Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 26:5
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, [even] to the ground; he bringeth it [even] to the dust.
5, 6. Jehovah has proved himself to be a Rock by the destruction of “the lofty city”; see on ch. Isa 25:2. The principal pause in Isa 26:5 should be after the word “city.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The lofty city, he layeth it low – The city of Babylon (see the note at Isa 25:12; compare Isa. 13, note; Isa 14:1, note)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
He bringeth down, Heb. he hath brought down, which yet may be put for the future, he will bring down, &c. You may trust him; for he can and doth raise some, and throw down others, according to his own good pleasure.
Them that dwell on high; he speaks not so much of height of place as of dignity and power, in which sense also he mentions the lofty city, in the next clause. The lofty city; which may be understood either of proud Babylon; or collectively, of all the strong and stately cities of Gods enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. lofty cityBabylon;representative of the stronghold of the foes of God’s people in allages (Isa 25:2; Isa 25:12;Isa 13:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city,…. That dwell on high in the high city, so the accents require the words to be rendered; and accordingly the Targum is,
“for he will bring low the inhabitants of the high and strong city;”
such that dwell in a city built on high, and in the high towers and palaces of it; or that sit on high thrones, are spiritual wickednesses in high places, and are of proud and haughty dispositions and conduct; as the pope of Rome and his cardinals, c. for not the city of Jerusalem is here meant, as Jerom thinks, whose destruction he supposes is foretold, as both by the Babylonians and Romans; and therefore, he observes, the word is doubled in the next clause; nor the city of Nineveh; nor Babylon, literally taken; but mystical Babylon is here meant. Jarchi interprets them that dwell on high of Tyre and Greece; but Jerom says, the Jews understand by the lofty city the city of Rome; and this seems to be the true sense; a city built upon seven hills or mountains; a city that has ruled over the kings of the earth, and whose present inhabitants are proud and haughty:
he layeth it low: he layeth it low, [even] to the ground; he bringeth it [even] to the dust; all which expressions denote the utter destruction of it; see Isa 25:12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He has already proved Himself to be such a rock, on which everything breaks that would attack the faithful whom He surrounds. “For He hath bent down them that dwell on high; the towering castle, He tore it down, tore it down to the earth, cast it into dust. The foot treads it to pieces, feet of the poor, steps of the lowly.” Passing beyond the fall of Moab, the fall of the imperial city is celebrated, to which Moab was only an annex (Isa 25:1-2; Isa 24:10-12). The futures are determined by the preterite; and the anadiplosis, which in other instances (e.g., Isa 25:1, cf., Psa 118:11) links together derivatives or variations of form, is satisfied in this instance with changing the forms of the suffix. The second thought of Isa 26:6 is a more emphatic repetition of the first: it is trodden down; the oppression of those who have been hitherto oppressed is trodden down.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Goodness and Justice of God. | B. C. 718. |
5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. 6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. 7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. 8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. 9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10 Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
Here the prophet further encourages us to trust in the Lord for ever, and to continue waiting on him; for,
I. He will make humble souls that trust in him to triumph over their proud enemies, Isa 26:5; Isa 26:6. Those that exalt themselves shall be abased: For he brings down those that dwell on high; and wherein they deal proudly he is, and will be, above them. Even the lofty city Babylon itself, or Nineveh, he lays it low, ch. xxv. 12. He can do it, be it ever so well fortified. He has often done it. He will do it, for he resists the proud. It is his glory to do it, for he proves himself to be God by looking on the proud and abasing them, Job xl. 12. But, on the contrary, those that humble themselves shall be exalted; for the feet of the poor shall tread upon the lofty cities, v. 6. He does not say, Great armies shall tread them down; but, When God will have it done, even the feet of the poor shall do it, Mal. iv. 3. You shall tread down the wicked. Come, set your feet on the necks of these kings. See Psa 147:6; Rom 16:20.
II. He takes cognizance of the way of his people and has delight in it (v. 7): The way of the just is evenness (so it may be read): it is their endeavour and constant care to walk with God in an even steady course of obedience and holy conversation. My foot stands in an even place, goes in an even path, Ps. xxvi. 12. And it is their happiness that God makes their way plain and easy before them: Thou, most upright, dost level (or make even) the path of the just, by preventing or removing those things that would be stumbling-blocks to them, so that nothing shall offend them, Ps. cxix. 165. God weighs it (so we read it); he considers it, and will give them grace sufficient for them, to help them over all the difficulties they may meet with in their way. Thus with the upright God will show himself upright.
III. It is our duty, and will be our comfort, to wait for God, and to keep up holy desires towards him in the darkest and most discouraging times, Isa 26:8; Isa 26:9. This has always been the practice of God’s people, even when God has frowned upon them, 1. To keep up a constant dependence upon him: “In the way of thy judgments we have still waited for thee; when thou hast corrected us we have looked to no other hand than thine to relieve us,” as the servant looks only to the hand of his master, till he have mercy upon him, Ps. cxxiii. 2. We cannot appeal from God’s justice but to his mercy. If God’s judgments continue long, if it be a road of judgments (so the word signifies), yet we must not be weary but continue waiting. 2. To send up holy desires towards him. Our troubles, how pressing soever, must never put us out of conceit with our religion, nor turn us away from God; but still the desire of our soul must be to his name and to the remembrance of him; and in the night, the darkest longest night of affliction, with our souls must we desire him. (1.) Our great concern must be for God’s name, and our earnest desire must be that his name may be glorified, whatever becomes of us and our names. This is that which we must wait for, and pray for. “Father, glorify thy name, and we are satisfied.” (2.) Our great comfort must be in the remembrance of that name, of all that whereby God has made himself known. The remembrance of God must be our great support and pleasure; and, though sometimes we be unmindful of him, yet still our desire must be towards the remembrance of him and we must take pains with our own hearts to have him always in mind. (3.) Our desires towards God must be inward, fervent, and sincere. With our soul we must desire him, with our soul we must pant after him (Ps. xlii. 1), and with our spirits within us, with the innermost thought and the closest application of mind, we must seek him. We make nothing of our religion, whatever our profession be, if we do not make heart-work of it. (4.) Even in the darkest night of affliction our desires must be towards God, as our sun and shield; for, however God is pleased to deal with us, we must never think the worse of him, nor cool in our love to him. (5.) If our desires be indeed towards God, we must give evidence that they are so by seeking him, and seeking him early, as those that desire to find him, and dread the thoughts of missing him. Those that would seek God and find him must seek betimes, and seek him earnestly. Though we come ever so early, we shall find him ready to receive us.
IV. It is God’s gracious design, in sending abroad his judgments, thereby to bring men to seek him and serve him: When thy judgments are upon the earth, laying all waste, then we have reason to expect that not only God’s professing people, but even the inhabitants of the world, will learn righteousness, will have their mistakes rectified and their lives reformed, will be brought to acknowledge God’s righteousness in punishing them, will repent of their own unrighteousness in offending God, and so be brought to walk in right paths. They will do this; that is, judgments are designed to bring them to this, they have a natural tendency to produce this effect, and, though many continue obstinate, yet some even of the inhabitants of the world will profit by this discipline, and will learn righteousness; surely they will; they are strangely stupid if they do not. Note, The intention of afflictions is to teach us righteousness; and blessed is the man whom God chastens, and thus teaches, Ps. xciv. 12. Discite justitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos–Let this rebuke teach you to cultivate righteousness, and cease from despising the gods.–Virgil.
V. Those are wicked indeed that will not be wrought upon by the favourable methods God takes to subdue and reform them; and it is necessary that God should deal with them in a severe way by his judgments, which shall prevail to humble those that would not otherwise be humbled. Observe,
1. How sinners walk contrary to God, and refuse to comply with the means used for their reformation and to answer the intentions of them, v. 10. (1.) Favour is shown to them. They receive many mercies from God; he causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall upon them, nay, he prospers them, and into their hands he brings plentifully; they escape many of the strokes of God’s judgments, which others less wicked than they have been cut off by; in some particular instances they seem to be remarkably favoured above their neighbours, and the design of all this is that they may be won upon to love and serve that God who thus favours them; and yet it is all in vain: They will not learn righteousness, will not be led to repentance by the goodness of God, and therefore it is requisite that God should send his judgments into the earth, to reckon with men for abused mercies. (2.) They live in a land of uprightness, where religion is professed and is in reputation, where the word of God is preached, and where they have many good examples set them,–in a land of evenness, where there are not so many stumbling-blocks as in other places,–in a land of correction, where vice and profaneness are discountenanced and punished; yet there they will deal unjustly, and go on frowardly in their evil ways. Those that do wickedly deal unjustly both with God and man, as well as with their own souls; and those that will not be reclaimed by the justice of the nation may expect the judgments of God upon them. Nor can those expect a place hereafter in the land of blessedness who now conform not to the laws and usages, nor improve the privileges and advantages, of the land of uprightness; and why do they not? It is because they will not behold the majesty of the Lord, will not believe, will not consider, what a God of terrible majesty he is whose laws and justice they persist in the contempt of. God’s majesty appears in all the dispensations of his providence; but they regard it not, and therefore study not to answer the ends of those dispensations. Even when we receive of the mercy of the Lord we must still behold the majesty of the Lord and his goodness. (3.) God lifts up his hand to give them warning, that they may, by repentance and prayer, make their peace with him; but they take no notice of it, are not aware that God is angry with them, or coming forth against them: They will not see, and none so blind as those who will not see, who shut their eyes against the clearest conviction of guilt and wrath, who ascribe that to chance, or common fate, which is manifestly a divine rebuke, who regard not the threatening symptoms of their own ruin, but cry Peace to themselves, when the righteous God is waging war with them.
2. How God will at length be too hard for them; for, when he judges, he will overcome: They will not see, but they shall see, shall be made to see, whether they will or no, that God is angry with them. Atheists, scorners, and the secure, will shortly feel what now they will not believe, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. They will not see the evil of sin, and particularly the sin of hating and persecuting the people of God; but they shall see, by the tokens of God’s displeasure against them for it and the deliverances in which God will plead his people’s cause, that what is done against them he takes as done against himself and will reckon for it accordingly. They shall see that they have done God’s people a great deal of wrong, and therefore shall be ashamed of their enmity and envy towards them, and their ill usage of such as deserved better treatment. Note, Those that bear ill-will to God’s people have reason to be ashamed of it, so absurd and unreasonable is it; and, sooner or later, they shall be ashamed of it, and the remembrance of it shall fill them with confusion. Some read it, They shall see and be confounded for the zeal of the people, by the zeal God will show for his people; when they shall be made to know how jealous God is for the honour and welfare of his people they shall be confounded to think that they might have been of that people and would not. Their doom therefore is that, since they slighted the happiness of God’s friends, the fire of his enemies shall devour them, that is, the fire which is prepared for his enemies and with which they shall be devoured, the fire designed for the devil and his angels. Note, Those that are enemies to God’s people, and envy them, God looks upon as his enemies, and will deal with them accordingly.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 5-11: THE JUDGMENT OF OPPRESSORS GIVES HOPE TO GOD’S PEOPLE
1. Divine judgment upon the oppressors of His people is adequate reason for trusting in the Lord; positive proof of His mighty strength, (vs. 5; Act 17:30-31).
2. The poor and needy are permitted to share in the judgment and humiliation of “them that dwell on high” – “the lofty city” being a reference to Babylon, (vs. 5-6; Isa 28:3; comp. Isa 3:14-15; Isa 11:4; Isa 29:19).
3. In the way of uprightness the Lord directs the path of the just – imparting to them His own character, (vs. 7; Pro 3:3-5; Isa 57:1-2; Isa 42:16; Isa 52:12; Psa 25:4-5; Rom 3:23-28; Rom 5:1-2).
4. God always honors the patience of those who, recognizing His wise counsels and holy purposes, and concerned for the honor of His name (Isa 12:4; Isa 24:15; Isa 25:1; Exo 3:15), await His time for acting in their behalf, (vs. 8; Isa 51:4-6; Isa 54:1; Isa 40:31; Isa 49:23; La 3:25-26).
5. In the night of her trouble and distress Israel has desired the protecting arm of her estranged lover, (Psa 77:2-3; Psa 78:34); in the coming morning (as the “day of the Lord” begins to dawn), she will seek Him early, (vs. 9a; Psa 59:16; Psa 63:1; Hos 5:15; Hos 6:3; Mat 6:33).
6. When the Lord’s judgments are made manifest, the nation will come to worship Jehovah, (Rev 15:4; Zep 3:8-20; Zec 14:16).
7. Some, even in face of the overwhelming display of God’s judgments against sin and rebellion, will refuse to honor His majesty – dealing wrongfully with His elect, (vs. 10; 32:6-7; Joh 5:37-38).
8. Though they do not want to see (Isa 5:12; Isa 44:9; Isa 44:18), they will recognize the uplifted hand of Jehovah, in the zealous defense of His people, to their own shame and eternal ruin, (Isa 59:17-19; comp. Isa 5:25; Isa 9:18-19; Isa 10:17; Isa 66:15; Isa 66:24).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. For he will bring down the inhabitants of loftiness. (158) He now explains more fully what is that power of God of which he spoke. It is that which we ourselves feel, and which is exerted for our benefit. The two clauses are therefore closely connected, that “the proud are laid low by the power of God,” and that “the lowly and despised are placed in their room;” for it would not have yielded full consolation to tell us, in the first place, that “the proud will be laid low,” if he had not likewise added, that “the lowly will be exalted,” so as to hold dominion over the proud. We therefore acknowledge, that in our own experience God works powerfully for our salvation, and this yields to us a ground of hope.
Under the word loftiness he includes not only bulwarks and fortifications of every kind, (for the ancients were wont to build their cities in lofty places,) but also wealth and magnificence. He therefore means, that no defense can prevent God from casting down the wicked, and laying them low. Towers and bulwarks, indeed, are not displeasing to God; but as it rarely happens that they who are strong and powerful are not proud, so loftiness frequently denotes pride. Unquestionably he speaks of the wicked, who have abundance of arms, forces, and money, and imagine that they are protected against God himself. He likewise comforts the Jews, as we have formerly said, (159) because the invincible power of Babylon might have terrified them and thrown them into despair, if the Lord had not supported them by this promise: “You have no reason for being terrified at the greatness or strength of Babylon; for she will quickly fall, and will not stand before the power of the Lord.”
(158) Bogus footnote
(159) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) The lofty city, he layeth it low . . .The city is probably the great imperial city of confusion that had exalted itself against God and his people. To that city, Moab, in all its pride, was but as a tributary.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5-7. He bringeth down them that dwell on high The argument is, Why not trust such a One who has overwhelmed imperial oppressive cities, and abolished nearer gainsaying peoples. A more free rendering here, but giving the true sense is, “The dwellers in high pride he hurled downward, the towering fortress he tumbled to the ground and pulverized it to dust. Feet of common people, feet of the poor and lowly, are treading it in very scorn.” But to the righteous how otherwise the result! Their way is straight and even. The word weigh, in Isa 26:7, is used in the sense of to make even, to level. The course of the just is smooth and unimpeded.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Contrast Between The Lofty City and The Way of the Righteous ( Isa 26:5-10 ).
Those in the lofty city have no time for righteousness. Even if shown favour or set in a land of uprightness they will behave wickedly and ignore God’s majesty. In contrast the truly righteous seek Him with their whole heart.
Analysis.
a For He has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low, He lays it low even to the ground, He brings it even to the dust (Isa 26:5).
b The foot will tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy (Isa 26:6).
c The way of the righteous is uprightness (altogether right), you (singular) who are upright weigh up the path of the righteous (Isa 26:7).
d Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Yahweh, have we waited for you. To your name and to your renown (memorial, what is remembered) is the desire of our inner self (Isa 26:8).
d With my very life (nephesh) have I desired you in the night, yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you early (Isa 26:9 a).
c For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (Isa 26:9 b).
b Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Yahweh (Isa 26:10 a).
a Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they will see your zeal for your people and be put to shame, yes, fire will devour your adversaries (Isa 26:10 b).
In ‘a’ we have the lofty city, which is in contrast with the city of salvation, and has to be brought low, and in the parallel it is because when His hand is lifted up its inhabitants do not see, but they will be made to see when Yahweh in zeal for His people sends fire to devour them. In ‘b’ the toppled city will be trodden on by the poor and needy, God’s righteous ones, while in the parallel the judgment on the city’s inhabitants is that even when favour is shown to them in their unrighteousness they will not learn righteousness or behold the righteousness of Yahweh. In ‘c’ the way of the righteous is uprightness and the upright are called on to judge the path of the righteous, and in the parallel passage when Yahweh’s judgments are in the earth its inhabitants learn righteousness. In ‘d’ the desire of the inner self of the righteous is to Yahweh’s name memory, and in the parallel they desire Him in the night and seek Him early. Note the repetition of ‘yes’.
The Lofty City Destroyed ( Isa 26:5-6 ).
Isa 26:5-6
‘For he has brought down those who dwell on high,
The lofty city.
He lays it low,
He lays it low even to the ground,
He brings it even to the dust.
The foot will tread it down,
Even the feet of the poor,
And the steps of the needy.’
In contrast to the strong city is the city of pride, the lofty city, the city that represents the world that has rejected God, perched on its height and seeming to be secure until Yahweh brings it down (see Isa 25:2; Isa 25:12). But bring it down He does, it is brought to the dust, for it despises righteousness (Isa 26:10). It is in direct contrast with the heavenly city of God. The poor and the needy will trample on it, (again a sign that we must not take the pictures too literally).
The idea is that the poor and the needy, those who trust in Yahweh, will come out as the victors while the lofty city will be no more. The poor and needy possess it because its inhabitants had not responded to God’s attempts to introduce them to righteousness (Isa 26:10). But the victory is gained by Yahweh as the description of the victors especially brings out.
Note that the ‘for’ connects it with what has gone before. The lofty city is in contrast to the strong city. The downfall of the one confirms and ensures the strength of the other. This picture of two cities is descriptive. For so long it was the world city that seemed to triumph and prosper, and the city of God seemed to be as nothing. The world city (whether Nineveh, or Babylon, or Rome, or whoever) stood proudly on its lofty peak and held the world in its sway, but now it is finally brought down, it is humbled, it is brought to the dust, while the humble city of God is seen to be the one whose walls are truly protective, and which finally triumphs. Compare Revelation 17-18 with 21.
Isaiah may, of course, have especially in mind here the city that exalted itself, Babylon in all its pride, even in his own time (Isa 13:19), but only because that is in his eyes the epitome of the pride of all great cities.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Righteous and the Unrighteous ( Isa 26:5-21 )
The ways of the righteous and of the unrighteous are now compared, and their destinies contrasted. For the unrighteous the grave with its shadowy half-existence, for the righteous, resurrection to new hope. It ends with the warning that meanwhile God’s anger will finally be revealed in the world, from which the righteous must hide themselves.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
These are plain, but very gracious expressions. The Lord’s people may be, indeed the Lord’s people will be, humbled, and brought under humbling providences; but Jesus weigheth out to them in measure all that is needful for them, and no more. And as to their oppressors, Jesus seeth them all, and knoweth them all, and keeps an account of all their malice. And woe unto them when God ariseth to punish. Psa 12:5 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 26:5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, [even] to the ground; he bringeth it [even] to the dust.
Ver. 5. For he bringeth down those that dwell on high. ] Even all adverse power, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. 2Co 10:5
The lofty city he layeth it low.
“ Versa eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses. ”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
THE SONG OF TWO CITIES
Isa 26:1 – Isa 26:10
‘This song’ is to be interpreted as a song, not with the cold-blooded accuracy proper to a scientific treatise. The logic of emotion is as sound as that of cool intellect, but it has its own laws and links of connection. First, the song sets in sharp contrast the two cities, describing, in Isa 26:1 – Isa 26:4 , the city of God, its strength defences, conditions of citizenship, and the peace which reigns within its walls; and in Isa 26:5 – Isa 26:6 the fall and utter ruin of the robber city, its antagonist Jerusalem, on its rocky peninsula, supplies the form of Isaiah’s thought; but it is only a symbol of the true city of God, the stable, invisible, but most real, polity and order of things to which men, even while wandering lonely and pilgrims, do come, if they will. It is possible even here and now to have our citizenship in the heavens, and to feel that we belong to a great community beyond the sea of time, though our feet have never trodden its golden pavements, nor our eyes seen its happy glories.
In one aspect, it is ideal, but in truth it is more real than the intrusive and false things of this fleeting present, which call themselves realities. ‘The things which are’ are the things above. The things here are but shows and shadows.
The city’s walls are salvation. There is no need to name the architect of these fortifications. One hand only can pile their strength. God appoints salvation in lieu of all visible defences. Whom He purposes to save are saved. Whom He wills to keep safe are kept safe. They who can shelter behind that strong defence need no other. Weak, sense-governed hearts may crave something more palpable, but they do not really need it. A parapet on an Alpine road gives no real security, but only satisfies imagination. The sky needs no pillars to hold it up.
Then an unknown voice breaks in upon the song, calling on unnamed attendants to fling wide the gates. The city is conceived of as empty; its destined inhabitants must have certain qualifications. They must be righteous, and must ‘keep faithfulness’ being true to the God who is ‘faithful and true’ in all His relations. None but the righteous can dwell in conscious citizenship with the Unseen while here, and none but the righteous can enter through the gates into the city. That requirement is founded in the very nature of the case, and is as emphatically proclaimed by the gospel as by the prophet. But the gospel tells more articulately than he was enlightened to do, how righteousness is to be won. The last vision of the Apocalypse, which is so like this song in its central idea, tells us of the fall of Babylon, of the descent to earth of the New Jerusalem, and leaves as its last message the great saying, ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may . . . enter in through the gate into the city.’
Our song gives some hint of similar thoughts by passing from the description of the qualifications for entrance to the celebration of the security which comes from trust. The safety which is realised within the walls of the strong city is akin to the ‘perfect peace’ in which he who trusts is kept; and the juxtaposition of the two representations is equivalent to the teaching that trust, which is precisely the same as the New Testament faith, is the condition of entrance. We know that faith makes righteous, because it opens the heart to receive God’s gift of righteousness; but that effect of faith is implied rather than stated here, where security and peace are the main ideas. As some fugitives from the storm of war sit in security behind the battlements of a fortress, and scarcely hear the din of conflict in the open field below, the heart, which has taken refuge by trust in God, is kept in peace so deep that it passes description, and the singer is fain to give a notion of its completeness by calling it ‘peace, peace.’ The mind which trusts is steadied thereby, as light things lashed to a firm stay are kept steadfast, however the ship toss. The only way to get and keep fixedness of temper and spirit amid change and earthquake is to hold on to God, and then we may be stable with stability derived from the foundations of His throne to which we cling.
Therefore the song breaks into triumphant fervour of summons to all who hear it, to ‘trust in Jab Jehovah for ever,’ Such settled, perpetual trust is the only attitude corresponding to His mighty name, and to the realities found in His character. He is the ‘Bock of Ages’ the grand figure which Moses learned beneath the cliffs of Sinai and wove into his last song, and which tells us of the unchanging strength that makes a sure hiding-place for all generations, and the ample space which will hold all the souls of men, and be for a shadow from the heat, a covert from the tempest, a shelter from the foe, and a home for the homeless, with many a springing fountain in its clefts.
The great act of judgment which the song celebrates is now Isa 26:5 – Isa 26:6 brought into contrast with the blessed picture of the city, and by the introductory ‘for’ is stated as the reason for eternal trust. The language, as it were, leaps and dances in jubilation, heaping together brief emotional and synonymous clauses. So low is the once proud city brought, that the feet of the poor tread it down. These ‘poor’ and ‘needy’ are the true Israel, the suffering saints, who had known how cruel the sway of the fallen robber city was; and now they march across its site; and its broken columns and ruined palaces strew the ground below their feet. ‘The righteous nation’ of the one picture are ‘the poor and needy’ of the other. No doubt the prophecy has had partial accomplishments more than once or twice, when the oppressed church has triumphed, and some hoary iniquity been levelled at a blow, or toppled over by slow decay. But the complete accomplishment is yet future, and not to be realised till that last act, when all antagonism shall be ended, and the net result of the weary history of the world be found to be just these two pictures of Isaiah’s-the strong city of God with its happy inhabitants, and the everlasting desolations of the fallen city of confusion.
The triumphant hurry of the song pauses for a moment to gaze upon the crash, and in Isa 26:7 gathers its lessons into a kind of proverbial saying, which is perhaps best translated ‘The path of the just is smooth or “plain”; Thou levellest smooth the path of the just.’ To render ‘upright’ instead of ‘smooth’ seems to make the statement almost an identical proposition, and is tame. What is meant is, that, in the light of the end, the path which often seemed rough is vindicated. The judgment has showed that the righteous man’s course had no unnecessary difficulties. The goal explains the road. The good man’s path is smooth, not because of its own nature, but because God makes it so. We are to look for the clearing of our road, not to ourselves, nor to circumstances, but to Him; and even when it is engineered through rocks and roughnesses, to believe that He will make the rough places plain, or give us shoes of iron and brass to encounter them. Trust that when the journey is over the road will be explained, and that this reflection, which breaks the current of the swift song of the prophet, will be the abiding, happy conviction of heaven.
Lastly, the song looks back and tells how the poor and needy, in whose name the prophet speaks, had filled the dreary past, while the tyranny of the fallen city lasted, with yearning for the judgment which has now come at last. Isa 26:8 – Isa 26:9 breathe the very spirit of patient longing and meek hope. There is a certain tone of triumph in that ‘Yea,’ as if the singer would point to the great judgment now accomplished, as vindicating the long, weary hours of hope deferred. That for which ‘the poor and needy’ wait is the coming ‘in the path of Thy judgments.’ The attitude of expectance is as much the duty and support of Christians as of Israel. We have a greater future clearer before us than they had. The world needs God’s coming in judgment more than ever; and it says little for either the love to God or the benevolence towards man of average Christians, that they should know so little of that yearning of soul which breathes through so much of the Old Testament. For the glory of God and the good of men, we should have the desire of our souls turned to His manifestation of Himself in His righteous judgments. It was no personal end which bred the prophet’s yearning. True, the ‘night’ round him was dreary enough, and sorrow lay black on his people and himself; but it was God’s ‘name’ and ‘memorial’ that was uppermost in his desires. That is to say, the chief object of the devout soul’s longings should be the glory of God’s revealed character. And the deepest reason for wishing that He would flash forth from His hiding-place in judgments, is because such an apocalypse is the only way by which wilfully blind eyes can be made to see, and wilfully unrighteous hearts can be made to practise righteousness.
Isaiah believed in the wholesome effect of terror. His confidence in the power of judgments to teach the obstinate corresponds to the Old Testament point of view, and contains a truth for all points of view; but it is not the whole truth. We know only too well that sorrows and judgments do not work infallibly, and that men ‘being often reproved, harden their necks.’ We know, too, more clearly than any prophet of old could know, that the last arrow in God’s quiver is not some unheard-of awfulness of judgment, but an unspeakable gift of love, and that if that ‘favour shown to the wicked’ in the life and death of God’s Son does not lead him to ‘learn righteousness,’ nothing else will.
But while this is true, the prophet’s aspirations are founded on the facts of human nature too, and judgments do sometimes startle those whom kindness had failed to touch. It is an awful thought that human nature may so steel itself against the whole armoury of divine weapons as that favour and severity are equally blunted, and the heart remains unpierced by either. It is an awful thought that there may be induced such truculent obstinacy of love of evil that, even when in ‘a land of uprightness,’ a man shall choose evil, and forcibly shut his eyes, that he may not see the majesty of the Lord, which he does not wish to see because it condemns his choice, and threatens to burn up him and his work together. A blasted tree when all the woods are green, a fleece dry when all around is rejoicing in the dew, a window dark when the whole city is illuminated, one black sheep amid the white flock, or anything else anomalous and alone in its evil, is less tragic than the sight, so common, of a man so sold to sin that the presence of good only makes him angry and restless. It is possible to dwell amidst the full light of Christian truth, and in a society moulded by its precepts, and to be unblessed, unsoftened thereby. If not softened, then hardened; and the wicked who in the land of uprightness deals wrongfully is all the worse for the light which he hated because it showed him the sinfulness of the sin which he obstinately loved and would keep.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
bringeth down, &c. See note on Isa 25:12.
ground = earth. Hebrew ‘erez.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
bringeth: Isa 2:12, Isa 13:11, Isa 14:13, Isa 25:11, Job 40:11-13
the lofty: Isa 25:12, Isa 32:19, Isa 47:1, Jer 50:31, Jer 50:32, Jer 51:25, Jer 51:26, Jer 51:37, Jer 51:64, Rev 18:2
Reciprocal: Lev 26:19 – will break Jos 10:24 – put your feet Isa 63:6 – I will bring Lam 2:2 – brought them down to Eze 17:24 – have brought Eze 26:11 – thy Mic 7:10 – now 1Co 1:27 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 26:5-6. For he bringeth down Hebrew, he hath brought down, or, as it may be rendered, he will bring down, them that dwell on high He speaks not so much of height of place, as of dignity and power, in which sense also he mentions the lofty city in the next clause; which may be understood, either of proud Babylon, or of all the strong and stately cities of Gods enemies. The foot shall tread it down God will bring it under the feet of his poor, weak, and despised people. The meaning is, you have good reason for trusting in God, for he can and does raise up some and throw down others, according to his own good pleasure.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; {e} the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, [even] to the ground; he bringeth it [even] to the dust.
(e) There is no power so high that it can hinder God, when he will deliver his.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The New Jerusalem is secure because God brought down the city of the world and the proud who inhabited it (cf. Isa 25:12). This is the reason God’s people can and should trust in Him.