Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 49:11
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
11. The expression my mountains is difficult. An allusion to the mere fact of creation is not natural, and to understand it of the mountains of Palestine (as in ch. Isa 14:25) would limit the image to the last stage of the return journey. Possibly the text should be amended so as to read “mountains” simply. Cf. LXX. ( ).
my highways ] See on ch. Isa 40:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I will make all my mountains a way – I will make all the mountains for a highway; or an even, level way. That is, he would remove all obstructions from their path. The image is taken from the return from Babylon to the land of Palestine, in which God so often promises to make the hills a plain, and the crooked places straight (see the notes at Isa 40:4).
And my highways shall be exalted – That is, the way shall be cast up (see Isa 57:14; Isa 62:10), as when a road is made over valleys and gulf (see the notes at Isa 40:4).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 49:11
And I will make all My mountains a way
Gods mountains
Since the world was, mountains have been the obstructors of ways, the natural frontiers between nations, the barriers that have kept people separate, disunited, and hostile.
And yet even in the natural sphere the fact of the existence of mountains has ever initiated the stimulus required to surmount them. The physical and moral strength of the race is possibly invigorated by the very opposition of mountains, and man, Gods vicegerent in the work of subduing the earth among all lands and among all peoples, has made the mountains a highway for commerce and travel and discovery, until at last the inspired utterance comes to be a motto in mans re-creation. There is a fascination, a challenge to the imagination, in mountain scenery, through which He, who is always appealing to the Divine secret in man, makes His mountains a way to gaze into His face, to think into His heart, to hope into His promises. Those eternal up-pointing fingers challenge you against despondency. None but the soulless or the blind can be amongst the up-pointing fingers of the everlasting hills and not hear what the mountain saith; for it echoes the voice of the everlasting God, when to mans poor heart He repeats His splendid promise, I will make all My mountains a way. Is there not in this inspired prophecy the Divine solution of a mystery, and the impregnable assurance of a victory? The greatest moral mountain in this perplexing world is the existence and permission of evil. The silence, the awful silence of God, the pitiable failures in the best lives, the crushing heart-sorrows, the beds of suffering, the new-made graves, the occasional irresistible questioning whether such a world as this can in truth be under the control of a Divine and omnipotent Ruler–these are the moral mountains that hem us in. Against them we hurl ourselves sometimes in vain; they hide from us the Fatherhood, they separate us from one another. But mark! God says, My mountains. I care not how black they seem, they are Gods mountains. It is a splendid step heavenward when you are first able to shake yourself free from the miserable pagan dualism which, in order to avoid a difficulty, ascribes half the creation to a good God, and half to some malignant demiurge whom the good God seems powerless to destroy. It is the Lord; let Him do as seemeth Him good. The mountain of moral evil cannot be insurmountable without denial of the truthfulness or obliteration of the omnipotence of our Father, who is greater than all; and when we tremble at the hideous misery in the world and the dread possibilities of evil with which we are only too familiar in our own hearts, it is well to hear the message, Fear not, child of earth, only believe. I think the very briefest analysis of human history will prove that what men call evil has ever been a stimulus of social action, material enterprise, aggressive discovery. Before Copernicus, people believed that the earth was the centre of the solar system, and they had to learn that the little speck of star-dust which they thought was the centre of the universe, was only one of the thousands of worlds going round the sun. People believed in geocentric motion when they should have believed in heliocentric motion. Similarly, conventional religion, sometimes very religious indeed, is in danger of being autocentric. I am here to save my own soul. Well, it has to be converted into Theocentric. You have to see that God is the centre, that the purpose and will of God, as it has been revealed through Christ for the whole race, is that around which your little life is to revolve. (Canon Wilberforce.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I will remove all hinderances, and prepare the way for them, by levelling high grounds, and raising low grounds; of which see on Isa 40:3,4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. myAll things are God’s.
mountains a wayI willremove all obstructions out of the way (Isa40:4).
exaltedthat is, castup (Isa 57:14; Isa 62:10);for instance, over valleys. VITRINGAexplains “mountains” as great kingdoms, Egypt,Syria, c., subjected to Rome, to facilitate the spreading of theGospel “highways,” the Christian doctrine whereinthose who join the Church walk, and which, at the time ofConstantine, was to be raised into prominence before all, andpublicly protected (Isa 35:8;Isa 35:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will make all my mountains a way,…. Or “for”, or “into a way” e; signifying that they should be dug through or levelled, and a way made through them, over them, or upon them, for his people to pass: very probably the allusion is to the mountains that lay between Babylon and Judea; and which the Lord calls his, because of his making and settling, and was therefore able to make them a way, or passable: though the words are not to be literally understood, but denote the removing of all impediments, obstructions, and difficulties, in the people’s return from captivity; which was typical of redemption by Christ, which had its difficulties, which he only could get over; he came leaping over these hills and mountains, and they became a plain before him, the great Zerubbabel; such as the assumption of a sinless nature, to make atonement in for sin, which only could be produced in an uncommon and extraordinary way; the fulfilling of a broken law, satisfying divine justice, engaging with many enemies who were to be conquered, sin, Satan, the world, and death; bearing the wrath of God, and submitting to an accursed death: and so in the conversion of the Gentiles, which may here be referred to, and of any sinner, there are many mountains of difficulties in the way of it, which the Lord only can remove; great opposition is made by the men of the world to the preaching of the Gospel, the means of it to the work itself, by Satan, who is loathe to lose a subject of his kingdom; and by men themselves, whose carnal minds are enmity to God, and all that is good difficulties arise from the state of deadness, darkness, and hardness of heart men are in before conversion from the corruptions of their nature, and strong habits of sin; from the general depravity of all the powers and faculties of the soul; from the bad company they have got into; or from their own self-righteousness, they are loathe to part with: and when men are called, and a work of God is begun, there are many mountains appear in their way of coming to Christ; as their numerous and aggravated sins, and doubts about the willingness Christ to receive such sinners; but, when God works, nothing can let. Many are the obstructions the saints meet with in their passage, through this world, by reason of a body of sin, Satan’s temptations, the world’s persecutions, afflictions of various kinds, strait circumstances of life, losses, crosses, and disappointments; unbelief of itself is a mountain, and raises many others; but the Lord makes a way for his people through all; it may be some respect may be had to the spread of the Gospel in the world, and the introduction of latter day glory, and the difficulties in the way thereof, which the Lord has been removing, and will remove. Rome Pagan is one mountain which God has removed; and Rome Papal is another he will, move, with all the antichristian powers; and the Turkish empire is another:
and my highways shall be exalted; Christ is the great highway of all, and next his word and ordinances, which are ways of holiness and righteousness; these may be said to be “exalted”, being conspicuous and visible; and, like causeways, or, highways cast up, that are above, and carry over the mire and dirt; so these carry over the mire and dirt of sin and corruption; and may be said to be so when made use of, approved, and valued: or the words may be rendered, “they shall be”, or “let them be exalted on my highways” f; that is, his people, being in the exercise of faith, and in the discharge of their duty; see
Ps 18:33 with these words compare Isa 40:3 perhaps this passage may be best explained by Re 16:12, where mention is made of the drying up of the river Euphrates, or of the destruction of the Ottoman empire, to make way for the conversion of the eastern nations, prophesied of, among others, in the following verse.
e “in viam”, V. L. Piscator, Montanus, Cocceius; “ut siut pervii”, Junius Tremellius “in viam planam”, Vitringa. f “et in aggeribus meis emineant”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. And I will place all my mountains. Here he directly and expressly treats of the return of the people; for in vain would he have promised so great happiness to the Church, if the people were not to be restored to their former liberty. The meaning is, that he will remove every obstacle and hinderance that might prevent the return of the people; and that he will render the “mountains” passable, which appeared to be impassable; and, in short, that he will level both the mountains and the valleys, that their return to Judea may be facilitated. Thus, when the Church is about to be completely restored, no obstructions, however great and formidable, can hinder God from being finally victorious. Besides, when he calls them “my mountains,” he not only means that he has an absolute right to command them to afford a passage to his people, but declares that he will be the leader of the expedition, as if he would march along with the Jews, and accompany them in the joumey. In like manner, it is said in another passage, that he passed through Egypt and “rode on the high places of it” at the departure of his people. (Deu 32:13.) But here he describes the extraordinary love of God towards the Church, when he says that he travels along with her, and undertakes to supply all her wants, as if he were consulting his own interests when he assisted his people.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) My mountains . . . my highways . . .The pronoun asserts the universal lordship of Jehovah. The whole earth is His.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Mountains highways Ordinances in the Christian Church conspicuously illustrate exalted privileges under Messiah. But there is implied by a change of figure here, that the disciples of Messiah become now, instead of quietly enjoying the luxuries of quiet and plenty, moving hosts or great caravans, over mountain passes entirely smoothed of ruggedness by their great Leader.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 49:11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountains. ] I will remove all rubs, and lay all level: pacifica erunt omnia, faecunda et suavia; who would not then take up Christ’s so easy a yoke? &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
THE MOUNTAIN ROAD
Isa 49:11
This grand prophecy is far too wide to be exhausted by the return of the exiles. There gleamed through it the wider redemption and the true return of the real captives. The previous promises all find their fulfilment in the experiences of the soul on its journey back to God. Here we have two characteristics of that journey.
I. The Path through the mountains.
1. Our way does lie over the mountains. There are difficulties. The Christian course is like a Roman road which never turned aside, but went straight up and on. So much the better. A keener air blows, bracing and health-giving, up there. Mosquitoes and malaria keep to the lower levels.
2. There is always a path over the mountains. Some way opens when we get close up, like a path through heather, which is not seen till reached. We walk by faith. We foolishly forebode and fancy that we cannot live if something happens, but there is no cul de sac in our paths if God’s mountain-way is our way, nor does the faint track ever die out if our faith is keen-sighted and docile.
II. The Pasture on the mountains-lit. ‘bare heights.’
Sustenance in Sorrow and Loss.
1. Promise that whatever be our trials and losses we shall be taken care of. Not, perhaps, as we should have liked, nor as abundantly fed as down in the valleys, but still not left to starve. No carcases strewed on the bleakest bit of road as one sees dead camels by the side of the tracks in the desert.
2. Promise of sustenance of a higher kind even in sorrow. The Alpine flora is specially beautiful, though minute. The blessings of affliction; the more intimate knowledge of His love, submission of will. ‘Out of the eater came forth meat.’
‘Passing through the valley of weeping they make it a well’; the tears shed in times of rightly borne sorrow are gathered into a reservoir from which refreshment, patience, trust and strength may be drawn in later days.
But the perfect fulfilment of the promise lies beyond this life. ‘On the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be,’ and they who have found pasture on the barren heights of earthly sorrow shall ‘summer high in bliss upon the hills of God,’ and shall at once both lie ‘for ever in a good fold,’ and ‘follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,’ and find fountains of living water bursting forth for ever on these fertile heights.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
highways. See note on Isa 7:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 11:16, Isa 35:8-10, Isa 40:3, Isa 40:4, Isa 43:19, Isa 57:14, Isa 62:10, Psa 107:4, Psa 107:7, Luk 3:4, Luk 3:5, Joh 14:6
Reciprocal: Son 2:8 – the mountains Isa 11:12 – shall assemble Isa 35:6 – for Isa 42:15 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God will also make His mountainous barriers as flat as a road so His people can come to His habitation. He will also build His highways so they will be thoroughfares for His people (cf. Isa 11:16; Isa 19:23; Isa 36:8; Isa 40:3-4; Isa 42:16; Isa 62:10).