Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 1:8
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
8. daughter of Zion ] A gen. of apposition = “the daughter, Zion.” It is a personification either of the city or the population of Jerusalem, or both together. The capital is as yet spared, but its isolation in the midst of the devastated country suggests to the imagination of the prophet two homely and vivid pictures of forlorn and dreary solitariness: like a booth in a vineyard, or a night-lodge in a cucumber field. Such frail structures, consisting of four poles stuck in the ground, with cross-pieces supporting a couch and a slight roof or awning overhead, were erected for the watchers who guarded the fruit or crop from thieves and wild animals. (See Wetzstein’s description in Del. Comm. on Job, Trans., vol. ii. p. 74, and ed.)
as a besieged city ] The exact sense is doubtful. Some render: “like a city under observation,” others: “like a watch-tower.”
An interesting parallel to the idea of the verse is furnished by Sennacherib’s boast (in 701) that he shut up Hezekiah in his capital “like a bird in a cage.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the daughter of Zion – Zion, or Sion, was the name of one of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem was built. On this hill formerly stood the city of the Jebusites, and when David took it from them he transferred to it his court, and it was called the city of David, or the holy hill. It was in the southern part of the city. As Zion became the residence of the court, and was the most important part of the city, the name was often used to denote the city itself, and is often applied to the whole of Jerusalem. The phrase daughter of Zion here means Zion itself, or Jerusalem. The name daughter is given to it by a personification in accordance with a common custom in Eastern writers, by which beautiful towns and cities are likened to young females. The name mother is also applied in the same way. Perhaps the custom arose from the fact that when a city was built, towns and villages would spring up round it – and the first would be called the mother-city (hence, the word metropolis). The expression was also employed as an image of beauty, from a fancied resemblance between a beautiful town and a beautiful and well-dressed woman. Thus Psa 45:13, the phrase daughter of Tyre, means Tyre itself; Psa 137:8, daughter of Babylon, that is, Babylon; Isa 37:22, The virgin, the daughter of Zion; Jer 46:2; Isa 23:12; Jer 14:17; Num 21:23, Num 21:32, (Hebrew); Jdg 11:26. Is left. notherah. The word used here denotes left as a part or remnant is left – not left entire, or complete, but in a weakened or divided state.
As a cottage – literally, a shade, or shelter – kesukkah, a temporary habitation erected in vineyards to give shelter to the grape gatherers, and to those who were uppointed to watch the vineyard to guard it from depredations; compare the note at Mat 21:33. The following passage from Mr. Jowetts Christian Researches, describing what he himself saw, will throw light on this verse. Extensive fields of ripe melons and cucumbers adorned the sides of the river (the Nile). They grew in such abundance that the sailors freely helped themselves. Some guard, however, is placed upon them. Occasionally, but at long and desolate intervals, we may observe a little hut, made of reeds, just capable of containing one man; being in fact little more than a fence against a north wind. In these I have observed, sometimes, a poor old man, perhaps lame, protecting the property. It exactly illustrates Isa 1:8. Gardens were often probably unfenced, and formerly, as now, esculent vegetables were planted in some fertile spot in the open field. A custom prevails in Hindostan, as travelers inform us, of planting in the commencement of the rainy season, in the extensive plains, an abundance of melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc. In the center of the field is an artificial mound with a hut on the top, just large enough to shelter a person from the storm and the heat; Bib. Dic. A.S.U. The sketch in the book will convey a clear idea of such a cottage. Such a cottage would be designed only for a temporary habitation. So Jerusalem seemed to be left amidst the surrounding desolation as a temporary abode, soon to be destroyed.
As a lodge – The word lodge here properly denotes a place for passing the night, but it means also a temporary abode. It was erected to afford a shelter to those who guarded the enclosure from thieves, or from jackals, and small foxes. The jackal, says Hasselquist, is a species of mustela, which is very common in Palestine, especially during the vintage, and often destroys whole vineyards, and gardens of cucumbers.
A garden of cucumbers – The word cucumbers here probably includes every thing of the melon kind, as well as the cucumber. They are in great request in that region on account of their cooling qualities, and are produced in great abundance and perfection. These things are particularly mentioned among the luxuries which the Israelites enjoyed in Egypt, and for which they sighed when they were in the wilderness. Num 11:5 : We remember – the cucumbers and the melons, etc. The cucumber which is produced in Egypt and Palestine is large – usually a foot in length, soft, tender, sweet, and easy of digestion (Gesenius), and being of a cooling nature, was especially delicious in their hot climate. The meaning here is, that Jerusalem seemed to be left as a temporary, lonely habitation, soon to be forsaken and destroyed.
As a besieged city – keyr netsorah. Lowth. As a city taken by siege. Noyes. So is the delivered city. This translation was first proposed by Arnoldi of Marburg. It avoids the incongruity of comparing a city with a city, and requires no alteration of the text except a change of the vowel points. According to this translation, the meaning will be, that all things round about the city lay desolate, like the withered vines of a cucumber garden around the watchmans hut; in other words, that the city alone stood safe amidst the ruins caused by the enemy, like the hut in a gathered garden of cucumber. Noyes. According to this interpretation, the word netsorah is derived not from tsur, to besiege, to press, to straiten; but from natsar, to preserve, keep, defend; compare Eze 6:12. The Hebrew will bear this translation; and the concinnity of the comparison will thus be preserved. I rather prefer, however, the common interpretation, as being more obviously the sense of the Hebrew, and as being sufficiently in accordance with the design of the prophet. The idea then is, that of a city straitened by a siege, yet standing as a temporary habitation, while all the country around was lying in ruins. Jerusalem, alone preserved amidst the desolation spreading throughout the land, will resemble a temporary lodge in the garden – itself soon to be removed or destroyed. The essential idea, whatever translation is adopted, is that of the solitude, loneliness, and temporary continuance of even Jerusalem, while all around was involved in desolation and ruin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 1:8
A cottage in a vineyard
A lodge in a garden
The true point of the comparison will not appear until the crop is over, and the lodge forsaken by the keeper.
Then the poles fall down or lean every way, and those green boughs with which it is shaded will have been scattered by the wind leaving only a ragged, sprawling wreck,–a most affecting type of utter desolation–as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah. (Thomsons The, Land and the Book. )
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. As a cottage in a vineyard – “As a shed in a vineyard”] A little temporary hut covered with boughs, straw, turf, or the like materials, for a shelter from the heat by day, and the cold and dews by night, for the watchman that kept the garden or vineyard during the short season the fruit was ripening, (see Job 27:18,) and presently removed when it had served that purpose. See Harmer’s Observ. i. 454. They were probably obliged to have such a constant watch to defend the fruit from the jackals. “The jackal,” (chical of the Turks,) says Hasselquist, (Travels, p. 227,) “is a species of mustela which is very common in Palestine, especially during the vintage; and often destroys whole vineyards, and gardens of cucumbers.” “There is also plenty of the canis vulpes, the fox, near the convent of St. John in the desert, about vintage time; for they destroy all the vines unless they are strictly watched.” Ibid. p. 184. See So 2:15.
Fruits of the gourd kind, melons, watermelons, cucumbers, c., are much used and in great request in the Levant, on account of their cooling quality. The Israelites in the wilderness regretted the loss of the cucumbers and melons among the other good things of Egypt, Nu 11:5. In Egypt the season of watermelons, which are most in request, and which the common people then chiefly live upon, lasts but three weeks. See Hasselquist, p. 256. Tavernier makes it of longer continuance:
L’on y void de grands carreaux de melons et de concombres, mais beaucoup plus de derniers, dont les Levantins font leur delices. Le plus souvent, ils les mangent sans les peter, apres quoi ils vont boire une verre d’eau. Dans toute l’Asie c’est la nourriture ordinaire du petit peuple pendant trois ou quatre mois toute la famine en vit, et quand un enfant demand a manger, au lieu qu’en France ou aillieurs nous luy donnerions du pain, dans le Levant on luy presente un concombre, qu’il mange cru comme on le vient de cueillir. Les concombres dans le Levant ont une bonte particuliere; et quoiqu’ on les mange crus, ils ne font jamais de mal;
“There are to he seen great beds of melons and cucumbers, but a greater number of the latter, of which the Levantines are particularly fond. In general they eat them without taking off the rind, after which they drink a glass of water. In every part of Asia this is the aliment of the common people for three or four months; the whole family live on them; and when a child asks something to eat, instead of giving it a piece of bread, as is done in France and other countries, they present it with a cucumber, which it eats raw, as gathered. Cucumbers in the Levant are peculiarly excellent; and although eaten raw, they are seldom injurious.” Tavernier, Relat. du Serrail, cap. xix.
As a lodge, c.] That is, after the fruit was gathered the lodge being then permitted to fall into decay. Such was the desolate, ruined state of the city.
As a beseiged city – “A city taken by seige”] So the ; Septuagint: see also the Vulgate.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The daughter of Zion, i.e. Zion, or Jerusalem; for these two names are promiscuously used of the same place; the name of daughter being frequently given to cities or countries. Thus the daughter of Babylon is put for Babylon itself, Psa 137:8; Isa 47:1. In the same sense we read of the daughter of Tyre, Psa 45:12, and of Zidon, Isa 23:12, and of Egypt, Jer 46:11,24, and of Edom, Lam 4:21.
Is left as a cottage in a vineyard as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers; is left solitary, all the neighbouring villages and country round about it being laid waste.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. daughter of Zionthe city(Ps 9:14), Jerusalem and itsinhabitants (2Ki 19:21):”daughter” (feminine, singular being used as aneuter collective noun), equivalent to sons (Isa12:6, Margin) [MAURER].Metropolis or “mother-city” is the corresponding term. Theidea of youthful beauty is included in “daughter.”
leftas a remnantescaping the general destruction.
cottagea hut, made togive temporary shelter to the caretaker of the vineyard.
lodgenot permanent.
besiegedrather, as”left,” and Isa 1:9require, preserved, namely, from the desolation all round[MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in the vineyard,…. The Targum is,
“after they have got in the vintage.”
A cottage in the vineyard was a booth, as the word e signifies, which was erected in the middle of the vineyard for the keeper of the vineyard to watch in night and day, that the fruit might not be hurt by birds, or stolen by thieves, and was a very, lonely place; and when the clusters of the vine were gathered, this cottage or booth was left by the keeper himself: and such it is suggested Jerusalem should be, not only stand alone, the cities all around being destroyed by the besiegers, but empty of inhabitants itself, when taken.
As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers: the Targum adds here also,
“after they have gathered them out of it.”
A lodge in a garden of cucumbers was built up for the gardener to watch in at night, that nobody came and stole away the cucumbers, and this was also a lonely place; but when the cucumbers were gathered, the gardener left his lodge entirely; and such a forsaken place would Jerusalem be at the time of its destruction; see Lu 19:43
as a besieged city; which is in great distress, and none care to come near it, and as many as can make their escape out of it; or “as a city kept”; so Gussetius f, who understands this, and all the above clauses, of some places preserved from the sword in the common desolation.
e , Sept. f “ut urbs custodita”, Gusset. Comment. Ling. Ebr. p. 529. “Observata vel observanda”, Forerius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And the daughter of Zion remains lie a hut in a vineyard; like a hammock in a cucumber field.” The vineyard and cucumber field ( mikshah , from kisshu , a cucumber, Cucumis , not a gourd, Cucurbita ; at least not the true round gourd, whose Hebrew name, dalath , does not occur in the Old Testament) are pictured by the prophet in their condition before the harvest (not after, as the Targums render it), when it is necessary that they should be watched. The point of comparison therefore is, that in the vineyard and cucumber field not a human being is to be seen in any direction; and there is nothing but the cottage and the night barrack or hammock (cf., Job 27:18) to show that there are any human beings there at all. So did Jerusalem stand in the midst of desolation, reaching far and wide – a sign, however, that the land was not entirely depopulated. But what is the meaning of the third point of comparison? Hitzig renders it, “like a watch-tower;” Knobel, “like a guard-city.” But the noun neither means a tower nor a castle (although the latter would be quite possible, according to the primary meaning, Cingere ); and nezurah does not mean “watch” or “guard.” On the other hand, the comparison indicated (like, or as) does not suit what would seem the most natural rendering, viz., “like a guarded city,” i.e., a city shielded from danger. Moreover, it is inadmissible to take the first two Caphs in the sense of sicut (as) and the third in the sense of sic (so); since, although this correlative is common in clauses indicating identity, it is not so in sentences which institute a simple comparison. We therefore adopt the rendering, Isa 1:8, “As a besieged city,” deriving nezurah not from zur , niphal nazor (never used), as Luzzatto does, but from nazar , which signifies to observe with keen eye, either with a good intention, or, as in Job 7:20, for a hostile purpose. It may therefore be employed, like the synonyms in 2Sa 11:16 and Jer 5:6, to denote the reconnoitring of a city. Jerusalem was not actually blockaded at the time when the prophet uttered his predictions; but it was like a blockaded city. In the case of such a city there is a desolate space, completely cleared of human beings, left between it and the blockading army, in the centre of which the city itself stands solitary and still, shut up to itself. The citizens do not venture out; the enemy does not come within the circle that immediately surrounds the city, for fear of the shots of the citizens; and everything within this circle is destroyed, either by the citizens themselves, to prevent the enemy from finding anything useful, or else by the enemy, who cut down the trees. Thus, with all the joy that might be felt at the preservation of Jerusalem, it presented but a gloomy appearance. It was, as it were, in a state of siege. A proof that this is the way in which the passage is to be explained, may be found in Jer 4:16-17, where the actual storming of Jerusalem is foretold, and the enemy is called nozerim , probably with reference to the simile before us.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
8. And the daughter of Zion shall be left (20) as a cottage in a vineyard He alludes to a custom which exists in France, that the vinekeepers rear a cottage for themselves when the grapes begin to ripen. His next comparison, which is closely allied to the former, is taken from a custom of that nation of protecting also gardens of cucumbers (21) by means of men who kept watch during the night. He next explains what he intended to convey by both comparisons.
Like a besieged city This may be explained in two ways; either that the whole country will be wasted, with the solitary exception of the city, which shall be left standing like a cottage, or that the city itself will be destroyed. The former interpretation is adopted by the Jews, and they understand this passage to relate to the siege of Sennacherib; but I think that it has a wider signification, and embraces other calamities which followed afterwards. This may indeed refer to the neighboring country, from the misery and devastation of which it was impossible but that the city should sustain much damage; but I consider the Prophet’s meaning to be, that the evils of which he speaks shall reach even to the city itself, until, broken and ruined, it shall wear the aspect of a mean cottage
The daughter of Zion is the name here given to Jerusalem, in accordance with what is customary in Scripture to give the designation of daughter to any nation, in the same manner as the daughter of Babylon (Isa 47:1) and the daughter of Tyre (Psa 45:12) are names given to the Tyrians and Babylonians. Zion is the name here employed rather than Jerusalem, on account of the dignity of the temple; and this figure of speech, by which a part is taken for the whole, is frequently employed.
(20) Residua manebit.
(21) A lively French traveler, Tavernier, who flourished about the middle of the seventeenth century, in describing the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, gives the following account: — “There we see large beds of melons and of cucumbers, but especially of the latter, of which the inhabitants of the Levant are particularly fond. Most frequently they eat them without peeling, and afterwards drink a glass of water. Throughout the whole of Asia this is the ordinary food of the common people for three or four months. The whole family lives on it; and when a child asks for something to eat, instead of giving it bread, as in France and other places is the custom, in the Levant they offer it a cucumber, which it eats raw just as it has been fresh pulled. Cucumbers in the Levant have a peculiarly excellent flavour, and though they are eaten raw they never do any injury.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) The daughter of Zion.The phrase stands, as everywhere (Psa. 45:12; Lam. 2:8; Mic. 4:10), for the ideal city personified.
Is left as a cottage in a vineyard . . .The hut, or booth, in which the keeper of the vineyards dwelt, apart from other habitations, was an almost proverbial type of isolation, yet to such a state was Zion all but reduced. The second similitude is of the same character. Cucumbers and other plants of the gourd type (Jon. 4:6) were largely cultivated in Juda, and here, too, each field or garden, like the olive groves and vineyards of Italy, had its solitary hut.
As a besieged city.The comparison of the besieged city to itself is at first startling. Rhetorically, however, it forms a climax. The city was not at this time actually besieged, but it was so hemmed in with perils, so isolated from all help, that this was what its condition practically came to. It was neither more nor less than as a besieged city, or within a measurable distance of becoming so.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The daughter of Zion Zion was the strong hill of Jerusalem. made sacred in David’s devout thoughts of Jehovah’s presence in the tabernacle erected there. It was the seat of regal dominion and of sacred worship during
David’s life the “chosen habitation” of Jehovah. Psa 2:6; Psa 132:13. By a rhetorical figure all Jerusalem was called Zion, as the seat of religion and of the Church. Isa 10:24. The Church was called “Daughter of Zion,” denoting virgin innocence, and youthful promise of vigour and fruitfulness. There would be a faithful few in Jerusalem, even when ravages of war would be upon her. These Isaiah sees are to be left as a desolated, tumble-down lodge after the harvest of the country gardens. The cottage or lodge here spoken of is a rude temporary shelter erected in the open grounds, where vines, cucumbers, gourds, etc., are growing, and in which “lodge” some lonely man or boy is set to watch, either to guard the plants from robbers or to scare away foxes and jackals from the vines.
Cucumbers Not such as pass by that name with us, but a species of melon, Cucumis chate, or C. sativis, said by Hasselquist to be used, the first by grandees, the second by common people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 1:8. A lodge in a garden of cucumbers, &c. See Job 27:18.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 1:8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Ver. 8. And the daughter of Zion. ] Jerusalem, which is called the daughter of Zion, say some, because standing at the foot of that hill as a daughter; it comes out from between the feet, being also cherished and tendered by God as his daughter. Howbeit, as dear as she was to him, she fell into deep distress when she became undutiful. Abused mercy turneth into fury.
Is left as a cottage in a vineyard.
As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.
As a besieged city.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cottage = a booth, made of reeds. Compare Job 27:18.
a lodge. A platform on four poles, sheltered by leaves or sacking. Left to the weather at the close of harvest.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
daughter: Isa 4:4, Isa 10:32, Isa 37:22, Isa 62:11, Psa 9:14, Lam 2:1, Zec 2:10, Zec 9:9, Joh 12:15
cottage: Job 27:18, Lam 2:6
besieged: Isa 8:8, Isa 10:32, Jer 4:17, Luk 19:43, Luk 19:44
Reciprocal: Lev 26:32 – And I 2Ki 19:21 – the daughter Isa 3:16 – the daughters Isa 5:2 – and built Isa 24:20 – removed Isa 30:17 – till ye Isa 33:9 – earth Isa 36:1 – that Sennacherib Isa 38:12 – as a Jer 6:2 – daughter Luk 13:35 – your
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:8 And the daughter of {o} Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
(o) That is, Jerusalem.