Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 26:2
Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
2. Comp. Psa 118:19-20; Rev 22:14. “Truth” here means “troth,” fidelity (Deu 32:20).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Open ye the gates – This is probably the language of a chorus responding to the sentiment in Isa 26:1. The captive people are returning; and this cry is made that the gates of the city may be thrown open, and that they may be permitted to enter without obstruction (compare Psa 24:7, Psa 24:9; Psa 118:19).
That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth – Who, during their long captivity and contact with pagan nations, have not apostatized from the true religion, but have adhered firmly to the worship of the true God. This was doubtless true of the great body of the captive Jews in Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 26:2
Open ye the gates
A bunch of keys
(to children):–
1.
The gate of healing. What would you say is the key of that gate? Is it not our need? What, e.g., would give you admission into any hospital? Would it not be your need of the help that could be obtained there? Just so is it with Jesus, the good Physician. We have no claim except His own exceeding love and our exceeding need. There are no incurables so far as the Lord Jesus is concerned.
2. The door of hope. The key for that is promise. You may read about it in the Pilgrims Progress (Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle).
3. The door of help. The key is sympathy. Sympathy, as the meaning of the word implies, understands the situation. Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, was one of Gods commands to the Israelites, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. That was sympathy as the key to the door of help. They knew what it was to be strangers in a strange land, and therefore they could understand how a stranger among themselves would feel, how he would appreciate a friendly spirit, and how sensitive he would be to any coldness of treatment. Is it not His sympathy that makes Jesus the perfect Saviour?
4. The door of communion. For that we need two keys, just as in your house doors two keys are required to open them–the key that turns the lock and the key that lifts the latch. Prayer and obedience are the two keys.
5. The door of change, that door that stands at the end of the well-trodden path to the grave. What is the key for this door? We have none. God keeps it in His own hands. (J. B. Mayer, M. A.)
The righteous nation which keepeth the truth
Truth, and its influence upon society
Truth was not intended to be brought before the world by the God of truth for the mere purpose of influencing individual character. Hence we find the passage before us inviting not separate men in their respective capacities, but the righteous nation to enter in that keepeth the truth.
I. WHEN THE TRUTH SPREADS THROUGH SOCIETY IT WILL GIVE NEW VIEWS OF MORAL OBLIGATION. Looking at society as it stands at present where the truth has made but little way, we find those views of moral obligation that are adopted and acted upon, accommodated to the selfishness of individuals, and society has but little place in their consideration. But let the truth as it is in Christ influence society, and they will then begin to feel that the great source of moral obligation is not what they owe to themselves but what they owe to God.
II. If we find, therefore, that our sense of moral obligation is influenced by these higher considerations when we come to the truth, we have, in the next place, to look at THE WORKING OF TRUTH UNDER THIS HIGH SENSE OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD. There is an enlargement of feeling from the man to his own family–from his own family to his own relatives–from his own relatives to his own social circle–from his own social circle to his nation–from his nation to the body of nations round him–there is an enlargement of feeling in the still widening circle to regions beyond these–an enlargement of feeling that carries the mind onward in a morally spiritual expansion to the whole human race, and after the feelings of the man under the power of truth have been thus far extended, his feelings experience still a desire for further enlargement. He looks unto another and an eternal world and feels that there is a fellowship due to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to angels that seek to learn from his condition the manifold wisdom of God. And while his mind is thus enlarged under the working of truth, there is the reflection back again of truth in all the peace that it propagates, in all the glories that it conveys, in all the safety that it confers, in all the spirituality that it kindles, in all the communion which it permits between the creature and God, which will be found to tell upon the man, so that instead of living in a sphere of selfishness where his light burns but dimly, and where the discoveries of the power of truth are very limited, he feels that he lives in a blaze of spiritual illumination, and when he finds so many kindred souls sympathise with him, and striking up an anthem to God, whence all has come, he feels that he is a greater man, a happier man, a holier man, than if he were to stand aloof even in solitary perfection in his insulated condition, to worship God alone. Instead of a community of nations, we find a community of parties, and each frowning upon the other, and each watching the other with an unworthy yet a constant and an anxious jealousy. But when the truth does begin to operate upon the condition of the nations generally, how will their temporal circumstances be changed! What a rising of a new spirit in the human community! If we find truth thus raising our sense of moral obligation, if we find truth thus calculated to open so many sources of happiness, let us look to the source whence this mighty element derives all its power. It is not the truth itself regarded merely as conveyed by so many propositions that can accomplish this mighty wonder. But it is the truth applying these propositions by the Spirit of glory and of God. Looking, therefore, to all these mews of truth upon society, we have another great reason to induce us to endeavour to buy the truth, and sell it not. (J. Burnet.)
National responsibility
(with Pro 14:34):–From these and suchlike passages it is evident that nations may be and ought to be righteous and truth keeping, and that nations which are of this character occupy the highest position in relation to other nations, and in the estimation of Him by whom kings reign, and to whom national as well as individual homage is due. That nations can possess such a moral character, and render such homage is denied by those who do not admit that nations, in their corporate capacity, are subjects of Gods moral government. They hold that nations or states are impersonal, that they have no will and no conscience, and that therefore no responsibility attaches to national action, if indeed there can be such action at all. This is a serious mistake, and one which cannot but prove most pernicious in its influence and consequences. For nothing can be clearer, alike from the teaching of Gods Word and the facts of universal history, than that nations are responsible subjects of Divine government; that they are dealt with by God according to their character and conduct, punished when they do evil, and blessed and prospered when they do well (Jer 18:7-10). (Original Secession Magazine.)
National righteousness
I. Let us inquire WHAT THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS which should characterise a nation, and by which a nation is exalted. How does it manifest itself?
1. This righteousness has as its root–its essence–the foundation principle of all true religion–the fear of God, in the hearts of the people, of rulers and ruled. This must be the prevailing character of the persons of whom it is composed.
2. It includes, as one of its leading elements, the due observance of the worship of God, according to the rules lain clown in the Divine Word.
3. It includes a national keeping of the truth.
4. It includes the regulation of all national affairs, in the departments of legislation and administration, by the principles of Gods Word, which should be the rule of faith and practice to the nation as well as to the Church, the family, and the individual.
5. It includes the prevalence of Christian morality, or righteous dealings between man and man in the business of life, and the practice of all those moral virtues by which society is sweetened and adorned.
II. HOW RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION. A two-fold exaltation results from national righteousness–exaltation in the estimation of men, of other nations, and exaltation in the estimation of God.
III. HOW THIS NATION-EXALTING RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE AND OUGHT TO BE PROMOTED.
1. By attending to the cultivation of personal godliness.
2. By attending to the duties of family religion.
3. By diffusing the Word of God and stirring up the people to read and study it for themselves in secret and private, and by securing that it be taught in all our schools.
4. By the faithful preaching of the Gospel by ministers of religion.
5. By the forth-putting of all legitimate moral efforts to counteract and suppress whatever is contrary thereto.
6. With all such means must he mingled fervent prayer for the blessing of God, which can alone make them efficacious for the advancement of the cause of righteousness. (Original Secession Magazine.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. The righteous nation] The converted Gentiles shall have the gates opened – a full entrance into all the glories and privileges of the Gospel; being fellow heirs with the converted Jews. The Jewish peculiarity is destroyed, for the middle wall of partition is broken down.
The truth] The Gospel itself – as the fulfilment of all the ancient types, shadows, and ceremonies; and therefore termed the truth, in opposition to all those shadowy rites and ceremonies. “The law was given by Moses; but grace and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ;” Joh 1:17, and See Clarke on Joh 1:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Open ye the gates of the city, mentioned Isa 26:1.
The righteous nation; either,
1. Those godly Jews who are returning from Babylon; or,
2. The whole body of righteous and holy men, whether Jews or Gentiles. For he seems to speak here, as he apparently did in the foregoing chapter, of the times of the gospel.
Which keepeth the truth; which is sincere and stedfast in the profession and practice of the true religion.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Address of the returningpeople to the gates of Jerusalem (type of the heavenly city, Heb12:22); (Psa 24:7; Psa 24:9;Psa 118:19). Antitypically(Rev 22:14; Rev 21:25;Rev 21:27).
righteous nationthathad not apostatized during the captivity. HORSLEYtranslates, “The nation of the Just One,” namely, the Jews.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Open ye the gates,…. Not of Jerusalem, literally understood, nor of heaven; rather of the New Jerusalem, whose gates are described, Re 21:12 at least of the church in the latter day; the gates or door into which now should be, and then will be, open; Christ the door, and faith in him, and a profession of it, without which none ought to be admitted, and whoever climbs up another way is a thief and a robber, Joh 10:1 these words are the words of the prophet, or of God, or of Christ by him, directed not to the keepers of the gates of Jerusalem, or of the doors of the temple, though, they may be alluded to; nor to any supposed doorkeeper of heaven, angels, or men, there being none such; rather to the twelve angels, at the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, Re 21:12 or to the ministers of the Gospel, who have the key of knowledge to open the door of faith, and let persons into the knowledge of divine things; to admit them to ordinances, and receive them into the church by the joint suffrage of the members of it. The phrase denotes a large increase of members, and a free, open, and public reception of them, who are after described; see Isa 60:11:
that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in; not all the world, for there is none righteous, not one of them naturally, or of themselves; nor the Jewish nation, for though they sought after righteousness, did not attain it, unless when they will be converted in the latter day, and then they, and all the Lord’s people, will be righteous, and appear to be a holy nation, and a peculiar people,
Isa 60:21 and being made righteous by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and sanctified by the Spirit, will be fit persons to be admitted through the gates into the city; see
Ps 118:19 and because there will be great numbers of such, especially when a nation shall be born at once, hence they are so called: and these will be a set of men that “will keep the truth”; not, as the Targum renders it,
“who keep the law with a perfect heart;”
for no man can do that; but rather the ordinances of the Gospel, as they were first delivered by Christ and his apostles, and especially the truths of it; and the word here used is in the plural number, and may be rendered “truths”; the several truths of the Gospel, which will be kept by the righteous, not in memory only, but in their hearts and affections, and in their purity, and with a pure conscience; and they will not part with them at any rate, but hold them fast, that no man take their crown, Re 3:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In Isa 26:1 this city is thought of as still empty: for, like paradise, in which man was placed, it is first of all a creation of God; and hence the exclamation in Isa 26:2: “Open ye the gates, that a righteous people may enter, one keeping truthfulness.” The cry is a heavenly one; and those who open, if indeed we are at liberty to inquire who they are, must be angels. We recall to mind Psa 24:1-10, but the scene is a different one. The author of Ps 118 has given individuality to this passage in Psa 118:19, Psa 118:20. Goi tzaddik (a righteous nation) is the church of the righteous, as in Isa 24:16. Goi (nation) is used here, as in Isa 26:15 and Isa 9:2, with reference to Israel, which has now by grace become a righteous nation, and has been established in covenant truth towards God, who keepeth truth ( ’emunim , from ’emun , Psa 31:24).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2. Open ye the gates. This “song” was undoubtedly despised by many, when it was published by Isaiah; for during his life, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were wicked and ungodly, and the number of good men was exceedingly small. But after his death, when they had been punished for their wickedness, it was in some measure perceived that this prediction had not been uttered in vain. So long as wicked men enjoy prosperity, they have no fear, and do not imagine that they can be brought low. Thus the Jews thought that they would never be driven out of Judea, and carried into captivity, and hoped that they would continue to dwell there. It was therefore necessary to take away from them every pretense for being haughty and insolent; and such is the import of the Prophet’s words:
And a righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, shall enter in. “The inhabitants of the restored city shall be unlike the former; for they will maintain righteousness and truth. But at that time this promise also might appear to have failed of its accomplishment; for when they had been driven out of the country and led into captivity, no consolation remained. Accordingly, when the Temple had been destroyed, the city sacked, and all order and government overthrown and destroyed, they might have objected, “Where are those ‘gates’ which he bids us ‘open?’ Where are the people who shall ‘enter?’” Yet we see that these things were fulfilled, and that nothing was ever foretold which the Lord did not accomplish. We ought, therefore, to keep before our minds those ancient histories, that we may be fortified by their example, and, amidst the deepest adversity to which the Church is reduced, may hope that the Lord will yet raise her up again.
When the Prophet calls the nation “righteous and truthful,” he not only, as I mentioned a little before, describes the persons to whom this promise relates, but shews the fruit of the chastisement; for when its pollution shall have been washed away, the holiness and righteousness of the Church shall shine more brightly. At that time wicked men were the majority, good men were very few, and were overpowered by the multitude of those who were of an opposite character. It was therefore necessary that that multitude, which had no fear of God, and no religion, should be taken away, that God might gather his remnant. Thus, it was a compensation for the destruction, that Jerusalem, which had been polluted by the wickedness of her citizens, again was actually devoted to God; for it would not have been enough to regain prosperity, if newness of life had not shone forth in holiness and righteousness.
Now, as the Prophet foretells the grace of God, so he also exhorts the redeemed people to maintain uprightness of life. In short, he threatens that these promises will be of no avail to hypocrites, and that the gates of the city will not be opened for them, but only for the righteous and holy. It is certain that the Church was always like a barn, (Mat 3:12,) in which the chaff is mingled with the wheat, or rather, the wheat is overpowered by the chaff; but when the Jews had been brought back into their country, the Church was unquestionably purer than before. Those who returned must have been animated by a good disposition, to undertake a journey so long, and beset by so many annoyances, embarrassments, and dangers; and many others chose rather to remain in captivity than to return, thinking that to dwell in Babylon was a safer and more peaceful condition than to return to Judea. Such persons must have had a seed of piety, which led them to take possession of those promises which were granted to the fathers. Now, though the Church even at that time was stained by many imperfections, still this description was comparatively true; for a large portion of the filth had been swept away, and those who remained had profited in some degree under God’s chastisements.
A righteous nation, which keepeth the truth. Some distinguish these terms in this manner, “A nation righteous before God, and upright before men.” But I take the meaning to be more simple; that, after having called the nation “righteous,” he shews in what righteousness consists; that is, where there is uprightness of heart, which has nothing feigned or hypocritical, for nothing is more opposite to righteousness than hypocrisy. And though no man ever existed who advanced so far that he could receive the commendation of being perfectly righteous, yet the children of God, who with their whole heart aim at this “truth,” may be said to be keepers of it. But perhaps it will rather be thought that, by a figure of speech, one part is taken for the whole, to describe what is true righteousness; that is, when all deceit and all wicked practices have been laid aside, and men act towards each other with sincerity and truth.
If any man wish to make use of this passage for upholding the merits of men, the answer is easy; for the Prophet does not here describe the cause of salvation, or what men are by nature, but what God makes them by his grace, and what kind of persons he wishes to be members of his Church. Out of wolves he makes sheep, as we have formerly seen. (155) So long as we live here, we are always at a great distance from perfection, and are in continual progress towards it; but the Lord judges of us according to that which he has begun in us, and, having once led us into the way of righteousness, reckons us to be righteous. As soon as he begins to check and reform our hypocrisy, he at once calls us true and upright.
(155) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Open ye the gates . . .The cry comes as from the heralds of the king of the heavenly city, proclaiming that the gates are open to those who are worthy to enter into it, i.e., to the righteous people who alone may dwell in the city of God (Psa. 15:1-2; Psa. 24:3-4; Psa. 118:19-20; Rev. 21:27.)
The truth.Literally, truths; all the many forms of truthfulness in heart and life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Open gates The choral style of the twenty-fourth psalm appears here, but the responsive chorus does not here, as there, appear. The picture is of Zion’s city purified and made ready to receive the reclaimed and purified nation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 26:2. Open ye the gates We have here another chorus, congratulating those who have been found faithful in affliction, and proclaiming that they should have communion not only with the earthly Jerusalem, and the earthly temple, but also with the spiritual and heavenly city and temple; and the scene is so formed as if the chorus here introduced saw these confessors, delivered from prison and distress, returning in great companies to their own country, hastening to Jerusalem and the temple, there to present their grateful praises to God; and upon the sight of them, they call out to the governors of the city and temple to admit these children of the Most High into the holy city.
That the righteous nation, &c. And let the righteous nation enter; Isa 26:3 constant in the truth, stayed in mind; thou shalt preserve them in perpetual peace, because they have trusted in thee. Lowth. See Isa 26:12 and chap. Isa 32:17-18.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 26:2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Ver. 2. Open ye the gates. ] Room for the righteous, for such only are freemen of this city; Rev 22:14 such only are written among the living in Jerusalem. Isa 4:3-4 Psa 118:19 And this seemeth spoken to those doorkeepers, the ministers, to whom God hath committed the keys of his kingdom, setting them as upon a watch tower to keep out enemies, and to let in the true citizens.
That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
keepeth the truth = maintaineth fidelity. No Article. Compare Deu 32:20. Occurs only here, in Isaiah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Open: Isa 60:11, Isa 62:10, Psa 118:20, Eze 48:31-34, Zec 8:20, Act 2:47, Rev 21:24
righteous: Isa 60:21, Exo 19:6, Deu 4:6-8, Psa 106:5, 1Pe 2:9, 2Pe 3:13, Rev 5:9
truth: Heb. truths, Jud 1:3
Reciprocal: Psa 24:7 – Lift Psa 118:19 – Open Isa 51:4 – O my Jer 33:6 – and will Zec 2:5 – a wall Mat 21:43 – a nation Phi 3:20 – conversation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
26:2 {c} Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
(c) He assures the godly to return after the captivity to Jerusalem.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Isaiah, writing as a psalmist, called on the porters to open the celestial city gates so the nation that was right with God could enter (cf. Psa 15:1-5; Psa 24:3-10; Psa 118:19-22). The nation refers to Israel specifically in the context. Faithfulness and loyalty to the Lord will mark Israel then.
"God takes the very symbol of our rejection of him [i.e., a city] and transforms it into Heaven." [Note: Ortlund, p. 142.]