Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:2
As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence!
2. Render: As fire kindleth brushwood, as fire maketh water boil, &c.
to make thy name known to thine adversaries &c. ] the purpose of the Theophany. Cf. ch. Isa 59:18-19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As when the melting fire burneth – Margin, The fire of meltings. Lowth renders it, As when the fire kindleth the dry fuel. So Noyes, As fire kindleth the dry stubble. The Septuagint render it: Hos keros apo prosopou puros teketai – As wax is melted before the fire. So the Syriac renders it. The Hebrew word rendered here in the margin meltings ( hamasym), properly means, according to Gesenius, brushwood, twigs. So Saddias renders it. And the true idea here is, that the presence of Yahweh would cause the mountains to melt, as a fire consumes light and dry brushwood or stubble. Dr. Jubb supposes that the meaning is, As the fire of things smelted burneth – an idea which would furnish a striking comparison, but there is much doubt whether the Hebrew will bear that construction.
The comparison is a very vivid and sublime one, as it is in the view given above – that the presence of Yahweh would set on fire the mountains, and cause them to flow down as under the operation of an intense heat. I do not know that there is reason to suppose that the prophet had any reference to a volcanic eruption, or that he was acquainted with such a phenomenon – though Syria and Palestine abounded in volcanic appearances, and the country around the Dead Sea is evidently volcanic (see Lyells Geology, i. 299); but the following description may furnish an illustration of what would be exhibited by the flowing down of the mountains at the presence of Yahweh, and may serve to show the force of the language which the prophet employs in these verses. It is a description of an eruption of Vesuvius in 1779, by Sir William Hamilton. Jets of liquid lava, says he, mixed with stones and scoriae, were thrown up to the height of at least 10,000 feet, having the appearance of a column of fire.
The falling matter being nearly as vividly inflamed as that which was continually issuing forth from the crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which could not be less than two miles and a half in breadth, and of the extraordinary height above mentioned, casting a heat to the distance of at least six miles around it. Speaking of the lava which flowed from the mountain, he says, At the point where it issued from an arched chasm in the side of the mountain, the vivid torrent rushed with the velocity of a flood. It was in perfect fusion, unattended with any scoriae on its surface, or any gross material not in a state of complete solution. It flowed with the translucency of honey, in regular channels, cut finer than art can imitate, and glowing with all the splendor of the sun (Lyells Geology, i. 316). Perhaps there can be conceived no more sublime representation of what was in the mind of the prophet than such an overflowing volcano. It should be observed, however, that Gesenius supposes that the word which is rendered Isa 64:1-3, flow down ( nazolu), is derived, not from nazal, to flow, to run as liquids do; but from zalal, to shake, to tremble, to quake as mountains do in an earthquake. But it seems to me that the connection rather demands the former signification, as the principal elements in the figure is fire – and the office of fire is not to cause to tremble, but to burn or melt. The effect here described as illustrative of the presence of God, was that produced by intense burning heat.
The fire causeth the waters to boil – Such an effect was anticipated at the presence of Yahweh. The idea is still that of an intense heat, that should cause all obstacles to be consumed before the presence of the Lord. To illustrate this, the prophet speaks of that which is known to be most intense, that which causes water to boil; and the prayer is, that Yahweh would descend in the manner of such intense and glowing fire, in order that a the foes of the people might be destroyed, and all the obstacles to the restoration of his people removed. The exact point of the comparison, as I conceive, is the intensity of the heat, as emblematic of the majesty of Yahweh, and of the certain destruction of his foes.
To make thy name known – By the exhibition of thy majesty and glory.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. As when the melting fire burneth – “As the fire kindleth the dry fuel”] hamasim. “It means dry stubble, and the root is hamas,” says Rabbi Jonah, apud Sal. ben Melec in loc. Which is approved by Schultens, Orig. Heb. p. 30.
“The fire kindling the stubble does not seem like enough to the melting of the mountains to be brought as a simile to it. What if thus? –
‘That the mountains might flow down at thy presence!
As the fire of things smelted burneth,
As the fire causeth the waters to boil – ‘
There is no doubt of the Hebrew words of the second line bearing that version.” – Dr. JUBB.
I submit these different interpretations to the reader’s judgment. For my own part I am inclined to think that the text is much corrupted in this place. The ancient Versions have not the least traces of either of the above interpretations. The Septuagint and Syriac agree exactly together in rendering this line by, “As the wax melted before the fire,” which can by no means be reconciled with the present text. The Vulgate, for hamasim, read yemasu.
That the nations] For goyim, the nations, four MSS. (one of them ancient) have harim, the mountains. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As when the melting fire burneth; come with such zeal for thy people, that the solid mountains may be no more before thy breath than metal that runs, or water that boils by the force of a vehement fire; and thus, for the most part, when God will take vengeance of his enemies, the Scripture expresseth him coming with fire.
Thy name known; thy power known, that thine enemies and persecutors of try church may know thy power, and that thy name may be dreaded among them; his name put for his power, Psa 106:8.
The nations; not the Babylonians only, but the nations round about.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Oh, that Thy wrath wouldconsume Thy foes as the fire. Rather, “as the fireburneth the dry brushwood” [GESENIUS].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As when the melting fire burneth,…. Or, “the fire of melting” k; a strong vehement fire, as Kimchi, such as is used under a furnace for melting metals; though De Dieu thinks a slow gentle fire is intended, such as is sufficient to keep the liquor boiling; which he concludes from the use of the word in the Arabic language, which, according to an Arabic lexicographer l he quotes, so signifies; and to the same purpose Hottinger m, by the help of the Arabic language, interprets the word of a small low noise, the hissing of a boiling pot; though, as Vitringa observes, could it be granted, which can not, that a slow fire raises great bubbles in water, such as when it boils; yet the fire, with which God consumes his enemies, in a figurative sense, is represented as most vehement and noisy. It seems much better, with R. Jonah, quoted by Kimchi, to understand it of “dry stubble”, which makes a great blaze and noise, and causes water to boil and rise up in bubbles; and with this agree some other versions, which render it by “bavins” n, dry sticks and branches of trees; which being kindled,
the fire causeth the waters to boil; as the fire, under the pot, causes the waters to boil in it; the church here prays that the wrath of God might break forth upon his and her enemies, like fire that melts metals, and boils water. The figures used seem to denote the fierceness and vehemency of it. The Targum is,
“as when thou sendedst thine anger as fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the fire licked up the water;”
as if the allusion was to the affair in 1Ki 18:38, but rather the allusion is, as Kimchi and others think, to the fire that burnt on Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended on it, and the cloud which flowed with water, as the above writer supposes, and which both together caused the smoke:
to make thy name known to thine adversaries; his terrible name, in the destruction of them; his power and his glory:
that the nations may tremble at thy presence; as Sinai trembled when the Lord was on it; and as the antichristian states will when Christ appears, and the vials of his wrath will be poured out; and the Lord’s people will be delivered, and the Jews particularly converted.
k “ignis liquefactionum”, Calvin, Vatablus; “igne liquationum”, Cocceius. l Eliduri in Lexico Arabico tradit , “significare quemvis lenem et submissum strepitum”, De Dieu. m “Quemadmodum accenso igne fit lenis submissusque strepitus, sibilus et stridor ferventis ollae, et ignis excitat bullas”, Hottinger. Smegma Orientale, I. 1. c. 7. p. 146. n “Quemadmodum conflagrante igne cremia”, Junius Tremellius “nam quum accendit ignis cremia”, Piscator; “sicut ardente igne ex ramalibus”, Grotius; “ut ignis cremia consumens strepero motu exsilit”, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. As by the burning of a melting fire, (186) the fire hath made the water to boil. All this might be read either in the future or in the subjunctive; as if he had said, “O Lord, if thou camest down, the nations would tremble at thy presence; thine enemies would instantly be melted away.” But I think that the translation which I have given is more simple; for it is very certain that the Prophet here alludes to Mount Sinai, where the Lord openly revealed himself to the people. Hence we see also the gross absurdity of the division of this chapter; (187) since those events are related in support of that prayer which ought rather to have been placed at the beginning of the chapter. (188)
We have formerly seen that the prophets, when they relate that God assisted his people, bring forward an instance in the history of redemption. (189) Whenever therefore the prophets mention this history, they include all the benefits that were ever bestowed by God on his people; not only when he delivered them from the tyranny of Pharaoh, when he appeared to them in Mount Sinai, but also when, during forty years, he supplied them with all that was necessary in the wilderness, when he drove out their enemies, and led them into the possession of the land of Canaan. In a word, they include all the testimonies by which he formerly proved himself to be gracious to his people and formidable to his enemies.
He says that “the melting fire made the waters boil,” because, contrary to custom, fire and lightning were mingled with violent showers; as if he had said that the fire of God melted the hardest bodies, and that the waters were consumed by its heat. To the same purpose is what he adds, that “the mountains flowed at his presence;” for he opened up a passage for his people through the most dreadful obstacles.
(186) “ Comme par feu ardent qui fait fondre.” “As by a burning fire that melteth.”
(187) Calvin alludes to the fact, that, in the Hebrew Bible, the last verse of chapter 63 corresponds to what usually is the first verse of chapter 64. For the convenience of the reader, I have exchanged the author’s arrangement for that which is followed in the English version. — Ed.
(188) “I have followed our common version, the LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac, in departing from the Masoretic division of the chapters, according to which the words (‘O that thou wouldst,’ etc.) are very improperly made to conclude chapter 63.” — Henderson.
(189) “ En l’histoire de la deliverance d’Egypte.” “In the history of the deliverance from Egypt.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) As when the melting fire burneth . . .Better, as when fire Kindleth brushwood, as when fire causeth the water to boil. The two-fold action of material fire is used, as elsewhere, as a symbol of the consuming fire (Heb. 12:29) of the wrath of Jehovah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. The melting fire burneth waters to boil The point here is the quickness of the effect prayed for in Isa 64:1. As fire burns brush or boils water, so quick do Israel’s national foes tremble. Here are two figures: one of swift, rapid, roaring consumption by the flames, the other of violent agitation and tumult, like water boiling over glowing fires. “Melting fire” such as this the wicked cannot long endure. God’s majesty is similarly presented in Jdg 5:4-5; Psa 97:5; Mic 1:3-4; Hab 3:4-5.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 64:2 As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence!
Ver. 2. As when the melting fire burneth. ] So let the mountains burn and boil at thy presence. Aristotle a reporteth that from the hill Etna there once ran down a torrent of fire, that consumed all the houses thereabout. The like is recorded of Vesuvius, and of Pietra Mala, a mountain in the highest part of the Apeninnes, which perpetually burneth; so Hecla and Hogla, in Iceland.
a De Mundo, cap. 6.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
melting. The Hebrew word occurs only here, and is plural.
Thy name. See note on Psa 20:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
melting fire: Heb. fire of meltings
to make: Isa 37:20, Isa 63:12, Exo 14:4, 1Sa 17:46, 1Sa 17:47, 1Ki 8:41-43, Psa 46:10, Psa 67:1, Psa 67:2, Psa 79:10, Psa 83:13, Psa 98:1, Psa 98:2, Psa 102:15, Psa 102:16, Psa 106:8, Eze 38:22, Eze 38:23, Eze 39:27, Eze 39:28, Dan 4:1-3, Dan 4:32-37, Dan 6:25-27, Joe 3:16, Joe 3:17
that the nations: Exo 15:14-16, Deu 2:25, Psa 9:20, Psa 48:4-6, Psa 99:1, Jer 5:22, Jer 33:9, Mic 7:15-17, Rev 11:11-13
Reciprocal: Exo 15:11 – fearful Exo 19:11 – the Lord Psa 46:6 – earth Psa 68:2 – as wax Psa 83:14 – As the fire Psa 97:5 – hills Psa 104:32 – looketh Psa 144:5 – Bow Isa 10:17 – for a flame Isa 25:5 – shalt bring Eze 22:21 – and ye Hos 11:10 – shall tremble Mic 1:3 – cometh Mic 7:17 – they shall be Nah 1:5 – the hills Hab 3:10 – mountains Zec 14:4 – cleave Joh 17:11 – thine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
64:2 As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth {b} the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thy adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence!
(b) Meaning, the rain, hail, fire, thunder and lightning.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Had God appeared, He would have ignited the brushwood of people’s lives and brought them to a rolling boil in judgment. Then the nations would know who Yahweh really was, and they would tremble at His presence.