Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:16
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
16. the Lord, the Lord of hosts ] as in ch. Isa 1:24. The ordinary printed editions have the unparalleled expression Adn i Tsb th, for which Baer rightly restores Yahveh Tsb th.
send among his fat ones ] Better, “send into his fat limbs,” the image being that of a human body. For the metaphor see ch. Isa 17:4.
he shall kindle fire ] Better, there shall burn a burning like the burning of fire. The monotony is as marked in the Hebrew as in this translation.
Isa 10:17 . The same figure as in ch. Isa 9:18.
Isa 10:18 . both soul and body ] For similarly abrupt changes of metaphor, cf. ch. Isa 5:24, Isa 8:8, Isa 28:18.
and they shall be fainteth ] Render with R.V. marg., and it shall be as when a sick man pineth away, a return to the figure with which Isa 10:16 opens. The participle n occurs nowhere else: A.V. connects it with n a standard; the translation “sick man” rests on the analogy of the Syriac.
Isa 10:19 . And the rest ] the remnant (R.V.); the same word as in Isa 10:20-22. shall be few ] lit. “a number,” a numerable quantity.
a child may write them ] i.e. make a list of them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 19. The destruction of the Assyrian army is described under the two figures of sickness and a conflagration. There is a certain amount of confusion in the metaphors, and undoubtedly the style deteriorates at this point.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore shall the Lord – Hebrew, ‘adon.
The Lord of hosts – In the present Hebrew text, the original word is also ‘adonay, but fifty-two manuscripts and six editions read Jehovah. On the meaning of the phrase, the Lord of hosts, see the note at Isa 1:9. This verse contains a threatening of the punishment that would come upon the Assyrian for his insolence and pride, and the remainder of the chapter is mainly occupied with the details of that punishment. The punishment here threatened is, that while he appeared to be a victor, and was boasting of success and of his plunder, God would send leanness – as a body becomes wasted with disease.
His fat ones – That is, those who had fattened on the spoils of victory; his vigorous, prosperous, and flourishing army. The prophet here evidently intends to describe his numerous army glutted with the trophies of victor, and revelling on the spoils.
Leanness – They shall be emaciated and reduced; their vigor and strength shall be diminished. In Psa 106:15, the word leanness, razon, is used to denote destruction, disease. In Mic 6:10, it denotes diminution, scantiness – the scant ephah. Here it denotes, evidently, that the army which was so large and vigorous, should waste away as with a pestilential disease; compare Isa 10:19. The fact was, that of that vast host few escaped. The angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men in a single night; 2Ki 18:35; see the notes at Isa. 38:36.
And under his glory – That is, beneath the boasted honor, might, and magnificence of the proud monarch.
He shall kindle – That is, God shall suddenly and entirely destroy his magnificence and pride, as when a fire is kindled beneath a magnificent temple. A similar passage occurs in Zec 12:6 :
In that day I shall make the governors of Judah
Like a hearth of fire among the wood,
And like a torch of fire in a sheaf;
And they shall devour all the people round about.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The Lord – “JEHOVAH.”] For Adonai, fifty-two MSS., eleven editions, and two of my own, ancient, read , Yehovah, as in other cases.
And under his glory] That is, all that he could boast of as great and strong in his army, (Sal. ben Melec in loc.,) expressed afterwards, Isa 10:18, by the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord of hosts; the sovereign Lord and General of thine and all other armies.
Send among his fat ones leanness; strip him, and all his great princes and commanders, of all their wealth, and might, and glory. He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire; he will destroy his numerous and victorious army, and that suddenly and irrecoverably, as the fire doth those combustible things which are cast into it; which was fulfilled 2Ki 19:25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. fat ones (Isa5:17). The robust and choice soldiers of Assyria (Ps78:31, where “fattest” answers in the parallelism to”chosen,” or “young men,” Margin).
leannesscarrying outthe image on “fat ones.” Destruction (Ps106:15). Fulfilled (Isa37:36).
his gloryAssyria’snobles. So in Isa 5:13,Margin; Isa 8:7.
kindlea new image fromfire consuming quickly dry materials (Zec12:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts,…. Because of the pride, and arrogance, and vain boasting of the Assyrian monarch, which was resented by the Lord, he is threatened with what follows; and in order to humble him, and to show that God is above him, these titles are used; “the Lord”, the Lord of the whole earth, and the King of kings, and Lord of lords; “the Lord of hosts”, of armies above and below, of more and greater armies than what the king of Assyria was lord of; and therefore he might be assured that what is hereafter threatened would be fulfilled, namely,
send among his fat ones leanness; the Targum is, among his princes, who abounded in riches and honour; or his army, and the chiefs in it, the mighty and strong; and by “leanness” is meant destruction and death, which came upon his army, and the great men of it, immediately from the hand of God; see Ps 106:15 compared with Nu 11:33:
and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire; that is, under his army, which was great and glorious, very numerous, and well accoutred with clothes and arms, and made a very splendid and glittering show, and of which the Assyrian monarch gloried; this army the Jews say was destroyed by fire, and that the bodies of the men were burnt, and their clothes untouched; but Jarchi interprets this glory of their garments, which give a man glory, and says these were burnt; the Targum calls them their vessels of glory; perhaps meaning their glittering arms, which were burnt along with them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There follows in the next v. the punishment provoked by such self-deification (cf., Hab 1:11). “Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send consumption against his fat men; and under Asshur’s glory there burns a brand like a firebrand.” Three epithets are here employed to designate God according to His unlimited, all-controlling omnipotence: viz., ha’adon , which is always used by Isaiah in connection with judicial and penal manifestations of power; and adonai zebaoth , a combination never met with again, similar to the one used in the Elohistic Psalms, Elohim zebaoth (compare, on the other hand, Isa 3:15; Isa 10:23-24). Even here a large number of codices and editions (Norzi’s, for example) have the reading Jehovah Zebaoth , which is customary in other cases.
(Note: This passage is not included in the 134 vadda’n (i.e., “real”) adonai , or passages in which adonai is written, and not merely to be read, that are enumerated by the Masora (see Br’s Psalterium, p. 133).)
Razon (Isa 17:4) is one of the diseases mentioned in the catalogue of curses in Lev 26:16 and Deu 28:22. Galloping consumption comes like a destroying angel upon the great masses of flesh seen in the well-fed Assyrian magnates: mishmannim is used in a personal sense, as in Psa 78:31. And under the glory of Asshur, i.e., its richly equipped army ( c abod as in Isa 8:7), He who makes His angels flames of fire places fire so as to cause it to pass away in flames. In accordance with Isaiah’s masterly art of painting in tones, the whole passage is so expressed, that we can hear the crackling, and spluttering, and hissing of the fire, as it seizes upon everything within its reach. This fire, whatever it may be so far as its natural and phenomenal character is concerned, is in its true essence the wrath of Jehovah.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
16. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness. He proceeds with the former doctrine, declaring that the Lord will show to the Assyrian how undeservedly he exalts himself, and will throw down his arrogance, in which he foolishly takes delight. As he trusted in his wealth and his forces, Isaiah declares that the Lord will take them away; and he does so under the metaphor of fatness and leanness. By the word fatness he means both riches and warlike power, in which he placed too much confidence; as if he had said, “Everything fat and rich that he possesses, the Lord will make the whole of it lean. ” It is not uncommon to compare prosperity to fatness; for as horses which are too fat become refractory, so as to throw the rider or kick when any one comes near them, so among men abundance produces fierceness of disposition, which is subdued by leanness
And under his glory he shall kindle a burning. There is great beauty in the comparison, that a fire will be laid under his glory; for it means, that the greater the splendor of his prosperity, so much the more abundant will be the fuel for the conflagration. Yet it likewise shows that he will be utterly reduced to nothing; as if one were to cut down a tree from the roots, or overturn a house from the foundation. If nothing more than the branches of a tree be cut down, it quickly sprouts again; or if the roof of a house be consumed by fire, the other parts of it remain uninjured. He therefore leaves him nothing, but asserts that he will be brought down by utter destruction.
As the burning of a fire. (166) The particle as, which points out the comparison, does not mean that the language is metaphorical, but rather that the burning will be such as to consume utterly the glory of the Assyrian.
(166) Like the burning of a fire. — Eng. Ver.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Therefore shall the Lord . . . send among his fat ones leanness.The overthrow of the Assyrian is painted in the two-fold imagery of famine and of fire. (Isa. 17:4; comp. Pharaohs vision in Gen. 41:18-24.) The fat ones are the warriors of the Assyrian army. The fire that burns the glory of the king is explained in the next verse as the wrath of Jehovah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Therefore the Lord Haadon, a term implying supremacy, supreme judge, sovereign ruler.
The Lord of hosts The term denoting commander of all agencies.
Shall send Will commission one to inflict upon the fat ones, or well-fed Assyrian magnates, (observe the masses of flesh in the men of the Assyrian sculptures,) razon, a withering disease, like a galloping consumption. This word is among the diseases named in Lev 26:16; Deu 28:22.
And under his glory The Assyrian’s glory was his army.
A burning like the burning of a fire The Hebrew alliteration is, Yekad, y’kod, cicodish, painted tones, such as almost makes audible the crackling, spluttering, and hissing of fires burning all within their reach. Storms of lightning, plague, and such like agencies were at God’s command in destroying the Assyrian armies. See 2Ki 7:6; 2Ki 19:35.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2). Assyria Will Be Punished Because of Its Arrogance ( Isa 10:16-19 ).
The punishment that Yahweh will bring on Assyria is now described. Yahweh will personally act to humble him.
Analysis.
a Therefore will the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, send among his sturdy (fat) ones, leanness, and under his glory (his pomp) there will be kindled, a burning like the burning of fire (Isa 10:16).
b And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day (Isa 10:17).
b And the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, He will consume, both life principle and body (Isa 10:18 a).
a And it will be as when a standardbearer faints (or ‘a sick man wastes away’), and the remnant of the trees of his forest will be few, that a child may write them (Isa 10:18-19).
In ‘a’ Yahweh will send leanness to the strong and a burning fire, and in the parallel there will be fainting or wasting away, and the trees will become sparse. In ‘b’ the Light of Israel will be like a burning torch rapidly devouring briars and thorns, and in the parallel He will consume all his glory throughout.
Isa 10:16-19
‘Therefore will the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,
Send among his sturdy (fat) ones, leanness,
And under his glory (his pomp) there will be kindled,
A burning like the burning of fire,
And the light of Israel will be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame,
And it will burn and devour
His thorns and briars in one day.
And the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,
He will consume, both life principle and body.
And it will be as when a standardbearer faints (or ‘a sick man wastes away’),
And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be few,
That a child may write them.’
‘Therefore will the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.’ There is deliberate emphasis on the great sovereign Lord, Yahweh of all the hosts of heaven and earth, in contrast with the crowing but soon to be humbled king of Assyria, who worshipped the hosts of heaven. ‘Yahweh of hosts’ will now put him firmly in his place.
‘Send among his sturdy (fat) ones, leanness.’ His mighty men will be turned into wimps, their health will go, they will waste away.
‘And under his glory (his pomp) there will be kindled, a burning like the burning of fire.’ All his pomp and his glory will be figuratively ‘burned up’ (it is ‘ like the burning of’), that is it will disappear as though consumed. This picture of the burning of fire is a favourite theme in Isaiah, but here the fire is probably the fire of Yahweh’s power and holiness which will render the glory of this upstart king anaemic as the next verse indicates.
Some however see the disease and fire as the inward and outward methods of destruction in the judgment of Assyria.
‘And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame.’ The burning up will be done by the Lord Himself. He it is Who is the light (fire) of Israel, at a time when all lights were the product of fire. ‘Light’ speaks of what God is and of His truth (Isa 2:5; Isa 5:20; Isa 9:2; Isa 60:1-2; Isa 60:19; Psa 27:1; Psa 36:9; Psa 43:3; Psa 118:27; Psa 119:30; Mic 7:8). And His holiness too is like a burning flame – compare the ‘burning ones’ of Isa 6:2-3 and their words. So His glory and His truth and His holiness will ‘burn up’ the ‘glory’ of the king of Assyria.
‘And it will burn and devour His thorns and briars in one day. And the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, He will consume, both life principle and body.’ A very similar description was given of the fate of Israel (Isa 9:18) where first briars and thorns, and then forest and fruitful field, were consumed by fire. So the fate that Assyria inflicted on Israel would in the end be its own fate. ‘Forest and fruitful field’ covers all its territory, natural and cultivated. ‘Life principle and body’ reminds us that human beings were involved. ‘In one day’ reminds us of that day when during the night the angel went out into the camp of the Assyrians and slew a multitude (Isa 37:36). That dealt with the briars and thorns. His glory and pomp was ‘consumed’ later.
‘And it will be as when a standardbearer falls (‘faints’). And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be few, that a child may write them.’ The word translated ‘standardbearer’ (nases) is rare and may mean one who wastes away. When a standardbearer falls, morale is hit, and the tide of battle may change. It can mean disaster. The picture is vivid. But it should probably be translated ‘when the sick man wastes away’, compare Isa 10:16 where sickness is followed by fire. Here we have the contrary order as so often in Isaiah. This ties in with the deterioration in the previous phrases. So the decline of Assyrian power is likened to the tragic fall of a standard bearer or to the slow demise of a sick man.
And when God has finished with Assyria their trees will be so few that a child can number them and write it down. The destroyers of the trees of others (Isa 37:24) will themselves suffer the same fate. Whether the ‘trees’ represent people or real trees is open to interpretation, but the message is clear. The decimation of Assyria. For all their ‘trees’ will be able to be counted and written down by a schoolboy on his scholastic tablet. We should remember in this regard that a nation’s trees were indicators of its wealth.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 10:16-19. Therefore shall the Lord, &c. The punishment decreed for the Assyrian, and mentioned in the 12th verse, is here more fully set forth. This passage is easy to be understood, if the prophesy be compared with the completion: read only chap. Isa 37:36 and 2Ki 19:35; 2Ki 19:37 and you will find that our prophet sets before your eyes, in the most lively colours, rather a history, than a prediction of the event. The emphasis of this passage consists in the elegance of the metaphors. The first is taken from a leanness, or consumption, which destroys the fat, and utterly mars the beauty of the human form; and which well describes that terrible plague that destroyed the flower of the Assyrian host. The second is taken from a fire, devouring the army in a short time, as a burning fire reduces combustible matter to ashes. The glory of the Assyrian here means his army. See chap. Isa 8:7. This fire was to be kindled by the light of Israel, &c. Isa 10:17. The meaning whereof is, that God himself, by the ministry of his angels, would effect the destruction of the Assyrian army without any human aid. The prophet here evidently alludes to that light of Israel, which led them out of Egypt. See Exo 13:21. The third metaphor is taken from thorns and briers; which also refers to the Assyrian army; and the metaphors continued in the subsequent verses seem to express farther the future destruction, not only of Nineveh, but of the then flourishing Assyrian empire. The words rendered both soul and body, are, without all doubt, proverbial, and imply the whole glory of the Assyrian empire. Vitringa would render the next clause, And they shall be as the dissolution of one running away; as much as to say, that the army of the Assyrians should faint and melt away, like the heart of a man flying from extreme danger. Schultens renders it, And he shall be as when flesh, roasting in the fire, melts away. The expression in the 19th verse in the original is elegant: The trees of his forest shall be a number; that is, a small remnant of inconsiderable people. So the Romans say, nos numerus sumus. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3. THE EXECUTION OF THE WOE
Isa 10:16-19
16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send
Among his fat ones leanness;
And under his glory he shall kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
17And the light Israel shall be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame:
And it shall burn and devour his thorns
And his briers in one day;
18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field,19Both soul and body:
And they shall be as when20 a standard-bearer fainteth.
19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be 21few,
That a child may write them.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa 10:16. comp. Isa 10:33; Isa 1:24; Isa 3:1; Isa 19:4. are found thus combined only here. Elsewhere it is always , Isa 10:23-24; Isa 3:15; Isa 22:5; Isa 22:12; Isa 22:14-15; Isa 28:22; Jer 2:19; Jer 46:10; Jer 49:5; Jer 50:25; Jer 50:31. are properly the fat parts (comp. Gen 27:28; Gen 27:39), then (abstr. pro concr. Psa 78:31); the fat men, by whom Isaiah understands all that have a share in Assyrias greatness. Comp. Isa 27:4, where alone the word occurs again in Isaiah., from attenuare, maciare, Niph. contabescere (Isa 17:4) occurs only here in Isaiah (comp. Isa 24:16). It means macies, tabies, consumption, phthisis. verb, comp. Isa 30:14; Isa 65:5, only here. Note the paronomasia which evidently aims at an artistic sound imitation.
On Isa 10:17. comp. on Isa 9:13., the fruitful, cultivated garden and field, is also elsewhere opposed to forest (Isa 29:17), while again in other places is mentioned as part of the (Isa 37:24; 2Ki 19:23). This is no contradiction, the notions of the two words occurring sometimes in a broader, sometimes in a narrower sense.
On Isa 10:18. , . . Comp. , Syr. nesiso, , to be sick. infin. from Isa 13:7; Isa 19:1; Isa 34:3, to pine away. like Jer 44:28; Eze 12:16, etc.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2. Thereforewrite them.
Isa 10:16-19. Therefore introduces the consequences that follow the double guilt of Assyria portrayed above. That necessary consequence is punishment. The, not personal, glory of Assyria shall be burnt so as if the Lord kindled a fire under it. The comparison of the consumption which is not meant literally, and the before show that no real fire is meant. It is the fire of Gods holy wrath that is the correlative of His love. The latter is the light of Israel in whom God takes pleasure (2Sa 22:29; Psa 27:1; Mic 7:8), but a consuming fire for all that is against God and His kingdom (Deu 4:24; Deu 9:3; Isa 30:33; Isa 33:14). Like Isa 9:17, thorns and thistles are contrasted with the nobler representatives of vegetation. The comparison does not refer to the army of Assyria with its various grades of rank and file, but to the nation with all its glory. Thorns and thistles mean all lowly and inferior persons, forest and fruitful field those of elevation and splendor.
The expression from soul to body ( is found only here). It is to be compared with Isa 1:6, from the sole of the foot to the head. As the latter signifies the entire outward, visible surface of the body, so the latter the entire organism generally. Not only the outward, but the inward shall be anihilated. For body and soul are the entire man (Psa 16:9; Psa 78:26; Psa 84:3.)Knobel. I except to this only that the expression is restricted to men. Have not the beast and the plant a soul too? Comp. Gen 2:19. And is it not said in our very passage that forest and field shall be anihilated from the soul to the flesh? Thus in some sense soul and flesh, i.e., body are attributed to plants. From his exhaustless store the Prophet produces another figure, and calls Assyria a weakling, who pining dies away.
Yet a remnant shall remain, but a very feeble one. Of the lordly forest there shall be left only a clump that may be counted; so far from numerous that a boy can count and write a list of them. And truly, what was left of Assyria after its destruction may be compared to the little forest or grove of cedars that the traveller now finds on Lebanon. But I mean not merely the overthrow of Sennacherib, but Ninevehs destruction by the Babylonians and Medes. For the Prophets vision comprehends the whole future both of Israel and of Assyria.
The figure of the boy writing down the trees, seems to me remarkable in respect to the history of culture. We hear in this place of a boy that can write, the like of which we find even Jdg 8:14, and that counts the trunks of the trees. Is the figure pure invention of the Prophet? or was he brought to use it from observation?
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 7:1. Hierosolyma oppugnatur, etc. Jerusalem is assaulted but not conquered. The church is pressed but not oppressed.Foerster.
2. On Isa 7:2. Quando ecclesia, etc. When the Church is assaulted and Christ crucified over again in His elect, Rezin and Pekah, Herod and Pilate are wont to form alliance and enter into friendly relations. There are, so to speak, the foxes of Samson, joined indeed by the tails, but their heads are disconnected.Foerster.He that believes flees not (Isa 28:16). The righteous is bold as a lion (Pro 28:1). Hypocrites and those that trust in works (work-saints) have neither reason nor faith. Therefore they cannot by any means quiet their heart. In prosperity they are, indeed, overweening, but in adversity they fall away (Jer 17:9). Cramer.
3. On Isa 7:9. (If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.) Insignis sententia, etc. A striking sentiment that may be adapted generally to all temptation, because all earnest endeavor after anything, as you know, beguiles us in temptation. But only faith in the word of promise makes us abide and makes sure whatever we would execute. He warns Ahaz, therefore, as if he said: I now promise you by the word, it shall be that those two kings shall not hurt you. Believe this word! For if you do not, whatever you afterwards devise will deceive you: because all confidence is vain which is not supported by the word of God.Luther.
4. On Isa 7:10-12. Wicked Ahaz pretends to great sanctity in abstaining from asking a sign through fear of God. Thus hypocrites are most conscientious where there is no need for it: on the other hand, when they ought to be humble, they are the most insolent. But where God commands to be bold, one must be bold. For to be obedient to the word is not tempting God. That is rather tempting God when one proposes something without having the word for it. It is, indeed, the greatest virtue to rest only in the word, and desire nothing more. But where God would add something more than the word, then it must not be thought a virtue to reject it as superfluous. We must therefore exercise such a faith in the word of God that we will not despise the helps that are given in addition to it as aids to faith. For example the Lord offers us in the gospel all that is necessary to salvation. Why then Baptism and the Lords Supper? Are they to be treated as superfluous? By no means. For if one believes the word he will at the same time exhibit an entire obedience toward God. We ought therefore to learn to join the sign with the word, for no man has the power to sever the two.
But do you ask: is it permitted to ask God for a sign? We have an example of this in Gideon. Answer: Although Gideon was not told of God to ask a sign, yet he did it by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not according to his own fancy. We must not therefore abuse his example, and must be content with the sign that is offered by the Lord. But there are extraordinary signs or miracles, like that of the text, and ordinary ones like Baptism and the Lords Supper. Yet both have the same object and use. For as Gideon was strengthened by that miraculous event, so, too, are we strengthened by Baptism and the Lords Supper, although no miracle appears before our eyes. Heim and Hoffmann after Luther. Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, also asked the Lord to show him the right wife for Isaac by means of a sign of His own choosing, (Gen 24:14).
It ought to be said that this asking a sign (opening the Bible at a venture, or any other book) does not suit Christian perfection (Heb 6:1). A Christian ought to be inwardly sensible of the divine will. He ought to content himself with the guarantees that God Himself offers. Only one must have open eyes and ears for them. This thing of demanding a sign, if it is not directly an effect of superstition (Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4; 1Co 1:22), is certainly childish, and, because it easily leads to superstitious abuses, it is dangerous.
5. On Isa 7:13. Non caret, etc. That the Prophet calls God his God is not without a peculiar emphasis. In Zec 2:12 it is said, that whoever touches the servants of God touches the pupil of Gods eye. Whoever opposes teacher and preacher will have to deal with God in heaven or with the Lord who has put them into office.Foerster.
6. On Isa 7:14. The name Immanuel is one of the most beautiful and richest in contents of all the Holy Scripture. God with us comprises Gods entire plan of salvation with sinful humanity. In a narrower sense it means God-man (Mat 1:23), and points to the personal union of divinity and humanity, in the double nature of the Son of God become man. Jesus Christ was a God-with-us, however, in this, that for about 33 years He dwelt among us sinners (Joh 1:11; Joh 1:14). In a deeper and wider sense still He was such by the Immanuels work of the atonement (2Co 5:19; 1Ti 2:3). He will also be such to every one that believes on Him by the work of regeneration and sanctification and the daily renewal of His holy and divine communion of the Spirit (Joh 17:23; Joh 17:26; Joh 14:19-21; Joh 14:23). He is such now by His high-priestly and royal administration and government for His whole Church (Mat 28:20; Heb 7:25). He will be snch in the present time of the Church in a still more glorious fashion (Joh 10:16). The entire and complete meaning of the name Immanuel, however, will only come to light in the new earth, and in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:3; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5).Wilh. Fried. Roos.
Isa 8:7. On Isa 8:5 sqq. Like boastful swimmers despise small and quiet waters, and on the other hand, for the better display of their skill, boast of the great sea and master it, but often are lost in it,thus, too, did the hypocrites that despised the small kingdom of Judah, and bragged much and great things of the power and splendor of the kingdom of Israel and of the Syrians; such hypocrites are still to be found now-a-dayssuch that bear in their eye the admiranda Romae, the splendor, riches, power, ceremonies and pomp of the Romish church, and thereupon set their bushel by the bigger-heap. It is but the devils temptation over again: I will give all this to thee.Cramer.Fons Siloa, etc. The fountain of Siloam, near the temple, daily reminded the Jews that Christ was coming.Calvin on Joh 9:7.
8. On Isa 8:10. When the great Superlatives sit in their council chambers and have determined everything, how it ought to be, and especially how they will extinguish the gospel, then God sends the angel Gabriel to them, who must look through the window and say: nothing will come of it.Luther.Christ, who is our Immanuel, is with us by His becoming man, for us by His office of Mediator, in us by the work of His sanctification, by us by His personal, gracious presence.Cramer.
9. On Isa 8:14-15. Christ alone is set by God to be a stone by which we are raised up. That He is, however, an occasion of offence to many is because of their purpose, petulance and contempt (1Pe 2:8). Therefore we ought to fear lest we take offence at Him. For whoever falls on this stone will shatter to pieces (Mat 21:44). Cramer.
10. On Isa 8:16 sqq. He warns His disciples against heathenish superstition, and exhorts them to show respect themselves always to law and testimony. They must not think that God must answer them by visions and signs, therefore He refers them to the written word, that they may not become altogether too spiritual, like those now-a-days who cry: spirit! spirit! Christ says, Luke 16 : They have Moses and the prophets, and again Joh 5:39 : Search the Scriptures. So Paul says, 2Ti 3:16 : The Scripture is profitable for doctrine. So says Peter, 2Pe 1:9 : We have a sure word of prophecy. It is the word that changes hearts and moves them. But revelations puff people up and make them insolent. Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
Chap. 911. On Isa 9:1 sqq. (2). Postrema pars, etc. The latter part of chap. 8 was (legal and threatening) so, on the other hand, the first and best part of chap. 9 is , (evangelical and comforting). Thus must ever law and gospel, preaching wrath and grace, words of reproof and words of comfort, a voice of alarm and a voice of peace follow one another in the church. Foerster.
12. On Isa 9:1 (2). Both in the Old Testament and New Testament Christ is often called light. Thus Isaiah calls Him a light to the gentiles, Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6. The same Prophet says: Arise, shine (make thyself light), for thy light is come, Isa 60:1. And again Isa 9:19 : The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light. In the New Testament it is principally John that makes use of this expression: The life was the light of men, Joh 1:4, and the light shined in the darkness, Joh 9:5. John was not that light, but bore testimony to the light, Joh 9:8. That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Joh 9:9. And further: And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, Joh 3:19. I am the light of the world, (Joh 8:12; Joh 9:5; comp. Joh 12:35).
13. On Isa 9:1 (2). The people that sit in darkness may be understood to comprise three grades. First, the inhabitants of Zebulon and Naphtali are called so (Isaiah 8:23), for the Prophets gaze is fixed first on that region lying in the extreme end of Palestine, which was neighbor to the heathen and mixed with them, and on this account was held in low esteem by the dwellers in Judah. The night that spreads over Israel in general is darkest there. But all Israel partakes of this night, therefore all Israel, too, may be understood, as among the people sitting in darkness. Finally, no one can deny that this night extends over the borders of Israel to the whole human race. For far as men dwell extends the night which Christ, as light of the world, came to dispel, Luk 1:76 sqq.
14. On Isa 9:5 (6). Many lay stress on the notion child, inasmuch as they see in that the reason for the reign of peace spoken of afterwards. It is not said a man, a king, a giant is given to us. But this is erroneous. For the child does not remain a child. He becomes a man: and the six names that are ascribed to Him and also the things predicted of His kingdom apply to Him, not as a child, but as a man. That His birth as a child is made prominent, has its reason in this, that thereby His relation to human kind should be designated as an organic one. He does not enter into humanity as a man, i.e. as one whose origin was outside of it, but He was born from it, and especially from the race of David. He is Son of man and Son of David. He is a natural offshoot, but also the crowning bloom of both. Precisely because He was to be conceived, carried and born of a human mother, and indeed of a virgin, this prophecy belongs here as the completion and definition of the two prophetic pictures Isa 7:10 sqq.; Isa 8:1 sqq.He came down from heaven for the sake of us men, and for our bliss (1Ti 1:15; Luk 2:7). For our advantage: for He undertook not for the seed of angels, but for the seed of Abraham (Heb 2:16). Not sold to us by God out of great love, but given (Rom 5:15; Joh 3:16). Therefore every one ought to make an application of the word to us to himself, and to learn to say: this child was given to me, conceived for me, born to me.Cramer.Cur oportuit, etc. Why did it become the Redeemer of human kind to be not merely man nor merely God, but God and man conjoined or ? Anselm replies briefly, indeed, but pithily: Deum qui posset, hominem, qui deberet. Foerster.
15. On Isa 9:5 (6). You must not suppose here that He is to be named and called according to His person, as one usually calls another by his name; but these are names that one must preach, praise and celebrate on account of His act, works and office. Luther.
16. On Isa 9:6. Verba pauca, etc. A few words, but to be esteemed great, not for their number but for their weight. Augustine. Admirabilis in, etc. Wonderful in birth, counsellor in what He preaches, God in working, strong in suffering, father of the world to come in resurrection, Prince of peace in bliss perpetual. Bernard of Clairvaux. In reference to a child is born, and a son is given, Joh. Cocceius remarks in his Heb. Lex. s. v. : respectu, etc., in respect to His human nature He is said to be born, and in respect to His divine nature and eternal generation not indeed born, but given, as, Joh 3:16, it reads God gave His only begotten Son.
In the application of this language all depends on the words is born to us, is given to us. The angels are, in this matter, far from being as blessed as we are. They do not say: To us a Saviour is born this day, but; to you. As long as we do not regard Christ as ours, so long we shall have little joy in Him. But when we know Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, as a gift that our heavenly Father designed for us, we will appropriate Him to ourselves in humble faith, and take possession of all His redeeming effects that He has acquired. For giving and taking go together. The Son is given to us; we must in faith receive Him. J. J. Rambach, Betracht. ber das Ev. Esaj., Halle, 1724.
On Isa 9:6 (7). The government is on His shoulders. It is further shown how Christ differs in this respect from worldly kings. They remove from themselves the burden of government and lay it on the shoulders of the privy counsellors. But He does not lay His dominion as a burden on any other; He needs no prime minister and vicegerent to help Him bear the burden of administration, but He bears all by the word of His power as He to whom all things are given of the Father. Therefore He says to the house of Jacob (Isa 46:3 sq.): Hearken unto me ye who were laid on my shoulders from your mothers womb. I will carry you to old age. I will do it, I will lift, and carry and deliver,on the contrary the heathen must bear and lift up their idols, (Isa 46:1; Isa 46:7).Rambach. In the first place we must keep in mind His first name: He is called Wonderful. This name affects all the following. All is wonderful that belongs to this king: wonderfully does He counsel and comfort; wonderfully He helps to acquire and conquer, and all this in suffering and want of strength. (Luther, Jen. germ. Tom. III. Fol. 184 b.). He uses weakness as a means of subduing all things to Himself. A wretched reed, a crown of thorns and an infamous cross, are the weapons of this almighty God, by means of which He achieves such great things. In the second place, He was a hero and conqueror in that just by death, He robbed him of his might who had the power of death, i.e., the devil (Heb 2:14); in that He, like Samson, buried His enemies with Himself, yea, became poison to death itself, and a plague to hell (Hos 13:14) and more gloriously resumed His life so freely laid down, which none of the greatest heroes can emulate.Rambach.
17. On Isa 9:18 (19) sqq. True friendship can never exist among the wicked. For every one loves only himself. Therefore they are enemies one of another; and they are in any case friends to each other, only as long as it concerns making war on a third party.
Isaiah 10-18. On Isa 10:4. (Comp. the same expression in chap. 10). Gods quiver is well filled. If one arrow does not attain His object, He takes another, and so on, until the rights of God, and justice have conquered.
19. On Isa 10:5-7. God works through men in a threefold way. First, we all live, move and have our being in Him, in that all activity is an outflow of His power. Then, He uses the services of the wicked so that they mutually destroy each other, or He chastises His people by their hand. Of this sort the Prophet speaks here. In the third place, by governing His people by the Spirit of sanctification: and this takes place only in the elect.Heim and Hoffmann.
20. On Isa 10:5 sqq. Ad hunc, etc. Such places are to be turned to uses of comfort. Although the objects of temptation vary and enemies differ, yet the effects are the same, and the same spirit works in the pious. We are therefore to learn not to regard the power of the enemy nor our own weakness, but to look steadily and simply into the word, that will assuredly establish our minds that they despair not, but expect help of God. For God will not subdue our enemies, either spiritual or corporal, by might and power, but by weakness, as says the text: my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2Co 12:9).Luther.
21. On Isa 10:15. Efficacia agendi penes Deum est, homines ministerium tantum praebent. Quare nunc sibilo suo se illos evocaturum minabatur (cap. Isa 5:26; Isa 7:18); nunc instar sagenae sibi fore ad irretiendos, nunc mallei instar ad feriendos Israelitas. Sed praecipue tum declaravit, quod non sit otiosus in illis, dum Sennacherib securim vocat, quae ad secandum manu sua et destinata fuit et impacta. Non male alicubi Augustinus ita definit, quod ipsi peccant, eorum esse; quod peccando hoc vel illud agant, ex virtute Dei esse, tenebras prout visum est dividentis (De praedest Sanctt.).Calvin Inst. II. 4, 4.
22. On Isa 10:20-27. In time of need one ought to look back to the earlier great deliverances of the children of God, as to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or later, from the hand of the Midianites. Israel shall again grow out of the yoke.Diedrich.
Isaiah 11-23. On Isa 11:4. The staff of His mouth. Evidence that the kingdom of Christ will not be like an earthly kingdom, but consist in the power of the word and of the sacraments; not in leathern, golden or silver girdles, but in girdles of righteousness and faith.Cramer.
24. On Isa 11:10 sqq. If the Prophet honors the heathen in saying that they will come to Christ before Israel, he may be the more readily believed, when Isa 11:11 sqq., he gives the assurance that the return out of the first, the Egyptian exile, shall be succeeded by a return out of the second, the Assyrian exile, (taking this word in the wider sense of Isaiah). It is manifest that the return that took place under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only an imperfect beginning of that promised return. For according to our passage this second return can only take place after the Messiah has appeared. Farthermore, all Israelites that belong to the remnant of Israel, in whatever land they may dwell, shall take part in it. It will be, therefore, a universal, not a partial return. If now the Prophet paints this return too with the colors of the present (Isa 11:13 sqq.), still that is no reason for questioning the reality of the matter. Israel will certainly not disappear, but arise to view in the church of the new covenant. But if the nation is to be known among the nations as a whole, though no more as a hostile contrast, but in fraternal harmony, why then shall not the land, too, assume a like position among the lands? But the nation can neither assume its place among nations, nor the land its place among lands, if they are not both united: the people Israel in the land of their fathers.
25. On Isaiah 11 We may here recall briefly the older, so-called spiritual interpretation. Isa 11:1-5 were understood of Christs prophetic office that He exercised in the days of His flesh, then of the overthrow of the Roman Empire and of Antichrist, who was taken to be the Pope. But the most thorough-going of those old expositors must acknowledge, at Isa 11:4, that the Antichrist is not yet enough overthrown, and must be yet more overthrown. If such is the state of the case, then this interpretation is certainly false, for Isa 11:4 describes not a gradual judgment, but one accomplished at once. There have been many Antichrists, and among the Popes too, but the genuine Antichrist described 2 Thessalonians 2, is yet to be expected, and also the fulfillment of Isa 11:4 of our chapter. Thereby is proved at the same time that the peaceful state of things in the brute world and the return of the Jews to their native land are still things of the future, for they must happen in that period when the Antichristian world, and its head shall be judged by Christ. But then, too, the dwelling together of tame and wild beasts is not the entrance of the heathen into the church, to which they were heretofore hostile, and the return of the Jews is not the conversion of a small part of Israel that took place at Pentecost and after. The miracles and signs too, contained in Isa 11:15-16 did not take place then. We see just here how one must do violence to the word if he will not take it as it stands. But if we take it as we have done, then the whole chapter belongs to the doctrine of hope (Hoffnungslehre) of the Scripture, and constitutes an important member of it. The Lord procures right and room for His church. He overthrows the world-kingdom, together with Antichrist. He makes of the remnant of Israel a congregation of believers filled with the Spirit, to whom He is near in an unusual way, and from it causes His knowledge to go out into all the world. He creates peace in the restless creatures, and shows us here in advance what more glorious things we may look for in the new earth. He presents to the world a church which, united in itself, unmolested by neighbors, stands under Gods mighty protection. All these facts are parts of a chain of hope that must be valuable and dear to our hearts. The light of this future illumines the obscurity of the present; the comfort of that day makes the heart fresh. Weber, der Prophet Jesaja, 1875.
Chap. 1226. On Isa 12:4 sq. These will not be the works of the New Testament: sacrificing and slaying, and make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre, but praising God and giving thanks, preaching and hearing, believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. For to praise our God is good; such praise is pleasant and lovely (Psa 147:1). Cramer.
27. On Chap. 12 With these words conclude the prophetic discourses on Immanuel. Through what obscurity of history have we not had to go, until we came to the bright light of the kingdom of Christ! How Israel and the nations had to pass through the fire of judgment before the sun arises in Israel and the entire gentile world is illumined! It is the, same way that every Christian has to travel. In and through the fire we become blessed. Much must be burnt up in us, before we press to the full knowledge of God and of His Son, before we become entirely one with Him, entirely glad and joyful in Him. Israel was brought up and is still brought up for glory, and we too. O that our end too were such a psalm of praise as this psalm! Weber, Der Pr. Jes. 1875.
Footnotes:
[19]Heb. from the soul, and even to the flesh.
[20]a weakly person pines away.
[21]Heb. number.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
In these verses, if I mistake not, the Lord is pointing to the cause of his mercy to his people, in delivering them from Assyria. It is not for their righteousness, for the parallel scripture saith, the Lord doeth it for his own sake, and for his servant David’s sake, Isa 37:35 . What is this but God’s grace, in his own covenant-engagements, which he will fulfil, for his own glorious name’s sake, and with an eye to the salvation by David his Holy One, even the Lord Jesus Christ? Hence therefore, when the pride and fatness of his own hypocritical people are brought down, and a leanness of soul is induced, and all their fancied glory done away; as was the case when king Hezekiah desired the Prophet to lift up a cry for the remnant that was left; then was the loftiness of man brought down, and the Lord of hosts alone exalted, in that day. See Isa 2:11Isa 2:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 10:16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
Ver. 16. Therefore shall the Lord send among his fat ones,] i.e., Pingues, torosos et validos milites, his lusty and mastive soldiers, in whom he confided.
Leanness,
And under his glory,
He will kindle a burning.
a Turkish History, fol. 206.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
kindle. burning = be like a burning. Note the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6). Hebrew. yekad yekod kikod = kindle. kindling. kindling.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord of hosts: Isa 5:17, Isa 14:24-27, Isa 29:5-8, Isa 37:6, Isa 37:7, Isa 37:29, Isa 37:36, 2Ch 32:21, Psa 106:15, Act 12:23
and under: Isa 9:5, Isa 30:30-33, Isa 33:10-14
Reciprocal: Num 21:28 – a fire 1Ki 20:11 – Let not him 2Ki 19:7 – a blast 2Ki 19:35 – and smote 2Ch 13:17 – five hundred Job 16:8 – my leanness Job 34:20 – without Psa 22:29 – that be Psa 37:36 – General Isa 9:18 – it shall Isa 10:12 – I will Isa 10:26 – stir up Isa 10:33 – lop Isa 14:25 – I will Isa 17:4 – the fatness Isa 17:13 – but Isa 24:16 – But Isa 30:27 – burning Isa 31:4 – so shall Isa 31:8 – shall the Isa 33:18 – where is he Jer 48:14 – We Eze 34:16 – but I Nah 1:6 – his fury Zep 2:13 – he will Zec 7:4 – Lord of hosts Zec 12:6 – like an hearth Mal 1:4 – They shall build
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 10:16-19. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts The sovereign Lord and General of his and of all other armies; send among his fat ones leanness Strip him, and all his great princes and commanders, of all their wealth, and might, and glory. And under his glory he shall kindle, &c. He will destroy his numerous and victorious army, and that suddenly and irrecoverably, as the fire doth those combustible things which are cast into it; which was fulfilled 2Ki 19:25. And the light of Israel That God, who is, and will be, a comfortable light to his people; shall be a fire To the Assyrians; and it shall devour his thorns and briers His vast army, which is no more able to resist God than dry thorns and briers are to oppose the fire which is kindled among them. And shall consume the glory of his forest The briers and thorns, says Bishop Lowth, are the common people; and the glory of his forest are the nobles, and those of the highest rank and importance. The fire of Gods wrath shall destroy them, great and small. And of his fruitful field Of his soldiers, who stand as thick as ears of corn do in a fruitful field. Hebrew, Of his Carmel; an allusion possibly to the vain threat, which God foreknew the Assyrian would hereafter utter, with regard to Israel, I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel, Isa 37:24. Both soul and body Hebrew, , from the soul, even to the flesh, a proverbial expression. The fire of Gods wrath shall consume them entirely and altogether. And they shall be The state of the king, and of his vast and valiant army, shall be as when a standard- bearer fainteth Like that of an army, when either the standard-bearer is slain, or rather flees away, which strikes a terror into the whole army, and puts them to flight. Bishop Lowth, in this clause, follows the reading of the LXX., , It shall be, as when one fleeth out of raging flames: that is, The few that escape shall be looked upon as having escaped from the most imminent danger. The rest of the trees of his forest The remainders of that mighty host; a child may write them A child, or the meanest accountant, may number and register them. It is justly observed by Dr. Dodd, that the emphasis of this passage consists in the elegance of the metaphors. The first, taken from leanness, destroying the fat, and marring the beauty of the human form, well describes that terrible plague which destroyed the flower of the Assyrian host. The second, taken from fire, which, with unconquerable fury, in a short time reduces combustible matter to ashes, gives us a striking picture of the quick and almost instantaneous ruin brought on that army, by the irresistible power of the destroying angel, especially as that fire is represented as kindled by the light of Israel. And the third metaphor of the thorns and briers, which are so far from having any power to withstand the fury of the flames, that they provoke and feed it, affords us a lively emblem of the utter inability of the Assyrian monarch, or his mighty host, to make the least resistance against that divine vengeance which their crimes had merited.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Because of Assyria’s pride, sovereign Yahweh of armies would defeat this mighty foe. Isaiah described her fall as resulting from a wasting disease and a consuming fire. In Hebrew, in contrast to English, mixed metaphors add strength to a description rather than weakening it.