Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 32:4
The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
4. the rash ] i.e. the hasty, inconsiderate person, who constantly blurts out crude and ill-judged opinions. The stammerers, on the other hand, are those who, even when their thoughts are right, lack the gift of clear utterance. To the former class is promised “understanding,” to the latter the power to speak promptly and “plainly” (lit. lucidities). Sound judgment and fluent speech combine to form a good popular orator.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The heart also of the rash – Margin, Hasty. The Hebrew word denotes those who hasten; that is, those who are precipitate in forming a judgment, or deciding on a course of action. They do not take time to deliberate, and consequently they are led headlong into error, and into improper courses of life.
Shall understand knowledge – They shall take time to deliberate; and they shall consequently form a more enlightened judgment.
And the tongue of the stammerers – The stammerers (compare the note at Isa 28:11) seem here to denote those who had indistinct and confused views of subjects, or who were incapable of expressing clear and intelligible views of divine truth.
Shall be ready to speak plainly – Margin, Elegantly. The Hebrew is tsathoth clear, white, usually applied to a bright, clear, white light. The sense is, that there should be no indistinctness or obscurity in their views and modes of utterance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The rash; who were hasty and heady in judging of things; which is an argument of ignorance and folly.
Shall understand knowledge; shall become more knowing and considerate in their judgments and actions.
The stammerers; that used to speak of the things of God darkly, and doubtfully, and unwillingly. As mens understandings shall then be enlightened, so their speech shall be reformed; which though it was in part fulfilled in Hezekiah; this reformation being effected in some measure by his counsel and example, and by the powerful preaching of the Levites, whom he excited and encouraged to teach the good knowledge of the Lord, as is said, 2Ch 30:22; yet was truly and fully accomplished only by Christ, who wrought this wonderful change in an innumerable company both of Jews and Gentiles.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. rashrather, “thehasty”; contrast “shall not make haste” (Isa28:16); the reckless who will not take time to weigh religioustruth aright. Or else, the well-instructed [HORSLEY].
stammersthose whospeak confusedly on divine things (compare Exo 4:10-12;Jer 1:6; Mat 10:19;Mat 10:20). Or, rather, thosedrunken scorners who in stammering style imitated Isaiah’swarnings to mock them [MAURER](Isa 28:7-11; Isa 28:13;Isa 28:14; Isa 28:22;Isa 29:20); in this view,translate, “speak uprightly” (agreeably to thedivine law); not as English Version, referring to thedistinctness of articulation, “plainly.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge,…. Such who have been hasty and precipitant, as the word c signifies; who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, or has been proposed unto them, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them, especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of Christ, of his person, offices, grace, righteousness, and salvation; an experimental knowledge and understanding of these things, heart and not head knowledge:
and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly; or, “shall make haste to speak neatly” d; elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in their speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, and scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things, yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction, and use of those that hear them: this was true of the apostles of Christ, those babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth God ordained praise, and who were most of them Galilaeans, very illiterate and unpolished, and yet these, especially when they had the gift of tongues, spake the great things of God very readily, and in good language; and also is true of other ministers of the word, raised up among the barbarous nations of the world.
c “inconsideratorum”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “praecipatorum”, Montanus. d “festinabit loqui nitida”, Pagninus; “polite”, Munster; “diserte”, Calvin; “loqui venusta”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) The heart also of the rash . . .Heart, as in Pro. 4:23 and elsewhere, for the intellect rather than the emotions. The rash are those that are hurried, precipitate, reckless; the stammerers, those who have no power to speak clearly of the things of God, who hesitate and are undecided.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
A Comparison of the Wise and Honourable With The Foolish And The Crafty ( Isa 32:4-8 ).
In describing what will happen in the coming kingdom Isaiah analyses wisdom and folly. The king will deliver His people from folly and craftiness, and will give them understanding in the truth, and make them noble.
Analysis.
a The heart also of the hasty will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly (Isa 32:4).
b The fool will no longer be called freethinking, nor will the crafty be said to be bountiful, for the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity (Isa 32:5-6 a).
c To practise profaneness, and to utter error against Yahweh (Isa 32:6 b).
c To make the soul of the hungry empty, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail (Isa 32:6 c).
b The instruments also of the crafty are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy says what is right (Isa 32:7).
a But the noble plans noble things, and he will continue in noble things (Isa 32:8).
In ‘a’, in the kingdom that is coming those who usually interpret things too superficially will understand knowledge, and those who usually stutter over things will be able to speak them plainly, while in the parallel the noble will plan noble things, and will continue in noble things. All ignorance and folly will be put aside. In ‘b’ the fool will no longer have any place, nor will the ‘crafty’ be able to pretend to be bountiful, for firstly the fool will be seen to speak folly, and will be seen as a worker of iniquity, while in the parallel the methods of the ‘crafty’ will be exposed as evil, and his devices revealed as lying words . In ‘c’ the activity and consequence of the fool in his foolery is described.
Isa 32:4
The heart also of the hasty will understand knowledge,
And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.’
When this king reigns men’s hearts will be open to knowledge, for even those who are hasty and superficial in their thinking will understand knowledge (some see it as meaning that people will be in a hurry to hear His words). To this is also added the fact that those who found talking difficult will now be able to speak plainly. For their teachers will now speak truth to them, and they will be well taught. The result is that all His true people will respond totally to Him. They will receive and see knowledge, they will hear and obey gladly, they will be careful to hear His word, they will plainly tell out the Lord’s glory from the heart.
And we have only to see the life of Jesus to see how this wonderfully came about, for He had come to enlighten His people and bring them under God’s Kingly Rule.
Isa 32:5
‘The fool will no longer be called freethinking (or ‘noble’),
Nor will the crafty be said to be bountiful.’
When the king reigns and teaches, people will be shown up as they really are. Nothing will be hidden. Both the fool and the crafty will be exposed.
The word for ‘fool’ means one who thinks foolishly, especially in moral terms. He will accept no moral or spiritual obligation. Thus in his heart he rejects God and His ways (Psa 14:1). He thinks of himself as freethinking and noble but his mind is in fact bound by sin and its ways. Thus the truth about him will now be known, that he is not freethinking but bound by his own prejudices and desires. He will be exposed for what he is. He will be seen to be in contrast with the truly noble and liberal person (Isa 32:8).
And those who make a great show of being bountiful, but really give very little, will be shown up for what they are. The crafty (or ‘conspirers’) are those who make a great outward show in the right places. They want to impress and increase their reputations, and to win people to their own ways (Num 25:18). But their minds are really fixed on what they can obtain for themselves from their actions, and in dragging others to their own level, and the true mainspring of their actions will now be made clear.
Life As It Will Be Before the King Comes In Terms Of The Fool and The Crafty ( Isa 32:6-8 ).
Having mentioned the fool and the crafty Isaiah expands on them. Firstly he deals in detail with the fool and his folly (Isa 32:6), then he deals with the crafty and his deceit (Isa 32:7). This is a general description of what the king will deliver His people from in terms of the fool and the crafty, whom Isaiah clearly sees as generally representing the condition of many of the people prior to the king’s coming.
Isa 32:6-7
‘For the fool will speak folly,
And his heart will work iniquity,
To practise profaneness,
And to utter error against Yahweh.
To make the soul of the hungry empty,
And to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The instruments also of the crafty are evil.
He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words,
Even when the needy says what is right.’
Here life as it will have been before the king comes and exposes them is described in terms of the fool and the crafty. The fool reveals what he is by turning people away from Yahweh by his supposed freethinking. He leads them into error. But his heart is wicked, deceitful and profane (he is not really freethinking at all), and what he says about Yahweh is untrue. Having deceived himself by his own cleverness he goes on to deceive others, and by doing so he steals their spiritual food and drink and leaves them empty and in hopelessness. We cannot but be reminded here of Jesus’ castigation of the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23) as He revealed to them how they had failed in the responsibility that they saw as having been given to them by God. This is one reason why He spoke of them as ‘fools and blind’ (Mat 23:17)
The crafty, on the other hand, use their craftiness to deceive the poor and lowly. They take advantage of their trust and lack of discernment, persuading them otherwise even when the needy are actually right, so that they can gain advantage from them. No doubt they called it ‘doing business’, but they are really swindlers. Many an ‘investment adviser’ is in mind here, as well as many a one who persuades people to part with their money for one reason or another in a way that is deceptive or not for their good. But these are examples only, for man is deceitful at heart.
So between them the fool and the crafty lead men astray from the truth and keep them in poverty by clever dealings and trickery. Both are common in every age. But the point is that when the king comes both will be revealed as what they are, and inherent in that is that they will one day be called to account.
Isa 32:8
‘But the noble plans noble things,
And he will continue in noble things.’
In contrast with the fool and the crafty are the noble. They seek to do noble things. They are honest and reliable and truly consider the good of others. There were always such, even when things were at their worst. In modern terms we would say that they were ‘godly men’. Of such has always been the Kingly Rule of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 32:4. The heart also of the rash Of the inconsiderate. The meaning of this verse is, that men of precipitate judgment, who had too inconsiderately passed their opinion concerning the administration of divine Providence, and had either unfortunately and unreasonably, or in a doubtful and involved manner, delivered their notion of God and his ways, should by this remarkable event be awakened to a right and perfect knowledge of the divine Providence, and should express their thoughts and faith, plainly, openly, and fully, without doubt or hesitation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 32:4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
Ver. 4. The heart also of the rash. ] Heb., Of the hasty ones, such as are headlong and inconsiderate, that weigh not things, that say not, What shall we do in the end thereof?
And the tongue of the stammerers.
Shall be ready to speak plainly.
To speak plainly.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The heart also = And the heart: preserving the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (Isa 32:2).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
heart: Isa 29:24, Neh 8:8-12, Mat 11:25, Mat 16:17, Act 6:7, Act 26:9-11, Gal 1:23
rash: Heb. hasty
the tongue: Exo 4:11, Son 7:9, Luk 21:14, Luk 21:15, Act 2:4-12, Act 4:13
plainly: or, elegantly
Reciprocal: Psa 12:8 – when Isa 35:4 – fearful Isa 35:5 – the eyes Isa 35:6 – the tongue Dan 11:33 – understand Mat 12:22 – blind Mar 7:35 – General Luk 7:22 – how