A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Edom and Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; these two bits of information provide further hints as to whom the characters are in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5 where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ are associated with the South. Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but the ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection associating Edom and Idumea to the Sword in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

Isaiah 63

¹ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

— that cometh from Edom; that is, Idumea, the country where Esau, sometimes called Edom; Edom had been guilty of ruthless atrocities (Amos 1:9-11); they had carried off Jewish prisoners as slaves (Obadiah 1:10-11); they had been allies of the Assyrian invaders (Psalm 83:6), and had smitten Judah in the days of Ahaz (II Chronicles 28:17);

— the Targum indicates using the Edom and Bozrah “to execute vengeance of judgement of His people” – his people, of course, is the house of Jacob;

— the words Edom and Bozrah may be taken in the appellative sense, to denote in general, a field of blood, or a place of slaughter; the word Edom signifying red, and Bozrah a vintage; with dyed garments – that is, with garments dyed in blood, which in the prophetical idiom, imports God’s vengeance upon the wicked, his people;

— Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; see further Isaiah 34:6, a parallel text where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ associated with both Edom and Bozrah are mentioned. Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection to the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

² Why art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat?

— and thy garments like him that tread in the winefat? or winepress, into which clusters of grapes are cast, and these are trodden by men, the juice of which sparkles on their garments, and stains them, so that they become of a red colour.

³ “I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with Me. For I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment.

— God have trodden the wine-press alone; he has put on trial his people the house of Jacob; he has crushed them as grapes are crushed; Could this be a usual metaphor of Sword and Blood for both the house of Israel for 190 years and the house of Judah for 40 years in Ezekiel 4?

— perhaps the Orthodoxy (like Rashi) would have some merits if the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 relates to a suffering Jacob, incorporating wine pressing on them both; (190 years) for the house of Israel; and (40 years) for the house of Judah? (for more, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years)

⁴ For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come.

— the year of my redeemed; another rendering, is the year of my redemption:

— the red upon the clothes was the life-blood of the house of Jacob, which had spirted upon them and with which, as he, the Almighty God Yehovah, tread this wine-press, he had soiled all his garments.

⁵ And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me, and My fury, it upheld Me.

— and I looked, and there was none to help (compare Isaiah 5:2, “He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes:” also Isaiah 41:28, “I beheld, and there was no man”). God is represented as looking for and expecting what might reasonably have been expected, and even as surprised when he does not find it (compare Isaiah 59:16).

⁶ And I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.”

— make them drunk: the Hebrew often expresses calamities by a cup of wine, or strong drink, by which the distressed persons are made drunk, Psalm 75:8 Isaiah 51:21-22; they go as it were to and fro, not knowing what to do with themselves; and in special drunk with their own blood, Isaiah 49:26 Revelation 16:6.

— I will bring down their strength to the earth; whatever it is wherein their strength lies, their strong ones, or their strong places, or deep counsels; he will bring to the very dust, to nothing; like drunken men, they shall fall to the ground, not being able to stand; the most miserable condition that men can fall into, Psalm 36:12.

⁷ I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses.

— I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord; these are the words of the prophet Isaiah, great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and kindnesses.

⁸ For He said, “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie”; so He was their Savior.

— he said, Surely they are my people. Israel was first recognized as “a people” in Egypt, when the creel Pharaoh said, “The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we “(Exodus 1:9; 3:7);

— children that will not lie; or deal falsely as the same word is translated in Psalm 44:17. The meaning is, that surely they will be faithful to God and not fall away from him into idolatry or irreligion, Isaiah 63:8.

⁹ In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

— in all their affliction he was afflicted; because of all the afflictions they endured in Egypt: this notes the sympathy that is in Christ; having the same spirit that the Father hath.

¹⁰ But they rebelled and vexed His holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.

— but they rebelled against God; this charge is often made against the children of Israel; and indeed their history is little more than a record of a series of rebellions against God.

¹¹ Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, “Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His holy Spirit within him,

— the Targum paraphrases it, “he had mercy for the glory of his name, and because of the remembrance of his goodness of old, the mighty things he did by the hands of Moses to his people.”

¹² That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make Himself an everlasting name,

— that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm; that is, through the Red sea: this was done by the right hand of Moses and the rod in it.

¹³ that led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?”

— that led them through the deep; the depths, the bottom of the sea; not through the shallow but where the waters had been deepest, the descent greatest; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their passage, yet through this he led them.

¹⁴ As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst Thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious name.

— the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; or gently led him, that is, Israel, through the sea, with little danger as a beast walks on in a valley; this of leading Israel through the wilderness where often resting places were found for them and they were brought to the land of rest, Canaan, and settled there.

The Prayer of Isaiah

¹⁵ Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory. Where is Thy zeal and Thy strength, the sounding of Thy heart and of Thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained?

— here begins a fervent prayer by Isaiah to God to pity Israel; look down from heaven, and behold; attributes the prevalence of evil on earth to a suspension of Yehovah’s watchfulness; hence he is said to come down from heaven to enquire (Genesis 18:21), or here, to look down.

¹⁶ Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting.

— doubtless thou art our Father: thus they urge God the Father, not the Son, with that relation he stands in unto them, Malachi 2:10; therefore we as thy children expect the bowels and compassions of a father.

¹⁷ O Lord, why hast Thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear? Return for Thy servants’ sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance.

— O Lord, why hast thou made us with weak human nature to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? These are the words not of the wicked among the Jews but of the godly, lamenting and confessing their wandering from God’s ways, commands and ordinances, the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁸ The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while; our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

— the people of thy holiness; or thy holy people as being set apart for his servants; holiness being to be understood for a covenant separation from other people;

— have trodden down thy sanctuary; the Temple, called the sanctuary from the holiness of it; this our adversaries the Babylonians by Nebuchadnezzar, and later the Greeks by Antiochus, and the Romans by Titus have trodden down, II Chronicles 36:19.

¹⁹ We are Thine; Thou didst never bear rule over them; they were not called by Thy name.

— we are thy children, thy people, thy subject; we are in covenant which they never were; and over those whom thou hast not ruled from of old, as those upon whom thy name has not been called;

— thou never barest rule over them; not in that manner, or in that relation to them, that thou didst over us. They were not called by thy name; neither owned thee, nor owned by thee: this phrase implies a near relation in some circumstance or other as wife or servant or child.

Isaiah 64

¹ Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence

— O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down; this prayer is really a continuation of the prayer of Isaiah 63:15-19.

² as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil— to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!

— the Targum says, “as when thou sendedst thine anger as fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the fire licked up the water to make Thy name known to the enemies of Thy people.”

³ When Thou didst fearsome things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence.

— when thou didst terrible things, which we looked not for, thou camest down; referring to the wonderful things God did in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness;

— and particularly at Mount Sinai, things that were unexpected, and not looked for; then the Lord came down, and made visible displays of his power and presence, especially on Mount Sinai; see Exodus 19:18.

⁴ For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.

— neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee, who will work for him that waits for him; not that God alone knows what he hath prepared but that no man knows (sight and hearing being used as including all forms of spiritual apprehension) any god who does such great things as he does.

⁵ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember Thee in Thy ways. Behold, Thou art wroth, for we have sinned; in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

— thou meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art angry; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

MSG

Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend, make the mountains shudder at your presence— As when a forest catches fire, as when fire makes a pot to boil— To shock your enemies into facing you, make the nations shake in their boots! You did terrible things we never expected, descended and made the mountains shudder at your presence.

Since before time began no one has ever imagined, No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work. But how angry you’ve been with us!

We’ve sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves— sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind. No one prays to you or makes the effort to reach out to you Because you’ve turned away from us, left us to stew in our sins.

⁶ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

— and all our righteousness or justification are as filthy rags; as rags, they cannot cover us; as filthy rags, they would only defile us.

⁷ And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities.

— and hast consumed us because of our iniquities; by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity.

⁸ But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand.

— but now, O Lord, thou art our Father; notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter;

— we are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleases. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us.

⁹ Be not sorely wroth, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever; behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people.

— CEV Don’t be so furious or keep our sins in your thoughts forever! Remember that all of us are your people.

¹⁰ Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

— thy holy cities; Zion and Jerusalem mentioned immediately after; called holy because they were built upon God’s inheritance and because his Shekinah were there.

¹¹ Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

— is burnt up with fire; this is true, both of the first and second Temple; the first was burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Jeremiah 52:13, and the second by the Romans under Titus in AD 70.

¹² Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt Thou hold Thy peace and afflict us very sore?

— wilt thou refrain thyself; wilt thou refuse to come to our aid? Wilt thou decline to visit us and save us from our calamities?

— wilt thou hold thy peace; wilt thou not speak for our rescue and command us to be delivered?

MSG

Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter: All of us are what you made us. Don’t be too angry with us, O God. Don’t keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us.

Your holy cities are all ghost towns: Zion’s a ghost town, Jerusalem’s a field of weeds. Our holy and beautiful Temple, which our ancestors filled with your praises, Was burned down by fire, all our lovely parks and gardens in ruins.

In the face of all this, are you going to sit there unmoved, God? Aren’t you going to say something? Haven’t you made us miserable long enough?

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages and most Jews could not see the working of God’s providence in the revelation of the Messiah in the chapters here, or in the revelation to which he came to restore all the nations back to God.

Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, this means as a whole, we wouldn’t understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days, soon to be our days, after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart; only then could we understand fully!

Isaiah 61

¹ “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,

— we ask, “Who is the speaker?” – this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Yeshua expressly applied it to himself (see Luke 4:16-21, also at the end);

— if Isaiah was the speaker, he was just a forerunner because his role in proclaiming the good tidings, etc, was limited;

— he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted; whose hearts are smitten and made contrite by the Word of God, and are truly humbled under a sense of sin; who are cut to the heart, have wounded spirits; these Christ binds up, by speaking comfortably to them;

— by applying his blood; by discovering the free and full pardon of their sins; and for this, as Mediator, he had a mission and commission from his Father; he came not of himself, but he sent him:

— to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to such who were captives to sins and as it were prisoners to them, shut up by them, and in them, and held fast there;

— but Christ, as he is the author of liberty; obtains it for his people and makes them free with it a liberty from sin, or as of prisoners from the prison house.

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn,

— to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; the allusion is to the proclamation of liberty, in the year of jubilee when the trumpet was blown, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land (see Leviticus 25:9-10);

— Yeshua stopped before mentioning the days of vengeance, Luke 21:22, which calls for the destruction of Jerusalem the very expression made use of here. Perhaps there was a delay of 40 years when the Romans came and surrounded Jerusalem, then its capture and destruction in AD 70;

— but which sects escaped destruction and death? History recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River.

(2) Some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin.

These Pharisees escaped to Yavne and established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar. Later, they re-emerged and are now known as Rabbinic Jews.

— all other sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: all Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all faced their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their “fire”? Were these sects facing their familiar Sodom and Gomorrah?

— were these not their days of vengeance or be “baptised in FIRE” as warned by John the Baptist? We need to note a very important point in this judgement. God included His holy city of Jerusalem in this judgement. God did not exclude them from judgement during their days of vengeance in the AD 70 inferno.

³ To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”

— to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion; or “to the mourners of Zion” those who are of Zion and mourn for the corruptions in Zion’s false doctrines, their perversion, abuse and neglect of God’s statutes and ordinances; for the disorders and divisions they cause; and the power of godliness;

— trees of righteousness; in Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ by their being oaks of righteousness is a metaphor meant a people distinguished for righteousness or justice; instead of being subjected to money, wealth and bowing down as a reed to corruption, sin and wickedness.

⁴ And they shall build the wastes of old, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

— the waste places of olden time: that is, not merely the cities that had fallen into ruins during the exile, but those that had been lying waste for generations; and of modern wars.

⁵ And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

— strangers shall stand; like servants waiting for their master’s orders; that Israel is raised to the dignity of a priestly caste, leaving the rough work of the world to be done by foreigners, who stood on a lower level;

— one Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

— McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).

⁶ But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the Ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

— but ye; as contrasted with the “strangers.” Ye shall have no need to attend to your flocks and lands: strangers will do that for you; your exclusive business will be the service of Yehovah as his “priests” – Exodus 19:6 remains yet to be realized.

⁷ For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.

— for your shame ye shall have double: though you have been little accounted of among your enemies, yet now you shall be greatly in their esteem, Zechariah 9:12.

⁸ “For I, the Lord, love judgement; I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

— I hate robbery for burnt- offerings; I hate all things gotten by injustice, though they be for sacrifice. As God will not accept of that which cost nothing, so much less of that which is the effect of rapine and oppression.

⁹ And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”

— all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed; that they are the spiritual seed of Abraham as well as his carnal seed and are blessed with him.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

— I will greatly rejoice; the speaker is again as in Isaiah 61:1 the ideal Servant of Yehovah, Isaiah, as well as the Messiah, who identifies himself with the people and slaves;

— the Targum, it may be noted, makes Jerusalem the speaker: “Jerusalem said, rejoicing I will rejoice in the Word of the Lord.”

¹¹ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

— The Targum says, “so the Lord God will reveal the righteousness and praise of Jerusalem before all the people.”

~~~

Luke 4

¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
¹⁷ And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
¹⁹ to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
²⁰ And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
²¹ And He began to say unto them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Isaiah 62

¹ For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

— for Zion’s sake; opinions differ as to the speaker. Is he the prophet, or the Servant of Yehovah, or Yehovah Himself? On the whole, the second view seems to be most in harmony with what follows:

— the true Servant will carry on what in later theology may be called his mediatorial intercessory work, that there may be no delay in the fulfilment of the glorious promises that have just been uttered.

² And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.

— and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name; this name is a new name; a renewed one, a name which shall be of significance.

³ Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

— and a royal diadem; in Hebrew, ‘A diadem of a kingdom.’ The diadem is the wreath or chaplet, usually set with diamonds, which is “encircled” (צניף tsânı̂yph from צנף tsânaph) to roll or wind around to encircle) around the head;

— here it means such as was usually worn by monarchs; and the sense is that Jerusalem would become exceedingly beautiful in the sight of God.

⁴ Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

— thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; as a woman forsaken by her husband. Neither shall thy land be termed Desolate; neither shall thy places of worship be empty, and thine ordinances of service be unfrequented. He alludes to the desolation of Judah during the Babylonish captivity.

⁵ For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

— for as a young man marries a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; as a young man, having married a virgin, possesses and enjoys her, and lives and dwells with her in great harmony and love, having a delight and complacency in her, there being a suitableness in her person and age.

⁶ “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day nor night.” Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,

— I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; as the prophets of the Old Testament are called watchmen (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:2,7); pastors and ministers in the New Testament often come with false doctrines;

— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 34: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

⁷ and give Him no rest till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

— till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; that it may be the subject of universal commendation and rejoicing, instead of being an object of reproach and scorn.

⁸ The Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: “Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for which thou hast labored;

— surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for thou hast laboured: this was threatened to the people of Israel, in case of sinning against God, and revolting from him; and was accomplished in the times of their captivity in Babylon, Deuteronomy 28:33.

⁹ but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.”

— but they that have gathered it shall eat it; so that every man may enjoy the avails of his own labor. Nothing is a more certain indication of liberty and prosperity than this: that every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor.

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

— go through, go through the gates; it is doubled by way of emphasis: make haste to your own land; as if Cyrus should say, Get you out of captivity as soon as you will, Isaiah 48:20.

— the Targum: “the prophet said, pass by, and return through the gates; turn the heart of the people to the right way; publish good things and comforts to the righteous, who remove the thought of the evil imagination, which was as a stone of stumbling; lift up a sign to the people.”

¹¹ Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world: “Say ye to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him, and His work before Him.’”

— behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world; so it will be in the latter day when the truth shall be preached to all nations, from one end of the world to the other, Revelation 14:6;

— the word behold is three times used in this verse, to raise attention to what is said, and as pointing out something wonderful, and to express the certainty of it.

¹² And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken.

— thus does the prophecy close by returning to a direct address to Zion-Jerusalem – “thee will men call derūshâh,” sought assiduously, i.e., one whose welfare men, and still more Yehovah, are zealously concerned to promote (compare the opposite in Jeremiah 30:17);

— “a city that will not be forsaken,” that is, a city men will gladly settle, and which will never be without inhabitants again.

Posted in Isaiah

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁷ And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. Zechariah 14:16-17

Isaiah 59

¹ Behold, the Lord’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

— behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened; he is not grown weaker than informer times, but is as omnipotent as ever he was; neither his ear heavy; or dull of hearing: he is not like your idol gods that have hands and cannot help, and ears and cannot hear.

² But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.

— but your iniquities have separated; have been as a thick wall between you and your God; and have set him at a distance from you.

³ For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

— your hands are defiled with blood: here the prophet comes from a more general to a particular charge against them; by blood we are to understand either murders and bloodshed properly so called; or ways of injustice, extortion, oppression and cruelties, whereby men are deprived of a livelihood;

— your lips have spoken lies: or “falsehood” that is, false doctrines so called because contrary to the word of truth and which deceive men: like misplacing the Messiah in Isaiah 52:13 as Jacob in place of the Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer; willfully misidentifying the Suffering Servant by having their tongue muttering perverseness so as to make God’s revelation of no effect;

— that the lamb for Pascha was/is an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity, rather than a symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer;

— but the Orthodoxy still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians god, the Ram-god Khnum; the Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination, another muttered perverseness.

⁴ None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

— none calleth for justice; none seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds with impunity; they trust in vanity; in vain and empty words, void of all consistency; or in vain things such as their idols were often called vanity and nothing;

— and speak lies; this may refer to the judges, lawyers and false prophets, who told them they should not go into captivity; or teach false doctrines:

— the house of Israel is still indulging in lies, they conceive mischief; worshipping Easter, Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— and worshipping Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th but repackaged and christianised such idolatry as Christian in their mischief), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike.

⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. — Jewish Seder always have a egg!

— they hatch cockatrice’ eggs; or a poisonous serpent’s; they contrive and execute wicked purposes and practices whereby sure and sudden destruction is brought upon themselves and others. Of the cockatrice or basilisk, one kind is put for any venomous creature;

— spider’s web; this refers not to the spider’s web being made to entrap; “Come to my parlour,” the spider says from her web to the butterfly, “come”

— their wicked plans resembled the egg of the serpent: the nature of the egg cannot be easily known by an inspection. It may have a strong resemblance to those produce by some useful animals; it is only when it is hatched that its true nature is known. So it is with the plans of the wicked: when forming, their true nature and character may not be known.

— the speech is proverbial, signifying by these eggs mischievous designs; or that this figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works; like Pascha for the Egyptian’s Ram-god Khnum discussed above;

— that which is crushed; the egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, its deadly nature will more clearly manifested when crushed;

— he that eateth of their eggs dieth; the serpents referred to above are among the most venomous and destructive that are known; hence those who partake in the true nature and symbol of the egg are seen as ruinous, pernicious, and evil; and thus has a death penalty (for more, see at the end).

⁶ Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

— their webs shall not become garments; the spider’s web is unfit for clothing, or be of any real value or utility; that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment;

— their works are works of iniquity: even their best works are sinful; not only as being imperfect and having a mixture of sin in them and so filthy rags; and the act of violence is in their hands; they persecuting such that preach and profess the contrary.

⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

— their feet run to evil; make haste to commit all manner of sin, and particularly that which follows, with great eagerness and swiftness, taking delight and pleasure therein and continuing in it; it is their course of life;

— and they make haste to shed innocent blood: in wars abroad or at home, in quarrels and riots, or through the heat of persecution; which if it does not directly touch men’s lives,

— yet issues in the death of many that fall under the power of it; as in Iraq (under the pretext of getting rid of WMD); and Afghanistan (to bring peace and democracy there), killing millions along the way.

⁸ The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgement in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

— there is no judgement in their deeds: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace; they are of such turbulent spirits, living in such continual contentions and discords.

⁹ Therefore is judgement far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

— therefore is judgement far from us; because we have no regard for justice or honesty, God will not plead our cause against our oppressors; neither doth justice overtake us;

— he does not defend our rights, nor avenge our wrongs; as if he had said, If we had executed justice and equity among one another, he would not have been far from us;

— we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness; or “for brightnesses” for much clear light; the Targum says, for brightness, but behold, we are walking in obscurity.

¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

— we grope for the wall like the blind; a blind man, not being able to see his way, feels along by a wall, a fence or any other object that will guide him. They were like the blind; they had no distinct views of truth and they were endeavoring to feel their way along as well as they could;

— probably the prophet Isaiah here alludes to the threatening made by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, ‘And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways.’

— we are in desolate places as dead men; or in fat places, dead in trespasses and sin and at most have only a name to live but are dead. Some render it, “in the graves” and the Targum thus, “it is shut before us, as the graves are shut before the dead.”

¹¹ We all roar like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgement, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

— we roar all like bears; a heavy judgements awaits which could come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ – to hum, spoken of bees, is applied to any murmuring or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl as a dog;

— mourns like doves in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus, “we roar because of our enemies, who are gathered against us as bears; all of us indeed mourn sore as doves.”

¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:

— for our transgressions; the word פשׁעונו here signifies sins of a high nature, namely, such as were wilfully committed against light and knowledge; rebellious sins;

— are multiplied before thee; they admit of no excuse; for they are committed before thee, and multiplied against thee, whereby thou art justly provoked to deny us all help; as for our iniquities, we know them; we are convinced of them; our guilty consciences must own and acknowledge them.

¹³ in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

— in transgressing; that is, we have been guilty of this as a continuous act; and lying against the Lord; we have proved false to God; though we have been professedly his people;

— yet we have been secretly attached to idols, and have in our hearts been devoted to the service of false gods. And departing away from our God; by the worship of idols, and by the violation of his law.

¹⁴ And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

— and judgement is turned away backward; the word ‘judgement’ is used in the sense of justice, or lust decisions between man and man; they acknowledged that they had been influenced by partiality and by bribes; they had condemned the innocent, they had acquitted the guilty.

¹⁵ Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgement.

— yea, truth fails; that is, it is not to be found, it is missing; it means that truth had no existence there; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable;

— but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to them; they scoff at him, and deride him for his preciseness in religion;

— and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgement; he took notice of all this and resented it that there was no judgement; no order or discipline observed; that are simple and innocent are outwitted by the crafty and fraudulent;

— that they are not willing, or rather daring, to oppose fraud with justice and to do all things in sincerity; that no justice done to evil teachings or punishments from the civil courts.

¹⁶ And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto Him, and his righteousness, it sustained Him.

— and he saw that there was no man; that is, no wise and prudent man qualified to govern the affairs of the people. Or, that there was no man qualified to interpose and put an end to these evils; no one qualified to save the nation from the calamities which their sins deserved.

¹⁷ For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

— for he put on righteousness as a breastplate; here the Lord is represented as a warrior clothed with armour, and as he will appear in the latter day on the behalf of his people, and against their enemies, who is called faithful and true and in righteousness will make war;

— and was clad with zeal as a cloak; with zeal for his own glory, and the interest of his people and against all enemies against all pagan worship and false doctrines; and therefore his eyes are said to be as a flame of fire and vengeance against the foes of God at his second coming.

¹⁸ According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense.

— according to their deeds, accordingly he will repay; as the enemies of his people have treated them, so will the Lord deal with them; as they have shed their blood, he will, according to the laws of retribution and retaliation, give them blood to drink, as they deserve.

¹⁹ So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

— fear the name of the Lord; as hath been often showed, the fear to make his name renowned; from the west, viz. the western part of the world; His glory, or the glorious God; from the rising of the sun, viz. the eastern parts of the world;

— the whole world, the one half will be east and the other west; it shall fear and worship God, and make his name renowned, laying aside their idolatries; whether they refer it to the deliverance of his people out of Babylon, when they shall hear how God hath executed vengeance on his enemies; or to the redemption of the house of Jacob, and the calling of the Gentiles.

²⁰ “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,” saith the Lord.

— the Targum says, “and the Redeemer [the Messiah] shall come to Zion and to turn the transgressors of the house of Jacob to the law.”

²¹ “As 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.”

— the Targum interprets this of the words of prophecy; and of the law not departing from the disciples of wise men; but it is best to understand it of the truth not departing from all the elects and the seed of the elect.

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The adders’ eggs and the spider’s web!

(a) the Seder plate always has an egg!

In addition to the paschal lamb, the Seder has the matzah and maror (bitter herbs), but they also has an egg (Beitza), and as such tradition, it couldn’t be found or based on the Scriptures.

Here, Chabad offers many explanations as to why they have an egg on the Seder plate, but none sound convincing nor come from the Scriptures; it’s more like the lying tongues of their scribes trying to justify a pagan practice adopted from neighbouring countries:

“‘You keep saying, “We have the Lord’s teachings. So we are wise!” But this is not true, because the scribes have lied with their pens” Jeremiah 8:8.

(b) Easter Eggs – On the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made—it was Ishtar (Easter) Sunday. It was celebrated with rabbits and eggs—symbols of fertility.

From the overview of the roots of Easter, Easter eggs were dyed with the blood of infants sacrificed to gods in the temple of Easter (Ishtar) by Easter priests. Easter eggs: the symbol of the fertility and rebirth of life; reference to woman’s reproduction and infant sacrifices to their gods. It is full of wickedness; nothing about Easter is harmless.

Isaiah 60

¹ Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

— arise, shine; the Targum and the Septuagint add, “O Jerusalem” and no doubt but the kingdom of God is addressed, composed of first the Jews and also the Gentiles later.

² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.

— for, behold, darkness shall cover the earth; ignorance, idolatry and all kinds of errors and vices; and gross darkness the people; like that of Egypt; the most palpable blindness and infatuation as to divine things.

³ And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

— the Gentiles shall come to thy light; or shall be allured by thy light to come to thee, as travellers in a dark night and out of their way when a light discovers itself make to it; and wish them much joy but shall rejoice to participate with them in their happiness.

⁴ “Lift up thine eyes round about and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

— the Targum says, “lift up thine eyes O Jerusalem, round about, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity”

— all they gather themselves and come to thee: this seems to have respect not just the Gentiles, but to the Jews themselves who are scattered up and down in the world; but now shall gather together in a body and go up to Jerusalem, where they will go to keep the feast of tabernacles, Zechariah 14:16-21.

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁷ And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁹ This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁰ In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar;

²¹ yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 14:16-21

⁵ Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

— the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee; not only common people but their armies; the soldiery will be converted as well as the seafaring men; not only kings but their armies, their generals, officers and common soldiers.

⁶ The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.

⁷ All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory.

⁸ “Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows?

— who are these that fly as a cloud? – in multitudes so numerous, that they appear as a dense cloud; so numerous as to excite surprise, and to lead to the question, Who can they be? It is not uncommon to compare a multitude of persons to a cloud.

⁹ Surely the isles shall wait for Me—and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee.

— surely the isles shall wait for me; the Targum says, “for my Word,” the Messiah and his coming; the isles of Great Britain may be intended, who, as they waited for his Kingdom and readily received it as soon as it was brought to them which was very early;

— so there are many here now waiting for the spiritual coming of the Messiah and his glory in the latter day and perhaps in other parts of the world.

¹⁰ “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favor have I had mercy on thee.

— for in my wrath I smote thee for the Jews’ rejection of the prophets and the Messiah; wrath came upon them to the uttermost, upon their city, Temple, nation and to each of their destructions.

¹¹ Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the wealth of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

— thy gates shall be open continually; it implies (1) a state of peace in which there would be no danger of attack; and (2) the constant stream of caravans of pilgrims, with their offerings, entering by night as well as day.

¹² For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

— the Targum says: for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, O Jerusalem, shall perish; yea, those nations shall utterly be destroyed.

¹³ The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.

— the glory of Lebanon; the prophet sees in the new Jerusalem a revival of the glories of the days of Solomon. The cedars of Lebanon, and other trees of the forest, are to furnish timber for its buildings or even to be planted in the courts of the Temple or in its open places and streets;

— the place of my feet is clearly parallel with the “sanctuary” of the previous clause; so the word “footstool” is used of the Temple in Psalms 99:5; 132:7.

¹⁴ The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

— the sons of them that afflicted thee; that is, even the descendants of those who had oppressed them would become tributary to them and acknowledge them as favored by the Almighty; shall come bending unto thee; shall come to time in a posture of humiliation and respect.

¹⁵ “Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

— whereas thou hast been forsaken; thy being forsaken, that is, thy subsequent prosperity shall come in the place of thy being forsaken. The forsaking here refers to the various calamities, persecutions and trials, which she had been called to endure;

— so that no man went through thee; when the country was desolate and abandoned that no caravan passed from one part of it to another or made it a thoroughfare in going to other lands.

¹⁶ Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings; and thou shalt know that I the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

— the mighty one of Jacob; styled so either with reference to Jacob’s person, he being the first that gave God this title, Genesis 49:24;

— or with reference to Jacob’s posterity, viz. the Jews. These things will certainly be accomplished; for he is the mighty God, and so able; and the God of Jacob, so obliged by covenant and relation.

¹⁷ “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood, brass, and for stones, iron. I will also make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness.

— for brass I will bring gold: here is the effect of the former promise: thy poverty shall be turned to riches, all things shall be altered for the best; as the days of Solomon, when gold was as brass: thus, on the contrary, when they change for the worse in the state, it uses to be expressed by the like metaphors.

¹⁸ Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise.

— violence shall no more be heard; neither the threats and triumphs of those that do violence, nor the outcries and complaints of those that suffer it, shall be heard again, but every man shall peaceably enjoy his own.

¹⁹ The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

— the sun shall be no more thy light; the light of the sun and moon shall not be at all esteemed in comparison of the light of the Kingdom, which shall be so glorious as to eclipse all the light formerly enjoyed by her, the divine glory and majesty.

²⁰ Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

— the Targum says, “thy kingdom shall cease no more and thy glory shall not be removed.”

²¹ Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.

— that I may be glorified; God would be glorified, and many beings made glorious by him. He is always glorified when others enjoy the fruits of his benevolence and when they are made pure and happy as the result of his purposes and plans.

²² A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time.”

— a little one shall become a thousand; there shall be a great increase, as if one and that the smallest should be multiplied to a thousand;

— his time; not our time; we might wish to hasten it but it will come in due time as in the case of Yeshua’s first and second comings; so in that of the restoration of Israel and the conversion of the world in his time.

Posted in Isaiah

Blessed to those who know and keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths perpetually:

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,

“then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” Isaiah 58:13-14

Isaiah 57

¹ The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

— the righteous are delivered from the sting of death; the careless world disregards this. Few lament it as a public loss and very few notice it as a public warning;

— they are taken away in compassion and that they may not see the evil, nor share in it, nor be tempted by it. The righteous man, when he dies, enters into peace and rest.

² He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

— he shall enter into peace, or ‘he shall go in peace.’ So the Septuagint, ‘his sepulchre shall be in peace.’ The idea is, that by his death the righteous man shall enter into rest; he shall get away from conflict, strife, agitation and distress.

³ “But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

— draw near to face God’s tribunal, to receive your sentence; though Hezekiah and Josiah had made a great change when each ascended the throne and had done their best to put down idolatry,

— yet their idolatry was still dear among the people, and was easily revived each of their sons; thus the Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity; but not after that affliction.

⁴ Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

— CSB Who are you mocking? Who are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn’t it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars,

⁵ inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?

— inflaming yourselves with idols; being inflamed or growing hot after idols; that is, lusting after them and mad upon them;

— under the clefts of the rocks; dark and shady groves; deep and sombre caverns were the places where the abominable rites of the pagan superstitions were practiced.

⁶ Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?

— among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; or thy god; but the portion of Jacob is not like them, stocks and stones, Jeremiah 10:16;

— whenever they could pick up smooth stones, whether in the stream of a brook or in a valley, they polished and formed them into an image and made gods of them; and these were their portion and inheritance and which they left to their children.

⁷ Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

— upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; temples and altars which are usually built on high places where they commit spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry in imitation of the heathens who had their temples and altars on high places;

— the Targum says, “on a high and lofty mountain thou hast the place of the house of thy dwelling” which agrees very well with the great city the seat of the beast; like the temple at Mount Gerizim and later the church of Rome.

⁸ Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than Me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.

— behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance of thy idols, as the Targum says.

⁹ And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.

— thou went to the king, that is, the king of Assyria or Egypt to whom the Israelites were very prone to seek, and trust and send presents.

¹⁰ Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, ‘There is no hope.’ Thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.

— thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; thou hast not eased or relieved but only tired thyself with all thy tedious journeys and laborious endeavours.

¹¹ “And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held My peace even of old, and thou fearest Me not?

— and of whom hast thou been afraid or feared? and what or who are they the fear of whom drives thee to these wicked and desperate courses? Are they not men, weak and mortal creatures such as wholly depend upon me and can do nothing to thee either against me or without me?

— and hast not remembered me; or “for thou hast not remembered me nor laid it to thy heart?” or “put me upon thy heart” – the Targum says, “and hast not remembered my worship, nor put my fear upon thy heart.”

¹² I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee.

¹³ When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away, vanity shall take them. But he that putteth his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain,

— when thou criest; in the time of thy trouble; let thy companies deliver thee; properly, “a gathering; a throng; a collection,”

— here it refers either to the throngs of the idols which they had collected, and on which they relied; or to the collection of foreigners which they had summoned to their assistance; if people trust to other objects for aid than the arm of God, they will be left in the day of trial to such assistance as they can render them.

¹⁴ And shall say, ‘Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way; take up the stumbling block out of the way of My people.’”

— the Targum says, “and he shall say, teach and admonish, prepare (or direct) the heart of the people to the right way, remove the stumblingblock of the wicked out of the way of my people.”

¹⁵ For thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

— for thus saith the high and lofty; the central truth for the comfort of God’s people is that the infinitely Great One cares even for the infinitely little;

— whose name is Holy; who is omnipotent, everlasting, and unchangeable, holy in all his words and ways, and therefore both can and will deliver his people, as he hath promised to do.

¹⁶ For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made.

— for I will not contend for ever; I will not be angry with my people forever, nor always refuse to pardon and comfort them;

— the Targum says, for I will not take vengeance of judgement forever, neither shall my wrath be eternal.

¹⁷ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him; I hid Me and was wroth, and he went on waywardly in the way of his heart.

— the Targum says, “my wrath is upon them on account of their robbed riches, and I smote them; I removed my Shekinah from them, and cast them out.”

MSG

A Message from the high and towering God, who lives in Eternity, whose name is Holy: “I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again.

For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly, I’m not going to be angry forever. Otherwise, people would lose heart. These souls I created would tire out and give up. I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins. I struck him hard and turned away in anger, while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.

When I looked again and saw what he was doing, I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him, creating a new language of praise for the mourners. Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God— “and yes, I will heal them. But the wicked are storm-battered seas that can’t quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud. There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”

¹⁸ I have seen his ways and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

— I have seen his ways, and will heal him, the ways of such who trust in the Lord, the ways of the humble and contrite;

¹⁹ I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,” saith the Lord; “and I will heal him. — the fruit of the lips; which is praise and thanksgiving,

²⁰ “But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

— but the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest; disturbed by winds, storms and hurricanes, when its waves rise, rage and tumble about, and beat against the shore and sand, threatening to pass the bounds fixed for it;

— the wicked persist in the alienation from God; are incapable of the peace which God brings to his people: they are like the sea in its tossed and stormy state; as this cannot rest and as its waters cast out slime and mud;

— so has their natural state become one of perpetual disturbance, leading to the uninterrupted production of unclean and ungodly thoughts, words and works.

— the Septuagint renders it, ‘But the wicked are tossed like waves and are not able to be at rest.’

²¹ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”

— but the wicked are storm-battered seas that can’t quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud. There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 58

¹ “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! And show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.

— cry aloud; literally, with the throat, i.e., with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice; and so the Targum expresses it, “O prophet, cry with thy throat;”

— lift up thy voice like a trumpet; Speak loud and distinct, so that the language of reproof may be heard; and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins:

“I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts” Hosea 2:11

— her feast days; which “Christians” understand and practice are:

(a) Christmas, which honor the Mithraism – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice; and

(b) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; and

(c) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original keepers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof” II Kings 17:24.

² Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

— yet they seek me daily; they cover all their wickedness with a profession of religion, from time to time resorting to my house, pretending to ask counsel of me and to desire and seek my favour and blessing. And delight to know my ways;

— that is, either, (a) they seem to delight to know them, men being often said in Scripture to be or do that which they seem or profess to be or do: or (b) they really delight; for there are many men who take some pleasure in knowing God’s will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to them.

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and Thou seest not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no note?’ Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors.

— in those solemn days of fasting which I have appointed; or in those times when I have called you by the course of my providence and counsels of my prophets, unto fasting, weeping and mourning, yet ye find pleasure, indulging in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.

— in the day of your fast ye find pleasure; better, ye carry on your business. Fasts were not governed like the Sabbath by a fixed law and the people consequently lost sight of the true end of fasting—prayer, meditation, penitence.

⁴ Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

— ye fast for strife and contention; it produced a quarrelsome temper which even led to open violence,—“smiting with godless fist;”

— to make your voice to be heard on high; that is in strife and contention that your voice can be heard on the mountain top that their prayers would ascend to heaven and be heard by God.

⁵ Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

— a fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin it is not a fast. These pretenders had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts, but they indulged in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.

⁶ “Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

— is not this the fast that I have chosen? – or approve, fasting is right and proper; but that which God approves and follows by deeds of humility, justice and kindness.

⁷ Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?—when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

— to share your bread with the hungry and to offer shelter to the homeless poor, to clothe the naked when you behold them and not turn your back on your own kin;

MSG

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.

— then shall thy light; cause of rejoicing, break forth as the morning; arise as certainly and speedily as in the morning the light arises out of darkness.

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, ‘Here I am.’ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity,

— “the putting forth of the finger” – pointing at those that could not comply with them, by way of scorn and derision and persecuting them for it; and so is the same with smiting with the fist of wickedness.

¹⁰ and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday.

— then shall thy light rise in obscurity; that is, it will be as if the cheerful light of the sun should rise amidst the shades of midnight; their calamities and trials would be suddenly succeeded by the bright and cheerful light of prosperity.

¹¹ And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

— like a watered garden; like a garden for the pleasure and beauty of it, a paradise; like a garden watered for the continual flourishing of thy estate; there shall be no withering or decay upon thy prosperous condition.

¹² And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to dwell in.

— thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; either such foundations as have been razed up and lay so for ages past; or raise up such as shall continue for generations to come;

— and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in; the Targum says, “they shall call thee one that confirms the right way, and converts, the ungodly to the law.”

¹³ “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,

— the Sabbath is a sign between God and his people; his appointing it is a sign of his favour to them; and their observing it is a sign of their obedience to him;

— and call the Sabbath a delight; this appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day of sweet and holy rest; they esteem it a privilege, not a task;

— to be permitted once a week to disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a ‘delight’ to them to recall the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labours.

¹⁴ then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

— then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: that is, if thou wilt delight thyself in the Sabbath, then thou shalt delight in the God of the Sabbath; or thou shalt have cause to delight in the Lord, in his goodness and faithfulness to thee and so shalt live by faith in him as the Fountain of all good.

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, this means as a whole, we wouldn’t understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days, soon to be our days, after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart; only then could we understand fully!

“God’s favor rests on those who attend to justice, who devote themselves to doing what is right, Who keep the Sabbath and don’t disregard or belittle it, who keep from doing what is wrong: destructive, deceitful, or violent” Isaiah 56:2 VOICE

Isaiah 55

¹ “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

— Ho – (הוי hôy). This word here is designed to call attention to the subject as one of importance;

— every one that thirsts; the word ‘thirst’ often indicates intense desire and is thus applied to the sense of want which sinners often have and to their anxious wishes for salvation.

² Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

— wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Lavish away time, opportunities, and strength, in reading and hearing false doctrine, which is not bread, but chaff; and the errors and heresies of false teachers:

— and let your soul delight itself in fatness; in the goodness and fatness of the Lord’s house, attending on the word and ordinances with spiritual pleasure and delight; and which is the way to become fat and flourishing in spiritual things.

³ Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

— hear; hearken attentively and obediently to my counsel; hearing being oft put for obeying, as Isaiah 42:18; or as the Targum says, “Incline your ear and receive instruction of my law.”

⁴ Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.

— behold, I have given him; this is evidently the language of God respecting the Messiah, or of David as representing the Messiah;

— a leader and commander to the people; he is a “leader” as David the type of him did; as a general leads out and on his armies to battle; as a shepherd leads his flock to good pastures; he is a “commander” in a military way, a wise, powerful and courageous, and always victorious as a King commands his subjects;

— the Targum says, “behold, I have appointed him a Prince to the people, a King, and a ruler over all kingdoms.”

⁵ Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee.”

— and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee; knew not even God himself as the Gentiles did not, much less the Messiah;

— they knew neither his person nor his offices, nor the way of peace, and were in a state of gross darkness; and to whom the Gospel was not known, which is a revelation of Christ, and of good things by him. The Targum adds, “to bring tribute unto thee.”

⁶ Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.

— seek ye the Lord; the commencement of religion in the heart is often represented as a desire to seek God; and inquiring for his ways Deuteronomy 4:29;

— so the Targum (Sefaria) says, “seek the fear of the Lord, while ye are alive.” Or as one in the Jerusalem Talmud interprets these words, “whilst the Shechinah is found in the sanctuary; before he hides his face, and causes his Shechinah to remove from you.”

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

— let the wicked forsake his way; his evil way, as the Targum paraphrases it, his wicked course of life; and which is his own way, of his own choosing, and in which he delights;

— and let him return unto the Lord; from whom he has departed, against whom he has sinned; and acknowledges his sin before the Lord, attends his word and worship; the Targum says, “and let him turn to the worship of the Lord.”

⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” saith the Lord.

— notice the remarkable order and alternation of pronouns in the first verse. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts,’ saith the Lord; the things that God thinks and purposes are not the things that man thinks and purposes and therefore because the thoughts are different the outcomes of them in deeds are divergent.

⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

— by way of comparison, the relation in which the ways and thoughts of God stand to those of man; the Almighty God’s thoughts transcend those of man as much as the heaven is higher than the earth.

¹⁰ For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

— for as the rain and snow come down from the clouds in the heavens and do not return again until they have done what they are sent to do, or have produced the following effects; otherwise they may be exhaled into vapours as they often are and drawn up again by the sun.

¹¹ so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

— this is set forth under a figure drawn from the rain and the snow and return not till it has moistened the earth and fertilized it and made it green and offered seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

— so will my word be which go forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me fruitless, till it has accomplished that which I willed, and prosperously carried out that for which I sent it.

¹² “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

— for ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; though these words may literally respect the Israelites’ return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it;

— as it is interpreted by the Targum, “for with joy shall ye go out from among the nations, and with peace shall ye be brought to your own land.”

¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

— instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; whereas your land was filled with thorns and briers, as was foretold, Isaiah 7:24, they shall be rooted out, and it shall be planted with fir trees and myrtle trees, and such other trees which are useful either for fruit or for delight.

Isaiah 56

¹ Thus saith the Lord, “Keep ye judgement, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.

— keep ye judgement and do justice: this phrase elsewhere signifies the duties which one man owe to another but here it seems to signify the duties which men owe to God,

— to be held fast and abode by; which are his statutes and judgements; and so likewise all the ordinances of the Lord, all these should be kept.

² Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; who keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”

— that keep the Sabbath from polluting it; here lies in the nature of the case that a devout king like David, Hezekiah and Josiah would be observers of the Sabbath;

— instead of observing the Sabbath, today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are keeping Sunday, in fact they’re honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a Sunday; always on a Sunday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretenters could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty Deuteronomy 17:3-5 – ’till they die!

³ Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people”; neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

— the son of the stranger; the stranger who keep the Sabbath is as the blessed son of Israel, the same with the blessed man in Isaiah 56:2; the Gentile, who by birth is a stranger to God, and also of the commonwealth of Israel;

— neither would such a stranger who keeps the Sabbath says, Behold, I am a dry tree – A dry tree is an emblem of that which is barren, useless, unfruitful.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord: “Unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant,

— for thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs; even the eunuchs, who have hitherto been excluded from the privileges of the people of God and who have been regarded as a separated and degraded people shall be admitted to the same privileges as others;

— that keep my sabbaths; the word is used here in the plural, both the weekly and the annual Sabbath (at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, day of Atonement and Tabernacles); the term could be used to represent other observances as well (more at the end).

⁵ even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

— even to them will I give in mine house and within my walls; the Targum says, “in the house of my sanctuary, and in the land of the house of my Shechinah” meaning the temple at Jerusalem;

— a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; a far greater blessing and honour than that of having posterity which is but only temporal and so as to have a good name; and it is he that gives them the name, privilege, power, and relation of children, which shall never be cut off by any act of their own.

⁶ Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant,

— also the sons of the stranger; to be his servants, whoever keep the Sabbaths from desecrating it and those who hold fast to my covenant, the conditions on which they should be admitted to the same privileges and of course the same reward.

⁷ even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar, for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

— mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people; Jews and Gentiles shall have equal freedom of access to my house, and shall there call upon my name, Yehovah;

— a house of prayer for all people; Gentiles, the proselytes, the sons of the strangers as others, are all welcome to the church of God to come and worship and pray to the Lord there and that is in any place where the saints meet together; for holy hands may be lifted up everywhere, without doubt.

⁸ The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, “Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.”

— Yehovah the Almighty God will not only restore the scattered outcasts of Israel (Isaiah 11:12; Psalm 147:2) to their own land, but “will gather others (‘strangers’) to him (Israel), besides those gathered” to his gathered; that is, in addition to the outcast Israelites collected from their dispersion, John 10:16.

⁹ All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

— all ye beasts of the field; this refers to some invasion of the land of Judea; signifying a great slaughter that should be made, like that in Revelation 19:17 to which the fowls of the heaven are invited, as to a supper;

— the Targum of the whole says, “all the kings of the people that shall be gathered to oppress thee, O Jerusalem, shall be cast in the midst of thee; they shall be for food to the beast of the field, the beast of the forest shall be satisfied with them.”

¹⁰ His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

— the Targum indicates plural ‘their’ for ‘his,’ their watchmen are blind; their priests, prophets and teachers; the teachers would be most shameful of them, because they are supposed to be knowledgeable and teaching others; but they are all ignorant;

— they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; and so useless; as a house dog, or one that is set to keep the sheep, if it barks not at the noise of a thief, or the approach of a wolf, to give notice to the family, or the shepherd, it is of no service;

— some may design such who call themselves pastors or evangelists of the Word, and yet neither have knowledge nor how to preach, all all like dumb dogs; couldn’t reprove the errors and vices of men, nor warn them of their danger.

¹¹ Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

— yea, they are greedy dogs; insatiably covetous shepherds that have no truths nor understanding — Hebrew, that know not any understanding; that do not care, or love or desire either to understand the word of God themselves or to make the people understand it;

— they all look to their own way; that is, they are all selfish; they regard neither God’s glory nor the people’s good, but only the satisfaction of their own base desires. Every one for his gain from his quarter, in their places and stations.

¹² “Come ye,” say they, “I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.”

— I will fetch wine out of his cellar, having good store of it, and that of the best and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; fill their bellies and skins full of it till drunken with it;

— the Targum confirms in this way, saying, “come, let us take wine, and be inebriated with old wine; and our dinner tomorrow shall be better than today, large, very large.”

~~~

Both the Weekly and Annual Sabbaths; blessed are those who keep them!

Leviticus 23

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

² “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.

³ “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

⁴ “‘These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

⁵ On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover.

⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

⁷ On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.

⁸ But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.’”

⁹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

¹⁰ “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.

¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

¹² And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a helamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

¹³ And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenths part of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, a fourth part of a hin.

¹⁴ And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

¹⁵ “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete.

¹⁶ Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

¹⁷ Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths part. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.

¹⁸ And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord.

¹⁹ Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

²⁰ And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.

²¹ And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be a holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²² “‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not rid cleanly the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”

²³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

²⁴ “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

²⁵ Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

²⁷ “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

²⁸ And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.

²⁹ For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

³⁰ And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

³¹ Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

³² It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”

³³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

³⁴ “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.

³⁵ On the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.

³⁶ Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.

³⁷ “‘These are the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering and a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, every thing upon his day”

³⁸ besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which ye give unto the Lord.

³⁹ “‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

⁴⁰ And ye shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.

⁴¹ And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

⁴² Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,

⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”

⁴⁴ And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

Posted in Isaiah

Both the houses of Israel are blind and deaf:

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18

“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

Their shepherd as watchmen are just the same!

Isaiah 53

Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant, which the Targum (Isaiah 52:13) identifies as the Messiah, should start from Chapter 52:13 and onto the end of Chapter 53. More commentaries of this Suffering Servant and its prophecy are at the end.

¹ Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

— our report; literally, that which has been heard by us, or reported to us. But the word is used technically for a prophetic revelation (see Isaiah 28:9,19; Jeremiah 49:14);

— here the word would seem to refer especially to the Messianic prophecies delivered by Isaiah. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The “arm of the Lord,” which has been “made bare in the eyes of all the nations” (Isaiah 52:10); the word of God is expressly called the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:18.

² For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

— for he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground; and the reason or occasion why the Jews generally rejected their Messiah is because he didn’t come into the world with secular pomp and power, like an earthly monarch, as they carnally and groundlessly imagined; but

— he shall grow up (or, spring up, Heb. ascend, to wit, out of the ground, as it follows, brought forth, and brought up); before him (before the unbelieving Jews, of whom “my servant the Messiah” spoken of in Isaiah 52:13 (Targum) and which the Jews are blinded to, as springing up of a low and insignificant plant or shrub out of the earth; has no strength nor straightness, of body; without verdure, leaves, blossom, and therefore despised;

— he hath no form nor comeliness; when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; when we shall look upon him, expecting to find incomparable beauty and majesty in his countenance, and carriage and condition, we shall be altogether disappointed and shall meet with nothing amiable or desirable in him.

³ He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

— nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied that the Messiah ought to suffer and the Jews esteemed him not; which is repeated to show the great contempt cast upon him, to be despised and rejected of men before he is to enter into his glory.

⁴ Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

— the Septuagint renders the words, “he bears our sins” and the Targum, where the ancient Jews understood this prophecy of the Messiah, is, “wherefore he will entreat for our sins.” No human, from Abraham to Jacob, nor from King David to Zerubbabel could have such intrinsic qualities; and of course, Israel or Jacob (whom the Jews thought was the suffering servant) doesn’t suffer for the sins of the nations.

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.

— but he was wounded for our transgressions; not for any sins of his own, but for ours, for our transgressions of his law, in order to make atonement and satisfaction for them;

— he was bruised for our iniquities; as bread corn is bruised by threshing it; he being broken and crushed to pieces under the weight of sin, and the punishment of it. The ancient Jews understood this of the Messiah; for in one place they say of King Messiah, “he was wounded for our transgressions; and bruised for our iniquities.”

— and with his stripes we are healed; or “by his stripe” so called from the gathering and settling of the blood where the blow is given. As a physician, the wonderful Messiah heals by taking the sicknesses of his people upon himself, by bearing their sins, and being wounded and bruised for them and by his enduring blows and suffering death itself for them;

— nar! the phase “with His stripes we are healed” is Isaiah speaking on behalf of “we” that is, Israel of both houses; how then could Israel suffers for the sins of Israel?

— the Targum says, “when we obey his words, our sins will be forgiven us” that is, the Targum recognise the “his” and “we” are two entities, thus redemption of Israel is not through her own sacrifice, but by obedience to the word of Christ.

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

— all we like sheep have gone astray; all the children of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; whom he compares to “sheep” not for any good qualities, but for their foolishness and stupidity;

— and particularly for their being subject to go astray from the shepherd and from their good pastures, and who never return of themselves until they are brought back by the shepherd; so the people of God, in a state of nature are like the silly sheep who go astray from God;

— and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; that is, God the Father against whom we have sinned, from whom we have turned and whose justice must be satisfied; he has laid on his own Son, the sins of all his elect.

⁷ He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.

— he was oppressed and was afflicted; he was injuriously treated by both the Jews and Romans; they handled him roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind, with their blows and with their reproaches;

— and he being the surety of his people, was responsible for them and did answer, the debt they owed was required, the payment of it was called for and he accordingly answered; the punishment of the sins of his people was exacted of him and did bear it in his own body on the tree;

— so he opened not his mouth: not against his enemies, by way of threats or complaint; nor even in his own defence; nor against the justice of God as bearing hard upon him, not sparing him but demanding and having full satisfaction; nor against his people and their sins.

⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgement; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He stricken.

— he was taken away from due justice and judgement; that is, his life was taken away in a violent manner, under a pretence of justice; whereas the utmost injustice was done him; a wrong charge was brought against him, false witnesses were suborned, and his life was taken away with wicked hands.

⁹ And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.

— and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; these words are generally supposed to refer to a fact that Christ who died with two wicked men besides him as if he himself had been one, was buried in a rich man’s grave;

— neither was any deceit in his mouth: no false accusation was delivered by him; he was no deceiver of the people as he was charged; he did not attempt to seduce them from the true worship of God or persuade them to believe anything contrary to the law of Moses and the prophets;

— he was no enemy to the state, nor indeed guilty of any manner of sin, nor given to any arts of trick and dissimulation.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

— yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; the sufferings of Christ are signified by his being “bruised” as it was foretold he should have his heel bruised by the serpent, Genesis 3:15;

— but here it is ascribed to Yeshua or Jesus: he was bruised in body when scourged and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit when the sins of his people were laid on him;

— “He shall see His seed” opponents of Jesus being the description here point to this Being has seed, whereas Jesus hadn’t; first, it makes no sense that whether Jesus has seed is being dependent on us (or ‘thou’ as the verse says) making an offering for sin; second, this phase “for sin” imputes that Christ would sin, for we know that he didn’t sin, else he cannot save humanity with his own sacrifice;

— and third; following the evidence presented above, this verse could be another example of the lying pen of the scribes, Isaiah 8:8; that is, some scribes could most probably had altered it;

— the Targum of Jonathan has it this way:

“And it was the pleasure of the Lord to refine and to purify the remnant of His people, in order to cleanse their souls from sin, that they might see the kingdom of their messiah, that their sons and daughters might multiply, and prolong their days, and those that keep the law of the Lord shall prosper through His pleasure” Isaiah 8:8 Jonathan

¹¹ He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

— the travail of his soul is the toil and labour he endured in working out the salvation of his people; his obedience and death, his sorrows and sufferings;

— particularly those birth throes of his soul under a sense of divine wrath for the allusion is to women in travail; and all the agonies and pains of death which he went through;

— now the fruit of all this he sees with inexpressible pleasure and which gives him an infinite satisfaction; namely, the complete redemption of all the chosen ones and the glory of the divine perfections as well as his own glory which follows.

¹² Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

— therefore will God divide him a portion with the great; the great ones of the earth: these are the words of God the Father, promising his Son that he shall have as great a part or portion assigned him as any of the mighty monarchs of the world;

— nay, one much more large and ample; that he would make him higher than the kings of the earth, and give him a name above every name in this world; and all this in consequence of his sufferings and as a reward of them.

~~~

More on the Suffering Servant and its Fulfilment

He will be exalted (52:13) Philippians 2:9
He will be disfigured (52:14; 53:2) Mark 15:17,19
He will make a blood atonement (52:15) 1 Peter 1:2
He will be widely rejected (53:1,3) John 12:37,38
He will bear our sins and sorrows (53:4,5) Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24,25
He will be our substitute (53:6,8) II Corinthians 5:21
He will voluntarily accept our guilt and punishment (53:7-8) John 10:11; 19:30
He will be buried in a rich man’s tomb (53:9) John 19:38-42
He will save those who believe in Him (53:10-11) John 3:16; Acts 16:31
He will die on behalf of transgressors (53:12) Mark 15:27,28; Luke 22:37

Isaiah 54

¹ “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear! Break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” saith the Lord.

— Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; the Targum interprets this of Jerusalem, paraphrasing the words thus, “Sing, O Jerusalem, which was as a barren woman that bears not; rejoice with praise and be glad, who was like a woman that conceives not.”

² Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

— enlarge the place of thy tent; to which the church is compared because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place and sometimes in another;

— and before the day of Pentecost, Jerusalem was like a barren woman; the number of converts were very small; few believed in the Messiah; the names of the disciples were but a hundred and twenty;

— but after Pentecost great multitudes were converted to the living God; which is a great rejoicing to the church; the bounds of the church were extended to other parts of Judea, Galilee, Samaria and beyond.

³ For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

— for thou shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; to the south and to the north as the Targum says, like an inundation of water that breaks through and overflows the banks of the river and spreads itself in the adjacent countries.

⁴ “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

— fear not; the fulfilment of these things, however unlikely they might seem yet God is able to perform them; and therefore way should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart:

— for thou shall not be ashamed; as men are when disappointed of what they have been hoping for and expecting; but so should not be ashamed of her hope, faith and confidence; for there would be a performance of all that the Lord had spoken: nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts which would be many; and would now be enlarged.

⁵ For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.

— for thy Maker is thine Husband, that is the Husband of the church, and of every true believer; who secretly betrothed them to himself in eternity;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁶ For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused,” saith thy God.

⁷ “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.

⁸ In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

— in a little wrath; or in a moment of indignation; the Syriac renders this, ‘In great wrath.’ The Septuagint, ‘In a little wrath.’

— in a little wrath might be 40 years for Judah and 190 years for Israel; see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years;

— I hid my face from thee; the Targum says, “I removed my Shekinah for a short time from thee,” indicating here that the husband is the Father rather than the Son.

⁹ “For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee.

for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; and confirmed it by a rainbow,— for this is as the waters of Noah; as the Targum and Syriac versions say;

— so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee; and not in wrath but in love; and of this he has given the strongest assurances; he has not only said it, but swore to it like unto Noah and the rainbow.

¹⁰ For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed,” saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

— though the mountains should remove and the hills be shaken yet my loving-kindness shall not depart, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.

¹¹ “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

— O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; Or “O thou poor” – for the first Christian churches chiefly consisted of poor persons not many mighty and noble being called;

— and which were greatly “afflicted” with false teachers who broached errors and heresies and made schisms among them; and “tossed with tempests” like a ship at sea;

— behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours; or “with paint” such as women used to paint their faces or eyes with; the Targum is, “behold, I will lay with paint the stones of thy pavement.”

¹² And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of rubies, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

— the Septuagint and Syriac versions render it, “of jasper” a stone more fit for that purpose; and it is interpreted of the jasper in the Talmud so “the light” of the New Jerusalem is said to be like unto the “jasper stone” Revelation 21:11.

¹³ And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.

— the Targum says, “all thy children shall know the law of the Lord.” Of course, the law is the statutes and all the ordinances as in the Old Testament, except with some modifications, but the trunk is from there.

¹⁴ In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.

— thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shall not fear; so far from it that thou shalt not be in the least afraid of it, neither from within nor from outside your borders; not from any false teachers; nor from persecutors that oppress the people.

¹⁵ Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

— or as the Targum says, “at the end, the kings of the nations, which are gathered together to afflict thee, O Jerusalem, shall fall in the midst of thee.”

¹⁶ Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

— both the smith that makes all warlike instruments and the soldier that uses them are my creatures; and totally at my command and therefore they cannot hurt you without my leave. To destroy; to destroy only whom and when I please.

¹⁷ No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me,” saith the Lord.

— no weapon that is formed; no instrument of war, no sword, or spear; no instrument of persecution or torture that is made by the smith, Isaiah 54:16; Shall prosper, that it shall not have final and ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper – as persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete success.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

American political scientist John Mearsheimer moans the West will support a frozen war in Ukraine, not immediate NATO membership but entice such a prospect in the future when the war ends. Meanwhile, suffering a humiliating defeat is not an option for either side, hence the conflict remains protracted.

When great powers feel insecure and vulnerable, they lash out in unpredictable ways. This is what happened after the United States was attacked on 9/11, and it’s happening now as Russia feels besieged and encircled by NATO.

But according to Mearsheimer’s warmongering pipe dream, America’s next forever war is unfortunately locked in the Russia-Ukraine zone instead of laser-focused against China in North-East Asia or in the South-China Sea. This, to him, is a great opportunity lost!

Isaiah 51

¹ “Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are dug.

— hearken unto me; to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them; regarded as in exile and bondage and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.

² Look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.

— for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him; he was without issue when he was “called” out of Chaldea into another country and also the only one of the family;

— and the Lord “blessed” him not only with flocks and herds, and gold and silver, but with a son in his old age; and so “increased” him that there sprung from him as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand by the sea shore innumerable, Hebrews 11:12;

— the Septuagint version, between “blessed” and “increased” insert these words, “and I loved him” which are not in the Hebrew text. The Targum says, “and one was Abraham, alone in the world, and I brought him to my service, and I blessed him and multiplied him.”

³ For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

— if God had raised up so great a nation from so humble all origin, he had power to restore the waste places of Judea to more than their former beauty and prosperity.

⁴ “Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My nation; for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgement to rest as a light of the people.

— and give ear unto me, O my nation; not the nation of the Jews only but the Gentiles; a nation taken out of a nation even out of all nations; a chosen and a holy nation. The Septuagint version renders it “kings” such are made kings and priests unto God:

— and I will make my judgement to rest for a light; the word ‘judgement’ here is equivalent to law, or statute, or to the institutions of the true religion.

⁵ My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.

— my righteousness is near; these righteousness are either the words of God the Father, or his Son, which he calls his own because he approves and accepts of it and with it justifies them. The words may be rendered, “my righteous One”

— Or these are the words of Christ, speaking of his own righteousness which was near being wrought out by him as it was when he became the Chief Justice of the law by obeying its precept and setting an example as revealed in his commandment in the Kingdom;

— many pretenders err in understanding here; if there is no law and statute how could anyone judge? His arms shall judge the people; to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed, both the arms of Christ are ready to execute the laws and statutes and to protect and defend them; and judge, condemn and destroy those that despise them.

⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.

— for the heavens shall vanish away; the heavens shall glide away to disappear as smoke is dissipated and disappears in the air;

— the earth shall wax old; shall wax old like a garment; and be folded up and laid aside and shall decay and be destroyed.

⁷ “Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

— hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; that is, the law to keep his Sabbath, weekly and annual, not idolatry like worshipping heavenly bodies;

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a Sunday; always on a Sunday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says he is a jealous God, so these pretenters could be spewed out of his mouth! A death penalty in Deuteronomy 17:3-5 says ’till they die!

⁸ For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.”

— moth shall eat them up; your reproachers shall be easily destroyed; but my salvation will abide through the endless ages of eternity.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not It that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon?

— the Targum interprets the dragon as Pharaoh and his army who were strong as a dragon; and that same mighty arm that destroyed Egypt and its tyrannical king can and will destroy that great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt;

— and the beast that has two horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon and to whom the dragon has given his seat, power and authority; or rather this may be believed, the great red dragon has been cast out, or Rome Pagan has been destroyed by him.

¹⁰ Art Thou not It which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

— art thou not it which hath dried the sea; that is the Red sea and the deep waters of it; by causing a strong east wind to blow which drove the sea back and made it a dry land and the same arm and mighty power can and will dry up the waters of the river Euphrates to prepare the way of the kings of the east, Revelation 6:12.

¹¹ Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹² “I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass,

— I even I am he that comfort you; the word ‘I’ is repeated here to give emphasis to the passage and to impress deeply upon them the fact that their consolation came alone from God and God alone; and that since God was their protector and friend they had no occasion to fear anything that man could do.

¹³ and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?

— and where or “but where” is the fury of the oppressor? where’s the fury of Pharaoh, that great oppressor of God’s Israel formerly?

— it is gone and vanished like smoke: where’s the fury of Sennacherib king of Assyria and his army that threatened Jerusalem with ruin? and where is, or will be, the fury of the king of Babylon? it will not last always; nor the fury of the an oppressor at endtime.

¹⁴ The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

— speedily shall the crouching captives be set free that he shall not die (and go down) to the pit nor shall his bread fail.

¹⁵ But I am the Lord thy God, who divided the sea whose waves roared; The Lord of hosts is His name.

¹⁶ And I have put My words in thy mouth and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, ‘Thou art My people.’”

¹⁷ Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.

— which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; the effect of divine wrath and this signifies that judgement would begin at the house of God.

¹⁸ There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

— following up the image in Isaiah 51:17, intoxicated and confused by the cup of God’s anger, she has none to guide her in her helpless state; she has not yet awakened out of the sleep caused by that draught;

— this applies to the house of Jacob then and now, as all his posterity are infested by false shepherds everywhere; for examples:

— 1a) the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;

— 1b) the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a figment of Jewish imagination;

— 2a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— 2b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” Isaiah 51:17 – by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

¹⁹ These two things are come unto thee—who shall be sorry for thee?” desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword” by whom shall I comfort thee?

— see, those facing judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” shall suffer “desolation and destruction, the famine and the sword.”

— “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.” Ezekiel 5:11-12

²⁰ Thy sons have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

— the head or top of the streets denotes the beginning and most important part of a street; the nation’s leaders, elders and princes, those who are in control or have influence where the nation is heading;

— and this “full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God” is reaffirmed in Hosea 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel,” Hosea 6:10;

— “And I will cast you [Judah] out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” Jeremiah 7:15; examples of “they lie at the head of all the streets”

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²¹ Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.

— but not with wine; with the cup of God’s fury; the Targum expresses it, with tribulation; with afflictions at the hand of God and persecutions from men.

²² Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people: “Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again.

— thou shalt no more drink it again; or “any longer” – thou shalt no more be subject to similar trials and calamities.

²³ But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, who have said to thy soul, ‘Bow down, that we may go over.’ And thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.”

— but God will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; the nations that have made war upon thee and that have reduced thee to bondage; the calamities which the elect had suffered, God would transfer to their foes.

Isaiah 52

¹ Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

— awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; this prophecy is sure to be fulfilled: by Zion is meant the elect before the Millennium in the latter days, the days which is described as “wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked,” Revelation 3:17;

— which is called upon to wake out of sleep; and this is repeated to show what a deep sleep had fallen on her, the danger she was in through it, and the forcefulness of the speaker, “Awake, awake!” or the great concern the Lord had for her; and this is the very state of the church now.

² Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

— shake thyself from the dust; or “the dust from thee” in which she had sat, or rolled herself as a mourner; or where she had been trampled upon; but now being delivered from them as well as from all carnal false shepherds and teachers, of false doctrine, superstition and false worship;

— loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion; or loose thou “the bands off thy neck from thee” which seems to denote the people of God in mystical Babylon, a little before its destruction who will be called out of it; and to throw off the Romish yoke, or her daughter’s protesting yoke and release themselves from that captivity and bondage who should free themselves.

³ For thus saith the Lord: “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”

— ‘Ye have sold yourselves,’ and become authors of your own bondage; as they who had made them prisoners had done so without paying any price for them, it was equitable that they should be released in the same manner.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord God: “My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

— the Septuagint renders it, ‘And to the Assyrians they were carried by force.’ Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name ‘Assyrian’ – so called because of his power and cruelty – is here given to Pharaoh.

⁵ Now therefore, what have I here,” saith the Lord, “that My people are taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to howl,” saith the Lord, “and My name continually every day is blasphemed.

— and everyday my name is blasphemed continually; by ascribing their extent of power and authority, their dominions and conquests, not to the Lord but to their idols; opening their mouths in blasphemy against God, his name and tabernacle and his people, Revelation 13:5.

— the Targum says, “and always, all the day, because of the worship of my name, they provoke.” The Septuagint is, “for you always blasphemed my name among the Gentiles.”

⁶ Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak. Behold, it is I.”

— my people shall know my name; God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, “Thy God reigneth!”

— “Thy God reigneth! – the Targum is, “the kingdom of thy God is revealed.”

⁸ Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

— for they shall see eye to eye; the sense may be either that they shall see face to face, that is, distinctly, clearly as when one is near another; or it may mean that they shall be united – they shall contemplate the same object, or look steadily at the same thing.

⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.

— the Lord shall return with his Shekinah and redeem Jerusalem.

¹⁰ The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

— all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God; all nations of the world shall with astonishment behold the wonderful work of God, first in bringing his people into captivity, then out of it in their redemption by the Messiah.

¹¹ Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.

— the sacrificial offerings with return in Jerusalem as prophesised in Ezekiel 40-48; the Levites and the priests would cleanse themselves before taking up the holy vessels as the Targum says. And for the populace, presenting themselves three times a year before the holy city are essential; else there wouldn’t be any rain.

¹² For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.

— for ye shall not go out with haste; as if driven out or compelled to flee. You shall not go from captivity as your fathers went from Egypt in a rapid flight and in a confused and tumultuous manner.

Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant starts here and onto the end of Chapter 53

¹³ “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. (הָא יַצְלַח עַבְדִי מְשִׁיחָא יְרוּם וְיִסְגֵי וְיִתְקוֹף לַחֲדָא:) — from Sefaria, the Targum interprets מְשִׁיחָא as the Messiah; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;

— “Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper, He shall be exalted and extolled, and He shall be very strong,” Targum Isaiah 52:13;

The Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18. But the Orthodoxy today choose to be blind!

¹⁴ As many as were astonished at thee—His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men”

— when the Messiah is revealed as stated in the previous verse, the whole world will be astonished to see He had been so marred – (משׁחת mishechath); so defaced, destroyed, disfigured; this was a disfiguration or defacement of his aspect, more than that of any man.

The Targum verse in full: “As the house of Israel anxiously hoped for Him many days, (which was poor among the nations; their appearance and their brightness being worse than that of the sons of men.)”

— this phrase “the house of Israel anxiously hoped for him” shows that the house of Israel and the Suffering Servant are two separate entities, hence the Suffering Servant could not be the house of Israel; Period!

Verse 15, which contains Messianic significance, is not in KJ21, but appear in the followings:

¹⁵ The Targum translated by Etheridge: Thus shall He scatter many nations; before Him kings shall keep silence: they shall put their hands upon their mouths, for that which had not been told them shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

— since King David, Israel (nor any ordinary man) had ever “scatter many nations.”

— Or as in Chabad Bible: So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed;

— the Septuagint (Brenton): Thus shall many nations wonder at him; and kings shall keep their mouths shut: for they to whom no report was brought concerning him, shall see; and they who have not heard, shall consider.

— Young: So doth he sprinkle many nations. Concerning him kings shut their mouth, For that which was not recounted to them they have seen, And that which they had not heard they have understood!

— the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrifice, which could mean the shedding of blood for our (Jews and Gentiles) sins; (He will cleanse many nations with his blood, GW).

— The JPS 1917:

So shall he startle many nations,
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
For that which had not been told them shall they see,
And that which they had not heard shall they perceive.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

This chapter deals with the second Being in the Godhead, which the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, but the Orthodox Jews couldn’t see this nor could identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially in the Torah and the Prophets; and here in Isaiah 49 and 50.

Isaiah 49

¹ “Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye people from afar! The Lord hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name.

— Listen unto me, O isles; these are not the words of Cyrus, nor the Prophet Isaiah, but of the Son, the Messiah or Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands properly so called, probably of the house of Israel;

— “Isles from afar!” as before stand vaguely for “far off countries.” The invitation is addressed to the nations far and wide.

² And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver hath He hid Me,

— and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; or “he hath put his words in my mouth as a sharp sword,” as the Targum says; namely, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the Logos, and is sharper than a two-edged sword.

³ and said unto Me, ‘Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’

⁴ Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nought and in vain; yet surely My judgement is with the Lord, and My work with My God.’”

— yet surely my judgement is with the Lord; this indicates that below the Lord, the Highest, which could only being the Father, someone else is making judgement and who else except the Son?

— or is manifest before the Lord, as the Targum says; the Lord knew that he had called him to his office; how prudently, diligently and faithfully he had executed it; and what was his right and due and which would be given him.

⁵ “And now saith the Lord that formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, though Israel be not gathered—yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and My God shall be My strength”

— who could “bring Jacob again to Him” that is, to confirm them in the worship of the true God; except someone of a high level in rank; not Cyrus, not prophet Isaiah, not any human; it’s an enormous task pointing that this Being is no one else except the Son.

⁶ and He said: ‘It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.’”

— “a light to the Gentiles” and not an enforcer of Israel’s systems and values upon the Gentiles however how good they think they are, such as democracy, human rights and others but only as a light to the Gentiles.

⁷ Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel; and He shall choose Thee.”

— to him whom man despises; to Yeshua, the Son of God, to whom in the days of his flesh; this description most truly and fully agreed with that Isaiah 53:3, for men, both Jews and Gentiles, among whom he lived, did despise him from their hearts.

⁸ Thus saith the Lord: “In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee; and I will preserve Thee and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages,

— thus saith the Lord; these are the words of God the Father to his Son continued;

⁹ that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to them that are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “They shall feed on the paths, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

— show yourselves; among the people of God in his house of his laws, statutes and ordinances when called, converted and enlightened by his spirits;

— or “be revealed” or manifested when they are known to be, what they have not known before the people and children of God. The Targum says, “be revealed to the light.”

¹⁰ They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.

— they shall not hunger nor thirst; all their needs shall be abundantly provided for as a Shepherd will provide for his flock.

¹¹ And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted.

— mountains a way; God will remove all obstructions out of the way.

¹² Behold, these shall come from far—and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” — Sinim סִינִֽים sî·nîm;

— the western countries known to the Hebrews were some of the islands of that sea and a few of the maritime regions; probably referring to where the house of Israel had been taken to; they shall return;

— from the land of Sinim; there have been many different opinions in regard to the ‘land of Sinim’ – the Targum version renders it as land of the south in general; Isti de terra Australi; others, like Ptolemy and Gesenius say the country here referred to is Sina or China; both qualify as “these shall come from far.”

— Sinim; the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says “the Arabians and other Asians called China Sin, or Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of “Sinim” suits the context which requires a people to be meant “from far,” and distinct from those “from the north and from the west” [Gesenius].

— in the Book of Mormon reads: “And then, O house of Israel, behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” The index of this scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defines Sinim as “possibly [the] land of China.”

— Could Sinim gives rise to the prefix Sino- ; like Sino-American, Sino-Anglo, Sino-Russian, Sino-Tibetan?

¹³ Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth! And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.

— Sing, O heavens; as in Isaiah 44:23, all nature is invited to join in the chorus of praise for the (1) deliverance of Israel; and (2) of the nations.

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

— “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb?

¹⁶ Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.

— even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.”

¹⁷ Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.

— MSG

“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight. Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.

Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you? As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree— “you’re going to put them on like so much jewellery, you’re going to use them to dress up like a bride.

¹⁸ Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together and come to thee. As I live,” saith the Lord, “thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth.

— all these, to wit, the Gentiles as sufficiently appear from what hath been already said and from that which follow. The sense is, thy kingdom shall not only be restored and established in Jerusalem but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it.

¹⁹ For thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

— and they that swallowed thee up; the enemies that laid waste thy land and that “absorbed,” as it were thy inhabitants and removed them to a distant land;

— and those who would destroy you shall be [from] far away? Russia and China?

(a) after being kicked out of the SWIFT payment system, Russia destroyed Ephraim by leading BRICS++ countries (mainly from the Global South) in de-dollarization of the dollar as a reserve currency;

(b) enticed by high corporate profits from cheap labor, American industrialists had moved into China, destroying themselves in the process by hollowing out themselves through de-industrialization!

²⁰ The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me; give place to me that I may dwell.’

— the place is too strait for me; there is no room for us all; this is indicative of such an increase as took place when the return of the exiles to the Promised Land and shall yet more abundantly than any time before that they will call for more land to dwell in.

²¹ Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ‘Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?’”

— NOG

Then you will ask yourself, “Who has fathered these children for me? I was childless and unable to have children. I was exiled and rejected. Who raised these children for me? I was left alone. Where have they come from?”

— MSG

“And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with! And your barbarian enemies, a fading memory. The children born in your exile will be saying, ‘It’s getting too crowded here. I need more room.’

And you’ll say to yourself, ‘Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?’”

²² Thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

— bring … sons in … arms; the Gentiles shall aid in restoring Israel to its own land (Isaiah 60:4; 66:20). Children able to support themselves are carried on the shoulders from the East; but infants in the arms or astride on one haunch (Isaiah 60:12). “Thy sons” must be distinct from “the Gentiles,” who carry them; and therefore cannot primarily refer to converts among the Gentiles;

— another interpretation: behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; and the idea here is that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the Messiah (see also Isaiah 11:11; could this time period coincide with Ezekiel Timeline – 390/40 years?)

²³ And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.”

— and kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their queens thy nursing mothers; who shall show favour and respect to the elect of God, grant them liberty, protect and defend them in their religious privileges:

— and since the Messiah is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; so this is to be understood not figuratively of apostles and other shepherds who are kings and priests unto God and who feed the church with the milk of the word and the breasts of ordinances; but literally also as kings and queens of the earth;

— and is thought to have had its fulfilment, at least in part in Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Esther and others; but more so as priestly kings and queens as Ezra and Nehemiah, Zerubbabel and others; and will have a far greater accomplishment in the latter day glory;

²⁴ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?

²⁵ But thus saith the Lord: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

— being lawful captives to the service of God, yet delivered by a price of unspeakable value. Here is an express promise: Even the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;

— they being viewed as God’s enemies deprived of his prey, bound and cast into the pit; and all the powers that have combined to enslave, persecute or corrupt the elects are destroyed; that all the earth may know that our Saviour and Redeemer is Yehovah, the Mighty One of Jacob.

²⁶ And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

— MSG

Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant? But God says, “Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I’m the one who’s on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children.

And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, God, have saved you—I, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Isaiah 50

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

— your mother’s divorcement? – God speaks of himself as the husband of his people, as having married his chosen to himself, denoting the tender affection which he had for his people;

— ye have sold yourselves; that is, you have gone into captivity on account of your sins. It has been your own act and you have thus become bondmen to a foreign power only by your own choice; is your mother put away; retaining the figure respecting divorce; the nation has been rejected and suffered to go into exile on account of its transgressions.

² Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

— wherefore, when I came, was there no man? – that is, when I came to call you to repentance, why was there no man of the nation to yield obedience? the Targum says, “why have I sent my prophets, and they are not converted?”

— when I called, was there none to answer? – none obeyed or regarded my voice. It was not, therefore, by his fault that they had been punished but it was because they did not listen to the messengers which God had sent unto them;

— is my hand shortened at all? – it was not because God was unable to save that they had been thus punished. To shorten the hand, that is, to cut it off, is an emblem of diminishing or destroying our ability to execute any purpose (see Isaiah 59:1). So in Numbers 11:23 : ‘Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?’

— behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea; he was able to do it and did so for the children of Israel and made a passage through the Red Sea for them as on dry land; which was done by a strong east wind he caused to blow, here called his “rebuke” Exodus 14:20.

³ I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

— God clothe the heavens with blackness; with gross and thick darkness; perhaps referring to the three days’ darkness the Egyptians were in, Exodus 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, Matthew 27:45.

⁴ “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned.

— the tongue of the learned; the tongue of those who are instructed;’ that is of the eloquent; or the tongue of instruction (παιδείας paideias, Septuagint); that is, he has qualified me to instruct others; it means that on the subject of religion he was eminently endowed with intelligence and with eloquence;

— he waken me morning by morning; that is, he wakens me every morning early; from an instructor who awakens his pupils early in order that they may receive instruction;

— the Redeemer would be eminently endowed under the divine instruction and guidance for his work; he would be one who was, so to speak, in the school of God; and who would be qualified to impart instruction to others.

⁵ The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

— hath opened mine ear; hath revealed unto me; or rathe, hath given me a power and will to hear and receive his commands as this phrase is used, Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 35:5.

⁶ I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting.

— I gave my back to the smiters; I submitted willingly to be scourged or whipped; this is one prophecy which can be applied to no other one but the Messiah; it was literally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:26; compare Luke 18:33).

⁷ For the Lord God will help Me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

— for, or rather, but as this is better rendered; the Lord God will help me; though as a man I am weak and inconsiderable yet God will strengthen me to go through my great and hard suffering.

⁸ He is near that justifieth Me. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is Mine adversary? Let him come near to Me.

— he is near that justifies me; his Father was “near” him in his whole state of humiliation; he left him not alone; he was at his right hand and therefore he was not moved;

— and “justified” him from all the false charges they brought against him and from all the sins of his people that were upon him; these he took upon him and bore them, upon which he was acquitted; and which is evident by his resurrection from the dead, by his ascension to heaven and session at the right hand of God.

⁹ Behold, the Lord God will help Me. Who is he that shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

— they all shall wax old; all my enemies shall pass away as a garment is worn out and cast aside; the Messiah would survive all their attacks; his cause, his truth and his reputation would live while all the power, the influence, the reputation of his adversaries, would vanish as a garment that is worn out and then thrown away.

¹⁰ “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His Servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.

— the persons addressed in this call to faith are ‘those who fear the Lord,’ and ‘obey the voice of his Servant.’ It is implied that these two things are necessarily connected so that obedience to Son;

— the Messiah is the test of true religion for the fear of the Lord does not exist where the word of the Son is neglected or rejected; but those that truly fear God, obey the voice of his Son.

¹¹ Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks! Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have from Mine hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow.

— behold, all ye that kindle a fire; this refers to the wicked; in times of darkness and calamity, instead of trusting in God they would confide in their own resources and endeavor to kindle a light for themselves in which they might walk; but the result would be that they would find no comfort and would ultimately under his hand lie down in sorrow;

— the phrase, ‘that kindle a fire,’ refers to all the plans which people form with reference to their own salvation; all which they rely upon to guide them through the darkness of this world; it may include all the schemes of human philosophy, of false religion, of paganism;

— of infidelity, deism and self-righteousness; all dependence on their own good works or charities ties. All these are false lights which people enkindle, in order to guide themselves when they resolve to cast off God and to resist his spirit.

Posted in Isaiah

The house of Jacob, or rather, its shepherd, doesn’t know God:

“For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.

“I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me,” Isaiah 45:4-5;

Contrast to one who knows:

“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel” Isaiah 45:3

Isaiah 47

¹ “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground. There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

— Babylon is represented under the emblem of a woman deeply in distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service.

² Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

— uncover thy locks; the picture of suffering is heightened by the fact that the female slave has to wade unveiled, and bare-legged, all sense of shame outraged; the Targum says, “uncover the glory of thy kingdom.”

³ Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; yea, thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.”

— thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen; not only stripped of their garments and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed to view.

⁴ As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel.

— the prophet exults in the Lord of hosts as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.

⁵ “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms.

— for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms; the magnificence, splendor, beauty and power, which have given occasion to this appellation and which have led the nations by common consent to give it to thee shall be entirely and forever removed.

⁶ I was wroth with My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance and given them into thine hand. Thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

— God was wroth with his people; the sin of Babylon was that she had gone beyond her commission as the chastiser of Israel, casting off all reverence for age and making even the old men do the hard tasks of bond-slaves (Lamentations 4:16, 5:12; Zechariah 1:15).

⁷ And thou saidst, ‘I shall be a lady for ever,’ so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

— and thou said, I shall be a lady forever; this describes the pride and self-confidence of Babylon; she was confident in her wealth and splendour, the strength of her gates and walls; and in her abundant resources to resist an enemy or to sustain a siege.

⁸ “Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, who dwellest carelessly, who sayest in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.’

— that dwell carelessly in vain security, without any consciousness of external danger.

⁹ But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

— but these two things shall come to thee in a moment; suddenly, at once, at one and the same time;

— the destruction of Babylon was very sudden; the city taken by surprise before the inhabitants were aware of it while the king and his nobles were regaling themselves at a feast; that very night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.

¹⁰ For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, ‘None seeth me.’ Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me.’

— for thou has trusted in thy wickedness; the word ‘wickedness’ here refers doubtless to the pride, arrogance, ambition and oppressions of Babylon.

¹¹ Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth. And mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

— and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know; that is, before hand, neither the persons nor the time when it shall come;

— notwithstanding their astrologers, diviners and soothsayer, pretending to tell what would come to pass; but not being able by their art to give the least hint of Babylon’s destruction as to either time or means, the Chaldeans were in great security, ignorant of their ruin at hand as will the destruction of mystical Babylon.

¹² “Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

— stand now with thine enchantments; a scornful challenge to Babylon’s magicians to show whether they can defend their city.

¹³ Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

— thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels; speaking of astrologers, diviners and soothsayers; who were never able to give any satisfactory answers to questions put to them, as appears from Nebuchadnezzar’s consultation with them about his dream; and Belshazzar’s about the handwriting upon the wall.

¹⁴ Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

— they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; from those dreadful calamities that shall come upon them like flames of fire; and if they cannot deliver themselves by their art and skill, how should they deliver others?

¹⁵ Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast labored, even thy merchants, from thy youth; they shall wander every one to his quarter. None shall save thee.

— thy merchants or they with whom thou has traded from thy youth shall wander everyone to his own quarter. None shall save thee; they shall all leave thee and flee away with all possible speed to their several countries and habitations.

Isaiah 48

¹ “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness;

— hear ye this, O house of Jacob; who were of the house and family of Jacob, his descendants and posterity; and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; that is, were of the seed of Judah;

— but not in truth, nor in righteousness; not according to the complete will and truth of God; so what are their problems?

— 1a) the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;

— 1b) the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a figment of Jewish imagination;

— 2a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— 2b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

² for they call themselves of the holy city and stand themselves upon the God of Israel—the Lord of Hosts is His name: — although they call themselves of the holy city, they do not worship God in sincerity and truth;

— Jerusalem was called ‘the holy city,’ because the temple, the ark and the divine presence were there, and it was the place where God was worshipped. It was deemed sacred by the Jews,

— although they call themselves of the holy city, they do not worship God in sincerity and truth; but they regarded it as sufficient proof of goodness if they are dwelling there.

³ I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

— God have declared the former things; that is, in former times he had predicted future events by the prophets which have come to pass as they were foretold. Though the fulfillment might have appeared to be long delayed, yet it came to pass at the very time.

⁴ Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass,

— that thou art obstinate; the sense is that they were obstinate and intractable, an expression probably taken from a bullock which refuses to bow down to receive the yoke.

⁵ I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.’

— my idol hath done them; the idols and molten images had not foretold these events and when they came to pass, it could not, therefore, be pretended that they had been produced by idols;

— by predicting them, Yehovah kept up the proof that he was the true God and demonstrated that he alone was worthy of their worship.

⁶ Thou hast heard; see all this, and will not ye declare it? I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

— even hidden things; events which are so concealed that they could not be conjectured by any human understanding or by any contemplation of natural causes. They are, as it were, laid up in dark treasure houses and they can be known only by him to whom ‘the darkness shineth as the day;

— compare to Isaiah 45:3; the “treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” – for two examples,  see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

⁷ They are created now and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

— even before the day when thou heard them they were in the heart of God, kept and reserved in his mind and therefore they are God’s hidden things before the Israelites heard anything of them.

⁸ Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not, yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

— yea, thou hear not; not only that these events could not have been foreseen by them but that when they were actually made known to them they were still stupid, dull and sceptical.

⁹ “For My name’s sake will I defer Mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

— for my name’s sake will I defer mine anger; and although thou dost justly deserve my hottest anger and most dreadful judgements, which if thou repent not, I will in time inflict thee into captivity; yet at present I will spare thee, not for thy sake, but for the vindication of my name and glory.

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

— in the furnace of affliction; referring particularly to their trials in Babylon and perhaps one in the future. Afflictions are often likened to fire; from the fact that fire is used to purify or try metals and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God.

¹¹ For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be polluted? And I will not give My glory unto another.

— for how should my name be polluted? blasphemed and evil spoken of among the house of Jacob; who would be ready to say that either the Lord did not love his people and was not mercifully disposed towards them; or that he could not save them and that their hands or their gods were mightier than he.

¹² “Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called: I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last.

— hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel; called out of Egypt, out of Babylon, and out of the world who had the name of God called upon them; so such who are called with a holy calling according to the purpose of God.

¹³ Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens; when I call unto them, they stand up together.

— mine hand also hath laid; I am the Creator of all things, and I have all power and am abundantly able to deliver you from all your foes.

¹⁴ “All ye, assemble yourselves and hear. Who among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him; He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

— which among them hath declared these things? that are future, that concern the redemption and salvation of Israel? which of all the idols among the nations whom the Jews were prone to listen to that could foretell things to come?

— the Lord hath loved him; that is, Israel, as the Targum says, whom the Lord loved but would raise Cyrus to do his pleasure in Babylon as he does; and whom he distinguished from others by bestowing excellent qualifications on him;

— he will do his pleasure on Babylon through Cyrus, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans; he shall do as he pleases with Babylon and with his army destroy the Chaldeans.

¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

— I, even I, have spoken; the word ‘I’ is repeated to give emphasis; to furnish the utmost security that it should be certainly accomplished. It means, that Yehovah and he alone had declared this and that it was entirely by his power that Cyrus or the Messiah had been raised up and had been made prosperous.

¹⁶ “Come ye near unto Me; hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent Me.”

— I have not spoken in secret; the idea here is that he had foretold the raising up of both Cyrus and the Messiah in delivering his people in terms so plain that it could not be pretended that it was conjectured, and so clear that there was no ambiguity.

¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

¹⁸ O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.

— as a river; ‘that is, in abundance like a full flowing river that fills the banks and that conveys fertility and blessedness through a land;

— as the waves of the sea; large, abundant, infinite, persistent and continual.

¹⁹ Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy loins like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.”

— as the sand; this is often used to denote a great and indefinite number, for multitude according to his promise made to Abraham.

²⁰ Go ye forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing declare ye; tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, “The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob.”

— say ye, the Lord hath deemed his servant Jacob; referring both the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

²¹ And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

— he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; the allusions are that before this happen, they;

— (1) let them hear and say, “It is truth” (Isaiah 43:9) indicating there is no truth before that; and (2) “thou hast not known Me” (Isaiah 45:4-5) indicating that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah today have not known God;

— second, this also promised that much more truth would be revealed.

²² “There is no peace,” saith the Lord, “unto the wicked.”

— there is no peace to the wicked beyond the grave. “A sinner can have no peace at the judgement bar of God; he can have no peace in hell.”

— in all the future world there is no place where he can find repose; and whatever this life may be, even if it be a life of prosperity and external comfort, yet to him there will be no prosperity in the future world and no external or internal peace there.

Posted in Isaiah

Something to think about the length of Jacob’s forthcoming Captivity! It’s subjective but a historical precedent from the house of Judah could give us a clue regarding its timeline:

“And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths” Leviticus 26:33-34

According to God’s judgement its length in Captivity is tied to their years of neglect; and drawing from Judah’s experience, it was seventy years, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21.

For a more indepth study on this subject, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Isaiah 45

¹ “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut:

— thus saith the Lord to his anointed; that is, Cyrus, who is called the Lord’s anointed because he was raised up and ordained by divine counsel to perform God’s good pleasure.

² I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.

— I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; or “level the hilly places” as pioneers do; he would remove all impediments and obstructions out of his way and cause him to surmount all difficulties.

³ And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

— and I will give thee the treasures of darkness; the treasures which kings have amassed and which they have laid up in dark and secure places. The word ‘darkness,’ here, means that which was hidden, unknown, secret.

⁴ For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.

— UNBELIEVABLE! Even God says both “Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect” have not known him! This is a serious charge coming from God Almighty himself, so how?

— the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;

— and the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination;

— and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, Protestants or Catholics alike, everyone from his place today;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years and A Sword from the South!)

⁵ I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me,

— “though thou hast not known Me” is repeated to give double assurance, or the sake of emphasis or strong confirmation;

— they have not known nor understood God, even known as the God of Abraham, their father; reaffirming emphatically that they, even the Elect, are stupid, ignorant and blind.

⁶ that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

— I, Yehovah, beside me there’s no God: I equipped thee when you knew me not; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and its going down, that there is none without me.

⁷ I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things. — I Yehovah, and there is none else, former of light and creator of the darkness; founder of peace, and creator of evil.

⁸ “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.

— the Targum interprets this of the resurrection of the dead, paraphrasing as, “let the heavens from above minister, and the clouds flow with good; let the earth open, and the dead revive; and let righteousness be revealed together; I the Lord have created them.”

⁹ “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, ‘What makest thou?’ or thy work, ‘He hath no hands’?

— woe unto him that strives with his Maker; that contends with him, enters into a controversy and disputes with him;

— or litigates or quarrels with his purposes and decrees; murmurs and repines at his providences and finds fault with his judgements: this seems to have respect to the murmurs, quarrels and contests of the Jews about the Son of God as the Messiah, the author of righteousness and the redeemer when he appears later.

¹⁰ Woe unto him that saith unto his father, ‘What begettest thou?’ or to the woman, ‘What hast thou brought forth?’

— woe unto him; this implied wickedness and foolishness for a son to complain of his father or mother in regard to his birth or of his rank and condition of life.

¹¹ “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.

— instead of striving with God in regard to his purposes, their wisdom is in prayer to ask and even command me, in so far as it is for his glory and for their real good; ask him of things to come; that is, God alone can direct and order future events; and it is their privilege to make inquiry respecting those events.

¹² I have made the earth and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

— God have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their host, that is, the stars, have I commanded.

¹³ I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.”

— I have raised him up in righteousness; though this may be said with some respect to Cyrus, yet chiefly to the Messiah of whom Cyrus was a type; him the Lord appointed and determined to be the Saviour and Redeemer of his people; him he sent forth in time for that purpose.

¹⁴ Thus saith the Lord: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine. They shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee; they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, ‘Surely God is in thee, and there is none else; there is no god.’”

— surely God is in thee; in thee only is God. These of course are words of all the Gentiles to Israel, expressing their acceptance of the true religion. Israel’s God has proved himself to be the God of history, the only true God.

¹⁵ Verily Thou art a God who hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

— the Septuagint renders this, ‘For thou art God, though we did not know it, O God of Israel the Saviour.’ We may be in the dark now, but in due time we shall be permitted to see his design and to witness results so glorious as shall satisfy us that his ways are all just and his dealings right.

¹⁶ They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

— they shall be ashamed and confounded; that is, they shall find all their hopes fail and shall be suffused with shame that they were ever so senseless as to trust in blocks of wood and stone.

¹⁷ But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

— or as the Targum says, “They are saved by the Word of the Lord.”

¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it—He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is none else.

— the Lord that created the heavens, not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; Judah, lying waste during the Babylonish captivity, shall be peopled again by the exiles.

¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek ye Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak righteousness; I declare things that are right.

— God have not spoken in secret; the word rendered ‘secret’ (סתר sı̂ther) denotes a hiding or covering; and the phrase means secretly, privately. He did not imitate the pagan oracles by uttering his predictions from dark and deep caverns, and encompassed with the circumstances of awful mystery and with designed obscurity.

²⁰ “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, who set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

— and pray to a god that cannot save; itself, nor them; cannot hear their prayers, nor return an answer; cannot help and assist them in distress, nor deliver them out of their troubles; and therefore it must be the height of madness and folly to pray unto it.

²¹ Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Savior. There is none besides Me.

— tell ye, and bring them near and let them take counsel together; and gather their gods, their makers and their worshippers and let them lay their heads together and consult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by foretelling things to come.

²² “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

— that God is willing to save all; since he would not give an invitation at all unless he was willing to save them.

²³ I have sworn by Myself; the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

— that unto me every knee shall bow; not only the Jews, but all nations shall worship him and submit to his laws, statutes and ordinances: which is signified by the bowing of the knee, a posture of reverence and subjection, and by one eminent part of God’s worship, swearing by his name.

²⁴ Surely, shall one say, ‘In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to Him shall men come, and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.

— shall be ashamed; the enemies of God shall see their own feebleness and folly; and they shall be ashamed that they have endeavored to oppose one so mighty and glorious as the Almighty God.

²⁵ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.’”

— all the seed of Israel; all the spiritual seed or descendants of Jacob; all who have a character resembling that of Israel or Jacob; all who are the true children and friends of God.

Isaiah 46

¹ Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast.

— Bel boweth down; Bel or Belus (בל bēl, from בעל be‛ēl, the same as בעל ba‛al was the chief god of the Babylonians and was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon.

² They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

— the Targum understands this and the preceding clause; “they are cut off, and cut to pieces together, they could not deliver those that carried them.”

³ “Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are borne by Me from the belly, who are carried from the womb:

— hearken unto me; the prophet’s choice of words is emphatic: the false gods are borne away as a burden; the true God bears, that is, supports his people; he is able to bear their burden.

⁴ And even to your old age I am He, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

— even to your old age; the care of a mother ceases in the natural course of things before a man grows old but the fatherly, we might almost say the mother-like, maternal care of Yehovah for his chosen ones endures even to the end of life.

⁵ “To whom will ye liken Me and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?

— the design of these verses is to show the folly of idolatry, and the vanity of trusting in idols, since all are but worms, dust and ashes.

⁶ They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

— they who pour gold out of the bag and weigh silver with the balance, hire a goldsmith to make it into a god that they may fall down, yea, throw themselves down;

⁷ They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place, and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove; yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer nor save him out of his trouble.

— they lift it up, carry it away upon their shoulder and set it down in its place: there it stands; from its place it does not move: men also cry to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one out of distress.

⁸ “Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.

— O transgressors; ye who have violated the laws of God by the worship of idols. Many prophecies, delivered long ago, are not yet fulfilled; but the fulfilling of some is an earnest that the rest will soon come to pass.

⁹ Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

— I am God, and there is none like me; for greatness or goodness, or that has done the like things; not one of the gods of the nations.

¹⁰ declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’

— declaring the end from the beginning; foretelling accurately the course of future events; this is an argument to which God often appeals in proof that he is the only true God.

¹¹ calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

— calling a ravenous bird; Cyrus is thus described as ravenous as Nebuchadnezzar is in Jeremiah 49:22, Ezekiel 17:3.

¹² “Hearken unto Me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

— ye stouthearted; the word like analogous terms in Ezekiel 2:4; Ezekiel 3:7, implies at once obduracy and ignorance.

¹³ I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory.

— or Israel may be called his glory because he gives glory to them; not only grace here but glory hereafter when their salvation wilt be complete, that is, completely enjoyed.

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Isaiah 43

¹ But now thus saith the Lord who created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.

— the Lord that created thee; the title implies something more than “the Maker of heaven and earth.” The Almighty God, Yehovah, has created Israel as specially answering for his own purpose. To “call by name” is a mark of individualising tenderness.

² When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

— through troubles of any kind, that tenderness continues.

³ For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

— God gave Egypt for its ransom: this was fulfilled when he smote the Egyptians, both first-born and others and drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for the safety and benefit of his people.

⁴ Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life.

— the sense is, from that time that God had chosen them for his precious and peculiar treasure and people, he has had a great esteem and affection for them.

⁵ Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west;

— fear not; I will bring thy seed, thy descendants; the sense is God will re-collect his scattered people from all parts of the world. The passage appears to have been taken from Deuteronomy 30:3, where God promises to gather his people scattered from among the nations, and should then repent.

⁶ I will say to the north,‘ Give up,’ and to the south, ‘Keep not back.’ Bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth,

— God will say to the north, Give up; Give up my people, or restore them to their own land.

— bring my sons; bring all my people from the distant lands where they have been driven in their dispersion. This is a commanding passage because all lands are under the control of God and he could at once command and they would obey;

— this seems prophetic, since he issues a command which is heard in all quarters of the globe and the scattered people of God come flocking again to their own land.

⁷ even every one that is called by My name: For I have created him for My glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”

— everyone that is called by my name; to be called by the name of anyone is being regarded as his son since a son bears the name of his father (see Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 48:1); the expression, therefore means all are to be regarded as the children of God.

⁸ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.

— to bring out a blind people: Heb. הוֹצִיא, like לְהוֹצִיא to bring out those currently in exile (verses 5-6 above), those minds are exiled because they became like blind; although they had eyes they did not see.

⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”

— all the nations; rather all ye nations; Israel is a witness on the one hand a multitude of nations to assemble before him in Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:17. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain; and there to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles;

— and not Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon;

— nor Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the God of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;

— those who rebel and continue to resist will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years and A Sword from the South!).

¹⁰ “Ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.

— you, the people of Israel, are my witnesses, saith the Lord; they could testify that the Lord had foretold their affliction in Egypt, their coming from thence and settling in the land of Canaan, many hundreds of years before they came to pass and which were exactly fulfilled.

¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.

— I, even I, am the Lord; the repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ makes it emphatic. The design is to affirm that there was no other being to whom the name ‘Yehovah’ pertained.

¹² I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “that I am God.

— God have declared; I have announced or predicted future events; I have warned of danger; I have marked out the path of safety. He had thus shown that he was the true God.

¹³ Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand; I will work, and who shall turn it back?”

— yea, before the day was I am he; before there was a day, before the first day of the creation; that is before time was or from all eternity, I am he that have spoken of it by all the prophets from the beginning of the world and now it is accomplished.

¹⁴ Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.

— the Targum paraphrases it to make the sense clearer, “because of your sins have I carried you captive unto Babylon”

— as Daniel confirmed it by acknowleding their sins and prayed for his people:

And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession and said, “O Lord, the great and fearsome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements, Daniel 9:4-5.

¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

— I am the Lord, your Holy One; and therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: the Creator of Israel, your King; and therefore both able and willing to protect you.

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷ Who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power (they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow):

— they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they lay down in the Red Sea where they sunk to the bottom and perished and never rose more at least to life, nor never will till the general resurrection:

— they are extinct, they are quenched as tow; or flax as the wick of a candle when put into water is quenched at once; so the Egyptian became extinct in the Red Sea.

¹⁸ “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

— so great and wonderful shall be God’s future interpositions in your behalf that what he has done great as that was shall be comparatively forgotten.

¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

— God will do a new thing; something that has not hitherto occurred, some unheard of and wonderful event that shall far surpass all that he had formerly done.

²⁰ The beast of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.

— even the beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls, for I give waters and rivers in the wilderness and the desert, how much more would give drink to my people, my chosen.

²¹ This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.

— this people have I formed for myself, that is, the elect who may include the Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God.

²² “But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.

— thou hast been weary, as a people, you have been weary of me; they had accounted his laws grievous and oppressive; and they had groaned under what they regarded as burdensome rites and ceremonies;

— and so the Targum says, “and ye come not to my worship, O ye of the house of Jacob.”

²³ Thou hast not brought Me the lambs or kids of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored Me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.

— thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; the kids and the lambs which according to the law should have been brought for burnt offerings daily, morning and evening;

— and much less did they bring the larger cattle of burnt offerings as oxen and bullocks;

— the Targum renders it “the rams of thy burnt offerings”- the Septuagint version, “the sheep” – and these were not brought to him but to their idols; or however were not brought in a right way and manner or having the right principles or with the right attitudes.

²⁴ Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled Me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.

— thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast made me to bear the load and burden of thy sins, which are very grievous and oppressive to me, Amos 2:13.

²⁵ “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

— and I will not remember thy sins; God forgives and forgets.

²⁶ Put Me in remembrance; let us plead together; declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

— put me in remembrance, that is, remind me of every plea which thou hast to urge before me in thy plea.

²⁷ Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against Me.

— thy first father hath sinned, these words have been interpreted: (1) of Adam; (2) of Abraham; (3) of Jacob; (4) of the ancestors of Israel collectively; (5) of this or that high priest individually.

²⁸ Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches.

— and have given Jacob to the curse; to utter destruction, to which persons or things accursed were devoted, of which this Hebrew word is constantly used; to reproaches; to be the objects of their enemies’ scorn and reproaches; the Septuagint renders it, ‘I have given Jacob to be destroyed.’

Isaiah 44

¹ “Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

— yet now hear, O Jacob; although I have chastised thee for thy sins and had just cause utterly to destroy thee, yet in judgement I will remember mercy and will still own thee for my servant and chosen people.

² Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

— thou, Jesurun; the ideal name of Israel which means the upright one as a poetical name; so the Book of Jasher is the book of the “upright” of the heroes of Israel.

³ For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.

— for God will pour water upon him that is thirsty; including upon the thirsty land, as the Targum and the Syriac versions say, “in a thirsty place” as a dry land is a thirsty land; it thirsts for water, large quantities of rain to moisten it, and make it fruitful.

⁴ And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

— they shall spring up as among the grass; they shall increase and flourish like grass and those herbs and plants which grow up in the midst of it.

⁵ One shall say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand, ‘Unto the Lord,’ and surname himself by the name of Israel.

— one shall say, I am the Lord’s, etc; there shall be an influx of proselytes; who were not called by the name of Jacob and Israel; but now:

— instead of the nations looking scornfully on and uttering gibes and jeers at Israel’s fall, on seeing Israel’s rise they shall be anxious to have a part in it and shall hasten to enrol themselves among the worshippers of Yehovah;

— “One shall say, I am Yehovah’s” – while “another shall proclaim the name of Jacob,” as that in which he glories; and a third shall write on his hand, “I am Jehovah’s” and take as a surname the name of Israel.

⁶ “Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there is no God.

— here God renews his contest with idols which he insists upon so oft and so much because his own people were exceeding prone to idolatry.

⁷ And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them.

— since … ancient people; have given the house of Jacob predictions of the future ever since I appointed them as My people in ancient times; therefore they were qualified to be His witnesses.

⁸ Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any.”

— is there a God besides me? for there were many fictitious and false deities but none omniscient and omnipotent that could foretell future events and accomplish them as he did; there is no god but the one God: the Father and Son.

⁹ They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses; they see not nor know, that they may be ashamed.

— a graven image is one that is cut, or sculptured out of wood or stone, in contradistinction from one that is molten, which is made by being cast; to show, at length, the vanity of idols and of idol-worship.

¹⁰ Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

— “Who hath molten” means “who has been so foolish as to do so; to take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?” 

¹¹ Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men. Let them all be gathered together; let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

— the uniqueness of God having been set forth, the prophet now turns to the images and the image-makers, overwhelming them with his scorn and ridicule.

¹² The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water and is faint.

— Isaiah proceeds here to show the folly and absurdity of idolatry; and in order to this he goes into an extended details of the manner in which idols were usually made.

¹³ The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line. He fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.

— having cut down a tree, he stretches out his rule or line upon it, the carpenter now proceeds to the construction of the god.

¹⁴ He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

— he hews down cedars and taketh the cypress and the oak; to make gods of trees both pleasant and durable, but all useless.

¹⁵ Then shall it be for a man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

— when shall it be for a man to burn, which there cannot be a greater instance of stupidity and folly, but it will afford materials for a nice fire.

¹⁶ He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast and is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself and saith, “Aha, I am warm; I have seen the fire.”

— image-making is described, to expose more folly of idolaters; Aha; an expression of joy and delight, being before a good fire in winter.

¹⁷ And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falleth down unto it and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, “Deliver me, for thou art my god.”

— being graved and carved, such an idol was his god, in whom he trusted, and from whom he expected relief and help. Monstrous stupidity!

¹⁸ They have not known nor understood; for He hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

— they have not known nor understood; they are blind, ignorant and stupid. Nothing could more strikingly show their ignorance and stupidity than this idol worship.

¹⁹ And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?”

— shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? or “the bud of a tree?” or that which is made out of a tree of their own planting, cutting down and hewing, part of which has been used to the above purposes; and the remaining lifeless log shall they worship it as a god?

²⁰ He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

— more pouring of scorn on idolaters; they make the gods they worship;

— they take a tree and saw it up: one log serves for a fire to cook their food, and with compass and pencil and plane they carve the figure of a man and then they bow down to it and say, ‘Deliver me, for thou art my god!’

²¹ “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art My servant. I have formed thee; thou art My servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by Me.

— remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry and the vanity of worshipping idols; the argument is to turn their attention to God and to lead them to put their trust in him.

²² I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee.”

— God have blotted out as a thick cloud; as the sun commonly dissolves or the wind scatters the thickest and blackest cloud so as there is no remnant nor appearance of it left. Return from thine idolatry and other wicked practices.

²³ Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it! Shout, ye lower parts of the earth! Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.

— Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; done what he promised, the forgiveness of the sins of his people and the redemption of them. So the Targum says, “because the Lord hath wrought redemption for his people.”

— because the heavens are called upon to sing on this occasion as the angels of heaven did when the Redeemer was born, and who rejoice at the salvation of God’s elect, Luke 2:13, shout, ye lower parts of the earth; the earth, which is low in comparison of the heavens.

²⁴ “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb: I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself;

— that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreads abroad the earth by myself; of himself and by his own strength and power;

— and he stretched out the vast space of the heavens as a curtain and spread out the earth in its length and breadth and the large surface of it to that great circumference which it has; a full proof of his proper deity!

²⁵ that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

— and makes their knowledge foolish; he makes them appear to be fools.

²⁶ that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited,’ and to the cities of Judah, ‘Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof’;

— all suppose that Jerusalem which in the prophet’s time was full of inhabitants, should be emptied of them, by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity; yet nevertheless, there should be a return of the Jews from captivity;

— and this city should be peopled and inhabited again; and also that the cities of Judah should be laid waste, and all should be rebuilt and restored to a flourishing state again. The Lord had said it and it should be done.

²⁷ that saith to the deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers’;

— that saith to the deep, be dry; the Targum says, “that saith to Babylon, be desolate.”

²⁸ that saith of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid.’

— that saith of Cyrus; this is the first time in which Cyrus is expressly named by Isaiah, though he is often referred to. Here is mentioned expressly by name and it was fulfilled about two hundred years later.

Posted in Isaiah

The Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.

God’s servant could be Jacob or the Messiah; and here in Isaiah 42:1 and Isaiah 52:13, the Targum identifies “my servant” as “the Messiah.”

Isaiah 41

¹ “Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength; let them come near, then let them speak; let us come near together to judgement.

— O islands; this word properly means islands and is so translated here by the Septuagint and the Syriac. But the word also is used to denote maritime countries; countries that were situated on seacoasts or the regions beyond sea.

² “Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.

— who raised up the righteous man from the east; the Targum interprets this of Abraham, and so the Talmud; he was a righteous man, was raised up out of an idolatrous family from Ur of the Chaldees, on the other side the river Euphrates, which lay east of Judea.

³ He pursued them, and passed safely, even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

⁴ Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.”

— Can any heathen god raise up one in righteousness, make what use of him he pleases and make him victorious over the nations? The Lord did so with Abraham; and more so he would do so with Cyrus, anointing him as king even before he was born.

⁵ The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.

— the isles saw it; the distant nations saw what was done in the conquests of the rapid conquests of Cyrus whom God in this remarkable manner had raised up; and they had known of the mighty power of God above the fakeness of idols;

— and feared; were alarmed, and trembled; all were apprehensive that they would be subdued, and driven away as with the tempest.

⁶ They helped every one his neighbor, and every one said to his brother, “Be of good courage.”

— the idolatrous nations helped everyone his neighbor; the idea is that these idolatrous nations formed confederations to strengthen each other, and to oppose him whom God had raised up to subdue them;

— the prophet Isaiah describes a state of general consternation existing among them when they supposed that all was in danger and that their security consisted only in confederation.

⁷ So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying, “It is ready for the soldering”; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

— the carpenter, who brought wood to compose the body of the idol; the goldsmith who was to prepare golden plates for covering and adorning of the image which some of them beat out upon the anvil;

— and others smoothed or polished as it is ready for the soldering; that we may put the several parts together and set it up to be worshipped. He fastened it to the wall or pillar, lest it should fall down, or be carried away from them.

⁸ “But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend.

— but thou Israel art my servant; thus the Gentiles show themselves to be the servants of their idols and own them for their gods: but Jacob art my people and I am and will be thy God.

⁹ Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, ‘Thou art My servant; I have chosen thee and not cast thee away’

— Abraham, the father of the Jews, taken from the remote Ur of the Chaldees. Others take it of Jacob or Israel, called out of Egypt.

¹⁰ fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.

— fear thou not; this promise is plain in its meaning and is full of consolation; it is to be regarded as addressed primarily to the exiled Jews during their long and painful captivity in Babylon; and the idea is that they who had been selected by God to be his special people had nothing to fear.

¹¹ Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish.

— all they that were incensed against thee; they who were enraged against thee, that is, the Chaldeans or other enemies who made war upon you and reduced you to bondage, shall be ashamed and confounded.

¹² Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee. They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

— thou shalt seek them; this denotes that it would be impossible to find them for they should cease to exist. The whole verse is emphatic, repeating in varied terms what was said before and meaning that their foes should be entirely destroyed.

¹³ For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not; I will help thee.’

¹⁴ “Fear not, thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel; I will help thee,” saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

— fear not, thou worm Jacob; the servant of the Almighty is reminded that he has no strength of his own but is “as a worm, and no man” (Psalm 22:6);

— Jacob had not been chosen because he was a great and mighty nation for Israel was “the fewest of all people” (Deuteronomy 7:7). As if to emphasise this the prophet speaks of God-given strength.

¹⁵ “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

— behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; as the new threshing wheels of a cart, in the manner of saws”; for corn with the Jews was threshed out by drawing a cart with wheels over it, which wheels were stuck with teeth or spikes of iron; 

— or by a cart or sledge filled with stones to press it down, and at the bottom with iron teeth, which being drawn to and fro by oxen over the sheaves, separated the grain from the husk.

¹⁶ Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

— to fan or to winnow, an operation which was performed by throwing the threshed grain up with a shovel into the air so that the wind drove the chaff away. So all their enemies, and all the obstacles which were in their way should be scattered.

¹⁷ “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

— the poor and needy; the promise may perhaps take as its starting-point the succour given to the return of the exiles, in which earthly things are the parables of heavenly and does not call for a literal fulfilment any more than “wines of the lees.”

¹⁸ I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.

— I will open rivers; the words have all the emphasis of varied iteration. Every shape of the physical contour of the country, bare hills, arid steppes and the like, is to be transformed into a new beauty by water in the form adapted to each: streamlets, rivers, lakes and springs.

¹⁹ I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine and the box tree together,

— I will plant in the wilderness; a picture as of the Paradise of God (Isaiah 51:3), with its groves of stately trees, completes the vision of the future.

²⁰ that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

— for the things before said are plain marks of the hand of the Lord, and are as clear proofs of his almighty power, as what was done in the creation of all things.

²¹ “Produce your cause,” saith the Lord; “bring forth your strong reasons,” saith the King of Jacob.

— bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob; who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God and whom he rules over, protects and defends;

— and this title is assumed for the comfort of them, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an eminent and peculiar sense their King; and he does not style himself the God of Jacob.

²² “Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come.

— God claims that the power of predicting the future is his own inalienable prerogative; let them show us what will happen;

— he defies the idol-gods and their votaries to give any clear prediction of future events; no doubt the claim to possess the power was made very generally among the idolatrous nations who almost universally practised based upon frauds and cunning deceits.

²³ Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together.

— that we may know that ye are gods; the prediction of future events is the highest evidence of omniscience and divinity; and it is demanded, that if they were gods they should be able to make such a prediction as would demonstrate that they are of divine nature.

²⁴ Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

— behold, ye are of nothing, or ‘worse than nothing.’ This refers to idols; and the idea is that they were powerless, unable to render aid to their worshippers as absolute nothingness would be and all their confidence in them was vain and foolish.

²⁵ “I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name. And he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

— I have raised up one, that is, Cyrus; in the previous verses God had shown that the idols had no power of predicting future events;

— he stakes, so to speak, the question of his divinity on that point and the whole controversy between him and them is to be decided by the inquiry whether they had the power of foretelling what would come to pass, power to foretell future events;

— in this he appeals to the fact that he had raised up Cyrus in accordance with his predictions and in such a way that it would be distinctly seen that he had this power of foretelling future events.

²⁶ Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? And beforetime, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’? Yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

— who hath declared from the beginning; the meaning of this passage is ‘there is no one among the soothsayers and the worshippers of idols who has predicted the birth, the character and the conquests of Cyrus.

²⁷ The first shall say to Zion, ‘Behold, behold them!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.

— the first; I who am the first as I said before, Isaiah 41:4, and therefore capable of declaring or foretelling things to come from the beginning which their idols cannot do, Isaiah 41:26.

²⁸ For I beheld, and there was no man, even among them; and there was no counselor that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

— for I beheld and there was no man; that is, no one who had foretold the future. Yehovah, speaking through the prophet, looks round in vain for that.

²⁹ Behold, they are all vanity! Their works are nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.

— for I beheld and they are vain things, and are falsely called gods; they are of no more solidity, efficacy, and use, than the wind and confusion. 

Isaiah 42

¹ “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth: I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles.

— behold my servant; the word ‘servant’ may be applied either to Isaiah, Jacob, Cyrus, or the Messiah; and the question to whom it refers here is to be decided in the Targum, which says, “behold, my servant, the Messiah;”

— this is the King Messiah; nor of Cyrus, nor of the people of Israel but of Christ as it is applied, Matthew 12:17 who is spoken of under the character of a “servant” as he is; not as a divine Being for as such he is the Son of God;

— but as man and in his office as Mediator; a servant of the Lord but of his divine Father; who chose him, called and sent him and assigned him his work.

— he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles; whose judgement is according to truth; the rule of human judgement in things spiritual and saving and by which the Son of God judges and rules in the hearts of his people;

— the Targum, which identifies “my servant” as “the Messiah” is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Hebrew Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.

² He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. — He shall not cry; either in a way of contention as anger is oft accompanied with clamour or in a way of ostentation. It seems to be meant both ways;

— he shall neither erect nor manage his kingdom with violence and outward pomp and state as worldly princes do, but with meekness and humility; nor lift up his voice;

— nor cause his voice to be heard in the street; as contentious or in a menacing manner or like vain-glorious preachers frequently do.

³ A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench; He shall bring forth judgement unto truth.

— bruised: “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (Isaiah 53:5,10); so He can feel for the bruised; reed—fragile: easily “shaken with the wind”

— and although he favours the weak yet will he not spare the wicked but will judge them according to truth and equity.

⁴ He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He hath set judgement in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law.”

— fail; faint; man in religion may become as the almost expiring flax-wick but not so he in his purposes of justice; discouraged; literally, “broken,” that is, checked in zeal by discouragements;

— isles … wait; the distant lands beyond sea shall put their trust in his Kingdom; may refer to the fact that the populations of these countries bordering on the Mediterranean; now even the distant nations shall wait for his law.

⁵ Thus saith God the Lord—He that created the heavens and stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

— this, with what follows is a preface to the call of the Messiah to the great work of redemption; setting forth the greatness of God as a Creator, that calls him to it and thereby encouraging him as man and Mediator in it as well as their Saviour and Redeemer.

⁶ “I, the Lord, have called Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

— for a light of the Gentiles; ‘light’ is the emblem of knowledge, instruction and of the true religion. The Messiah is often called ‘light,’ and the ‘light of the world.’

⁷ to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

— to open the eyes of the blind; this is equivalent to saying that he would impart instruction to those who were ignorant; it relates to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles; of the world which is often represented as one of darkness and blindness; he would acquaint them with God and with the way of salvation.

⁸ I am the Lord; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.

— I am the Lord; Yehovah; who have all being in and of myself and give being to all my creations. The everlasting, unchangeable and omnipotent God, who therefore both can and will fulfil all his promises;

— that is his name which he must own and justify to the world; will he not give; he will not allow it to ascribed to another; and his glory will he not give to another; that is to another god, to a strange god, to an idol;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

⁹ “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

— behold, the former things are come to pass; that is the former things which he had foretold. He had by his prophets foretold events which had now been fulfilled and this should lead them to confide in him alone as the true God;

— and new things do I declare; things pertaining to future events relating to the stewardship of the Messiah and to the universal prevalence of his religious truth in the world.

¹⁰ Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants thereof.

— new song; such as has never before been sung, called for by a new manifestation of God’s omnipotence;

— to express which no hymn for former mercies would be appropriate. The new song shall be sung when the Lord shall reign in Jerusalem and all “nations shall flow unto it” (Isaiah 2:2; 26:1; Revelation 5:9; 14:3).

¹¹ Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants of the rock sing; let them shout from the top of the mountains.

— let the inhabitants of the rock sing; it is uncertain whether the word ‘rock’ here (Hebrew, סלע sela‛, Greek Πέτραν Petran, ‘Petra’ or ‘rock’) is to be regarded as a proper name or to denote in a general sense those who dwell in the rocky part of Arabia;

— Kedar was a son of Ishmael, the father of the Kedarenians or Cedrei; they often changed their place in the neighborhood of Petra, or Sela, as they were the names of the celebrated city that was the capital of Idumea;

— also the capital of the Nabatheans, and the connection here would rather lead us to suppose that this city was intended here, and that the inhabitants of the capital were called upon to join with the dwellers in the surrounding cities and villages in celebrating the omnipotence of God.

¹² Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in the islands.

— and declare his praise in the islands; as on the western continent and the isles of it; so on the eastern continent and the islands of it, the islands of Greece, the islands in the Aegean sea.

¹³ The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies.

— our Lord the Almighty, Yehovah will no longer restrain his wrath: he will go forth as a mighty warrior (Exodus 15:3) to destroy his people’s and his enemies and to deliver Israel and his elects.

¹⁴ “I have long time held My peace; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

— cry like a travailing woman who after having restrained her breathing for a time at last overcome with labor pain lets out her voice with a panting sigh; so Yehovah will give full vent to his long pent-up wrath; I will at once breathe hard and pant, namely, giving loose to my wrath.

¹⁵ I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

— I will make waste mountains and hills; not dry and barren ones for these were waste already but such as are clothed with grass and herbs as the following words imply; which is to be understood metaphorically of God’s destroying his most lofty and flourishing enemies who are oft compared to mountains and hills.

¹⁶ And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

— and I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; the Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, thus “I will lead the house of Israel which are like to the blind in a way which they knew not.”

¹⁷ They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, ‘Ye are our gods.’

— they shall be turned back; from their former course, from their idolatry and their idols and be converted and turn to the living God;

— and should fly to the rocks and mountains to hide and cover them from the wrath of God; for this phrase is used of the overthrow of enemies of their being obliged to turn their backs and flee.

¹⁸ “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

— as in verse 16, the Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, who are blind; and deaf here.

¹⁹ Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?”

— who is blind, but my servant? – these words continues to be spoken to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah; who are so blind and deaf as Israel is, the servant of the Lord, his messenger and an imperfect one as he is called.

²⁰ seeing many things, but thou observest not, opening the ears, but he heareth not.”

²¹ The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable.

— he will magnify and elaborate what the law means; how to keep them: the law, the statutes and all the ordinances, including all his promises and pledges, in spirit and in truth.

²² But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses. They are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, “Restore.”

— a people robbed and for a spoil, and none saith, restore; there is none to be an advocate for them; no one that asks for their restoration;

— for almost almost two thousand years they have been in this condition and yet none of the kings and princes of the earth have issued a proclamation for their return to their own land as Cyrus did; and no one moves for it, either from among themselves or others.

²³ Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come?

— who among you will give ear to this? – who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgements of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and repents his life and return to him?

²⁴ Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law.

— it was Yehovah, the God of their fathers and of their nation who had brought this calamity upon them. It was not the work of chance but it was the immediate and direct act of God on account of their sins.

²⁵ Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

— yet he knew not; they refused to attend to it nor lay it to heart; they pursued their ways of wickedness, regardless of the threatening judgements and the impending wrath of God given by his prophets.

— They did not consider that these evils were inflicted for their crimes nor did they turn from their wicked ways when they were thus threatened with the wrath of God.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

God says in Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’” Isaiah 46:9-10.

Who are the enemies that will desolate the house of Israel, identified here as the United States? Many believe Russia was and some still believe it is the main threat of the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main threat.

And Mearsheimer brilliantly emphasizes the United States are protected by fish to the left and fish to the right, but foolishly negates to address America’s broken border in the South; and that the Scriptures say that America’s main “enemy” comes from the unprotected and porous South. At least Colonel Douglas Macgregor got his foresight on target! For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South! or here.

Isaiah 39

¹ At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

— he sent letters and presents to Hezekiah; by his ambassadors, the purport of which their spies and secret agents were to congratulate him upon his recovery, and to inquire concerning the miracle that was wrought in his land; either the destruction of the Assyrian army in one night by an angel;

— or rather the sun’s going back ten degrees; as Josephus says, to enter into an alliance with him; and this seems to be the true reason of sending these ambassadors; desirous of entering into a league with Hezekiah.

² And Hezekiah was glad with them, and showed them the house of his precious things — the silver and the gold, and the spices and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not.

— shewed them the house of his precious things; this fixes the date of the embassy at a time prior to the payment to Sennacherib (II Kings 18:15-16), unless we were to assume that the treasury had been replenished by the gifts that followed on the destruction of Sennacherib’s army;

— the silver and the gold; large quantities of not only which he and his predecessors had laid up, which had been very lately greatly exhausted by the demand of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold by the king of Assyria; to answer which Hezekiah had given all the silver in the Temple and in the treasures of the king’s house, and was so drove by necessity, that he cut off the gold from the doors and pillars of the Temple, II Kings 18:14,

— so that it might be reasonable to ask, how came he so soon by all this treasure? it is possible that some part of the royal treasure might be unalienable, and he might have since received presents from his own nobles and from foreign princes; but this was chiefly from the spoils found in the Assyrian camp after the angel had made such a slaughter of them, II Kings 19:35;

³ Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah and said unto him, “What said these men? And from whence came they unto thee?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.”

— the prophet Isaiah did not come of himself, but was sent by the Lord, not by the king; in the time of his distress and illness he could send for him but now being well and in prosperity he forgot the prophet to send for him and have his advice, how he should behave towards these men as not to offend the Lord:

— what said these men? – What proposition have they made? What is the design of their coming? It is implied in the question that there had been some improper communication from them. To this question Hezekiah makes no answer to this first question;

— but he replies at once to the second and said they are come from a far country even from Babylon; as being what his heart was lifted up with, that ambassadors should come to him from a very distant country and from so famous and renowned a place as Babylon; which showed that his name was great in foreign regions and was in high esteem in distant countries and even so great a prince as the king of Babylon courted his friendship.

⁴ Then said he, “What have they seen in thine house?” And Hezekiah answered, “All that is in mine house have they seen. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

— coming nearer to the point he had in view, then said he, what have they seen in thine house? that he had shown them what he ought not to have done, and especially from such a principle of pride and vanity as he did:

— and Hezekiah answered without any reserve, not suspecting that the prophet had come with a reproof to him, or to blame him or would blame him for what he had done: all that is in my house have they seen; the several royal apartments and the furniture of them:

— there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them: which were more secret, laid up in cabinets, under lock and key; his gold, silver, jewels and precious stones, spices and ointments. Most probably the furniture and vessels of the Temple, though he does not mention them;

— here, Hezekiah proved to be doing something very foolish, not qualify to be considered a wise Counselor, as Rabbinic Judiasm taught; for more, see A Study of Isaiah 9. Why Rabbinic Judiasm believe in such foolishness, have you ever wonder?

⁵ Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:

— hear the word of the Lord of hosts; hear what the mighty God that rules in heaven says of this. This is an instance of great fidelity on the part of the prophet; who felt himself sent from God in a solemn manner to rebuke sin in a monarch, and a pious monarch. It is an instance that resembles the boldness and faithfulness of Nathan when he went to David, and said, ‘Thou art the man.’

⁶ ‘Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ saith the Lord.

— behold, the days come; the captivity of the Jews in Babylon commenced about one hundred and twenty years after this prediction;

— nothing shall be left, saith the Lord; this was measure for measure as there was nothing that was not shown to the ambassadors, spies and secret agents, so nothing should be left untaken away by the Babylonians;

— Moses had declared repeatedly, that, if they were a rebellious people, they should be removed from their own to a foreign land; but he had not designated the country Leviticus 26:33-34; Deuteronomy 28:64-67; Deuteronomy 30:3.

⁷ ‘And of thy sons who shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

— and of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away; Manasseh his immediate son was taken and carried to Babylon, though afterwards released; nor does it appear that he was made a eunuch or an officer there;

— this had its fulfilment in Jeconiah and his children and in others that were of the seed royal, as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; this is expressed in different words, signifying much the same, to affect the mind of Hezekiah the more:

— and they shall be eunuchs, or “chamberlains” but were “eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” The Targum renders it “princes” and such an one was Daniel in the court of the king of Babylon; and his three companions were also promoted, Daniel 2:48;

— thus Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were “eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸ Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.” He said moreover, “For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”

— then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken; Hezekiah was at once convinced of his sin, acknowledged it and owned that the sentence pronounced was but just and right; and that there was a mixture of mercy and goodness in it;

— he said moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in his days; or a confirmed peace, lasting prosperity in the state of temporal mercies, for which he was thankful; “O that there were peace” in his days.

Isaiah 40

¹ “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,” saith your God.

— Comfort ye, comfort ye; twice repeated to give double assurance. Having announced the coming captivity of the Jews in Babylon, God now desires His servants, the prophets (Isa 52:7), to comfort them;

— the scene is laid in Babylon; the time near the close of the captivity; the ground of comfort is the speedy ending of the captivity, the Lord himself being their leader.

² “Speak ye comfortingly to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received from the Lord’S hand double for all her sins.”

— speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her; or “speak to or according to the heart of Jerusalem” to her very heart, what will be a cordial to her, very acceptable, grateful and comfortable;

— and let it be proclaimed aloud, that she may hear and understand it. By “Jerusalem” is meant the inhabitants of Zion and the true elects living there.

³ The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

— the voice of him that cries in the wilderness; that is, the voice of one called John the Baptist, who fulfilled this prophecy; prepare ye the way of the Lord,

— make straight in the desert a highway for our God: by whom is meant the Messiah to whom a deity a noble testimony is bore here, being called “the Word” and “our God” whose way John prepared himself, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptism, pointing at the Messiah.

⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

— every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the meaning is that in consequence of John’s ministry and our Lord’s coming, such who were depressed and were low and humble in their own eyes, should be raised up and comforted;

— and that such who were elated with themselves and their own righteousness should be humbled; their pride and haughtiness should be brought down.

— and the crooked shall be straight and the rough places plain; what before was dark and intricate in prophecy should now become clear; and such doctrines as were not so well understood should now become plain and easy.

⁵ And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

— and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; the Son himself who is also the Messiah reflects the brightness of his Father’s glory and his own glory.

⁶ The voice said, “Cry!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

— the voice said, cry; not the voice of an angel but a voice from the Lord; it is the Lord’s voice to the prophet, giving them an order to prophesy;

— all flesh is grass; declare the frailty and mortality of men; all princes, nobles and monarchs; all armies and magistrates are like grass and will soon fade away.

⁷ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass.

— the grass withers, the flower fades; and so does man and all his glory and goodliness: because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it: alluding to some impetuous and blasting wind blowing upon herbs and flowers to their withering and fading.

⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

— the grass withers; this is repeated from the former verse for the sake of emphasis or strong confirmation.

⁹ O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

— O Zion, that brings good tidings; or rather “Oh, thou that brings good things to Zion; thou that brings good tidings to Jerusalem;”

— behold your God! that divine Being is here that was promised, prophesied of and expected; even Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, God our Saviour;

— your Lord and your God; the Targum says, “the kingdom of your God is revealed.”

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.

— behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand; this is of the second coming of the Son of God, his coming is certain, such assurances being given by promise and prophecy; and will be attended with power, summon all nations before him,

— and pass and execute the proper sentence on them; when his arm shall openly bear rule, he will take to himself his great power and reign.

¹¹ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

— he shall gather the lambs with his arm; and for the young and feeble in years and piety; the tender lamb, unable to keep up with the flock, becomes weary and exhausted; and the shepherd naturally takes it in his arms and carries it.

¹² Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

— and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance; as easily as a man can throw in his goods into a pair of scales and take the true weight of them with equal ease did the Lord raise the mountains and the hills in a proper proportion;

— the answer to the above question is that it was the same divine Being of whom it is said, “behold your God, and who should come with a strong hand, and feed his flock.”

¹³ Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him?

— who did God either need or take to advise him in any of his works, either of creation or the government of the world? were they not all the effects of his own sole wisdom?

— therefore though all the nations of the world contrive and conspire against him and against this work of his as indeed they will do, yet his own counsel shall confound all their devices and carry on his work in spite of them.

¹⁴ With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?

— with whom he took counsel and who instructed him; this is the same as before only repeated in other words, the more strongly to deny that any mere creature counselled, taught and instructing and managing the works of creation.

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

— behold, the nations, all the nations of the earth. This is designed to show the greatness of God, in comparison with that which strikes man as great – a mighty nation;

— and the main object seems to be to show that God could accomplish his purposes without their aid and that they could not resist him in the execution of his plans; if they were as nothing, how little could they resist the execution of his plans!

¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

— and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn the trees of it, as the Targum says; these are not sufficient to burn a sacrifice with, suitable to the dignity and majesty of God.

¹⁷ All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity.

— all nations before him are as nothing as if they were non-entities and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight and are not only as grasshoppers as is after mentioned but even as nothing.

¹⁸ To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?

— to whom then will ye liken God? there is nothing in the whole creation that can bear any resemblance to him or he to them; since all nations are as a drop of the bucket as the small dust of the balance as nothing, yea, less than nothing and is only vanity: “or what likeness will ye compare unto him” ordain and appoint for him?

¹⁹ The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains.

— the workman melts a graven image; or “the founder” melts some sort of metal as iron, brass, copper or lead, which he casts into a mould for an image and afterwards graves or gets it graved.

— and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold; or “the finer” he stretches out plates of gold and covers it with them so that it looks as if it was made of solid gold and deceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in such a piece of workmanship!

²⁰ He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skillful workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved.

— he that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation; who is so poor that he cannot bring an offering to his God, yet he will have one; and though he cannot purchase a golden or silver one, or one that is gilt and adorned with either; yet he will have a wooden one.

²¹ Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

— have ye not known, God to be the only true God, the Maker and Governor of the world and all its inhabitants? how can you be ignorant of so evident a truth? He addresses his speech to the idolatrous Jews themselves in the times of Manasseh, when idolatry abounded or to all idolaters.

²² It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in,

— that sits as a judge or governor upon his throne; upon the circle of the earth; or above the circle; far above this round earth, even in the highest heavens; from whence he looks down upon the earth, where men appear to him like grasshoppers.

²³ who bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

— that brings the princes to nothing; that is, all princes and kings, no matter how great their power, their wealth and their dignity, they are by his hand reduced to nothing before him.

²⁴ Yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

— yea, they shall not be planted; the kings and rulers, especially they who oppose God in the execution of his purposes. The idea in this verse is that their name and family should become extinct in the same way as a tree does from which no shoot starts up.

²⁵ “To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?” saith the Holy One.

— to whom then will ye liken me? – the prophet Isaiah having thus set forth the majesty and glory of God, asks now with great emphasis what could be an adequate and proper representation of such a God;

— and if God was such a Being, how great was the folly of idolatry and how vain all their confidence in the gods which their own hands had made.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, who bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power; not one faileth.

— lift up your eyes on high; direct your eyes toward heaven and in the contemplation of the wonders of the starry world, and of God’s power there, learn the evidence of his ability to destroy his foes and to save his friends.

²⁷ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God”?

— my way is hidden from the Lord; meaning not their course of life or their religious actions, their attendance on public worship, their prayers and other duties of religion; but their sufferings for his name’s sake, the tribulations they endured which they imagined God took no notice of;

— and my judgement is passed over from my God; my cause and case are neglected by him; he does not undertake my cause or right my wrongs, and avenge the injuries done me, or deliver me out of the hands of those that contend with me.

²⁸ Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.

— there is no searching of his understanding; it is infinite, it reaches to all persons and things and therefore he cannot be at a loss to provide for his people or plead their cause; nor can their case be unknown to him or he want either power or skill to help them.

²⁹ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.

— he gives power to the faint; who are ready to faint under afflictions because they have not immediate deliverance, or their prayers are not answered at once, or promises not fulfilled as they expected;

— to such he gives fresh supplies of spiritual strength; he strengthens their faith and enlarges their views, to behold the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and confirms his blessings and promises of grace unto them.

³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;

— even the youths shall faint; the most vigorous young men, those in whom we expect manly strength and who are best suited to endure hardy toil. They become weary by labor; their powers are soon exhausted;

— the design here is to contrast the most vigorous of the human race with God and to show that while all their powers fail, the power of God is unexhausted and inexhaustible.

³¹ but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

— they shall mount up with wings as eagles; which fly most strongly and swiftly, and high out of the reach of all danger; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint; they shall be enabled to run or walk in their way as they please without any weariness.

Posted in Isaiah

The following verses give a clue what’s in store for us in the near future!

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth—blood and fire and columns (pillars) of smoke” Joel 2:30

“The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:20

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20

Isaiah 37

This chapter has the same subjects and themes as II King 19

¹ And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

— and Hezekiah went into the house of the Lord; to the Temple to pray: he could have prayed in his own house (as Daniel did), but he chose rather to go to the house of God, and was used to hear the prayers of his people; also it was more public and would be known to the people and set them an example to follow him in.

² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

— unto Isaiah the prophet; at last the people did consult and see their counsellor; in that supreme hour of calamity the prophet who had been despised and derided was their only resource. What could he do to extricate them from the evil net which was closing round them?

³ And they said unto him, “Thus saith Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

— for the children are come; the meaning of this figure is plain: there was the highest danger. It was as in childbirth in which the pains had been protracted, the strength exhausted and where there was most imminent danger in regard to the mother and the child;

— so Hezekiah said there was the most imminent danger in the city of Jerusalem; they had made all possible preparations for defense; and now in the most critical time they felt their energies exhausted, their strength insufficient for their defense and they needed the intervention of God.

⁴ It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

— Rabshakeh; a name or a title serving the king of Assyria, probably the chief officer or cup-bearer;

— wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left; lift up thy voice, thy hands and thine heart in prayer to God in heaven; for those that are left; the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the other ten having been carried captive some time ago; the few that remained seems to be made use of as an argument for prayer in their favour.

⁵ Thus the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. — so the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah; and delivered the above message to him;

⁶ And Isaiah said unto them, “Thus shall ye say unto your master, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

— wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed God; by representing God as no better than the gods of the Gentiles, but unable to deliver out of the hands of the king of Assyria the city of Jerusalem, when he had said he would.

⁷ Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’”

— God will put a spirit into him; a spirit of fear and dread, which will oblige him to desist from his purposes, and flee; as he did which cut off his army in one night.

⁸ So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

— and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; a city in the tribe of Judah and lay nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish where Rabshakeh left him; so that he seemed to be drawing his army towards that city on which his heart was set.

⁹ And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come forth to make war with thee.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

— the Ethiopians in those days retained Upper Egypt under Tirhakah, with Thebes as the capital. Tirhakah’s fame as a conqueror rivalled that of Sesostris; he and one at least of the Pharaohs of Lower Egypt were Hezekiah’s allies against Assyria. The tidings of his approach made Sennacherib the more anxious to get possession of Jerusalem before his arrival.

¹⁰ “Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

— thus shall Rabshakeh speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee; nothing could be more devilish and satanical, to represent the God of truth.

¹¹ Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly. And shalt thou be delivered?

— behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; Rabshakeh boasts of the achievements of himself and his ancestors; to gratify their lusts; but though many had been destroyed by them yet not all;

— not Ethiopia whose king was come out to make war with him; nor Egypt which was in confederacy with Ethiopia; nor Judea, he was now invading; but this he said in a taunting way to terrify Hezekiah:

— and shalt thou be delivered? canst thou expect it? surely thou cannot. Is it probable? yea, is it possible thou shouldest be delivered? it is not; as sure as other lands have been destroyed so sure shall thine.

¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

— have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed? asked Sennacherib; they have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him as Rabshakeh before, in his name.

¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?”

¹⁴ And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

— and Hezekiah went up unto the house of God; the Temple, the outward court of it, further than that he could not go:

— and spread it before the Lord; not to read it as he had done or to acquaint him with the contents of it; he brought it as a proof of what he had to say to him in prayer and to support him in his allegations, and as a means to quicken himself in the discharge of that duty.

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,

¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth.

— the prayer opens with a solemn invocation of Yehovah, first his name as the God of Israel and second as the only true God and Creator of all things.

¹⁷ Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God.

— and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he hath sent to reproach the living God; the Septuagint understands it of the words which Sennacherib sent in the letter to reproach the Lord; but in II Kings 19:16, it is, “which hath sent him” the messenger, Rabshakeh,

— or whoever was the person that brought the letter to Hezekiah. The Targum paraphrases the latter part thus, “to reproach the people of the living God.”

¹⁸ In truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries,

— the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries: or “all the lands and their land” the Targum says, “all provinces and their lands” the countries and town and villages in them.

¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

— for they were no gods, but the works of hands, wood and stone; they were made of wood or of stone, and therefore could not be called gods; nor could they save the nations that worshipped them, nor themselves from the fire:

— therefore they have destroyed them; the Assyrian kings were able to do it and did do it because they were idols of wood or stone; but it did not therefore follow that they were a match for the God of Israel, the true and living God.

²⁰ Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only.”

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²² this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

— the virgin, the daughter of Zion; hath despised thee; that is the inhabitants of Zion, called a “virgin” because it had never been forced or taken and to show that it was a vain thing in Sennacherib to attempt it as well as it would have been an injurious one;

— since God, the Father of this virgin, would carefully keep her from any sexual contamination; and he who was her husband to whom she was espoused as a chaste virgin, would defend and protect her.

²³ “‘Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.

— whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? A creature like thyself? no, but a God, and not one like the gods of the nations, the idols of wood and stone, but the living God, the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴ By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, “By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel.

— Isaiah continued his reply: the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, are full of like boasts, the multitude of his chariots; and hast said, by the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains; not only with his foot soldiers, but with his chariots, and a great number of them, he had travelled over hills and mountains,

— as Hannibal over the Alps, and was now upon the high mountains which were round about Jerusalem, and very near the mountain of the Lord’s house; 

²⁵ I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.”

— his boast continued; this again was one of the boasts of the Assyrian conqueror, SennacheribI have dug and drunk water; that their armies were so numerous that they drank up all the waters in their march he would not rest till Jerusalem, the most renowned height of the land of Lebanon, was lying at his feet.

²⁶ “‘Hast thou not heard long ago how I have made it, and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

— the speech of Sennacherib ends, and that of the Holy One of Israel begins: hast thou not heard, that the events of history had all been foreseen and ordered, as in the remote past, by the counsels of Yehovah. Now I have brought it to pass, that you as my servant should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁷ Therefore their inhabitants were of small power; they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops and as corn blighted before it be grown up.

— they were dismayed and confounded; not so much at the sight of Sennacherib’s army but because the Lord had dispirited them and took away their natural courage from them so that they became an easy prey to him:

— they were as the grass of the field: which has no strength to stand before the mower; as the grass on the housetops: which has no matter of root and is dried up with the heat of the sun.

²⁸ “‘But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me.

— but I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in; wherever you dwelt, what you did at home, your secret councils, cabals, contrivances, schemes and plans of subduing of kingdoms and your scheme into the land of Judea;

— so the Targum says, “thy sitting in council, and thy going out abroad to make war, and thy coming into the land of Israel, are manifest before me.”

²⁹ Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult have come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.’

— because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears; the rage which Sennacherib expressed both by Rabshakeh, and in his letter against Hezekiah and his people is taken by the Lord as against himself;

— therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips; comparing Sennacherib to leviathan, or to some unruly fish, not easily caught and managed;

— or to a bear or buffalo in whose noses men put iron rings and lead them about at pleasure; signifying hereby the strength, fierceness and fury of the Assyrian monarch and the power of God to restrain him.

³⁰ “And this shall be a sign unto thee: Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

— and this shall be a sign unto thee; not to Sennacherib but to Hezekiah; for here the Lord directs his speech to the latter in order to comfort him under the dreadful apprehensions he had of the Assyrian monarch; assuring him of deliverance; giving him a sign or token of it:

— ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself: and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof: all which was wonderful;

— whereas either through the invasion of the land or the siege of the city they could not till their land as they had used to do, or was destroyed or eaten up by the Assyrian army.

³¹ And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

— and the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah; the few that escaped out of the cities of Judah upon Sennacherib’s invasion of the land and besieging and taking the fenced cities thereof, who fled to Jerusalem for safety;

— shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: this is a prophecy, which occured numerous time in the past; perhaps another one in the future. The Targum says, “as a tree which sends forth its roots below, and lifts up its branches above.”

³² For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

— shall go forth a remnant; the word ‘remnant’ means that which is left; usually implying a small portion. No doubt a part of the Jews were destroyed in the invasion of Sennacherib, later by the Babylonians, then the Romans,

— but the assurance is here given that a portion of them would remain in safety and that they would constitute that from which the future prosperity of the state would arise.

³³ “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.

— Sennacherib shall not come into this city; he encamped probably on the northeast side of the city and his army was destroyed there;

— nor shoot an arrow there; that is, nor shoot an arrow within the walls of the city; nor come before it with shields; the meaning here is that the army should not be permitted to come before the city defended with shields and prepared with the means of attack and defense.

³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city,’ saith the Lord.

³⁵ ‘For I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

— and for the sake of his servant David in whose seed he had promised the kingdom should be established; not for the merits of the inhabitants of it but for the sake of his own name and glory who had been blasphemed by the Assyrian monarch and his general.

³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

— a prodigious slaughter (185,000) indeed! which shows the power and strength of an angel of the Lord; behold, they were all dead corpses; the whole army, excepting a few; this may well be expressed with a note of admiration, “behold!” for a very wonderful thing it was.

³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went, and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.

— dwelt at Nineveh; for some eighteen or twenty years after his disaster, according to the Assyrian inscriptions. The word, “dwelt” is consistent with any indefinite length of time;

³⁸ And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Isaiah 38

¹ In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him and said unto him, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.’”

— in those days Hezekiah was sick unto death; this was about the time that Sennacherib invaded Judea, threatened Jerusalem with a siege and his army was destroyed by an angel from heaven; but whether it was before or after the destruction of his army, no one is sure.

² Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord

— then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall; either to the wall of his bedchamber where he lay sick that his tears might not be seen, and his prayers interrupted; or else to the wall of the Temple, as the Targum says, towards which good men used to look when they prayed.

³ and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight.” And Hezekiah wept sorely.

— wept sore; Josephus says the reason why he wept so sorely was that being childless; he was leaving the kingdom without a successor; but his wishes, when gratified, prove a curse!; for he lived to have a son; that son was the idolater Manasseh, the chief cause of God’s wrath against Judah and of the overthrow of the kingdom.

⁴ Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,

⁵ “Go, and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

— God of David thy father; God remembers the covenant with the father to the children (Psalm 89:28, 29).

⁶ And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

— and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; so that it seems that Hezekiah’s sickness was while the king of Assyria was near Jerusalem and about to besiege it and before the destruction of the Assyrian army.

⁷ And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that He hath spoken:

— and this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord; which it seems Hezekiah asked and it was put for him to choose, whether the shadow on the sundial should go forward or backward ten degrees and he chose the latter, II Kings 20:8, which was a token confirming and assuring.

⁸ Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.’” So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it had gone down.

— so the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down; and so this day was longer by these degrees than a common day, and accordingly, we suppose the sun went back, suddenly or as it usually moved, though in a retrograde way and made the same progress again through these degrees.

⁹ The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

— the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah; the Septuagint calls it a “prayer” but the Targum is much better, “a writing of confession.”

¹⁰ I said, “In the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

— Hezekiah shall go to the gates of the grave; he perceives that he must die without any hopes of prevention; the grave is called a man’s long home.

¹¹ I said, “I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

— I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world; or “time” of this fading transitory world, which will quickly cease.

¹² Mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off like a weaver my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

— mine age is departed; the time of my life is expired; as a shepherd’s tent, which is easily and speedily removed; I have cut off, to wit, by my sins, provoking God to do it. Or I do declare and have concluded that my life is or will be suddenly cut off;

— for men are oft said in Scripture to do those things which they only declare and pronounce to be done; as men are said to pollute and to remit and retain sins and the like, when they only declare men and things to be polluted and sins to be remitted or retained by God.

¹³ I reckoned till morning that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.”

— I reckoned till morning; or “I set my time till the morning” – he thought he should have died before the night came on and now it was come, the utmost he could propose to himself was to live till morning; that was the longest time he could reckon of; the Targum says, “I roared until morning, as a lion roars.”

¹⁴ Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me! — rather “like a crane and a swallow” – both are sometimes loud and clamorous;

— like a crane when the pain was very acute and grievous; and sometimes very low, through weakness of body like the twittering of a swallow; or the moan he made under his affliction was like the mournful voices of these birds at certain times;

— I did mourn as a dove; silently and patiently within himself for his sins and transgressions; and because of his afflictions, the fruit of them.

¹⁵ What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

— what shall I say? in a way of praise and thankfulness, for the mercies promised and received; I know not what to say; I want words to express the gratitude of my heart for the kindness bestowed. What shall I render to God for all his benefits? So the Targum says, “what praise shall I utter, and I will say it before him?”

— I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul; before he did not reckon of a day to live, now he speaks of his years, having fifteen added to his days, during which time he should “go softly” in a thoughtful meditating frame of mind;

— frequently calling his bitter affliction, acknowledging the goodness and kindness of God unto him; cheerfully, after the bitterness of my soul as it may be rendered; that is, after it is over, or because of deliverance from it.

— So the Targum says, “with what shall I serve him, and render to him for all the years he hath added to my life, and hath delivered me from the bitterness of my soul?”

¹⁶ O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so wilt Thou recover me and make me to live.

— O Lord, by these things men live; not by bread only but by the word of God: by the promise of God and by his power performing it; and by his favour and goodness continually bestowed.

¹⁷ Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.

— behold for peace I had great bitterness; meaning not that instead of peace and prosperity which he expected would ensue upon the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, came a bitter affliction upon him;

— for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back; as loathsome and abominable; for though God sees all the sins of his people with his eye of omniscience and in his providence takes notice of them and chastises for them, yet not with his eye of avenging justice.

¹⁸ For the grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

— for the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee; that is they that are in the grave, they cannot celebrate the praises of God; their souls may praise him but they in their bodies cannot till the resurrection morn, or as long as they are under the dominion of the grave;

— so the Targum says, “they that are in the grave cannot confess before thee, and the dead cannot praise thee.”

¹⁹ The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.

— the living; only the living; emphatic repetition; his heart is so full of the main object of his prayer that for want of adequate words he repeats the same word;

— father to the children; one generation of the living to another. Hezekiah probably also hints at his own desire to live until he should have a child, the successor to his throne to whom he might make known and so perpetuate the memory of God’s truth.

²⁰ The Lord was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

— the Lord was ready to save me; the Lord was at hand to save him; God was a present help in time of need; he arose for his help, and that right early; he who one day expected death every moment was the next day in the temple praising God.

²¹ For Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.”

— for Isaiah had said; before the above writing was made, which ends in the preceding verse; for this and the following are probably added by Isaiah or some other person. The Septuagint version adds, “to Hezekiah” but the speech seems rather directed to some of his servants, or those that were about him;

— let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover; which was done and he did accordingly recover; this was a miracle within a miracle since figs are hurtful to ulcers; it was not from the natural force of these figs but by the power of God that this cure was effected.

²² Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

— Hezekiah also had said; what evidence or proof have I that I shall be restored and permitted to go to the Temple? The miracle on the sun-dial was performed in answer to this request and as a demonstration that he should yet be permitted to visit the Temple of God.

Posted in Isaiah

Something to think about the length of Jacob’s forthcoming Captivity! It’s subjective but a historical precedent from the house of Judah could give us a clue regarding its timeline:

“And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths” Leviticus 26:33-34

According to God’s judgement its length in Captivity is tied to their years of neglect; and drawing from Judah’s experience, it was seventy years, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21.

For a more indepth study on this subject, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Isaiah 35

¹ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

— this is a continuation of Isaiah the 34th chapter; the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, either for the wild beasts, satyrs, owls and vultures, that shall inhabit Edom or Petra and because it shall be an habitation for them;

— or they shall be glad for them, the Edomites and for the destruction of them; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, “they that dwell in the wilderness, in the dry land, shall rejoice.”

² It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

— the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; the wilderness shall be as pleasant and fruitful as Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon; which were eminent parts of the land of Canaan as hath been oft noted.

— they, who are understood by the wilderness shall see the glory of the Lord; the glorious discoveries and effects of God’s power and goodness to his people.

³ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

— strengthen ye the weak hands; ye prophets and shepherds of God, comfort and encourage his people who are now ready to faint with hopes of that salvation which in due time he will work for them. The prophet mentions hands and knees because the strength or weakness of any man eminently appears in those parts.

⁴ Say to them that are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you.”

— say to them that are of a fearful heart; who because of their own weakness and the strength of their enemies are discouraged and cast down:

— be strong, fear not, resist your fears, confide in the power, love and faithfulness of God who has promised to deliver those that trust in him and has engaged that as your day is your strength shall be, and you shall become strong.

— Behold, your God will come though he seem to be absent and to have departed from you, he will come and abide with you.

⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

— then the eyes of the blind shall be opened; the images are of joy and exultation, the times of happiness when God would come to save them from their foes;

— this passage is a description of what the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, did that it doubtless refers to the miracles which he would perform. In not a few instances did he in fact restore the blind to sight, giving thus the most unequivocal proof that he was the Messiah sent from God;

— and for the house of Israel, their blind would see their idolatry worship; such as (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas of Babylon have been worshipped without their knowing.

⁶ Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

— an hart demoting the stag, or male deer; sometimes refers to any species of deer or antelope and this is referred to here from its quick and sprightly nature;

— and the tongue of the dumb shall be able to sing and to praise God. On the restoration of the dumb to the benefits of language.

⁷ And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

— and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water; such persons who have been like the parched earth, barren and unfruitful or like the earth scorched with the sun shall be comforted and refreshed; shall now enjoy peace and prosperity.

⁸ And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

— God shall be with them walking in the way; that is, he shall be their companion and guide in the way. Hence though fools they shall not err therein; the way shall be so plain and straight that even the most foolish travellers cannot easily mistake it.

⁹ No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

— no lion shall be there; lions abounded in all the countries adjacent to Palestine; they are objects of dread and alarm. The prophet Isaiah therefore suggests that there should be no cause for such dread and alarm as they walk there.

¹⁰ And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

— and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away;

— sorrow and sighing shall flee away; which expressions are too magnificent and emphatical to be satisfied by the return of the Jews from Babylon to their own land; and from another captivity of 190/40 years just before the Millennium;

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Isaiah 36

¹ Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

— the fourteenth year of Hezekiah was BC 714 or 713. Sargon was then King of Assyria and continued king till BC 705. Sennacherib did not ascend the throne till that year and he did not lead an expedition into the land of Judea till BC 701.

² And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller’s Field.

— Rabshakeh; a name or a title, probably the chief officer or cup-bearer;

— a penalty of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold was imposed and paid, Hezekiah being reduced to empty his own treasury and that of the Temple and even to strip the Temple doors and pillars of the plates of gold with which they were overlaid.

³ Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.

— Eliakim; it is significant that Eliakim now fills the office which, a short time before had been filled by Shebna while the latter is reduced to the inferior position of a scribe (Isaiah 22:15-25). The change is clearly traceable to Isaiah’s influence. The “scribe” was the secretary who formulated despatches and degrees; the “recorder” probably the registrar of the official annals.

⁴ And Rabshakeh said unto them, “Say ye now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

— say ye now to Hezekiah; tell him what follows; thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria; this he said boastingly of his master and in order to terrify Hezekiah and his subjects; whom he would represent as little in comparison of him who had subdued many kingdoms and aimed at universal monarchy.

⁵ I say, thou sayest (but they are but vain words), “I have counsel and strength for war.” Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

— the first part of the words are Hezekiah’s, “I say (sayest thou)”; and the latter, Rabshakeh’s note upon them; though they may be understood as Hezekiah’s or what he is made to speak by Rabshakeh.

⁶ Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

— Lo, thou trust in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt his ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called “the staff of a broken reed” if trusted to and leaned upon the banks of the river Nile in Egypt.

⁷ But if thou say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, “Ye shall worship before this altar”?

— Rashi: Whose high places… has removed: he abolished all the pagan temples and the altars and the high places and has coerced all Judah to prostrate themselves before one altar.

⁸ Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

— there was something absurd in the idea of Judah coming out as strong in its cavalry. You could have the two thousand horses if your riders could manage these horses?

⁹ How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

— how then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? that is, he reproaches Hezekiah’s small power which is not able to resist one of Sennacherib’s least captains.

¹⁰ And have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me: “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”

— Rabshakeh would insinuate that he had a commission from the Lord God, a boastful inference from the past successes of Assyria, designed to influence the Jews to surrender.

¹¹ Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, “Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people who are on the wall.”

¹² But Rabshakeh said, “Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men who sit upon the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

— Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants; the king’s officers, knowing the little faith of their people, perhaps without misgivings of their own and listening eagerly on the wall, recognise in Rabshakeh’s words an echo of Isaiah’s and lose courage as feeling that they were fighting against the God who was chastising them?

— the Syrian or Aramaic was a common ground for the ambassadors on both sides as being the language of commerce and diplomacy. “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

¹³ Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, “Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

— then Rabshakeh stood, indicating the posture of a man who intends to speak to them at a distance. And cried with a loud voice so that those on the wall could hear.

¹⁴ Thus saith the king: ‘Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you.

— thus saith the king, the king of Assyria, whom he personated, whose general and ambassador he was; so he spoke to command the greater awe of the people and the more to terrify them:

— let not Hezekiah deceive you; with fair words, promising protection and safety, making preparations for the defence of the city and to oblige the besiegers to break up the siege of it: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

¹⁵ Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

— neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord; both by his own example and by arguments to persuade his people to do so likewise; of this Rabshakeh was sensible and was more afraid of this than of any thing else and therefore laboured this point more than any other;

— saying, the Lord will surely deliver us, this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria: since the Lord had promised to defend it, Isaiah 31:5 since it is expressly promised by the Lord that he would deliver him and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹⁶ Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me; and eat ye every one of his vine and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern,

— hearken not to Hezekiah; nor would he have them obey him in things civil any more than hearken to him in things sacred, and so the Targum says, “do not obey Hezekiah” or receive any orders from him, or pay any regard to them:

— make an agreement with me, that is, “make peace with me” and the Septuagint version is, “if ye would be blessed” or happy, come out to me; forsake your king, throw off your allegiance to him, surrender yourselves and city to me.

¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

— until I come; these are the words of the king of Assyria delivered by Rabshakeh. It was proposed that they should remain safely in Jerusalem until Sennacherib should himself come and remove them to his own land.

¹⁸ Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

— beware lest Hezekiah persuade you; to trust in the Lord, stand up in your own defence and not listen to these proposals; or lest he “deceive you” with vain words;

— hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land; over whom he presided and to whom the people were devotees: out of the hand of the king of Assyria? this reasoning would have had some weight in it had the Lord God of Israel been like the gods of the nations but he is not.

¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

— where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? What become of them? where are they to be found? where’s their power to protect and defend the people they presided over?

— and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? the gods of the above places which were worshipped in Samaria or the gods peculiar to that place; though Samaria was not taken by the present king of Assyria, Sennacherib but by a predecessor of his, Shalmaneser.

²⁰ Who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

— who are they amongst all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand? Not one of them, it is suggested; wherefore then should it be thought practicable;

— that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? thus blasphemously setting the Lord God of Israel upon a level with the fictitious gods of the Gentiles. If Rabshakeh was an apostate Jew he must have known better but the malice of such is usually the greatest.

²¹ But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, saying, “Answer him not.”

— but they held their peace; Hezekiah seems to have commanded silence as if distrustful either of the wisdom of the ambassadors or of the effect which any chance words might have upon the garrison and people of Jerusalem.

²² Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

— with their clothes rent the act was the natural expression of their horror at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh’s words; they would not reply to that blasphemy and trusted to the effect of this silent protest on the minds of the people who had heard it.

Posted in Isaiah

“The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:20

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20.

Isaiah 33

¹ Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.

— thou shalt be spoiled; this was literally fulfilled when the Assyrian monarchy lost its splendor and power and was finally taken over by the more mighty Babylon empire.

— they shall deal treacherously with thee; that is, ‘thou shalt be dealt with in a treacherous manner.’ The result was that Sennacherib was treacherously slain by his own sons as he was ‘worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god’ Isaiah 37:38, and thus the prophecy was literally fulfilled.

² O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee; be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

— we have waited for thee; time after time, year after year, in the use of means; hoping for his kind appearance; expecting help and salvation.

— be thou their arm every morning; when they pray unto thee, the morning being the time of prayer; and also be their arm all the day long, to lean and depend upon, to support, protect and defend them; there is a change of person from the first to the third, usual in prophetic and poetic writings; and the Targum, “our strength.”

³ At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of Thyself the nations were scattered.

— at the noise of the tumult; which shall be made upon the angel’s destroying the army; the people fled; those of the army who escaped that stroke. At the lifting up of thyself to execute judgement, the people of many nations which made up Sennacherib’s army, and the nations were scattered.

⁴ And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.

— and your spoil; the treasure which you have raked by spoiling diverse people; shall be gathered; but you shall be forced to flee with all possible speed, leaving your spoils behind like the gathering of the caterpillar; as caterpillars gather and devour all the fruits of the earth;

— or as the running to and fro of locusts; as locusts, especially when they are armed by a commission from God, come with great force, devouring every thing before them;

— or like the Russian oligarchs, who are charged complicit in crimes, that sail their superyachts (private jets, posh homes, football clubs and other trophies) scurrying away like rats to places of refuge like Dubai, Bahrain, Doha or other safe havens before being seized by Western officials after their wealth are deemed stolen from the Russian people!

⁵ The Lord is exalted, for He dwelleth on high; He hath filled Zion with judgement and righteousness.

— the Lord is exalted; by the destruction of so potent an army and by the defence of his people. For he dwelleth on high; he is, and will appear to be, superior to his; he dwelleth in heaven, whence he can easily and irresistibly pour down judgements upon his enemies.

⁶ And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation; the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

— and wisdom and knowledge; to govern thyself and the people well; the fear of the Lord is his treasure; thy chief treasure and delight shall be in promoting the fear and worship of God.

⁷ Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

— behold, their valiant ones shall cry outside: the ambassadors of peace to beg peace for the Assyrian shall weep bitterly.

⁸ The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth; he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.

— the highways lie waste; in the consternation and alarm that was produced by his approach, the roads that had been usually thronged were now solitary and still. A mournful desolation already prevailed and they apprehended still greater calamities and hence they wept;

— he hath broken the covenant; Sennacherib broke his oath given to Hezekiah of departing for a sum of money, II Kings 18:14,17; he hath despised the cities; the defenced cities of Judah which he despised and easily took; he regarded no man; either to spare them or to fear them.

⁹ The earth mourneth and languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down. Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

¹⁰ “Now will I rise,” saith the Lord; “now will I be exalted; now will I lift up Myself.

— now will God be exalted; that is, in his power by the destruction of the enemies of the elect; and in the hearts and mouths of his people, on account of their deliverance and salvation:

— now will God lift himself up, higher than they, and reduce them to a low estate and condition. The repetition of the word “now” has its emphasis and is designed to observe the time of God’s appearing in the cause of his people and the firmness of his resolution to do it without delay.

¹¹ Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

— ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble, instead of solid corn. Your great hopes and designs, O ye Assyrians! shall be utterly disappointed;

— your breath, as fire, shall devour you; your rage against my people shall bring ruin upon yourselves.

¹² And the people shall be as the burnings of lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

— and the people shall be as the burnings of lime; like chalk stones that are burnt to make lime of; which may denote not only their hardness and impenitency which brought upon them and issued in the wrath of God;

— as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire; thorns are a fit simile to express the unfruitfulness, uselessness and harmfulness of wicked men and these “cut up” and so not green and moist, but dry and fit fuel for the fire, which burn the more easily and quickly.

¹³ Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge My might.”

— hear, ye that are far off, indicating that the destruction of the Assyrian army would be to signal that it would be known to distant nations and would constitute an admonition to them;

— the signal deliverance of Jerusalem will be a great demonstration to all the world of the omnipotence of the God of Israel.

¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

— sinners in Zion; who had the guise and form of religion but not the power of it and were for fleeing to Egypt and trusting in Pharaoh but not in the Lord; these are pretenders with a false religion among the elect.

¹⁵ He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

— he that walks righteously; this describes the characteristics of the righteous who put their confidence in God; and speaks uprightly; his words are well-ordered, words which are not false, perfidious, slanderous or obscene; for an individual his words are simple, honest and true; for a magistrate his decisions are according to justice;

— he that despise the gain of oppressions; by ‘Deceits’ – he abhors the gain that is the result of imposition, false dealing and false weights.

— Or if it means oppressions as the word usually does, he does not oppress the poor or take advantage of their needy condition or affix exorbitant prices or extort payment in a manner that is harsh and cruel.

¹⁶ he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the fortifications of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

— he shall dwell on high; or high places were usually places of safety, being inaccessible to an enemy; he should be safe from the anger, wrath and consuming fire.

¹⁷ Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off.

— thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty in his royal robes and with a cheerful countenance, as a King reigning gloriously before his elects in Jerusalem:

— the Targum says, “thine eyes shall see the glory of the Majesty of the King of worlds in his praise;” that is, the glory of the Majesty of God.

¹⁸ Thine heart shall meditate terror: “Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers?”

— thine heart shall meditate terror: this is either premonition concerning a future judgement as if he said, Before these glorious promises, thou shalt be brought into great straits and troubles.

— Or rather, a thankful acknowledgment of deliverance from a former danger; as if he had said, When thou art delivered, thou shalt with pleasure and thankfulness recall to mind thy former terrors and miseries;

— where is the scribe? who enrolled and pay the army; or who prescribed the tribute to be paid; or who kept an account of the spoil; perhaps a secretary of state or of war or an inspector-general who had the charge of reviewing an army and who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive, of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand.

— fierce people; the Assyrians shall not be allowed to enter Jerusalem. Or, thou shalt no longer see fierce enemies threatening thee as previously; such as the Babylonians, Romans or any endtime enemies that is yet to assail Jerusalem;

— a people of a deeper speech; a people whose language is so deep, that is, so dark or obscure that it cannot be understood by you. This refers to the army of the Assyrians, who spoke the Syrian language, which was understood by some of the Jews, but which was unintelligible to the masses.

²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

— look upon Zion; contemplate Zion’s beauty and safety, and her glorious and peculiar privileges; it is an object worthy of thy deepest meditation;

— the city of our solemnities: the chief part of Zion’s glory and happiness that God was solemnly ordained and the solemn assemblies and feasts kept in Zion. A quiet habitation which was but very obscurely and imperfectly fulfilled in an earlier Zion;

— but it would clearly and fully be accomplished in a latter Zion, the kingdom of God in the times of the Millennium against which we are assured that the gates of hell shall not prevail.

²¹ But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

— there in and around Zion the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams: as if we were surrounded with such great rivers as the Nile or Euphrates, which were a great security to Egypt and Babylon;

— wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby; but they shall have from God the security of a great river yet they shall be freed from the disadvantage of it.

²² For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us. —that is, “The Lord, our judge, the Lord, our lawgiver . . . He will save us.”

²³ Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail; then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

— thy tacklings are loosed; God directs his speech to the Assyrians; and having tacitly designed their army under the notion of a gallant ship;

— he represents their broken and undone condition by the metaphor of a ship tossed in a tempestuous sea, having her cables broken and all her tacklings loose, and out of order so as she could have no benefit of her masts and sails; and therefore is quickly broken or swallowed up by the sea;

— they, the Assyrians, then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey; they who came to spoil and prey upon my people shall become a prey to them and shall be forced to flee away so suddenly, that they shall leave so many spoils behind them that when strong and active men have carried away all that they desired, there shall be enough left for the lame who come last to the spoil.

— The general sense of the place is, that God’s people shall be victorious over all their enemies.

²⁴ And the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick”; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

— the inhabitant, to wit, of Jerusalem, God’s people shall not say, I am sick; shall have no cause to complain of any sickness or calamity; shall be fully delivered from all their enemies and evil occurrents; shall enjoy perfect tranquillity and prosperity. The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 34

¹ Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people! let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and all things that come forth from it.

— the Judgement on all nations are concerned, but particularly of Edom or Idumea;

— let the earth hear and all that is therein: not just the land of Judea but all the earth and the inhabitants of it: the world and all things that come forth of it; which may either be understood of those that dwell in it, as the Targum interprets it;

² For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies; He hath utterly destroyed them; He hath delivered them to the slaughter.

— for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations; all the nations of the earth which have committed fornication with either the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks or the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition and idolatry; which is the reason of God’s wrath and indignation against them and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them.

³ Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stench shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

— their slain shall be cast out into the fields where they shall lie unburied and be left for a prey to all ravenous birds and beasts; whereby he implies, either the vast numbers which shall be slain so as they could not have time or place to bury them; or the curse of God upon them and the people’s contempt and abhorrence of them;

— shall be melted with their blood; shall be filled with their blood which shall run down abundantly from the mountains with great force and dissolve and carry down part of the earth of the mountains with it as great showers of rain frequently do.

⁴ And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

— and all the host of heaven: the sun, moon and stars; shall be dissolved; also in the prophetic language the heavenly luminaries represent kings, empires and states:

— shall be dissolved; so great shall be the confusion and consternation of mankind as if all the frame of the creation were broken into pieces as of the general judgement;

— the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, Heb. as a book; for books were then written in scrolls, which they usually rolled up together; and when they were so no man could read any word in it; and no more shall any man be able to see those truths and lights of heaven for they shall all be obscured and confounded.

⁵ “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom and upon the people of My curse in judgement.”

— for my Sword shall be bathed in heaven; that is, the Sword of the Lord, as it is called in the next verse Isaiah 34:6, and it is he that is speaking; it designs the vengeance of the Lord, the punishment he will inflict on the wicked,

— said to be “bathed in heaven” because it was determined and prepared there; the allusion may be to the bathing of Swords in some sort of liquor to harden or brighten them, and so fit them for use;

— it shall come down upon Idumea; upon the Edomites, who, though they were nearly related to the Israelites yet were their implacable enemies. But these are named for all the enemies of God’s elects, of whom they were an eminent type;

— Chabad Bible: “upon the nation with whom I contend [with]” – in great probability this would refer to the house of Jacob and not so much to Edom; if so this few verses would be tied to Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5 where the Sword of the Lord or My Sword is similarly mentioned.

⁶ The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

— is filled with blood; shall drink its fill of blood. The metaphor is here taken from a great glutton or drunkard, who is almost insatiable with meat and drink;

— with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: by lambs and goats and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. A sacrifice; so he calleth this bloody work because it was done by God’s command, and for his honour; and therefore was a service acceptable to him.

— Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; see further Isaiah 63:1, a parallel text; where Edom and Bozrah are mentioned. Could this be connected to the  Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

⁷ And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

— and the unicorns shall come down with them; together with the bullocks and bulls, which are also mentioned in Deuteronomy 33:17

“His (singular; that is, only one unit as Joseph) glory is like the firstling of his bullock and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them (with his brothers) he (singular: Joseph) shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

(3) Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar? (4) The Ox without the Unicorn

⁸ For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

— the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion; the long-delayed day of retribution should come at last; this would be the outcome from the hand of the Almighty God for the persistent hostility of the Edomites to the city which he had chosen.

⁹ And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

— the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch; the imagery of the punishment which is to fall on Edom is suggested partly by the scenery of the Dead Sea, partly by the volcanic character of Edom itself with its extinct craters and streams of lava.

¹⁰ It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

— and Edom shall be a desolation as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbouring cities thereof.

¹¹ But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; and He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.

— but the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the word for “cormorant” is rendered a “pelican” in Psalm 102:6 they were both unclean fowls; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; which were likewise unclean creatures.

¹² They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

— the idea is that the kingdom would be desolate; there would be no people to rule. Or, there will be no nobles there who shall survive the destruction to undertake the government of the state.

¹³ And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for owls.

— an habitation of dragons and a court for owls; the wild creatures named are identified, as elsewhere, with “jackals” (“wild dogs”) and “ostriches” like the ruins of Petra.

¹⁴ The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest.

— and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; or the “hairy” one; from which word the goat has its name; and these creatures are described by the ancients as half goats and half men;

— the Targum renders it demons (Rashi: the name of the female demon); and with this well agrees the account of Babylon or Rome as fallen, that it shall be the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit.

¹⁵ There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay and hatch and gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

— there shall the great owl make her nest, lay and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate; signifying that Idumea (like the wilderness of Petra) would be a horrible desolation and barren wilderness.

¹⁶ Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: No one of these shall fail, none shall lack her mate; for My mouth, it hath commanded, and His Spirit, it hath gathered them.

— seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read; this of the book of the law of Moses and of the prophets; which being consulted, it will appear that punishment was threatened to be inflicted on the enemies of God’s people, particularly the Edomites.

¹⁷ And He hath cast the lot for them, and His hand hath divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

— God hath divided the land to them, as it were by lot and line as Canaan was divided among the Israelites. The Targum adds, “by his word” and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; the same adds, “by his will.”

Posted in Isaiah

Many believe Russia was and still is the main threat to the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main enemy.

And Mearsheimer brilliantly emphasizes the United States are protected by fish to the left and fish to the right, but foolishly negates to address America’s broken border in the South.

And that the Scriptures say that America’s main “enemy” comes from the unprotected and porous South! At least Colonel Douglas Macgregor got his foresight on target! For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South! or here.

Isaiah 31

¹ Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and depend upon horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!

— woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; or “O ye that go down.” Such were their rulers and people, or ambassadors sent to the king of Egypt, to supply them with men and horses against the king of Assyria, contrary to the express command of God;

— and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; having their dependence upon, and placing their confidence in, the strength and numbers of the cavalry of the Egyptians.

² Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back His words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the help of them that work iniquity.

— yet he also is wise; that is, God, the Holy One of Israel, whom they disregarded; and wiser too than the Egyptians; so wise as to know all their schemes, and able to confound them, as well as most certainly and fully to complete his own; and it would have been therefore the highest wisdom to have attributable to him and not to men;

— and will bring evil; the punishment or affliction on wicked men which he has warned and which they could in no wise escape; and will not call back his words; his warnings delivered by the prophets: these, as he does not repent of, he will not revoke or make void, but fulfil and accomplish.

³ Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

— now the Egyptians are men, and not God; be it that they are mighty before men, but not before God; and indeed they are but frail, feeble, mortal, and mutable men, and therefore not to be trusted in, and depended on; or to be put upon an equality with God;

— and the Jews that are helped shall fall down; helped by the Egyptians, who should also fall and be destroyed, though not now; yet hereafter by the Chaldeans as they were: and they all shall fail together; both the Egyptians and the Jews.

⁴ For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me: As the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them; so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof.

— like the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey; or “growling over his prey” for the lion roars when he is hungry and wants a prey and not when he has got one; but when he has one and feeding upon it, he makes a lower noise, a growling one;

— so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion; that is, he shall come down from heaven with his angel and fight against the Assyrian army, in favour of the inhabitants of Zion or Jerusalem and deliver them; and there will be no more withstanding him or putting him off from his purpose, or preventing his good designs and resolutions than the shepherds are able to divert a lion from his prey.

⁵ As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending, also He will deliver it; and passing over, He will preserve it.

— as birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; as birds in the air at a distance, especially the eagle, have their eye upon their nests and their young ones in them and when in danger fly to their assistance and hover over them to keep off those that would hurt them, so the Lord, on high sees his people when in distress and hastens to surround, protect and defend them.

⁶ Turn ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

— turn ye unto him from the Egyptians to whom they sought for help unto the Lord, whom they had neglected; from evil ways and practices, idolatry and impiety to the true worship of God, to his word and ordinances, statutes and commands;

— the Targum says, “turn to the law” which they had rejected and broken.

⁷ For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

— every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold; with contempt and abhorrence of them; every man “his” own idol and even those that were of the greatest value, which were made of gold and silver;

— which your own hands have made; their idols were the work of their own hands and were made by them in order to commit sin with, the sin of idolatry; for the punishment which your hands have made; it was a sin to make such idols especially with a view to worship them.

⁸ “Then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword, but not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a lowly man, shall devour him; but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.

— then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib their king, which besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time; which as soon as the people were brought to a sense of their sin and cast away their idols as a proof of it, were utterly destroyed;

— not by the sword of Hezekiah, nor any of his valiant generals; and the sword, not of a mean man shall devour him; neither the sword of a general, nor of a private soldier, nor indeed of any man but of an angel; see II Kings 19:35;

— but he shall flee from the sword; from the drawn sword of the angel, who very probably appeared in such a form as in 1 Chronicles 21:16 which Sennacherib king of Assyria seeing, as well as the slaughter made in his army by him, fled from it; in the Hebrew text it is added, “for himself” he fled for his life, for his own personal security; see II Kings 19:36;

— and his young men shall be discomfited; his choice ones, the flower of his army, they “melt away” through fear; or die by the stroke of the angel upon them.

⁹ And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,” saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem.

— and the king of Assyria shall pass over to his stronghold in fear; this is of departing in haste from the siege of Jerusalem to some stronghold in his own country, particularly his strong city Nineveh, for fear of the angel and destruction following him; nor could he think himself safe until he had got there;

— others render it (and the original will bear it), “and his rock shall pass over for fear” his mighty men, his men of valour, in whom he trusted who were his strength upon which he depended; these as many as were left of them, fled away. So the Targum says, “his princes shall flee for fear.”

Isaiah 32

¹ Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgement.

— behold, a King shall reign in righteousness; not Hezekiah as modern Judiasm thought; but rather the Son of God, who is also “King” not only of Judah, but the whole world, and who “reigns” in and over his Kingdom and people, being set as King by his Father over his holy hill of Zion;

— and princes, the elects of God, shall rule in judgement: who are set over the Kingdom and who rule with righteous judgement when they rule according to the word of God; they who shall teach the truth and administer ordinances, statues and the law.

² And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

— and a man; evidently, the princes referred to in the previous verse; shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, a place where one may take refuge from a violent wind and tempest;

— a covert, a place of shelter and security. Wind and tempest are emblematic of calamity and oppression; and the sense is that the princes would be the protector of other people and would save them from the calamities.

³ And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

— and the eyes of them that see; that there shall be, under the reign of this wise and pious prince, on the part of the prophets and teachers, a clear view of divine truth and on the part of the people who hear, a disposition to hearken and to attend to it.

⁴ The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

— the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge; who have been hasty and who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them,

— especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and deeper spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of God, his Son, the Messiah, the Christ, of his person, offices, his righteousness and redemption.

— and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly; or “shall make haste to speak neatly” elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, or scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things,

— yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction and use of those that hear them.

⁵ The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

— the vile person; the base and worthless shall be no more called liberal; they shall no longer be reputed honourable, because of their high and honourable places, but wickedness shall be discovered wherever it is, and virtue manifested and rewarded;

— nor the churl said to be bountiful, the sordid and covetous man; but under this one vice all vices are understood, as under the opposite virtue of bountifulness all virtues are comprehended.

⁶ For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry; and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

— for the vile person will speak villany; men shall no longer be miscalled; for every one will discover what he is by his words and actions. And will work iniquity; he will, from time to time, be devising wickedness, that he may execute it when he hath opportunity;

— to practise hypocrisy; to do bad things, though with a pretence of religion and justice; to utter error; to pass unjust sentences, directly contrary to the command of God; to cause the drink, whereby they take away the bread and drink of the poor.

⁷ The instruments also of the churl are evil; he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

— the instruments also of the churl are evil; the sense is that such covetous or wicked princes most willingly choose and employ wicked men in their affairs, because such men will, without any regard to conscience or justice: serve all their exorbitant desires;

— he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right; he consults, contrives and forms schemes with all craft and cunning, on purpose, to corrupt the poor and meek, humble and afflicted souls, with false doctrines;

— even when these poor and needy ones, who want to have sound and comfortable doctrine delivered to them, speak and ask for that which is right and just, agreeably to the oracles of God; therefore such a man is unfit to be a ruler in the house of God.

One of man’s wickedness is devising lies, for more, see Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar?

⁸ But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

— liberal, or rather “noble-minded” – he who is truly liberal and virtuous will show it by designing and practising liberal or virtuous actions;

— liberal, who devises liberal things, and persists or continues in liberal things. But the liberal; the word ‘liberal’ means generous, noble, benevolent; a man of large views and of public spirit; a man above covetousness, and self-seeking.

⁹ Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

— ye women that are at ease; they who are surrounded by the comforts which affluence gives, and that have no fear of being reduced to other than a princess.

— ye careless daughters – Hebrew, ‘Daughters confiding;’ that is, those who felt no alarm, and who did not regard God and his warnings and threats.

¹⁰ Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

— for the vintage shall fail – a large part of the wealth and the luxury of the nation consisted in the vintage. When the vine failed, there would be, of course, great distress;

— the sense is that in consequence of the invasion of Israel’s enemies, this might occur either from the dread of the invasion or because Israel’s enemies would destroy everything in their march;

— many days and years shall ye be troubled; a year and somewhat more, or days upon a year, year upon year; and so denotes a long duration of their troubles; and so the troubles of the wicked, before their utter destruction that could last a great while; it might be 190 years for Israel and 40 years for Judah?

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

¹¹ Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones. Strip you and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins;

— tremble, ye women that are at ease; the G7 that are rich and living in comfort; the call to repentance includes their stripping themselves of their costly finery, and putting on the “sackcloth” and put on the habiliments of mourning, indicative of a great calamity.

¹² they shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

— they shall lament for the teats; either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried up; or else of the women, their breasts and teats, which should afford no milk for their infants, through the famine that should press them sore, which would occasion great lamentation, both in mothers and children.

¹³ Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

— upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; the curse of the earth, being uncultivated, and this through want of men, they being destroyed or carried captive by the enemy;

— this is to be understood of the land of Judea and of Samaria; which is mentioned to show the apostasy of both houses, for which ruin came upon their land; upon all the houses of joy; that is, Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth; and the “houses of joy.”

¹⁴ Because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks,

— the palaces of the princes and nobles shall be forsaken; they being obliged to flee from the enemy or being taken and either slain or carried captive. The word in the Hebrew is in the singular number, “the palace” meaning the royal palace; and so of the king’s palace;

— a pasture of flocks; where flocks of sheep feed, instead of being inhabited by men; for the desire or at the will of the Ishmaelites and their army and certain it is that Jerusalem now is in the hands of the Ishmaelites, Turks or Moslems; or by the modern Edomites in the land of Ephraim.

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

— The Targum says, “the place which was a house of joy and gladness for kings is now become a spoil for armies.”

¹⁵ until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

— until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high; that is, Jerusalem shall lie in ruins until the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which, as it was before the destruction of the city by the Romans, so the desolation it was brought on until the fulness of the Gentiles are fulfilled;

— and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest; this will be the consequence, fruit and effect of the effusion of the Spirit in the latter day; that such parts of the world as were like a wilderness, barren and unfruitful, producing nothing but the briers and thorns of impiety, infidelity, superstition and idolatry, should now become like a fruitful field.

¹⁶ Then judgement shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

— then judgement shall dwell in the wilderness; in the desert part of the world, inhabited by Gentiles where the Scriptures, the rule of judgement and where the Gospel, sometimes called the judgement of the Lord had no place, now they shall have one and such as do justice and judgement shall dwell there.

¹⁷ And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever.

— and the work of righteousness; that which righteousness produces; or the effect of the prevalence of righteousness on the nation; shall be peace; there shall be no internal agitation and no conflicts with foreign nations.

¹⁸ And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places

— and in quiet resting places where they may sleep and rest quietly and none to disturb them and make them afraid; and where they shall enjoy much spiritual prosperity and safety, great peace and quietness, comfort and rest;

¹⁹ when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

— when, or rather, and it shall hail; as my blessings shall be poured down upon my people, who, from a wilderness, are turned into a fruitful field so my judgements shall fall upon them who were a fruitful field but are turned into a forest;

— and the city, Jerusalem, which, though now it was the seat of God’s worship and people, yet he foresaw would be the great enemy of the Messiah; shall be low in a low place; that is, shall be greatly humbled or brought very low.

²⁰ Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

— blessed are ye that sow beside all waters; a golden age of agriculture receives its final touch: the whole land should be irrigated by calmly flowing streams and men should cast their seed broadcast and the oxen and the asses should draw the plough over a rich and fertile land. Amen.

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

Isaiah 29

¹ “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

— Woe to Ariel, to Ariel; the name interpreted as “the lion of God” or “the hearth of God,” and belongs to the same poetic synonym the Valley of Vision (Psalm 22:1);

— so called because Jerusalem was the place in the observance of the feasts: the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles; burnt-offering, or of the public worship of God; the place where the Sanctuary is, the Shekinah and fire is, as on a hearth, continually burned on the altar.

² Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be unto Me as Ariel.

— yet God will distress Ariel; or “straiten” it by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices and their observance of their solemn feasts;

— and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy from outside, invading all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city;

— and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar, a sacrifice; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men;

— and so the Targum says, “and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around”

— this maybe where Judah shall bear his iniquity for forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint; after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the house of Judah shall join in for 40 years.

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

³ And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mound, and I will raise forts against thee.

— and God will camp against thee, that is, by those enemies whom God will assist and enable to take and destroy thee; this may refer to different sieges of Jerusalem, that of Sennacherib, that of the Chaldeans to that of the Romans, or even another one at the endtime?

⁴ And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.”

— thou shalt be brought down; thy speech shall be low; thou, who now speaks loftily, shalt be humbled, and in a submissive manner, and with a low voice, shalt beg the favour of thine enemies as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground.

⁵ Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

— moreover the multitude of thy enemies shall be like small dust, or fine dust that is easily dissipated by the wind;

— and the multitude of an invading, besieging army, the terrible ones shall be as chaff that are blown away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly; like the forces of Sennacherib were destroyed in a single night by the angel of the Lord.

⁶ Thou shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.

— but thou, that is, Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire; revisiting of the days before Mount Sinai;

⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her fortifications, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

— and the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, a new revived “Roman army” which consisted of men of all nations, that fought against Jerusalem; the city in which was the altar;

— as the Targum paraphrases it: even all that fight against her and her munition and that distress her; that besieged it and endeavoured to demolish its walls, towns and fortifications as they did; shall quickly fall and pass away and come to nothing, like a dream in the night.

⁸ It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint and his soul hath appetite. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

— his soul is empty; his appetite or desire is unsatisfied. Or his stomach or body is empty; so shall all the multitude from all nations that fight against Mount Zion; either shall quickly perish;

— or having raised their expectations and pleased themselves with the booty they should obtain, of which they thought themselves sure, shall find themselves mistaken and all like an illusive dream.

⁹ Stay yourselves, and wonder! Cry ye out, and cry! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

— stay yourselves and wonder, stop a while, pause a little; cry ye out and cry: they are drunk but not with wine; they stagger but not with strong drink; consider yourselves the case and circumstances of these people and wonder at their stupidity.

¹⁰ For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered.

— the Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep; of spiritual blindness, a reprobate mind, a mind void of sound judgement and sense by their shepherds and the seers;

— a hardness of heart and insensibility to dangers, by their rulers, magistrates and ministers and other chief of the people what we call a judicial blindness that they which see might be made blind against the light.

¹¹ And the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee”; and he saith, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

— and the vision of all; all the prophetic books, plus the book of Revelations, every vision by these writers; is unto you as the words of a book that is sealed;

— which no man can read while it is sealed up, being in the form of rolls, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, but he replied, I cannot; for it is sealed. Ordinary learning, without supernatural light, will not be to understand the word of God and things divine;

— for example, without knowing who modern Ephraim is, most of the prophecies in the OT remains sealed! But you can have a more indepth studies here:

(1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

(3) Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar? (4) The Ox without the Unicorn

¹² And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee”; and he saith, “I am not learned.”

— the Scriptures is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned; it is encrypted with signs and symbols, until he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, and only upon God’s spirits, that he may thence learn the truth and the will of God; otherwise he would be blinded.

¹³ Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men,

— but there are many whose religion is lip-service only, they pretend to be speaking to God, they are pranks, they mix some truths with a thousand foolish things; honouring Astarte from the Egyptians and Mithra from the Persian as they worship the God of Israel according to their own devices.

¹⁴ therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

— therefore, God will proceed to do a marvellous work among these people, perhaps referring to the captivity of Israel for 190 years and Judah 40; even an wonderful work and a wonder:

— for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden, because of their disobedience, idolatry and wickedness, their regard to men’s doctrines and commandments, and not to the will and word of God, therefore he determines “to deal marvellously and a wonder with this people.”

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

¹⁵ Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark, and they say, “Who seeth us?” and, “Who knoweth us?”

— woe unto them, or “O ye” that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord; which though they consulted in private, and formed deep schemes, imagining they were not observed by the Lord, yet he that sits in the heaven saw them and laughed at their vain imaginations, Psalm 2:1;

— and their works are in the dark; in the dark night as if the darkness could conceal them from the all seeing eye of God; such works are truly works of darkness but cannot be hidden, though they flatter themselves;

— and they muse, Who see us? and who know us? as no man, they imagine, but not God himself could; into such atheism do wicked men sink when desirous of bringing their schemes into execution.

¹⁶ Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, “He made me not”? Or shall the thing formed say of him that formed it, “He had no understanding”?

— surely your turning of things upside down is a reinstatement of Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter;

— thus reversing all principles of Godly morality; that is, that excuse the one and reproach the other; that put darkness for light and light for darkness, particularly in palliating the wickedness of sin, in representing avarice, luxury, the lust of the flesh as harmless;

— and pervert the order which God hath appointed; witness what LGBTQIA lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex, and asexual (or allies) has progressed!

— “He made me not”? shall the potter be counted as the clay? The words bring out the character of the perversity, the upside-downness of which the prophet denounces; the men whom he condemns were inverting the relations of the Creator and the creature,

— the potter and the clay, acting practically as arrogant atheists, denying that there was a Divine order of which they formed a part.

¹⁷ Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

— is it not yet a very little while; the projection in time is here foretold, when there would be a strange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows, all things;

— when Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; that is, that the Gentile world, which was like a forest uncultivated, and full of unfruitful trees, should through the preaching of the Gospel be manured, become God’s husbandry and be like a fruitful field, abounding with people and churches, fruitful and be part of the Kingdom of God.

¹⁸ And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

— shall the deaf hear the words of the book; they who now have the Scriptures, its prophecies and concerning the coming of the Messiah; and do not understand it, the people who seem to be deaf to all that God says, shall hear and understand it;

— shall see out of obscurity; that is, their eyes closed and ignorant, the darkness being removed, they shall see clearly the truth of God, and discern and love its beauty. Their eyes are now blinded, but then they shall see clearly.

¹⁹ The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

— the meek, rather, the afflicted, the idea is, virtuous suffering; poor among men, that is, the pious poor; rejoice when they see the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off

— for the terrible one, the violent one, the oppressor, who had exercised cruelty over them, refers to those who held offices of power, and who abused them to oppress the poor and needy;

— and the scorner is consumed; shall be entirely destroyed; and all that watch for iniquity, that is, those who seek anxiously for opportunities to commit iniquity.

²¹ who make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

— that make a man an offender, literally, ‘who cause a man to sin’ who hold a man to be guilty, or a criminal;

— the Targum says, they “that falsely pervert the judgement of the innocent” they that turn away their judgement, decline doing them justice, but condemn them on frivolous pretences.

²² Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

— the One who redeemed Abraham; that is, who brought him out of a land of idolaters, and rescued him from the abominations of idolatry. The word ‘redeem,’ here properly denotes to ransom, that is, to redeem a captive, or a prisoner with a price paid;

— so Jacob shall not be ashamed, that is, the posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed for their infidelity, for their persecutions of God’s prophets and righteous servants,

— and for their rejection of their own Messiah, who also has redeemed them, shall, at last, be brought back unto the God of their fathers and be their Messiah.

²³ But when he seeth his children, the work of Mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

— when he sees his children; when the believing seed of Jacob see those children, whom they have begotten to God by the preaching of the gospel, even the Gentiles, converted by their ministry;

— the work of mine hands; the children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty power and grace, have created or regenerated, of stones raising up children to Abraham. In the midst of him; which Gentiles shall be incorporated with the Jews into one and the same body and Kingdom;

— they shall sanctify my name; the name Yehovah; they shall not despise and hate the Gentiles, but shall praise and glorify God with them and for them, as all the believing Jews and Gentiles would.

²⁴ They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”

— shall learn doctrine; the doctrine of the Messiah, the truth; they “shall receive discipline” or “instruction,” that is, come to understanding and learn true doctrines, the law, and true justice.

Isaiah 30

¹ “Woe to the rebellious children,” saith the Lord, “that take counsel, but not of Me, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

— woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, the house of Jacob, who were the “children” of God, but had turned their backs upon him, and departed from his worship and ordinances; and therefore a woe is pronounced against them;

— that take counsel, but not of me; they met and consulted together about their safety, when in danger, but did not ask counsel of the Lord; they did not consult his word, nor his prophets, nor by Urim and Thummim, as in case of whether to go to war;

— that they may add sin to sin; the sins of rebellion and apostasy: so wicked men, who are enemies in their minds, by wicked works, to God, and commit acts of hostility against him, and are in danger thereby of eternal ruin.

² that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

— they strengthen themselves with the might of Pharaoh, by forming an alliance with Pharaoh, that thus they hoped to repel the threatened invasion, putting their thrust in the emptiness of a shadow.

³ Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

— therefore they shall be disappointed of the help and assistance they expected from him, and be ashamed of their ally and the trust in the shadow of Egypt and their confusion; and be confounded.

⁴ For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

— for Pharaoh’s princes were at Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” which is the same as Tanis, the metropolis of one of the provinces of Egypt; and so the Targum renders it, “Tanes” and the Septuagint version, “Tanis.”

— The Jews say there is not a more excellent place in all Egypt than Zoan, because kings were brought up in it, as it is said here, “his princes were at Zoan.”

— and more on Zoan: today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, or Tanis, at one time the royal and capital of the country; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people);

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander.”

— the other called “Hanes” is the same with Tahapanes in Jeremiah 2:16 and Tahpanhes, Jeremiah 43:7 and so the Targum here calls it; it is thought to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae; here Pharaoh had a house or palace; see Jeremiah 43:9

— and this is the reason of the ambassadors (the Jeremiah’s entourage and the king’s daughters, after escaping from Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, who smote Gedaliah the governor and who might also kill them) from the “children of God” had gone there;

Ezekiel 29:12 “and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.”

⁵ They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach.”

— they (Judah’s princes that appeared in Zoan; and his ambassadors in Hanes) were all ashamed of a people (Pharaoh and his princes) that could not help them; the princes, the ambassadors that were sent unto them, and the king or people, or both, that sent them, who hoped for and expected great things from them, but being disappointed, were filled with shame;

— nor be an help, nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach: so far from being of any advantage to them, by helping and assisting them against their enemy, wanting either inclination or capacity, or both, that it not only turned to their shame, but even was matter of reproach to them, that ever they made any application to them, or placed any confidence in them for help.

⁶ The burden of the beasts of the South: Into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

— the burden of the beasts of the south, the word ‘South’ here refers doubtless to the country to the South of Judea; and particularly to Egypt; but could also be Edom; and today as Spain and Mexico (South of the children of Joseph!)

— from whence come the young and old lion, the viper, and fiery flying serpent; creatures with which Egypt abounded as historians relate and where some of them at least were worshipped and where also men dwelt comparable to these creatures as for craft and cruelty.

⁷ For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose; therefore have I cried to her concerning this, “Their strength is to sit still.”

— for the Egyptians shall help in vain; that is, if they enter into the alliance, they shall not be able to defend you from the invader, though they may make a show of help and attempted to help them or seemed to do so, yet failed to do it;

— their strength is to sit still; either concerning this embassy, that it would be better for the ambassadors to have spared all their toil and labour and strength and have remained quiet and easy in their own country than going down to Egypt.

⁸ Now go, write it before them on a tablet and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever,

— now go, write it before them; write this prophecy and warning, which Isaiah have now delivered, in their presence; in a table and in a book;

— so it was to be written twice over, once in a table, to be hung up in some public place, for the people then at that time might read it; and again in a book, that it might be kept for the use of posterity; that is to us at a latter day, because prophecies are often dual in purposes;

— that it may be for the time to come, as a witness for me and against them, that God have given them fair warning, and they have wilfully run upon their own ruin;

— so the Targum confirms, “and it shall be in the day of judgement for a witness before me for ever.”

⁹ that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord,

— that they are lying children, who tell lies as easily as one breaths; and lied and were guilty of lying, not only to God but to one another; they that will not hear the law of the Lord, the commands of God, either contained in the Scriptures, or delivered by the mouth of the prophets, whereby these warnings are expressly concerning them;

¹⁰ who say to the seers, “See not,” and to the prophets, “Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits.

— speak unto us smooth things; that is, those things which are in accordance with our feelings, prejudices and desires; which assure us of prosperity and success and which will not disturb us with the apprehension of punishment;

— prophesy deceits, not that they would openly and avowedly demand to be deceived, but they demanded that which the prophet says would be deceits. No man “professedly” desires to be deceived; yet many a man is willing to put himself under that kind of teaching which is deceit and which he might know to be falsehood if he would examine it.

¹¹ Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”

— get ye out of the way: turn aside out of the path; these two expressions mean one and the same thing; either that the prophets would go out of their usual way of threatening ruin and destruction;

— or that they would go out of the way of the people, and not stand in it to hinder them pursuing their own lusts and pleasures; or that they would go out of the right way, in their ways: cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them; do not so often make mention of his name,

— or come to us with a “thus saith the Lord”; let us hear no more of him; as the Targum says, “remove far from us the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

¹² Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: “Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stand thereon,

¹³ therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

— therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, or “as a falling breach” contempt of the word of God, rejecting the counsel of God, these would be the cause of ruin; signified by the breach of a falling wall or by a breach in a wall, by reason of which it is in danger of falling and is just ready to fall.

¹⁴ And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter’s vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.”

— that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare; or that is broken in pieces without mercy, as the Targum says; no pity shall be shown by the enemy nor mercy from the Lord.

¹⁵ For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; but ye would not.

— in returning and rest shall ye be saved; or “may be saved” namely, by “returning” from their evil ways and to his worship and ordinances; and so the Targum says, “if ye return to my law.”

¹⁶ But ye said, ‘No, for we will flee upon horses’; therefore shall ye flee! And, ‘We will ride upon the swift’; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift!

— but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses to get help and assistance; and then face the enemy;

— therefore shall they that pursue you be swift; yea, swifter than the horses and camels they rode on and overtake them and either put them to death or carry them captive.

¹⁷ One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee, till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and as an ensign on a hill.”

— at the rebuke of one, the number one here is put to denote a very small number; a number in the ordinary course of warfare entirely disproportionate to those who would be vanquished, which is a reference here to the prediction in Deuteronomy 32:30;

— and as an ensign on a hill; the idea is that those who should escape would be few in number, a remnant and would stand alone, as a beacon in view of all the nations, to admonish them of the justice of God and the truth of his threats, like an ensign floating on a hill that can be seen from afar.

¹⁸ And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgement; blessed are all they that wait for Him.

— his waiting is very patient; the divine husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it. How wonderful that in a very real sense he attends on our pleasure, as it were, and lets us determine his time to work.

¹⁹ For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee.

— for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, or “for the people of Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem” those that belonged to the fort of Zion should dwell in Jerusalem, or “abide” there, both they and the inhabitants of it, at least many of them should quietly continue there, waiting the Lord’s time to appear for them;

— although the time is coming when the people shall be banished from Jerusalem and carried into captivity; yet after a set time they shall return and have a fixed and comfortable abode in Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and metropolis of their Kingdom.

²⁰ And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teacher.

— and though the Lord give you the bread of adversity; the bread that is eaten in a time of calamity; that is, he would bring upon them sore distress and wan; the water of affliction, ‘oppression.’ That is, water drank in times of affliction and oppression, or in the long and weary days of captivity;

— Rashi: your Teacher: The Holy One, blessed be He, who teaches you for your profit.

²¹ And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left.

— it seems best to understand the Scriptures of truth as the word of God, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; it directs to the Messiah the way, and who is the only way of life and which is the right way; so the Targum paraphrases it, “this is the right way.”

²² Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, “Get thee hence.”

— ye shall show your contempt of it; defile the covering of thy graven images; the leaves or plates, wherewith their wooden images were frequently covered: and the ornament of thy molten images;

— or, thy coat, or covering; the ephod, a costly and glorious robe. The images also were of gold: for thou shalt cast them away; thou shalt so deeply abhor idolatry that thou shalt cast away, with indignation, “Get thee hence.”

²³ Then shall He give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground therewith, and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

— then shall he give the rain of thy seed; that is, he shall send rain on the seed which is sown; and you will be allowed to cultivate the soil without molestation, and God will give you fruitful seasons and abundant harvests;

— the Targum interprets it thus, “and the righteous shall be nourished with their cattle at that time, with the fat of tender and fat things” as the earth would be fruitful, the cattle would be well fed; and so there would be plenty of provision for man and beast.

²⁴ The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

— the Septuagint renders it, “they shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley” but if they were to eat chaff with it, there would be no need to winnow it.

²⁵ And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

— in the day of the great slaughter; when the enemies of the people of God shall have been destroyed; probably in a time subsequent to the slaughter of the army of the Assyrians as a historical type, and so, perhaps, awaiting a prophetic one.

²⁶ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound.

— moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun; an hyperbolical expression, used to set forth the exceeding great light, comparable to the moon, immeasurable as the light of the sun exceeds the light of the moon;

— and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold; as if the light of seven days was collected together; or as if there were seven suns shining together.

— The Targum not only makes it to be seven times seven, that is, forty nine; but multiply forty nine by seven, and make it three hundred and forty three or as the light of so many days.

²⁷ Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; His lips are full of indignation and His tongue as a devouring fire.

— behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, it is introduced with a “behold” as declaring something of importance worthy of attention, and even wonderful;

— burning with anger; against his army, the kings of the earth; his “eyes” shall be “as a flame of fire” and when he comes to judge the world, he will descend in “flaming fire,” Revelation 19:12 the day of the Lord will burn as an oven, Malachi 4:1.

²⁸ And His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity; and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

— the breath of his nostrils or the blast of the breath of his nostrils; in both instances it is a sign and effect of God’s anger and the cause of the destruction of those against whom it is directed;

— to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity; that is, the breath, wind or spirit of the Lord, compared to an overflowing stream should have this effect to sift the people of several nations so as to dash them one against another and utterly destroy them;

— for they were to be sifted, not with a good and profitable sieve, which retains the corn and shakes out the chaff or so as to have some taken out and spared; but with a sieve that lets all through and so be brought to nothing.

²⁹ Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.

— ye shall have a song; that is, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem shall rejoice when the army of the Assyrian, or another prophetic one, is destroyed;

— as in the night when a solemnity is kept; the word ‘solemnity’ here (חג châg) denotes a festival, or feast; and refers by way of eminence to the Passover where the “death angels” passed, which is usually designated as “the feast” that is, the principal festival of God’s people.

³⁰ And the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones.

— his glorious voice; his thunder, which is Called God’s voice, and said to be full of majesty, Psalm 29:4. But then thunder is metaphorically taken for God’s judgement;

— and tempest and hailstones; it is rare that a storm of hail would be severe enough to destroy an army. But in this case, storms of hail are not unfrequently of sufficient violence to do it if the army were encamped in the open field something could fall from the heavens with a heavy splash; they were large balls of ice falling.

³¹ For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, who smote with a rod.

— which smote with a rod; who was accustomed to smite as with a rod; as an instrument in God’s hand; that is, his government was tyrannical and severe; as he had been accustomed to smite in that manner, so he would now meet the proper reward of his oppression of the nations.

³² And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with taborets and harps; and in battles of weapon shaking will He fight with it.

— it shall be with tabrets and harps; that is, at every stroke of God’s judgements upon God’s enemies, Israel should raise its song of triumph with the timbrels and harps.

³³ For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

— Tophet, literally, “A place of abomination” the valley of the sons of Hinnom, southeast of Jerusalem, where Israel offered human sacrifices to Moloch by fire; hence a place of burning;

— the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it; the pile of fire and wood; the Targum says, “the word of the Lord, like an overflowing torrent of brimstone, shall kindle it.”

Posted in Isaiah

‘NATO is the real troublemaker.’ NATO’s provocative lurch eastward and the ‘supreme fool’ Jens Stoltenberg

When judgement was due, Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, total; and he was made to dwell among the beasts in the wild; however he regained his sanity after eating grass for seven years.

Now, as another judgement is due, the ‘liberal’ West has already lost their sanity: Stoltenberg admits NATO Began Preparing Ukraine for War with Nuclear Russia Since 2014; although still humans, they are spilling sh!t everywhere and behaving like supreme fools!

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20.

Isaiah 27

¹ In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

— the “dragon” is as in Psalm 74:13-14; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2, could be the standing emblem of Egypt: the other, so specifically mentioned, the “leviathan” in Job 41:1, there is always a possibility of an endtime revelation, that is, it could be real!

² In that day sing ye unto her, “A vineyard of red wine!

— in that day sing ye to her: a vineyard of red wine; meaning, of the best wine, which this vineyard, that is, the Kingdom would bring forth as pleasing to the Lord.

³ I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment. Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

— I the Lord do keep it; it is understood here or implied as ‘Yehovah said’ (compare Psalm 121:3-5); I will water it every moment; that is, constantly, as a vinedresser does his vineyard.

⁴ Fury is not in Me. Who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them; I would burn them together.

— fury is not in me; or, wrath have I none; that is, wrath isn’t a natural character of God, but because of briers and thorns (sins and wickedness), symbols of God’s enemies, against me, I am provoked into anger and fury and burn them together.

⁵ Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.”

— Or let my enemies take hold of my strength, that they may make peace with me; and they shall find peace with me.

⁶ He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. — Or, In the days that come Jacob shall strike root;

— Israel shall blossom with bud and fill the face of the world with fruit; in all parts of the world; or of the great number of converts made everywhere; so the Targum says, by “fruit” to mean children’s children;

— the sense is, that when the Kingdom of God is established and settled, grounded in the right doctrines of truth, it shall be flourishing and be fruitful, abounding in good works and with increased numbers of converts;

— it shall be like the mustard tree, when it becomes so great a tree as that the birds of the air make their nests in it; and as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, when it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.

⁷ Hath He smitten him, as He smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

— that is, “Hath He (Yehovah) smitten him (Israel) as he smote those that smote him; or is he slain according to the slaughter of those that are slain by him?”

⁸ In measure, when it shooteth forth, Thou wilt debate with it; He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.

— Rashi: when they sent them out, it strove with it: When Egypt sent Israel out, it strove with it, the seah of the measure with its seah; He spoke with His harsh wind: (הָגָה) He spoke with His harsh speech; on the day of the east wind: On the day (concerning which Scripture states) (Ex. 14:21): “And the Lord led the sea with a strong east wind.”

⁹ By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin: When he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten asunder, the Asherah poles and sun images shall not stand up.

— by this therefore; by this manner of God’s dealing with his people shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;

— the groves and the images shall not stand up; erect to be worshipped; but shall be thrown down, demolished and broke to pieces; and by thus abandoning their idols and idolatrous practices;

— sun images shall not stand up; the world are honouring the host of heaven with more than 98.5 percent of Christians honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east;

— and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be “cut off” to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die’ or ”shall not stand up.”

¹⁰ Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof.

— yet the fortified city; most probably this means Jerusalem, shall be desolate.

¹¹ When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will show them no favor.

— for it is a people of no understanding; and may be applied as Isaiah 1:3; Jeremiah 8:7; Deuteronomy 32:28, to Israel as an apostate;

— will not have mercy; will show them no favor; that is, “will not spare.” God will have “measure” and “mercy” in his punishment of Israel but will not so have mercy as not to punish severely.

¹² And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

— from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; from Euphrates to the Nile, which were the two borders of the Land of Promise, Joshua 1:4. All the Israelites which are left in the land; which are here opposed to those of them that are dispersed into foreign parts, such as Assyria and Egypt.

¹³ And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

— in the land of Assyria, the ten tribes were carried away in II Kings 17:6; and it is probable that many of the other two tribes were also with them. A portion of the ten tribes would also be re-gathered, and would return with the others to the land of their fathers upon the blowing of the trumpet.

In 1897, the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, urges “a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine” for Jews and establishes the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

In November 2, 1917, the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration which documented three main ideas:

• First, it declared official support from the British Government for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” and promised that the British Government would actively aid in these efforts.
• Second, it documented that the British Government would not support actions that would prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish residents of Palestine.
• Finally, it confirmed that Jews living in any other country would, similarly, not be prejudiced.

Q. How would the Ten-Tribes be made to return? Could this organization B’ney Yosef North America spearheads the charge? Its mission says:

“B’ney Yosef North America exists to study, to pray, to elucidate, to encourage, to find family, and to await and facilitate the reconstitution of Ephraim, then ultimately the reunion of Ephraim with Judah.”

Isaiah 28

The twenty-eighth chapter concerning the destruction of intoxicated Ephraim, through thirty-third chapter form almost one continuous prophecy concerning the impiety and folly of Judah, and their dangers to make allies with Egypt or Assyria.

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

(3) Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar? (4) The Ox without the Unicorn

¹ Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

— that is, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, the proud state and kingdom of the ten tribes. This pride is about Ephraim, the United States:

“But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us,” Madeleine Albright

— and the many and excellent vines among them, showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom, Israel;

— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 36: woe to “the drunkards of Israel”

— this prophecy in Ezekiel 36 is concerning the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;

— shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these are their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).

— is a fading flower; beauty “whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower” – the image of “drunkards” it was the custom at feasts to wreathe with flowers; so this indispensable Ephraim stood upon the head of the fertile valley,”

— that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as the best of a garland; but that garland is “fading,” and this intoxicated Ephraim is now close to ruin, not to be depended upon, soon to be destroyed and discarded away quickly.

² Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

— behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one; they have a powerful king with a mighty army; which as a tempest of hail; that beats down herbs and plants, and branches of trees, men and beasts:

— and a destroying storm; which carries all before it, blows down houses and trees, and makes terrible devastation wherever it comes: as a flood of mighty waters overflowing; whose torrent is so strong there is no stopping it;

— the Targum says, “so shall people come against them, and remove them out of their own land into another land, because of the sins which were in their hands.”

³ The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet;

— so this mighty and powerful prince shall cast down upon intoxicated Ephraim, the crown of pride, the people of Israel, and the king of it; he shall take the crown from his head, and cast it to the ground with a strong hand;

⁴ and the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower and as the early fruit before the summer, which when he that looketh upon it seeth; while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

— and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley; meaning the riches and fruitfulness of the ten tribes, and especially of Ephraim the head of them:

— shall be a fading flower; as before declared, Isaiah 28:1 and here repeated to show the certainty of it, and to awaken their attention to it; and as the hasty fruit before the summer; the first ripe fruit, that which is ripe before the summer fruits in common are;

— the Septuagint render it the first ripe fig; and so the Targum: which when he that looks upon it sees it; that it is goodly and desirable, and so gathers it, Micah 7:1;

— while it is yet in his hand he eats it up; and as soon as he has got it into his hand, he cannot keep it there to look at, or forbear eating it, but greedily devours and swallows it down at once; denoting what a desirable prey the ten tribes would be to their enemies from the South, and how swift, sudden and inevitable would be their destruction.

⁵ In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people,

— in that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, signifying that the faithful who do not put their trust in any worldly prosperity but made God their glory, will be honoured with a diadem of beauty.

⁶ and for a spirit of judgement to him that sits in judgement, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

— and for a spirit of judgement to him that sit in judgement; that is, the Lord would give honour and glory to the people in general, so wisdom and prudence, a spirit of judgement and discerning, to those who sit in the Sanhedrin in particular, who sit to do justice, and execute judgement among their subjects;

— and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate; as wisdom is promised to the king and judges, so strength of body and mind, valour and courage, to the prince and his army; so that they should turn the battle, and cause their enemies to flee before them, and pursue them to the very gates of their cities.

⁷ But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgement.

— but they have erred through wine; through strong drink are out of the way;

— their priest, to whom strong drink was expressly forbidden, their prophet; the teachers, they run into the same excess of wine and strong drink, whereby they besot themselves and fall into numerous errors;

— they err and stumble in judgement; their intoxicated shepherds mistake in the teaching, pronouncing and discharging the sentence of the law.

⁸ For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

— the subject is still the drunkards of Ephraim; so that there is no place clean or free from vomit and filthiness, no table, or part of one, of prince, prophet, priest, and people; the Targum adds, “pure from rapine or violence.”

⁹ “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.

— whom shall he teach knowledge? – not their drunken priest or prophet, who were both unfit for teaching men knowledge; but either the true priest or prophet of the Lord, or the Lord himself;

— these are of age and free; and not subjected to false doctrines; there among his people that are capable and willing to be taught the good knowledge of God.

¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.”

— for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, signifying, that a single concept must be dealt with as children do, from the letter a and then b when first instructed in the rudiments of a language, then one rule given and then another, and so one after another, until letter z, till they have gone through the whole:

— line upon line, line upon line; who are taught first to write one line, and then another; or to draw one line and write after that and then another; or where to begin one line and when finished where to begin another;

— here a little, and there a little; a verse or two on the same subject here (like studying the subject of Ephraim) out of one book and a similar subject out of another; a little a day and a little the next and so on, that the whole picture may not be overburdened at once.

¹¹ For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people,

— with stammering lips in and another tongue by people of a strange language, whom God will bring them into whose power he will deliver them; will he speak to this people; this is because they are not hearing him speaking now by his prophets in their own language;

— they shall hear their enemies speaking to them in a strange language (in Spanish, Russian and Mandarin?) In misery of the house of Jacob, during their captivity, a time of Jacob’s trouble, that they may then be compelled to understand the language of their enemies.

¹² to whom He said, “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing” — yet they would not hear.

— to whom he said, the Lord himself, or the prophet Isaiah; so the Targum says, “to whom the prophets said” that is, the true prophets of the Lord said to the people, as follows:

— this is the rest for those weary to rest: and this is the refreshing: that is, by teaching the word of God, the true knowledge of him, and the sound doctrines;

— this would be the best way of refreshing the minds and health of the people, burdened, distressed and disconsolate through afflictions and calamities upon them, preserving them from captivity, and other judgements;

— yet they would not hear; having no regard to the Lord and his prophets; nor any compassion to their countrymen, afflicted and distressed in mind or body; nor to the true knowledge of God.

¹³ But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.

— but the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept; which were despised and derided by them; they took the prophet’s words out of context, and in a scoffing manner repeating them;

— precept upon precept, precept upon precept; the words may be rendered, “though the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept” which were delivered in a plain and easy a manner to understand, yet so stupid were they as not to receive those precepts, and so perverse and stubborn as willfully to reject them; hence they were given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart;

— that they might go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken: that they may fall backward, backslide from God, and be broken; and be ensnared and taken in a net by their enemies and again be carried away into captivity; and then be dispersed among the nations.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem,

— the prophet, Isaiah, now directly attacks the great men of Jerusalem, as being the leaders in crime, and as being eminently deserving of the wrath of God.

¹⁵ because ye have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”

— we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement: as safe from death and secure from hell or the grave, as if a covenant and compact had been formally entered into between them. The phrases are expressive of their being fearless of them, and of their confidence and assurance that they should not be hurt by them;

— for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves; not what they themselves reckoned so, but what the prophet Isaiah or the Lord by him, said so, whose words they used and in whose language they spoke;

— meaning either their lying prophets and the false doctrines they delivered to them, promising them peace when destruction was at hand; or their idols which are falsehood and lying vanities; or their carnal policy, and crafty methods of acting with their enemies;

— by which they hoped to deceive them; or else their wealth and riches, got by lying, stealing and fraud; and perhaps all may be intended in which they might put their trust and confidence and on account of them expect security from threatened evils, though no other than lies and falsehood; and the same may be observed of all outward acts of religion, rites, ceremonies and works of righteousness done by men, in which they place their trust and hope to be saved by them from wrath to come;

— this verse describes America’s most prominent lying secretary of state in history, Mike Pompeo: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”

— Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster picked up on Pompeo’s words and described it with such precision as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.

— behold, the one foundation on which building, we can build and be safe as well as secure, is that foundation which is laid in the Messiah, the Son of God, a tested stone, a precious stone, a stone that has borne all the weight that the world has laid upon it, and borne it up;

— cornerstone; uniting the several parts of the building together, making Ephraim and Judah, now sadly divided, one stick; and Jews and Gentiles, now implacable enemies, one church, one people and one Kingdom.

¹⁷ Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

— judgement also will I lay to the line; that is, God will execute just judgement, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it, with exactness and care. I will severely punish and utterly destroy all who reject that stone;

— and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, the lies they made their refuge; God’s judgements, which in the Scriptures are compared to a storm of hail or rain, shall discover the vanity of all their crafty and wicked devices and shall sweep them away by the rushing waters that shall flush them out from their hiding places.

¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

— disannulled; made void, or of none effect; ye shall be trodden down by it; which you flattered yourselves that it should not come unto you, would be thrown down and trampled upon by it as the mire of the streets.

¹⁹ From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.”

— from the time that it goes forth it shall take you; as soon as this overflowing scourge or judgement shall go forth; into the land, it shall take or seize upon you scoffers, or carry you away, which agrees with the metaphor of a flood;

— morning by morning it shall pass over; it shall not only come to you, contrary to your presumption, but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning; and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite.

²⁰ For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

— for the bed is shorter; that is, for those lying refuges, to which they trust, will not be able to give them the protection which they expect from them;

²¹ For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim; He shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act.

— the Lord shall rise up as in Mt Perazim, the point of the reference to David’s victories at Baal Perazim (1 Chronicles 14:11), and at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 14:16) is that then the Lord would interpose on behalf of his people against their enemies. The “new and strange” work, the very paradox of prophecy, was that he would now rise up to overthrow his own people.

²² Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consuming even determined upon the whole earth.

— now therefore be not mockers, for their own sakes do not make a mock of God’s word and threats, lest their bands be made strong, more sure and unavoidable, and more severe and terrible, as bands are when they are tied faster and more strongly upon a prisoner;

— for I have heard from the Lord a consumption; God hath assured Isaiah that he will utterly root out the people of Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes; and the Jews, the kingdom of the two tribes, even the whole earth.

²³ Give ye ear and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech.

— therefore, give ear, and hear my voice, so said the prophet because what he was about to say was of importance and required attention.

²⁴ Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

— do the ploughman plough all day to sow? Or “every day” he ploughs in order to sow; by ploughing he prepares the ground for sowing; and he does not plough every day in the year; he has other work besides ploughing; such as breaking of clods, sowing seed and threshing the grain after it is ripe, reaped and gathered.

²⁵ When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the dill and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place?

— as the plowman has his appointed time and various instruments for his labour, so has the Lord for his selection: for he selects and punishes some at one time and some at another; some after one sort and some after another, so that his chosen seed is beaten and tried, but not broken as are the wicked.

²⁶ For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

— for his God gives the husbandman instruction and discretion how to sow his seed at what time and in a proper place; for this refers to what goes before and after; threshing or beating out of corn, according to his knowledge and discretion God teaches him.

²⁷ For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod.

— the lesson of the parable is that it comes to nations and individuals in season and in measure in bringing in the minute details and drawing this lesson from them; that the method suitable to one kind of grain would be ruinous to another; and that even the rougher methods are applied with moderation.

²⁸ Bread corn is beaten, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

— “bread corn” of the wheat or barley is beaten, for this a severer chastisement, a more thorough threshing is needed; but the end of threshing is the preservation not the destruction of the grain.

²⁹ This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.

— in counsel and in giving counsel to man, this cometh from the Lord of hosts; all this wisdom the husbandman has, in manuring his ground, in sowing it with proper seed and in threshing it out in a manner suitable to it, agriculture or husbandry;

— even among the heathens, is always ascribed to God as an invention of his wisdom and it was the first work which God put man to, and instructed him as all other arts and sciences that come from God.

Posted in Isaiah

Something to think about the length of Jacob’s forthcoming Captivity! It’s subjective but a historical precedent from the house of Judah could give us a clue regarding its timeline:

“And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths” Leviticus 26:33-34

According to God’s judgement its length in Captivity is tied to their years of neglect; and drawing from Judah’s experience, it was seventy years, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21.

For a more indepth study on this subject, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Isaiah 25

¹ O Lord, Thou art my God. I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

— O Yehovah, thou art my God; in covenant with me: my friend, my father, my portion. Isaiah speaks in the name of the whole elect. I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, Yehovah. Those that have Yehovah for their God are in duty bound to praise him;

— for thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old, signifying not only counsels long before taken, but which thou hast from time to time revealed to thy prophets, which were of old, being conceived from all eternity, are true and firm, and shall certainly be accomplishe;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end).

² For Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt.

— thou hast made of a city an heap; the city spoken of as “the palace of strangers” was, probably identified with the oppressors and destroyers of his people—that is, Nineveh, Babylon or Rome; but that city was also for him the representation of the world-power which in every age opposes to the Kingdom of God;

— it shall never be rebuilt; their cities and palaces have been or shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed.

³ Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee; the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee.

— therefore shall the strong people fear thee; thy stoutest enemies, observing thy wonderful works, shall be forced to tremble before thee.

⁴ For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

— for thou hast been a strength to the poor; hast defended thy poor and helpless people against the fiercest assaults of their enemies.

⁵ Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

— thou shalt bring down the noise; the tumult; the sound which they make in entering into battle; or the note of triumph, and the sound of revelry.

⁶ And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

— and in this mountain, that is, in Mount Zion, Jerusalem, very frequently meant by the names of Zion and Jerusalem; a feast of fat things, of the ultimate glory of the saints in heaven; which is sometimes represented by a feast;

— and the participation of it, by sitting down with the elect at a table in the kingdom of God, and by drinking wine there.

⁷ And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

— this mountain, in Mount Zion; the covering of the face, or the veil, of their ignorance of God, and of the truth; cast over all people; which then was upon the Gentiles and all people. This is a manifest prophecy concerning the illumination and conversion of the Gentiles;

— for I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:25

⁸ He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it.

— he will swallow up death in victory, or rather, he will abolish death for ever;

— and will wipe away tears; take away from his people all sufferings and sorrows, with all the causes of them, which deliverance is begun here and perfected in heaven. The rebuke of his people; the reproach and contempt cast upon his faithful people;

— for the Lord hath spoken it; therefore doubt it not, though it seem incredible to you.

⁹ And it shall be said in that day: “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.”

— it shall be said in that day; the speakers are obviously the company of the redeemed, the citizens of new Jerusalem;

— we have waited for him; amidst many trials, persecutions, and calamities, we have looked for the coming of our God to deliver us, and we will rejoice in the salvation that he brings.

¹⁰ For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

— for in this mountain, in Mount Zion, Jerusalem, God will dwell with men again, in his new Sanctuary;

— and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill; by Moab are meant all the enemies of his Kingdom.

¹¹ And He shall spread forth His hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

— the Septuagint renders it, ‘Upon whatsoever he lays his hands,’ that is, God shall humble the pride of Moab in respect to everything on which he shall lay his hands;

— the word signifies snares, ambushes, craft; and then by the plunder or spoils which he had obtained by snares and ambushes; that is, their “craftily acquired spoils” would all perish with Moab and the land would thus be completely subdued.

¹² And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall He bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

— and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls; as interpreted to be Moab as the stronghold of the nations. Beyond this they predict a like destruction of every stronghold, every rock-built fortress of the great world-power of which Moab was for the time only a type.

Isaiah 26

¹ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

— the prophet Isaiah appears once more as in the character of a psalmist, that the land of Judah is destined for nothing less than the worship of the heavenly King; the walls of the city are not built of stone or brick, but are themselves as a living force; there is no need for other defenses.

² Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

— open the gates of the celestial city, New Jerusalem. The righteous nation which keeps the truth; literally, a righteous nation; and these will be a set of men that “will keep the truth”

— or as the Targum renders it,” who keep the law with a perfect heart,” that is, the truth is about keeping the law, the perfect law, which is the truth.

³ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.

— thou wilt keep him, etc; literally, the steadfast mind thou wilt keep in peace, in peace; that is “in perfect peace” peace at all times, and under all circumstances; thou shalt preserve (it, namely, the righteous nation) in perpetual peace.”

⁴ Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

— trust ye in the Lord for ever; the sense is, ‘Let your confidence in God on no occasion fail. Let no calamity, no adversity, no persecution, no poverty, no trial of any kind, prevent your reposing entire confidence in him.’

⁵ For He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low; He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust.

— for he will bring down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, so the accents require the words to be rendered;

— and accordingly the Targum is, “for he will bring low the inhabitants of the high and strong city” he layeth it low: he layeth it low, even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust; all which expressions denote their utter destruction.

⁶ The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”

— the foot shall tread it down; trample upon it when brought down, laid low, and level with the ground, as mire is trodden in the streets, and straw for the dunghill; as grapes in the winepress, or grass by the feet of cattle;

— the righteous as the Targum paraphrases it; the saints of the most High, to whom the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven will now be given, and who will be just come out of great tribulation.

⁷ The way of the just is uprightness; Thou, Most Upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

— the way of the just is righteousness; the just proceed steadily on in the practice of the various duties of righteousness, which they owe to God and man.

⁸ Yea, in the way of Thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the desire of our soul is to Thy name and to the remembrance of Thee.

— to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee; the “name” of God is, as always, that of Yehovah. God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end).

⁹ With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early; for when Thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

— with my soul have I desired thee in the night; by desiring God in the night (in captivity), and by seeking him early, is meant that the desire to seek him was unremitted and constant;

— the prophet speaks of the pious Jews who were in captivity in Babylon; and says that it was the object of their unremitted anxiety to please God, and to do his will.

¹⁰ Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

— let favour be shown to the wicked; if thou dost spare them, when thou chastise thy own people, and grant them health, prosperity and other blessings;

— yet will they not learn righteousness, they will not be led to repentance by thy goodness; and therefore it is requisite thou shouldest send thy judgements.

¹¹ Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.

— when the arm of the Almighty was simply lifted up for the protection of his people, the evildoers closed their eyes and would not see it. A time will come when judgements shall fall on them, and so they shall be made to see;

— the Targum says, “Lord, when thou shall be revealed in thy power to do good to them that fear thee, there will be no light to the enemies of thy people” but they shall see; whether they will or not; the judgements of God will be manifest, both in his vengeance and in glorifying his own people.

¹² Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

— Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; that is, henceforth thou wilt give us an existence of perfect peace, untroubled by adversaries. For thou also hast wrought all our works for us. The “work” intended seems to be the work of deliverance.

¹³ O Lord our God, other lords besides Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.

— but by thee only will we make mention of thy name; this may be better rendered, ‘but only thee, thy name will we henceforward commemorate.’

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

¹⁴ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

— they shall not rise; those tyrants and enemies are utterly and irrecoverably destroyed, so as they shall never live or rise again to molest us; the Targum says, “they worship the dead, who do not live; and their mighty men, who shall not rise;”

— destroyed them and made all their memory to perish; thou hast destroyed both them and theirs, and all the monuments or memorials of their greatness and glory.

¹⁵ Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation. Thou art glorified; Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

— thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation; the righteous nation, Isaiah 26:2 the Kingdom of God by the numerous conversions of Jews and Gentiles; when the Kingdom of God shall be born and the fulness and forces of the Gentiles are brought in.

¹⁶ Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them. — O Lord, amidst the various calamities brought upon them for their correction and especially in their captivity, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

¹⁷ As a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord.

— like as a woman with child; by this simile are set forth the great distresses and afflictions of the birth of the Kingdom of God before redemption and deliverance before the yoke comes.

¹⁸ We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

— we have been with child; like women with child, we have been full of hopes and expectations of great things, of deliverance from our enemies, and of the kingdom of God being at hand.

¹⁹ Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

— the answer to these utterances of disappointed hopes is the promise of the Resurrection.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be past.

— when dangers threaten, it is good to retire and lie hid; when we commend ourselves to God to hide us, he will hide us somewhere under heaven or in heaven.

— Thus we shall be safe and happy in the midst of tribulations. It is but for a short time, as it were for a little moment; when over, it will seem as nothing.

²¹ For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

— for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. The earth will vomit and cast out the innocent blood, which it has drunk, that it may care for vengeance against the wicked.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Who are the enemies that will desolate the house of Israel, identified here as the United States? Many believe Russia was and some still believe it is the main threat of the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main threat.

And Mearsheimer brilliantly emphasizes the United States are protected by fish to the left and fish to the right, but foolishly negates to address America’s broken border in the South; and that the Scriptures say that America’s main “enemy” comes from the unprotected and porous South. At least Colonel Douglas Macgregor got his foresight on target! For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South! or here.

Isaiah 23

¹ The burden of Tyre: Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in; from the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.

— Tyre was a ancient city in Phoenicia, which exceeded in renown and grandeur all the cities of Syria and Phoenicia and was much known for its trade and navigation, for which it was well situated by the sea; and indeed new Tyre stood today.

² Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle, thou whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished.

— thou whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished; Sidon was a very ancient city of Phoenicia, more ancient than Tyre.

³ And by great waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

— and by great waters the seed of Sihor; which is the river Nile in Egypt; it had its name from the black colour of its waters;

— harvest of the river—the growth of the Delta; the produce due to the overflow of the Nile: Egypt was the great granary of corn in the ancient world; she is a mart of nations; how true this was: no place was more favorably situated for commerce; and she had engrossed the trade nearly of all the world.

⁴ Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, “I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men nor bring up virgins.”

— be thou ashamed, O Sidon, a city about twenty five miles from Tyre; Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon, Isaiah 23:12; these two cities were closely allied and traded much with one another, so that the fall of Tyre must be distressing and confounding to Sidon; and besides, Tyre was a colony of the Sidonians.

⁵ As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.

— the Targum says, “as they heard the plague with which the Egyptians were smitten” so shall they be sorely pained at Tyre; because of their inter-trade and the judgments of Egypt has upon their neighbours.

⁶ Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle!

— the Tyrians fled to Carthage and elsewhere, both at the siege under Nebuchadnezzar and that under Alexander; pass ye over to Tarshish either to Tartessus in Spain, or to Tarsus in Cilicia, which lay over to the north of Tyre and to which they might transport and trade with greater ease;

— or “to a province of the sea” as the Targum indicates, any other seaport; the Septuagint says to Carthage, which was a colony of the Tyrians.

⁷ Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

— is this silent ruin all that is left of your once joyous city (Isa 23:12)? antiquity; the Tyrian priests boasted in Herodotus’ time that their city had already existed 2300 years: an exaggeration, but still implying that it was ancient even then; her own feet—walking on foot as captives to an enemy’s land.

⁸ Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?

— “The Lord of hosts” who answered in Isa 23:9; crowning cities, that is, the cities from which dependent kingdoms had arisen, as Tartessus in Spain, Citium in Cyprus and Carthage in Africa (Eze 27:33).

⁹ The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

— the Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to destroy Tyre; who is wonderful in counsel, capable of forming a wise scheme, being proud of its riches, the extent of its commerce.

¹⁰ Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no more strength.

— as refugees the Tyrians are bid to pass to the daughter of Tarshish, that is, to Tarshish itself, to make their escape out of their own land and flee thither for safety.

¹¹ He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms; the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof.

— that is, the Lord of hosts, who had purposed to destroy Tyre, stretched out his hand over it, called the sea as in Isaiah 23:4 in like manner as he stretched out his hand on the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh and the Egyptians in it.

¹² And He said, “Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; there also shalt thou have no rest.”

— when her calamity should come upon her, her jovial time, her time of mirth, jollity and revelling would be over;

— O thou oppressed virgin! Tyre is called a “virgin” because of her beauty, pride and lasciviousness and had never being subdued or taken before: and “oppressed” because now deflowered, ransacked, plundered and ruined by Nebuchadnezzar.

¹³ Behold the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof, and he brought it to ruin.

— behold the land of the Chaldeans; this expresses the source from where these calamities were coming upon Tyre; and as it states some historical facts of great interest respecting the rise of Babylon; as the prophet Isaiah had foretold the destruction of Tyre and had said that whoever was the agent, it was to be traced to the overruling providence of God.

¹⁴ Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste!

— for your strength is laid waste; meaning Tyre, a strong seaport and so it was the strength and support of their country; but was now destroyed, and therefore was matter of lamentation and mourning.

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king; after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a harlot.

— “forgotten seventy years” so it is in the Septuagint version, “as the time of a man” and after the end of seventy years shall Tyre shall sing as an harlot; being rebuilt and restored to its former state; as a harlot who has been cast off by her lovers.

¹⁶ “Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.”

— the desolations of Tyre were not to be forever; the Lord will visit Tyre but when set at liberty, she will use her old arts of lasciviousness; the love of worldly wealth is spiritual idolatry; and covetousness is spiritual idolatry.

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre; and she shall turn to her hire and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

— and she shall return to her hire; trade and merchandise; that shall revive, and be as in times past; and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth; be a mart of nations again, as in Isaiah 23:3;

— that is, trade and traffic with all nations of the earth; this is called committing fornication, in agreement with the simile of a harlot before used, where unto Tyre is compared; as well as to observe the illicit ways and methods used in her commerce;

— the Targum says, “and her merchandise shall be sufficient to all the kingdoms of the people, which are upon the face of the earth” and the Septuagint, “and shall be a mart to all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth.”

¹⁸ And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing.

— after her restoration her merchandise shall be holiness unto the Lord, Yehovah.

Isaiah 24

¹ Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

— “the whole world” the “emptying” of it; that is, the removal of inhabitants by wars and slaughters, which will be at a latter time, our time, the seven vials of God’s wrath will be poured upon God’s enemies;

— this is a prophecy of calamities upon the whole world, turning the earth upside down for their sins; but also a preservation of a remnant.

² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him.

— that is, no order or rank of men will fare better than another; their dignity, in things civil or ecclesiastical, will not secure them from ruin; it will be no better with princes and priests than the common people; they shall all alike share in the common destruction.

³ The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly despoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.

— the land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, entirely emptied of its inhabitants and wholly spoiled of its riches and substance; this is repeated and with greater strength to confirm what is said before and which receives a greater confirmation by what follows:

⁴ The earth mourneth and fadeth away; the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish.

— the earth mourns because of its inhabitants being destroyed; and it fades away, because stripped of its wealth and riches: so the kings of the earth and merchants are represented as weeping and mourning at the destruction of Babylon because of its judgements and the loss of its trade and riches.

⁵ The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

— because they have transgressed the laws; of God and man, as his shepherds have dispensed with the laws of God and in innumerable instances has transgressed them, casting all contempt upon them and bidding all defiance to them as being not at all bound and obliged by them;

— changed the ordinance; or “ordinances” the singular for the plural, a collective word; the ordinances of divine revelation, of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles to those of (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and (2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas Babylon has been well embedded, breaking “the everlasting covenant,” saith the Lord of hosts.

⁶ Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

— therefore hath the curse devoured the earth; the inhabitants and the fruits alluding to the earth being cursed for the sin of man, bringing forth briers and thorns; this may denote the seven vials of God’s wrath poured upon the earth;

— or by the curse, understand perjury or false swearing; so the Targum says, “therefore, because of perjury (or a false oath) the earth is become a desert.”

⁷ The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

— all the merryhearted do sigh; whose hearts wine has formerly made glad shall now sigh for want of it; and such who have lived deliciously with the whore of Babylon and have had many a merry bout with her shall now bewail her and lament for her, when she shall be utterly burnt with fire.

⁸ The mirth of taborets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

— the mirth of taborets ceaseth; or of drums, or any such musical instruments used at junketings and jovial feasts. So when Babylon is fallen, the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more.

⁹ They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

— strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it; they shall have no gust for it or relish of it as they formerly had; either through bodily diseases upon themselves or because of the calamities upon the nations and states in which they dwell.

¹⁰ The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

— even the city of Babylon in which there shall be nothing but disorder and irregularity, no truth nor justice; a city of vanity, full of superstition and idolatry; shall be broken to pieces by the judgements of God, to ruin and desolation.

¹¹ There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

— all joy is turned into the darkness of misery and distress; and men will gnaw their tongues for pain, and yet not repent of their sins, but blaspheme the God of heaven.

¹² In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

— in the city is left desolation; palaces, houses and temples burnt, inhabitants destroyed; none but devils, foul spirits, hateful and unclean birds inhabiting it.

¹³ When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

— as when an olive tree is shaken, or beaten with a staff, there would be a few left upon the uppermost or outermost branches, which cannot be reached;

— and as, after the vintage is got in, there are some grapes to be gleaned and gathered from the vines; so it is but a few, a remnant;

— the Targum says, “for now shall be left alone the righteous in the midst of the earth, among the kingdoms, as the shaking of olives, as the gleaning of grapes after the vintage.”

¹⁴ They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

— they, those who are left: the remnant, shall sing for the majesty of the Lord; who has so mercifully preserved them; from the distant lands beyond the sea, whither they have escaped.

¹⁵ Therefore glorify ye the Lord in the valleys, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

— wherefore glorify ye the Lord, in the fires; these are the words of the remnant, now triumphing and singing, calling upon others also to glorify the Lord in the fires of affliction and tribulation,

— even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea; whose name Yehovah will now be known, not only in Israel or among the Jews only, but in all foreign countries, which are sometimes meant by the isles of the sea; and from even in the most remote to glorify God, whose name Yehovah will now be great in all the earth;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)

¹⁶ From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”

— my leanness! my leanness! — Isaiah faint and pine away in grief for the following reason: the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously which were led by both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, “the treacherous dealers” (Jeremiah 5:11);

— who have been frequently guilty of great perfidiousness toward God, and now Isaiah felt ashamed and voluntarily bearing the blame for the house of Jacob, “Woe unto me!”

¹⁷ Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

— fear and the pit and the snare, these are rapid succession of inevitable calamities, in imagery drawn from the several forms of the hunter’s work.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

— there is fleeing from the terror of the startled beast; then the pit dug that he might fall into it; then the snare, if he struggled out of the pit, out of which there was no escape (Isaiah 8:15; cf. Amos 5:19). The passage is noticeable as having been reproduced by Jeremiah in his prophecy against Moab (Jeremiah 48:43-44).

¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

— in the pit and snare those who escaped they shall be utterly broken down; this is repeated to show the dreadfulness and certainty of these judgements and to ensnare the escaping refugees.

²⁰ The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

— the earth shall reel to and fro; the people of the earth, the inhabitants of the land, shall be sorely perplexed and distressed, not knowing what to do, or whither to go.;

— the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard in the day of His fierce anger, shaking the earth out of her place; its waves would mean a hundred times the waves of Fukushima over! Cottages fall like dried leaves and gust away like flotsam.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

— in the latter days, the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones, the proud and those who possess the high places of the earth; the kings and queens, the great elites of the world, who scorn and trample on his people.

²² And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

— prison, that is, as in a prison; this sheds light on the “shutting up” of the Jews in Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and again under Titus, was to be followed by a visitation of mercy “after many days” – seventy years in the case of the former – the time hasn’t yet quite elapsed in the case of the latter;

— second, the word “visited” could be in a bad sense, namely, in wrath, as in Isa 26:14; compare Isa 29:6; the punishment being the heavier in the fact of a delay.

— Probably a double visitation is intended, deliverance to the elect, wrath to hardened unbelievers; as Isa 24:23 plainly contemplates judgements on proud and unrepentant sinners, symbolized by the “sun” and “moon.”

²³ Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders gloriously.

— the moon shall be confounded; the thought implied is that the most glorious forms of created light will become dim, the moon red as with the blush of shame, the sun turning pale, before the glory of the Lord, before the Almighty Yehovah’s presence.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name.” Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

Something to think about the length of Jacob’s forthcoming Captivity! It’s subjective but a historical precedent from the house of Judah could give us a clue regarding its timeline:

“And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths” Leviticus 26:33-34

According to God’s judgement its length in Captivity is tied to their years of neglect; and drawing from Judah’s experience, it was seventy years, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21.

For a more indepth study on this subject, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

Isaiah 21

Chapter 21 continues with a prophecy of the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia; but in a rare incidence, Chapter 22 contains a prophecy of Judah and Jerusalem and none of the house of Israel.

Why Jerusalem would be such a place of terror? Her slain men are not slain with the sword, but with famine; or slain with fear, disheartened all around.

Q. could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4? For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

¹ The burden of the Desert of the Sea: As whirlwinds in the South pass through, so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

— the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia; the Targum says, “the burden of the armies, which come from the wilderness, as the waters of the sea.”

² A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

— dealeth treacherously; referring to the military stratagem employed by Cyrus in taking Babylon; Go up; Isaiah abruptly recites the order which he hears God giving to the Persians, the instruments of his vengeance (Isaiah 13:3,17).

³ Therefore are my loins filled with pain; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

— Isaiah imagines himself among the exiles in Babylon and cannot help feeling pains moved by the calamities which come on it; the pangs of a woman that travails; sharp and strong, which come suddenly and at once.

⁴ My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me; the night of my pleasure hath He turned into fear unto me.

— my heart panted or fluttered about and could hardly keep its place; fearfulness affrighted me; the terror of Cyrus’s army seized him; the writing on the wall threw him into a panic and the news of the Medes and Persians having entered the city increased it.

⁵ Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise, ye princes and anoint the shield.

— the night the city was taken: these words are directed to the king (and princes) of Babylon by his courtiers or queen in order to remove his fears.

⁶ For thus hath the Lord said unto me: “Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.”

— God’s direction to Isaiah to set a watchman to “declare” what he sees. “Come, let him who stands on the watchtower report what he sees.”

⁷ And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.

— a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; by the former may be meant the Persians, who very much used mules or asses; and the Medes by the latter, who abounded in camels: hence as a whole may signify the whole army of the Medes and Persians.

⁸ And he cried, “A lion! My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set at my post whole nights.

— the lion’s eyelids are short, so that even when asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place.

⁹ And behold, here cometh a chariot of men with a couple of horsemen!” And he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He hath broken unto the ground!”

— Babylon is fallen, is fallen: which is repeated to show the certainty of it. The same words are used of the fall of mystical Babylon, Revelation 14:8; the Targum says, “it is fallen, and also it shall be, that Babylon shall fall” that is, a second time, and hereafter;

— and so it has two falls, one by the Medes and Persians, and the other by the hand of heaven or God himself: literal Babylon fell by the former; mystical Babylon will fall by the latter, even by the breath of the Messiah and the brightness of his coming and so put an end to idolatry; such as

(1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and

(2) Mithra, worshipping the sun-god, when a mystical white Christmas Babylon will be destroyed.

¹⁰ O my threshing and the corn of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

— O my threshing, and the corn of my floor; which could be understood to be the Babylonians, now threshed or punished by the Lord, and whom he had made use of as instruments for the punishment of others.

¹¹ The burden of Dumah: He calleth to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

— the burden of Dumah; whether this prophecy concerns the Edomites or Idumeans, or whether the Arabians, particularly the Dumean Arabians, is a question, since Dumah was a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:14;

— Seir; a mountain inhabited by the Edomites, the posterity of Esau; the principal mountain in Idumea, South of the Dead Sea, a prophecy concerning Edom; that lay to the South:

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

¹² The watchman said, “The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come.”

¹³ The burden upon Arabia: In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye traveling companies of Dedanites.

— the burden upon Arabia; which lay heavy upon it, as a burden upon a beast; or “concerning” it, or “against” it, which Arabia or what part thereof is meant may be gathered from the names after mentioned.

— The Targum says “the burden of the cup of cursing, to give the Arabians to drink.”

¹⁴ The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty; they were ready with their bread for him that fled.

— the inhabitants of the land of Tema; this country had its name from Tema, one of the sons of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15. The Targum calls it the land of the south, as if it was Teman.

¹⁵ For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow and from the grievousness of war.

— they fled from the swords; the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.

¹⁶ For thus hath the Lord said unto me: “Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail.

— and all the glory of Kedar shall fail; these were another sort of Arabians as the Targum calls them: they descended from Kedar, a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13.

¹⁷ And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished. For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.”

— the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be diminished; their military men, the most expert at the use of the bow, and the most valiant and courageous; the few of those that were left, and did not fall by the sword of the Assyrians, should gradually diminish, and be fewer and fewer.

Isaiah 22

In a rare incidence, Chapter 22 contains a prophecy of Judah and Jerusalem but none of the house of Israel. Why is Jerusalem in such terror? Their rulers fled, but were overtaken.

All the horrors of a city taken by storm, faintly shadow forth the terrors of the day of wrath.

Q. could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4? For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

¹ The burden of the Valley of Vision: What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

— the burden of the valley of vision; a prophecy concerning Jerusalem, so called because it lay in a valley, encompassed about with mountains and which was the habitation of the prophets or seers, and the seat of vision and prophecy; and perhaps there is an allusion to its name, which signifies the vision of peace or they shall see peace;

— the Septuagint version calls it, “the word of the valley of Sion” and the Arabic version, “a prophecy concerning the inhabitants of the valley of Sion, to wit, the fields which are about Jerusalem.”

— While the Targum says, “the burden of the prophecy concerning the city which dwells in the valley, of which the prophets prophesied,” by all which it appears, that not the whole land of Judea is meant.

— that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? they went up on the flat balustraded roofs to look forth and see whether the enemy was near, and partly to defend themselves from the roofs.

² Thou that art full of stirrings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city; thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

— thy slain men are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle; therefore those that died were put into or through famine or pandemic like what we are having Covid-19 today that make our once joyous cities and high streets desolate.

³ All thy rulers have fled together; they are bound by the archers. All that are found in thee are bound together, who have fled from afar.

⁴ Therefore said I, “Look away from me; I will be bitter in weeping. Labor not to comfort me, because of the despoiling of the daughter of my people.”

— therefore said Isaiah, the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance:

— look away from me; turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in private, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it;

— because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people; Isaiah’s countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender father, now spoiled, plundered and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

⁵ For it is a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the Valley of Vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

— referring to a day of trouble of the valley of vision; a prophecy concerning Jerusalem; could this be the prophecy of Judah’s iniquity for forty years bored by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4? For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

— breaking down the walls: of the fenced cities, with their battering rams, at the time they besieged and took them; and of crying to the mountains: looking and running to them for help and succour,

— for shelter and protection; and crying so loud, by reason of their distress, as that it reached the distant mountains, and made them echo with it.

⁶ And Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

— Elam and Kir; two nations are named as the chief elements of a composite army when invading Judea; Elam; or the Elamites as the Targum and Septuagint say, that is, the Persians; and Kir uncovered the shield; this was a city in Media, and signifies the Medes;

— the Medes and Persians have never fulfilled this prophecy against the house of Judah in the past, indicating that modern Persia, IRAN, could be the one likely to fulfil this; if not why not; who else?

⁷ And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

— and it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys; the valleys that were near Jerusalem that used to be covered with the choicest corn or vines or with grass and flocks of sheep and used to be exceeding delightful and pleasant:

— shall be full of chariots; where they can be more easily driven than on mountains; these were chariots not for pleasure but for war; chariots full of soldiers to fight against and besiege Jerusalem:

— and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate of Jerusalem: to take them that come out of the city and to force their way into it; as well as to protect and defend the foot while they made the assault and scaled the walls and to be ready when the gates were opened to them.

⁸ And He uncovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest.

— and he uncovered the covering of Judah, by God himself, who uncloaked them of their sins and secret dealings; or took away his protection of them and expose their weakness;

— and thou, didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest; to see what store of ammunition the house of Judah has in their secret warehouses, in what condition they are and to take from hence and be ready to furnish their soldiers with them.

⁹ Ye have seen also the breaches of the City of David, that they are many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

— of the city of David; that is, of Jerusalem, so called because it was the royal residence of David. Zion was usually called the city of David, but the name was given also to the entire city;

— and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool: the Septuagint version is, “and he turned the water of the old pool into the city” but the old pool was another pool hereafter mentioned, and was outside the city, the same with the upper pool; whereas this was the lower, and was in the city.

— The Targum says, “and ye gathered the people to the waters of the lower pool.”

¹⁰ And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

— and ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem; to know what number of men were in them, and how many could be spared to do duty, either as watchmen or soldiers; to spread the charge of defending the city;

— and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall; either such as were outside the wall, which, had they let them stand would either have been destroyed by the enemy, or have been a harbour for them;

— or those inside the city, with the stones and timber of which houses, when broken down they could strengthen the wall and so served a better purpose than if they had stood.

¹¹ Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool; but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago.

— for the water of the old pool; which, being outside the city, was by this means drained into this ditch or receptacle; and so their then enemy Assyrians were deprived of it, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem more abundantly supplied;

— this was wisely contrived to distress the enemy, and to enable themselves to hold out the siege the longer; and for this and other methods they took they are not blamed;

— but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof; either of the distress and calamity which came upon them for their sins, with the will and by the decree of God; or of the water of the pool, which is a creation of his; for who can give rain or water but God?

¹² And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth.

— call to weeping and to mourning; to confess and mourn over their sins, the cause of these calamities; to lament their unhappy case; to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and by prayer and supplication with tears to implore his help and assistance and grant them deliverance;

— and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth; these were external signs and tokens of inward sorrow and repentance; the former of which was done by shaving the head or plucking off the hair and was forbidden on private occasions, yet might be allowed in a public case.

¹³ But behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine! “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!”

— and behold joy and gladness; as if it was a time of rejoicing, after days of weeping and mourning; as if they were at a festival of lamb and wine and in the greatest prosperity and liberty and not besieged by a powerful army.

¹⁴ And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts: “Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die,” saith the Lord God of hosts.

— the Targum says, “the prophet said with mine ears I was hearing when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts”

— surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die; it being of heinous nature, so daring, insolent and affronting, such a contempt of God and his word and discovering such impenitence and hardness of heart; it should not be forgiven; till they died.

¹⁵ Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: “Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is over the house, and say:

— get thee unto this treasurer or governor, as the Targum says; treasurer in the house of King; even unto Shebna, which is over the house; that is, over the king’s house;

— so the steward that had the ordering of all the affairs civil and domestic in it, which was a very high post; he had the keys of the money, stores and provisions of the state.

¹⁶ What hast thou here? And whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulcher here, as he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high and that carves out a habitation for himself in a rock?

— what hast thou here? The prophet’s indignation is roused by Shebna’s last act of arrogance, who had no “sepulchre of his fathers” to deck with fresh stateliness as like the kings had built one for himself, hollowed out a cave on one of the hills of Jerusalem, to be his own everlasting “habitation.”

— Q. Could Shebna be a type for Lucifer, the fallen one?

¹⁷ Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

— instead of a sepulchre for himself inside a rock, behold, the Lord will carry Shebna with a mighty captivity; as the Targum indicates, the phrase has the signification of flying; and so interprets it: he shall cause thee to fly like a bird into captivity; that is, very speedily and swiftly;

— or so the Vulgate says, “behold, the Lord shall cause thee to be carried away as a cock is carried away.”

¹⁸ He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country. There shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.

— turn violently and toss—literally, “whirling He will whirl thee,” that is, he will whirl thee. “He will whirl thee round and round, and (then) cast thee away,” as a stone in a sling is first whirled round repeatedly, before the string is let go;

— the “large country” is probably one along the plain of Mesopotamia, where Shebna is to end his days in exile; in the land of Medes and Persians? (verse 6)

¹⁹ And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

— shall he pull thee down; that is, “God” shall do it; the prophet here uses the third person.

²⁰ “And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.

— my servant Eliakim; on the dignity of this title when given by God himself, that is, prophetically a man who will be faithful to God who will be trustworthy and to whom the interests of God and the city may be safely confided; a man who will not seek to betray it into the hands of the enemy.

²¹ And I will clothe him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

— and God will clothe Eliakim with Isaiah’s robe; which was a badge and token of his office. If he was a priest, this would be his priestly robe, by which the high priest would be distinguished from others;

— but Eliakim seemed to be a civil officer, who wore a garment distinctive of it; in which he would be a type of Zerubbabel of a kingly office, crowned with glory and honour;

— the Targum takes in both, “and I will give the key of the house of the sanctuary, and the government of the house of David, into his hand.”

— Q. Could Shebna be a type for Lucifer, the fallen one? And Eliakim, my servant, be a type of the Logos, the righteous one?

²² And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open.

— in the sense, the Messiah or Christ is said to have this key, Revelation 3:7 where the following words are applied to him: so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open;

— all which is expressive of the Godly government being on his shoulders, and of his absolute and uncontrollable power over it; who opens the treasures of his Word, of his wisdom and knowledge and communicates them and shuts or hides them from, whom he pleases;

— who opens and shuts the door of the kingdom of heaven, and introduces into it his own people, and excludes others.

²³ And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.

— this is an expressive of the strength of the Messiah, the Christ, as the Mighty Son; and as the man of God’s right hand, made strong to be the Saviour and Mighty Redeemer.

²⁴ And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons.

— the glory of building his Father’s house; the Targum says, “and all the glorious or noble ones of his father’s house shall lean upon him, children and children’s children:”

— all vessels of small quantity; from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons; meaning those of his family, that were some of lesser, others of greater capacities, for whom he provided places and posts under him, suitable thereunto;

— none were forgotten or neglected by him: this simile, of vessels of various sorts and sizes, is made use of, in perfect agreement with Eliakim’s being compared to a nail, on which vessels in a house are hung by their handles.

²⁵ In that day,” saith the Lord of hosts, “shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; for the Lord hath spoken it.”

— in that day, saith the Lord of hosts;’ that is, when Eliakim put in his place:

— shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; meaning, not Eliakim before spoken of, who really was a nail fastened in a sure place, and not to be removed;

— but Shebna, who thought himself to be as a nail in a sure place, being put into it by the king, and supported by his authority, and courted by his friends and flatterers; for to him the whole preceding prophecy is directed, which is carried down to this verse;

— for all that is said of the glory and usefulness of his successor Eliakim was to be told to him, which would make it still the more grievous to him, to be degraded and disgraced as he would be, signified by his being removed, cast down, and falling;

— and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; those that were dependent upon him, his family, his flatterers, and friends, such whom he had raised by his influence and authority to considerable places, and whom he supported in them;

— these would fall with him, as is usual when a royal favourite, or governor and other high officials, falls into disgrace, and is removed; an instance of this may be seen in Haman, whose family and friends were involved in the same ruin with him, Esther 9:12;

— and it may be observed, that many dependents, which an official of state always has, are a burden to him.

— The Targum interprets this of the burden of prophecy; “for, so it is decreed by the word of the Lord.”

Posted in Isaiah

‘NATO is the real troublemaker.’ NATO’s provocative lurch eastward and the ‘supreme fool’ Jens Stoltenberg

When judgement was due, Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, total; and he was made to dwell among the beasts in the wild; however he regained his sanity after eating grass for seven years.

Now, as another judgement is due: Stoltenberg admits NATO Began Preparing Ukraine for War with Nuclear Russia Since 2014. Although still humans, the ‘liberal’ West has already lost their sanity, but they’re behaving like supreme fools!

Of significance is Chapter 19 of Isaiah identifying where the children of the Egyptians are, wise men and the Pharaohs had gone; what happened to their children, and how they live their lives today.

Isaiah 19

¹ The burden of Egypt: Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

— the burden of Egypt; a prophecy for the end time, our time, a very grievous one, declaring many calamities that should come upon them. The Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing, to make the Egyptians drink.”

— behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, coming on light clouds as his chariots, in order to pass sentence, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall tremble with terror at His presence and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it, namely, for fear of the impending punishment.

² “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight every one against his brother and every one against his neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

— and the Lord will set the Egyptians against fellow Egyptians, inciting them to civil war and anarchy; and they shall fight every one against his brother and every one against his neighbor; city against city and kingdom against kingdom.

³ And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and they shall seek the idols and the charmers, and them that have familiar spirits and the wizards.

— and the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof, particularly to Osiris and Isis, to Apis, Latona and others; so that the courage of the Egyptians would, literally, “be emptied out” and God will destroy the counsel thereof, swallowing all their plans, so that the rulers would be helpless in the situation;

— and they shall seek their idols, appealing to them for help, and to the charmers, literally, “the murmurers, or mutterers,” those who professed to be in touch with the spirit world, magicians and conjurers and to them that have familiar spirits,

— the spiritists of those days, and to the wizards, those actually in league with the Evil One. Then, as has always been, people who refused to accept the true God resorted to superstitious rites and to the assistance of the spirits of darkness.

⁴ And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them,” saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

— and the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, the reference being either to one of their own tyrannical rulers or to the Assyrian conquerors; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord of hosts;

— three Pharaohs, namely, Psammetichus, Necho, and Hophra, oppressed the Egyptians so severely that the land never recovered from their tyranny.

⁵ And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

— and the waters shall fail from the Red Sea, the waters from the Nile shall be wasted and dried up, perhaps none flow from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam; this drying up would be a calamity for Egypt, since Egypt depended entirely upon the Nile for drinking and irrigation (see also Ezekiel 30:12 and Zechariah 10:11).

⁶ And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up; the reeds and flags shall wither.

— and they shall turn the rivers far away, rather, “and the rivers shall produce a stench,” being reduced to stagnating pools; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up,

— that is, the canals of the Nile, especially around its delta and in the irrigation systems, would carry no more water; the reeds and flags, principally the papyrus-plants depending altogether upon the moisture of the river, shall wither.

⁷ The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.

— the paper-reeds by the brooks, literally, “the naked places,” the meadows on the Nile, by the mouth of the brooks, along the banks of the river, and everything sown by the brooks, the grain-fields along the very edge of the Nile, shall wither, be driven away, scattered by the wind in the form of dust, and be no more;

— since Egypt in history, had never experienced the Nile drying up, this could only been a prophecy; not just here, but perhaps the whole chapter, including “a cruel lord and a fierce king shall rule over them.”

⁸ The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast hook into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

— the fishers shall also mourn, because they would be thrown out of a livelihood, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish, since the rich fisheries of the Nile or its brooks would no longer exist.

⁹ Moreover they that work in fine flax and they that weave network shall be confounded.

— moreover, they that work in fine flax, fine linen cloth and yarn; and they that weave networks, white cotton cloth, shall be confounded, since neither flax nor cotton would grow, and this important industry would thus be made impossible.

¹⁰ And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

— and they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish, literally, “and shall be her foundations ruins, all laborers for hire swamps of the soul,”

— that is, the upper castes of the nation would lose their power, and the poorest people of the country would give way to hopelessness and despair;

— the Syriac version says “and all they shall be humbled that make strong drink, for the drink of the soul” that is, for their upper castes to drown their sorrows.

¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings”?

— surely the princes of Zoan (or Tanis as the Targum says), a city of Lower Egypt, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs, “it was then the royal city and at one time the capital of the country, who claimed “we are the sons of wise men” are fools,

— the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish, the priestly counselors of the Egyptian king had lost all their wisdom;

— how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? In spite of the fact that they boasted their descent from wise and ancient counselors, even of royalty, they were unable to offer advice in the present crisis;

¹² Where are they? Where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.

— where are they? where are their wise men? Whos are their posterity? And, let them tell thee now, in a certain prophecy, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt, and it has deep consequences;

— today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, or Tanis, at one time the royal and capital of the country; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people);

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander.”

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.

Ezekiel 29:12 “and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries.”

— for more, see a study commentary in Ezekiel 32.

¹³ The princes of Zoan are become fools; the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.

— the princes of Zoan are fools in their counsels to Pharaoh; the princes of Noph, of Memphis, on the western bank of the Nile, capital of Lower Egypt, are deceived;

— they have also seduced Egypt, led its people astray by their false claims and foolish counsel, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof, upon whom the people depended for leadership.

¹⁴ The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

— the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of the princes of Zoan, for the false wisdom of the leading castes acted like a spirit of intoxication; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof;

— as a drunken man staggered in his vomit, that his head is quite giddy, and cannot walk upright, but staggers as he goes, and vomits as he staggers, and falls down, and is rolled in it;

— as the Targum says; just like such a man were the princes and governors of the Egyptian provinces, unable to find their way out.

¹⁵ Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

— neither shall there be any work for Egypt which the head or tail, branch or rush may do, that is, no person in Egypt, whether of the ruling or of the serving class, whether lofty or humble, will be able to do anything to stop the general destruction;

— the Targum interprets the whole of their chief men thus, “and the Egyptians shall have no king to reign, nor prince, noble, governor, or ruler.”

¹⁶ In that day shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He shaketh over it.

— in that day shall Egypt be like unto women, weak and feeble, as the Targum says; fearful and timorous, even their military force; and devoid of wisdom, even their princes and nobles: on account of the greater timidity which usually characterizes the weaker sex;

— and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts which he shakes over it, his judgements and punishments when he lifts up his rod, and holds it over a people, thus being scattered by means of the invaders of Egypt.

¹⁷ And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt; every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which He hath determined against it.

— and the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, that if the judgements of God fell so heavy on his own people, what might they expect? either because the mere mention of the name struck terror to their hearts, or because Judah was now allied with Assyria against the king of Egypt;

— every one that makes mention thereof, namely, of Judah, shall be afraid in himself because of the judgement of the Lord of hosts which he hath determined against it, for they all dreaded the punishment which they felt was now inevitable.

¹⁸ In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the City of Destruction.

— in that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, that is, the Hebrew language and accept the true, revealed religion, and swear to the Lord of hosts, pledging themselves to him with a sacred oath;

— one shall be called the City of Destruction, literally, “Ir-ha-heres,” which may have been the city of the sun, or Heliopolis. The prophecy of Jeremiah 43:13, also means to point to the destruction of this or a similar city.

¹⁹ In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.

— in that day shall there be a reference to the establishment of the religion of Yehovah in Egypt during the Millennium with a foothold which the true religion gained in Egypt at a very early date of a new era;

— the “Altar to Jehovah in the Land of Egypt” (Isaiah 19:19). This Is Appendix 81 From The Companion Bible. The fulfillment of this prophecy took place in 1 BC is recorded by Josephus (Antiquities xiii.3.1-3;6; Wars 7.10,3; and Against Apion, 2.5):-

In consequence of wars between the Jews and Syrians, ONIAS IV, the High Priest, fled to Alexandria; where, on account of his active sympathy with the cause of Egypt against Syria, he was welcomed by PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR, and rewarded by being made prince over the Jews in Egypt.

²⁰ And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a savior and a great one, and He shall deliver them.

— and it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, so that their contemporaries could see the evidence of their worship and their descendants have this proof of their religion;

— for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, a mighty warrior, and he shall deliver them, whose coming was a deliverance to Egypt in various ways.

²¹ And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it.

— and the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, namely, when Yehovah would visit Egypt in judgement and cause the truth to be proclaimed to its people, and shall do sacrifice and oblation, perform the acts of true worship to the only God;

— yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it, pledging themselves to Yehovah and his service.

²² And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be entreated by them and shall heal them.

— and the Lord shall smite Egypt, in order to bring its people to repentance; he shall smite and heal it, for his purpose is always one of redemption; and they shall return even to the Lord, his punishment having taken the right effect, and he shall be intreated of them and shall heal them. Cf Leviticus 26:44; Deuteronomy 32:36.

²³ In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

— in that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, permitting free and friendly communication, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians, proselytes and Jews from both countries meeting at Jerusalem and elsewhere for the worship of Yehovah.

²⁴ In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land,

— in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, the believers of the three countries being joined by the one faith, even a blessing in the midst of the land, since blessings would go forth from them to the inhabitants of other countries all over the world;

²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.”

— whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt, my people, admitted to all the spiritual privileges formerly held by Israel alone, and Assyria, the work of my hands,

— his workmanship in the spiritual sense, and Israel, mine inheritance, still designated thus as the actual son of the Kingdom of God and head of his family. Altogether, they set a splendid example of the spread of the true religion under the merciful direction of God during the Millennium.

Isaiah 20

¹ In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him), and fought against Ashdod and took it,

— in the year 711 BC that Tartan, the commander of the Assyrian armies, II Kings 18:17, came unto Ashdod, one of the cities of Philistia which had revolted against the Assyrian supremacy and fought against Ashdod, and took it,

² at the same time spoke the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

— at the same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth, the loose outer garment of coarse cloth which Isaiah wore, from off thy loins and put off thy shoe from thy foot;

— and Isaiah did so, walking naked, that is, with only his tunic or shirt-like garment, and barefoot, presenting the appearance of one who bad been robbed or spoiled, stripped of his possessions, like a beggar or captive of war. The very dress of Isaiah called attention to his message of repentance.

³ And the Lord said, “As My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia,

— and the Lord said, As my servant Isaiah hath walked naked (not wholly naked, for that would have been very indecent and dangerous indeed; but without his upper garment) and barefoot three years, to bring home with great emphasis the lesson which the Lord wished to convey, for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, for a portentous type against the double kingdom,

⁴ so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

— so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, as foretold by the symbolic act of Isaiah, even with their buttocks uncovered, as a sign of extreme disgrace, II Samuel 10:4-5, to the shame of Egypt.

⁵ And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and of Egypt their glory.

— and they, the inhabitants of Palestine, also the Jews, who looked to Egypt as a possible ally against Assyria, shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, finding themselves disappointed in their hopes of help from this quarter, and of Egypt, their glory, of whose power they had boasted and on whose strength they had relied.

⁶ And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our expectation wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And how shall we escape?’”

— and the inhabitants of this isle, of the coastal country along the Mediterranean, including Philistia, Phenicia, and the kingdom of Judah, shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, that is, such was the lot of those to whom they looked for help and deliverance from the power of Assyria;

— and how shall we escape? The nation which they considered strong and mighty had proved itself powerless against the common enemy; how, then, could the weaker states hope to escape? It is but another instance of the folly of men in placing their trust in the power of flesh and believing that they can escape the Lord;

— so the Targum asks, “if the mighty could not delivered their souls, how shall we, the weak, be delivered?”

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Isaiah 17

¹ The burden of Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. — Damascus is the same city today, the capital of Syria;

— the Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing to give Damascus to drink.”

² The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

— Aroer was a city by the river Arnon, on the borders of Moab and Ammon, their inhabitants of these Syrian cities being slain or carried captive or obliged to flee;

— the Syrian civil war started on March 15, 2011 as part of the wider Arab Spring protests which led to much destruction of the country; many Syrians were forced to flee to neighbouring countries or even to Europe as refugees.

³ The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel,” saith the Lord of hosts.

— Ephraim, the ten tribes, now in confederacy with the Syrians, whose metropolis or fortress was Samaria, which seems to be intended here; and should be destroyed, at least taken out of the hands of the Israelites, and they be carried captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria;

— “the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim;” today, the southern border of the United States is extremely porous.

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

⁴ “And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

— and in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin; the same with Ephraim and Israel, the ten tribes, their glory turns into shame;

— in the multitude of their cities, and the inhabitants of them; but now would be thinned, by the vast numbers that should be killed by the Sword, famine or pandemic, with a remnant carried away as captives:

— second; that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin; could this be speaking of Ezekiel 4 – the 190/40 Years of iniquity for Israel/Judah?

— and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean: like a man becoming a skeleton, and reduced to skin and bones: the meaning is, that all their health, wealth and riches should be taken away; so the Targum says “and the riches of his glory shall be carried away.”

⁵ And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the Valley of Rephaim.

— and it shall be as when the harvestman of the house of Jacob gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm, literally, “and his arm reapeth the ears”

— and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the Valley of Rephaim, the fertile plain southwest of Jerusalem, toward the country of the Philistines. Cf II Samuel 5:18-22. The picture is that of a farmer going into a field of grain and gathering an armful of stalks with his left hand, while he cuts off the grain below with a sickle in his right hand.

⁶ Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,” saith the Lord God of Israel.

— yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it; that is, a remnant left in the land of Israel, as the shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel;

— in harvesting olives, the trees were first shaken, whereupon a few berries within reach were knocked down with sticks, but those which hung in the tree-tops, beyond reach, remained hanging. Thus only a few poor inhabitants would be left as remnant in Israel.

⁷ At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

— at that day shall a man look to his Maker, instead of trusting in fortresses and in the strength of man’s arm, as heretofore, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel, for the small remnant of Israel and also of Judah shall return to the true God and his worship;

— that is, this indicates that until ‘that day’ comes both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have very little ‘respect’ for the Holy One of Israel; pretending Christians have no idea of what keeping the law and what judgement truly are; while the Orthodox Jews has no clue that the Scriptures have numerous references to the Son scattered all over the Scriptures they are blinded to.

⁸ And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the sun images.

— and the house of Jacob shall not look to their altars, the work of mere hands, which the children of Israel had formerly devoted to idolatry;

— neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, the Asherah-idols picturing one of the Semitic goddesses, very often identified with Venus, or the images, those of Baal, the sun-god, so that all the hosts of heaven were included in this idol-worship. Cf II Kings 21:7; II Kings 23:5.

⁹ In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation.

— in that day shall his strong cities, especially those of Ephraim, be “like the forsaken places in the forests and mountain summits,” having fled from before the enemy, or being slain or carried captive;

— like a bough of a tree, that is forsaken stripped of its leaves, and an uppermost branch of a tree that is dead and dry, and has nothing on it; becoming ruin strongholds in remote parts of the country;

— which they left because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation, all the great fortresses and factories of Israel sharing the fate of antiquated castles;

— the prophet now addresses Ephraim directly: that is, the United States, be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, like Cleveland, Newark, Pittsburgh, Detroit and many other sunset cities all along the rust belt, all shall be a desolation;

¹⁰ Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set them with strange slips.

— because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, the only one who can bring true redemption, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, Yehovah being the one true Rock of Ages, Deuteronomy 32:15-18;

— therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips; with strange slip, that is, with foreign strange doctrines, such as are brought from some ancient natives:

Astarte from the Egyptians, who earlier learned from the Canaanites and the Phoenicians;

Mithra from the Persian which are also set with strange slips, strange concepts which permeate the house of Israel today.

¹¹ In that day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

— in the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow; the northern kingdom, on the whole, had left the true God that its people had, literally, “planted plantings of pleasantness,” had taken up the various heathen cults and had then planted a strange vine in their own garden, namely, by becoming allies of surrounding pagan kings;

— the new plant had then been carefully fenced in, namely, by shrewd political schemes, so that the strange plant grew to maturity very rapidly, like a hothouse plant, for the alliance brought about a plan to attack Judah;

— but the whole scheme was frustrated by the action of the Almighty, who promptly reserved the garden of Ephraim as a heap, heaped up in the harvest, in the day of grief and a day of desperate sorrow.

¹² Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the noise of the seas, and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

— woe to the multitude of many people that made up the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, which consisted of people of many nations, with the turmoil and tumult of their advance;

— which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, the rattling of their armour and chariot wheels and prancing of their horses; and to the hectoring, blustering that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

— the enemies of Israel, who are also types of the enemies of God’s Kingdom, are pictured as being in a state of seething unrest, anxiously striving to harm the Lord’s people.

¹³ 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 a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

— the Assyrian army from various nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, in an apparently irresistible tidal wave; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, rather, it, the threatening tide of hostility;

— and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, the picture being taken from the open threshing-floors of farmers, which were usually situated in elevated places, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind, like whirling dust or particles of straw from the threshing-floor, as the wind picks them up and flings them away.

¹⁴ And behold, at eventide, trouble; and before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

— and behold at the evening or night, horror falling upon the approaching enemies; even before the day dawns, they are destroyed. This is the portion of them that spoil Israel, and the lot of them that rob them. Thus the Lord will finally carry out his sentence of punishment upon all enemies of his Kingdom and its work.

Isaiah 18

¹ Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

— the Targum says, “Woe to the land to which they come in ships from a far country, whose sails are stretched out, as an eagle that flies with its wings;”

² that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, “Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!”

— that sendeth ambassadors by the Red Sea, traversing the waters of that far country, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, light and fleet boats made of the papyrus-reed, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, rather, extended far and polished, gleaming, or shining;

— to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a handsome, ruling, and victorious people, one of great hidden beauty and power; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled, literally, “a nation of line, line,”

— and treading under foot, under the command some kings beyond Ethiopic, whose rule often bordered upon oppression, and whose land was carried down the sea lanes in the annual inundations; full of excitement on account of making various invasions to spoil other nations.

³ All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when He bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

— all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, called upon, either by the Lord, or rather by the prophet, to be eye and ear witnesses of the judgement that should be inflicted upon the above nation;

— see ye, always on the lookout for important happenings, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, really, with an impersonal subject, when one does this, when this happens; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye, the trumpet sounding as an alarm of war; all the people concerned should be watching, for something of great event will happen.

⁴ For so the Lord said unto me: “I will take My rest, and I will consider in My dwelling place, like a clear heat upon herbs and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

— for the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling-place, for though the Lord may seem sometimes to take no notice of what is done on earth, yet he sees and knows all things, who works all things after the counsel of his own will:

— calmly looking on, apparently without the intention of interfering, like a clear heat upon herbs, while it is pleasantly warm in the sunlight, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, while the plants, refreshed by the heavy dew of the harvest season, grow to maturity.

— It seems that the Lord is letting things go on as they please, that he is not actively interested in the affairs of the world; but it only seems so to such as do not know him;

— the Targum says, “blessings and consolations will I bring to them quickly, as heat burning by means of the sun, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

⁵ For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

— for before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, after the blossom has withered, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, while the fruit is slowly maturing, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks and take away and cut down the branches, then the Lord would overthrow their present plans and prevent them from forming any future ones.

⁶ They shall be left together for the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

— they shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, that is, both sprigs and branches; with the fruit of them, which being unripe, are disregarded by men, but fed upon by birds and beasts;

— the birds of prey feeding on their carcasses, and to the beasts of the earth, to the foxes, hyenas, and jackals; and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall feast upon them, finding abundance of food the year around on the field of battle.

⁷ In that time shall a present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion.

— in that time, before the Millennium, shall the present, namely, a tribute or sacrificial gift, be brought unto the Lord of hosts, the true God;

— of a people scattered and peeled and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion, the Kingdom of God.

— In the very midst of a prophecy describing the punishment meted out by God we have a Messianic promise; even the Kingdom of God would gain a foothold in Ethiopia and Egypt, described Isaiah 18:2 as here, who being converted, shall stretch out their hands to God, submit unto him and will flourish there for centuries.

Posted in Isaiah

‘NATO is the real troublemaker.’ NATO’s provocative lurch eastward and the ‘supreme fool’ Jens Stoltenberg

When judgement was due, Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, total; and he was made to dwell among the beasts in the wild; however he regained his sanity after eating grass for seven years.

Now, as another judgement is due: Stoltenberg admits NATO Began Preparing Ukraine for War with Nuclear Russia Since 2014. Although still humans, the West has already lost their sanity, but they’re behaving like supreme fools!

Isaiah 15-16 form a whole and contain “the burden of Moab.” But a more complete description of the judgement on Moab can be found in Jeremiah 48; where there is a restoration for Moab in the end times but that remnant shall remain small and feeble.

Moab is located east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. It corresponds to the present-day country of Jordan. It is a people related to Israel, for Lot, the ancestor of Moab, is a cousin of Abraham.

Who are the Moabites? The descendants of Moab also known as the Moabites had an extensive history dealing with the Israelites. Moab’s beginning was part of Israel’s story but most of the time wasn’t in a good way and is today identified as modern-day Jordan.

Isaiah 15

¹ The burden of Moab: Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence, because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence,

— the burden of Moab, a heavy, grievous prophecy, the nation descended from the elder daughter of Lot, occupying the country southeast of the Dead Sea; the Targum says, “the burden of the cup of cursing, to give Moab to drink.”

² he is gone up to Bajith and to Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off.

— he, the king or people of Moab, standing collectively for all the inhabitants of Moab, is gone up to Bajith, to the house of the temple, and to Dibon, a city not far from the Arnon;

— the high places, to weep, before the altars of the country’s idols. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba, rather, “on Nebo and Medeba of Moab howling is going on”; for in these two towns in the hills toward the west they had sanctuaries. On all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off, mutilated, as a sign of deep mourning, Leviticus 21:5.

³ In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

— in their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth as well as a token of mourning for the dead thus exhibiting their grief openly; on the tops of their houses, which are flat in the Orient, and in their streets every one shall howl, weeping abundantly, being dissolved in tears.

⁴ And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh; their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz; therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him.

— and Heshbon, a former Amorite city, but regarded as belonging to Moab, shall cry; the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out, impelled thereto by the greatness of the horror; his life shall be grievous unto him, literally, “his soul trembles for him,” the entire nation being shaken by the bitterness of the punishment.

⁵ “My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old; for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

— the prophet Isaiah shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old, literally, “whose bolts (extended) to Zoar, the three-year-old heifer,” that is, the locks or fortified boundaries of Moab reached as far as Zoar, the city of Lot’s refuge, on the peninsula extending into the southeastern end Of the Dead Sea.

⁶ For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.

— for the waters of Nimrim, known for the freshness of their springs, shall be desolate, filled with earth or rubbish by the invaders; for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing, the entire land being devastated, the vegetation drying up for want of care, and the crops apparently even burned up by the foes.

⁷ Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up shall they carry away to the Brook of the Willows.

— therefore, the great substance which the Moabites had got, and hoarded upon account of the abundance they have gotten and that which they have laid up by hoarding; shall they carry away to the brook of the willows, a small stream on their southern boundary, which the Moabite fugitives forded in order to find refuge with the people of Idumea.

⁸ For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim and the howling thereof unto Beerelim.

— for the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab, the cry of destruction and howling; thus filling their entire country; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, a town near the Dead Sea, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim, in northeastern Moabitis, that is, the cry of distress reaches from one end of the country to the other.

⁹ For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood; for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth from Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”

— for the waters of Dimon, the river Arnon, shall be full of blood; for I will bring more further misfortune upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land, the reference being either to another enemy among foreign nations;

— or to wild animals whom the Lord would send to complete the devastation of the land; the Targum says, “a king shall ascend with his army, and so spoil the remainder of their land.”

Isaiah 16

¹ Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. — the context is around the land of Moab;

— send ye the lamb as tribute which started when David conquered them from the land of Moab to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion;

— Moab here, having found refuge in Petra of Idumea, being admonished to send its tribute of lambs to the ruler of the land, to the king reigning at Jerusalem, the road to this capital, whose most important section was Mount Zion, leading through the wilderness south and west of the Dead Sea;

— Sela, or Petra; the capital of Idumea; also the capital of the Nabatheans. To submit to Judah, in both the physical and the spiritual sense, was Moab’s only hope.

² For it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

— for it shall be that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, like birds aimlessly fluttering, like a nest whose occupants have suddenly been turned out; or as a bird that has forsaken its nest;

— so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon; for here, at the boundary of their land, they assemble in huddled bands, looking for help and deliverance.

³ “Take counsel, execute judgement; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts, betray not him that wandereth.

— take counsel to decide what is just and right; to decide paying tribute to the king of Judah, execute judgement, planning deliverance instead of oppression, as heretofore; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday;

— hide the outcasts, those who are driven from home without cause; such as were driven out of their land through the fury and persecution of the enemy, receive and conceal, as Rahab did the spies: betray not him that wandereth, betraying him not into the hands of the enemies.

⁴ Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the despoiler; for the extortioner is at an end, the despoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

— let mine outcasts or refugees dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, such as when first the Assyrian monarchs and later king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to ravage Judea, thus giving shelter to all who might become fugitives from Judah in the uncertain circumstances at that time;

— for the extortioner is at an end, the great world-power which made it a practice to destroy and tread under foot was itself overcome, the spoiler ceaseth, destruction is no longer to be found, the oppressors are consumed out of the land;

— Jerusalem was delivered from the Assyrian affliction, which represented, at the same time, all the forces of evil arrayed against the Chosen people.

⁵ And in mercy shall the throne be established; and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgement and hastening righteousness.”

— and in mercy shall the throne, that of Judah of the Messiah, be established, prepared and confirmed; and he, the Messiah himself, shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David;

— one in whom the truth of the Lord’s promise is fulfilled, one who himself is the Truth, judging, and seeking judgement, and hasting righteousness for those are the principles of his government;

— there is only one way for Moab to escape the threatening everlasting Judgement, and that is by acknowledging and throwing itself upon the mercy of this King.

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud” even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; but his lies shall not be so.

— the nation of Israel has heard of the pride of Moab, its conceit and foolish dependence upon its own strength, Jeremiah 48:14-29; he is very proud; even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, his senseless anger against Israel; but his lies shall not be so, his false boasts would soon be shown to be vain.

⁷ Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

— therefore one Moabite shall mourn for another, lamenting its own ruin; every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kir-hareseth, the ruins of its strongest fortress, shall ye mourn, for this citadel of brick would be razed;

— surely they are stricken, rather, the people of Moab, utterly stricken by this calamity, would lament.

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof. They are come even unto Jazer; they wandered through the wilderness; her branches are stretched out; they are gone over the sea.

— for the fields of Heshbon languish and the vine of Sibmah, their richest products being ruined by the invaders; all the fine plants of the vine whose culture was so extensively carried on in this country; they, namely, the grape-vines in all parts of the country, all were appointed for destruction.

⁹ Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the shouting has fallen.

— therefore Isaiah will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah, the prophet’s tears joining in pity and in lament with those of the rich districts of Moab;

— Isaiah will water them with tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh, weeping on account of the hardness of heart shown to the Moabites, which resulted in such a terrible punishment; for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen,

—rather, “for the vintage-shout ( hedad) is fallen on thy fruits and on thy vintage,” namely, the invader, whose shout of triumph accompanied his trampling the harvest of fruits and grapes into the ground.

¹⁰ And gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting. The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

— and gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field, out of the garden-land; and in thy vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting, as when the harvest was gathered in times of peace;

— the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; their destruction wrought by the enemy has brought about the end of all happy harvesting.

¹¹ Therefore my heart shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

— wherefore Moab shall sound like the sounding-board of a stringed instrument, which vibrates with the depth of his emotion.

¹² And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

— and it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, when its people have lamented themselves weary, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray,

— that is, turning to the high place consecrated to his god Chemosh and tormenting himself to utter fatigue; but he shall not prevail, for the god in whom he foolishly trusts is nothing but a dead idol. Such is ever the result when men place their confidence in an idol of their own invention.

¹³ This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

— this is the Word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time, that is, the prophecy recorded till now had been made some time before. The accurate time of its fulfilment is now added by prophet Isaiah:

¹⁴ But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be condemned with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.”

— but now the Lord. hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, very carefully measured, and the glory of Moab shall be condemned;

— that is, covered with shame, with all that great multitude, the whole mass of its inhabitants; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble, in no sense large, there would be but an insignificant remainder of the former mighty nation;

— the ruins of the places mentioned in this prophecy, whose names have been preserved even to this day, testify to both the inspiration of prophecy and the punitive judgement from God.

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

Isaiah 13

¹ The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

— a prophecy concerning Babylon, described as the burden of Babylon, the sentence of judgement revealed by special inspiration of the Lord, which Isaiah the son of Amoz prophesied.

² “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain; exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

— lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, raising the standard of battle upon a deforested peak, where it may be visible from all sides, exalt the voice unto them, calling in urgent invitation,

— shake the hand, in a beckoning gesture, that they may go into the gates of the nobles, summoned to celebrate a victorious battle, a war against the enemies which would result in a glorious triumph.

³ I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for Mine anger, even them that rejoice in My highness.”

— God has commanded his sanctified ones; meaning Cyrus, Darius and the officers of their armies, with the common soldiers, who were furnished with might and strength to do his will, to which they were called in his providence:

— Yehovah himself summoning these warriors consecrated to his work; he have also called his mighty ones for his anger, the heroes who should carry out the purposes to execute his judgement, even them that rejoice in his highness, boasting of the victory won in his might.

⁴ The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

— the noise of a multitude in the mountains; of Media and Persia, like as of a great people, a turmoil as when masses of people, great armies, congregate; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together, an exceptionally large and powerful host;

— the Lord of hosts, the Commander-in-chief of all heavenly forces, mustereth the host of the battle, ready to carry out his plan of judgement and punishment when the army under Cyrus was marching towards Babylon.

⁵ They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land.

— they come from a far country, from the end of heaven, from the ends of the earth; the furthermost parts of it, and these are at the end times, “the latter days”

— and as Persia and Media were not “from a far country” could these new countries be Russia and China; these are from beyond the horizon, where the earth appears to be hounded by the sky;

— even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land, literally, “to overturn the whole earth” for the entire world, then known, would feel the ravages of the war of destruction determined upon by the Lord of hosts, Yehovah;

— the prophet now turns directly to the nations, the whole land of Chaldea, with Babylon in the lead; the Targum says, “to destroy all the wicked of the earth.”

⁶ Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

— howl ye, in consternation and terror; for the day of the Lord, or the Lord’s Day, is at hand when he intends to carry out his judgement; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty, all the enemies being included in his punishment suddenly, swiftly and irresistibly.

⁷ Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt.

— therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt, like water, like wax before the fire; be dispirited and lose all their valour and courage have neither power nor heart to resist their enemies, and of an utter lack of courage, of complete hopelessness.

⁸ And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

— and they shall be afraid, troubled, dismayed, frightened, terrified in bewilderment; pangs, convulsions and pains in the bowels shall take hold of them, their terror showing in convulsive movements;

— they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth, Joel 2:6; they shall be amazed one at another, staring with all evidences of extreme terror, their faces shall be as flames, alternately reddening and blanching as their fear drives the blood back and forth in the body.

⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

— behold, the day of the Lord cometh, the day of his vengeance, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, consuming with its heat, to lay the land of the Chaldean desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, for the Lord here has the whole earth in mind.

¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

— for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the figure of utter darkness pointing to the severity of the punishment;

— the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, ceasing to shine as soon as it rises, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine so that it would be very uncomfortable; day and night, neither sun, moon nor stars appearing. All this, as in Joel 3:4 and Amos 5:8, indicates that all hope would be vain.

¹¹ “And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

— and God will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity; and he will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, so that the voice of boasting is no longer heard, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, putting down the tyrants and stopping their violence.

¹² I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

— the scarcity of men in Babylon through the slaughter as God made a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir, in this manner would the Lord visit the world with his anger, to punish and annihilate it in the extremity of his wrath.

¹³ Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.

— therefore God will shake the heavens, namely for the purpose of punishing the earth and making men scarce on it, and the earth shall remove out of her place, being crowded aside, as it were, by the immensity of God’s indignation;

— in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger; he is going to shake the earth out of her place, of course literally, which would mean a hundred times the waves of Fukushima over!

¹⁴ And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up; they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

— and Babylon and its inhabitants shall be as the chased roe, the timid gazelle, which is so easily startled, and as a sheep that no man taketh up, like a panic-stricken flock which simply cannot be brought together again;

— then shall every man turn to his own people and flee every one into his own land, that is, the great mass of strangers gathered in the great world market, first with Babylonia, then the house of Israel and the house of Judah would, at the Lord’s shakings, the tribes scatter in all directions, every one anxious to reach the protection of his own country;

— Q. could “every man every one into his own land” also mean that the house of Israel, the ten-tribes headed by the United States, finally realised their land is in the Promised Land in Palestine; and flee to reclaim, first, with the “West Bank” then the others? Especially what could have happened after Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5?

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

¹⁵ Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.

— everyone that is found shall be thrust through, and every one that is joined unto them, rather, intercepted in flight, shall fall by the sword, for it is a general slaughter which will come upon the mixed population of the United States.

¹⁶ Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be despoiled and their wives ravished.

— their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their parents witnessing their murder; their houses shall be spoiled, everything plundered, and their wives ravished, for war ever brutalizes men, in many cases placing them below the level of beasts.

¹⁷ “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

— behold, God will stir up the Medes against them, the Medo-Persians being the world power which conquered Babylon; could these be the modern Persians, the Iranians?

— which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it, that is, it would be impossible to bribe them, to buy them off, and thus save the city whose destruction was firmly determined upon by the Lord;

— also the original Medo-Persians had pleasure by their spoiling of the houses of the Babylonians, but these don’t have any pleasures, hence it is another scenario;

— Q. Could this be a latter day prophecy of the United States? Could these be the modern Persians, the Iranians?

¹⁸ Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

— their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, a very vivid description of the effect which would attend the wholesale slaughter; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, not sparing even the unborn children, II Kings 8:12; II Kings 15:16; Hosea 14:1; Amos 1:13; their eye shall not spare children, for the enemies would be devoid of all pity.

¹⁹ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

— and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, an ornament of beauty in the midst of conquered nations, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, to which they all pointed with pride as the greatest capital of the world, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly destroyed, an eternal wilderness.

²⁰ It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

— it shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabians, the Bedouin nomads, pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, total desolation should reign there forever.

²¹ But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

— but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, making their dens in the midst of the ruins; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, the howling jackals probably being meant; and owls shall dwell there, rather, ostriches, and satyrs, or wild goats, thought to be possessed of demons, shall dance there.

²² And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.”

— and the wild beasts of the islands, probably hyenas, shall cry in their desolate houses, in the ruined palaces of the city, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.

Isaiah 14

¹ For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

— for the Lord will have mercy on the house of Jacob, it is his plan for his people to lead the way for the Kingdom of God; which caused him to bring judgement, punishment and destruction by the rod of Babylon, then the Romans;

— but will yet choose Israel in accordance with his plan of redemption and set them in their own land, the Promised Land; his elect being called a peculiar people; and the strangers from the nations, people who are not members of Israel according to the flesh, shall be joined with them, into a kingdom of saints, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob, to be reckoned as members of God’s people.

² And the people shall take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and they shall take them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors.

— and the people that take them and bring them to their place, that is, the Chaldeans, will them play a reverse role;

— that is, the Jews that dwelt in Babylon shall rule over their oppressors, the Chaldeans, the nations; and similarily, the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord that have given to them, the former enemies of the children of Israel surrounding the region will be glad to serve him in this manner.

³ And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and from thy fear and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

— and it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow from captivity and from thy fear of worse evils, most cruel usage, and death itself, under the terror of which they lived: and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve;

⁴ that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased!

— that thou shalt take up this proverb, a song of triumph, against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! literally, “Ended is the driving despot, ended the exacting” (of gold), or “the oppression” for the greatest burden which Babylon laid upon the people under her dominion was that of a tribute, a tribute of gold.

⁵ The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers.

— the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of its rulers, since it was used only for authority; the “staff” and “sceptre” are emblems of power and government and “breaking” them signifies the utter destruction and cessation of authority and dominion.

⁶ He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

— the king of Babylon smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, namely, the scepter of the tyrant, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth, that is, none of the neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance.

⁷ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing.

— the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, now that the enemy is overthrown, the peace of God’s kingdom being pictured; they break forth into singing song of praise, the believers praising the Lord for his deliverance.

⁸ Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since thou art laid down, no hewer has come up against us.’

— yea, the fir-trees, or cypresses, rejoice at thee, at the tyrant’s misfortune, and the cedars of Lebanon, for their wood had been exported and furnish for building houses; saying, Since thou art laid down, Babylon having fallen, no feller is come up against us, to strip the mountainsides of their forests.

⁹ Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

— hell or the “grave” from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, the specters or giants inhabiting hell, even all the chief ones, literally, “the leaders” of the earth, as many as are in the dominion of darkness;

— it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations; all these dwellers are pictured as astonished and excited at the prospect of seeing the kings of Babylon or the Pharaohs of Egypt, feeble and powerless, coming out from their place of abode.

¹⁰ All they shall speak and say unto thee: ‘Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?’

— all they shall speak and say unto thee, the kings of Babylon or the Pharaohs of Egypt, not in contempt and mockery but in honest astonishment, Art thou also become weak as we, void of all strength? Art thou become like unto us?

¹¹ Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

— thy pomp is brought down to the grave, all Babylon’s and Egypt’s earthly glory and majesty destroyed, and the noise of thy viols, the sound of the harps which accompanied their feasts of merrymaking on earth;

— the worm, the flesh-eating maggot, is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee, the most repulsive creatures, symbols of decay, taking the place of the precious Babylonian carpets, tapestries, and coverings to which the king had been accustomed here on earth.

¹² “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations!

— how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! literally, “O day-star, son of the dawn,” the reference is to be understood of the fall of Satan, and the apostate angels, comparing him to the high and influential position occupied by the Babylonian ruler.

— how art thou cut down to the ground, like a giant tree which has been felled, which didst weaken the nations, in conquering and subduing them;

— Lucifer = “light-bearer” however, renders from the Hebrew [hêlēl H1966]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ Isaiah 14:14

¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.

— only for Lucifer, not even Nebuchadnezzar, could have said in his heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, the residences of the spirits of God;

— I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the North, this being said according to the hint of the Heavenly Throne where the Lord God is, on the North side of the earth, in the far North.

¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’

— I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, considered the chariots and thrones of the ancient deities; I will be like the Most High, many of the emperors of old regarding themselves as the sons or the offspring of God and laying claim to divine honors;

— the Targum says, “I will be higher than them all.’

¹⁵ Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

— yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit, his reception in the place of everlasting destruction.

¹⁶ They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee, saying, ‘Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms,

— the dead that see thee, musing upon the terrible fate which struck their former companion or acquaintance, saying, Is this the king or Caesar that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, as the great Babylonian or Roman empires often did;

¹⁷ that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners?’

— by destroying the inhabitants of it, that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; and by laying waste cities, towns; that opened not the house of his prisoners, showing no pity by dismissing them to their prisons.

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

— every king of the nations who lie in wait for glory; their bodies, properly prepared for burial, lying in state in the tombs of their ancestors.

¹⁹ But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet.

— but thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, where it lies and rots like a worthless twig or parasite, which hinders the growth of the tree.

²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

— thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people, making it the instrument of his tyrannical lust of conquest; the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned, his race becoming extinct as godless and cursed.

²¹ Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.”

— prepare slaughter for their children for the iniquity of their fathers, on whose account a dynasty shall be destroyed, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities, preventing them from establishing their dominion and regaining their former power.

²² “For I will rise up against them,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and grandson,” saith the Lord.

— for the Lord of hosts will rise against them, against the children of the Babylonish monarch; and cut off from them their name and remnant, all the descendants that are left; any son or nephew.

²³ “I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction,” saith the Lord of hosts.

— God will also make it, the site of Babylon, a possession for the bittern, or an animal something like the porcupine which inhabits the wastes of the Euphrates Valley, and pools of water, swamps resulting from the annual overflow of the river.

²⁴ The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, “Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand;

— the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as he had disposed or planned, so shall it come to pass, and so shall it stand.

²⁵ that I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.”

— God will break the Assyrian in his land, overthrowing his power within the boundaries of Judah, particularly the mountains which were round about Jerusalem; and upon his mountains tread him under foot;

— then shall his yoke depart from off them, namely, the inhabitants of Judah, and his burden depart from off their shoulders, so that the design of the invader could not be accomplished.

²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

— this is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; the Targum says, “all the inhabitants of the earth” in the counsel of the Lord, in whose hand is the government of the whole earth;

— and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, and every decree of the Lord has significance “on all kingdoms” that is, for all men.

²⁷ For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

— if the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And if his hand is stretched out, who shall turn it back?

²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden:

— in about 727 BC the year that King Ahaz died, was this burden, this sentence of judgement upon the Philistines, who just at this time prepared to regain their ancient power:

²⁹ “Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken; for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

— rejoice thou not, whole Palestina, that is, Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken, the Philistines being of the opinion that the alliance of Syria and the Northern Kingdom, as a consequence of which Ahaz and Judah had become vassals of Assyria, II Kings 16:5-9, had resulted in breaking the power of Judah, which had only just before that been asserted by Uzziah, II Chronicles 26:6;

— for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, that is, an adder, a still more poisonous serpent, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent, the reference probably being to Hezekiah, who promptly smote the Philistines and definitely brought about their destruction, II Kings 18:8.

³⁰ And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

— and the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety, that is, the inhabitants of Judah would enjoy peace and safety under the reign of God over Philistia; but God will kill thy root with famine, thus eradicating the Philistines as a people, and he shall slay thy remnant, thereby carrying out his punishment upon the ancient enemies of Judah.

³¹ Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! Thou, whole Philistia art dissolved! For there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.”

— howl, O gate! the strong fortifications of the Philistine cities being meant. Cry, O city! Ashdod and Gaza having retained much of their ancient glory. Thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved, melting away to nothing;

— for there shall come from the North a smoke, namely, the Assyrian hordes with their ruthless devastations, and none shall be alone in his appointed times, literally, “and none is by himself in his armies,” the Assyrian soldiers knowing neither weariness nor insubordination, but all filled with that one idea the lust of conquest.

³² What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? “That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.”

— what shall one answer the messengers of the nation? What answer do the messengers of the nation bring? What report did the ambassadors of various nations make when they returned to their own land after viewing the results of God’s punishment of Philistia and his protection of Judah?

— that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it, the troubled refugees being safe within its walls. In this way the Lord protects those who believe in him against all enemies, he himself being their Refuge and Strength.

Posted in Isaiah

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.

However the following may provide a clue:

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.

Isaiah 11

¹ And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

— and there shall come forth a fresh shoot or twig out of the stem of Jesse; he is called a “rod” either because of his unpromising appearance, arising “out of the stem of Jesse” from him, in the line of David;

— out of the stock and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 4:12; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, the root-stock being all that was left of the former grandeur of David’s house, the renewal of his family by this singular Scion would indeed be a miracle;

— second, he is called a “rod” probably he is an instrument of executing a punishment from the hand of the Father to horsewhip his children; the Targum agrees, paraphrasing the words thus, “and a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse;”

— the Targum confirms this is speaking of the Messiah, “And a king shall come forth from the sons of Jesse, and from his children’s children the Messiah shall be anointed.”

² And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord”

— and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the rod and branch, the King Messiah, so qualifying him for his office, and the discharge of his duty with the fullness of his power;

— the Spirit of wisdom, which searches all things, even the secrets of God, and understanding, able to make the proper distinction concerning all things,

— the Spirit of counsel, by whom the Messiah is endowed to be the Counselor, and might, for Christ is the mighty God, Isaiah 7:6, the Spirit of knowledge, by means of which he is familiar with all the mysteries of God;

— and of the fear of the Lord, yea “of the fear of the Lord” even the Son has to pay homage to God the Father, the “only true God” praying to his heavenly Father and seeking his leadership, and he was and is to fear his Father, according to his divine nature united with him in an everlasting union as One;

— that night, the night he was betrayed, he had two desires but his requests were denied (1) his desire to eat the Passover with his disciples; (2) his desire for the “cup” to be removed from him (for more see THAT NIGHT COULDN’T BE THE FOURTEENTH!)

³ and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears.

— Rashi: and he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord: He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord; that is, even the Son is motivated by the fear of the Lord, Yehovah; the “only true God” John 17:3.

— Q, just curious; how did the Son (the only begotten Son) came into being? Also, could there be another ‘son’ that started well but because of arrogance and pride, eventually went off bad?

— he is highly pleased when men bring to him the sacrifice of their fear of God; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, rendering judgement not according to external appearances, rather according to his understanding of the heart and soul;

⁴ But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.

— but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, his Savior’s-interest turning especially to the lowly, to those who bear the enmity of the world on account of their faith with the proper meekness, taking the part of those who are persecuted for their confession;

— and he, the Son, shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; the ministration of his word, the rod of his strength, rebuking and horsewhipping the hostility of the disobedient world, and with the breath of his lips, his Word, which bears almighty power, shall he slay the wicked, overthrowing the power of Satan and revealing the true character of the Kingdom of God.

⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.

— and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness, upon which his believers may rely with full confidence, the girdle of his reins; he was faithful to God, that appointed him as King and Head of the Kingdom; faithful as a Prophet, in declaring his mind and will; and is a faithful High Priest.

⁶ “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

— the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them, a figurative representation of ideal spiritual conditions;

— the Targum introduces in this manner, “in the days of the Messiah of Israel, peace shall be multiplied in the earth.”

⁷ And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

— during the Millennium the cow and the bear shall feed, all the bloodthirstiness of the latter forgotten; their young ones shall lie down together, his nature so completely changed that he is no longer a carnivorous, but a herbivorous animal; thus the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸ And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

— and the sucking child, the unweaned infant, shall play on the hole of the asp, on the entrance of the adder’s cave, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den, or stretch out his arm to touch the sparkling eye of the basilisk, the poisonous serpents having lost all their vicious habits. All this poetic description is now explained.

⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

— they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, all the members of God’s kingdom, whose former state was characterized by the comparison with the various animals named above, would lose and lay aside their hostile habits toward one another;

— for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Knowledge of Yehovah, love and fear of God, is the motive in all acts of all believers; because they fear the Lord, because they know him the one true God,

— and the Messiah, Yeshua or Jesus Christ, whom he has sent as the Savior of the world, therefore they, the inhabitants of his holy mountain, the members of his Kingdom, who previously live in the midst of a hateful and hostile world, now live together in peace and harmony.

¹⁰ “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the people; to It shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious.”

— and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, that same wonderful Scion, the Son of David spoken as a most proper person “the Gentiles seek” to be consulted on all occasions, he, not king Hezekiah, being the wonderful Counsellor, Isaiah 9:6.

¹¹ And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

— and it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time, stretching it out as once before when he led his chosen people out of Egypt, to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, not, only the believers of Israel and Judah, but those from all the nations of the world;

— from Assyria, the mighty nation in the valley of the Euphrates, and from Egypt, the empire toward the southwest, and from Pathros, Upper Egypt, and from Cush, or Ethiopia, and from Elam, Southern Media, and from Shinar, Southern Mesopotamia, and from Hamath, the country or province on the Orontes, north of Palestine, and from the islands of the sea, an expression which refers to the entire coast of the Mediterranean and the adjacent countries;

— see also Isaiah 49:22 where will lift up his hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the Messiah; could this period also coincide with Ezekiel 390/40 years?)

¹² And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

— and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, around which all the believers might rally, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, those of remnant of the house of Israel, his people among the ten tribes;

— and gather together the dispersed from the house of Judah, the Jews, from the four corners or wings of the earth so that they will march under his banner, united in spirit, though outwardly separated by race and language and customs.

¹³ The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

— the hostility with Epraim shall depart, this hostility with Judah having been the chief factor in the division of the nation during the time of the kings in the Old Testament, but that soon, Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim, that is, the children of Israel would then be a perfect and harmonious union, its various parts living together in perfect harmony.

¹⁴ But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall despoil them of the east together. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

— but they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall fly upon the shoulders of the Phillstines toward the west, this nation being the embodiment of the fiercest hostility since the early history of Israel; they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall spoil them of the east together, the Bedouin hordes of Arabia;

— they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, which are today’s Spain and Jordan, conquering the country of these ancient enemies; and the children of Ammon shall obey them, literally, “their obedience.”

— These scenarios show the manner in which the Lord, through his Kingdom will judge and destroy his enemies. The Last Day will spell their doom, and the children of Jacob, the remnants left of the Day of the Lord, will be present to celebrate their victory:

For more about Edom, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

More on the Sword from the South, see A Sword from the South!

¹⁵ And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dryshod.

— and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; a bay of the Egyptian sea, so called because in the form of a tongue; or the fork of the Arabian Gulf known as the Red Sea as at the time when the children of Israel left the house of their bondage;

— and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, over the Euphrates, and shall smite it in the seven streams, separating it into seven shallow brooks, and make men go over dry-shod, walking through its bed on sandals; in references the Lord here promises to the spiritual people of God a wonderful salvation, like that out of Egypt or out of the captivity of Assyria;

— and so the Targum says, “and the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shall lift up the stroke of His strength upon Euphrates, by the word of His prophets” and this designs the destruction of the land of the Muslims which is signified by the drying up of the river Euphrates; that is, from the Nile to the Euphrates would the house of Israel and the house of Judah return to.

¹⁶ And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who shall be left from Assyria, as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

— and there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, cast up or purposely built for the believers in the Lord’s Kingdom, which shall be left, from Assyria, permitting the captives to return to their inheritance;

— far more than it was to Israel in the day that the house of Jacob came up out of the land of Egypt. This redemption of his people out of the hand of all enemies and oppressors would be the last great deed of the Messiah, and its completion will usher in the peace and glory of eternity. In this way the despised Branch out of the house of David would establish his kingdom, which, although jeered at from all sides, will still conquer in the end.

Isaiah 12

¹ And in that day thou shalt say: “O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comforted me.

— and in that day, when the redemption of the spiritual Israel, of the Kingdom of God, shall be completed, thou shalt say, the Saviour triumphant breaking forth in a song of praise;

— O Lord, I will praise Thee, my Lord, my Redeemer and my Saviour; though thou wast angry with me, in a just wrath over the natural sinfulness of those whose redemption was perfected, thine anger is turned away, through the atonement made by Christ, and thou comfortest me, the fact of the salvation gained through the Messiah is the highest consolation of the believers in time and eternity.

² Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.”

— behold, my God is my Salvation, literally, “Behold the God of my salvation,” him who planned and carried out the redemption of a world lost in sin; I will trust, placing full reliance upon his promise of help, and not be afraid, not being brought to shame on account of the confidence resting in him;

— for the Lord Yehovah is my Strength, giving full evidence of his power in redeeming his people, and my Song, the object of his elect’s endless praise; he also is become my Salvation, the blessings of which are now enjoyed by all in the Kingdom of God.

³ Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation;

— therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, partaking of its benefits richly and endlessly. “At the Feast of Tabernacles water was drawn from the fountain of Siloam for a drink-offering. From the priest that so brought it with solemnity into the Temple, another took it, and, while pouring out the water, used the words of our text.”

⁴ and in that day shall ye say: “Praise the Lord! Call upon His name! Declare His doings among the people; make mention that His name is exalted.

— and in that day, while enjoying the fullness of the redemption, shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the Gentiles, making them known throughout the earth, make mention that his name, Yehovah, be exalted, their only Saviour and Redeemer, thus giving all glory to him.

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end).

⁵ Sing unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.

— sing unto the Lord, in psalms, hymns and songs, for he hath done excellent things, proving his excellence and majesty in the various acts of his redemption; this is known in all the earth, it should be announced to all mankind.

⁶ Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion! For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”

— Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; singing aloud with the high praises of God in their mouth, from the mountain where the house of true divine worship are located; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, as the Giver of Victory and the Fountain of Life.

— thus this wonderful hymn, modeled after so many psalms of praise in the Old Testament, especially that sung upon the delivery of the children of Israel at the hands of Pharaoh, Exodus 15:1-18, sets forth the joy of the redemption of God, of the Chosen triumphant, when entering upon the blessings of eternal redemption.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Isaiah

This prophecy of Isaiah starts with some cryptic messages about the prophecised coming of the Messiah; in Galilee, people who live in the dark but were privileged to see a great light.

The Q remains; if these chapters are prophetic, who then are the Assyrians that was prophesied to punish Israel? Are they the Germans? If so, how would this play out? If not, who else?

One clue is this “And it shall come to pass in that day,” that this is prophetic; in the latter day; so we have to wait and see!

Isaiah 9

¹ Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more grievously afflicted her by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

— Zebulun ~ Holland; Naphtali ~ Sweden; beyond the Jordan: Reuben ~ France; Manasseh ~ UK; Gad ~ Switzerland;

— nevertheless, the (dimness) gloom of those people shall not be such as was in her vexation; these words may be rendered, “for there shall be no weariness to him that straitens” or “afflicts” them; so could refer to the king of Assyria; or Titus Vespasian, who would not be weary of, but tirelessly in carrying on the siege of Jerusalem and parts of Judea, including the land of Zebulun and Naphtali:

— as shown in Matthew 4:12-17, this prophecy was literally fulfilled during the Galilean ministry of Yeshua when he made Capernaum the center of activities and from there set forth on his journeys, not only throughout Galilee, but also into the country east of Jordan, by the way of the sea;

— in Galilee of the nations; which was inhabited not only by Jews, but people of other nations; and all Galilee, were lightly esteemed of, being mean and illiterate, not famous for any arts or sciences and having no prophet among them, should, in the days of the Messiah be highly honoured and made glorious by his presence, ministry and miracles performed there; Matthew 14:13.

² The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

— the people that walked in Galilee have seen a great light; the inhabitants of Galilee in the times of the Messiah; see Matthew 4:16; John 1:48 and is a true character of the people of Galilee which are in a state of darkness;

— have seen a great light, the prophet, speaking as the mouthpiece of the eternal and omniscient God, views the Messiah there had seen a great light, for so certain is the fulfillment of God’s promise.

³ Thou hast multiplied the nation and not increased the joy; the will rejoice before Thee liken to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

— thou hast multiplied the nation, that is, with light, knowledge, honour and glory, even Galilee of the nations; so the prophet addresses the Lord in a direct hymn of praise, since he, beginning with Galilee, extended the circle of believers in him until his believers were spread over the world;

— and not increased the joy, or “to whom Thou didst not magnify the joy,” the reference once more being to the time of great sorrow and distress under heathen conditions; they rejoice before thee according to the joy in harvest, when the sacrificial feasts were eaten by grateful worshippers, Deuteronomy 12:7; Deuteronomy 14:26.

⁴ For Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

— for thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, the spiritual slavery with which the people were burdened, and the staff of his shoulder, the reference being to the cudgel of the overseer in striking the back of the slave;

— the rod of his oppressor, with which the people were kept in subjection, as in the day of Midian, Judges 7:15-22. Even as the Lord, at the time of Gideon, had delivered Israel from the oppression of the Midianites in a miraculous manner, so he effected a deliverance from everlasting bondage, from spiritual slavery, so the Messiah overcame all the enemies of mankind and now divides the spoil among the believers everywhere.

⁵ For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

— for every battle is with confused noise; with the sound of the trumpet and beating of drums, and the huzzas and shoutings of the soldiers, the stamping and neighing of horses, the rushing of chariots, and rumbling of wheels, and the clashing of swords, spears and shields;

— and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire, literally: “For every greave” (armor, especially to protect the feet and legs) “of him who girds on his armor with noise, and the soldier’s cloak rolled in blood, it shall become a burning, food for the fire.”

⁶ For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

— for unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, the eternal Word being made flesh for us, not only in our stead, but for our benefit, for the eternal salvation of all believers; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, the absolute and unlimited power, the divine authority in its fullest sense, rests upon him, he is, from his birth, in complete possession of the eternal power and Godhead;

— and his name shall be called Wonderful, not only his birth, but his entire essence being a miracle, Counselor, for he not only knows the right and proper counsel in every difficulty of body and soul, he also carries out his plans for the benefit of men, the Mighty God, for the Messiah, true man as he is, is at the same time above all, God blessed forever, altogether identical with Yehovah;

— from the record, King Hezekiah foolishly show Merodach-baladan, the Babylonian king’s envoys to Hezekiah, of all his treasures and his armory, and Isaiah rebuked him for such foolishness, II Kings 20, Isaiah 39; which they came later and carry all to Babylon; from such record, how could Hezekiah be consider a wise king or a Counselor?

— the Everlasting Father, this description isn’t in the Septuagint nor in the Targum; so what could we make of this? The Messiah, the Son of God has never been described as the Father anywhere else in the Scriptures. Is this not the lying pen (ESV) of the scribes as described in Jeremiah 8:8? Is this another one of the self-deceptions of rabbinical Judaism to keep themselves blinded (who claim that King Hezekiah fulfilled this prophecy)?

— the Prince of Peace, the true Shiloh, Genesis 49:10, who has restored the right relation between God and man, making peace by abolishing in his flesh the enmity which existed since the fall of man, Ephesians 2:14-15.

— the full Targum says, “The prophet said to the house of David, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and He has taken the law upon Himself to keep it. His name is called from eternity, Wonderful, The Mighty God, who liveth to eternity, The messiah, whose peace shall be great upon us in His days” — yes, the Targum identifies this verse confirming the Messiah had been prophesised but nothing about ‘the Everlasting Father’ and he was to be born, the Son and he was from eternity to eternity;

Remember, laying side by side along with the Masoretic Text, the Targum is another source of the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning from Babylon and Persia, these returnees they could only understand in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to them then and to us today from the Hebrew Text quoted.

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon His Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

— of the increase of his government, in extending the boundaries of his spiritual kingdom, and peace there shall be no end, that is, he brings about a condition of eternal peace between God and man,

— upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, for the kingdom of David continued and established in order to establish the foundation for the Kingdom of God with judgement and with justice from henceforth even forever;

— the zeal of the Lord of hosts, the eagerness of his love in seeking the salvation of mankind, will perform this. All this was fulfilled in the Son of God, of whom the angel says: “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

⁸ The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. — the Lord sent a word into Jacob,

— a warning against his people, and it hath lighted upon Israel, falling from heaven like a morsel intended for the whole nation. God revealed his intention to his servant, and by the preaching of the prophet it reached the place for which it was intended.

⁹ And all the people shall know—even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria” that say in the pride and stoutness of heart:

— and all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, the northern kingdom with its capital being emphatically mentioned first, as being leaders in disobedience and haughtiness, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart.

¹⁰ “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”

— the bricks of the World Trade Center had fallen, but we will build with hewn stones; Jonathan Cahn has lots to say about this verse: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars;

— that is, they intended to replace their former lowly dwellings of dried clay and the cheap wood of the sycamore fig-tree by splendid palaces of stone and costly cedar-wood. It is the height of presumption and blasphemous pride if men scorn the punishment of the Lord;

— and notice this is speaking of Ephraim—even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—one who has lots of “pride and stoutness of heart,” verse 9 above; Oh ye that are Blind, Ephraim refering not to the United Kingdom but the United States!

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

(3) Who is Ephraim, a Chronic Liar? (4) The Ox without the Unicorn

¹¹ Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and join his enemies together, — the subject “him”and “his” must be—Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—;

— therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, namely, the Ephraimites and the Assyrians, who, according to God’s plan, conquered Syria took Rezin the king of Syria, and then advanced and join their enemies together, or rather, Yehovah will stir up Ephraim’s enemies (the Syrians and the Philistines), against Ephraim;

Q, is this a prophecy for the endtime or an historical record? The part identified by Jonathan Cahn regarding “the bricks had fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones” as that of the World Trade Center, New York, in the land of Ephraim (that is, Ephraim being identified as the United States) was a prophecy; hence we can confidently say that all the rest could also be a prophecy.

¹² the Syrians before and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

— the Syrians before, for as allies of the Assyrians they would attack Israel from the front, and the Philistines behind, for these ancient enemies made use of every opportunity to wreak vengeance upon Israel and Judah, Cf II Chronicles 28:16-19;

— and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, eating with a full mouth, pillaging the land almost to the point of destruction. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. The misfortunes here described were but the beginning of the great destruction which would strike the entire nation for its disobedience by his chastening hand;

— “and they shall devour Israel with open mouth” Q: Could this refer to the captivity of Israel for 190 years and Judah for forty years as phrophecised by Ezekeil in the latter days? For more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years.

¹³ For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

— for the people turneth not unto God the Almighty that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. The object of his punishment, therefore, is or was not realized, they refuse to repent of their sins and thus give him a new cause for harsher punishment for them;

Not many repent even with Covid-19 now with about 7 million deaths (worldwide as of July 2023; over a million in the United States (1,127,000); the US has 4.3% of World’s population but 16% of World’s death)! Q: should we expect a more potent variant killer to emerge in the near future?

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

— therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, in wreaking his final vengeance upon the rebellious people, head and tail; the head being interpreted as “the ancient and honourable” men in high places, civil magistrates, judges, governors and elders of the people, the king as supreme, and all subordinate officers;

— branch and rush, in one day, “great and small” like branches of trees; the latter the common, people, like reeds and rushes, weak and feeble; “the strong and the weak” in one great destruction.

— and so the Targum says, “the Lord will destroy from Israel the prince, the captain, the ruler and the governor in one day;”

For more, see America: A Failed State?

¹⁵ The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

— the ancient and honorable, the princes and nobles of the people, he is the head; and the false prophet and false shepherds that teacheth lies, he is the tail;

— the prophets that tell lies, like Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh; considered themselves leaders among the people, but they are here told, with bitter irony, that they are morally the basest of the people, the vilest part of the nation.

¹⁶ For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are led by them are destroyed.

— for the leaders of this people cause them to err, thereby showing themselves utterly unfit for leadership; and they that are led of them are destroyed, literally, “swallowed up,” namely, by the error and its peril, just as the humble rush must perish if submerged and covered with a flood of filthy water.

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

— therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, the all-powerful, who formerly granted success to the arms of Israel’s young men, would withdraw his assistance;

— neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows, who formerly had been the special objects of his fostering care; for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer; that is, corrupt, atrociously bad, inclined to every form of wickedness,

— and every mouth speaketh folly, and every mouth speaketh folly; or falsehood;

— a lie, as the Targum says as all lies are foolish; as also all vain words, all impious ones; or the savour of irreligion or superstition, and indeed every idle word, and all unsavoury and corrupt speech, and there is particularly foolish talking, which is not convenient; for all this his anger Is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, ready to apply further punishment.

¹⁸ For wickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

— for wickedness burneth as the fire, challenging God to continue in his course of punishment, bringing forth its own destruction; it shall devour the briers and thorns, the great mass of the lowly people, who have become weeds and thistles on the face of the earth;

— and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, of the standing timber, of the upper classes of Israel, and they shall mount up, the fire lifting them up in a heavy column, like the lifting up of smoke. Thus the fire of God’s wrath, growing out of the nation’s wickedness, would bring destruction upon the entire people, the picture being that of a devastating forest-fire.

¹⁹ Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother.

— through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, but the Septuagint version renders it, “the whole land is burned” – burned out to ashes, utterly destroyed and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire to be devoured without mercy; no man shall spare his brother for selfishness takes account only of its own safety, disregarding all considerations of charity, patriotism and kinship.

²⁰ And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm.

— and he (impersonal subject; his hand, his teeth), that is, every man, shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, like a beast snapping in every direction; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, the members of his own family and tribe:

— the Targum says, “he shall spoil on the south, and still be hungry; and he shall destroy on the north, and not be satisfied.”

— Q, just curious, could this Targum version refers to the killings from the South to the North as in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5? For more, see the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

²¹ Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

— Manasseh, Ephraim; and Epraim, Manasseh, in a form of deep hatred or civil war in which every man’s hand would be turned against his neighbor;

— and they together shall be against Judah, for the hatred which obtained between Israel and Judah continued in the nation even as late as the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, when their murderous selfishness reached its climax. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still; for if sinners will not heed His warning here in time, his destruction will be upon them throughout eternity;

— which is to be understood of their quarrels, contentions, and wars among themselves, whereby they bit, devoured, and consumed each other, though they were brethren; which explains and confirms what is before said, of no man sparing his brother, and everyone eating the flesh of his own arm. The Targum paraphrases the words thus;

— the Septuagint says “Manasseh” shall eat or devour “Ephraim” and “Ephraim” shall eat or devour “Manasseh” — the Targum paraphrases the words, thus, “they of the house of “Manasseh” with those of the house of “Ephraim” and they of the house of “Ephraim” with those of the house of “Manasseh” shall be joined together as one, to come against them of the house of Judah.”

^{Isaiah 10}

¹ “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed — woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees; against lawgivers and judges, political rulers and governors that made unrighteous laws;

— in tyrannical legislation, laws which were not agreeable to the law of God, nor right reason; and were injurious to the persons and properties of men; and that write grievousness which they have prescribed, making and enforcing laws which bring unbearable oppressions to the poor of the land,

² to turn aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

— to turn aside the needy, that is, to deprive them of their rights, of the justice due them, were harassed with such long, vexatious and expensive suits; and to take away the right from the poor, willfully and maliciously taking it from the poor or the oppressed;

— that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless, the tyrants making themselves possessors of the property of the defenseless. They have reached the very heights of oppression and injustice.

³ And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?

— and what will ye do in the day of visitation, when God will visit their injustice upon them, and in the desolation, the sudden storm, crash and collapse; and so the Targum says, “what will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you?”

— which shall come from far? It is here hinted that God would send the enemy who should avenge the poor by destroying their oppressors from a far country. To whom will ye flee for help? this being a reference to Israel’s custom of seeking help from foreign nations. And where will ye leave your glory? that is, the treasures, valuables which they had piled up in practicing injustice and in treading down the poor.

⁴ Without Me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

— without me, rather, nothing remains; are not my people, and do not hearken to me, but that they shall bow down as captives; they would either be bound and carried captive, or else slain with the sword; their lot being even worse than that of other captives;

— and they shall fall under the slain, trodden under foot by others, hewn down in cold blood by their captors. Such is the lot of those who were formerly honorable and powerful, but abused their authority by tyrannical measures;

— for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, for it is impossible to escape the punishment of the Lord when once he sets out to pronounce his judgement on the wrongs committed against the poor and defenseless.

⁵ “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation!

— O Assyrian, the rod of God’s anger, because they were made use of by God as an instrument to chastise and correct Israel for their sins; and the staff in their hand is mine indignation,

— literally, “Woe to Asshur (which is) the rod of my wrath, and the staff, that in their hand, mine indignation.” The Lord here pronounces a woe upon Assyria; for whereas he wanted to use this nation merely as his instrument in punishing Israel.

⁶ I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

— God will send the Assyrian against an hypocritical nation, Israel, a nation corrupt and wicked, and against the people of his wrath will God give the Assyrian a charge, bidding them to smite Israel for her sins;

— to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets, destroy their power, render them utterly helpless. So much the charge of the Lord to Assyria included, not, indeed, as if the Lord had sent this command by some messenger, but that he places even the heathen nations into his service to carry out his plans, to punish the disobedient;

— Q. if this is prophetic, who then are the Assyrians to punish Isreal? Are they the Germans? If so, how would this play out? If not, then who else are the Assyrians?

⁷ Yet he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

— howbeit he, that is, Assyria, meaneth not so, does not hold the same idea that the Lord holds, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few, that is, Assyria was driven only by the thought of conquest and destruction and therefore was guilty before God, even while carrying out His plans.

— another way of saying, the Assyrian purposes, intentions and thoughts were not as the Lord’s; they did not imagine that they weres only the rod of God’s anger and the staff of his indignation, an instrumant of his wrath. The selfish and blameworthy pride of Assyria is now described; their plans are no less to be condemned though they by them unwittingly fulfill God’s designs.

⁸ For he saith, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings?

— for he asked, Are not my princes and commanders altogether kings? Assyria was a world-power, and even its provinces had the extent and the might of kingdoms, so that their governors could well rank with kings.

⁹ Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

— is not Calno, a large city on the Tigris, as Carchemish, an important commercial center on an island in the Euphrates? Rashi: “as the children of Carchemish are princes and rulers, so are the children of Calno;”

— is not Ramath, an important city and formerly a capital on the Orontes, as Arpad, a city in Syria proper? Is not Samaria as Damascus? Three pairs of cities are named in such a way that boasting Assyria emphasizes the great ease with which its conquests were made.

¹⁰ As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols and whose graven images excelled them of Jerusalem and of Samaria,

— as the hand of Assyria hath found Israel, the kingdoms of the idols, conquering those upon whom the people of Israel and Judah looked down as idol-worshipers, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, being more plentiful than they and therefore supposedly better able to defend their cities;

— from the Message Bible:

“Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a club in his hands! I send him against a godless nation, against the people I’m angry with. I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them.

“But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He’s out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can. Assyria says, ‘Aren’t my commanders all kings? Can’t they do whatever they like? Didn’t I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus? I’ve eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria. So what’s to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?’”

¹¹ shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?’”

— shall the Assyrian not, as they has done unto Samaria and her idols, which had been destroyed in the sacking of the city, do so to Jerusalem and her idols? The God of Jerusalem, so the speaker boastfully asserts, would no more be able to protect this city titan the gods of the other cities had succeeded in doing. Cf. Isaiah 36:18-20; Isaiah 37:11-13. This blasphemous boast could not remain unpunished, as the Lord shows.

¹² Therefore it shall come to pass when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem: “I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks.

— wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, Assyria being his instrument of chastisement upon those whom he had chosen for his people, and a remnant of whom remained true to him in the general apostasy and now bowed under his chastening hand;

— I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, the blasphemous pride which showed itself in his boasting, and the glory of his high looks, literally, “the haughtiness of the loftiness of his eyes,” the description showing the self-complacent nature of his assumed glory;

— the Targum says, “and it shall be, when the Lord hath finished to do all that he hath said in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem.”

¹³ For he saith, “‘By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.

— for the king of Assyria saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, ascribing his success entirely to his own ability; for I am prudent, always making use of proper understanding;

— and the king of Assyria continued his boasting: I have removed the bounds of the people, changing their boundaries to suit himself, and have robbed their treasures, taking at will everything that they had accumulated, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man, butting down those occupying thrones like a mighty hero or an angry steer.

¹⁴ And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.’”

— the king of Assyria continued: my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, locating them with an experienced hand; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, forsaken by the mother bird,

— have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, in defense, or opened the mouth, or peeped, in terrified protest. All nations had bowed in dumb resignation under the hand of the mighty Assyrian, and for this he took all credit to himself. But the prophet counters with a reproof of bitter irony:

¹⁵ Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood!

— Isaiah asked: shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or Is the saw able to exalt itself over the one who wields it? It is just as foolish for a tool to boast over against the workman as for the king of Assyria to ascribe to himself all the might which he possesses only by divine permission;

— Isaiah continued: as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood, literally, “as if a staff should lift up” (that which is) “not wood,” that is, the person handling it.

— So it was utterly absurd for the king of Assyria, who, although unknown to himself, carried out God’s punishment upon Israel, to ascribe to himself the wisdom and power, the design and success of this campaign. The very evil in the world is used by God to serve his objects. Cf Genesis 50:20. The punishment upon Assyria is then pronounced:

¹⁶ Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among His fat ones leanness; and under His glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

— therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, consuming the mighty ones of Assyria, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire, to consume it in a moment, with a mighty crackling and hissing.

¹⁷ And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day,

— and the Light of Israel, the Holy One of Israel himself, shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day, the Assyrian nation being devoured in one great destruction,

¹⁸ and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

— and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field; the Assyrian army is compared to a “forest” the majesty of his leaders and the wealth of his merchants, both soul and body, in a complete destruction;

— the Targum says, “the glory of the multitude of his army, and their souls with their bodies, it shall consume.”

¹⁹ And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

— and the rest of the trees in his forest, the few that have survived the devastation of the fire, shall be few, that a child may write them, put down the number which he easily counted. Thus the Lord, even in the midst of his enemies, has some few whom he has chosen, who are saved in the general destruction which will come upon the unbelievers.

²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again depend upon him that smote them, but shall stand upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

— and it shall come to pass in that day; here begins a prophecy relating to the house of Israel, concerning things that should befall them in the latter days, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, whom he has chosen from among the nations;

— shall no more again stay among the Assyrian who smote them, placing their confidence in Assyria, the nation to whom the kings of both Israel and Judah turned time and again, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, making him alone the full basis of their trust;

— the Targum say “they shall no more lean on the people whom they served; but they shall lean upon the Word of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.”

²¹ The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

— in the latter days, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of the full house of Jacob shall return to the true worship before the Almighty God.

²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consuming decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

— for though thy people, Israel be as numerous as the sand of the sea, a countless multitude, yet only a remnant of them shall return, unfortunately only a remnant, the great mass being killed by the Sword coming from the South Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5. For more, see the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

²³ For the Lord God of hosts shall cause a consuming, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

— for the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, that is, most are killed, even extermined, “and that which is decreed,” in the midst of all the land;

— there is no escaping the wrath of the Lord when once he sets the machineries of destruction are in motion, when he begins to carry out judgement upon Israel and issuing his decree of punishment is merely a preliminary act and the beginning of his Kingdom.

²⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts: “O My people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

— therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, in a call full of reassuring comfort, O My people that dwellest in Zion, those that had fled to Jerusalem, dwelling in His merciful presence, be not afraid of the Assyrian, the oppressor typifying all the enemies of the children of Israel;

— he Assyrian shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee, like an overseer of slaves, after the manner of Egypt, when the children of Israel were in the house of bondage and suffered severely from their oppressors.

²⁵ For yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their destruction.”

— yet for a very little while, and the indignation ceases, God’s people being delivered from the enmity of the godless, and mine anger in their destruction, rather, “My wrath has the object to destroy them,” the enemies of his Chosen, to wear them down to nothing;

— the Targum says, “for yet a very little while, and the curses shall cease from you of the house of Jacob; and mine anger shall be upon the people that work iniquity, to destroy them” that is, the Assyrians.

²⁶ And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His rod was upon the sea, so shall He lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

— and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for the Assyrians, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb, when Gideon’s forces annihilated the army of the Midianites, Judges 7:25;

— and as his rod was upon the sea, namely, when Moses stretched out his hand over the Red Sea and parted it for the safe passage of the children of Israel, Exodus 14:26, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt, lifting Assyria up and dashing it to pieces as he destroyed the forces of Pharaoh.

²⁷ And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

— and it shall come to pass in the latter day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, the Lord himself taking away the oppression of Assyria, of all the enemies of the house of Jacob, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing, rather, on account of the fat;

— the picture is that of an ox who becomes so fat and strong in spite of the yoke laid upon him that he breaks the yoke on his neck to pieces. Thus God’s people is to overcome the world by strength from within. Thus the deliverance of his people is described as it begins in and with Immanuel, and as it is completed on the Last Day, the day of redemption.

²⁸ He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his baggage.

— the Assyrian and his army is to come to Aiath, hardly ten miles northeast of Jerusalem, he is passed to Migron, a hamlet still nearer to the capital; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages, leaving the baggage in order to move forward with greater speed.

²⁹ They are gone over the passage; they have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

— they are gone over the passage, a deep, rough ravine, now known as the Wady-es-Suweinit; they have taken up their lodging at Geba, rather, “Let Geba be our lodging!” halting only for the night; Ramah, the home of Samuel, is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled, its inhabitants forsaking their city in terror.

³⁰ Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.

— lift up thy voice, crying in consternation over the impending calamity, O daughter of Gallim, the inhabitants of another village in the path of the Assyrian army; cause it to be heard unto Laish, the shrieks of terror echoing far and wide through the country. O poor Anathoth! only three-fourths of an hour distant from Jerusalem and therefore bound to suffer from the enemies.

³¹ Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. — Madmenah is removed, the people forsaking their homes; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

³² As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

— as yet shall the Assyrian army remain at Nob that day, a hill to the north of Jerusalem, overlooking the city, which the enemy would reach that very day;

— the Assyrian army shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, all ready for the attack which would surely bring ruin to the capital;

— thus Assyria, typifying the army of the ungodly, the enemies of the Kingdom of God, is here pictured as going forward to the attack with an irresistible force, and the doom of the city, the City of Jerusalem, seems to be impending. But here the Lord interferes.

³³ Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

— behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror, cutting them down as branches are felled with an ax;

— and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled, all their plans being foiled at the very moment when they seemed to mature according to calculation.

³⁴ And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

— the Assyrian army is compared to the forest of Lebanon; and he, the Lord in his avenging wrath, shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, with a sharp instrument of destruction, and Lebanon, the name under which all the hostile forces are comprehended;

— the Assyrian army shall fall by a Mighty One, by him who possesses the majesty of the almighty and eternal God, who is both the Defender and the Deliverer of his Kingdom.

Posted in Isaiah

In general, Isaiah’s prophecy and warning message are for “the house of Israel and the men of Judah.”

God had planted the vineyard indeed which was composed of Israel and Judah; now he would remove all the protection from his people and cause them to be overrun and be destroyed.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Isaiah 7

¹ And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

— and it came to pass in the days of Alias, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, II Kings 15:37; II Kings 16:5-6; II Chronicles 28:5-6, that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, who had formed an alliance, II Kings 15:37;

— and went up toward Jerusalem to war against the house of Judah, but could not prevail against it. According to the historical accounts this war took place about 743-739 BC with the preliminary advantage entirely on the side of the northern allies;

— for Rezin took the harbor of Elath on the Elanitic Gulf, and Pekah gained a victory over a large army of Judah. Nevertheless, Jerusalem was not taken, very likely because the allies did not even find occasion to lay siege to it; their plans were overthrown.

² And it was told the house of David, saying, “Syria is confederate with Ephraim.” And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.

— and it was told the house of David, the reigning monarch of that line, in this case Ahaz, the princes of the blood, his court and counsellors; saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, the ten tribes; depending upon the northern kingdom as a faithful ally, its armies having joined Israel’s forces to strengthen them, or being supported by them.

— and the king’s heart was moved together with the heart of his people, both King Ahaz and all the people of Judah being frightened by the invasion, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, their terror being intensified by their feeling of fear.

— Q: would such fear strike the modern states of Judah and the house of Israel today?

³ Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, “Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub [that is, The remnant shall return], thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller’s Field,

— then the Lord said unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Alias, thou and Shear-jashub (“A remnant returns”), thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, one of the reservoirs where the water of the city was stored, Isaiah 36:2,

— in the highway of the fuller’s field, which was also situated west of the city, near the pool, this highway apparently being the main caravan road leading from Jerusalem to Joppa;

⁴ and say unto him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet. Fear not, neither be fainthearted at the two tails of these smoking firebrands — at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

— and say unto him, who was probably engaged in having the fortifications strengthened, Take heed and be quiet, perfectly unconcerned and without worry;

— fear not, neither be faint-hearted, literally, “and thy heart, not be soft with despondency,” for the two tails of these smoking fire-brands, burned-out and quenched stumps of torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, with his whole great army, and of the son of Remaliah, as Pekah, king of Israel, is contemptuously called.

⁵ Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, — a civil war, Ephraim against Judah!

— because Syria, or Aram, with its confederates, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, the northern kingdom and its ruler, have taken evil counsel against the house of Judah, saying,

⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel,”

— let “a confederation of Syria with Ephraim” go up against Judah and vex it, throw it into consternation, fill it with terror, and let the Syria/Ephraim alliance make a breach therein, take the capital, and set the king of Judah in the midst of the battle, even the son of Tabeal, an unknown man, to be the vassal king of Judah, for such was the plan of the alliance:

⁷ thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

— thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, that is, the counsel the confederates had taken against Judah to vex it, make a breach in it, and set a king of their own liking over Judah; that counsel shall not stand; neither shall it come to pass, since he himself had decided to hinder it.

⁸ For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

— for the head of Syria, its capital and metropolis, is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years, Ephraim, the northern kingdom, shall be broken that it be not a people, that it would cease to exist as a nation;

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years
For more about a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah
For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

⁹ And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.’”

— and the head of Ephraim, its capital and chief city of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. The meaning of this somewhat enigmatic saying is evidently this, that both Syria and the kingdom of Israel would be confined to the territory now occupied by them, since their schemes of conquest would fail;

— moreover, Ephraim would be destroyed within the next sixty-five years, Shalmanezer of Assyria taking the majority of his people into exile in the year 722 BC and the downfall of the country being completed with the settling of the captives, about 675 BC II Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2

— if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established, that is, if Judah, both its king and its people, would not firmly cling to God’s Word and promise, they would also cease to exist, too; they would be destroyed.

¹⁰ Moreover the Lord spoke again unto Ahaz, saying,

— moreover, the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, spoke again unto Ahaz, who had not answered upon the consoling message of the Lord’s messenger, since he had already made arrangements to get the assistance of Assyria, saying, in an earnest endeavor to have him place his trust in the help of the Lord,

¹¹ “Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”

— ask thee a sign of the Lord, thy God, this offer to perform a miracle being intended to confirm the promise just made; ask it either in the depth, in the underworld, in hell, or in the height above, in heaven.

— the Targum says, “ask that a miracle may be done for thee upon earth, or that a sign may be shown thee in heaven” the Lord permitted Ahaz to attach his faith to a condition named by himself, so that every excuse of unbelief would be taken from him.

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.”

— but Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. He rejected the offer of God the Almighty with a hypocritical pretext; trusting in an earthly ally; this was the very climax of obduration. When unbelief assumes the garments of piety, the effect is much more loathsome than open blasphemy and mockery.

¹³ And Isaiah said, “Hear ye now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

— and Isaiah, through whom the Lord was addressing the apostate king, said, Hear ye now, O house of David, not only the present monarch being addressed, but all his associates as well:

— is it a small thing for you to weary men, making the prophet, who had labored so long and faithfully in trying to win him for the truth, both disgusted and weary, but will ye weary my God also? so that he also becomes filled with weariness and turns from the reprobate people in disgust and delivers them into the destruction they so deliberately sought.

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

— in a significant revelation of his almighty power, the Lord himself shall give you a sign, cause a miracle to happen which would have abiding significance. Behold, an exclamation calling attention to the extraordinary prophecy now following, a virgin, literally, “the virgin,” that certain virgin whom the Lord had even now selected for this purpose;

— not merely an unwed woman of marriageable age as the Masoretic text says Isaiah 7:14; but an undefiled maiden, Matthew 1:23-25;

— the Targum says, “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and she shall call His name Immanuel.”

— the Septuagint says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.”

— this is an example of the lying pen of the scribes in Jeremiah 8:8:

“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.’”

— shall conceive, without the carnal knowledge of man, and bear a son, the event being represented as happening now, in the everlasting present of the eternal God, and shall call His name Immanuel, which is correctly interpreted by Matthew as meaning, “God with us.”

— this name characterizes the person, the essence, and the work of the Messiah. The son of the virgin, conceived and born a true human being, yet without sin, is at the same time true, almighty, eternal God. It is the great mystery of godliness: God manifest in the flesh, the Messiah, the true Savior, Creator, Protector and Redeemer of all men;

— and finally, it is a sign of present deliverance to Judah from the confederacy of the two kings of Syria (representing the Gentiles) and Israel (representing the ten-tribes house of Israel); and of future safety, since it was not possible that this kingdom should cease to be one until the Messiah has come, who was and is to spring from Judah, and be of the house of David; wherefore by how much the longer off was his birth, by so much the longer was their safety.

¹⁵ Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.

— butter, the thick curdled milk, which is a favorite in the Orient, and honey shall the Messiah eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good, such would be his food beginning with the age of discretion and throughout his life, partaking, as a true human being, of the food of a desolate country.

¹⁶ For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

— for before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, before he would reach the age of adolescence, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings, rather, “desolate will be the land, of the face of whose two kings thou hast a horror,” the judgement of the Lord having been carried out upon it.

¹⁷ The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father’s house days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah: even the king of Assyria.”

— the Lord shall bring upon thee; these words are directed to Ahaz to show that though he and his kingdom would be safe from the two kings that conspired against him,

— yet evils should come upon him from another quarter, even from the Assyrians he sent to for help, and in whom he trusted; in which the Lord himself would have a hand, and permit them in his providence, in order to chastise him for his unbelief, stubbornness and ingratitude in refusing the sign offered him;

— even the king of Assyria, this kingdom being introduced here as the representative of the great world powers which finally overthrew upon “thy father’s house” that is, Israel (and certain parts of Judah II Kings 18:13); but Judah was spared a hundred years over; and her disintegration began soon after with the captivity of Babylon and continued for centuries.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

— and it shall come to pass in that day, at the time when he would send his judgement, first upon Israel then Judah; that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, the various canals of the Nile;

— and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria; that is, the Assyrian army, so called because the country abounded with bees; and because of the number of their armies, their military order and discipline, and their hurtful and mischievous nature;

— the Targum paraphrases the whole thus, “and it shall be at that time that the Lord shall call to a people, bands of armies, of mighty men, who are numerous as flies, and shall bring them from the ends of the land of Egypt; and to mighty armies, who are powerful as bees, and shall bring them from the uttermost parts of the land of Assyria,”

— and with what swiftness and readiness those numerous and powerful armies should come; and the allusion is to the calling of bees out of their hives into the fields, and from thence into their hives again, by tinkling of brass, or by some musical sound, in one way or another.

¹⁹ And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns and upon all bushes.

— and they shall come and shall rest, all of them as a scourge to his people in the desolate valleys, rather, in the valleys of the declivities, and in the holes of the rocks, in the clefts of the mountains, and upon all thorns and upon all bushes, in all the rich meadow-lands, with the object of devouring and destroying everything in sight;

— the Targum of the whole verse is, “and they shall all of them come and dwell in the streets of the cities, and in the clifts of the rocks, and in all deserts full of sedges, and in all houses of praise,”

— the sense is, that they should be in all cities, towns, and villages, whether fortified or not, and in all houses of high and low, rich and poor, in cottages and in palaces; there would be no place free from them, nor no escaping out of their hands; all caught in a snare: Ezekiel 12:13, My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare.

²⁰ In the same day shall the Lord shave with a hired razor (namely, by those beyond the river, by the king of Assyria) the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard.

— in the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, through an army which he placed in his service, to carry out his will, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard, the land being depopulated and the entire body of the nation destroyed by the heathen power summoned by the Lord;

— the Targum says, “in that time the Lord shall slay them as one is slain by a sharp sword, by clubs, and by saws, by those beyond the river, and by the king of Assyria; the king, and his army, and even his rulers, together shall he destroy.”

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep;

— and it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; this seems to denote both the scarcity of men and cattle, through the ravages of the army of the Chaldeans; that there should not be large herds and flocks, only a single cow, and two or three sheep; and yet men should be so few, and families so thin, that these would be sufficient to support them comfortably.

²² and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, that he shall eat butter, for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

— and it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall give; the cow and the two sheep, having large pastures, and few cattle to feed upon them, those few would give such abundance of milk, that the owner of them would make butter of it, and live upon it, having no occasion to eat milk; and there being few or none to sell it to;

— he shall eat butter; for butter and honey, which was abundant in the wild state, shall everyone eat that is left in the land, signifying that though they would be few, they would enjoy a plenty of food as their small flocks and herds would furnish them with;

— the Targum interprets this of the righteous that shall be left in the land; but it is rather to be extended unto all, righteous and unrighteous.

²³ And it shall come to pass in that day in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silverlings, that it shall be even for briers and thorns.

— and it shall come to pass in that day, at the time when God’s judgement would be carried out, that every place shall be, it shall even be for briers and thorns for want of persons to stock the ground and cultivate it.

²⁴ With arrows and with bows shall men come thither, because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

— with arrows and with bows shall men come thither, for fear of wild beasts, serpents, and scorpions to hunt wild beasts in the former orchards, because all the land shall become briers and thorns;

— Q: is this a prophecy or an historic account? Seems like it is a preamble to another prophecy since it was stated, “In latter days you will understand it fully!”

²⁵ And on all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not be a coming thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen and for the treading of lesser cattle.

— and on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, which ordinarily were hoed and cultivated, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns, that is, there shall be now no fences made of briers and thorns which deter cattle from entering into fields and vineyards thus fenced;

— but it shall be for the setting forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle; there being no fence of briers and thorns to keep them out, cattle both of the greater and lesser sort should get into the corn, and feed upon it, and make such places desolate, where much pains were taken to cultivate them;

— the Targum says, “it shall be for a place of lying down of oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks of sheep.”

Isaiah 8

¹ Moreover the Lord said unto me, “Take thee a great scroll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.”

— moreover the Lord said unto Isaiah, ”Take thee a great roll,” evidently this is another prophecy, a large writing-tablet of the kind usually employed, and write in it with a man’s pen, the stylus making impressions on the wax covering the tablet in such a way that the ordinary man could read the script;

— concerning Mahershalal-hash-baz (“Make speed to the spoil Hasten to the prey”). The inscription, as made by Isaiah, was purposely enigmatic, the purpose being to arouse the interest and curiosity of the people, to make them feel that the announcement contained in these mysterious words was very important;

— the Targum says, “write in it a clear writing;” that is, very plain, explicit and legible.

² And I took unto me faithful witnesses to attest: Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

— and Isaiah took unto himself faithful witnesses to record concerning the spoiling of Syria and Israel; this the Lord himself choosing them through the prophet to be present and to testify to Isaiah’s preparing the tablet, Uriah, the priest, II Kings 16:10, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah;

— these men could later, when the prophecy was fulfilled, vouch for the fact that Isaiah had written concerning the future. But in close connection with this event there was another.

³ And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then said the Lord to me, “Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.

— and I went unto the prophetess, his own wife, so called not because she prophesied but because she was the wife of a prophet; and she conceived and bare a son;

— then said the Lord to Isaiah, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the same mysterious words which had been written on the tablet almost a year before, the word signifying either “Make speed to the spoil; Hasten to the prey,” or “The spoil hastens Robbery hastens forward.”

Nothing is known about this prophetess and scholars are not in agreement concerning the role she played in Isaiah’s ministry. Some scholars believe that she was called a prophetess because she was married to the prophet Isaiah. Others believe that this mysterious woman was a prophet in her own right.

⁴ For before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father,’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away to the king of Assyria.”

— for before the child shall have knowledge to cry, “My father,” and “My mother,” that is, before the passing of another year;

— the riches of Damascus (Syria) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel; II Kings 17:6) shall be taken away before Assyria, so that all their wealth would be borne as a trophy before their king. This happened about the year 739 BC; Syria being entirely overthrown, together with that part of the northern kingdom which was east of the Jordan and the beginning of Israel’s destruction.

⁵ The Lord spoke also unto me again, saying, — the Lord spoke unto Isaiah again, in a series of prophecies whose final object was rich comfort to the true believers in Judah, saying,

⁶ “Inasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son,

— forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah, the same with Siloam, the spring and tiny brook which sprang up at the foot of the Temple-mount and with another spring, the Gihon, fed the pool Siloam;

— that go softly, with none of the boisterousness of a large stream, such as the Euphrates, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, the latter statement referring chiefly to the people of the northern kingdom with their trust in the strength of men and in the power of huge armies;

— the Targum paraphrases the words thus, “because this people loathed the kingdom of the house of David which ruled them quietly, as the waters of Shiloah which flow softly.”

⁷ now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.

— now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon the Euphrates, usual for mighty kings, kingdoms, and armies to be signified by such waters, for their multitude and strength; typical of an entire heathen power bent upon the destruction of Israel;

— strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his power; he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, like a mighty river overflowing at the time of the spring freshets;

— the Targum says, “therefore behold the Lord shall bring and cause to ascend upon them, the army of the people, who are many as the waters of a river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, and his army; and he shall come up upon all his rivers and shall overflow all his banks.”

⁸ And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.”

— and, he shall pass through Judah, penetrating to its remotest ends; that is, to Jerusalem: the whole land is compared to a body, of which Jerusalem was the head;

— the Assyrian army, comparable to the waters of a great river, overflowed the whole land, took all the fenced cities of Judah, and came up even to Jerusalem, so that the whole was in great danger of being drowned and destroyed; threatening Judah’s very life;

— and stretching out of his wings, as the streams overflow the main channel of the river on either side, shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Judea, called Immanuel’s land, because the Messiah would be born there;

— thus the judgement would begin in Israel and progress southward to encompass Judah as well, threatening its existence. Therefore the end of the sentence is a call for help addressed to Immanuel, the Messiah, not to forsake his people, but to remember them in his redemption.

⁹ Associate yourselves, O ye people, yet ye shall be broken in pieces! And give ear, all ye of far countries. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces!

— associate yourselves, O ye people, both of Syria and Israel, whose two kings were confederate against Judah; and ye shall be broken in pieces, for all enemies directing their attacks against the people of God will finally be destroyed;

— and give ear, all ye of far countries, the nations inhabiting distant parts of the earth; gird yourselves, in preparing for battle, and ye shall be broken in pieces. The double imperative in the Hebrew and the repetition of the command makes it all the more impressive; it places the majesty of God in contrast to the feeble endeavors of men to overthrow His power.

¹⁰ Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us.

— take counsel together, against the Lord and against his people, Psalms 2:2, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, in discussing the attack, and it shall not stand, it will most certainly be frustrated; for God is with us;

— with Immanuel on their side, the children of God have a refuge against all enemies. Even if all the powers of this world combine to attack his kingdom, they are bound to suffer defeat.

¹¹ For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

— for the Lord spoke thus to Isaiah with a strong hand, literally, “while his hand became strong,” while his Spirit came upon the prophet with power, and instructed Isaiah that he should not walk in the way of this people, saying, namely, in warning the prophet and those who adhered to his people against the great mass of reprobates in Israel and Judah,

¹² “Say ye not, ‘A confederacy,’ to all those to whom this people shall say, ‘A confederacy’; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

— say ye not, “A confederacy,” to all them to whom this people shall say, “A confederacy,” literally, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy,” the prophet and his disciples should not be filled with apprehension on account of the conspiracy and confederation of Syria with the northern kingdom;

— neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid, let not the same fear possess you as does them, on account of Syria and Israel combining together against Judah; nor be afraid of their two kings as they were; since there was nothing to fear from them.

¹³ Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.

— sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, giving him the honor, and let him be your fear and let him be your dread, that is, the object of fear and dread; not of a servile fear and dread, but of a holy reverence and godly fear; standing in awe of him.

¹⁴ And He shall be for you a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

— and the Lord of hosts shall be for a sanctuary, a safe, sheltering, holy asylum to all believers; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, causing them to fall, for a gin, a trap set in the way, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, namely, to those who do not truly fear him.

— although Isaiah 8:14 refers to “both houses of Israel” or the “two houses of Israel” it implies the two houses of Jacob, the full twelve tribes. But more often the names of the two houses are seperated, namely the 10-tribes “house of Israel” and the 2-tribes “house of Judah.”

¹⁵ And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared and be taken.”

— and many among them, all those who persist in their enmity toward the Lord, shall stumble, by their own fault, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken; and so die in captivity for their sins and even to perish eternally. The allusion is to birds being taken in a snare or trap or with bird lime and therein or thereby held and detained.

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

— bind up the testimony, so the Lord says to Immanuel, the Messiah, or directly to Isaiah, seal the Law among my disciples, so that the Word of the Lord is sealed and kept safe through the power of the Savior exerted through the Lord’s message; which is the testimony from the Son of God.

¹⁷ And I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.

— and Isaiah will wait upon the Lord, so Immanuel or the prophet calls out in cheerful confidence, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, by rejecting the great mass of unbelievers among the people, and Isaiah will look for him.

¹⁸ Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in Mount Zion.

— behold, the Messiah and the children whom the Lord hath given him, all those who have accepted the God of Israel in true faith, who belong to the elect of the Lord, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, placed before the eyes of all men of the whole world, as a remarkable evidence of God’s love;

— from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion; the Son and Mediator, Yeshua, through his Word, as proclaimed by the mouth of his servants, gains those whom the Father has given him and will, on the Last Day, present this entire host to the Father in the Temple of heaven. Cf Hebrews 2:13.

¹⁹ And when they shall say unto you, “Seek unto those who have familiar spirits and wizards, who peep and who mutter,” should not a people seek unto their God? For the living, to the dead?

— and when the unbelieving people shall say unto you, in endeavoring to coax the faithful away from the truth of the revealed Word, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, those asserting that they possess the ability of interviewing departed souls;

— and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, that is, to those given to sorcery and the magic world, said of the murmuring noises made in imitation of the shades in the realm of death and of the whispering of magical formulas which they claimed to have received from disembodied spirits, just as the modern tribe of spiritists does: shall not be God’s people;

— so the Lord asks, seek unto their God? turning to him for counsel and assistance in every emergency in life, for the living to the dead? How can men be so foolish as to seek help from the dead? as the spiritists insist that they are quoting the spirits of the departed. Over against this blasphemous foolishness the Lord places his urgent summons:

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

— to the Law and to the testimony! Turn to the Word and the promises of the Lord alone; search the Scriptures, trust in his Message, in the glorious assurance of salvation contained therein; make the clear exposition of his Word the one guide of their lives!

— if they, the unbelieving majority, speak not according to this word, if they do not join in this call and invitation nor heed its summons, it is because there is no light in them, of the punishment that should be inflicted on them for their neglect of the prophecies of the Old Testament and their rejection of the Messiah.

²¹ And they shall pass through it sorely beset and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their God, and look upward;

— and they, the unbelievers, shall pass through it, walking about blindly in the land, hardly bestead, oppressed both from within and without, and hungry, being hungry often and earnestly desirous of the coming of their vainly expected Messiah, as a Saviour to them; in the very depths of misery because they couldn’t find him;

— and it shall come to pass that when these unbelievers shall be hungry, in the midst of tribulation besetting them on every hand, they shall fret themselves, be filled with a helpless rage, and curse their King and their God, blaspheming the Lord and his Son, the true Messiah, who is the King of Israel, and God manifest in the flesh; whom the unbelieving pretenders called accursed and blasphemed.

²² and they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness.

— and those people in distress, upwards and downwards, they shall look unto the earth, seeking alleviation and deliverance from their affliction, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, adversity and miseries of all kinds, not a ray of relief and salvation penetrating the night of their suffering;

— and these unbelievers shall be driven to darkness, cast out into utter darkness. Such is the punishment of God upon the wicked, upon those who reject the Messiah, even here on earth; how much more terrible, then, will the condemnation of eternity be into which the present punishment will merge!

Posted in Isaiah

In general, Isaiah’s prophecy and warning message are for “the house of Israel and the men of Judah.” God had planted the vineyard indeed which was composed of Israel and Judah; now he would remove all the protection from his people and cause them to be overrun and be destroyed:

“I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.”

Answering his call, Isaiah said, “Here I am; send me” (Isaiah 6:8); we learn that this that this was the beginning of his mission, and this prophecy was written later.

Hence understanding the timing of the message of the wordings in Isaiah are more subjective than either the books of Ezekiel or Revelation.

Isaiah 5

¹ Now will I sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard: my Well-beloved hath a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

— now will Prophet Isaiah sing to his well-beloved a song of his God the Father, singing to Yehovah, the Lord of hosts, expressing the thoughts of the Lord with all his heart and soul,

— touching his vineyard, that of his Kingdom at the time of the prophet. His well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, literally, “on the horn, or summit, of a son of oil,” the vineyard being situated on a hill and having most fertile soil;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, paraphrases the words thus, “the prophet said, I will sing now to Israel, who is like unto a vineyard, the seed of Abraham, my beloved, a song of my beloved, concerning his vineyard. My people, my beloved Israel, I gave to them an inheritance in a high mountain, in a fat land.”

² And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine press therein. And He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

— and he fenced it, rather, spaded or hoed it thoroughly, and gathered out the stones thereof, which hindered the proper cultivation of the ground, and planted it with the choicest vine, a very fine Oriental variety of grape, called sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it, this being interpreted as a watchtower; but the Targum says, “and I built my sanctuary in the midst of them:”

— and also made a winepress therein, the lower trough into which the grape-juice flowed from the winepress proper; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, the fruit of the excellent vine which he had planted there, but it brought forth wild grapes: bad grapes; corrupt, rotten, stinking ones, the sour product of the wild vine or of a similar plant;

— that is, God had planted the vineyard indeed which was composed of Israel and Judah; he would now remove all of the protection from his people and cause them to be overrun and be destroyed.

³ “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah: Judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard.

— and now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, to whom the prophet is specifically addressing himself, appealing to them to be judges in this difficult situation: Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard, making their decision on the basis of the evidences presented to them, which were visible to even the casual onlooker.

⁴ What could have been done more to My vineyard than I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to bring forth good grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

— what could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done? The Targum asks, “what good have I said to do more to my people, which I have not done to them? and what is this I have said, that they should do good works, and they have done evil works?”

— wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes? Surely if the Lord now abandoned this vineyard, the people themselves must admit that they had fully deserved such treatment, that they had but themselves to blame for their destruction, as the Lord states.

⁵ “And now, I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.

— and now God will tell you what he will do to his vineyard, the Judge himself announcing judgement and punishment which he had decided upon:

— I will take away the hedge thereof, one of thorns and briers being the usual protection of vineyards of the nation, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, as a second means of keeping out marauders, and it shall be trodden down, the emphatic statement of the original being “for a treading down”

⁶ And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.”

— and God will lay it waste, for a complete ruin; it shall not be pruned, to remove the superfluous shoots, nor digged, to loosen the ground for the admission of air to the roots;

— but there shall come up briers and thorns, making the growth of vines of the right and welcome kind impossible; God will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it; hence the land would turn into a desert.

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, His pleasant plant. And He looked for judgment, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry.

— for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, his pleasant plant, literally, “the plant of his pleasure” and he looked for justice and judgement would be executed in the land in all respects; that the people would do what is right and good;

— but behold oppression resulted, the infringement of rights by graft and other forms of corruption and wickedness; for righteousness, that is, an outward dealing according to the demands of a righteous conduct, but behold a cry, namely, that of the people who suffer wrong and duffered for such oppression.

⁸ Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

— woe unto them that join house to house, the insatiable desire of men to own more and more is the direct and certain result of a gross materialism in the heart of men, in a greed for wealth which is never satisfied, that lay field to field, their covetousness causing them to add one piece of property to another;

— till there be no place, no room for any one else, that they, literally, “ye” for the prophet here turns directly to both the houses of Israel and Judah, may be placed alone in the midst of the earth, thus violating the statutes both concerning the inheritance of real estate and the year of jubilee, Numbers 27:9-11; Leviticus 25:10-13.

⁹ In mine ears said the Lord of hosts: “In truth many houses shall be desolate, even the great and fair, without inhabitant.

— in mine ears said the Lord of hosts, the cry of the sins of covetousness and ambition before mentioned; the great Ruler of the universe himself making it known to his prophet,

— of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, the beautiful homes of the rich, such as the houses of the king, of the princes, and nobles, judges, counsellors, without inhabitant, as a punishment upon their greed.

¹⁰ Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”

— yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one hath, for their fields shall be barren and unfruitful; and the seed of an homer, about eight bushels, shall yield an ephah;

— the Targum makes this barrenness to be the punishment of their sin, in not paying tithes paraphrasing the words thus, “for because of the sin of not giving tithes, the place of ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath.”

Remember: the Targum is another source of the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to them in ancient times and to us from the verses quoted.

¹¹ Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

— woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow, eagerly pursue, strong drink, a kind of brandy prepared from dates, apples, pomegranates, honey and barley;

— that continue until night, protracting their session of excessive indulgence until the cool of the evening and beyond, till wine inflame them, putting them into a condition where they are ready for all the works of darkness.

¹² And the harp and the viol, and the taboret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands.

— and the harp, or zither and the viol, a guitar-like instrument, the tabret, the tambourine and pipe, a kind of flute and wine are in their feasts, so that they lived jovially and merrily, of these their banquets consist, this is all they have in mind in planning and executing their drinking-bouts;

— but they regard not the work of the Lord, meaning the work of the law as the Targum says; they were deaf to the message of Yehovah the Almighty in the law, in nature, in history, especially in the preaching and warnings of his prophets, neither consider the operation of his hands, in preparing the punishment of all unrighteousness and wickedness for all the guilty.

¹³ Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

— therefore my people, as the Lord still affectionately calls them, are gone into captivity, the visitation of the Assyrian captivity for the house of Israel being pictured as already taken place, because they have no knowledge, or as some render it, “because they knew not the Lord” not only it caught them unaware but because they had hardened their hearts against all understanding;

— and their honorable men are famished, literally, “become starvelings,” people suffering hunger, and their multitude dried up with thirst, a vivid description of Israel as it was driven into exile. Such is ever the consequence when the greed and luxury-craving people of this world deliberately exclude the understanding of spiritual things from their hearts.

¹⁴ Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth beyond measure; and their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

— therefore hell, that is, the grave, to receive the dead who die from famine and thirst; signifying that the number of the dead would be so great, that the common burying places would not be sufficient to hold them hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure, to receive the great number of victims;

— and their glory, the splendor of their wickedness and their multitude and their pomp, the tumult and noise of their drunken shouting, and he that rejoiceth, those finding their enjoyment in the excesses of this world shall descend into it. Then all the laughter and shouting of the children of this world will be changed to cries of woe, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹⁵ And the lowly man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

— and the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, laid low in the dust, and be equal to the poor; for in the grave, princes and peasants are alike; men of every rank and station being included in the Lord’s condemnation, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled, so that they are no longer lifted up in pride.

¹⁶ But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgement, and God who is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

— but the Lord of hosts, the Father, he who exerts unlimited authority over the world and all its fortunes, shall be exalted in judgement, the very overthrow of the wicked redounding to his glory, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness, give evidence of his holiness in exercising justice upon the ungodly.

¹⁷ Then shall the lambs feed according to their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

— then shall the lambs feed after their manner, that is, the people of God, the disciples of Christ, as on their usual pasturage, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat, the nomad tribes of the desert again occupying the land which had been held by similar people in ancient days. Thus the land of Judea and Samaria would become a monument of God’s justice.

¹⁸ Woe unto them that draw along iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope;

— woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, their first excuses to themselves being like hair-strings, but their increasing callousness finally causing them boldly to draw their guilt to them as with heavy cords;

— and sin, as it were, with a cart-rope, they hitch it to them like draft-horses dragging a heavy wagon, laying themselves to the traces with all their might, utterly ignoring the thought of a day of vengeance;

— thus the Targum interprets it of such that begin with lesser sins, and increase to more ungodliness; paraphrasing it thus, “woe to them that begin to sin a little, and they go on and increase until that they are strong, and “their” sins “are” as a cart rope”

¹⁹ who say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.”

— that say, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, that is, the threatened retribution, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it!

— their blasphemous mockery will surely draw down upon them the punishment of the Lord. And so far as the mockers of our day are concerned, the time will come when they, overcome with terror at the revelation of God’s judgement upon them, will call upon the mountains to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them.

²⁰ Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

— woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, or that call evil men good, and good men evil; thus reversing all principles of true morality; that is, that excuse the one and reproach the other; that put darkness for light and light for darkness, particularly in palliating the wickedness of sin, in representing avarice, luxury, the lust of the flesh as harmless; and pervert the order which God hath appointed;

— it started with the ten tribes preferring the worship at Dan and Bethel, before that at Jerusalem; and today, they prefer worshipping

(a) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; and

(b) the palm tree, Mithra, the Persian Sun-god now proliferates during Christmas; with decorated with lights;

— in preference to God’s commandments in their celebration of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which are dismissed as Jewish legalism (more at the end);

— that put bitter for sweet, by condemning the godly, the children of God as enemies of mankind, and sweet for bitter, by glossing over transgression and thus leading men into further destruction.

²¹ Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

— woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, arrogant in their self-conceit, prudent in their own sight, such people being beyond the necessity of learning, their lack of humility causing them to reject all instruction that is brought to their notice, especially the message from the prophets of the Lord of hosts.

²² Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,

— woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, champions of dissolute living, selling justice in order to obtain the means to indulge in the service of mammon and luxury;

— the Targum interprets it, “men of riches” one who can afford to drink wine and strong drink; which carries the sense not to the strength of their bodies, but of their purses;

²³ who justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

— speaking of judges and civil magistrates, which justify the wicked for reward, openly seeking bribes and in fulfilling the promises made on the strength of such gifts, take away the righteousness of the righteous from him, deciding against him in court and thus frustrating the ends of justice;

— note that all the sins which are here condemned with such harsh words are found in our day and age as in the days of Isaiah.

²⁴ Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

— therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, in a sudden and thorough destruction, so their root, the supposed firm hold of these transgressors, shall be as rottenness, moldy and decayed;

— and their blossom, their outward prosperous appearance, shall go up as dust, flying away like small particles, because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of hosts, in a deliberate, blasphemous rejection, and despised the Word of the Holy One in Israel as in Leviticus 23 to keep his commandment to celebrate the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

²⁵ Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

— therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them and hath smitten them, the scene again being painted before the eyes of the people, in order to urge them to repentance;

— and the hills did tremble, under the blow delivered by the Almighty as from a mighty earthquake, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets, lying there as dung, even as it had happened before, II Chronicles 28:6. For all this, although the punishment of the Lord has repeatedly gone forth, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still;

— so great was the apostasy in Israel cerebrating Astarte and Mithra that the wrath of the Lord was not yet appeased, especially since the nation showed no signs of any repentance; it will be a shaking of every nation before the wrath of God’s Judgement.

²⁶ And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.

— and e, the Lord of hosts in delivering the last great blow, will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, as a signal for them to attack and punish Israel;

— and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth, the figure being taken from the work of the bee-keeper, who coaxes the bees from their hives by a hissing sound; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly, most eager to carry out the Lord’s will upon the house of Israel, like Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar did as the Lord’s horsewhips;

— as the Targum paraphrases it, “and behold, a king with his army shall come swiftly, as light clouds.”

²⁷ None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken;

— none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, to retard their movements; they should make such haste, they should not stumble at any thing by the way, nor rush one against another,

— nor the latchet of their shoes be broken, all this being descriptive of their tireless activity, their unwearied zeal, and their readiness for battle;

²⁸ whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

— whose arrows are sharp and all their bows bent, ready to shoot their arrows upon any occasionready to send the arrows to their mark;

— their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, a most important attribute for a campaign of war carried to such distances, and their wheels like a whirlwind, for their rolling resembled the sound of an advancing tempest;

— the Targum says, “and his wheels swift as a tempest.”

²⁹ Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

— their roaring shall be like a lion, a fearful battle-cry, they shall roar like young lions, eager for their prey;

— yea, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, Israel becoming an easy victim, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it, no one being strong enough to come to Israel’s aid in this emergency laid upon it by the Lord.

³⁰ And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

— and in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea, the surf breaking on the precipitous shore with a fearful thunder;

— and if one look unto the land, seeking a firm foothold, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof, literally, “darkness distress and light night in the clouds of heaven above,” that is, tribulation and relief would change off quickly in the fate of Israel;

— but the final result would be the blackest night, shutting out all light. That, in brief, is the outline of Israel’s history until the exile, not only the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar, but that of the Romans in the year 70 AD as well.

~~~

Parallel Scriptures in Malachi 2:

³ Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

— even the dung of your solemn feasts, that of the excesses of such pagan feasts (1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived; Jeremiah 7 and Jeremiah 44; (2) Mithra, the sun-god, the palm tree, now proliferates during Christmas; with decorated with lights, tinsel, red and green ribbon, poinsettias and other crowning glory; Jeremiah 10:3-5;

— (3) heavenly bodies, especially the Sun, hence professing Christians have shifted the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday by outlawing the keeping of the Sabbath. — thus saith the Lord: “Learn not the way of the heathens. . .” Jeremiah 10:2; His wrath and subsequent judgement of throwing dungs onto our faces is the central theme of Jeremiah’s message against idolatrous worship!

— and one shall take you away with it, treating them as though they were themselves dung, to be thrown out in disgraceful heaps; with the dung spread upon them; they looking like a heap of dung, being covered with it, and had in no more account than that;

— the Targum says, “I will make manifest the shame of your sins upon your faces; and will cause to cease the magnificence of your feasts.”

Isaiah 6

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

— in the year 758 BC when King Uzziah died, that is, in the last year of this king’s successful reign, II Kings 15:1-7; II Chronicles 26, Isaiah saw the Lord, the Almighty, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, the prophetic vision, not face to face, permitting the prophet to see the revelation of God,

— for God dwells in an inaccessible light, in a manner which uncovered the divine glory to his inner mind, and his train (the “train” is the skirts, borders or lower parts of the garments) filled the Temple, that is, his kingly robe with its majestic train, fitting emblem of the divine glory, covered and filled the heavenly Sanctuary; the Targum says, “and the Temple was filled with the splendour of his glory.”

² Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

— above the Temple stood the seraphim, ministers of the Lord serving as guardians of the throne. Each one had six wings, in accordance with their nature as heavenly beings;

— with twain he covered his face, for even the seraphim cannot endure the sight of the essential holiness of God, and with twain he covered his feet, for even the angels, with a proper feeling of humility and modesty, prefer to keep their forms covered before the eyes of the Most Holy, and with twain he did fly, floating about the throne of the Lord.

³ And one cried unto another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

— and one cried unto another, in a wonderful antiphonal chorus, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, thrice holy not only on account of the supreme excellence of his essential holiness, but false shepherds had taken this opportunity to propagate the false Trinity doctrine of the Godhead;

— the whole earth is full of his glory, literally, “filling the whole earth is his glory” for all men on earth will see the revelation of his divine majesty, all his works, in creation, redemption, sanctification, will serve to magnify him as the supreme and only God. Cf Revelation 4:8.

⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

— and the posts of the door of the Temple, the foundations of the sills, or thresholds, the heavenly Temple with its portals down to the lowest foundation;

— moved at the voice of him that cried, the powerful sound of the entire chorus, and the Temple was filled with smoke, as from the incense of all the prayers of the saints, uniting with the angels above to give praise and adoration to the great Lord of heaven, Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3-4.

⁵ Then said I, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

— then said Isaiah, overcome with awe and terror at the tremendous impressiveness of the scene, Woe is me! for I am undone, lost, threatened with death and destruction,

— because I am a man of unclean lips, the feeling of his own sinfulness coming over him all the more strongly in view of the perfect holiness which he had just seen, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, descendant and member of a generation of sinners;

— for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, between whom and man is not only the gulf separating the Creator from his creatures, but the greater abyss between the holy God and the world of sinners. Cf Exodus 33:20.

⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. — then flew one of the seraphim unto Isaiah, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, the altar of incense evidently being referred to;

⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

— and he laid it upon Isaiah’s mouth, he caused the glowing coal to come into contact with the prophet’s lips, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged, which was abominable in his sight; a burden to him, and the cause of his distress; even all his iniquity, all atoned for;

— the act of the angel evidently had a symbolical meaning, first of all with reference to the atonement made in and through the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the work of redemption carried out in accordance with God’s counsel;

— not only, however, is the prophet, sinful man as he was, assured of the redemption and grace of God, but the Lord also imparts special strength to him and fits him to be the instrument of his inspiration.

⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then said I, “Here am I. Send me!”

— also Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, of the All-powerful, the great Ruler of the universe, saying, Whom shall I send? the call being for volunteers to proclaim the atonement set forth in the vision just vouchsafed the prophet.

— and who will go for us? Then Isaiah said, ‘Here am I; send me.’ The prophet, in the spirit of voluntary service wrought by the Lord, a principal requisite for the proper and effective ministry of the Word, is ready to undertake the task.

⁹ And He said, “Go, and tell this people: “‘Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.’

— and God said, Go and tell your people, to which he no longer refers as his people, but as strangers, in the third person, Hear ye indeed, constantly within reach of the Word of God, but understand not; the great works of God by which he reveals himself to mankind, but they perceive not, not really grasping their significance nor applying them to their own condition.

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.”

— make the heart of this people fat, insensitive to impressions for good, so that feeling, reason, and will become callous, cold or heartless, and make their ears heavy, the hearing of the mind becoming impaired beyond the possibility of understanding;

— and shut their eyes, namely, those of the spirit, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, that is, be converted, and be healed. Note that the members or organs spoken of are given in inverted order in the second part of the sentence, to increase its impressiveness.

— It is the judicial hardening, the judgement of obduration, which is here described; it is not that God works obduration, but he surrenders the godless to their evil intent; he withdraws from their hearts with his spirit of understanding.

¹¹ Then said I, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

— then Isaiah asked, Lord, how long? that is, how long would this hardening continue?

— and the Lord answered, Until the cities (Detroits, Chicago, New York, London, Paris) be wasted, altogether desolate, without inhabitant, and the houses without man, without a protector, and the land be utterly desolate, literally, “made desolate a desert,”

¹² and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

— and the Lord have removed men far away; not to nearby Babylon, but to the ends of the earth, into the most distant countries, by having them led away into exile, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land; and dispersing them among several nations of the world.

¹³ “But 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.”

— but yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, that is, it shall be burnt again; it was burnt a first time by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army, Jeremiah 52:13 and a second time by Titus Vespasian, to which this prophecy refers; “And if there is yet in it a tenth, it will once more become subject to devouring,”

— and as an oak, whose substance is in them, a mere stump being left, when they cast their leaves, when they are felled, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof, the stump or stem.

— Thus the obduration upon Israel would continue until the last wrath would come upon Israel, resulting in its destruction; the “holy seed” understand the Messiah; and yet, after the trunk would be hewn down, the stump which remained would bring forth new shoots, a people, the Kingdom of God, consecrated to God. As in Israel, so in all the nations of the world the Lord has his holy seed, people who by his grace obey God’s Word and are saved.

And finally, after the Final Judgement, these are the true elect—all have the common traits of keeping God’s Commandments—that shall be saved:

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” Revelation 12:17

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” Revelation 14:12

“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” Revelation 22:14

Posted in Isaiah

The prophecy of Isaiah starts with Judah and Jerusalem but soon it includes many prophecies concerning the house of Israel and other nations.

In both during the Chaldean and Roman times Jerusalem perished in the midst of just such terrible calamities as are threatened with the curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28; and here it is reinstating those curses.

Isaiah 3

¹ For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole store of bread and the whole store of water,

— a famine is coming as the Lord takes away the whole store of bread and the whole store of water from Jerusalem and from Judah;

² the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the prudent and the ancient,

— also, the Lord takes away men fit to be generals of armies; removed by death before this time, including other staff: wise men, mighty men and honourable men;

³ the captain of fifty and the honorable man, and the counselor and the skilled artificer and the eloquent orator.

— again, more staff and counselors taken away; an eloquent orator is one skilful in enchanting serpents, even then these are taken away;

⁴ “And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

— and only given children and babes to be our leaders, commentators, newsreaders, etc; a reference to the incompetence, weakness and ignorance of the people that will be elevated to places of authority as the decline of Israel continues;

— one example is like Donald Trump is a bully who never grew up! Or another like Boris Johnson behaves like a child who’s been caught out by adults:

“He deliberately misled the media and public over the allegations, his appalling insensitivity revealed by having all his lackeys give the same rather silly answer in response to all questions;”

“In the past week Boris Johnson has behaved like a child caught out by adults, avoiding retribution by treating it as a bit of a laugh until forced to admit that his behaviour was completely unacceptable;” again, speaking of Boris Johnson by an observer, Lesley Riddoch.

⁵ And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another and everyone by his neighbour; the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honorable.”

— the arrogant rejection of authority and the utter disregard of God’s law concerning respect for the aged; all respect for the God-given rights of others having vanished; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, without the slightest regard for his superiors,

— and the base against the honorable, not only by ignoring all distinction of rank, but by setting aside the government instituted by God. In other words, tyranny is followed by mob-rule, and this, in turn, by anarchy so that everything is in a turmoil, every semblance of governmental control has vanished;

⁶ When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “Thou hast clothing; be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand,”

— one of the same kindred and family; or one of their brethren, not one that is most qualified, that might rule over them — nepotism and corruption — thou hast clothing, having saved at least a decent suit of clothes in the general overthrow, be thou our ruler and let this ruin;

⁷ in that day he shall swear, saying, “I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: Make me not a ruler of the people!”

— in that day shall he refusing to take an obligation upon responsibilities, swear, saying, calling out loudly in protest, I will not be an healer, in trying to save the wreck;

— make me not a ruler of the people; this shows that the state of the nation must be very bad indeed, that men, who are naturally ambitious of power and honour, should refuse government when offered to them; the Targum says, “I am not fit to be a head or governor.”

⁸ For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory.

— for Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, outward and inward decay is evident, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, their apostasy and blasphemy have reached the limit, to provoke the eyes of his glory, the glorious appearance of his holy essence, for they challenge the wrath of the Lord by deliberately planning and executing evil.

⁹ The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

— for they have rewarded evil unto themselves, they are bound to bring punishment upon themselves. With a few strokes the prophet draws a picture of moral filth, which fills the reader with loathing of such depths of wickedness.

¹⁰ Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruits of their doings.

— say ye to the righteous, to the few who are still found in the midst of the general decay, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings, their good works, the fruit of their faith, do follow them.

¹¹ Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

— woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him, his will be a lamentable fate; for the reward of his hands, that which he earned by his evil deeds, shall be given him. The godless will have no one to blame but themselves when everlasting destruction comes upon them.

¹² As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them! O My people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

— children, incompetent and ruthless youngsters are their oppressors, and women, subject to whims and moods, rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, the leaders becoming misleading, and destroy the way of thy paths, devouring it by their false, erroneous preaching, so that the way of divine truth is no longer visible.

¹³ The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people.

— the Lord stands up to plead, to take up the case of the world, and stands to judge the people and nations of the world, to convict them of their wickedness.

¹⁴ The Lord will enter into judgement with the elders of His people and the princes thereof: “For ye have eaten up the vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

— the Lord will enter into judgement with the ancients of his people, who were supposed to be their leaders, and the princes thereof, to whose guidance he had entrusted Israel; for ye have eaten up the vineyard, crushing the Kingdom of God; the spoil of the poor, of whom the Kingdom largely consists, is in your houses, due to the persecution of the rulers.

¹⁵ What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor?” saith the Lord God of hosts.

— what mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, crushing them with the most severe tyranny, and grind the faces of the poor in trampling them under foot, saith the Lord God of hosts;

— that is a special sign of the time preceding the Last Days: oppression and persecution of the Kingdom of God and for this the Lord will punish the wicked in full measure. However, it is not only the princes and rulers of the people who have brought God’s judgement upon themselves, but also the women of the land.

¹⁶ Moreover the Lord saith: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet,

— the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched-forth necks, proudly thrown back, and wanton eyes, winking in feigned innocence;

— but with hidden invitation, walking and mincing, with affected, tripping steps, as they go and making a tinkling with their feet, the ankle-chains, which brought about the mincing steps, also producing a delicate ringing,

¹⁷ therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts.”

— the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, where long hair now is decorated handsomely, will be found nothing but loathsome uncleanness, and the Lord will discover their secret parts, exposing them to shame and disgrace before the whole world.

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their hair nets and their round ornaments like the moon,

— the Targum renders it, “the ornament of the shoes”; these were put about the place where the shoes were tied; and in the Talmud the word is explained by קורדיקייה, “shoes” which the gloss interprets of wooden shoes: the ornament of their clothing; as if this was the general name for the particulars that follow:

— in the form of the moon; they were no other than bracelets, necklaces or golden chains and the word in the Talmud is rendered עונקייה, “chains.”

¹⁹ the chains and the bracelets and the spangled ornaments, — the chains, the ear-pendants and the bracelets or chains worn on wrist or arm and the mufflers, fluttering veils,

²⁰ the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings,

— the bonnets, turban-shaped diadems, and the ornaments of the legs, the step-chains connecting the ankle-bracelets, and the head-bands, beautiful girdles, and the tablets, perfume capsules, the favorite odor being musk and the earrings, small amulets with verses of magic,

²¹ the rings and nose jewels, — the rings on their finger and nose jewels; the same with the jewels on the forehead or nose,

²² the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the shawls and the crisping pins,

— the changeable suits of apparel, the finest street dresses and the mantles, roomy tunics with sleeves and the wimples, costly shawls, and the crisping pins, beautifully worked hand-bags or boxes,

²³ the mirrors and the fine linen, and the hoods and the veils. — looking glasses by which they dressed themselves,

²⁴ And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stench; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and instead of wellset hair, baldness; and instead of a sash, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.

— and it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell, the delicate perfume of balsam, there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent, nothing but a rope to hold the garments together

²⁵ Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. — thy men shall fall by the sword, the defenders of Jerusalem a prey of war and thy mighty in the war.

²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground.

— and her gates where the chief men of the city were wont to discuss the welfare of the city, shall lament and mourn, because the seats of the men are empty; and she, the daughter of Zion, the city itself, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground, a picture of desolation.

Isaiah 4

¹ And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.”

— and in that day, due to the fact that many men have fallen in battle, seven women shall take hold of one man, in an unnatural denial of womanly modesty, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, not depending upon him for support;

— only let us be called by thy name, that they might be known as his wives, to take away our reproach, for it was considered a disgrace not to be married and bear children. Such are the scenes which preceded the fall of Jerusalem as in the days of Vespasian and Titus, and similar scenes will precede the end of the world.

² In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for those who have escaped of Israel.

— the Targum paraphrases the words thus, “at that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and glory.”

³ And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy — even every one who is written among the living in Jerusalem

— and it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem, the elect of the Lord, shall be called holy, consecrated to the Lord and serving him in a holy life, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem, those who are appointed by God unto eternal life, Acts 13:48, whether they be of Jews or Gentiles,

⁴ when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.

— when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, namely, the moral uncleanness and sinfulness which no amount of outward ornament can cover before his eyes;

— and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem, the outstanding acts of wickedness and guilt, from the midst thereof by the spirit of God rebuking the evil and destroying all wickedness by a thorough winnowing and sifting, for conversion is entirely and alone his work.

⁵ And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defense.

— and the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies, wherever there are congregations of believers, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night;

— these being the vehicle and sign of the merciful presence of Yehovah in the midst of his people; for upon all the glory, in every place of glory where believers are assembled in his name, shall be a defense, a covering, or canopy, the Lord himself, as the King of kings, having his throne in every congregation and causing it, by the gifts of his mercy, to be a glory, a place where his glory shines forth.

⁶ And there shall be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain. — and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, the Messiah himself dwelling in their midst;

— and for a place of refuge and for a refuge where one may hide in safety from storm and from rain; for the Messiah is the Protector of his Kingdom against the manifold dangers with which it is surrounded. In this way the Branch of the Lord serves for glory to his elect, and the believers cheerfully trust themselves to his keeping.

Posted in Isaiah

Isaiah stands first of all the major prophets according to the Jewish chronology, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the twelve. Though the order of the prophets, Isaiah appeared during the reign of Hezekiah and therefore was well before Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Here, the order of the chapters in this book of Isaiah is no indication of the chronological order.

The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; and as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many other nations surrounding the region. Our challenge is to decrypt them.

Isaiah 1

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. — Rabbi Rashi: we have a tradition from our ancestors that Amoz and Amaziah, king of Judah, were brothers;

— we learn from Isaiah 6:8 where he said, “Here I am; send me” that this was the beginning of Isaiah’s mission, and this prophecy in chapter 1 and other were written afterwards. Hence the order of the chapters is no indication of the chronological order in this book of Isaiah;

— the whole prophecy of Isaiah starts with Judah and Jerusalem but soon it includes many prophecies concerning the house of Israel and many other nations and cities;

— the days of Uzziah . . . and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; this occured from 740 BC to 686 BC; and perhaps he had delivered his warning message to the northern house of Israel;

² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord hath spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. — God have nourished and brought up children; meaning the children of Israel; “my people, the house of Israel, whom I have called children,”

— and they have rebelled against their Lord and King; for the house of Israel were under a theocracy; God, who was their Father, was their King, and they rebelled against him by breaking his laws, which rebellion is aggravated by its being not only of subjects against their King, but of children against their father; the law concerning a rebellious son, see in Deuteronomy 21:18;

— Q: is Isaiah the son of Amoz born of the northern house of Israel or of the southern house of Judah? his interaction was mostly with Hezekiah and other kings of Judah; hence most commentators assumed he was from Judah.

³ The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.”

— the ox knoweth his owner, knows his voice when he calls him; and follows him where he leads him, whether to plough in the field or feed in the meadows;

— and the ass his masters crib, or “manger” where he is fed and to which he goes when he wants food and at the usual times; but the house of Israel doth not know his Maker and Owner, his King, Lord, and Master, his Father;

— the number of different words used to describe the sins of Israel are rebellion (Isaiah 1:2), ignorance, lack of consideration (Isaiah 1:3), sin, iniquity, evil-doing, corruption, forsaking God, estrangement from God, backsliding (Isaiah 1:4), revolt, transgression, disobedience, sickness, (Isaiah 1:5) and unsoundness (Isaiah 1:6).

⁴ Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they have gone away backward.

— a seed of evil doers; this is said both of their fathers and of themselves; they were planted the right seed but they had degenerated, becoming a wicked generation;

— they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; by their numerous sins, both of omission and commission;

— as a result the wounds and bruises of Israel mentioned here should not be viewed as resulting from the hostile attacks of her enemies but as the result of the stripes of punishment laid upon Israel by the hand of God.

⁵ Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

— ye revolt more and more or apostatize more and more; and grow more obdurate and resolute in it.

⁶ From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

— from the sole of the foot even unto the head, every member of the body politic was afflicted in one way or another or sadly infected with the disease of sin; see Psalms 28:3;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, says, “from the rest of the people, even unto the princes, there is none among them who is perfect in my fear.”

⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

— this must be speaking of the endtime; and second, was applying the issues or strangers and migrants more to the house of Israel than to the house of Judah;

— if “your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire” then it is worthwhile to consider some other parallel Scriptures elsewhere; and one is found in Ezekiel:

So who are the strangers that will desolate the house of Israel, identified here as the United States? Many believe Russia was and some still believe it is the main threat of the United States. Others, like warmonger John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, give incredible speeches around the world saying China is the main enemy.

And Mearsheimer brilliantly emphasizes the United States are protected by fish to the left and fish to the right, but foolishly negates to address America’s broken border in the South; and that the Scriptures say that America’s main “enemy” comes from the unprotected and porous South:

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”
Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’ (Ezekiel 20:45-21:5)

“Prophesy against the land of Israel,” these Scriptures above are shrouded in cryptic languages and so the Qs are: how would such scenarios be played out? The current Russia/Ukraine and China/Taiwan arises are just two major distractions, but more importantly, who are these enemies the Prophet Ezekiel identifies coming from the SOUTH, and how would God says he will kindle a fire and “all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee?”

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

One Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60); is this analysis wrong? Am I mistaken? Do feel free to present your opinion; thanks.

⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a shed in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

— this is speaking of the house of Judah, a much small house, compares to the 10-tribes house of Israel, just as a small cottage left in the vineyard as Isaiah saw it.

⁹ Unless the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

— some in the north from the house of Israel who had escaped the general desolation, came to the south of the house of Judah and found refuge and protection behind the walls of Jerusalem, which had yet to fall.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah:

— this is a warning of what they will be like if they continue with the rebellion and abominations as Sodom and Gomorrah; unless repented off, they would face the same fire and brimstone.

¹¹ “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me?” saith the Lord. “I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of hegoats.

— more important is their altitude, their gratitude, their humanity, their repentance if any, which is well below expectation.

¹² When you come to appear before Me, who hath required this from your hand, to tread My courts? — the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem is the highest court which the Most High has set on this earth;

— and the tenets of the Sanhedrin in setting the calendar were ignored; king Jeroboam took the law upon himself and worshipped on the Feast days a month later;

— and he established Bethel and Dan as places to offer sacrifice, against God’s expressed will to be in Jerusalem;

— for his rebellion, Jeroboam was greatly punished: his dynasty would end badly. “His family was eventually wiped out.”

¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

— Jeroboam’s new moon and sabbaths were an abomination to God; it was outright malicious and rebellious, hence God couldn’t endure and so send them, the house of Israel, off into captivity;

— these assemblies called were the holy convocations on the seventh day Sabbath, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, at the blowing of the Trumpets, on the day of Atonement and Tabernacles: Leviticus 23.

¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth; they are a trouble unto Me, I am weary of bearing them. — again, this new moon and their appointed feasts are repeated to show how God hates them;

— God was and is referring to the house of Israel; their appointed feasts a month late, and at Dan and Bethel, instead of in Jerusalem, where he ordains it to be the holy place;

— and they maliciously change the day of worship from Sabbaths to Sundays (more on this at the end).

¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

— and even when they spread forth their hands in a gesture which is a caricature for prayer, God would hide his face from them, for they were full of rebellions, and their hands are full of violence and injustice before God.

¹⁶ Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes. Cease to do evil,

— put away the evil of their doings from before God; the exhortation is not barely to put away their doings, but the evil of them, and that not from themselves, but from the eyes of God, from the eyes of his justice.

— the US is rotting from within, plagued by innumerable domestic problems like no other nation:

deep, chronic political division and turmoil (January 6, 2021); crushing national debt; crumbling infrastructure; unaffordable health care; rampant homelessness; rampant gun violence and mass shootings; systemic racism (“I can’t breathe”); mass incarceration; opioid epidemic increasing poverty and food insecurity; declining public education.

¹⁷ learn to do well. Seek judgement, relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. — learn to do well, not just mere knowing, but the doing being emphasised;

— seek justice, doing that which is right, relieve the oppressed, aiding them in obtaining justice;

— plead for the orphans, widows and fatherless, and those deprived of their any protection; in today’s world, it should include the homeless and the refugees.

¹⁸ “Come now, and let us reason together,” saith the Lord. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

— though your sins be as scarlet, blood-red with guilt, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, the color apparently fast and fixed beyond the possibility of fading, they shall be as wool;

— though laden with guilt, God’s people are not condemned to everlasting damnation, but are given and imputed to them perfect righteousness upon repentance.

¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; — being obedient to God’s commandments and not rebel against them, they would continue with the full enjoyment and blessings of the land.

²⁰ but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. — with God’s judgement, his wrath and vengeance, the sword shall be drawn against them;

— for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; and he will surely make it good for the maintaining of his own honour.

²¹ How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of judgement; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

— how is the faithful city become a harlot! the city of Jerusalem, in which were the Temple, and the pure worship of God, and was in the tribe of Judah, which ruled with God, and was very faithful;

— and probably speaking of Samaria, when the ten tribes revolted, and fell in with the sin of Jeroboam it became like a treacherous wife to her husband;

— and it could be prophetic like modern cities today: New York, Chicago, London, Paris; all are filled with murderous blood.

²² Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water. — thy silver is become dross:

— meaning either that such persons, who had the appearance of goodness, looked like genuine silver, were now reprobate as the wicked of the earth are like dross;

— thy wine, the leaders and nobles, mixed with water, that is, the judges and rulers of the city had turned from integrity and sincerity to moral impurity.

²³ Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

— thy princes are rebellious, obstinately opposing God and his covenant, and becoming companions of thieves, thinking only of ways and means to satisfy their greed;

— everyone loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards;

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, paraphrases it, “everyone says to his neighbour, do me a favour in my cause, I will return ‘it’ to thee in thy cause;” and so justice is perverted.

²⁴ Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies.

— therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel; all these names and titles, which are expressive of the majesty, power and authority, are to give greater solemnity and weight to what follows; and to show that he is able to accomplish what he determines and threatens to do;

— I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies; thus God, speaking after the manner of men, represents himself as feeling satisfaction in executing justice upon obstinate and incorrigible offenders.

²⁵ And I will turn My hand against thee, and wholly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.

— and I will turn my hand upon thee, namely, against Samaria, the faithless, sinful city that Jeroboam had established with the house of Israel; and purely purge away thy dross, melting it out with lye, removing the obstinate and wicked leaders; and take away all thy tin, the lead mixed with the precious metal, the ungodly in high and low places;

— and the northern house of Israel was carried away in stages during the time of Hezekiah when Isaiah was prophesying;

— and the house of Israel was forgotten, all the noise of the tin is gone, forgotten, until the endtime when God will restore them.

²⁶ I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

— this is flashing forward into the Millennium when the seventy judges of the Sanhedrin and other counsellors will be fully restored in Jerusalem;

— and building of the Ezekiel Jerusalem; and after the Millennium, the New Jerusalem.

²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with judgement, and her converts with righteousness.

— Zion shall be redeemed through justice; since there will be people who practice the right kind of justice; and they shall be redeemed from their iniquities.

²⁸ And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

— and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together; of the beast and false prophet, of the followers of antichrist, the man of sin, all are transgressors of the law of God; these sinners will all be consumed together.

²⁹ For ye shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

— for they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired; they will be brought to shame on account of the groves where they practiced idolatry and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen where idolatry and other vices held full sway.

³⁰ For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

— for ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, dying for want of nourishment; and as a garden that hath no water, whose flowers and fruits are bound to die.

³¹ And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

— and the strong shall be as tow, that is, the well-to-do will be as a lamp-wick; and the maker of it as a spark, rather, his work as a spark, for the idol causes a consuming fire, which devours the idolaters themselves; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them;

— when the final Judgement comes and the fate of men has been decided, then the verdict of condemnation will strike the ungodly, and their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched, and they will be an abomination to all flesh.

~~~~

“Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth” (verse 14) or Your new months and your appointed feasts My soul hateth.

Your New Moons / New Months

— Months of the Year Names: January (derived from the Latin Januarius) is to honor their Roman gods Janus; and March, named for Mars, is the Roman mighty god of war; February is derived from the Februa festival or its eponymous februa (“purifications, expiatory offerings”); March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. April relates to what the Romans called the month Aprilis; from a word meaning “to open” and further back from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love. May – named for Maia, is the Roman goddess of spring and growth;

— June is a name attributed to Juno, the female mighty wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She is also called the “Queen of Heaven” and “Queen of Mighty Ones.” July is to honor Julius Caesar; the Roman Senate named it “Julius” in honor of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August honor Julius Caesar’s successor, the emperor Augustus; and the months September, October, November, and December are archaic adjectives derived from the ordinal numbers 7 to 10;

Your Feast Days

Hosea 1:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. — her feast days; to avoid themselves being “judaizing” these “Christians” adopt new understandings and practices:

(a) Christmas, which honor the Mithraism – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice; and

(b) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; and

Today, to avoid “judaizing” in their faith, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly judgement is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

Also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a Sunday; always on a Sunday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretentious Christians could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty Deuteronomy 17:3-5 – ’till they die!

Isaiah 2

¹ The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: — the Targum paraphrases the words as, “the word of prophecy, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prophesied.”

² And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

— in the last days; the days when the Messiah commences his work at the top of the mountains; on a mountain that is the head of all the mountains in the importance of mountains; and all nations shall stream into it; will gather and stream to it like rivers.

³ And many people shall go and say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

— and many people shall go and say, this is a prophecy of the numerous conversions among the nations in the latter day as also said in Zechariah 8:20;

— and he will teach us of his ways: that is, the Lord the God of Jacob; he is the teacher and there is none teacheth like him; and happy are they who are taught by God;

— for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; by which is meant the law, not to be mistaken as faith, of the Messiah, Isaiah 42:4 for the law; called the “word of the Lord;”

— this began to be preached first in Jerusalem and from there it went forth into the world; and in Zion, in the Kingdom of God, it is now preached and will be more fully in the latter day; and so is an encouraging reason to engage persons to go up and hear it.

⁴ And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

— and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people; stating his decisions, performing the functions as King and Judge in governing the people under his spiritual rule;

— for example, today we are honouring the host of heaven with a pagan-named week and a paganised monthly calendar; and more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be “cut off” to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die’;

— and they, under the influence of the Lord’s Spirits, shall beat their swords into plowshares, the broad knives fastened to the shaft of the plow by Oriental farmers, and their spears into pruning-hooks, that is, with which they prune their vineyards;

— nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, for under the government of the Prince of Peace, there is nothing but peace, unity and love. It is a wonderful description of the Messianic kingdom and its beauties which is here given.

⁵ O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. — O house of Jacob, the children of Israel, though specifically the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem being addressed above, it also includes the other 10 tribes of Israel.

⁶ For Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines; and they please themselves with the children of strangers.

— the house of Jacob are filled with divination from the east; the general meaning seems to be, that their land was full of idolatrous manners from eastern nations: the Ammonites, Chaldeans and Persians, and perhaps also they had encouraged these heathen to settle among them, that they might learn their customs.

⁷ Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. — this heaping up of material wealth is contrary to divine inspiration.

⁸ Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

— their land is also full of idols; of the goddess Semirami, later transformed into the Virgin Mary, and of saints departed, whose images are set up to be worshipped in all their churches and in private houses;

— which their own fingers have made:, idols of gold, silver and brass; wood and stone.

⁹ And the lowly man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; therefore forgive them not. — and the great man, the nobles and leaders among the people, humbleth himself, is humbled by God;

— therefore forgive them not; their sins of soothsaying, covetousness and idolatry; and such that worship the beast and his image shall not be forgiven, but drink of the wine of divine wrath and be tormented with fire for ever and ever.

¹⁰ Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty. — enter into the rock, as people hide before a cruel enemy, and hide themselves in rocks and caves of the earth in the wilderness;

— so for fear of the Lord, lest he should pour out his wrath and judgement upon them and be a consuming fire to them; for this is to be understood not of a filial reverence of God, but of a servile fear of punishment; and these words are sarcastically said, suggesting that rocks and mountains will be no protection or security for them.

¹¹ The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

— the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, every gesture indicating pride will be beaten down and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled like dust and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, standing secure in the perfection of His essence.

¹² For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up—and he shall be brought low”

— here “the day of the Lord” is the same as “the Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” – it is a period (or timeframe of a single day or of many years, depending on context as each case is different) a day of God’s Judgement!

— every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up, the day being, as it were, kept in reserve by the Lord, shall be brought low in the Day of Judgement.

¹³ and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; — and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, pictures and emblems of the proud sinners.

¹⁴ and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; — high mountains and hills, to signify big countries and small ones; or to signify states and cities.

¹⁵ and upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; — high towers and fenced walls, those who excelled in ingenuity, wisdom and strength.

¹⁶ and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant sights. — those who excelled in shipping and merchandising, bringing beautiful works of art from far-away land, creating self-esteem and wealth.

¹⁷ And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day,

— and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, since all the objects of man’s pride will be destroyed, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, the highest and most glorious in the majesty of His essence;

— also, those atheists or followers of antichrist, who have boasted of their wisdom and knowledge, of their number, power, greatness and authority, of their wealth and riches, and of their merits and works of supererogation; their pride will now be stained, and all their glory laid in the dust.

¹⁸ and the idols He shall utterly abolish. — literally, “they will be changed,” they will vanish away, their vanity will be apparent before all men.

¹⁹ And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

— and they, the idolaters, shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth, in cellars or cisterns dug into the ground, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth;

— or shake the earth terribly; up and down, down and up; and sideways; imagine how many will die with those rushing Fukushima waves!!!

²⁰ In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold (which he made each one for himself to worship) to the moles and to the bats,

— in that day, under the influence of a repentant spirit they could have come too late, a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for himself to worship, to the moles (a species of rodents that dig into the earth) and to the bats, into the first convenient crevice, in an effort to rid himself of their incriminating presence.

²¹ to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

— to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, his terror driving him to seek safety anywhere and everywhere, for fear of the Lord, namely, dread of the inevitable punishment, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth, to spread terror throughout the world, for his wrath will find his enemies in the most remote corners and hiding-places of the earth.

— or shake the earth terribly, again; up and down, down and up; and sideways; imagine how many will die with those rushing Fukushima waves! Nar, it would be hundred times more terrifying than those Fukushima waves!!!

²² Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he? — cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils,

— all men are admonished not to place their trust in man, weak and powerless as he is in all that he undertakes, dependent upon a breath which quickly disappears;

— for wherein is he to be accounted of? All human props may and will be taken away in the twinkling of an eye. It is time to trust in the Lord and not to put confidence in man, especially in view of the soon coming Day of Judgement, or the Lord’s Day, or the Day of the Lord, which will show the vanity of man’s pride and of all his accomplishments.

Posted in Isaiah