Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 29:6
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.
6. See ch. Isa 30:27-33. The last words of Isa 29:5 should be read as part of this sentence. And suddenly, full suddenly, she shall be visited, &c. The word for “visit” is ambiguous, being freely used both of punishment and mercy, but the passive appears never to be employed in a good sense except here.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt be visited – This is an address to the mighty army of the Assyrian. Such transitions are not uncommon in the writings of Isaiah. His eye seems to have been directed in vision to the hosts of Sennacherib, and to their sudden dispersion and destruction Isa 29:5, and by a sudden, but not unnatural transition, he turns and addresses the army itself, with the assurance that it should be punished (compare Isa 30:30).
With thunder … – The army of the Assyrian was cut off by an angel sent forth from God Isa 37:36. It is possible that all the agents here referred to may have been employed in the destruction of the Assyrian host, though they are not particularly specified in the history. But it is not absolutely. necessary to understand this verse in this manner. The image of thunder, earthquakes, and lightning, is an impressive representation of sudden and awful judgment in any manner. The sense is, that they should be suddenly destroyed by the direct visitation of God (see Isa 9:5; Isa 26:11).
And the flame of devouring fire – Lightning, that seems to devour, or that suddenly consumes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Thou, O Ariel or Jerusalem, of or to whom this whole context manifestly speaks, shalt be visited with dreadful judgments, which are frequently expressed in the prophets by these and such-like metaphors.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Thouthe Assyrian army.
thunder, c.notliterally, in the case of the Assyrians (Isa37:36) but figuratively for an awful judgment (Isa 30:30;Isa 28:17). The ulteriorfulfilment, in the case of the Jews’ foes in the last days, may bemore literal (see as to “earthquake,” Zec14:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise,…. That is, not the multitude of strangers and terrible ones, unless they could be understood of the wicked among the Jews; but thou Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt be punished by the Lord of hosts; for this visitation or punishment was from him, for their sins and iniquities; the Romans were only the instruments he made use of, and the executioners of his vengeance; which was attended with thunder in the heavens, a shaking of the earth, and a great noise or voice heard in the temple, saying, let us depart hence; at which time comets were seen in the heavens, and chariots and armed men in the air, and one of the gates of the temple opened of itself r: it is added,
with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire; with which the temple was burnt by the Roman army, when it came in like a storm and tempest, and carried all before it.
r Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. From Jehovah of hosts shalt thou be visited. He next assigns the reason why all this multitude of garrisons shall be “like chaff;” and he expresses this by an opposite metaphor, for with those soldiers he contrasts the anger and “visitation of the Lord.” What is “chaff” to the flame of “a devouring fire?” What is “dust” to the force and violence of a “whirlwind?” He shews that the vengeance of God will be such as all their preparations shall be unable to resist. This meaning, in my opinion, makes the passage to flow easily, and the clauses will not be so well adjusted, if we follow a different interpretation.
Hence we learn that those who assail us can do no more than what the Lord permits them to do. If therefore the Lord determine to save us, the enemies will accomplish nothing, though they raise up the whole world against us. On the other hand, if he determine to chastise us, we shall not be able to ward off his wrath by any force or bulwarks, which shall quickly be thrown down as by a “whirlwind,” and shall even be consumed as by “a flame.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Thou shalt be visited . . .Better, She (i.e., Jerusalem). The words may be figurative, but they may also be literal. Some terrific storm, acting as an angel of the Lord (Isa. 37:36; Psa. 104:4), should burst at once upon Jerusalem and the hosts that were encamped against her, bringing to her safety, but to them destruction. As in the next verse, the multitude of all nations of the great host of Assyria should be as a dream, a vision of the night.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 29:6 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.
Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited with thunder and earthquake, ] i.e., Fragosis, repentinis, vehementibus, et immedicabilibus plagis, with rattling, sudden, violent, and unmedicinable miseries and mischiefs, as if heaven and earth had conspired thine utter undoing. Some apply this to the prodigies that went before the last devastation of Jerusalem whereof see Joseph., lib. vii. cap. 12.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
visited. These judgments (in Isa 29:6) refer to the deliverance from Jerusalem’s enemies.
the LORD of hosts. See note on 1Sa 1:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 5:26-30, Isa 28:2, Isa 30:30, Isa 33:11-14, 1Sa 2:10, 1Sa 12:17, 1Sa 12:18, 2Sa 22:14, Mat 24:7, Mar 13:8, Luk 21:11, Rev 11:13, Rev 11:19, Rev 16:18
Reciprocal: Isa 30:28 – an overflowing Isa 31:9 – whose fire Isa 33:14 – Who among us shall dwell with the Jer 5:15 – I will Eze 13:11 – there shall Eze 38:8 – thou shalt be Eze 38:22 – an overflowing Zec 14:5 – ye fled Rev 6:12 – there Rev 8:5 – an Rev 8:7 – hail
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Lord Himself would be directing Jerusalem’s judgment. He would use the audible, the visible, and the invisible, to shake, remove, and consume the city. These are probably not the instruments that He would use as much as expressions of His sovereign power. This is the classic language of theophany in which images express God’s powerful intervention in the world (cf. Exo 19:16-19; 1Ki 19:11-13; Eze 20:47-48).