Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 9:11
Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
11. Therefore the Lord shall set up ] Transl. And ( so) Jehovah exalted. The adversaries of Rezin must, if the text be correct, denote the Assyrians. But this is not a natural designation (especially if the prophecy was written before the Syro-Ephraimitish coalition); and it is inconsistent with Isa 9:12, unless, indeed, we suppose that there Syrians are referred to as auxiliaries in the Assyrian army, which is extremely improbable. Several codd. read “princes of Rezin”; but this is hardly less objectionable. It seems necessary to delete “Rezin” as a gloss and read simply his (Israel’s) adversaries.
and join together ] Rather, and stirred up his enemies (frequentative impf.) cf. ch. Isa 19:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11, 12. The first blow of Jehovah’s hand loss of territory.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore – This verse indicates the punishment that would come upon them for their pride.
The Lord shall set up – Hebrew, Shall exalt. That is, they shall overcome and subdue him.
The adversaries of Rezin – King of Syria, Isa 7:1. It should be observed here, that twenty-one manuscripts, instead of adversaries, read princes of Rezin. The sense seems to require this; as in the following verse, it is said that the Syrians will be excited against them.
Against him – Against Ephraim.
And join his enemies together – Hebrew, Mingle them together. They shall be excited into wild and agitated commotion, and shall pour down together on the land and devour it. In what way this would be done is specified in Isa 9:12.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 9:11
Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him
Oppositions
The Lord shall set up the adversaries.
This accounts for many oppositions which otherwise would be without explanation. We wonder why such and such people should be opposed to us. Ask them questions about this opposition, and they will confess themselves bewildered; they daily look round for causes, and find none; yet they say they cannot restrain the dislike, and they must force it into forms of opposition about whose urgency and determinateness there can be no mistake. How is all this? Is it not the Lord reigning even here? God means to chasten us, to make us feel that there are other people in the world beside ourselves, and that we have no right to all the room, and no claim that can be maintained to all the property. Thus we teach one another by sometimes opposing one another. We are brought to chastening and sobriety and refinement by attritions and oppositions that are, from a human point of view, utterly unaccountable. The Bible never hesitates to trace the whole set and meaning of providence to the Lord Himself: He sends the plague, the pestilence, the darkness, all the flies and frogs that desolated old Egypt; He still is the Author of gale., and flood, and famine, and pestilence We have amused ourselves by deceiving ourselves, by discovering a thousand secondary causes, and seeking, piously or impiously, to relieve providence of the responsibility of the great epidemic. Within given limits all we say may be perfectly true; we are great in phenomena, we have a genius in the arrangement of detail; but, after all, above all, and beneath all, is the mysterious life, the omnipotence of God, the judgment between right and wrong that plays upon the universe as upon an obedient instrument,–now evoking from It black frowning thunder, and now making it tremble with music that children love, and that sweetest mothers want all their canes to hear. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. The adversaries of Rezin against him – “The princes of Retsin against him”] For tsarey, enemies, Houbigant, by conjecture, reads sarey, princes; which is confirmed by thirty of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., (two ancient,) one of my own, ancient; and nine more have tsaddi, upon a rasure, and therefore had probably at first sarey. The princes of Retsin, the late ally of Israel, that is, the Syrians, expressly named in the next verse, shall now be excited against Israel.
The Septuagint in this place give us another variation; for Retsin, they read har tsiyon, , Mount Sion, of which this may be the sense; but JEHOVAH shall set up the adversaries of Mount Sion against him, (i.e., against Israel,) and will strengthen his enemies together; the Syrians, the Philistines, who are called the adversaries of Mount Sion. See Simonis Lex. in voce sachach.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore; to chastise your pride, and defeat your hopes and resolutions.
Set up, Heb. exalt; advance their power, and give them success against him.
The adversaries of Rezin; the Assyrians, who, presently after this prophecy, fought and prevailed against him, 2Ki 16:7. He mentions Rezin, partly because he was confederate with Ephraim, and so his enemies were their enemies also, and partly because the Israelites trusted to his powerful assistance.
Against him; either,
1. Against Rezin last mentioned; or rather,
2. Against Ephraim or Israel, who may easily be understood either from the foregoing or following verse; for against them this prophecy is directed, and of them he speaks both in the next clause of this verse, and in the next verse; and it seems reasonable that him in this clause, and his in the next clause, should be understood of the same persons.
Join, Heb. mingle, i.e. unite them so that they shall agree together to fight against Israel, and shall invade him from several quarters.
His; not Rezins, but Ephraims, as appears from the next verse, which is added to explain this clause.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. adversaries of RezintheAssyrians, who shall first attack Damascus, shall next advance”against him” (Ephraim). This is the punishment ofEphraim’s pride in making light (Isa9:10) of the judgment already inflicted by God throughTiglath-pileser (2Ki 15:29). Asecond Assyrian invasion (see on Isa7:1) shall follow. The reading “princes” for”adversaries” in uncalled for.
joinrather, “arm”;cover with armor [MAURER].
hisRezin’s.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him,…. Set them up on high, as the word a signifies; exalt them above him, and make them superior to him, and conquerors of him, meaning the Assyrians; who, being sent for by Ahab, went up against Damascus, took it, and carried the people captive, and slew Rezin the king of Syria, the head of which was Damascus,
2Ki 16:7 this is mentioned, because the Israelites put great trust and confidence in this prince, with whom they were in alliance; and this is said to abate their pride, arrogance, and haughtiness, before expressed:
and join his enemies together; or mix them; the Assyrian army, consisting of a mixture of various nations; or “stir” them “up”, as the Targum; instigate them against him. Some understand the whole of Israel, against whom the adversaries of Rezin, namely, the Assyrians, would come, as they did, and invade their land, and carry them captive; with whom were various other people, as follows.
a “elevabit, sive extollet”, Forerius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. But the Lord will set up the adversaries of Rezin against him. The Israelites having been proud of their alliance with the king of Syria, and hoping that everything would succeed to their wish, Isaiah threatens a new change which will take away all their hope and utterly frustrate their designs, for the Assyrians afterwards took arms and waged war with the Syrians. Accordingly, when Rezin had been slain, (2Kg 16:9,) that country was entirely ruined. Still more does he heighten this, by adding, he shall mingle; (146) for he means that the Lord will gather together and mingle various enemies whom he will commission to destroy the king of Syria, as the soldiers who composed the army of that vast monarchy were collected out of various nations.
(146) And join his enemies together. Margin, Heb. mingle. — Eng. Ver. — Calvin, in his version placed at the beginning of this Chapter, renders the clause, and will join his enemies together; but when he comes to explain it, he translates the Hebrew word literally, he will mingle. In both renderings the exact coincidence with our ordinary version deserves notice. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries . . .The Hebrew tenses are in the past (has set up), but probably as representing the prophets visions of an accomplished future. The adversaries of the text can hardly be any other than the Assyrians; yet the context that follows clearly points to an attack on Ephraim in which the armies of Rezin were to be conspicuous. The natural explanation is that Syria, after the conquest by the Assyrian king (2Ki. 16:9), was compelled to take part in a campaign against Samaria. The reading of the text may be retained with this explanation, and the sentence paraphrased thus, Jehovah will stir up the adversaries of Rezin (the Assyrians who have conquered Syria) against him (Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria), and shall join his enemies against him, and those enemies shall include the very nations on whose support he had counted, the Syrians and the Philistines (Psa. 83:7-8). The latter people were, it is true, enemies to Judah (2Ch. 28:18), but their hostilities extended to the northern kingdom also.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Therefore A consequence fearful to Israel opens up.
The Lord shall set up The expression means, Hath exalted against him.
Adversaries of Rezin These were either the Assyrians, or the allied Syrians, (now subject to Assyria,) after the overthrow of Rezin their king.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 9:11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
Ver. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin. ] In whom ye trust. He shall shortly be destroyed by the Assyrian, 2Ki 16:9 and then your hopes shall hop headless, and make you ashamed.
And join his enemies together.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
adversaries. Some codices read “princes, or generals”.
him: i.e. Ephraim (not Rezin).
join, &c. = weave together, unite as allies.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
set up: Isa 8:4-7, Isa 10:9-11, Isa 17:1-5, 2Ki 15:29, 2Ki 16:9
join: Heb. mingle
Reciprocal: Isa 7:16 – the land
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9:11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of {o} Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
(o) Rezin king of Syria, who was in league with Israel, was slain by the Assyrians, after whose death, Aram that is, the Syrians were against Israel, who on the other side were assailed by the Philistines.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Because of this pride, Yahweh would raise up strong adversaries from the northeast and the southwest: the Syrians (Arameans) and the Philistines (cf. Num 20:12; 2Sa 11:27). He would teach them that they could not overcome these enemies on their own, and that they needed His salvation. Yet in spite of these judgments, the Lord’s anger would still be against Ephraim, and His hand of judgment would be stretched out against her because she would not repent.
"This text is about sinners in the hands of an angry God. In fact, God, the most loving person in the Bible, is also the angriest person in the Bible." [Note: Ortlund, p. 101.]