Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 22:11
Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
11. For ditch read reservoir as R.V. The “old pool” is very probably the pool of Siloam (though this is not certain) and the “reservoir” would be intended to retain its surplus water.
between the two walls ] a part of the city adjoining the royal gardens, where there was a gate (see 2Ki 25:4; Jer 39:4; Jer 52:7). The locality is doubtless the entrance of the Tyropon Valley, where the wall of the Western Hill and that of Zion (and Ophel) met at a sharp angle. The space so designated was of course outside the city; whether it was protected by a third wall crossing the valley we do not know.
but ye have not looked ] but ye looked not. This clause carries us back to Isa 22:8-9, where the same two verbs (“looked,” “saw”) are employed.
the Maker thereof ] Better him that did it.
fashioned it long ago ] lit. formed it from afar. The sin of the rulers of Jerusalem is that same indifference to the work of Jehovah with which the prophet had charged them many years before (see Isa 22:12). To Isaiah, history is the evolution of a consistent, pre-determined plan of Jehovah, to the men of his day it was merely a confused struggle between opposing forces. Their failure to discern the hand of God in the events that had befallen them was the crowning proof of their spiritual insensibility; their ill-timed frivolity on this occasion seemed to the prophet to seal their fate.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye made also a ditch – That is, they made a reservoir to retain the water. The word ditch, however, will well describe the character of the pool of Gihon on the west side of the city (see the notes at Isa 7:3).
Between the two walls for the water of the old pool – Hezekiah built one of these walls himself (2Ch 32:5, 2Ch 32:30; compare 2Ki 25:5, and Jer 39:4). Between these two walls the water would be collected so as to be accessible to the inhabitants of the city in case of a siege. Before this, the water had flowed without the walls of the city, and in a time of siege the inhabitants would be cut off from it, and an enemy would be able easily to subdue them. To prevent this, Hezekiah appears to have performed two works, one of which was particularly adapted to the times of the siege, and the other was of permanent utility.
(1) He made a wall on the west side of Gihon, so as to make the pool accessible to the inhabitants of the city, as described here by Isaiah; and
(2) he stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David 2Ch 32:30.
By this is not improbably meant that he constructed the pool which is now known as the pool of Hezekiah. This reservoir lies within the walls of the city, some distance northeastward of the Yafa Gate, and just west of the street that leads to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Its sides run toward the cardinal points. Its breadth at the north end is 144 feet, its length on the east side about 240 feet. The depth is not great. The bottom is rock, and is leveled and covered with cement. The reservoir is now supplied with water during the rainy season by the small aqueduct or drain brought down from the upper pool, along the surface of the ground and under the wall at or near the Yafa Gate (compare Robinsons Bib. Researches, vol. i. p. 487). This was deemed a work of great utility, and was one of the acts which particularly distinguished the reign of Hezckiah. It is not only mentioned in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, but the son of Sirach has also mentioned it in his encomium on Hezekiah: Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought in water into the midst thereof; he digged the hard rock with iron, and made wells for water (Ecclus. 48:17).
But ye have not looked – You have not relied on God. You have depended on your own resources; and on the defenses which you have been making against the enemy. This probably described the general character of the people. Hezekiah, however, was a pious man, and doubtless really depended on the aid of God.
The maker thereof – God; by whose command and aid all these defenses are made, and who has given you ability and skill to make them.
Long ago – God had made this fountain, and it had long been a supply to the city. He had a claim, therefore, to their gratitude and respect.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 22:11
Ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof
A godless prudence
They take measures to supply the city with water during its siege, and to cut it off, if possible, from the besiegers.
Why, as it is written in the history which gives us the fulfilment of this prophecy, should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? Where this fails everything fails, for water, next to the air we breathe, is the first necessity of human life. There are, it seems, certain streams or pools of water fed with springs outside the city, and these they manage to divert, so that they flow now away from the besiegers and in favour of the besieged. The city has two watts, and between these two–the inner and the outer–a ditch or trench is dug, and the water of the old pool made to flow into it, forming at once as a moat some kind of protection for the inner wall, should the outer be broken down, and also a supply for the use of the inhabitants. All this was right and reasonable, and no blame could be laid upon the authorities for taking these precautions. But there is blame in this, that notwithstanding they are the Lords chosen people, and have ever been taught that they owe all they have to Him, yet they do not recognise Him as the bountiful Lord and gracious Giver. (J. W. Lance.)
Mans use of Gods gifts
We have here a kind of type and pattern of the infirmity so common to human nature, namely, forgetfulness of God in the use and appropriation of those things which He has provided for us.
I. Look, e.g., at the Divine provisions in THE GREAT STOREHOUSES OF NATURE. See how by invention and discovery we turn these to account, perceiving in some instances forces which, though old, are new to us, and in others ingeniously applying old and well-known forces to new purposes in the advancement of civilisation and for the comfort and convenience of life. It is written concerning man in the Book of Psalms, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands.
II. Let us take up the more familiar theme of DAILY PROVIDENCE. We can see God in clouds, we can hear Him in the wind; He is sometimes near to us in the earthquake and the fire, as well as in the still small voice; but we often fail to see Him in those common mercies which are yet new every morning and fresh every evening. Consider that loaf of bread on your table. It should be to you a revelation; and that it may be so, find out its genesis. It was flour yesterday or the day before, and it came, perhaps, from France, or Spain, or America, where it was grown as wheat–came to you across the ocean, Gods own highway in the wilderness of waters. Long ago He fashioned those grains of wheat, and put into them such force of life that a handful or less, found in an Egyptian mummy three thousand years old, when planted in English soil, have grown and brought forth thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold. Givens this day our daily bread, simplest of all prayers as it seems, is really asking that natures forces may continue to be filled and sustained by Him who made them; and that the industries of life may go on working harmoniously with the gracious providence of God, for without these links human and Divine in the great golden chain, our daily bread would cease.
III. IN RELIGION, too, we may see how the Divine gifts have been used, and, alas! too often abused, in blind forgetfulness of the Divine Giver. Man is a creature who can no more do without religion than he can do without money, without clothing, without houses, or without food. But though naturally religious, it does not follow that he is godly. We may make to ourselves a religion without God. One of the charges brought by the apostle Paul against those who had formed the most elaborate and complex religious systems was, that they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. The religious faculty, God-given, in some sort they exercised, but they lost sight of Him the Giver. They lost His unity among their myriad gods and goddesses, and so Israels mission was to declare, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. They lost sight, too, of His justice; for though they said, The gods are just, yet when we read the story of their lives, their vices, and their crimes, every idea of justice is shocked and revolted; and as to these gods, they that make them are like unto them. It may be, too, that in our own theologies we have not been in this respect free from fault. Even in Christian theology the Theos, the personal God, may have been too much lost sight of. It may ye, as is sometimes charged upon us, that we think of God as a bundle of attributes, rather than as a living Father revealed to us in the Christ.
IV. IN CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES let us always see the Giver. Unless we do so, use in them there is none. (J. W. Lance.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Unto the maker thereof – “To him that hath disposed this”] That is, to God the Author and Disposer of this visitation, the invasion with which he now threatens you. The very same expressions are applied to God, and upon the same occasion, Isa 37:26: –
“Hast thou not heard of old, that I have disposed it;
And of ancient times, that I have formed it?”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The two walls; either those 2Ki 25:4, or those 2Ch 32:5, in both which places we read of two walls.
For the water of the old pool; to receive the waters conveyed into it by pipes from the old pool.
The maker thereof; either,
1. Of the water; for both the springs and the rain which filleth the pools are from God alone: or,
2. Of Jerusalem, expressed in the foregoing verse, and easily understood here, because all these works were undertaken for Jerusalems defence and provision. And it is usual in Scripture for the pronoun relative to be put by itself, without any express mention of the person or thing to which it belongs, which is left to the reader to gather out of the foregoing or following words; of which See Poole “Psa 87:1“, See Poole “Son 1:1“.
Him that fashioned it, Heb. the former or framer of it, God; who made it a city, and the place of his special presence and worship; which also he had undertaken to protect, if the people would observe his commands; to whom therefore they should have resorted and trusted in this time of their distress.
Long ago; which clause may be added to aggravate their sin, in distrusting that God who had now for a long time given proof of his care and kindness in defending this city.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Ye made . . . a ditchrather,”Ye shall make a reservoir” for receiving the water.Hezekiah surrounded Siloah, from which the old (or king’s, or upper)pool took its rise, with a wall joined to the wall of Zion on bothsides; between these two walls he made a new pool, into which hedirected the waters of the former, thus cutting off the foe from hissupply of water also. The opening from which the upper pool receivedits water was nearer Zion than the other from which the lower pooltook its rise, so that the water which flowed from the former couldeasily be shut in by a wall, whereas that which flowed from thelatter could only be brought in by subterranean conduits (compare seeon Isa 22:9; Isa 7:3;2Ki 20:20; 2Ch 32:3-5;2Ch 32:30; Ecclesiasticus48:17). Both were southwest of Jerusalem.
have not looked . . . neitherhad respectanswering by contrast to “Thou didst lookto the armor, ye have seen (‘had respect’, or ‘regard to’) thebreaches” (Isa 22:8;Isa 22:9).
maker thereofGod, bywhose command and aid these defenses were made, and who gave thisfountain “long ago.” G. V. SMITHtranslates, “Him who doeth it,” that is, has broughtthis danger on you”Him who hath prepared it from afar,”that is, planned it even from a distant time.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye made also a ditch between the two walls,…. The outward and the inward; for Hezekiah not only repaired the broken wall, but he built another without, 2Ch 32:5 and between these two he made a ditch, or receptacle for water; for rain water, as Kimchi says; that the inhabitants might not want water during the siege; but the end for which it was made follows:
for the water of the old pool; which, being without the city, was by this means drained into this ditch or receptacle; and so the Assyrians were deprived of it, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem more abundantly supplied; this was wisely contrived to distress the enemy, and to enable themselves to hold out the siege the longer; and for this and other methods they took they are not blamed, but for what follows:
but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof; either of the distress and calamity which came upon them for their sins, with the will and by the decree of God; or of the water of the pool, which is a creature of his; for who can give rain or water but himself? or rather of the city of Jerusalem, to build which he stirred up persons, and assisted them in it, and which he chose for the seat of his habitation and worship:
neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago; not in his own mind from eternity, which is the gloss of the Jewish Rabbins p; Jerusalem being one of the seven things, which, before the world was, came into the mind of God to create; but in time, many years ago, in the times of David, who built some part of it; and before, it being the ancient city of Salem. Now this was their fault, that they trusted in their warlike preparations, and prudential care and caution, for the defence of themselves, and looked not unto, nor trusted in, the Lord their God; for though Hezekiah did, yet many of his people did not; and very probably his principal courtiers and officers about him, concerned in the above methods, and particularly Shebna, hereafter mentioned.
p Vid. Kimchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. You made also a ditch. The first clause of this verse relates to the former subjects; for he means that they were reduced to the last necessity, and that the great approaching danger struck them with terror, so that they adopted every method in their power for defending themselves against the enemy.
And you have not looked to its maker. This second clause reproves them for carelessness, because they had given their whole attention to earthly assistance, and had neglected that which is of the greatest importance. Instead of resorting first of all to God, as they ought to have done, they forgot and despised him, and directed their attention to ramparts, and ditches, and walls, and other preparations of war; but their highest defense was in God. What I said at first is now more evident, that the Prophet does not foretell the destruction of the Jews, but declares what they have experienced, in order to shew how justly the Lord was angry with them, because they could not be amended or reformed by any chastisement. The alarming dangers to which they were exposed ought to have warned them against their impiety and contempt of God; but those dangers have made them still more obstinate. Though there is hardly any person so obstinate as not to be induced by adversity, and especially by imminent dangers, to bethink himself, and to consider if they have justly befallen him, if he has offended God and provoked his wrath against himself; yet the Prophet says, that there was not one of the Jews who remembered God in the midst of such distresses, and that therefore God justly ceased to take any concern about them.
Hence infer that it is a token of extreme and desperate wickedness, when men, after having received chastisements or afflictions, are not made better. We ought, first, to follow God and to render to him cheerful obedience; and secondly, when we have been practically warned and chastised, we ought to repent. And if stripes do us no good, what remains but that the Lord shall increase and double the strokes, and cause us to feel them heavier and heavier till we are hurled down to destruction? For it is vain to apply remedies to a desperate and incurable disease. This doctrine is highly applicable to our own times, in which so many strokes and afflictions urge us to repentance. Since there is no repentance, what remains but that the Lord shall try to the very utmost what can be done until he destroy us altogether?
To its maker. By these words he indirectly acknowledges that God does not blame our eagerness to repel the enemy and to guard against dangers; but that he blames the vain confidence which we place in outward defences. We ought to have begun with God; and when we disregard him, and resort to swords and spears, to bulwarks and fortifications, our excessive eagerness is justly condemned as treason. Let us therefore learn to flee to God in imminent dangers, and to betake ourselves, with our whole heart, to the sure refuge of his name. (Pro 18:10.) When this has been done, it will be lawful for us to use the remedies which he puts into our hand; but all will end in our ruin if we do not first commit our safety to his protection.
He calls God the maker and fashioner of Jerusalem, because there he had his dwelling, and wished that men should call upon him. (1Kg 9:3.) As Jerusalem was a lively image of the Church, this title belongs also to us, for in a peculiar manner God is called the Builder of the Church. (Psa 132:13.) Though this may relate to the creation of the whole world, yet the second creation, by which he raises up from death, (Eph 2:1,) regenerates, and sanctifies us, (Psa 110:3,) is peculiar to the elect, the rest have no share in it. This title does not express a sudden but a continual act, for the Church was not at once created that it might afterwards be forsaken, but the Lord preserves and defends it to the last. “Thou wilt not despise the work of thy hands,” says the Psalmist. (Psa 138:8.) And Paul says,
“
He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Christ.” (Phi 1:6.)
This title contains astonishing consolation, for if God is the maker, we have no reason to fear if we depend on his power and goodness. But we cannot look to him unless we are endued with true humility and confidence, so that, being divested of all haughtiness and reduced to nothing, we ascribe the glory to him alone. This cannot be, unless we can also trust that our salvation is in his hand, and are fully convinced that we shall never perish, even though we be surrounded by a thousand deaths. It was an aggravation of their baseness, that the Lord’s election of that city, which had been established by so many proofs, could not arouse the Jews to rely on the protection of God. As if he had said, What madness is it to think of defending the city when you despise him who made it!
From a distance, or long ago. The Hebrew word denotes either distance of place or length of time. If we refer it to place, the meaning will be, that the Jews are doubly ungrateful, because they have not beheld the Lord even at a distance. Here it ought to be observed, that we ought to look to God not only when he is near, but also when he appears to be at a very great distance from us. Now, we think that he is absent, when we do not perceive his present aid, and when he does not instantly supply our wants. In short, he shews what is the nature of true hope; for it is a carnal and gross looking at God, when we do not perceive his providence unless by visible favor, since we ought to ascend above the heavens themselves. Strictly and truly, no doubt, the Lord is always present, but he is said to be distant and absent with respect to us. This must be understood therefore to refer to our senses, and not to the fact itself; and therefore, although he appear to be at a distance during those calamities which the Church endures, still we ought to elevate our minds towards him, and arouse our hearts, and shake off our indolence, that we may call on him.
But the other meaning is equally admissible, that they did not look to God who created his Church, not yesterday or lately, but long ago, and who had proved himself to be her Maker during many ages. He is therefore called the ancient Maker of his Church, because if the Jews will apply their thoughts and careful search to the long succession of ages, they will perceive that he is the perpetual preserver of his workmanship; and this makes their ingratitude the less excusable.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Ye made also a ditch between the two walls.Better, a pond or pool, to form a reservoir for the supply of the city. This was probably identical with the pool of Hezekiah, known also as the Birket-el-Batrak (pool of the patriarchs), between two walls, that to the north of Zaon, and that which runs to the north-east round the Acra. During the rainy season this is supplied by the small conduit which runs from the upper pool along the surface of the ground, and then under the wall near the Joppa gate (Robinson, Researches, i., 437-439). The old pool was probably the pool of Siloam (Joh. 9:7), or the kings pool (Neh. 2:14).
Ye have not looked unto the maker thereof.These material defences, the prophet affirms, will avail but little if they forget Him who was the true builder and maker of the city, and who alone can secure its safety.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
Ver. 11. Ye made a ditch also. ] A new ditch, lest the old one should not suffice, to hold water for the besieged. All this was well and wisely done, had not the main matter been left undone. See 2Ch 32:3 ; 2Ch 32:5 2Ki 18:14 ; 2Ki 18:16 . The community of the Jews were carnal, and trusted in the arm of flesh. Hezekiah also himself faltered, &c.
But ye have not looked unto the maker thereof,
a Oecolamp.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ditch = a gathering of waters.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a ditch: Neh 3:16
ye have: Isa 8:17, Isa 17:7, Isa 31:1, Isa 37:26, 2Ch 6:6, 2Ch 16:7-9, Jer 33:2, Jer 33:3, Mic 7:7
Reciprocal: Deu 32:18 – forgotten 2Ch 11:11 – he fortified Psa 28:5 – Because Zec 5:7 – talent Joh 5:2 – pool
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the {n} water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to {o} its maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago.
(n) To provide if need should be of water.
(o) To God who made Jerusalem: that is, they trusted more in these worldly means than in God.