AFTER the settlement of Israel in Canaan, through the times of the Judges, the word of a Prophet was sent only occasionally to God’s nation; for the law and its officers, the Tabernacle and its services were provided for them. But towards the close of those times, when by reason of the iniquity of Eli’s house, the Ark had been taken and the glory had thus departed from Israel, the Lord began, in the person of Samuel, to erect among His people another ministry (the ministry of Prophets) less formal than that of the priesthood, and in some sense instead of it. And from thenceforward, in a continued succession, (Acts 3:2424Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. (Acts 3:24).) He called out to this ministry certain chosen ones, whom, in a manner quite independent of the originally established order of things which was now much corrupted, He anointed as with His own hand to their holy office.
These Prophets were, each of them in his day and generation, eminent for high and holy character. Their service was various. As the oracles of God, they heard the word as from the Lord’s own mouth and delivered it to Israel; at times crying aloud and sparing not, showing the house of Jacob their sins, (Is. 58:1; Hos. 6:55Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. (Hosea 6:5).) and at times speaking comfortably to them. They labored and taught, rebuking iniquities, though it were found in the palace or in the temple. Under the Holy Ghost they had also to write the history of the nation. And some of their own prophecies they were to seal up and preserve for an appointed time, (Dan. 12:44But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4).) depositing them in the tabernacle; or laying them up before the Lord. (1 Sam. 10:2525Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. (1 Samuel 10:25).)
But their great duty was to observe the signs of the times as they passed, and by interpreting them according to the judgment of God, to direct either the hopes or fears of the people. The times were a kind of parable, which the Prophets had to explain. Therefore, when meditating on their several writings, it is needful to consider the character of the times in which they severally lived.
It was in the times of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, that Isaiah was raised lip to be one of these Prophets of the Lord. During the earlier part of Uzziah’s reign, no very distinct signs for the notice of the Prophet were developed. Judah continued, as before, to burn incense in the high places, and being thus so far like Israel, (2 Kings 15:1-41In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. 2Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 3And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; 4Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places. (2 Kings 15:1‑4),) the Prophets Amos and Hosea, who at that time were stationed in Samaria, speak of Judah as involved to some extent in the sin and judgment of Israel. But Uzziah himself was doing that which was right, as his father had done, (2 Kings 15:33And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; (2 Kings 15:3).) and the Lord made him to prosper. His enemies learned that the arm of God was with him, and his name spread abroad even to Egypt. (2 Chron. 263Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 26:3)) But power and fame spoiled him at last. His heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he trespassed against the temple; and as the Lord always judged the nation according to the conduct of the king their representative, (2 Chron. 28:1919For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord. (2 Chronicles 28:19).) I believe that now it was that Isaiah was called forth to be a Prophet in Judah; for the king’s offense brought all the national sin into view, and this watchman in Judah then received his commission to denounce judgment against the house of God. (See ch. 1-5)
As to the reign of Jotham, who succeeded Uzziah, we are told that the people still continued to do corruptly, but the king followed only all that was right in his father, without trespassing as he had done; and therefore we find that God prospered him, (2 Chron. 27) and did not send the word of His Prophet against him: for Isaiah seems, during the sixteen years of Jotham’s reign, to have delivered only the vision which is recorded in the 6th chap. and that vision has no special respect to the times at all. It was rather a sacred transaction, (as in the presence-chamber of a king,) between the Lord and His minister, and had no special respect to either Jotham or his times, as we shall see, when we consider it presently a little more particularly.
The two following reigns, however, were times of no common character, and very strikingly contrasted. Ahaz, who succeeded Jotham, walked in the wags of the kings of Israel and alter the abominations of the heathen ... Idolatry was established by royal authority, and the service of God’s temple was despised. Captivities were made of His people, and confederacies against Him of His enemies, and “Judah was brought low because of the king.” But after a dishonorable reign of sixteen years, Ahaz was succeeded by Hezekiah, who followed his father David in doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. (2 Chron. 29) In the beginning of his reign, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, purified the temple, and restored the worship of God. With zeal like that of a greater than he, he turned the house of God from being a house of merchandise, into a house of prayer again. He renewed, as it were, the covenant between God and the people, and there was great joy in Jerusalem, such as had not been since the days of Solomon. The Lord was therefore his protector and guide, and magnified him in the sight of all the nations. (2 Chron. 32:22, 2322Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. 23And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. (2 Chronicles 32:22‑23).)
Such very marked and varied times as had now in these two reigns passed over his country—commencing in evil under Abaz, and ending in honor and peace under Hezekiah—afforded occasion to the Spirit to seal deep instruction upon the soul of the Prophet, and to open before him visions of both the judgments and mercies of God. Accordingly, during these times, the Prophet, appears to have written from chap. 7 to the end, where, with much incidental and practical matter, we find judgment beginning at the house of God, because of transgression, but the Israel of God borne safely onward through it all, up to their rest and glory.
Now this attention to the character of the times in which our Prophet lived, aids us much in our meditation on those oracles which he was called of God to deliver, but attention to the order and arrangement of the prophecies themselves will aid us still more.
The following arrangement of his first thirty-five chapters has helped me much in understanding them, and I offer it to others, thinking that perhaps some may find it a help to them likewise. My labor is very humble—it is merely that of a pioneer; useful however, though humble; for, as another has said, “as a homely digger may show a man a rich mine, so whatever the book may be that I present to you, that which I recommend to you is a matchless one.”
But then it will be inquired, flow are we to discover the distinctness and periods of these discourses? Generally, I would reply, let the Prophets be read throughout and in order, and then let attention be given, and judgment exercised to discover their distinct interruptions and periods. And as to these chapters which I have taken for our present meditation, I would observe, that one leading rule for discovering the beginning and end of a strain is this—when the Prophet treats of the sin or judgment of Israel it is at the beginning—when of its glory, it is at the end of the strain, And this order is morally just and certain; for suffering comes before glory—judgment for correction precedes salvation. (See, among other Scriptures, John 16:20-2220Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:20‑22). 1 Peter 1:11;411Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:11)
11If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11). 17, 18.)
Taking, then, this rule with me, and opening for instance 12th ch. I find the glory of the Lord’s house before the eye of the Prophet; and suspecting therefore that this must be at the close of a discourse, I look at the beginning of the 13th chap. and have my suspicion confirmed by finding there a new subject altogether; so that I get the end of the strain with this 12th chap. Then tracing upwards to find the beginning of it, I discover that the Prophet appears to opens a fresh roll at chap. 10:5. Then looking at the whole discourse in order, (10:5-ch. 12) I detect clearly Isaiah’s order—judgment beginning at the house of God by (on this occasion) the hand of the Assyrian—then passing over and falling upon that proud and wrathful enemy—and the whole scene closing with the rest and glory of the house of God, in the latter days.
Again, opening chap. 4 I find glory; and therefore, because of the general rule stated above, I look at the beginning of chap. 5 and am left quite satisfied with my conclusion that chap. v. ends the discourse. Then tracing upwards, I detect a plain connection among all the parts up to the beginning of chap. 2. But there I find glory again.— “in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountain,” This then appears to be an exception from the general rule; but looking at the whole prophecy, (chap. 2-4.) I see that this beginning with glory is but a momentary anticipation of the closing scene, and that the Prophet quickly leaves it, to carry on a lengthened gloomy burden of sin and judgment, as that which in fact was to precede the glory he had been anticipating; and then at the close he draws out more fully the scene of glory.
I will not here multiply instances of this order, but I would again observe that there is great moral propriety in it, as will appear to all who have become acquainted with the great and leading principles of God’s dealings with His own people and the world. The Lord says to His people “Ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,”—and again He says “Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy,”—and again, in Peter, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God.” Now these are just the principles which this order, observable in these discourses of our Prophet, illustrates.
I would now only further observe, that to use the following arrangement to any profit, the Reader must have the book of Isaiah before him, making it the chief object of his attention; for I have aimed rather at presenting some little help to interpretation than any interpretation itself. And may the Lord, ever by His Spirit, control our thoughts and direct our meditations in His holy word, and withal preserve our souls in “the simplicity that is in Christ,” and in the “meekness of wisdom.”
I.—This Chapter contains the first discourse of our Prophet. It is a remonstrance against the sins, the scarlet sins of Judah, with exhortations and encouragements to repentance and threatenings of judgment. But it also presents the Lord reserving a remnant in the midst. of this evil and ruined condition of the people, and giving intimation of salvation to the daughter of Zion, in the latter day, when the sinners shall be consumed from the midst of her, and she shall be called, “the city of righteousness.”
Thus, in this opening strain of the Prophet, he might simply say, with David, “I will sing of mercy and judgment.” And to this day Zion is under this threatened judgment—the Lord has eased Him of His adversaries, and avenged Him of His enemies, and she must wait till her dross be purely purged away, and the Lord then, as is here promised, redeems her with righteousness.
2-4—The prophecy contained in these chapters, may be entitled, “The day of the Lord.” It concerns, as the Prophet himself announces, Judah and Jerusalem, and celebrates the varied character of that day, “the day of the Lord.” It shows us, as many other scriptures do, (see, among others, Mal. 4:11For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1).) that the great body of the Jewish nation, because they had learned the ways of the heathen in pride, and wickedness, and idolatry, will meet the terrors of that day; but that while it is only a remnant (here called “the righteous,” 3:10 and the “written among the living,” 4:3.) that shall be saved, yet that that remnant shall be sanctified to the Lord, their city purged of its blood, (Joel 3:2121For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion. (Joel 3:21); Matt. 27:2525Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (Matthew 27:25).) made again the habitation of glory, and all nations flowing into it; peace reigning through the earth, and the peoples thereof learning righteousness.
I would observe that, however the judgment here pronounced on Judah and Jerusalem may have had some accomplishment at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar or the Romans, it could not have been exhausted then, for we find that coincidentally with this judgment is the deliverance and consecration of the remnant, and the glory of Zion,
And these have not yet been—We may all be most profitably warned by meditating on the character of “the day of the Lord” here delineated by the Prophet. May the lesson be engraven on our hearts.
5.—This chap. forms the third prophetic word, and it may be entitled, “The judgment of the unfruitful vineyard,” No soft accents of mercy here interrupt the course which judgment takes against the vineyard of the beloved, the whole reprobate Jewish nation, the house of Israel, and the men of Judah. In this parable, the Prophet sets forth the care which this vineyard had enjoyed, the ungrateful return it had made, and its judgment. And then the Prophet, in the further course of the chapter, sets the various iniquities of the people before their eyes, and pronounces corresponding sentence upon each of them, in which we may mark the distinct retributive justice of the Lord. Thus their covetousness is to be punished with poverty; their revelry and intemperance with desolation and hunger; and their scorning the word of Jehovah, saying, “let Him make speed and hasten His work,” shall be answered by their being made the prey of that enemy of whom Jehovah would say, “behold they shall come with speed swiftly.”
Of this prophetic word I would say that it did not receive its full accomplishment by the Babylonish captivity; for our Lord, in His day, speaks of judgment even then awaiting the reprobate vineyard. (see Matt. 21; Mark 12; Luke 20) We may therefore say, that the judgment here pronounced, will not have been all executed till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; for till then this vineyard will still be trodden down. (See ver. 6, and Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24).)
6.—This vision is a revelation of what Paul calls “the mystery” in Rom. 11:25, 2625For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Romans 11:25‑26); for Israel is here put under judgment of “blindness in part”—Israel is here “broken off” for a season “because of unbelief,” but with a sure promise that a remnant should. be preserved as the seed of the future nation; and thus, as Paul further says, “they shall be grafted in again,” and “all Israel shall be saved.”
This was a vision of the glory of the Lord Jesus, the God of Israel. (John 12:1111Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. (John 12:11).)—He is seen by the Prophet in the Holy of Holies, which was the figure of heaven; that is, He is seen in the very place into which the unbelief of Israel has now cast Him, (Acts 2:23,24; 3:15; 4:11; 10:40; 13:28-3023Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2:23‑24)
15And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. (Acts 3:15)
11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. (Acts 4:11)
40Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; (Acts 10:40)
28And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30But God raised him from the dead: (Acts 13:28‑30).) and out of which, consequently, judgment is to fall upon them. For the stone which they disallowed has been made the Head Stone of the corner, and from thence it is to fall and grind them to powder. Thus this message, which the Prophet was commissioned to bear to the people, will equally address itself to all generations of them, till their thus predicted dispersion shall end, and the day of the Lord’s new covenant with them shall come. (See Matt, 13:15; John 12:4141These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41); Acts 28:2626Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: (Acts 28:26).)
7-9:7.—This roll of our Prophet may be said to bear this inscription, “The sure mercies of David;” for when opened, it will be found to be a pledge from the Lord that He will secure the house and throne of David forever.
At the time of this prophecy, Syria and Ephraim were confederate against Judah, and Isaiah is commissioned to restore the fainting heart of king Ahaz and his people by an assurance that this confederacy should not stand. In pledge of this mercy to Judah and David’s house, the Prophet’s two children, first the one and then the other, are given as signs, and the promised Immanuel, the Virgin’s Son also. And this promised Immanuel, “God with us,” is given as the further pledge of the Lord’s sure purpose to break up every confederacy and association of the people’s against the house and throne of David, and to disappoint all their counsels. (8:9, 10.)
But the blessing was upon this condition—that if Ahaz himself, or any other generation of the house of David did not believe, neither he nor they should be established in this promised mercy; and Ahaz proving in unbelief, the Lord accordingly threatens to raise up a rod upon His land and people. (7:17-25.)
During this unbelief of the house of David, the Prophet (as representing the remnant) is counseled how to walk, is warned of the troubles of the unbelieving nation, and receives the richest promise of final rest and glory. (8:11; 9:7.) And in the midst of this Messiah is introduced, (8:16-18.) showing how He would be found during the same period—that is, dispensing His word among His disciples, and waiting for the return of the divine favor toward Israel. (See Heb. 2:13,1413And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 14Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:13‑14).)
As to all this most striking and significant prophecy, I would say, that to this day Jerusalem is trodden down, and the throne of David. is in the dust, because of their continued unbelief. Immanuel was, according to this prophecy, offered to Israel at His first coming, (Matt. 4:1515The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; (Matthew 4:15).) but their unbelief put away the grace and glory that would otherwise have then been brought to them. They are now therefore waiting for all this promised kingdom and glory, and will wait till they say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (See Matt. 23:2929Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, (Matthew 23:29).)
8.-10:5.—Though Isaiah, as Prophet, was set over Judah and Jerusalem, yet in this discourse the word of the Lord by him lights the most heavily upon Israel. For their pride and stoutness of heart the Lord threatens to join Syria and the Philistines together against Israel, and by these to cut them off on every side. For their impenitency and hardness of heart in despite of the divine chastening, and for their hypocrisy and evil doings, the Lord threatens to make an end. of them, root and branch, head and tail together. For the sin of the whole people, Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Judah, they are to be the prey of each other’s insatiate fury. For their oppression and perversion of judgment they are threatened with a day of visitation in which the Lord would withdraw Himself from them, so that they should be left desolate without one to succor them.
This day of visitation still hangs heavily over the nation, and will, till they “accept of the punishment of their iniquity,” (Lev. 26:14-4214But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 16I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 21And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. 23And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 24Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 27And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. 32And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 34Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. 36And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. 37And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. (Leviticus 26:14‑42).) and God then in grace remembers His covenant with their fathers, (Rom. 11:25-3225For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. 29For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. (Romans 11:25‑32).) and all Israel he saved.
10:5-12.—This magnificent strain of prophecy may be entitled “The Assyrian.” In it the Lord makes His power known on the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and also reveals the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. For the Assyrian falls by his own iniquity, and thus is the divine wrath on its vessels fully justified, but Israel and Judah are prepared for glory by the Lord Himself, and thus is the riches of grace on its vessels as clearly manifested.
The course of the prophecy is simply this—the people of God for their transgressions arc visited with a rod—this rod of God’s indignation abuses the commission by executing it in pride, and in the lust of power, and the scene then closes with its utter removal and destruction, and the recovery, and joy, and honor, through grace of the people of God. The Assyrian, the Lord’s rod against Israel, is cut off, and out of the dry root of Jesse is raised up a Branch to fill Mount Zion with glory and peace, and her people with the joys of God’s salvation.
Nothing can be more glowing and beautiful than this strain of our Prophet, but I would surely say, that the things which he here reveals have not been manifested fully as yet. The Lord, it is true, smote the camp of the Assyrian, and with zeal rescued Jerusalem out of his hand in the days of Hezekiah. (2 Kings 19:3535And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. (2 Kings 19:35).) But the man whose name is the Branch, was surely not then revealed in glory and in judgment; the earth surely did not then wear its sacred honors, as fruit of the times of refreshing, when nothing is to hurt in all God’s holy mountain, when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the knowledge of the Lord is to fill it as the waters do the sea. The Root of Jesse did not then stand as an ensign of the people, His rest being glorious: God’s indignation against Israel did not then cease in the destruction of Sennacherib, for Israel is still under judgment, and she is not yet comforted: that was surely not the second time for recovering the remnant of the people, nor did they then come from the land of the Philistines toward the west, nor dryshod through the Egyptian sea. The Prophet is here rather celebrating that coming day when every weapon formed against Zion shall be broken, every Assyrian, every enemy of Israel shall be confounded; when the last of them, even He who shall plant the tabernacles of His palaces between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain, shall come to His end, and none shall help Him; of which the humbling of Sennacherib, the first Assyrian, was the sign to that generation. Then shall the new song be sung, even the praise of salvation, and new joys be known by the inhabitants of Zion.
13-27.—These chapters exhibit various scenes, which will, however, I judge, be found to be parts of the same solemn action, God’s judgment of the kingdoms of the world. This strain of our Prophet may be entitled, “The shaking of the heaven and the earth;” for the Prophet sees the day of the pride of the nations now passing away, and their cloudy and dark day to be at hand. The Lord is seen as arising to shake terribly the earth, to march through the lands in indignation, and to thresh the heathen in anger. The Prophet of Jehovah seems to take from His hand the wine cup of His fury, and to cause all the nations, and among the rest His own Israel and Judah, because they had made themselves like the nations of the world, and had walked in the statutes of the heathen, to drink of it one after another. But in wrath He remembers mercy, and in the end causes mercy to rejoice against judgment.
Babylon, “the glory of kingdoms,” as first in the train of nations, is first summoned forth by the Prophet. (13, 14) She is triumphed. over; the day of her glory is past; and not one note of mercy interrupts the judgment delivered against her. In the vision of the Prophet the Assyrian then falls, and Palestine is utterly dissolved.
A cry is heard in Moab, and she is warned. to take counsel and show mercy to the outcasts from Zion. (15, 16) Damascus is left a ruin; and in her fate Israel, the constant confederate of Syria, is, joined. But in the midst of the judgment on Israel, a remnant is reserved, like gleaning grapes, four or five on the utmost fruitful branches, and in the end a present of the whole people, a harvest offering of them is, as it were, waved before the Lord. of Hosts in Mount Zion. (17, 18.)
The Lord’s hand is then shaken over Egypt, removing everything out of its place, and causing the heart of the land to melt in the midst of it. But He who thus smites, in the end will heal her and sanctify her to Himself, with Israel and Assyria. (19.) Then in the mouth of a second witness (20.) the sorrow and dishonor of Egypt and of Ethiopia her companion are established
The watchman of the God of nations then proclaims a grievous vision over the desert of the sea. This is Babylon, the night of whose pleasure is now turned into fear by the arrival of a chariot with a couple of horsemen, and she is made the corn of the Lord’s threshing-floor. (21.) Dumah is then warned, and the inhabitants of Arabia are seen fleeing away, and few of them left.
The Prophet of Judah then weeps over the Valley of Vision, his much loved Jerusalem, for he sees the spoiling of the daughter of his people, a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity, many breaches in the city of David, yet no looking to the Maker thereof, no respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago. But as before, when he revealed the Lord’s purposed visitation of Israel, he sounded also a lengthened note of final gathering and mercy, (see 17, 18) so now does he proclaim that mercy shall rejoice against judgment—that after captivity, and death, and loss of state and glory, there should be recovery, and honor, and dominion for Jerusalem, and the key of the house of David be laid on the shoulder of a chosen One, who would set His glorious throne there, and sustain the kingdom forever. (22.)
The Prophet then announces the Lord’s purpose to stain the pride of Tire, “the merchant-city,” “the mart of nations,” “the crowning city,” to destroy her strong holds, and to send her afar off to sojourn where still she was to have no rest. (23.)
These judgments then close in fearful consumption of the whole earth—its mirth ceasing, its joy ending, the curse devouring it because of the defiling of its inhabitants, when the hosts of the high ones on high shall he also punished, with the kings of the earth upon the earth, and there shall be a gathering together of them as prisoners into the pit. (24) This closing scene is the Lord’s controversy with this apostate world; it is the day in which Gentile pride and dominion having accomplished its measure, the Lord will smite its image, break all the parts of it together, driving them away like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor (Dan. 2:3535Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35).)—when, in the language of other and kindred scriptures, the vine of the earth (her grapes being fully ripe) shall be cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God (Rev. 14:1919And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19).)—when the heaven shall depart as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island be moved out of their places; when the kings of the earth and their armies shall be slain, and the dragon shall be bound in the bottomless pit. (Rev. 6:14; 14:19; 19:2114And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14)
19And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19)
21And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:21)) But in the midst of all this fear and indignation, the Remnant in Israel is presented to view under the image of the shaking of an olive tree, and the gleaning grapes after vintage; as in other scriptures, they are called the “tenth,” “the holy seed,” “the new wine in the cluster.” (Isa. 6:13; 65:813But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:13)
8Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all. (Isaiah 65:8).) The Prophet then, in spirit, hears the song of this Israel in the latter day, saluting “the righteous One,” and the whole action closes (as in all scripture with the Lord’s reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.
After all this, we have, in chaps. 25-27 what may be termed the Epilogue. The Prophet (having, as it were, listened to these revelations of the Lord touching Israel and the nations) exults in the glory promised to Mount Zion, “this mountain,” as he here calls it, where the feast of fat things should be made for all people, the vail spread over all nations be destroyed, and the hand of the Lord should rest, and His foot tread down the enemy of His Israel. In the midst of this joy of his soul, he anticipates the word of the Remnant in that day of their salvation, “Lo! this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us, this is the Lord, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” And then he prepares a song to be sung in that day in the land of Judah, celebrating the city of God, and rehearsing, in a varied and broken strain, the ways of the Lord to His Israel down to the time of their increase and glory. And again, having published the Lord’s slaying of the dragon in the sea, the, Prophet endites another song on the fruitfulness and security of the Lord’s vineyard, telling out how her stroke had not been like the stroke of the nations, for while they had been left like a wilderness, she had been brought through the fire only for the taking away of her sin, that she might be sanctified to the Lord again, and her outcasts gathered again, every one of them to the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Such appears to be the character and order of this discourse. I admit of course that the several burdens of the nations were not delivered by our Prophet at the same time. There may have been, I grant, long intervals between the delivering of them, but this does not effect my judgment about them, for the Spirit of God has presented them to us together; and in the whole passage taken as one—13-27—we see Isaiah’s usual order, judgment preceding salvation, and sufferings preparing for glory. O that the soul knew the power of this; as the Apostle speaks, “the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”
I observe, also, that the several cities and nations here noticed by Isaiah, were not only the several political powers of the world in that day, but stood before the servant of God, I believe, as representing other political powers which were to appear on the great theater of this evil world in a then far distant day, and which are to form that willful confederacy which is to be overthrown and confounded by the strong arm of the Lord, when “the nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the thistle down before the whirlwind.” But as in the midst of these judgments there are many notices of mercy, and at the close of them salvation and glory, so we know that this earth is not to pass away under this rebuke of the Lord, but that when all things that offend and do iniquity are by these judgments gathered. out, and those are destroyed which destroy the earth, (Matt. 13:4141The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; (Matthew 13:41); Rev. 11:1818And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18).) then shall the world remain to be the scene of the Son of Man’s dominion, and the kingdoms of it shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ—Amen, even so; come Lord Jesus.
28-35—This discourse of the Prophet contained in these chapters consists of five parts. The subject of each appears to be, simply this—the people of God for their sins and rebellions are punished, but the Lord for His name-sake in wrath remembers mercy. It may be entitled, “The five Woes; or, mercy rejoicing against judgment.” In each succeeding part mercy is heard to rejoice more and more, and the dealing of the Lord with Israel in grace, is displayed with increasing fullness; and as mercy is thus progressively unfolded, the scene of sin and judgment in the same measure passes away, till at the close nothing remains but grace, and salvation, and glory to Israel.
I desire briefly to notice these Five Woes, each in its order, marking especially the gradual rising of mercy over judgment, as the Prophet proceeds through this magnificent and sublime discourse.
The first woe. (28) This woe is pronounced upon Ephraim, the most transgressing portion of God’s nation, and which therefore first awakens judgment—Ephraim is threatened with a desolating tempest, and overflowing mighty waters; for the errors of Priests and Prophets, for the People’s willfulness and scorning, the Lord threatens to arise in wrath and to do His work, His strange work, and to bring to pass His act, His strange act; at the close He gives solemn warning, and with gracious sanctions, calls to repentance. But in the midst of this dreary burden, the Prophet is heard just for a moment to strike the note of a better day, telling of Israel’s final glory and strength, of the honor and majesty they were to have in the Lord of Hosts, and of the security of those who would trust in the stone of Zion.
The second woe. (29) This woe is pronounced on Ariel, the city where David dwelt, the more favored and excellent portion of God’s house. She is threatened with distress, and heaviness, and sorrow, with earthquake and devouring fire, with enemies who shall refuse to be satisfied, with judicial blindness, and the spirit of deep sleep because of her hypocrisies and scorning. But at the close the Prophet sounds a longer and more distinct note of mercy, promising a full and glorious change of curses into blessings, of distress succeeded by fruitfulness, of the spirit of deep sleep to be taken off, and the blind made to see again, the terrible ones removed, the workers of iniquity punished, and the children of Zion made again the work of the Lord’s hand.
The third woe. (30) This woe pronounced on “the rebellious children,” a more general title embracing both Israel and Judah, Ephraim and the city of David. Their seeking to Egypt for help is here threatened to prove their shame; and because of their despising the word and Prophets of the Lord, because of their perverseness and iniquity, they are to be left desolate as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. But the Prophet still more fully than before proclaims mercy, The voice of joy and gladness swells sweetly in lengthened notes here, The people’s return to their Zion, the increase and fatness of their land, the shining of the heavens over them, and their own healing and binding up, are here celebrated; and then the lighting down of the Lord’s arm upon their enemies even to the last of them, the Assyrian, in overflowing wasting ruin, and their own songs and joy of triumph in the midst of this ruin, close this sublime word of the Prophet.
The fourth woe. (31, 32) This woe is pronounced on those who seek help from Egypt, a still less rebuking character than that in which they were last addressed. And here we observe the Prophet soon bears away the woe from the Holpen, and lets it fall on the Helper, carries it speedily from Israel over to Israel’s enemies. Then in striking and varied imagery he displays the Lord’s care for His people, and His vengeance on their adversaries, even as in the preceding woe, down to the last of them, the dreaded Assyrian. Then together with many features of blessing already presented, he touches, with prophetic joy, upon the best of all Jerusalem’s days, when her King shall reign in righteousness, her people be at rest under His shadow, and the kingdom be settled in judgment and justice forever. And at last, after giving notice of previous sorrow, he closes with a revelation of the latter day blessing, when the Spirit shall be poured out on Israel, (that is, when their new covenant shall come, see Isa. 59:2121As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. (Isaiah 59:21).) and their rest and peace shall be established forever.
The fifth woe. (33-35) This woe is pronounced not on Israel at all, but altogether on her spoiler. This is the new and distinguishing feature of grace to Israel, observable in this closing
part of this beautiful strain of prophecy. Here mercy not only rejoices against judgment, but rejoices alone. The cloud has now passed away from the Jewish heavens, and has settled darkly and big with vengeance over the spoiler and the nations. In sight of this the Prophet at once pours out his heart to God. He seems, as led. by the Spirit, to see the spoiler, who “regards no man,” and the sinners confederated with him, but he sees them only as marked for destruction. He presents the righteous remnant among them, walking for awhile in depression but yet in safety, and then in the end brought out to see their King in His beauty, and their city a quiet habitation, while the loins of the mighty and dreaded spoiler are loosened and his prey divided. The Prophet then summons the nations to hear of the day of their visitation in the land of Idumea, “the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” He draws out the terrors of that day, in the full lighting down of the arm of the Lord on the people of His curse, in the filling of His sword with blood from His sacrifice in Bozrah, and in the giving over of the land from thenceforth, to wasteness and burning, according to the judgment written in the book of the Lord. Then does he speak of the glories that are to follow, and which are to close the purposes of God with His Israel. Here he rests with delight. He sees Carmel, Sharon, and Lebanon, yielding their excellencies to Zion, and Zion’s King coming with salvation; He hears the dumb singing; and rejoices with the lame man leaping in that day. In the wilderness he sees waters breaking out, and streams in the desert. The way of holiness is cast up before him, nothing allowed to hurt or to destroy, and the ransomed of the Lord. coming to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.
Such is the comforting story of Israel’s future final blessing. Creation waits for it. (Rom. 8:1919For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19).) Messiah the Lord waits for it; (Is. 8:17.) and the children of Zion are ever in spirit crying for it thus— “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when God bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” (Psa. 53:66Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. (Psalm 53:6)).
As to the whole discourse, I would just observe, what surely must have been anticipated, that the woes here pronounced have not been fully poured out. The proof of this is too plain and abundant. But our joy in meditating on our Prophet here, arises from the way in which mercy is heard to rejoice against judgment, till at length it triumphs completely, and occupies an uncontested field. And this is the principle, “the law,” as James calls it, in which the Church of God lives and glories. (Jam. 2:13.) “Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” Judgment drove Adam out of Eden, but not till Mercy had clothed him with a coat of skin, the pledge from God’s own hand that there was a full covering for his shame. He went forth into a cursed earth, but not till he knew that an offering out of the flock would be respected by the Lord. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” “I have sinned”—said one conscious that in him “sin had reigned unto death”— “God also has put away thy sin” —was the answer of that grace which reigns, “through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” And so poor sinners, like Adam and David, find it now.
And now, I pray that these meditations may help the inquiry of the saints into this portion of God’s holy word. They aim simply at clearing the way a little. Communion with the Lord through the word and by the Spirit is the power of all knowledge, as it is our strength, joy, and sanctification also. But we should not be unskillful in the word of righteousness. Everything around us is but giving value (if it needed it) to the blessed sure unchanging light of the word. “The Scripture cannot be broken”—blessed he God! And I would close, beloved, with that word of our Prophet, addressed to the people of God, passing through a perplexing and cloudy day, “And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”