He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his uprightness.
2. Render with R.V. (and marg.) He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walked straight before him. The “peace” and “rest” spoken of are those of the grave (Job 3:13 ff.), the “bed” is the bier or coffin; cf. 2Ch 16:14; Eze 32:25. The same word is used of the sarcophagus in the Phnician inscription of Eshmunazar (“the lid of this bed”).
“After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.”
The same feeling is expressed with great pathos in an eloquent passage of the book of Job (Isa 3:13 ff.). It is a sentiment that has appealed to the human mind in all ages; but to the O.T. believers it brought no relief from the shuddering recoil from death expressed in other passages, nowhere more forcibly than in the words of Job himself.
each one that walked, &c.] i.e. every one who led a simple, straightforward, upright life; cf. Pro 4:25-27. The clause is an extension of the subject of the sentence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He shall enter into peace – Lowth, He shall go in peace. So the margin. Vulgate, Peace shall come. Septuagint, His sepulture ( he taphe autou) shall be in peace. The idea is, that by his death the righteous man shall enter into rest. He shall get away from conflict, strife, agitation, and distress. This may either refer to the peaceful rest of the grave, or to that which awaits the just in a better world. The direct meaning here intended is probably the former, since the grave is often spoken of as a place of rest. Thus Job Job 3:17, speaking of the grave, says:
There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary be at rest.
The connection here seems also to demand the same sense, as it is immediately added, they shall rest in their beds. The grave is a place of peace:
Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,
Invade thy bounds; no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here,
While angels watch the soft repose.
– Watts
At the same time it is true that the dying saint goes in peace! He has calmness in his dying, as well as peace in his grave. He forgives all who have injured him; prays for all who have persecuted him; and peacefully and calmly dies. He lies in a peaceful grave – often represented in the Scriptures as a place of repose, where the righteous sleep in the hope of being awakened in the morning of the resurrection. He enters into the rest of heaven – the world of perfect and eternal repose. No persecution comes there; no trial awaits him there; no calamity shall meet him there. Thus, in all respects, the righteous leave the world in peace; and thus death ceases to be a calamity, and this most dreaded of all evils is turned into the highest blessing.
They shall rest in their beds – That is, in their graves.
Each one walking in his uprightness – Margin, Before him. The word nakkoch means straight, right, and is used of one who walks straight forward. It here means an upright man, who is often represented as walking in a straight path in opposition to sinners, who are represented as walking in crooked ways Psa 125:5; Pro 2:15; Isa 59:8; Phi 2:15. The sense here is, that all who are upright shall leave the world in peace, and rest quietly in their graves.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 57:2
He shall enter into peace
The believer in life, death, and eternity
Taking them together, the words of the text will lead us to contemplate the child of God–
I.
IN THE STRENGTH AND VIGOUR OF LIFE.
II. IN THE SUFFERING AND THE ARTICLE OF DEATH.
III. IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISSOLUTION, AS THEY AFFECT BOTH BODY AND SOUL. (J. Haslegrave, M. A.)
A glimmering of New Testament consolation
Here is a glimmering of the consolation in the New Testament, that the death of the righteous man is better than the present life, because it is the entrance into peace. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. He shalt enter into peace – “He shall go in peace”] yabo shalom; the expression is elliptical, such as the prophet frequently uses. The same sense is expressed at large and in full terms, Ge 15:15: veattah libbo al abotheycha beshalom, “and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.”
They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness – “He shall rest in his bed; even the perfect man.”] This obscure sentence is reduced to a perfectly good sense, and easy construction by an ingenious remark of Dr. Durell. He reads yanuach al mishcabo tam, “the perfect man shall rest in his bed.” Two MSS. (one of them ancient) have yanuach, singular; and so the Vulgate renders it, requiescat, “he shall rest.” The verb was probably altered to make it plural, and so consistent with what follows, after the mistake had been made in the following words, by uniting mishcabo and tam into one word. See Merrick’s Annotations on the Psalms, Addenda; where the reader will find that J. S. Moerlius, by the same sort of correction, and by rescuing the adjective tam, which had been swallowed up in another word in the same manner, has restored to a clear sense a passage before absolutely unintelligible: –
lemo chartsubboth ein ki
ulam ubari tham
“For no distresses happen to them;
Perfect and firm is their strength.”
Ps 73:4.
To follow on my application of this to our Lord: – HE, the JUST ONE, shall enter into peace – the peaceable, prosperous possession of the glorious mediatorial kingdom. They shall rest upon their beds – the hand of wrong and oppression can reach these persecuted followers of Christ no more. (But see below.) The perfect man walking in his uprightness. This may be considered as a general declaration. The separated spirit, though disunited from its body, walking in conscious existence in the paradise of God, reaping the fruit of righteousness. The word which we render their beds, mishkebotham, the learned bishop supposes to be two words; and to be compounded of mishkabo, his bed, and tam, the upright or perfect man. This is the reading both of the Syriac and Vulgate, and it is favoured by the Chaldee: and one of De Rossi’s MS. has mishkabo, his bed, without the word tam, which has been added by a later hand. Bishop Lowth, as we have seen, adopts this separation of the word and for yanuchu, they shall rest, reads yanuach, he shall rest, which is supported by two of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS., and by the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic. The word tam, taken from mishkebotham, should begin the latter clause of the verse; and then the interpolated words, each one, which our translators supplied, may be very well spared. The verse may be then read and paraphrased thus; –
He shall enter into peace: he shall rest upon his bed;
The perfect man walking in his uprightness.
The bed must signify the grave; the walking in uprightness after death, the conscious existence of the happy spirit, and its eternal progression in happiness and perfection: nechochol straight before him; proceeding into the unlimited extent of eternal glory, increasing in happiness, and increasing in perfection.
My old MS. Bible translates very nervously: –
The rigtwise man perishith,
And there is not that bethinke in his herte.
And men of mercy ben gedrid,
For there is not that understonde:
From the face forsoth of malice,
Gedreid is the rigtwise.
Cumm pese: reste it in his bed
That geede in his rigt rewlinge.
It has been often remarked that, previously to the execution of God’s judgments upon a wicked place, he has removed good men from it, that they might not suffer with the wicked. When great and good men are removed by death, or otherwise, from any place, the remaining inhabitants have much cause to tremble.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He shall enter into peace; this just and merciful man shall enter into a state of peace and rest, where he shall be out of the reach of the approaching miseries. Or, He shall go (to wit, to his fathers, as it is fully expressed, Gen 15:15; or, he shall die; going being put for dying, as 1Ch 17:11, compared with 2Sa 7:12; Job 10:21; 14:20; Luk 22:22, and elsewhere) in peace. They; just men. Here is a sudden change of the number, which is very frequent in the prophets. In their beds; in their graves, which are not unfitly called their beds, or sleeping houses, as their death is commonly called sleep in Scripture. Walking; or, that walketh or did walk, i.e. live. In his uprightness; in a sincere and faithful discharge of his duties to God and men. Or, before him, i.e. before God, according to the usual phrase of Scripture, as Gen 17:1; 1Ki 2:4; 8:25. For God is oft understood where he is not expressed, but only designed by this or the like pronoun, as Gen 15:13, and elsewhere.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Or, “he enterethinto peace”; in contrast to the persecutions which hesuffered in this world (Job 3:13;Job 3:17). The Margin notso well translates, “he shall go in peace” (Psa 37:37;Luk 2:29).
restthe calm rest oftheir bodies in their graves (called “beds,” 2Ch16:14; compare Isa 14:18;because they “sleep” in them, with the certainty ofawakening at the resurrection, 1Th4:14) is the emblem of the eternal “rest” (Heb 4:9;Rev 14:13).
each one walking in . . .uprightnessThis clause defines the character of those who atdeath “rest in their beds,” namely, all who walk uprightly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He shall enter into peace,…. Or “shall go in peace” d; the righteous man goes in peace now; he has peace from his justifying righteousness; he has peace through believing in Christ; he has peace in, though not from, his obedience and holiness of life; and he has peace in the midst of the many trials he is exercised with; and he goes out of the world in peace, with great serenity and tranquillity of mind, as Simeon desired he might, having views of an interest in Christ, and in the glories of another world; and as soon as he is departed from hence he enters into peace, into a state where there is everything that makes for peace; there is the God of peace; there is Christ, the Prince of peace; there is the Spirit, whose fruit is peace; and there are the angels of peace, and good men, the sons of peace: and there is nothing there to disturb their peace, no sin within, nor Satan’s temptations without, nor any wicked men to annoy and molest them; and there is everything that can come under the notion of peace and prosperity; for the happiness of this state is signified by riches, by glory and honour, by a kingdom, and by a paradise; and into this state the righteous may be said to enter immediately upon death, which is no other than stepping out of one world into another; and this they enter into as into a house, as it really is, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; and, entering into it, they take possession of it, and for ever enjoy it:
they shall rest in their beds, their souls in the bosom of Abraham, in the arms of Jesus; their bodies in the grave, which is a bed unto them, where they lie down and sleep, till they are awaked at the resurrection; and where they rest from all toil and labour, from all diseases and distempers, pains and tortures, and from all persecuting enemies; see Re 14:13:
each one walking in his uprightness; in the righteousness of Christ, and in the shining robes of immortality and glory, and in perfect purity and holiness: or, “before him” e; before God, in the sight or presence of him, and by sight, and not by faith, as now. Though this is by some considered as the character of the righteous man in life, so Aben Ezra; and then the sense is, that he that walks in his uprightness, in the uprightness or righteousness of Christ, and by faith on him; that walks uprightly in his life and conversation before God, and “before himself”; following the rule before him, and walking according to the rule of the Gospel, and in the ordinances of it blameless, when he comes to die, he enters into peace and rest. And to this sense is the Targum, which paraphrases it,
“that are doers of his law;”
see Ro 2:13. In the Talmud f it is interpreted of that peace and happiness righteous men enter into when they die.
d “ibit in pace”, Gataker. e “coram eo”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin; “ante se”, Cocceius, Vitringa. f T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 104. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Peace shall come. The Prophet describes what shall be the condition of believers in death; for the wicked, who think that there is no life but the present, imagine that good men have perished; because in death they see nothing but ruin. For this reason he says that “Peace shall come,” which is more desirable than a thousand lives full of trouble; as if he compared them to discharged soldiers, who are and allowed to enjoy case and quietness.
They shall rest in their beds. He adds the metaphor of sleep, in order to show that they shall be absolutely free from all the uneasiness of cares, just as if they were safely pleasantly asleep “on their beds.”
Whosoever walketh before him. (107) I do not think that the verb “walketh” is connected with שלום, ( shalom,) “peace,” as some do, who suppose the meaning to be this, that peace shall go before believers, so as to be, as it were, the guide of their life. But I am of opinion that believers, on the contrary, are described by it; as if he had said, “Whosoever walketh before God shall enjoy peace.” Thus, when righteous men die, and their various labors are finished, and their course is ended, they are called to peace and repose. They “rest in their beds,” because they do not yet enjoy perfect blessedness and glory; but they wail; for the last day of the resurrection, when everything shall be perfectly restored; and that, I think, is what Isaiah meant.
It will be said, “Do not righteous men enjoy this peace while they live?” for the fruit of faith is, that; “in patience we may possess our souls.” (Luk 21:19) Although faith produces peace in our hearts, (Rom 5:3) yet we are tossed about by various storms and tempests; and never in life are we so calm and peaceful as when the Lord takes us to himself. Peaceful and calm, therefore, is the death of the righteous, (Psa 116:15) for it is “precious in the sight of God;” but stormy is the death of the wicked. (108) Hence also we may learn that souls are immortal; for if souls had no feeling, (as some fanatics have dreamed,) they could not enjoy “peace.” Thus they enjoy peace and repose, because they live in Christ.
(107) “Walking in his uprightness, or, before him.” (Eng. Ver.) “The phrase denotes, ‘One who walks straight before him,’ so as to follow constantly the rule, not turning aside from it to the right hand or the left, and observing and keeping the straight line and road towards the end or mark which the Lord has held out to them, according to the example of the Apostle. (Phi 3:14)” — Vitringa.
(108) “ Mais celle des meschans est effroyable.” “But that of the wicked is frightful.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) He shall enter into peace . . .Notice- able as presenting the brighter side of the dim thoughts of Israel as to the life behind the veil, and so far contrasted with Hezekiahs shrinking fear. (Comp. Job. 3:17.) For the righteous there was peace in death as in life. For the wicked there was peace in neither (Isa. 57:21).
They shall rest in their beds.The bed is obviously the grave, the thought following naturally on that of death being as the sleep after lifes fitful fever. (Eze. 32:25.)
Each one walking in his uprightness.Better, every one who has walked straight before himhas taken, i.e., the straight path of duty (Isa. 30:21.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 57:2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his uprightness.
Ver. 2. He shall enter into peace, ] i.e., Into heaven, where the righteous – however looked upon as lost Isa 57:1 – shall have “life and peace,” Rom 8:6 joy and bliss, Mat 25:21 ; Mat 25:23 rest and peace, Rev 14:13 and this amodo, strait upon it so soon as ever they are dead; from henceforth forthwith their souls have happiness inconceivable. As for their bodies,
They shall rest in their beds.
“ Ut somnus mortis, sic lectus imago sepulchri. ”
In this short bed of the grave shall be laid up the infinite miseries of many years; the bodies of the saints shall, by rotting, be refined, their precious dust preserved, till at last it arise incorruptible. O dieculam illam!
Each one walking in his uprightness.
a .
b Maimonid.
c Melch. Adam.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
He: i.e. the righteous man.
they: i.e. the men of grace.
in = upon,
beds = couches.
his uprightness = his straight path.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
He shall: Job 3:17, Ecc 12:7, Mat 25:21, Luk 16:22, 2Co 5:1, 2Co 5:8, Phi 1:23, Rev 14:13
enter into: or, go in, Luk 2:29, Luk 7:50
rest: Isa 14:18, 2Ch 16:14, Eze 32:25
in his uprightness: or before him, Gen 17:1, Luk 1:6
Reciprocal: Gen 15:15 – in peace Gen 18:25 – that the Gen 49:33 – and yielded Num 23:10 – the death Deu 31:16 – thou shalt Jos 24:33 – died 1Sa 28:3 – Samuel 1Ki 2:6 – in 2Ki 2:12 – rent them 2Ki 22:20 – gathered 2Ki 23:29 – slew him 1Ch 10:2 – Jonathan 2Ch 34:28 – I will gather Job 14:13 – hide me Job 17:13 – I have made Psa 18:25 – With the Psa 37:37 – General Ecc 7:1 – the day Isa 41:3 – safely Mic 6:8 – love Mat 22:29 – not Mar 4:29 – he putteth Act 8:2 – made 2Co 4:16 – though Phi 1:21 – to die 2Th 1:7 – who Heb 4:9 – remaineth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
57:2 {b} He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his uprightness.
(b) The soul of the righteous will be in joy, and their body will rest in the grave to the time of the resurrection, because they walked before the Lord.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The righteous person entered a condition of peace by dying and going to his or her eternal reward. The end of the righteous, then, contrasts with that of the wicked leaders (Isa 56:9-12).