Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 32:17
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
17. work and effect are synonyms; both mean literally “work,” and both have the sense of “effect” (the latter only here used in this sense).
quietness and assurance ] (R.V. confidence) cf. ch. Isa 30:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17, 18. The consequence of this supremacy of righteousness is universal tranquillity and security, a contrast to the false carnal security denounced in Isa 32:9 ; Isa 32:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the work of righteousness – That which righteousness produces; or the effect of the prevalence of righteousness on the nation.
Shall be peace – There shall be no internal agitation, and no conflicts with foreign nations.
Quietness and assurance – This is a beautiful description of the happy effect of the prevalence of piety; and it is as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah. True religion would put an end to strifes and litigations; to riots and mobs; to oppressions and tumults; to alarms and robbery; to battle, and murder, and conflict.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 32:17
And the work of righteousness shall be peace
The true work of life
I.
THE NATURE OF TRUE LIFE WORK–the work of righteousness. What is righteous work?
1. Working by right law. God has established a law to regulate all action and motion throughout His empire. What is the law by which mind is to be regulated? The will of God, not expediency. Of expediency, we are no safe, no correct judges.
(1) This will is revealed in nature. But the revelation is difficult to interpret.
(2) It is revealed in Christ. There it can be clearly read and easily appreciated. He embodied the great moral code.
2. Working by a right law from a right motive. A mere conformity to the letter of the law, if it could be obtained, is not righteousness. We must keep the law not from the fear of hell, or the hope of heaven, but from a predominant affection for the Lawgiver. It is noteworthy that the work of righteousness is not a work to be limited to any department of action. Righteousness must run through all personal and social relationships.
II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF TRUE LIFE WORK. Peace. This is true.
1. Of individuals.
2. Of families.
3. Of churches.
4. Of nations.
Conclusion–Learn the transcendent worth of the Gospel. The great object of Christs mission was to promote righteousness. His life was a revelation of righteousness, His death a demonstration of righteousness, His whole history one great motive to righteousness. This is the supreme want of humanity. Legislation, philosophy, poets, priesthoods, civilisations, have tried to supply it and have failed. Christ alone can establish righteousness. (Homilist.)
Righteousness and peace
Peace is not a root, but a fruit. It is not the beginning of a process, but its end. It is not the summary creation of an imperial fiat; it is the matured product of the spiritual order. We cannot command peace; we can only grow it. If we would have the reapings we must attend to certain sewings. To obtain peace we must plant righteousness. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The spiritual order
The first bugle-peal proclaims not the advent of peace but the enthronement of right! The herald withholds the word peace until righteousness is established. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness! That is the voice of the first trumpet, and it is only when certain great redemptions have been wrought, certain perversities corrected, certain degraded monarchies restored, certain pure and muscular dispositions recovered, that we hear the sound of the second trumpet, And the work of righteousness shall be peace, &c. That is the expression of the spiritual order as contained in the teaching of the Divine Word. (J. H.Jowett, D. D.)
Peace
Peace is the general glow of health resulting from the inter-related life of many members, each of whom occupies his appointed place in the spiritual order, and is possessed by the spirit of equity and truth. Peace is the spirit of communion, the genius of co-operation, the cohesion of many members into one pure and indissoluble whole. Now there can be no cohesion among the unclean. Dirt is always divisive. (J. H. Jowett, D. D.)
Righteousness and peace
Before iniquity intruded King Arthurs court was whole, and the angel of peace abode in the temple. But when the iniquitous stole into the court, the rare communion was broken, and the angel of peace flew away into distant exile. (J. H. Jowett, D. D.)
Maladjustments
Maladjustments always produce unrest whether it be in the physical or moral life. You say, I cannot rest at night. How is that? I have a great deal of pain. Where? In this hand. How are you treating it? Oh, I bathe it very frequently, and I use a little ointment. But your finger is out of joint! There is a maladjustment. Your finger is not where God intended it to be. Your finger will have to be set right. Physical righteousness, physical rightness must be the first step to physical rest. The truth is analogous in the moral sphere. There are mal-adjustments there, disjointings there. (J. H.Jowell, D. D.)
Goodness and joy
Why are you singing? a lady asked a little girl. Oh, I dont know, unless it is because I have tried to be good to-day, was the answer.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. The work of righteousness] Righteousness works and produces peace.
The effect of righteousness] abodath, the culture. Righteousness, cultivated by peace, produces tranquillity of mind and permanent security. Reader, hast thou the principle? If so, dost thou cultivate it? If thou dost, thou hast peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and a sure and certain hope of everlasting life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The work of righteousness shall be peace; the effect of this prevailing practice of righteousness shall be prosperity and outward felicity.
Quietness; tranquillity, both of mind and outward estate.
Assurance; or, confidence. The observation of Gods precepts will beget in them a confidence and assurance of Gods mercy, and the fulfilling of his promises.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. workthe effect (Pro 14:34;Jas 3:18).
peaceinternal andexternal.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the work of righteousness shall be peace,…. Not works of righteousness done by men, no, not by the best of men; for though peace may be had and enjoyed in doing them, yet it does not arise and flow from thence, because there is no justification by them, and salvation through them, without which there can be no true solid peace; nor the work of righteousness in men, which is their sanctification, and is indeed the work of God, and follows upon the pouring forth of his Spirit, and therefore bids fairer to be the sense than the former; yet peace is one part and branch of the work itself; see Ro 14:17 but the work of righteousness wrought out for man is rather meant, even the righteousness of Christ, a work proposed unto him, which he undertook, and has wrought out, and which was a work, and lay in working, and was a very toilsome and laborious one; the consequence of which is “peace”, inward peace of soul now, and eternal peace hereafter; the righteousness of Christ applied removes the guilt of sin from the conscience, it being perfect justifies from all things, and yields a tranquillity and serenity of mind, which is had in a way of believing, in this righteousness now, and it will issue in everlasting peace and rest in the world to come; the end of the perfect and upright man, who is perfectly justified by Christ’s righteousness, is peace, Ps 37:37:
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever; or, q “the service of righteousness”; the same as before, with the “work of righteousness”: a service which Christ performed, as a servant, in obedience to the law, in the room and stead of his people; a service perfectly and completely done, and what is well pleasing unto God; and which, when a sensible sinner sees its interest in, produces “quietness” of soul, under the mighty hand of God, amidst all the calamities in the world, and judgments upon men, under the load of calumny and reproach cast upon him, and notwithstanding all the charges and accusations of Satan: moreover, this also gives “assurance for ever”, of interest in divine things, in the love of God, and relation to him as a Father, in Christ as a Saviour and Redeemer, and in the glorious inheritance which this gives a title to; or a holy confidence and boldness at the throne of grace now, having this righteousness to make mention of as a justifying one, and also hereafter, before the throne of judgment, this being what will answer for him in a time to come.
q “et cultus justitiae”, V. L. Montanus; “labor, seu operatio”, Piscator, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace. A little before, he censured severely that peace which made the Jews drowsy and slothful; he now promises a different kind of repose, which will be a striking proof of the love of God, who has received them into favor, and will faithfully guard them. We ought therefore to observe the implied contrast between that brutal repose which the reprobate think that they obtain by their presumption in committing every kind of wickedness, and in which they also fall asleep, and that different kind of repose, on the other hand, which the children of God obtain by a religious and holy life, and which Isaiah exhorts us to desire, shewing that we ought fearlessly to believe that a blessed and joyful peace awaits us when we have been reconciled to God.
In this way he recommends to them to follow uprightness, that they may obtain assured peace; for, as Peter declares, there is no better way of procuring favor, that no man may do us injury, than to abstain from all evil-doing. (1Pe 3:13.) But the Prophet leads them higher, to aim at a religious and holy life by the grace of God; for nothing is more unreasonable than that wicked men should desire to have peace, while they are continually fighting against God. That wish is indeed common; for hardly one person in a hundred shall be found who does not loudly extol peace, while at the same time every man raises up enemies to himself in the earth, and all in vast crowds disturb heaven and earth by their crimes. Now, the latter repose, being perpetual, is compared by him to the former, which is slight and momentary.
The effect of righteousness. When peace receives this designation, let us learn that, as wars proceed from the wrath of God, which we provoke by our wickedness, so peace springs from his blessing. When, therefore, we see enemies enraged to battle, and rising furiously against us, let us seek no other remedy than repentance; for the Lord will easily allay commotions when we have returned to him. He it is, as the Psalmist says, who
“
maketh wars to cease to the ends of the earth, who breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in pieces, and burneth the chariots in the fire.” (Psa 46:9.)
We have already said that these things do not relate exclusively to Hezekiah, but must be referred to Christ.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
PEACE THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Isa. 32:17. The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
A large part of the book of Isaiah is taken up in setting forth the glories and the blessedness of Christs kingdom. Sometimes this is done by grand images drawn from all that is brightest in the outward world (Isa. 30:26). Sometimes the great change to be wrought in mankind is spoken of under the figure of a like change in the beasts of the field (Isa. 11:6-9). Again, in other places, as in the text and the adjoining verses, the description puts on more of a moral and spiritual character, and declares how God will be glorified in the hearts and lives of men (Isa. 32:15-17). On reading these descriptions of a time when the world is to be full of peace and blessedness, we can hardly help wishing we were in such a world. But that time is not yet come. Many places may we find, where all seem to be bent on hurting and destroying one another. But the sun himself, with his all-piercing eye, though he beholds every dwelling of man, cannot see a single village which is the abode of peace and quietness and assurance for ever. Nor has he in all his journeys seen such a state of things. Did the prophet, then, see falsely? Was the vision which he saw a lying vision? Not so. If the work, the effect, is wanting, it is that the cause is wanting. Did righteousness prevail upon the earth, there peace would also prevail. Wherever we find anything like true righteousness, and according to the degree of the likeness, we also find peace. Whatsoever is done to promote righteousness will also promote peace.
The work of righteousness shall be peace. The words have a sweet sound; but when we think of the whole meaning that lies wrapt up in them, they may well strike us with awe. For while they declare that righteousness shall produce peace, they at the same time imply that nothing but righteousness shall or can. How, then, can peace ever abide upon earth, or dwell in the heart of man?
Another disturbing recollection is, that when it has pleased the all-righteous God to show forth His righteousness, as in the days of Noah, the work of that righteousness was not peace, but horror, and desolation, and destruction. Even when the ministers and executors of earthly righteousness pass through a land, they do not bring peace to the culprits whom they visit. How, then, can the perfect righteousness of God bring peace to the sinful race of man? There is but one way, a way purposed by God in the counsels of His unfathomable wisdom, the way whereby He vouchsafes to bestow His own righteousness upon man, to the end that He may make man partaker of His peace.
Here some may object, that righteousness, with its sternness and terrors, does not seem to be, of all virtues and graces, the one best fitted to be the parent of peace. Rather, they may say, is peace the work of mercy: for that mercy alone can produce peace, at least in sinners; wherefore we are wont to pray God to grant us pardon and peace. This is true. Unless mercy be shown to sinners, they can never enjoy peace. Yet, unless mercy go along with righteousness, mercy cannot produce peace. If mercy allowed the sinners to abide in their sins, they would still be under the sentence which declares that there is no peace to the wicked [1204] Christ will never give peace alone. He will only give it along with righteousness,first righteousness and then peace. Unless He had been the Lord our Righteousness, He could not have been the Prince of Peace. Therefore they who will not receive His righteousness, cannot receive His peace. To them He brings no peace, but a sword.
[1204] We may see this in human things. When a parent does not uphold order and law in his family, there will be no peace in that family. When a government does not uphold order and law in a nation, there will be no peace in that nation. They are to be upheld mercifully indeed; but still they are to be upheld. Now in man both are imperfect, both his righteousness and his mercy; and therefore they are ever jarring. Sometimes he will lean to the one, sometimes to the other; and so neither produces the, work of peace. But in God both are at one: neither shall hinder, neither can give way to the other. Sooner shall the heavens split, like a breaking wave, into foam, and melt away, than the slightest shadow of anything that is not perfectly righteous shall pass over the righteousness of God. Accordingly it could only be when perfect mercy and perfect truth met together, that righteousness and mercy could kiss each other. And thus alone shall any ever enjoy perfect peace, when they have received the full forgiveness of their sins from the perfect mercy of God, and are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. Even in heaven there can be no peace, except it be the work of righteousness.Hare.
But although the course of this world has never been answerable to the magnificent visions of ancient prophecy, still in some measure the prophecies have been fulfilled. To the godly, to all who believe in Christ and love Him, to all who desire to serve and obey Him, He has indeed brought peace; and even amid the endless tumults and troubles and jarrings of the world, they feel that He has done so. They feel that He has set them at peace with God, by making them partakers of that righteousness, of which peace is the work. Moreover, there is hardly one of our Lords commandments which does not tend, in proportion as we obey it, to fill our hearts with peace, which does not dry up one source or other of disquieting, harassing care [1207]
[1207] When He teaches us that the eye of God is ever watching over us, and the hand of God ever providing over us,when He commands us to pray to God with confidence as to our heavenly Father, and to make all our wants and wishes known to Him,hereby, if we give heed to His bidding, He at once hushes all those never-ending, still-beginning anxieties, which are the thorns and thistles planted by the curse in the human heart. When He teaches us to love our neighbours, and to forgive, nay, to love our enemies, He roots up all the causes which destroy peace and breed quarrels between man and man. Every passion that we subdue is so much gain to our peace; for every passion is a peacebreaker. Covetousness, ambition, lust, drunkenness, vanity, pride are peacebreakers. All these passions set us at variance with neighbours; all of them set us at variance with ourselves. Whereas, contentment, temperance, sobriety, chastity, modesty, meekness are peacemakers.Hare.
We may now perceive why there is so little peace in the world. It is because there is so little righteousness. The effect cannot exist without the cause. The one simple commandment, Love thy neighbour as thyself, were it followed through all the branching duties into which it spreads, would turn the earth into a garden of peace.
For the wicked, God has said, there is no peace. But light is sown for the righteous, the light of joy and peace. The true disciple of Christ, he who has sought to be clothed in Christs righteousness, will always enjoy peace, even here on earth. He will enjoy it in every condition of life. In riches, in poverty, in health, in sickness, in every outward circumstance of life, in the hour of death, the godly, and they alone, enjoy peace: in the day of judgment they, and they alone, will enjoy peace. And the peace they will have enjoyed till then will only have been a poor faint foretaste of the peace into which they will then enter, of the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and in the full enjoyment of which they will live thenceforward through eternity.Julius Charles Hare, M.A.: Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceux Church, pp. 325346.
The Bible is the revelation of a gracious remedy for evil. Points out rightful claims of the divine government. Charges the human race with disregard of those claims. Man is guilty of unrighteousness. There is universal sin. It is in mans nature. It constitutes a moral disqualification for return. Gods remedial plan comprehends the provision of pardoning mercy, and of regenerating mercy. The former is found in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, which constitutes a righteous ground on which the penal consequences of sin may be remitted. The latter, in this no less wonderful work of the Holy Spirit by which the sinners disposition undergoes a change that makes him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Let it be supposed that this is the universal experience: instead of unrighteousness, the righteousness that springs from such contact with Christ by His Spirit universally prevails. It is a change of which we do not despair. We are taught to expect it. Thus the text will be universally fulfilled.
I. INTERNATIONALLY.
One of the most awful facts of human history is the extent to which war has marked its track. In the causes of all wars unrighteousness is found. But if the supposition we have made were a reality, wars would become impossible. Nations and their rulers would repress the desire to possess themselves of what is not their own. If different interests induced different opinions between them, wise and righteous arbitration would prevent their imbruing their hands in each others blood. There would be quietness and security for ever (Isa. 2:4; Isa. 11:6-9).
II. SOCIALLY.
1. Would the scenes witnessed in our streets, and the revelations of police courts continue, if all men were characterised by the righteousness contemplated in our text? Because men are unrighteous, they encroach upon each other. The religion of Christ can be ill spared. Where its influence prevails, society is better, happier, more peaceful, more secure than elsewhere.
2. Think of the family. In the home all exhibit their true selves. Selfishness and injustice may render it a place of incessant strife. But our Christian homes, even where allowance has been made for infirmities and peculiarities, are usually pervaded by an atmosphere of peace and love. The influences that surround them produce mutual forbearance and studiousness of others, restrain the harder and develop the softer passions. Just in the measure in which the subduing influences of Christian character prevail will our homes be secure from strife and discomfort.
3. Think of the Church. There are divisions in the Church, it is said. But there is less alienation of heart than is commonly supposed. The common Christians sentiments override the separated denominations. So within the churches. Not many, in proportion to the whole, are divided. Animosity, as arising from difference of opinion, is restrained by Christian love. And if all were perfectly Christian, there would be none.
III. PERSONALLY.
1. There is peace with God. Because there is reconciliation in Christ.
2. There is peace within. The storms of distress and fear raised by the sense of sin are allayed by the cross. The discomfort of unsettled lifepurposes is terminated by a decision with which the soul is satisfied. Its peace is enhanced by converse with heaven.
It is abiding peace. The peace in all aspects continues as long as the righteousness. The holiness of heaven, and therefore its peaceful rest, will continue for ever.
Have we this righteousness? Have we it in heart, in sympathy, in life? If not, we are on the side of unrighteousness. We are insecure. We need to be born again. O seek to possess and extend it.J. Rawlinson.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Isa 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
Ver. 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace. ] Peace both of country and of conscience; none other but this last can last for ever.
Quietness and assurance for ever.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
work = tillage. assurance = confidence. Hebrew. batah (App-69) Same word as careless (Isa 32:9), but not in irony.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the work: Isa 26:3, Isa 48:18, Isa 54:13, Isa 54:14, Isa 55:12, Isa 57:19, Isa 66:12, Psa 72:2, Psa 72:3, Psa 85:8, Psa 119:165, Rom 14:17, Phi 4:6-9, Jam 3:17, Jam 3:18
quietness: Isa 2:3, Isa 2:4, Isa 9:7, Isa 11:6-9, Isa 11:13, Psa 112:6-9, Pro 14:26, Eze 37:21, Eze 37:22, Eze 37:25, Eze 39:29, Mic 4:3, Mic 4:4, 2Co 1:12, Heb 6:11, 2Pe 1:10, 2Pe 1:11, 1Jo 3:18-24, 1Jo 4:17
Reciprocal: Job 34:29 – When he giveth Psa 37:37 – General Psa 112:3 – and his Pro 3:2 – and peace Isa 11:10 – his rest Isa 30:15 – in returning Rom 2:10 – and peace Rom 5:1 – we have Col 2:2 – of the full 1Ti 4:8 – having Heb 12:11 – peaceable 1Jo 3:19 – shall