Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 24:6
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
6. hath the (or a) curse devoured the earth ] Cf. Zec 5:3.
are desolate ] Render with R.V., are found guilty.
the inhabitants of the earth are burned ] or burn under the curse, which is the expression of the Divine wrath. The verb ( rar) means “to glow” (Eze 24:11) or “be parched” (Job 30:30), not “be burned up.”
few men left ] Desolating and protracted wars have reduced the population of all countries; but the process of extermination is not yet at an end (see Isa 24:13).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore hath the curse devoured – Eaten it up; a figurative expression that is common in the Scriptures, denoting that the desolation is widespread and ruinous.
Are burned – ( charu). Instead of this reading, Lowth proposes to read: charebu Are destroyed. The Septuagint reads it, Therefore the inhabitants of the land shall be poor. The Syriac, The inhabitants of the land shall be slain. But there is no authority from the manuscripts to change the text as proposed by Lowth, Nor is it necessary. The prophet does not mean that the inhabitants of the land were consumed by fire. The expression is evidently figurative. He is speaking of the effect of wrath or the curse, and that effect is often described in the Scriptures as burning, or consuming, as a fire does. The sense is, that the inhabitants of the land are brought under the withering, burning, consuming effect of that wrath; and the same effects are produced by it as are seen when a fire runs over a field or a forest. Hence, the word here used ( charah, to burn, to be kindled) is often used in connection with wrath, to denote burning or raging anger. Exo 22:23 : His anger burns. Gen 30:2 : And the anger of Jacob was kindled against Rachel; Gen 44:18; Job 27:2-3; Job 42:7; Gen 31:6 : His anger was kindled. Psa 37:1, Psa 37:7-8; Pro 24:19 Compare Job 30:30 :
My skin is black upon me,
And my bones are burnt with heat.
The sense is, that the inhabitants of the land were wasted away under the wrath of God, so that few were left; as the trees of the forest are destroyed before a raging fire.
And few men are left – This was literally true after the invasion of the land by the Chaldeans 2Ki 24:14-16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Are burned – “Are destroyed”] For charu, read charebu. See the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Symmachus.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The curse; the curse of God threatened to transgressors, Deu 28:15; 29:20, and imprecated by and upon themselves, if they should not persist in their obedience to God, Deu 27:26, and elsewhere.
Are burned; are consumed by the wrath of God, which is commonly compared to fire.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. earththe land.
burnednamely, with theconsuming wrath of heaven: either internally, as in Job30:30 [ROSENMULLER];or externally, the prophet has before his eyes the people beingconsumed with the withering dryness of their doomed land (so Joe 1:10;Joe 1:12), [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,…. The inhabitants of it, and the fruits upon it, alluding to the earth being cursed for the sin of man, when it brought forth briers and thorns; this may denote the seven vials of God’s wrath poured upon the earth, or the antichristian states. Some, by the curse, understand perjury or false swearing; so the Targum,
“therefore, because of perjury (or a false oath) the earth is become a desert;”
of which popes, and Popish princes, cardinals, priests, Jesuits, c. have been notoriously guilty:
and they that dwell therein are desolate: for want of houses, cities and towns being destroyed by war or through famine, for want of provisions, the earth being cursed for their sins: or the words may be rendered, “for they that dwell therein are guilty” s; of idolatry, bloodshed, perjury, thefts, sorcery, and all other abominations, Re 9:20:
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned; their cities burnt with fire, and particularly the city of Rome; or their persons, their bodies burnt with burning fevers, and pestilential diseases; and their minds with envy, fury, and madness: this may be the same with the fourth vial poured upon the sun, when men will be scorched with fire and great heat, and blaspheme, Re 16:8. The Vulgate Latin version here renders it, “shall be mad”; through the wrath of God poured out upon them:
and few men left; but what shall be consumed by fire or sword, by famine or pestilence, or by one or other of the vials; and those that remain shall be frightened, and give glory to the God of heavens
Re 11:13.
s , , Sept. “peccabunt”, V. L. “quia deliquerunt”, Tigurine version; “rei aguntur, sive luunt”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. Some render it perjury, (124) but as אלה (ā lāh) signifies also a “curse,” I have no doubt that here he employs it to denote a “curse,” and alludes to those curses which Moses in the law threatens against wicked men and transgressors of the law, (Lev 26:16; Deu 28:15.) We know that the earth was cursed on account of the transgression of our first parent, so that it brought forth thorns and thistles instead of fruits. (Gen 3:17.) The Lord mitigated this curse, so that, although men were ungrateful and unworthy, still it yielded them food. But when we do not cease to sin, and when we add sin to sin, is it not in the highest degree just that the earth should become barren and unfruitful, in order that we may more clearly perceive this curse, and that it may make a deeper impression on our senses?
And its inhabitants are made desolate. I think that אשם (ā shăm) here means “to make desolate,” rather than “to forsake;” and this is apparent from the context, on which account I have translated it “are made desolate.” But perhaps it will be thought preferable to take the copulative ו ( vau) as signifying because, and then the meaning will be, “The earth accursed by God is burnt up, because its inhabitants have acted wickedly.” (125)
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The word חרו ( charu) may be taken metaphorically, and I prefer this view of it, which makes the meaning to be, that those whom the wrath of God has consumed are burned up; because the destruction is compared to a conflagration. When he adds, “that few will be left,” we learn from it that this prediction cannot be explained as relating to the last day of judgment, and that, on the contrary, the Prophet foretells and confirms those desolations which threatened various nations, and that he does so in order that the godly may fear, and may be led to repentance, and may be prepared for enduring all things.
(124) Bogus footnote
(125) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Therefore hath the curse . . .The definite article may be either generic, the curse which always follows on evil-doing, or, more specifically, the curse of the Book of the Covenant, as in Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28. The curse is personified as a beast of prey or a consuming fire, ready to devour. (Comp. Gen. 4:7; Gen. 4:11.)
They that dwell therein are desolate.Better, bear their punishment, or are dealt with as guilty.
Are burned.The word determines, perhaps, the sense of the word devour in the previous clause. The curse, the symbol of the wrath of Jehovah, is the consuming fire that burns.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Therefore hath the curse The prophecy moves on from sin to punishment. The curses denounced (see Deuteronomy xxvii and xxviii) fall upon transgressors. If the term earth covers the land of Israel and more, the law covers commands revealed and commands of conscience; it is alike the law written and unwritten.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 24:6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth This verse contains the fourth gradation, and is well illustrated by Zec 5:1; Zec 5:11. The phrase are burned, refers to the internal consumption and decay. See Job 30:30. Psa 69:3. The meaning of the prophet is, that the principal inhabitants of the land should waste away, be gradually consumed, and perish; whether dispersed by the public calamities, or reduced to poverty by the spoiling of their goods; so that few of them should remain, and they only of the poorer sort; and this was the face of things in Judaea at the time referred to.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Ver. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. ] The Chaldee and Vatablus render it the perjury – viz., in transgressing the laws, &c., which they had covenanted and sworn to observe; see Psa 119:106 . That dreadful curse of the Jews Mat 27:25 is come upon them to the utmost, devouring their land and desolating the inhabitants thereof. Though the curse causeless come not, yet God sometimes saith Amen to other men’s curses, as he did to Jotham’s upon the Shechemites. Jdg 9:57 How much more to men’s cursing themselves?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. Some codices, with four early printed editions (one in margin), and Syriac, read “Because of a curse the earth mourneth”.
earth. Hebrew. ‘erez.
desolate = laid waste. Hebrew. ‘asham. Compare verses: Isa 24:10, Isa 24:12, Isa 24:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
hath: Isa 42:24, Isa 42:25, Deu 28:15-20, Deu 29:22-28, Deu 30:18, Deu 30:19, Jos 23:15, Jos 23:16, Zec 5:3, Zec 5:4, Mal 2:2, Mal 3:9, Mal 4:1, Mal 4:6, Mat 27:25
and few: Lev 26:22, Deu 4:27, Deu 28:62, Eze 5:3, Mat 7:14, Rom 9:27, 2Pe 3:10
Reciprocal: Gen 3:17 – cursed Gen 7:21 – General Lev 26:35 – General Deu 28:16 – in the city Deu 32:22 – shall consume 2Ch 28:6 – because Psa 106:39 – defiled Isa 13:12 – General Jer 23:10 – the pleasant Lam 4:5 – that did Dan 10:3 – I ate Zep 1:17 – because Rom 8:20 – the creature Heb 8:9 – they continued
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
24:6 Therefore hath the {d} curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell in it are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are {e} burned, and few men left.
(d) Written in the law, as in Lev 26:14, De 28:16 thus the prophets used to apply particularly the menaces and promises which are general in the law.
(e) With heat and drought, or else that they were consumed with the fire of God’s wrath.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God has cursed sin (cf. Gen 3:17-19), so when people sin they set His curse to work, and it devours the earth.
"Countries do not have sins, but people do. And countries suffer as a consequence of the guilt of their peoples." [Note: Watts, p. 317.]
Those who sin are guilty before God and suffer the judgment due them. This is part of His covenant relationship with humankind (Gen 2:17; cf. Deuteronomy 27-28). The only reason all do not perish is that God graciously extends mercy to some (cf. Noah). A remnant of believers will survive the Tribulation.