Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 35:6
Then shall the lame [man] leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Then shall the lame man leap – This was literally fulfilled after the coming of the Messiah Act 14:10; Act 3:8. It is an emblem of the general joy which the coming of the Messiah would impart, and is an instance of the blessings which it would convey.
As an hart – The word used here denotes the stag, or male deer. In Arabic it denotes the wild, or mountain-goat. The word sometimes refers to any species of deer or antelope, and this is referred to here from its quick and sprightly nature.
And the tongue of the dumb sing – Shall be able to sing, and to praise God. On the restoration of the dumb to the benefits of language, see Mat 9:32-33; Mat 12:22; Mat 15:30-31; Mar 9:17; Luk 11:14.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out – The joy shall be as great, and the blessings as numerous and refreshing, as if running fountains should suddenly break out in the desert, and the thirsty and weary traveler should be thus unexpectedly and fully supplied. The world, in regard to its real comforts without the gospel, may be not unaptly compared to g vast waste of pathless sands and arid plains. Nothing will more strongly express the blessings of the gospel than the idea of cool, refreshing, abundant fountains and streams bursting forth in such pathless wastes. This is an image which would be very expressive to those who were accustomed to cross such deserts, and it is one which is frequently employed by the sacred writers, and especially by Isaiah (see Isa 43:19-20; Isa 48:21; Isa 49:10-11; Isa 55:1; Isa 58:11). Lameness and dumbness are the uniform effects of long walking in a desert; the sand and gravel produce the former, fatigue the latter. In such cases some of us have walked hours together without uttering a sentence; and all walked as if crippled, from the sand and gravel getting into the shoes; but the sight of water, especially if unexpected, unloosed every tongue, and gave agility to every limb; men, oxen, goats, sheep, and dogs, ran with speed and expressions of joy to the refreshing element. (Campbells Travels in Africa.) The Chaldee Paraphrast understands this as referring entirely to the return from the captivity at Babylon. Then shall they see the exiles of Israel assembled, ascend to their own land as the swift stags, so that they shall not be hindered.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 35:6
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart
A threefold promise
1.
Banished crutch.
2. Accentuation of speechless tongue.
3. Irrigated Sahara. (T. De Wilt Talmage, D. D.)
And the tongue of the dumb sing
Dumb singers
I. NOTE THE PERSONS WHOM GOD HAS CHOSEN TO SING HIS SONGS FOR EVER. The tongue of the dumb shall sing. Their singing does not come naturally from themselves; they were not born songsters. No, they were dumb. How this ought to give you encouragement in seeking to do good to others! If you have neighbours who are profaners of the Sabbath, haters of God, unwilling to come to the house of God, despising Christ; if you find them as far gone as you can find them, recollect He maketh the dumb sing, and therefore He can make them live.
II. Now I am to enter into some rather more lucid DESCRIPTION OF THESE DUMB PEOPLE. Who are they? Sometimes I get a good thought out of Crudens Concordance. As I opened it at this passage, I found Master Cruden describing different kinds of dumb people. He says there are four or five different sorts, but I shall name only four of them.
1. Those who cannot speak–that is the usual acceptation of the word dumb–the others are, of course, only figurative applications of the term. Now, spiritually, the man who is still in his trespasses and sins is dumb. He is dead, and there is none so dumb as a dead man. Shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Shall Thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction? As no man can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Ghost, these people cannot do so truly. But, all hail sovereign grace! They are dumb by nature, but He will not leave them so; they cannot now sing His praises, but they shall do it; they will not now confess their sins, but He will bring them on their knees yet, and make them pour out their hearts before Him.
2. But there is a sort of dumb people that will not speak. They are mentioned by Isaiah. He said of preachers in his day, they were dumb dogs that would not bark.
3. I will now introduce you to a third sort of dumb people. They are dumb because they dare not speak; and they are good people. Here is one of them: I was dumb with silence; I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it. And it is so blessed to be dumb in that fashion. The Lords servant will often have to be dumb under trials and troubles. You are, it may be, in the deepest trouble now, and obliged to be silent; well, you shall sing yet for all that. If you cannot cheer the darkness with songs in the night, yet He shall compass you about with songs of deliverance. We are not always to be silent with affliction. The saints have known joy, unspeakably great, in the midst of trial intolerably hot. Their murmuring has been silenced, and their thanks-giving has become vocal. An old Puritan said, Gods people are like birds; they sing best in cages.
4. We have one more kind of dumb people–those who have nothing to say. I will give you an instance; Solomon says in the Proverbs–Open thy mouth for the dumb; and he means those who in the court of judgment have nothing to plead for themselves, and have to stand dumb before the bar. Like that man of old, who, when the king came in to see the guests, had not on a wedding garment; and when the king said, Friend, how earnest thou in hither? he stood speechless; speechless, not because he could not speak, but because he had nothing to say. Have not you and I been dumb, and are we not now, when we attempt to stand on law terms with God, when we forget that Jesus Christ and His blood and righteousness are our full acquittal? We can now sing this anthem: Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? Not God, for He hath justified. Who is he that condemneth? Not Christ, He hath died, yea rather, hath risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, and maketh intercession for us.
III. THE OCCASIONS WHEN THE TONGUE OF THESE DUMB PEOPLE SINGS THE BEST. I think it sings always, little or much. If it is once set at liberty, it will never leave off staging. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
In the wilderness shall waters break out
The figure of the wilderness
The lovely poetry of this passage is almost thrown away upon us who have had no actual experience of the wilderness. Our imagination has been largely helped by the vivid and pathetic descriptions from travellers who have been through it; but the most powerful imagination cannot enable us to feel its awful reality. The interminable expanse, the distressing sameness, the horizon for leagues on leagues unbroken by a solitary tree or shrub. The burning sand blinding our eyes and scorching our feet. The very pathway, confused and often obliterated by the blast of the burning wind, is strewn with the bleached bones of the poor creatures who have fallen victims to the heat and drought. Not a bird flying over our heads, nor a harmless animal to be seen browsing a scanty pasture. The night is made terrible and the gloom is deepened by the roarings of the lion and the howlings of the jackal and the hyaena. Not a scrap of food of fruit or root to be obtained, and, worst of all, not a drop of water to quench the fiery thirst. Our parched lips can scarcely close. And this dreadful place is so interminable that it takes days and weeks to traverse; only here and there at long intervals does the exhausted and almost demented traveller come upon the green oasis and the priceless well of water. In the Old Testament the horrors of the desert are often used to figure the miserable aspect of life, and the privations of the human soul. My soul is athirst for Thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so longeth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. And here Isaiah, wishing to show the glory and beauty of a true vision of God, compares the change out of the darkness and misery or soul to the transformation of the wilderness into a garden. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
The wilderness of existence
The heart of man is the real wilderness, where dearth and drought and quenchless thirst torment and destroy him until he get the vision of the glory of God, which is His love. When man sees that, the waters break forth m the wilderness of his soul, and streams in the desert. His heart shall blossom as the rose and blossom abundantly; and not only flowers but fruit shall he bear for the healing of the nations. When man learns how God loves us all, then shall he find joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. That is the essence of the poem. But it teaches yet a great deal more. When mans heart is turned from a wilderness into a garden by the knowledge of Gods love, he is not only happy in himself, but he is a fountain and stream of happiness to others. Then the eye of the blind are opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then doth the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb can sing. His love for others is kindled and set aglow by the sight of the love of God. So we get three distinct ideas out of the poetry before us. The knowledge of the love of God as the source of all blessedness–first, to bring joy and gladness into individual souls, and then to make them fruitful in bringing joy and gladness into the hearts of their fellow-men. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
God alone the satisfaction of humanity
If we would only believe it, we should see that in proportion as we regard our surroundings as a desert, we are giving proof that we belong to a higher order of existence than those who can be satisfied with the common pleasures, the bread and water of merely animal life. If we belong to that higher order, if our true realm is not of this world, we shall not be able to satisfy ourselves with all that this world can possibly furnish. Our thirst will only be inflamed and not quenched by every effort to allay it with earthly gratification. And I do not think it unreasonable to ask you to take the next step–which is more like a leap than a step–and to admit that God never intended us to be perfectly happy here on earth, in and through only the satisfaction of our earthly desires. He has so made us that the world and human life, lovely and delicious as these are, shall yet be to us a very wilderness full of weariness and hunger and thirst, until we have found our true satisfaction in Him and His love. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
The joys of the godly
The whole secret of our happiness lies in this knowledge of the love of God.
1. It adds enormously to every lawful pleasure and indulgence. We take our joys in company with God. In our recreation, in our games, in our mirth and laughter, we revel all the more freely and heartily because we never forget that He is there, never forget that it is from Him that have come our varied powers of enjoyment and the numberless resources which minister to it. We set God always before us, and therefore in all the so-called blessings and comforts of life we are free from sin in the using. We will not enjoy any pleasure for which we cannot give Him thanks. And it is amazing what a large extra number of pleasures we is in consequence.
2. A still greater wealth is poured upon us by the sight of the love of God. It turns all our pains and sorrows into joy. It gives us perfect contentment with our lot. We know it could not have come against His will. We know it has come, then, to do us good. If we will only be patient and bear it like a man, we shall soon see the blessing which God had wrapped up in it; when our God comes to us in the wilderness of our woe, the water breaks forth and we are satisfied and refreshed. He is our living fountain of peace and hope and joy unspeakable; His love touches the strong rock of our hearts rebellion, and lo! the streams of gladness flow forth and we are like a well-watered garden. Then our poor blind eyes are opened to see only good, where we thought there was only evil. Then our deaf ears are unstopped, and we listen joyfully and thankfully to His soothing and cheering whisper of peace. Then our palsied limbs leap up at His call and we do the duty that lies nearest to us; we begin to make the best of our altered conditions and tread cheerfully the path of thorns in which His hand is leading us. And the tongue of the dumb shall sing. Our stubborn lips fast closed in anger and resentment, our tongue cleaving to the roof of our mouth in distress and despair, shall now move in harmony with the gladness awakened by the sight of His love. We shall glorify Him in the fires of tribulation; we shall sing of His great salvation. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
The desire to bless others
And yet more and more comes out of that inexhaustible fountain of goodness and joy. The sight of the love of God not only transfigures the life of each individual, but makes us do our best to convert the wilderness around us into a garden. Atheists have confessed to me how barren of any practical good atheism is, how absolutely deficient in any inspiring motive for kindly endeavour to help others. But we know, by our own experience, that the sight of Gods love which has turned our own wilderness into a garden, has likewise stirred us up into an enthusiasm of brotherly love and has borne fruit in practical endeavours to bring streams into the desert of lives not our own. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
Streams in the desert
The streams are spiritual, and refer to the diffusion of the Gospel and the manifold blessings of salvation over the world.
I. A FEW OF THE BLESSINGS WHICH THESE STREAMS IMPART. They are a source of–
1. Spiritual fertility. No other streams are possessed of the same fertilising power. Modern writers show a tendency to ascribe to the influence of civilisation and knowledge all our social, moral, and religious blessings. But how do they reconcile their theories with the comparatively barren effects of Egyptian science and civilisation, Greek philosophy and art, and Roman law and discipline? Be the influence of these latter what they might, they wrought no radical change on mans moral and spiritual character.
2. Spiritual beauty. Wherever streams flow in such lands as Judaea, there luxuriance waves, but in an endless variety of appearance. Not less diversified is the influence of Divine grace on the character. Religion does not obliterate nature, but works in harmony with it, preserving all its innocent idiosyncrasies, so that as in the natural world are to be seen the cedar, the palm; the fir, and the rose, so in the Church, along the streams of Divine grace, are to be seen a John and a Peter, a Martha and a Mary.
3. Spiritual joy. Every one has experienced the refreshing influence of water. This is an image of the deep satisfaction and joy which true religion is fitted to impart. No other streams convey the same joy.
II. SOME OF THE DISTINGUISHING EXCELLENCES BY WHICH THE STREAMS ARE CHARACTERISED.
1. They are full and abundant.
2. They are free to all. Men have tried to fence round these streams, and to reduce them to the limits of their own selfish hearts and narrow creed; but Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as ours. While this is cheering, it is also a solemnising, thought, laying the responsibility of our own ruin on ourselves.
3. They are near and accessible. If a visit to such rivers as the Ganges or the Nile were requisite to our salvation, how many would be unable to comply with the condition. But these streams flow wherever the Gospel comes.
4. They are ever spreading in their influence. What is the garden of the Lord compared with the desert of this world? It is seen blooming in little oases here and there. But these streams are destined to spread and multiply, and to cover the whole earth with spiritual verdure and beauty.
Conclusion–
1. These streams are at present accessible, but may not be so long. Come to them now.
2. Remember that Jesus is the only channel through which they can reach us. (W. Johnston.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Then shall the lame man leap for joy, or go nimbly and readily. And this clause also, and that which follows, are to he understood both spiritually and literally, as in the former verse.
In the wilderness small waters break out, and streams in the desert; the most dry and barren places shall be made moist and fruitful; which is principally meant of the plentiful effusion of Gods grace upon such persons and nations as had been wholly destitute of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. leapliterally, “fulfilled”(Act 3:8; Act 14:10).
singjoyfulthanksgiving.
in . . . wilderness . . .waters (Isa 41:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart….. As the lame man did healed by Peter, Ac 3:1 there were many instances of such persons cured by Christ when here on earth, Mt 15:30 and in a spiritual sense this was verified in many who were impotent to that which is good; had neither will nor power to go to Christ for life and salvation, nor to walk by faith in him, nor to walk in his ways; who yet, by the mighty power of the Spirit and grace of God, became able and willing to go to him, and venture their souls on him; walked on in him as they had received him; and not only walked in his ways, but ran in the ways of his commandments, and leaped for joy for what they saw and heard of him, and received from him; and innumerable will be the instances of such mighty grace at the spiritual coming and reign of Christ:
and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; this had its accomplishment, in a literal sense, at the first coming of Christ, Mt 9:32
Mt 12:22 and, in a spiritual sense, in many who before had nothing to say to God in prayer, nor in praise; nothing to say of Christ, or for him; or of the blessed Spirit, and his divine operations; but now, by divine grace, are made to speak unto God, both in a petitionary way, and in a way of thankfulness; and of Christ, and of the blessed Spirit; and of the great things each have done for them; and even to sing for joy, because of the wondrous blessings of grace they were made partakers of; and many more such there will be in the latter day, when the Spirit is poured down from on high. Kimchi interprets all this of the Israelites, who were in captivity as blind, deaf, lame, and dumb. So the Targum of this and the preceding verse Isa 35:5,
“then shall the eyes of the house of Israel be opened, who were as blind men as to the law; and the ears of them that are as deaf men, to attend to the words of the prophets shall hear; then when they shall see the captives of Israel gathered to go up to their own land as the swift harts, and not tarry,” c.
but it may be better applied to their present state, and to their case when they shall be turned to the Lord in the latter day:
for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; not literally, but mystically; and may be understood both of the doctrines of the Gospel breaking out in the ministry of them, in such places as were like unto the wilderness and desert, quite barren, and destitute of the knowledge, grace, and fear of God; see Joe 3:18 and of the abundance of grace, and the efficacy of it, making the word effectual to the conversion and fruitfulness of multitudes of souls, bringing along with it a vast variety of spiritual blessings; see Joh 7:37 to both which, the one as the means, and the other as the cause, all the above wonderful things are owing.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. For waters shall be dug. He next adds other blessings with which believers shall be copiously supplied, as soon as the kingdom of Christ is set up; as if he had said, that there will be no reason to dread scarcity or want, when we have been reconciled to God through Christ, because perfect happiness flows to us from him. But he represents this happiness to us under metaphorical expressions; and, first, he says that “waters shall be dug;” because, where formerly all was barren, there the highest fertility shall be found. Now, we are poor and barren, unless God bless us through Christ; for he alone, brings with him the blessing of the Father, which he bestows upon us. Wicked men, indeed, have often a great abundance of good things, but their wealth is wretched; for they have not Christ, from whom alone proceeds a true and salutary abundance of all blessings. Death unquestionably would be more desirable than that abundance of wine and of food with which we, at the same time, swallow the curse of God. When, therefore, Christ shall gloriously arise, rivers and waters shall flow out and yield true and valuable advantage.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Isa 35:6-7. For in the wilderness, &c. The prophet here gives us another specimen of the wonderful change in the nature of things with respect to their spiritual state; not only the weak, those who were devoid of comfort, and thirsting for grace among the people of Godwho were like a desart, shall at this time satisfy their thirst, and be largely enriched with the blessings of grace; but also nations, and those the most barbarous, heretofore strangers to all spiritual grace and comfort, possessed and inhabited of Satan and his legions, should at this time be abundantly endued with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in order to their spiritual instruction and life; nay, among those very nations, formerly dry, barren, and void of the knowledge of God, learned and wise teachers, exercised in the word of righteousness, should spring up, who should plenteously produce the salutary waters of divine truth, for the instruction and consolation of others. Vitringa renders the last clause, In the habitation of dragons, in the places where they used to lie, shall reeds and rushes plentifully spring up. The meaning is, that the dens of dragons, formerly sandy and burning with heat, should be turned into pools, where reeds and rushes should grow luxuriously. The idea is kept up of a sandy thirsty desart changed into a fruitful and well-watered plain; for we should remember that it is the want of water which renders the vast desarts of the eastern world so intolerable and uninhabitable.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Ver. 6. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart. ] As that impotent man did, Act 3:8 and those Loripedes Heb 12:13
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
MIRACLES OF HEALING
MIRAGE OR LAKE
Isa 35:6 – Isa 35:7
What a picture is painted in these verses! The dreary wilderness stretches before us, monotonous, treeless, in some parts bearing a scanty vegetation which flourishes in early spring and dies before fierce summer heats, but for the most part utterly desolate, the sand blinding the eyes, the ground cracked and gaping as if athirst for the rain that will not fall; over it the tantalising mirage dancing in mockery, and amid the hot sand the yelp of the jackals. What does this dead land want? One thing alone-water. Could that be poured upon it, all would be changed; nothing else will do any good. And it comes. Suddenly it bursts from the sand, and streams bring life along the desert. It gathers into placid lakes, with their whispering reeds and nodding rushes, and the thick cool grass round their margins. The foul beasts that wandered through dry places seeking rest are drowned out. So full of blessed change will be the coming of the Lord, of which all this context speaks. Mark that this burst of waters is when ‘the Lord shall come,’ and that it is the reason for the restoration of lost powers in men, and especially for a chorus of praise from dumb lips. This, then, is the central blessing. It is not merely a joyful transformation, but it is the reason for a yet more joyful transformation Isa 44:3. Recall Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman and in the Temple on the great day of the Feast.
Then this is pre-eminently a description of the work of Christ.
I. Christ brings the Supernatural Communication of a New Life.
II. This new life slakes men’s thirst.
Truth for Understanding.
Love for Heart.
Basis and Guidance for Will and Effort.
Cleansing for Conscience.
Adequate objects for their powers.
The gnawing pain of our thirst is not a myth; it is the secret of man’s restlessness. We are ever on the march, not only because change is the law of the world, nor only because effort and progress are the law for civilised men, but because, like caravans in the desert, we have to search for water.
In Christ it is slaked; all is found there.
III. The Communication of this New Life turns Illusions into Realities.
Sure Promises.
A certain Hope.
IV. This New Life gives Fruitfulness. It stimulates all our nature. A godless life is in a very tragic sense barren, and a wilderness. There is in it nothing really worth doing, nor anything that will last. Christ gives Power, Motive, Pattern, and makes a life of holy activity possible. The works done by men apart from Him are, if measured by the whole relations and capacities of the doers, unfruitful works, however they may seem laden with ruddy clusters. It is only lives into which that river of God which is full of water flows that bring forth fruit, and whose fruit remains. The desert irrigated becomes a garden of the Lord.
Note, too, how this river drowns out wild beasts. The true way of conquering evil is to turn the river into it. Cultivate, and weeds die. The expulsive power of a new affection is the most potent instrument for perfecting character.
What is the use of water if we do not drink? We may perish with thirst even on the river’s bank. ‘If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
shall the lame: Mat 11:5, Mat 15:30, Mat 15:31, Mat 21:14, Joh 5:8, Joh 5:9, Act 3:2, Act 3:6-8, Act 8:7, Act 14:8-10
the tongue: Isa 32:4, Psa 51:15, Mat 9:32, Mat 9:33, Mat 12:22, Mat 15:30, Mar 7:32-37, Mar 9:17-25, Luk 1:64, Luk 11:14, Col 3:16
for: Isa 41:17, Isa 41:18, Isa 43:19, Isa 43:20, Isa 48:21, Isa 49:10, Isa 49:11, Exo 17:6, Num 20:11, Neh 9:15, Psa 46:4, Psa 78:15, Psa 78:16, Eze 47:1-11, Zec 14:8, Joh 7:37-39, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:17
Reciprocal: Gen 21:19 – General Gen 24:17 – water of Exo 4:11 – General Jdg 6:39 – dry 2Ki 3:20 – filled Psa 66:12 – wealthy Psa 107:35 – turneth Son 2:8 – leaping Isa 27:3 – water Isa 30:25 – upon every high Isa 32:2 – rivers Isa 32:3 – General Isa 42:11 – Let the wilderness Isa 44:3 – floods Jer 31:9 – I will Joe 3:18 – and all Mat 9:5 – Arise Mat 12:43 – dry Mat 20:30 – two Mar 7:35 – General Mar 9:25 – thou Luk 3:5 – valley Luk 6:23 – leap Luk 7:22 – how Luk 14:21 – the halt Joh 4:10 – living Joh 10:21 – Can Act 3:8 – he Act 14:10 – Stand Heb 12:13 – lame Rev 7:17 – shall lead
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
35:6 Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the {g} wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
(g) They who were barren and destitute of the graces of God, will have them given by Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Water gushing out in the arid wilderness and Arabah would be a sign of blessings that they would shortly experience (cf. Isa 35:1-2; Isa 41:18; Isa 43:19-20; Isa 44:3-4; Deu 28:1-14). The desolate resting place where only jackals lived would become verdant with grassy growth. Reversal and transformation will mark this time.