Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 30:20
And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
20. the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction ] (cf. 1Ki 22:27) the most meagre necessities of existence. The reference is to the period of distress (perhaps the siege) which precedes the great deliverance.
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner ] Rather: shall not thy Teacher (God) hide Himself; (nearly as R.V. marg.). The alternative rendering “teachers” is no doubt possible, but the verb is in the singular, and the conception of Jehovah as the personal teacher of His people, although surprising, gives the fullest meaning to the expressions of this verse and the next, and is not too exalted for a description of the Messianic age. If the other view be adopted, the reference must be to the prophets, who are now driven into concealment, but shall then freely appear in public. But such an anticipation has no parallel in Messianic prophecy, and certainly receives no light from the circumstances of Isaiah’s time.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
20, 21. The restoration of religious privileges and instruction.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity – The bread that is eaten in a time of calamity; that is, he would bring upon them sore distress and want.
The water of affliction – Margin, Oppression. That is, water drank in times of affliction and oppression, or in the long and weary days of captivity.
Yet shall not thy teachers – Your public instructors and guides Psa 74:9; Isa 43:27; Dan 12:3; Amo 8:11-12. This refers to all those who would be the true guides and teachers of the people of God in subsequent times; and relates, therefore, not only to prophets and pious men whom God would raise up under their own dispensation, but also to all whom he would appoint to communicate his will. It is a promise that the church of God should never want a pious and devoted ministry qualified to make known his will and defend his truth.
Be removed into a corner – The word used here ( yikanep from kanap) occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. It is probably derived from kanap, a wing; and in the Syriac and Chaldee, it means to collect together. The Septuagint renders this, And they who deceived thee shall no more come near unto thee. The Syriac, And he (that is, the Lord) shall no more collect thy seducers. The Chaldee, And he shall no more take away his own glory from the house of his sanctuary. Rosenmuller, in accordance with Schultens, renders it, And thy teachers shall no more hide themselves, referring to the fact that the wing of a fowl furnishes a hiding-place or shelter. This would accord with the general idea that they should not be removed from public view. Lowth, singularly, and without authority from versions or manuscripts, renders it,
Yet the timely rain shall no more be restrained.
The general idea is, evidently, that they should be no more taken away; and probably the specific idea is that proposed by Taylor (Heb. Con.), that thy teachers shall no more, as it were, be winged, or fly away; that is, be removed by flight, or as a flock of birds moving together rapidly on the wing.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 30:20
Thine eyes shall see thy teachers
Trouble making the heavenly Teacher real
The siege shall surely come, with its sorely concrete privations, but the Lord will be there, equally distinct . . . Real, concrete sorrows,–these are they that make the heavenly Teacher real! It is linguistically possible, and more in harmony with the rest of the passage, to turn teachers, as the E.. has it, into the singular, and to render it by revealer. The word is an active participle, moreh, from the same verb as the noun torah, which is constantly translated law in our version, but is, in the Prophets at least, more nearly equivalent to instruction, or to our modern term revelation (Isa 30:9). Looking thus to the One Revealer, and hearkening to the One Voice, the lying and rebellious children shall at last be restored to that capacity for truth and obedience, the loss of which has been their ruin. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Unseen teachers
There are troubled hours in life, in which we long to see our teachers; to know what certain things mean; and to have it explained why some special trials have been put upon us, and to what end events, now inexplicable, are tending. Devout men and women suspect, or feel sure, already; they think that the hand of the Lord is in all thin They rest assured that what seems wrong now will be made right by and by: that all is for the best; and, more than this, they are persuaded that some time or other, perhaps as death approaches, perhaps in the shadowy and thoughtful place of departed spirits, perhaps at the last great day of God, they shall see their teachers, and comprehend it all. (Morgan Dix.)
The blessing of Christian teachers
Though the Gospel first began to be preached by the Lord, yet, as it was expedient that He should go away, He has instituted, and in every age preserved an order of men, for guiding others in the way of faith, of holiness, and of peace.
I. A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE ADVANTAGES WHICH MEN DERIVE FROM THIS INSTITUTION.
1. Attend to the thousands who devote themselves to the service of the sanctuary, and whose characters are improved and ennobled by their previous studies. With what diligence and success, prompted by motives of piety and benevolence, do they search for the good way, that they may walk in it themselves, and teach and recommend it to others with advantage! Their gifts ripen and expand; their moral and religious excellences become distinguished. Giving themselves to the Word of God and to prayer, and, in subserviency to these, to inquiries after truth, to meditation, and to the perusal of useful human writings, their good resolutions strengthen; and their knowledge, wisdom, activity, and usefulness increase.
2. Public teachers often refine the taste, improve the genius, civilise the manners, and promote the literary pursuits of a nation.
3. Instructions from the pulpit greatly promote a virtuous behaviour.
4. Attend to the gentle, penetrating, beneficent effects of pastoral instruction, on the sorrowful, the disconsolate, the tempted, the doubting, the feeble-minded, the sick, and the dying.
5. Teachers are profitable as they spread and defend the doctrines of religion, and excite and cherish just sentiments of Divine things.
6. Pastoral instruction is a chief means which God hath appointed to rescue sinners from the ruins of their apostasy, and to interest them in His favour and friendship.
II. But, must it not be acknowledged that CONGREGATIONS SOMETIMES DERIVE LITTLE OR NO BENEFIT FROM SERMONS, and that to their teachers much of the blame belongs?
1. Bad men regard the effect of what they preach with cold indifference, except in so far as worldly honour or interest is advanced by their seeming success; and efforts naturally are feeble and ineffectual, where desire is languid.
2. Sometimes a clergymans behaviour is not visibly influenced by the doctrines and duties of religion. Men of small sagacity discern it, infer his craft and disingenuity, or conclude that they may imitate him without hazard.
3. The natural abilities, extent of knowledge, and persuasive talents, highly important in a teacher of religion, do not always accompany true piety. (J. Erskine, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. Though the Lord – “Though JEHOVAH”] For Adonai, sixteen MSS. and three editions have Yehovah, many of De Rossi’s have the same reading; all my own have Yehovah.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction; and although in that time and state of the church you will be subject to many outward straits and afflictions. This phrase is borrowed from Deu 16:3; 1Ki 22:27. He seems to allude to the condition of besieged cities, and particularly of Jerusalem, as it was straitened and distressed by Sennacherib, and as it should be far more straitened by the Chaldeans; of which see 2Ki 25:3. Heb. And the Lord will give, &c. Or, the Lord indeed will give, &c. Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more; as they have been in former times, both in Israel and Judah, when the godly prophets and ministers were but few, and when they were persecuted and banished by their wicked rulers. But in the New Testament God hath made better provision for his church, sending his Son, the great Teacher of the church, into the world, and pouring forth the gifts and graces of the Spirit in abundance, and increasing the number of able and faithful ministers, and promising a continued succession of them to the end of the world, Mat 28:19,20.
Thine eyes shall see thy teachers; thou shalt have their presence, and their instruction and assistance.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. Rather, “The Lord willgive”; the “though” is not in the original.
bread of adversityHewill not deny you food enough to save you in your adversity (1Ki 22:27;Psa 127:2).
be removedrather,”hide themselves”; they shall no more be forced to hidethemselves from persecution, but shall be openly received withreverence [MAURER].Contrast with this Psa 74:9;Amo 8:11.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction,…. Either at this present time, when the city was besieged by Sennacherib; or when it should be besieged by the Chaldeans, when adversity was their bread, and affliction their water; or when they had only bread and water in their adversity and affliction; or a famine of bread and water, as is common in times of a siege. It may refer to the poor, and mean, and afflicted state of the people of God, in the first times of the Gospel especially:
yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more; or, “thy rain” b, as some interpret it; one and the same word signifies both rain and a teacher, because doctrine from the mouth of a teacher drops like rain upon the tender herb, and as showers on the grass; and is to be understood, not merely in a literal sense, of rain, and fruitfulness by it, in opposition to penury and famine for want of it; but of rain of spiritual doctrine; and so the sense is much the same as if it was rendered teachers; that though the people of God should be attended with afflictions, yet they should have spiritual consolation; and though they might have a famine of bread and water, yet not of hearing the word of the Lord; their teachers should not be removed from them, as they had formerly been, perhaps in the time of Ahaz: or “take wing” c, and fly away from them, as the word signifies, being scared by persecutors; so the prophets in the time of Ahab were forced to fly, and were hid by fifty in a cave. The word here used has in the Arabic language the signification of hiding, as Maimonides d from Aben Ganach has observed; and so may be read, “thy teachers shall not be hidden any more”; things being hidden under wings; see Ps 17:8:
but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; in their proper place, doing the work of their office: it denotes not a bare seeing them with their bodily eyes, but a seeing them with pleasure and delight, a wistfully looking at them, and a diligent and attentive observance of what they said. Some understand these teachers of Hezekiah and his princes, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abendana; others of the priests and prophets in his time, the principal of which was Isaiah; others of the prophets a little before, in, and after the Babylonish captivity; it may be applied to John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, and other Gospel ministers. Jarchi interprets it of God himself, who teaches to profit, and who would not hide his face from his people; the Targum, of the Shechinah not removing from the sanctuary, but being seen there; and being in the plural number, may denote all the three Persons.
b “pluvia tua”, some in Munster, Calvin; so Ben Melech interprets it; and the same in the next clause. c “non avolabit”, Piscator; “ad verb. alabitur”, Forerius. d More Nevochim, par. 1. cap. 43. p. 61. So “operuit, sub alis tutatus est”, Castel. col. 1760.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
20. When the Lord shall have given you. He continues the same subject, and strengthens believers, that they may not faint; for patience springs from the hope of a more prosperous issue. Accordingly, he prepares them for enduring future chastisement, for the wrath of God will press hard on them for a time; but he immediately promises that a joyful issue awaits them, when they shall have endured those calamities and distresses; for God will restrain his severity. Thus, I consider ו ( vau) to mean “When” or “After;” as if he had said, “ When you shall have endured those troubles, then will the Lord bless you; for he will change your condition for the better.”
Thy rain shall no longer be restrained. (300) The word מורה ( mōrĕh) is viewed by some commentators as meaning “a teacher.” But this does not agree with the context; for, although the chief fruit of our reconciliation to God is to have faithful “teachers,” yet, as the ignorant multitude was more deeply affected by the want of food, Isaiah accommodates his language to their ignorance, and gives them a taste of God’s fatherly kindness under the emblem of abundance of food.
By the words “bread” and “water,” he means extreme want and scarcity of all things, and therefore he calls it “bread of anguish and water of affliction.” (301) Instead of this famine, he says that he will send them plenty and abundance. This is what he means by the word rain; for he describes the cause instead of the effect, as if he had said, “The earth shall yield fruit in abundance.” This had a literal and special reference to a country, the fertility of which depended entirely on heaven; for it was not watered by rivers or fountains, but by rains.
“
The land whither ye go to possess it,” says Moses, “is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.” (Deu 11:11.)
He declares that the fruits of the earth, which the Lord took away or diminished by barrenness, will return; because, in consequence of the copious “rains,” (302) there will be large and abundant produce. Thus, when the Lord shall punish us, let us comfort our hearts with these statements and promises.
(300) Bogus footnote
(301) Bogus footnote
(302) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE BREAD OF ADVERSITY
Isa. 30:20-21. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, &c. [1129]
[1129] The Authorised Version, upon which these outlines are founded, is supported by Mr. Cheyne, who translates: And though the Lord give you bread in short measure and water in scant quantity, &c. But Delitzsch, Kay, and Birks render the first clause: And the Lord will give you bread in your adversity and water in your affliction. Mr. Birks adds: These words form part of a promise, not its limitation. The affliction has been fully denounced before. Here they are assured that, although besieged, they will not be given over to famine. The path of duty will be made plain by Gods prophets, and speedy deliverance be given.
I. DIFFICULTIES SUPPOSED.
The Bread of Adversity was a proverbial expression among the Jews (1Ki. 22:27; Psa. 80:5). The Lord gives: He who gave the cup of salvation gives the cup of affliction. He who gives the bread of life gives also the bread of adversity (Heb. 12:6.) Recollect that the Lord who gives you the bread of adversity gave His own Son no better fare, no richer diet.
II. CONSOLATIONS PROMISED.
Yet shall not thy teachers be removed, &c. He will compensate temporal troubles by spiritual blessings. Numbers have found that as tribulation abounded, consolation abounded by Christ (1Co. 1:5). Such consolations are threefold.
1. A free access to Gods throne. He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry. Prayer relieves distress.
2. A faithful administration of Gods word and ordinances. Religious instruction shall be continued, thy teachers shall not be removed.
3. A gracious direction of Gods providence.
III. INSTRUCTIONS SUGGESTED.
1. Guard against whatever may endanger Christian privileges. Neglect of prayer; absence of love; seductions of the world.
3. Recollect what is needful to give this promise full effectthe influence of the Spirit. Pray for and expect a baptism of the Holy Ghost.
3. Commend to others the consolations you receive. Visit the sick; remember the widow and the fatherless. In comforting others, your own bread of adversity shall be made sweet.Samuel Thodey.
I. A CALAMITY ANTICIPATED.
Affliction may be continuous and severe. Bread and water are the prominent things in the sustenance of life. Day by day received. Few, if any, are entirely exempt from affliction. Periods of difficulty and privation, when weeks and months of consuming anxiety are experienced. Losses which seriously incommode and cripple their business. Troubles in the family, sometimes from the conduct of those most loved. Bereavements which rend the heart. Sickness, accident, consuming disease, and excruciating pain wear life slowly away.
The godly are not exempted. The infected atmosphere may poison the saint as well as the sinner. If a good man falls over a precipice he will be killed. The same hurricane may equally swamp the vessel which is filled with pirates and that which is filled by a band of devoted missionaries. If a Christian neglect his business, or conduct it on unsound principles, he must expect insolvency. He may conduct it with perfect commercial wisdom and care, and yet be overtaken by disasters from causes beyond his control.
But it does not happen by chance. There is no such thing as fate. We recognise the hand of the Lord. Though the Lord give you the bread of affliction and the water of adversity. In this truth is help for believers perplexed by the mystery of sorrow. It throws their thoughts on God. And they have such confidence in Him that it is a resting-place. We do not know, we never can know, the evils He prevents. When He permits or sends trouble we may rest assured that there is a sufficient reason (Lam. 3:33).
What are the reasons? [1132] We may mistake their application, but they are such as these:
1. It is sometimes punitive. God has established a connection between sin and suffering. The former always works towards the latter. The chain of connection may be so subtle, and may extend so far back, that we cannot follow it. Yet such a chain there is. When affliction comes, it is useful to trace the chain, and ascertain, if we can, wherefore the Lord is contending with us.
2. It is sometimes corrective. He deals with us as men deal with their children (Heb. 12:5-11). It is not that he may vent His anger, but recall them to their better selves. He means it as the refiner means the fire into which he casts the gold (Psa. 119:67).
3. It is sometimes auxiliary. The means to an end. The dark way into light. It is necessary to some advantage which could not be reached without it. Josephs slavery and imprisonment were the steps to his subsequent greatness. Jesus reached the crown by the cross. Perhaps you can illustrate from your own experience.
[1132] H. E. I., 56115.
Meantime, here is
II. AN ANTIDOTE PROMISED.
Their teachers had been removed. The prophets were persecuted (Isa. 30:9-10). Jeremiah, Zedekiah, under Jezebels persecution. Obadiah had hid a hundred in caves. Persecution usually fastens on the teachers as most prominent. Thus Apostles. Thus the Nonconforming clergy in England. Thus the missionaries were driven from Madagascar. But the promise here is that they shall regain their liberty. And this will be not only a relief to themselves, but an antidote to the peoples calamities. It will secure:
1. Instruction. Thy teachers. Truth is the basis of everything in experience or practice. It is their business carefully to unfold and apply the truth [1135]
2. Consolation. Christian ordinances are consolatory. There are truths that bear on troubles. The views of the Divine character and of the course of Providence exhibited in the Gospel sustain and comfort.
3. Direction. There is danger of turning to right or left. So many allurements, from ignorance, misguidance, temptation. By the ministry you hear the voice which points out the way, invites steadfastness, warns against divergence.
[1135] The Christian Church requires a teaching ministry. Not only must the Gospel be proclaimed to the world, the Church must be trained into knowledge, experience, holiness, activity. Individual study of Scripture is largely useful. But regularly recurring religious services, of which careful instruction is a part, are universally necessary. Godly men must be released from secular business, trained, set apart to the study and ministry of the word. The living voice of the preacher helps guides, confirms, and gives greater practical influence to the private reading of Christians. Even under the old dispensation, large use was made of this method. There were schools of the prophets. A few were so eminent that they have left their words behind them. But there were many whose names have not survived their time. Jesus trained His disciples for their future work. After His Ascension, He gave various gifts to men for the work of the ministry. He continues them. While one could wish that all the Lords people were prophets, and that He would put His Spirit upon them, so that they would work to the full extent of their ability for the worlds salvation, it remains true that the strength of the Church is in an able, well-instructed, godly, and earnest ministry.
Among the blessings here promised to the ancient Church is the restoration of its silenced teachers to their work after its period of discipline.Rawlinson.
God provides guidance in the journey to the better land. Value the ministry of the word. Attend it. Follow its teaching.J. Rawlinson.
THE GUIDING VOICE
Isa. 30:21. And thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, &c.
This may be a promise to Gods people of the continuance of the services of the ministry, or of the additional blessings of spiritual suggestions to guide them in the path of duty.
I. It may be a continuation of the promise in the preceding verse: Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee. The Word of God proclaimed by faithful ministers follows men. Sometimes, as they listen to it, they reject it, but it pursues them, and gives them no rest until they obey it. When they are bent on a wrong course, it haunts them until they are recalled to duty. Or it stimulates them to the performance of duties they are neglecting or performing sluggishly. Thus understood, we may see that in this promise God compares Himself as it were to a shepherd, who puts his sheep before him; or to a schoolmaster who will have his scholars in sight, that so he may the better keep them in order.
Thus understood, we see our duty. It is to give reverent heed to the Word of God as proclaimed to us by His ministers. Food, however choice, is no blessing to us unless it be eaten and digested; and the Word of God is no blessing to us, except there be an ear to hearken to it, a spiritual taste to relish it, and a heart to close and comply with it. Well is it with those who imitate Lydia (Act. 16:14). But neglect of Gods word shuts against us even the throne of grace (Pro. 28:9). To those who disregard what they know to be the voice of God, there comes a time when they discover that the greatest of all calamities is to have their voice disregarded by Him (Pro. 1:24-26).
II. But the promise may be that of an additional blessing, the inward motions and suggestions of the Holy Spirit. His voice may be called a word behind us, because
1. Of its secresy (Job. 4:12).
2. Because it follows us always, as constantly as our shadow. Parallels to this promise we find in 1Jn. 2:20; 1Jn. 2:27; Joh. 14:26; Joh. 16:13.
III. This voice His people hear when they are about to wander, or have wandered from the way of righteousness. From that way it is easy to de part; but God loves His people, and cannot abide to see them miscarry, and therefore He counsels them. This is the way, walk ye in it, is sometimes a word of correction and reformation, in case of error; sometimes a word of instruction and direction, in case of ignorance; sometimes a word of strengthening and confirmation, in case of unsettledness.
In all these respects Gods people hear the word behind them, sometimes giving them very gracious hints concerning the affairs of this present life, but more frequently concerning the spiritual life. Those who wait upon God shall not lack counsels concerning the manner in which they are to serve Him. He answers the prayers of His people (Psa. 25:4-5; Psa. 86:11; Psa. 143:8).
What a great comfort and encouragement we have here! If we really desire to serve God amid all the labyrinths and uncertainties of this present life, we shall be safe, for He will guide us.
IV. But how may we know whether the word behind us is the voice of God, and not merely one of our own fancies, or a suggestion of Satans? There are several touchstones by which every word may and should be tested.
1. The word within is to be compared with the word without. Every suggestion is to be examined by the rule of Scripture. God never speaks in the conscience contrary to what He speaks there, for He is unchangeable and cannot contradict Himself (Isa. 8:20).
2. Gods words are orderly and regular; they keep men within the compass of their callings, and the place in which God has set them. They incite us not to forsake our duty, but to be faithful in it.
3. They are ordinarily mild, gentle, seasonable; they are not ordinarily raptures, but such as leave a man in a right apprehension of what he does, and capable of reflection upon it.
4. They are discernible also from their effects, and the ends to which they tend. All the hints and motions of Gods Spirit tend to make us better, and to carry us nearer to Himself in one way or another. Honestly using these tests, we shall learn promptly and surely to discern the voice of Gods Spirit when He says to us, This is the way, walk ye in it.
V. From all this two duties plainly arise.
1. Thankfulness. A faithful monitor is a very great advantage; it is so betwixt man and man, and we should bless God that He condescends to be this to us.
2. Obedience. To His infallible, loving counsel we should give prompt heed, especially as He not only points out the way, but is always ready to help us to walk in it; and the way in which He would have us go is the only one that leads to true happiness and lasting peace. Disobedience exposes us to manifold dangers, such as
(1.) Gods future silence; when His counsels are repeatedly rejected, He will cease to speak. What a terrible calamity (1Sa. 28:5).
(2.) Those who hearken not to the voice of God in them are often given up to Satan, and their own corruptions bear sway within them (Psa. 81:11-12).Thomas Horton, D.D.: 100 Select Sermons, pp. 298304.
I. Our need of the guidance here promised. We are ignorant of the way to true happiness, and we have not always daylight. The path is narrow, and is sometimes very intricate. It lies through an enemys country. Many as wise as we have lost their way, and, after years of sorrow, have perished miserably. We need this guidance in youth, in manhood, in old age, even unto death (P. D. 952, 2388).
II. Some of the means by which God guides His people. The promise in our text suggests a traveller in doubt as to the course he should take, pausing perplexed at cross roads, and in danger of choosing a wrong one, when a friendly voice behind him is heard, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. God thus speaks to His people.
1. By His providences. Afflictions are often monitions and instructions (H. E. I., 6670).
2. By His Word. It clearly marks the path to heaven.
3. By our conscience (H. E. I., 1291, 1304, 13081312).
4. By His Spirit; by whom conscience is quickened, our understanding cleared of delusions, our attention fixed on the happy career of the righteous, and the disastrous end of the wicked.
III. What is needed to enable us to profit by this promise.
1. A prayerful spirit (Isa. 30:19).
2. A studious eye that will look for the waymarks, especially for the footprints of Jesus.
3. A listening ear.
4. An obedient habit of mind (1Sa. 15:22; P. D., 1656). Disregard of the Guiding Voice will involve us in present disaster and misery, and in eternal woe. Heedfulness of it will ensure for us present safety and peace, and eternal blessedness.Samuel Thodey.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(20) The bread of adversity.Better, bread in small quantity, and water in scant measure. The words seem to imply an allusion to the scant rations of a siege such as Jerusalem was to endure from the Assyrian armies. For this there should be the compensation that the true teachers of the people, Isaiah and his fellow-workers, should at least be recognisedno longer thrust into a corner, as they had been in the days of Ahaz. The clearer vision of the truth was to be the outcome of the sharp teaching of chastisement. A various reading gives thy teacher, i.e., Jehovah Himself; but the plural seems more in harmony with the context. In the mission of Isa. 37:2 we have a virtual fulfilment of the prediction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 30:20-21. And though the Lord give you, &c. The prophet here, setting forth the second benefit, tells them, that though at the time of the restoration of their state they should by no means be free from various afflictions, (as Daniel also foretels, Dan 9:25.) yet these temporal afflictions should be compensated and exceeded by the spiritual blessing by which God would then bless his church: which should be an abundance of instruction from their true teachers, for that is the meaning of the original word morim. The metaphor in the 21st verse is taken from a father or instructor, who follows carefully the children going before him, committed to his care; and when he perceives them turning from the way wherein they should go, teaches and instructs them. The same metaphor is used Psa 25:4; Psa 5:8. It is very certain, from the history of that period, that the Jews, after their restoration from Babylon, were a long time in great straits, though they were blessed with many remarkable and excellent instructors, at the head of whom we may conceive Ezra, like a father of a family leading and instructing his people. See Neh 8:2; Neh 8:18. And herein the church had a prelude of that more copious and spiritual instruction, to be diffused by the ministers of the Gospel, under the oeconomy of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 30:20 And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
Ver. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity. ] Though he hold you to hard meat, and give you but prisoner’s pittance, so much as will keep you alive only, and that you eat your meat with the peril of your lives; Emendicato pane hic vivamus, saith Luther; in our Father’s house is bread, God’s plenty.
Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner.
Thine eyes shall see thy teachers.
“ Apparent rarl nantes in gurgite vasto. ”
a Greenham.
b Scultet.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
though. Omit “though”, and read it as a direct promise: “Jehovah will give you affliction [as] bread and adversity [as] water”.
Lord* = Jehovah (App-4). One of the 134 places where the Sopherim changed Jehovah of the primitive text for Adonai. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read “Jehovah” in the text.
yet shall not thy teachers = and thy teachers shall not.
corner. Hebrew occurs only here.
teachers. Perhaps plural of Majesty = thy great Teacher (i.e. Jehovah).
be removed into a corner = hide Himself.
see = be clearly seeing.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the bread: Deu 16:3, 1Ki 22:27, 2Ch 18:26, Psa 30:5, Psa 80:5, Psa 102:9, Psa 127:2, Eze 4:13-17, Eze 24:22, Eze 24:23, Act 14:22
affliction: or, oppression
yet shall: Psa 74:9, Amo 8:11, Amo 8:12, Mat 9:38, Eph 4:11
Reciprocal: Psa 27:11 – Teach Isa 48:17 – which teacheth Jer 3:15 – And I Act 26:26 – this thing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 30:20-21. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity Although in that time and state of the church you will be subject to many outward straits and afflictions, which was the case with the Jews after their restoration from Babylon, and which was also the lot of the first converts to Christianity; yet shall not thy teachers be removed, &c. As they have been in former times, both in Israel and Judah, when the godly prophets, and other instructers of the people, were but few, and when they were persecuted and banished by their wicked rulers. The Jews, after their return from Babylon, were blessed with many excellent instructers, as appears from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, at the head of which we must place these two eminent servants of God. In the times of the New Testament, however, God provided still better for his church, sending his Son, the great teacher of his people, into the world; and pouring forth the gifts and graces of the Spirit in abundance, increasing the number of faithful ministers, and promising a continued succession of them to the end of the world. This is the second great benefit predicted by the prophet to follow these judgments. Thine eyes shall see thy teachers They shall be present in your assemblies, instructing, exhorting, warning, and encouraging you from time to time. The original word, , here used, means ordinary teachers, and not those of an extraordinary kind, such as the prophets or seers were. And thine ears shall hear a word, &c. As often as need shall require, thou shalt hear the voice of Gods word and Spirit directing thee in thy course: behind thee A metaphor, borrowed either from shepherds, who used to follow their sheep, and to recall them when they went out of the way; or from travellers, who, if they go out of the right way, are ofttimes admonished of their error, and recalled by some other passenger or person behind them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
After God hid Himself from His people, having given them privation and oppression as their daily food and drink, as a prison sentence, He would finally reveal Himself to them again. As their teacher, God would guide them in His moral will (cf. Isa 30:15; Isa 26:9; Isa 28:9-13; Isa 29:11-12). Then their eyes would see Him and their ears would hear His voice correcting their deviations from His path (cf. Isa 30:9-11).