And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard – That is, he would give command to destroy them. They could not fail to recognize his voice, and to feel that it was accomplished by him.

The lighting down of his arm – The descent of his arm – alluding to the act of striking, as with a sword, by which an army is cut down.

With the flame – (see the note at Isa 29:6).

And tempest, and hailstones – With us it is rare that a storm of hail would be severe enough to destroy an army. But in oriental countries and in tropical climates, storms of hail are not unfrequently of sufficient violence to do it if the army were encamped in the open field. The following extract of a letter from one of our own countrymen, will show that this would be by no means an improbable occurrence: We had got perhaps a mile and a half on our way, when a cloud rising in the west gave indications of approaching rain. In a few minutes we discovered something falling from the heavens with a heavy splash, and with a whitish appearance. I could not conceive what it was, but observing some gulls near, I supposed it to be them darting for fish; but soon after discovered that they were large balls of ice falling. Immediately we heard a sound like rumbling thunder, or ten thousand carriages rolling furiously over the pavement.

The whole Bosphorus was in a foam, as though heavens artillery had been charged upon us and our frail machine. Our fate seemed inevitable; our umbrellas were raised to protect us, the lumps of ice stripped them into ribbons. We fortunately had a bullocks hide in the boat, under which we crawled and saved ourselves from further injury. One man of the three oarsmen had his hand literally smashed, another much injured in the shoulder, Mr. H. received a blow on the leg, my right hand was somewhat disabled, and all more or less injured. It was the most awful and terrific scene I ever witnessed, and God forbid that I should be ever exposed to another. Balls of ice as large as my two fists fell into the boat, and some of them came with such violence as certainly to have broken an arm or leg, had they struck us in those parts. One of them struck the blade of an oar and split it. The scene lasted perhaps five minutes; but it was five minutes of the most awful feeling I ever experienced.

When it passed over, we found the surrounding hills covered with masses of ice, I cannot call it hail, the trees stripped of their leaves and limbs, and everything looking desolate. The scene was awful beyond all description. I have witnessed repeated earthquakes; the lightning has played, as it were, about my head; the wind roared, and the waves at one moment have thrown me to the sky, and the next have sunk me into a deep abyss. I have been in action, and have seen death and destruction around me in every shape of horror; but I never before had the feeling of awe which seized upon me on this occasion, and still haunts, and I fear forever will haunt me. My porter, the boldest of my family, who had ventured an instant from the door, had been knocked down by a hailstone, and had they not dragged him in by the heels, would have been battered to death. Two boatmen were killed in the upper part of the village, and I have heard of broken bones in abundance. Imagine to yourself the heavens suddenly frozen over, and as suddenly broken to pieces in irregular masses of from half a pound to a pound weight, and precipitated to the earth. (Commodore Porters Letters from Constantinople and its Environs, vol. i. p. 44.)

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 30. The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard] Kimchi understands this of the great destruction of the Assyrian host by the angel of the Lord. Instead of bezaaph ats, “with swift anger,” five of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS. and one of my own, read bezaam aph, “with detestation indignant.” For ats, “swift,” which is the common reading, forty-two of Kennicott’s, forty-three of De Rossi’s, and two of my own, have aph, “wrath or fury.” The former reading, ats, is not found in any Bible previously to that of Van der Hooght, in 1705; and there it seems to be a typographical mistake.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

His glorious voice; his thunder, which is Called Gods voice, and said to be full of majesty, Psa 29:4. But then thunder is metaphorically taken for some terrible judgment, as it is in many places of Scripture.

The lightning down of his arm upon the Assyrian, whom he will smite with a deadly blow in the face of the world. The phrase is taken from the gesture of a man who is about to smite another, who first lifts up his hand, and then lets it fall with great force upon him whom he designs to strike.

With the indignation of his anger; with great wrath; which is signified by the heaping of so many words of the same signification together.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

30. Jehovah’s “gloriousvoice,” raised against the enemy (Isa30:27), is again mentioned here, in contrast to the music (Isa30:29) with which His people shall come to worship Him.

lighting down of . . . arm(Isa 30:32; Psa 38:2).The descent of His arm in striking.

scatteringnamely, ablast that scatters, or an “inundation” [MAURER].

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard,…. Or, “the glory of his voice” n; his majestic voice, the voice of his word, as the Targum, giving orders for the destruction of the Assyrian army; this was heard by the angel who obeyed it: and such a voice will be heard, ordering the destruction of antichrist, and the antichristian powers, in the pouring out of the vials by the angels, fitly signified by the following emblems; see Re 16:1. This voice is commonly interpreted of thunder, which is the voice of the Lord, and a very majestic one, Ps 29:3 and the destruction of the Assyrian army might be by thunder and lightning, and hailstones, and attended with such a tempest as here described, though not mentioned in the history:

and shall show the lighting down of his arm; or the strength of the arm of his power, as the Targum; his mighty arm, and the descent of it; meaning what should descend from heaven at the time of this tempest, as thunderbolts, balls of fire, hailstones, c. and by all which may be meant the heavy judgments of God, which fell upon his enemies, and were intolerable unto them: the metaphor is taken from the motion of a man in smiting another, who lifts up his hand, when it falls with the greater might, and rests upon him:

with the indignation of [his] anger; as when a man strikes in great wrath and fury: the heaping up of words here, and as follows, shows the vehemence and excess of anger:

and [with] the flame of a devouring fire; or, “of a fire devouring”; the Assyrian army; which, the Jews say, burnt their souls, destroyed their lives, but not their bodies. The Targum is,

“with the flame of fire, which consumes the graven images.”

The destruction of mystical Babylon will be by fire, Re 18:8:

[with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones; with lightning, which rends things in pieces, and scatters them here and there, and with a violent storm of rain and hail; see Re 16:18.

n “gloriam vocis suae”, V. L. Vatablus; “magnificam vocem suam”, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Israel is marching in such a joyful way to a sacred and glorious height, whilst outside Jehovah is sweeping the world-power entirely away, and that without any help from Israel. “And Jehovah causes His majestic voice to be heard, and causes the lowering of His arm to be seen, with the snorting of wrath and the blazing of devouring fire, the bursting of a cloud, and pouring of rain and hailstones. For Asshur will be terrified at the voice of Jehovah, when He smites with the staff. And it will come to pass, every stroke of the rod of destiny, which Jehovah causes to fall upon Asshur, is dealt amidst the noise of drums and the playing of guitars; and in battles of swinging arm He fights it. For a place for the sacrifice of abominations has long been made ready, even for the king is it prepared; deep, broad has He made it: its funeral-pile has fire and wood in abundance; the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone sets it on fire.” The imposing crash (on hod , see Job 39:20) of the cry which Jehovah causes to be heard is thunder (see Psa 29:1-11); for the catastrophe occurs with a discharge of all the destructive forces of a storm (see Isa 29:6). Nephets is the “breaking up” or “bursting,” viz., of a cloud. It is through such wrath-announcing phenomena of nature that Jehovah manifests the otherwise invisible letting down of His arm to smite ( nachath may possibly not be the derivative of nuach , “settling down,” but of nachath , “the coming down,” as in Psa 38:3; just as shebheth in 2Sa 23:7 is not derived from shubh , but from shabhath , to go to ruin). Isa 30:31, commencing with ki (for), explains the terrible nature of what occurs, from the object at which it is directed: Asshur is alarmed at the voice of Jehovah, and thoroughly goes to pieces. We must not render this, as the Targum does, “which smites with the rod,” i.e., which bears itself so haughtily, so tyrannically (after Isa 10:24). The smiter here is Jehovah (lxx, Vulg., Luther); and basshebhet yakkeh is either an attributive clause, or, better still, a circumstantial determining clause, eo virga percutiente . According to the accents, v e hayah in Isa 30:32 is introductory: “And it will come to pass, every stroke of the punishing rod falls (supply ) with an accompaniment of drums and guitars” (the Beth is used to denote instrumental accompaniment, as in Isa 30:29; Isa 24:9; Psa 49:5, etc.) – namely, on the part of the people of Jerusalem, who have only to look on and rejoice in the approaching deliverance. Musadah with m atteh is a verbal substantive used as a genitive, “an appointment according to decree” (comp. yasad in Hab 1:12, and ya ad in Mic 6:9). The fact that drums and guitars are heard along with every stroke, is explained in Isa 30:32: “Jehovah fights against Asshur with battles of swinging,” i.e., not with darts or any other kind of weapon, but by swinging His arm incessantly, to smite Asshur without its being able to defend itself (cf., Isa 19:16). Instead of , which points back to Asshur, not to m atteh , the keri has , which is not so harsh, since it is immediately preceded by . This cutting down of the Assyrians is accounted for in Isa 30:33, ( ki , for), from the fact that it had long ago been decreed that they should be burned as dead bodies. ‘Ethmul in contrast with m achar is the past: it has not happened today, but yesterday, i.e., as the predestination of God is referred to, “long ago.”

Tophteh is the primary form of topheth (from tuph , not in the sense of the Neo-Persian taften , Zend. tap , to kindle or burn, from which comes tafedra , melting; but in the Semitic sense of vomiting or abhorring: see at Job 17:6), the name of the abominable place where the sacrifices were offered to Moloch in the valley of Hinnom: a Tophet-like place. The word is variously treated as both a masculine and feminine, possibly because the place of abominable sacrifices is described first as bamah in Jer 7:31. In the clause , the gam , which stands at the head, may be connected with lammelekh , “also for the king is it prepared” (see at Job 2:10); but in all probability lammelekh is a play upon lammolekh (e.g., Lev 18:2), “even this has been prepared for the Melekh,” viz., the king of Asshur. Because he was to be burned there, together with his army, Jehovah had made this Tophet-like place very deep, so that it might have a far-reaching background, and very broad, so that in this respect also there might be room for many sacrifices. And their m e durah , i.e., their pile of wood (as in Eze 24:9, cf., Eze 24:5, from dur , Talm. dayyer , to lay round, to arrange, pile), has abundance of fire and wood (a hendiadys, like “cloud and smoke” in Isa 4:5). Abundance of fire: for the breath of Jehovah, pouring upon the funeral pile like a stream of brimstone, sets it on fire. , not to burn up, but to set on fire. points back to tophteh , like the suffix of m e durathah .

(Note: So far as the form of the text is concerned, kol has the disjunctive yethib before pashta , which occurs eleven times according to the Masora. Nevertheless the word is logically connected in the closest manner with what follows (comp. ‘e th torath in Isa 5:24). The ah of m usadah is rafatum pro mappicato , according to the Masora; in which case the suffix would refer to Asshur. In the place of we also meet with , with this chethib and keri reversed; but the former, according to which is equivalent to , has many examples to support it in the Masora. has kametz in correct MSS in half pause; whereas Kimchi ( Michlol, 117b) regards it as a participle.)

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

30. And Jehovah shall cause to be heard. He confirms what he formerly said about the judgment of God on the Assyrians, and he describes it figuratively, as is very customary both with himself and with the other prophets. When God delays, and does not immediately punish the wicked, we think that he is either asleep or not powerful, and are distracted by doubt and uncertainty. And if we behold some of his judgments, yet such is our natural stupidity, or rather our ingratitude, that we keep before us those masks which hinder us from perceiving the glory of God; for we ascribe it to fortune, or to the plans and contrivances and strength of men, and never, unless when we are compelled, acknowledge that we owe anything to God.

The power of his voice. (312) For the reasons now stated, the Prophet was not satisfied with having once foretold the vengeance of God against the Assyrians; but he likewise describes it in a lively manner, and repeats it with great earnestness. He declares that the destruction shall be such that men will be constrained to hear “the voice of God;” that is, to acknowledge his judgment, and to confess that this calamity hath proceeded from him, as if he had spoken openly. The matter, therefore, may be thus summed up. The event will be so manifest, that there shall be no one who does not understand that this calamity proceeded from “the mouth,” that is, from the decree of God.

And the descent of his arm shall he cause to be seen. He begins with “the voice of God,” that we may know that he directs by his authority everything that is done on the earth. Yet at the same time he applauds the power of his doctrine, on which it was necessary that his people should rely, in order that the effect might be openly displayed at the proper time. But as the work quickly follows the decree and “voice of God,” he adds “the descent of his arm.” These two things ought always to be joined together; for we ought not to imagine that God is like men, or that he suddenly undertakes anything, and then leaves it defective or incomplete. Whatever he has decreed he likewise executes, and his hand can never be separated from his mouth. On the other hand, he executes nothing at random, but all must have been previously decreed, so that all the punishments which he inflicts are so many displays of righteous judgment.

With deluge and hailstone. That vengeance is illustrated, in the conclusion of the verse, by figures, in order that its terrific character may lead the Jews more cheerfully to raise their faith on high; for it was highly consolatory to them to know that, though they were heavily afflicted, a far more dreadful judgment would soon fall on their enemies. And yet we must not dream, as the Rabbins do, that the Assyrians were struck by a thunderbolt, for their conjecture is excessively frivolous. On the contrary, the Prophet follows the ordinary custom, and, by means of these comparisons, describes the judgment of God, which our prodigious dulness makes us excessively slow to comprehend. Conflagrations, thunderbolts, inundations, and deluges, are somewhat unusual and monstrous events, and thus produce a stronger impression on our own minds. For this reason, the prophets draw a comparison from them, that men may perceive the dreadful and avenging hand of God against the wicked.

(312) Bogus footnote

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(30) And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice . . .The peace and joy at home are contrasted with the judgments that fall on the enemies of Israel. They are exposed to the full thunderstorm of the wrath of Jehovah. Hailstones and coals of fire were the natural symbols of His anger.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

30, 31. Isa 30:27-28, depict the approach of the great judge; here the description of the judgment begins.

Voice heard God’s “voice” is “heard,” also, as the delivered ones shout their song, and the action of his arm is seen image of corporal chastisement.

Indignation anger Manifested as fury, under figure of an animal snorting, with flames bursting from its nostrils, leaving behind a scattering, the work of a tempest, and stones of hail. Here, again, our prophet overrides modern rhetorical refinement, and mixes fire and hail together. The Assyrian can stand no such a rush of destructive forces.

Which smote with a rod That is, the hitherto persecuting Assyrian. The smiter is now himself smitten with a vengeance.

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

Isa 30:30-31. And the Lord shall cause, &c. The prophet resumes the thread of his narration from Isa 30:28 and having hinted, not obscurely, in the preceding verse, the time of the execution of the judgment, he describes in the present verse the manner of it; which, from this and the parallel passage, ch. Isa 29:6 we conceive to be thus; that it should come to pass, that a mighty and terrible temper should be raised up by God, in which thunders, lightnings, showers, hail, and scattering winds, should be so mixed, that all mortals should understand the just God was descending in clouds to punish his enemies and avenge his glory; which tempest raging, the angel of the Lord, either by lightnings and hail-stones, as may seem probable, or by some other method, should beat down the best and most flourishing part of the Assyrian army, whose rod or staff had for a long time been grievous to the people of God. See chap. Isa 37:36 and Psa 18:12-14.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Isa 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

Ver. 30. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice. ] Hence some gather that Sennacherib’s soldiers were destroyed by the angel, not without a mighty storm and tempest, accompanied with dreadful thunder and lightning. See the like threatened to all wicked ones, Job 27:20-22 .

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

the Lord: Isa 29:6, Psa 2:5, Psa 18:13, Psa 18:14, Psa 46:6

his glorious voice: Heb. the glory of his voice, Job 37:2-5, Job 40:9, Psa 29:3-9, Eze 10:5, Rev 1:15

the lighting: Isa 51:9, Isa 62:8, Exo 15:16, Psa 98:1, Luk 1:51

the flame: Isa 28:2, Isa 32:19, Jos 10:11, 1Sa 7:10, Psa 18:13, Psa 18:14, Psa 50:1-3, Psa 76:5-8, Psa 97:3-5, Eze 38:19-22, Mic 1:4, Nah 1:2-6, Mat 24:7, 2Th 1:8, Rev 6:12-17, Rev 11:19, Rev 14:16-20, Rev 16:18-21

Reciprocal: Exo 9:23 – and hail Deu 9:3 – a consuming fire 2Sa 22:14 – thundered 1Ki 19:11 – and a great 2Ki 19:35 – and smote 2Ch 32:21 – the leaders Est 8:16 – had light Job 34:20 – without Job 38:23 – General Psa 83:15 – General Isa 9:18 – wickedness Isa 10:12 – I will Isa 10:16 – and under Isa 10:25 – For yet Isa 14:25 – I will Isa 17:13 – but Isa 19:16 – the shaking Isa 25:5 – shalt bring Isa 30:31 – the voice Isa 33:11 – your Isa 37:36 – the angel Jer 25:32 – and a Eze 10:2 – scatter Eze 13:13 – a stormy Eze 38:22 – an overflowing Joe 2:5 – like the noise of a Amo 1:14 – with a Zec 9:14 – his Mat 24:27 – as Rev 8:5 – and there Rev 8:7 – hail Rev 16:21 – there fell

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge