Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 9:9
And all the people shall know, [even] Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
9. shall know ] i.e. by its effects; Hos 9:7.
that say ] lit. “saying,” i.e. “as follows.” A verb seems to have dropped out; [ for they boast ] in pride and stoutness of heart saying.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And all the people shall know – Shall know the message; or shall know the judgment which God denounces against their crimes. The Chaldee renders this, All the people have exalted themselves, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, in their magnitude, and in the pride of thee heart.
Ephraim – This is another name for Israel, as Ephraim was the principal tribe; Note, Isa 7:2.
And the inhabitants of Samaria – The capital of Ephraim or Israel; Note, Isa 7:9.
That say in the pride – This is a description of general and prevalent pride; and it is traced to the source of all pride – the heart. It was a desire of splendor, power, and magnificence, originating in the heart, and manifesting itself by the language of self-confidence and defiance at the judgments of God.
Stoutness – Hebrew Greatness. It means a self-confident purpose; and indicates the state of feeling in a man when he trusts to his own resources, and not to God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Pride and stoutness of heart – “Carry themselves haughtily”] veyadeu, “and they shall know;” so ours and the Versions in general. But what is it that they shall know? The verb stands destitute of its object; and the sense is imperfect. The Chaldee is the only one, as far as I can find, that expresses it otherwise. He renders the verb in this place by veithrabrabu, “they exalt themselves, or carry themselves haughtily; the same word by which he renders gabehu, Isa 3:16. He seems, therefore, in this place to have read vaiyigbehu, which agrees perfectly well with what follows, and clears up the difficulty. Archbishop Secker conjectured vayedabberu, referring it to lemor, in the next verse, which shows that he was not satisfied with the present reading. Houbigant reads vaiyereu, et pravi facti sunt, they are become wicked, which is found in a MS.; but I prefer the reading of the Chaldee, which suits much better with the context.
Houbigant approves of this reading; but it is utterly unsupported by any evidence from antiquity: it is a mere mistake of resh for daleth; and I am surprised that it should be favoured by Houbigant.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall know, to wit, by experience; they shall know whether my word be true or false; they shall feel the effects of it.
Even Ephraim; the people of the ten tribes, and particularly Ephraim, the strongest and proudest of them all.
The inhabitant of Samaria; the strongest place, and the seat of the king and court, who were most secure and presumptuous.
That say within themselves, and one to another. They purpose and boast of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. knowto their cost:experimentally (Ho 9:7).
Samariathe capital ofEphraim (compare as to phrase, Isa1:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And all the people shall know,…. The word of the Lord, and that it is his; and by sad experience shall feel the weight of it; or, “the people shall know the whole of it” y; shall find that the whole of it will be accomplished, every punctilio in it; whatever is said is done, everything predicted by it, the substance of it, and every circumstance relating to it: or they shall be punished, they shall bear, know, and feel the punishment of their sins; in which sense the word “know”, in the Arabic language, is frequently used, of which Schultens z has given many instances:
[even] Ephraim, and the inhabitants of Samaria: the ten tribes are meant by Ephraim; and the inhabitants of Samaria are particularly mentioned, because Samaria was the metropolis of Ephraim, Isa 7:9 and because it was to suffer, and did suffer much in the threatened calamity, being besieged three years, then taken, and its inhabitants carried captive; and so experimentally knew the word of the Lord, and the truth of it, 2Ki 17:5:
that say in the pride and stoutness of heart; being proud and haughty, stout hearted, and far from righteousness, and the fear of God; hardening themselves against him, despising his word, and defying, as it were, his power and providence; saying, as follows:
y “totum ejus”. z Animadv. Philol. in Job, p. 77, 78.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. And the people shall know. By the word people I understand, not the Jews, but rather the Israelites; and, indeed, the Prophet removes doubt by expressly naming Ephraim. He likewise adds Samaria, which was the metropolis of that people, or of the ten tribes; for fortified cities, conceiving themselves to be placed beyond the reach of danger, are much more insolent in their pretensions. They think that they will always have the remedy in their hands by capitulating with the enemy, though the whole country were laid waste. On this account Isaiah threatens that they will not be exempted from the general calamity. He says that all will feel that the predictions which were uttered by the mouth of God will not be without effect. By the word know, which relates to actual experience, he indirectly reproves their unbelief; as if he had said, “Since I speak to the deaf, and you set no value on the warnings which I now address to you, the actual event will teach you, but too late.”
Who say. Here the Prophet attacks the obstinacy and rebellion of that people, because, though they had once and again been chastised by God’s scourges, and that sharply, they were so far from repentance that they reckoned their losses to be gain, and became more hardened. Assuredly they who thus insolently mock at God are not brought to obedience without being reduced to utter weakness. Now, such an insult openly and avowedly provokes God’s anger, and therefore the Prophet says that it proceeds from the haughtiness and pride of the heart. Hence it follows that it is right to apply to knotty timber chisels that are harder still.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE DUTY OF THE AFFLICTED
Isa. 9:9-14. And all the people shall know, &c.
God here complains of what Israel did when grievous and prolonged afflictions, sent by God, fell upon them [935] then they left undone what they ought to have done, and did what they ought not to have done; and this opens up the great subject of the duty of the afflicted.
[935] The Ten Tribes had already suffered many an infliction; their political organisation had often been broken up by civil wars and foreign invasions, as the house of unburnt brick dissolves into mud before the rain, and the flower of the people had been cut down as lavishly as men cut down the cheap sycamores; but with that stoutness of heart, that obstinate toughness which in all ages to the present has marked this race, the men of Ephraim and Samaria seem to rise superior to every calamity; like Solomon, they will change the sycamores for cedars, and they will replace the brick with hewn stones. The conversion of Damascus from an ancient enemy into an ally encouraged them in their hopes; but Jehovah will confound their policy by bringing the conquerors of Damascus upon them.Strachey.
An entirely different interpretation has to be put upon affliction in the case of men whose sincere desire is to govern their lives according to the will of God, and in the case of men who are living wholly unto themselves. It is exclusively of afflictions that befall men of the latter order that we intend now to speak, though many things that will be said apply to all the afflicted.
I. In the case of the ungodly, the DESIGN of affliction is in the first instance corrective, and then, in the event of its not accomplishing this end, punitive.
II. Their DUTY is
1. To recognise that their afflictions come from God. This is a fact that wicked men are very slow to recognise; they prefer to attribute their troubles to bad luck, miscalculations on their part, superior ingenuity or force on the part of their human adversaries, &c. They prefer anything to a recognition of the awful fact that it is God who is dealing with them (H. E. I. 143).
2. Submission to the will of God. This is frequently the result of recognition that the affliction comes from Him; men cease to use such language as is attributed to the Israelites (Isa. 9:10). Were it not that sin dethrones the reason, this would always be the case; but it is not so,men can be found so hardened in iniquity that they resolve to fight against God. Stoutheartedness in affliction is an admirable thing; there is a place for it; but it is utterly misplaced when it leads men to struggle against the Almighty. The only and inevitable result is heavier affliction and ultimate ruin (Isa. 9:11-14. [938]. H. E. I. 146, 147).
3. Repentance toward God.
(1.) Repentance is more than submission (H. E. I. 42064209).
(2.) God will be satisfied with nothing less than change of heart towards Him.
(3.) Here we reach one of the most terrible results of iniquity; by it men are incapacitated for naturally doing that which is indispensable to their salvation. Did not God pity sinful men, they could never attain to that state of heart and mind without which it would be impossible for God to forgive them. But Christ has been exalted for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. With the outward stroke of affliction there comes to the heart the inward grace of Christ: let transgressors be prompt to submit to the one, and to avail themselves of the other (H. E. I. 145, 4210).
[938] A man under Gods affliction is like a bird in a net; the more he strives, the more he is entangled.Bishop Hall.
These, then, are the duties of sinful men upon whom affliction has come. Let your compliance with them be
1. Prompt. Not to comply with them is to perish. Not to comply with them promptly is an aggravation of all your former iniquity (H. E. I. 4247, 4248). By delay you may exhaust the Divine patience (Pro. 29:1).
2. Thankful. Adore the benignity of God, in that He is willing to receive you on your mere repentance; a repentance which He Himself enables you to exercise. Remember that where God sees it, He does not merely turn away His chastisements from the penitent transgressor; He receives him into His favour, and blesses him as a son in whom He delights (Luk. 15:22-23). Men do not act so. When their foes submit, they require from them an indemnity for the wrong that has been done; often an indemnity that is intended to be crushing, e.g., Germany and France. But God in all His dealings with penitent sinners shows Himself to be a God of grace (Mic. 7:18-19).
3. Intelligent. Do not imagine that there is anything meritorious in your repentance (H. E. I. 42254228). Remember that God thus deals with you solely for Christs sake, through whose atonement it has become possible for Him to show mercy to penitent transgressors. Here is an additional argument for the exercise of repentance, that God Himself, at so great a cost, has laid the foundation on which He can deal with you otherwise than in the way of justice. If you persist in your iniquity, and by your stubbornness leave Him no alternative but to destroy you, He will be able with absolute truth to say to each of you, Thou hast destroyed thyself! Even in pronouncing judgment upon you, He will clear Himself; as did our Lord when He left Jerusalem to its fate (Mat. 23:37-38). [939]
[939] When the monster-taming Hercules overcame all in the Olympics, Jupiter at last, in an unknown shape, wrestled with him: the victory was uncertain, till at length Jupiter descried himself, and Hercules yielded. No striving with supreme powers: we must submit ourselves unto the mighty hand of God, acknowledge our offences, call to Him for mercy. If He strike, as it is with them that are wounded with the spear of Achilles, Ho alone must help.Burton.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
9. And all the people shall know Or, the people shall know all of it. Shall experience the full meaning of divine threatenings.
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria The particular people intended in this prophecy.
That say in the pride and stoutness of heart The people of the northern kingdom, as against those of Judah and Jerusalem, haughtily utter what follows in the next verse. The prophet here seems to see Israel in its attitude toward Jerusalem before Tiglath-pileser has yet humbled Ephraim and Samaria.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 9:9 And all the people shall know, [even] Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
Ver. 9. And all the people shall know. ] Know it they do already; but they shall know it by woeful experience. He that trembleth not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said Mr Bradford, martyr.
That say in pride and stoutness of heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
all the People, &c. “People” is singular, and “know” is plural = the People, all of them.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And all: Isa 26:11, 1Ki 22:25, Job 21:19, Job 21:20, Jer 32:24, Jer 44:28, Jer 44:29, Eze 7:9, Eze 7:27, Eze 30:19, Eze 33:33
even Ephraim: Isa 7:9, Isa 10:9-11
in the pride: Isa 46:12, Isa 48:4, Pro 16:18, Mal 3:13, Mal 4:1, 1Pe 5:5
Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:11 – the king Isa 10:12 – punish the fruit of the stout heart Isa 17:9 – General Isa 28:2 – the Lord Jer 22:14 – I will Jer 43:2 – all the Hos 5:5 – the pride Mal 1:4 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
These people had demonstrated their pride by claiming that, if some things were destroyed by invaders, they would replace them with better things. They planned to overcome any disaster through their own work rather than by looking to the Lord for help.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Everyone in Ephraim and Samaria would know the truth of God’s Word.