Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 17:11
In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
11. The verse reads: In the day when thou plantest thou makest it to grow, and in the morning when thou sowest thou makest it to blossom, (but) the harvest disappears in a day of sickness and incurable sorrow. “However successful your enterprise may seem in its early stages, it is doomed to failure.” For “makest it to grow” we may render with R.V. “hedgest it in.” The words “plant” and “seed” must be construed alike, both are taken above as infinitives. The word for “disappears” means “heap” in Exo 15:8; Psa 33:7; Psa 78:13 and so A.V. here. But here it is better taken as a verb; R.V. rightly “fleeth away.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the day … – Thou shalt cultivate it assiduously and constantly. Thou shalt be at special pains that it may be watered and pruned, in order that it may produce abundantly.
And in the morning – With early care and attention – denoting the pains that would be bestowed on the young plant.
The harvest shall be a heap – The margin reads this, the harvest shall be removed in the day of inheritance, rendering it as if the word ned usually meaning a heap, were derived from nud, to shake, move, wander; or, as if it were to be removed. Probably the translation in the text is correct; and the sense is, When from the plant which was so beautiful and valuable, and which you cherished with so much care, you expected to obtain a rich harvest, you had only sorrow and inexpressible disappointment. The figure used here is supposed by Rosenmuller to be that of hendiadys ( hen dia duoin)by which the phrases shall be an heap, and desperate sorrow, are to be taken together, meaning the heap of the harvest shall be inexpressible sorrow.
In the day of grief – The word rendered grief here ( nachalah) means, properly, inheritance, heirship, possession, and should have been so rendered here. It means that in the day when they hoped to possess the result of their planting, or in the time of the usual harvest, they would obtain only grief and disappointment.
And desperate sorrow – The word rendered desperate ( ‘anash), denotes that which is weak, mortal, incurable Job 34:6; Jer 17:16; Jer 30:12, Jer 30:15. The sense here is, that there would be grievous disappointment, and that there would be no remedy for it; and the idea of the whole is, that calamities were coming upon the nation which would blast all their hopes, and destroy all their prospects. The prophecy was fulfilled in the invasion by Tiglath-pileser, and the army of the Assyrians.
The twelfth verse commences a new prophecy, which has no connection with that which precedes it; and which in itself gives no certain indication of the time when it was uttered, or of the people to which it relates. It is a broken and detached piece, and is evidently the description of some army rushing to conquest, and confident of success, but which was to be overtaken with sudden calamity. The entire description is so applicable to the invasion of the land of Judah by the army of Sennacherib, and his overthrow by the angel of Yahweh, that by the common consent of interpreters it has been regarded as referring to it (see the notes at Isa. 10). But when it was spoken, or why it was placed here, is unknown. It may be added that many commentators, and, among the rest, Gesenius, have supposed that the following chapter is a part of this prophecy. The general sense of the prophecy is, that numerous hostile nations would overrun Palestine, but that Yahweh would destroy them all.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; thou shalt from day to day, beginning early in the morning, use all care and diligence that what thou hast planted and sown may thrive; and thou shalt see some effect of thy labours, and some hopes of success.
But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow: the sense of the words thus rendered is this, But in the time of your grief, &c., or when this grievous calamity shall come, all your harvest shall be but one heap, which in itself is very inconsiderable, and is easily carried away by your enemies. But the place is and may be otherwise rendered, and that very agreeably both to the words and order of the Hebrew text; But the heap (or, heaps, the singular number being most commonly put for the plural) of the harvest (i.e. instead of those heaps of corn which thou didst expect, and which men usually reap in harvest)
in the day or time (to wit, of the harvest; or, in the day of calamity, of which I have spoken, Isa 17:4,9; or, in a day, i.e. speedily or suddenly) shall be (or, thou shalt have)
grief and desperate sorrow. This shall be all thy harvest, and the event of thy labours.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. In the day . . . thyplantrather, “In the day of thy planting“[HORSLEY].
shalt . . . make . . .growMAURERtranslates, “Thou didst fence it,” namely, thepleasure-ground. The parallel clause, “Make . . . flourish,”favors English Version. As soon as thou plantest, it grows.
in the morningthat is,immediately after; so in Ps 90:14,the Hebrew, “in the morning,” is translated “early.”
but . . . shall be aheaprather, “but (promising as was the prospect) theharvest is gone” [HORSLEY].
in . . . day of griefrather,”in the day of (expected) possession” [MAURER].”In the day of inundation” [HORSLEY].
of desperate sorrowrather,”And the sorrow shall be desperate or irremediable.” InEnglish Version “heap” and “sorrow” may betaken together by hendiadys. “The heap of the harvest shall bedesperate sorrow” [ROSENMULLER].
Isa17:12-18:7. SUDDENDESTRUCTION OF A GREATARMY IN JUDEA(namely that of the Assyrian Sennacherib), ANDANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EVENTTO THE ETHIOPIANAMBASSADORS.
The connection of this fragmentwith what precedes is: notwithstanding the calamities coming onIsrael, the people of God shall not be utterly destroyed (Isa 6:12;Isa 6:13); the Assyrian spoilersshall perish (Isa 17:13; Isa 17:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In the day shall thou make thy plant to grow,…. Not that it is in the power of man to make it grow; but the sense is, that all means and methods should be used to make it grow, no cost nor pains should be spared:
and in the morning shall thou make thy seed to flourish; which may denote both diligence in the early care of it, and seeming promising success; and yet all should be in vain, and to no purpose:
[but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief; or “of inheritance”; when it was about to be possessed and enjoyed, according to expectation, it shall be all thrown together in a heap, and be spoiled by the enemy: or, “the harvest” shall be “removed in the day of inheritance” w; just when the fruit is ripe, and going to be gathered in, the enemy shall come and take it all away; and so, instead of being a time of joy, as harvest usually is, it will be a time of grief and trouble,
and of desperate sorrow too, or “deadly”; which will leave them in despair, without hope of subsistence for the present year, or of having another harvest hereafter, the land coming into the hands of their enemies.
w “recedit messis in die hereditatis sive possessionis”; so some in Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. In the day. This denotes the incessant labor which is bestowed on plants and seeds. Yet we might understand by it the fruit which is yielded, as if a vine newly planted would immediately produce wine. And this agrees with the next clause, in which the morning is put for the day. This appears to denote sudden maturity, unless perhaps this also be supposed to denote carefulness, because from the very earliest dawn they will devote themselves to labor.
The words are somewhat ambiguous; for some render them, “the removing of the branch on the day of affliction.” But as נחלח ( năchălāh) means “an inheritance,” here, in my opinion, it literally denotes produce. It is not derived from חלה ( chālāh,) and I do not see how the word “Branch” agrees with it. I grant, indeed, that as vines are mentioned, the word Harvest is employed ( καταχρηστικῶς) differently from its natural meaning.
It might also be rendered a Collector; and yet I do not choose to dispute keenly about those two significations, for the meaning will be the same, provided that נחלח ( nāchălāh) be understood to denote “the gathering of the fruits.” In this way the passage will flow easily enough. “Though you labor hard in dressing the vines, and though you begin your toil at the earliest dawn, you will gain nothing; for by the mere shaking of the branches the fruit will fall off of its own accord, or your vines will be plundered.” Thus, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, the word plant denotes that unwearied toil which husbandmen and vine-dressers are wont to bestow on plants and vines.
This is a very severe punishment, and undoubtedly proceeds from the curse of God; for if he who has no possession be driven out and banished from a country, he will not be rendered so uneasy as the man who has well cultivated fields, and particularly if he has bestowed his labor on them for a long time. In this manner the Lord determined to punish the Israelites, because they abused the fertility of the country and grew wanton amidst their abundance. A similar punishment is also threatened against the wicked in general terms, that “in vain do they rise early, and vex themselves with unremitted toil;” for they gain nothing by it. (Psa 127:2). On the other hand, it is declared that they who trust in the Lord will undoubtedly receive the reward of their toil, for the blessing of God will accompany their labors. (Psa 128:2).
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) In the day shalt thou make.Better, thou makest, or, thou fencest, thy plant. The alliance between Syria and Ephraim is compared in the rapidity of its growth with the gardens of Adonis. All the harvest heaps from such a planting would end, not in the wonted joy of harvest (Isa. 9:3), but in grief and incurable pain There is no sufficient evidence for the marginal reading of the Authorised version.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Make thy plant to grow On the very day of (or, quite at the immediate) planting of his pleasant garden-ground, (of his overture with Damascus,) he assiduously guarded it by a hedge. He turned away totally from Jehovah.
In the morning On the very next morning he found what he had sown in full bloom his agreement respecting alliance with a foreign power was hearty, he was ready to take the sensual worship of Damascus as his state religion; and the blossom was rapidly advancing to fruitage, that is, to a place of united attack upon Judah. But this plantation, so promising at first to Israel, and succeeding, apparently, so well, was all at once a harvest heap for the day of terrible judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but, the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” Isa 17:11
Once more we come to the harvest. What will the harvest be? is the great question which men should put to themselves. Syria and Ephraim entered into an alliance which grew with amazing rapidity. At a certain time, all appeared to be prosperous, plentiful, and satisfactory. Yet all the harvest-heaps were destined to end not in the joy of harvest, but in grief and incurable pain. Do not look at the growing plant alone. Your investment is successful. But if that investment imply injustice, robbery, monopoly, gambling, or trickery, when you go out to reap the harvest you will only thrust your sickle into a field of darkness. In the case before us the seed flourished in the morning, and at eventide there was an appearance of a great return from the seed that had been sown. How foolish are they who look at appearances only! Where things are wrong in their origin they must be wrong in their issue. Between the origin and the issue there may be great fluctuation of fortune, or the good fortune may decidedly preponderate over the bad. But be assured of this: God is not mocked: when the seed that is sown has been bad, it is impossible that the harvest which is to be reaped can be good. Every man must face the results of his own seed-sowing. We cannot claim another man’s field when God comes to judgment. The judgment of God is founded upon facts, upon reason, upon justice. When a man sees how ruinous a harvest he has to gather, he will say to his own heart, This is just; this is the outworking of true reason; I sowed the wind, now I am called to reap the whirlwind. “Thou wicked and slothful servant; out of thine own mouth do I condemn thee.” The wicked sower must be the disappointed reaper.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Isa 17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Ver. 11. In the day thou shalt make thy plant to grow. ] So Pro 22:8 , he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity; and the more serious and sedulous he is at it, the worse shall it be with him. Gal 6:8
But thy harvest shall be an heap.
In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
In the day = By day.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the harvest: Isa 18:5, Isa 18:6, Job 4:8, Jer 5:31, Hos 8:7, Hos 9:1-4, Hos 9:16, Hos 10:12-15, Joe 1:5-12, Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8
a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow: or, removed in the day of inheritance, and there shall be deadly sorrow. Isa 65:13, Isa 65:14, Mat 8:11, Mat 8:12, Rom 2:5, Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9
Reciprocal: Job 15:31 – for vanity Psa 129:7 – he that bindeth Isa 40:24 – they shall not be planted Hos 2:9 – take Joe 1:11 – because Hag 1:9 – Ye looked
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE HARVEST OF A GODLESS LIFE
The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Isa 17:11
The original application of these words is to Judahs alliance with Damascus, which Isaiah resolutely opposed. We may take it in a more general way as containing large truths which affect the life of every one of us.
I. The sin of a godless life.
(a) The sin charged. Merely negativeforgetting a very common sin.
(b) The implied criminality of it.
(c) The implied absurdity of it.
II. The busy effort and apparent success of a godless life.
(a) If the soul is not satisfied in God, there are hungry desires. This is the explanation of the feverish activity of much of our life.
(b) Such work is far harder than the work of serving God.
(c) Such work has sometimes quick, present success.
III. The end of it all.
(a) How poor the fruit of a God-forgetting life! One heap from all the long struggle.
(b) A terrible, inevitable consummation. Put in the sickle.
(c) A sad harvest home to some. Terrible words, grief and desperate sorrow. We dare not dilate on it. How different from returning with joy, bringing our sheaves with us!
Illustration
The prophet says, In the day of judgment, which is itself just at the same time the day of harvest, the produce of harvest is there in heaps. But this harvest day is a day of grief and of desperate sorrow. Being such, the harvest is a bad one, and the heaps signify heaped up misfortune. Therefore the prophet says that the fruit of that planting shall be a harvest that shall come in on the day of grief and incurable pain, thus itself shall have the form of grief and incurable pain.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day {n} of grief and of desperate sorrow.
(n) As the Lord threatens the wicked in his law, Lev 26:16 .