Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 35:9
No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]:
9. the redeemed ] cf. ch. Isa 51:10, Isa 62:12, Isa 63:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
No lion shall be there – Lions abounded in all the countries adjacent to Palestine. They are, therefore, often referred to by the sacred writers, as objects of dread and alarm. The leading idea in the language of Isaiah in this whole passage, is that of a way constructed from Babylon to Judea, so straight and plain that the most simple of the people might find it and walk in it. But such a path would lie through desert sands. It would be in the region infested with lions and other wild beasts. The prophet, therefore, suggests that there should be no cause for such dread and alarm. The sense is, that in that kingdom to which he had made reference all would be safe. They who entered it should find security and defense as they traveled that road. And it is true. They who enter the path that leads to life, find there no cause of alarm. Their fears subside; their apprehensions of punishment on account of their sins die away; and they walk that path with security and confidence. There is nothing in that way to alarm them; and though there may be many foes – fitly represented by lions and wild beasts – lying about the way, yet no one is permitted to go up thereon. This is a most beautiful image of the safety of the people of God, and of their freedom from all enemies that could annoy them.
But the redeemed shall walk there – The language here referred at first doubtless to those who would be rescued from the captivity at Babylon; but the main reference is to those who would be redeemed by the blood of the atonement, or who are properly called the redeemed of the Lord. That Isaiah was acquainted with the doctrine of redemption is apparent from Isa 53:1-12. There is not here, indeed, any express mention made of the means by which they would be redeemed, but the language is so general that it may refer either to the deliverance from the captivity at Babylon, or the future more important deliverance of his people from the bondage of sin by the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah. On the word rendered redeem, see the note at Isa 43:1. The idea is, that the path here referred to is appropriately designed only for the redeemed of Lord. It is not for the profane, the polluted, the hypocrite. It is not for those who live for this world, or for those who love pleasure more than they love God. The church should not be entered except by those who have evidence that they are redeemed. None should make a profession of religion who have no evidence that they belong to the redeemed, and who are not disposed to walk in the way of holiness. But, for all such it is a highway on which they are to travel. It is made by levelling hills and elevating valleys; it is made across the sandy desert and through the wilderness of this world; it is made through a world infested with the enemies of God and his people. It is made straight and plain, so that none need err; it is defended from enemies, so that all may be safe; it is rendered secure, because He, their Leader and Redeemer, shall go with and guard that way.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 35:9
No lion shall be there
Human animalness
I.
MAY NATURALLY POSSESSES SOMETHING OF THE ANIMAL NATURE. That man by nature has animal desires and passions is no fault of his own, nor is it a misfortune to the possessor if these are inherited in harmonious proportion with the mental and spiritual propensities. They are all from the Divine Creator. They are all essential to mans enjoyment, and symmetrical development. The Creator wastes no material. As the watch contains no unnecessary spring, wheel, cog, or screw, so every passion, emotion, affection, from the lowest to the highest, as coming from God, is of account.
II. When the animal nature is fed and strengthened to the neglect and at the expense of the other and higher faculties and tendencies of the human make-up, then the animal appears in a great variety of forms.
III. MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS TREATMENT OF HIS ANIMAL NATURE. It is not to be crucified, or wholly exterminated, but kept in subordination, subject to the ruling of the mental and spiritual. Some by nature have a great deal more to contend with on this line than others. The first nature, the animal, can be transformed into the second nature, the man; and if made a new creature in Christ Jesus, such must necessarily be the result. (W. G. Thrall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. It shall not be found there – “Neither shall he be found there”] Three MSS. read velo, adding the conjunction; and so likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate. And four MSS., one ancient, read yimmatsa, the verb, as it certainly ought to be, in the masculine form.
The redeemed shall walk there] geulim. Those whose forfeited inheritances are brought back by the kinsman, goel, the nearest of kin to the family. This has been considered by all orthodox divines as referring to the incarnation of our Lord, and his sacrificial offering. After geulim, one of De Rossi’s MSS. adds ad olam, for ever, “The redeemed shall walk there for ever.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It shall not only be a plain, but a safe way, free from all annoyance or danger from mischievous creatures. This is the same promise, for substance, with that Isa 11:9,
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. No lionsuch as might befeared on the way through the wilderness which abounded in wildbeasts, back to Judea. Every danger shall be warded off the returningpeople (Isa 11:6-9; Eze 34:25;Hos 2:18). Compare spiritually,Pr 3:17.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
No lion shall be there,…. That is, in the way before described; no wicked persons, comparable to lions for their savage and cruel dispositions towards the people of God; for those who have been as such, as Saul before conversion, yet when brought into this way become as tame as lambs. The Targum interprets it of tyrannical kings and princes,
“there shall not be there a king doing evil, nor an oppressive governor;”
and Jarchi applies it to Nebuchadnezzar, as in Jer 4:7 and the sense may be, that when this way shall be more known on earth, in the latter day, there will be no persecutor of the church and people of God: or else Satan, the roaring lion, is here meant, who has no part nor lot in this way of salvation; and all that are in it are out of his reach; and though he may disturb in the paths of duty and ordinances, yet he can never destroy those who are in Christ the way:
nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; upon the high way; the same may be intended as before:
it shall not be found there; walking, ravaging, and destroying:
but the redeemed shall walk there; without fear, as Kimchi adds, since no lion, or any beast of prey, shall be found upon it: the “redeemed” are the redeemed of the Lord, and by him, and are peculiarly his, being bought with his precious blood, redeemed from among men, and unto God, and from sin, the law, its curse, and condemnation; these “shall walk” in the way of life and salvation by Christ, in consequence of their being redeemed; which supposes life, strength, and wisdom, which are given them, and a proficiency or going forward: they “shall” walk here; though they have been blind, their eyes shall be opened to see this way; and, though weak, they shall have strength to walk in it; and, though foolish, they shall have wisdom to guide their feet with discretion; and, though they may stumble and fall, they shall rise again, and shall keep on walking to the end.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. There shall not be there a lion. He adds another favor of God, that the people, though they travel through a wilderness, will be protected against every hostile attack. Formerly he mentioned it (Isa 34:14) as one of the curses of God, that wild beasts would meet the Jews wherever they went; but now he declares that, when they have been received into favor, no lions and no beasts of prey shall attack them; because the Lord will ward them off, so as to open up a way for his people free from all danger and from all fear. For although they had received liberty to return, yet they might have met with many obstacles; and therefore he says that the Lord will remove every annoyance and obstruction.
We may draw from this a profitable doctrine, namely, that God not only begins, but conducts to the end, the work of our salvation, that his grace in us may not be useless and unprofitable. As he opens up the way, so he paves it, and removes obstacles of every description, and is himself the leader during the whole journey. In short, he continues his grace towards us in such a manner that he at length brings it to perfection. And this ought to be applied to the whole course of our life. Here we walk as on a road, moving forward to that blessed inheritance. Satan presents numerous obstructions, and dangers surround us on every side; but the Lord, who goes before and leads us by the hand, will not leave us in the midst of the journey, but at length will perfectly finish what he has begun in us by his Spirit. (Phi 1:6.) Yet it ought to be observed that the very beasts, through God’s kindness, shall be tamed, so as not to direct their rage and cruelty against us, as it is said,
“
I will make a covenant for you with the fowls of heaven, and with the beasts of prey.” (Hos 2:18.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) No lion shall be there . . .We have to remember that the lion had not ceased to haunt the valley of the Jordan, as it had done in the days of Samson (Jdg. 14:5), and David (1Sa. 17:3-4; 2Sa. 23:20). The recent depopulation of the northern kingdom had probably laid the country more open to their attack (2Ki. 17:25), and thus gave a special force to the prophets description. For any ravenous beast, read the most ravenous.
The redeemed . . . (10) . . . the ransomed.The Hebrew words express simply the idea of release and freedom, without implying, as the English words do, a payment as its condition.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 35:9-10. No lion shall be there, &c. The prophet in these verses continues the figure, expressing, first, that this way for the ransomed should not only be plain, but free from all kinds of danger; the meaning whereof is, that they who at that time professed and possessed the true religion should be safe under the protection of God, from affliction, persecution, and tyranny; which naturally leads our ideas to some future state of the church, for the full completion of this prophet. Isaiah adds, secondly, that the ransomed of JEHOVAH should walk along this way, and return to Zion. The meaning is, that they should seek for the communion of God in the communion of the true church, which, both with respect to its original, and mystically, is called Zion. See chap. Isa 60:14. The words in this verse are very strong and expressive, and seem to have a much further reference than to the first conversion of the Gentiles. Indeed we may well say of this prophesy with Bishop Lowth, that it seems to be of the number of those which have not yet obtained their full completion. “Plane enim videtur hoc vaticinium ex eorum numero esse, quae ad ultimam prae-nuntiatorum eventuum metaim nandum pervenerunt in arcanis Dei decretis adhuc repsosita.” For this prophesy evidently appears to be of the number of those, which have not yet arrived at the last goal [the final accomplishment] of the foretold events hitherto reposited in the secret counsels of God.
REFLECTIONS.1st, This prophesy chiefly regards,
1. The flourishing state of the church, when the Gentile world, before a barren wilderness, by the preaching of the Gospel puts on a new face, blossoming with the joys of divine consolations, bringing forth the most excellent fruits of grace, and with such abundance as to be compared to Lebanon, where the choicest cedars grew; and to Carmel and Sharon, the richest spots of Judaea for corn and pasturage; such strength, beauty, and fruitfulness, should eminently unite in the Gospel church, and they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, his person and offices, wherein God is so transcendantly magnified, and appears so amiable and glorious in the eyes of the faithful. Note; A believing view of the Redeemer’s grace and glory brings joy to the heart, and is the effectual means of quickening it to bring forth much fruit.
2. By the ministry of the word, they are encouraged and supported to bear up under the temptations and sufferings to which, for the sake of Christ, they would be exposed. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, those who from an awakened sense of guilt and wrath were ready to sink down in despair, unable to lift up the hands of prayer, must be encouraged; and those, whose knees trembled under the load of their trials, from corruption or persecution, the ministers of God must confirm, by pointing them to the great and precious promises. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not; though you are weak, your enemies mighty, and in your own strength you feel yourselves utterly unable to cope with them, yet help is laid for you on one mighty to save; therefore, be strong in the Lord, look to him, and then your fears will vanish, behold, see your deliverance near and sure; your God, your reconciled God and Saviour, will come with vengeance, to cover your enemies with confusion, even God with a recompence, or, the God of recompence, to give a reward to his saints, and tribulation to them that trouble them; he will come and save you; as sure as ever he once appeared in the flesh, victorious over the powers of darkness, so surely will he, in every time of our distress, appear for our succour; and, when the appointed hour arrives, be revealed the second time from heaven to consummate in the faithful soul the salvation he has begun.
2nd, We have,
1. The wonders which shall be wrought of Christ’s coming, on the bodies and souls of men. The blind shall see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dumb speak, which we see literally fulfilled, Mat 9:27; Mat 9:38. Mar 7:34-35. Act 3:6-8. Mat 9:32-33; Mat 9:38.; but greater works than these shall he do, enlightening the blindness of the fallen mind, causing the spiritually deaf to hear and receive the Gospel; strengthening those who were helpless, to walk in the ways of truth and righteousness, and teaching those to sing his praise whose lips before had been sealed up in silence. Lord, continue still to make thy glorious power to appear!
2. The remarkable out-pouring of the Spirit in the days of Christ, and the blessed effects thereby produced. In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; such a copious effusion of divine gifts, graces, and consolations shall then be made on the Gentile world, that the parched ground and thirsty land, the sinner’s soul, barren or scorched up with the sense of divine wrath, shall become a pool and springs of water, refreshed and fertilized: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, the places where Satan, the great dragon, has fixed his abode, and men resembling him in fierceness and cruelty, such as the Pagan emperors, or Papal powers, shall be grass with reeds and rushes, a number of converts to the Gospel, thick as grass, and flourishing as the reeds in the brook: and this was fulfilled when the Pagan temples were changed into places for Christian worship; and shall be farther accomplished when Babylon mystical is fallen, and the saints of God triumphant over her.
3. The way which then will be opened for all nations, Jew and Gentile, to draw nigh unto God; and that way is Christ, emphatically so called, because no man cometh to the Father but by him; nor can there be any access to an offended God, but through his blood and intercession. He is a high way ordained by the King of heaven, free and open to all, and where every obstruction from sin and Satan is removed; a way of holiness, or holy way, where the grace of sanctification, as well as the gift of justification, is bestowed, and strength communicated to the soul, enabling those who are in Christ to walk and please God; where all holy means and ordinances are found; where all the travellers are in temper and conduct in a gracious measure holy, and which will infallibly conduct the faithful to the perfection of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, those being justly excluded who persist in the love and service of their sins; but it shall be for those justified and renewed souls above described; or he shall be with them, Christ their companion, guide, and support: the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein; counted such of the world, after their conversion to God, and spiritually indeed such before they were taught of him, these travellers to Zion shall not err, the way is plain before them, the Bible is their sure directory, and the Spirit of truth their guide; not that the faithful believer is infallible, but he shall not err in essential points. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; no fierce or turbulent dispositions; none to disturb the peace of the happy traveller; and especially the old lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour, shall not be able to approach to destroy any soul that is found in this holy way: but the redeemed shall walk there; these faithful ones shall in safety travel without being weary, and reach at last their blessed journey’s end, which will be,
4. Their everlasting joy. For the ransomed of the Lord, those who have been faithful unto death, shall return from the state of sin and darkness, in which, like others, they lay, to the shepherd and bishop of their souls, Christ Jesus, and, under his guidance, come to Zion, that mount of God in glory, appointed for their eternal residence; and, while with grateful songs they celebrate redeeming love, and ascribe to Divine grace their whole salvation, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; joy which shall never again be interrupted by sin, temptation, or suffering, but be permanent as God himself, the source thereof. They shall obtain joy and gladness, unspeakable and full of glory, as much exceeding all that they tasted here below, as the boundless ocean exceeds the drop of the bucket; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away, when every cause which could produce them is for ever removed, and the most perfect holiness and most perfect happiness flow from the uninterrupted beatific vision of the triune God. O may my soul possess this everlasting joy!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 35:9 No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]:
Ver. 9. No lion shall be there. ] The devil, that roaring lion, nor his actuaries, tyrants and heretics, shall haunt these holy highways. God will preserve his people from all devoratory evils, as Tertullian calleth them, 2Th 3:3 “that wicked one, the devil, shall not once touch them,” 1Jn 5:18 so as to thrust his deadly sting into them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
THE KING’ S HIGHWAY
WHAT LIFE’S JOURNEY MAY BE
Isa 35:9 – Isa 35:10
We have here the closing words of Isaiah’s prophecy. It has been steadily rising, and now it has reached the summit. Men restored to all their powers, a supernatural communication of a new life, a pathway for our journey-these have been the visions of the preceding verses, and now the prophet sees the happy pilgrims flocking along the raised way, and hears some faint strains of their glad music, and he marks them, rank after rank, entering the city of their solemnities, and through the gates can behold them invested with joy and gladness, while sorrow and sighing, like some night-loving birds shrinking from the blaze of that better sun which lights the city, spread their black wings and flee away.
The noble rhythm of our English version rises here to a strain of pathetic music, the very cadence of which stirs thoughts that lie too deep for tears, and one shrinks from taking these lofty words of immortal hope-which life’s sorrows have interpreted, I trust, for many of us-as the text of a sermon. But I would fain try whether some of their gracious sweetness and power may not survive even our rude handling of them.
The prophet here is not only speaking of the literal return of his brethren from captivity. The place which this prophecy holds at the very close of the book, the noble loftiness of the language, the entire absence of any details or specific allusions which compel reference to the Captivity, would be sufficient of themselves to make us suspect that there was very much more here. The structure of prophecy is misunderstood unless it be recognised that all the history of Israel was itself a prediction, a great supernatural system of types and shadows, and that all the interventions of the divine hand are one in principle, and all foretell the great intervention of redeeming love, in the person of Jesus Christ. Nor need that be unlikely in the eyes of any who believe that Christ’s coming is the centre of the world’s history, and that there is in prophecy a supernatural element. We are not reading our own fancies into Scripture; we are not using, in allowable freedom, words which had another meaning altogether, to adorn our own theology, but we are apprehending the innermost meaning of prophecy, when we see in it Christ and His salvation 1Pe 1:10.
We have then here a picture of what Christ does for us weary journeyers on life’s road,
I. Who are the travellers?
That designation, ‘ransomed of the Lord,’ opens out into the great evangelical thoughts which are the very life-blood of vital Christianity.
Emancipation from bondage is the first thing that we all need. ‘He that committeth sin is the slave of sin.’ An iron yoke presses on every neck.
The needed emancipation can only be obtained by a ransom price. The question of to whom the ransom is paid is not in the horizon of prophet or apostle or of Jesus Himself, in using this metaphor. What is strongly in their minds is that a great surrender must be greatly made by the Emancipator.
Jesus conceived of Himself as giving ‘His life a ransom for the many.’
The emancipation must be a divine act. It surpasses any created power.
There can be no happy pilgrims unless they are first set free.
II. The end of the journey.
That conception of the future perfect state as a ‘city’ includes the ideas of happy social life, of a settled polity, of stability and security. The travellers who were often solitary on the march will all be together there. The nomads, who had to leave their camping-place each morning and let the fire that cheered them in the night die down into a little ring of grey ashes, will ‘go no more out,’ but yet make endless progress within the gates. The defenceless travellers, who were fain to make the best ‘laager’ they could, and keep vigilant watch for human and bestial enemies crouching beyond the ring of light from the camp-fires, are safe at last, and they that swallowed them up shall be far away.
Contrast the future outlook of the noblest minds in heathenism with the calm certainty which the gospel has put within the reach of the simplest! ‘Blessed are your eyes, for they see.’
III. The joy of the road.
‘Everlasting joy on their heads.’ Other joys are transitory. It is not only ‘we poets’ who ‘in our youth begin with gladness,’ whereof ‘cometh in the end despondency and madness’; but, in a measure, these are the outlines of the sequence in all godless lives. The world’s festal wreathes wilt and wither in the hot fumes of the banqueting house, and ‘the crown of pride shall be trodden under foot.’ But joy of Christ’s giving ‘shall remain,’ and even before we sit at the feast, we may have our brows wreathed with a garland ‘that fadeth not away.’
IV. The perfecting of joy at last.
And one part of its perfecting is the removal of all its opposites. Sorrow ends when sin and the discipline that sin needs have ended. ‘The inhabitant shall not say: I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.’ Sighing ends when weariness, loss, physical pain, and all the other ills that flesh is heir to have ceased to vex and weigh upon the spirit. Life purges the dross of imperfection from character. Death purges the alloy of sorrow and sighing from joy, and leaves the perfected spirit possessor of the pure gold of perfect and eternal gladness.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
No lion shall be there, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:6). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
redeemed
Heb. “goel,” Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield “Isa 59:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
No lion: Isa 11:6-9, Isa 65:25, Lev 26:6, Eze 34:25, Hos 2:18, Rev 20:1-3
but: Isa 62:12, Exo 15:13, Psa 107:2, Gal 3:13, Tit 2:14, 1Pe 1:18, Rev 5:9
Reciprocal: Lev 25:28 – he shall Job 5:22 – afraid Pro 2:8 – keepeth Isa 11:9 – not hurt Isa 30:21 – thine ears Isa 32:18 – General Isa 43:1 – Fear Jer 23:6 – dwell Jer 30:10 – and shall Jer 51:38 – roar Eze 28:24 – a pricking Luk 1:74 – that we Joh 14:6 – I am
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 35:9. No lion shall be there, &c. It shall not only be a plain, but a safe way. They that keep close to God in this way, keep out of the reach of Satan, the roaring lion: that wicked one toucheth them not; nor shall any of their other spiritual enemies be suffered to destroy, subdue, or bring them into bondage. They may proceed with a holy security and serenity of mind, and may be quiet from the fear of evil. This is the same promise with that of Isa 11:9 : They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
35:9 No lion shall be there, nor [any] {k} ravenous beast shall go up on it, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk [there]:
(k) As he threatens the wicked with destruction by this, Isa 30:6 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Nothing will threaten or endanger the redeemed as they travel the holy highway to the holy city. This is the first of 24 occurrences of "redeemed" in Isaiah. The redeemed will come rejoicing into Zion, the New Jerusalem, where there will be no more sorrow or sighing, just unbreakable happiness, gladness, and joyful shouting (cf. Isa 51:11; Psa 23:6; Eze 36:24-28; Ezekiel 40-44; Zec 14:16-19; Rev 21:1-4).
While what Isaiah described here parallels to a limited extent the Jews’ return from Babylonian captivity, the context of the chapter, as well as its terminology, point to a fulfillment in the future that that return only prefigured. Another foreview was the converging of pilgrims on Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate the annual feasts of Judaism. Amillennialists normally interpret this chapter as depicting the blessings that would come to the church through the first advent of Christ (cf. Joh 16:33).
Isa 35:10 not only climaxes chapter 35, but also the whole section of Isaiah dealing with God’s sovereignty over the nations (chs. 13-35).
"Chs. 7-12 posed a question: ’Is God Sovereign of the nations?’ Can God deliver from an Assyria? Or is he just one more of the gods, waiting to be gobbled up by a bigger god? In short, can God be trusted? Chs. 13-35 have sought to answer that question in four main sections: chs. 13-23; 24-27; 28-33; 34-35. In the first, God’s lordship over each of the nations is asserted. In the second, it is shown that God is not merely the reactor to the nations, but is in fact the sovereign Actor on the world’s stage. In the third, the superiority of God’s counsel over that of the merely human leaders is shown. Finally, the last two chapters show the ultimate results of the two courses of action, with ch. 35 ending at exactly the same point as chs. 11-12, with the promise that God can, and will, redeem. He may be trusted. However, the issue remains: is this merely abstraction or can it become concrete reality? Ahaz had proved that the nations cannot be trusted. But what of God? Can his trustworthiness be demonstrated or only asserted? Must his promises for the distant future be clung to blindly or can an earnest of their reality be experienced now? This is what chs. 36-39 are about." [Note: Oswalt, p. 627.]
Similarly, Romans 9-11 vindicates God’s righteousness.