In The Future That Is To Come There Will Be World-wide Devastation ( Isa 24:1-3 ).

Here as on opening gambit is a picture of unrelieved worldwide desolation in which all will be involved. None may escape. Yahweh is seen as finally dealing with the world in its sin. As already mentioned this scene of worldwide devastation is one common to the prophets who saw Yahweh as not only responsible for Israel/Judah but also for all nations. Every local experience of these words points forward to the wider experience. It is not just Israel/Judah that is in mind, but at least the whole of the world of Isaiah’s day.

Analysis.

a Behold, Yahweh is making the earth waste, and desolating it, and is turning it upside down and scattering abroad its inhabitants (Isa 24:1).

b And it will be as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, (Isa 24:2 a).

b As with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the receiver of interest, so with the payer of interest to him (Isa 24:2 b).

a The earth will be utterly laid waste, and utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word (Isa 24:3).

We note that in ‘a’ Yahweh acts to lay waste the earth, scattering its inhabitants, while in the parallel the earth is to be utterly laid waste and plundered because of the word of Yahweh. In ‘b’ and parallel, placed within the scenes of desolation, all will be affected by it, including religious, social and business relationships. The aim is to include everyone.

Isa 24:1

‘Behold, Yahweh is making the earth waste, and desolating it,

And is turning it upside down and scattering abroad its inhabitants.’

‘Behold, Yahweh —’ followed by a participle is found regularly throughout Isaiah (in ‘both’ sections) but only twice outside (Amo 7:4; Mic 1:3). By it Isaiah is seeking to turn all our attention on what He is about to do. He will lay waste the known earth and make it desolate. This will arise partly as a result of man’s aggressive behaviour towards his fellowmen and partly as a result of ‘natural’ events. ‘Turning it upside down’ possibly has in mind earthquakes, regularly seen as God’s judgments, but may also contain the idea of invasion and empire building (Gen 10:8-12). Scattering abroad the inhabitants reminds us of Babel (see Gen 11:4), where men gathered to form an empire in opposition to God, but became scattered as a result of God’s activity, we are not told how, so that through their scattering their language became diversified as they settled in different parts. So history is to repeat itself. In Genesis 10-11 it resulted in the nations being put outside God’s workings as He began His plans through Abraham. Now it will result in the nations being dealt with finally in judgment because they have rejected the plea made to them through the sons of Abraham.

But Isaiah could see it happening in his own day as the Assyrians bestrode the ‘world’ scene and took different peoples and moved them from one part to another, scattering them abroad. It was not only Israel which was exiled. People of all nations were uprooted. In one way therefore this could be seen as ‘fulfilled’ at the times when Assyria reached its widest empire.

But similar things have happened throughout history. For the truth is that men cannot be trusted with too much power, because power corrupts. That is why empires crumble and scatter. This vivid picture is an indication of the inability of man to run the world over which God gave him dominion, and a recognition of the overall supervision of God in spite of it. It will happen again and again as the end approaches, and will get worse and worse until God finally intervenes.

The picture is not necessarily to be limited to one of war. It could equally apply to misuse of the environment. Although in ancient days the two often went together. However, Isaiah’s main point is that while it is outwardly man bringing it on himself, behind the scenes it is God Who is at work. In the end it will be Yahweh Who does it. That is therefore where our assurance lies. It is in the fact that in the last analysis, all is in His hands. In the same way, we today, as we see what man is doing to his environment by selfishness, greed and war, can recognise in it all the hand of Yahweh, as He is bringing all things to a conclusion.

Isa 24:2-3

‘And it will be as with the people, so with the priest,

As with the servant, so with his master,

As with the maid, so with her mistress,

As with the buyer, so with the seller,

As with the lender, so with the borrower,

As with the receiver of interest, so with the payer of interest to him.

The earth will be utterly laid waste, and utterly plundered.

For Yahweh has spoken this word.’

All classes of people will be involved in God’s final summing up of world history; clergy and laity, rich and poor, master and servant, businessman and customer, creditor and debtor, oppressor and oppressed. None will escape. The known earth will be utterly laid waste by spoilers, and spoil in large quantities will be taken in war, while other parts will be laid waste by misuse and plundered by big business (note Isaiah’s emphasis on business relationships). The picture is deliberately intensified, and it will all be at Yahweh’s word.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Isa 24:1-23 Judgment upon the Earth Isa 24:1-23 records Isaiah’s prophecy against the earth. This passage of Scripture is descriptive of the Tribulation Period that precedes the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. The images in this passage portray the entire earth being laid waste (Isa 24:1), shaken (Isa 24:19-20), the sun and moon affected (Isa 24:23), and the Lord reigning upon Mount Zion (Isa 24:23), which reflect those passages of Scripture, such as the Eschatological Discourse (Matthew 24-25) and the book of Revelation, that predict the Tribulation, followed by the Lord’s eternal reign in Jerusalem,

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Prophecies Against the Nations Isa 13:1 to Isa 27:13 records prophecies against twelve nations, culminating with praise unto the Lord. God planted the nation of Israel in the midst of the nations as a witness of God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Instead of embracing God’s promises and commandments to mankind, the nations rejected Israel and their God, then they participated in Israel’s destruction. Although God judges His people, He also judged these nations, the difference being God promised to restore and redeem Israel, while the nations received no future hope of restoration in their prophecies; yet, their opportunity for restoration is found in Israel’s rejection when God grafts the Church into the vine of Israel (Rom 11:11-32). The more distant nations played little or no role in Israel’s idolatry, demise, and divine judgment, so they are not listed in this passage of Scripture.

It is important to note in prophetic history that Israel’s judgment is followed by judgment upon the nations; and Israel’s final restoration is followed by the restoration of the nations and the earth. Thus, some end time scholars believe that the events that take place in Israel predict parallel events that are destined to take place among the nations.

Here is a proposed outline:

1. Judgment upon Babylon Isa 13:1 to Isa 14:27

2. Judgment upon Philistia Isa 14:28-32

3. Judgment upon Moab Isa 15:1 to Isa 16:14

4. Judgment upon Damascus Isa 17:1-14

5. Judgment upon Ethiopia Isa 18:1-7

6. Judgment upon Egypt Isa 19:1-25

7. Prophecy Against Ethiopia & Egypt Isa 20:1-6

8. Judgment upon the Wilderness of the Sea Isa 21:1-10

9. Judgment upon Dumah Isa 21:11-12

10. Judgment upon Arabia Isa 21:13-17

11. Judgment upon Judah Isa 22:1-25

12. Judgment upon Tyre Isa 23:1-18

13. Judgment upon the Earth Isa 24:1-23

14. Praise to God for Israel’s Restoration Isa 25:1 to Isa 27:13

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Judgment upon the Earth.

The four ers, 24 to 27 inclusive, form one continuous poetical prophecy, remarkable both for form and for content. It is a great chorus in four movements, describing the end of the world, the revelation of Jehovah, the establishment of the Church of Christ, and the glorious growth of the communion of saints. This chorus embraces every form and style of poetry, from the most elevated heavenly hymn to the most simple and appealing folk-song. “This entire finale is a great hallelujah to chapters 13 to 23, its contents hymnic, its form musical, and this to such a degree that, as in 25:6, the prophecy is like text and score together. Only Isaiah is such an incomparable master of language. ” (Delitzsch. )

The Destruction of Tile Surface of the Earth

v. 1. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, depopulating it, taking away its inhabitants, and maketh it waste, by a final devastation, and turneth it upside down, changing its form and appearance, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof, thereby making it desolate.

v. 2. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, all sharing the same calamities alike; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, the creditor, so with the giver of usury to him, the debtor. They are alike in the midst of this great catastrophe; no favored class shall escape.

v. 3. The land shall be utterly emptied, made altogether desolate, and utterly spoiled, consumed by plundering; for the Lord hath spoken this word, and according to His word things would come to pass.

v. 4. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, like a flower that is stepped upon and wilted, the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth, the most prominent persons, do languish, in utter despair.

v. 5. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, affected with the blood-guiltiness of its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant, that is, men disregarded the revelation of God in the works of creation, ignored the admonitions of Conscience, set aside the agreement made at the time of Noah: all mankind has returned to the baseness of the time before the Flood.

v. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, with the fire of the divine wrath, and they that dwell therein are desolate, compelled to do the most bitter penance; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left, namely, the small remnant of those who are true to Jehovah.

v. 7. The new wine mourneth, the grape-juice as extracted from the fruit becoming vapid, the vine languisheth, because there is none to cultivate it, all the merry-hearted do sigh.

v. 8. The mirth of tabrets, or tambourines, used to accompany merry songs, ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp, or zither, ceaseth.

v. 9. They shall not drink wine with a song, as in the days of peace and prosperity; strong drink, date-wine or a brandy-like liquor, shall be bitter to them that drink it. All the former incentives to joy are removed, and utter desolation prevails. The world with her lust is judged and therefore also the leading city of the world, in which this lust was concentrated.

v. 10. The city of confusion is broken down, there is nothing but ruin and desolation; every house is shut up that no man may come in, the entrance being choked up by ruins; everything is chaos.

v. 11. There is a crying for wine in the streets, lamentation on account of the destruction of vineyards out in the fields; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

v. 12. In the city is left desolation, only chaos and ruin to be found there, and the gate is smitten with destruction, battered down. Cf Mat 24:6-8; Mar 13:7-8; Luk 21:9-11.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

SECTION VI. GOD‘S GENERAL JUDGMENTS UPON THE EARTH (Isaiah 24-27.).

EXPOSITION

Isa 24:1-20

GOD‘S JUDGMENTS ON THE WORLD AT LARGE. From special denunciations of woe upon particular nationsBabylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria of Damascus, Egypt and Ethiopia, Arabia, Judea, Tyrethe prophet passes to denunciations of a broader character, involving the future of the whole world. This section of his work extends from the commencement of Isa 24:1-23. to the conclusion of Isa 27:1-13, thus including four chapters. The world at large is the general subject of the entire prophecy; but the “peculiar people” still maintains a marked and prominent place, as spiritually the leading country, and as one in whose fortunes the world at large would be always vitally concerned (see especially Isa 24:23; Isa 25:6-8; Isa 26:1-4; Isa 27:6, Isa 27:9, Isa 27:13).

Isa 24:1

Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty. Several critics (Lowth, Ewald, Gesenius, Knobel) prefer to render, “maketh the land empty;” but the broader view, which is maintained by Rosenmller, Kay, Cheyne, and others, seems preferable. The mention of “the world” in Isa 24:4, and of “the-kings of the earth” in Isa 24:21, implies a wider field of survey than the Holy Land. Of course the expression, “maketh empty,” is rhetorical, some remarkable, but not complete, depopulation being pointed at (comp. Isa 24:6). Turneth it upside down (comp. Eze 21:27). Scattereth abroad the inhabitants. The scanty population left is dispersed, and not allowed to collect into masses.

Isa 24:2

It shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, etc. There shall be “no respect of persons”no favor shown to men of any particular rank or station. All shall suffer equally. The author is obliged to take as examples distinctions of rank known to him; but he carefully selects such as are of almost universal occurrence. There was scarcely any nation of antiquity in which there were not “priests and people,” “masters and slaves,” “buyers and sellers,” “lenders and borrowers,” “takers and givers of usury.” By “usury” is meant, not exorbitant interest, but interest simply, of whatever amount.

Isa 24:3

The land; rather, the earth. The same word is used as in Isa 24:1 (arets). Utterly spoiled; i.e. “wasted by rival armies, which have carried fire and sword over the whole of it.” Compare the declaration of our Lord, “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.; all these are the beginning of sorrows” (Mat 24:6-8).

Isa 24:4

The earth fadeth away. As a flower that fades and withers up (comp. Isa 1:30; Isa 28:1, Isa 28:4; Isa 34:4, etc.; Psa 1:3; Psa 37:2). The world. Tabel has never any narrower sense than the entire “world,” and must be regarded as fixing the meaning of arets in passages where (as here) the two are used as synonymous. The haughty people; or, the high ones. All the great are brought down, and laid low, that “the Lord alone may be exalted in that day” (cf. Isa 2:11-17).

Isa 24:5

The earth also is defiled. Hitherto the prophet has been concerned with the mere fact of a terrible judgment to be sent by God upon the whole world. Now he sets forth the cause of the fact. It is the old cause, which has reduced so many lauds to desolation, and which in the far-off times produced the Flood, viz. the wickedness of man (Gen 6:5-13). The earth is “defiled” or “polluted” by the sins of its inhabitants, and has to be purged from the defilement by suffering. They have transgressed the laws. Apart from both Judaism and Christianity, all mankind have been placed by God under a double law:

1. The “law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15), which speaks to them through their consciences, and lays them under an obligation that cannot be gainsaid.

2. The law of positive commands, given to the entire human race through the common progenitors, Adam and Noah, which is obligatory upon all to whom it has been traditionally handed down; but which has been only very partially handed down, and it is not generally felt as obligatory. Mankind has in all ages largely transgressed both laws, and both would seem to be pointed at in the present passage. The transgression of the “law written in the heart” is doubtless that which especially calls down God’s vengeance, and makes him from time to time execute wrath on the whole world. Changed the ordinance; rather, broken, violated. Transgression in act is intended, not formal abrogation of the Divine ordinances. Broken the everlasting covenant. Mr. Cheyne supposes an allusion to the covenant made with Noah (Gen 9:16); but it seems better to understand that “everlasting covenant” which exists between God and man, in virtue of the nature wherewith God has endowed man, and of the laws which he Ires impressed upon man’s con. science. Sophocles well says of these laws, that they are

Or

“Laws that walk on high, begot and bred
In upper air, whose only sire is Heaven;
Nor did the race of mortals give them birth,
Nor will oblivion ever cause them sleep.”

Isa 24:6

The curse; rather, a curse. God has pronounced a curse upon the earth on account of man’s perversity; and hence the calamities which the earth is about to suffer. Are desolate; rather, are held as guilty. Are burned; or, scorchedshriveled up by the “burning anger” (Isa 30:27)and “fiery indignation” (Heb 10:27) of Jehovah.

Isa 24:7

The new wine mourneth. Even when the joyous time of the vintage comes round, the earth is still sad, cannot shake off its depression or wake up to merriment. Even those most disposed to be “merry. hearted,” under the dismal circumstances of the time can do nothing but “sigh.”

Isa 24:8

The mirth of tabrets of the harp ceaseth (comp. Isa 5:12). The feasting, and the drinking-songs, and the musical accompaniment, common at the vintage season, are discontinued. All is dismay and wretchednessdesolation in the present, worse desolation expected in the future.

Isa 24:9

They shall not drink wine with a song. Men will still drink; they will seek to drown their care in wine; but they will not have the heart to attempt a song as they drink. Even in their cups they will be silent. Strong drink shall be bitter. By “strong drink” (shekar) seems to be meant any intoxicating liquor whatever, including wine. Many such liquors were drunk in Palestine. All were more or less pleasant to the taste; but they would taste bitter to those who were warped and soured by the calamities of the time, which would prevent all enjoyment.

Isa 24:10

The city of confusion is broken down. No special city seems to be intended. “Est urbis nomen collective capiendum” (Rosenmller). Chaos (tohu) reigns in the cities, where there is no civic life, no government, no order, nothing but confusion. Every house is shut up; bolted and barred against intruders. There is no confidence, no friendly intercourse, no visiting.

Isa 24:11

There is a crying for wine in the streets. Wine, though still manufactured (see Isa 24:7, Isa 24:9) is scarce, but is much sought after. Men clamor for it at the doors of the wine-shops, but are unable to obtain it. They crave for its exhilarating effects, or perhaps for the oblivion which it brings when drunk to excess. If they could obtain it, they would act as the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem (Isa 22:13). But they cannot. Hence even the factitious merriment, which wine is capable of producing, is denied now to the inhabitants of the earth, with whom all joy is darkened, from whom all mirth is gone.

Isa 24:12

The gate is smitten with destruction. The very gates of the towns, generally guarded with such care, are broken down and lie in ruins.

Isa 24:13

When thus it shall be; rather, for so shall it be. In the time described the condition of the earth shall be like to that of an olive-ground when the beating is done, or of a vineyard when (he grapes are gathered. That is, a small and scattered remnant of inhabitants shall alone be left, like the few grapes and olives that were the portion of the gleaners (cf. Isa 17:6). There shall be. These words are not needed, and should be erased. The nexus is, “so it shall be as the shaking [rather, ‘beating’] of an olive tree.”

Isa 24:14

They shall lift up their voice. Even in this time of depression and ruin there shall he a “remnant,” which will be faithful to God, and which, from the midst of the sufferings and calamities of the period, will “lift up its voice,” in songs of adoration and praise, to Jehovah, and sing, or “send forth a cry.” This chorus of praise will go forthto a large extentfrom the sea; i.e. from the Mediterranean.

Isa 24:15

Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires. The reading baiyyim, “in the fires,” is doubtful. If it be regarded as sound, we must understand the “fiery trials” which were coming on the faithful remnant. But the LXX. seems to have had the reading baiyyim, “in the islands” or “in the coasts;” and so Lowth, Hitzig, and Mr. Oheyne.

Isa 24:16

Glory to the righteous. The righteous remnant perceive that the calamities which have come upon the earth are ushering in a time of honor and glory for themselves; and they console themselves by making this fact the burden of some of their songs. Their honor, it must be remembered, is bound up with God’s glory; which will not shine forth fully till their salvation is complete, and they “reign with him” in glory (2Ti 2:12). But I said, My leanness. The thought of this joyful time, when the saints shall reign with their Lord in a new heaven and a new earth, recalls the prophet (contrast being one of the laws of the association of ideas) to the misery of the present, and his own participation therein. A time of suffering, of wasting, and pining away must be enduredfor how long he knows notbefore the joyous consummation, towards which he stretches in hope and confident expectancy, can be reached. This is the period of his “leanness.” The treacherous dealers, or ungodly of the earth, will bear sway during this period, and will deal treacherously and cruelly with God’s saints, persecuting them incessantly in a thousand ways. Have dealt. The perfect of prophetic certainty.

Isa 24:17

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee. Man will be like a hunted animal, flying from pursuit, and in danger at each step of falling into a pit or being caught in a snare (comp. Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44, where the idea is borrowed from this place, and applied to a particular nation).

Isa 24:18

The noise of the fear; i.e. the sound of the pursuers. Hunters pursued their game with shouts and cries. The windows from on high are open (comp. Gen 7:11). It is not actually another flood that is threatened, but it is a judgment as sweeping and destructive as the Flood.

Isa 24:19

The earth is utterly broken down. The material globe itself breaks up and perishes. It is “the crack of doom.” Mr. Cheyne remarks that “the language imitates the cracking and bursting with which the present world shall pass away.” The Authorized Version is very feeble compared to the original.

Isa 24:20

The earth shall be removed like a cottage; rather, sways to and fro like a hammock, Rosenmller observes, “Alludit ad pensiles lectos, quos, metu ferrarum, in arboribus sibi parare solent, istis in terris, non custodes solum hortorum camporumve, sed et iter facientes.” The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; i.e. the earth perishes on account of men’s sins. It shall fall, and not rise again. The present earth is to disappear altogether, and to be superseded by “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:1).

Isa 24:21-23

THE SUPRAMUNDANE JUDGMENT, AND FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF GOD‘S KINGDOM. Upon the destruction of the world there is to supervene a visitation of those who have been specially instrumental in producing the great wickedness that has brought the world to an end. These most guilty ones are classified under two heads: they consist of

(1) the host of the high ones that are on high (literally, “the host of the height in the height”); and

(2) the kings of the earth upon the earth. These are to be “gathered together in the pit,” and “shut up in the prison,” and finally, after a long imprisonment, punished (Isa 24:21, Isa 24:22). Then the visible reign of the Lord of hosts is to be established “in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,” and he is to rule in the presence of his “ancients” in glory (Isa 24:23).

Isa 24:21

In that day. About that timein connection with the series of events just related. The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones. It is generally allowed that these high ones, set m contrast as they are with the “kings of the earth,” must belong to the class of supramundane intelligences, spiritual beings of a high order. Some have inclined to identify them with the “patron-spirits of nations,” spoken of by Daniel (Dan 10:13, Dan 10:20, Dan 10:21); but those “patron-spirits” are among the elect and unfallen angels; they protect nations, but do not lead them into sin or wickedness; they have no need to be “visited,” and will certainly not be “shut up in prison” with the wicked kings of the earth. The spirits here spoken of must belong to the class of fallen spiritsthey must be included among those “principalities and powers,” of whom St. Paul speaks (Eph 6:12), whom he calls “the rulers of the darkness of this world,” and to whom he ascribes “spiritual wickedness in high places.” The punishment of such spirits is, perhaps, shadowed forth in the eighty-second psalm; it was distinctly taught in the Book of Enoch; and it is glanced at by St. Jude in his Epistle (Jud 1:6). And the kings. Kings, especially kings in the Oriental sense, have an enormous influence over the nations which they govern, and therefore a heavy responsibility. The kings of the nations are viewed here as having brought about the general corruption and wickedness which has necessitated the destruction of the earth.

Isa 24:22

In the pit; literally, in a dungeon. Mr. Cheyne suggests that sheol, or “hell,” is meant; but the context points to some narrower confinement. In the prison; rather, in prison. After many days. In the Revelation (Rev 20:2) Satan is bound “a thousand years;” i.e. an indefinite term. The imprisonment of the present passage is scarcely the same, but it is analogous. God’s purposes require sometimes long periods of inaction. Shall they be visited; or, published. The word is the same as that translated “punish” in verse 21. “Visiting” for good is scarcely to be thought of.

Isa 24:23

The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed. Some interpret this in the light of Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Mat 24:29; Rev 6:12, as pointing to that physical change, real or phenomenal, in the shining of the sun and moon, which is to be one of the antecedent signs of Christ’s coming at the last day. But the expressions used suggest rather a contrast between the dazzling splendor of Christ’s actual appearance and the normal brightness of sunlight and moonlight. The greater and lesser lights will “pale their ineffectual fires” before the incomparable brightness of the “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal 4:2). When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem. The spiritual Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem can alone be meant, since the earth is no more (verse 20). (On these, see Rev 21:1-27; Rev 22:1-21.) Before his ancients; or, his elders. Four and twenty elders, clothed in white raiment, with crowns of gold upon their heads, are represented in the Apocalypse as sitting round about the throne of God perpetually (Rev 4:4), and worshipping God and the Lamb (Rev 4:10; Rev 5:8, Rev 5:14).

HOMILETICS

Isa 24:1-20

God’s final judgment upon the earth.

In striking contrast with man’s self-complacent theories of continual progress and improvement in the world, resulting in something like the final perfection of our race, is God’s prophetic announcement that, as the years roll on, mankind will go from bad to worse, plunge deeper and deeper into wickedness, bring calamity after calamity upon themselves, and finally so provoke him that he will destroy the very earth itself as “defiled‘ by its inhabitants (Isa 24:5), causing it to “fall, and not rise again” (Isa 24:20). The judgment, as set forth in this chapter, is

I. PROGRESSIVE. It begins with wars, which spread from country to country, until all nations are involved in them. Territories are wasted (Isa 24:3); cities are thrown into confusion (Isa 24:10); the population of the earth rapidly diminishes; the “few men left” (Isa 24:6) are scattered widely over the face of the globe; there is general desolation; and there is general sadness and misery (Isa 24:7-12). All classes suffer (Isa 24:2); the haughty especially are brought down (Isa 24:4). If men escape one calamity, they are overtaken by another (Isa 24:18). Treachery is at work (Isa 24:16), and each man feels like a hunted animal, sure sooner or later to be the prey of the destroyer (Isa 24:17). The judgment passes on from man to the material fabric which he inhabits; man’s transgression lies heavy upon the earth (Isa 24:20); it totters and trembles from its foundations (Isa 24:18), reels to and fro (Isa 24:20), is broken up and shattered (Isa 24:19); finally, falls from its place.

II. FINAL, AS FAR AS THIS DISPENSATION OF THINGS IS CONCERNED. “The inhabitants of the earth are burned” (Isa 24:6); the earth is “utterly emptied” (Isa 24:3); the remnant that has previously escaped necessarily disappears with the earth that is their habitation; and that earth is “utterly broken down,” “clean dissolved,” “fallen“ so as never to rise again (Isa 24:19, Isa 24:20).

III. YET NOT UNCHEERED BY SOME RAYS OF HOPE. In the midst of the gloom, and the sadness, and the desolation, and the confusion, there are yet cheerful voices heard. All flesh has not corrupted its way before the Lord. There are still those who “lift up their voice, and sing for the majesty of the Lord” (Isa 24:14), who “glorify the Lord” in the midst of the “fires” of affliction, and pour forth songs whereof the burden is “Honor to the righteous.” They constitute, it may be, a small minority; but they are not dismayed. “God,” they know, “is on their side;” and they “do not fear what flesh can do unto them.” They bear witness for God to the last; and when the final crash comes they are those blessed ones who “meet the Lord in the air” (1Th 4:17), and are translated to the heavenly kingdom, without passing through the gates of death, there to “be forever with the Lord.”

Isa 24:21, Isa 24:22

A sorer punishment reserved for the authors and instigators of evil than for others.

The kings of the earth to a large extent lead their subjects into sin. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, by the setting up of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel, “made Israel to sin,” and was the original and main cause of that lapse into idolatry which brought down destruction upon the Israelite nation. Ahab, by his marriage with Jezebel, and introduction of the Baal-worship, intensified the evil, and hastened the final overthrow. Manasseh “seduced Judah to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel” (2Ki 21:9), and brought upon Judah a fate similar to that which had befallen the sister kingdom (2Ki 24:3, 2Ki 24:4). The blood-thirstiness and cruelty of the heathen nations were encouraged by their kings, who were forever engaging in unjust wars, and looking for success to the terror they inspired by the fierceness of their soldiers, who were instructed to be savage and unsparing. Hence, when the day of reckoning came, it was just that the kings should be reserved for special retribution, and punished with special severity. We must not too closely press the details of the prophetical announcement. “The pit,” “the prison,” are wonted phrases in the imagery of Divine retributive justice. What is intended to be taught is that exact justice will be meted out; wherever lies the main guilt of the evil done under the sun, there will be the main severity of punishment. Where kings have been in fault, kings will suffer; where nobles and prime ministers, on them will fall the heaviest woe; where leaders sprung from the ranks, theirs will be the sorest suffering. “God is not mocked.” God will know who are the really guilty ones, and will execute his special vengeance upon them, however exalted they be. Nor will he spare the instigators of evil who belong to the spiritual world. Fallen spirits are ever tempting men to sin, suggesting lines of sin, egging their victims on, aiding them so far as they are permitted, and conducting them to depths of sin and wickedness whereof they would have had no conception had they been left to themselves. It is just that these spirits, who are the primary movers in the widespread conspiracy of crime, should suffer the most. St. Jude tells us of those evil angels who are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jud Jud 1:6). St. John saw in the Apocalyptic vision that “the devil who deceived the nations” was at length “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are,” and was “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev 20:10). These, too, have their deserts. Inexorable justice requires for so much sin so much suffering. The law is absolute, imperative, universal. And the whole redounds to the honor and glory of the great Ruler of the universe. “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other we are the savor of life unto life” (2Co 2:15, 2Co 2:16). The thought is overwhelming, and the apostle with reason exclaims, “And who is sufficient for these things?”

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Isa 24:1-23

Prophecy of judgment.

The difficulties, historically considered, of this chapter must be left to the exegete. We concern ourselves with the larger sense it contains of a prophecy of a judgment upon the whole world.

I. THE APPROACHING DESOLATION. (Isa 24:1-3.) The figures of emptying, draining, are employed to denote the utter depopulation and impoverishment of the earth; also that of turning upside down, to denote disorganization and demoralization in every civil and religious institution, while the people will be driven as chaff before the wind by the scattering hand of the invader. All ranks will be alike affected and confused together in the coming calamity. “Distinction of rank is highly necessary for the economy of the world, and was never called in question but by barbarians and enthusiasts.” A variety of interests and feelings is represented in the different orders of society. Each contributes an element of wealth or of culture to the commonwealth. The untutored instincts of the mass have a certain wisdom in them; but they need to be checked and guided by the intelligence of far-seeing minds. The instinct for progress only safely operates when it is met by a counter sentiment of conservatism. The minister of religion is a necessity in society, and equally necessary the free spirit of the people to check his usurpations. The theory of society is that of a complicated organism, where all the parts are mutually dependent, and each on the whole. If the servant is necessary to, the master, not less so the master to the servant; the lender to the borrower, and the reverse. One of our chief blessings is regular government and good order. How marvelous is the immense, all-teeming, yet quiet and ordered life of London! The slightest menace of disturbance to it makes us feel, or ought to make us feel, keenly the greatness of the privileges so long preserved to us. “We ought,” says Calvin, “not only to acknowledge the judgment of God, but also lay it to the blame of our own sins, whenever he breaks down order and takes away instruction and courts of law; for when these fall, civilization itself fails along with them?” Again, God in his judgment is no respecter of persons. No rank is spared, not even the most sacred. On the contrary, to whom much has been given, of them much will be required. The higher the rank the deeper the fall, and the sorer the punishment where there has been ingratitude and unfaithfulness. It is secret disloyalty to the Eternal and his laws which saps the root of life, and causes in the end the mournful sight of a nation mourning, its vigor ebbing away, its great men hanging their heads like drooping flowers. The thought of many cities and Lands once flourishing, now like a flower withered down to the bare stalk, should remind us of the constancy of moral laws, of the fact that “Jehovah hath spoken the word.”

II. THE REASON OF THE JUDGMENT. It closely follows upon the guilt of men. And this guilt has polluted the earth. “Blood profanes the land; The land is polluted with blood” (Num 35:33; Psa 106:38). This may be taken literally or generally. Kingdoms and empires have often been “founded in blood” (cf. Isa 26:21). And this was a transgression of Divine commandmentthe violation of a Divine statute, the breach of a standing covenant of God with men. The allusion may be to the covenant with Noah (Gen 9:16). But if the prophecy refers to mankind in general, then we must think of the “Law written on the heart”the Divine teaching within. “It was with the whole human race that God concluded a covenant in the person of Noah, at a time when the nations had none of them come into existence” (Delitzsch). “Therefore hath a curse devoured the earth.” There is an awfulness in the logic of the Almighty; there is nothing arbitrary in his conduct, nor meaningless in his words. No curse “causeless comes.” The premises of sin contain the conclusion of punishment; and from the fact of curse the fact of “blood-guilt,” or of sin in general, may be certainly inferred. “All Israel have transgressed thy Law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him” (Dan 9:11). The simple and sublime reasoning of the prophets should ever be laid to heart by us and pressed upon the conscience of others. “The land mourns;” trade is dull, taxation is heavy, wars are rife; there is murmuring and discontent. Why? The prophets are ever ready with a becausebecause of swearing or other falsehood, because of adultery or other impurity, because of the iniquity of statesmen, priests, or prophets, the pleasant places are dried up (cf. Jer 23:10).

III. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CAUSE. It is conceived as personal. As in Zec 5:3 it is said to “go forth over the face of the whole earth,” or to be “poured upon” men (Dan 9:11), so here it is so said to “devour the earth.” The Divine anger burns (Isa 30:27), and the God of judgment is as a “consuming fire.” And under this terrible doom Nature betrays her silent sympathy with the fortunes of man. The drooping grape and the languishing vine seem to reflect the sadness of the people, and visibly to mourn in response to their sighs. And that popular music which charms away the pain of excessive toil, and expresses the fund of health and mirth which lies at the heart of man and the world, ceases; timbrel and lute are hushed, and the merry shouts of the laborers no longer rise from the vineyards. “Jerusalem was uninhabited as a desert. There was none going in and coming out of her children; and the sanctuary was trodden down, and the sons of foreigners were in her high place, a place of sojourn for Gentiles. Delight was taken out of Jacob, and the flute and the lyre ceased” (1 Macc. 3:45). This passage in the prayer of Judas the Maccabee is thought by Vitringa to allude to the fulfillment of the prediction. It is the doom which follows upon the abuse of the gifts of God. Abuse consists either in excessive indulgence or in oblivion of the Giver. He knows how in chastisement to insert a bitter flavor into the most favorite pleasures. The cup will be dashed from their lips, or a want of relish will be felt for it. A mind clouded by remorse will “darken the ruby of the cup and dim the glitter of the scene.” If the time comes when a man is compelled to say of even innocent social pleasures, “I have no pleasure in them,” can there be a keener mark of judgment on past excess or abuse? Better the crust and the draught from the spring, with healthy appetite and clean conscience, than the repast of luxury and the brimming wine-cup turned to gall on the lips by the secret chemistry of guilt. The city is chaos and the houses are closed, and in the fields, instead of the vintage shouts, are heard the howls of those who miss the sweet wine (cf. Joe 1:5). It seems that the sun of joy has gone down, and the bright spirit of gladness has fled from the earth. The olive, as the vine, is a speaking symbol of fatness, plenty, wealth, and prosperity. But the land will be like an olive stripped and bared of its fruitsa vineyard when the gleaning is over. Still a few will be left (cf. Isa 17:5, Isa 17:6); for never does God suffer his Church to become extinct, the spiritual life of mankind utterly to fail, or his work to come to a standstill. Dark as every cloud of judgment is, it will yet pass, and crushed hearts will be healed and voices now dumb burst forth anew into song. It is at least glimpses of such a future which sustain the prophet’s heart under the “burden of the Lord.”

IV. RUMORS OF BETTER THINGS. A cry is heard from the sea, from the Mediterranean; it must be from some of that sacred remnant acknowledging Jehovah, extolling loudly his majesty, Israel’s God! “He follows out and increases the consolations which he had briefly sketched; for having formerly (Isa 10:19-22) said that out of that vast multitude a few drops would be left, which would nevertheless overflow the whole world, in like manner he now says that the small number of the godly, who shall be left out of an abundant vintage, will nevertheless rejoice and utter a voice so loud that it will be heard in the most distant lands. This was done by the preaching of the gospel; for as to the condition of Judaea, it appeared to be entirely ruined by itthe national government was taken away, and they. were broken clown by foreign and civil wars in such a manner that they could never rise above them. The rest of the world was dumb in singing the praises of God, and deaf to hear his voice; but as the Jews were the firstfruits, they are here placed in the highest rank” (Calvin).

1. God can in a moment recreate and restore his Church, as it were, out of nothing. From death he brings life, out of the solitude can cause songs of praise to resound, and converts the scene of mourning into one of joy.

2. Worshippers are fitly employed in extolling God’s perfections, and not their own claims to approbation. His benefits should excite our gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises.

3. The time is to be looked forward to when all nations will call upon the true God. To call upon the Name of Israel’s God means the spread of true religion through the world. The knowledge of him merely as the wrathful and avenging God must strike man with dumbness; the knowledge of him as Redeemer must open the heart and unloose the tongue for praise.

4. True religion and human blessedness are coincident. “Honor for the righteous!” wilt be the burden of the song; “Hope to the pious!” the LXX. render. The Jews are meant in the first place, as the chosen people; then probably the elect of all nations, as typified in them. “When the prophet predicted these things, how incredible might they appear to be! for among the Jews alone was the Lord known and praised (Psa 76:2). To them destruction is foretold, and next the publication of the words and the celebration of the praises of God; but how shall these things be done, when the people of God had been destroyed? Hence we may infer that there were few who believed these predictions. But now that these events have taken place, it is our duty to behold with admiration so great a miracle of God, because, when the Jews had been not only beaten down, but almost annihilated, still there flashed from them a spark by which the whole world was enlightened, and all who were kindled by it broke forth into a confession of the truth” (Calvin).

V. REVULSION OF FEELING. Before this spiritual restoration can come about, an interval of misery must be passed through. A cry of intense pain escapes the prophet’s heart: “Wasting away is for me! wasting away is for me!” He sees and feels, with realizing imagination and sympathy, the barbarous oppression from which his people will suffer. Wave upon wave of calamity seems to roll in from the horizon. To escape from the “terror” is to fall into the “pit,” to come up from the “pit” is only to be taken in the snare. The windows of heaven will be opened, and a new deluge will cover the earth, which will tremble as with universal shock. Then Jehovah will “hold visitation upon the host of the highest in the height, and upon the kings of the earth upon the earth.” They will be imprisoned and shut up in the prison of the lower world. Then there will be a visitation after many days: whether for the purpose of punishment or pardon, the prophet does not say, and commentators are divided. Amidst the obscurity of the passage, some truth that may be used for edification appears to glimmer. All that takes place on the earthly sphere has reference to a supernatural world. There are in a sense “angels” of nations and of men. The rabbinical saying runs that “God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince; i.e. the angel who, by whatever means he first obtained possession of the nation, has exerted an ungodly influence upon it. “Just as, according to the scriptural view, both good and evil angels attach themselves to particular men, and an elevated state of mind may sometimes afford a glimpse of this encircling company and this conflict of spirits; so do the angels contend for the rule over nations and kingdoms, either to guide them in the way of God, or to lead them astray from God; therefore the judgment upon nations will be a judgment upon angels also. The kingdom of spirit has its own history running parallel to the destinies of men” (Delitzsch).

VI. FINAL APOCALYPSE OF DIVINE GLORY. The moon blushes and the sun turns pale, and Jehovah of hosts reigns royally upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the elders or representatives of the people are permitted to gaze upon his glory (cf. Exo 24:9; Exo 34:29). The glory of nature fades before the surpassing glory of the spiritual and eternal. Our noblest sense is that of vision, and its exercise involves that of imagination. The bright heavenly bodies delight us in part because they are significant and symbolic of light in the intellectual and moral sphere, of him who set them yonder, and who is the Light of the world. We can think of nothing more glorious than the light of the sun, except the glory of the Sun of Righteousness. That must be seen in the soul, in the conscience. And to come finally to the beatific vision; in purity of heart to see God; to close with the great Object who lies behind all the finite objects of our intellectual research; to enjoy that reposeful contemplation of the eternal beauty, of which every imperfect flash and hint reminds us in this twilight of life;this is the goal of spiritual aspiration in every time, as it was of the prophet’s wishful thought, piercing through the darkness of the future.J.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM

Isa 24:16

Songs from afar.

“From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.” Beautiful music that! For music has often been set to unworthy endsto the praise of pride and power, to war and wrong. It has been said of one, “I care not who makes a nation’s laws, if I may make their songs.” A strong antithetical way of putting, in an exaggerated way, a great truth. The songs of a people are always with themin the field and at home, in toil and in rest.

I. THE SUBJECT OF THE SONGS. “Glory to the righteous.” How could this otherwise end, than in glory to God? For he is the righteous God, and there is no word by which the Psalms oftener describe him. Thus in praising the righteous we are led onward to praise the righteous God, as the God who inspires righteousness in the hearts of others. Thus we read that “in every nation he that worketh righteousness is accepted of God.” No word reaches deeper. We may sing songs to the valiant, and the heroic, and the patriotic, and the brave; but righteousness speaks, not only of courage, but of conscience too.

II. THE DISTANCE FROM WHICH THEY COME. “From the uttermost parts of the earth.” Prophecy of the time when all nations shall call Christ blessed, and when his praise shall be heard from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. We have this sound from the distant places, because in the end all true lovers of righteousness will hail Christ, when he is revealed to them, as containing all the fullness of God.

III. THE GLORY OF WHICH THEY BREATHE. There are divers kinds of glory. But God’s glory is the glory of the cross! There is an empty glory of self-righteousness, but that is not the glory of the righteous. Far from it. The glory of strength is to help the weak. The glory of wisdom is to enlighten the, ignorant. The glory of righteousness is to shape into order that which is wrong or wrung,” from which idea of being twisted and bent from the straight course the word “wrung” comes. Yes. Glory to the righteous! For they are the salt of the earth, the safety of the nation. The Lord our Righteousness is revealed in Christ, whose holy life was not for our admiration only, or for our honor and worship, but was “lived” for us and “laid down” for us, that we might be filled with his strength, and become holy as God is holy.W.M.S.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Isa 24:1-12

The charge and the calamity.

These words give a vivid and a terrible picture of calamity that should befall the people of God. It is suitably called “the curse” (Isa 24:6), for it should prove an evil of the severest kind; and it would be other than a national misfortuneit would be the penalty of sin: therefore, because of the sins charged against the nation (Isa 24:5), these multiplied sorrows would overtake and overwhelm them; “for the Lord hath spoken this word” (Isa 24:3).

I. GOD‘S CHARGE AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. (Isa 24:5.) This is threefold.

1. Disregard of his spoken Word. “They have transgressed the laws.” Those plain statements of the will of God which had been revealed in “the Law” had been deliberately disobeyedrequirements unfulfilled, prohibitions set at naught.

2. Perversion of Divine truth. “Changed the ordinance.” The Jews were subtle and sinful enough to appear to keep the Law when they were habitually breaking it. This they did by changing or perverting it, by making it mean something different from the Divine intention, by taking the heart out of it, by minimizing and dwarfing it (see Mat 15:3-9).

3. Violation of his will as revealed in our common human nature. “Broken the everlasting covenant.” This covenant is well summarized in Psa 34:15, Psa 34:16; it has fallen into grievous and guilty disregard. Men refrained from righteousness and “did evil,” yet they shrank not from the accusing eye and the uplifted hand of God (see Rom 2:14, Rom 2:15). The people of God will do well to ask themselves whether they are not in danger of being obnoxious to the same charge; whether they are not neglecting the will of God as expressly revealed in the words of Christ and his apostles; or are not changing, by radical misconstruction, the purpose of their Lord; or are not setting aside some of the first principles written in their nature by the Father of spirits.

II. THE CALAMITY WHICH ATTENDS DISOBEDIENCE. This is manifold, as indicated in the text.

1. Desolation. Emptiness, waste, dispersion (Psa 34:1), inaccessibility (Psa 34:10; see also Psa 34:3, Psa 34:6, Psa 34:12).

2. Degradation. The land “turned upside down,” so that what was meant for higher ends is employed for baser ones (Psa 34:1); “utterly spoiled” (Psa 34:3); defilement (Psa 34:5); resort to stimulants for false courage (Psa 34:11).

3. Enfeeblement. The land “fadeth away,” “languisheth” (Psa 34:4); the strength of the city is gone, for even the gate (the strong place) is “smitten with destruction” (Psa 34:12).

4. Abject misery. (Psa 34:7, Psa 34:8.) Even that which usually excites with pleasure has lost its charm (Psa 34:9).

5. Completeness and commonness of the scourge (Psa 34:2). Such, in various manifestations, according to the nature of the subject and the character of the guilt, is the calamitous issue of disobedience; so heavy is the devouring curse (Psa 34:6) when Divine laws are disobeyed and the Divine claims denied. The land, the Church, the family, the individual life, is desolate, is degraded, is enfeebled, is rendered joyless. The best companions are dispersed, and life is lonely; the loftier and worthier ends of existence are surrendered for those less worthy, and ultimately for those which are positively base; the strength of righteousness and virtue gives place to the feebleness of folly and to the degeneracy of vice; song dies into silence and then into a wail.

(1) Beware of spiritual and then moral decline.

(2) Seek and find, in repentance and faith, a way up even from the dark depths of ruin.C.

Isa 24:13-16

The voice of the chastened.

We learn

I. THAT GOD TEMPERS JUDGMENT WITH MERCY. (Isa 24:13.) There will be some fruit spared, though the olive tree be terribly shaken, though the grapes have been gathered. All will not be taken from the holy land; a remnant shall be left. Though God strip a man or a nation of his (its) resources, yet will he leave him (it) a remainder, something to console him, something with which he may start anew. A starry night succeeds a stormy day; a calm and quiet age closes a life of struggle and of sorrow;, “the old familiar faces” have disappeared, but a few faithful souls still linger who can go back with us in thought and sympathy to early days.

II. THAT FROM THE LIPS OF THE CHASTENED THERE OFTEN COME SWEET AND EVEN TRIUMPHANT STRAINS. (Isa 24:14.) Those who have been visited in Divine wrath, and have seen their compatriots carried away into captivity, shall not give way to despondency; they shall learn to honor and to rejoice in the majesty of Jehovah; they “shall lift up the voice,” “shall sing,” “shall shout” (exult). Something (it does not appear what) in the Divine character will appear to them so majestic, so glorious, so beneficent, that their sweetest and strongest accents will be called forth. To those who stand outside it often seems wonderful and incomprehensible that those who are inside a great affliction should find such occasion for thanksgiving. But it is certainly true that the sick in their sickness, the poor in their poverty, the bereaved in their loneliness, often find more reason for thankful song than do the strong in their strength and the wealthy in their riches. And the song they sing is not one in which submission struggles with complaint, but rather, as here, the happy outpouring of perfect acquiescence in the Divine will,the voice of sacred joy.

III. THAT GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED BY THOSE FURTHEST OFF AS BY THOSE NEAR TO HIS SANCTUARY. (Isa 24:15.) “Glorify ye the Lord” in the east (“in the fires”); in the west (“the isles of the sea “); “from the uttermost part of the earth,” etc. (Isa 24:16). Under the chastening hand of the Lord Israel went into exile; in exile the truth of God was made known as it otherwise would not have been. In other ways the judgments of God led, and still lead, to the circulation of his truth and to the magnifying of his Name. A cleansed and purified Church will be a missionary Church, through whose instrumentality the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will be known and sung on every hand.

IV. THAT THE RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL RELIGIOUS SERVICE. “Glory to the Righteous One” (Isa 24:16). Ill indeed would it be for the land in which the piety of the people lost its hold on the righteousness of God. In the absence of righteousness from his character, there would be nothing worth calling goodness or mercy on his part and nothing worth calling reverence or devotion on ours. All religion worthy of the name rests on the righteousness of God. The wave of sentiment that would weaken our sense of it is one that washes against our deepest and highest interests, and should be steadfastly opposed. Above and beneath all other things God is the Righteous One, at the remembrance of whose holiness we do well to give thanks (Psa 30:4), in whose purity and perfection we do well to glory.C.

Isa 24:16-22

Five fruits of transgression.

The key-note of this passage is found in the twentieth verse: “The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it.” All these dire evils are the consequences of national transgression. They are fivefold.

I. IT IMPOVERISHES. The prophet, speaking not only for himself, but for his country, exclaims, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” (Isa 24:16). The violation of Divine Law not only

(1) reduces a man’s bodily strength, causing him to waste away, and bringing the pale cheek and the trembling nerve; but it

(2) outs down a man’s resources, changing the princely revenue into a beggar’s dole; moreover, it

(3) impoverishes the mind, causing it to starve on empty folly while it might be nourished with heavenly truth; and

(4) it despoils the soul, making it barren of those noble virtues and those exquisite graces which elevate and beautify human character.

II. IT DELUDES. It is full of treachery (Isa 24:16); its victims delude themselves with the notion that they are escaping, but they only flee from the noise to fall into the pit, or escape from the pit to be entangled in the net (Isa 24:17, Isa 24:18). This is “the deceitfulness of sin.” Men think they will shake themselves free from their iniquity a little further on, but they find that temptation awaits them at every point, that one sin paves the way for another: indulgence leads down to dishonesty, and dishonesty conducts to falsehood; superstition ends in skepticism, and skepticism in utter unbelief. There is no escape from the consequences of folly but by entering the path of wisdom, from the penalty of sin but by penitence and purity. They who look to time and chance for deliverance are only deluding themselves with a hope which will certainly “make ashamed” those that cherish it.

III. IT AGITATES. “The foundations of the earth do shake the earth is moved exceedingly (it) shall reel to and fro”(Isa 24:18-20). There often comes a time in the history of folly, or of crime, or of transgression, when the subject of itindividual or collectivefinds everything unsettled, shaking beneath his (its) feet; it is to him as if the very ground were rocking; friends fall away, kindred disown, confidence is lost, obligations are pressed against him, the last measures are taken, liberty itself is threatened, the blackest clouds overhang; behind is folly and before is ruin, while within are agitation and alarm.

IV. IT OPPRESSES AND EVEN CRUSHES. “The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” (Isa 24:20). Sin lies with a heavy weight upon the soul. The sense of guilt, the Wearing weight of wrong-doing, oppresses the spirit, takes away its elasticity, its freshness, its vigor. Sometimes it does much more than thatit crushes the soul; it makes it incapable of attempting anything better; it gives way to a fatal despondency, and pursues the evil path even to the bitter end. One of the very worst penalties of sin is the dead weight which it lays on the spirit of the sinner, killing his hope and dooming him to despair and death.

V. IT IMPRISONS. The “high ones” were to be “shut up in the prison” (Isa 24:21, Isa 24:22). There is no dungeon, however dark and strong, in which the bodies of men have been confined that is so dark and so deplorable as “the pit” or “prison“ in which sin shuts up its victims. The children of iniquity are slaves; they wear bends which are more firmly riveted than the closest iron fetters on human limbs; they are bondmen indeed; their pitiable thraldom is slavery itself, of which the imprisonment of the body is only the type and picture. In Jesus Christ and in his service is:

1. Enlargement.

2. Truth and disillusion.

3. The calm of conscientiousness and a well-grounded hope.

4. Expectation founded on a wise and holy trustfulness.

5. Spiritual freedom. “Whom the Son makes free, they are free indeed;” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Isa 24:2

Common burden-bearing.

The figure of calamity given in Isa 24:1 is that of emptying a vessel by turning it upside down. In national calamities all classes share alike. There is indiscriminate ruin. No distinction is made between the different ranks and conditions of life, though the idle poor are always the first to suffer. Illustrations may be taken from the great Lancashire cotton famine; or from times of trade depression which; as year after year passes on, reaches every class and section of society. “It is in a special manner true of the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful nations; when he pleases he can make them universal, so that none shall escape them or be exempt from them; whether men have little or much, they shall lose it all. Those of the meaner sort smart first by famine; but those of the higher rank go first into captivity, while the poor of the land are left. Let not those that are advanced in the world set their inferiors at too great a distance, because they know not how soon they may be put upon a level with them” (Matthew Henry). The Apostle Paul advises that we accept the fact of burdens being common, and strive to turn the bearing of them into Christian virtue. “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” “Every man shall bear his own burden.” It is as if he had said, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, by kindly sympathy and ready help, as far as ever you can, partly because you have a very heavy burden of your own to bear, so you know what burden-bearing means, and partly because, come near to help one another how you may, you know from yourselves how true it is that every man must bear his own burden; the really heavy weight of it can rest on no shoulders but his own”

I. THE BURDENS THAT PRESS ON EACH ONE. The text suggests such as are special to times of calamity and distress, but we may treat our topic in a comprehensive way, so as to get direct practical applications. Each one of us has burdens as directly related to his sins and sinfulness as the woes of Jerusalem were to the national transgressions. The histories of cities and nations do but picture in the large the story of individuals. The cursory reader of the Pilgrims Progress will tell you that the pilgrim lost his burden from his shoulders when he gazed so trustfully upon the cross. But the more careful reader, who notes Christian’s infirmities, and frailties, and stumblings, and falls, will tell you that the pilgrim bore his burdens right through to the end, and that they weighed him down even when crossing the stream. We have our burdens in our frail bodiesfrail in the nerves, the head, the bones, the lungs, or yet more secret organs. Each one has a real “thorn in the flesh,” which has influences far wider and more serious than he thinks. We have our burdens in our dispositions and charactersburdens of despondency, or of impulsiveness, or of carnality, or of masterfulness, or of vanity, giving a bad appearance to all our work and relationship. And the problem of our life is just this: “How true, how beautiful can we become, with that burden, under the pressures and hindrances of that burden?” There is divinely arranged a great variety and wide distribution of burdens and disabilities, both in the sense of infirmities and calamities, so that we might come very near to one another, and really help one another. As we meet and feel “I am a man with a burden,” we look into the face of our fellows, and he is a poor face-reader who does not say, “And my brother, too, is evidently a man with a burden.” Perhaps a suspicion even crosses our mind that our brother’s burden is heavier than our own. Burdens, when rightly borne, never separate men from each other. The sanctified bearing of our own makes us so simple, so gentle, so tender-hearted, that we can bear the burdens of others, in the spirit of our meekness and sympathy, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

II. THE BURDENS THAT WE MAY BEAR WITH OTHERS. There are common burdens in the home life; common burdens in the business life; common burdens in the social life; and common burdens in the national life; and we properly think ill things of the individuals or the classes that isolate themselves, and refuse to share the common burden. But it will be well to ask how practically we can take up the common burden so as to really help our brethren who are in the common trouble? Our great power is our power of sympathy. We can come so near to our brother in his weakness, his disability, even in his sin, that he shall feel as if another shoulder were put under his burden, and it felt to him a little lighter. We all yearn for sympathy; we all want some other human heart to feel in our trouble-times;

“Oh what a joy on earth to find
A mirror in an answering mind!”

But we can often enter, as a relieving power, into the circumstances that make the burden. The doctor takes the sufferer into his interest and care, and deals helpfully with the circumstances that make the burden. And every one of us can be a doctor for the moral difficulties and distresses of life. We have all more power ever the circumstances that make trouble than we think; we can “lift up hands that hang down, and strengthen feeble knees.” Beautiful in time of national calamity is the help which the poor give to the poor. Beautiful ought to be the help which each gives to each, and all to all, in the ordinary burden-bearing of family and social life.R.T.

Isa 24:4

The future for haughty folk.

“The haughty people of the earth do languish.” The proud are an offence unto God. It is not the rich who find it so difficult to enter the kingdom of God; it is they who “trust in riches,” who boast of their riches, who make their riches the occasion for despising others.

I. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY NATURALLY. Fortune tells upon precisely those things in which they pride themselves. The picture of trembling, suffering old age, given in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is designed as a warning to the proud. See what you are certainly coming to who admired your fine persons, made so much of your independence, and pampered your appetites and passions. The picture of old age is not that of the ordinary man, but of the haughty, masterful sensualist, the sinner of the high places of society, whose iniquity comes back upon him. It is enough for haughty folk to live; life becomes their humbling and their chastisement.

II. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY PROVIDENTIALLY. For they cannot win love. Everybody serves them in fear or for pay; and so, oftentimes, their very grandeur is undermined by those about them, their riches takes wings and fly away, their dependents take advantage of their times of weakness, and all are glad to see the haughty humbled. Striking illustration may be found in the career of Squire Beckford, of Fonthill. An insufferably austere and haughty man, the providences were against him. His mansion fell with a crash. His projects failed. He was humbled to the dust, and died almost a beggar.

III. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY JUDICIALLY. For God must punish pride. It cannot be allowed to lift up its bead. The Lord hath a controversy with it. Nebuchadnezzar eats grass like an ox. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen”Babylon, the type of the haughty. Belshazzar sees the recording finger write the judgment of the proud. God will bring into contempt all the proud of the earth. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” Time is on the side of the meek. Time is against the haughty. The judgments of God gather, like black thunder-clouds, against those whose hearts are lifted up. The storm will burst in the ever-nearing future. The haughty man’s prosperity may blossom as a garden of delights; but God will breathe his blight upon it, and behold, as in our text, “the haughty people of the earth do languish.” Then, with a true fear, let us “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.”R.T.

Isa 24:5, Isa 24:6

The necessary connection of suffering with sin.

“Because they have transgressed the laws therefore hath the curse devoured the earth.” The great Eastern empires had no staying power. In a few generations dynasties, even empires, were swept clean away. And the reason is not far to seek. The great Eastern kingdoms were founded on blood-shedding; and for the sin of violence God keeps the curse of destruction. ‘A lesson which he taught the world once for all when he swept away the old violent humanity with a flood: “The earth never spews out its inhabitants until they have defiled it by their sin.” This subject is presented to us under a variety of aspects, and with an abundance of illustration. It is one of the great messages of the Bible. We do but give it here a little freshness of form and setting.

I. SIN COMES FIRST. God always begins with Eden. The Eden of bright happy youth in every man’s life. There is no suffering where there is no sin. Thorns and briers come when man has acted in willfulness. Suffering has no mission save as the corrective of sin and sin’s consequences. Our first parents disobey, and then suffering comes. Man follows the “devices and desires of his own heart,” and then the corrective Divine judgments come. And suffering has always this justification, that sin has come first. Illustrate in the case of King Saul.

II. SIN MAY HAVE A LONG TETHER. This often creates confusion in men’s minds. They think the sin cannot be evil because the punishment is so long delayed. So the uncleanness of cities goes on for years, and seems to be no serious evil; but presently the plague comes and sweeps its thousands away. Israel presumed on the holding over of its national judgments, but presently overwhelming destruction came. We can often sin on for years with apparent impunity, never with real impunity. Storms are gathering, though they wait their time for bursting.

III. SUFFERING KEEPS SIN COMPANY ON ITS WAY. It is always present; always ready to give signs of its presence; always making monitions. It is held back only in the long-suffering of God’s mercy, the “goodness of God thus leading men to repentance.”

IV. SUFFERING PLAINLY STAMPS THE EVIL OF SIN IN THE END. AS in the case of the drunkard, the sensualist, the dishonest. You can tell the value of a thing by its wage, and the “wages of sin is death.” You can estimate a thing by its issues, and “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” This lesson the history of individuals and of nations, ancient and modern, teaches, but teaches in vain to the sons of men. We say, “Ah, yes! It may be true of sin, but it is not true of our sin.”R.T.

Isa 24:9

The distress of pampered appetites.

“They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.” There is, at first, a carnal pleasure in self-indulgence, in lust of eating and drinking, and in sensuality. But, sooner or later, God takes the song out of it. This must ever be the distress of mere appetiteit can excite, it can make ever-increasing demands, but it cannot satisfy. To indulge mere appetite and passion is to “spend money for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth not.” The young do not believe this; the old man knows it, and he says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment!” and that judgment comes either in early death, or in bitterness and woe if life, is long spared. Sir W. Raleigh on this ground solemnly warns his son: “Take special care that thou delight not in wine; for there never was any man that came to honor and preferment that loved it; for it transformeth a man into a beast, decayeth health, poisoneth the breath, destroyeth natural heat, brings a man’s stomach to an artificial heat, deformeth the face, rotteth the teeth, and, to conclude, maketh a man contemptible, soon old, and despised of all wise and worthy men.” And Matthew Henry says, “God has many ways to embitter wine and strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of themdistemper of body, anguish of mind; the ruin of the estate or country will make the strong drink bitter, and all the delights of sense tasteless and insipid.” The distress of the men of pampered appetites comes in one or the other of the two following forms.

I. ABUNDANCE IS PRESENTED, BUT THE POWER TO ENJOY IS GONE. For appetite and passion wear out, after they have fixed in the soul a dull and dreadful craving that gives a man no rest. Late in life circumstances often give the money, the time, the positions which are essential to self-indulgence, and the man is in the midst of this unspeakable miserythat he is physically unable to enjoy. This is God’s bitter punishment of sensuality in this life.

II; APPETITE BECOMES RAVENOUS, AND THERE IS NOTHING TO FEED IT ON. Or it slips away, always just out of reach, as the water to Tantalus. Every act of self-indulgence has a tendency to repeat itself. You cannot stop with once. But as the act is repeated it becomes more intense, it wants more force. The desire grows until it gets beyond a man, and nothing on earth can satisfy. Then Providence places a man in some captivity, like these pampered Jews, where there is the unspeakable misery of immense passion for sensual enjoyment and nothing to enjoy. These are the two features of God’s hell upon earth.R.T.

Isa 24:13

The mission of remnants.

Explaining the figure used in this verse, Thomson says, “Early in autumn the olive berries begin to drop of themselves, or are shaken off by the wind. They are allowed to remain under the trees for some time, guarded by the watchman of the towna very familiar Bible character. Then a proclamation is made by the governor that all who have trees go out and pick what has fallen. Previous to this, not even the owners are allowed to gather olives in the groves. This proclamation is repeated once or twice, according to the season. In November comes the general and final summons, which sends forth all Hasbeiya. No olives are now safe unless the owner looks after them, for the watchmen are removed, and the orchards are alive with men, women, and children. Everywhere the people are in the trees, ‘shaking’ them with all their might, to bring down the fruit. The effort is to make a clear sweep of all the crop; but, in spite of shaking and beating, there is always a gleaning left. These are gathered by the very poor, who have no trees of their own; and by industry they collect enough to keep a lamp in their habitation during the dismal nights of winter, and to cook their mess of pottage and bitter herbs.” Reference may be to the few poor who were left in the land of Judah to till the fields, when the great mass of the people were carried away captive. God has always kept a remnant. Noah and his family in the time of the Flood. Seven thousand in the time of Ahab, an election of grace. And remnants have always their witness to make and their work to do.

I. REMNANTS WITNESS OF GOD‘S JUDGMENTS. They compel us to askWhy are they thus but remnants? and so the Divine dealings are recalled to mind. There was punishment because there was sin; there was overwhelming punishment because the cup of iniquity had become full. The nation is destroyed as a nation because the world must be taught, over and over again, that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a rebuke to any people.”

II. REMNANTS WITNESS TO GOD‘S MERCY IN JUDGMENT. They say God’s judgments are never absolutely destructive. God cuts down the tree, but leaves the stock in the ground. God removes the nation, but leaves a few to keep up possession and rights. Self-vindication is only a part of God’s meaning in his judgments. Correction is his chief purpose, and his mercifulness calls for repentance.

III. REMNANTS WITNESS TO GOD‘S RESTORING MERCY THROUGH JUDGMENT. For they only keep possession till better days, though their possession declares that the better days will come. The “election of grace” has this to say: “All Israel shall be saved.” These points may be applied to the few that are kept faithful in times of worldliness and spiritual decay in connection with Christ’s Church.R.T.

Isa 24:15

Man’s duty in times of refining.

“Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the east;” margin, “fires” (Revised Version). The word translated “fires” in the Authorized Version is a difficult one. It points to the “land of the sun,” which would be the east country, to which Judah was taken for its captivity, and which was to it as a refining fire; or some think to the “land of volcanic fires,” which would be the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. We prefer to see a figurative reference to the refining fires of the time of exile. It is in strict keeping with the mission of Isaiah that he should thus bid the people “glorify God in the fires.” Whether the passage directly refers to the flight of the people to the islands of the sea, or to the great deportation into Chaldea, the general truth is set before us that, when we are in God’s chastising and correcting hand, our supreme desire and endeavor should be to “glorify God in the fires.” And this is done

I. WHEN THE SUFFERING IS RECOGNIZED AS CHASTISEMENT. Suffering is often spoken of as if it were accident, hereditary taint, or the fault of other people; but God is not glorified until we see and admit that it is fatherly chastisement. The burden of woe resting on humanity is overwhelming, unless we can see that God is in it, and thereby is but chastening his children betimes. The world is God’s erring child. It glorifies the Father to see that he will not let him go on in sin. “What son is he whom the lather chasteneth not?”

II. WHEN WE ADMIT THE SIN FOR WHICH THE CHASTISEMENT IS SENT. God always sends chastisements that can have a revealing power, and bear evident relation to particular sins. National sins are shown up by national calamities, bodily sins by bodily sufferings. This point may gain large and various illustration, as in Saul, David, Ahab, Jonah, etc. We glorify God when we let the chastisement show us the sinact as the revealer to reveal the bad self.

III. WHEN WE DETERMINE TO PUT THE SIN AWAY. For chastisement then is shown to be effective; it reaches its end: God is seen not to have wrought in vain. Correction is “for our profit, that we may be partakers of his righteousness.”

IV. WHEN WE COME OUT OF THE CHASTISEMENT PURIFIED, HUMBLED, SUBMISSIVE, AND OBEDIENT. Our Father is glorified when we are made children indeed. Beautifully is it said of the Lord Jesus that, “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Glorifying God by the spirit of sonship, which he kept all through the burning of the dreadful refining fires of Calvary. Trust, submission, clinging love, patient waiting,these still glorify God in the fires.R.T.

Isa 24:20

The burden of earth’s transgressions.

“And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it.” Sin on man is often figured as a burden. Bunyan’s picture of Graceless with the load on his back is familiar enough to be understood by all. Prophets picture God’s impending judgments as a burden ready to fall and crush. We will he retake the term as referring to the transgressions rather than to the direct judgments.

I. The BURDEN THAT CRUSHES MEN. It is transgression, which is precisely thiswillful sin. “Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heavy burden, a burden under which it groans now and will sink at last. Sin is the ruin of states and kingdoms and families; they fall under the weight of that talent of lead” (Zec 5:7, Zec 5:8). Illustrative cases may be given of the crushing of health, position, success, friendship, family, by the burden of willful sin. Pressed down by it, humanity cries as did St. Paul, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

II. DELIVERANCE FROM THIS BURDEN IS BEYOND MAN‘S POWER. All kinds of purely human forces have been triedself-struggles, strong will, education, philosophy, religious systems, legal enactments, watching of one another, refinements of art, etc.; but none have succeeded yet in doing away with the sin of the individual, and so none have even reached the fringe of the world’s misery. Have we any better reason to hope for the success of the modern panacea of scientific knowledge, than our fathers had of the nostrums they tried? Before God intervened, there was “no eye to pity, and no arm to save.” For “sin” man has never been able to find “balm in Gilead;” there is no adequate “physician” there.

III. MAN‘S HELPLESSNESS SHOULD MAKE HIM CRY MIGHTILY UNTO GOD. “Thou canst save, and thou alone.” Yet precisely in this men fail. They will die rather than turn to God for pardon and life. And why? Because they do not “know and believe the love which God hath unto them.” False and unworthy notions of the God of love, and Father of Jesus: have long prevailed, and they keep men away from God. So our work is to preach the gospel of the grace of God, which alone can lift the burden of transgression that now presses so heavily, so crushingly, on men’s shoulders, that they “fall, and cannot rise again.”R.T.

Isa 24:23

The Lord’s kingdom is the doing of the Lord’s will.

“For the Lord of hosts shall reign.”

I. A KINGDOM IS SIMPLY THE REIGN AND RULE OF A WILL. That is the proper meaning of the word “kingdom;” it is the “dom” or rule of a king. There are several ways in which men may be gathered together into ordered communities. The form of the kingdom is the most common. We only in part realize what a kingdom is in our own land and times, because the relation between the will of our sovereign and the people is not direct, but is maintained through a constitution, which involves representative and responsible government. For the scriptural idea of a kingdom we must refer to the kingdoms established in those Eastern climes, where Bible heroes lived and the Bible itself was written. There a kingdom is the rule of one man’s will. The judgments, wishes, and commands of one man influence the spirit, conduct, and even choices of a whole people. Properly a kingdom is a number of persons agreeing to accept the will of one of their number as their rule and guide. The kingdom grows out of the family idea; and the family rule is the fatherly will. So the kingdom of God is no merely outward thing; it is the reign of God’s will. The subjects of it are precisely those who choose his will, obey him, recognize his kingly rights.

II. IF WE KNOW THE WILL OF GOD, WE KNOW THE SPIRIT OF HIS KINGDOM. We can judge of any kingdom fairly if we can gain a fair knowledge of its king. Of God we know thishis will is that of a Father, a heavenly Father, a Holy Father. God might have put forth his power and forced the obedience of his creatures. He does not. He appeals to our motives and feelings as reasonable moral beings. He wants no kingdom of slaves; he wants the love and allegiance of free men. His is a spiritual kingdom. To accept the will of some men is hard; but God touches our feelings, wakens our confidence, commands our reverence, and so to us his will seems most beautiful, ever right, ever wise, ever gracious. And we know the spirit of his kingdomit is the obedience which love renders.

III. IF WE CHEERFULLY ACCEPT THE WILL OF GOD, WE REALIZE THE COMING OF HIS KINGDOM. Prophecy indeed makes pictures of the setting up of a king in Jerusalem in the latter days; but prophecy is fulfilled, over and over again, when hearts yield to God; when families, communities, and nations accept his will and reign. God wants to secure the voluntary choice of his will as the rule of life. Wherever that is gained his kingdom is set up.R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Isa 24:1. Behold, &c. The first section of the first discourse, contained, in this chapter, is twofold: the first member, which properly explains the judgments of God upon a corrupt people, extends to the middle of the 16th verse. The second, wherein also the judgment of God upon the enemies of the church is described, reaches to the end of the chapter. The description of the divine judgment in the former part, is contained in Isa 24:1-12 to which is subjoined a temperament or alleviation of that judgment, Isa 24:13 to middle of 16. The divine judgment, in the latter part, reaches from Isa 24:16-20 to which also is subjoined an alleviation of the punishment inflicted upon the enemies of the church, Isa 24:21-23. In describing the judgment of the former part there are six gradations, separated by the interposition of the cause of this judgment, Isa 24:5. In the latter part, the cause of the judgment occurs first, Isa 24:16 and then three gradations, with the last of which is mixed the cause of this judgment. Vitringa is of opinion, that this prophesy, in the letter, refers principally to the times of the Maccabees; but, as to its mystical sense, to the tremendous judgment of God to be passed upon the enemies of his church, at the latter times of the gospel-state, or at the opening of the sixth seal. See Rev 6:12. It is doubtful when this prophesy was delivered; but from various circumstances we may conclude that it was not delivered before the death of Ahaz, or the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah. If, with Vitringa, we refer this prophesy to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Maccabees, the earth, or rather the land here spoken of, must mean Judaea, which, by a total confusion of things both civil and ecclesiastical, was to undergo a grievous and sudden change, to be laid waste, spoiled, and deprived of its inhabitants, and that by the immediate judgment of the Lord; and this was remarkably the case with the land of Judaea in the times referred to. See 1Ma 1:26, &c. and 1Ma 2:49. Vitringa renders the verse,

Behold, the Lord exhausteth the land, and emptieth it, and turneth up its face, and scattereth the inhabitants thereof.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

B.THE FINALE TO THE DISCOURSES AGAINST THE NATIONS: THE LIBELLUS APOCALYPTICUS

Isaiah 24-27

If there is a living God who concerns Himself with the history of mankind and directs the same according to His counsel, without detriment to that human freedom which is the basis of the moral responsibility of every individual,and if consequently there is such a thing as prophecy which demonstrates the divine rule in history for our consolation and warning, then we need not be surprised if prophecy should refer even to the very close of history. Must not God, who directs history, foreknow what is most remote as well as what is near at hand? And can He have no reason for causing the things that will take place at the end of the world to be predicted by the interpreters of His will, the prophets? There is just the same reason for His doing this which there is for prophecy at all. We ought to know that the history of the world is moving toward a certain goal fixed by God, in order that one class may fear, and that the other may have a firm support in every temptation, and the certain hope of final victory. And we ought therefore not to be astonished if Isaiah, the greatest of all the prophets, penetrates by the spiritual vision given to him into the most distant future. This only would with reason surprise us,if Isaiah should describe the distant future as one who had experienced it and passed through it. But this is not the case. For we clearly perceive that the pictures of the future which he presents to us are enigmatical to himself. He takes his stand in the present time; he is not only a man, but also an Israelite of his own age. He depicts the destruction of the earth in such a way that we can see that it appears to him as the occurrence on a grand scale of what was well known to him, the wasting of cities and countries. From his point of view he distinguishes neither the exact chronological succession of the different objects, nor the real distance which separates him from the last things. And he is so much an Israelite that the judgment of the world appears to him as the closing act in the great controversy of Israel against the heathen nations. For Delitzsch is perfectly right when he regards our chapters as the fitting finale to chaps. 1323. The Prophet is, moreover, an Israelite of his own age. For, although he knows that the judgment will extend to all the nations that constitute the worldly power, nevertheless Assyria and Egypt stand in the foreground as its prominent representatives (Isa 27:12-13). Only once, when he places the countries of the second exile over against those of the first, do the former appear in their natural double form as the countries of the Euphrates and of the Tigris, or, as it is there expressed (Isa 27:1), the straight and the crooked Leviathan. Under the latter we are to understand Babylon (see the Exposition). And in another place (Isa 25:10 sqq.) Moab appears for a particular reason (see the Exposition) as the representative of all the nations hostile to the theocracy. The same criticism, which would make the Almighty get out of the way wherever He makes His appearance within our sphere, has endeavored in various ways to refer this prophecy to particular situations in the worlds history. But here one interpreter is arrayed against the other, and one testimony destroys the other. After Bertholdt (Einleit., p. 1390), Knobel is of the opinion (shared by Umbreit) that the prophecy points to the time when Jerusalem, which had been captured by the Chaldeans, was completely destroyed by Nebuzaradan (2Ki 25:8 sqq.). Eichhorn (Hebr. Proph. III., p. 206 sqq.) refers the piece to the destruction of the empire of the Chaldeans, and assumes as its anthor a Hebrew dwelling in the ruined and desolate Palestine. Rosenmueller (Scholia 1 Ed.), Gesenius and Maurer represent the piece as composed during the exile, at a time when the fall of Babylon was imminent (Isa 24:16 sqq.; Isa 26:20 sq.; Isa 27:1). Boettcher (de inf. 435, 440) attributes the discourse to a merchant who, resident in the neighborhood of the country of the Moabites, journeyed on business between Assyria and Egypt, and appended his poem on the fall of Babylon (composed in the year 538) to that of another merchant on the fall of Tyre (23). Ewald refers the piece to the time when Cambyses was preparing his Egyptian campaign. These are the more important of the views of those who deny that Isaiah wrote these chapters. He who wishes to learn the other opinions may consult Rosenmueller, Gesenius, Hitzig and Knobel.

There are four points which seem to me to prove to a demonstration that the Prophet has not in view ordinary events of history. First, the destruction of the globe of the earth announced, Isa 24:18-20. For, when it is affirmed of the earth with a repetition of the word five times, that its foundations are shaken, that it is utterly broken, clean dissolved, moved exceedingly, and reels to and fro like a drunkard or a hammock, more is certainly intended thereby than a political revolution, or an occurrence in nature accompanying such a revolution. It is the shaking of the earth in a superlative sensea shaking from which it will not rise again (Isa 24:20 b). Secondly, it is declared (Isa 24:21 sqq.) that the judgment will extend to the stars and the angelic powers, and that sun and moon will cease to rule the day and the night (Gen 1:16), because Jehovah alone will be the source of light and glory (comp. the Exposition). Thirdly, Isa 25:6-8, we have set before us in prospect the gathering together of all nations on Mount Zion, the removal of the covering from their eyes, the abolition of death and of every evil. This is no picture of earthly happiness. It points beyond the bounds of this world and of this dispensation.

Fourthly, the resurrection of the dead is foretold (Isa 26:19 sqq.) together with the last judgment which brings to light all hidden guilt. Every restriction of this prophecy to a mere wish involves a contradiction. For that this place really contains the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is acknowledged by all. But no one will affirm, much less be able to prove, that this resurrection was expected in the time of the exile, and in order to the re-peopling of Palestine; or, if the latter is the case, then the resurrection of the dead is not the subject of discourse. For it would be an unheard-of assertion to affirm that the Israelites expected that their return to Palestine and the resurrection should take place at the same time. And how arbitrary is the exegesis which limits the inhabitant of the earth Isa 24:21, to any particular people, and puts into the latter part of the verse the thought: the earth will restore the blood of those who were slain in a certain time! Passages can indeed be quoted in which we read of innocent blood that had been shed not penetrating into the earth (Job 16:18; Eze 24:7 sq). But the bringing forth again of all shed blood, and the coming forth of all that had been killed out of the earth belong naturally to eschatology. For these are preliminaries to the realization of the final judgment. If the view which refers this prophecy to events in the worlds history were correct, must there not be some mention of Nebuchadnezzar and of the Chaldeans, in order to justify the interpretation of Bertholdt, Umbreit and Knobel? When we reflect what a mighty impression this worldly power made upon Jeremiah, and how, after the battle of Carchemish, he never comes forth as a Prophet without mentioning Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, it is inconceivable how a Hebrew who was among those who suffered the crushing stroke from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, could speak only of Egypt and Assyria, and at most, allusively and covertly, of the Chaldeans (Isa 27:1) as enemies of the theocracy. But if our piece refers to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, why is there no mention of the Persians? And the same objection avails against all other interpretations which apply the passage to events in the history of the world. Against all of them the want of any specification of such events may be justly objected. In regard to the style, and to the range of thought that characterize this piece, the exact and minute investigation which lies at the basis of our exposition will show that the language is altogether that of Isaiah. If there are found in it manifold points of connection with other pieces which criticism has pronounced spurious, we have simply to say: in view of the large amount of words and expressions that we find here, undoubtedly germane to the authentic style of Isaiah, we are entitled to draw the reverse conclusion, and to affirm that those pieces must be genuine, because they resemble so much our prophecy which undoubtedly has proceeded from Isaiah. The accumulation of paronomasias, which are pronounced devoid of taste, has been made a cause of reproach to our piece. But it must be shown that these paronomasias are more tasteless than other such forms of speech, which we meet with in the acknowledged compositions of Isaiah, and that they are of a different kind. So long as this is not done, I venture to affirm that this ingenious facility in the management of language best corresponds to the eminent intellectual gifts of Isaiah, which we know sufficiently from other sources. Persons of such mental power, and possessing such a command of language, are at all times rare. According to our modern criticism there must have been dozens of them among the Israelites at the time of the captivity. But I fear that such a judgment is only possible when the critics, because they cannot, or will not perceive the divinely great in these works of genius, so degrade them by the aid of their intolerably petty and vulgar standard, that, in sooth, any bungler might have composed them. Further, against regarding Isaiah as the author of these chapters it has been objected that they contain many peculiar thoughts and expressions which occur only here. But what does this objection amount to? Do these thoughts and expressions contradict Isaiahs manner of thinking and speaking? No one has yet been able to prove this. But if this is not the case, the circumstance that they occur only here is of no significance whatever. For among the chapters of Isaiah that are acknowledged genuine, there is not a single one which does not contain thoughts and words that are new and peculiar to it alone. This is not surprising in a mind so inexhaustibly fertile as that of Isaiah. The objection drawn from the occurrence of ideas that are said to belong to a later age, might be of more weight. To this class of ideas is referred the curse of the law (Isa 24:6). But apart from Deuteronomy 28-30 (comp. espec. Isa 29:19), that the curse should fall on transgressors of the law is so obvious an idea, that it is inconceivable that it should be regarded as the sign of a later time. That it happens not to occur in writings universally admitted to precede the age of Isaiah may appear strange, but is no proof of the later origin of these chapters. That gods are spoken of as protecting powers of kingdoms, Isa 24:21, is just as little established as that the sun and moon, Isa 24:23, are named as objects of idolatrous homage (comp. our Exposition). The cessation of death (Isa 25:8), and the resurrection of the dead (Isa 26:19) are closely connected. Both are confessedly ideas which could not have entered clearly into the consciousness of the Israelites till they had attained an advanced stage of religious culture. But that the Israelites first received this doctrine when, in exile, from Parseeism is, as Klostermann says, an unfounded, unproved, modern tradition. Von Hofmann is certainly right when he sees in the first, and fundamental promise [Gen 3:15] the basis of the hope that finally everything will have an end that has come into the world through the enemy of Godsin and death. This does not prevent this passage from belonging to the oldest documents of the awakening consciousness of this hope of faith. As we cannot see in this a proof of the composition of this piece during the exile, so it appears to us equally improbable that this event, which belongs to the final history of the world, could escape the eye of an Isaiah.

In regard to the time of composition, it is very difficult to say anything definite. More particular indications fixing the date are entirely wanting. The Prophet, as it were, soars high above his time, and as if cut loose from it, lives wholly in the future. Nevertheless, he beholds the theocracy in conflict with Assyria and Egypt; and even Babylon appears, although but dimly disclosed, among these foes. If we add that these chapters follow immediately the prophecies against the heathen nations, and appear as the winding up of the same, the supposition very readily suggests itself that they were composed in the time of Hezekiah, and as Delitzsch says, as finale to chapters 1323. The manifold points of connection with later pieces by Isaiah, which we will particularly point out in the course of our exposition, favor this view.

The structure of the piece indicates no little art. The number two lies at its basis. There are twice two chapters, of which the first and third have the final judgment of the world for their subject, the second and fourth the deliverance of Israel. Each of these four chapters again consists of two parts.

We make out the following plan of the piece:

1) The beginning of distress; the destruction of the surface of the earth (Isa 24:1-12).

2) The destruction of the globe of the earth (Isa 24:13-23).

3) Israels song of praise for the deliverance experienced (Isa 25:1-5).

4) Zion as the place of the feast given to all nations in contrast to Moab that perishes ingloriously (Isa 25:6-12).

5) The judgment as the realization of the idea of justice (Isa 26:1-10).

6) The resurrection of the dead, and the concluding act in the judgment of the world (Isa 26:11-21).

7) The downfall of the worldly powers and Zions joyful hope (Isa 27:1-9).

8) The fall of the city of the world and Israels glad restoration (Isa 27:10-13).

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1. THE BEGINNING OF DISTRESS: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH

Isa 24:1-12

1Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty,

And maketh it waste,
And 1turneth it upside down,

And scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

2And it shall be,

As with the people, so with the 2priest;

As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress;
As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

3The 3land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled:

For the Lord hath spoken this word.

4The earth mourneth, and fadeth away,

The world languisheth and fadeth away,

The 4haughty people of the earth do languish.

5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;

Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,

And they that dwell therein are desolate:
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
And few men left.

7The new wine mourneth,

The vine languisheth,
All the merry-hearted do sigh.

8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth,

The noise of them that rejoice endeth,
The joy of the harp ceaseth.

9They shall not drink wine with a song;

Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

10The city of 5confusion is broken down:

Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

11There is a crying for wine in the streets;

All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.

12In the city is left desolation,

And the gate is smitten with destruction.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isa 24:1. (comp. Isa 19:3 and Isa 24:3; Hos 10:1; Nah. 11:3; Jer 19:7; Jer 51:2), part. from to pour out, to empty, forms with (devastare) a paronomasia, as also Nah 2:11, where only the word occurs again. pervertere, conturbare (comp. Isa 21:3 Niph., Piel besides only Lam 3:9) is here applied to the surface of the earth in the sense of throwing confusedly together everything found upon it.

Isa 24:2. On = as, so, comp. Ewald, 360. The abnormal employment of the article in is occasioned by the endeavor to produce an assonance with is creditor, and of like meaning with , but the idea of usury seems to be involved in .

Isa 24:3. , instead of , may be regarded as forms borrowed from the related stems, and are here chosen for the sake of conformity with the infinitive forms ,.

Isa 24:4. The half pause, which is indicated by the punctuation , has the force of a dash in our language. The application to personal beings of this predicate, that had been used previously of lifeless things, is thereby emphasized.

Isa 24:6. in Kal only here, Niph. Isa 41:11; Isa 45:24.

Isa 24:7. (current only in Niph.) is found only here in Isaiah, probably borrowed from Joe 1:18.

Isa 24:10. as Isa 23:1.

Isa 24:12. is . . and stands in apposition to the object, or, as the word is passive, in apposition to the subject of , to express what should be made of the object or subject. Translate: The gate is smitten to ruins. Comp. Isa 6:11; Isa 37:26. On the form (Hoph. from contundere, Isa 11:4; Isa 30:14) comp. Olshausen, Gram., 261.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet transports himself in spirit to the end of all things. He describes the destruction of the world. He sees, however, that this destruction will be gradually accomplished. He here depicts the first scene: the destruction of all that exists on the surface of the earth. This destruction bears the closest resemblance to such desolations of countries and cities as even now occur in consequence of wars. Hence the Prophet borrows the colors for this his first picture of the destruction of the world from such occurrences in actual history. Jehovah empties, devastates, depopulates the surface of the earth (Isa 24:1), and the inhabitants are without distinction of person swept away (Isa 24:2); and this work of emptying and devastation is thoroughly accomplished (Isa 24:3). In consequence, inanimate nature appears mourning, and every height and glory of creation has vanished (Isa 24:4); and this too is quite natural, for the earth has been defiled by the sins of men (Isa 24:5). Therefore the curse has, as it were, devoured the earth; therefore men, with the exception of a small remnant, are destroyed from the earth (Isa 24:6). Therefore the precious productions of the earth that gladden the heart of man have vanished, and with them all joy on earth (Isa 24:7-9). The head of the earth, the great city of the world is a chaos of ruins, its houses no man enters any more (Isa 24:10). In the streets nothing is heard save lamentations over the loss of what gladdens the heart of man. All joy has departed (Isa 24:11). Nothing remains in the city but solitude and desolation. The gates are broken to pieces (Isa 24:12).

2. Behold the LORD do languish.

Isa 24:1-4. , with a participle following, frequently introduces in Isaiah the prophetic discourse Isa 3:1; Isa 8:7; Isa 10:33; Isa 13:9; Isa 13:17; Isa 17:1; Isa 22:17 et saepe. In general, this usage occurs in all the Prophets. But it is peculiar to Isaiah, quite abruptly and without any introductory formula to begin the prophetic discourse with . The description of the destruction of the earth begins with its surface (comp. Isa 24:18 b sqq.). To it the inhabitants also belong, for they can exist only on the surface. If now all things on the surface of the earth are thrown confusedly together, the inhabitants, too, are naturally scattered. , an expression which seems to be taken from the threatening words of Deuteronomy (comp. Deu 4:27; Deu 28:64; Deu 30:3) is found besides in Isaiah only Isa 28:25; Isa 41:16. The Lord knows no respect of persons. When the great forces of nature by Gods command assail our race, then all are alike affected. In a desolation wrought by human hands the case can be different. Then the more distinguished persons are often treated otherwise than the poor, and are reserved for a better fate (comp. 1Sa 15:8 sq.; 2Ki 25:27 sqq.). When people and priest are put in contrast, and not people and prince or king, the reason is to be sought in the fact that the priests in the theocracy form properly the nobility. The place, moreover, is a quotation from Hos 4:9. Any citizen may become a king; but he only can be a priest who is of the priestly race. Comp. Leviticus 21; Eze 44:15 sqq.; JosephusCon. Ap. I, 7; Mishna Kiddushin iv. 4. [The rightful King of Israel must according to the divine appointment be of the house of David.D. M.] The sentence Isa 24:2 contains six comparisons. As in the first half of the verse, the second and third comparisons are not specifically distinct from one another, so is it too in the second half of the verse. With a repetition of assonant sounds, which like waves or shocks succeed one another, the Prophet paints the emptying and plundering of the earth. We have already remarked that he depicts the devastation of the surface of the earth in colors which are borrowed from the devastation of a single country by an earthly enemy. For that the subject treated of is the devastation of the earth, and not merely of the land of Palestine, appears from the whole scope of chapters 2427, which are intended to depict the judgment of the world; and this point comes ever more clearly to light in the course of the prophecy. It might be asked: if is the earth, who then are the plunderers? But this is an idle question. For the Prophet sees in spirit an occurrence which appears to him at the first sight quite like the devastation of a country in war by a hostile military force. He sees great confusion, men shouting and fleeing, houses burning and falling down, smoke rising to heaven, etc. He sees no particular country; he sees no definite persons in the plundering enemies. It is a question if he really perceives plundering persons. For the whole representation is at first a comparatively indistinct picture which gradually attains greater clearness and definiteness. On the expression For the Lord hath spoken, which occurs more frequently in Isaiah than in the other Prophets, comp. on Isa 1:2. The addition this word is found only here. It is evidently used in order to continue in the second half of the verse the play with words by means of lingual and labial sounds. The effect of the devastation is that the land appears mourning and exhausted (Isa 24:4). Here too the Prophet heaps together assonant words. to mourn, is used by Isa 3:26; Isa 19:8; Isa 33:9. The description in Joe 1:9 sq. seems to have been here before his mind. , to hall off, from being withered, is used by Isa 1:30; Isa 28:1; Isa 28:4; Isa 34:4; Isa 64:5. , the earth (either as terra fertilis, or as , never as designation of a single country) is a current word with Isaiah. Comp. on Isa 13:11. , an expression which Isaiah does not elsewhere employ, seems to denote here the inhabitants of the earth in general. This is the rather possible, as our place is the first and oldest in which the expression occurs. It has not here the specific sense of common people, plebs, in opposition to people of rank, in which sense it afterwards occurs. Comp. my remarks on Jer 1:18. is the abstract for the concrete, the height for the high and eminent. Not only inanimate creation, man too presents the sad look of decay. What among men blooms and flourishes, as well as the fresh green vegetation, becomes withered and languid.

3. The earth also is defiledcovenant.

Isa 24:5. This verse must be regarded as related to what precedes as the statement of the cause. For here the sins of men are pointed out. But sin has punishment for its necessary consequence. We must say, therefore, that there lies a causal power in the wav with which this verse begins; as is not unfrequently the case. That the land is defiled through blood-guiltiness and other sin is declared Num 35:33, which place Isaiah has probably in his eye, (comp. Jer 3:1-2; Jer 3:9). is to be taken in the local sense. The earth lies as a polluted thing under the feet of its inhabitants. How could such polluted ground be suffered to exist? It is an object of wrath, it must be destroyed. The second half of the verse tells by what the earth has been defiled; men have transgressed the divine laws, have wantonly slighted the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant (Isa 30:8; Isa 55:3). only here in Isaiah, is frequent in the Pentateuch: Gen 26:5; Exo 16:28; Exo 18:16; Exo 18:20 et saepe. of the law only here. Mark the assonance with . The radical meaning of the word is to change, comp. on Isa 2:18; Isa 8:8; Isa 9:9; Isa 21:1. Not only to the people of Israel has God given a law, not merely with this people has God made a covenant; the Noachic covenant is for all men; yea, in a certain sense for all creatures on the earth (Gen 9:1 sqq., and Isa 24:9 sqq.). God has given witness of Himself to all men (Act 14:17), and made it possible for all to perceive His invisible power and godhead (Rom 1:20). The Prophet indicates here the deep moral reason why our earth cannot forever continue in its present material form.

4. Therefore hath the cursedrink it.

Isa 24:6-9. On the statement of the cause, Isa 24:5, follows anew with therefore the declaration of the consequences, so that Isa 24:5 serves as a basis both for what precedes and what follows. The same condition is described in the main by Isa 24:6-12 as by Isa 24:1-4. Only in so far are Isa 24:6-12 of a different import, as they prominently set forth not only the general, but the special experiences of men through the withdrawal of the noblest fruit, wine, and as they from verse 10 direct the look to the great centre of the earth, the city of the world. Jeremiah has our place in general before his eyes (Isa 33:10). The curse is conceived as the devouring fire of the divine wrath (Exo 24:17; Deu 4:24; Deu 9:3; Isa 10:16 sq.; Isa 29:6; Isa 30:27-30; Isa 33:14). The expression (mark the assonance with Isa 24:4) occurs only here. (in Isaiah only here) denotes in this connection, not to be guilty, to contract guilt, but to suffer the punishment of guilt. Comp. Hos 10:2; Hos 14:1 et saepe. The effect of that burning wrath which devours the guilty, extends first to men. These are parched by it, their sap is dried up (Psa 32:4). But where the sap of life is dried up, death ensues, and, in consequence, but few people remain on the earth. This surviving of a small remnant is confessedly a very significant point in Isaiahs prophecy (Isa 4:3; Isa 6:13; Isa 10:19 sqq.; Isa 11:11; Isa 11:16; Isa 17:6). Isaiah uses the word more frequently than the other Prophets. He employs it six times beside the case before us; Isa 8:1; Isa 13:7-12; Isa 33:8; Isa 51:7; Isa 56:2. Of the other Prophets only Jeremiah uses it, and but once. In the book of Job the word occurs 19 times. is found only in Isa 10:25; Isa 29:17; Isa 16:14. also is found only Isa 28:10; Isa 28:13, and Job 36:2. occurs only here. occurs 17 times in the Old Testament; of these 10 times in Isa 8:6; Isa 24:8 (bis), Isa 24:11; Isa 32:13-14; Isa 60:15; Isa 62:5; Isa 65:18; Isa 66:10. Isa 24:8 the tambourine Isa 5:12; Isa 30:32. eight times in Isaiah (Isa 5:14; Isa 13:4; Isa 17:12 (bis), 13; Isa 24:8; Isa 25:5; Isa 66:6); in the whole Old Testament 17 times. , save in two dependent places in Zeph. (Isa 2:15; Isa 3:11), only in Isa 13:3; Isa 22:2; Isa 23:7; Isa 32:13 comp. Isa 5:14. The only Prophet save Ezekiel (Isa 26:13) that uses is Isaiah; he has it five times: Isa 5:12; Isa 16:11; Isa 23:16; Isa 24:8; Isa 30:32. In observe the marking accompaniment. is used five times by Isaiah (Isa 23:16; Isa 26:1; Isa 30:29; Isa 42:10). No other Prophet employs the word so frequently. , to be bitter, in Isaiah in different forms three times: Isa 22:4; Isa 24:9; Isa 38:17. intoxicating drink; with the exception of Micah who uses the word once (Mic 2:11), it is used by no other Prophet save Isa 5:11; Isa 5:22; Isa 24:9; Isa 28:7 ter;Isa 56:12. Isaiah, after having foretold, Isa 24:7, the destruction of the vine, the noblest fruit of the ground, depicts its consequence, the cessation of joy which wine produces (Psa 104:15).

5. The city of confusiondestruction.

Isa 24:10-12. In these three verses the Prophet proceeds to describe the destiny of the great worldly city, the head and centre of the kingdom of the world. It is not surprising that he gives particular prominence to it, when we consider how largely Babylon figures in prophecy (comp. my remarks on Jeremiah 50, 51 Introduction). I would not, however, be understood as affirming that our Prophet had Babylon specifically before his mind. Isaiah intends just the city of the world , whatever name it might bear. I do not think that is to be taken collectively as Isa 25:3. (Arndtde Jes. xxivxxvii. Commentatio, 1826, p. 10, Drechsler,etc.). For it is unnecessary to emphasize the cities beside the level country. No one looks for their specification; for every one includes the cities in all that has been previously said of the or . But an emphatic mention of the city of the world, the proper focus of worldliness, corresponds to its importance. The place Isa 25:3 cannot be compared; for there the context and construction (plural verbs) are decidedly in favor of our taking the word as a collective. That under this city we do not understand Jerusalem, as most do, is self-evident from our view of this passage. The city of the world is called the city of emptiness, [not confusion] because worldliness has in it its seat and centre, and worldliness is essentially i.e., vanitas, inanity, emptiness, is used in this sense (Isa 29:21; Isa 34:11; Isa 40:17; Isa 40:23; Isa 41:29; Isa 44:9; Isa 45:18-19; Isa 49:4; Isa 59:4; 1Sa 12:21). The Prophet declares that the inward chaos would also be outwardly manifested. Every thing here is in accordance with the style of Isaiah. is used very often by Isaiah (Isa 8:16; Isa 14:5; Isaiah 17:25, 29; Isa 27:11; Isa 28:13; Isa 30:14, et saepe). is found sixteen times in the prophets; of these, ten times in Isaiah (Isa 1:21; Isa 1:26; Isa 22:2; Isa 24:10; Isa 25:2-3; Isa 26:5; Isa 29:1; Isa 32:13; Isa 33:20). occurs twenty times in the O. T.; of these, eleven times in Isaiah; one of the places is admitted to be genuine (Isa 29:21); the other places where it occurs are assailed by the critics. We might wonder how one could speak of closed houses in a destroyed city. We may not understand this, with Drechsler, of some houses that remained uninjured. It was rather the falling of the houses that rendered them incapable of being entered into. In the street too (Isa 24:11) the lamentation at the loss of wine and the departure of all joy is repeated (comp. Isa 16:7-10). occurs only twice in the O. T.; viz.:Jdg 19:9 and here. Its meaning is nigrum esse, obscurari, occidere. When all joy and life have fled from the city, nothing remains in it but desolation (Isa 24:12). If I am to state what future events will correspond to this prophecy of the first act of the judgment of the world, it appears to me that the description of the Prophet, as it refers solely to occurrences which have for their theatre the surface of the earth, corresponds to what our Lord in His discourse on the last things says of the signs of His coming, and of the beginning of sorrows (Mat 24:6-8; Mar 13:7-8; Luk 21:9 sqq.). And the beginning of sorrows corresponds again to what the Revelation of John represents under the image of seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials (chap. 6 sqq.).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Isa 24:2. When general judgments take place, no distinction is observed between man and wife, master and servant, mistress and maid, learned and unlearned, noble and plebeian, clergy and laity; therefore let no one rely on any external prerogative or superiority, but let every one without distinction repent and forsake sin.Cramer. Though this is right, yet we must, on the other hand, remember that the Lord declares in reference to the same great event, Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left (Mat 24:10 sq.). There is no contradiction in these two statements. Both are true: outward relations will make no difference; there shall be no respect of persons. But the state of the heart will make a difference. According to the inward character there will, in the case of those whose external position in the world is perfectly alike, be some who enter life, others whose doom is death.

2. Isa 24:5 sq. The earth is burdened with sins, and is therefore deprived of every blessing. The earth must suffer for our guilt, when we have as it were spoilt it, and it must be subject to vanity for our sakes (Rom 8:20). What wonder is it that it should show itself ungrateful toward us?Cramer.

[3. Isa 24:13 sq. Observe the small number of this remnant; here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family, when the old world was drowned), who when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their head with joy. Luk 21:26-28. Henry.D. M.].

4. Isa 24:17-20. Our earth is a volcanic body. Mighty volcanic forces were active at its formation. That these are still in commotion in the interior of the earth is proved by the many active volcanoes scattered over the whole earth, and by the perpetual volcanic convulsions which we call earthquakes. These have hitherto been confined to particular localities. But who can guarantee that a concentration and simultaneous eruption of those volcanic forces, that is, a universal earthquake, shall not hereafter occur? The Lord makes express mention of earthquakes among the signs which shall precede His second coming (Mat 24:7; Mar 13:8; Luk 21:11). And in 2Pe 3:5 sqq. the future destruction of the earth by fire is set over against the destruction of the old world by water. Isaiah in our place announces a catastrophe whose characteristic features will be that, 1) there will be no escape from it; 2) destructive forces will assail from above and below; 3) the earth will be rent asunder; 4) it will reel and totter; 5) it will suffer so heavy a fall that it will not rise again (Isa 24:20 b). Is there not here a prophecy of the destruction of the earth by volcanic forces? And how suddenly can they break loose! The ministers of the word have every reason to compare this extreme exposedness of our earth to fire, and the possibility of its unexpectedly sudden collapse with the above-cited warnings of the word of God, and to attach thereto the admonition which is added in 2Pe 3:11.

5. Isa 24:21. The earth is a part of our planetary system. It is not what it appears to the optical perception to be, a central body around which worlds of a different nature revolve, but it, together with many similar bodies, revolves round a common centre. The earth according to that view of the account of the creation in Genesis 1, which appears to me the true one, has arisen with all the bodies of our Solar system out of one primary matter, originally united, common to them all. If our Solar System is a well-ordered, complete organism, it must rest on the basis of a not merely formal, but also material unity; i.e., the separate bodies must move, not only according to a principle of order which governs all, but they must also as to their substance be essentially like. And as they arose simultaneously, so must they perish simultaneously. It is inconceivable that our earth alone should disappear from the organism of the Solar System, or pass over to a higher material condition. Its absence, or ceasing to exist in its previous form and substance, would necessarily draw after it the ruin of the whole system. Hence the Scripture speaks every where of a passing away and renovation of the heaven and the earth (Psa 102:26; Isa 51:6; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; Mat 5:18; Mat 24:29; Mat 24:35; 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10; 2Pe 3:13; Heb 12:26; Rev 20:11; Rev 21:1). The heaven that shall pass away with a great noise, whose powers shall be shaken, whose stars shall fall, is the planetary heaven. The same lot will happen to the companions of our earth, to the other planets, and to the centre, the sun, and to all other co-ordinate and subordinate stellar bodies, which will befall the earth itself. This is the substance of the view which serves as a basis for our place. But personal beings are not thereby by any means excluded from the . The parallel expression , and the use in other places of the related expression lead us rather to suppose personal beings to be included. But I believe that a distinction must be made here. As the heavenly bodies which will pass away simultaneously with the earth, can only be those which arose together with it, and which stand in organic connection with it, so also the angelic powers, which are judged simultaneously with us men, can be only those which stand in connection with the heavenly bodies of our Solar System, i.e., with the earthly material world. There are heavenly bodies of glorious pneumatic substance. If personal beings stand in connection with them, they must also be pure, glorious, resplendent beings. These will not be judged. They are the holy angels, who come with the Lord (Mat 25:31). But it is quite conceivable that all the bodies of our Solar System are till the judgment like our earth suffered to be the theatre of the spirits of darkness.

6. Isa 24:21-23, It seems to me that the Prophet has here sketched the chief matters pertaining to eschatology. For the passing away of heaven and earth, the binding of Satan (Rev 20:1-3), the loosing of Satan again (Rev 20:7), and finally the reign of God alone, which will make sun and moon unnecessary (Rev 21:23)are not these the boundary-stones of the chief epochs of the history of the end of the world?

7. Isa 25:6. [The Lord of hosts makes this feast. The provision is very rich, and every thing is of the best. It is a feast, which supposes abundance and variety; it is a continual feast to believers: it is their fault if it be not. It is a feast of fat things and full of marrow; so relishing, so nourishing are the comforts of the Gospel to all those that feast upon them and digest them. The returning prodigal was entertained with the fatted calf; and David has that pleasure in communion with God, with which his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness. It is a feast of wines on the lees; the strongest-bodied wines, that have been long kept upon the lees, and then are well refined from them, so that they are clear and fine. There is that in the Gospel which, like fine wine, soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning for it, that they may drink and forget their misery (for that is the proper use of wine; it is a cordial for those that need it, Pro 31:6-7) may be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven, and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine. Henry.D. M.]

8. Isa 25:9. In the Old Testament the vail and covering were before mens eyes, partly because they waited for the light that was to appear, partly because they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luk 1:79). The fulfilment of this prediction has in Christ already begun, and will at last be perfectly fulfilled in the Church triumphant where all ignorance and sorrow shall be dispelled (1Co 13:12). Cramer.

9. Isa 25:8. God here represents Himself as a mother, who presses to her bosom her sorrowful son, comforts him and wipes away his tears (Isa 66:13). The righteous are to believe and appropriate this promise, that every one may learn to speak with Paul in the time of trial: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, Rom 8:18. Cramer.

10. Isa 25:10. This is now the hope and consolation of the church that the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain, that is, that He will be gracious, and let His power, help and grace be there seen and felt. But the unbelieving Moabites, i.e., the Jews, with all others who will not receive the gospel, shall be threshed to pieces as straw in the mire; these the Lords hand will not rescue, as it helps those who wait on Him, but it shall press them down so that they will never rise, according to the saying, Mar 16:16. Veit Dietrich.

11. Isaiah 25 Three thoughts contained in this chapter we should hold fast: 1) When we see the world triumph over every thing which belongs to the Lord and His kingdom, when our hearts are anxious about the preservation in the world of the Church of Christ, which is sore oppressed, let this word of the Prophet comfort our hearts. The world-city which contains all that is of the world, sinks into the dust, and the church of Christ goes from her chains and bands into the state of freedom and glory. We have often seen that it is the Lords way to let every thing come to maturity. When it is once ripe, He comes suddenly with His sentence. Let us comfort ourselves therewith, for thus will it happen with the world and its dominion over the faithful followers of Christ. When it is ripe, suddenly it will come to an end. 2) No one who has a heart for the welfare of the nations can see without the deepest pain how all hearts are now seduced and befooled, and all eyes closed and covered. The simplest truths are no longer acknowledged, but the more perverse, brutal and mean views and doctrines are, the more greedily are they laid hold of. We cannot avert this. But our comfort is that even this seduction of the nations will reach its climax. Then men will come to themselves. The vail and covering will fall off, and the Gospel will shine with new light before the nations. Therewith let us comfort ourselves. 3) Till this happens, the church is sorrowful. But she shall be full of joy. The promise is given to her that she shall be fully satisfied with the good things of the house of the Lord. A life is promised to her which neither death nor any pain can affect, as she has rest from all enemies. The word of the Lord shall be fulfilled in her: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The Church that has such a promise may wait in patient quietness for its accomplishment, and praise the Lord in affliction, till it pleases Him to glorify her before all nations. Weber, The Prophet Isaiah. 1875.

12. Isa 26:1. The Christian church is a city of God. God has built it, and He is the right Master-builder. It is strong: 1) on account of the Builder; 2) on account of the foundation and corner-stone, which is Christ; 3) on account of the bond wherewith the living stones are bound together, which is the unity of the faith. Cramer. [The security and happiness of true believers, both on earth and in heaven, is represented in Scripture under the image of their dwelling in a city in which they can bid defiance to all their enemies. We dwell in such a city even now, Psa 46:4-5. We look for such a city, Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16; Revelation 21D. M.]

13. Isa 26:2. [These words may be taken as a description of the people whom God owns, who are fit to be accounted members of the church of the living God on earth, and who will not be excluded from the celestial city. Instead of complaining that only the righteous and the faithful will be admitted into the heavenly city, it should rather give us joy to think that there will be no sin there, that none but the just and true will there be found. This has been a delightful subject of reflection to Gods saints. The last words written by Henry Martyn were: Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth; none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beastsnone of their corruptions which add to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more.D. M.]

14. Isa 26:4. The fourth privilege of the church is trust in God the Rock of Ages, i.e., in Christ, who not only here, but also Matthew 16; 1 Corinthians 10; 1 Peter 2, is called a rock in a peculiar manner, because no other foundation of salvation and of the church can be laid except this rock, which is here called the rock of ages on account of the eternity of His being, merit and office. Hence a refutation can be drawn of the papistical fable which makes Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, to be the rock on which the church is built. Foerster. [Whatever we trust to the world for, it will be but for a moment. All we expect from it is confined within the limits of time; but what we trust in God for will last as long as we shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah, in Him who was, and is, and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon; and the house built on that rock will stand in a storm. Henry.D. M.]

15. Isa 26:5. It is very common with the prophets, when they prophesy of the kingdom of Christ to make reference to the proud and to the needy, and to represent the latter as exalted and the former as brought low. This truth is directed properly against the self-righteous. For Christ and His righteousness will not endure spiritual pride and presumption; but the souls that are poor, that hunger and thirst for grace, that know their need, these Christ graciously receives. Cramer.

16. Isa 26:6. It vexes the proud all the more that they will be overcome by those who are poor and of no consequence. For example, Goliath was annoyed that a boy should come against him with a staff (1 Sam. 13:43) Cramer.

17. Isa 26:8-10. That the justice of God must absolutely manifest itself that the majesty of the Lord may be seen, and that the wicked may learn righteousness, must even from a new Testament view-point be admitted. But the New Testament disputes the existence of any one who is righteous when confronted by the law, and who is not deserving of punishment. [But that there is none righteous, no not one, is taught most emphatically in the Old Testament also.D. M.]. But it (the New Testament) while it shuts up all, Jews and Gentiles, without exception, under sin (Gal 3:22; Rom 3:9; Rom 11:32), sets forth a scheme of mediation, which, while it renders full satisfaction to justice, at the same time offers to all the possibility of deliverance. This mediation is through the Cross of Christ. It is only when this mediation has not been accepted that punitive justice has free course. It should not surprise us that even the Evangelist of the Old Covenant, who wrote chap. 53, did not possess perfect knowledge of this mediation. Let us remember John the Baptist (Mat 3:7; Mat 11:11) and the disciples of the Lord (Luk 9:54). [Let us not forget that Isaiah was a true Prophet, and spoke as he was moved by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul did not find fault with the most terrible denunciations of judgment contained in the Old Testament, or affect a superiority over the men who uttered them. On the contrary, he quotes them as words which could not be suffered to fall, but which must be fulfilled in all their dreadful import. See e.g. Rom 11:9-10.D. M.].

18. Isa 26:12. It is a characteristic of true, sincere Christians, that they give God the glory and not themselves, and freely confess that they have nothing of themselves, but everything from God (1Co 4:7; Php 2:13; Heb 12:2). Cramer.

19. Isa 26:16. The old theologians have many comforting and edifying thoughts connected with this place: A magnet has the power to raise and attract to itself iron. Our heart is heavy as iron. But the hand of God is as a magnet. When that hand visits us with affliction, it lifts us up, and draws us to itself. Distress teaches us to pray, and prayer again dispels all distress. One wedge displaces the other. Ex gravibus curis impellimur ad pia vota. Ex monte myrrhae procedimus ad collem thuris (Cant. 9:6). In amaritudine crucis exsurgit odor devotae precationis (Psa 86:6 sq.). Ubi nulla crux et tentatio, ibi nulla vera oratio. Oratio sine mails est tanquam avis sine alis. Optimus orandi magister necessitas. . Quae nocent, docent. Ubi tentatio, ibi oratio. Mala, quae hic nos premunt, ad Deum ire compellunt. Qui nescit orare, ingrediatur mare. When the string is most tightly drawn, it sounds best. Cross and temptation are the right prayer-bell. They are the press by which God crushes out the juice of prayer. Cramer and Foerster.

20. Isa 26:20. As God, when the deluge was about to burst, bade Noah go into his ark as into his chamber, and Himself shut the door on him (Gen 7:6); so does the Lord still act when a storm is approaching; He brings His own into a chamber where they can be safe, either for their temporal preservation and protection against every might (Psa 91:1), or, on the other hand, to give them repose by a peaceful and happy death. His anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life (Psa 30:6). Cramer.

21. Isa 27:1. [Great and mighty princes [nations] if they oppose the people of God, are in Gods account, as dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with, and call to an account; and therefore the great God will take the doing of it into His own hands. Henry.D. M.].

22. Isa 27:2-5. It seems to the world that God has no concern for His church and Christians, else, we imagine, they would be better off. But certain it is, that it is not the angels but God Himself that will be watcher over this vineyard, and will send it gracious rain. Veit Dietrich. [The church is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, Isa 5:4. God takes care (1) of the safety of this vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this, as glorying in it, that He is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel; those that bring forth fruit to God are, and shall be always, under His protection. (2) God takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment; and yet it shall not be over watered. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither and come to nothing. Henry. D. M.].

23. Isa 27:4. Est aurea promissio, qua praecedentem confirmat. Indignatio non est mihi, fury is not in me. Quomodo enim is nobis irasci potest, qui pro nobis est mortuus? Quanquam igitur appareat, eum irasci, non tamen est verum, quod irascatur. Sic Paulo immittitur angelus Satanae, sed non est ira, nam ipse Christus dicit: sufficit tibi gratia mea. Sic pater filium delinquentem castigat, sed non est ira, quanquam appareat ira esse. Custodia igitur vineae aliquando cogit Deum immittere speciem irae, ne pereat luxurie, sed non est ira. Est insignis textus, which we should inscribe on all tribulations: Non est indignatio mihi, non possum irasci. Quod autem videtur irasci est custodia vineae, ne pereas et fias securus. Luther. In order to understand fully the doctrine of the wrath of God we must have a clear perception of the antithesis: the long-suffering of God, and the wrath of God, wrath and mercy. Lange.

24. Isa 27:7-9. Christ judges His church, i.e., He punishes and afflicts it, but He does this in measure. The sorrow and cross is meted out, and is not, as it appears to us, without measure and infinite. It is so measured that redemption must certainly follow. But why does God let His Christians so suffer? Why does He not lay the cross on the wicked? God answers this question and speaks: the sin of Jacob will thereby cease. That is: God restrains sin by the cross, and subdues the old Adam. Veit Dietrich.

25. Isa 27:13. [The application of this verse to a future restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. In itself considered, it appears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to events long past. J. A. Alexander.This prediction was completely and entirely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus. Barnes.D. M.].

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Isa 24:4-6. Fast-day sermon. Warning against dechristianization of the life of the people. 1) Wherein such dechristianization consists: a, transgression of the commandments that are in force; b, alteration of the commandments which are essential articles of the everlasting covenant, as e.g. removing of all state institutions from the basis of religion. 2) Its consequences: a, Desecration of the land (subjectively, by the spread of a profane, godless sentiment; objectively, by the secularization of relations hitherto held sacred); b, the curse consumes the land, Isa 24:4.

2. On Isa 25:1-5. The Lord, the refuge of the needy. 1) He has the power to help. This we perceive a, from His nature (Lord, God, Wonderful); b, from His deeds (Isa 25:1 b, Isa 25:2). 2) He gives His strength even to the feeble, (Isa 25:4). 3) These are thereby victorious, (Isa 25:5).

3. On Isa 25:6-9. Easter Sermon, by T. Schaeffer (Manch. Gab. u. ein Geist III. p. 269):The glorious Easter-blessing of the Risen One: 1) Wherein it consists? 2) who receive it? 3) what are its effects? Christmas Sermon, by Romberg [ibid. 1869, p. 78): Our text represents to us Christmas joy under the image of a festive board. Let us consider, 1) the host; 2) the guests; 3) the gifts.

4. On Isa 26:1-4. Concerning the church. 1) She is a strong city in which salvation is to be found. 2) The condition of having a portion in her is faith. 3) The blessing which she is instrumental in procuring is peace.

5. Isa 26:19-21. The comfort of the Christian for the present and future. 1) For the present the Christian is to betake himself to his quiet chamber, where he is alone with his Lord and by Him made cheerful and secure. 2) For the future he has the certain hope, a, that the Lord will judge the wicked, b, raise the believer to everlasting life.

6. Isa 27:2-9. How the Lord deals with His vineyard, the church. 1) Fury is not in Him towards it; 2) He protects and purifies it; 3) He gives it strength, peace and growth; 4) He chastens it in measure; 5) He makes the chastisement itself serve to purge it from sins.

Footnotes:

[1]Heb. perverteth the face thereof.

[2]Or, prince.

[3]earth.

[4]Heb. the height of the people.

[5]emptiness.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

Solemn judgments are here set forth, in a general way. Towards the close of the chapter, the subject brightens in the prospect of the coming of Christ.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Some of the old copies read the word earth, land, and confine the sorrows to the house of Judah. But it should seem from what follows in the after-parts of the chapter, where the same subject is spoken of as the whole world languishing, to be more general, yea, universal. And when we consider that, by the sin of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, there can be no reason for limiting the consumption of human nature, and the sorrows of mankind to the house of Judah. Reader, do not fail to observe, that in the waste here spoken of, the disease is epidemic, and spares neither age, sex, nor situation. Here, the servant is as his master. Rom 5:16 ; Job 3:19 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Consecration of Suffering

Isa 24:15

Religion consists in taking things out of their common places, and in removing them from a lower to a higher level. To hold everything in God, to use it for God, to dedicate it to God this is consecration.

I. The Great Danger of Suffering whether it be physical or mental suffering is threefold:

a. Pride, because we become exceptional, and are made much of.

b. Indolence, because the nerves become unstrung.

c. Selfishness, because at such times it seems excusable, if not even a duty, to think very much about ourselves.

These things are just the most antagonistic to consecration, which is essentially a humbling process; an energetic process; a self-forgetting process. We have to consider what it is to consecrate suffering; or, as Isaiah expresses it, to ‘Glorify God in the fires’.

II. To Consecrate your Suffering you must Dedicate it. This must be done in a very positive, serious manner. As soon as the suffering comes, feel and say, say it distinctly: ‘I will dedicate this trial. It shall not be an ordinary, profane thing. It shall be set apart for God. It shall be taken away from the world. It shall be God’s. I dedicate it.’ From that moment, your sickness, or your pain, or your trial, or your loss, or your bereavement, is hedged round. It remains sacred ground. This special committal of yourself and your suffering at the outset, by a religious act of devotion, is a very necessary part of the consecration; but it must be repeated very often. From that time you may call your pain, or your sorrow, not so much a suffering as an offering; as much as if you laid it upon an actually material altar, it is an offering.

III. Real Consecration is a very Practical Thing. Our offering to God will seldom be real unless it is in some way an offering made to God through His creatures. Consecrate the uses of suffering, whatever those uses may be. Do not let them be natural, ordinary results, but let them be dedicated to a holy purpose. All our sorrows and sufferings are available for others, and are intended as means for usefulness.

a. A trial is an experience, and an experience is a talent. Consecrate the talent. You are laying in a great power of sympathy. Consecrate that sympathy. Put yourself under a sacred obligation that that pain, that trouble, shall make you more tender, more wise, more religious in your dealings, ever after, from that moment, with other sufferers.

b. A season of affliction is a vantage ground. Consecrate the vantage ground. Take opportunity to speak, to say something, which you could never say so well or so effectively; say it there; say it very lovingly, but say it very plainly. And let your words be consecrated words, as said before God; prayed over well, and then say them. Patience, simple, kind, unselfish patience, is always eloquent. A sufferer’s smile is a sweet sermon!

c. If all this be true of physical and mental suffering, it is truer still of spiritual trial. Take care. No trials are more in danger of being selfish and useless than spiritual ones. Your depression, your inward temptations, your repentance, your conflicts, all Lenten feelings, they are not ends, they are not for themselves only; use them; turn them to good account; consecrate them.

IV. Of all this Consecration of Suffering, the great Exemplar is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wish to know the way to consecrate, study Him.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Self Overthrown

Isa 24

Achapter like this will bear many readings. A quaint commentator has said, “This is gallant rhetoric, compared with which the thunders of Demosthenes are poor stuff.” The man who wrote that knew every word that Demosthenes had ever said in his greatest orations. How true it is that there is no eloquence like the eloquence of the Bible! The difficulty is that people will not read it. The twenty-fourth chapter and the twenty-seventh, and all between, should be read at once, for all these chapters constitute only one prophecy. Those who are fond of literature should read the chapters, if only as a specimen of sublimest rhetoric. How eagerly men buy rhetorical specimens! and with what haste and eagerness they flee to hear men speak of literature! All literature is in the Bible. There is nothing outside God’s Book. Infinite variations there are, of course, but the meaning is that all these variations, in so far as they are true, tuneful, helpful to man’s deepest life, come back to the Bible as water returns to its source.

In this and three following chapters the Lord undertakes to deal with the great world-powers, and he shows that they are but as straws in his hand. In the ancient world, Assyria was the symbol of power, and the Lord shows that Assyria is but a painted egg-shell; and as for Moab, it is a frail vessel, broken by the finger of God merely pointing at it. It is needful, it would appear, for our human education that now and again the earth in all its amplitude should be treated with divine contempt. Men have always said that the land would be left; even consolidated funds might sink or vary in value, or go down to an infinitesimal point, but the land would always be there. It was necessary, therefore, that now and again in history God should claim the land, and shake out of it all the buildings that men had put upon it as if they were going to claim the land. “The earth is the Lord’s.” If he lends it to us for a little time to build our huts upon, see that those huts have altars in them, for the Lord of the land will come down and shake them out of the earth as a thing that is vomited because of its nauseousness. It is well that we should know what kind of house we are living in. It is good that rarely and distantly the earth should quake. It looks like a strong house, but it is not. The rocks flow away like water, and the mountains go up in smoke when the Lord looks on them in the spirit of judgment. The twenty-fourth chapter riddles the world, minces it, chops it up into the smallest pieces; throws them away, gathers them, and begins the history of the earth in a new chapter. Here we have all the glory of civilisation, and the whole thing ruined, brought down to its protoplasm, and out of that plasma there is begun again all the fabric of the world. Wise men cannot afford to hasten with indecent eagerness over a poem so historically founded, so philosophically illustrated.

Look at the word “Behold” ( Isa 24:1 ). That word is never thrown into the Scripture as a mere make-weight. It is not an exclamation; it is a warning, it is a solemn appeal; it is the setting-up of a great hand, pointing towards an object weirdly fascinating, sublimely entrancing, or an object awful because indicative of a fast-descending judgment. “Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty.” The figure is that of a ship in a storm, and so distressing is the situation that an order is given to lighten the vessel. When that order is given men throw overboard corn and wine and precious burdens let them go, if haply life may be saved! What a market-place is that! That is the true market-place. Other market-places are ironies as to values, and barters, and exchanges. When it becomes a question of life and death, and there is a possibility of saving life by throwing out whole caskets of jewels, let the jewels be thrown out; they will make a splash as if they were but paving-stones; the sea will receive them with indifference or contempt. Men should profoundly study this fact, because there may come a time when it will be practically tested. We know as a matter of fact that all this has been done, and so long as it forms part of human history the preacher has a mighty threshing instrument in his hand, whereby he may do wonders for the Lord. They are wise who prize the true gold, whose souls are committed unto the faithful Redeemer for custody. Blessed are they who are in the Father’s keeping, for no man can pluck them out of the Father’s hand. Keep the image steadily in view, then. How far does this emptying proceed? It proceeds to the very uttermost “and turneth it upside down.” How do we best prove that a vessel is really empty? Simply by that action. Unless that action be completed, there may remain a drop, a dreg, a fleck, a particle in the vessel that we intended to empty; therefore, take it, turn it upside down, and let it stand there for hours, and the draining will be completed. Thus the earth is treated like a little bottle. In the hands of God it is all but invisible. Is there not also a stroke of a contemptuous kind in this action of inversion? How could we show our contempt for a man more than by taking him up and setting him on his head, and leaving him there until we returned at leisure? Mockery could no further go. Contempt exhausts itself in that action. Then the Lord “scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.” Is there a more pitiable spectacle anywhere than to see men running, away from danger? They care nothing for dress, for equipage; they stand not on the order of their going, but go. And is there anything more suggestive and more provocative of scornful laughter than to see men fleeting from danger? Let the danger be a fatal one. Then call out to the men Have you your passbook with you? Ask a man about his passbook when the earth is swallowing him up, and then you will know something of relative values and true ways of living. Call out to a man who is pursued by a wolf if he has taken with him his favourite snuff-box. Ask him to be sure about it. He is so proper when he is lord of the manor, so exact when all things are done by a nod of his imperial head. Ask him now when the wolf is barking at him if all his appointments are just as he would like them to be. What is his purpose? To be saved: If all I have will satisfy this wolf, thrust it down his throat only let me escape his cruel teeth! The argument is right. The only difficulty is that men will not carry it out. When the wolf has retired they come back again to repeat their vanities.

In the second verse we have a picture of social confusion:

“And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him” ( Isa 24:2 ).

Distinctiveness is lost. And what is society without its distinctiveness? Even a democracy must be graded. We cannot get up and down the world without ladders and staircases, and it is right that we should know what it is to ascend and to descend, for therein lies no little part of our best education. How thin is the partition which divides order from confusion! Once alter an eternal law, or trifle with it, or ignore it, and all the card-house of civilisation tumbles like paper. The great thing to be kept in mind is that men may be as if they were not in all the relations of life; they may be masters without claiming to be such; it is in the unwise assertion of the name and claim that mischief begins. Master and servant there will ever be; head and foot is a relation which will never be dissolved; upper and lower are terms we shall always need in human speech; but there need be no boasting, no haughtiness, no oppression, no foolish vanity. The great man will always go straight up to the throne, or if not straight up yet through a great battlefield to it, and he will never rest until he sits down there, and until all men say with one consent, God save the king! Let him reign by reason of force of character, capacity of mind, prophetic insight, generous sympathy, noble affection for every living man and beast and bird. There is no safety in confusion. Nor is progress possible in chaos. We must have lines, boundaries, distinctions, badges and tokens if you will, but within them all there may throb the heart of generous brotherhood.

“The earth mourneth and fadeth. away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish” ( Isa 24:4 ).

Why? Because the vital spring is weakened. Always distinguish between the interior and the exterior, between the kernel and the shell, between the core and that which is protective of it. A man may lose a great deal of his body, and yet still keep his life; his arms may be taken from him, but he can still think; his lower limbs may be severed from him, yet he may rule an empire by his wisdom; he may be deaf and blind and dumb-yet men may wish to consult him because of something in him that is in no one else. But when the life is touched, then the whole fabric collapses, and no matter how lofty the stature, how strong the limb, how trained the muscle, when the life went the whole man fell. There is an inner mystery of things; an esoteric pulse and secret. There is a place in life where the ark stands. When men built the tabernacle they brought the ark into it, and the ark consecrated all; and when they built a new house, brighter and greater, it was the old ark that was put in. There may be a new temple, but no new ark. Take it! however many years it has been in use, it is better than all the fir and algum wood of Lebanon, richer than the gold of Parvaim. So with this mysterious thing within the tabernacle or temple of man. When the spirit of truth is insulted, all nature becomes old, palsied, withered; when the spirit of moral loveliness is quenched, then the land is utterly emptied and utterly spoiled: “The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.” Is the image that of a tree that has been thunderstruck? Is it not possible to perforate a tree, and to pour through the perforation so as to get at the juices some fatal acid, some deadly fluid? Now seal up the hole with clay, paint it like the rest of the great trunk of the tree, and leave the mischief to proceed. The great branches will shrivel, the little twigs will soon give in, and by-and-by the whole tree that stood up like part of a cathedral will begin to fall, wither, perish, like a thing that has been blighted with a curse. Let us take care lest some such cruel acid be infused into us that shall work the mischief of death; lest we be stung by fiery flying serpents; for then there is nothing left but mourning, fading, languishing the grim programme of paralysis!

“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” ( Isa 24:5-6 ).

How familiar is this story to those who are Bible-readers! The accusation is once more a moral one. What had the inhabitants of the earth done? “Transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Not, they have transgressed minor laws about which there may be debate, changed ordinances of human appointment and institution; but, they have broken laws and ordinances that are associated with the everlasting covenant the unwritten and unwritable law. Here a broad distinction must be made between things that are outward and things that are inward, between things transient and things everlasting. It is never wise to transgress a law. Even where the law itself is open to amendment, it must be approached patiently and steadfastly with a view to its being legitimately and constitutionally changed. Its transgression must be a solemn and final act, done not in hot blood, but done by men who have just risen from their knees in” an act of worship and adoration. It is never well to change an ordinance hastily, merely for the sake of changing it Ordinances even of an imperfect kind help to keep society steady, to centralise it, to suggest standards of judgment and criticism, to mark points of progress. There is an everlasting covenant that man not having written may not unwrite, or attempt to obliterate or to mutilate in any degree. That everlasting covenant must be good, because it could come only from one Lawgiver, and his name is God. If in very deed it is an “everlasting” covenant, by that very qualification it defines itself as a covenant made by the living Lord. Seek out his law, hide it in your heart, love it more than you love your daily bread, and they who thus honour the Lord’s law shall be delivered and comforted, brought to the highest point of spiritual culture, and set in the infinite security of heaven. Who does not rejoice that there is a spirit of judgment in the universe? A languishing world should give us pleasure; a fading tree, provided that tree is an upas tree, should make us shout for joy. When the bad man is brought to justice, righteous men should sing the praises of God. When the thief is caught, when the evildoer feels the cold hand of justice on his neck, they who look on should bless God for these guarantees of legitimate and useful civilisation. That there is a perdition for the Iscariots of the world is a source of profoundest satisfaction to those who love righteousness. Were Iscariot to be free of heaven, there would be no heaven to long for. The curse is personified as a beast of prey “therefore hath the curse devoured the earth.” Sometimes it is personified under the image of fire, for fire devours, swallows up, eats up, and leaves nothing undigested. Oh that fierce tongue of fire! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

“The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh” ( Isa 24:7 ).

It is no good having vineyards now, for the vines themselves are rotten, and there is no wine for the lips that burn for it.

“The mirth of tabrets [or tambourines] ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it” ( Isa 24:8-9 ).

When a man’s own palate turns against him, and he has lived for nothing but the palate, he has a sorry world to live in. So long as he could gorge himself at the glutton’s table he was as happy as a beast could be, but now he cannot eat, and he never could pray, so what becomes of him?

“There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone” ( Isa 24:11 ).

A beautiful image is suggested by the expression “joy is darkened.” The literal rendering is, “it is eventide with joy,” that is to say, the shadows are gathering, cold twilight is setting in upon joy, and joy itself presently will throw away its harp and its song, and will lie down to die.

Thus the reading of this chapter is like being out in a tremendous thunderstorm. The wheel of judgment flies through all these verses. How it thunders! How it grinds! How it crushes! How pitiless is its action! When could the Lord ever conclude even a speech of judgment without a word of gospel? It is difficult for God to give way to judgment exclusively. It is his strange work mercy is his delight. So from the thirteenth verse the gospel begins:

“When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done” ( Isa 24:13 ).

There shall be something left that God can work upon. If there be one little wheat-head left, he will plant it, and have a harvest out of that by-and-by; if there is one little green sprout on all the fallen tree, he will water it, and watch it, and care for it, and presently it shall grow and bear fruit, and the birds shall sing in its branches. If when God has crushed a man by taking from him his first-born and his last-born, and stabbing his favourite scheme with sharp spears so that it perish in the sight of men, yet if there be left in that suffering one so much as a feeble sigh if he can sigh for God, if he can say, Woe is me! God pity me! the Lord will work upon that, and out of it there will come a new man, crowned like a king, enriched and adorned with riches spiritual. A germ is left in the worst of us. If we are even reading one word of the Bible, there is something to begin with. If we have not quenched the Spirit, the Spirit may conquer yet. That God’s Book is in our hands, and that we are in God’s house, by will, by consent, is proof that even yet the prodigal may return, the farthest wanderer may come home. If this is not the spirit of the gospel, then there is no gospel. The evangelical doctrine is a doctrine of infinite hopefulness. When men profess to be evangelical, and yet are stern, then they belie their profession by their spirit: they have evangelical words, not evangelical solicitudes; they have an evangelical framework, but there is no heart evangelical throbbing within the ghastly skeleton. The evangelical spirit goes out, and says, If there is a sigh in you, one tear, one sign of penitence, God has not given you up: work upon it; point to that as the beginning of new riches and infinite treasures. Where is there a man who can say that he never has a religious thought, a spiritual aspiration, a keen desire for some larger vision of the kingdom of God? If we are haunted by one such pale spectre, we may take hope that even yet we may be saved. Infinite is the grace of God. Some have been sorely shaken, impoverished, overwhelmed, and it would seem as if God had been hard with them, and had well-nigh taken away the last crust from their table; but, no, there is a crust on the table, you say? Yes. That crust is a pledge that God is still in the house. Ask him to bless it, and it will become as an abundant harvest.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVII

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH

The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.

Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.

In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.

In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.

In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.

The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.

In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.

In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.

In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.

In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).

The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7

In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:

1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.

2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.

3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:

According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .

In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.

In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.

In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”

The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.

The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.

In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”

In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”

Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .

The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”

So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?

In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”

The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”

The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23

QUESTIONS

1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?

2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?

3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?

4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?

5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?

6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?

7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?

8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?

9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?

10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?

11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?

12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?

13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?

14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?

15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?

16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?

17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?

18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?

19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?

20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?

21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?

22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?

23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?

24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?

25. Where is the great invitation and promise?

26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?

27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?

28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?

29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?

30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?

31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XV

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 7

Isaiah 24-27

This section (Isaiah 24-27) is called, in our outline of the book of Isaiah, “The First Book of Judgment.” In this section we emerge out of the prophecies relating to the typical forms of national life, as in the preceding section, into others of a broader character, which concern the world at large. In this we have the deluge of divine justice taking in the whole world. The central people, Israel, first, and then all the surrounding people have been laid low, and the silence of death reigns. Yet in the remote parts of the earth songs arise, songs of hope of the future glory of Jehovah, the king, as he swallows up death forever, so that they who dwell in the dust, awake, arise, to live forever. Israel’s recovery is as life from the dead, to the surrounding nations. In Isa 24 we have a deep elegiac tone, but in Isaiah 25-27 we have the sound of the triumphant songs of the righteous. Of this section Sampey says, “Whatever may be the historical setting and exact fulfilment of these chapters, like the book of Revelation, they contain many magnificent pictures and glorious promises, and a sense of the divine presence that make them of permanent value.”

The chapters constitute the divisions of this section. Isa 24 is a picture of the terrible judgments to come. Isa 25 sounds out the glorious triumph of Jehovah over sin and death. Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah for Jehovah’s defense of Zion, the overthrow of the proud city and the deliverance of his people. Isa 27 is the pronouncement of Judgment against the oppressor on behalf of Israel. To sum up, we have (1) World-Judgments, (2) A Song of Triumph, (3) A Song of Praise, and (4) Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel.

The broad sweep of this section reminds us of the prophecy of Joel. Man’s sin has infected the whole earth, therefore, the punishment must include the whole world and its inhabitants.

There is a word of frequent occurrence in this section. It is the Hebrew word for “earth,” here translated “land” in some instances. There is some difficulty in deciding just how it should be translated: whether it should be translated “land” or “earth” uniformly, or whether the translation should vary. Some passages seem to favor the use of the word, “land,” and others the word “earth.” Dr. Day in the “Bible Commentary” says, “The truth appears to be this: The land of Israel was a miniature of the world. Its recovery from the moral pollution of the idolatrous races was a historical prelude of a like recovery of our earth.”

The temple congregation was a type of the New Testament church, which in turn is a type of the “glory church,” and the visible king, a type of the “king of all the earth.” In Israel was the germ of blessing for all nations. Consequently, if Israel’s light was eclipsed, the whole world was darkened. When Israel languished under a curse, the “everlasting covenant” appeared to be annulled, or at least suspended. So in the use of this word Isaiah seems to comprehend the whole earth as involved in Israel’s mission. If the land of Israel was doomed to desolation, then the whole earth became “waste and void.” (Cf. Jer 4:23 .)

In Isa 24:1-12 we have (1) a universal catastrophe in which there is a complete emptying of the earth and equalizing of its inhabitants; (2) the causes of it, which are the transgression of the laws, the violation of the statutes and the breaking of the everlasting covenant; (3) the manifestations of it in sadness and gloom, everywhere, all means of joy perverted and desolation on every hand; (4) the promise of the remnant, which is compared to the gleaning after harvest.

Now this question arises: What the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ? The laws, statutes, and covenant, referred to in this passage seem to antedate the Mosaic law and to include the laws, statutes, and covenant which were in the very constitution of things. Law, in its last analysis, is the intent or purpose of the Creator with respect to the thing created. So the law of man is God’s purpose for man in his very being. There were statutes for man expressed in the history and covenants prior to the Mosaic code. There was God’s covenant with Adam for the whole race, renewed in Noah and particularized in Abraham. It was an everlasting covenant, comprehending the redemption of a lost race. So the world here is presented as violating every vestige of law which it had received to this time.

We have in Isa 24:14-20 the songs of the remnant in many parts of the world and especially from the sea, i.e., the Mediterranean Sea, and its isles, but these songs are ineffective in view of the awful distress upon the earth, which represents a mighty upheaval to come, before Jehovah, through the remnant, shall become the recognized, universal king. The reference here to the sea and its isles corresponds to the fact that it was on the Mediterranean coasts that the first Christian churches arose, whose songs have been drowned many a time by the din of war.

In Isa 24:21-23 we have a picture of Jehovah’s overthrow of the kings of the earth and his own glorious reign in Mount Zion, and is clearly a reference to the great conflict which will immediately precede the millennium. The kings of the earth shall be engaged in one mighty struggle after which the Messiah will be received by the Jews and then will be ushered in the great reign of our Lord through the converted Jews who become the flaming evangels of the world. This glorious period we have presented again in the closing part of the book, in the prophet Zechariah and in other parts of the Old and New Testaments. The title of Isa 25 is “A Song of Triumph” and it is vitally related to the preceding chapter as an effect is related to a cause. The prophet in the closing part of Isa 24 proclaims the final establishment of the kingdom in the heavenly Zion and now he is carried away by the sense of exultant gladness into a triumphant song of which this chapter is the expression.

This chapter divides itself into three parts: (1) a thanksgiving for deliverance (Isa 25:1-5 ) ; (2) a commemoration of blessings granted (Isa 24:6-8 ) ; (3) an exultation in the security obtained (Isa 25:9-12 ).

Isaiah seems to get his pattern for this song from the “Song of Moses” (Exo 15 ) which contains many of the phrases in Isaiah’s song here.

The word “city” in Isa 25:2 is here used distributively and does not point to any particular city. The prophet is referring to all those cities which have been the enemies of Jehovah. The words “palace” and “strangers” are used in the same way.

The blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah are to be celebrated by a feast of fat things. This idea is presented in many other scriptures, as in the case of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and the picture which our Lord gave, thus: “They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in my kingdom.”

Then what the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ? This is the glass through which Paul says we see darkly. It includes the Jewish veil of Judicial blindness and the veil of prejudice and misconception of all people in their natural state. Blessed time, when it shall be removed and we shall see face to face. The swallowing up of death here makes us think of Hosea’s prophecy: “I will redeem them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Otherwise, this is the first clear announcement of the resurrection, and it was a marked advance on the dim light respecting the future, as realized by God’s people hitherto. This puts us alongside of Paul, and the wiping away of tears, etc., places us with John on Patmos where he saw Paradise regained and the glorious bride adorned for her husband. A glorious outlook, yet to be realized. The exultation expressed here is an exultation in the salvation of Jehovah, with the complete destruction of Moab.

But who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance? Moab ‘is used symbolically to represent the degradation of Zion’s remaining enemies. The following are some of the reasons why Moab may have been chosen:

1. Moab sought to bring a curse on Israel by the help of Balaam’s sorceries, and although these were ineffectual, yet the artifice suggested by Balaam of seducing Israel by means of the licentious rites of Peor, did bring heavy chastisement upon the people. Moab stood at the entrance of Canaan to prevent Israel, if possible, from entering upon its inheritance, and thus it acted the very part of the serpent’s seed.

2. The mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea, rise up as if in rivalry with those of Judah) from which they are separated by the Dead Sea. So between Moab and Zion was “a great gulf fixed,” like that fixed by divine judgment between Abraham and Dives.

3. Moab, the child of Lot, the offspring of a dark deed of unconsciousness superinduced by intoxication, stands as the mystical representative of the corrupted and sensual world. Now the theme of Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah. In the preceding song the prophet poured forth his own thankfulness for the prospect of Zion’s glorious redemption and triumph, but in this he represents the redeemed themselves in the glorified state singing praise to God for the same.

The purpose of this prophetic revelation was strictly practical. It was for the comfort and admonition of that existing generation. In every age the people of God must have the characteristic of patient faith and upright obedience, which is very greatly expanded in the progress of divine revelation.

A synopsis of this chapter is as follows:

1. The New Jerusalem versus the Old, Isa 26:1-7 .

2. The desire of the righteous is for Jehovah versus the perverseness of the wicked, Isa 26:8-10 .

3. The prosperity of Jehovah’s people versus the destruction of their enemies, Isa 26:11-15 .

4. Israel’s barrenness versus her hope in the resurrection, Isa 26:16-19 .

5. An exhortation to Israel to hide till Jehovah’s indignation be past, Isa 26:20-21 .

The points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 are:

1. The two cities mentioned in this paragraph are set over against each other. The first is the New Jerusalem which is abundantly described by John in Rev 21 , while the second is the Old Jerusalem which is here ‘represented as laid waste, trodden under foot as we see her today.

2. The expression of and exhortation to implicit faith in Jehovah as an object of peace and confidence is characteristic of Isaiah. From Isa 26:4 , I preached a sermon once on the theme, “The Rock of Ages,” combining with this text Psa 61:2 , “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” This is the outline followed:

1. The Foundation (1Pe 2:6 ; Isa 28:17 )

2. The Shadow (Isa 32:2 )

3. The Fortress (Psa 18:2 )

4. The Water (1Co 10:1-4 )

5. The Cleft (Exo 33:21-23 )

6. The Rock of Ages: (a) everlasting to me; (b) everlasting for all of every age.

7. Trust in the Lord forever, for he is a “forever [everlasting] rock.”

3. A suggested translation of Isa 26:3-4 is the following: “A mind (imagination) stayed (on thee) thou keepest in perfect peace; because in thee it trusts (is confident). Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for Jehovah is an everlasting rock.” A poet has beautifully expressed this lofty idea thus: As some toll cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, The round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

The passage (Isa 26:8-10 ) expresses the longing of the righteous for the display of Jehovah’s judgment against the wicked and corresponds to the New Testament teaching that God’s people are to leave vengeance to him and await God’s own time for its display. To this end we have the parable of the unjust judge, and the cry by the martyrs under the altar, “How long, Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” is an expression of this same desire.

In Isa 26:19 is the expression of Israel’s faith in God’s promise, a foundation stone of the doctrine of the resurrection. It certainly suggests a resurrection of individuals, and not merely a return of material prosperity, as in Hos 6:2 ; Eze 37 ; Dan 12:2 .

The lesson of Isa 26:20-21 is distinctly a call to prayer and patient waiting on God. The opening of the door of the prayer chamber in times of distress is the opening of a door into another world, a scene of serenity and elevation. In the presence of him who seeth in secret are the most difficult problems solved. That which opposes us is overcome by the new energy of the Spirit here imparted. Let us here listen to the poet Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream Of glory on the consecrated hour Of man in audience with Deity; Who worships the great God, that instant joins, The first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell.

The title of Isa 27 is “Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel” and the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter are as follows:

1. A triple vengeance on the oppressors of Israel and the protection of Jehovah’s vineyard (Isa 27:1-6 ).

2. Jehovah’s dealing with Jacob a chastisement instead of vengeance, and for the purpose of his purification (Isa 27:7-11 ).

3. The homecoming of the exiles (Isa 27:12-13 ).

The meaning of the oft-recurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter, is significant. This expression here refers to the time of God’s vengeance heretofore described, when God is visiting the enemies of his kingdom in vengeance, as stated in Isa 26:21 . There is evidently a variation in the time referred to in the different instances of its use, since all the prophecies of the chapter do not refer to the same period of time. So each instance of its use will have to be determined by the context, just as in its use in other scriptures.

The meaning of “Leviathan” in verse I is a very difficult question to answer. Some deny the possibility of identification of the powers represented by these symbols; others identify them as three world powers: Leviathan, the swift serpent; Leviathan, the crooked serpent; and “the dragon of the sea,” making the first refer to Assyria, the second to Babylon, and the third, to Egypt. There seem to be points of identification sufficient for such an explanation, as the swift serpent, referring to Assyria with its long, swift Tigris; the crooked serpent, referring to Babylon with its winding Euphrates; and the dragon, referring to Egypt, the land of darkness, for which the dragon stands.

There is a sharp contrast in Isa 27:1-6 between God’s dealings with Leviathan, the enemies of the kingdom, and his dealing with Jacob. The one shall be punished into destruction and the other shall take root, blossom, and bud. The passage (Isa 27:2-6 ) is a companion picture of Isa 5:1-7 , a joy song set over against a dirge. Both vineyards refer to God’s people, the former to Israel nominally, the latter to Israel really. This is the holy remnant spoken of so often in Isaiah, but now flourishing and prosperous.

The contrast in Isa 27:7-11 is a contrast in the purpose and extent of punishment upon Judah and Israel and the enemies of Judah and Israel. In the one case it was to be without measure, but in the other it was “in measure”; or without restraint in the one case, the purpose was purely punitive, while in the other it was to purify by chastisement.

There is an important lesson of Isa 27:9 which is a lesson on the conditions of forgiveness. These chastisements of Jacob were looking to his repentance. Jehovah was looking for the fruits of repentance, viz: the putting away of sin and idolatry. The child’s verse is, after all the best theology and practical godliness: Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve By doing so no more.

The prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 is a prophecy of the homecoming of God’s scattered people. As a fruit gatherer Jehovah will gather them from the Euphrates to Egypt. He will give the signal of the trumpet and they shall be gathered from the remote countries of Assyria and Egypt. This prophecy had a partial fulfilment in the return of the Jews after the captivity but in this return they did not come mainly from Assyria and Egypt. There was a larger fulfilment in the gospel trumpet sounded on the day of Pentecost which was heard and heeded by representatives from these countries here mentioned, but the complete fulfilment of this prophecy is doubtless, to be realized when the signal of our Lord shall call these scattered Jews from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, and thus assembled in their own land the veil that has so long bedimmed their eyes shall fall from their faces and they shall behold, by faith, him whom they have pierced. Then shall come the blessed time when “they shall worship Jehovah in his holy mountain at Jerusalem,” a glorious anticipation.

QUESTIONS

1. What is Isaiah 24-27 called in our outline of the book of Isaiah?

2. Give a brief introductory statement of this section, showing its nature in the light of the preceding section.

3. What is the outline of the section

4. The broad sweep of this section reminds us of what other prophecy?

5. What word is of frequent occurrence in this section, what its meaning, and what the significance of its use here?

6. What are the contents of Isa 24:1-13 , and what their interpretation?

7. What are the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ?

8. What the contents and interpretation of Isa 24:14-20 ?

9. What is the picture in Isa 24:21-23 ?

10. What is the title of Isa 25 and what the relation of this chapter to the preceding one?

11. Give a brief analysis of this chapter.

12. Where does Isaiah seem to get his pattern for this song and what the proof?

13. What city is referred to in Isa 25:2 ?

14. How are the blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah to bo celebrated?

15. What the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ?

16. What announcement here as to the resurrection and further blessedness?

17. How is the exultation expressed?

18. Who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance?

19. What is the theme of Isa 26 ?

20. What is the character of this son in contrast with the preceding one?

21. What is the purpose of this prophetic revelation?

22. Give a synopsis of this chapter.

23. What are the points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 ?

24. What is expressed in Isa 26:8-10 ?

25. What is suggested by Isa 26:19 ?

26. What is the lesson of Isa 26:20-21 ?

27. What is the title of Isa 27 ?

28. What are the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter?

29. What is the meaning of the oft-occurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter?

30. What is the meaning of “Leviathan” in Isa 27:1 ?

31. What is the contrast in Isa 27:1-6 ?

32. What is the contrast in Isa 27:7-11 ?

33. What is the important lesson of Isa 27:9 ?

34. What is the prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 and when the complete fulfilment of it?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Isa 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

Ver. 1. Behold the Lord emptieth. ] It must needs be a matter of some rare and marvellous consequence, that “Behold” – the “oh yes!” of the Holy Ghost – is thus set before.

The Lord emptieth, ] i.e., Will empty; an idiom proper to God’s prophets, who saw in the Spirit things to come as if they were even then done.

The earth. ] Or, The land, sc., Of Jewry, by a woeful desolation, Lege et luge, by law and lament. Some hold it to be a metaphor from ships overloaded, which therefore must be disburdened; so was the land to be eased of her inhabitants, which she could hardly stand under.

And waste. ] Making havoc of persons and things of worth.

Turneth it upside down. ] Ferens, agens sursum deorsum omnia, turning all things topsy turvy, as they say.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Isaiah Chapter 24

The prophet now launches into a larger theme. Hitherto we have had ten “burdens,” the burdens of the nations from Babylon to Tyre, not without involving Jerusalem in those judgements which, starting from local circumstances, sweep on to the “end of the age,” when God shall put down the rebellious pride of the earth. In the present chapter Isaiah enlarges the scene, with the land and people of Israel as the centre, so as to disclose, not the great white throne before which the wicked dead stand and are judged, but the hour of the earth’s universal retribution from God, “the day of Jehovah” in its unrestricted final sense, of which previous dealings, as in the cases of Babylon and Egypt, were but the shadow and the earnest.

“Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth [or, land] empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with him from whom usury is taken” (vv. 1, 2). There are evidently no limits here. As verse 1 shows us the earth wasted, confounded, and prostrate under the divine dealing, so verse 2 indicates an unsparing overthrow of all grades among its inhabitants. “The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled: for Jehovah hath spoken this word” (v. 3). If it is hard work to apply such strong and comprehensive terms to the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, as some conceive, still less can verse 4 be evaded. “The earth mourneth, it fadeth away: the world languisheth, it fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish” (v. 4). How carefully too the Spirit guards against the too common resource of unbelief – the alleged hyperbole of an impassioned seer! – “Jehovah hath spoken this word.”

Next, we have the moral ground on which God judged and executed thus sternly. “The earth [or, land] also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, for they have transgressed the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore doth the curse devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (vv. 5, 6). It is no mere providential judgement but a most comprehensive and divine infliction, of which God had spoken almost since the beginning. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these” (Jud 1:14 ). The oft-threatened long-suspended blow will at length fall, as Isaiah here intimates, and Jude later still, when Christendom’s evil becomes as plain as Israel’s.

“The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry hearted do sigh. The mirth of tambours ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They do not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to them that drink it. The city of solitude is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man entereth in. [There is] a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city remaineth desolation, and the gate is smitten, – a ruin” (vv. 7-12). Such and so complete is the picture of woe. Desolation overspreads the country and the city alike. Nevertheless, as always, God reserves a remnant. “For thus it will be in the midst of the land among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the grape-gleanings when the vintage is done. These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the east, the name of Jehovah the God of Israel in the isles of the west. From the end [wing] of the earth have we heard songs, Glory to the righteous” (vv. 13-16). It is manifestly a description of the righteous in Israel, who shall come into prominence, as divine judgements mow down their proud oppressors.

Nevertheless verse 16 appears to mark how deeply the prophet, foreshowing the exercised godly souls of that day, deplores the low condition of the remnant, and the fearful defection and ruin of the mass of Israel. “But I said, My leanness my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth [or, land]. And it shall come to pass [that] he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare, for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is quite dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunkard, and is shaken like a night-hut; and the transgression thereof is heavy upon it; and it falleth, and riseth not again. And it shall come to pass in that day [that] Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. And they shall be gathered together [as] prisoners gathered for the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days shall they be visited. And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when Jehovah of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his elders [or, ancients] in glory” [or, gloriously] (vv. 16-23).

The entire chapter, specially its closing verses, brings into the strongest evidence the hopeless difficulties of those who confound earthly things with heavenly, and refuse to see the portion in store for Israel in the latter day, when judgement has fallen on the habitable earth. Writers as early as Theodoret confess the ulterior scope of the prophecy, whatever measure of accomplishment they might consider it to have had in the past: “The discourse contains a double prophecy; for it points out both what was going on at different times among the enemies, and what shall be in the consummation of the present age.” But then, immediately after, he makes the singularly unintelligent observation that the second verse describes a state of things properly and truly after the resurrection. The judgement of the quick is ignored. There is in truth not a word here of the dead raised, or souls giving an account of their deeds, but emphatically and repeatedly of the earth’s crisis, and of the world smitten and languishing under God’s mighty hand. The language, no doubt, is excessively strong; it here and there appears to look on to the dissolution of all things, as is sufficiently common in prophetic style, where the prediction of the signal change which ushers in the millennium contains a more or less covert allusion to the utter passing away of the heavens and earth that now are, and the coming in of the eternal state. But the conclusion of the chapter makes it plain that the grand aim of the Spirit here is to portray that mighty and universal catastrophe which is succeeded by the times of refreshing for Israel and the earth, of which God has spoken by His holy prophets since the world began.

So profound and all-embracing, however, is the dealing of God, that even the angelic hosts escape no more than the proudest potentates here below. “It shall come to pass in that day [that] Jehovah shall punish the host of the high ones on high [not, ‘that are on high’], and the kings of the earth on the earth,” These spirits of evil had up to this misled man and dishonoured God, seeking to corrupt every mercy almost from the source. But the time is come that angels should be judged as well as living men, far beyond even the judgement of the flood. The power of the heavens shall be shaken – not earth only, but also heaven. But far from its being as yet the melting away of time into eternity, “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when Jehovah shall reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders in glory.” It is the day of which Zechariah spoke (Zec 14:9 , Zec 14:10 ), long after the return from the captivity, when Jehovah shall be king over all the earth. “In that day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.” Could expressions be used more precisely to exclude the mystical interpretation, or more calculated to maintain the hopes of Israel, then to be built on the Living Stone over Whom they have till yet stumbled? Jehovah Messiah will come in His kingdom and reign in Zion. The land as it were broadens out to the earth; not only is the world comprehended in the divine dealing but the heavens. And He, Who has at length taken to Him His great power and reigned, proves Himself the ruler of all things that are in “heaven, and that are on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities.” As they were created in virtue of () Him and through Him, so were they created for Him, as the day of Jehovah will display, when Jerusalem and Mount Zion still subsist: a state of things manifestly different from and antecedent to the eternity that follows.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 24:1-6

1Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

Isa 24:1 the Lord lays the earth waste Isa 24:1; Isa 24:3 use a series of strong VERBS to describe YHWH’s judgment on the earth (not land here because of parallel to world [BDB 385, cf. Isa 14:16-17; Isa 34:1; Jer 10:12; Jer 51:15], see Special Topic following).

1. lays. . .waste, Isa 24:1, BDB 132, KB 150, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, cf. Isa 24:3; Nah 2:2

2. devastates, Isa 24:1, BDB 118, KB 135, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, cf. Nah 2:10

3. distorts (lit. twists, cf. NRSV), BDB 730, KB 796, Piel PERFECT

4. scatters, Isa 24:1, BDB 806, KB 918, Hiphil PERFECT

5. completely laid waste, Isa 24:3, BDB 132, KB 150, Niphal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and IMPERFECT VERB of the same root denote intensity

6. completely despoiled, Isa 24:3, BDB 102, KB 117, Niphal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and IMPERFECT VERB of the same root denotes intensity. YHWH takes back His gifts, given in creation (cf. Isa 24:5-6). This is a reversal of the purpose of original creation, but a faithful remnant will survive (cf. Isa 24:6)!

Isa 24:1; Isa 24:3 are very similar to God’s judgment of the earth (, BDB 75) in Noah’s day (cf. Genesis 6-9; also note the attempts to avoid God’s judgment in Isa 2:10; Isa 2:19; Isa 2:21). Worldwide emptying is exactly the opposite of creation’s purpose!

SPECIAL TOPIC: LAND, COUNTRY, EARTH

distorts its surface This could either be a metaphor of God’s judgment on the earth in physical terms (lit. twist, BDB 730, KB 796, Piel PERFECT) or it may be a metaphor of God emptying earth’s inhabitants as someone would clean dirty kitchen pans.

and scatters its inhabitants This is very similar to the terminology used in Genesis 10 for the tower of Babel. Here it denotes exile.

Isa 24:2 This shows that all social distinctions are removed. Everyone is judged (cf. Isa 24:4).

Isa 24:3 for the LORD has spoken this word This shows the certainty of this event because God has said it (BDB 180, KB 210, Piel PERFECT, cf. Isa 24:3; Isa 25:8; Isa 40:8; Isa 55:10-11). Also note the intended contrast; the spoken word of creation is now the spoken word of judgment.

Isa 24:4 Note the description of the earth.

1. mourns – (1) BDB 5 I, KB 6, Qal PERFECT, cf. Jer 23:10; for the personification of the earth, also note Isa 24:7, or (2) BDB 5 II means dry up, which fits the parallelism of Isa 24:4; Isa 24:7 better (cf. NRSV, REB)

2. withers – BDB 615, KB 663, Qal PERFECT (twice)

3. fades – BDB 51, KB 63, Pulal PERFECT, cf. Isa 16:8; Isa 33:9

4. polluted, Isa 24:5 – BDB 337, KB 335, Qal PERFECT

Notice the number of PERFECT VERBS in Isa 24:4-5 that denote a settled action, a complete action! All of these VERBS have a sound similarity.

The God of creation is acting as sovereign in His creation. It was made to be a stage for Him and mankind to interact, but His creatures have polluted and defiled it by their action. It was created for abundance, but now lies judged and unproductive.

the world This Hebrew term (BDB 385) is often used in conjunction with earth (BDB 75, cf. Job 37:12; Psa 96:13; Psa 98:9; Jer 10:12; Lam 4:12, see Special Topic at Isa 24:1). Isaiah uses this word more than any other prophet (cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 4, p. 273, cf. Isa 13:11; Isa 24:4; Isa 34:1).

the exalted of the people of the earth fade away The RSV translation (with a change of vowels only) implies that this phrase relates to the judgment of heaven and earth (i.e., all creation), not to the elite (i.e., height) people of the earth only.

Isa 24:5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants Nature suffers because of mankind’s sin (cf. Isa 24:20; Gen 3:17-19; Num 35:33; Jer 3:1-2; Jer 3:9; Rom 8:18-25).

1. they transgressed laws, BDB 716, KB 778, Qal PERFECT

2. they violated statutes, BDB 322, KB 321, Qal PERFECT

3. they broke the everlasting covenant, BDB 830, KB 974, Hiphil PERFECT

This does not refer to the Mosaic Law, but either (1) to the natural revelation found in Psa 19:1-6 and Rom 1:19-20; Rom 2:14-15 or (2) to Noah’s day (cf. Gen 6:5-7; Gen 6:11-12, possibly specifically to Isa 9:4-6). The same phrase everlasting covenant appears in Gen 9:16. This everlasting covenant would relate to the taking of human life (cf. Isa 26:21). Murder has consequences! Life belongs to God. He wants mankind to be fruitful and fill the earth, not kill each other!

Isa 24:6 a curse devours the earth This sounds very similar to the curse of Gen 3:17-19. Theologically this functions like Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:20; all have sinned (i.e., broken a covenant, cf. Isa 24:5) and need God’s salvation!

NASB, NKJV,

JBare burned

NRSVdwindled

REBdwindle

PESHITTAshall be destroyed

LXXshall be poor

DSS grow pale (from BDB 301 I, cf. Isa 29:22)

The MT has burned (BDB 359 I, KB 357 or 351 I, Qal PERFECT). Scholars have suggested another possible Arab root, to reduce (KB 351 II), which matches the next phrase.

This is a good example of the difficulty in ambiguous Hebrew poetry. Context often is an interpreter’s only safe guide and even then, other roots and cognates are possible. The MT is not the earliest Hebrew text.

and few men are left This is basically the OT idea of a faithful remnant that God will spare a few of the people of the earth. This sounds very similar to Jesus’ words in Mat 7:14. See Special Topic: The Remnant, Three Senses .

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

earth. Hebrew ha-‘arez. Occurs sixteen times in this chapter. Rendered “land” in verses: Isa 24:3, Isa 24:11, Isa 24:13

empty. Note the Figure of speech Synonymia, “empty”, “waste”, “upside down”, “scattered abroad”. See App-6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 24

Now as we get into chapter 24, we get into, really, things that the earth will be facing very soon, because we get into things that will be happening during the Great Tribulation as the Lord is preparing the earth for the return of Jesus Christ. Purging the earth before the return in His second coming.

Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, he makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof ( Isa 24:1 ).

Now this sounds like it could refer to a polar axis flip. “He turneth it upside down.” There are some physicists who speak of a polar axis flip. By studying the ions in iron ore, because the positive poles are in the wrong direction they theorized that at one time the magnetic poles were different than what they are today, and that there has actually been a polar shift. And you can get quite a bit of material in the various papers and all that were done by the physicists who have made a study of this ion in, the ionic structures really, and the changes that have taken place through periods of time.

In the book Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky, it is his premise in the book that the planet Venus was introduced into our solar system during the time of recorded history. That it actually was a comet that came into our solar system, made a close pass to the earth during the time of the plagues upon Egypt. And he attributes many of these plagues to this Venus being introduced. In fact, the pillar of fire he theorizes was actually this comet, the planet Venus. And that it moved out, but yet came back in at the time of Joshua’s long day when the earth stood still. And that the earth stood still as the result of this close pass of this comet Venus. It came so close that a gigantic electrical spark came between the earth and Venus that stopped the earth. And when the earth began its rotation again, it began to rotate in the opposite direction. That before the earth was actually rotating from west to east, but after this close pass…

And he gives some records out of Babylonian astronomy charts showing where in the older charts the planet Venus doesn’t exist. And yet it’s one of the brightest planets in the sky. And he gives all kinds. It’s a fascinating book. It’s created quite a furor in the scientific circles, but it would seem that more and more they are beginning to accept some of the theories at least that he presents in this book Worlds in Collision. If you like just good interesting reading of someone who brings up a lot of interesting things that he is seeking to make points off of. I found the book very fascinating. That with Ages in Chaos and then his latest book Earths in Upheaval. But the basic premise is that the planet Venus was then locked into a solar orbit and became a part of our solar system. But it happened during the period of history.

And he… I like the book because he proves that the long day of Joshua did exist. If it was a long night, or long evening, afternoon over there, then it would have been a long night over here. So he goes into the Inca records and finds a long night recorded in the Inca records. And all the way around he follows the whole thing around the earth and the Chinese records, and the Indian records, in the islands, some of the records. And he follows this thing all around the world and correlates. It would be a long morning here. It would be a long afternoon. It would be a long evening. Long night and so forth. And he correlates these things in the histories and the records of ancient men. And really confirming the fact that that long day did take place. The rest of the world didn’t understand why, only Joshua and his men really knew why the sun stood still. It was to give them a chance to totally wipe out their enemy. But it was, he really, of course, when the long night took or when the long afternoon took place, it said that God began to throw rocks at their enemy and more were destroyed by the rocks.

And he believes that these were the debris from the tale of this comet Venus that just pelted the enemies of Joshua. Of course, that’s man trying to look at it from a natural standpoint and explain things from a natural standpoint, because it would be sort of difficult to explain why the rocks only hit the enemy instead of Joshua’s troops, too, you see.

But it is interesting, fascinating. I enjoyed reading it. It’s a lot of original type of thinking and I just like original thinking. So the Lord speaks here about He’s going to turn the world upside down. “Scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof.” Velikovsky believes that it caused a polar shift at that time and that it’s going to happen again.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied ( Isa 24:2-3 ),

In other words, it’s going to come on everybody. Nobody’s going to escape it; rich or poor are going to be affected alike. “The land shall be utterly emptied.”

and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word ( Isa 24:3 ).

And, of course, this will take place during this Great Tribulation period, where not only will men through wars be devastating the earth, but there will also be corresponding cataclysmic events being sent from God that are just going to devastate the planet Earth. Be no time to be here, I’ll tell you.

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left ( Isa 24:4-6 ).

Very few will actually make it through the entire Great Tribulation period. Very few will come out on the other side.

The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceases, and the noise of them that rejoice ends, and the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: and every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. And the city is left desolate, and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coasts of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. For fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the eaRuth ( Isa 24:7-17 ).

“Fear, the pit and the snare.” Now we are told that the antichrist, the beast “that thou sawest who was and is not shall ascend out of the pit, out of the abusso.” So it’s talking about the time during the reign of the antichrist, a reign of tyranny and fear. And Jesus speaks about the days of the Great Tribulation as being a snare. Jesus said that you should beware of gluttony, of drunkenness and the cares of this world. For they shall be as a snare upon the inhabitants of the earth in that time. So the Great Tribulation period.

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake ( Isa 24:18 ).

It’s going to be a tremendous cataclysmic, wild time upon the earth. They are saying more and more, I’ve heard it several times this week. Of course, because this week was the celebration, if you can call it that, of the earthquake that shook San Francisco seventy-five years ago. So this is the seventy-fifth year from the quake in San Francisco, 1906. And they had celebrations and so forth. They estimate that the quake that devastated San Francisco was about an 8.3 on the Richter scale. They didn’t have Richter scales in those days so they estimated the earthquake to be about that intensity and all of the scientists said, “And we are expecting another earthquake to shake this area and it’s overdue and it’s coming very soon and we’re sure that another one is coming soon and it will probably be about the same intensity.”

I don’t know where I would want to be if an 8.3 earthquake would shake this area. Surely not on the freeway, because it will topple every freeway overpass. The one in Sylmar a few years ago was only 6.5 and it devastated areas of the freeway up there. And, of course, with each point you’re ten times more powerful. So you get an 8.3 earthquake and you’ve got total devastation. God says, “I’m gonna just shake the foundations of the earth.” This isn’t a localized quake. This is something that’s going to hit the whole earth. What we see is kids’ play, just a little move on the San Andreas fault line that shakes up us here along the coast. God’s going to shake the foundations of the world.

Now it speaks about the foundations of the world being shaken one other time and that was the time of Noah’s flood. And really a part of the great devastation from Noah’s flood was from the shaking of the foundations of the world.

The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage [or a summer house]; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again ( Isa 24:19-20 ).

So God is going to shake the earth. It will reel to and fro like a drunkard, be removed like a cottage. Now those physicists who talk about the polar axis shift say that before the earth goes into the polar axis shift, that it goes into a wobble. Much like a top. You spin a top and as long as the momentum is going, it stands up straight. But as the momentum begins to slow down, then the top begins to wobble. And as the momentum continues to slow down, it begins to go into a violent wobble. And then what happens? The top flips over. So they say the earth is like a top spinning. But that as the earth’s rotation seems to slow down that it goes into a wobble state and then it flips on its axis. And you have a polar axis shift.

Well, it has been interesting. They have been measuring the earth wobble lately. And, of course, it moves in cycles every seven years. It comes to its peak and then it seems to sort of straighten up again and then it begins to increase and increase and increase. But the wobble of the earth is increasing more all the time.

Now here is Isaiah knowing nothing about earth wobbles, knowing nothing about polar axis shifts or anything else, talks about it. He says the earth is going to be moving to and fro like a drunken man, and then it’s going to be moved out of its place. So it would appear that there is going to be tremendous cataclysmic changes that are going to transpire upon the earth.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones ( Isa 24:21 )

Now who is he referring to here? “The host of the high one,s” is when God brings into judgment the angelic forces of evil. You see, when Jesus comes again, “in that day, the Lord will punish the host of the high ones.” When Jesus comesthat again, the antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into Gehenna. Satan will be bound with a great chain and cast into the abusso. And those that follow with him. So that God is going to judge these spirit entities that, as Paul the apostle said in Ephesians, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against these spiritual entities in high places” ( Eph 6:12 ). So,

in that day the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the eaRuth ( Isa 24:21 ).

The twofold judgment of the spirit beings. Those demonic forces, also the evil men. The day of judgment, day of wrath.

And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit ( Isa 24:22 ),

Now you remember the demon said to Jesus, “Hey, don’t throw us into the pit before our time.” They were pleading with Jesus that He wouldn’t throw them into the pit. They know that their time is coming when they are to be cast into the abusso with Satan. Satan is bound with a great chain and thrown into the pit. And so they will be gathered as prisoners and be put in the abusso in the pit.

and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited ( Isa 24:22 ).

After a thousand years Satan will be released for a short period. And then he and his followers will be cast into Gehenna, a place of outer darkness. A place that is out beyond the furthest galaxy. Out into space and to the darkness beyond the light of any galaxy. Outer darkness, where there’s weeping and wailing.

The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously ( Isa 24:23 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Isa 24:1-3

Isa 24:1-3

DIVISION III

PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT OF THE LAST DAY (Isaiah 24-27)

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH BY FIRE

God, having in previous prophecies denounced all of the great and powerful nations of the earth, “Now declares the judgments impending on the people of God themselves, for their wickedness and apostasy; and the desolation that shall be brought on their whole country. Although some scholars still hold to this understanding of the chapter, our own opinion is that all four chapters of this division are a prophecy of the eschatological conclusion of the Christian dispensation, that is, the final judgment. Excellent reasons underlie this conclusion. First, there is the word `earth,’ which occurs no less than “sixteen times in this very chapter. Lowth and others have misunderstood this as a reference to Palestine only; but, Isa 24:4 makes it certain that `earth’ here must mean `the whole inhabited world,’ and not merely `the land’ of Palestine.

Hailey hesitated to apply this to the final judgment day and cited good reasons for not doing so. However, there is an undeniable reference here to conditions that elsewhere in the Bible are definitely associated with that Final Day. Although it may be freely admitted that the Final Day itself does not appear in the passage, many things undeniably “associated with that day” do indeed appear. For example, Isa 24:10 states that “the waste city is broken down”; and in Rev 16:19, the Lord revealed that in the near conjunction with the final judgment, “the cities of the Gentiles fell.” Also, “The earth shall stagger like a drunken man” and is “shaken violently” (Isa 24:19-20). Now read the description of the onset of judgment in Rev 6:12 ff. Even the sun and the moon appear “confounded” here (Isa 24:23) even as in Revelation.

In the light of all this, it appears that the proper resolution of the problem would be to understand these four chapters as describing the conditions on earth that shall immediately precede the last day.

Isa 24:1-3

“Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly laid waste; for Jehovah hath spoken this word.”

These words cover the same occasion mentioned by Zephaniah in the first three verses of his prophecy, where God declared that, “I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea … and I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah” (Zep 1:2-3). The last clause here is equivalent to: “I will wipe this Adamic race off the face of the earth.” What Isaiah prophesies here might indeed be the prelude to the ultimate destruction promised. As Cheyne said, “The mysteriousness of the language ought to be no difficulty for those who recognize the eschatalogical nature of the prophecy.

Isa 24:2 foretells the demolition of all class and social distinctions. Compare this with the seven classes of all men given in Rev 6:15 : “kings, princes, captains, rich, strong, every bondman, and every freeman.” Both passages say simply that “Nobody, but nobody is going to escape the final judgment.”

Isa 24:3 speaks of the earth being utterly emptied and laid waste. Indeed this is not “the end”; but the earth shall indeed suffer as indicated here. “Rival armies have carried fire and sword all over it. Environmentalists this very day are screaming that the pollution of the earth has already reached a danger point. Rawlinson pointed out that Jesus himself prophesied these very conditions: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of war, but the end is not yet … all these things are the beginning of sorrows” (Mat 24:6-8). We might indeed apply these last words of Jesus’ prophecy, “the beginning of sorrows” to these prophetic chapters of Isaiah.

Isa 24:1-3 EXTENT OF JUDGMENT: These chapters (24-27) form a close connection with the preceding prophecies against the nations (13-23). They are a climactic conclusion to those prophecies. Isaiah is now uniting into one, as it were, all those enemies of Gods people which he had previously (13-23) discussed individually. Judah will also be included because many of her people have rebelled against Gods sovereign rule. After this widespread judgment upon mans worldly attempts to rebel against God (and incidentally, the same picture is found in Isa 2:12 ff), there will come a world-embracing salvation (Isa 25:6-8; Isa 26:9; Isa 26:21; Isa 27:1; Isa 27:6), with the result that the remnant saved from the four corners of the earth will praise the glory and majesty of God, and many will come from the ends of the earth to worship the Lord in Zion (Isa 24:15-16; Isa 27:13).

Isa 24:1 reminds us of Gods scattering mankind at the Tower of Babel. There man sought to unite all his worldly power to build a tower and assault the gates of heaven. It was a rebellious attack upon the sovereignty of God. After that mankind attempted to unite itself in world-empire status, usurp the Creators directions and rule, and take over the creation to exploit it for its own selfish purposes. One empire after another attempted this-Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. But God triumphed over this scheme of man to wrest the rule of mankind from Him. He did so by establishing His own kingdom among men. It was when this kingdom was established that the ruler of this world was cast out (Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11) and that God triumphed over them in Christ (Col 2:15). Our comments in the Introduction to Isaiah, Vol. I, and Daniel, chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, are relevant to this section of Isaiah. We believe the judgments predicted in these chapters (Isaiah 24-27) are the same judgments pronounced in Daniel against world-empire rule, and thus their fulfillments began when the church was established. They will have their consummation when Christ returns at His Second Coming, but mans attempt (actually the devil is behind it all) to take over the world and usurp Gods rule was judged and defeated at the cross and the empty tomb. God scattered that attempt. He knocked that image down, ground it to dust and blew it away (cf. Daniel 2). And He did it in the days of the fourth world empire by establishing His eternal kingdom, the Church.

As Isa 24:2 points out, human stature and rank makes no difference to God. All those involved in the great human rebellion will be defeated. All will be judged according to their response to the Sovereign Creator and His program of redemption. Human rulers and the ruled alike must submit to Jehovah. No pillar of humanly conceived society or culture will be able to save man. All mans structures are vulnerable to the inevitable judgments of moral rebellion.

The judgment is inevitable because Jehovah is a God of Absolute Holiness and Justice. He is absolutely Moral. His creation is moral and is morally structured. His word is Absolute Truth. When that word is disobeyed, profaned and rejected, the inevitable consequences are falsehood and moral disintegration. God has spoken! It will come to pass!

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

In these last chapters of the second circle, the prophet takes a still wider outlook. He sees how all the world is under the government of God. In this chapter the prophet states the fact in general terms, and describes a worldwide desolation determined on by Jehovah. This determination is first declared. Jehovah has spoken the word. After having stated this, the prophet describes the visitation following on this determination. The earth itself is seen to mourn and fade away, devoured by a curse, while all mirth ceases. The city is desolate. As the prophet looks out on this terrible scene, he seems to hear some note of hope. Somewhere the voices of singers are heard. The hope gives way to despair as suddenly as it appears, for there is nothing before the prophet’s vision save judgment and desolation. The prophecy of world-wide judgment ends with the declaration that it will be the act of Jehovah, and will issue in His perfect victory.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Desolation of a Guilty World

Isa 24:1-13

This and the three following chapters form a single prophecy, describing the calamities about to desolate the land, because the inhabitants had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Primarily it describes the experiences of Palestine under the successive invasions from the Euphrates valley, first of Nineveh and then of Babylon. There is a mysterious connection between the condition of a mans soul and the response of surrounding nature. The very vineyards would sigh in sad accord with the prevailing misery and sin, Isa 24:7-9; and in the great city silence would reign in streets decimated by plague and war, Isa 24:10-12. Both in the Old and the New Testament the blessings of sufficiency and comfort are the fruits of holy living; whereas, sooner or later, evil overtakes wrong-doing. Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed, is always true.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

EXPOSITORY NOTES ON

THE PROPHET ISAIAH

By

Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.

Copyright @ 1952

edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago

ISAIAH CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

COMING DESTRUCTION AND DESOLATION

THE chapter to which we now turn presents a scene of destruction and desolation unparalleled, and is closely linked with the similar passage in Jer 4:23-31. Many different interpretations have been given to it, some supposing that it pictures the earth in its chaotic state as referred to in Gen 1:2 after it had fallen from the glory of its original creation. Others again, as for instance Mrs. Ellen G. White, of the Seventh-day Adventist cult, take it to refer to the millennial earth, for she denies the reality of CHRIST’s kingdom during that period and makes the earth to be the bottomless pit into which Satan will be cast to wander about until his final judgment and destruction in the lake of fire. But a careful study of both passages would seem to make it clear that they refer primarily to the land of Palestine in the darkest period of the great tribulation yet to come, and not only to that land but to the prophetic earth as a whole, that is, the region once occupied by the Roman Empire.

Throughout this chapter the Hebrew word eretz is translated “land,” “world,” and “earth.” The scholars who produced the Authorized Version were very fond of using synonyms, and wherever a word occurred frequently either in the Greek or Hebrew, they used as many different terms as seemed right to them. But at least in the early part of the chapter, it is not the world as such that is in view but the land of Israel which the prophet sees as empty and desolate because of the terrible experiences through which the covenant people will pass in the last days.

“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word” (verses 1-3).

Palestine is often described in Scripture as a land flowing with milk and honey, but here we see it as the very opposite, a land parched and dry, no longer able to sustain its inhabitants who flee in terror because of the judgments of the Lord. Note the expression, “the Lord . . . turneth it upside down.”

Everything that unbelieving Israel has trusted in will be broken to pieces. All the hopes in which they have indulged will prove to be but idle dreams because of the fact that Israel will have returned to their own land, even as they are doing now, in unbelief, counting on their own ability and prowess to enable them to build again a great nation in the home of their forefathers. But there are greater disasters ahead of them than they have ever known in the past.

Not until they turn to the Lord and look upon Him whom they have pierced will their hopes be realized. Till then they are doomed to one terrible disappointment after another, a disappointment in which all classes of the people shall share.

“The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction” (verses 4-12).

The reason for the desolation here depicted is plainly declared. GOD’s law has been transgressed, the everlasting covenant referred to in Gen 9:16 wherein GOD pledged Himself to show His loving-kindness toward the world, which has been by Israel utterly disregarded. Instead of looking to Him for the mercies of each passing season, they think to avert disaster and procure happiness by their own efforts, thus failing to put their trust in Him who has manifested His unbounded mercy toward a fallen race.

It is a mistake to suppose that the covenant here referred to is that of the law of the ten commandments, given at Sinai, for nowhere is that declared to be an everlasting covenant. It came in by the way, as we know from the Epistle to the Galatians, as a means of the full manifestation of man’s sinfulness and need of a Saviour. Nor can these words refer to the covenant made with Abraham because it is impossible for man to break that covenant, inasmuch as GOD Himself is the only party to it, unless one might understand the rejection of the promised Seed as the breaking of the covenant so far as man is concerned.

When Messiah came in accordance with the promises made to Abraham and confirmed to David, He was rejected and cut off, as Dan 9:26 predicted. Certainly Israel then broke the everlasting covenant so far as it was in their power to do it. Later they will enter into covenant with the last head of Gentile power, thus repudiating their allegiance to their own Messiah. That covenant will be for the last week of the seventy and will be broken at the end of three-and-a-half years when the Man of Sin will declare himself to be the only object of worship.

The reference most probably, however, refers to the covenant made by GOD as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe to bless the labors of men’s hands and give to them fruitful fields and

bountiful harvest as they trusted in Him.

Under Noah GOD set up human government, of which we read nothing in the chapters that deal with antediluvian days. This involves the subjection of the nations to GOD as their supreme ruler, but this is the very thing which not only Israel but the nations of the Gentiles have failed to acknowledge. The bow in the cloud which was intended to be a perpetual reminder of GOD’s goodness and man’s responsibility, has become meaningless because of unbelief and willful disobedience, therefore every effort of men to establish stable government on the earth and peace among the nations is doomed to failure.

Our Lord’s own words come to mind here. When discussing the horrors of the great tribulation, the rise of nation against nation in bloody warfare, He says, “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.”

Knowing as we do today the terribly destructive power of modern weapons of warfare whereby whole cities may be blotted out in a few moments of time, we need have no difficulty in accepting these words literally.

Palestine will experience the ravages of warfare perhaps to a greater extent than any other country because she knew not the time of her visitation. But in the day when these judgments are falling upon that devoted land and the contiguous territory, a remnant will be separated from the mass of the people who will return to the Lord and yield glad subjection to His holy will, acknowledging their sins and trusting His word. To them the grace of GOD will be revealed, assisting and caring for them even as it were in a blazing world, and bringing them at last to their desired haven to dwell in peace in their own land.

“When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea” (verses 13-15).

While we like to think of the expression, “Glorify ye the Lord in the fires,” as indicating the faithfulness of this remnant during the time when the judgments are falling on the earth, it would seem that it is suggesting that the dark days of the tribulation are after all the harbinger of the coming day of blessing when not only the remnant of Israel, but a great multitude saved out of the Gentile nations, will be brought to the place where they will wait expectantly for the Second Advent of the once-rejected CHRIST of GOD and so enter into fullness of blessing in the kingdom age. As the prophet contemplates the sufferings of his people and the desolation of the land during that time of tribulation, he cries out in the anguish of his soul.

“From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously” (verses 16).

Even though Isaiah, with prophetic vision, sees the glory following the desolations, his whole

being is stirred within him as he realizes the sufferings his people must go through before they are brought back to GOD and to their land. The meaning of the expression, “My leanness, my leanness,” is, “My misery, my misery,” as suggested by F. C. Jennings. At any rate, it is clear that the prophet is in the greatest mental anguish as he contemplates the results of departure from GOD and the breaking of His covenant.

In the verses that follow he reverts to the conditions with which this chapter began.

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to And fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” (verses 17-20).

Graphically indeed are the woes of the last days here set forth. Everything that men have considered stable and lasting will be shaken to pieces so that the land will seem to reel to and fro like a drunken man. Indeed, there may be more than seeming in this for it may suggest the great earthquakes which will add to the terror of those days of grief and sorrow. At that time, not only will the misguided rulers of Israel and the nations be dealt with in judgment, but GOD will deal with those unseen principalities and powers that have sought to dominate the hearts and minds of men in authority so that they are also described in Ephesians 6 as the “rulers of the darkness of this world”.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously” (verses 21-23).

The “host of the high ones that are on high” evidently refers to those wicked spirits in the heavenlies who attempt to control the minds of men in such a way as to set them in opposition to GOD and in the vain endeavor to thwart His unchanging plans. They and their dupes, who have given them such willing service, will be shut up together in prison, awaiting the time when the Lord will deal with them in the final judgment.

When the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth, those signs in the heaven to which CHRIST referred will be followed by the appearing of the glorified Son of Man accompanied by His heavenly saints descending to take over the government of this world and to bring In the long-awaited age of righteousness.

~ end of chapter 24 ~

http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Isa 24:15

The suffering child of God will “glorify Him in the fires.”

I.By acknowledging His power.

II.By recognising His wisdom.

III.By a frank acknowledgment of His goodness.

J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 17.

Religion very much consists in taking things out of their common places, and in removing them from a lower to a higher level. To a Christian, everything becomes great; everything has an eternity; everything owns God as its Author, and God as its final end and object. And to feel this, to recognise in everything its own inherent grandeur, to see in it the infinite and realise its vast capability, to trace it from its first real source, to hold it in God, to use it for God, to dedicate it to God,-this is consecration.

Consider how we may consecrate suffering.

I. To consecrate, the first thing must be, by one express, deliberate act, to dedicate the suffering. From the time this is done, you may call your pain, or your sorrow, not so much a suffering, as an offering; as much as if you laid it upon an actually material altar, it is an offering.

II. You will do well always to remember that the consecration of the little things in a trial is quite as important as the consecration of what at first sight appeared to be the greater things. A great cross, as men see it, is not generally the real cross; but the lesser cross which the great cross brings with it consecrates this.

III. Consecrate the uses of suffering, whatever those uses may be. All our sorrows and sufferings are available for others, and are intended as means for usefulness.

IV. Of all this consecration of suffering, the great exemplar is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wish to know the way to consecrate, study Him. His aim is single to the Father’s glory. Self is nowhere; love and service everywhere. “For the joy set before Him”-the joy of a glorified Church-“He endured the cross, despising the shame.”

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 85.

References: Isa 24:15.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 275; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 319. Isa 24:23.-R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, vol. iii., p. 83, vol. ii., p. 200. Isa 25:3, Isa 25:4.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages from the Prophets, vol. i., p. 54.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 24

The Day of Jehovah

1. Jehovah dealing with the earth(Isa 24:1) 2. All classes affected (Isa 24:2) 3. The Desolations described (Isa 24:3-12) 4. The Jewish Remnant during the trouble (Isa 24:13-20) 5. The punishment of the high ones and kings (Isa 24:21-22) 6. Jehovahs reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem (Isa 24:23)A marvellous chapter. Not a word of it has ever been fulfilled. The great day of Jehovah is that day of which Isaiah speaks in chapter 2, Zephaniah in chapter 1, Zechariah in chapters 12-14 and every other prophet. It is the day of 2Th 1:7-10.

Notice that chapters 24-27 are a continuous prophecy. To break them into chapters has been a mistake. Study the phrase in that day. Find what Jehovah will do in the day of His manifestation. He will judge and He will bless. Singing begins in that day.

The high ones in Isa 24:21 are the wicked spirits in the heavenly places Eph 6:1-24. The Kings on earth are the Kings mentioned in Psa 2:1-12 and Rev 19:19. Their visitation after many days will be a visitation of judgment and not of blessing.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

maketh

(See Scofield “Gen 1:2”) See Scofield “Is 4:23”

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

am 3292, bc 712

maketh the: Isa 1:7-9, Isa 5:6, Isa 6:11, Isa 6:12, Isa 7:17-25, Isa 27:10, Isa 32:13, Isa 32:14, Isa 42:15, Jer 4:7, Eze 5:14, Eze 6:6, Eze 12:20, Eze 24:11, Eze 35:14, Nah 2:10, Luk 21:24

turneth it upside down: Heb. perverteth the face thereof, Isa 29:16, 2Ki 21:13, Psa 146:9, Act 17:6

scattereth: Deu 4:27, Deu 28:64, Deu 32:26, Neh 1:8, Jer 9:16, Jer 40:15, Jer 50:17, Eze 5:2, Zec 13:7-9, Jam 1:1

Reciprocal: Gen 7:23 – every living substance Lev 26:32 – And I Deu 4:26 – ye shall Deu 29:25 – they have forsaken Job 9:6 – shaketh Psa 46:8 – desolations Psa 75:3 – earth Psa 79:7 – laid Psa 89:10 – scattered Isa 10:23 – determined Isa 17:9 – General Isa 24:3 – shall Isa 24:19 – General Isa 28:22 – a consumption Isa 29:2 – I will Isa 33:9 – earth Isa 34:2 – the indignation Jer 2:15 – they made Jer 4:27 – The Jer 21:6 – I will Jer 22:6 – surely Jer 28:8 – prophesied Jer 51:34 – he hath made Eze 7:12 – let Eze 7:14 – for Eze 20:47 – from the south Eze 36:4 – desolate Zep 1:13 – their goods Zep 1:18 – but Mal 2:12 – the master and the scholar 1Co 7:29 – that both

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The last of these cities, upon which a “burden” rested, being disposed of, the prophetic strain moves on to make known in a more general way what would be the state of things at the end of the age. It is a dark and sorrowful picture: the whole earth turned upside down and the inhabitants scattered, no matter to what class they belonged. And not only Israel is in view, for though the closing accusations of verse Isa 24:5 may have special reference to them, since laws and ordinances were specially given to them, the covenant of law, given at Sinai, could not be termed “everlasting.” The reference here is rather to the covenant established with Noah and the new world of nations of which he was the head, according to Gen 9:9.

The first 12 verses of the chapter are filled with the gloom of earthly judgments, but when we reach verse Isa 24:13 light begins to break, for a remnant of God-fearing ones is indicated, under the same figure as was used in Isa 17:6. So that, even in the darkest hour, a note of praise will be sounded and God will be acknowledged and honoured; and that in all parts, for “the fires,” is a poetic expression for the east, and “isles of the sea” for the west.

Thus God will have His witnesses in all parts, though in the presence of abounding evil and the judgments of God they may only be conscious of their leanness. Thus indeed it ever is and must be with God’s true servants. It is the false who speak of their fatness, as “rich and increased with goods.” God may empower His servants by His Spirit, but they are conscious of nothing but leanness in themselves.

Verses Isa 24:17-20, give us a graphic description of the terrible overturning of all human order and institutions, that lies ahead. Six times in these verses is “the earth” mentioned, referring rather to the established order and world-system of things than to the actual earth-crust on which we live. All will be violently shaken before they are removed by the presence of the Lord.

The three verses that close the chapter show the effect of His presence. Not only will punishment fall on the kings of the earth but also “the host of the high ones… on high ” will be judged and “shut up in the prison.” What this means comes out more fully in the book of Revelation, where we learn of Satan and his angels being cast out of the heavens, and then Satan himself bound in the abyss, when the kings of the earth, under the leadership of the beast, are consigned to their doom. God will judge not only the nations but also the Satanic powers behind the nations. We get a glimpse of these powers in Dan 10:13, Dan 10:20.

Then shall be established a new order of things in the presence of which the very institutions of heaven will be confounded, for Jehovah of hosts will reign in glory “before His ancients.” This is a remarkable word. He does not reign over His ancients when He reigns in Zion and Jerusalem, but before them. They are witnesses of His glory, and remind us of the “elders” of Rev 5:1-14. The word here might be translated “elders,” we understand, which confirms the thought.

And, who is this Jehovah of hosts? He is evidently “the King of glory,” but, as Psa 24:1-10 asks twice “Who is this King of glory)” We know He is the One who bowed His sacred head in death for our sakes, according to Psa 22:1-31. So our chapter ends with the power of evil – both in its fountain head and in its ramifications – smitten from the earth and the Lord Jesus enthroned at earth’s centre and reigning before the delighted eyes of His ancients.

No wonder therefore that Isa 25:1-12 opens with a note of praise. The Lord will then have visibly done wonderful things, and His counsels of old will have been fulfilled in faithfulness and truth. When these things come to pass it will be easy to sing the note of praise, but it is our privilege as Christians to praise before they have come to pass: to –

“Sing – till heaven and earth surprising,

Reigns the Nazarene alone.”

When the glad millennial day dawns it will mean the overthrow of man’s strong cities and of the terrible nations that built them. It will also mean the shelter and uplifting of the godly remnant, as indicated in verse Isa 24:4. Jehovah will prove Himself to be for them “a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat.” We turn to Isa 32:2. and we find that the same two things are to be found in a Man: truly an extraordinary statement, for an ordinary man in a tornado is but the sport of the elements and no refuge at all. In very deed, the MAN of chapter 32 is no ordinary man, but to be identified with the Jehovah of our chapter. We know Him as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The power of the great adversary, and of the nations who have become his tools, having been disposed of, full earthly blessing will be brought to pass, described as a feast of fat things and of old, well-matured wine. It may have been to this that our Lord referred, when He uttered the words recorded in Mat 26:29. The day of earthly joy is coming, and it will extend to “all peoples,” for the word there is in the plural. Yet the centre of it will be “this mountain,” referring to mount Zion, mentioned in the last verse of the previous chapter. Jerusalem doubtless is indicated, but mentioned in such a way as to emphasise that the blessing will be given as an act of mercy and not as the reward of merit.

Moreover, there will be a work Divinely wrought in the hearts of all who enter that glad age. The power of the adversary has cast a covering, or a veil over all the peoples, and it will be completely removed. The Apostle Paul uses a similar figure in 2Co 3:1-18; 2Co 4:1-18, only applying it more particularly to Israel, based upon the veil that Moses wore. Yet he makes it more general in chapter 4, when he claimed that he put no veil on the Gospel he preached, and that any veil that existed had its seat in those that were lost. When today the veil is lifted from a sinner’s eyes, and he discovers his Saviour, it is the gracious work of the Spirit of God. Today it is an individual matter. In that day it will be on a world-wide scale, and it will result in the discovery that is brought before us in verse Isa 24:9.

But we must not overlook the great statements of verse Isa 24:8, particularly the one that Paul quotes in 1Co 15:54, as finding fulfilment in the day of resurrection. Whether the saints who lived before Christ came, discerned the resurrection in these glorious words, may be open to question, but we now know what they infer, and in the faith of them the victory enters our hearts, and we have it before the actual day of resurrection dawns. Death being removed, the tears, that by reason of it have been on innumerable faces, will be wiped away for ever, and the “rebuke,” or “reproach” of His people will be gone for ever too. Primarily no doubt, His “people” here refers to the redeemed and born again Israel, who will enter the millennial age.

But it will be true for all saints – those who by resurrection enter the heavenly world, as well as those blessed upon the earth. Through all the ages God’s saints have walked in reproach. Enoch must have looked odd in his day, and certainly Abraham in his. From a worldly standpoint how foolish of Moses to leave the splendid place he had in the court of Pharaoh! And so we might continue till we come to Paul and his associates who were “fools for Christ’s sake.” What are we who profess the name of Christ? Have we so accommodated ourselves to the spirit of the age that reproach for Christ is hardly known by us? If so, we shall miss in large measure the thrill of that hour, which will surely come, for “the Lord hath spoken it.”

The salvation which will reach Israel in that day will be wholly and obviously of the Lord, and publicly owned as such. The godly, who will enjoy the salvation, will be those who have ceased from their own efforts and have waited for Him to intervene on their behalf, just as today the sinner who receives the salvation of his soul does so when he learns to condemn himself, ends his strivings, and trusts in the Saviour. Then too he gets deliverance from his spiritual foes, just as Israel will get deliverance from Moab and other enemies, as the closing verses of our chapter show. In that day they will exclaim as they see the glorified Jesus, “Lo, this is our God.”

Then in the opening verse of Isa 26:1-21, we get the jubilant song that will be heard in the land of Judah in that day. The prophecy still centres geographically in Jerusalem and mount Zion. The city will at last be strong inasmuch as its protection will be the salvation which God will have appointed. No other city has been besieged so often as Jerusalem, but at last its sorrows will be over, and its inhabitants be described as “the righteous nation which keepeth the truth.”

The sequence of thought here is to be noted. First, salvation, then, righteousness, thirdly, peace. But peace is to be enjoyed as the mind and heart is stayed in simple trust on the Lord. Hence the exhortation of verse Isa 24:4, where the name of the Almighty is, so to speak, duplicated. It is “JAH-JEHOVAH,” to emphasize that He is indeed “the Rock of Ages” – as shown in the margin of our reference bibles. Isaiah uttered this exhortation to the men of his day, before God’s delivering might was manifested. It is equally valid for us today; indeed more so, since to us God has been made known in Christ in a far more intimate way.

But this deliverance for the godly will involve the work of judgment upon the world of the ungodly, as verses Isa 24:5-11 show. God is presented as the most “Upright” One in verse Isa 24:7. He weighs the path of the just, which has a character in keeping with Himself. So, while the godly wait for His judgments to be made manifest, His name is the object of their desire and they are sustained by the remembrance of Him as He had been revealed to them. This saying is sometimes linked with 1Co 11:24, 1Co 11:25, “in remembrance of Me,” and not unjustly, we think. Only, their desires and remembrance will be directed to One, who had made Himself known to them in the past by deliverance through judgment. We remember the One who expressed Divine love through death on our behalf, while our desire goes out for His return in glory.

This passage is in complete accord with the fact that the Gospel is being preached not to convert the world but to gather out of it “a people for His name” (Act 15:14). Favour has been “showed to the wicked” for over nineteen centuries, and unrighteousness is still as rampant, if not more rampant, than ever. The hour approaches when God’s judgments will be let loose in all the earth, and then at last those who come out of the judgments will have learned righteousness. Verse Isa 24:10 also shows that what is wrong is not merely man’s circumstances but man himself. Put “the wicked” into “the land of uprightness” and still “will he deal unjustly.” Many an ardent Communist or Socialist agitates, and labours to improve the conditions under which the masses of mankind live, under the mistaken notion that granted right conditions all would be well. The fact is that the root of the evil lies in man, and the wrong conditions have been created by him. Put fallen man in his unconverted state into the most ideal conditions and he will overturn and mar them.

In verses Isa 24:12-18, the prophet addresses the Lord on behalf of the remnant who fear Him. He confesses what a redeemed Israel will be brought to confess in the coming day. The peace that they then will enjoy is wholly the work of God. They will no longer speak of their works but of the works He had wrought on their behalf. Then as a result of this they are delivered from the old idolatrous powers that formerly forded it over them. No other name but that of Jehovah will be on their lips, and the very memory of their dead idols will have perished. Then they confess that only under the chastisements that God inflicted on them, have they turned to Him and been increased. Their own efforts produced no deliverance for themselves nor for the earth.

Verses Isa 24:19-21, give the answer of God to this prayer of confession. “Thy dead shall live, My dead bodies shall arise” (New Trans.). Here we have in a brief statement what is given in more detail in Eze 37:1-28, and alluded to in Dan 12:2 – the national reviving of Israel, when God raises up and gathers His elect. They had been dwelling “in dust” – or, as it is put in Daniel, sleeping “in the dust of the earth” – they were to awake and sing It is worthy of note that, when proving to the Sadducees from Scripture the fact of the resurrection, our Lord did not quote these scriptures but went back to His words to Moses.

Though many Jews are now back in the land of their fathers this national reviving of a spiritual sort has not yet come to pass, nor will it until “the indignation,” of verse Isa 24:20 has taken place. We identify the “indignation” with the “great tribulation” of Mat 24:21 which in its most intense form will fall upon the Jew, though “all the world” (Rev 3:10), will come under the stroke. The God-fearing remnant, owned here as “My people,” are called upon to hide themselves during that terrible period, and this anticipates the fuller instructions given by the Lord in Mat 24:15-21.

The severity of that hour and its world-wide effects are stated in the last verse of our chapter. For well-nigh two thousand years the Lord has been in His place of mercy towards rebellious man. Then it is said, “The Lord cometh out of His place to punish,” not the Jew only but “the inhabitants of the earth” generally. Judgment is spoken of as His “strange” work, but it will come to pass in its season, and we must never forget it. Israel’s revival will take place when the tribulation is over. The believer today may look to be taken out of the very “hour” of the coming tribulation, according to Rev 3:10.

Isa 27:1-13 continues the theme in somewhat poetic language. Note how four times is repeated the phrase, “In that day.” Judgment in the first place will reach the evil power that lies beneath the restless “sea” of nations. This “dragon” that is in the sea can be no other than Satan, and Revelation no reveals how he will be dealt with. Then at last Israel will be no longer a fruitless vine but rather “A vineyard of red wine.” Then peace will ensue and Israel will be like a tree that is full of blossom, and fill the face of the world with fruit; becoming what God from the outset intended them to be. This will never come to pass as the result of their efforts. They will have to fulfil what is said at the beginning of verse Isa 24:5, “let him take hold of My strength.”

Verses Isa 24:7-11 however, show that this desirable end will only be reached when God brings to a finish His governmental judgments upon that people. There is “the iniquity of Jacob” which will have to be purged from them by these severe dealings from the hand of God. Yet, even so, the smitings that will fall upon them will not reach the severity of those that will be visited upon the nations who smote them. Upon these there will fall unsparing judgment, but for Jacob the smitings will reach to the altars and groves and sun-images which shall be ground to powder. Thus the very judgments that God will inflict upon His people, largely by the hand of other people, will have the effect of destroying the very things that had been a snare to them.

In verse Isa 24:12 we meet with the phrase, “In that day” for the third time. There is to be once more a gathering of His people from the land of Egypt, but this time in a very different way. Then Moses brought them out in their thousands as a nation, but in the coming day it will be an individual matter. One by one they will be put right with God, and so gathered to the place of blessing.

But verse Isa 24:13 declares that in that day, though there must be the individual work indicated, there will be great publicity about it. The “great trumpet” shall sound, announcing this mighty work of God, as also our Lord Himself declared in Mat 24:31. Publicly the house of Jacob has been disciplined and overthrown through the long and weary centuries: as publicly shall they be recovered, restored and blessed, when God’s work with them and in them is brought to completion. Then at last in the holy mount at Jerusalem they shall give to the Lord that worship which is His due. What a day that will be!

But how privileged are we, Christians, who may worship God revealed as Father, while praise is still silent in Zion. We worship today in spirit and in truth; presently God will be addressed as “Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psa 22:3).

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Isa 24:1. Behold, &c. According to Vitringa, the third book of Isaiahs prophecies begins with this chapter, and extends to the thirty-sixth, being divided into three discourses; the first comprehending four chapters, the second six, and the third two. The general subject of the book is the penal judgments denounced by God upon the disobedient Jews, and the enemies of the church, with the most ample promises to the true church. This first discourse, contained in this and the three following chapters, Bishop Lowth thinks, was delivered before the destruction of Moab by Shalmaneser, (see Isa 25:10,) and consequently before the destruction of Samaria, and probably in the beginning of Hezekiahs reign. The Lord maketh the earth empty The word , here translated the earth, may, with equal propriety, be rendered the land, as indeed it is in Isa 24:3; Isa 24:13 of this chapter, and very frequently elsewhere. The land of Canaan seems to be here meant, including both Israel and Judah, which was made empty when the inhabitants of it were carried into captivity, which they were, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans. And it was made still more empty and desolate in the last and great destruction of its cities and people, particularly of Jerusalem and its inhabitants by the Romans; of which see on Deu 28:62. To this destruction especially the prophet is thought to refer in many parts of this chapter.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isa 24:17. Fear, and the pit. This is a figure of hunting, the wild beasts being chased into pits dug in narrow passages, and covered with green branches. So the great ones should be caught, by the great one of Assyria.

Isa 24:21. The host of the high oneson high. Priests and princes are here to be understood. The apostle Paul might have this in view, when he speaks of wrestling against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6. Origen dreams here of the souls of men, which inhabit the planets!

REFLECTIONS.

The prophets wrote their predictions on separate scrolls of parchment, and those who compiled them have not always been happy in the arrangements. From the thirteenth to the twenty fifth chapter we have a series of predictions concerning the punishment and the fall of nations, but obviously without order; for the fall of Babylon which happened among the last, stands the first. The prophet having borne the burden of surrounding nations, lays here the final burden at the door of his own country, when the rich and the poor should be involved in the common confusion. The visitation in this chapter has no date, and the besom of destruction which was about to sweep the earth has no name, nor was it needful. Nineveh had conquered Babylon, and was pouring forth little less than a million of men to make the earth empty; namely all western Asia, here called the earth; for the great and ancient empires proudly called the world their own. Luk 2:1. The Assyrians, in the career of conquest, had a peculiar character of ingenious cruelty; they cut off more than half the inhabitants, and removed the others to distant colonies, where they would improve the country, and be less apt to rebel. To these sore calamities they alike exposed the prince and the people, the maid and the mistress, the buyer and the seller.

The prophet next describes his own country in particular, and the causes of its calamities. The haughty princes and people of Israel were made to languish, because they had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and totally broken the everlasting covenant which they had made with God on Sinai. Divine truth and justice required that the curses of the covenant should come upon them. Samaria, the city of idolatrous confusion, was already broken down. When God punished the apostates, he took care of his own people. But the church was, if we may follow the Port-royal bible, as the few olives which remain upon a tree after it has been stripped of its fruit. Micah viewed the faithful church in the same manner. Woe is me, for I am as when they had gathered the summer fruits, and as the gleaning of the vintage. Zephaniah says, I will leave a poor and an afflicted people in the midst of thee, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Believer, hearken then to Christ, who bids thee not be afraid of wars and rumours of wars. God has promised protection, and his providence has wonderfully supported the promise.

The saints ought to weep for the calamities of the earth, while they sing and rejoice in Gods protecting love.But I said, my leanness, my leanness. My flesh wastes away with sorrow for the cruelties of the king of Assyria, who is a treacherous dealer and a covenant breaker. Scarcely had he made peace with Hezekiah, before he sent Rabshakeh to destroy Jerusalem. But heaven revolted at this; and his cruelties soon met with a just reward. See chap. 37.

After the dark and cloudy day, we see the evening sun shine out with cheering rays, when the Lord Messiah shall reign before his ancient patriarchs and prophets gloriously, in his spiritual Zion.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isaiah 24. A World-wide Judgment Foretold.The apocalypse opens with the description of a judgment on the whole world. This judgment is predicted, it has not already happened. It will involve all in one common ruin, every distinction of class will be obliterated. For the worlds inhabitants have broken the covenant made with Noah, in which bloodshed was forbidden (Gen 9:5 f.). On bloodshed the huge empires have been founded and they shall perish in the blood they have spilt. Few men will be left, merriment ceases for wine is scarce, and the revellers who drink wine and strong drink find no pleasure in it. The city of false gods has its walls broken, the houses are closely barricaded, all gladness has gone, the city is desolation, the gate in ruins. The survivors are proportionately as few as the olives left to be beaten off the tree, or the few grapes to be gleaned when the principal gathering of olives and grapes is past. What follows (Isa 24:14-16) is very difficult. The text is corrupt, and the verses do not fit into their present context. Possibly the remnant is described as singing songs of praise, in which the prophet feels that he cannot join. With Isa 24:17 we return to the prediction of judgment. The worlds inhabitants are menaced by terror, pit and snare. They escape from one only to fall into another. For heavens windows are opened (Gen 2:6 f.*, Gen 7:11), and the waters of the heavenly ocean descend in flood, while earthquakes of appalling violence heighten the catastrophe. Then Yahweh will punish the heavenly principalities and powers, the angels of the nations, their guardian princes (Dan 10:13*), along with the earthly rulers of these nations who have been incited by their malign inspiration to oppress Yahwehs people (cf. *Psalms 58, 82). They are to be shut up for a season in a subterranean dungeon, the pits of darkness of 2Pe 2:4, to await, as that passage also says, their final judgment. Then Yahweh in person will reign in Zion, so resplendent in glory before the elders of His people that the sun and the moon shall seem dim by comparison.

Isa 24:10. city of confusion: city of tohu (the word rendered waste in Gen 1:2), possibly so called here to mean the city that is to become waste, but more probably the meaning is city of false gods (cf. 1Sa 12:21). The city is not Jerusalem, but the capital of the kingdom of evil, the centre of the forces and tendencies which are hostile to God.

Isa 24:11. is darkened: read perhaps has passed away.

Isa 24:16. glory: render honour.

Isa 24:18. windows on high: Gen 7:11.a hut: a flimsy structure (cf. Isa 1:8).visited: not in mercy but in judgment.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the {a} earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad its inhabitants.

(a) This prophecy is as a conclusion of that which has been threatened to the Jews and other nations from the 13th chapter and therefore by the earth he means those lands which were named before.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The preservation of God’s people within a world under divine judgment 24:1-20

Isaiah revealed that the Lord’s people are at the center of His plans for the world (cf. Isa 14:2; Isa 21:10). He will preserve them even though He will judge sinful humanity. It is believers who will be living on the earth during the Lord’s devastation of this planet that are in view (Tribulation saints), not Christians living before the Tribulation who will be taken to heaven in the Rapture before the Tribulation begins. This passage contains many connections with the Flood narrative (Genesis 6-9). Essentially, what God did in Noah’s day-i.e., the preservation of the righteous-He will do in the future Tribulation (cf. Mark 13).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Coming worldwide judgment 24:1-6

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The prophet predicted that the Lord would lay the earth (land) waste, the sum total of all the nations, including those representative ones condemned in the oracles. Isaiah always used "behold" to introduce something future (cf. Isa 3:1; Isa 17:1; Isa 19:1; Isa 30:27; et al.). [Note: Delitzsch, 1:425] He would do the reverse of what He did in the Creation, when He brought order out of chaos (cf. Gen 1:2). He would devastate the earth, making it desolate. He would distort the surface of the earth, as when the Flood changed the topography of this planet. And He would scatter the earth’s inhabitants, as He did at Babel (Gen 11:9).

"It is not easy to know how literally these words will be fulfilled, but in these days of threatened ecological and nuclear catastrophe, it is not at all difficult to imagine a very literal fulfillment, and one which will indeed be the result of human greed and covetousness." [Note: Oswalt, p. 444.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

BOOK 5

PROPHECIES NOT RELATING TO ISAIAH’S TIME

In the first thirty-nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah-the half which refers to the prophets own career and the politics contemporary with that – we find four or five prophecies containing no reference to Isaiah himself nor to any Jewish king under whom he laboured, and painting both Israel and the foreign world in quite a different state from that in which they lay during his lifetime. These prophecies are chapter 13, an Oracle announcing the Fall of Babylon, with its appendix, Isa 14:1-23, the Promise of Israels Deliverance and an Ode upon the Fall of the Babylonian Tyrant; chapters 24-27, a series of Visions of the breaking up of the universe, of restoration from exile, and even of resurrection from the dead; chapter 34, the Vengeance of the Lord upon Edom; and chapter 35, a Song of Return from Exile.

In these prophecies Assyria is no longer the dominant world-force, nor Jerusalem the inviolate fortress of God and His people. If Assyria or Egypt is mentioned, it is but as one of the three classical enemies of Israel; and Babylon is represented as the head and front of the hostile world. The Jews are no longer in political freedom and possession of their own land; they are either in exile or just returned from it to a depopulated country. With these altered circumstances come another temper and new doctrine. The horizon is different, and the hopes that flush in dawn upon it are not quite the same as those which we have contemplated with Isaiah in his immediate future. It is no longer the repulse of the heathen invader; the inviolateness of the sacred city; the recovery of the people from the shock of attack, and of the land from the trampling of armies. But it is the people in exile, the overthrow of the tyrant in his own home, the opening of prison doors, the laying down of a highway through the wilderness, the triumph of return, and the resumption of worship. There is, besides, a promise of the resurrection, which we have not found in the prophecies we have considered.

With such differences, it is not wonderful that many have denied the authorship of these few prophecies to Isaiah. This is a question that can be looked at calmly. It touches no dogma of the Christian faith. Especially it does not involve the other question, so often-and, we venture to say, so unjustly-started on this point, Could not the Spirit of God have inspired Isaiah to foresee all that the prophecies in question foretell, even though he lived more than a century before the people were in circumstances to understand them? Certainly, God is almighty. The question is not, Could He have done this? but one somewhat different: Did He do it? and to this an answer can be had only from the prophecies themselves. If these mark the Babylonian hostility or captivity as already upon Israel, this is a testimony of Scripture itself, which we cannot overlook, and beside which even unquestionable traces of similarity to Isaiahs style or the fact that these oracles are bound up with Isaiahs own undoubted prophecies have little weight. “Facts” of style will be regarded with suspicion by any one who knows how they are employed by both sides in such a question as this; while the certainty that the Book of Isaiah was put into its present form subsequently to his life will permit of, -and the evident purpose of Scripture to secure moral impressiveness rather than historical consecutiveness will account for, -later oracles being bound up with unquestioned utterances of Isaiah.

Only one of the prophecies in question confirms the tradition that it is by Isaiah, viz., chapter 13, which bears the title “Oracle of Babylon which Isaiah, son of Amoz, did see”; but titles are themselves so much the report of tradition, being of a later date than the rest of the text, that it is best to argue the question apart from them.

On the other hand, Isaiahs authorship of these prophecies, or at least the possibility of his having written them, is usually defended by appealing to his promise of return from exile in chapter 11 and his threat of a Babylonish captivity in chapter 39. This is an argument that has not been fairly met by those who deny the Isaianic authorship of chapters 13-14, 23, 24-28, and 35. It is a strong argument, for while, as we have seen, there are good grounds for believing Isaiah to have been likely to make such a prediction of a Babylonish captivity as is attributed to him in Isa 39:6, almost all the critics agree in leaving chapter 11 to him. But if chapter 11 is Isaiahs, then he undoubtedly spoke of an exile much more extensive than had taken place by his own day. Nevertheless, even this ability in 11 to foretell an exile so vast does not account for passages in 13-14:23, 24-27, which represent the Exile either as present or as actually over. No one who reads these chapters without prejudice can fail to feel the force of such passages in leading him to decide for an exilic or post-exilic authorship.

Another argument against attributing these prophecies to Isaiah is that their visions of the last things, representing as they do a judgment on the whole world, and even the destruction of the whole material universe, are incompatible with Isaiahs loftiest and final hope of an inviolate Zion at last relieved and secure, of a land freed from invasion and wondrously fertile, with all the converted world, Assyria and Egypt, gathered round it as a centre. This question, however, is seriously complicated by the fact that in his youth Isaiah did undoubtedly prophesy a shaking of the whole world and the destruction of its inhabitants, and by the probability that his old age survived into a period whose abounding sin would again make natural such wholesale predictions of judgment as we find in chapter 24.

Still, let the question of the eschatology be as obscure as we have shown, there remains this clear issue. In some chapters of the Book of Isaiah, which, from our knowledge of the circumstances of his times, we know must have been published while he was alive, we learn that the Jewish people has never left its land, nor lost its independence under Jehovahs anointed, and that the inviolateness of Zion and the retreat of the Assyrian invaders of Judah, without effecting the captivity of the Jews, are absolutely essential to the endurance of Gods kingdom on earth. In other chapters we find that the Jews have left their land, have been long in exile (or from other passages have just returned), and that the religious essential is no more the independence of the Jewish State under a theocratic king, but only the resumption of the Temple worship. Is it possible for one man to have written both these sets of chapters? Is it possible for one age to. have produced them? That is the whole question.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary