Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 24:17
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
17 20. This description of the judgment on the earth and its inhabitants seems to connect immediately with Isa 24:13.
17, 18a recur almost verbatim in Jer 48:43 f. (cf. also Amo 5:19).
18b 20 describe the physical convulsions which accompany the day of Jehovah.
the windows from on high are opened ] An allusion to the story of the Deluge (Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2). The rest of the imagery is based on the phenomena of the earthquake.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fear, and the pit – This verse is an explanation of the cause of the wretchedness referred to in the previous verse. The same expression is found in Jer 48:43, in his account of the destruction that would come upon Moab, a description which Jeremiah probably copied from Isaiah – There is also here in the original a paronomasia that cannot be retained in a translation – pachad vapachath vapach – where the form pach occurs in each word. The sense is, that they were nowhere safe; that if they escaped one danger, they immediately fell into another. The expression is equivalent to that which occurs in the writings of the Latin classics:
Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdin.
The same idea, that if a man should escape from one calamity he would fall into another, is expressed in another form in Amo 5:19 :
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him;
Or went into a house, and leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him.
In the passage before us, there is an advance from one danger to another, or the subsequent one is more to be dreaded than the preceding. The figure is taken from the mode of taking wild beasts, where various nets, toils, or pitfalls were employed to secure them. The word fear ( pachad), denotes anything that was used to frighten or arouse the wild beasts in hunting, or to drive them into the pitfall that was prepared for them. Among the Romans the name fears (formidines) was given to lines or cords strung with feathers of all colors, which, when they fluttered in the air or were shaken, frightened the beasts into the pits, or the birds into the snares which were prepared to take them (Seneca, De Ira, ii. 122; virg. AE. xii. 7499; Geor. iii. 372). It is possible that this may be referred to here under the name of fear. The word pit ( pachat) denotes the pitfall; a hole dug in the ground, and covered over with bushes, leaves, etc., into which they might fall unawares. The word snare ( pach) denotes a net, or gin, and perhaps refers to a series of nets enclosing at first a large space of ground, in which the wild beasts were, and then drawn by degrees into a narrow compass, so that they could not escape.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 24:17
Fear and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee
Fear, and the pit, and the snare
The expressions here used seem to have formed a proverbial saying, as appears from their being repeated by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 48:43-44).
They allude to the different methods of taking wild beasts that were anciently in use. The fear, or terror, was a line strung with feathers of different colours, which was so constructed as to flutter in the air and to make a terrifying noise, that frightened the beasts into the pit, or the snare, that was prepared for them. The pit was digged deep in the ground, and covered over with boughs or turf, in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare was composed of nets, enclosing a large space of ground that the wild beasts were known to haunt, which was drawn gradually narrower, until they were at last entangled and shut up. Our prophet, addressing himself to the inhabitants of the earth, declares, that calamities corresponding to each of these ways of destroying wild beasts, were to seize upon them, and that they should be so ordered, that those who escaped one sort would be arrested by another. (R. Macculloch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Fear, and the pit – “The terror, the pit”] If they escape one calamity, another shall overtake them.
“As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should
overtake him:
Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand
on the wall,
And a serpent should bite him.”
Am 5:19.
“For,” as our Saviour expressed it in a like parabolical manner, “wheresoever the carcass is there shall the eagles be gathered together,” Mt 24:28. The images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts, which were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung with feathers of all colours, which fluttering in the air scared and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit which was prepared for them. Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. Seneca de Ira, ii. 12. The pit or pitfall, fovea; digged deep in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, turf, c., in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare, or toils, indago a series of nets, inclosing at first a great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known to be; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass, till they were at last closely shut up, and entangled in them. – L.
For mikkol, a MS. reads mippeney, as it is in Jer 48:44, and so the Vulgate and Chaldee. But perhaps it is only, like the latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple preposition mem. See Ps 102:6. For it does not appear that the terror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise. The paronomasia is very remarkable; pachad, pachath, pach: and that it was a common proverbial form, appears from Jeremiah’s repeating it in the same words, Jer 48:43-44.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Great and various judgments, some actually inflicted, and others expected and justly feared, as the punishment of their last-mentioned treachery.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. This verse explains thewretchedness spoken of in Isa24:16. Jeremiah (Jer 48:43;Jer 48:44) uses the same words.They are proverbial; Isa 24:18expressing that the inhabitants were nowhere safe; if they escapedone danger, they fell into another, and worse, on the opposite side(Am 5:19). “Fear” isthe term applied to the cords with feathers of all colors which, whenfluttered in the air, scare beasts into the pitfall, or birds intothe snare. HORSLEY makesthe connection. Indignant at the treatment which the Just Onereceived, the prophet threatens the guilty land with instantvengeance.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. This is to be understood not of the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, but of all the earth; Kimchi interprets it of the nations of the world, particularly the Greeks and Turks; but the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, are meant, as the following verses show. There is an elegant play on words in the Hebrew, which cannot well be expressed in English, in the words “pachad, pachath, pach”, fear, pit, and a snare; which are expressive of a variety of dangers, difficulties, and distresses; there seems to be an allusion to creatures that are hunted, who flee through fear, and fleeing fall into pits, or are entangled in snares, and so taken. Before the last day, or second coming of Christ to judge the world, there will be great perplexity in men’s minds, great dread and fear upon their hearts, and much distress of nations; and the coming of the Son of Man will be as a snare upon the earth; see Lu 21:25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare. The Prophet here discourses against the sins of the people. Formerly he declared that not only one nation, but very many and very distant nations, would have abundant grounds of thanksgiving. He now passes to another doctrine; for I think that these words ought to be separated from what goes before, because Isaiah again threatens the wicked, that they may know that amidst the highest prosperity of the Church they will be miserable. For the sake of cherishing their indifference, wicked men are accustomed rashly to apply the promises of God to themselves, though they do not at all belong to them; and therefore the prophets usually mingle threatenings with them. It is also possible that Isaiah delivered this discourse separately from the rest, and on a different occasion; for neither the prophets themselves nor other learned men divided the chapters. We have often seen different subjects joined together, and others divided which ought to have been joined, which was undoubtedly done through ignorance. However that may be, the Prophet returns to the wicked, and threatens against them severe and dreadful judgment.
This description of “fear, the pit, and the snare,” is intended to touch the feelings; for if he had said, in a single word, that destruction awaits the wicked, they would not have been greatly moved. But there is room for doubting if he addresses the Jews alone. For my own part, I should not be much inclined to dispute about this matter; but I think it is more probable that these threatenings related also to other nations, and even to the whole world, of which he had formally prophesied.
O inhabitant of the earth. By “the world” we understand those countries which were known to the Jews, as we have already explained. The meaning is, “Thou art pressed by afflictions so diversified, that thou hast no means of escape.” Amos gives a similar description: “He who shall flee through dread of a lion shall meet a bear; and if he go into the house, when he leaneth on a wall, a serpent shall bite him.” (Amo 5:19.) Isaiah formerly said that lions would be sent against the Moabites who had escaped from the battle. (Isa 15:9.) God has an endless variety of scourges for punishing the wicked. It is as if he had said, “Know that you cannot escape the hand of God; for he has various methods by which he takes vengeance on their crimes, and thus overtakes those who had hoped to escape by a variety of contrivances. He who escapes from the battle shall be tormented with hunger; and when he is freed from hunger, he will meet some other calamity, as if nets had been laid on all sides to ensnare you.”
For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. This argument confirms what had been already said, that it is impossible for them to escape the vengeance of God, who has prepared for it a free course in heaven and in earth, from the utmost height of heaven down to the depths of the earth. Some think that he alludes (Gen 7:11) to the deluge; but, in my opinion, the meaning is simpler, that the wrath of God will be revealed above and below; as if he had said, “The Lord will arm heaven and earth to execute his vengeance against men, that wherever they turn their eyes, they may behold nothing but destruction.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. JUDGMENT IS FROM JEHOVAH
TEXT: Isa. 24:17-23
17
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
19
The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently.
20
The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.
23
Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts will reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before his elders shall be glory.
QUERIES
a.
Why open the windows on high?
b.
Who are the high ones on high to be punished?
c.
When will Jehovah reign in mount Zion?
PARAPHRASE
When God executes His judgments upon the present world order, man will be confounded like the wild animal who fears its pursuers and falls into the pit; if it avoids the pit, it is taken by the snare. From heaven God is going to overwhelm mans rebellion like the great flood; He is going to shake the very foundations of mans utopian schemes like an earthquake brings down great edifices. Earthly systems and worldly schemes will be utterly broken, rent asunder and shaken violently. Those forces and philosophies of man which have arrayed themselves against Gods rule will be caused to stagger and reel under the defeat God brings upon themthey shall sway like a watchmans hut in a blowing storm. The futility of their rebellion and the guilt of their sin will be such a weight upon them they will fall never to regain complete dominance of the world again. On that day the Lord will make a visitation of judgment upon the principalities and powers in the heavenly places who have rebelled against Him as well as those rulers on the earth who have joined with these wicked spiritual beings. God will triumph over them all. He will gather these forces together in their greatest concentration of power, and He shall defeat them and take them captive like prisoners and He shall imprison them. And after a long period of time the Lord will visit all these imprisoned beings with final judgment. Such will be the glory of Jehovah when this is accomplished the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away. The glorious reign of Jehovah will, at that time, be established among men in the form of His kingdom on earth, the church. And His faithful covenant people will be brought to glory with Him.
COMMENTS
Isa. 24:17-20 VICTORY: Admittedly these verses are difficult to interpret. Many want to make them apply to the Second Advent of Christ and the end of the world. It is our view that the prophets spoke almost entirely of Christs First Advent, and in view of New Testament passages which seem to appropriate these figures of Isaiah, we believe these verses and those following apply to Christs first coming and the establishment of the church.
These verses are a continuation of the idea begun in the first verse of this chapter. Human efforts to take over Gods work of redeeming man are doomed to failure and defeat. There is no escape for mans rebellious attempts to usurp Gods sovereignty. Gods defeat of rebellion is inevitable! This same figure of inescapability is used in Amo. 5:18-20 (see our comments in Minor Prophets there). The Lords judgments are inescapable. His power to defeat mans rebellion is overwhelming and inundating like when He opened the windows of heaven and poured out the flood in Genesis 6. God is going to open the windows on high and send down His Son to defeat Satan and all those powers Satan has to hold men captive (cf. Joh. 12:31; Joh. 16:11; Heb. 2:14-15; Col. 2:15; Mat. 12:28-30). His Son will establish the kingdom of God on earth, the rule of God in mens hearts, and ascend to the right hand of the Father taking captivity captive (Eph. 4:8).
In all this we hear the crash and roar of falling governments and crashing empires. Gods judgments are upon them. He brings them to naught. His divine judgments will cause rebellious man to reel and stagger. Assyria fell to Babylon. Babylon fell to Medo-Persia; Medo-Persia crumbled before Alexander the Great; Greece was broken and overrun by Rome. Even Judaism will be shaken (cf. Heb. 12:25-29) and removed so that what cannot be shaken (the kingdom of God, the church) may remain. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, And in the days of those kings (the Roman empire) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever; (Dan. 2:44). Isaiah is not picturing the final great judgment here but the overthrow of the worldliness of the world. The destructiveness of rebellion and sin will bring about the downfall of all earthly systems trying to save men. If Daniels prediction is correct, and we believe it is, world-wide rule by human empires or kingdoms is never to rise again! The fourth kingdom of Daniel 2 was the last universal, human empire. That was the Roman empire. The church is now, and ever shall be, the only universal kingdom. Isaiah, in this passage (Isa. 24:20), is agreeing with Daniel (see our comments in Daniel, College Press).
Isa. 24:21-22 VANOUISHING: When God defeats the world of human rebellion and world-government usurpation, He will visit the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth, to imprison them. The Hebrew word translated punish in Isa. 24:21 is pokad which is usually translated visit (as in Isa. 24:22). At the accomplishment of the redemption of manat the death and resurrection of Christthe god of this world, Satan, was cast out (Joh. 12:31; Joh. 16:11). Satan was bound (Mat. 12:28-30; Rev. 20:1-3). Satans power was destroyed (Heb. 2:14-15). The New Testament also indicates (as well as Dan. 10:13; Dan. 10:20) the devil had angels or princes of the abyss to help him lead sinful men in rebellion (2Co. 11:14; Eph. 6:10-18, etc.). But these rebellious angels have been vanquished to a prison house of God (2Pe. 2:4; Jud. 1:6) awaiting final punishment. Christ triumphed over all principalities and powers (Col. 2:15; Eph. 1:20-21; Col. 1:16), and He led captivity captive (Eph. 4:8). Many days after Isaiah penned his 24th chapter, God visited the earth in His Son and vanquished the principalities and powers arrayed against His rule over man, freed man from their power, and bound the rebel Satan and his helperswhether hosts on high or kings on the earth. Those who sat in darkness have seen a great light (cf. Isa. 9:1-7). Captives have been liberated (Isa. 61:1-4; Luk. 1:68-75; Luk. 4:16-30).
Isa. 24:23 VINDICATION: The great planets and heavenly bodies are used by the prophets time and again to symbolize cataclysmic changes or portents to be experienced by man during the progress of history. See our comments in Minor Prophets, College Press, on Joe. 2:31; Joe. 3:15. See also Isaiahs use of the same terminology in connection with the downfall of babylon, Isa. 13:9-10, and the symbolic language of the Revelation, chapters Isa. 6:12 and Isa. 8:12.
Here in Isa. 24:23, Isaiah portrays Gods triumph over the world at the accomplishment of redemption in Christ as so exceedingly glorious the sun and moon will pale into insignificant shame in comparison with His glory! No created thing in this universe, no matter how magnificent or majestic, can ever be compared with the glory of redemptions accomplishment and the reign of God in His kingdom finally established. As C. S. Lewis once said, Even the glory of the future heavens and earth will not compare with the glory that is in us. It is not changed circumstances that will so much constitute a glorified existence as changed people. And when Jehovah reigns in Zion (the church, Heb. 12:22 ff) people are changed and glorified! Of course, changed people eagerly long for changed circumstances where they, in their changed natures, may serve the Lord without pain, frustration, and death. But right now those who are overcoming the world by their faith and are beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; (2Co. 3:18). God reigning in Zion is a Messianic term (see our comments in Minor Prophets, College Press, Obadiah, Isa. 24:17). God is going to reign in Jerusalem when the ark of the covenant is no longer remembered or missed (Jer. 3:15-18). That must be when the New Covenant is instituted!
QUIZ
1.
How are these verses a continuation of the ideas in the beginning of the 24th chapter?
2.
Why is God going to open the windows on high?
3.
How do these verses portray the inescapability of Gods judgments?
4.
What is probably meant by the violent shaking of the earth?
5.
What other O.T. prophet may be used in comparison here?
6.
When did God visit the host on high and shut them up in prison?
7.
How are heavenly bodies used symbolically by the prophets?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(17) Fear, and the pit, and the snare . . .The words paint the rapid succession of inevitable calamities, in imagery drawn from the several forms of the hunters work. There is first the terror of the startled beast; then the pit dug that he might fall into it; then the snare, if he struggled out of the pit, out of which there was no escape (Isa. 8:15). The passage is noticeable as having been reproduced by Jeremiah in his prophecy against Moab (Jer. 48:43-44).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17-20. The foundations do shake From the statement of these verses it would look as if the new view of the prophet was but a sudden shift in an ecstatic scene. The rush of invaders and the fleeing of the pursued are represented by images taken from the deluge and geologic earthquakes. The final scene is apocalyptic, and the earth is removed from existence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 24:17-18. Fear, and the pit, and the snare The prophet proceeds to set forth the judgment itself, with its various gradations, the first of which is contained in these verses. The meaning is, that it should be a time of extreme straits and difficulties in which every one should be so surrounded with various dangers, that if he escaped one, he would easily fall into another, and undoubtedly perish. See Jer 48:43 and Amo 5:19. There is a remarkable elegance in the original of the 17th verse, and great sublimity in the latter clause of the 18th, where the ideas and expressions are taken from the deluge, and are strongly expressive of that deluge of divine wrath which should fall upon, and totally overwhelm the apostate enemies of their religion and country. See Josephus, and the history of those times.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [are] upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Ver. 17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee. ] Metaphora a venatoribus, a metaphor from hunters, elegantly expressed in the original by words of a like sound. God hath variety of plagues at command; his quiver is full of shafts, neither can he possibly want a weapon to beat his rebels with. If the Amorites escape the sword, yet they are brained with hailstones Jos 10:11 If the Syrians get into a walled town, yet they are baned by the fall of a wall upon them. 1Ki 20:30
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fear, and the pit, and the snare. Figure of speech Synonymia, and Figure of speech Paonomasia, not a “play on words”, but for great and solemn emphasis. Hebrew. paphad, vapahath, happa vappaph (tr. Eng., scare, lair, snare).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 24:17-20
Isa 24:17-20
“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.”
The first three verses here remind one of Amo 5:19 –
“Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it” (Amo 5:18 b-20).
Perhaps a few words are here in order with reference to why the final judgment will be such a terrible time for the human race. It all goes back to the primeval sentence in the Garden of Eden, where God told Adam and Eve that they would surely die “in the day they ate of the forbidden tree.” Of course Adam and Eve ate; and the sentence of God still stands against them. God did not change his mind. He did not commute or change their sentence. He did not repeal it. It stands yet like the sword of Damocles over the head of Adam’s race; and it will yet be executed! Adam and Eve shall indeed die in the person of their total posterity upon the planet earth upon the occasion of the final judgment, the second advent of the Son of God.
The commentators are generally ignorant of the great truth that “Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree on the seventh day”; and, therefore, that day, “the seventh day” of creation, not the seventh day of the week, namely the present dispensation, is the occasion when Adam and Eve shall die in the person of their total posterity, the only exceptions being the redeemed of God, especially the redeemed in Christ. For further light on this, one should read the discerning article by the Bishop of Edinburgh in the Pulpit Commentary.
These verses (Isa 24:17-20) also entail the account of cosmic disturbances that shall mark the final judgment. The great earthquake that shall move every mountain and every island out of its place (Rev 6:14), resulting, as Isaiah reveals here, in the “fall of the earth,” which shall “not rise again,” thus supporting Peter’s revelation that we shall indeed look for “A new heaven, and a new earth (2Pe 3:13).” To us, it appears absolutely mandatory to view this portion of Isaiah as applicable to the final judgment.
Note the reference to the opening of the “windows on high,” obviously the same as the “windows of heaven” that were opened during the Great Deluge; and because that judgment is connected with the final judgment (2 Peter 3), we feel that this prophecy implies the same thing.
Isa 24:17-20 VICTORY: Admittedly these verses are difficult to interpret. Many want to make them apply to the Second Advent of Christ and the end of the world. It is our view that the prophets spoke almost entirely of Christs First Advent, and in view of New Testament passages which seem to appropriate these figures of Isaiah, we believe these verses and those following apply to Christs first coming and the establishment of the church.
These verses are a continuation of the idea begun in the first verse of this chapter. Human efforts to take over Gods work of redeeming man are doomed to failure and defeat. There is no escape for mans rebellious attempts to usurp Gods sovereignty. Gods defeat of rebellion is inevitable! This same figure of inescapability is used in Amo 5:18-20 (see our comments in Minor Prophets there). The Lords judgments are inescapable. His power to defeat mans rebellion is overwhelming and inundating like when He opened the windows of heaven and poured out the flood in Genesis 6. God is going to open the windows on high and send down His Son to defeat Satan and all those powers Satan has to hold men captive (cf. Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11; Heb 2:14-15; Col 2:15; Mat 12:28-30). His Son will establish the kingdom of God on earth, the rule of God in mens hearts, and ascend to the right hand of the Father taking captivity captive (Eph 4:8).
In all this we hear the crash and roar of falling governments and crashing empires. Gods judgments are upon them. He brings them to naught. His divine judgments will cause rebellious man to reel and stagger. Assyria fell to Babylon. Babylon fell to Medo-Persia; Medo-Persia crumbled before Alexander the Great; Greece was broken and overrun by Rome. Even Judaism will be shaken (cf. Heb 12:25-29) and removed so that what cannot be shaken (the kingdom of God, the church) may remain. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, And in the days of those kings (the Roman empire) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever; (Dan 2:44). Isaiah is not picturing the final great judgment here but the overthrow of the worldliness of the world. The destructiveness of rebellion and sin will bring about the downfall of all earthly systems trying to save men. If Daniels prediction is correct, and we believe it is, world-wide rule by human empires or kingdoms is never to rise again! The fourth kingdom of Daniel 2 was the last universal, human empire. That was the Roman empire. The church is now, and ever shall be, the only universal kingdom. Isaiah, in this passage (Isa 24:20), is agreeing with Daniel.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
and the pit: Lev 26:21, Lev 26:22, 1Ki 19:17, Jer 8:3, Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44, Eze 14:21
Reciprocal: Deu 32:23 – heap mischiefs Psa 11:6 – Upon Isa 24:22 – they shall Jer 11:11 – which Jer 16:16 – every mountain Lam 2:22 – my terrors Lam 3:47 – Fear Eze 11:8 – General Eze 12:13 – My net Amo 5:19 – As if Amo 9:1 – shall not flee Mic 6:14 – and thou Luk 21:35 – as Rev 3:10 – to try
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 24:17-18. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, &c. Great and various judgments, some actually inflicted, and others justly feared, as the punishment of the last-mentioned perfidiousness of the Jews toward God and their own Messiah. He that fleeth from the fear, &c. Upon the report of some terrible evil coming toward him; shall fall into the pit When he designs to avoid one danger, by so doing he shall plunge himself into another and greater mischief. For the windows from on high are opened, &c. Both heaven and earth conspire against him. He alludes to the deluge of waters which God poured down from heaven, and to the earthquake which he often causes below. There is a remarkable elegance in the original of the 17th verse. The three Hebrew words, , pachad, , pachath, and , pach, being a paronomasia, or having an affinity in sound with each other, which cannot be translated into another language. And there is also great sublimity in the latter clause of the 18th verse, in which the ideas and expressions, taken from the deluge, are strongly expressive of that deluge of divine wrath which should fall upon, and totally overwhelm, the apostate Jews for rejecting and crucifying their own Messiah.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Those who are the objects of God’s judgment will not be able to escape it because He will use the forces of nature to judge them, above them and below them (cf. Gen 7:11; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:5; Rev 8:7; Rev 11:13; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:18; Rev 16:21). "Windows above and foundations below" is a merism indicating totality. God Himself would be the agent of their destruction (cf. 2Sa 22:8; Psa 139:7-12; Amo 5:19).