The Woe Upon Ariel

v. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, a name signifying either “lion of God” or, more likely, “mountain of God,” the city where David dwelt! which is still distinguished by that fact. Add ye year to year, another year to the present year; let them kill sacrifices, so that another cycle of festivals will be completed, that is, after the end of the present year another full church-year would elapse, but then the catastrophe would surely strike Jerusalem.

v. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel, at the time indicated, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow, sighing and groaning; and It shall be unto Me as Ariel, Jerusalem would prove herself a place where the judgment of the Lord would be carried out.

v. 3. And I will camp against thee round about, the enemies carrying out His plans in their siege of the city, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, with fortifications fully manned, every soldier determined to take the city, and I will raise forts against thee, earthworks or entrenchments.

v. 4. And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, as though covered with earth, her voice faint and hollow, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, muffled and hard to understand, and thy voice shall be as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, like that of a ventriloquist imitating the speech of spirits, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust, as one would imagine the voice of a dead person to sound out of the grave. Note the heaping of the expressions to emphasize the intention of the Lord. But the time of tribulation would not last long.

v. 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers, of the enemies of Zion, shall be like small dust, utterly crushed, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away, carried off by the wind without a trace to show that they were there; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly, the destruction coming upon them in a moment.

v. 6. Thou, Jerusalem, shalt be visited, but graciously, with a view to deliverance, of the Lord of hosts, the mighty Commander of the heavenly armies, with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire, all the forces of nature being employed by the Lord in overthrowing the haughty invaders.

v. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, the mount of the Lord, typical of His holy Church, even all that fight against her and her munition, her mountain fortress, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision, with nothing tangible to boast of, with no victory won.

v. 8. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth, the dream being so very vivid; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty, no real food having passed his lips; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, with his thirst unquenched, and his soul hath appetite, he is still longing for a cooling drink. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. They had thought it would be an easy matter to conquer Jerusalem, but they find themselves bitterly disappointed. The whole attempt of Assyria upon Jerusalem would be as if it had not been, would he as empty and unreal as the fabric of a dream. The same will finally be true of all the enemies of the real Mount Zion, of the Church of God. But since the people of Jerusalem would not accept the words of the prophet in firm faith, in glad acclaim, therefore he continues with sharp reproof.

v. 9. Stay yourselves and wonder, stopping in foolish astonishment and unbelieving amazement; cry ye out and cry, rather, “blind yourselves and become blind,” said of those who deliberately harden themselves against the influence of the joyful message brought to their attention; they are drunken, but not with wine, a spiritual paralysis having taken hold upon them; they stagger, but not with strong drink, their intoxication being due to their spiritual stupidity. And since they were thus closing their hearts against the influence of the Lord, He would punish them with that same stupidity which they were cultivating.

v. 10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, with which they were stupefied, and hath closed your eyes, blinding them against the light of understanding; the prophets and your rulers, the seers, hath He covered, the very leaders who were supposed to teach the people were afflicted with blindness.

v. 11. And the vision of all, that which was revealed by the vision of the true prophets concerning all things, is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, of a roll of parchment sealed so that the writing is not visible, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed, and unless the roll is opened, it is impossible for the writing to be seen;

v. 12. and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, an illiterate person, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. In either event, the writing will not be revealed, the teaching of God is hidden from them, just as it is from the hearts and minds of all such as harden their hearts against His teaching.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Isa 29:1-4

A WARNING TO JERUSALEM. Expostulation is followed by threats. The prophet is aware that all his preaching to the authorities in Jerusalem (Isa 28:14-22) will be of no avail, and that their adoption of measures directly antagonistic to the commands of God will bring on the very evil which they are seeking to avert, and cause Jerusalem to be actually besieged by her enemies. In the present passage he distinctly announces the siege, and declares that it will commence within a year.

Isa 29:1

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! “Ariel’ is clearly a mystic name for Jerusalem, parallel to “Sheshach” as a name for Babylon (Jer 25:26) and “‘Ir-ha-heres” as a name for Heliopolis (Isa 19:18). It is generally explained as equivalent to Art-El, “lion of God;” but Delitzsch suggests the meaning of “hearth of God,” or “altar of God,” a signification which “Ariel” seems to have in Eze 43:15, Eze 43:16. But there is no evidence that “Ariel” was ever employed in this sense before the time of Ezekiel. Etymologically, “Ariel” can only mean “lion of God,” and the name would in this sense be sufficiently descriptive of the Jewish capital, which had always hitherto been a sort of champion of Jehovaha warrior fighting his battles with a lion’s courage and fierceness. Dwelt; literally, pitched his tentan expression recalling the old tent-life of the Hebrews. And ye year to year; rather, a year to a year; i.e. the coming year to the present one. The intention is to date the commencement of the siege. It will fall within the year next ensuing. Let them kill sacrifices. The best modern authorities translate, “Let the feasts run their round“ (Kay, Cheyne, Delitzsch); i.e. let there be one more round of the annual festival-times, and then let the enemy march in and commence the siege.

Isa 29:2

Yet will I distress Ariel; rather, and then will I distress Ariel. The sense runs on from the preceding verse. There shall be heaviness and sorrow. Mr. Cheyne’s “moaning and bemoaning” represents the Hebrew play upon words better. The natural consequence of the siege would be a constant cry of woe. And it shall be unto me as Ariel. It would be better to translate, “Yet she shall be unto me as Ariel.” The meaning is that, though distressed and straitened, Jerusalem shall still through all be able by God’s help to answer to her name of “Ariel”to behave as a lien when attacked by the hunters.

Isa 29:3

I will camp against thee round about; i.e. “I will bring armed men against thee who shall encamp around the entire circuit of thy walls.” There was small chance of forcing an entrance into Jerusalem on any side except the north; but, order to distress and harass her, an enemy with numerous forces would dispose them all round the walls, thus preventing all ingress or egress (see Luk 19:43). And lay siege against thee with a mount; or, with a mound. Artificial mounds were raised up against the walls of cities by the Assyrians, as a foundation from which to work their battering rams with greater advantage against the upper and weaker portion of the defenses. And raise forts against thee. “Forts” were usually movable, and accompanied the battering-ram for its better protection. Archers in the forts cleared the walls of their defenders, while the ram was employed in making a breach.

Isa 29:4

Thy speech shall be low. The feeble cries of a people wasted and worn out by a long siege are intended. These cries would resemble those which seemed to come out of the ground when a necromancer professed to raise a ghost. The Hebrew ‘ohv is used both of the necromancers (Le 19:31; Isa 20:6, etc.) and of the ghosts which they professed to raise (1Sa 28:7, 1Sa 28:8; 2Ki 20:6, etc.). Here the “ghost” is spoken of. Thy speech shall whisper; literally, chirp (comp. Isa 8:19). The word used occurs only in Isaiah.

Isa 29:5-8

THE WARNING FOLLOWED BY A PROMISE. It is ever God’s care to prevent men from being “swallowed up with overmuch sorrow” (2Co 2:7). As long as he is not about to “make a full end” (Jer 4:27), he mingles promises with his threats, words of cheer with words of warning. So now the prophet is directed to attach to his four verses of denunciation (Isa 29:1-4) four others of encouragement, and to declare the utter discomfiture of the vast host of enemies which for a time has besieged and “distressed” Ariel.

Isa 29:5

Moreover; rather, but. The relation of Isa 29:5-8 to Isa 29:1-4 is that of contrast. The multitude of thy strangers; i.e. “of thy enemies” (comp. Isa 25:5). In primitive societies every stranger is an enemy; and hence languagethe formation of primitive menoften has one word for the two ideas. In Latin hostis is said to have originally meant “foreigner” (Cic; ‘De Off’,’ 1.12). Shall be like small dust. Ground down, i.e. to an impalpable powderrendered utterly weak and powerless. The meaning is determined by the clause which follows, with which it must necessarily be in close accordance. As chaff that passeth away. “Chaff,” in Scripture, is always a metaphor for weakness (comp. Isa 5:24; Isa 17:13; Isa 33:11; Isa 41:15; and see also Psa 1:4; Psa 35:5; Job 21:18; Hos 13:3; Dan 2:35; Zep 2:2). It has no value; man’s object is to get rid of it: a light wind carries it away, and no one inquires whither. Yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Dr. Kay says it is “the collapse of Jerusalem” which is here intended. But most other commentators understand, with more reason, the collapse of her enemies (Cheyne, Delitzsch, Vance Smith, Knobel, etc.).

Isa 29:6

Thou shalt be visited; literally, shall there be a visitation. On whom the visitation will fall is not expressed; but the context shows that it is on the enemies of Judah. The terrible nature of the visitation is signified by an enumeration of the most fearful of God’s judgments”thunder, earthquake, great noise, whirlwind, tern-pest, and a flame of devouring fire.” All the expressions are probably metaphorical.

Isa 29:7

Her munition; i.e. her defenses the walls and towers in which she put her trust (comp. Isa 29:3). As a dream of a night vision. “The baseless fabric of a vision,” when it has once passed by, “leaves not wrack behind.” The entire host of the “terrible ones” would melt away and disappear, as a night vision before the light of dayit would dissolve into nothing, vanish, leave no trace.

Isa 29:8

It shall be even as when an hungry man dreameth. The melting away of the vision would involve a keen disappointment. The enemies of Israel had expected to secure a most valuable prey. They had dreamed of a rich booty when they should take the citya booty which would reward them for all the hardships of their marches, their watches, their toils in the siege, the dangers to which they exposed themselves in the assaults. It was as if a hungry man had dreamed that he was engaged in a feast, or a thirsty man that he was drinking deep at a banquet, when suddenly he wakes up, and finds that he has been merely dreaming, and that there is no reality in his fancies. Dr. Kay quotes a passage which is much to the point from Mungo Park’s journals: “No sooner had I shut my eyes than fancy would convey me to the streams and rivers of my native land. There, as I wandered along the verdant bank, I surveyed the clear streams with transport, and hastened to swallow the delightful draught; but, alas! disappointment awaked me, and I found myself a lonely captive, perishing of thirst amid the wilds of Africa.” Those engaged in the siege, while themselves vanishing away, would likewise find their dreams of plunder vanish, and Would bitterly feel the disappointment. That fight against Mount Zion. To attack Jerusalem was to fight against the mount of God, the place where Jehovah had “set his Name, “and where he condescended in some true sense to dwell continually. How could those who engaged in such an enterprise hope to succeed?

Isa 29:9-12

NEITHER WARNING NOR PROMISE COMPREHENDED BY THOSE TO WHOM THEY HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED, “Who hath believed our report?” says the prophet in another place (Isa 53:1), “and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” It was among the most painful circumstances attaching to the prophetical office, that scarcely ever was the prophet held in any esteem among his own people, or in his own lifetime. Isaiah knows that his warning will fall deadthat the people and their rulers have neither “eyes to see” nor “ears to hear.” He places on record this knowledge, while at the same time striving if by any means he may arouse some from their condition of dull apathy.

Isa 29:9

Stay yourselves, and wonder; rather, stand stupefied and be astonished. The prophet bids them act as he knows that they will act. They will simply “stare with astonishment” at a prophecy which will seem to them “out of all relation to facts” (Cheyne). They will not yield it the slightest credence. They will only marvel how a sane man could have uttered such egregious folly. Cry ye out, and cry. Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne translate, “Blind yourselves, and be blind,” which certainly gives a much better sense, and is justified by the use of the same verb in Isa 6:10. As Pharaoh began by hardening his own heart, and then God hardened it, so those who blind their own eyes, and will not see when they have the power, are, in the end, if they persist, judicially blinded by God. They are drunken, but not with wine. “The drunkards of Ephraim” (Isa 28:3) were such literally. They “erred through strong drink” (Isa 28:7); they “were swallowed up of wine;” but the case was different with the infatuated ones of Judah. They were morally, not physically, intoxicated. Their pride and self-trust rendered them as irrational and as unimpressionable as ever drunkenness rendered any man; but they were not actual drunkards.

Isa 29:10

The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. “Sleep,” in Scripture, is sometimes “rest,” “repose from trouble” (“So he giveth his beloved sleep,” Psa 128:2). But here it is “spiritual deadness and impassiveness”an inability to appreciate, or even to understand, spiritual warnings. The Jews of Isaiah’s time were sunk in a spiritual lethargy, from which he vainly endeavored to arouse them. This spiritual lethargy is here said to have been “poured out upon them by Jehovah;” but we are not to suppose that there was anything exceptional in their treatment”because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Rom 1:28), as he does men generally. Hath closed your eyes. The prophets. As the text stands, the proper translation would be, “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (the prophets), and your heads (the seers) hath he covered.” But it is reasonably conjectured that the expressions, “the prophets,” “the seers,” are glosses, which have crept from the margin into the text (Eichhorn, Koppe, Cheyne). If so, they are probably mistaken glosses, the allusion being, not to particular classes, but to the actual “heads” and “eyes” of individual Hebrews, which were “closed” and “covered” by the judicial action of the Almighty. In the East a covering is often drawn over the head during sleep.

Isa 29:11

The vision of all; i.e. “the entire vision”all that Isaiah has put before them in verses 1-8. As the words of a book that is sealed; rather, the words of a letter (marginal rendering) or writing. Written documents were often sealed up to secure secrecy, the sealing being done in various ways. When the writing was on a clay tablet, it was often enclosed in a clay envelope, so that the document could not be read till the outer clay covering was broken. Rolls of papyrus or parchment were secured differently. One that is learned; i.e. “one that can read writing,” which the ordinary Jew could not do, any more than the ordinary European in the Middle Ages. Neither the learned nor the unlearned Jews would be able to understand Isaiah’s prophecy, so as to realize and accept its literal truth. They were devoid of spiritual discernment. Even the rulers were but “blind loaders of the blind.”

Isa 29:12

Him that is not learned; i.e. “that cannot read writing.” Even in our Lord’s day the ordinary Jew was not taught to read and write. Hence the surprise of the rulers at his teaching the people out of the Law (Joh 7:15, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”).

Isa 29:13-16

A RENEWAL OF WARNING. The inability of the Jews to comprehend Isaiah’s threatening prophecies probably arose in part from their accomplishment seeming to be inconceivable, since they ran counter to the covenant promises made by God to Israel. Isaiah is therefore instructed to inform them that it was a most marvelous and almost inconceivable thing that God was now purposing to do, yet a thing justified by their hypocrisy (verse 13) and their rebellion (verses 15, 16).

Isa 29:13

Wherefore the Lord said; rather, moreover the Lord said. This people draw near me with their mouth. Samaria had been punished for open idolatry and flagrant neglect of Jehovah (2Ki 17:7-17). Jerusalem had not gone these lengths. She still, in profession, clung to the worship of Jehovah, and had even recently accepted a purification of religion at the hand of Hezekiah, who had “removed the high places,” and cut down the groves, and broken in pieces the brazen serpent,” because the people burnt incense to it (2Ki 18:4). But her religion was a mere lip-service, which God detestedit was outward, formal, hypocritical (comp. Isa 1:11-17). Jerusalem, therefore, no less than Samaria, deserved and would receive a severe chastisement. But have removed their heart far from me. Here lies the gist of the charge. It was not that there was too much outward religion, but that there was no inward religion corresponding to it. Lip-service without inward religion is a mockery, though it is not always felt as such. Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Mr. Cheyne conjectures that ritual books had been already published by the authority of the priests, and that these were followed, on account of the human authority which had issued them, without any reference to the Law. Thus ritual obedience became mere obedience to “the precept of men.”

Isa 29:14

I will proceed to do a marvelous work. Commentators are not agreed what this “marvelous work” was. Some, with Delitzsch, consider it to be the hardening of the hearts of the Jews to such an extent that even the appearance of wisdom and understanding, which the rulers of the people had hitherto retained, would completely disappear. Others, with Mr. Cheyne, regard it as the coming siege, with those extreme sufferings and perils (Isa 29:3, Isa 29:4) which the Jews would have to undergosufferings and perils barely consistent with the previous covenant-promises made to the nation. It is difficult to decide between these two views; but, on the whole, Mr. Cheyne’s view seems preferable. A marvelous work and a wonder; rather, a marvelous work and a marvel. The repetition is for the sake of emphasis. For the wisdom; rather, and the wisdom; i.e. “when I do my marvel, then the wisdom of the wise men shall perish”all their crafty designs and plans shall be of no avail, but come wholly to naught. The chief of these designs was that alluded to in the next verse.

Isa 29:15

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord. The allusion is to the schemes which were afloat for calling in the aid of Egypt. As Isaiah had long since denounced these schemes as the height of folly (Isa 19:11-17), and prophesied their failure (Isa 20:5, Isa 20:6), every effort was made to conceal them from his knowledge end from the knowledge of all who were like-minded (comp. Isa 30:1, Isa 30:2). Steps were probably even now being taken for the carrying out of the schemes, which were studiously concealed from the prophet. Their works are in the dark. Underhand proceedings ere at all times suspicious. “Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” The very fact of concealment was an indication that the works in which the rulers were engaged were evil, and that they knew them to be evil. They say, Who seeth us? (comp. Psa 73:11, “Tush, they say, How should God perceive? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”). The wicked persuade themselves that God does not see their actions.

Isa 29:16

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; rather, O for your perverseness! Shall the potter be reckoned as clay? They were so perverse and wrong-headed that they inverted the relation in which they stood to God and God to them. God was to be passive, or merely give opportunities of action, and they were to mould their own plans and carve out their own destinies. For shall the work say, etc.? rather, for the work saith. Taking their destinies into their own hands was equivalent to saying that they were their own masters, which they could not be if God made them. Shall the thing framed say, etc.? rather, yea, the thing formed hath said. To refuse to take counsel of God, and direct the national policy by the light of their own reason, was to tax God with having no understanding.

Isa 29:17-24

A RENEWAL OF PROMISE. God’s judgment (Isa 29:14), whatever it is, will pass. In a little while there will be a great change. The lowly will be exalted, the proud abased. From the “meek” and “poor’ will be raised a body of true worshippers, who will possess spiritual discernment (Isa 29:18), while the oppressors and “scorners” will be brought to naught. When Isaiah expected this change is uncertain; but he holds out the hope of it here, as elsewhere so frequently (Isa 1:24-31; Isa 2:2-5; Isa 4:2-6; Isa 5:13, etc.), to keep up the spirits of the people and prevent them from sinking into a state of depression and despair.

Isa 29:17

Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field. Lebanon, the wild forest, shall become smiling garden-ground, while garden-ground shall revert into wild uncultivated forest. An inversion of the moral condition of Judaea is shadowed forth by the metaphor.

Isa 29:18

In that dayi.e; when that time comesshall the deaf hear the words of the book; the spiritually deaf shall have their ears opened, many of them, and shall not only hear, but understand, the words of Scripture addressed to them by God’s messengers. No particular “book” is intendedsepher being without the article, but the words of any writing put forth with Divine authority. The eyes of the blind shall see also out of obscurity. Men shall shake off the “deep sleep” (Isa 29:10) in which they have long lain, and have once mute “eyes to see” the truth.

Isa 29:19

The meek the poor. The “evangelical prophet” anticipates the gospel in this, among other pointsthat he promises his choicest blessings, not to the rich and mighty, but to the poor and meek (comp. Isa 57:15; Isa 61:1).

Isa 29:20

The terrible one the scorner. “The terrible one” may be the foreign enemy, as in Isa 29:5, or, possibly, the native oppressor (Isa 1:23; Isa 5:1-30 :93, etc.)a still more tearful evil. “The scorner” is the godless man, who scoffs at religion (Isa 28:14, Isa 28:22). Both classes would be “consumed” and “brought to naught” when the new state of things was established. All that watch for iniquity; i.e. “all those who, for the furtherance of their iniquitous schemes, rise up early and late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness” (Psa 127:2).

Isa 29:21

That make a man an offender for a word. The meaning of this clause is very doubtful. Kay translates, “That lead men into sin by words;” Mr. Cheyne, “That make out people to be sinners by their words,” i.e. by bearing false witness against them; while Delitzsch upholds the rendering of the Authorized Version. Mr. Vance Smith has other suggestions. There seems to be, on the whole, no sufficient reason for setting aside the authorized rendering, which con-demus one form of oppressionthe severe punishment of mere words. And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate. “The gate” was the place where judgment was given and public assemblies held. If any one boldly stood up and reproved the oppressors “in the gate,” they instantly set to work to lay a trap for him and bring him to ruin. And turn aside the just for a thing of naught; rather, and deprive the just [of their right] by empty charges. “Turning aside the just” means turning them from their right (Amo 5:12; Exo 23:6); and bat tohu is not “for nothing” but “by nothing,” i.e. by some vain empty pretence.

Isa 29:22

The Lord, who redeemed Abraham; rather, who delivered Abraham, as the verb used is often rendered (see Job 33:28; Psa 51:18; Psa 69:18; Psa 78:42, etc.). God’s directions to Abraham to remove from a land of idolaters (Jos 24:2, Jos 24:3; Act 7:2, Act 7:3) were practically a “deliverance.” The work thus commenced could not be suffered to remain incomplete. Israelthe true Israelwould not be ashamed, or wax pale through fear any more; they would be God’s children, his true worshippers, and would have no need to experience either fear or shame.

Isa 29:23

The work of mine hands; i.e. regenerated and “created anew unto good works” (Eph 2:10)God’s work, and no longer denying themselves to be such (Isa 29:16). They shall sanctify my Name, and sanctify, etc.; rather, they shall sanctify my Name, they shall even sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. The last two clauses are exegetical of the first (Kay).

Isa 29:24

They also that erred in spirit; i.e. those who were blind and deaf (Isa 29:18). Shall come to understanding; literally, shall know understanding; i.e. recover their power of spiritual discernment. They that murmured. The reference cannot be to the “murmuring” in Egypt, though the verb used occurs only elsewhere in Deu 1:27 and Psa 106:25, where that murmuring is spoken of. We must look for some later discontent, which we may find in quite recent “murmuring resistance to the admonitions of Jehovah” (Delitzsch), without going back so far as the time of the Exodus. Shall learn doctrine; i.e. “shall willingly receive the teaching, of God’s prophets, and profit by it.”

HOMILETICS

Isa 29:1-4

Woe to Ariel!

The lesson of this section seems to be that even those nearest and dearest to God, who bear his name, who are in a certain sense his, are not exempt from suffering at his hands. Even Jerusalem, “the city where David dwelt” “God’s lion,” his champion, his “mighty one”was shortly to experience all the horrors of a prolonged siege, to be brought down to the dustto be distressed, weakened, humiliated. The memory of David would not save her; her name of “Ariel” would not exempt her. She would have to go through the fearful ordeal. The Christian may humbly askWherefore?

I. BECAUSE, HAVING SINNED, SHE DESERVED PUNISHMENT. God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. His attribute of perfect justice requires that even for pardoned sin there should be a penalty. It is well for sinners when the penalty is exacted in this life. The sufferings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the siege were no doubt, in some measure, punishments.

1. For the national sin of unfaithfulness.

2. For the particular sins of the sufferers.

But this is not a full account of the matter. Jerusalem suffered also

II. BECAUSE SHE NEEDED CHASTISEMENT AND WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT. Jerusalem was still undergoing her probation. There were hopes of her turning to God. Nay, she did from time to time partially turn, and her actual destruction was deferred for above a century after that of her sister, Samaria. The sufferings of the siege were in the main intended to bring the sufferers to repentanceto humble proud hearts, to bend stubborn wills, to show the vanity of earthly supports and stays, and induce entire dependence and trust in God. “Ariel” was punished far more in love than in wrath. She was still to God “as Ariel.” Her “woe” was not the final woe pronounced on the hopelessly impenitent, but the woe which, while it is grievous at the time of its infliction, “nevertheless afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb 12:11).

Isa 29:5-8

The disappointment that awaits God’s enemies.

All the enemies of God have, some day or other, an awaking. The designs which they cherish, the selfish hopes in which they indulge, are mere dreams. Even when the dreams are realized the result is disappointing. No man ever yet found the pleasure of success equal to his expectation. If there is a little satisfaction at first, fruition soon begets satiety. “Vanity of vanities,” says the preacher, “all is vanity.” But, for the most part, the dreams are not realized. God arises, and his enemies are scattered; those that hate him have to flee before him (Psa 68:1). The schemer finds himself baffled just when he thinks success most certain. Dishonesty is detected; the bubble of speculation bursts; unexpected obstacles arise; a sudden death or a sudden outbreak of war deranges the best-laid plans: the fortune just about to be made vanishes into the air, the dreamer “awakes, and his soul is empty”all his hopes have passed away “at an instant suddenly.” There is but one security against constant disappointment, which is to trust all to God, to have no will but his, no desire but that expressed in the prayer, “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.”

Isa 29:9, Isa 29:10

Two kinds of spiritual blindness.

Spiritual blindness is not the natural condition of man. God has given to all men a certain power of spiritual discernment. He is “the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world“ (Joh 1:9). Children are invariably found to be teachable at an early ageto have a power of receiving and appreciating spiritual verities. The spiritually blind have become such, and in their condition we may trace two stages.

I. THE INITIAL STAGE. The commencement of spiritual blindness is a willful shutting of the eyes. Instead of seeking to see, striving to see, looking out for the spiritual in life and action, men turn away from it, “wink with their eyes,” put veils over them, refuse to let the light of truth shine in upon their understandings. They “love darkness rather than light” (Joh 3:19). The whole of life should be a continual exercise of the spiritual discerning power. Men give the power as little exercise as possible. They weaken it by disuse. After a while they deprave it, so that its judgments become uncertaineven false.

II. THE FINAL STAGE. In Scripture the final stage is called “a reprobate mind,” literally, “an undistinguishing mind ( ).” By the law of God’s providence, the willful shutting of the eyes leads on to an inability to see. The moral vision becomes actually distorted. The “light that is within a man becomes “darkness;” and then, “how great is that darkness!” “Bitter is put for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20), “good for evil, and evil for good.” The state is hopeless, irremediable. It results naturally from the repeated sins against light of the first stage; but it is none the less God’s judgment upon the sinner. Hence it has been called “judicial blindness”an expressive name.

Isa 29:13, Isa 29:14

God’s hatred of mere lip-service

Lip-service is offensive to God on two accounts.

I. IT IS DISHONORING TO HIMSELF. It implies, either that he has not the power of reading the heart and of perceiving when worship is rendered to him sincerely and when feignedly, or that he does not care which kind of homage he receives, whether adoration is offered to him really or formally. In the one case he must be considered as a Being of very limited power and capacity; in the other, as a Being indifferent to the gravest moral distinctions. To profess loyalty to an earthly monarch without feeling it would be to insult him grossly. How much more to seek to pass such a cheat on the King of heaven!

II. IT IS DEGRADING TO THE CREATURES WHICH HE HAS MADE IN HIS OWN IMAGE. All falsehood is degrading to those who condescend to it. False pretences, flatteries, insincere professions of love and devotion for the purpose of winning favor and approval from those to whom we address them, are among the basest and most contemptible acts to which a human being can stoop. They are lies, and lies which have their origin in downright unadulterated selfishness. False professions made to God are also foolish, idiotic lies, which cannot possibly impose on the Being who is the Object of them, and which do not very often impose even on such of our fellow-men as witness them. It was their insincere “lip-service” which caused our Lord to denounce the scribes and Pharisees of his time as “actors,” or “hypocrites”.

Isa 29:17-24

Religious revivals.

It is sometimes supposed that religious revivals are modern inventions, concessions to the weakness of the degenerate man of the nineteenth century; and no doubt there have been features in many so-called “revivals” which have justified this view of them. But, in point of fact, revivals, if we follow out the history of religion, are found to be movements which have belonged to all ages, and without which it appears more than probable that religion in this world would stagnate and lose all vital energy. The subject may he best viewed under three heads.

I. REVIVALISM IS A LAW OF NATURE. Not only does Nature annually revive in spring from her winter’s trance, but throughout the universe exhaustion is continually occurring at irregular intervals, and recoveries from exhaustion, i.e. revivals, are the only mode by which Nature is recruited and enabled to maintain herself. A long series of wet and cold seasons produces at any rate the impression that Nature’s productive powers are declining and wearing out; when, suddenly, there is a complete inversion of what had come to be regarded as an established order, and a summer of brilliant sunshine causes an overflowing harvest and an agricultural reaction. The ozone in the atmosphere, so essential to human health, decreases for months; then, all at once, there is a revival, and the average of a century is exceeded. Electrical phenomena are for a time in abeyance, and the earth seems to have “used up” the power on which her vitality principally depends; when, lo! the reaction comes, fresh electricity is developed, or conveyed to the earth from without, and electrical phenomena become more frequent and more striking than ever.

II. REVIVALISM IS CONSISTENT WITH, AND CONDUCIVE TO, A CONSTANT ADVANCE. A priori we might have expected that all growth and progress would have been regular and gradual. But the fact is otherwise. In all the fields of human energy, in art, in science, in philosophy, in religion, long periods of comparative deadness and apathy occur, during which there is scarcely any perceptible advance at all, followed by shorter intervals of activity and energy, when progress is made “by leaps and bounds.” The scientific energy of the last half-century is a ease in point. The artistic revival initiated by Reynolds and Gainsborough, is another. The history of the Church, dispassionately viewed, shows a manifest progress; but the progress has been far from uniform. Many centuries have been centuries of stagnation. Religion has just kept itself alive, and that has been all. Then some stir has come from within or from without, and a rush of vitality has supervened, which has exercised an influence for good on all later times. Indifference to doctrinal truth was overspreading the world, when the dogmatic revival of the fourth century at once saved the faith, and advanced it. The expansion of the Church, which is a special mark of its life, had almost ceased, when missionary zeal broke out suddenly in the West, and the seventh and eighth centuries saw the conversion of England, Scotland, Friesland, Batavia, Switzerland, and most of Germany. A general deadness and dullness had come over Christendom between the eighth and the eleventh centuries, when the Crusades, which were s political necessity, produced the revival of the twelfth and thirteenth. The greatest revival of all was the Reformation, which recovered spiritual religion when it seemed almost lost, and exerted a purifying influence even on those parts of Christendom which most opposed it. Lesser revivals have beenin Germany Pietism, in France Jansenism, among ourselves Methodism and the Church movement still in progress. It seems scarcely too much to say that, without revivals, religioneven the Christian religionwould perish.

III. REVIVALS ARE MOST COMMONLY THE RESULT OF CHASTISEMENTS. As it was with the Jews of whom Isaiah wrote, so in the Christian Church generally, revivals have been produced by judgments. The blasphemies of Arius, and the patronage of Afianism by the court, gave rise to the counter-movement of Athanasius. The contraction of Christendom in the East by the conquests of Mohammed and his immediate successors led on to its expansion in the West by renewed missionary effort. The alarming progress of the Saracens and Turks caused the revival connected with the Crusades. The exactions and tyranny of the court of Rome, being felt as a burden that could no longer be borne, brought about the Reformation. Among ourselves, the revival which dates from 1830 was due to the loss of ten Irish bishoprics and the other attacks made on the Church by her enemies at that period. Methodism is about the only Christian revival not provoked by some manifest calamity.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Isa 29:1-12

Concerning Ariel.

I. VICISSITUDES OF ARIEL. The name is symbolic, perhaps signifying “God‘s lion.” It was the city where David dwelt. The prophet bids the city enter upon the new year, and run the round of the feasts. The distress will come, and the city, true to her name, will be mourning like a wounded lioness; and yet her prowess will be seen. She will be beleaguered, the mound for the battering-ram will be set up; she will be abased, and her low voice will be like the muttering of a ghost from the under-world. Then a sudden change will occur, and the multitude of foes will be dispersed like dust or chaff in the wind. After the noise as of thunder and earthquake and hurricane, menacing absolute extinction of the city, the vast host will disappear like a dream and vision of the night. They too will dream of conquest, as a hungry and thirsty man dreams of meat and drink; and their hope will melt with the morning light.

II. THE BLINDNESS OF THE PEOPLE. Those who listen are astonished at a prophecy which nothing in the past appears to warrant. The prophet takes occasion to explain the cause of their blindness and stupefaction, and to warn them that they may find this their fixed condition. They are responsible for this state, he seems to imply when he says, “Astonish yourselves!” “Blind yourselves!” Some strange prepossession causes them to act like men intoxicated; their reason reels and staggers. A deep sleep is poured upon them; their eyes are closed, and their hands wrapped up in Oriental fashion. The result is they cannot see the truth. The “vision and the faculty divine,” so bright and eminent in the prophet, is not recognized for what it is. His words are like a sealed book in the hands of a reader. He can read, but cannot loose the seals of the book, which is so far like that described in Rev 5:2. Or again, if a book, though open and legible, be handed to one that cannot read, the result is the same. It may be a large tablet, with large characters, like that in Isa 8:1, so that the passer-by, if he can read, may catch the meaning; but what if he cannot read? It is the same as if the writing were non-existent.

1. Seeing truth is like seeing the meaning of what we read. All see something in the booksome little more than that it is a book; some can extract a certain superficial sense from the signs, and are asleep towards the deeper and central meaning. That meaning must be lived out by the whole effort of the reason, the conscience, the heart. It requires an intense effort of will to see any object as it ought to be seen.

2. Absence of spiritual intelligence infers guilt. Men will not see, because the sight is too painful, or some other sight is more pleasurable and more easy to take in. Moral obtuseness is another word for want of conscience, or for inertness of conscience.J.

Isa 29:13-16

Lip-service and dissimulation.

I. THE SEMBLANCE WITHOUT THE REALITY OF RELIGION. To “draw men” is a Scripture phrase full of expressiveness for true worship. To draw near to God is to assume our holiest mood of feeling; it is to humble one’s self in the presence of the Highest and Holiest. The distance between ourselves and the Supreme is not to be overcome by an effort of thought; it is in the sphere of intelligence that that distance is most deeply felt, which mere thought and study only increase. In the region of feeling only can that distance be diminished or made to disappear. As we kneel in our weakness and abandon all our self-supports, the heavens seem to stoop to us, and the arms of the Almighty are thrown about us. Pride, dishonesty, low self-seeking,these throw the soul far, far asunder from its God. From the reverent and the obedient he is never far off. But so beautiful is this action of drawing near to God, so truly ennobling to our manhood, it is certain, like all the genuine moods and acts of religion, to be mimicked and counterfeited. All hypocrisy is a testimony to the grandeur of that which is copied or caricatured. This imitation of true religion may be carried out in speech. Nothing more easy than to learn by heart the great phrases of Scripture concerning spiritual religion, and to repeat them; and make the verbal not express, but hide the absence of, the real. And so magical is-the effect of sacred and beautiful words on the ear and on the heart, for the time they may create an illusion, and it may seem that we have really felt what we have done little more than utter. Again, respect for mere custom may take the place of respect for God. “Their fear of me is nothing but a commandment of men, which is taught.” Religion is part of social institutionsit is decorous, it is advantageous to pay it outward respect, unsafe to contemn it. Thus fear of men and self-interest may really pass under the outward guise of the fear of God and his Law.

II. THE DEALING OF JEHOVAH WITH THE PEOPLE. It will be “wonderful, very wonderful.” Inconceivable, as it seems, running counter to all his ancient covenant-promises. Already the Assyrian invasion had broken in on them; and the visitation was not to cease, but to continue. These judgments will baffle their intelligence. The wisdom of the wise will perish, and the understanding of the intelligent be obscured. The politicians think to hide their thoughts and deeds from Jehovah, “to throw the veil of secrecy over their pursuit of worldly alliances. The prophet divines their purpose and exposes its perversity. The favorite comparison of the potter is introduced (cf. Isa 45:9; Isa 64:8; Jer 18:6; Rom 9:20)” (Cheyne). Hiding from Jehovah means here the same thing as hiding from the prophet of Jehovah. They did not wish to listen to Isaiah’s reproof. We seem to see them watching the prophet (cf. Isa 8:12). And he, from amidst the light of the higher or eternal policy, sees through their time-serving intrigues. “They think they can dispense with Jehovah, and yet they are his creatures; they attribute cleverness to themselves, and practically disown him, as if the pot should say to the potter who has turned it, ‘He does not understand it'” (Delitzsch). The great lessons aye:

1. The short-sightedness of worldly wisdom. It sees so clearly the immediate interest to be gained, it ignores the distant future, and falls headlong into fallacy.

2. The far-sightedness of conscience. The prophet represents conscience. What is now right is profitable now and ever will be. And only the real and the sincere is the right. Men may be deceived and mocked for a time; but “be not deceived: God is not mocked.”J.

Isa 29:17-24

A time of regeneration.

A time of refreshing and of renewal is, notwithstanding all the gloom of preceding pictures, at hand.

I. THE CHANGE IN NATURE. “One of Isaiah’s most characteristic ideas is a future transformation of nature corresponding to that of man” (Cheyne). The forest will be turned into the garden-land. Lebanon stands for the wild or uncultivated land (cf. Isa 10:18, Isa 10:34). The passage in Isa 32:15 is parallel. When God again begins to bless his people, the untilled land will become a cultivated country, and the fields will produce an abundance compared with which their present condition may be pronounced barren. The meaning may be both literal and symbolical. When human energy is renewed, so is the face of nature, which saddens with war, pestilence, and the depression of industry. And the turning of waste land into cultivated fields is typical of the regeneration of human life; for what is all depravity and misery, but thought, faculty, passion, run to waste?

II. SIGNS OF THE NEW LIFE, The deaf will hear the words of a writing, and the blind shall be brought out of gloom and darkness into new spiritual perception, the lowly hearted shall receive a fresh access of joy in Jehovah, and the poor shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. Notice everywhere the loving spirit of the gospel. Ever it is good news to those who need that news the mostthe ignorant, the humble, and the poor. And correspondingly, the proud and the self-sufficient are to be brought low. The terrible foe without, and the scornful foes within, will have vanished and be brought to naught. The prophetic message in every age is vehement, burning against oppression and treachery. There are men that watch for iniquity, that swear away others’ lives by false testimony, or seek to ruin those who plead in the gate or judicial court, and wrest the just verdict from the righteous by frivolous pretences, (For the expression, “turning aside the right” of the weak, etc; cf. Exo 23:6; Amo 5:12; Mal 3:5.) Traitors, conspirators, false witnesses, and false men of every kind will be rooted out of the new kingdom; and all that is incorrigible will be given up to destruction, that there may be room for the plants of Jehovah’s planting to flourish.

III. THE HOLY AND HAPPY CONSUMMATION. No more shall Jacob be ashamed and his face turn pale. His oppressors will have been swept away. He will see “his sons, the work of Jehovah’s hands, within him.” In presence of the judgments of Jehovah there will be a true conversion; they will become holy even as he is holya Church sanctifying him, the Holy One of Israel. A sound intelligence will displace the former spirit of error, and former murmuring will give way to a willingness to receive instruction. This is the state of things for which we pray when we say, “Hallowed be thy Name” “They shall hallow thy Name,” says the prophet; “They shall fear the God of Israel.” Pure reverence, united with bright clear intelligence, and applied in every department of thought and practice, will be the spirit of the future kingdom, must be the spirit in all who sincerely pray for the coming of that kingdom in their hearts now.J.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM

Isa 29:13

Insincerity.

“Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me.” Sincerity is the life of devotion. Eloquence in prayer is execrable if the heart be worldly and vain. Here we have Divine insight into man’s soul.

I. HERE IS THE BENDED KNEE WITHOUT THE PROSTRATE HEART. Reverential manner and sacred solemnities of speech may deceive others, but with God all hearts are open, all desires known. It is mere mouth-worship. It is the trick of the muscles, not the tone of the heart. We resent the false man. Nothing offends the better instincts of humanity so much as deceitful mannerism. Better the “drawn sword” that the disguised enemy with fawning friendship on his lips.

II. HERE IS THE HONOR OF THE LIPS WITHOUT THE DEVOTION OF THE LIFE. To give a place of “honor” to religion is common to the worldliest men. It is like the compliment that vice pays to virtue by imitation of its manner, and hiding of itself. What should we think of men who did not honor religion? They would be losers, Men would not trust them. They would be suspected of indifference to those bonds which hold society together. So they pay outward honor to the Almighty, they join in the Church anthem, and in the public confession of the great Christian Creeds. But in their life there is no honor paid to religion, inasmuch as they serve and worship other gods.

III. HERE IS THE TRUE RENDING OF THE HEART, WHICH IS THE MICROCOSM OF THE MAN. The heart is removed far from God. It does not thrill with his love, nor best in sympathy with his claims. This is the loadstone that leads us everywhere. We can prophesy where the footsteps will be if we know the longings of the spirit. The heart that he made capable of so much endurance and affection is far from him. Then it must be somewhere else. It will find some object. The ivy torn down from the old church tower will cling to the nearest object in its path. Cling it must. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.”W.M.S.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Isa 29:1-8

The city of God.

“The city where David dwelt” was undoubtedly Jerusalem, the “city of God.” It is here called Ariel; i.e; according to some, the hearth or altar of God. This fact, taken with the prophecy itself, may remind us

I. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD DWELLS. It is where his hearth isthe “place of his abode” where he is at home with his people, where they are “at home” with him. The true Church of Christ, the ideal Christian family or society, is that company which feels that God is with it of a truth, which realizes and rejoices in his presence.

II. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE. The “altar” of Old Testament times has forever disappeared now that the great Sacrifice has been presented, now that the way into the holiest is open, now that nothing stands between the Divine mercy and the penitent and believing soul. But still the city of God is the place of sacrifice; for still every true servant of Christ is continually engaged in offering up “spiritual sacrifices” unto God. These are the offerings of praise (Heb 13:15), of consecration (Rom 12:1), of kindness (Heb 13:16);these and such as these are “acceptable to God” (1Pe 2:5).

III. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS A PLACE OF REVERENT AND JOYOUS COMMUNION. “Add ye year to year,” etc. (Isa 29:1); i.e. let the festivals go round from year to year. The prophet is thought to have spoken ironically, as if he would say, “Go on with your solemnities, but they will avail you nothing.” However this may be, we may be sure that when Jerusalem was what Jehovah meant it to be, it was a city in which sacred festivals brought the people of God into holy and happy communion with one another and with their Divine Ruler. And when that which is now the counterpart of the city of God is what its Lord meant it to be, it is a place where human souls mingle in sacred fellowship, and where they all unite in reverent and happy intercourse with the Father of their spirits, with the Savior of their souls.

IV. THAT THE CITY OF GOD MAY RE A PLACE OF DIVINE JUDGMENT. “Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow,” etc. (Isa 29:2-4). When the Church, the society, the family, or the individual soul needs Divine correction, Goal will send his chastisements. The Author of its peace will be the Source of its sorrow.

1. It (he) will be as a besieged city, as a city against which the agents of God are encamped, shut in, circumscribed, reduced to privation and distress, made to feel its feebleness, driven to cry out for help.

2. It (he) will be humiliated. “Thou shalt be brought down,” etc. (Isa 29:4). Nothing so much offends God as pride, haughtiness of heart, presumption; and when this is manifested by his people, they may expect to be abased to the very dust, until their spirit has been renewed and they have learned humility under his correcting hand.

V. THAT THE CITY OF GOD IS THE OBJECT OF THE DIVINE DELIVERANCE. (Isa 29:5-9.) When God arises to deliver his people, his visitation may be:

1. Unexpected. (Isa 29:5.) When the Son of man cometh, will he find his people expecting his appearance (Luk 18:8)?

2. Overwhelming. (Isa 29:6, Isa 29:7.) It will (may) be as if all the elements conspired to work his will.

3. Attended with bitterest disappointment to his foes. (Isa 29:8.)

1. See to it that this severe correction be not called for; that it is not brought down by worldliness, by formality, by selfishness, by pride, by discord, by indulgence.

2. If the hour of correction should arrive, let immediate repentance bring on at once the time of deliverance.C.

Isa 29:9-12

Spiritual incapacity.

Our powers, as men and women, are limited enough; and it may well be that those of God’s children who move in wider spheres and are endowed with greater capacities look down in wonder, if not with amusement, on our large pretensions. Yet we talk freely of the incapable, the feeble, the helpless, as if we ourselves were strong. There are various degrees of power and weakness among us, but the most important belong to that kind of incapacity to which the text refers.

I. ITS DOMAIN. The prophet treats of spiritual helplessness. We see and lament physical incapacity in the shape of blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc. We also have to treat mental incapacity in the form of intellectual feebleness, decline, imbecility, insanity. But by far the saddest sight in the view of God is spiritual incapacitythat moral condition in which the soul has lost its native powers, is destitute of those acquirements which would enable it to stand side by side with the holiest of the heavenly world, lacks the wisdom by which it might defend itself against its adversaries, and is therefore the prey of the worst evils, forfeits its birthright, and moves towards its doom. This incapacity affects the soul in all its higher and more serious relationsin its relation to God, to those to whom it is under obligation, to its own character.

II. ITS TWO PRINCIPAL MANIFESTATIONS.

1. Blindness. “The spirit of deep sloop” the closing or covering of the eyes (Isa 29:10). The last, or nearly the last, effect of sin is to take away the faculty of spiritual insight; so that a man cannot see those things which a human soul ought to recognize at once, the recognition of which is indispensable to its very life; viz. the presence, the claims, the power of God; the excellency of his service; the unworthiness and insufficiency of sensual gratifications and worldly ambitions; the deathfulness of sin, etc. But to the spiritually incapable these things are as if they were not. Such souls are as unconscious of these realities as is a man in a deep sleep, or as is one whose eyes are covered, of the objects which are before him.

2. Error. “They stagger, but not with strong drink” (Isa 29:9). As a man under the influence of stimulants cannot “walk straight,” but staggers from side to side or wanders out of his way altogether, so men who are robbed of their rightful powers by sin fail to walk straight on in the path of rectitude: they deviate into

(1) false notions about God and man, about life and destiny; and into

(2) evil habits, into sad departures from purity, from uprightness, from truth, from wisdom.

III. ITS COMPLETENESS.

1. It extends to the highest,he has covered the eyes of “your rulers” (Isa 29:10); to those who lead and who, being blind themselves, will certainly mislead (Mat 15:14); to those whose social influence is strong and, in ibis ease, most pernicious.

2. It includes the specialiststhe privileged, those who profess to have peculiar access to truth: “The seers hath he covered.” Woe to the land, to the Church, whose religious teachers are unable to see the directing finger of God, and are giving way to dreams of their own imagination!

3. It embraces those instructed in oilier thin, is. It is not only the unlearned that cannot read at all, but the learned men also, who are blind to the truths of God (Isa 29:11, Isa 29:12). Here, in nature, in providence, in Scripture is a glorious, three-volumed work, the full work of God; here are sacred truths which enlarge the mind and elevate the soul, which beautify and ennoble life, prepare for death, and fit for immortal blessedness. But, with powers diminished, depraved, or destroyed by sin, they who can learn other lessons and read other secrets are as undiscerning as the most illiterate boor in presence of a language of which he does not know the alphabet, as helpless as the finished scholar in presence of a roll the seal of which he cannot break!

IV. ITS EXPLANATION. How can we account for this depravation of man’s spiritual powers? It is the fitting penalty of sin; it comes in the righteous judgments of God: “The Lord hath poured out upon you,” etc. (Isa 29:10). It is the retribution attached to a guilty non-use or misuse of spiritual faculty; it is a “woe” that is always working: “From him that hath not“does not use, or abuses his talents”shall be taken away even that which he hath” (Mat 25:29).C.

Isa 29:13-17

The Church which God condemns.

Here is

I. A CHURCH CONDEMNED OF GOD. It has four characteristics of which the Lord complains.

1. Unspiritual worship. “This people draw near me with their mouth,” etc. (Isa 29:13). The service of the lip without the homage of the heart is an unacceptable sacrifice to God (see Psa 50:1-23.; Psa 78:36, Psa 78:37; Isa 50:1-11.; Eze 33:31; Mat 15:8, Mat 15:9; Joh 4:24). To take sacred words into the lips with nothing of their meaning in the mind, to assume the attitude without cherishing the spirit of devotion, is not to propitiate but to offend the Holy One.

2. Unauthorized doctrine. “Their fear toward me is taught,” etc.rendered in the New Testament, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mat 15:9). This was an early departure from the will of Christ (see Col 2:18-22; Tit 1:14; Act 20:30). The Church has always been in danger from men who have represented, first to their own minds and then to the minds of others, their own reasonings or imaginations as if they were the pure truth of God. So the mind and will of Christ have been grievously and mischievously perverted.

3. Incapable teachers. “The wisdom of their wise shall perish,” etc. (Isa 29:14). A Church fallen under the rebuke of its Lord is usually one that has wholly unsuitable and incompetent teachersmen who have lost their way, who have failed to discover or have abandoned heavenly wisdom, who cannot declare the way of life.

4. Unenlightened members. (Isa 29:15.) So destitute of the very rudiments of religion as to ask such a question as this, as to entertain such a thought as this. With a faulty and incapable ministry you may have a Church ignorant of those elements of the gospel with which it seems impossible that men should not be familiar.

II. THE DIVINE WANING WHICH IS ALSO A DIVINE PROMISE. (Isa 29:16, Isa 29:17.) He saysYou have perverted everything, turned everything upside down, made nothing of my Word when you should have made everything of it, elevated the outward and visible above the inward and spiritual, acted as if you could conceal your doings from the all-beholding God, treated me as the clay might treat the potter, unworthily and irreverently. I will bring it to pass that things shall be turned upside down in your experience: “Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,” etc. The humble shall be exalted and the proud abased. Your false confidence shall be cast down, and that which you have neglected shall be honored in the eyes of all. The Church that has lost its first estate of truth, spirituality, wisdom, must expect a terrible reversal.

1. Its mistaken notions will be shaken from its mind to make way for God’s living truth.

2. Its incapable leaders will be compelled to step down and give place to those whom they have arrogantly disregarded.

3. Its pompous but unspiritual rites will be exchanged for simpler and spiritual engagements.

4. Its luxurious religious enjoyments will be lost in earnest self-denying labors, or even in trying hardships. Thus will the fruitful field become a forest, while Lebanon is turned into a fruitful field. The revolution in the character and condition of the Church will be very intimately connected with, will be immediately followed by, a revolution in the character and condition of the world.C.

Isa 29:18-24

The hour of revival.

I. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.

1. The spirit of docility. Those once deaf now “hear the words of the book” (Isa 29:18); “They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine” (Isa 29:24). It is one of the surest signs of the presence of God’s Spirit that the attitude of insensibility or of captiousness is exchanged for the desire to learn the will of Godthat those who once held aloof altogether or came to carp and quibble now lend a reverent, inquiring ear, sit like Mary at the feet of Jesus, look heavenwards like Paul and say, “Lord, what wilt. thou have me to do?”

2. The power of spiritual perception. “The eyes of the blind shall see,” etc. (Isa 29:18). God awakens human souls from the sleep of sin or the languor of spiritual decline. Then, in the one case men see the guilt of continued rebellion against God’s will, also the terrible risks they run who remain rebellious, and also the excellency and openness of the salvation which is in Jesus Christ, etc.; in the other case they see the transcendent value of the human souls around them, the admirableness of Christian zeal, the desirableness of gaining the approval of Christ for carrying on his work of redeeming love, etc.

3. Gladness of heart in God and in man.

(1) In God. “Joy in the Lord” (Isa 29:19) will be increased, not only on the part of the meek, but in the heart of all those who are affected by the action of Divine truth and the influence of the Divine Spirit. Men will realize the closeness, the blessedness, the nobility of their relation to God, as his children, friends, co-workers, heirs; and their souls will be lifted up and will swell with a sacred joy.

(2) In man. Jacob “wilt not now be ashamed,” his face will not “wax pale (Isa 29:22) as he regards his children; on the contrary, he will behold them with unbounded joy when he sees them “sanctifying the Name of the Holy One” (Isa 29:23). The fathers and mothers in Israel, the leaders and teachers of the Church, will exult in the extension of piety and purity, of worth and wisdom, among all the people, and particularly among the young.

4. The disappearance of iniquity. (Isa 29:20, Isa 29:21.) The oppressor, the scorner, the vicious, the unrighteous,these and such as they are removed from the scene; they no longer linger about the gates or frequent the courts or walk the streets of Jerusalem. The force of sacred fervor, like the cleansing indignation of Christ himself, sweeps unholiness from the sanctuary; “that which defileth” is cast out with the strong hand of reawakened purity.

II. THE DIVINE SOURCE OF IT. All those thus made true children of God are “the work of mine hands” (Isa 29:23); everything, as every one, is his workmanship; it is all of God. It is his Spirit that “renews the face of the earth,” that also revives the souls of men and the condition of his Church.

III. THE HOPE OF ITS COMING.

1. We may look to the promises of God‘s Word, that hold out to us the hope of better and brighter days in the future.

2. Or to the grace and power of our Lord; for we cannot believe that his yearning compassion and his mighty power will leave outside forever the multitudes that are still afar off.

3. But we do well to look to devout and earnest preparation on our own part. Can we not “prepare the Lord’s way” by cleansing our hearts of selfishness and sin, of pride and unbelief; by devout expectation and eager readiness for the sound of his chariot-wheels; by earnest and believing prayer for the action of his reviving Spirit?C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Isa 29:2

Divine corrections through temporal distresses.

This subject may be treated in the larger spheres of nations, classes of society, or Churches, and applications may be made to individual experience. God’s ways in the world of men are designed to reveal the mystery of his ways with each man. That impression which we are now gaining concerning the constancy and inexorableness of law, godly people have long had concerning the constancy and inexorableness of the Divine dealings. What God has been to one man, he has been to many, he has been to all. What God has been here, he has been there, and he has been everywhere. It is a law and order with him that he should correct men for their faults by means of temporal distresses. The calamities that come to men and nations are no accidents. In them God is working for righteousness. The term Ariel is one of Isaiah’s favorite symbolical names. It stands for Jerusalem. The prophet exclaims, “Alas for Ariel!” because of the wrongheadedness and the willfulness which were leading its rulers away from reliance on Jehovah to confidence in Egypt. The word “Ariel” means “God’s lion,” but it is not easy for us to recognize the appropriateness of the figure. Some think it may mean the hearth, or altar of God, and then the reference to “sacrifices” in verse 1 is seen to be appropriate. Henderson, feeling that the figure of Jerusalem as a lion, devouring the flesh Of many sacrifices, is very strained, accepts the figure of “hearth or altar,” and says, “The reference is to Jerusalem as the center of the Jewish polity, where alone it was lawful to sacrifice to Jehovah” (comp. Isa 31:9). In favor of the translation, “Lion of God,” it may be noticed that the lion was the emblem of the tribe of Judah. The historical reference of these verses is to the coming attack of Sennacherib’s army, which would be a distress to Ariel, but would not involve her ruin. It would be a providence with the evident design of warning and correcting. It is matched by many circumstances in individual lives which are distressing rather than afflicting or overwhelming.

I. PARTICULAR EVILS IN ARIEL. Perhaps the point of reproach here is the insincerity attending the reformation which Hezekiah instituted. There is an important difference between a reformation which starts from the people and reaches to affect the throne, as in the case of Nineveh in the time of Jonah; or as in the case of the German Protestant Reformation, which was in the heart and purpose of the people before Luther found it voice; and a reformation which starts from the throne and tries to carry the people with it, as in the cases of Hezekiah and Josiah. There is the grave danger of the people’s acceding to the wish of the sovereign, and the example of the court, apart from their own convictions. This was the particular evil of the time which needed correction. There were signs of religious awakening which were insincere. How insincerity in the leaders was shown in the efforts of a considerable party to turn from Jehovah and negotiate for help with Egypt! Still, we may observe the prevalence of insincerity, and the fact that “distresses” are just the fitting corrective of this evil.

II. THE DELUSION OF KEEPING UP SACRIFICES IN ARIEL. An important part of prophetical work was the denunciation of sacrifices and religious rites when the soul of meaning was lost out of them, and they expressed no devotion, no thankfulness, no love, and no consecration (see Isa 1:11-15). Here Isaiah intimates that increasing the number of festivals and multiplying sacrifices could not deceive God or hide from him the real moral and religious condition of the people. Keeping up the formalities of religion is often successful in deceiving men, but it never deceives God. This is his absolute condition, “They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

III. THE FORMS IN WHICH ARIEL MIGHT BE HOPEFULLY DISTRESSED. The Mosaic system had established the idea that men would be sure to get good things by being good. This was founded in truth, but it involved men’s having right ideas of what are “good things,” and what is “being good.” Men made it mean that they would be sure to get temporal blessings if they made large outward show of goodness. And therefore temporal distresses and anxieties were precisely the things that would awaken men to a sense of their mistake, and to a worthier apprehension of Divine claims. Temporal safety and blessing did not attend such goodness as theirs, and so they were led to suspect their goodness. So we, finding our religion fail us in the evil day, are brought to see that formal religion never can be acceptable unto him who “desires truth in the inward parts.”

IV. THE ISSUE OF DIVINE DEALINGS WITH ARIEL. Here we must distinguish between the issue which God designs, and for the accomplishment of which the means he uses are appropriate, and the issue which is actually attained in consequence of man’s resistant willfulness. One of the saddest things in all human lives is the contrast between the results of distressful dispensations and the gracious designs contemplated by God in sending them. Corrections that fail to humble succeed in hardening.R.T.

Isa 29:11

God’s Word a sealed Book.

Reference is to the prophecies of Isaiah, which were evidently circulated in writing among the people; but, by reason of prevailing hypocrisy, pride, and obstinacy, they were not understoodthey were like a sealed book (compare the figure in Rev 5:2). The connection of the text may be stated thus: “The hearers stare in astonishment at a prophecy seemingly so out of relation to facts. The prophet warns them that, if they willfully deaden their spiritual faculties, there will be no emerging afterwards from this state of blindness and stupefaction. Jehovah will judicially fix them in it. The ruling class is mainly addressed. They are spiritually asleep, with eyes closed and heads wrapped up (in Oriental fashion).”

I. GOD‘S WORD IS NOT A SEALED BOOK BY DIVINE DESIGN. A curious notion has gained acceptance that the Bible could not be the Word of God if it did not contain mysteries quite beyond the possibility of man’s apprehension. On the other hand, it has been well urged that God can have no need thus to “show off” his superiority; and that revelation must mean “light,” “unfolding;” it can never be intended to mean “bewildering.” Of this we may be surethere is nothing in the Bible scaled from man. Whatever is there is for our understanding, for our instruction. Isaiah’s prophecies, given by God’s inspiration, are plain enough; he may read them who runs.

II. GOD‘S WORD BECOMES A SEALED BOOK THROUGH HUMAN PERVERSITY. This may be shown:

1. In the blinding influence of prejudice. We cannot find in the Word what we do not want to find. This may be applied to national prejudice, sectarian prejudice, and personal prejudice.

2. In the closing of men’s minds to the incomings and gracious illuminations and inspirations of God’s Spirit. He who gives the Word gives the keys to its meanings and applications, through the guiding Spirit. It is a sealed Book if we have not the key.

3. In the judicial scaling which comes as a judgment on the perversity. This is the precise case associated with the text. These willful rulers were determined to treat Isaiah’s prophecies as a sealed book: then to them it shall be a sealed book; and when they want to understand it, they shall “weary themselves to find the door.” Apply to our own relations with God’s Word. The openness and suggestiveness of it is a test of our spiritual state. We must never think that God has closed it; the fact can only be that we have closed ourselves to it.R.T.

Isa 29:13

Lip-service; or, the peril of losing the heart out of our piety.

There was a time when Israel rendered heart-service to God. There was a life in the Mosaic system. Taking a figure from the sacrifice which Noah offered as consecrating a regenerate earth unto God, there was “a savor of a sweet smell” to rise up to God. The reproach of Isaiah is that the sacrifice was left, but the savor was gone; the husk was left, but the kernel was gone; the form was left, the heart was gone; the voice still spoke, but it had no message to deliver. “They draw near with lip, but heart is far away.” And still, whensoever personal piety is failing, men fall back on some past experiences, or else they exaggerate the mere formalities of religious worship and ordinance. Ages of strong faith are very independent of forms. Ages of failing faith always exaggerate forms, If we have little heart for obedience, we put in its place much bowing and kneeling and offeringas if God could not see very deep, and would be taken by appearances (see 1Sa 16:7).

I. LIE–SERVICE IS THE REQUIREMENT or GOD. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me,” saith the Lord. Hoses expresses a right feeling when he leads the people to say, “So will we render the calves of our lips” (Hos 14:2). To worship God is to make our approaches to him, and to present our adorations to him; it is to draw nigh to him as those that have business with him, with an intention therein to honor him. This we are to do with our mouth and with our lips in speaking of him and in speaking to him. And, if the heart be full of his love and fear, out of the abundance of that heart the mouth will speak. It should be carefully pointed out that the modern neglect of meetings for worship, praise, and prayer is as sad a sign of failing heart-love for God as is the exaggeration of formal rites and ceremonies. It must be plainly and forcibly urged that God calls for due expression of our piety; he asks for “life-service.”

II. LIP–SERVICE ONLY IS AN OFFENCE UNTO GOD. Because it is worthless. God the Spirit cannot be satisfied with things; he asks for spirit, for emotion, affection, thankfulness, and trust. “Voice and nothing else” must be mockery to him who can only heed a voice when the heart speaks by means of it. We call that false, in relation to ourselves, which is warm expression of affection for us when there is no heart-love; and such falseness is an offence. And Isaiah tells the rulers that the secret of their falseness is that they have taken to ordering their daily conduct by “the precepts of men,” and did not want to obey the Law of God; so they gave him words in place of works.R.T.

Isa 29:15

God the Mind-Searcher.

Foolish indeed are they who “seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord.” The first reference of this warning may be to the secret schemes of the party in Jerusalem which advocated an offensive and defensive alliance with Egypt in the national emergency. Such a policy was so evidently untheocratic that, in the days of the good Hezekiah, they were obliged to work in the dark. It may be noticed that the Divine omniscience of all events and circumstances is a much more familiar and readily recognized truth than the Divine omniscience of all thoughts of mind and decisions of will. Yet we are to understand that, as the psalmist expresses it, “Thou understandest my thought afar off . For before a word is yet on my tongue, lo! O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.” By our “thoughts” is not meant the passing set of mental associations from which we have to select, but the selections we make, the things we cherish. The omniscience of God is most searching to us when we regard it as his “knowledge of the deepest thoughts and most secret workings of the human heart.”

I. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A CHECK. A boy was required to accompany his father when out stealing potatoes from a field. The boy was set to watch while the man dug. Presently he called out, as if there was danger. “Where? where?” said the man, who could see no signs of any one approaching. “Look up!” replied the boy. This should always be taken into consideration in our thinking and our planningGod sees; God knows. We all need that check of the Divine eye upon us, reading our very hearts.

II. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A TERROR. Such it must always be to the evildoer, to the man who wants to do wrong. It checks the good man; it frightens the bad man. A servant-girl was accustomed to pilfer when dusting her master’s room, but there was a portrait on the walls, the eyes of which seemed to be always following and watching her; so, to relieve herself of her terror, the foolish girl cut out the eyes. An oppressive picture of the terror of God’s looking at and into evil-doers is given in the description of the judgment, when men wilt call on the rocks and hills to hide them from the face of Godas if they could!

III. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A CONSOLATION AND STRENGTH. This it is to all who wish to be good. The best source of illustration is Psa 139:1-24. See especially the restfulness and the joy breathed in the prayer of Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24. As Calvin says, “That man must have a rare confidence who offers himself so boldly to the scrutiny of God’s righteous judgment.”R.T.

Isa 29:19

The joy of the meek.

“The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord.” It is quite usual to confuse the “meek” with the “humble;” but, though the confusion may sometimes be excused, it is better to associate distinct meanings with each term. The “humble“ man is the Juan who thinks in a lowly way about himself. The “meek” man is the man who is concerned for the interests of others rather than himself, The ideal “meek” man has supreme concern for the interests of God. The “humble” man does not think of himself more highly than he ought to think. The “meek” man is really “disinterested.” The Bible models of meekness are first, Moses, who sacrificed himself in his zeal for the interests of the Hebrews; and then, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for the redemption of mankind. In precise harmony with this text, it is said of him, “Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.” The immediate historical connection of the verse may be thus indicated: The scoffers jeered at Isaiah’s assurance that the distress arising from the Assyrian invasion would pass away; there was no need to think of Egypt; Jehovah could and would defend his own. Isaiah replies to them that they need only wait awhile, and they would learn that God rules, and the day of deliverance and restoration would prove a day of increased joy for all those meek and pious souls that held fast their trust in God. The expression, “shall increase their joy,” suggests two very simple and natural divisions.

I. THE MEEK HAVE THE JOY OF THEIR TRUST IN THE TIME OF PERIL. Even in the national distress they held their hope in God, and that hope was strength and cheer and song. They did not think so much about themselves and their troubles as about God and about the ways in which he would vindicate himself and make his glory known. Meek souls are taken out of themselves; and this is the secret of joy. Meek souls are so satisfied in those whom they trust that they can be quiet from fear of evil. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” They are always rich; they may always be happy.

II. THE MEEK HAVE THE JOY OF DELIVERANCE WHEN GOD‘S DAY COMES. They are ready for it, expecting it, waiting to welcome it. They are not hindered by the sense of shame, as are the scoffers. Long expectation makes possession at last a keener, holier joy; and prepares them fully to enjoy all the blessings it brings. Still it is true that the meek have the best of life while they walk under its gloom, and they will have the best of heaven when its gates are opened for the ransomed.R.T.

Isa 29:20, Isa 29:21

The humiliation of the suspicious.

We should see in these verses a strictly personal reference. Some parties, especially among the leaders of the people, could see nothing good, nothing wise, in Isaiah’s teachings and warnings. They thought them babyish, untimely, leading to a false security. They valued statesmanship, political wisdom, and the subtlety of setting one great nation against another, so that their kingdom might be let alone. The kinds of scorning and sneering in which they indulged are described to us in Isa 28:9-13. Here Isaiah utters his complaint of their suspiciousness and unreasonableness. “They make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate.” There are no members of society more disagreeable to society than the suspicious, who can so keenly discern evil when there is none to discern; and find evil motive in actions of transparent sincerity. If men praise, the suspicious-tempered call it flattery. If men reprove, the suspicious-tempered say they are jaundiced. Suspiciousness comes to be a disease, a mania. It is absolutely opposed to the spirit of considerate brotherliness and heavenly Divine charity, which “thinketh no evil, and is not easily provoked.” Matthew Henry, describing the people referred to here, says, “They made a man, though he were ever so wise and good a man, though he were a man of God, an offender for a word, a word mischosen or misplaced, when they could not but know that it was well meant. They caviled at every word that the prophets spoke to them by way of admonition, though ever so innocently spoken, and without any design to affront them. They put the worst construction upon what was said, and made it criminal by strained innuendoes. Those who consider how apt we all are to speak unadvisedly, and to mistake what we hear, will think it very unjust and unfair to make a man an offender for a word.” As the illustration and enforcement of this subject must greatly depend on the experiences and observations of each preacher, we only give suggestive divisions.

I. THE SUSPICIOUS TEMPER MAY HAVE ITS ROOT IN NATURAL DISPOSITION.

II. THE SUSPICIOUS TEMPER SWIFTLY GROWS WITH INDULGENCE.

III. THE SUSPICIOUS TEMPER LEADS MEN TO MAKE MISTAKES.

IV. THE SUSPICIOUS TEMPER LIMITS A MAN‘S ENJOYMENTS.

V. THE SUSPICIOUS TEMPER MAY MAKE IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR A MAN‘ TO TRUST IN GOD.R.T.

Isa 29:23

The sanctifying power of sanctified people.

“They”God’s redeemed and sanctified ones”shall sanctify my Name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob.” This thought, in its New Testament form, may be found in the words of the great High Priestly prayer, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” Christ, the Model of the sanctified ones, honors God, and redeems and purifies man. Two things need consideration.

I. GOD‘S SANCTIFIED ONES. “Sanctify” is a familiar term to godly people. It is a word bearing several distinct meanings, or, it would be more exact to say, several distinct parts of meaning. Sometimes one of these parts is set in prominence, and sometimes another part; and it is always worth while to use religious terms with care, precisely apprehending the senses in which they are employed. “Sanctify” may mean “make actually pure and holy.” This is indeed the more common and usual meaning of the term, which comes at once to our minds. We think that for us to be sanctified must be for us to be made “perfectly holy.” The word seems to express our “meetness for the inheritance of the saints in the light.” When we are wholly sanctified we shall be ready for presenting faultless before the presence of God. Some of us think that such “holiness” may be attained in this life; while others of us feel that the testing death-time must come ere the sanctification can be complete, and the full bloom can rest on the sacred fruitage of our life. But by putting this side of meaning into undue prominence, we lose sight of other ideas which lie in the wordideas of even more practical importance to us. The Jews had thoughts about this word “sanctify” which brought it more helpfully within the sphere of their actual life and labor. To them to sanctify a thing was to take it awayto separate it from common uses, and devote it wholly, consecrate it, to Divine and holy uses. A person or a thing was sanctified when it was given over wholly to God and God’s service. A lamb separated from the flock for sacrifice was said to be sanctified. Samuel, taken by his mother away from the home-life, and left with Eli at the tabernacle, was sanctifiedlent to the Lord, given over wholly to the Lord’s service, for so long as he might live. The Levites were a sanctified tribe, because they were taken from the other tribes, and devoted wholly to the tabernacle service. The Jewish idea of the word comes out very fully in the ceremony of the consecration of a Levite. The priest touched with the blood of a sacrificed animal the Levite’s right hand, right eye, and right foot. This was the Levite’s sanctification. It devoted every faculty and every powerof seeing, hearing, doing, walking, the right-hand faculties, the best and the choicestto God’s peculiar service. He was a man set apart. This is the side of sanctifying which we may realize, and in this sense our Lord could declare, “I am,” daily, continuously, “sanctifying myself.” We, too, must be “sanctifying ourselves” for the bearing and the doing of God’s holy will and service. And “sanctifying self” means

(1) the full and hearty devotion of all our powers to God’s work;

(2) the patient and anxious culturing of the inner life;

(3) hearty and entire separation from all self-seeking interests. Of Christ’s school it may be said,

“Here we learn to serve and give,
And, rejoicing, self deny.”

II. THE SANCTIFYING POWER OF THE SANCTIFIED ONES. This is the only real fitness of a man for doing God’s work in the world. It ensures the highest and best power for the doing, because it brings all the force of the man himself to bear upon his work. It is not a man’s knowledge blessing his fellow-men, nor a man’s experience, nor a man’s genius, nor a man’s efforts; it is a man blessing men. It is a regenerate, divinely endowed man, blessing men. It is a Christly man continuing Christ’s work of grace. It is a man who has seen Christ telling his vision to others. It is the man become a saint, and therefore an apostle. “That self-sanctifying of the Lord Jesus Christ was ‘for our sakes,’ and it has power on us. It is the inspiration of an example. It is more than the realization of our ideal. There is the noblest, the loftiest manhood; there is the truest, the meekest piety; there is the perfection of human sonship;there, in that sanctified Man, who kneels before God and says,’ For thy sake, O Father, I am sanctifying myself’. For their sakes, O Father, I am sanctifying myself.'” And there we learn that most blessed lesson that “sanctity is power”power to honor the Divine Name, power to redeem and uplift our fellow-men.R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Isa 29:1-2. Woe to Ariel, &c. It is evident from Isa 29:8 and all interpreters have agreed, that this prophesy is directed against Jerusalem; and it has been commonly thought that Ariel, which signifies the lion of God, and was the name of the altar of burnt-offerings, is here put for the city of Jerusalem, where this celebrated altar was erected;which has appeared the more probable from the apparent allusion in the latter part of this verse to the rites performed at that altar. But Vitringa is of opinion, that Ariel, or the city of Ariel, means the city of David, as the next clause explains it; for he thinks that Ariel was a mystical name for David, and one which was usual for the most celebrated warlike heroes among the Hebrews. Our prophet has used it in this sense in chap. Isa 33:7. See also 2Sa 23:20. And Bochart informs us, that even yet, among the Arabs and Persians, their most celebrated warriors are called, “The lions of God.” There is great emphasis in the passage thus understood. The author of the Observations, however, cannot agree in this interpretation of Vitringa’s; he asks, “How will this account for the altar’s being called Ariel: Eze 43:15.? Is it not proper rather to think of some circumstance which agreed with both, and might be the occasion of calling each of them Ariel?” Such, according to the eastern taste, was the confirming great quantities of provision, and especially of flesh. The modern Persians will have it, says D’Herbelot, in his account of Schiraz, a city of that country, that this name was given to it, because this city consumes and devours like a lion (which is called Schir in Persian) all that is brought to it; by which they express the multitude, and, it may be, the good appetite of its inhabitants. The prophet then denounces Woe; perhaps to Zion, as too ready to trust to the number of its inhabitants and sojourners, which may be insinuated by the same term, Ariel: and conformably to this interpretation, the threatening in the last clause of the second verse may be understood of Jerusalem consuming its inhabitants. We read of a land eating up its inhabitants. Num 13:32. So that Jerusalem, which had been called

Ariel on account of the great quantities of flesh consumed there, above all the other cities of Judah, might be threatened by the prophet to be called Ariel, as consuming its inhabitants themselves: a very different sense from the preceding, and an extremely severe one. Observations, p. 114. Bishop Lowth renders the latter part of the first verse, Add year to year; let the feasts go round in their course. The general meaning of the whole passage is, that though the hypocritical inhabitants might think to please God by external worship, by their annual festivals and repeated sacrifices, yet these, without faith and right dispositions, would avail them nothing: God, notwithstanding them, would distress, or rather inclose and besiege them, (see Jer 19:9.) and reduce them to great sorrow and misery. The last clause, And it shall be unto me as Ariel, is differently understood. We have just seen one interpretation of it by the author of the Observations: Vitringa thinks that the sense of the prophet is, that God would make Jerusalem the fiery centre of his indignation; for Ariel is here taken, says he, in its true signification, not for the altar, but for the centre of the altar; and herein consists the force of the sentence. The centre of the altar sustained the symbol of the most holy and pure will of God, by which all the victims offered to God were to be approved, to which pertains the justice of God, burning like fire, and consuming the sinner, if no propitiation intervenes, but Jerusalem should become the theatre of the divine judgments; it should consume, like the fire upon the altar, as well the wicked and refractory sinners who should miserably perish in it, as the enemy who should besiege it: for a fire should burst forth from the face of the Lord, and consume the enemy, as it happened to the Assyrians. To shew the propriety of this interpretation, compare chap. Isa 31:8-9 which refers to the present passage.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

II.THE SECOND WOE

Isaiah 29

1. THE FOURFOLD ARIEL.

Isa 29:1-12

1Woe 1to Ariel, to Ariel,

2The city where David dwelt!

Add ye year to year;

3Let them 4kill sacrifices.

25Yet I will distress Ariel,

And there shall be heaviness and sorrow;
And it shall be unto me as Ariel.

3And I will camp against thee round about,

And will lay siege against thee with a 6mount,

And I will raise forts against thee.

4And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground,

And thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
And thy voice shall be as 7of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground,

And thy speech shall 8whisper out of the dust.

59Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust,

And the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away;

Yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

610Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts

With thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise,
With storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

Even all that fight against her, and her munition,
And that distress her,
Shall be as a dream of a night vision.

8It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth,

And, behold, he eateth;
But he awaketh, and his soul is empty;
Or as when a thirsty man dreameth,
And, behold, he drinketh;
But he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint,

And his soul hath appetite:
So shall the multitude of all the nations be,
That fight against mount Zion.

9Stay yourselves, and wonder;

11 12Cry ye out, and cry:

They are drunken, but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with strong drink.

10For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep,

And hath closed your eyes:
The prophets and your 13rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a 14book that is sealed,

Which men deliver to one that 15is learned,

Saying, Read this, I pray thee:
And he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12And the book is delivered to him that is not learned,

Saying, Read this, I pray thee;
And he saith, I am not learned.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isa 29:1. By comparing Isa 30:1 we see that is not from , but from (Jer 7:21, et saepe). (Kal only here, Hiphil further in Isa 15:8) is circuire circulare. This meaning belongs to Exo 34:22; 2Ch 24:23.

Isa 29:7. , is used for the sake of variety instead of comp. Isa 29:2, Isa 29:5. The construction of the suffix is to be explained as in Psa 18:40; Psa 18:49. is found also in Eze 19:9, where the king of Judah is spoken of who was caught by means of net and pit, placed in a cage by means of hooks, and brought to Babylon into . The whole connection there renders it probable that denotes a place for wild animals that have been captureda prison or something of that kindwhereas in Ecc 9:12, where only the word again occurs, the meaning net is undoubted. When then , and not is in the text, and when, moreover, I consider that the grammatical co-ordination of with the suffix in (all her assailants and of her ) would be very abnormal, because we cannot, e.g., say instead of ,it seems to me much more probable that is intended to denote here not the fortress Zion, but the siege entrenchments set up against Zion, the verse 3, which enclose the city as a net, and can therefore be called its net. And this net of bulwarks, together with those who by means of it distress Zion ( comp. on Isa 29:2), shall disappear as a vision of a dream. Moreover the conjecture of Boettcher (Aehrenlese p. 32) that we should read instead of seems to me not unworthy of attention. For the difficulty still remains to give a specific meaning to , if it is to stand for . Boettcher not unjustly remarks, too, that the , the splendor of the city (Isa 23:9; Isa 28:1 sqq.; Isa 32:13 sq.) certainly formed a prominent point in the vanishing vision as the refreshment which they desire, and imagine they will receive. Whoever is inclined to adopt this conjecture of Boettcher, which even Knobel accepts, will have no difficulty in connecting with what precedes it.

Isa 29:8. We should expect a pronomen separatum () along with the participles and , and the adjective . But it is well known that this pronoun is frequently omitted.

Isa 29:11. Instead of we find in the Kri without the article, as in Isa 29:12. But the alteration is needless. For in this connection can also be said, if only we take the article as the generic. Respecting , vers.11 and 12, comp. on Isa 40:6.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet sets forth in vers.1 and 2 the theme of his discourse. For he announces to Ariel, i.e., to the city of God, Jerusalem, that he will cause her after a time great distress, notwithstanding that she is Ariel, i.e., lion of God; that she, however, in this distress will prove herself to be Ariel, i.e., the hearth of God. This thought! is further developed in what follows. The Lord causes Jerusalem to be told that He will besiege and afflict her greatly (Isa 29:3), so that she, bowed low in the dust, will let her voice sound faintly as the spirit of one dead (Isa 29:4). But the comforting promise is immediately annexed, that the enemies of Jerusalem will suddenly become as fine dust or as flying chaff (Isa 29:5). For Jehovah will come against them as with thunder, and tempest, and devouring fire (Isa 29:6). The whole force, therefore, of the enemies that fight against Ariel, i. e., here the mount of God, will pass away as a vision of a dream in the night (Isa 29:7); these enemies will be in the condition of one who in a dream thinks that he has eaten and drunk, and only on awaking perceives that he has been dreaming (Isa 29:8). In Isa 29:9-12 the Prophet himself depicts the effect of his words on the obdurate people. They build on other aid. They therefore hear the word of the Prophet in fixed amazement (Isa 29:9). For they are as blind (Isa 29:10), and in relation to the prophecy they are as one who has to read a sealed document, or as one who has an unsealed writing given him to read, but he cannot read (Isa 29:11-12).

2. Woe to Arielas Ariel.

Isa 29:1-2. This paragraph begins with as Isa 28:1; Isa 29:15; Isa 30:1; Isa 31:1; Isa 33:1. The name occurs 2Sa 23:20 (1Ch 11:22) as the name of Moabite heroes; Ezr 8:16 as the name of a Levite; Eze 43:15-16 the altar is called and (Kri, Kethibh ); Isa 33:7 is found in the signification hero. Interpreters take the word as often as it occurs in the passage before us, namely, Isa 29:1 (bis), Isa 29:2 (bis), and Isa 29:7, either in the signification of lion of God, or in that of hearth of God. Only Hitzig, who is on this account censured, assumes a play on the word, and takes it in ver.1 as ara Dei, and Isa 29:2 as lion of God. I am of opinion that Hitzig has not gone far enough. For it seems to me that the Prophet has each time used the word in a different signification according to the connection, and that it is taken in four different meanings [?]. First of all, Ariel appears as an enigmatical, significant name which the Prophet attributes to the city of Jerusalem in a manner unusual and fitted to excite inquiry. That Jerusalem is meant by it is clear from the connection, especially from Isa 29:1, and from in Isa 29:8. But we mark from the connection in each instance, that the Prophet intends each time a different allusion while employing the same word. In adding in Isa 29:1 he gives us to understand that under he alludes to city of God. The word is used besides only of the Moabite capital Ar-Moab: Num 21:15; Num 21:28; Deu 2:9; Isa 15:1. may accordingly involve an antithesis to Moab, as in Isa 25:10 sq., being thought of as the representative of all opposition to God. The Septuagint translator has referred to Moab, while he takes this word to designate the Moabite city; for he renders , , whereby he certainly had in his eye the victory achieved by David over the Moabites, 2Sa 8:2. But what led him to think of Moab in connection with , was either the recollection of the Moabite heroes mentioned 2Sa 23:20, or the similarity in sound to the name of the city Ar (Greek Num 21:15; Deu 2:9) which lies in Ar-iel. That the resemblance could have been thought of by the Prophet appears from the manifold permutations which occur between and in Hebrew, and in the cognate dialects (comp. Isa 29:5 and , and , and , and , and etc. Comp. Ewald,Gr., 58, a, note 1 and c; Gesen.Thes. p. 2). The yod in does not militate against our exposition. For, apart from the fact that a mere similarity in sound is the matter in question, the i would not grammatically stand in the way of the explanation City of God, as this i occurs not rarely as an antique connecting vowel especially in proper names (comp. Gabriel, Abdiel, etc., Ewald,Gr., 211, b). Accordingly I consider the words as explanatory of the word Ariel, or as a hint to intimate in what signification the Prophet would have us understand the word here. For Jerusalem, a holy city from a high antiquity (Gen 14:18 sqq.), became, the city of God (Isa 60:14; Psa 46:5; Psa 48:2; Psa 48:9; Psa 87:3; Psa 101:8), and the centre of the theocracy from the day when David, chosen king, by all Israel, took up in it his royal residence, (2Sa 5:6 sqq.). With the words to the Prophet confirms the woe which he had pronounced. First of all, the question presents itself, whether the words contain an indefinite or a definite statement of time. If the declaration of time be indefinite, the occurrence of the calamity would be placed in prospect at a point of time incalculably remote. For nothing would indicate how long this adding year to year, and this revolution of the festivals should last. Thereby, however, the effect of the prophecy on those living at the time of its delivery would be neutralized. For they could indulge the hope that the catastrophe would not affect them. The design of the Prophet could not be to produce such an impression.

We must therefore assume that the Prophet wishes to indicate by these words an interval at least approximately defined, and a point of time not very remote, but rather relatively near (as Isa 32:10). The meaning then would be: Add to the present year another year, and let another annual revolution of festivals be completed. This would be tantamount to saying, that from the end of the present year another year would run its course, and then the catastrophe announced in what follows would take place. The addition is intended to intimate that a full sacred year has yet to run its course. If the time when the Prophet spoke this prophecy was coincident with the beginning of the sacred year, then the addition was really superfluous. But if this coincidence did not exist, then the addition had the meaning that the complete year is not to be reckoned from the day when the Prophet spoke the words, but from the beginning of the next sacred year. It is therefore not probable that the Prophet made the utterance at the time of the Passover festival, which formed the commencement of the theocratic year (Exo 7:2). But the Prophet must have spoken the words a considerable time before the Passover. [Many of the older writers, and the E. V., take the last words of the verse in the sense, let them kill (or more specifically, cut off the heads) the sacrificial victims; but it is more in accordance both with the usage of the words and with the context to give its usual sense of feasts or festivals, and that of moving in a circle or revolving, which it has in Hiphil. The phrase then exactly corresponds to the one preceding, add year to year. Alexander.D. M.] Isa 29:2 tells what shall happen at the point of time indicated. Then the Lord will cause Ariel difficulty and distress (Isa 29:7; Isa 51:13); and there shall arise sighing and groaning (besides only Lam 2:5 borrowed from this place; the verb Isa 3:26; Isa 19:8, comp. the related of the snorting of the female camel [wild she-ass.D.M.] in heat, Jer 2:24). Here Ariel is represented as on all sides oppressed, which extorts pitiable groaning. The name Ariel seems therefore to involve here an antithesis to : The strong is oppressed, and in this his distress he sighs and groans. When then in this connection the idea of strength is prominent in , we shall have to take the word here in its common signification=lion of God. But this distress does not last forever. The Prophet in this statement passes hastily over the whole field of vision from the bad beginning to the glorious end: Jerusalem (for this is the subject of ) shall yet be to the Lord as . It is manifest that the word must be taken here as a word of good meaning. In such a signification we find it used Eze 43:15 sq. For there the altar of burnt offering is so designated. The same altar is also called there . But this designation seems to be given to the altar as a whole. When therefore along with is an altar-name, we may assume that both words have a signification referring to the nature of the altar. In the case of this is at once evident; the high place of God is put in opposition to the high places () of the false gods. It is true that is found elsewhere only in the signification lion. But the radix denotes carpere (Psa 80:13; Son 5:1), and can, like , be used of fire. If further we compare the Arabic ir, focus, caminus, and consider that in Isa 31:9, it is said of the Lord that , it follows that the Prophets were justified, in a connection in which a manifold playing on a word is ingeniously practised, in finding in the word an allusion to the place of fire, to the altar. It is particularly to be observed that the Prophet in our place says as Ariel. He does not say . Jerusalem is not therefore to become an altar, but it is to prove itself as a holy hearth, which it has long been. It shall be treated as such by the Lord, it shall therefore be again delivered out of distress.

3. And I will campthe dust.

Isa 29:3-4. What was stated in Isa 29:1-2 with the brevity of a theme is now set forth more fully. And, first, it is shown how the Lord will afflict the strong lion, and compel him to utter lamentable sounds of distress. , which is employed by Isaiah only in this chapter, denotes here encamping with a view to besieging. The word stands frequently in the historical books in this sense in conjunction with : Jos 10:5; Jos 10:31; Jos 10:34; 2Sa 12:28 et saepe. (besides only Isa 22:18)=as in a circle. (related to periodus) is to be regarded as standing in the accus. localis. (in Isaiah besides only Isa 21:2) stands frequently with in the sense of pressing upon: Deu 20:12; Deu 20:19;2Ki 6:25; 2Ki 24:11; Jer 32:2 et saepe. (. .), is synonymous with , , = Statio, excubiae praeaidium, post. As to construction the word is to be regarded as in the accusative (accus. instrum.). , which occurs in Isaiah only here, is a very general term, which is most frequently equivalent to in the expression (2Ch 11:10; 2Ch 11:23; 2Ch 12:4; 2Ch 14:5; 2Ch 21:3). It manifestly denotes not instruments for attacking a place, but fortifications, entrenchments employed by a besieging army, among which are (2Sa 20:15; Jer 6:6, et saepe) and (2Ki 25:1). The plural then denotes the various parts of the works thrown up by the besiegers. As the fortifications for defence are also called 2Ch 11:11. The expression is not opposed to what has been said. For the machines used in a siege, the , as is clear from Eze 4:2, belong to the . Isa 29:4 illustrates the words in Isa 29:2, and there shall be sighing and groaning [E. V., heaviness and sorrow]. The construction is the well-known one, according to which an adverbial notion is expressed by the verb that is placed first. Jerusalem will lie so low that her voice will be only heard as if it proceeded from the dust, yea, from under the earth. There is here a climax descendens. The voice comes from a female sitting on the ground, out of the dust, from under the earth. In the clause we mark a pregnant construction. is used by Isaiah with tolerable frequency: Isa 2:9; Isa 2:11; Isa 2:17; Isa 5:15; Isa 25:12; Isa 26:5. The word is used especially of a suppressed voice Ecc 12:4. Regarding and comp. on Isa 7:19. The voice will, like that of the spirit of one dead, come forth out of the earth.

4. Moreover the multitudeMount Zion.

Isa 29:5-8. These words expand the short promise at the close of Isa 29:2. The distress of Jerusalem shall not last long. The supplication of her who has been brought so low shall be heard; her enemies shall be brought still lower; they shall be crushed even to dust. comp. Isa 5:24. besides Isa 40:15. is used by the Prophet four times in this passage: Isa 29:5 bis, Isa 29:7 and Isa 29:8. Regarding comp. on Isa 1:7. The image of chaff carried away by the wind is frequent: Isa 17:13; Isa 41:15; Psa 1:4; Psa 35:5; Job 21:18; Zep 2:2. comp. Isa 13:11. The crushing of the enemies shall be not only complete, but also sudden. It will be thereby all the more terrible. is substantive=the opening of the eyes, a moment; but is an adverb (comp. ,). In regard to the permutation of and see on Isa 29:1. The two words stand together Num 6:9, where, however, we find , and Isa 30:13. denotes the measure (momentaneo modo, comp. , ,, etc). Isa 29:6 describes the means, by which the Lord crushes the enemy of Jerusalem. is taken by Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, Delitzsch impersonally: A visitation shall be made. But it seems to me that this would require the passive of the causative conjugation, namely Hophal. (Comp. on Isa 38:10). The reference to Jerusalem is suggested by Isa 29:2; Isa 29:7-8. The Prophet says therefore, that Jerusalem will be graciously visited, i. e., delivered (Isa 24:22) [According to this interpretation we must translate and she shall be visited, etc. If we use the second person as in the E. V., thou shalt be visited, then the enemy must be addressed, and not the city Jerusalem, which would require the verb to be in the feminine form of the second person.D. M.]. , observe here the similarity of sound in these words. , the cracking, roaring (of thunder Psa 104:7; Psa 77:19), is found only here in Isaiah. conquassatio, (hence earthquake 1Ki 19:11; Amo 1:1), is further used by Isa 9:4. from (, ) auferre, rapere, is rather the whirlwind, turbo, comp. Isa 5:28; Isa 17:13; Isa 21:1; Isa 66:15. tempest, hurricane, comp. Isa 40:24; Isa 41:6. Both words are found in conjunction elsewhere only in Amo 1:14. The flame of devouring fire, comp. Isa 30:30. The plural 13:8; Isa 66:15. Besides 4:5; Isa 5:24; Isa 10:17; Isa 43:2; Isa 47:14. comp. Isa 30:27; Isa 30:30; Isa 33:14. Vitringa thinks that we ought to take these words literally, and find in them an intimation that the Lord destroyed the Assyrians in that night (Isa 37:36) by a frightful thunderstorm. But this is a manifest misconception of the Prophetic style. In Isa 29:7-8 the Prophet depicts at the close the disappointment which the enemy will feel. This is expressed by a simple image. The Assyrians, so far as they had really seen Jerusalem before them, and had it in reach of their power, will, after their overthrow, have the impression that they had seen Jerusalem only in a dream, in a vision of the night: and in so far as they had hoped to be able easily to conquer Jerusalem, they will be as if they had eaten in a dream, but on awaking, should feel themselves as hungry as before. By the two images the Prophet expresses very emphatically the thought that the whole attempt of Assyria upon Jerusalem should be as if it had not been; should be in fact as empty and unreal as the fabric of a dream. The subject of Isa 29:7 is and . The expression is found besides only Job 33:15, where we read (comp. Job 4:13; Job 20:8). They who fight against Ariel will be as a vision of a dream ( as a verb in Isaiah besides only Isa 31:4). In what sense we have to take Ariel here, is evident from Isa 29:8. For there the whole phrase the multitude of all the nations that fight against is repeated, but instead of Ariel we read Mount Zion. This makes it clear that the Prophet would have us take here in the sense of Mount of God [?]. and are interchanged just as frequently as and , comp. and , and ,1Ki 12:18 and 2Ch 10:18; (See Gesen.Thes. p. 2). Ezekiel too has in Isa 43:15 got from our his . In Isa 29:8 the Prophet compares the departure of the Assyrians from Jerusalem to the awaking of a hungry or thirsty man who perceives that he has only dreamt that he has been eating or drinking. The term as in Isa 5:14; Isa 32:6. (Psa 107:9) has the signification panting for, hungry as a derivative meaning from the radical notion to run to and fro, (Isa 33:4). The concluding words of this verse the multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion, which correspond exactly to what we find in Isa 29:7, except that there instead of Mount Zion the name Ariel occurs, furnish the key to the understanding of the enigmatical word Ariel. Can it be deemed accidental that the Prophet in Isa 29:8 repeats those words of Isa 29:7 with the sole change of substituting for Ariel the words Mount Zion? Is not this a hint which the Prophet at the close gives to assist in understanding his meaning? And the first who understood this hint was Ezekiel (Isa 43:15).

5. Stay yourselvesnot learned.

Isa 29:9-12. The prediction contained in Isa 29:1-8, must have been received by the hearers of the Prophet with very mingled feelings, because it holds out to them the prospect of deliverance, but deliverance in a way not agreeable to them. For the saying Isa 29:6 did not please them. Although then the Prophet is aware that he does not say what corresponds to their wishes, still they must just hear it for their punishment. Yes, stop and wonder, whether it please you or not, whether you comprehend it or not; it is so as I have said to you. The Hithpael (to stand questioning, refusing, delaying Gen 43:10; Psa 119:60 et saepe) is found only here in Isaiah. to be astonished, to wonder (conjoined with in Hab 1:5 as here) occurs further in Isa 8:8. Both verbs denote amazement at what is offered, with unwillingness to receive it. The Hithpael stands Psa 119:16; Psa 119:47 undoubtedly in the signification oblectari, delectari. Many expositors would take the word here too in this meaning, while they consider the two imperatives as marking an antithesis (be joyous and yet blind). But we do not perceive from the context why they should be joyful. It is better therefore to take in the original signification of Kal which is permulsum, oblitum esse (comp. Isa 6:10). Hence the significations oblectari (Isa 11:8; Isa 66:12) and to become blind are equally derived. Kal occurs only in this passage where it has this last signification. The threatening of a punishment, which should first affect the spirit, is here announced to the Israelites. But this punishment will also produce its outward and visible effects. Because these effects follow in the way of punishment, the Prophet speaks of them no more in the imperative, but in the perfect. He sees the people reel and stagger like drunken men, although this intoxication does not proceed from wine. with is the accusative of the instrument. Where a capacity to receive the divine word is wanting, there it works an effect the very opposite of what it should properly produce; it hardens, blinds, stupefies. It is as if the spirit of understanding had become in those who do not desire the knowledge of the truth, a spirit of stupefaction, of stupidity. , which is found only here in Isaiah, has here this spiritual sense. is used Isa 33:15 of the binding up of the eyes, but in Isa 31:1 in its usual signification of being strong. That these two significations are closely connected in other cases also is well known. Compare , (Isa 22:21) (Gen 30:42), , . The Piel , which is used by Jeremiah (Jer 50:17) as a denominative in the sense of to break the bones, to bone, occurs only here in Isaiah. The words prophets and seers, if omitted, would not be missed in Isa 29:10. For this reason it is utterly improbable that they are an interpolation of a glossator. They obscure the meaning, instead of making it more apparent. We might almost conjecture that there were Prophets of a first, and of a second rank. The latter would have been the interpreters of the former, as in the New Testament the speech of those who spoke with tongues was explained by interpreters (1Co 12:10; 1Co 12:30; 1Co 14:5; 1Co 14:13). Not as if these prophets of the second rank or interpreters had an official position. For there is no trace of this. But there were persons who, when the meaning of the prophetic utterances was the subject of conversation among the people, pushed themselves in the foreground, claiming to be specially endowed with the capacity of explaining what the prophets had spoken; and perhaps they acquired as such here and there a certain authority. The prophetic word of the great Isaiah may have been often thus interpreted to the people by such prophets. But these subordinate prophets, although perhaps their possession of a certain physical gift of prophecy was not to be disputed, (comp. Saul, 1Sa 10:10 et saepe) stood yet in a nearer relation to the people than to the Lord. Therefore their prophetic gift was often not sufficient; often it was even abused by them (comp. 1Co 14:32; 1Ki 22:6 sqq.). Isaiah alludes here to this state of matters. The people were often puzzled by the prophecy of Isaiah, and even their prophets who were wont to be their eyes for such things, had as it were bound-up eyes or covered heads. and , comp. and 1Sa 9:9. The figure employed in Isa 29:11-12 suits very well to the explanation proposed. Reading was an art which was not understood by every one. He who could not himself read, must request another to read to him. Thus was it too with the prophecy of Isaiah. The people must apply to their prophets to interpret it for them. But it happened then, says Isaiah, as it often happens to one who applies to another in order to have a writing read to him. It can be the case that the person asked is able to read, but yet cannot read the document reached to him, because it is sealed. But what can this mean? If any one reaches me a sealed paper, in order that I may read it to him, he must unite with his request the permission to unseal it. Or, were there seals which could not be removed by every one? It appears to me, that the comparison here made use of is purely imaginary. It is very unlikely that any one could not comply with the request to read a document, because it was sealed. The Prophet only imagines such a case. But what he meant to intimate thereby was most real. The words of Isaiah were to many among those prophets of the people sealed words, i.e., intelligible as to their verbal meaning, but incomprehensible as to their inner signification. To others, or partially perhaps even to all, they were not intelligible even in their verbal meaning. They did not know what to make of them. They stood before them as one who cannot read stands before what is written. It seems that this prophecy regarding Ariel proved to be one of the most obscure prophecies of Isaiah. This gives occasion to the Prophets expressing himself in this manner regarding the reception and understanding of his prophecies. denotes not merely the immediately preceding prediction, but the prophecy of Isaiah in general. For why should it have happened thus with only those words that immediately precede? (comp. Isa 21:2; Isa 28:18) is synonymous with Isa 1:1.

Footnotes:

[1]Or, O Ariel, that is, the lion of God.

[2]Or, of the city.

[3]let the feasts complete a revolution.

[4]Heb. cut off the heads.

[5]then.

[6]post.

[7]of the spirit of one dead.

[8]Heb. peep, or, chirp.

[9]But.

[10]she shall be visited (delivered).

[11]Or, take your pleasure and riot.

[12]blind yourselves and be blind.

[13]Heb. heads.

[14]Or, letter.

[15]knows writing.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Prophet is here reproving Jerusalem, and showing their folly. Towards the close of the Chapter, the Lord gives some sweet promises to the house of Jacob.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

W e might have been at a loss to know what the Prophet meant by Ariel, had he not himself explained its by adding, the city where David dwelt; consequently Jerusalem. The word itself is taken from a root, signifying the Lion. But the Chapter opens with a woe upon it; and it should seem, from the manner in which the sacrifices were offered, it was on this account; probably in those sacrifices, the people did not join faith in Christ, and hence, all sacrifices without an eye to Christ, must be followed with a woe.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Doom of Ariel

Isa 29

This is a mysterious chapter, and has been left practically unexplained. No one can say what “Ariel” means, definitely; though there are some etymological suggestions which are not wanting in value. It is a poetical term. The best conjecture is that it signifies Jerusalem. Men have often to speak and to write in cipher; especially in Scriptural days had men to do the best they could with their meaning, owing to circumstances of a hostile nature. The Bible is full of cipher. These wonderful love-letters could only be understood in some parts by the people who had the corresponding code. We have codes of business: why not codes of love? The Apocalypse is full of cipher, and commentators who have not the key make strange discord out of that sacred music. The people to whom the Apocalypse was written knew it, in all its range of thought and meaning, because they had the keywords; they knew what the writer meant when he said “Babylon.” But in days when tyrants ruled, and men had to apologise for their faith with their blood, it was well to have some masonry, some signs which could only be understood by the initiated; then one little line stood for a whole volume of meaning; every word had an alias which was understood by the reader; so that words which are very mysterious to modern students were charged with light and music and heart passion to those to whom they were originally addressed. Still, it is wonderful how with all the ciphers men can use, the love of God will overflow them all, and assert itself in many a flash or whisper or spectral outline to be seen only when the eyes are shut. David dwelt or encamped which is a better rendering in the fortress of Zion. That gives us some hint as to the locality that is indicated by this poetical or symbolical terra Ariel lion-heart; or, variously, and sharply different, hearthstone, a place made warm by altar-fire, the innermost chamber of the divine home, where wanderers felt the glow of divine hospitality and the secureness of divine protection. Great distress was to come upon Ariel: for the Lord has never spared the elect. Election gives him rights of discipline. We may inflict punishment upon those who are ours, when we may not lay the hand of chastisement upon those who do not belong to us. Love has its own law-court, but there is the open public market-place for the administration of common justice to those who are not ours by right of blood or love or pledged resolution of mutual loyalty.

Yet with all the distress there was a sense of protection. The close of the second verse does not read very rhythmically

“Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.” ( Isa 29:2 )

If we put one word into the last part of the verse that word will be key and explanation, light and relief at once, namely, the word “yet”; then the latter part of the verse will read “and yet it shall be unto me as Ariel,” bleeding because of the rod, swallowed up and greatly distressed, yea, loaded with sorrow, it shall still be Jerusalem, it shall still be the darling of God. It is so with the whole world. God cannot leave it. He rends it with earthquakes, and comes back to seal up the chasms, to grow green beauty on the rips and rents which the terrific energy has made. He withdraws from the world for a year, and then comes back with two years at a time. It would seem as if he repented first, as if love could not hold out, but must yield, at least make some approach in renewed goodness, in illuminated providence, if haply at the very last obstinacy may be subdued, and rebellion may be changed to loyalty. God is still conducting this ministry of approach and appeal and gracious offer. Behold, his hand is still stretched down out of heaven, and his fingers are laid upon the children of men.

What resources of humiliation God owns! Even Ariel was to be brought down, and was to speak out of the ground, and the speech of Ariel was to be low out of the dust, and the voice of Ariel was to be, as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and Ariel’s speech was to be like a whisper out of the dust ( Isa 29:4 ). The tone that was once so clarion-like, so musical, that was heard as might be heard the voice of silver bells, was to be sunk to a whisper, a sigh scarcely audible because of the gathering dust. See Ariel humiliated! To have seen her taken up and thrown away by Omnipotence would have been a spectacle not wholly without dignity; but to see sweet Ariel, the great lion-heart, or the word once significant of home and warmth and comfort and protection, to see Ariel thrust away in the dust muttering like one half-buried from a grave half-filled, is humiliation hardly to be borne.

There were great assaults as well as great humiliations

“Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire” ( Isa 29:6 ).

The mercy soon comes in this chapter

“And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision” ( Isa 29:7 ).

“It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite” ( Isa 29:8 ).

Now comes a very modern passage. The very thing that we imagined to be original, and the latest discovery of folly, is written down here without cipher, in the plainest, directest English:

“For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned” ( Isa 29:10-12 ).

Precisely the condition of religious civilisation today! On the one hand, we have that agnosticism that will not know, and on the other the agnosticism that has never had the chance of instruction. See how the case stands. First of all, the book is delivered to one that is learned learned in letters, in history, in philosophy, in science; and the appeal is “Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed;” I cannot read anything about God, for it is a mystery impenetrable; I cannot discover the secret of the universe, for it is sealed: we must not attempt to break the seal; whatever mystery there is must be left; let us confine ourselves to things we can handle, and properly appraise, and use under our own discretion, and let us leave alone sealed things, unknowable mysteries, doctrines that were never meant to have their equivalent in words. A wondrous thing indeed that this agnosticism should have been painted so vividly thousands of years ago! The men to whom the appeal was made were learned men, the scribes and teachers of their day; but they said, Here is a book which cannot be opened or read, for it is sealed: we must simply recognise its existence, and pass by it, leaving the opening and the solution as things quite beyond our immediate reach or understanding. This is what the most learned agnostic would say today to the humble inquirer who went to him with the question, What is God? what is the future? what is the destiny of man? or what are the worlds that shine above us? What is the meaning of spiritual inspiration, direction, government? what is it that provides the food we eat? or who kindles the light under which we do our work? what is there beyond? He would say, “I cannot read it; for it is sealed.” The universe is like a musical instrument, he would continue and herein we quote almost the very words of the agnostic himself having so many keys: on the one hand you have all that is light, and lilting, and silvery, and cheerful; and on the other all that is deep, and profound, and solemn, and heavy, and dark, and thunderous; there between these points your arms may move, but beyond all is sealed. What, am I then seated on a stool, and have I nothing but arms that I can put out? Have I no imagination, no dream power, no speculation? Have I not at least something stirring within me which says, do not sit there; rise; use other faculties; the arms are but poor symbols of thy strength: thou art a soul, a spirit, a winged lite; go and claim the inheritance of the morning and the estate of the summer. It would seem to be extremely humble but there is a humility which no man believes that one should say, I cannot read this history or answer this enigma; for it is sealed. Then the inquirer turns to those who are really ignorant, saying, “Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.” He measures learning, however, by letters; he does not know that there is a learning which is independent of letters and forms, symbols and things that can be viewed spectacularly. There is a learning of the heart, and herein we find the sphere of inspired genius, inspired intuition that marvellous instinct, sagacity, soul-power, which knows without having been to school. “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” There are people who never can get away from the idea that heaven is to be scaled by a ladder: they forget that there are wings. There are many ways to truth, to God, to rest, not known by those who live simply in the letter. When the Bible is fully opened, annotated from beginning to end as with light, it will be done by the meek soul, the modest spirit He will see most who first excludes the visible: then by pureness of heart and simplicity of motive, he may see God.

The people are rebuked who turn things upside down. This is the teaching of the sixteenth verse. By turning things upside down is meant putting things into false relations, taking hold of things by the wrong end, confounding the potter with the clay, and instead of setting the vessel down setting the potter down. This is wise unwisdom, blind sagacity, the kind of intellectual audacity that leads to defiance, not to courage. Are there not men who are gifted with the genius of inversion men who through satire, or love of sarcasm, or recklessness of mind, pervert and invert all the harmonies and purposes of God, violating divine proportions, and reversing eternal decrees, so far as their limited power will permit? Such men cannot read the Bible aright; they always open at the wrong place; they always fasten upon the wrong question. There are so many men anxious to know who wrote the Pentateuch that they never read the book itself. There are so many persons who are profoundly busy in reading the address on the outside of the letter that they never open the envelope; they have been fighting for centuries about the envelope, and the address, and the local stamp, and wondering how old the postman was that stamped that letter, and what will become of him in two thousand years from this day; and the family is in contention and tumult and unrest; every morning that letter is produced to have the envelope rediscussed and the writing re-examined through the latest microscope that can be borrowed. Why not open the letter? It may contain something; it may be self-explanatory; there may be a banknote in it. Let us open the letter; let us read the Pentateuch; and if we find in it light, and music, and truth, and drama conforming to our own experience of life, we may be able by such a process to get back to all that is really valuable in authorship. The value is in the thing that is said, and not in the signature which it bears. If men would thus read the Bible, take hold of it by the right side, and take care never to turn it upside down, they would be able themselves to sign the book, and they might be forgiven if they said they had written the twenty-third psalm. We have all written it; that is to say, we would have written it had we been blessed with the genius of expression, for we have all felt it; so that when the divinely-gifted minstrel sang the psalm first in our hearing we said, Sing it again; that is what we have been waiting for: blessed art thou, for thou hast a necromancy in the use of words, and thou hast translated the dumb meaning of all souls. Thus we must seize the moral purpose of the Bible, and work from that purpose backward and forward into all related, to minor and comparatively insignificant, questions.

The prophet complains of people who made him “an offender for a word” ( Isa 29:21 ). That is to say, they condemned him as unpatriotic because he pronounced publicly against the sins of the city. He intimates his public character in the peculiar expression in the twenty-first verse “that reproveth in the gate.” The literal meaning is that he was an open-air speaker. He could not be enclosed by walls; he could not be roofed in: he was an open-air preacher, a man whose pulpit was always ready, a man who required a great church, for he had a great message to deliver. It is precisely so today. Men are made offenders for a word in various ways, and not least in a moral way for being too critical upon their age. We love criticism only when it is directed to others. Yet are there not men who make prophets and preachers and poets and teachers offenders because of a word? The fault is a little one, but it is magnified, it is distorted, it is put in false lights, it is aggravated into a kind of burden of guilt. Do we not need open-air preachers? We do. But the climate is against us! We are quite willing to condemn the absentees, but who will stand on the steps of the Stock Exchange and say Oh, generation of bloodsuckers, vipers, children of the devil! The only remedy for that is, alas, an indictment for nuisance! The prophet is dead, or if he be not dead he is in the wilderness, where he has abundance of open air but no audience. Who will say that Isaiah is an ancient prophet, that his prophecies are an ancient book? Jesus Christ quoted from them. Who can wonder that another said, “Esaias is very bold”? He was bold because he knew his ground, he knew his age, he knew the truth he had to deliver, and knowledge of truth gives a man confidence as knowledge of language does. He who knows the language he speaks, speaks in all companies with perfect confidence and therefore with perfect ease. It is the uncertain grammarian that sits in silence, or picks his way daintily and inoffensively over commonplaces which nobody can remember. The prophet who knows the language of God in other terms, the truth and purpose of God speaks at the gate, in the open air, by night, by day, in the long summer, in the cold winter, and his cry is magnified because his conviction is strong.

Prayer

Almighty God, we are saved by hope. In the spirit of hope we live and work and suffer. Hope destroys time and distance and hindrance, and brings thee near to us with sacred realisation. We have the things we hope for when we hope according to thy will; we are already in heaven, though we know it not, when we do thy bidding and follow all the spirit of the blessed Christ. We have our reward; we have it now, in beginning, and sign, and hint; we shall have it wholly, in the absoluteness of its perfection, in thine own due time, when we obey the summons to arise because the Master is come and waiteth for us. Thou hast spoken comfortably unto our hearts in many voices, in many tones, in thy providence day by day, in all the miracle of our poor human life which thou hast brought onward from stage to stage unto this present, raising us up from many dejections, leading us forth from many humiliations, and giving us unexpected strength and unlooked-for delight. But what hast thou done in the Cross of Jesus Christ thy Son but shown all the miracles of eternity, all the wonders of almightiness, all the glory and wealth of heaven? We gaze upon that Cross, and our eyes are filled with tears; we look again, and our eyes are charged with light; we look again, and behold whilst we look the dying One lives and gives life, and is already more than conqueror. May we live in the spirit of Christ, then we shall have daily comfort; may we be crucified with Christ, then we can have no other pain; may we lean our little crosses against the tree on which he bore his woe. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVII

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH

The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.

Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.

In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.

In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.

In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.

The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.

In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.

In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.

In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.

In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).

The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7

In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:

1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.

2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.

3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:

According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .

In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.

In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.

In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”

The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.

The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.

In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”

In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”

Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .

The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”

So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?

In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”

The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”

The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23

QUESTIONS

1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?

2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?

3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?

4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?

5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?

6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?

7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?

8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?

9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?

10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?

11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?

12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?

13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?

14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?

15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?

16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?

17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?

18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?

19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?

20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?

21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?

22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?

23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?

24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?

25. Where is the great invitation and promise?

26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?

27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?

28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?

29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?

30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?

31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XVI

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 8

Isaiah 28-33

“This section, Isaiah 28-33, is called “The Book of Zion,” or “The Book of Woes.” The time of this prophecy is the reign of Hezekiah. In the preceding section the prophet contemplated the judgments which were to come in the course of the ages, upon the nations of the world, but in this section he is brought back to his own time and people.

Quite a long time has elapsed since the prophet first foretold the destruction of Samaria (Isa 7:17 ; Isa 8:4-8 ), but the crisis is now close at hand. The northern invaders who have been held back by the divine order so long, are now ready to be let loose, and the “crown of Ephraim’s pride” is about to be buried to the ground. At this solemn period a most important work must be accomplished in Judah, if Jerusalem is to be saved from Assyria. This must be a religious and moral preparation for a divine intervention, which was necessary for her salvation. This indeed had been begun by Hezekiah but it would not prove permanent unless followed up by a steady culture and patient discipline. This was now the task of Isaiah, the prophet. In order to do this he must alarm the “sinners of Zion,” reprove the infidel, stir up the worldly and careless to repentance, assure the men of Judah, who trusted in their political schemes of alliance with Egypt, that God would bring their schemes to nought, all this without unduly disheartening the poor and the meek. On the other hand, the faithful disciples were to be cheered. They were to be told that their hope was in the stone which Jehovah had laid in Zion; that Jehovah himself would defend Jerusalem; that the Holy City should be as & tabernacle whose stakes should be secure, and all this without fostering a reliance upon external privileges. This was no mean task, but the prophet rose to the demand of the hour. The prophetic word went forth, giving warning to the rebellious, confirming and establishing the true hearts, and putting all on probation.

The word which determines the natural divisions of this section is “Woe,” which occurs at Isa 28:1 ; Isa 29:1 ; Isa 29:15 ; Isa 30:1 ; Isa 31:1 and Isa 33:1 . The divisions are as follows:

1. Woe unto Samaria (Isa 28 )

2. Woe unto Ariel [Jerusalem] (Isa 29:1-14 )

3. Woe unto the worldly-wise (Isa 29:15-24 )

4. Woe unto the rebellious (Isa 30 )

5. Woe unto them that go down to Egypt (Isaiah 31-32)

6. Woe unto the destroyer (Isa 33 )

This outline does not coincide with Dr. Sampey’s, but it has the merit of following the author’s divisions rather than the chapter divisions.

In Isa 28:1-6 we have the woe unto Samaria, “the crown of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.” This is a solemn warning to Samaria of her speedy downfall. Then the prophet turns to Judah and pronounces the woe upon Jerusalem because she has followed the example of Samaria. This he gives in a series of pictures: In Isa 28:7-8 we have the drunken priests and prophets, revelling in their self-indulgence and failing in their visions and judgments. In Isa 28:9-10 we hear them mocking Isaiah in his message, saying, “His words are but repetitions, suited to sucking babes.” “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.” Then in Isa 28:11-13 the prophet retorts that God would speak to them by men of strange lips, the Assyrians, because he had offered them rest and they would not hear. So now the words of Jehovah would be to them, “precept upon precept,” etc., that they might be broken, snared, and taken. In Isa 28:14-22 there is a severe arraignment of the rulers of Jerusalem, who had made, or were about to make, secret arrangements with Egypt which, as they thought, would secure Judah against injury at the hands of the Assyrians. This the prophet calls a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol, and instructs them that their boasted arrangements would fail completely in the time of trial; that Egypt, their refuge would be a refuge of lies and Assyria, the overflowing scourge, would pass through the land and carry all before it; that only those resting on the precious cornerstone would be secure; that in the time of this vexation of the land, their bed which they made would not suffice, for the decree of destruction had already gone forth. In Isa 28:23-29 is a parable to comfort believers, to the end that God’s wisdom in dispensing judgment and mercy may be inferred from the skill which he gives to the husbandman. But this he left to their spiritual insight to discover.

Two passages of this chapter are quoted in the New Testament:

1.Isa 28:11 is quoted by Paul in 1Co 14:21 to show that the gifts of the baptism of the Spirit, just as the work and message of the prophet, were for a sign.

2.Isa 28:16 is quoted in several places in the New Testament and applied to Christ, as the stone of stumbling for the Jews in all ages.

Isa 28:20 may be used in accordance with the context here to show how futile it is for a man to turn away from God’s plan, in the matters of salvation, to the devices of men. When the testing time comes, the bed is found to be too short and the covering too narrow.

In Isa 29:1-4 we have the prophet’s address to Ariel (Jerusalem) in which he predicts her siege by a terrible army and her great humiliation during that siege. In Isa 29:5-8 is the vivid description of this vast host coming up against Jerusalem, but just as the enemy expects to capture her, the host of them is scattered. As it is with one who dreams, so shall it be with this multitude of besiegers. In Isa 29:9-12 is a description of Israel’s awful judicial blindness visited upon them by Jehovah because of their sins. All prophecy is to them as a sealed book. In their blindness they cannot read the message. What a picture of the effects of sin! This reminds us of the picture of Jerusalem which was drawn by Christ. The natural man cannot understand divine revelation. The educated and the uneducated are alike helpless. Over against this stands the contrast of Isa 29:18 . In Isa 29:13-14 we have the cause stated. They are in this state because of the condition of their hearts. With the lips they honored God, but their hearts were not with him. How significant is the application of this truth to all our worship and service! In Isa 29:17-21 is the prophecy that this condition shall not always pertain to them. The day will come when this condition shall be reversed. The deaf shall hear the words out of the book and the blind shall see. To many this was fulfilled in the days of Christ, but we look ahead of us for the full fruitage of this great promise. In Isa 29:22-24 is the climax of the vision in which the marvels of God’s grace upon the sons of Jacob are exhibited. God speed the day of its realization!

The prophetic description here (Isa 29:1-8 ) fits well the historical events of Sennacherib’s siege and the poem, “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by Byron is the best poetic description of this event. Two passages from this chapter are quoted in the New Testament:

1.Isa 29:10 is quoted by Paul in Rom 11:8 where it is used to show the judicial hardening of Israel which lasted to Paul’s day and will continue till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

2.Isa 29:13 is quoted by our Lord in Mat 15:8-9 to upbraid the Jews for their hypocrisy and following the commandments of men, showing that the conditions which existed in Isaiah’s time existed also in Christ’s time.

Isa 30 consists of an exposure of the alliance with Egypt. In Isa 30:1-5 we have the plain prediction that the alliance with Egypt, then forming, would be of no assistance to Judah. The prophet in Isa 30:6-17 states the oracle with great power, showing the sin and evil effects of trusting in Egypt rather than in Jehovah. In Isa 30:18-26 there is set forth the hope of the future success of God’s people when he shall be gracious to them and confer upon them marvelous prosperity. In Isa 30:27-33 we have another vision of the supernatural overthrow of the Assyrians.

In Isa 30:33 we have the image of a funeral pyre on which the king of Assyria is to be consumed. Topheth was a place in the valley of Hinnom, that was desecrated by idolatrous human sacrifices (Jer 7:31 ; 2Ki 23:10 ). This was fulfilled, not by the death of Sennacherib in Judah, but by the destruction of his army there, and his own death at home twenty years later (881 B.C).

Chapter 31 is a brief summary of what has been so frequently set forth about Samaria, Jerusalem, and Assyria. The points are as follows: (1) Those who trust in the Egyptian alliance shall fall; ‘(2) Jerusalem shall be protected by divine love; (3) the Assyrian shall be driven away in terror. In verses 4-5 Jehovah represents himself as a lion and a mother bird, a picture of his power and tenderness.

By all scholars Isa 32 is accounted messianic. It must be considered as a whole in order to understand its parts. It tells us under what king justice shall be rendered in human government, and what influences shall bring about an appreciation of this justice in the hearts of the people, and what shall be the effects of the righteousness rendered by this government and appreciated by these people under this divine influence.

The righteous King is our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Governor of this world. “A king shall reign in righteousness.” We have never yet on this earth been blessed with a perfect human government. We do not know experimentally what a genuinely good government is, whose ruler rules according to principles of exact righteousness and uses his office for the benefit of the governed, and to subserve the ends of justice; nor have we ever seen a people whose hearts would properly appreciate that kind of a government, who really desire it or who are willing to work for it and willing to submit to it. The conditions call for a righteous King and righteous subjects. Granted these two and the effect is righteousness, peace, and confidence forever.

We may conceive in our minds of an ideal king whose scepter is a righteous scepter, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity, who holds an even balance when he administers justice, who has no respect to men’s persons, who is a terror to evildoers and as the shadow of a high rock in a weary land to the oppressed. We may conceive of such a ruler, but in earthly governments, we have never known him. We may conceive of a people in their hearts desiring such a government, voting for it, supporting it, on demand sacrificing whatever they have to its maintenance, and then joyfully resting under its benign influence. What a sweet picture to the contemplative mind! Such a king, such a people, and peace and quiet throughout the land, perfect confidence, no doors locked at night, no hired policemen, no standing armies, no dread of burglars or assassins, no distrust in business, engagements, perfect confidence! It is a charming conception. God’s Word declares that this conception shall be realized on this earth; that “a king shall reign in righteousness, and all of the rulers shall rule in judgment.”

The influence that prepares the people for that kind of a government is here distinctly set forth. It is said that “thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people until the spirit be poured out from on high.” Without the influence of God’s Spirit the people themselves are not prepared for a righteous administration of affairs. They have what they want. If they wish to promote the wicked they promote them. If they wish to be placed in bondage to the covetous they yield their necks to the yoke. The people are not prepared for good government. And what things disqualify them for living and working for such a government? We get at the disqualifications by ascertaining from this chapter what the blessings are which the Spirit confers by way of preparation.

The first blessing specified is that under the influence of the Spirit they shall see clearly: “the eyes of them that see shall not be dim.” This refers to the moral perceptions. Where there are no clear perceptions of right or wrong, where the vision is clouded, everything else will be wrong. If the moral sense of the people be distorted in vision, it will see light as if it were darkness, and darkness as if it were light; it will call a churl a liberal man, and a liberal man a churl; it will label things contrary to their essence and nature. If the eye be not single our very light is darkness, and how great is that darkness! So that we have as the first effect of the Spirit poured out on the people, that they shall see clearly.

It is now painful and humiliating, distressingly so, to get any ten or twelve men or women together and submit for their consideration a question involving morals, and see how variously they look at it. They do not see clearly. And particularly they do not see clearly with reference to the outcome of things. They look at immediate results. They look at present effects. They judge of things by what may immediately follow their performance. They do not project their vision far enough, and they are unable to do it on account of their moral blindness. So the prophet in the middle of this chapter calls on the women to hear his discussion. We do well to recall the words of the apostle Peter concerning the Christian graces, the fruits of the Spirit:

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” 2Pe 1:8-9 .

Yes, he that lacketh these things is dim-eyed. His vision will be blurred. He cannot see things afar off. First of all, therefore the outpoured Spirit enlightens the eye, the moral eye. It makes us see things as they are in the sight of God. If a man is a miser, a covetous man, a churl, we see him to be that way. He appears so to us. He does not seem to be a liberal man. Oh, when the Spirit is poured out then no longer will the liberal man be called a churl and the churl a liberal man. There are examples that may be known and read of all men in every community, of those whose hearts are as hard as a millstone, hearts that have never been melted, never known any mercy, never felt one heartthrob of joy in ministering to the necessities of the distressed, and yet the community stands off and bows before them, and calls them the liberal men of the community. When the Spirit of God is poured out, clearness of vision will be given, and men will see a soul just as easily as they can see a body and the soul that is black will look black, the soul that is shriveled and miserly will look so, and the soul that is slimy and obscene and foul will appear to be so. That is the first effect. Now if people have not that vision, how can they love a righteous king? How can they love a righteous government? How can they desire evenhanded justice? How can they wish to be rid of favoritism, nepotism, and every other form of mischief in government, seeing their eyes are dim and their vision distorted? Clear vision distorted! Clear vision, that is first. They shall see clearly.

The second effect of the out-poured Spirit is, “The ears of them that hear shall hearken.” They shall hear distinctly and see clearly. To hear distinctly! You know there is such a thing as hearing and not hearing, “having ears to hear and hearing not,” what is called in the Bible an “uncircumcised ear.” An ear that does not hearken to what? To the divine voices, to the voice of wisdom speaking on the streets, speaking in places of business, speaking in places of pleasure, speaking in the family circle, speaking in the church and in the Sunday school, the voice of God. The whole earth is filled with the voices of God. As the psalmist says: There is no speech nor language; Where their voice is not heard. There line is gone out through all the earth; And their words to the end of the world. Psa 19:3-4 .

But if the people have not a hearing ear what matters it about a voice? “Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live,” exhorts the prophet. The giving heed to the monitions of God’s Spirit, to the declarations of his Word, the submitting to the voice of God as the end of controversy, we must have that, to see clearly, to hear distinctly. The right kind of a conscience will hear the faintest whisper of God. God will not have to speak aloud. God will not have to send storms and earthquakes and pestilence and famine and blasting and mildew and other judgments to secure attention. If they have the hearing ear, though God speaks in the stillness of the night, that ear hears his whisper, and like a little Samuel rising up from his bed, saying, “Speak Lord, thy servant heareth.”

Oh, for the ear that will hearken to God’s Word, to righteousness. The evil-minded may devise a most mischievous falsehood, a shameful, sensational scandal, without the shadow of foundation in fact, and then with tongue set on fire of hell whisper his story of malice and, behold, the whole earth hears it. They have the ear set for hearing such things. But the good deed has no sound, seems to create no air waves, attains to no publicity. No wonder Paul said, “Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things.” But they do not hear them. To get an audience, to come within the range of the ear of the world, speech must have a different character.

The third effect of the Spirit is “the heart of the rash [the hasty] shall understand.” That means to choose wisely. And what a blundering world this is, as to the choices made! All the time going to the forks of the road, so many times taking the wrong road, so many times preferring the worse to better things, so many times electing that which will bring shame instead of that which will bring honor. Every day there are put out before men and women multitudes of things from which to make a selection. Which will you take? And just see how they do take the poisons, how they take the rubbish, and the degraded, and that which tends downward, and that which debases. Oh, for choice God-guided! And that must come to the people. The hasty! Yes, when Spirit-guided the hasty need never apologize, thus: “I beg your pardon. I was inconsiderate. I acted unthoughtedly. I was indiscreet in that.” If we had the clear vision, if we had the hearing ear, then could we decide quickly on a moral question, and decide right. Even the heart of the hasty would be able to understand.

The fourth blessing is to speak plainly. What does the record say? “The tongue of the stammerer shall speak plainly.” Now, it is a somewhat ludicrous conception, and yet it does present the truth in a very striking manner. In a time or urgency, where one needs an utterance at once, and clean-cut, how a sharp question confounds a stammering man! It throws him into a fit of agitation. He tries to say something and stammers and stutters, and every kind of an answer seems hanging on the end of his tongue, and he cannot say anything. So there are moral stammerers. Ask him, “How do you stand on this question?” and he begins to stammer at once. It distresses one to listen. We feel like crying out: “Oh, speak plainly! Tell where you are. Don’t stutter all over a world of morals. Do gay one plain, straight-out word.” We are cursed with moral stuttering.

The church is cursed with it. Try some time to find out the attitude of even God’s people on a perfectly plain question of morals, or of doctrine, or of practical righteousness, and hear them begin to answer, “Well, I don’t know. Some people think it is this, and some people think it is that.” And thus they go limping around, stuttering over it. Do we not know that if the Spirit of God was poured out to give us clear moral vision, so that we could see things as they are, and the hearkening ear, so that God’s whisper would be louder to us than the devil’s thunder do not we know that if we had that wiseness of heart to choose as quick as lightning between good and evil, that there would not be any stuttering speech? A man would speak right up and Bay: “Here is where I stand; let there be no mistake about it.”

We have found the effects of the outpoured Spirit to be clear vision, acute hearing, wise choice, and plain talk. But work follows qualification. The outpoured Spirit exhorts: “Sow beside all waters.” The “sowing beside the waters” refers to that planting of rice and wheat in the overflowed waters, as in the overflow of the Nile. They go out in boats when the water covers the whole surface of the country, and they sow it down “cast your bread upon the waters,” i.e., your bread seed. And then they bring the cattle, and drive them up and down, tramping the seed down in the slime so that when the waters recede it has been plowed under by the feet of the stock.

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, driving thither the feet of the ox and of the ass.” That simply means covering it under. “Cast your bread upon the waters.” A distant blessing then that cornea from the outpouring of the Spirit in this ideal government set forth in this prophecy will be that every piece of land fertile enough to grow grain will be sowed down with grain. “Sow beside all waters,” that is, cast your seed on every spot of earth that can sprout the seed and make it bear a crop.

To bring the thought a little more closely: Where we have a righteous king, and a people who are endowed with clear vision, hearing distinctly, choosing wisely, and speaking plainly, these people will occupy every foot of ground which God commands them to occupy. They will let no spot of earth remain without a crop, if it can bear a crop.

But look at society as it stands, even Christian societies! You say, “Here is water out here. God has sent the overflow laden with rich soil in solution, which the receding waves deposit. Come, let us sow seed by that water.” “No, no; I have my little pond here at home. I must sow in this home pond, this and this only. I will not sow out yonder. Let the waves come and deposit the fertile soil, and the earth wait expectantly for seed to be deposited in its glowing bosom, ready of itself to make it send up the ripening grain that shall bless the earth with bread, all in vain. I won’t sow out there.”

What a miserable Christian! What an infinitesimal soul that man has! God brings soil for bread seed, and says, “Go forth, bearing precious seed; go forth casting your bread seed upon the waters; sow beside all waters,” and the delinquent church says, “I cannot hear that; I cannot hear that now. We have heathen at home the Greeks are at our door. I don’t believe in sowing in waters that are far off.” No, and he doesn’t believe in sowing in them at home. That is nearer the truth. He does not believe in any sowing at all. The root -of the matter is not in him. The spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t reign in his soul; for where the spirit is poured out from on high, and they have the vision of clearness, and the hearkening ear, the wise choice, and the unstammering tongue, they will not stop to consider the clouds. They will not stop to ask whether this or that shall prosper. They will not stop to talk about the narrow circumference of their own field, but they will say, “Lord God, let me send out thy word wherever hearts are hungering and souls are in bondage; wherever the devil throws his black pall of midnight and superstition over the hearts and souls of the people. Oh, God, let me by thy grace send them light to shine in the darkness! Oh, let me hold up my light higher and throw its radiance farther.” That is the spirit of the Christian. “Sow beside all waters.”

A final fruit of the spirit is: The liberal deviseth liberal things, and in liberal things shall he continue. “Ye did run well for a season,” says Paul. What hindered you? Why did you stop? What warranted it? Has God’s plan been modified? Have Christ’s desires abated? Is heaven full? Is the ground of salvation all pre-empted? Are the corridors of deliverance crowded so that there is no room for another one? Is Jesus Christ satisfied? Has he seen all of the travail of his soul that he wanted to see? No. There is room yet; the desire of God for human salvation is unabated; the needs of the lost are increased; the hell that threatens them is nearer to them. Oh, it is near. The damnation is not lingering. It is coming stealthily as the footfall of a tiger, or the spread of a pestilence, but coming nearer and deadlier than before, and we say, “Let us call a halt in liberal things.”

“Thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people until the spirit be poured out from on high.” But if the spirit be poured out from on high, and we see clearly, and hear distinctly and choose wisely and speak plainly and sow beside all waters and devise liberal things and continue in liberal things, then that is heaven on earth. The kingdom of heaven has come. Christ is reigning whenever that has come to pass. And the nearer we approach it the nearer we are to heaven. Louder than the big guns of our battleships, louder than the voice of many waters, louder than mighty thunder should be the acclaim of God’s people, saying, “Hosanna to the Iambi Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and let the earth rejoice.”

Isa 33 is a woe against the Assyrian invaders. The prophet, after the great messianic ecstasy in the preceding chapter, comes back to his own times again to take another start. At first he deals with the local situation picturing the invading army of Assyrians, the desolation of the land by them and the awful distress in Jerusalem. Then follows the prediction of the miraculous deliverance of the city and the destruction of the enemy, upon which sinners are made to tremble and the inhabitants of Zion rejoice in quiet confidence by reason of Jehovah’s protecting presence. There are several messianic gleams in this chapter, as “the king in his beauty,” “Zion, . . . Jerusalem . . . a quiet habitation, . . . a place of broad rivers and streams,” where there is no sickness and the “iniquity of the people is forgiven”

The historical background for this prophecy is the invasion of Sennacherib’s host, the desolation of the land, and the threat of Jerusalem, all of which is described in 2Ki 18:13-19 ; 2Ki 18:37 . The essential items of this history are as follows: Sennacherib received at Lachish the stipulated tribute from Hezekiah, but then he demanded the unconditional surrender of Jerusalem. He captured many cities and had broken up all travel. Hezekiah’s ambassadors came home weeping. Then Sennacherib sent an army against Jerusalem to enforce his demands, but Rabshakeh, though skilful in speech, failed to get the keys to Jerusalem. He returned to Sennacherib whose army was visited by Jehovah and destroyed. Sennacherib returned to his own land and was smitten while worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god.

In Isa 33:1-6 we have the woe pronounced against the destroyer, showing his destruction, at which he would cease dealing treacherously. Then follows a prayer by the prophet to Jehovah in which he exalts Jehovah as the God of their salvation and the destroyer of the enemy. In this exaltation of Jehovah the prophet gets a glimpse of glorified Zion, filled with righteousness and justice, a city of stability and abounding in salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah. Thus be gives the general outlines of the things which are to follow. In Isa 33:7-12 we have the particulars of what the prophet has just stated in general, viz: the shouting of the enemy without, the weeping of Hezekiah’s ambassadors, the waste and desertion of the highways, Sennacherib’s disregard of his covenant and his spoiling of the cities, the languishing of the land, specifying the destructive work of the Assyrian army, at which point he presents Jehovah as rousing himself, delivering his people and disposing of the enemy, as thorns cast into the fire.

In Isa 33:13-16 is a description of the effects of this intervention of Jehovah, upon the sinners and the citizens of Zion in which the prophet again leaps upon the messianic heights to show us the characteristics of a true citizen of the New Jerusalem, whose everlasting dwelling place is with Jehovah.

In Isa 33:17-24 the prophet assures us that, in that glorious state, we shall see the King in his beauty, we shall behold a universal kingdom, whose inhabitants shall muse on the days of terror and their triumphs over their many adversaries. Then he invites them to look upon Zion and contemplate her security, her king, her broad streams, her feasts and her inhabitants, who are never sick, but are in the joy of the fellowship of their majestic Lord, who reigns forever and ever.

The characteristics here given by the prophet of a true citizen of Zion are very similar to those given by the psalmist in Psa 15 . This true citizen is herein described as righteous, upright in speech, hating oppression, rejecting bribes, stopping his ear to murderous suggestions, and closing his eyes to sinful sights, a blessed ideal yet to be realized. How different now! We are vexed in our righteous souls to behold the unrighteousness, the prevarication, the oppression, the graft, the murders and sinful sights in the present order of things. But this must give way to the principles of the majestic and beautiful king who will reign forever in justice and righteousness.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the section, Isaiah 28-33, called in our outline and what the date?

2. What is the difference in the character of this and the preceding section?

3. What arethe conditions under which this prophecy was delivered, what Isaiah’s task and how did he meet it?

4. What is the key word which marks the natural divisions of this section and what the divisions thus marked?

5. Give a brief synopsis of Isa 28 , showing its interpretation.

6. What are two passages of this chapter are quoted in the New Testament, what use made of them in each case and what use may be made of verse 20 as touching the plan of salvation?

7. Give a brief synopsis of Isa 29 , showing its interpretation.

8. What is the fulfilment of Isa 29:1-8 and what the best poetic description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army?

9. What two passages quoted from this chapter in the New Testament, and what use made of them there?

10. Give a brief statement of Isa 30 with the important points of interpretation.

11. What is the meaning of Isa 30:33 ?

12. What is the nature of Isa 31 and what the points contained therein?

13. What is the nature of Isa 32 , what in genera] its contents, how does the ideal set forth correspond with present conditions and what the ideal state herein contemplated?

14. What is the influence that prepares for this ideal and what its importance?

15. What is the first blessing of the Spirit herein specified?

16. What is the general condition now respecting moral and spiritual vision and the lesson of Peter on this point?

17. What is the second effect of the outpoured Spirit and what the importance of it? Illustrate.

18. What is the third blessing of the Spirit and what its importance? Illustrate.

19. What is the fourth blessing of the Spirit and what its importance? Illustrate.

20. What is the fifth blessing of the Spirit? Explain and illustrate.

21. What is the sixth blessing of the Spirit and what its importance?

22. What is the nature and contents of Isa 33 ?

23. What is the historical setting of this chapter?

24. Show the progress of this prophecy from the local conditions to the broader mesaianic phases of the kingdom.

25. What are the characteristics, here given by the prophet, of a true citizen of Zion?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Isa 29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

Ver. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, ] i.e., To the brazen altar, Eze 43:15-16 called here Ariel, or God’s lion, because it seemed as a lion to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it. Here it is put for the whole temple, a which, together with the city wherein it stood, is threatened with destruction.

The city where David dwelt. ] Both Mount Moriah, whereon stood the temple, and Mount Zion, whereon stood the palace. Both Church and State are menaced with judgments, temporal in the eight first verses, and spiritual in the eight next. The rest of the chapter is no less consolatory than this is comminatory.

Add ye year to year, ] i.e., Feed yourselves on with these vain hopes, that years shall run on always in the same manner. See 2Pe 2:4 Eze 12:22 .

Let them kill sacrifices. ] And thereby think, but falsely and foolishly, to demerit God to themselves, as that emperor did, who, marching against his enemy, sacrificed, and then said, Non sic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, b We have not so served God that he should serve us no better than to give our enemies the better of us. See Isa 58:3 Jer 7:21 Hos 9:1 .

a Metonymiae adiuncta synecdochica.

b Antonin., Philosop.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)