Chapter XXIII: The Burden Upon Tyre (1)

In the view of Sennacherib's invasion, the eyes of the Prophet are opened, so that he beholds the future destinies of the nations within his horizon. It is under these circumstances that it is revealed to him that Tyre also, which, not long before, had successfully resisted the attack of Asshur, and had imagined herself to be invincible, would not, for any length of time, be able to resist the attack of the Asiatic world's power.

The threatening goes on to ver. 14; it is, in ver. 13, concentrated in the words: "Behold the land of the Chaldeans, this people which was not, which Asshur assigns to the beasts of the wilderness,--they set up their watch-towers, they arouse her palaces, they bring them to ruin." The correct explanation of this verse has been given by _Delitzsch_ in his Commentary on Habakkuk, S. xxi. Before the capture of Tyre could be assigned to the Chaldeans, it was necessary to point out that they should overthrow Asshur, the representative of the world's power in the time of the Prophet. The Chaldeans, a people which, up to that time, were not reckoned in the list of the kingdoms of the world, destroy, in some future period, the Assyrian power, and shall then inflict upon Tyre that destruction which Asshur intended in vain to bring upon it.

[Pg 147]

Upon the threatening there follows the promise. Ver. 15. "_And it shall come to pass in that day, and Tyre is forgotten seventy years like the days of one king. After the end of seventy years, it shall be unto Tyre according to the song of the harlot._ Ver. 16. _Take the harp, go about the city, forgotten harlot, make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered._ Ver. 17. _And it shall come to pass, after the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she returneth to her hire of whoredom, and whoreth with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the surface of the earth._ Ver. 18. _And her gain and hire of whoredom shall be holy unto the Lord; not is it treasured and laid up, but to those who sit before the Lord its gain shall be, that they may eat and be satisfied, and for durable clothing._"

On the "70 years, like the days of one king," _Michaelis_ very pertinently remarks: "Not of one individual, but of one reign or empire, _i.e._ as long as the Babylonian empire shall last, which, after 70 years, was destroyed by Cyrus." The necessary qualification follows from ver. 13. According to that verse, the one king can be the king of the Chaldeans only. Parallel are the 70 years which, in Jer. xxv. 11, 12, are assigned to the Chaldean empire: "And these nations serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And it shall come to pass, when the 70 years are accomplished, I will visit upon the king of Babylon, and upon that nation, saith the Lord, their iniquity." In the Commentary on Rev. ii. 1, p. 75, 200, it was proved that, in Scripture, kings are frequently _ideal_ persons; not individuals, but personifications of their kingdoms. _Gesenius'_ objection, that the time of the Babylonish dynasty, from the pretended destruction of Tyre to the destruction of Babylon, did not last 70 years, vanishes by the remark that the Prophet says "like the days;" that, hence, it is expressly intimated that the 70 years here, differently from what is the case in Jeremiah, are to be considered as a _round_ designation of the time. From a comparison of Jeremiah we learn that the Chaldean dominion will last 70 years _in all_. Into which point of that period the destruction of Tyre is to fall, Isaiah does not disclose. It is quite proper that in reference to Tyre the announcement should not be so definite, in point of chronology, as in reference to Judah. That the capture of [Pg 148] Tyre by the Chaldeans, which is here announced, really took place, has been more thoroughly established in my book: _De rebus Tyriorum_; and afterwards by _Drechsler_ in his Commentary on Isaiah, and by _Hävernick_ in his Commentary on Ezekiel.

After the end of the 70 years. Tyre is to resume her trade of whoring, and is to carry it on to a wide extent, and with great success. "By the image of whoredom"--so we remarked in commenting upon Rev. xiv. 8--"in some passages of the Old Testament, that selfishness is designated which clothes itself in the garb of love, and, under its appearance, seeks the gratification of its own desires. In Is. xxiii. 15 ff., Tyre is, on account of her mercantile connections, called a whore, and the profit from trade is designated as the reward of whoredom. The point of comparison is the endeavour to please, to feign love for the sake of gain." Under the dominion of the Persians, Tyre again began to flourish.

Tyre's reward of whoredom is consecrated to the Lord, and the bodily wants of His servants are provided from it,--quite in agreement with the words of the Apostle: [Greek: ei hêmeis humin ta pneumatika espeiramen, mega, ei êmeis humôn ta sarkika therisomen]; 1 Cor. ix. 11. Converted Tyre offers, in these gifts, its thanks for the noble gift which it received from the sanctuary.

_Vitringa_, who remarks that the Prophet was fully aware of "the great interval of time that would intervene betwixt the restoration of Tyre, and her dedication of herself, with her gains, to the Lord," is right, while _Drechsler_, who is of opinion that the doings of consecrated Tyre also are represented under the image of whoring, is wrong. Whoring designates a sinful conversation which is irreconcilable with conversion to the Lord. It does not designate trade, as such, but trade as it is earned on by those who, with unrenewed hearts, serve the god Mammon. We have here before us two stages, strictly separated. _First_, she resumes her old whorings; _then_, she consecrates her gain to the Lord. The severe catastrophe intervening, the new capture of Tyre, as it took place by Alexander, is not yet beheld by Isaiah. The announcement of it was reserved for the post-exilic Prophet Zechariah, chap. ix. 3.

The announcement of the future conversion of Tyre received, [Pg 149] in the time of Christ, a symbolical representation as it were, in the Canaanitish woman. _Vitringa_ says: "The first fruits of this grace were received by that wise Canaanitish woman, who had been taught, as if she had been in the school of Christ, to ask for divine grace; whom Matth. xv. 22, calls a woman of Canaan, Mark vii. 26, a Syrophenician; but who was no doubt a Tyrian, inasmuch as she obtained mercy from Christ the Lord himself, while He sojourned in the territory of Tyre and Sidon. Paul found at Tyre a congregation of disciples of Christ already in existence, Acts xxi. 3 ff." At a subsequent period, there existed at Tyre a flourishing and wealthy church. _Eusebius_ and _Jerome_ describe to us, from their own experience, the fulfilment of this prophecy.

CHAPTERS XXIV.-XXVII.

Upon the ten single "burdens" as they were called forth by the threatening Assyrian catastrophe, there follows here a comprehensive description of the judgments of God upon His people, and upon the world's power hostile to His Kingdom, The characteristic feature in it is, that the Prophet abstains from all details.

The prophecy begins in chap. xxiv. 1-13, with the threatening of the judgment upon Judah, The fact that Judah is here spoken of, not alone, it is true, but together with his companions in suffering, with all the other nations crushed like him by the world's power in its various phases (verse 4 most clearly shows that it is not Judah alone which is spoken of; comp. the same comprehensive mode of representation in Jer. xxv.; Hab. ii. 6), appears from ver. 5: "For they transgressed the _laws_, violated the _ordinances_, broke the everlasting _covenant_," where there can exist only a collateral reference to the Gentile world; from ver. 13, where the continuing gleaning is characteristic of the covenant-people (comp. xvii. 6); but especially from ver. 23, where, after the time of punishment, the Lord reigneth on Mount Zion.

The judgment upon Judah bears a comprehensive character. [Pg 150] As the single phases of the world's power, by which the sins of the people of God are visited, there had been mentioned in the cycle of the _burdens_, Asshur in chap. xiv. 25; Babylon in chap. xiii., xiv., xxi., (the circumstance that the first _burden_ of the first half of the _burdens_, and likewise the first _burden_ of the second half of the _burdens_--the ten _burdens_ being thus divided into twice five--is directed against Babylon, shows that specially heavy judgments were to be inflicted by Babel); Elam in chap. xxii. 6 (comp. remarks on chap. xi. 11). Here the idea of judgment upon the covenant-people is viewed _per se_, and irrespective of the particular forms of its realisation.

In vers. 14, 15, there is a sudden transition from the threatening to the promise: "They (the remnant left according to ver. 13) shall lift their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea,"--from the sea into which they were driven away by the storm of the judgments of the Lord. To the "sea" here, correspond the "islands of the sea," in ver. 15; compare the mention of the islands in chap. xi. 11. Ver. 15. "Therefore, in the light praise ye the Lord, in the isles of the sea the name of the Lord God of Israel." The words are addressed to the elect in the time of salvation. The Plural [Hebrew: ariM] denotes the _fulness_ of light or salvation, comp. chap. xxvi. 19; [Hebrew: b] is, in both instances, used in a local sense. The light is the spiritual territory; the isles of the sea, the natural.

Ver. 16 returns to the threatening: "From the uttermost parts of the earth we hear songs: Glory to the righteous! And I say: Misery to me, misery to me, woe to me! the treacherous are treacherous, and very treacherous are the treacherous." The song of praise of the redeemed, which is heard coming forth from a far distant future, is suppressed by the same affliction which is immediately impending, by the look to the rod of chastisement by the world's power with its treachery, its policy feigning love and concealing hatred, with which the Lord is to visit His people, and the floods of which, like a new flood, are, according to ver. 15, to overflow the whole earth. Compare the very similar transition from triumphant hope to lamentation over the misery of the future more immediately at hand, in Hab. iii. 16.

In ver. 21, ff. the promise breaks forth anew. Ver. 21: [Pg 151] "_And it shall come to pass in that day: the Lord shall visit the host of the height in the height, and the kings of the earth upon the earth._ Ver. 22. _And they are all of them gathered together as prisoners in the pit, and are shut up in the prison, and after many days they are visited._ Ver. 23. _And the moon blusheth, and the sun is ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigneth on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients is glory._"

In ver. 21 the destruction of the world's power is announced. The "kings of the earth" form the explanation of the "host of the height." It is very common to represent rulers under the image of stars; compare Numb. xxiv. 17; Rev. vi. 13, viii. 10; Is. xiv. 12, xxxiv. 4, 5, compared with ver. 12. [Hebrew: mrvM] is used in reference to the great ones of the earth in ver. 4, and in chap. xxvi. 5, also. The explanation by evil heavenly powers has no Old Testament analogies in its favour.--In ver. 22, the words: "And after many days they are visited," intimates that the time will appear very long to Zion, until the visitation takes place. "Many days," or "a long time," viz., after the beginning of their raging, which was to continue for a series of centuries, until Christ at length spoke: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The visitation consists in their being gathered together.--In ver. 23, the words: "The Lord reigneth," contain an allusion to the formula used in proclaiming the accession of earthly kings to the throne, and point to an impending new and glorious manifestation of the government of the Lord,--as it were, a new accession to the throne; compare remarks on Ps. xciii. 1; Rev. xix. 6. The "ancients" are the _ideal_ representatives of the Church; compare remarks on Rev. iv. 4. Before them is glory, inasmuch as the Lord imparts to them of His glory.

In chap. xxv. 1-5, the Lord is praised on account of the glorious redemption bestowed upon His people. "For thou hast made"--it is said in ver. 2--"of a city a heap, of a firm city a ruin, the palace of strangers to be no city; it shall not be built in eternity." The city, palace (we must think of such an one as comes up to a city, as is even now the case with the palaces of the princes in India) bear an ideal character, and represent the whole fashion of the world, the whole world's power; comp. ver. 12, chaps. xxvi. 5, xxvii. 10. _Gesenius_ [Pg 152] speaks of "the strange conjectures of interpreters who have guessed all possible cities." But he himself has lost himself in the sphere of strange conjectures and guesses, by remarking: "The city whose destruction is here spoken of can be none other than Babylon." The circumstance that Babylon is not mentioned at all in the whole prophecy in chaps. xxiv.-xxvii. shows plainly enough that a special reference to Babylon cannot here be entertained; and the less so, that it would be against the character of our prophecy, which abstains from all details.

While in vers. 1-5 the discourse was laudatory and glorifying, and addressed to the Lord, in vers. 6-8 the Lord is spoken of:

Ver. 6. "_And in this mountain the Lord of hosts maketh unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of lees well-refined._ Ver 7. _And destroyeth in the mountain the surface of the vail covering all the nations, and the covering cast upon all the nations._ Ver. 8. _And destroyeth death for ever, and the Lord Jehovah wipeth away the tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from of all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken._"

"In this mountain," ver. 6, where He enters upon His government (chap. xxiv. 23), and dwells in the midst of His people in a manner formerly unheard of.--"Unto all people," comp. chap. ii. 2 ff. The verse under consideration forms the foundation for the words of Christ in Matthew viii. 2: [Greek: legô de humin hoti polloi apo anatolôn kai dusmôn hêxousi kai anaklithêsontai meta Abraam kai Isaak kai Iakôb en tê basileia tôn ouranôn]; comp. xxii. 1 ff.; Luke xxii. 30. In ver. 7, "the surface of the vail" is the vail itself, inasmuch as it lies over it. The "covering" here comes into consideration as a sign of mourning, comp. 2 Sam. xv. 30: "And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, weeping, and his head covered, and so also all the people with him." The explanation is given in ver. 8, where the [Hebrew: ble] is intentionally resumed. We cannot, therefore, agree with _Drechsler_ who explains the being "covered," by "dullness and deadness in reference to spiritual things."--The first part of ver. 8 is again resumed in Rev. vii. 17, xxi. 4. As death entered into the world by sin (Gen. ii. 17; Rom. v. 12), [Pg 153] so it ceases when sin is completely overcome; compare 1 Cor. xv. 54, where our passage is expressly quoted. Besides death, _tears_ also are mentioned, inasmuch as they flow with special bitterness in the case of bereavements by death.--The Lord removes the rebuke of His people when all their hopes, which formerly were mocked and laughed at, are fulfilled, and when, out of the midst of them, salvation for the whole world rises.

With the people of God in their exaltation, Moab is, in vers. 9-12, contrasted in its weakness and humiliation, and in its vain attempts to withdraw from the supremacy of the God of Israel. Moab comes here into consideration, only as the representative of all the kingdoms hostile to God, and obstinately persevering in their opposition to His Kingdom; just as Edom in chap. xxxiv., lxiii. The representative character of Moab was recognized by _Gesenius_ also, who thus determines the sense: "Whilst Jehovah's protecting hand rests upon Zion, His enemies helplessly perish." It is intentionally that Moab is mentioned, and not Asshur or Babel, because, in its case, the representative character could not so easily be mistaken or overlooked.--Ver. 12 returns to the world's power in general.

In chap. xxvi., the rejoicing and shouting for the salvation are continued. A characteristic Messianic feature is contained in ver. 19 only, in which, as in chap. xxv. 8, the ceasing of death and the resurrection of the righteous appear as taking place in the Messianic time.

Ver. 19. "_Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust! For a dew of light is thy dew, and thou makest fall to the earth the giants._"

The saints are raised from the earth; the giants are sunk into the earth. The [Hebrew: rpaiM] "giants" are identical with the [Hebrew: iwbi tbl] in ver. 18. There it was said in reference to the time of wrath: "We have not wrought any deliverance in the land, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen;" compare vers. 9 and 21; Numb. xiv. 32. Parallel is the announcement of the defeat of the world's power in ver. 14. [Hebrew: rpaiM], it is true, is there used of the dead; but the signification of the word remains the same: The bodiless spirits were called _giants_, because they were objects of terror to the living; comp. remarks on Ps. lxxxviii. 11. The word is, in ver. 14, used [Pg 154] with a certain irony.--"Light" is equivalent to "salvation." The Plural signifies the fulness of light or salvation. The complete fulfilment which the words, "Thy dead shall live," will find in the resurrection of the body, affords a guarantee for the fulfilment of the previous stages.

In chap. xxvii., it is especially ver. 1 which attracts our attention: "_In that day the Lord with His sword, hard, great, and strong, shall visit the leviathan, the tortuous serpent, and killeth the dragon that is in the sea._"

We have here three designations of one and the same monster. _Gesenius_, on the other hand, rightly brings forward the accumulation of the attributes of the sword: With the three epithets applied to the sword, the three epithets of the monster to be killed by it pertinently correspond. The leviathan, the dragon, is, as it were, the king of the sea-animals, compare remarks on Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14. In the spiritual sea of the world, its natural antitype is the conquering world's power; comp. remarks on Rev. xii. 3. But that which is meant is the whole world's power, according to all its phases, which is here viewed as a whole; comp. ver. 13, where it is designated by Asshur and Egypt. The special reference to Babylon rests, here also, on a mere fancy.

* * * * * * * * * *

After the single discourses out of the Assyrian time, from chap. vii-xxvii., there follows in chap. xxviii.-xxxiii. the sum and substance of those not fully communicated. Even the uncommonly large extent of the section suggests to us such a comprehensive character. And so likewise does the fact that the same thoughts are constantly recurring, as is the case in several of the minor prophets also, _e.g._ Hosea. But what is most decisive is, that in chap. xxviii. 1-4 Samaria appears as not yet destroyed. Considering that the chronological principle pervades the whole collection, this going back can be accounted for only by the circumstance that we have here a comprehensive representation. And we are the more led to this opinion that, in other passages of the same section, Jerusalem is represented as being threatened immediately. In this section, it is especially the passage in chap. xxviii. 16 [Pg 155] which attracts our attention; since, in the New Testament, it is referred to Christ.

"_Behold I have laid for a foundation in Zion a stone, a tried_ (stone), _a precious corner stone of perfect foundation; he that believeth need not make haste_," viz., for an escape or refuge for himself, Ps. lv. 9. In opposition to false hopes, this stone is pointed to as the only true foundation, and all are threatened with unavoidable destruction who do not make it their foundation. The stone is the Kingdom of God, the Church; compare Zech. iii. 9, where the Kingdom of God likewise appears under the image of the stone. But since the Kingdom of God (which, in chap. viii. 16, had been represented under the image of the quietly flowing waters of Siloah) is, for all eternity, closely connected with the house of David which centres in Christ, _that which, in the first instance, is said of the kingdom of God refers, at the same time, to its head and centre_. Parallel is Is. xiv. 32; "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people trust in it." The [Hebrew: hamiN] here corresponds with the [Hebrew: Hsh] with [Hebrew: b] there. The difference is, that there Zion itself is the object of confidence, while here it is the stone which is in Zion. _There_, Zion is the _spiritual_ Zion; not the mountain as an assemblage of stones, nor the outward temple as such, but Zion in so far as it is a sanctuary, the seat of the presence of the Lord. The Lord--such is the sense--has founded His Kingdom among us; and the circumstance that we are citizens of the Kingdom gives us security, enables us to be calm even in the midst of the greatest danger. _Here_, on the contrary, Zion is the outward Zion, and the Kingdom of God is the Church as distinguished from it. The Zion here corresponds to the holy mountains in Ps. lxxxvii. 1, where, in a similar manner, a distinction is drawn between the material and spiritual Zion: "His foundation is in the holy mountains," on which I remarked in my Commentary: "The foundation of Zion took place spiritually by its being chosen to be the seat of the sanctuary. It was then only that the place, already existing, received its spiritual foundation." The stone laid by God as a foundation in Zion, in the passage under consideration, is, in substance, identical with the "tent that He placed among men," in Ps. lxxviii. 60. "In substance the sanctuary was erected by God alone, who, by [Pg 156] fulfilling His promise, 'I dwell in the midst of them,'breathed the living soul into the body, and caused His name to dwell there." In Ezek. xi. the substance of the sanctuary, the Shechinah, withdraws into heaven.--Our passage, farther, touches very closely upon chap. viii. 14: "And He (the Lord) becomes a sanctuary and a stone of offence, and a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel, and a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." The stone _here_ is the Church; _there_ it is the Lord himself, according to His relation to Israel, the Lord who has become manifest in His Church. Another point of contact is offered by Ps. cxviii. 22: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner-stone." In that passage, too, the stone is the Kingdom and people of God: "The people of God whom the kingdoms of the world despised, have, by the working of God, then been raised to the dignity of the world-ruling people."

A simple quotation of the passage before us is found in Rom. x. 11: [Greek: legei gar hê graphê. pas ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou kataischunthêsetai.] In chap. ix. ver. 3, we have chap. viii. 14, and the passage under consideration blended in a remarkable manner: [Greek: idou tithêmi en Siôn lithon prokommatos kai petran skandalou. kai pas ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou kataischunthêsetai], and from the remarks already offered, the right to this blending is evident. Peter, in 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7, adds to these two passages, that in Ps. cxviii. 22: [Greek: dioti periechei en tê graphê: idou tithêmi en Siôn lithon akrogôniaion, eklekton, entimon, kai ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou mê kataischunthê. humin houn hê timê tois pisteuousin. apeithousi de lithon hon apedokimasan hoi oikodomountes, houtos egenêthê eis kephalên gônias, kai lithos proskommatos kai petra skandalou], on which _Bengel_ remarks: "Peter quotes, in ver. 6 and 7, three passages, the first from Isaiah, the second from the Psalms, the third again from Isaiah. To the third he alludes in ver. 8, but to the second and first, in ver. 4, having, even then already both of them in his mind." Matth. xxi. 42-44 refers only to Ps. cxviii. and to Is. viii. 14, 15. to the latter passage in ver. 44; Acts iv. has Ps. cxviii. only in view.

The second Messianic passage of the section which is of importance for our purpose, is chap. xxxiii. 17.

"_Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall see the land that is far off._"

[Pg 157]

The "King" is the Messiah. This appears from the reference to the Song of Solomon i. 16, where the bride says to the bridegroom, the heavenly Solomon, "Behold thou art _fair_, my beloved" (comp. Ps. xlv. 3;) and from the words immediately following: "they shall see the land that is far off." The wide extension of the Kingdom of God is indissolubly connected with the appearance of the Messiah. Those who refer the prophecy to Hezekiah refer "the land that is far off" (literally: "the land of distances") to "a land stretching far out," in antithesis to the siege when the people of Jerusalem were limited to its area, since the whole country was occupied by the Assyrians. But the passage, chap. xxvi. 15: "Thou increasest the nation, O God, thou art glorified, thou removest all the boundaries of the land," is conclusive against this explanation. Comparing this passage, as also chap. lx. 4; Zech. x. 9, _Michaelis_ correctly explains: "The land of distances is the Kingdom of Christ most widely propagated." In chap. viii. 9, likewise, the Gentile countries are designated by the "distances of the earth." _Farther_--Hezekiah could not be designated simply by [Hebrew: mlK] without the article. It is only by the utmost violence that the whole announcement can be limited to the events under Hezekiah, which everywhere form the foreground only. We might rather, with _Vitringa_, think of Jehovah, with a comparison of ver. 22: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us," and of Ps. xlviii. 3, where he is called [Hebrew: mlK rb]. To Jehovah, the passage, chap. xxx. 20, 21 also refers,--a passage which has been so often misunderstood: "And the Lord giveth you bread of adversity, and water of affliction, and not does thy teacher conceal himself any more, and thine eyes see thy Teacher. And thine ears hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; do not turn to the right hand, nor to the left." The affliction prepares for the coming of the heavenly teacher; by it the eyes of the people have been opened, so that they are able to behold His glorious form. But although we should understand Jehovah by "the King in His beauty," we must, at all events, think of His glorious manifestation in Christ Jesus, who said, He who sees me sees the Father, and in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily; and it was indeed in Christ that God, [Pg 158] in the truest manner, revealed and manifested himself as the Teacher of His people.

The close of the whole of the first part of Isaiah is, in chaps. xxxiv., xxxv. formed by a comprehensive announcement, _on the one hand_, of the judgments upon the God-hating world, here individualized by Edom, that hereditary enemy of Israel, who was so much the more fitted for this representation that his enmity was the most obstinate of all, and remained the same throughout all the phases of Israel's oppression by the great kingdoms of the world (he always appears as he who helped to bring misery upon his brethren); and, _on the other hand_, of the mercy and salvation which should be bestowed upon the Church trampled upon by the world.

On chap. xxxiv. 4;, 5, where the heaven is that of the princes, the whole order of rulers and magistrates; the stars, the single princes and nobles, compare my remarks on Rev. vi. 13.

The description of the salvation in store for the Church, in chap. xxxv., is pre-eminently Messianic, although the lower blessings also are included which preceded the appearance of Christ. The description contains features so characteristic, that we must necessarily submit it to a closer examination.

Ver. 1. "_The wilderness and dry land shall be glad for it, and the desert shall rejoice and sprout like the bulb._"

The wilderness is Zion--the Church to be devastated by the world.--"For it,"--_i.e._ for the judgment upon the world, as it was described in chap. xxxiv. with which the changed fate of the Church is indissolubly connected.

Ver. 2. "_It shall sprout, and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God._"

"The glory of Lebanon," &c. is a glory like unto that of Lebanon. The real condition of the glory of Zion, or the Church, is brought before us in the subsequent verses only; it consists in the Lords glory being manifested in it. The majestic, wooded Lebanon, and fruitful Carmel, are contrasted with one another; the latter is put together with the lovely fruitful plain of Sharon, rich in flowers; compare remarks on Song of Sol. vii. 6. _Michaelis_ says: "The Lebanon excels among the forests; the Carmel among the fruitful hills; the [Pg 159] Sharon among the lovely fields or valleys."--To "see the glory of the Lord, the excellency _of God_" means to behold Him in the revelation of the full glory of His nature. Prophecy would have fed the minds of the people with vain hopes, if God had revealed himself in any other way than in Christ, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. ii. 9), and who, along with His own glory, revealed, at the same time, that of the Father; for it was the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, John i. 14; ii. 11.

Ver. 3. "_Strengthen ye the slack hands, and confirm ye the tottering knees._" The words are addressed to all the members of the people of God; they are to strengthen and confirm _one another_ by pointing to the future revelation of the glory of the Lord.

Ver. 4. "_Say to them that are of a fearful heart: Be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come for vengeance, for a gift of God: He will come and save you._"

"To them that are of a fearful heart,"--literally of a "hasty heart," who allow themselves to be carried away by the Present, and are unmindful of the _respice finem_.--[Hebrew: mqM] and [Hebrew: gmvl] are Accusatives, used in the same manner as in verbs of motion, to designate the object of the motion.--On [Hebrew: gmvl], "gift," comp. remarks on Ps. vii. 5. "The gift of God" forms a contrast to the poor gifts, such as men offer. He comes for vengeance upon His enemies, and for bestowing the most glorious divine gifts upon His people. The words: "He will come and save you," are an explanation of "the gift of God." It is in Christ that the words: "He will come and save you," found their true fulfilment,--a fulfilment to which every lower blessing pointed, and which is still going on, and constantly advancing.--That which, in the subsequent verses, is said of the concomitant circumstances of this salvation, is by far too high to admit of the fulfilment being sought in any other than Christ. All these forced explanations, such as: "In their joy they feel _as if_ they were healed" (_Knobel_, after the example of _Gesenius_), only serve to show this more clearly. They are overthrown even by the parallel announcement of the impending resurrection of the dead in chap. xxv. 8; xxvi. 19.

[Pg 160]

Ver. 5. "_Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped._"

The blind and deaf are the individualizing designations of the wretched; in Luke xiv. 13-21, the blind are named along with the poor, lame, and maimed as an individualizing designation of the whole genus of _personae miserabiles_; comp. John v. 3. But this individualizing designation must be carefully distinguished from the image. The blind and deaf are mentioned as the most perspicuous _species_ in the _genus_; but they themselves are, in the first instance, meant, and that which has been said must, in the first instance, be fulfilled upon them. _Farther_--as blind and deaf are, without farther remark and qualification, spoken of, we shall, in the first instance, be obliged to think of the bodily blind and deaf, inasmuch as they, according to the common _usus loquendi_, are thus designated. But a collateral reference to the _spiritually_ blind and deaf must so much the rather be assumed, that they, too, form a portion of the genus here represented by the blind and deaf; and the more so that it is just Isaiah who so frequently speaks of spiritual blindness and deafness; comp. chap. xxix. 18: "And in that day (in the time of the future salvation, when the Lord of the Church shall have put to shame the pusillanimity and timidity of His people), the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity and darkness;" xlii. 18: "Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind and see;" xliii. 8: "Bring forth the blind people, that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears;" lvi. 10; vi. 10; Matth. xv. 14; John ix. 39; Ephes. i. 18; 2 Pet. i. 9. Spiritual blindness and deafness are specially seen in the relation of the people to the leadings of the Church, and to the promises of Scripture. The blind cannot understand the complicated ways of God; the deaf have, especially in the time of misery, no ear for His promises. Besides the natural and spiritual blindness, Scripture knows of still a third; it designates as blind those who cannot see the way of salvation, the helpless and drooping; compare my Commentary on Ps. cxlvi. 8; Zeph. i. 17; Isa. xlii. 7. Now, it is blindness and deafness of every kind which, along with all other misery, shall find a remedy at the time of salvation.--If we ask for the fulfilment, our eye is, in the first instance, attracted by Matt. [Pg 161] xi. 5, where, with an evident reference to the passage before us, the Lord gives to the question of John: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another," the matter-of-fact answer, that the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk: comp. Matth. xv. 31: [Greek: hôste tous ochlous thaumasai blepontas kôphous laloutas, kullous hugieis, chôlous peripatountas kai tuphlous blepontas]; xxi. 14; [Greek: kai prosêlthon autô tuphloi kai chôloi en tô hierô kai etherapeusen autous]; Mark vii. 37, where after the healing of the deaf and dumb, the people say: [Greek: kalôs panta pepoiêke. kai tous kôphous poiei akouein, kai tous alalous lalein.] Yet shall we not be able to see, in these facts, the complete fulfilment of the prophecy, in so far as it refers to the healing of the bodily blind and deaf--inasmuch as it promises the healing of all, not of some only--but only a pledge of the complete fulfilment of it; just as Christ's raising some from the dead only prefigures what He shall do in the end of the days. The complete fulfilment belongs to the time of the resurrection of the just, of which it is said: Whatever is here afflicted, groans, prays, shall then go on brightly and gloriously. More comprehensive was the fulfilment which the prophecy received, in reference to spiritual blindness and deafness, immediately at the first appearance of Christ, who declared that He had come into the world, that they which see not, might see (John ix. 39). But even here the completion as certainly belongs to the future world, as [Greek: blepomen arti di'esoptrou hen ainigmati].

Ver. 6. "_Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout; for in the wilderness shall waters be opened, and streams in the desert._"

The _leaping and shouting_ imply that they have obtained deliverance from their bodily defects,--at this deliverance the preceding verse stopped--and proceed from the natural delight at the appearance of this salvation, personal as well as general, of which these are an emanation. On the first words especially. Acts iii. 8 is to be compared, where it is said of the lame man to whom Peter, in the name of Jesus spoke. Arise and walk: [Greek: kai exallomenos estê kai periepatei, kai eisêlthe sun autois eis to hieron, peripatôn kai allomenos kai ainôn ton theon]; farther. Acts viii. 7: [Greek: polloi de paralelumenoi kai chôloi etherapeuthêsan]; xiv. 8; John v. 9. Of _spiritual_ lameness, Heb. xii. 13 is spoken. It appears especially in dark times of affliction, as _Vitringa_ says: "In the time of wild persecution, and when the Church languishes, [Pg 162] not a few men begin to halt, to vacillate in their views, to suspend their opinions," &c. On the words: "the tongue of the dumb shall shout," compare Matt. xii. 22: [Greek: tote prosênechthê autô daimonzomenos, tuphlos kai kôphos. kai etherapeusen auton, hôste ton tuphlon kai kôphon kai lalein kai blepein.] _Spiritual_ dumbness is the incapacity for the praise of God which, in the time when salvation is withheld, so easily creeps in, and which is removed by the bestowal of salvation. The words: "For in the wilderness," &c., state the ground of the leaping and shouting, point to the bestowal of salvation, which forms the cause. The _waters_ are the waters of salvation, compare remarks on chap. xii. 3. The words contain, moreover, an allusion to Exod. xvii. 3 ff.; Numb. xx. 11, where, during the journey through the wilderness, salvation is represented by the bestowal of water. The desert here is an image of misery.

Ver. 7. "_And the scorching heat of the sun becomes a pool, and the thirsty land, springs of water; in the habitation of dragons shall be their couching place, grass where formerly reeds and rushes._"

"The scorching heat of the sun," stands for "places scorched by the heat" ("parched ground," English version). The passage chap. xlix. 10, forbids us to explain it by _mirage_, the appearance of water. The suffix in [Hebrew: rbch] refers to Zion. Dragons like to make their abode especially in the waterless wilderness. The circumstance that Zion has there her couching place, supposes that it has been changed into a garden of God; while, on the contrary, in chap. xxxiv. 13, it is said of the world that "it becomes an habitation of dragons." Besides the dry land, the moor-land which bears nothing but barren reeds, shall undergo a change; nourishing _grass_ is to take its place; [Hebrew: Hcir] has no other signification than this.

Ver. 8. "_And a high-way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the holy way; an unclean shall not pass over it; and it shall be for them, that they may walk on it, that fools also may not err._"

"The way" is the way of salvation which God opens up to His people in the wilderness of misery; comp. chap. xliii. 19: "I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert;" Ps. cvii. 4: "They wandered in the wilderness, in the desert without ways," where the pathless wilderness is the image of misery; [Pg 163] Ps. xxv. 4; xxvii. 11, where the ways of God are the ways of salvation which He reveals to His people, that they may walk in them. The way is _holy_ (comp. remarks on chap. iv. 3), because inaccessible to the profane world, to the _unclean_, who are not allowed to disturb the righteous walking on it; comp. ver. 9, which shows how entirely out of place is the remark that "the author, in his national hatred, will not allow any Gentiles to walk along with the covenant-people." It is only as converted, as fellows and companions of the saints, that the Gentiles are allowed to enter on the way, and not as unclean and their enemies. The circumstance that even the foolish cannot miss the way, indicates the abundant fulness of the salvation, in consequence of which it is so easily accessible; and no human effort, skill, or excellence, is required to attain the possession of it.

Ver. 9. "_No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up thereon, it shall not be found there; and the redeemed walk on it._"

By the lion, the ravenous beast, heathenish wickedness and tyranny, the world's power pernicious to the Kingdom of God, is designated; comp. remarks on chap. xi. 7. The Lord declared that the fulfilment had taken place, when He said: Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Ver. 10. "_And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Joy and gladness they shall obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away._"

GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI.

The historical section, chap. xxxvi.-xxxix., forms the transition from the first to the second part of the prophecies of Isaiah. Its close is formed by the announcement of Judah's being carried away to Babylon, an announcement which Isaiah uttered to Hezekiah after the impending danger from the [Pg 164] Assyrians had been successfully warded off, as had been mentioned in the preceding chapter. In chap. xxxix. 6, 7, it is said: "Behold days are coming, and all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon, and nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." In this announcement, we have at the same time the concentration of the rebuking and threatening mission of the Prophet, and the point from which proceeds the _comforting_ mission which, in the second part, is pre-eminently attended to. This second part at once begins with the words: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," which stand in closest connection with the preceding announcement of a great calamity, yea, even necessarily demand this. It is just for this reason that the historical chapters cannot be a later addition and interpolation, but must be an original element of the collection written by the Prophet himself.[1]

The contents of the second part are stated at once, and generally, in the introductory words, chap. xl. 1, 2: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she receives of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The _comfort_ must, accordingly, form the fundamental character of the second part. But since, for the people of God, there does not exist any purely external salvation; since, for them, salvation is indissolubly connected with _repentance_,--_exhortation_ must necessarily go hand ill hand with the announcement of salvation. This second feature and element concealed behind the first, is, moreover, expressly brought forward in what immediately follows, inasmuch as by it the "Comfort ye" does not receive any addition, [Pg 165] but is only commented upon and enlarged. The servants of the Lord (the whole chorus of the messengers of the divine salvation is addressed in vers. 3, 5), complying with His command, announce the impending salvation, designating it as a manifestation of the Lord's glory, and exhort to a worthy preparation for it. Vers. 3 and 4 treat of preparing in the desert a high-way for the Lord, who is to manifest himself gloriously. The way is prepared by repentance; the desert symbolizes the condition of bodily and spiritual misery. It is from this miserable condition that the Lord is to deliver and redeem His people; but in order that He may perform His part, they must, previously, have performed theirs. In ver. 5, this manifestation itself is described, with which is connected the fulness of salvation for the covenant-people. The servants of God are to announce the approach of salvation to mourning Jerusalem, in which the covenant-people appears to the Prophet as personified. (Jerusalem does not stand for "the carried away Zionites;" it is an ideal person, the afflicted and bowed down widow sitting on the ground in sackcloth; the distressed and mourning mother of the children partly carried away, and partly killed,--compare chap. iii. 26, where Jerusalem, desolate and emptied, sits upon the ground.) But this salvation can be granted to those only whose hearts are prepared to receive it. Thus the announcement of salvation is preceded by the [Greek: metanoeite], by the call to remove all the obstacles which render impassable the path through the desert into the land of promise; which render impossible the transition from misery to salvation; which prevent the Lord from coming to His people in their misery, and leading them out from it. Then, to those who have complied with the exhortation, the manifestation of the glory of the Lord is promised--He comes to them, in a glorious manifestation, in the way which, in the power of His Spirit, they have prepared and opened up to Him--and in, and with it, all the glorious things which, according to ver. 2, the servants of the Lord were to promise regarding the Future.

The comfort oftentimes moves in general terms, and consists in pointing to a Future full of salvation and grace. But, in other passages, the announcement of salvation is more individualised, becomes more special. These special announcements [Pg 166] refer to a twofold object, _First_--The Prophet comforts his people by announcing the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. This deliverance he describes by the most lovely images, frequently taken from the deliverance of the people from Egypt. But it is to be well observed that even those prophecies which pre-eminently refer to the lower object, have something exuberant and overflowing; so that, even after having been fulfilled, they cannot be looked upon as antiquated. He states the name of the ruler, _Koresh_, the king from the rising of the sun, who, sent by the Lord, shall punish the oppressors of Zion, and bring back the people to their land. The _second_ object is the deliverance and salvation by the Servant of God, the Messiah, who, after having passed through humiliation, suffering, and death, and having thereby effected redemption, will remove from the glorified Kingdom of God all the evil occasioned by sin. Of this higher salvation the soul of the Prophet is so full, that the references to it are constantly pressing forward, even where, in the first instance, he has to do with the lower salvation. In the description of the higher salvation, the relation of time is not observed. Now, the Prophet beholds its Author in His humiliation and suffering; then, the most distant Future of the Kingdom of Christ presents itself to his enraptured eye,--the time in which the Gentile world, alienated from God, shall have returned to Him; when all that is opposed to God shall have been destroyed; when inward and outward peace shall prevail, and all the evil caused by sin shall have been removed. Elevated above time and space, from the height in which the Holy Spirit has placed him, he surveys the whole development of the Messianic Kingdom, from its small beginnings to its glorious end.