Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 30:19
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
19. The answer to prayer.
For the people shall dwell ] Rather For, O people in Zion that dwellest in Jerusalem.
thou shalt weep no more gracious ] weep thou shalt not, he will surely be gracious.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the people shall dwell in Zion – (see the note at Isa 1:8). The language here is evidently adapted to a return from the captivity. The whole design of the passage Isa 30:19-26 is to describe a future state of prosperity by images mainly drawn from the idea of temporal enjoyment. The sense is, that in some period subsequent to the calamities that would befall them for their improper reliance on the aid of Egypt Isa 30:16-17, there would be prosperity, peace, and joy in Jerusalem. The order of events, as seen by the prophet in vision, seems to be this. He sees the people threatened with an invasion by Sennacherib. He sees them forget their reliance on God and seek the aid of Egypt. He sees, as a consequence of this, a long series of calamities resulting in the downfall of the republic, the destruction of the city, and the captivity at Babylon. Yet he sees, in the distant prospect, prosperity, happiness, security, piety, the blessing of God, and rich and abundant future mercies resting on his people. That the blessings under the Messiah constitute a part of this series of mercies no one can doubt who attentively considers the language in Isa 30:25-26.
Thou shalt weep no more – (see the note at Isa 25:8).
He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry – When in your calamities you shall cry unto him for deliverance, he shall hear you, and restore you to your own land. This is in accordance with the statements in Isa 26:8-9 (see the notes at these verses), that in their captivity in Babylon they would seek God.
He will answer thee – (see Jer 29:12-14).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 30:19
He will be very gracious unto thee
Encouragements for faith
Observe the kind of prayer which is here said to move the Divine pity and win the Divine favour.
It is designated a cry, i.e., it is a very fervent, earnest, importunate prayer. It is a prayer that comes out of the depths of the heart. It expresses a very deep sense of need. It utters a very longing desire after God. There is very good reason why our prayers should very often tale this form. Our sins are such that they should work in us a penitence that may fitly take expression in a cry. Our spiritual needs are so urgent that we may give utterance to them in a cry. The strife is, sometimes at least, so hot, and the battle seems so going against us, that it may very reasonably be expected from us that we should cry unto God for His help. And God is such a necessity to these natures of ours, and God as a possession is so sufficing, that our desire for Him may well be intense enough to require this language to give expression to our prayer.
I. There is encouragement for faith in prayer to be found in THE NATURE OF GOD HIMSELF, as we cannot help conceiving of it. Goodness enters into His very nature. We find it necessary to believe that. It is too dreadful to believe the contrary. If I apprehend Him as perfectly good He must be pitiful, He must be tender in His pity; and if so, He is surely likely to be very gracious when He hears the voice of our cry.
II. There is encouragement, too, in THE RELATIONS WHICH WE MUST CONCEIVE GOD AS SUSTAINING TO US. He is our Creator, and there is no reason at all in the suspicion that He who has made us is looking with indifferent eyes upon us or listening with indifference when the voice of our cry reaches His ear. He is our Father. He has communicated to us of His own nature, and so has become our Father as He is not the Father of other creatures that live on the face of this earth. But how does He fill up your idea of Father if, when you are in want, He does not heed? if, when you express your want of Him and of His help by a cry, He is not moved?
III. THE INSTINCT OF PRAYER which we have offers encouragement to us that He will be moved when we call. We are in pain; some One is near who can relieve us, and we instinctively cry for relief at His hands. Your child is in imminent peril, and there is a man near who can rescue him; you instinctively call for the help of that man. And so we feel great wants which God only can supply. We are in great peril, from which God only can deliver us. There is something which instinctively moves us to appeal to God, to cry to Him. If God has put that instinct in our nature, He mast have intended to gratify it. There is no instinct of human nature for the gratification of which God has not in some way provided.
IV. We have encouragement, too, in THE ANALOGY TO ALL HUMAN RESPONSE GIVEN TO GREAT NEED. It is not to children only that we give our compassion when they appeal to us in great distress; we are moved by the lower animals when in their great trouble they make an appeal to us. But you are not more pitiful than God. There is no love or pity in man that was not first in God.
V. We have the highest encouragement to this faith in God in THE REVELATION OF HIM IN THE SCRIPTURES. It is a positive command of His that we should call upon Him when we need Him, that we should cry unto Him when we are in distress. His command means His purpose to hear; His command involves a promise in it. What do we find given in the revelation? Explicit promises without number, and in every form–proofs and illustrations and examples without number of Gods readiness to be very gracious unto those that cry unto Him. What do we see in the revelation of God in the Christian Scriptures? God showing what He is through a man. He went about in the form of a man. The sinning, and the needy, and the suffering came to Him, surrounded Him, tracked His steps, and cried to Him for His pithy and for His help. And was He not very gracious! When He was suffering, dying Himself, there came a cry from another who was in great distress, saying to Him, Remember me; and He was very gracious at the voice of that cry. But some are thinking that it is all true about the nature of God, but that they are guilty, and there are Gods law, and Gods government, and Gods justice, in the way of His nature expressing itself in His pitifulness to them in answer to their cry. Whatever hindrance they put in the way has been taken away by Christ. (D. Thomas, B. A.)
Encouragement to trust and pray
I. THIS ASSURANCE IS PARTICULARLY SUITABLE TO CERTAIN CHARACTERS.
1. This is applicable and comfortable to all afflicted people.
2. To those who are troubled on account of sin.
3. To backsliders filled with their own ways, who are alarmed and distressed at their grievous departures from their God.
4. To all believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart.
II. THE ASSURANCE HERE GIVEN IS VERY FIRMLY BASED. The words of our text are no old wives fable, they are not such a pretty tale as mothers sometimes tell their children, a story made to please them, but not actually true. What is the ground of this assurance?
1. The plain promise of God.
2. The gracious nature of God.
3. The prevalence of prayer. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.
4. Personal testimony as to the result of faith in God and supplication to
III. THE ASSURANCE OF THE TEXT BEING SO WELL CONFIRMED SHOULD BE PRACTICALLY ACCEPTED AT ONCE.
1. Let us renounce all earthborn confidences.
2. Refuse despair.
3. Try the power of prayer and childlike confidence in God. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion – “When a holy people shall dwell in Sion”] , Septuagint; am kadosh. The word kadosh, lost out of the text, but happily supplied by the Septuagint, clears up the sense, otherwise extremely obscure. When the rest of the cities of the land were taken by the king of Assyria, Zion was preserved, and all that were in it.
Thou shalt weep no more – “Thou shalt implore him with weeping”] The negative particle lo is not acknowledged by the Septuagint. It may perhaps have been written by mistake for lo, to him, of which there are many examples.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; for although the time is coming, when the people shall be banished from Jerusalem, and carried captives into Babylon; yet after a set time they shall return to Jerusalem, and have a fixed and comfortable abode there: which was in part accomplished upon their return from Babylon; but more fully in the times of the gospel, when many of them were, and the whole body of them shall be, brought into Christs church, which is oft called Zion and Jerusalem, both in the Old and New Testament.
He will answer thee; whereas now he seems to be deaf to thy prayers.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. (Isa65:9). The restoration from Babylon only typifies the fullaccomplishment of the prophecy (Isa30:18-33).
weep no more (Isa25:8).
thy cry (Isa 26:8;Isa 26:9; Jer 29:12-14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem,…. Or, “for the people of Zion z shall dwell in Jerusalem”; those that belonged to the fort of Zion should dwell in Jerusalem, or “abide” there, both they and the inhabitants of it, at least many of them should quietly continue there, waiting the Lord’s time to appear for them, and not run here and there, and particularly to Egypt for help or shelter. Seeing there are many things in the following verses which have respect to Gospel times, and best suit with them, this may be understood of the safe and comfortable dwelling of the children of Zion, or regenerate persons, in a Gospel church state, which is often called Jerusalem, both in the Old and New Testament:
thou shalt weep no more; or, “in weeping thou shall not weep” a; though they had been weeping because of the enemy’s invasion of their land, and besieging their city, yet now all tears should be wiped away from their eyes, being delivered from him; this may very well be accommodated to Gospel times:
he will be very gracious unto thee, at the voice of thy cry; these are the words of the prophet, declaring that the Lord would be gracious to his people at the voice of their prayer and supplication to him in their distress, as he was to the voice of Hezekiah’s cry and supplication to him:
when he shall hear it, he will answer thee; he always hears the prayers of his people, and he always answers them, sooner or later, in his own time, and in his own way; see Isa 65:24.
z “polpulus Sion”, V. L. Gataker. a “plorando non plorabis”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
None but such are heirs of the grace that follows the judgment – a people, newly pardoned in response to its cry for help, conducted by faithful teachers in the right way, and renouncing idolatry with disgust. “For a people continues dwelling in Zion, in Jerusalem; thou shalt not weep for ever: He will prove Himself gracious to thee at the sound of thy cry for help; as soon as He hears, He answers thee. And the Lord giveth you bread in penury, and water for your need; and thy teachers will not hide themselves any more, and thine eyes come to see thy teachers. And thine ears will hear words behind thee, saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it!’ whether ye turn to the right hand or to the left. And ye defile the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the clothing of thy molten images of gold; thou wilt scatter them like filthy thing: ‘Get out!’ thou sayest to it.” We do not render Isa 30:19, “For O people that dwelleth in Zion, in Jerusalem!” For although the personal pronoun may be omitted after Vav in an apostrophizing connection (Pro 8:5; Joe 2:23), we should certainly expect to find here. The accent very properly marks these words as forming an independent clause. The apparent tautology in the expression, “in Zion, in Jerusalem,” is emphatic and explanatory. The fate of Zion-Jerusalem will not be the same as that of the imperial city (Isa 13:20; Isa 25:2); for it is the city of Jehovah, which, according to His promise, cannot become an eternally deserted ruin. After this promising declaration, the prophet turns and addresses the people of the future in the people of his own time; bakho strengthens the verbal notion with the mark of duration; c hanon with the mark of certainty and fulness. , with an advanced o , as in Gen 43:29, for . is the shortest expression used to denote simultaneous occurrence; answering and hearing would coincide ( shomah , nomen actionis , as in Isa 47:9; Isa 55:2; Ges. 45, 1 b; anakh , the pausal form here, as in Jer 23:37). From this lowest stage of response to the penitential cry for help, the promise rises higher and higher. The next stage is that in which Jerusalem is brought into all the distress consequent upon a siege, as threatened by the prophet in Isa 29:3-4; the besieged would not be allowed by God to die of starvation, but He would send them the necessary support. The same expression, but very little altered, viz., “to give to eat lechem lachatz umayim lachatz ,” signifies to put any one upon the low rations of a siege or of imprisonment, in 1Ki 22:27 and 2Ch 18:26; but here it is a promise, with the threat kept in the background. and are connected with the absolute nouns and , not as adverbial, but as appositional definitions (like , “wine which is giddiness,” in Psa 60:5; and , “water which is knees,” i.e., which has the measure of the knees, where birkayim is also in apposition, and not the accusative of measurement): literally, bread which is necessity, and water which is affliction; that is to say, nourishment of which there is extreme need, the very opposite of bread and water in abundance. Umbreit and Drechsler understand this spiritually. But the promise rises as it goes on. There is already an advance, in the fact that the faithful and well-meaning teachers ( morm ) no longer keep themselves hidden because of the hard-heartedness and hatred of the people, as they have done ever since the time of Ahaz ( , a denom.: to withdraw into , , the utmost end, the most secret corner; though kanaph in itself signifies to cover or conceal). Israel, when penitent, would once more be able to rejoice in the sight of those whom it longed to have back again. is a plural, according to the context (on the singular of the previous predicate, see Ges. 147). As the shepherds of the flock, they would follow the people with friendly words of admonition, whilst the people would have their ears open to receive their instruction. is here equivalent to , . The abominations of idolatry (which continued even in the first years of Hezekiah’s reign: Isa 31:7; Mic 1:5; Mic 5:11-13; Mic 6:16) would now be regarded as abominations, and put away. Even gold and silver, with which the images that were either carved or cast in inferior metal were overlaid, would be made unclean (see 2 Kings 28:8ff.); that is to say, no use would be made of them. Davah is a shorter expression for k e l davah , the cloth worn by a woman at the monthly period. On zarah , to dispense – to which davah would be inappropriate if understood of the woman herself, as it is by Luzzatto – compare 2Ki 23:6. With , the plural used in the general address passes over into the individualizing singular; is to be taken as a neuter pointing back to the plunder of idols.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
19. Surely the people in Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem. He confirms the former statement, that the people will indeed be afflicted, but will at length return to “Zion.” Now, this might be thought incredible after the desolation of the city and of the whole country, for it seemed as if the whole nation had perished; yet Isaiah promises that the Church shall be preserved. He begins with Mount “Zion,” on which the temple was built, and says that there men will henceforth call on the Lord. He likewise adds, “in Jerusalem,” by which he means that the Church shall be enlarged and increased, and that all that had formerly been laid waste shall be restored. Yet he intimates that “Jerusalem” shall again be populous, because God had chosen it to be his sanctuary.
Weeping thou shalt not weep. (299) The meaning is, that this mourning shall not be perpetual. The Church, that is, all believers, while they were in this wretched and distressed condition, must have been exceedingly sorrowful; but he says that those tears shall come to an end. To the same purport is it said by the Psalmist, “They who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” (Psa 126:5.) The Lord permits us indeed to be afflicted with great anguish; but at length he cheers us, and gives us reason for gladness, when he restores his Church; for that is the true joy of believers. Besides, as it is difficult to taste any consolation when the mind is overwhelmed by a conviction of God’s vengeance, he holds out a ground of consolation in the mercy of God, because, when he is appeased, there is no reason to dread that joy and peace shall not immediately return. But, as the Prophet Habakkuk says in the passage already quoted, “in his wrath the Lord remembers mercy;” and he never punishes believers with such severity as not to restrain and moderate his strokes, and put a limit to his chastisements. (Hab 3:2.)
At the voice of thy cry. The Prophet points out the manner of obtaining pardon, in order to arouse believers to pray earnestly, and to supplicate with earnest groanings; for if there be no repentance, if we do not ask pardon from God, we are altogether unworthy of his mercy. If, therefore, we wish that the Church should be gathered together, and rescued from destruction by a kind of resurrection, let us cry to God to listen to our sighs and groanings; and if there be no sorrow of heart that excites us to prayer, we have no right to expect any alleviation.
He will answer thee. This means nothing else than that he will give evidence of his kindness and aid; for the Lord “answers,” not by word, but by deed. Yet let us not think that he will instantly comply with our wishes, which are often hasty and unseasonable. He will undoubtedly assist us when the proper time arrives, so that we shall know that he had in view our salvation.
(299) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
GODS READINESS TO LISTEN TO THE NEEDY
Isa. 30:19. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.
I. There are persons before me for whom this gracious assurance is particularly suitable. It is most comforting
1. To all afflicted people. You are depressed; things have gone amiss; you do not prosper in business, or you are sickening in body, or a dear one lies at home pining away. In your straits possibly you may be ready to try some wrong way of helping yourself out of your difficulties. Yield not to Satan. There is help in God for you now. The Lord is not now visiting you in wrath; there is kindness in His severity. By yielding yourself to God, and trusting Him in this your evil plight, you will obtain deliverance (Isa. 30:15).
2. To those who are troubled on account of sin. In order to escape from sin and punishment, the very first thing with you is to come back to your God whom you have offended, since He alone can pardon you. There must be a turning of the face in repentance, and a looking of the eye by faith unto God in Christ Jesus, or you will die in your sins (H. E. I., 14791484). The natural tendency of your heart, even when under a sense of sin, will be to keep from the Lord. Alas! you will look at your sin again and again till you are ready to pine away in despair, but you will not look to Christ Jesus and be saved. Possibly you may conclude that there is no hope for you in better things, and that therefore you had better enjoy such pleasures as may be found in sin, and take your swing while you may. Do not believe this lie of Satan. There is hope; you are in the land of mercy still. You need do nothing to make the Lord propitious, He is love already; you need not undergo penance, nor pass through grievous anguish of spirit in order to render God more merciful, for His grace aboundeth. Therefore we say to you, Go to Him and test Him, for He will be gracious to the voice of your cry.
3. To backsliders filled with their own ways, who are alarmed and distressed at their grievous departures from God. You may well be grieved, for you have done much dishonour to the name of God amongst the ungodly; you have pierced His saints with many sorrows. If you were cast off for ever as a traitor and left to die as a son of perdition, what could be said but that you were reaping the fruit of your own ways? Yet the text rings in your ears at this time like a clear silver bell, and its one note is grace. He will be very gracious unto thee (Jer. 3:14; H. E. I., 424).
4. To all believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart; and we are all in that condition at times. Even when by full assurance we can read our title clear to-day, we become anxious as to the morrow. If trials multiply, how will faith be able to stand? When the days of weakness arrive, what shall we do in our old age? Behind all stands the skeleton form of death. What shall we do in the swellings of Jordan? We recollect how we ran with the footmen in our former trials, and they wearied us, and we ask ourselves, How shall we contend with horsemen? When standing, as we shall, on the brink of eternity, will our religion then prove a reality, or will our hope dissolve like a dream? Such questions torment our souls. Let all such fears vanish. In child-like confidence come to God, and go no more from Him. Let this verse smile on you, and beckon you to your Fathers heart.
II. The assurance here given is very firmly based. It rests
1. On the plain promise of God as given in the text, and in many similar declarations scattered all over the Scriptures.
2. On the gracious nature of God. It is His nature to be gracious. Judgment is His strange work, but He delighteth in mercy. Nothing pleases Him more than to pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin when we lie humble and penitent before Him.
3. On the prevalence of prayer. This we know, an experience of eight-and-twenty years has proved that God heareth prayer; therefore we say to you, Go to Him and test Him, for He will be gracious to the voice of your cry.
III. The well-confirmed assurance of the text should be practically accepted at once.
1. Let us renounce at once all earth-born confidences. What is your confidence? Your wealth? Your strong common-sense? Your stalwart frame? What are you relying on? Will it support you in death? Will it stand you in good stead in eternity? It will not if it be anything short of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us flee from all creature-confidence as from a filthy thing, for it is base to the last degree to be trusting in another creature and putting that creature into the place of its Creator.
2. Refuse despair.
3. Try now the power of prayer and child-like confidence in God.C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxiv. pp. 337348.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(19) Shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem.The two words are, of course, practically synonymous; but the prophet dwells with a patriots affection on both the names which were dear to him. The words admit of being taken as a vocative, Yea, O people that dwellest.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19-26. Having opened thus the ever-pleasing thought of the prophet namely, the divine forbearance the way is prepared now for comfort to the devout class of people in Jerusalem.
The people shall dwell in Zion He yearns for all to become devout, which, if they will, safety is a sure thing for the whole nation. The nation is between two fires Egypt and Assyria. Worldly court partisans waver as to policy between these. The religious party denounce every object of trust but Jehovah. The prophet is their uncompromising leader. He encourages in no faint terms. The nation is kept down by the powers on either side, but he claims it is not extinct, with Mount Zion in their midst. Jehovah is ready to reinstate the nation in its true glory. Weeping shall cease! Crying to Jehovah shall be heard as soon as uttered! The prophet uses soaring words. He addresses the future as well as the present.
Though This is not in the Hebrew, yet the complete sense requires it, else neither member of the sentence is intelligible.
Bread of adversity, and the water of affliction Expressions for doled out bread and water, as is customary in sieges because of their scarcity: but on condition of return to Jehovah, these shall pass away, and plenteousness take their place.
Shall not thy teachers be removed Their “teachers,” or true prophets, were also often removed, or obliged to hide themselves, in times when the idolatrous anti-reformers were in complete power, but this evil should also come to an end.
A word behind thee “Behind thee” may be a figure drawn from shepherd life, and seems to intimate that some of the flock, instead of strictly following the shepherd as is the Eastern custom, had gone in front, and were wandering aside of the true way, when the shepherd’s voice “behind them” is heard in warning.
Defile images The true people are seen by the prophet in the glorious times, putting away idolatry as a polluted abomination. Ahaz had not been slow in filling Jerusalem with it. The images thus worshipped are to be cast away with utter disgust, as is also expressed in the final words,
Get hence. Then shall he [Jehovah] give the rain of thy seed The rains needed to insure an ample harvest the first rains in autumn, after seed sowing, the latter in the spring. Earthly images of this sort are figures of grand spiritual blessings to the people of Israel.
Fat and plenteous Fatness, fertility, plenty for man and beast, and every thing contributing to these, yield, in the Old Testament, the richest descriptions for conceptions spiritual.
Light sun sevenfold The sevenfold increase of the light of heaven’s luminaries, and the concentrated light of seven days into one, represent the advanced spiritual state of the children of Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
For God’s Final Purpose is To Bless His True People Who Will Remain After His Chastisement and Purification, And To Defeat Their Enemies Himself ( Isa 30:19-33 ).
While the future holds adversity for them, His final purpose is to bless those who are His true people. In the case of those who will hear His voice, He will be there to guide them. And once they have learned their lesson through their sufferings then they will enjoy great prosperity.
Analysis.
a O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. (Or, ‘the people who dwell in Zion will weep no more’). He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He will hear He will answer you (Isa 30:19).
b And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left (Isa 30:20-21).
c And you will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You will cast them away as an unclean thing. You will say to each one, “Leave us” (Isa 30:22).
d And he will give the rain of your seed, that you sow the ground with it
d And bread of the increase of the ground, and it will be fat and plentiful (Isa 30:23 a).
c In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. Similarly the oxen and the young asses which till the ground, they will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with the fork and with the fan (Isa 30:23-24).
b And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall (Isa 30:25).
a What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound (Isa 30:26).
In ‘a’ the promise is that one day His people will weep no more because He will hear their cry and be gracious to them, and in the parallel all their benefits will be enhanced in the day when He acts to heal them. In ‘b’ although they must suffer adversity and affliction they can be sure that they will hear His voice leading and guiding them in the right way, and in the parallel there will be rivers of waters on the hills, even though there is great slaughter and the towers fall. In ‘c’ when they get rid of their idols and destroy them, in the parallel they will prosper and enjoy prosperity. In ‘d’ He will feed their sown seed with rain, and in the parallel this will result in abundance of provision.
Isa 30:19-21
‘O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he will hear he will answer you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.’
In typical fashion Isaiah now promises hope, because it is finally God’s purpose to bless those of His people whom He preserves. His words are addressed to those in Zion, at Jerusalem. It is true that they must first face the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, that is, that adversity and affliction will for a time be their staple diet in days to come, but there will come a day when weeping is no more. The present is bleak because of their sin, but the future is bright because of God’s sovereign mercy (but only for those who survive).
For when they do call on Him in genuine repentance and seek His face, when they ‘cry’ to Him, then He will hear and answer them. Then they will know Him as their Teacher, who will not be hidden from them any more (contrast Isa 29:11-12). Their eyes will see Him and their ears will hear Him. And when they begin to stray the voice of their Teacher will speak to them, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it”.’
The picture is of a Guide, who when the caravan he is leading takes the wrong road because he has gone ahead to scout, calls after them, ‘this is the way, walk in it’.
‘Your eyes will see your Teacher.’ Isaiah here probably means acknowledge and recognise, but it was to receive a greater fulfilment than Isaiah probably intended, when the Counsellor Himself walked and taught in Palestine and men saw Him with their own eyes, and they could say, ‘we beheld His glory’ (Joh 1:14).
It may, however, be that he did here have ‘the Counsellor’ in mind (Isa 9:6), and that the reference here is to the coming Immanuel, Who is later spoken of in this way (Isa 42:7; Isa 49:2; Isa 49:6; Isa 50:4; Isa 61:1-2).
So God promises that one day there will be a Teacher in response to their prayers (whether God or Immanuel), a Teacher Who will care for them and be available to them and lead them in the right way (compare Isa 2:3; Isa 28:6; Isa 28:26; Psa 25:8; Psa 94:10; Psa 94:12). A Teacher whose concern for them will be such that He is ever watchful of their spiritual welfare, bringing to them His Law and guiding them by it (Isa 2:3).
Note again the near and far view. Jerusalem would be delivered in the near future, and the deliverance would certainly have a spiritual impact, but the greater impact awaited another day when God would act in a more wonderful way to finalise His work, because their response of faith would be insufficient.
Isa 30:22
‘And you will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver,
And the plating of your molten images of gold.
You will cast them away as an unclean thing.
You will say to each one, “Leave us”.’
One sign of their reformation will be that they will rid themselves of their idols made of wood, and covered with precious metals. They will first denude them of their silver and gold, and then throw them away, declaring their intention to be rid of them, and that they want no more of them, demanding that they go on their way and leave them.
It is noteworthy that the final result of exile and the suffering that they subsequently endured was that Israel did finally finish with idolatry. From then on it became anathema to them. So fulfilment was both near and far. Isaiah foresaw what would happen, but he was not aware of the timetable.
Isa 30:23-24
‘And he will give the rain of your seed,
That you sow the ground with it,
And bread of the increase of the ground,
And it will be fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures.
Similarly the oxen and the young asses which till the ground,
They will eat salted provender,
Which has been winnowed with the fork and with the fan.’
Then instead of the bread of affliction and the water of adversity, they will enjoy rain from heaven enabling them to sow their seed with certainty, and sufficient harvest that they have plentiful soft bread. The cattle will enjoy pasturage in large fields, the oxen and the young asses will eat well-flavoured provender, which has been thoroughly sifted and fanned (contrast Isa 30:6-7). The latter has in mind that when grain is short it is better not to remove too much of the chaff in order that the food may appear more plentiful, but now there is so much that it can be well sifted. The contrast demonstrates that the emphasis is not on the detail, but its significance. Instead of affliction will come freedom and joy; instead of adversity will come peace and blessing.
As so often the fulfilment is greater than the promise. Days did come in their future prior to the time of Jesus when Jerusalem enjoyed the physical blessings promised. Times became prosperous. But the greater fulfilment lay in Him Who was the bread (Joh 6:35; Joh 6:51) and water of life (Joh 4:14; Joh 7:37-38), which was to be enjoyed while His people were on earth and will be enjoyed even more abundantly, without the weeping (Isa 30:19), in eternity, when the curse will be no more (Rev 21:4; Rev 21:6; Rev 22:1-3). Then life will flourish beyond all understanding.
To an agricultural community the greatest blessings conceivable were plentiful rain, fruitful harvests, and large pasturage, and that is why their future was pictured in these terms. The curse would be lifted, the blessings of Eden would return. That is why their everlasting future is depicted in those terms. They were terms that they understood. They indicated that the curse of Eden will have been removed and that Paradise will have come. John in Revelation would later depict the same future in terms of a city made of gold and precious jewels, and of a river of life surrounded by fruitful trees. None are finally to be pressed literally.
(If you were to go among a remote Eskimo group that had no conception of a life beyond the grave or of advanced spiritual concepts, how would you present Heaven to them? Would it not be in terms of plentiful extra fat seals, bigger igloos and larger holes in the ice? So it was here, but in different terms. It is ever so. God can only speak to us through pictures, and that is equally true even in our modern age).
Isa 30:25
‘And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.’
This verse brings out the parabolic nature of the prophetic words. All the mountains will run with streams of water! (Compare Isa 33:21). Canaan was a land which depended on rain and not on mighty rivers, and so blessing is pictured in those terms. So on the one hand for the people of God who trust in Him the mountains and hills will run with water, a sign of fruitfulness and plenty, while on the other for God’s enemies there will be great slaughter and the destruction of their strongholds (compare Isa 25:2; Isa 32:19). It will thus be a time of judgment and of separation. On the one hand those deemed righteous will enjoy life-giving water, on the other those deemed unrighteous will face destruction and ‘the great slaughter’.
Isa 30:26
‘What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.’
In the day spoken of the whole of nature will be abounding. The moon will shine like the sun (compare Rev 21:26) and the sun will have sevenfold brightness, sufficient sun in one day for seven days. That man could not naturally survive in these conditions is apparent, but that is not the point. The point is to indicate that man’s blessings and provision will increase ‘sevenfold’, that is, will increase in terms of divine perfection. We are not here speaking of literal happenings but of a heavenly kingdom spoken of in earthly terms when all will be magnified and far more wonderful than we can ever imagine.
‘In the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of His people, and heals the stroke of their wound.’ That is, when the everlasting kingdom begins and all is made well (contrast Isa 30:20; Isa 1:5-6). In New Testament terms it is the day of the Parousia, the day when Christ Jesus takes up His own to meet Him in the air (1Th 4:13-18). This day is in contrast with the day of great slaughter in Isa 30:25. His people will come out of that time of distress, to healing and restoration. And yet for His true people it begins here and now, for ‘out of the innermost beings will flow rivers of living water’ (Joh 7:37-39), while the healing of the wounds is carried out by the Great Physician in all who trust in Him (Mar 2:17).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 30:19. For the people shall dwell The consolatory part of this discourse begins here, which is connected with the preceding part by the last clause of the former verse, Blessed are all they that wait for him: here follows, therefore, a series of excellent blessings, to be conferred by God upon his church, after these judgments. The prophet has so ordered his style in setting forth these benefits, that when he seems to promise only temporal blessings to the church, he would be understood mystically under these figurative emblems. The first of these is the restoration of the state, upon the repentance and earnest prayers of the people, who are promised that they shall dwell again at Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and the metropolis of the people of God. This prophesy refers to the restoration of the people from Babylon, when the tears which they had shed in banishment were wiped away, and God heard the prayers and vows of his people after the time of his indignation was expired. See Psa 137:1; Psa 137:9. Dan 9:20-21; Dan 9:27 and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
4. THE SANCTIFICATION AND SALVATION OF THE PEOPLE
Isa 30:19-26
19For 14the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem:
Thou shalt weep no more:
He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry;
When he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of 15affliction,
Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more,
But thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,
This is the way, walk ye in it,
When ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
22Ye shall defile also the covering of 16thy graven images of silver,
And the ornament of thy molten images of gold:
Thou shalt 17cast them away as a menstruous cloth;
Thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
23Then shall he give the rain of thy seed,
That thou shalt sow the ground withal;
And bread of the increase of the earth,
And it shall be 18fat and plenteous:
In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
24The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground
Shall eat 1920clean provender,
Which hath been winnowed with the 21shovel and with the fan.
25And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every 22high hill,
Rivers and streams of waters
In the day of the great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
26Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun shall be seven-fold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people,
And healeth the stroke of their wound.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 30:19. for as Gen 43:29. Comp. Olshausen, Gr., 243, a. before marks coincidence. Comp. Gen 24:30; Gen 34:7; Gen 39:15, et saepe. The Infinitive with the feminine ending is found only here.
Isa 30:20. is in the absolute state instead of the construct. [On this kind of apposition the note in Delitzschs Commentary in loco may be consulted.D. M.]. occurs as a verb only here. There is no reason apparent why this word should not be the root of covering, wing, and accordingly signify to cover, to hide, in the Niphal to hide ones-self. The singular is used because is the prefixed predicate.
Isa 30:21. for (comp. Ewald, (Gr., 122, e). This form occurs only here.
Isa 30:22. [ is abbreviation for . Del.].
Isa 30:23. could be in the singular. But forms such as Exo 17:3; Num 20:19, show that the word is also actually used in the plural. is therefore singular as in Isa 30:20. (See remark on the latter place).
Isa 30:24. is either Pual part. for , or Part. Kal as a verbal form in which the subject is implied (comp. Isa 2:9; Isa 24:2; Isa 29:8).
Isa 30:26. Lowth, Gesenius, Hitzig, Hendewerk and Knobel regard the words as a gloss because they are wanting in the LXX. and form a needless epexegesis which disturbs the parallelism. But their absence in the LXX. is no reason for treating them as an interpolation. They are found in the Targum, in the Syriac and in Jerome. There is here no fixed metre. We can neither affirm that the verse consists of four members, nor that a definite length is required for each line. And in regard to the sense, the epexegesis is not so needless. For who is not sensible that the is set more vividly before us by the addition that follows?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet, after preparing the way by Isa 30:18, looks into the distant future. It presents itself to him as a blessed time. He gives a general picture of it in colors borrowed from the present. We call it a general picture, because it will not be realized in a fixed time; but it comprehends as in a frame what will take place for the good of the people from the proximate till the most remote future. But this picture of the future is painted with colors of the present, for the circumstances of the present supply the images under which the Prophet represents the blessings of the future. He assumes that there will always be a people dwelling in Zion, i.e., Jerusalem. This people will not always have to weep; a time will come when its requests will be speedily answered (Isa 30:19). They will not indeed be without bread of distress and water of tribulation in the future, but their eyes will also be constantly able to see the teachers who will show them the way out of distress (Isa 30:20); and the ears of the people will hearken every moment to the voice which will call from behind the direction as to the way they should go (Isa 30:21). Then will the people put away the abominations of idolatry (Isa 30:22). And the Lord will grant rain and glorious fruit to nourish men and cattle (Isa 30:23-24). Springs of water, too, will gush forth on the high mountains in the time when the Lord by rivers of blood has made this possible (Isa 30:25). The light of sun and moon will shine many times brighter than now, in that time when the Lord shall have healed the wounds of His people (Isa 30:26).
2. For the peopleGet thee hence.
Isa 30:19-22. The cheering prospect of which Isa 30:18 permitted a view, is now fully and completely unfolded. First of all, the Prophet promises that in ZionJerusalem a people will always dwell, i.e., the holy city will never like the world-city become a desert forsaken by men (Isa 13:19 sqq.; Isa 25:2; Jer 50:13 et saepe). is added for nearer explanation, and as if to prevent a misunderstanding. If the Prophet had written only Zion, it might have been supposed that he speaks of the kingdom whose proper centre was Zion, the seat of the house of David (comp. Psa 2:6; Psa 110:2 et saepe). By the addition Jerusalem the Prophet renders it impossible to mistake that he means the city. And in fact Jerusalem has never ceased to be inhabited, whereby it is distinguished from the world-cities Babylon and Nineveh, which have lain desolate for thousands of years. We may not take as a vocative, though in that case would fitly follow; but the first clause would then have no meaning. The sudden change of person, which occurs frequently in this paragraph, should not cause surprise. Comp. Isa 30:20, Isa 30:21 ,, ver.22 . The infinitive absolute has evidently the force that the weeping will not be long continued, as the Lord will speedily have mercy. In the future to which the look of the Prophet is directed, Israel will not be without tribulation. But this tribulation the Prophet comprises in the expression bread of distress, water of affliction. is found only here. 1Ki 22:27; 2Ch 18:26 we find to designate the meagre fare of prisoners. As the Prophet according to what follows (comp. especially Isa 30:26) has the entire future in his eye, we cannot refer the expressions bread of distress and water of affliction merely to the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians (Isa 29:3 sqq.). But, although that siege stands in the fore-ground of the Prophets field of vision, we have to look upon that siege with its bread of distress and its water of affliction only as a type and representative of all the affliction which Israel must endure in the future. And if this affliction is here alluded to only in sparing terms, this is owing to the character of this second part of our prophecy, in which the threatening almost disappears behind the promise. But Israel will bear affliction quite otherwise than formerly. Hitherto they displayed in times of need their rage against the Prophets of the Lord. These were called those who trouble Israel (1Ki 18:17), were treated as ring leaders of sedition (Amo 7:10), and traitors to their country (Jer 38:4 sqq.); all misery was attributed to the forsaking of the worship of idols owing to their urgent effort (Jer 44:16 sqq.). Then the Prophets were persecuted, and must conceal themselves (Mat 23:37; Jer 36:26). This will happen henceforth no more. But Jerusalem will, on the contrary, in affliction direct its eyes to the teachers in order to follow them; it will open its ears to the word of the Lord which the servants of God, who are conceived as commanders marching behind a procession, will call to it, and will direct its steps exactly according to their commands.
[Their teachers were to be before them, but when they declined from the right way, their backs would be turned to them, consequently, the warning voice would be heard behind them. The first and last clauses of the verse closely cohere.Henderson. D. M.]. This obedience to the word of Jehovah implies that they will abandon idols. This will be done while they treat the silver and golden images, without (see command Deu 7:25) regard to the precious metal, as impure things, yea, cast them away as objects of abhorrence (comp. Isa 2:20). as 2Ki 23:8; 2Ki 23:10; 2Ki 23:16 (only here in Isaiah). is the metal covering of statues (Deu 17:3-4; Exo 38:7; Exo 38:19) is found besides only in Exo 28:8; Exo 39:5 in the expression , a part of the priests dress. [The word is the feminine of : but here, as parallel with , it signifies a covering or plating over the body of an image.Henderson]. (Isa 30:1) fusio, fusura, fusile, a molten image (Exo 32:4; Exo 32:8 et saepe, further in Isaiah only Isa 42:17). The expression thou shalt scatter them, recalls Exo 32:20. is a strong expression (comp. 2Sa 16:7). The singular here involves the notion of something contemptible: Get out! thou wilt say to the trash.
3. Then shall he givetheir wound.
Isa 30:23-26. To the change of life described there is now attached the promise of the richest blessing even of a temporal kind. First, to the seed the necessary rain is promised, a blessing which could never be wanting in an oriental picture of prosperity, and is therefore also so frequently referred to in the theocratic promises: Lev 26:4; Deu 14:11; Joe 2:23; Jer 5:24; Zec 10:1 et saepe. The rain which is to fructify the seed is the seed-rain or early rain () which falls in October. The expression He shall give the rain of thy seed instead of to thy seed recalls places such as Gen 39:21; Num 12:6. = with which thou shalt sow (comp. Isa 17:10) is here construed with a double accusative]. is by generalized. It is therefore all that the earth produces for the food of man, as is used also in this comprehensive sense in the expression to eat bread. (Gen 31:54; Gen 43:16; Jer 41:1 et saepe). All these products of the field serving for food shall be of the best quality, full of sap and strength ( as an adjective only here in Isaiah: comp. Psa 92:15; Gen 49:20). in the signification of pascuum only here and Ps. 37:20; 65:14. The Niphal dilatatum, spatiosum esse is likewise found only here. The oxen and asses which till [In the E. V., we have the word ear which is now obsolete and means to plough or to till.D. M.] the land are the animals employed by the farmer for draught and carrying burdens. These shall be fed with the best provender. (only here in Isaiah, besides Job 6:5; Job 24:6) is a mixture, a mash, provender consisting of grain (comp. the following ) and chopped herbs. leavened, salted (comp. ,) is . . The provender is salted with salt or saltish herbs, in order to make it more palatable. It has previously to be cleansed from impurities that it may be more excellent. This is done by winnowing. The implements which serve for winnowing are and which are still called Racht and Midra. The former is a flat shovel and serves, according to the interesting Excursus of Wetzstein in Delitzschs Commentary, to winnow leguminous fruits, and the mixed remains of the better kinds of grain. The latter is a five or six pronged fork which is employed in winnowing the superior kinds of grain. If the Prophet had mentioned the winnowing shovel only (racht), the meaning would be that the cattle would be fed only with inferior provender. The mention of the intimates that they should also have grain of wheat and barley. is . . occurs further in Jer 15:7. On all high mountains and towering hills were the places of idolatrous worship, where flowed the blood of the offerings so offensive to God, especially of the children sacrificed to Moloch (1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 17:10; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:6; Eze 6:13; Eze 20:28). Instead thereof there should now flow on the mountains and hills water-brooks, a blessing hitherto confined to the valleys (Isa 41:8). are certainly natural brooks; (besides Isa 44:4) are perhaps water-courses turned off from them. But as the Prophet had already, Isa 30:20, intimated by the mention of bread of distress and water of affliction, that distress and affliction would not be wanting, so here at the close of his discourse he sets forth the prospect of great slaughter and falling of towers. By these intimations he lets us perceive that the glorious time of the end lies beyond a dreadful period which first must be passed through. This latter he has described often enough (comp. 24 sqq.), to be able to suppose that these brief allusions would be quite well understood by his readers. is to be taken here in that general sense in which we have already frequently met it (comp. e.g., Isa 27:1); but in our place the occurrence following that time is placed first. It is implied, too, in the that there is a certain connection between the occurrences mentioned. There is no chasm lying between them, so that the following time has absolutely nothing to do with the foregoing. That water-streams of blessing succeed streams of blood is not accidental. These streams of blood must atone and purify so as to prepare the ground for blessing. occurs further Isa 27:7. I find in and simply an allusion to the great judgments which must fall on people and city before the day of redemption. The old, theocratic Jerusalem with its towers and its temple is reduced to ruins, while streams of blood have at the same time flown. And here the Prophet takes in one view the first and second destruction of Jerusalem. But immediately behind this destruction he sees the time of blessing. That long periods of time must intervene between these occurrences is matter of no moment. Verse 26 transports us into a time which lies beyond the present state of things, though not into the time of the new heaven and new earth, for the present sun and the present moon still exist. But their influence is intensified; they are elevated in the scale of existence. Delitzsch is certainly right in saying: It is not the new heaven of which the Prophet here speaks, but that glorification of nature promised both in Old and New Testament prophecy for the final period of the worlds history. Comp. Rev 20:1-4. The light of the moon ( besides only Isa 24:23; Son 6:10) will then be as the light of the sun (, likewise in Isa 24:23 and Son 6:10, besides Job 30:28); but the light of the sun will be the seven-fold (septuplum Gen 4:15; Gen 4:24; Psa 12:7) of what it now is. For it will be as the light of seven days, i.e., the quantity of light which has hitherto been sufficient for seven days will then be concentrated in a single day. On this day all the wounds which the Lord must inflict on His people before and after the time of the Prophets (Isa 30:20; Isa 30:25), will be healed. is a word of very frequent use by Isaiah. is the fracture, contusion of the bone caused by the stroke which it receives. seems to indicate a sorer evil than . [Instead of the E. V., the stroke of their wound, we should rather render the wound of their stroke. It is doubtful whether the suffix in should be referred to or D. M.].
Footnotes:
[14]a people.
[15]Or, oppression.
[16]Heb. the graven images of thy silver.
[17]Heb. scatter.
[18]full of sap and fat.
[19]Or, savory. Heb. leavened.
[20]salted.
[21]fan and fork.
[22]Heb. lifted up.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Isa 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
Ver. 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion, &c. ] Or, For thou, the people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem, shalt weep no more;
“ Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur. ”
At the voice of thg cry.
When he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 30:19-22
19O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21Your ears will hear a word behind you, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, Be gone!
Isa 30:19-22 Notice what YHWH will do in the future for a repentant, faithful Judah.
1. they will weep no longer – this is emphatic. The Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and the Qal IMPERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 113, KB 129). This new day is also alluded to in Isa 25:8; Isa 60:20; Isa 61:1-3.
2. He will surely be gracious – this is made emphatic by using the Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and Qal IMPERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 335, KB 334; see note at Isa 30:18).
3. He hears the sound of their cry – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT.
4. He will answer – BDB 772, KB 851, Qal PERFECT, cf. Isa 58:9; Isa 65:24 (i.e., the covenant is active and strong)
5. He will no longer hide Himself – BDB 489, KB 486, Niphal IMPERFECT. This is a rare term found only here. It literally means to thrust into a corner (NKJV). The NASB gets hide from an Arabic root, to enclose or to guard.
6. your eyes will behold your Teacher – BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE.
7. your ears will hear a word behind you – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERFECT. This is the reversal of Isa 6:9-10 and the reinstatement of Deu 29:4. The word (BDB 182) which they will hear is the rest of the verse, which are metaphors of lifestyle faith.
a. the way, BDB 202 (i.e., covenant living, cf. Isa 35:8-9; Isa 42:16; Psa 25:8-9)
b. walk in it, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE (cf. Lev 26:3; Deu 8:6; Deu 10:12; Deu 11:22; Deu 28:9; 1Ki 6:12; 1Ki 8:36; 1Ki 8:61; 2Ch 6:16; 2Ch 6:27; Neh 10:29; Isa 2:3; Jer 6:16; Jer 44:10; Jer 44:23; Eze 5:6-7; Eze 11:20; Eze 18:17; Eze 20:13; Eze 20:16; Eze 20:19; Eze 20:21; Eze 33:15; Eze 37:24; Dan 9:10; Mic 4:2)
c. turn to the right or to the left (another idiom related to staying in the way)
8. you will turn from your idols
a. defile them, BDB 379, KB 375, Piel PERFECT
b. scatter them, BDB 279, KB 280, Qal IMPERFECT
c. say to them Be gone, BDB 422, KB 425, Qal IMPERATIVE
Isaiah is unique in its assertion that Jerusalem will never fall, but Jeremiah asserts that it will. Both assert it will be restored if and when it turns back to YHWH!
Isa 30:20 In this verse there are several persons mentioned.
1. the LORD – Adon
2. your Teacher (twice)
3. you (i.e., Judeans, PLURAL)
The teacher could refer to
1. YHWH (PLURAL OF MAJESTY, TEV, cf. Isa 45:15, You are a God who hides Himself, but different VERB)
2. Messiah (YHWH representative)
3. prophets/priests (i.e., restoration of true revelation, cf. Psa 74:9)
The term teacher (, BDB 435) can be understood as
1. SINGULAR, John J. Owens, Analytical Key to the OT, vol. 4, p. 90, see NASB, JPSOA, NRSV, ASV
2. PLURAL, Benjamin Davidson, Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, p. 475, see NKJV, REB
The form could reflect either one (NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 538).
Isa 30:22
NASBan impure thing
NKJVan unclean thing
NRSVlike filthy rags
NJBlike the polluted things
PESHITTAlike unclean water of a menstrous woman
This is the term (BDB 188) which denotes the rags used during a woman’s menstrual period (cf. Lev 15:33; Lev 20:18). This would have been a strong cultural idiom of a ceremonially unclean thing which must be set apart (cf. Isa 64:6).
The LXX (REB) takes the next word be gone (BDB 422, KB 425) as a similar term, feces, which would be another cultural idiom of ceremonial defilement.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
dwell: Isa 10:24, Isa 12:6, Isa 46:13, Isa 65:9, Jer 31:6, Jer 31:12, Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5, Jer 50:28, Jer 51:10, Eze 20:40, Eze 37:25-28, Zep 3:14-20, Zec 1:16, Zec 1:17, Zec 2:4-7, Zec 8:3-8, Rom 11:26
thou shalt: Isa 12:3-6, Isa 25:8, Isa 35:10, Isa 40:1, Isa 40:2, Isa 54:6-14, Isa 60:20, Isa 61:1-3, Isa 65:18, Jer 30:12, Jer 31:9, Mic 4:9, Luk 6:21, Rev 5:4, Rev 7:17
he will: Isa 58:9, Isa 65:24, Psa 50:15, Jer 29:11-13, Jer 33:3, Eze 36:37, Mat 7:7-11, Eph 3:20, 1Jo 5:14, 1Jo 5:15
Reciprocal: Gen 35:3 – who answered Gen 43:29 – my son 2Ki 13:23 – the Lord Job 33:26 – pray Psa 6:8 – for Isa 25:9 – Lo Isa 33:2 – be gracious Isa 41:17 – I the Lord Jer 29:12 – General Nah 1:12 – I will Mat 5:4 – General 1Co 7:30 – that weep Rev 21:4 – neither sorrow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 30:19. For, &c. The consolatory part of this discourse begins here, which is connected with the preceding part by the last clause of the former verse, Blessed, &c. Here follows, therefore, a series of excellent blessings, to be conferred by God after these judgments. And the prophet hath so ordered his style in setting them forth, that when he seems to promise only temporal blessings to the church, he would be understood mystically under these figurative emblems. Vitringa. The people shall dwell in Zion, &c. This is the first of these blessings, the restoration of their state upon their repentance and earnest prayers: as if he had said, Although the time is coming when the people shall be banished from Jerusalem and carried into captivity; yet after a set time they shall return and have a fixed and comfortable abode in Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and metropolis of their republic. This was in part fulfilled upon their return from Babylon, when the tears which they had shed in their banishment were wiped away, and God heard the prayers and vows of his people, after the time of his indignation was expired. But it was more fully accomplished in the times of the gospel, when many of them were, and the whole body of them shall be, brought into Christs church, often called Zion and Jerusalem.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
After the tears will come comfort and caring. It is the people of Zion and Jerusalem that will experience this. God will answer their prayers and they will be joyful. This happened in measure at the return from captivity, but the ultimate fulfillment will be at Christ’s second coming.