jer 43:1-13; 44.
As a teil-tree – The word teil means the linden, though there is no evidence that the linden is denoted here. The word used here – ‘elah – is translated elm in Hos 4:13, but generally oak: Gen 35:4; Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:19; 2Sa 18:9, 2Sa 18:14. It is here distinguished from the ‘allon oak. It probably denotes the terebinth, or turpentine tree, for a description of which, see the notes at Isa 1:29.
Whose substance – Margin, Stock or Stem. The margin is the more correct translation. The word usually denotes the upright shaft, stem, or stock of a tree. It means here, whose vitality shall remain; that is, they do not entirely die.
When they cast their leaves – The words their leaves are not in the original, and should not be in the translation. The Hebrew means, in their falling – or when they fall. As the evergreen did not cast its leaves, the reference is to the falling of the body of the tree. The idea is, that when the tree should fall and decay, still the life of the tree would remain. In the root there would be life. It would send up new shoots, and thus a new tree would be produced; see the notes at Isa 4:2; Isa 11:1. This was particularly the case with the terebinth, as it is with the fir, the chestnut, the oak, the willow, etc.; see Job 14:7. The idea is, that it would be so with the Jews. Though desolate, and though one judgment would follow another, and though even the renmant would be punished, yet the race would not be extinguished. It would spring up again, and survive. This was the case in the captivity of Babylon; and again the case in the destruction of Jerusalem; and in all their persecutions and trials since, the same has always occurred. They survive; and though scattered in all nations, they still live as demonstrative of the truth of the divine predictions; Deut 28.
The holy seed – The few remaining Jews. They shall not be utterly destroyed, but shall be like the life remaining in the root of the tree. No prophecy, perhaps, has been more remarkably fulfilled than that in this verse. Though the cities be waste and the land be desolate, it is not from the poverty of the soil that the fields are abandoned by the plow, nor from any diminution of its ancient and natural fertility, that the land has rested for so many generations. Judea was not forced only by artificial means, or from local and temporary causes, into a luxuriant cultivation, such as a barren country might have been, concerning which it would not have needed a prophet to tell that, if once devastated and abandoned it would ultimately revert to its original sterility. Phenicia at all times held a far different rank among the richest countries of the world; and it was not a bleak and sterile portion of the earth, nor a land which even many ages of desolation and neglect could impoverish, that God gave in possession and by covenant to the seed of Abraham. No longer cultivated as a garden, but left like a wilderness, Judea is indeed greatly changed from what it was; all that human ingenuity and labor did devise, erect, or cultivate, people have laid waste and desolate; all the plenteous goods with which it was enriched, adorned, and blessed, have fallen like seared and withered leaves when their greenness is gone; and stripped of its ancient splendor, it is left as an oak whose leaf fadeth, but its inherent sources of fertility are not dried up; the natural richness of the soil is unblighted; the substance is in it, strong as that of the tell tree or the solid oak, which retain their substance when they east their leaves.
And as the leafless oak waits throughout winter for the genial warmth of returning spring, to be clothed with renewed foilage, so the once glorious land of Judea is yet full of latent vigor, or of vegetative power, strong as ever, ready to shoot forth, even better than at the beginning, whenever the sun of heaven shall shine on it again, and the holy seed be prepared for being finally the substance thereof. The substance that is in it – which alone has here to be proved – is, in few words, thus described by an enemy: The land in the plains is fat and loamy, and exhibits every sign of the greatest fecundity. Were nature assisted by art, the fruits of the most distant countries might be produced within the distance of twenty leagues. Galilee, says Malte Brun, would be a paradise, were it inhabited by an industrious people, under an enlightened government.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 6:13
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return
The remnant
In the worst of times God has a little remnant that kept their garments clean, and in the midst of the most sweeping and desolating calamities He will take special notice of it for good.
1. The remnant will be but small. A tenth. A certain number put for an uncertain. The tenth was Gods proportion under the law, consecrated for His use.
2. They shall return; i.e., from their sins and backslidings and the common defections of the Church of Israel. They shall return also from their captivity in Babylon to their native land.
3. It is asserted of this remnant that it shall be eaten; that is, say some, after they return they shall be devoured a second time by the kings of Assyria. Gods remnant, when they are delivered out of one trouble, must lay their account with another. Or, as some understand it, shall be accepted of God as the tithe was which was meat in Gods house. The saving of this remnant shall be meat to the faith and hope of them that wish well to Gods kingdom and interest.
4. It is said of this remnant, that it shall be as a teil, and as an oak whose substance is in them, even when they east their leaves. As if He had said, Though they may be stripped of their outward prosperity, and share in the common calamity; yet they shall recover like a tree in the spring, and sprout and flourish again: although they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down.
5. This distinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of the public interest. The holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (E. Erskine.)
How the religious of a nation are the strength of it
I. WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE RELIGIOUS OF A NATION?
1. Those who, as to the doctrine of Christianity, hold the Head.
2. Those who, as to the practice of Christianity, fear God and work righteousness.
II. HOW, AND IN WHAT RESPECTS, THEY MAY BE SAID TO BE ITS STRENGTH. The holy seed is here called the substance, or stock, of a people; so that in what respects the strength of a tree is in its stock, in those, or several of them, the strength of a people is in the religion of them.
1. The stock of a tree is the most firm and durable part of it.
2. The stock is that which propagates its kind. Cut off all the boughs, and yet the stem will shoot forth again, send out new leaves and fruit and seed, from which other trees will come. So here the righteous propagate their righteousness, communicate to others, beget children to God.
3. The stock of the tree is that for the sake of which the tree is dressed and watered and looked after. Men take care of the tree so long as there is life in the stock; they not only do not grub it up, but prune it, and bestow upon it what cost and labour is fit for it.
III. ON WHAT ACCOUNT THE RELIGIOUS OF A NATION MAY BE SAID TO BE ITS STRENGTH, or what influence they have on the welfare and security of a people.
1. As they are Gods favourites.
2. As they improve their interest with God for a people.
3. As they are a means many times to stop the current of wickedness, which is ready to overflow a land with judgments, and to bring swift destruction on it.
4. As they not only check the progress of sin, but propagate goodness to others, as well as promote it in themselves. This they do by their counsels, admonitions, example.
5. Sometimes the religious of a nation may have an influence upon its public welfare, by doing some eminent service, wherewith God is much pleased, and to which He hath a special respect. Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed (Psa 106:30).
6. God may sometimes spare a people for the sake of His children among them, that they may be useful and helpful to them in His work. This end God had in sparing the Gibeonites; He intended they should be hewers of wood and drawers of water for His sanctuary, and so assistant to the priests and Levites in their service (Jos 9:27). So, Isa 62:5,
7. God can make even Moab hide His outcasts (Isa 16:3-4); the earth help the woman (Rev 12:16); Ahab favour a good Obadiah, that he may hide the Lords prophets (1Ki 18:3-4); a heathen Cyrus let go His captives and build His city (Isa 14:13); a Darius, an Artaxerxes, an Ahasuerus, countenance and prefer a Daniel, a Nehemiah, a Mordecai, public instruments of good to His people. Sometimes God may so twist and combine the interest of worldly men with the interest of His children, that they cannot promote their own, without helping on the others.
IV. APPLICATION.
1. If the religious of a nation are the strength and defence of it, then the same may be said of the religious of the world,–they are the substance of it, the support, the strength of it. The world itself is preserved chiefly for the sake of the godly in it, the holy seed.
2. The religious of a nation are not its enemies.
3. The sinners of a nation are really the weakness of it.
4. It is the interest of any people where God hath a seed of righteous ones to favour them and make much of them.
5. It is folly in any people to persecute them that are truly religious. For by this means they lose–
(1) the benefit of the saints prayers;
(2) the help of the saints. (J. Collins, M. A.)
The doctrine of the remnant an antidote to discouragement
Though it belongs to the very essence of Biblical revelation, we find, we moderns, a strange difficulty in laying hold of it. In spite of the pathetic beauty of its exposition in Isaiah it never lays hold of us in our reasonable thinking, in our habitual imagination, as the truth of all truths in estimating and justifying the ways of Providence. We read these great and beautiful passages which tell of the remnant which shall return, to come again to Zion with joy and singing, and yet it does not fasten on us as the exhibition of a principle which should govern our conduct, and determine our growth, and solve our practical perplexities, and disperse depression and feed hope. Yet this is what it did to the prophets, and this is what it did to St. Paul. In every darkest hour, under every bewilderment, at every blow that smote the spirit of faith or wounded the heart of love, back they turned to this one prevailing theme–Never fear! Never give up! The remnant shall return; the remnant shall be saved. God has not forgotten His remnant, and in the safety of the remnant all is once more possible. The whole jeopardised salvation of Israel and the Church may yet be recovered. (H. Scott-Holland, D. D.)
Practical application of the idea of the remnant
Practically, in conduct, in handling your own lives, in dealing with your neighbours, surely this method of Gods should be yours also.
1. You are inclined to denounce the wickedness of the world, to despair of human nature, to abandon someone as hopeless, to see nothing in him that you can like or respect. Look again, consider it once more. Is there no place in that mans heart where you may touch him, no point at which he will reveal a good side? It is strange how men we thought to be the very worst surprise us here; constantly we come upon something generous that they do, some touch of loyalty, some sign of tenderness and devotion. There it is; that is the one hope! God need not despair of the man so long as he has one spot left on which to work. One saith: Destroy it not, for its blessing is in it–the blessed words of mercy said over the dead trunk of a tree, bare and wasted and burned with fire, a stump charred to the naked ground, yet destroy it not; its seed, its substance is in it! So long as that can be said over a man, strive for him, pray for him, work for him at that spot to rescue it, to enlarge it, to save it.
2. And do the same with yourself when you are despairing, when you review your life and condemn it at every point, when you can see no use whatever in renewing resolutions which you are sure to break, and efforts which already foretell their own disaster. Nevertheless, go back on the holy substance–Christ is in you, the eternal hope of honour. Yes, you will say, all else would have been lost but for that; verily, if God had not left me that seed, I should have been even as Sodom and Gomorrah, but, thanks be to God, it is not so; it never can be so if only I will believe it. (H. Scott-Holland, D. D.)
The leafless tree
The application–
I. TO THE JEWS. What a chequered history has been the history of the Jewish nation! Why is it that the Jewish race is preserved? We have our answer in the text: The holy seed is the substance thereof. There is something within a tree mysterious, hidden and unknown, which preserves life in it when everything outward tends to kill it. So in the Jewish race there is a secret element which keeps it alive. We know what it is; it is the remnant according to the election of grace.
II. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, whereof the Jewish people are but a dim shadow and an emblem. The Church has had its trials; trials from without and trials within. Why is it that the Church is still preserved, when she looks so dead? For this reason: that there is in the midst of her–though many are hypocrites and impostors–a chosen seed, who are the substance thereof. Let me draw your attention, as a Church connected with this place, to this point–that the holy seed is the substance of the Church. A great many of you might be compared to the bark of the tree; some of you are like the big limbs; others are like pieces of the trunk. Well, we should be very sorry to lose any of you; but we could afford to do so without any serious damage to the life of the tree. Yet there are some here–God knoweth who they are–who are the substance of the tree. By theword substance it meant the life, the inward principle. The inward principle is in the tree, when it has lost its leaves. Now, God discerns some men in this Church, I doubt not, who are towards us like the inward principle of the oak: they are the substance of the Church. Note here, that the life of a tree is not determined by the shape of the branches, nor by the way it grows, but it is the substance. The shape of a Church is not its life. In one place I see a Church formed in an Episcopalian shape; in another place I see one formed in a Presbyterian shape; then, again, I see one formed on an Independent principle. Here I see one with sixteen ounces to the pound of doctrine; there I see one with eight, and some with very little clear doctrine at all. And yet I find life in all the Churches, in some degree–some good men in all of them. How do I account for this? Why, just inthis way–that the oak may be alive, whatever its shape, if it has got the substance. Observe, again, that the substance of the oak is a hidden thing; you cannot see it. Thou art a Church member. Let me ask thee–art thou one of the holy seed? Some will say, How is it that good men are the means of preserving the visible Church? I answer, the holy seed doth this, because it derives its life from Christ.
III. This is true of EVERY INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER: his substance is in him when he has lost his leaves.
1. Christian men lose their leaves when they lose their comforts. The faith of the Christian, when shrouded by doubts and fears, is just as much there as when he rejoiceth devoutly in the display of it.
2. Some Christians lose their leaves not by doubts, but by sin. Many a child of God has gone far away from his Master, but His substance is in him. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Life in the root
A gentleman had a beautiful shrub in his garden. He set great store by it as the pride of his place. At the time of the great blizzard it was blasted and withered. The life of it seemed wholly gone. He did not give up hope, though there was nothing that gave him encouragement. But he loved that shrub, and longed to save it if he could. So what did he do? Tended it more than ever. Opened its roots to the genial sun, pruned it patiently and with care, cherished it all he possibly could. A year or two passed away. It was a slow and cheerless business, and he came near losing hope. But, one day, what was his joy to see signs of life returning. The sap began to rise, the stems to recover their spring, it put on fresh leaves, bloomed anew, and filled his heart with thankfulness. Be patient. God sees deeper than we do. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
A tall tree . . . an oak
The terebinth and the oak
The two most common forest trees of Palestine were the terebinth and oak. They were strong hardy trees. It was a matter of difficulty to kill them, so to cut and maim them as to take the substance or vitality out of them. So long as the trunk or stem was allowed to remain in the soil, they were sure, in course of time, to grow and flourish anew; and Isaiah was taught by God Himself that His people would be equally tenacious of life. The red rough hand of war might shake off the leaves and lop off the branches; It might also reduce the stem to the slenderest proportions; but the tree of Judah, at times a large fair tree, would not fall into a state of utter decay, and vanish away. Period after period there would be a tenth–a remnant, however diminutive, as many as would, by the blessing of Heaven, once more develop into a prosperous nation. Sooner or later, the judgments of God would have the desired effect, and the tree that had been hurt and peeled would give indications that it had not been deprived of all its substance or vitality. (G. Cron, M. A.)
The terebinth,
The terebinth, a beautiful tree, the Pistacia terebinthus, growing to a large size in the countries around the east end of the Mediterranean, and in countries further to the east, especially in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Persia. It is also called the turpentine tree, and a transparent, pleasant-smelling resin of high value is procured in small quantities from slits made in the bark of branches and stems. Its blossoms bloom in April, and its fruit is a small bluish nut with an edible kernel, much used and relished especially by the Persians. In Palestine it wag found in valleys, not in woods, but generally isolated. The name does not occur in the A.V., but the Hebrews elah, rendered in Isa 6:13 teil, and in Hos 4:13 elm, is most probably the terebinth. (J. Macpherson, M. A.)
So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof
The substance of a nation
The holy seed is the substance, the body, the life, the worth of any nation, any community, or any church.
I. First, therefore, we must contemplate THE HOLY SEED that we may know who they are.
1. This seed of God are they whom He has created anew by His Spirit, whom He has adopted into His family.
2. But this seed are evidenced and demonstrated by their holiness; they are the holy seed. Holiness signifies separation, seclusion, setting apart.
II. Our main point is to prove that THIS HOLY SEED IS, IN ANY COMMUNITY OR CHURCH, THE SUBSTANCE OF IT. The holy seed is the substance of a nation–
1. Because God regards all beside in a nation but as dross and foliage–dross without gold, foliage without fruit.
2. Because the holy seed alone diffuses a sanctifying, a saving and a savouring efficacy upon the land in which it is found.
3. Because for their sakes God spares a guilty land when otherwise His whole displeasure would be allowed to rise against it (ch. 1:9; Gen 18:23, etc.).
4. Because the holy seed are the spiritual warders of a nation, who watch with prayer, and stand in the breach and implore God that He should not destroy it. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
The holy seed
I. GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE REMNANT spoken of in the text.
1. A remnant is a small piece taken from a greater. The Church of Christ is a remnant separated from the rest of mankind.
2. This remnant is different from the rest of mankind in their character.
3. They are also under a different government.
4. They also stand on a different foundation.
5. They are under the influence of another spirit.
6. They are travelling quite a different road.
7. They come to a different end.
II. SHOW WHY THEY ARE CALLED A SEED. Because–
1. They owe their spiritual origin to God.
2. They bear His likeness. As every tree bringeth forth its natural fruit, he that is born of God will be like God.
3. They are in respect to their dependence on God. God grafts us into Jesus Christ, and we are therefore dependent upon Him for nourishment and strength, as the branch depends on the stock of the tree for support and sap to grow thereby.
4. Because they are of the family of God.
5. Because they are heirs of His estate.
III. SHOW WHY THEY ARE CALLED A HOLY SEED.
1. They are holy by sanctification. They are set apart.
2. Because of their purification.
3. Because the Spirit of God dwells in them.
IV. WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS SEED BEING DENOMINATED THE SUBSTANCE OF A LAND OR CHURCH?
1. By the word substance I think the prophet means treasure, or the chief part, or that which constitutes the welfare of a land–that in which the chief excellency or support or wealth of a nation consists. This is true of the people of God.
2. Further, it implies that they are Gods only inheritance in the world.
3. This seed is called a substance because it is the support and stay of a land or a church.
V. SHOW IN WHAT RESPECT THIS SEED MAY BE SAID TO BE THE STAY AND SUPPORT OF A LAND OR OF A CHURCH. For their sakes ruining calamities are withheld from those nations which deserve to be visited with the judgments of God (Gen 19:22; 2Sa 5:12; Gen 30:27; Gen 39:3; Mal 3:11). This remnant shall be the strength of the land by their prayers (Jer 29:7; 1Sa 7:9). (T. Bagnall-Baker, M. A.)
The present obligations of pious men
I. WHAT IS THE CONDUCT WHICH IT NOW BECOMES PIOUS MEN TO CULTIVATE AND DISPLAY. In order that they may sustain the honourable station which is assigned to them, they are to cultivate and display certain habits of thought and character appropriate to the season in which it is their lot to live.
1. Pious men should cultivate and display uncompromising separation from the practical wickedness which is around them.
2. Pious men ought to cultivate and display firm and unwavering attachment to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
3. Pious men ought to cultivate and display cordial, fraternal attachment towards each other.
4. Pious men ought to cultivate and display zealous exertion for the promotion of Christian truth and influence throughout the land.
II. WHAT ARE THE RESULTS WHICH, FROM THE CULTIVATION AND DISPLAY OF THIS CONDUCT, MAY BE PROPERLY ANTICIPATED. The holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Pious men are to be the safeguards of the national interests; and when the time of calamity has passed, those interests are to be maintained in security and in honour. God preserves nations for the sake of the pious men who are in them, and who duly display and vindicate their character.
1. Observe the anticipated results as they bear upon what is temporal and civil. There has not been a dynasty holding the reins of empire since genuine Christianity took its root amongst us, and there has not been a single reign of any one of those dynasties, but what might be summoned, as affording living testimony to the truth, that the temporal interests of the nation have been bound up with the piety of its people. Pious men will preserve–
(1) The order of our land.
(2) The freedom of our land.
(3) The peace of our land.
(4) The prosperity and honour of our land.
2. Notice the anticipated results as they bear upon matters spiritual and religious. Here the promise is more distinct and the consequences are more palpable.
(1) The defeat and destruction of erroneous opinions will be secured.
(2) The salvation of multitudes of immortal souls will be secured.
(3) Vastly increased facilities for the promotion of the Saviours kingdom throughout the earth will be secured. Conclusion–
1. The vast importance of being numbered amongst the holy seed yourselves.
2. Let us endeavour to arise to the performance of our obligations. (J. Parsons.)
The holy seed
1. The seed, like the tithe, is but little in respect of the rest of the field. Yet–
2. It is a numerous seed, absolutely considered in itself Rev 7:9).
3. It is an honourable seed.
4. A costly seed unto our glorious Redeemer.
5. A flourishing and fruitful seed.
6. A troubled and persecuted seed in this world.
7. Yet a very durable seed (Psa 89:28-29).
8. In this world a scattered seed.
9. A holy seed. (E. Erskine.)
The holy seed the substance
This imports–
1. That the wicked of a land are but a heap of lumber in Gods reckoning, whatever be their station, quality, or estate.
2. That the saints, the truly godly, in a land are excellent and valuable persons (Psa 16:3; Pro 12:26; Rev 3:4; Heb 11:38).
3. That the saints of are His inheritance and portion in a land. He has a peculiar right and property in them beyond the rest of mankind; they are so much His that they are not their own, and therefore have not power to dispose of themselves, but for His glory.
4. That as they are His portion and property, so He has a great deal of pleasure in them, even as a man takes delight and pleasure in that which is his substance.
5. That there is something in and about the godly that is not to be found among other men. The wicked, when laid in Gods balance, are found wanting solidity; but the holy seed are the substance, they bear weight.
6. That the remnant of truly godly in a land are the riches thereof, for a mans riches is his substance.
7. That the truly godly are the stay and support of the land where they live. (E. Erskine.)
The judgments threatened
We do not suppose that the prophet means to say that all the wicked men will be removed from captivity and the good men only left. (See on the contrary Jer 24:5-7.) He is dealing with the nation as representing the kingdom of God, and means to say that the coming judgments will weed out the worldliness and carelessness that prevail at present, will deepen true spiritual religion in Israel, and fit her to be the centre from which the truth and grace of God shall go forth to all the world. (P. Thompson, M. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. A tenth] This passage, though somewhat obscure, and variously explained by various interpreters, has, I think, been made so clear by the accomplishment of the prophecy, that there remains little room to doubt of the sense of it. When Nebuchadnezzar had carried away the greater and better part of the people into captivity, there was yet a tenth remaining in the land, the poorer sort left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, under Gedaliah, 2Kg 25:12; 2Kg 25:22, and the dispersed Jews gathered themselves together, and returned to him, Jer 40:12; yet even these, fleeing into Egypt after the death of Gedaliah, contrary to the warning of God given by the prophet Jeremiah, miserably perished there. Again, in the subsequent and more remarkable completion of the prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dissolution of the commonwealth by the Romans, when the Jews, after the loss of above a million of men, had increased from the scanty residue that was left of them, and had become very numerous again in their country; Hadrian, provoked by their rebellious behaviour, slew above half a million more of them, and a second time almost extirpated the nation. Yet after these signal and almost universal destructions of that nation, and after so many other repeated exterminations and massacres of them in different times and on various occasions since, we yet see, with astonishment, that the stock still remains, from which God, according to his promise frequently given by his prophets, will cause his people to shoot forth again, and to flourish. – L.
A tenth, asiriyah. The meaning, says Kimchi, of this word is, there shall yet be in the land ten kings from the time of declaring this prophecy. The names of the ten kings are Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah; then there shall be a general consumption, the people shall be carried into captivity, and Jerusalem shall be destroyed.
For bam, in them, above seventy MSS., eleven of Kennicott’s, and thirty-four of De Rossi’s, read bah, in it; and so the Septuagint.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A tenth; a small remnant reserved, that number being put indefinitely, as is very usual.
Shall return, to wit, on, of the Babylonish captivity, into their own land.
Shall be eaten; that remnant shall be devoured and destroyed a second time by the kings of Syria, and afterwards more effectually by the Romans.
As a teil tree, and as an oak, or, yet as, &c.; or, nevertheless as, &c.; such particles being frequently understood in the Hebrew, as hath been noted again and again. So the sense of the following words of the verse seems to be this, Although the Jewish nation shall undergo a second and a greater desolation by the Romans, yet there shall be another remnant, not such a one as that which came out of Babylon, which for the most part were corrupt and degenerate, as appears by the sacred histories and prophecies relating to that time; but a holy seed, a number of elect and godly Israelites, who shall afterwards look upon him whom they pierced, and mourn over him, as is said, Zec 12:10, and by me be received to mercy. Whose substance is in them, when they east their leaves; who, when their leaves are withered and east, as it is in winter, have a substance, or subsistence, or support within themselves, to wit, a vital principle, which preserves life in the root and body of the tree, and in due time sends it forth into all the branches. But others take the Hebrew word shallecheth for the proper name of a place, to wit, a causeway which led from the palace to the temple, 1Ch 26:16; and so the place is and may be rendered thus, as a teil tree, (or, an elm,) and as an oak, (the singular number for the plural, as is very frequent,) as the elms and the oaks which are at or by Shallecheth (on both sides of which way such trees were planted, to beautify and to support that causeway, as some have observed) have subsistence or support in them; either,
1. For themselves; they stand fast and firm, when other trees are blown down: or,
2. For the way which they uphold.
The substance thereof; or rather, the support (as the same word seems to be taken in the next foregoing; clause) thereof, to wit, of the land or people, which, were it not for the sake of these elect persons, should be totally and finally rooted out; or, of that tenth part, which shall be delivered and preserved for the sake of that holy seed, those true-hearted Israelites which are among them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. and it shall return, and . . .be eatenRather, “but it shall be again given overto be consumed“: if even a tenth survive the firstdestruction, it shall be destroyed by a second (Isa 5:25;Eze 5:1-5; Eze 5:12),[MAURER and HORSLEY].In English Version, “return” refers to the poorremnant left in the land at the Babylonish captivity (2Ki 24:14;2Ki 25:12), which afterwards fledto Egypt in fear (2Ki 25:26),and subsequently returned thence along with others who hadfled to Moab and Edom (Jer 40:11;Jer 40:12), and suffered underfurther divine judgments.
tellrather,”terebinth” or “turpentine tree” (Isa1:29).
substance . . . when . . .cast . . . leavesrather, “As a terebinth or oakin which, when they are cast down (not ‘cast their leaves,’ Job14:7), the trunk or stock remains, so the holyseed (Ezr 9:2) shall bethe stock of that land.” The seeds of vitality still existin both the land and the scattered people of Judea, waiting for thereturning spring of God’s favor (Rom 11:5;Rom 11:23-29). According toIsaiah, not all Israel, but the elect remnant alone, isdestined to salvation. God shows unchangeable severity towards sin,but covenant faithfulness in preserving a remnant, and to it Isaiahbequeaths the prophetic legacy of the second part of his book (thefortieth through sixty-sixth chapters).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But yet in it [shall be] a tenth,…. Which some understand of ten kings that should reign over Judah from this time, the death of Uzziah, unto the captivity, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe; and which are, as Kimchi reckons them, as follows, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah; but the prophecy, as we have seen, respects not the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, but their present one; wherefore the words are to be understood of a few persons, a remnant, according to the election of grace, that should be called, and saved amidst all the blindness, darkness, and destruction that should come upon that people; and may be illustrated by the words of the apostle in
Ro 11:5 and these chosen, called, and saved ones, are the “tenth”, that is, the Lord’s tenth, as the words may be rendered r. To this sense the Targum agrees,
“and there shall be left in it righteous persons, one out of ten;”
though indeed the Christians were not left in Jerusalem when it was destroyed, but were called out of it just before, and were preserved from that ruin.
And [it] shall return, and shall be eaten; or “be for burning”. I should choose to render it, “it shall return, and be burnt” s; that is, it shall be burnt again; it was burnt a first time by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army, Jer 52:13 and a second time by Titus Vespasian, to which this prophecy refers:
as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves]; the word “Beshallecheth”, which we render, “when they cast their leaves”, is by some, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi observe, thought to be the name of a gate in Jerusalem, called “Shallecheth”, from which a causeway went towards the king’s palace, from whence it had its name, 1Ch 26:16 and along which causeway, as is supposed, were planted teil trees and oaks, which are here referred to. But the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret the word as we do, of casting their leaves: and the sense seems to be this; that as the teil tree and oak, when they cast their leaves in autumn, and look as if they were dry, withered, and dead, yet have a substance in them, and in spring appear alive and green, and flourishing again; so the Jews, notwithstanding their miserable destruction by the Romans, when they were stripped of all their riches and glory, yet were not utterly consumed as a people, but remained an entire distinct people, and do so to this day, among the nations of the world; though, like a dry withered trunk of a tree, without verdure or beauty; the reason of this follows:
so, or “because”,
the holy seed [shall be] the substance thereof; that is, they shall subsist, or continue a distinct people, though in this miserable condition; because there is a “holy seed”, or a certain number, whom God has chosen to be holy, that is to arise from them, and will be called and converted in the latter day; hence they have a substance, a subsistence, and shall remain till that comes, and that chosen remnant is called and saved, Ro 11:25. The Targum is,
“as the elm and oak, when their leaves fall, and are like to dry “trees”, and yet are moist to raise up seed from them; so the captivities of Israel shall be gathered, and shall return to their land; for the seed which is holy is their plantation.”
Some, interpreting the passage of the Babylonish captivity, by the “holy seed” understand the Messiah. See Lu 1:35 t.
r “decima ejus”, i.e. Dei. s “et convertatur sitque in incendium”, Syr.; “ad conflagrandum”, Montanus; “ad urendum”, De Dieu. t Ericus Phaletranus de ablat. Sceptr. Jud. in Graev. Syntag. p. 437.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. Till there shall be in it a tenth (99) There is some obscurity in the words; but let us first ascertain the meaning, and then we shall easily find out what is the signification of the words. There are two ways of explaining this passage. Some explain עשיריה ( asiriyah) to mean decimation; others make it to mean a tenth part, and consider it to be a collective noun. Undoubtedly, the Hebrew word עשירית, ( asirith,) and not עשיריה, ( asiriyah,) denotes a tenth part, though the difference between them is not great. Those who render it decimation think that a truce is promised to the people, because from the reign of Uzziah to the destruction of Jerusalem there would be ten kings; and undoubtedly that is the number of kings, reckoning from Uzziah to Zedekiah. His prophetical doctrine would derive no small support from the circumstance, that he could tell the number of kings who should reign even after his death, and that he described not only the fact itself, but likewise the time, and the day.
Yet I know not if another meaning be not somewhat more appropriate; for the Prophet appears to hold out to the people this consolation, that they will retain some hidden vigor, and will be capable of sprouting out, though they may appear for a time to be entirely dead; just as, when the winter is past, the trees renew their foliage. But as the former exposition carries sufficient probability, I shall therefore explain the whole verse according to the opinion of those who think that mention is here made of ten kings, so as to mean that, when the ten kings shall have completed their reign, the people will be carried into captivity, and then, as by a conflagration, the whole land will be consumed.
At the same time, the reader ought to be aware that whether עשיריה ( asiriyah) be rendered a tenth part, or decimation, it may with the utmost propriety be viewed as referring to the people; and then the meaning will be, Till the people be diminished to a tenth part. He had formerly spoken of a remnant, and a very small remnant, (Isa 1:9,) and afterwards he will speak of it again, (Isa 10:22😉 for it was a very small number that remained. It might therefore be naturally viewed as meaning, that out of a thousand there would be left a hundred; out of a hundred, ten; and out of ten, one.
And shall return. That is, a change will take place for the better: the Jews will return from captivity to their native country, and the land will assume a new aspect. But this may be thought to be somewhat at variance with what follows; for the Prophet immediately adds, It shall be destruction. How cold comfort will it yield to the people to be restored, if shortly afterwards they shall be again destroyed! Some commentators solve this difficulty, by supposing that Isaiah spoke about the final destruction of the people. But in my opinion he rather means that the destruction will not be complete, but such as happens to trees, when their leaves fall off in the winter, and nothing appears but dead timber; but when spring returns, they bud forth anew: and so also will this people.
לבער ( lebaer) means to burn, (100) and therefore it means here that they will be consumed by a conflagration: but we ought to read it in connection with the metaphor which immediately follows; for Isaiah does not barely mean that it will be consumed, but that it will be consumed like the teil-tree, that is, with the hope of immediate recovery. When Jerome rendered it for exhibition, I know not on what he supposed that opinion to be founded, if it were not that he made a free translation, looking rather to the meaning than to the etymology of the word; for when trees blossom or put forth leaves, their life is again brought forth and displayed; and this meaning will be very appropriate.
As a teil-tree and an oak. It appears that Isaiah did not select at random those two kinds of trees; for one of them puts forth its leaves, and likewise sheds them, sooner than the other. So it happened to the tribe of Judah; for first the ten tribes, with the half tribe of Benjamin, were carried into captivity; and thus they who were the first to blossom were likewise the first to decay. This tribe was the latest of all in decaying, not without high expectation of blossoming again; for here the hope of deliverance is held out, and this was different from the captivity of the Israelites. There appears, therefore, to be some appropriateness in this metaphor of the trees; but I would not choose to press it very far.
When they cast their leaves. By the phrase, casting of leaves, must be understood that throwing of them down which takes place when trees are stripped of their leaves as of their garment; for trees, in that state of nakedness, appear to be dry and withered; though there remains in them a hidden vigor, through which they are at length quickened by the returning mildness of the season.
So in it shall be substance. This is the application of the metaphor, which is exceedingly forcible; for when we see the spiritual grace of God in the very order of nature, we are strongly confirmed. As Paul holds out a likeness of the resurrection in the sowing of corn, which is a daily occurrence, (1Co 15:36,) so in like manner Isaiah in this passage describes the restoration of the Church, by taking a metaphor from trees, which wither at the end of autumn, but again blossom at the return of spring, and put forth new leaves; which could not happen, did they not retain some vigor during the winter, though to outward appearance they are dead. He foretells that a similar event will happen to this people; so that, although during their hard and oppressive captivity they resemble dry timber, and it may be thought that they can never be delivered, still there will always be preserved in them some vigor, by which they shall be supported amidst those calamities, and shall at length come forth and blossom.
This doctrine, we have said, is not peculiar to a single age, and therefore it ought to be carefully observed; for it frequently happens that the Church, amidst the numerous afflictions which she endures, appears to have no strength, and is supposed to be utterly ruined. Whenever this takes place, let us fully believe that, notwithstanding these appearances, there is still some concealed energy, which, though it be not immediately manifest to our eyes, will at length yield its fruit. That energy lies hidden in the word of the Lord, by which alone the Church is sustained.
The holy seed. He shows what is that substance, that it consists of a small number of the godly, whom he calls the holy seed; for he means the elect, who would be preserved by the free mercy of God, and thus would survive that captivity. That banishment might be regarded as a cleansing of the Church, by which the Lord took away the ungodly; and when they had been cut off, he collected a people, small in number, but truly consecrated to himself. Some commentators consider this phrase to refer to Christ; but the interpretation appears to be too far-fetched, and it will be more consistent to extend it to all the godly; for the holy seed is the substance of the Church.
(99) But yet in it shall be a tenth. — Eng. Ver.
(100) Bishop Lowth’s rendering is, And though there be a tenth part remaining in it, even this shall undergo repeated destruction; which accords with Calvin’s view, that the substance of the tree will be left. Bishop Stock renders it for pasture: But yet in it shall be left a tenth, and it shall recover, and serve for pasture. He reasons thus: “The verb בער may either signify to eat grass, or to eat it down. The question is, in which sense it is to be understood here? whether the land is again to yield food to its inhabitants, or to be laid bare and waste? That the former is the true meaning I think very evident, as well from the tendency of the ensuing simile of the oak, which is of the consolatory kind, as because it is the almost constant practice of Isaiah to subjoin to denunciations of divine vengeance a prediction of final reconcilement and happiness.” Jarchi, as interpreted by Breithaupt, renders the word, et erunt in combustionem ( sive depastionem,) and they shall be for destruction, ( or for pasture;) leaving it doubtful which of the above renderings ought to be preferred. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) But yet in it shall be a tenth . . .Better, And though there should be a tenth in it, yet this shall be again devoured (with fire). What the prophet is led to expect is a series of successive chastisements sifting the people, till the remnant of the chosen ones alone is left. (Comp. the same thought under a different imagery in Eze. 5:12 : Zec. 13:8-9.) The tenth is taken, as in Lev. 27:30, for an ideally consecrated portion.
As a teil tree.Better, terebinth; and for when they cast their leaves read, when they are cut down. The teil tree of the Authorised Version is probably meant for the lime (tilier, tilleul). The thought of this verse is that embodied in the name of his son Shear-jashub (see Note on Isa. 7:3), and constantly reappears (Isa. 1:27; Isa. 4:2-3; Isa. 10:20; Isa. 29:17; Isa. 30:15, &c). The tree might be stripped of its leaves, and its branches lopped off, and nothing but the stump left; but from that seemingly dead and decayed stock, pruned by the chastisements of God (Joh. 15:2), a young shoot should spring, holy, as consecrated to Jehovah, and carry on the continuity of the nations life. The same thought is dominant in St. Pauls hope for his people. At first the remnant, and then all Israel, should be saved (Rom. 11:5; Rom. 11:26). In Isa. 10:33 to Isa. 11:1 the same image is specially applied to the house of David, and becomes, therefore, essentially Messianic.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. A tenth A remnant of some one in ten shall be left in Judah by the captor. Thus, in 2Ki 25:12, it is said “the captain of the guard left the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen.” It was the great land monopolists that were taken from the land. So, 2Ki 24:14, it is said, “Nebuchadnezzar carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained save the poorer sort of the people of the land.” Over these he made Gedaliah king. 2 Kings 24:22.
It shall return The prophecy omits to say that this “tenth” emigrated at first to Egypt, and that it was from Egypt that it returned. The omission is supplied by 2Ki 25:26, where it is said that the remnant “arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldees,” or Babylonians. They afterwards, however, returned to Judea, (Jer 40:11-12,) and resumed residence under the rule of Gedaliah.
Be eaten Literally, be grazed, or consumed as grass is by grazing cattle. They would be worn out with poverty and hardship,
Teil tree The terebinth or turpentine tree. A large tree, less than the oak, with lancet-shaped leaves of a dark reddish hue, and a trunk producing a fine resin. It is not an evergreen.
Cast their leaves In autumn these noble deciduous trees shed their “leaves;” but their sap retires to the trunk, and the concentrated vitality will put on new glory in the spring. So shall the holy seed the offspring of Abraham be the stock thereof, that is, of the Hebrew race. The remnant, reinforced by the restoration from the captivity, will constitute a trunk surviving the downfal, as a tree survives its cast-off foliage. Wonderfully truly, from the prophet’s time to the present hour, has this prophecy of the persistent vitality of the Jewish race been verified.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 6:13. But yet, &c. But though there shall yet remain in it a tenth part, even that shall be for a prey. As an elm and as an oak, of which, when they are lopped, the trunk remaineth; so the holy seed shall be the trunk thereof. See Vitringa, and compare Rom 11:19.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Isaiah had before, at God’s command, begun his prophetic employment: a solemn confirmation of it is made in this august vision, as a means to strengthen his faith, and quicken his diligence in the discharge of his important office. The date of the vision is the year in which Uzziah died, after a long and pious reign of fifty-two years; though during the latter part of it the leprosy, under which he laboured, excluded him from the administration, which was lodged in the hands of his son. We have,
1. What the prophet saw; I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, enthroned in the glory which he had with the Father before the worlds were; for to him is this expressly applied, Joh 12:41 and contains one of the most incontestable proofs of the essential Godhead of our incarnate Redeemer; high and lifted up, exalted above all blessing and praise, infinitely transcending all created excellence; the king eternal, to whom every knee must bow, and every tongue confess: and his train filled the temple, either the bright angelic spirits who graced his presence, or the irradiation which beamed around him: and perhaps it may typically refer to his church on earth, filled with the gifts and graces which, on the day of Pentecost, were so eminently bestowed upon the apostles; by whose preaching a vast accession of converts was quickly made to the church. Above it, or near him, stood the seraphims, the burners, the heavenly hosts, or those emblematic representatives of the ministers of the gospel. Eze 1:13. Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, as unable to bear the transcendent brightness of the Redeemer’s glory; with twain he covered his feet, as in his best services unworthy of God; and with twain he did fly, delighted, ready and swift to obey God’s high commands. Thus do Christ’s minister’s with shame acknowledge their unworthiness to look up to God, and disclaim all merit even from their holiest walk; while, burning with zeal, they are ready to fly at his word to preach his gospel and fulfil his pleasure. Note; (1.) We cannot form ideas of the glory of our Immanuel according to his excellent greatness; it surpasseth knowledge. (2.) Before God, the highest creature stands ashamed; and how much more cause hath man, a sinful worm, to blush and be confounded when he appears before the throne of Jesus. (3.) Burning zeal for God is the character of his faithful ministers. (4.) Delight and cheerful readiness for God’s work and will is the way to rise to fellowship with angels.
2. What he heard. One cried unto another, with fervency and unanimity, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the triune God, glorious in all his attributes, and especially in his holiness; the whole earth is full of his glory, manifested in all the works of creation and providence, but especially in those of redemption and grace. Thus do God’s ministers of flame on earth unite in preaching the one glorious gospel, and giving to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the praise of that holiness displayed in the justification of the sinner’s person, and the sanctification of his soul, by the atoning blood of Jesus, and by his efficacious grace.
3. The effect of this cry. The posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, denoting the removal of the temple worship and service; or the powerful effect of the gospel on men’s consciences, shaking their vain confidence, and awakening their souls to a sense of sin: and the house was filled with smoke, in allusion to the cloud of incense which covered the mercy-seat on the day of atonement, and intimating God’s acceptance of his ministers’ services; or signifying the judgments which would come upon the Jewish people, when their city and temple should be destroyed; or, finally, the smoke of the sinner’s torment that ascendeth up for ever and ever.
2nd, Struck with the astonishing vision, the prophet is confounded, conscious of his own sinfulness, and inability to stand before this holy Lord God.
1. He laments over himself. Woe is me, a sinful worm, for I am undone, if this holy God be strict to mark what is amiss; because I am a man of unclean lips, defiled in nature, and probably conscious of fear and want of boldness in the delivery of the awful messages with which he was charged; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, whose iniquities were, to his bitter sorrow, ready to draw down the heavy judgments of God upon them: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, the Lord Christ, whose perfection of holiness, like the bright beams of day, discovered those spots and impurities which in the dark before he did not perceive. Note; (1.) The more we know of God’s purity and perfections, the more shall we discover of our own vileness. (2.) The highest saints of God, who know him best, are most lowly in their own eyes. (3.) A good man not only laments over his own unfaithfulness; but, when he looks around, his heart is grieved with the filthy conversation of the wicked, and he trembles for their approaching ruin.
2. A gracious message is sent him for his encouragement. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, on his humbling confession, having a live coal in his hand, signifying the powerful and lively word of the gospel, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar of burnt-offering, which was the type of the Lord Christ, whose atoning sacrifice alone can procure the sinner’s pardon; and he laid it upon my mouth, not to consume his unclean lips, but to purify them from their pollution; and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, inti-mating the application of the pardoning word of God to the sinner’s soul, by which he is enabled to take the comfort of the promise; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged, or expiated, utterly blotted out before God, wiped away from his conscience, and perfectly expiated by the promised sacrifice of Jesus. Note; (1.) God delights to comfort the mourners in Zion; penitent prayers will find an answer of peace and joy. (2.) Nothing can heal the heart broken under sin, but the precious balm of atoning blood applied by faith in the word of promise. It must be this coal from the altar, not strange fire, which can quicken the perishing soul. (3.) They who would speak to God, or for God, with confidence, must first hear him speak to them pardon and peace. (4.) None are so fit or able feelingly to preach to sinners the grace of a Redeemer, as they who have, by experience, tasted the riches of his love to their own souls. (5.) The ministers of God, like burning seraphs, should fly to the relief of the poor and broken-hearted sinner, with the invigorating word of kind consolation.
3. Isaiah offers himself for God’s service. God is introduced deliberating on the choice of a messenger, and the prophet is ready to go. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, the Father, speaking with his coequal Son and Spirit, Whom shall I send on this dangerous errand, to reprove a hardened nation, and who will go for us? (Compare Joh 12:41 and Act 28:25.) an evidence of the Trinity of the Persons in the unity of the Godhead. Then said I, Here am I; send me: Since God had purged his pollution, he is now ready to undertake any service for his glory, however difficult or dangerous. Note; (1.) None can rightly speak for God, who have not a divine mission from him, and heard his voice teaching their own hearts the truths which they must deliver to others. (2.) The ordination of a minister is a matter of solemn weight, seeing it is (comparatively speaking) so rare to find that zeal for God, that love for men’s souls, that acquaintance with the mysteries of godliness, which are such essential qualifications for a preacher of the gospel. (3.) If a desire to glorify God, and a delight to serve him in the gospel of his dear Son, do not engage us as volunteers in the service, exclusive of all worldly prospects, and regardless of all sufferings, it is a horrid profanation to offer ourselves for the ministry, merely because destined by our parents, or to procure a maintenance.
3rdly, Isaiah having offered himself, his service is accepted, and his commission given him, Go; but he is informed, that, though to the majority it would be utterly ineffectual, to a few it would be blessed with success.
1. He is commanded to tell this people, now abandoned to their own hearts’ lusts, Hear ye indeed the words of the prophets, but especially of Christ and his apostles, in reference to whose preaching this Scripture is several times quoted in the New Testament, but understand not, either the glories of his person, or his doctrine; and see ye indeed his miracles so great and strange, but perceive not the proof of his divine mission therein contained. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: God gives them up to judicial hardness and blindness; because they desire not the knowledge of the truth, in judgment they shall be deprived of it, and find that gospel which was ordained unto life, to them a savour of death unto death: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed, to which the preaching of the word was adapted; or at least might see so far as to make some national reformation, which might avert the judgments that God had resolved to bring upon them for the rejection of his Son, which had filled up the measure of their iniquities; and therefore he left them to a reprobate mind. Note; (1.) The clearest truths of God’s word are darkness to the fallen mind; the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (2.) Wherever the word of God is preached, it serves to harden those who receive it not in the light and love of it. (3.) They who are converted will find the wounds healed which sin had made in their souls, while the impenitent perish in their iniquities.
2. He is informed of the desolations to be accomplished upon them, in answer to his question, How long should these divine judgments upon them continue? even till the whole nation should be destroyed and dispersed, the country depopulated, and utter ruin brought upon them by the Roman sword. Note; (1.) The ruin of men’s souls is the necessary consequence of the rejection of the gospel. (2.) Temporal judgments are often the punishment of national sins.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Oh what a verse of blessedness, what a promise full of Jesus and his glory, is here! O for grace to behold, and to enjoy Jesus in it! The Jewish nation could not be destroyed, because Christ, after the flesh, was to spring out of the stock of Abraham: and on his account the nation should be saved. It is, saith the Lord, but as a tenth, but as a remnant; nevertheless, in that tenth, in that remnant, there is the holy seed. Jesus is the substance contained in all, as the teil tree, or the oak, in the acorn of which, from the first creation, all the subsequent oaks are folded up. Precious thought! In Jesus, from everlasting to everlasting, all his seed, his people, his children were deposited, and will be brought forth from age to age, until the last is completed. Reader, was there ever a more blessed close to a most blessed chapter? O for grace to bless the eternal Spirit for such a revelation! Now, Lord we see why it is, that sinners are preserved amidst all their undeservings. There is one that standeth by and looketh on, and while to our eye there is nothing to be seen, but, like the withered blighted branch of the vine, everything is unpromising, and dead, and lifeless; yet there is in it a tenth; yea, Jesus is in it; Destroy it not, he saith, for a blessing is in it. So, saith Jehovah, in his rich mercy and free grace, so will I do for my servants sakes, that I may not destroy them all, Isa 45:8 .
REFLECTIONS
MY soul, close not the book: for the same Lord, the same Adonai, yea thy Jesus is still upon his throne, as he was in the days of the prophet, and thou by grace, through faith, as he by open vision, mayest draw nigh and behold him; for he calls upon thee, and upon all poor, needy, perishing sinners, like thyself, to come hither and behold the glory which he had with his Father before all worlds. And do not forget that thy Redeemer’s throne is a throne of grace as well as glory, on which Jesus sits to receive his poor, and to give out of his fulness. And, for thy great encouragement, do not forget also, that while thou art benefited by his grace, Jesus will be glorified in giving out to thy necessities; yea, God thy Father will be glorified in Jesus, whenever a poor sinner is made blessed and happy in Jesus. Come then, my soul, to his throne, and let God be glorified in his Son, and Jesus be glorified in thy salvation; in thy finding grace to help in every time of need.
And behold, my soul, the glorious seraphim above the throne, and round about the throne, and let their appearance comfort and encourage thee! Yea, let thy hymn go forth in the language of heaven: for surely never would the heavenly song have been handed down to earth, if it had not been meant that the redeemed upon earth, from among men, might learn and sing it. Cry aloud my soul, with holy joy, and say, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.
But while thou art singing with a new-strung heart of redemption, the song of heaven, and the spirits of just men made perfect; forget not, O my soul, that thou art still a man of unclean lips, and that thou dwellest in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Yes, precious Jesus, I would not only remember this, but through all eternity, never, never lose sight of it. Heaven itself will be more heaven to my soul in the view, that from the brink of hell it was Jesus brought me. Thy love, thy grace, thy pity, thy compassion, blessed Lord, is now the sole cause of my song of grace, and will be my everlasting song of glory to all eternity. Oh for the continual cleansing from off thine altar, Lord Jesus! let the live coal be daily, hourly administered to purge mine iniquity, and to make me clean in thy blood.
And O, my gracious God, grant me, grant thy Church, thy people favor, that it may not be said, to the ministry of thy holy word Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Oh Lord! give to him that writes, and to him that reads, the hearing, the seeing, the understanding, the believing heart; that we may both enter into the full enjoyment of this blessed vision, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! Lord! let it he found in our souls experience, and to our souls joy, that there is in us, as in the teil tree and the oak, that glorious substance, the holy seed, even Jesus, in all his merits, blood, and righteousness, for the salvation of our souls! May this be found our portion, in the love and mercy of God our Father; the grace, blood, and righteousness of Jesus Christ; and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Ghost! Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 6:13 But yet in it [shall be] a tenth, and [it] shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves: so] the holy seed [shall be] the substance thereof.
Ver. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth, ] a i.e., Some elect left in the land for a reserve. And these are called a tenth – (1.) Because, as the tenths, they are consecrated to God; Lev 27:30-32 (2.) Because but a few. So that God may say, as once of the cured lepers, “Where are the other nine?” Such were those that looked for the consolation of Israel when Christ came in the flesh, Zacharias, Simeon, Anna, the Marys, Joseph of Arimathea, the apostles, Peter’s converts, &c.
And it shall return and shall be eaten.
As a teil tree, or as an oak.
Their substance is in them.
a It may be rendered God’s tenth. But what meant Lyra to argue from hence that tithes are due to the Church?
b In radice et caudice. – Junius, Piscator.
But yet in it shall be a tenth, &c. = Still, there is in it (the land) a tenth part; and it (the tenth part) shall again be swept away; yet, as with terebinth and oak, whose life remains in them when felled, the holy seed will be the life thereof. This is no “interpolation”; it is necessary to complete the Structure.
shall be. Supply [there is].
teil tree = terebinth.
substance = root-stock.
is in them: or will be in them. A special rending called Sevir (App-34) reads “in it”: i.e. in the land.
cast their leaves = are felled. The Ellipsis, here, is wrongly supplied.
tenth
See “Remnant,” (See Scofield “Rom 11:5”).
return
(See Scofield “Isa 8:18”)
But yet: Isa 1:9, Isa 4:3, Isa 10:20-22, Mat 24:22, Mar 13:20, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:6, Rom 11:16-29
and it shall return: etc. or, when it is returned, and hath been broused
teil tree: The teil-tree is the linden or lime-tree, a species very common in Palestine; the leaf of which resembles that of the laurel, and its flower that of the olive. But the original ailah which our translators render the oak (but here distinguished from allon the oak), and Bp. Lowth the ilex in Isa 1:29-30, probably denotes, as Celsius contends, the terebinth It is an evergreen of moderate size, but having the top and branches large in proportion to the trunk; leaves, like those of the olive, but green intermixed with red and purple; flowers, like those of the vine, growing in bunches, and purple; fruit, of a ruddy purple, the size of a juniper berry, hanging in clusters, very juicy, and containing a single seed of the size of a grape stone; wood, hard and fibrous, from which a resin distils; with an excresence scattered among the leaves, of the size of a chestnut, of a purple colour, variegated with green and white.
substance: or, stock, or stem, Job 14:7-9
so the holy: Isa 65:8, Isa 65:9, Gen 22:18, Ezr 9:2, Mal 2:15, Joh 15:1-3, Rom 9:5, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:24, Gal 3:16-19, Gal 3:28, Gal 3:29
Reciprocal: Gen 18:26 – General Gen 30:27 – the Lord Deu 14:2 – General 2Ch 12:12 – also in Judah things went well 2Ch 30:6 – and he will Isa 7:2 – the house Isa 7:3 – Shearjashub Isa 10:22 – yet a remnant Isa 19:24 – shall Isa 24:13 – there Isa 27:6 – General Isa 30:17 – a beacon Isa 37:31 – remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah Jer 3:14 – one of a city Jer 31:17 – General Eze 6:8 – General Eze 12:16 – I will Eze 14:22 – therein Mic 4:7 – I will Zep 3:13 – remnant Zec 13:8 – but Rom 9:29 – Except Rom 11:17 – some Gal 3:8 – In Rev 7:3 – Hurt not
Isa 6:13. But yet in it shall be a tenth A small remnant reserved, that number being put indefinitely. And it shall return Out of the Babylonish captivity, into their own land. And shall be eaten Or, shall be for a prey, as Dr. Waterland translates it: that is, that remnant shall be devoured a second time by the kings of Syria, and afterward by the Romans. Yet as a teil-tree, and as an oak, &c. Yet there shall be another remnant, not such a one as that which came out of Babylon, but a holy seed, who shall afterward look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn over him. Whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, &c. Who, when their leaves are cast in winter, have a substance within themselves, a vital principle, which preserves life in the root of the tree, and in due time sends it forth into all the branches. So the holy seed shall be the substance, or, rather, the support thereof Of the people, who, were it not for the sake of these, should be finally rooted out and destroyed.
6:13 But yet in it [shall be] {q} a tenth, and [it] shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, {r} and as an oak, whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves: so] the holy seed [shall be] the substance of it.
(q) Meaning, the tenth part: or as some write, it was revealed to Isaiah for the confirmation of his prophecy that ten kings would come before their captivity, as were from Uzziah to Zedekiah.
(r) For the fewness of them they will seem to be eaten up: yet they will later flourish as a tree, which in winter loses leaves, and seems to be dead, yet in summer is fresh and green.
Yet there was hope. A tenth of the nation would survive. The Lord would take His tithe from among the people. But the land would again face judgment. This tenth probably refers to the remnant left in the land when Nebuchadnezzar took the majority captive to Babylon (2Ki 24:14). When the nation was thoroughly cut down and burned, there would be a little spiritual life in it that would eventually sprout. This happened when a small number of godly exiles under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra returned to the land and reestablished the nation. Antiochus IV of Syria almost consumed even this remnant during the inter-testamental period, when the land was again subject to burning. They were the initial holy seed (cf. Isa 41:8; Isa 43:5; Isa 53:10; Isa 59:21; Isa 65:9; Isa 66:22; 1Ki 19:18; Rom 11:5), but Messiah would be the ultimate holy seed (Heb. zera, a collective singular; cf. Isa 4:2; Isa 11:1) who would arise out of the chastened nation.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)