Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 29:2
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
2. there shall be heaviness and sorrow ] Better: “mourning and lamentation” (R.V.), but still better (as reproducing the assonance of the original): moaning and bemoaning (Cheyne). The expression recurs in Lam 2:5.
it shall be unto me as Ariel ] she shall be to me like a ( true) altar-hearth ( Kaph veritatis). If Ariel meant “Lion of God” this clause would necessarily have to be understood in a favourable sense; on the view here followed it may be either a promise or a threat; the context decides for the latter. The meaning is that Jerusalem will be either a place where the flames of war rage fiercely, or a place reeking with the blood of countless human victims. We may suppose that Isaiah addressed these words to the worshippers in the Temple, and that the great altar with its bleeding victims stood out before his mind as an emblem of Jerusalem’s fate, and suggested the name “Ariel.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2 5. The humiliation and distress of Ariel, at the hands of the Assyrians.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yet I will distress Ariel – The reference here is doubtless to the siege which God says Isa 29:3 he would bring upon the guilty and formal city.
And there shall be heaviness and sorrow – This was true of the city in the siege of Sennacherib, to which this probably refers. Though the city was delivered in a sudden and remarkable manner (see the note at Isa 29:7-8), yet it was also true that it was reduced to great distress (see Isa. 36; 37)
And it shall be unto me as Ariel – This phrase shows that in Isa 29:1 Jerusalem is called Ariel, because it contained the great altar, and was the place of sacrifice. The word Ariel here is to be understood in the sense of the hearth of the great altar; and the meaning is, I will indeed make Jerusalem like the great altar; I will make it the burning place of wrath where my enemies shall be consumed as if they were on the altar of burnt sacrifice. Thus in Isa 30:9, it is said of Yahweh that his fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. This is a strong expression, denoting the calamity that was approaching; and though the main reference in this whole passage is to the distress that would come upon them in the invasion of Sennacherib, yet there is no impropriety in supposing that there was presented to the mind of the prophet in vision the image of the total ruin that would come yet upon the city by the Chaldeans – when the temple, the palaces, and the dwellings of the magnificent city of David would be in flames, and like a vast blazing altar consuming that which was laid upon it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. There shall be heaviness and sorrow – “There shall be continual mourning and sorrow”] Instead of your present joy and festivity.
And it shall be unto me as Ariel – “And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar.”] That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. See note on Isa 29:1. Or, perhaps, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yet, notwithstanding all your sacrifices,
I will distress Ariel, by bringing and strengthening her enemies against her.
It shall be unto me as Ariel: the sense is either,
1. I will treat her like a strong and fierce lion, which, the people among whom it is endeavour by nets, or pits, and all other ways, to take and to destroy; or,
2. I will make Ariel the city like Ariel the altar, filling it with sacrifices, even with men, whom I will slay in my anger; which act of Gods is called his sacrifice, Eze 39:17,19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Yetrather, “Then.”
heaviness . . .sorrowrather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia,”groaning” and “moaning.”
as Arieleither, “thecity shall be as a lion of God,” that is, it shall emergefrom its dangers unvanquished; or “it shall be as the altarof burnt offering,” consuming with fire the besiegers(Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30;Isa 31:9; Lev 10:2);or best, as Isa 29:3 continuesthe threat, and the promise of deliverance does notcome till Isa 29:4, “itshall be like a hearth of burning,” that is, a scene ofdevastation by fire [G. V. SMITH].The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides theaffliction and deliverance in Sennacherib’s time, the destruction ofJerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, thedestruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zec14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isa29:17-24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yet I will distress Ariel,…. Or “straiten” it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters:
and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city:
and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum,
“and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;”
so Jarchi and Kimchi.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. But I will bring Ariel into distress. I think that ו ( vau) should here be taken for a disjunctive conjunction: “And yet I will execute my judgments and take vengeance, though, by delaying them for a time, it may seem as if I had forgiven.” He next threatens that he will give them grief and mourning, instead of the joy of the festivals. אניה (ă nīāh) is viewed by some as an adjective, (254) but improperly; for it is used in the same manner by Jeremiah. (255) (Lam 2:5.) He declares that the Lord will reduce that city to straits, that the Jews might know that they had to contend with God, and not with men, and that, though the war was carried on by the Assyrians, still they might perceive that God was their leader.
And it shall be to me as Ariel. This clause would not apply to the Temple alone; for he means that everything shall be made bloody by the slaughter which shall take place at Jerusalem; (256) and therefore he compares it to an “Altar,” on which victims of all kinds are slain, in the same manner as wicked men destined for slaughter are frequently compared to a sacrifice. In short, by alluding here to the word “Altar,” he says, that the whole city shall be “as Ariel,” because it shall overflow with the blood of the slain. Hence it is evident that the outward profession of worship, ceremonies, and the outward demonstrations of the favor of God, are of no avail, unless we sincerely obey him. By an ironical expression he tells hypocrites, (who with an impure heart present sacrifices of beasts to God, as if they were the offerings fitted to appease his anger,) that their labor is fruitless, and that, since they had profaned the Temple and the Altar, it was impossible to offer a proper sacrifice to God without slaying victims throughout the whole city, as if he had said, “There will be carnage in every part.” He makes use of the word “Sacrifice” figuratively, to denote the violent slaughter of those who refused to offer themselves willingly to God.
(254) Bogus footnote
(255) Bogus footnote
(256) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) And it shall be unto me as Ariel.Better, But she (the city) shall be unto me as Ariel. That name would not falsify itself. In the midst of all her heaviness and sorrow, Jerusalem should still be as the lion of God, or, taking the other meaning, as the altar-hearth of God. (Comp. Eze. 43:15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2, 3. Years may roll on, and sacrificial routine may be continued, but not long hence this shall be interrupted.
I will distress Ariel Jerusalem shall be severely besieged.
Heaviness and sorrow Appalling affliction shall befall her. The expression is as if the prophet had vision of all the siege troubles of Jewish history concentrated in one view, from Sennacherib to Titus, so far as the intensity of the distress is considered. The sieges, however, of which we have here a prophetic forecast, included, probably, only those experienced prior to the fall of Judea and the captivity.
I will camp Will bring to pass that an army shall, etc.
With a mount An elevation on which to erect battering rams, and on which to place marksmen to shoot their arrows into the city.
Raise forts Walls, citadels, towers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 29:2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel. ] Though a sacred place. Profligate professors are the worse for their privileges. The Jew first. Rom 2:9
And it shall be unto me as Ariel,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as Ariel = as a veritable hearth of GOD.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will: Isa 5:25-30, Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6, Isa 10:32, Isa 17:14, Isa 24:1-12, Isa 33:7-9, Isa 36:22, Isa 37:3, Jer 32:28-32, Jer 39:4, Jer 39:5
and it shall: Or, as Bp. Lowth renders, “and it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar;” that is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God, which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. The hearth of the altar is expressly called ariel by Ezekiel, Eze 43:15, which is put, in the former part of the verse, for Jerusalem, the city in which the altar was. The subject of this and the four following chapters, says Bp. Lowth, is the invasion of Sennacherib; the great distress of the Jews while it continued; their sudden and unexpected deliverance by God’s immediate and miraculous interposition on their behalf; the subsequent prosperous state of the kingdom under Hezekiah; interspersed with severe reproofs and threats of punishment for their hypocrisy, stupidity, infidelity, their want of trust in God, and their vain reliance on the assistance of Egypt; and with promises of better times, both immediately to succeed, and to be expected in the future age. Isa 34:6, Eze 22:31, Eze 24:3-13, Eze 39:17, Zep 1:7, Zep 1:8, Rev 19:17, Rev 19:18
Reciprocal: Isa 29:7 – that distress
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 29:2. Yet will I distress Ariel Notwithstanding all your sacrifices, by bringing and strengthening her enemies against her. And there shall be heaviness and sorrow Instead of your present joy and festivity. And it shall be to me as Ariel That is, either, 1st, I will treat her like a strong and fierce lion, which the people, among whom it is, endeavour by nets and pits, and divers other ways, to take and destroy. Or, 2d, I will make Ariel the city like Ariel the altar, filling it with sacrifices, even of men, whom I will slay in my anger; which act of God is called his sacrifice, Eze 39:17-19. Agreeably to this latter interpretation, Bishop Lowth renders the clause, It shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar: that is, as he explains it, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29:2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be to me {c} as Ariel.
(c) Your city will be full of blood as an altar on which they sacrifice.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord would bring the city into distress, lamentation, and mourning. It would become like an altar hearth in that it would become a place of death.
"If we treat lightly the sacrifices God has made available (and in the Christian era, The Sacrifice) then we ourselves become the sacrifice. If we will not accept God’s substitution, we must carry the burden of our own sin (Heb 10:26-27; Rom 8:11-13)." [Note: Oswalt, p. 527.]