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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. XXIX.
This woe to Ariel, which we have in this chapter, is the same with the
“burden of the valley of vision”
(ch. xxii. 1),
and (it is very probable) points at the same event–the besieging of
Jerusalem by the Assyrian army, which was cut off there by an angel;
yet it is applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
and its last desolations by the Romans. Here is,
I. The event itself foretold, that Jerusalem should be greatly
distressed,
but that their enemies, who distressed them, should be baffled and
defeated,
II. A reproof to three sorts of sinners:–
1. Those that were stupid, and regardless of the warnings which the
prophet gave them,
2. Those that were formal and hypocritical in their religious
performances,
3. Those politicians that atheistically and profanely despised God’s
providence, and set up their own projects in competition with it,
III. Precious promises of grace and mercy to a distinguished remnant
whom God would sanctify, and in whom he would be sanctified, when their
enemies and persecutors should be cut off,
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1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye
year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and
sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege
against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
4 And 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 of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the
ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5 Moreover 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.
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.
7 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.
8 It shall even be as when a 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.
That it is Jerusalem which is here called Ariel is agreed, for
that was the city where David dwelt; that part of it which was called
Zion was in a particular manner the city of David, in which both
the temple and the palace were. But why it is so called is very
uncertain: probably the name and the reason were then well known.
Cities, as well as persons, get surnames and nicknames. Ariel
signifies the lion of God, or the strong lion: as the
lion is king among beasts, so was Jerusalem among the cities, giving
law to all about her; it was the city of the great King
it was the head-city of Judah, who is called a lion’s whelp
and whose ensign was a lion; and he that is the lion of the tribe of
Judah was the glory of it. Jerusalem was a terror sometimes to the
neighbouring nations, and, while she was a righteous city, was bold as
a lion. Some make Ariel to signify the altar of
burnt-offerings, which devoured the beasts offered in sacrifice as
the lion does his prey. Woe to that altar in the city where David
dwelt; that was destroyed with the temple by the Chaldeans. I rather
take it as a woe to Jerusalem, Jerusalem; it is repeated here, as it is
that it might be the more awakening. Here is,
I. The distress of Jerusalem foretold. Though Jerusalem be a strong
city, as a lion, though a holy city, as a lion of God, yet, if iniquity
be found there, woe be to it. It was the city where David dwelt;
it was he that brought that to it which was its glory, and which made
it a type of the gospel church, and his dwelling in it was typical of
Christ’s residence in his church. This mentioned as an aggravation of
Jerusalem’s sin, that in it were set both the testimony of Israel and
the thrones of the house of David.
1. Let Jerusalem know that her external performance of religious
services will not serve as an exemption from the judgments of God
(v. 1):
“Add year to year; go on in the road of your annual feasts, let
all your males appear there three times a year before the Lord, and
none empty, according to the law and custom, and let them never miss
any of these solemnities: let them kill the sacrifices, as they
used to do; but, as long as their lives are unreformed and their hearts
unhumbled, let them not think thus to pacify an offended God and to
turn away his wrath.” Note, Hypocrites may be found in a constant track
of devout exercises, and treading around in them, and with these they
may flatter themselves, but can never please God nor make their peace
with him.
2. Let her know that God is coming forth against her in displeasure,
that she shall be visited of the Lord of hosts
(v. 6);
her sins shall be enquired into and punished: God will reckon for them
with terrible judgments, with the frightful alarms and rueful
desolations of war, which shall be like thunder and earthquakes,
storms and tempests, and devouring fire, especially upon the
account of the great noise. When a foreign enemy was not in the
borders, but in the bowels of their country, roaring and ravaging, and
laying all waste (especially such an army as that of the Assyrians,
whose commanders being so very insolent, as appears by the conduct of
Rabshakeh, the common soldiers, no doubt, were much more rude), they
might see the Lord of those hosts visiting them with thunder and storm.
Yet, this being here said to be a great noise, perhaps it is
intimated that they shall be worse frightened than hurt. Particularly,
(1.) Jerusalem shall be besieged, straitly besieged. He does not say,
I will destroy Ariel, but I will distress Ariel; and she
is therefore brought into distress, that, being thereby awakened
to repent and reform, she may not be brought to destruction. I will
v. 3)
encamp against thee round about. It was the enemy’s army that
encamped against it; but God says that he will do it, for they are his
hand, he does it by them. God had often and long, by a host of angels,
encamped for them round about them for their protection and
deliverance; but now he was turned to be their enemy and fought
against them. The siege laid against them was of his laying, and the
forts raised against them were of his raising. Note, When men fight
against us we must, in them, see God contending with us.
(2.) She shall be in grief to see the country laid waste and all the
fenced cities of Judah in the enemies’ hand: There shall be
heaviness and sorrow
(v. 2),
mourning and lamentation–so these two words are sometimes
rendered. Those that are most merry and jovial are commonly, when they
come to be in distress, most overwhelmed with heaviness and sorrow;
their laughter is then turned into mourning. “All Jerusalem
shall then be unto me as Ariel, as the altar, with fire
upon it and slain victims about it:” so it was when Jerusalem was
destroyed by the Chaldeans; and many, no doubt, were slain when it was
besieged by the Assyrians. “the whole city shall be an altar, in which
sinners, falling by the judgments that are abroad, shall be as victims
to divine justice.” Or thus:–“There shall be heaviness and
sorrow; they shall repent, and reform, and return to God, and then
it shall be to me as Ariel. Jerusalem shall be like itself, shall
become to me a Jerusalem again, a holy city,”
(3.) She shall be humbled, and mortified, and made submissive
(v. 4):
“Thou shalt be brought down from the height of arrogancy and
insolence to which thou hast arrived: the proud looks and the proud
language shall be brought down by one humbling providence after
another.” Those that despise God’s judgments shall be humbled by them;
for the proudest sinners shall either bend or break before him. They
had talked big, had lifted up the horn on high, and had
spoken with a stiff neck
(Ps. lxxv. 5);
but now thou shalt speak out of the ground, out of the dust, as one
that has a familiar spirit, whispering out of the dust. This
intimates,
[1.] That they should be faint and feeble, not able to speak up, nor to
say all they would say; but as those who are sick, or whose spirits are
ready to fail, their speech shall be low and interrupted.
[2.] That they should be fearful, and in consternation, forced to speak
low as being afraid lest their enemies should overhear them and take
advantage against them.
[3.] That they should be tame, and obliged to submit to the conquerors.
When Hezekiah submitted to the king of Assyria, saying, I have
offended, that which thou puttest on me I will bear
then his speech was low, out of the dust. God can make those to crouch
that have been most daring, and quite dispirit them.
II. The destruction of Jerusalem’s enemies is foretold, for the comfort
of all that were her friends and well-wishers in this distress
(v. 5, 7):
“Thou shalt be brought down
(v. 4),
to speak out of the dust; so low thou shalt be reduced.
But” (so it may be rendered) “the multitude of thy strangers
and thy terrible ones, the numerous armies of the enemy,
shall themselves be like small dust, not able to speak at
all, or as much as whisper, but as chaff that passes away. Thou
shalt be abased, but they shall be quite dispersed, smitten and slain
after another manner
(ch. xxvii. 7);
they shall pass away, yea it shall be in an instant, suddenly:
the enemy shall be surprised with the destruction, and you with the
salvation.” The army of the Assyrians was by an angel laid dead upon
the spot, in an instant, suddenly. Such will be the destruction of the
enemies of the gospel Jerusalem. In one hour shall their judgment
come,
Rev. xviii. 10.
Again
(v. 6),
“Thou shalt be visited, or (as it used to be rendered) She
shall be visited with thunder and a great noise. Thou shalt be put
into a fright which thou shalt soon recover. But
(v. 7)
the multitude of the nations that fight against her shall be as a
dream of a night-vision; they and their prosperity and success
shall soon vanish past recall.” The multitude of the nations that
fight against Zion shall be as a hungry man who dreams that he
eats, but still is hungry; that is,
1. Whereas they hoped to make a prey of Jerusalem, and to enrich
themselves with the plunder of that opulent city, their hopes shall
prove vain dreams, with which their fancies may please and sport
themselves for a while, but they shall be disappointed. They fancied
themselves masters of Jerusalem, but shall never be so.
2. They themselves, and all their pomp, and power, and prosperity,
shall vanish like a dream when one awakes, shall be of as little value
and as short continuance.
He shall fly away as a dream
Job xx. 8.
The army of Sennacherib vanished and was gone quickly, though it had
filled the country as a dream fills a man’s head, especially as a dream
of meat fills the head of him that went to bed hungry. Many understand
these verses as part of the threatening of wrath, when God comes to
distress Jerusalem, and lay siege to her.
(1.) The multitude of her friends, whom she relies upon for help shall
do her no good; for, though they are terrible ones, they shall be like
the small dust, and shall pass away.
(2.) The multitude of her enemies shall never think they can do her
mischief enough; but, when they have devoured her much, still they
shall be but like a man who dreams he eats, hungry, and greedy to
devour her more.
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9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are
drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong
drink.
10 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.
11 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:
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned,
saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near
me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is
taught by the precept of men:
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work
among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the
wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of
their prudent men shall be hid.
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the
LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth
us? and who knoweth us?
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed
as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it,
He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed
it, He had no understanding?
Here,
I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of
the Jewish nation. They had Levites, who taught the good knowledge
of the Lord and had encouragement from Hezekiah in doing so,
They had prophets, who brought them messages immediately from God, and
signified to them what were the causes and what would be the effects of
God’s displeasure against them. Now, one would think, surely this
great nation, that has all the advantages of divine revelation, is
a wise and understanding people,
Deut. iv. 6.
But, alas! it was quite otherwise,
v. 9.
The prophet addresses himself to the sober thinking part of them,
calling upon them to be affected with the general carelessness of their
neighbours. It may be read, “They delay, they put off, their
repentance, but wonder you that they should be so sottish. They sport
themselves with their own deceivings; they riot and revel; but do you
cry out, lament their folly, cry to God by prayer for them. The
more insensible they are of the hand of God gone out against them the
more do you lay to heart these things.” Note, The security of sinners
in their sinful way is just matter of lamentation and wonder to all
serious people, who should think themselves concerned to pray for those
that do not pray for themselves. But what is the matter? What are we
thus to wonder at?
1. We may well wonder that the generality of the people should be so
sottish and brutish, and so infatuated, as if they were intoxicated:
They are drunken, but not with wine (not with wine only, though
with that they were often drunk), and they erred through wine,
ch. xxviii. 7.
They were drunk with the love of pleasures, with prejudices against
religion, and with the corrupt principles they had imbibed. Like
drunken men, they know not what they do or say, nor whither they go.
They are not sensible of the divine rebukes they are under. They
have beaten me, and I felt it not, says the drunkard,
God speaks to them once, yea, twice; but, like men drunk, they perceive
it not, they understand it not, but forget the law. They stagger
in their counsels, are unstable and unsteady, and stumble at every
thing that lies in their way. There is such a thing as spiritual
drunkenness.
2. It is yet more strange that God himself should have poured out
upon them a spirit of deep sleep, and closed their eyes
(v. 10),
that he who bids them awake and open their eyes should yet lay them to
sleep and shut their eyes; but it is in away of righteous judgment, to
punish them for their loving darkness rather than light, their
loving sleep. When God by his prophets called them they said, Yet a
little sleep, a little slumber; and therefore he gave them up to
strong delusions, and said, Sleep on now. This is applied to the
unbelieving Jews, who rejected the gospel of Christ, and were justly
hardened in their infidelity, till wrath came upon them to the
uttermost.
God has given them the spirit of slumber. And we have reason to
fear it is the woeful case of many who live in the midst of gospel
light.
3. It is very sad that this should be the case with those who were
their prophets, and rulers, and seers, that those who should have been
their guides were themselves blindfolded; and it is easy to tell what
the fatal consequences will be when the blind lead the blind. This was
fulfilled when, in the latter days of the Jewish church, the chief
priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, were the great
opposers of Christ and his gospel, and brought themselves under a
judicial infatuation.
4. The sad effect of this was that all the means of conviction,
knowledge, and grace, which they enjoyed, were ineffectual, and did not
answer the end
(v. 11, 12):
“The vision of all the prophets, true and false, has become
to you as the words of a book, or letter, that is sealed up;
you cannot discern the truth of the real visions and the falsehood of
the pretended ones.” Or, every vision particularly that this prophet
had seen for them, and published to them, had become unintelligible;
they had it among them, but were never the wiser for it, any more than
a man (though a good scholar) is for a book delivered to him sealed up,
and which he must not open the seals of. He sees it is a book, and that
is all; he knows nothing of what is in it. So they knew that what
Isaiah said was a vision and prophecy, but the meaning of it was hidden
from them; it was only a sound of words to them, which they were not at
all alarmed by, nor affected with; it answered not the intention, for
it made no impression at all upon them. Neither the learned nor the
unlearned were the better for all the messages God sent them by his
servants the prophets, nor desired to be so. The ordinary sort of
people excused themselves from regarding what the prophets said with
their want of learning and a liberal education, as if they were not
concerned to know and do the will of God because they were not bred
scholars: It is nothing to me, I am not learned. Those of better
rank pretended that the prophet had a peculiar way of speaking, which
was obscure to them, and which, though they were men of letters, they
had not been used to; and, Si non vis intelligi, debes negligi–If
you wish not to be understood, you deserve to be neglected. Both
these are groundless pretences; for God’s prophets have been no
unfaithful debtors either to the wise or to the unwise,
Or we may take it thus:–The book of prophecy was given to them sealed,
so that they could not read it, as a just judgment upon them; because
it had often been delivered to them unsealed, and they would not take
pains to learn the language of it, and then made excuse for their not
reading it because they were not learned. But observe, “The vision has
become thus to you whose minds the god of this world has blinded; but
it is not so in itself, it is not so to all; the same vision which to
you is a savour of death unto death to others is and shall be a
savour of life unto life.” Knowledge is easy to him that
understands.
II. The prophet, in God’s name, threatens those that were formal and
hypocritical in their exercises of devotion,
Observe here,
1. The sin that is here charged upon them–dissembling with God in their
religious performances,
He that knows the heart, and cannot be imposed upon with shows and
pretences, charges it upon them, whether their hearts condemn them for
it or no. He that is greater than the heart, and knows all things,
knows that though they draw nigh to him with their mouth, and
honour him with their lips, yet they are not sincere
worshippers. To worship God is to make our approaches to him, and to
present our adorations of him; it is to draw nigh to him as those that
have business with him, with an intention therein to honour him. This
we are to do with our mouth and our lips, in speaking of him and in
speaking to him; we must render to him the calves of our lips,
Hosea xiv. 2.
And, if the heart be full of his love and fear, out of the abundance of
that the mouth will speak. But there are many whose religion is
lip-labour only. They say that which expresses an approach to God and
an adoration of him, but it is only from the teeth outward. For,
(1.) They do not apply their minds to the service. When they pretend
to be speaking to God they are thinking of a thousand impertinences:
The have removed their hearts far from me, that they might not
be employed in prayer, nor come within reach of the word. When work was
to be done for God, which required the heart, that was sent out of the
way on purpose, with the fool’s eyes, into the ends of the earth.
(2.) They do not make the word of God the rule of their worship, nor
his will their reason: Their fear towards me is taught by the
precept of men. They worshipped the God of Israel, not according to
his appointment, but their own inventions, the directions of their
false prophets or their idolatrous kings, or the usages of the nations
that were round about them. The tradition of the elders was of more
value and validity with them than the laws which God commanded Moses.
Or, if they did worship God in a way conformable to his institution in
the days of Hezekiah, a great reformer, they had more an eye to the
precept of the king than to God’s command. This our Saviour applies to
the Jews in his time, who were formal in their devotions and wedded to
their own inventions, and pronounces concerning them that in vain they
did worship God,
2. It is a spiritual judgment with which God threatens to punish them
for their spiritual wickedness
(v. 14):
I will proceed to do a marvellous work. They did one strange
thing; they removed all sincerity from their hearts. Now God will go on
and do another; he will remove all sagacity from their heads. The
wisdom of their wise men shall perish. They played the hypocrite,
and thought to put a cheat upon God, and now they are left to
themselves to play the fool, and not only to put a cheat upon
themselves, but to be easily cheated by all about them. Those that make
religion no more than a pretence, to serve a turn, are out in their
politics; and it is just with God to deprive those of their
understanding who part with their uprightness. This was fulfilled in
the wretched infatuation which the Jewish nation were manifestly under,
after they had rejected the gospel of Christ; they removed their hearts
far from God, and therefore God justly removed wisdom far from them,
and hid from their eyes the things that belonged even to their temporal
peace. This is a marvelous work; it is surprising, it is astonishing,
that wise men should of a sudden lose their wisdom and be given up to
strong delusions. Judgments on the mind, though least taken notice of,
are to be most wondered at.
III. He shows the folly of those that though to act separately and
secretly from God, and were carrying on designs independent upon God
and which they projected to conceal from his all-seeing eye. Here we
have,
1. Their politics described
(v. 15):
They seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, that he may
not know either what they do or what they design; they say, “Who sees
us? No man, and therefore not God himself.” The consultations they had
about their own safety they kept to themselves, and never asked God’s
advice concerning them; nay, they knew they were displeasing to him,
but thought they could conceal them from him; and, if he did not know
them, he could not baffle and defeat them. See what foolish fruitless
pains sinners take in their sinful ways; they seek deep, they sink
deep, to hide their counsel from the Lord, who sits in heaven and
laughs at them. Note, A practical disbelief of God’s omniscience is at
the bottom both of the carnal worships and of the carnal confidences of
hypocrites;
Ps. xciv. 7; Ezek. viii. 12; ix. 9.
2. The absurdity of their politics demonstrated
(v. 16):
“Surely your turning of things upside down thus, your various
projects, turning your affairs this and that way to make them shape as
you would have them–or rather your inverting the order of things, and
thinking to make God’s providence give attendance to your projects, and
that God must know no more than you think fit, which is perfectly
turning things upside down and beginning at the wrong end–shall be
esteemed as the potter’s clay. God will turn and manage you, and
all your counsels, with as much ease and as absolute a power as the
potter forms and fashions his clay.” See how God despises, and
therefore what little reason we have to dread, those contrivances of
men that are carried on without God, particularly those against him.
(1.) Those that think to hide their counsels from God do in effect deny
him to be their Creator. It is as if the work should say of him that
made it, “He made me not; I made myself.” If God made us, he certainly
knows us as the Psalmist shows,
so that those who say that he does not see them might as well say that
he did not make them. Much of the wickedness of the wicked arises from
this, they forget that God formed them,
Or,
(2.) Which comes to the same thing, they deny him to be a wise Creator:
The thing framed saith of him that framed it, He had no
understanding; for if he had understanding to make us so curiously,
especially to make us intelligent beings and to put understanding
into the inward part
no doubt he has understanding to know us and all we say and do. As
those that quarrel with God, so those that think to conceal themselves
from him, do in effect charge him with folly; but he that formed the
eye, shall he not see?
Ps. xciv. 9.
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17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be
turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be
esteemed as a forest?
18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness.
19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and
the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner
is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for
him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a
thing of nought.
22 Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham,
concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
neither shall his face now wax pale.
23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in
the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the
Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,
and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
Those that thought to hide their counsels from the Lord were said to
turn things upside down
(v. 16),
and they intended to do it unknown to God; but God here tells them that
he will turn things upside down his way; and let us see whose word
shall stand, his or theirs. They disbelieve Providence: “Wait awhile,”
says God, “and you shall be convinced by ocular demonstration that
there is a God who governs the world, and that he governs it and orders
all the changes that are in it for the good of his church.” The
wonderful revolution here foretold may refer primarily to the happy
settlement of the affairs of Judah and Jerusalem after the defeat of
Sennacherib’s attempt, and the repose which good people then enjoyed,
when they were delivered from the alarms of the sword both of war and
persecution. But it may look further, to the rejection of the Jews at
the first planting of the gospel (for their hypocrisy and infidelity
were here foretold,
and the admission of the Gentiles into the church.
I. In general, it is a great and surprising change that is here
foretold,
Lebanon, that was a forest, shall be turned into a fruitful
field; and Carmel, that was a fruitful field, shall become a
forest. It is a counterchange. Note, Great changes, both for the
better and for the worse, are often made in a very little while. It was
a sign given them of the defeat of Sennacherib that the ground should
be more than ordinarily fruitful
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself; food for man
shall be (as food for beasts is) the spontaneous product of the soil.
Then Lebanon became a fruitful field, so fruitful that that which used
to be reckoned a fruitful field in comparison with it was looked upon
but as a forest. When a great harvest of souls was gathered in to
Christ from among the Gentiles then the wilderness was turned into a
fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful
field, became a desolate and deserted forest,
II. In particular,
1. Those that were ignorant shall become intelligent,
Those that understood not this prophecy (but it was to them as a sealed
book,
shall, when it is accomplished, understand it, and shall acknowledge,
not only the hand of God in the event, but the voice of God in the
prediction of it: The deaf shall then hear the words of the
book. The fulfilling of prophecy is the best exposition of it. The
poor Gentiles shall then have divine revelation brought among them; and
those that sat in darkness shall see a great light, those that were
blind shall see out of obscurity; for the gospel was sent to them to
open their eyes,
Acts xxvi. 18.
Observe, In order to the making of men fruitful in good affections and
actions, the course God’s grace takes with them is to open their
understandings and make them hear the words of God’s book.
2. Those that were erroneous shall become orthodox
(v. 24):
Those that erred in spirit, that were under mistakes and
misapprehensions concerning the words of the book and the meaning of
them, shall come to understanding, to a right understanding of things;
the Spirit of truth shall rectify their mistakes and lead them into all
truth. This should encourage us to pray for those that have erred
and are deceived, that God can, and often does, bring such to
understanding. Those that murmured at the truths of God as hard
sayings, and loved to pick quarrels with them, shall learn the true
meaning of these doctrines, and then they will be better reconciled to
them. Those that erred concerning the providence of God as to public
affairs, and murmured at the disposals of it, when they shall see the
issue of things shall better understand them and be aware of what God
was designing in all,
3. Those that were melancholy shall become cheerful and pleasant
(v. 19):
The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord. Those who
are poor in the world and poor in spirit, who, being in affliction,
accommodate themselves to their affliction, are purely passive and not
passionate, when they see God appearing for them, they shall
add, or repeat, joy in the Lord. This intimates that even
in their distress they kept up their joy in the Lord, but now they
increased it. Note, Those who, when they are in trouble, can truly
rejoice in God, shall soon have cause given them greatly to rejoice in
him. When joy in the world is decreasing and fading joy in God is
increasing and getting round. This shining light shall shine more and
more; for that which is aimed at is that this joy may be full.
Even the poor among men may rejoice in the Holy One of Israel,
and their poverty needs not deprive them of that joy,
And the meek, the humble, the patient, and dispassionate, shall grow in
this joy. Note, The grace of meekness will contribute very much to the
increase of our holy joy.
4. The enemies, that were formidable, shall become despicable.
Sennacherib, that terrible one, and his great army, that put the
country into such a consternation, shall be brought to nought
(v. 20),
shall be quite disabled to do any further mischief. The power of Satan,
that terrible one indeed, shall be broken by the prevalency of Christ’s
gospel; and those that were subject to bondage through fear of him that
had the power of death shall be delivered,
5. The persecutors, that were vexatious, shall be quieted, and so those
they were troublesome to shall be quiet from the fear of them. To
complete the repose of God’s people, not only the terrible one from
abroad shall be brought to nought, but the scorners at home too shall
be consumed and cut off by Hezekiah’s reformation. Those are a happy
people, and likely to be so, who, when God gives them victory and
success against their terrible enemies abroad, take care to suppress
vice, and profaneness, and the spirit of persecution, those more
dangerous enemies at home. Or, They shall be consumed and cut off by
the judgments of God, shall be singled out to be made examples of. Or,
They shall insensibly waste away, being put to confusion by the
fulfilling of those predictions which they had made a jest of. Observe
what had been the wickedness of these scorners, for which they should
be cut off. They had been persecutors of God’s people and prophets,
probably of the prophet Isaiah particularly, and therefore he complains
thus feelingly of them and of their subtle malice. Some as informers
and persecutors, others as judges, did all they could to take away his
life, or at least his liberty. And this is very applicable to the chief
priests and Pharisees, who persecuted Christ and his apostles, and for
that sin they and their nation of scorners were cut off and consumed.
(1.) They ridiculed the prophets and the serious professors of
religion; they despised them, and did their utmost to bring them into
contempt; they were scorners, and sat in the seat of the scornful.
(2.) They lay in wait for an occasion against them. By their spies they
watch for iniquity, to see if they can lay hold of any thing
that is said or done that may be called an iniquity. Or they themselves
watch for an opportunity to do mischief, as Judas did to betray our
Lord Jesus.
(3.) They took advantage against them for the least slip of the tongue;
and, if a thing were ever so little said amiss, it served them to
ground an indictment upon. 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 cavilled 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.
(4.) They did all they could to bring those into trouble that dealt
faithfully with them and told them of their faults. Those that
reprove in the gates, reprovers by office, that were bound by
the duty of their place, as prophets, as judges, and magistrates, to
show people their transgressions, they hated these, and laid snares for
them, as the Pharisees’ emissaries, who were sent to watch our Saviour
that they might entangle him in his talk
that they might have something to lay to his charge which might render
him odious to the people or obnoxious to the government. So
persecuted they the prophets; and it is next to impossible for the
most cautious to place their words so warily as to escape such snares.
See how base wicked people are, who bear ill-will to those who, out of
good-will to them, seek to save their souls from death; and see what
need reprovers have both of courage to do their duty and of prudence to
avoid the snare.
(5.) They pervert judgment, and will never let an honest man carry an
honest cause: They turn aside the just for a thing of nought;
they condemn him, or give the cause against him, upon no evidence, no
colour or pretence whatsoever. They run a man down, and misrepresent
him, by all the little arts and tricks they can devise, as they did our
Saviour. We must not think it strange if we see the best of men thus
treated; the disciple is not greater than his Master. But wait
awhile, and God will not only bring forth their righteousness,
but cut off and consume these scorners.
6. Jacob, who was made to blush by the reproaches, and made to tremble
by the threatenings, of his enemies, shall now be relieved both against
his shame and against his fear, by the rolling away of those reproaches
and the defeating of those threatenings
(v. 22):
Thus the Lord saith who redeemed Abraham, that is, called him
out of Ur of the Chaldees, and so rescued him from the idolatry of his
fathers and plucked him as a brand out of the fire. He that
redeemed Abraham out of his snares and troubles will redeem all that
are by faith his genuine seed out of theirs. He that began his care of
his church in the redemption of Abraham, when it and its Redeemer were
in his loins, will not now cast off the care of it. Because the enemies
of his people are so industrious both to blacken them and to frighten
them, therefore he will appear for the house of Jacob, and they shall
not be ashamed as they have been, but shall have wherewith to answer
those that reproach them, nor shall their faces now wax pale;
but they shall gather courage, and look their enemies in the face
without change of countenance, as those have reason to do who have the
God of Abraham on their side.
7. Jacob, who thought his family would be extinct and the entail of
religion quite cut off, shall have the satisfaction of seeing a
numerous progeny devoted to God for a generation,
(1.) He shall see his children, multitudes of believers and praying
people, the spiritual seed of faithful Abraham and wrestling Jacob.
Having his quiver full of these arrows, he shall not be ashamed
(v. 22)
but shall speak with his enemy in the gate,
Christ shall not be ashamed
(ch. l. 7),
for he shall see his seed
(ch. liii. 10);
he sees some, and foresees more, in the midst of him, flocking
to the church, and residing there.
(2.) His children are the work of God’s hands; being formed by him,
they are formed for him, his workmanship, created unto good
works. It is some comfort to parents to think that their children
are God’s creatures, the work of the hands of his grace.
(3.) He and his children shall sanctify the name of God as their God,
as the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear and worship the God of
Israel. This is opposed to his being ashamed and waxing pale; when he
is delivered from his contempts and dangers he shall not magnify
himself, but sanctify the Holy One of Jacob. If God make our
condition easy, we must endeavour to make his name glorious. Parents
and children are ornaments and comforts indeed to each other when they
join in sanctifying the name of God. When parents give up their
children, and children give up themselves, to God, to be to him for
a name and a praise, then the forest will soon become a fruitful
field.
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