Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 30:5
They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
They were all ashamed – That is, all the legates or ambassadors. When they came into Egypt, they found them either unwilling to enter into an alliance, or unable to render them any aid, and they were ashamed that they had sought their assistance rather than depend on God (compare Jer 2:36).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Were – ashamed] Eight MSS. (one ancient) of Kennicott’s, and ten of De Rossi’s, read hobish, without aleph. So the Chaldee and Vulgate.
But a shame – “But proved even a shame”] Four MSS. (three ancient) after ki, add im, unless, which seems wanted to complete the phrase in its usual form.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They; both the messengers, and they who sent them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. (Jer2:36.)
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them,…. The princes, the ambassadors that were sent unto them, and the king or people, or both, that sent them, who hoped for and expected great things from them, but, being disappointed, were filled with shame; because either the Egyptians, who are the people here meant, either could not help them, or would not, not daring to engage with so powerful an enemy as the Assyrian monarch, which is illustrated and confirmed by repeating the same, and using other words:
nor be an help, nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach: so far from being of any advantage to them, by helping and assisting them against their enemy, wanting either inclination or capacity, or both, that it not only turned to their shame, but even was matter of reproach to them, that ever they made any application to them, or placed any confidence in them for help.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. They shall all be ashamed. He confirms the former statement; for it was very difficult to convince ungodly men that all that they undertook without the word of God would be ruinous to them. In order to punish them more severely, God sometimes bestows on them prosperity, that they may be more and more deceived, and may throw themselves down headlong; for by the righteous judgment of God it is brought about, that Satan draws them by these allurements, and drives them into his nets. Yet the final result is, that not only are they deprived of the assistance which they expected, but they are likewise severely punished both for their presumption and for their unbelief.
Of a people that will not profit them. He threatens not only that the Egyptians will prove false, as wicked men often forsake at the utmost need, or even treacherously ruin, those whom they have fed with empty promises, but that even though they endeavor to the utmost to fulfill the promises which they have made, still they will be of no use. Whatever may be the earnestness with which men endeavor to help us, yet, as events are in the hand of God, they will “profit nothing” without his blessing. It was difficult to believe when the Prophet spoke, that a nation so powerful could yield no assistance; but we ought always to hold it as a principle fully settled, that all the advantage that dazzles us in the world will vanish away, except in so far as God is gracious and kind, and makes it sure for our advantage.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) They were all ashamed . . .Better, are: historic present, as before. The prophet paints the dreary disappointment of the embassy. They found Egypt at once weak and false, without the will or power to help them. So Rabshakeh compares that power to a broken reed, which does but pierce the hand of him who leans on it. So Sargon (Smith, Assyrian Canon, p. 133, quoted by Cheyne), describing the resistance of his foes, says that they carried presents, seeking his alliance, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, a monarch who could not help them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. They were all ashamed That is, the ambassadors, probably because their application for alliance and aid was not entertained.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 30:5 They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them. ] Either could not or would not, for fear of provoking the Assyrian, so potent and formidable a prince. When Queen Elizabeth undertook to protect the Netherlanders against the Spaniard, the King of Sweden, hearing of it, said, that she had taken the crown off her own head and set it on the head of Fortune.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 30:16, Isa 20:5, Isa 20:6, Isa 31:1-3, Jer 2:36
Reciprocal: Isa 30:3 – the strength Jer 2:8 – do not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Nevertheless, the Judahites were bound to be ashamed because the Egyptians would not help them fight against the Assyrians. Unwilling to humble themselves, Yahweh would humble His people by humiliating them.
"From the feared killer (Assyria) they seek help in the proved killer (Egypt)! It is ever so when alternatives to the Lord’s salvation are chosen." [Note: Motyer, p. 246.]