Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 26:11
LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: [but] they shall see, and be ashamed for [their] envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
11. To the eye of faith the lifting up of Jehovah’s hand has been manifest in the recent history of Israel, but, as in Isaiah’s time, there are some who “regard not the work of Jehovah nor see the operation of his hands” (ch. Isa 5:12); and for them further judgments are necessary. The first part of the verse is a categorical statement: Jehovah, thy hand hath been lifted up, [ yet ] they see not.
but they shall see people ] Lit., Let them see ( and be ashamed) [ thy ] jealousy for the people; i.e. “let them be put to shame when they see, &c.” The clause “and be ashamed” is a parenthesis, separating the verb from its object. “Jealousy for the people” is gen. of the obj., as Psa 69:9. For the idea cf. Zep 1:18; Eze 36:5. Similarly, the fire of thine enemies means “the fire (reserved) for thine enemies.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lord, when thy hand is lifted up – This is an explanation of the sentiment expressed in the former verse. The lifting up of the hand here refers, doubtless, to the manifestations of the majesty and goodness of the Lord.
They will not see – They are blind to all the exhibitions of power, mercy, and goodness.
But they shall see – They shall yet be brought to recognize thy hand. They shall see thy favor toward thy children, and thy judgment on thy foes. The divine dealings will be such that they shall be constrained to recognize him, and to acknowledge his existence and perfections.
And be ashamed – Be confounded because they did not sooner recognize the divine goodness.
For their envy at thy people – The word their is not in the Hebrew, and the sense is, that they shall see the zeal of Yahweh in behalf of his people, and shall be ashamed that they did not sooner recognize his hand. The word rendered envy ( qin’ah) may mean envy Ecc 4:4; Ecc 9:6, but it more properly and frequently means zeal, ardor, 2Ki 10:16; Isa 9:6).
Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them – Or rather, Yea, the fire in regard to thy enemies shall devour them. The sense is, that when his people were delivered, his foes would be destroyed; his zeal for his people would also be connected with indignation against his foes. The deliverance of his people from Babylon, and the commencement of the downfall of that city, were simultaneous, and the cause was the same.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 26:11
Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up they will not see
Mans blindness to the Divine working
Modern scepticism seeks to undeify the Deity; and yet, feeling that man must have a god of some sort, it deifies nature, and invests matter and the laws of the universe with the attributes of Divinity.
This is no new form of scepticism. The same evil existed among the Jews in the days of Isaiah. To this the prophet emphatically refers in our text. The lifting up of the hand refers to the gracious and loving tokens He had given of Himself; but a wilful blindness hid the Divine glory from the people.
I. MANS BLINDNESS TO THE DIVINE WORKING–
1. In the realm of matter. There are men who, while they behold and admire the work, care not to see or own the Worker.
2. In the realm of history. Men who look at events, whether small or great, in the lives of individuals or of nations, and are content to account for them by alluding simply to second causes, without learning to trace the hand of God, are guilty of the sin to which the text refers. National sins bring national judgments. One wicked king is often employed to scourge another, and when the scourger has done his work, then he himself in turn is also scourged. One wicked nation is employed to punish another for its sins, to humble its pride, and to check its guilty ambition.
3. In the realm of spirit. A vile and wicked person enters the sanctuary. His character is notoriously bad. He takes his seat in the pew beside you. During the service, God by His Spirit comes down upon him with mighty power. In answer to his prayer he experiences a renewal of heart. He announces the fact to you. And yet you think little or nothing about it. This does not affect you half as much as if you were told that you had made a hundred pounds by some fortunate speculation. Look at the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane. The ease is unique. Innocence is in agony. A merciful God pours the sorrows of abandonment and death into the soul of our holy Substitute. Yet His friends, His disciples, for whom He suffers, are fast asleep. But the disciples are only types of other men.
II. THE CAUSES OF THIS BLINDNESS.
1. Ignorance. The heathen, having no direct written revelation, are in darkness, and know not the truth. But their blindness to the supernatural can scarcely be pronounced wilful or criminal; it must be regarded as the fruit of ignorance. But as ignorance cannot be pleaded in our case, with our fulness of light, our blindness is wilful.
2. Indifference.
3. Absorption of thought in other things.
4. Pride of intellect. This reason reveals itself in the undue homage rendered to human reason. Thus saith the Lord must give way to Thus saith human reason.
5. Pride of heart. It develops itself in an obstinate refusal to submit to the authority of God.
III. THE REMOVAL OF THIS BLINDNESS. They shall see, and be ashamed, etc.
1. Sometimes men are brought to see by sad calamities and sore judgments.
2. Men are also brought to see by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
3. Many will see God in the hour of death. At the moment of dissolution, who will venture to say what strange visions of the supernatural will people the whole scene around them? Every object then will seem full of God.
4. In the day of judgment all men shall see. God will vindicate Himself, and overthrow the unbelief of His deniers by a personal revelation of Himself.
5. The result of all this unveiling will be shame and envy.
(1) Whether the discovery of God is made here or hereafter, shame must inevitably be the result. In the one ease it will be the shame of the penitent returning to God, full of conscious guilt; in the other it will be the shame of utter despair. It is to the latter our text refers. It is the shame of those who shall discover that they have wronged God, when there is no possibility of repairing the wrong. When the man discovers in the light of the future how full everything is of God, how God pervades all, he will be covered with shame–shame at his folly in resisting evidences so clear and conclusive; shame for having denied and rejected so reasonable and so elevating a system as Christianity; shame for having espoused so unreasonable and so degrading a theory as infidelity.
(2) Another result will be envy. They shall be ashamed for their envy at the people. In the margin it is rendered, Ashamed of their envy toward Thy people. It seems a startling truth, that the wicked, at some future period of their history, shall have such an insight into the glorious inheritance of the good as to have a clear conception of what they themselves might have obtained by grace, and of what they have lost by sin. This solemn truth is alluded to several times in the sacred Scriptures. Our Saviour saith, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. The rich man saw Lazarus in Abrahams bosom. When the unbelieving shall see the glorious portion of those who have believed, and contrast it with their own degrading wretchedness, they will envy the glorified, and be ashamed of that very envy. (R. Roberts.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; and they are guilty of the same obstinate blindness when thou dost smite and punish them, which is commonly signified by lifting up the hand, as Eze 44:12; Mic 5:9. Compare also 2Sa 20:21; 1Ki 11:26. Or, as others render it, when thine hand is high or exalted, i.e. when thy works are most evident and most glorious, when thou appearest most gloriously for the defence of thy people, and for the punishment of thine and their enemies, they will not see.
They shall see: the same word is repeated in another sense. They shall feel and know that by sad and costly experience, which they would not learn by other and easier ways. Seeing is oft put for feeling; in which sense men are said to see affliction, Lam 3:1, and to see death, Psa 89:48, and the like. At the people; or, at or towards thy people, the pronoun thy being repeated out of the following clause, as it is in many other places of Scripture, as hath been before noted. Their envy and hatred against Gods people blinded their minds, that they neither could nor would see that God was on their side, though the tokens of it were most manifest and undeniable; which was the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were not sensible that the Lord fought for Israel against the Egyptians, as they said, Exo 14:25, till it was too late.
The fire of thine enemies; not efficiently, but objectively; such fire or wrath as thou usest to pour forth upon thine implacable enemies. As my wrong, Gen 16:5, is not the wrong done by me, but to me; and my violence, Jer 2:35, is the violence done to me, as we translate it, not by me.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. lifted upto punish thefoes of God’s people. They who will not see shall bemade to “see” to their cost (Isa5:12).
their envy at the peoplethatis, “Thy people.” LOWTHtranslates, “They shall see with confusion Thy zeal for Thypeople.”
fire of . . . enemiesthatis, the fire to which Thine enemies are doomed (Isa9:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lord, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see,…. Or, “thy high hand they will not see” y; when it is exalted, and become glorious in power, in punishing wicked men; though the punishment is visible, yet they will not consider that it comes from the hand of God, but attribute it to chance, misfortune, or second causes, Ps 28:5 or when the hand the Lord is manifest in doing good to his own people, in delivering them out of their oppressions, and the hands of their oppressors; in reviving his cause and interest, and enlarging the kingdom of his Son; they will not see, own, and acknowledge the power and glory of it. The Targum favours this latter sense,
“Lord, when thou shall be revealed in thy power to do good to them that fear thee, there will be no light to the enemies of thy people:”
[but] they shall see; whether they will or not; the judgments of God will be manifest, both in his vengeance on antichrist, and in glorifying his own people:
and be ashamed for [their] envy at the people; their envy at the happiness and prosperity of the Lord’s people; their malice towards them, and persecution of them: or, “for the zeal of thy people” z; not for the zeal of the people to God, but for the zeal of the Lord to them; when they shall see him zealously affected to them, and concerned for them; as they shall see it, whether they will or not; they will then be confounded and ashamed, when he will vindicate his own people, and right their wrongs, and avenge their enemies; so the Targum,
“the revenge of thy people shall cover them:”
yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them: or, “fire shall devour them, thine enemies” a; the wrath of God, which is like unto fire; or, fire out of the mouth of the witnesses, Re 11:5.
y “elatam tuam manum non cernunt”, Castalio; “celsitudinem manuum tuarum nequaquam vident”, Syriac version. z “zelum populi tui”; so some in Vatablus; “zelum erga populum”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. a “ignis hostes tuos consumet eos”, Pagninus, Vatablus, “comedet eos”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The situation still remains essentially the same as in Isa 26:11-13: “Jehovah, Thy hand has been exalted, but they did not see: they will see the zeal for a people, being put to shame; yea, fire will devour Thine adversaries. Jehovah, Thou wilt establish peace for us: for Thou hast accomplished all our work for us. Jehovah our God, lords besides Thee had enslaved us; but through Thee we praise Thy name.” Here are three forms of address beginning with Jehovah, and rising in the third to “Jehovah our God.” The standpoint of the first is the time before the judgment; the standpoint of the other two is in the midst of the redemption that has been effected through judgment. Hence what the prophet states in Isa 26:11 will be a general truth, which has now received its most splendid confirmation through the overthrow of the empire. The complaint of the prophet here is the same as in Isa 53:1. We may also compare Exo 14:8, not Psa 10:5; ( rum does not mean to remain beyond and unrecognised, but to prove one’s self to be high.) The hand of Jehovah had already shown itself to be highly exalted ( ramah , 3 pr.), by manifesting itself in the history of the nations, by sheltering His congregation, and preparing the way for its exaltation in the midst of its humiliation; but as they had no eye for this hand, they would be made to feel it upon themselves as the avenger of His nation. The “zeal for a people,” when reduced from this ideal expression into a concrete one, is the zeal of Jehovah of hosts (Isa 9:6; Isa 37:32) for His own nation (as in Isa 49:8). Kin’ath am (zeal for a people) is the object to yechezu (they shall see); v’yeboshu (and be put to shame) being a parenthetical interpolation, which does not interfere with this connection. “ Thou wilt establish peace ” ( tishpot shalom , Isa 26:12) expresses the certain hope of a future and imperturbable state of peace ( pones, stabilies); and this hope is founded upon the fact, that all which the church has hitherto accomplished ( maaseh , the acting out of its calling, as in Psa 90:17, see at Isa 5:12) has not been its own work, but the work of Jehovah for it. And the deliverance just obtained from the yoke of the imperial power is the work of Jehovah also. The meaning of the complaint, “other lords beside Thee had enslaved us,” is just the same as that in Isa 63:18; but there the standpoint is in the midst of the thing complained of, whereas here it is beyond it. Jehovah is Israel’s King. He seemed indeed to have lost His rule, since the masters of the world had done as they liked with Israel. But it was very different now, and it was only through Jehovah (“through Thee”) that Israel could now once more gratefully celebrate Jehovah’s name.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
11. O Jehovah, though thy hand is lifted up. This is an explanation of the former statement; for he brings forward nothing that is new, but shews more clearly what he had formerly stated in a few words. He had already said that the wicked “will not behold the majesty of the Lord;” and now he explains that “majesty” to be that which is visible in the works of God. He does not send us to that hidden majesty which is concealed from us, but leads us to the works, which he denotes figuratively ( μετωνυμικῶς) (172) by the hand. Here he again censures the wicked, and shews that they cannot be excused on the plea of ignorance; for, though they perceive nothing, still the hand of God is openly visible; and it is nothing but their blind ingratitude, or rather their voluntary indolence, that hinders them from perceiving it. Some might plead ignorance, and allege that they did not see these works; but the Prophet says that God’s hand is “lifted up,” and not merely exerted, so that it is not only visible to a few persons, but shines conspicuously.
They shall see and be ashamed. He shews plainly that this “beholding” is different from that of which he formerly spoke, when he said that the wicked “do not see the glory of the Lord;” for they do see, but do not observe or take any notice of it; but at length “they shall see,” but too late, and to their great hurt. After having long abused the patience of God, and proved that they were obstinate and rebellious, they will at length be constrained to acknowledge the judgments of God. Thus Cain, (Gen 4:13,) Esau, (Gen 27:38,) and others like them, who too late repented of their crimes, (Heb 12:17,) though they fled from the face of God, yet were constrained to see that he was their Judge. Thus, in those who despise him, God frequently produces a feeling of remorse, that he may display his power; but such knowledge is of no avail to them.
In this manner, therefore, the Prophet threatens wicked men, after having accused them of blindness, in order to shew that they have no plea of ignorance; and he forewarns them that the time will come when they shall know with whom they have to do, and that they will then feel that they ought not to despise that heavenly name which they now treat as fabulous, and scorn. They shut their eyes, and act without restraint, and make us a laughing-stock, and do not think that God will be their Judge, but rather turn into ridicule our distresses and afflictions. Thus they look down on us as from a lofty place, and grow more and more hardened; but at length they will understand that the true worshippers of God have not lost their labor.
And shall be ashamed. In order to shew that this beholding of the glory of God is not only of no advantage, but hurtful to them, he says that they shall behold with shame the blessing of God towards believers, in which they will have no share.
Through their envy of the people. This tends to shew more strongly the severity of the punishment, that not only will they burn with “envy,” when they shall see that the children of God have been delivered from those distresses, and have been exalted to glory, but there will likewise be added another evil, that they will be consumed by the fire of the enemy. By “the envy of the people,” therefore, is here meant the indignation which wicked men feel when they compare the lot of godly men with their own.
Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. By the fire of the enemies, he means that “fire” with which God consumes his “enemies.” He employs the word “fire” to denote God’s vengeance; for here it must not be taken for visible “fire” with which we are burned, nor even for the thunderbolt alone, but is a metaphorical expression for dreadful anguish, as we find that in many other passages Scripture denotes by this term, God’s severest vengeance. (Deu 32:22.) No language indeed can sufficiently express this anguish. Yet I do not object to the suggestion, that the Prophet alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen 19:24.)
(172) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) They will not see . . .Better, they did not see, or, they see not, so as to bring out the contrast with the clause that follows. When the arm of Jehovah, the symbol of His power, was simply lifted up for the protection of His people, the evildoers closed their eyes and would not see it. A time will come when judgments shall fall on them, and so they shall be made to see.
Shall be ashamed for their envy at the people.Better, they shall see (and be ashamed) the jealousy (of God) for the people. They shall understand something of Gods watchful and zealous care for those whom He loves. It shall be seen that it is as a consuming fire (Psa. 79:5) that shall devour His adversaries.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. When thy hand is lifted up The “hand” is the symbol of power, and when raised denotes power in exercise. Though divine power is conspicuous, the wicked recognise it not.
But they shall see Non-recognition of it shall not long last.
Ashamed They shall be put to confusion.
Envy at In observing God’s zeal for his own people.
Fire of thine enemies That is, “fire of” judgment, which “thine enemies” deserve and shall receive.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
What Yahweh Has Done For His People And the End of Their Enemies ( Isa 26:11-15 ).
As in Isa 25:1-5, Isa 26:8-19 is a prayer as Isaiah has turned his face upwards towards God. And he now delights in Yahweh’s activity on behalf of His people. He bewails the fact that although God has been in action the world has not seen it. But he is confident that they will be made to see it because of what God does for His people. While the nations and their gods will decrease, God will increase His own people who have in the past shamefully submitted themselves to other lords because of their unbelief. He will act on their behalf to bring them peace, a peace that they will enjoy because of what He is doing for them and because of their confidence of what He is doing on their behalf
Analysis.
a Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they will see your zeal for your people and be put to shame, yes, fire will devour your adversaries. Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also wrought all our works for us (Isa 26:11-12).
b O Yahweh our God, other lord’s besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name (Isa 26:13).
c They are dead, they will not live (Isa 26:14 a).
c They are shades, they will not rise (Isa 26:14 b).
b Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish (Isa 26:14 c).
a You have increased the nation, O Yahweh, you have increased the nation. You are glorified. You have enlarged all the borders of the land (Isa 26:15).
In ‘a’ Yahweh has revealed His zeal for His people and has ordained peace for them and wrought all their works on their behalf, and in the parallel He has caused both their numbers and their borders to expand so that He is glorified. In ‘b’ they had had other lords whom they had acknowledged, although now they had turned from them, and in the parallel Yahweh had visited those lords and destroyed them and made their memories perish. In ‘c’ and parallel those other lords are now dead meat.
Isa 26:11
‘Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they will see your zeal for your people and be put to shame, yes, fire will devour your adversaries.’
Speaking to Yahweh he reminds Him that even though His hand is lifted up in judgment and they have to consider His ways, the world fails to see the truth. They do not see His majesty, His glory, or His holiness, they do not see their own sinfulness before Him. They are blind to the truth. They do not learn (Isa 26:10), they continue in wrongdoing (deal wrongfully – Isa 26:10), they do not see. Their hearts are set in their own ways. They are too ‘lofty’.
But in the end there is something that they will have to see, although it will be too late. They will see what Yahweh does for His people. This may mean that they will see how protective He has been towards them, how zealous towards them (see Isa 26:15), and will be ashamed, but it undoubtedly includes the fact that they will see the zeal on behalf of His people which has resulted in their own fiery destruction. Their sense of shame will then be because of the fate that they have suffered. At the back of these latter phrases there may be in mind the idea of the casting out of the bodies of lawbreakers onto the permanent fires outside Jerusalem as a mark of shame (Isa 66:24).
Isa 26:12
‘Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also wrought all our works for us.’
Looking back on the past His true people can, in contrast with those in Isa 26:11 a, be confident about their future, because of His zeal on their behalf (Isa 26:11 b). They recognise that the past reveals that God has worked for them in total sovereignty. All that has been done in the past, all that has been accomplished, all that has been worthwhile, has been the result of His sovereign acts. Therefore they are confident that He will do the same in the future. He will establish them in peace (Isa 26:3). For they will be in His strong city of peace (Isa 26:3). He will determine and guarantee for them a future of peace in the kingdom of peace (Isa 11:6-9) under the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6). They are in His hands. They are confident therefore that His benefits to them will continue to increase, as they have done already (Isa 26:15).
This is the divine side of salvation. It is God Who is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13), and it is He Who, because He is faithful, will confirm us to the end that we may be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Co 1:8-9).
Isa 26:13-14
‘O Yahweh our God,
Other lord’s besides you have had dominion over us,
But by you only will we make mention of your name.
They are dead, they will not live,
They are shades, they will not rise.
Therefore you have visited and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.’
He confirms to Yahweh that they are deeply aware that in the past they have been subservient to other lords, both the human lords, and the divinities they represented. Their history was full of the fact, from Pharaoh onwards. It should not have been. It need not have been. But they had failed to trust in Yahweh, and so it was. And they had been instructed by some of those lords that in their public worship they must recognise that subservience to their other lord, by worshipping his gods. Every conqueror required that his own gods take pride of place in the place of worship. And some of these gods had been set up in the Temple, so that even when they had worshipped Yahweh it had been under the shadow of other gods. It had been deeply distressing and humiliating
But now that will be no more (as he prays he is seeing the future as already certain). From now on their worship of Yahweh will be pure. Other lords and gods will be excluded. Yet it is only ‘by Him’, by His activity, and because He has wrought on their behalf, that this has become possible. It is because He has graciously delivered them, that mention will be made of His name. Had He not held them in His hand, had He not wrought for them, they would have had no hope. But He has delivered them by His sovereign power and that is why they can now call on Him and His name. They are in this position simply because He, and He alone, has saved them.
Indeed the frailty and unworthiness for worship of these other lords has been made abundantly clear in that they are now dead. They have become but ‘shades’, they are but shadows in the grave of what they were. They will not live again. They will not rise from their graves. They are permanently gone. Yahweh has visited and destroyed them. See especially Isa 14:15-20 of the king of Babylon; Eze 32:18-30 of Egypt and many nations. And their gods have gone with them. Even the memory of them has perished. They are no more.
Isa 26:15
‘You have increased the nation, O Yahweh,
You have increased the nation. You are glorified.
You have enlarged all the borders of the land.’
In contrast, because of Yahweh’s intervention on their behalf, because of His zeal shown on their behalf (Isa 26:11), whereas their adversaries have been destroyed, their own nation will be increased, for Yahweh will do it, and He will gradually extend their borders. He had done it in the past and He will do it again. They were especially conscious at this time of how small their land had become under Assyrian lordship as a result of their rebellions (at one stage probably less than twenty square kilometres). But that would all be changed again when Yahweh acted. The borders of the land would be enlarged, Israel would be restored, Yahweh would be glorified.
That it so happened to some extent in history, history itself reveals. The people did continually increase from small beginnings and the land was gradually enlarged in the inter-testamental period. But the picture here goes beyond that. For in this chapter we are considering final consequences. So the picture here is more of Yahweh’s triumph than of an emphasis on the land, and goes well beyond history. It includes the fact that the numbers of the people of God would be multiplied and their land extended when the Gospel went out to the nations, but that was just a picture of the greater glory yet to come. For His people will finally prosper and flourish to the glory of Yahweh in a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 66:22) in the everlasting kingdom when they will be numerous indeed, a multitude which no man can number (Rev 7:9), and when the land will truly be enlarged. This was what Abraham and his descendants were really looking for (Heb 11:10-16). Indeed as we shall shortly see (Isa 26:19) Isaiah has in mind the resurrection from the dead of God’s people which will marvellously increase the nation. So this can only finally refer to the everlasting kingdom, when death has been swallowed up (Isa 25:8).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Concluding Scenes from the World’s History
v. 11. Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, v. 12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us, v. 13. O Lord, our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, v. 14. They, v. 15. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation, v. 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, v. 17. Like as a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord. v. 18. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind, v. 19. Thy dead men shall live, v. 20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, v. 21. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
6. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AND THE CONCLUDING ACTS OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD
Isa 26:11-21
11Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see;
But 7they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy 8at the people;
Yea, 9the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
12Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us:
For thou also hast wrought all our works 10in us.
13O Lord our God!
Other lords beside thee have had dominion over us:
But by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14They are dead, they shall not live;
They are 11deceased, they shall not rise:
Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
15Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
Thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified:
12Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
16Lord, in trouble have they visited thee;
They poured out a 13prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery,
Is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
So have we been 14in thy sight, O Lord.
18We have been with child, we have been in pain,
We have as it were brought forth wind;
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;
Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19Thy dead men shall live: 15Together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
For thy dew is as the dew of 16herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.
20Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,
And shut thy doors about thee:
Hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
Until the indignation be overpast.
21For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
The earth also shall disclose her 17blood,
And shall no more cover her slain.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 26:12. It is not inconceivable that stood here originally, and was changed through ignorance into . In that case would include ideally the transitive notion of awarding, allotting by judicial sentence; and on this ideal transitive notion would depend. We are struck by the rare word , while is suggested by the context. [The correction of the text suggested is unnecessary.D. M.].
Isa 26:13. stands here adverbially as Ecc 7:29. The normal form of expression would be (Psa 51:6; Pro 5:17).
Isa 26:15. is properly to add. But the word is not rarely employed in the sense of to increase, it being left to the reader to think either of that to which something is added, or of the addition which is made. Niphal is found besides here Isa 3:5; Isa 23:8-9; Isa 43:4; Isa 49:5. Piel Isa 6:12; Isa 29:13.
Isa 26:16. (on this form which is found besides only Deu 8:3; Deu 8:16, comp. Olshausen Gr., 226, p. 449), is = effundunt (besides here Job 28:2; Job 29:6; Job 41:14; Psa 41:9). Analogous is the Latin preces fundere (Virg. Aen. 6, 55) and Psa 102:1. corresponds to in the first half of the verse, and is best taken as a circumstantial clause with a verb to be supplied (comp. Ewald, 341 a, p. 823). as Isa 26:9. Comp. Isa 53:8. is here, as afterwards, Isa 26:18 a, conjunction (comp. Isa 41:25; Gen 19:15), and signifies not only in Isa 26:17, but also in Isa 26:18, if we examine thoroughly the construction, tanquam, like as (). In Isa 26:17 this is quite evident, for the construction is simple: As a woman with child is in pain, so were we far from Thee. [Or rather, so we were from Thy presence, i.e., our evil condition proceeded from Thee.D. M.].
Isa 26:18. The particle of comparison has the signification quasi, as if.
Isa 26:20. Instead of the Keri reads , undoubtedly because a chamber has only one , and not ) , moreover, is not derived from , but from a form which does not elsewhere occur). But both the assonance with and the anomalous nature of the form speak in favor of is a singular form. It can be derived only from , which is not met with elsewhere: is the form in use (in Isa 42:22; Isa 49:2). The appearance of the radical Yod is also strange ( instead of ). If this is to be regarded as a feminine form, this too would be singular; for all the parallel verbal and nominal forms are masculine. The expression is found only here and in Ezr 9:8. Comp. Isa 54:7.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. A new wonderful scene of the great eschatological drama presents itself to the view of the Prophet: the resurrection of the dead! He introduces this revelation with three brief sentences addressed to Jehovah, each of them beginning with the name Jehovah. In the first sentence he expresses the thought that men do not perceive the hand of the Lord already lifted up for judgment. But they shall one day perceive it when Gods zeal will display itself. But then they will be confounded, and fire will consume the adversaries (Isa 26:11). On the other hand, the Prophet expresses the assurance that the judgment of God will promote the peace of the godly, as their works are wrought by God Himself (Isa 26:12). The Prophet in the third place introduces us into that sphere to which he means to direct especially our attention in what follows. For even this sphere stands in the closest relation to the manifestation of God indicated in Isa 26:11-12. He characterizes this region, first in general, as one whose inhabitants in a certain sense are not under the dominion of God, but are in the power of another lord. [Other lords, it should be said. And the verb is in the past tense.D. M.]. An abnormal condition! The persons here meant cannot praise God; for this can be done only when a man is united to God, when he is in Him (Isa 26:13). It is at once apparent from Isa 26:14 that the Prophet means the dead. According to the prevailing opinion the dead cannot live again. God Himself has destroyed and blotted out forever their remembrance (Isa 26:14). This realm of death goes on increasing; its borders are ever further removed (Isa 26:15). Yet the longing for deliverance is by no means extinct even in the dead: they seek the Lord, and their whispered prayer ascends to God from their place of trial (Isa 26:16). Yea, the world of the dead even make exertions to restore themselves to life, which efforts can be compared with the pangs of a woman in travail (Isa 26:17). But the result is useless: only wind is brought forth (Isa 26:18). Yet their hope is not disappointed. But only the dead who are the Lords will rise to life. These are summoned to awake and rejoice. As a dew of luminous substances will it be, when the earth brings to the light the inhabitants of the world of shades (Isa 26:19). But the earth will restore not merely the bodies of the godly. She will bring to the light all the evil, especially all the blood-guiltiness which is buried in her bosom. This will be a terrible element of wrath and judgment. While this takes place, those who have risen from the dead are to conceal themselves. After a moment the wrath will be past, and then salvation and peace will reign forever (Isa 26:20-21). [It is a strange and unique imagination of Dr. Naegelsbach, that the Prophet gives us in Isa 26:13, the language of the dwellers in Sheol; as it is most manifest that the speakers in Isa 26:12, continue in what follows their speech addressed to Jehovah. See how verse 13 begins like the two preceding verses with the name Jehovah. There is nothing to indicate the assumed change of speakers, or to make us suppose that the occupants of an inframundane region, an infernal limbus, suddenly and without a pause, take up the address to the Almighty, abruptly dropped by the ecclesia militans. The perfect tense, too, in Isa 26:13, may not be arbitrarily treated as the present, to accommodate the language to the authors theory. This earth, and not Sheol, is unquestionably the theatre of what is described in Isa 26:15-18. The prayer spoken of in Isa 26:16 comes not from the shades of the departed, but from the inhabitants of this world when Gods judgments are in the earth (comp. Isa 26:9). It is a purely gratuitous assumption, involving, too, an anti-scriptural error, that a place of trial under the earth is the scene of the vain endeavors so graphically depicted in Isa 26:18-19. I append Dr. J. A. Alexanders brief analysis of Isa 26:12-21. The Church abjures the service of all other sovereigns, and vows perpetual devotion to Him by whom it has been delivered and restored (Isa 26:12-15). Her utter incapacity to save herself is then contrasted with Gods power to restore His people to new life, with a joyful anticipation of which the song concludes (Isa 26:16-19). The additional sentences contain a beautiful and tender intimation of the trials which must be endured before these glorious events take place, with a solemn assurance that Jehovah is about to visit both His people and their enemies with chastisements (Isa 26:20-21).D. M.].
2. Lordthy name.
Isa 26:11-13. The Prophet perceives the approach of great things, but men perceive nothing of them. He complains of this to the Lord.Thy hand is lifted up, says he, and they see it not. [The adverb when is unnecessarily supplied in the E. V. It is better to render literally Thy hand is lifted up; they will not see or (but) they do not see it.D. M.]. The uplifted hand is ready, and able to smite. The expression is found in the Pentateuch in more senses than one. May it not signify here the menacing high hand? According to Scripture great signs on earth and in heaven will precede the coming of the Lord (Mat 24:3; Mat 24:8; Mat 24:29), but the wicked will not give heed to these signs (Mat 24:37-39). They will not be willing to see the hand of God in them. But they will be forced to their confusion ( is a parenthetical clause marking a circumstance) to recognize the hand of God in the signs from the correspondence between them and the decisive facts following on them, when they shall have perceived the zeal, i.e., the strict, judging, and avenging righteousness of God (comp. Isa 9:6; Isa 11:13; Isaiah 38:32; Isa 63:15) attesting itself on the people (comp. in regard to the construction, Psa 69:10). [The expression made dependent in the E. V. on , and understood of the envy of the heathen toward the people of God, is rightly made dependent by our author on , and is also rightly understood of the zeal of the Lord of hosts (Isa 9:6 : Isa 37:32), but this zeal of the Lord is not directed against a people who are none of His, as Dr. Naegelsbach thinks, but is the zeal of the Lordfor His own people.D. M.]. The fire of this zeal will consume those men who could see, but would not see; will devour thy adversaries (, prefixed apposition to the suffix in ). From the wicked, who to their dismay are surprised by the judgment of God, the Prophet turns to the pious who wait for the day of judgment as the day of their redemption (Luk 21:28). These express the confident assurance that the Lord will assign, prepare them peace on that great day. , ponere, statuere, is found in Isaiah only here, comp. 2Ki 4:38; Eze 24:3; Psa 22:16. The righteous justly expect from the judgment the peace of God. For how could the righteous Judge award them aught else, seeing that He Himself has wrought their works? Instead of the second we should perhaps rather expect ; but the Prophet, who delights in significant accords in sound, chose undoubtedly to make a second correspond to the first, in order to indicate thereby that the fruit of the judgment must correspond to the fruit of the life. The third sentence begins with . The address is thus more forcible, and forms an antithesis to the subject and predicate of the sentence. Is it not a contradiction which cannot be maintained, when it must be said: Thou art indeed our God, but others rule over us? [But the perfect tense should not be treated as a present.D. M.]. To understand of the worldly powers alone, which is the common view, seems to me quite too restricted, and not to correspond to the context. I translate in thee [By thee, i.e., by thy power or help, is the common rendering.D. M.]. The aim of Isa 26:13 is that of a general introduction into the region which is afterwards to be particularly spoken of. [As to the lords who are mentioned in the first clause, there are two opinions. One is, that they are the Chaldees or Babylonians, under whom the Jews had been in bondage. This is now the current explanation. The other is, that they are the false gods or idols whom the Jews had served before the exile. Against the former and in favor of the latter supposition it may be suggested, first, that the Babylonian bondage did not hinder the Jews from mentioning Jehovahs name or praising Him; secondly, that the whole verse looks like a confession of their own fault and a promise of amendment, rather than a reminiscence of their sufferings; and thirdly, that there seems to be an obvious comparison between the worship of Jehovah as our, with some other worship and some other deity… An additional argument in favor of the reference of the verse to spiritual rulers, is its exact correspondence with the singular fact in Jewish history, that since the Babylonish exile they have never even been suspected of idolatry. Alexander.D. M.].
3. They are deadends of the earth.
Isa 26:14-15. The Prophet proceeds now directly to the thought which he intends afterwards, Isa 26:19, to bring to light: the resurrection of the dead. But that the light of this wonderful divine revelation may shine more conspicuously he presents, as a foil to it, the opinion which had not been hitherto disputed, and which was supposed to be indisputable, viz., that the dead do not come to life again. [But what indication is given that the Prophet in the 14th verse means to relate an opinion said to prevail universally in regard to the impossibility of a resurrection of the dead? Why not rather understand this verse as a declaration that the other lords just spoken of should not merely cease to exist, but even to be remembered? The language used is applicable to the deities of an effete mythology once worshipped by Israel, as well as to the Babylonian and previous oppressors of Israel. In regard to the opinion which hitherto has passed and even now passes in the whole world as incontrovertible truth, that there is no redemption from the bands of death, does not Hosea, an earlier Prophet than Isaiah, announce that death and Sheol should be deprived of their prey? Hos 13:14. Isaiah himself, too, does not here for the first time make mention of the vanquishing of death. See Isa 25:8; comp. Job 19:25-27.D. M.]. For this very reason (=with reference to this, in so far. Comp. on Jer 5:2; Isa 27:9) hast thou visited and destroyed them and made their memory to perish. Most interpreters understand verse 15 of the fall and resuscitation of the people of Israel. [And rightly do they so understand it. Few readers will assent to Dr. Naegelsbachs singular opinion that the land that is enlarged is the region of the dead. In the E. V. the last clause of verse 15 is rendered thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. But the words it and unto are not in the original text, and the pluperfect is not warranted. Omitting these additions and discarding the pluperfect, we have the rendering, thou hast removed the ends of the land, i.e., extended the boundaries of the country. Thus we are told that extension of territory had been granted along with increase of population.D. M.].
3. LORD in troubleworld fallen.
Isa 26:16-18. But even in the realm of the dead the longing for life and the hope of regaining it are not extinguished. Even the dead in their distress seek the Lord, the fountain of all hope. [Visit is here used in the unusual but natural sense of seeking God in supplication.Alexander]. The prayer of the dead in a low whisper () ascends from their place of trial to the Lord. [If we take our theology from the book of Isaiah, there is no place of trial for the godly after this life. The righteous man when he dies enters into peace, Isa 57:2. I need hardly state here that a purgatory, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, is not intended for unbelievers.D. M.]. Verse 17 obviously supposes that a deliverance from Sheol is possible, and that the hope of this deliverance is not extinct in its occupants. This hope produces rather, according to the view of the Prophet, in the dwellers of Hades, a struggle and endeavor after liberation from prison which can be compared with the pains of child-bearing. But this impulse of hope remains unsatisfied so long as it is a merely natural one. I take not in the causal but in the local signification=far from (comp. Isa 14:19; Isa 22:3; Jdg 9:21). Far from Jehovah, without vital union with Him, a dead man cannot raise himself to new life. [I prefer taking in the causal signification. The text runsSo have we been (), not we are.D. M.]. All convulsive efforts of the dead which aim at a new life are ineffectual. They are like bringing forth wind, the issue of an apparent pregnancy in consequence of the disease called empneumatosis (Gesenius, Delizsch). The must learn by experience that without Jehovah they cannot bless (comp. on Isa 26:1) the land of their habitation, i.e., here, the earth (comp. afterwards ), because, however convulsive their pangs may be, through them no inhabitants of the world (Psa 33:8; Isa 18:3; Isa 26:9; Nah 1:5; Lam 4:12) will drop,i.e., no births to a new life will take place. is used here and Isa 26:19 of the partus. Comp. the Greek , the Latin cadere, the German werfen (Ges.Thes. p. 897). [This meaning of is in my opinion more than doubtful. But what are we to think of the Shades in Hades striving to give birth to themselves, fruitlessly laboring to get back into the world, and this, not so much for the purpose of releasing themselves from their gloomy abode, as with a view to bless the world with new inhabitants, and to work deliverance or safety for it? Generous Shades! So self-forgetful amid their sufferings in Hades! The judicious reader may be left to make his own comments on this strange notion.D. M.].
5. Thy deadthe dead.
Isa 26:19. [This verse is in the strongest contrast with the one before it. To the ineffectual efforts of the people to save themselves, he now opposes their actual deliverance by God.Alexander.]. The suffix of the first person in corresponds to the suffix of the second person in . (Isa 26:25) is never used in the plural. It is a collective word (comp. Lev 11:8; Lev 11:11 sqq.; Jer 7:33; Jer 16:4 et saepe). We have to refer the suffix of the first person to the Prophet who here speaks in the name of the church. It is he who after the disconsolate words of the Shades [?] speaks as the interpreter of Jehovah here (and afterwards Isa 26:20-21) words of consolation, and in the spirit of prophecy utters the triumphant call to awake, which will one day be pronounced by a mightier voice that it may be fulfilled. only here, comp. Isa 18:3. The words graphically depict the thought expressed in what goes before. On the morning of the resurrection a wonderful dew will cover the earth. It is no more the earthly dew, it is a heavenly, a divine dew (therefore ). If even now the earthly dew, when the rays of the sun mirror themselves in it, sparkles like pearls, how resplendent will be the drops of that heavenly dew, every one of which will be a glorified luminous body, a body of the resurrection! The plural is found only here; for 2Ki 4:39 is a quite different word [?]. also occurs only once; Psa 136:7. The singular is found Psa 139:12; Est 8:16. That the signification lights suits the connection cannot be doubted. For the new resurrection life is a life in the light (Joh 1:4; Joh 8:12), and the of which our body, as with the body of Christ, will partake (Php 3:21) is in its nature light (Mat 17:2). But whence come these forms of light which as heavenly dew-drops will on the morning of the resurrection shine on the surface of the earth? They have arisen, i. e., they come out of the earth in which they hitherto as , as gloomy shades have dwelt. At the almighty word of the Lord the earth was forced to give up (cast out, Isa 26:18) these that had been hitherto regarded as a spoil that could not be snatched from it (Isa 26:14).
6. Come my peopleher slain.
Isa 26:20-21. If we receive the simple natural impression made by the Prophets representation, we must say that we are transported by these two verses into the time after the resurrection. [?] For what people can be addressed except that which according to Isa 26:19 has been awakened to new life? And why must this people after it had in Hades pined so long in suspense and anxiety, [?] conceal itself again after it had hardly come forth to the light? And why is it set forth as a characteristic mark of the time during which the people shall remain hidden, that in that time the earth shall disclose all the shed blood it had absorbed, and all corpses of the slain which it had concealed and kept? Is that not a clear reference to the time of the last judgment which brings everything to light and finishes everything? These are questions the answer to which was not known by the Prophet himself. It is the Apocalypse of the New Testament that first solves for us this riddle. It distinguishes a first and a second resurrection. And it makes the setting loose of Satan with the last assault on the city of God follow the first resurrection, after which there ensues the second general resurrection with the great universal judgment (Rev. xx.). [According to this exposition they who partake of the first resurrection were gloomy shades in misery till the earth cast them forth; and after having been raised from the dead they must hide themselves. But the dead in Christ were never shades in misery, and when they are raised, they shall be at once caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with Him. 1Th 4:16-17. The ingenuity displayed by our author in illustrating this passage of Isaiah from the Apocalypse is very striking.D. M.]. What those chambers are into which the people should go ( only here in Isaiah) the Prophet does not explain. But when according to Rev 20:9 the and the is surrounded by enemies, I cannot doubt that the saints are enjoined during the short tribulation of the city to withdraw, and give themselves to solitary prayer in quiet expectation. At the same time this does not, I think, exclude the application of the counsel here given by the Prophet to all cases related to that final and highest storm of indignation as typical and preparatory events. Isa 26:21a storm, storm of wrath, is a word which occurs not rarely in Isa 10:5; Isa 10:25; Isa 13:5; Isa 30:27. The storm is comparatively short, but in its intensity surpasses all others. For it comprehends according to Rev 20:9-15 nothing less than the overthrow of Satan, and the general judgment. Verse 21 answers to this exactly. If Jehovah rises from His place in order to visit the guilt of the inhabitants of the earth ( collectively) on them, and if the earth then discloses all hidden blood-guiltiness, this plainly enough indicates that that storm of wrath involves a work of judgment. The words for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, are taken literally from Mic 1:3 comp. Mat 25:31; Rev 20:11. As counterpart to the blessed fruits, which the earth according to Isa 26:19 will bring forth, and at the same time as proof of the all-comprehensive character of the judgment, the slain and the blood that has been shed are specified as what the earth will on that day cause to come to light. The earth opened its mouth to receive the blood of Abel who was the first person slain (Gen 4:11). And since that time it has taken in all the blood that has been shed, and all the dead bodies of the slain; and preserves them faithfully for the day of judgment, when they shall come forth as incontrovertible witnesses against the guilty. In the book of the Revelation, too, it is expressly declared that the sea, and death, and Hades will disclose all their dead (Rev 20:13).
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:
[7]they shall see to their shame thy zeal for the people.
[8]Or, toward thy people.
[9]fire shall devour them, thy enemies.
[10]Or, for us.
[11]Shades.
[12]thou hast removed far all the borders of the land.
[13]Heb. secret speech.
[14]far from thy sight.
[15]my dead body shall arise.
[16]lights.
[17]Heb. bloods.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
How strikingly is the conduct of wicked and unregenerate men here marked! If the Lord’s hand be lifted up in judgments; though they see the judgments; yet as the Lord’s judgments they see them not. And though the Lord’s hand be fallen down in punishments; though the punishments they feel; yet the Lord’s hand in them they regard not. Here again, as in the former verses, the contrast is set forth between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not; Mal 3:18 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 26:11 LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: [but] they shall see, and be ashamed for [their] envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
Ver. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, thou will not see, ] i.e., Observe, consider, and take warning: let God’s hand be never so high and glorious, so lifted up and exalted, yet these buzzards will not behold his majesty, as Isa 26:10 as being more blind than moles, more deaf than sea monsters they refuse to regard aught.
But they shall see and be confounded.
a Story of Sect. in New England, by Mr Weld, p. 44.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 26:11-19
11O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.
They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.
12LORD, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
13O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we confess Your name.
14The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.
15You have increased the nation, O LORD,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have extended all the borders of the land.
16O LORD, they sought You in distress;
They could only whisper a prayer,
Your chastening was upon them.
17As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,
Thus were we before You, O LORD.
18We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world born.
19Your dead will live;
Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
Isa 26:11 Your hand is lifted up This is an idiom for YHWH’s actions, both past and present. They are clear, but the enemies of His people do not see and understand Him (cf. Isa 26:10; Isa 5:12; Isa 5:25; Isa 8:11; Isa 9:12; Isa 10:4; Isa 10:10; Isa 11:15; Isa 13:2; Isa 14:26-27; Isa 23:11; Isa 25:10; Isa 28:2, etc.).
fire will devour Your enemies This could be an IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense (i.e., let fire devour Your enemies). See Special Topic: Fire .
Isa 26:12 This is a strong affirmation of the sovereignty of YHWH. He acts on Israel’s behalf (cf. Eze 36:22-38) for His greater redemptive purposes!
Isa 26:13 other masters It is possible that this refers to the false gods of Isa 2:8; Isa 27:9, but it could be an allusion to the national enemies (Syria, Assyria, Babylon) who Israel faced.
other masters than You have ruled us This VERB (BDB 127, KB 142, Qal PERFECT) can mean
1. possess as a wife or concubine, Gen 20:3; Exo 21:3; Exo 21:22; Deu 22:22; Deu 24:1
2. rule over, Isa 26:13; 1Ch 4:22
This verse may refer to idolatry, particularly fertility worship. YHWH is their only true master, husband (cf. Hos 2:14-20).
NASBwe confess Your name
NKJVwe make mention of Your name
NRSVwe acknowledge your name
NJB, REBwe invoke your name
LXXwe name your name
The VERB (BDB 269II, KB 269, Hiphil IMPERFECT) means remember. KB says it means to profess in praise (i.e., hymns). This, therefore, denotes a worship setting where the character and acts of Israel’s God are extolled (positively, i.e., Psa 71:14-16; and negatively, do not mention other gods in praise, Exo 23:13).
Notice that it is YHWH (i.e., through You, see Special Topic: The Name of YHWH ) that His people are able to worship.
1. national deliverance (cf. Isa 26:15, the temple)
2. personal deliverance (cf. Isa 26:16, desire to go there)
Isa 26:14 The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise This seems to be linked to Isa 26:13, the other masters, which refers to foreign kings who will not trouble Israel again. This verse is not meant to teach theology about the afterlife, specifically the annihilation of the wicked. There are too many other passages in the Bible which teach a general resurrection (cf. Dan 12:2; Mat 25:46; Joh 5:28-29; Act 24:15). This verse is saying that those kings, now judged and dead, will never again come back to life personally or symbolically, in another time, to hurt the people of God.
NASBdeparted spirits
NRSV, JPSOAshades
TEV, JBghosts
NJBshadows
The Hebrew term (BDB 952 I) seems to be linked to the sunken ones, the powerless dead (cf. Job 26:5; Pro 2:18; Isa 14:9) In Isa 26:19 the word is used for the righteous who are to be raised.
The same root (BDB 952 II) was one of the terms used for the giants. See Special Topic at Isa 14:9. It is possible the Rephaim became a standardized metaphor for great warriors and symbolically for kings of powerful nations.
Isa 26:15 This was the covenant purpose of God towards Abraham’s descendants. This is the same imagery often extended into the eschaton, whereby all nations come and worship YHWH in Jerusalem.
Isa 26:16 They could only whisper a prayer God’s faithful were suffering under God’s judgment on His people collectively. They sought God in low and guarded prayers amidst God’s heavy hand.
There may be a theological word play.
1. whisper a prayer (BDB 538 #3)
2. whisper as part of Israel’s idolatry (BDB 538 #1,2, cf. Isa 3:3; Isa 3:20)
Remember, context, context, context determines meaning!
Isa 26:17 As the pregnant woman Often in the Bible, birth is used as a metaphor for the sudden coming of the pain of God’s judgment. Some interpret Isa 26:17-18 as the Messianic birth (i.e., metaphor of the birth pains of the New Age, cf. Mar 13:8), but in context it seems to refer to judgment.
Isa 26:18 We gave birth, as it were, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world born This verse is a reference to the missionary mandate of Israel to be a royal priesthood (cf. Exo 19:4-6). She was meant to be a light to the nations (cf. Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6; Isa 51:4). However, because she never kept the law of God, the peoples of the earth only saw YHWH in judgment. This was not God’s intent (cf. Isa 26:15); therefore, God’s purpose (cf. Isa 25:1) for Israel and the world was thwarted.
The term wind (BDB 924) has several connotations in Isaiah.
1. breath, Isa 11:4; Isa 25:4; Isa 27:8; Isa 30:28; Isa 30:33; Isa 33:11; Isa 59:19
2. wind, Isa 7:2; Isa 11:15; Isa 17:13; Isa 26:18; Isa 32:2; Isa 41:16; Isa 41:29; Isa 57:13; Isa 64:6
3. spirit
a. God’s Spirit, Isa 11:2 (4 times); Isa 30:1; Isa 32:15; Isa 34:16; Isa 40:13; Isa 42:1; Isa 44:3; Isa 48:16; Isa 59:21; Isa 61:1; Isa 63:10-11; Isa 63:14
b. human spirit, Isa 4:4; Isa 19:3; Isa 19:14; Isa 26:9; Isa 28:6; Isa 29:10; Isa 29:24; Isa 31:3; Isa 37:7; Isa 38:16; Isa 42:5; Isa 54:6; Isa 57:15 (twice), Isa 57:16; Isa 61:3; Isa 65:14; Isa 66:2
However in Wisdom Literature the term denotes meaninglessness or emptiness (i.e., Ecc 1:14; Ecc 1:17; Ecc 2:11; Ecc 2:17; Ecc 2:26; Ecc 4:4; Ecc 4:6; Ecc 4:16; Ecc 5:16; Ecc 6:9). I think Isaiah’s usage in Isa 26:18; Isa 41:29 best fits this second connotation. Abraham’s seed could not bring the nations to YHWH because of
1. their personal, individual fallenness
2. the nations’ fallenness
but YHWH can (cf. Isa 26:12)!
The term born (BDB 656, KB 709, Qal IMPERFECT) in Isa 26:18 d literally means to drop or to fall, but is used metaphorically of giving birth. The Arabic root means to give birth; it is primarily used of animals (cf. NIV).
Isa 26:19 Your dead will live;
Their corpses will rise Isa 26:19 is contrasted with Isa 26:14. That is why Isa 26:14 cannot be the source of theology. Isa 26:19 has much theological affinity to Isa 25:8. The question we looked at in Isa 26:3 deals with whether this refers to a national entity or to an individual. The term their in Isa 26:19 b is literally my in Hebrew. Here again is this play on the individual versus the national. This resurrection of national Israel has much in common with Ezekiel 37.
There are two IMPERATIVES in the verse which describe what the dead (you who lie in the dust) should do.
1. awake, BDB 884, KB 1098, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
2. shout, BDB 943, KB 1247, Piel IMPERATIVE
Resurrection is a concept that was apparently common in the ANE.
1. Job (Edom in 2000 B.C. period), Job 14:13-15; Job 19:25-27
2. Egypt mummification (starting 3000+ B.C., perfected in the Twenty First Dynasty)
3. but not in Mesopotamia
If humans were created for fellowship with God but sin caused death, then a reversal for the faithful seems logical. The rabbis (i.e., Pharisees) believed in a resurrection (cf. Act 23:6; Heb 6:1-2). Jesus believed in a resurrection (cf. Mat 22:23-33; Luk 14:14; Joh 11:24-25). The concept of heaven is a fellowship issue. Gehenna is the permanent isolation of those who refuse faith and fellowship! The imagery of the Bible for the future is a restored Eden (cf. Revelation 21-22).
NASBthe dew of the dawn
NKJVthe dew of herbs
NRSV, NJBa radiant dew
TEVas the sparkling dew
REBa dew of sparkling light
PESHITTAa dew of light
JPSOAthe dew or fresh growth
This is literally for a dew of light. The word light (BDB 21) has two connotations.
1. light of life vs. darkness of death (PLURAL, BDB 21 I, possibly Est 8:16)
2. herb (BDB 21 II, Gen 1:11-12)
There are only two rainy seasons in Palestine. Between these times crops were sustained and grew by means of dew. Therefore, both dew and light are symbols of life and growth!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the fire, &c. or, fire shall devour Thine adversaries (Revised Version)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 26:11-21
Isa 26:11-15
“Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries. Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou has also wrought all our works for us. O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; thou has enlarged all the borders of the land.”
On Isa 26:11, see under Isa 26:10, above. Isa 26:13-14 are the most challenging verses in this paragraph. Who is it that received this triple declaration in the Word of God that they are dead, deceased, perished? Barnes believed that these “other lords” were “kings of Babylon who had ruled over the Jews”; and, of course, other scholars have followed his lead in this; but we believe that Archer has the proper understanding of it.
“Other lords are probably false gods, rather than foreign rulers … Now they are dead because Christianity forever abolished the worship of all the heathen gods known to the Jews. (Rawlinson agreed with this). The power of the idol gods is altogether passed away, because God has visited and destroyed them, and made their very memory to perish.”
What a wonderful demonstration does history itself become in connection with all of those heathen gods which were once worshipped by millions and millions of people! What a demonstration of the power of Almighty God and what a demonstration of the effects of the rise of Christianity is the current status of all those ancient gods and goddesses!
Bel, Asshur, Milcom, Molech, Zeus, Juno, Iris, Astarte, Diana, Mercury, Baal, etc., etc. Where are they now? They are deservedly almost totally forgotten; and, furthermore, there is not even the remotest possibility of the worship of such “gods” ever being renewed.
It is regrettable that some able scholars have missed the point about who those “other lords” actually were. The interpretation that understands them to have been the kings of Babylon, Nineveh, etc. makes the proper understanding of this passage impossible. For example Kelley, on the basis of what this passage says, and in the light of his erroneous application of it to former earthly overlords of Israel, stated that:
“The meaning of Isa 26:14 is that the death of the wicked will be final and irrevocable … they will never rise.”
Now the startling thing about this is the fact that, “If this is really what Isa 26:14 teaches, it is a lie”; because Jesus plainly taught that both the righteous and the wicked shall rise in the judgment. The Old Testament teaches the same thing (Dan 12:2). Of course, the word of God never contradicts the Word of God, thus the error is in the interpretation.
Hailey did not fall into the same error that Kelley made, avoiding it only by referring this absence of any kind of a resurrection for those “wicked” in Isa 26:14 to the resurrection of “their states.” We do not believe that the death of mortal men is even hinted at in Isa 26:14; for the reference is to the “death of the pagan gods and goddesses.” They are the ones for whom no “resurrection” will ever come. Such considerations as these compel us to find the end of the age, the second advent, and the final judgment in this passage. Nothing else fits all the facts.
“Thou hast increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation …” (Isa 26:15). Note the repetition, which, in the Hebrew always means extreme emphasis. “This remarkable increase of God’s people points to the inclusion of the worldwide Gentile Church; hence also the enlargement of the borders of the kingdom.
Isa 26:16-19
LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
How strange it seems that the times of “trouble” should be mentioned here in that proleptic song of the redeemed at the very moment of their being participants in the joys of eternal life! In this, their minds go back to the sorrows and tribulations they suffered during their earth-life; and they find something for which to be thankful even in all that trouble. Rawlinson explained it thus:
“They remember what brought them back to God from the alienation which they confessed (Isa 26:13). It was the affliction which they so long endured. Their present bliss is the result of their former woe, and recalls the thought of it.”
“We have brought forth wind …” (Isa 26:18). This simply means that all human efforts toward salvation are futile, with no result whatever. We have not been able to defeat our enemies, nor has the entrenched wickedness of mankind diminished.
Isa 26:19 speaks of the resurrection. “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust … The earth shall cast forth the dead.” It is surprising that Barnes applied this resurrection to the resurrection of the state of Israel. “They had been dead, that is, civilly dead in Babylon … `Shall live’ means `they shall be restored to their country’.” Although ingenious, such an explanation seems totally inadequate.
Hailey gave three widely accepted explanations of what this resurrection is: (1) the figurative resurrection of the state of Israel, following their Babylonian captivity; (2) the final resurrection of the body at the end of time; and (3) the spiritual resurrection that occurred in the Messianic age. Hailey favored the third of these explanations as, “The most plausible of the three.”
Others, with whom this writer agrees, accept the second of the above three understandings of this resurrection. “The prophet draws out the implications of Isa 25:8 in Isa 26:19 … yesterday and today’s martyrs shall live. Few Old Testament writers were granted this glimpse beyond the grave.” “Though obscure in details, Isa 26:19 clearly promises bodily resurrection.”
Some cannot see the final resurrection here because the passage makes no mention of the resurrection of the wicked; but it is a characteristic of the Bible that the “whole truth” on any subject is seldom, if ever, given by any writer; but as Isaiah himself said, “here a little and there a little.” See our introduction to this prophecy. Kidner noted this; and in connection with what Isaiah revealed here, he pointed out that Daniel (Dan 12:2) specifically included the resurrection of the wicked also in what appears to be a simultaneous resurrection. In fact, there are a number of other Old Testament revelations of the resurrection. If this were not true, how? we may ask could the writer of Hebrews have stated that “Some were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection” (Heb 11:35).
Christ stated that God’s declaration to Moses (Exo 3:6) that, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” is a clear indication of the resurrection; because God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mat 22:28-33). In that same passage, Jesus stated that the refusal of the Sadducees to believe in the resurrection was due to “their ignorance of the scriptures,” the Old Testament.
We feel certain that the passages in this division, namely, Isa 25:5 and Isa 26:19, as Gleason stated it, “Are a most explicit prediction of the bodily resurrection of believers.”
The prophet did not linger over this world-shaking revelation of a bodily resurrection but went forward at once to give practical admonition and to reiterate the certainty of God’s punishment of the wicked.
Isa 26:20
“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be over-past.”
Lowth called this, “An exhortation to patience and resignation, with a confident expectation of deliverance by the power of God.” This might be an indirect reference to that night of the Passover when God’s children were told to enter their houses and not to go out of them until morning (Exo 12:22). The message is eternal, that faith is a private and personal matter. It stands totally within the periphery of the inner and private life of true believers. There are times when every Christian should shut his doors to the noises and distractions of the world and to pursue privately his loving devotions to God, or as Christ put it, “When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee” (Mat 6:6).
Isa 26:21
“For behold Jehovah cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”
This is a clear warning of the final judgment when Adam’s rebellious race (the inhabitants of the earth) shall receive their final reward. This conclusion is required by the fact of the whole earth’s “disclosing her blood,” that is, by God’s exposing all of earth’s murders, such an event being clearly scheduled for the last day. Rawlinson said that this refers to, “The many murders men have committed on earth.” In the same place, he also wrote that:
“Isaiah denounced murder in his very first chapter (Isa 1:27). Manasseh’s murders were the main cause of the first destruction of Jerusalem (2Ki 24:4). The second destruction was equally a judgment for the innocent blood that had been shed upon the earth “from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias (Mat 23:35). Bloodshed cries to God for vengeance (Gen 4:10); and bloodshed will be one of the main causes of the world’s final destruction at the last day (Rev 16:6; Rev 18:20).
“The earth shall no more cover her slain …” “In the last day, there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and nothing hidden that shall not be known” (Mat 10:26). “Every murder, however secret, will be brought to light; and every murderer, however unsuspected previously, will be denounced and punished.”
The implications of what is said here compel the identification of this event with the last day. Therefore, the punishment of the wicked promised in Isa 26:21 is a reference to the consignment of Satan and all who have followed him in the “eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41).
Isa 26:11-15 GLORIFY: The second important objective of Gods judgments is to glorify His name. To exalt the name of Jehovah is the most fundamental need of man! If the name of Jehovah is not supreme, nothing is safe! If Gods integrity and faithfulness can be successfully impugned, man is lost! So, all of Gods actions are for the sake of His name (cf. Eze 20:9; Eze 20:14; Eze 20:22; Eze 20:44, etc.). All that man holds to be true, real, valuable, right or wrong, good or bad, depends upon the integrity of God and His Word. If God is not Absolute, everything is false! Gods most factual, arresting method of proving His Absoluteness is in His just judgments.
So, the true man of God prays for Gods justice to be done. The true man of God waits upon the Lord to carry out His judgments in His own time and in His own way (cf. Rom 12:14-21). And the true man of God does all within his own power to support Gods ordained structures of human government through which God executes some of His judgments (cf. Rom 13:1-10).
Gods zealous deliverances of His people and His judgments upon His enemies so glorify His name His people are moved to praise His name over and over.
Gods people praise Him expressing their absolute faith in Him to establish peace for them. They willingly confess that He has worked all their works for them. They, like David, realize that even their offerings to God came from Him (cf. 1Ch 29:10-19). All the good that any man has done is possible only as that man allows God to work in him and through him.
Isa 26:13 is interesting because it contains the three major Hebrew names for God: Yaweh, Elohim, Adonai. In this verse Yaweh and Elohim denote God while Adonai denotes other lords. Adonai is parallel to the Greek word kurios (lord). Whether the other lords are human masters or idol-gods is uncertain. The Israelites allowed both human masters and idols to have dominion over them. When Jehovah has demonstrated once and for all His sovereign majesty in divine judgment and justice, and when He has brought in His new order men will never again call idols or human masters lord. While the church is in the world it will, of course, be subject to every human ordinance (not disobedient to God) for the Lords sake. But no human or idol will be called Father by a citizen of Gods new-order-kingdom.
God purged Israel of its idolatry once and for all through the Babylonian captivity. Israel, so enamored of idolatry during the time of the divided kingdom, was cast into a veritable sea of paganism and idolatry in Babylon and Persia. There they saw the cruelty and corruption that idolatry results in, and they cried out for deliverance. God erased every desire for idolatry from the true heart of the man of God. All over the world in this age when the gospel is preached and men love Christ and obey Him they throw away their false gods. The gospel has power to cast down strongholds and every imagination that exalts itself against God and to bring every thought into captivity to Christ (2Co 10:3-5).
God took a comparatively small and disorganized mass of nomadic slaves known as Hebrews, delivered them from the world-powerful hand of the Egyptian emperor, established a beachhead for them in the land of the Canaanites, and enlarged them numerically and geographically at the very center of world commerce and politics until their influence was felt all over the world. Miracles and providence were so evident in all this, the true believer had to acknowledge Gods working as the source of it all.
The establishment of Gods new-order-kingdom, the church, is even more spectacular and demonstrably divine in origin. One despised Galilean took twelve assorted fishermen and tax-collectors plus a tent-maker and conquered men from every tribe and tongue and nation on the earth.
In the days of Samuel, the people of God cried out for a king like the nations. Many lords came and went, exercising dominion over Gods people. For the most part, they led Gods people into idolatry and captivity. Through it all the Lord, Jehovah, was seeking to bring His people back to His own dominion over them. After long centuries of troublous times (cf. Dan 9:24-27), God came to earth incarnate in human flesh, in His Son, and re-established His rule and His kingdom among men. So, now, God has increased the nation and enlarged all the borders of the land to include all who have and all who will believe Jesus and obey His commandments. And it all redounds to His glory!
Isa 26:16-18 JUSTICE IS SLOW: Batsar is the Hebrew for in trouble and primarily means to bind up, distressed, oppressed. In Isa 26:16 also is the Hebrew word musareka, translated chastening, which literally means, correction or discipline. We conclude then that Isa 26:16 is speaking of the corrective discipline by which the Lord had oppressed the Israelites in the past and would afflict them with in the future (the Babylonian captivity). This latter affliction is apparent when one compares the term indignation in Isa 26:20 with Dan 8:19; Dan 11:36, which we shall do later.
These verses represent the prayers of the faithful remnant, in all its history, making known its frustration of looking for justice and deliverance in the midst of its trials and unable to deliver itself. The remnant is driven to hope in Gods justice. Gods justice seems to walk with leaden feet (cf. Hab 1:1-4; Isa 59:14; Eze 9:9; Rev 6:9-11). So the saints of God cry out, but God is trying them, purging them, building endurance and character, if they will believe and hold fast their hope.
Like a pregnant woman, Israel had endured pain, much anxiety and now, trouble like a woman in the pangs of labor was upon Israel, and she had produced nothing. She knew from her prophets and patriarchs she was to bring to birth a new order, but now all she has is pain and in her anxiety she cries out again. Facing the captivity of the northern kingdom (Israel) and the disintegration of the southern kingdom (Judah) and its inevitable captivity, the faithful remnant (Isaiah, their spokesman) was gripped with frustration and anxiety about its Messianic destiny through which it was to bring deliverance to mankind.
Isa 26:18 contains the Hebrew word naphal which means birth, or as Leupold says, is used of beasts dropping their young in birth. A better translation of the phrase, . . . neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen would be, . . . no inhabitants of the world came to birth through us. This is better word usage and contextual harmony. The remnants agonized concern was that Gods covenant people had experienced nothing but pain and sorrow when their destiny was to produce a Messianic new-world-order. Thus far they had given birth to nothing at all!
Isa 26:19-21 JUSTICE IS SURE: But the answer from God through His prophet is, slow as His justice may seem, absolutely and divinely certain. What they think is dead shall live. Gods remnant is a living kingdom, not a dead one. There is some disagreement as to whether Isa 26:19 refers to personal, individual, physical resurrection from the dead or to a resurrection of the redemptive program of God through the deliverance of the covenant people from the captivities and its subsequent Messianic fulfillment. We tend to accept the latter view. We feel it fits the context more clearly, and such figure is used elsewhere (cf. Hos 6:1-3; Ezekiel chapter 37; and see Dan 12:1 ff). Those who dwell in the dust of death (in captivity) shall awake and sing. English translators translated the Hebrew oroth as herbs, but it would better be, light. Thus we have paraphrased it: . . . for Gods light of life will fall like refreshing dew upon them. See Hos 14:4-7 for the life-giving refreshment of dew.
It is specifically Gods people, the remnant, who are promised more than warned to hide themselves for a little while until the indignation is past. God invites them, Come, enter into thy chambers. He will protect them during the indignation. The Hebrew word used here for indignation is zaam and is the same word used in Dan 8:19; Dan 11:36; and also Dan 11:30 where it is translated enraged (RSV). See Dan 8:19, The time of the indignation is the same as the troublous time of Dan 9:24-27-the time for Gods accomplishing through the Jewish nation all that He is going to accomplish which will come to a culmination at the birth and death of the Messiah. In other words, the faithful remnant is going to have to endure a time of indignation/trouble from the time of the Babylonian captivities, through Persian domination, Greek domination, Seleucid domination, Roman domination until Christ is born. At His birth comes the long sought for deliverance (cf. Luk 1:67-79; Luk 2:25-38). At His birth comes the resurrection of the remnants Messianic destiny-its very life. The indignation, though it will last some 600 years, is only a little while with God. All during that time God is chastening, delivering, preparing them to become a people through which He can bring to birth His new order, His new covenant, the church.
God is going to do it. The guilty world cannot hide itself or its guilt. It cannot forego Jehovahs deliverance of the remnant. Gods word is sure!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chastened by Suffering
Isa 26:11-21
When God ordains our peace, a world in arms cannot disturb us. Our peace results from the conviction that God is going before us and preparing our works. But be careful to make mention of His name, that is, to give Him the glory.
Do not be afraid of your enemies. When God brings you back from the ends of the earth, He will free you from their toils and snares. Let us, as Isa 26:16 suggests, pour out our prayers, as a vessel its contents; though, as the Hebrew signifies, those prayers are but whispers. It is true that apart from God we work no deliverance in the earth, Isa 26:18, but when He speaks, even the dead live. Jesus, the resurrection and the life, speaks in Isa 26:19. What comfort results to those that dwell in the dust of self-abasement and despair to look up to the ever-living Christ, from whom streams of life-giving energy come to believing hearts! Arise and sing, thou broken heart: even now the stone is being rolled from the door of thy sepulcher; the morning dew is distilling upon thee. Cast out by earth, thou shalt be welcomed by heaven, and sheltered in Gods secret place till the storm-burst has spent itself.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
when: Psa 10:12, Mic 5:9
will: Isa 18:3, 1Sa 6:9, Job 34:27, Jer 5:3, Act 28:27
they shall: Exo 9:14, 1Sa 5:6-11, Jer 44:28, Luk 16:23
be: Isa 11:13, Isa 60:14, Psa 86:17, 1Pe 3:16, Rev 3:9
at the: or, towards thy
fire: Isa 5:24, Psa 21:8, Mal 4:1, Mat 25:41, 2Th 1:8, Rev 19:20
Reciprocal: Gen 37:11 – envied Exo 3:20 – after that Exo 7:23 – neither Exo 9:17 – General Num 16:41 – all the Num 22:26 – where was no way Jos 11:1 – he sent 2Sa 10:19 – feared 1Ki 11:27 – lifted up 1Ki 20:22 – at the return 2Ki 1:11 – Again 2Ch 18:24 – Behold Job 37:7 – that Psa 6:10 – Let all Psa 10:5 – thy judgments Psa 21:9 – the fire Ecc 7:14 – but Isa 9:9 – And all Isa 9:13 – the people Isa 48:8 – thou heardest Jer 36:24 – they Eze 6:14 – will I Eze 17:21 – shall know Eze 20:48 – General Eze 39:21 – I will set Dan 3:27 – the princes Hos 9:7 – Israel Amo 4:6 – yet Mic 6:9 – and Mic 7:16 – nations Zep 3:19 – I will undo Mal 2:4 – ye Mat 21:15 – when Mat 27:18 – he Luk 19:39 – rebuke Luk 20:7 – that Joh 9:18 – General Joh 12:40 – that they Act 13:45 – they Act 17:5 – moved
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
26:11 LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: [but] they shall see, and be ashamed for [their] {k} envy at the people; yea, the fire of thy {l} enemies shall devour them.
(k) Through envy and indignation against your people.
(l) The fire and vengeance with which you destroy your enemies.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Even though the unrighteous do not recognize God’s messages to them now, they will one day understand, when He brings these enemies of His into judgment.