Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 25:4
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.
4, 5. Its happy consequences nor Israel. The “for” may refer back to Isa 25:1 or to Isa 25:3; in either case the judgment on the oppressive city is regarded as a signal proof of Jehovah’s protecting care over His people.
For strength render stronghold, as in R.V.
when the blast wall ] Lit., “for the blast of the terrible ones is as rain of a wall.” The construction is too condensed to be natural. A better rendering would be “as rain of winter” (reading qr for qr). But the whole clause is justly suspected by some critics of being a gloss, on account of its prosaic character, and its doubtful appropriateness in the context.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For thou hast been a strength to the poor – Thou hast sustained and upheld them in their trials, and hast delivered them. God is often spoken of as the strength of his people. Isa 26:4 : In the Lord Yahweh is everlasting strength. Psa 27:1 : The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Psa 28:8; Psa 29:11; Psa 31:2; Psa 46:1; Isa 45:24. By the poor and the needy here undoubtedly are mean; the captive Jews who had been stripped of their wealth, and carried from their homes, and confined in Babylon.
A refuge – A place of safety; a retreat; a protection. God is often spoken of as such a refuge; Deu 33:27 : The eternal God is thy refuge. 2Sa 22:3; Psa 9:9; Psa 14:6; Psa 46:1, Psa 46:7, Psa 46:11; Psa 57:1; Psa 59:16)
From the storm – This word ( zerem) usually denotes a tempest of wind and rain. Here it is put for calamity and affliction. The figure is common in all languages.
A shadow from the heat – (See Isa 4:6, note; Isa 16:3, note; compare Isa 32:2.)
When the blast of the terrible ones – Of the fierce, mighty, invading enemies. When they sweep down all before them as a furious tempest does.
Is as a storm against the wall – For wall here ( qiyr), Lowth proposes to read qur, from qarar, to be cold or cool, and supposes that this means a winters storm. In this interpretation also Vitringa and Cappellus coincide. But there is no need of supposing an error in the text. The idea is, probably, that of a fierce driving storm that would prostrate walls and houses; meaning a violent tempest, and intending to describe in a striking manner the severity of the calamities that had come upon the nation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 25:4
For Thou hast been a strength to the poor
Poor and needy
Among the names applied to Gods people there are three which were destined to play an enormous part in the history of religion.
In the English version these appear as two: poor and needy; but in the original they are three. In Isa 25:4 : Thou has been astronghold to the poor and a stronghold to the needy, poor renders a Hebrew word, dal, literally, wavering, tottering, infirm, then slender or lean, then poor in fortune and estate; needy literally renders the Hebrew ebhyon, Latin egenus. In Isa 26:6 : The foot of thepoor and the steps of the needy, needy renders dal, while poor renders ani, a passive form–forced, afflicted, oppressed, then wretched, whether under persecution, poverty, loneliness, or exile, and so tamed, mild, meek. These three words, in their root ideas of infirmity, need, and positive affliction, cover among them every aspect of physical poverty and distress. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Poverty in the East
In the East poverty scarcely ever means physical disadvantage alone; in its train there follow higher disabilities. A poor Eastern cannot be certain of fair play in the courts of the land. He is very often a wronged man, with a fire of righteous anger burning in his breast. Again, and more important, misfortune is to the quick, religious instinct of the Oriental a sign of Gods estrangement. With us misfortune is so often only the cruelty, sometimes real, sometimes imagined, of the rich; the unemployed vents his wrath at the capitalist, the tramp shakes his fist after the carriage on the highway. In the East they do not forget to curse the rich, but they remember as well to humble themselves beneath the hand of God. With an unfortunate Oriental the conviction is supreme, God is angry with me; I have lost His favour. His soul eagerly longs for God. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Israels poverty of heart
These were four aspects of Israels poverty of heart, a hunger for pardon, a hunger for justice, a hunger for home, and a hunger for God. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
A refuge from the storm
A refuge from the storm
The conditions of our earth, and its varied phenomena, are employed by the sacred writers to represent many circumstances of human life. Troubles, especially when heavy and expressive of Divine displeasure, are represented in Holy Scripture as storms.
I. THIS IS A WORLD WHERE STORMS OFTEN GATHER AND TEMPESTS ON THIS PLANET ARE NEVER OUT OF PLACE. The storm has its mission as well as the calm. Among men, adversity of all kinds is a powerful agent in accomplishing necessary spiritual operations.
II. THIS IS A TIME OF STORMS AND TEMPESTS HERE ARE NOT OUT OF SEASON. The days of man upon earth are as the winter of his life. Death is the seed time, and immortality is the spring and summer and harvest. When the spring and summer have come, snow and hail are out of season; but during the winter of our being, hail and snow and rain are in season.
III. EVERY STORM IS RAISED AND GUIDED UNDER THE EYE AND HAND OF GOD. The stormy wind does not surprise Him. He determined that it should blow at such a moment, from such a quarter, with such a force, and with particular effects. Neither does it master Him. The stormy wind simply accomplishes His word.
IV. THE OBJECT OF EVERY STORM IS GOOD, ALTHOUGH THE PRESENT EXPERIENCE OF IT IS NOT JOYOUS, BUT GRIEVOUS. Hence the need of a refuge to the man of God. Have you marked how frequently God is spoken of as a refuge?
V. A PLACE TO BE A REFUGE MUST BE OUT OF THE STORM, OR, IF IN THE MIDST OF IT, MUST BE STRONGER THAN THE STORM. But how is it that we children of men come to take refuge in God? The Gospel reaches us with its wooing voice. In the mediation of Jesus, in His sympathy, love, and power we find refuge. And we come to make all the covenants and promises of God distinct refuges. There is a harbour or haven at every point of danger. Do you come to poverty? There are promises to the poor. Are you a widow? There are promises to the widow. And all the hopes which these covenants awaken become in turn so many refuges. In this world, quietness of mind and heart is a thing utterly impossible to a man who does not rest in his God. If you feel the need of a refuge, you may in that sorrow which another professes to despise find the very refuge which you seek in your God. And why? Say that your sensitiveness springs from weakness. Well, God has sympathy with your weakness. (S. Martin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. As a storm against the wall – “Like a winter – storm.”] For kir, read kor: or, as ir from arar, kir from karar. – Capellus.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, & c.; for thou hast defended thy poor and helpless people against the fiercest assaults of their enemies.
When the blast of the terrible one is as a storm against the wall; or, for (as this particle commonly signifies; or rather, therefore, as it is frequently used, because thou art their defender)
the blast of the terrible, or strong, or violent one, was like a storm (of hail, or rain, or wind) against a wall, which makes a great and terrible noise, but without any effect, for the wall stands firm in spite of it. It is probable the prophet in these words had a special respect to that miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the rage and attempt of Sennacherib; although the words be general, and include other deliverances of a like nature.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. the poor . . . needytheJews, exiles from their country (Isa 26:6;Isa 41:17).
heatcalamity (Isa 4:6;Isa 32:2).
blastthat is, wrath.
storma tempest ofrain, a winter flood, rushing against and overthrowing the wallof a house.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress,…. The people of God, who are poor and needy, both in a literal and in a spiritual sense; and especially when under afflicted circumstances, in times of desertion, temptation, bodily affliction, and persecution from men, which may be here chiefly intended; to whom the Lord is a strength: he strengthens their hearts, and his own grace in them; he sheds abroad his love in their hearts, which makes their mountain to stand strong; he directs them to Christ, in whom is strength, as well as righteousness; he strengthens them by his Spirit, his promises, word, and ordinances. Christ may be more especially meant; and it may refer to the strength and power he will give to his people in the latter day; when a small one shall be a strong nation; when the feeble shall be as David, and the house of David as the angel of the Lord; when they shall have got the victory over the beast, his mark and image, Isa 60:21:
a refuge from the storm; or tempestuous rain, or overflowing flood; as Christ is a refuge from the tempest and storm of divine wrath and vengeance, by his satisfaction and righteousness, Isa 32:2 so from the flood of persecution, by his power and providence, Re 12:15:
a shadow from the heat; which gives refreshment and rest, and is a protection from the scorching beams of the sun. Christ, as he is the shadow from the heat of a fiery law, from the flaming sword of justice, from the wrath of God, and the fiery darts of Satan’s temptations; so from the violence of persecution, which heat shall now be no more, antichrist being destroyed, Re 7:15:
when blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall; these terrible ones are either Satan and his principalities, who are very terrible to the Lord’s people; and whose temptations are like a strong wind, which beat against them as against a wall, but they stand, the Lord being their strength, refuge, and shadow; see Isa 49:24 or rather antichrist and his persecuting princes, the kings of the earth, that have joined him, and persecuted the saints, and have been terrible to them; and whose persecutions have been like a blustering strong wind, threatening to carry all before them; but the Lord has been their protection, and made them to stand as a wall, firm and immovable, against them. The Targum is,
“so the words of the wicked are to the righteous, as a storm that dasheth against a wall.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor. Hence we see the fruit of conversion, namely, that the Lord raises us from the dead, and brings us, as it were, out of the grave, stretching out his hand to us from heaven, to rescue us even from hell. This is our first access to him, for it is only in our poverty that he finds the means of exercising his kindness. To us in our turn, therefore, it is necessary that we be poor and needy, that we may obtain assistance from him; and we must lay aside all reliance and confidence in ourselves, before he display his power in our behalf. This is the reason why he visits us with chastisements and with the cross, by which he trains us, so that we may be able to receive his assistance and grace.
A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat. It is not without good reason that Isaiah adorns this description by these comparisons; for numerous and diversified temptations arise, and, in order to bear them courageously, it is necessary that the weak minds of men should be strengthened and fortified. On this account he says that God will be “a strength to the poor, a refuge from the storms, and a shadow from the heat;” because, whatever may be the nature of the dangers and assaults which threaten them, the Lord will protect his people against them, and will supply them with every kind of armor.
The breath of the strong or of the violent ones. In this passage, as in many others, (Gen 8:1; Exo 15:10; 1Kg 19:11,) רוח ( rūăch) signifies “the blowing of the wind,” and denotes the tremendous violence with which wicked men are hurried along against the children of God; for not only do they “breathe out threatenings and terrors,” (Act 9:1,) but they appear to vomit out fire itself.
A storm or flood against the wall. This is to the same purport as the former; for by this figure he means, that wicked men, when they obtain liberty to do mischief, rush on with such violence that they throw down everything that comes in their way, for to overthrow and destroy walls is more than if the water were merely flowing over the fields.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Thou hast been a strength . . .Literally, a fortress. The fierceness of the oppressor is represented by the intolerable heat, and the fierce tornado of an eastern storm, dashing against the wall, threatening it with destruction. From that storm the faithful servants of the Lord should find shelter as in the castle of the great King.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. For Another reason for a song of triumph is, that God came down to the low estate of his own suffering people. Of this, also, shall the nations take note. The people of God in captivity are the poor and the needy. The figures of heat and the storm are used to indicate persecutions which God’s people suffered.
Blast of the terrible ones These words express the violence of the persecutions from Chaldea’s tyrants.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 891
CHRIST A SUITABLE AND ALL SUFFICIENT HELP
Isa 25:4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
IT is generally thought that no great comfort can arise from meditating upon God: and this is true, as far as it respects those who are determined to live in sin: but to those who desire to serve and enjoy God, there cannot be a richer source of consolation: a view of his attributes, as displayed in the works of his providence and grace, would soon elevate our minds, and turn our fears and sorrows into thanksgiving and the voice of melody. We find the prophet breaking forth into rapture, O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee; I will praise thy name: but what was the foundation of this joy? It was, as he adds, for thou hast done wonderful things [Note: ver. 1.]: and what those wonders were, he informs us in the words which we are about to consider, in which we may see,
I.
What is here supposed respecting the Lords people
We forbear to mention the temporal calamities which Gods people are called to suffer, because they are common to the wicked as well as to the righteous. But there are many and severe afflictions peculiar to the godly. They are often in great distress,
1.
From a sense of guilt and danger
[When persons first begin to turn to God, they are often filled with horror at the sight of their past iniquities, and terrified with apprehensions of the wrath they have so justly merited. However stout-hearted any man may have been in the days of his ignorance, he no sooner sees what transgressions he has committed, and what a God he has defied, than, like Belshazzar at the sight of the hand-writing on the wall, his loins are loosed with fear, and his knees, as it were, smite one against the other [Note: Dan 5:5-6.]. The jailor, it should seem, from his treatment of Paul and Silas, was of a very ferocious disposition; but, when God smote him with a sense of sin, how was his heart appalled! he sprang in with trembling, end cried out before his prisoners, Sirs, What must I do to be saved [Note: Act 16:29-30.]? Thus it is, in a greater or less degree, with all: and many in this state have even envied the beasts the privilege of annihilation.]
2.
From the persecutions of an ungodly world
[From the days of Cain, even to this present hour, they who have been born after the flesh have persecuted those who were born after the Spirit [Note: Gal 4:29. 1Jn 3:12.]. And the more eminent any have been for piety, the more have they been the objects of the worlds hatred and contempt. With what astonishing cruelty were the saints of old treated! They, of whom God says, the world was not worthy, were made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things [Note: Heb 11:36-38. 1Co 4:13.]. What though the same violence does not rage at present? is the enmity of the carnal heart slain? Does not the same aversion to religion exist now as in former times? and is it not still found in many instances that our greatest foes are those of our own household? Yes; and in many instances is this a source of deep affliction, even as a terrible blast, and as a wintry storm.]
3.
From the temptations of Satan
[Whoever will set himself to seek the Lord must prepare his soul for temptation. Satan will not lose any of his vassals without endeavouring to reduce them to their former state of subjection. For this end he will harass the soul with his temptations, which, as fiery darts, will inflame it with evil passions, and with a venom will even drink up the spirits [Note: Eph 6:16. Job 6:4.]. How inexpressibly grievous these are to a child of God, may be seen by the bitter complaints of Paul respecting that thorn in his flesh, and his entreaties for deliverance from the buffetings of Satan [Note: 2Co 12:7-8.]. Never does a saint feel himself more needy and distressed than in circumstances like these; nor could any endure this conflict with the principalities and powers of darkness, if not upheld by an invisible and almighty arm.]
4.
From the hidings of Gods face
[God oftentimes, for wise and gracious ends, withdraws himself from his people, and suffers them to walk in darkness for a season, and without light. And this is incomparably the most distressing of all the trials that can be endured in this world. Our blessed Lord, who never complained of the cruelties exercised upon his body, cried out with inexpressible anguish, by reason of the dereliction he experienced in his soul, My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me [Note: Mat 27:46.]? Many too of his dearest children have mourned like him, and been ready to conclude that God had forsaken and forgotten them [Note: Isa 49:14. Psa 77:7-9.]. To estimate aright the greatness of this affliction, it must be felt; for neither words can express, nor imagination conceive, the gloom and misery of a deserted soul.]
Were we to view them in this light only, we should dread, rather than desire, to be of their number. But in the text, we see,
II.
Gods compassionate regard towards them
God is never more concerned about his people than when they are in heaviness through manifold temptations: nor will he merely afford them succour, but will himself be to them,
1.
A suitable help
[As the trials of the saints are various, so, of course, must their necessities be also: but whatever it be that they need, they shall surely receive it out of the Redeemers fulness. Is it a sense of guilt that oppresses them? God will apply to their lips a live coal from the altar, and say, Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged [Note: Isa 6:6-7.]. Are they bowed down under a weight of persecution, and destitute of human aid? He will strengthen them in their inward man, that they shall even rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for his sake [Note: Act 5:41. 2Ti 4:17.]. Are they buffeted by Satan? He will clothe them with armour, whereby they shall be enabled to resist him manfully, and to bruise him under their feet [Note: Eph 6:11.]. And has he himself forsaken them? It shall be but for a little moment [Note: Isa 54:7-8.], that they may learn when in darkness to stay themselves on him [Note: Isa 50:10.], and rejoice with more exalted joy in the renewed expressions of his love. Thus it is intimated in the text itself, that whether it be strength or protection, or whatever else, that we want, he will surely impart it to us.]
2.
A seasonable help
[God may suffer his people to lie a considerable time under their afflictions: but in the very instant that he sees it best to interpose, he will come to their support. This is not only intimated in the parable of the Importunate Widow, but absolutely promised, as a deduction from that parable; Shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? Verily I say unto you that he will avenge them speedily [Note: Luk 18:7-8.], that is, in the very best and fittest season. And how remarkably was this exemplified in his conduct towards Abraham! That holy patriarch was made to go three days journey to the mountain where he was to slay his son: he was permitted to take the wood, the fire, the knife, for the execution of the divine command; he was even suffered to bind his son, and lift up the knife that was instantly to inflict the fatal wound; and then it was that God stopped him by a voice from heaven. Thus in ten thousand other instances has that proverb been verified, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen [Note: Gen 22:14.]. And it is remarkable that the poor illiterate fishermen, who followed our Lord, were even ordered not to think beforehand what they should say, when summoned before their rulers, but to expect that the Holy Ghost should suggest to them at the moment what they ought to speak [Note: Mat 10:19-20.]; and though their example does not justify a want of foresight and premeditation in us, yet the promise made to them warrants us to look to God as a help, a present, a very present help in the time of trouble [Note: Psa 46:1.]; and to expect his interposition then, when the storm would otherwise overwhelm us.]
3.
A sufficient help
[However needy and distressed we be, God is able to support and deliver us. Though we be as worms, yet will he enable us to thresh the mountains [Note: Isa 41:14-15. Deu 33:25.]. And though earth and hell conspire against us, yet will he make us more than conquerors. Our weakness is no ground of discouragement: for his strength shall be perfected in our weakness [Note: 2Co 12:9.]. He has undertaken for us, and he will perform his engagements: and, sooner than not make us triumph over our enemies, he would cause the very stars in their courses to fight for us [Note: Jdg 5:20.], or the earth to open and swallow up our adversaries. Never has a child of God yet failed for want of his effectual aid; nor shall any one to all eternity: sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than one of his little ones shall perish [Note: Mat 18:14.].]
From this subject we may clearly see,
1.
The true nature of experimental religion
[The acknowledging of these things to be true does not constitute real piety: it is the experience of them in the soul that is the foundation, and indeed the very essence, of vital godliness. Our blessed Lord has said, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest [Note: Mat 11:28.]: and this comprehends all the whole work of Gods grace upon the soul. To be heavy-laden with a sense of sin; to seek rest in Christ; and to be brought by the Lord Jesus to an entire rest in God as our Father and our Friend; this, I say, is true religion: and the experience of this on earth will lead assuredly to the everlasting experience of it in heaven [Note: Rev 1:5-6.] ]
2.
The true nature of practical religion
[A form of godliness may easily exist without any of its power. Then only do we serve the Lord Jesus aright, when we are conformed to the image of Christ, and have learned to walk as he walked. Love is the very fulfilling of the law! and this love of Christ to us is the true pattern for our love to each other [Note: Eph 5:2.]. This is what becomes us as the elect of God [Note: Col 3:12-14.]: and this will be the test of our obedience in the day of judgment [Note: Mat 25:34-36.]. Let the same mind then be in you, as was in Christ Jesus [Note: Php 2:5.] And let this be the habitual exercise of it as far as your circumstances will admit [Note: If this be the subject of a Charity Sermon, this will be the place for opening the peculiar nature of the charity.] ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! look at Jesus, while reading these verses. Behold him as all this, and infinitely more: and what a rich enjoyment do those views in Him, and by Him, and from Him, afford the soul, under any, and all the exercises here spoken of; when we not only find a fence, and a strength, but refreshment and comfort; not only see ourselves sitting under his shadow, but tasting of his fruit; and not only enjoy his salvation, but find him to be himself the whole of our salvation! See those scriptures, Son 2:3-4 ; Isa 32:1-2 ; Psa 27:1-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.
Ver. 4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, ] &c. That is, thou hast protected thy poor people from the persecution of the Antichristian rout, saith Piscator. Great is God’s mercy in succouring his oppressed ones. This is here set forth by a double comparison: first,
A refuge from the storm, a shadow a from the heat, &c.] Where the Church’s enemies are compared to raging waters, that bear down all before them; God to a place of refuge to fly unto. Secondly,
a Christ is a shadow, &c., whereas all worldly comforts are but as so many burning glasses to scorch the soul more.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
strength= stronghold.
poor. Hebrew. dal = impoverished, reduced. See note on “poverty” Pro 6:11.
when the blast of the terrible ones is = for the blast of the terrible ones [is], &c.
blast. Hebrew. ruach (App-9), as in Isa 37:7. Exo 15:8. 2Ki 19:7. branch = triumphal song.
brought low = become low.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou hast: Isa 11:4, Isa 14:32, Isa 29:19, Isa 33:2, Isa 66:2, Job 5:15, Job 5:16, Psa 12:5, Psa 35:10, Psa 72:4, Psa 72:13, Psa 107:41, Psa 119:31, Zep 3:12, Jam 2:5
a refuge: Isa 4:5, Isa 4:6, Isa 32:2
when: Isa 32:18, Isa 32:19, Isa 37:3, Isa 37:4, Isa 37:36, Eze 13:11-13, Mat 7:25-27
Reciprocal: Exo 26:14 – a covering Deu 33:27 – eternal 1Sa 30:6 – David Psa 121:5 – thy shade Son 2:3 – I sat Isa 16:3 – make Isa 17:13 – but Isa 27:5 – let him Isa 28:2 – as a tempest Isa 28:17 – and the hail Isa 29:20 – the terrible Isa 49:10 – neither Jer 16:19 – my strength Jer 20:13 – for Jer 49:16 – terribleness Eze 28:7 – the terrible Eze 38:9 – shalt ascend Nah 1:7 – strong hold Mar 4:6 – the sun Heb 6:19 – both Rev 7:16 – the sun
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
25:4 For thou hast been a defence to the poor, a defence to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast {e} of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.
(e) The rage of the wicked is furious, till God breaks the force of it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Specifically, they will confess how He delivered those who trusted in Him (during the Tribulation) in spite of the fierce antagonism of their enemies, which was like driving rain (cf. Psa 61:2-4).