8 We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name.
As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my loved one among the sons. I took my rest under his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He took me to the house of wine, and his flag over me was love. Make me strong with wine-cakes, let me be comforted with apples; I am overcome with love.
Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come. Be as calm in your waiting; let your hearts be strong: because the coming of the Lord is near. Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors. Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men the words of the Lord. We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past. For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.
Let him give me the kisses of his mouth: for his love is better than wine. Sweet is the smell of your perfumes; your name is as perfume running out; so the young girls give you their love. Take me to you, and we will go after you: the king has taken me into his house. We will be glad and full of joy in you, we will give more thought to your love than to wine: rightly are they your lovers.
I keep in mind the early days of the past, giving thought to all your acts, even to the work of your hands. My hands are stretched out to you: my soul is turned to you, like a land in need of water. (Selah.)
And I said, It is a weight on my spirit; but I will keep in mind the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will keep in mind the works of Jah: I will keep the memory of your wonders in the past. I will give thought to all your work, while my mind goes over your acts of power.
<A Psalm. Of David. When he was in the waste land of Judah.> O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is; To see your power and your glory, as I have seen you in the holy place. Because your mercy is better than life, my lips will give you praise.
All this has come on us, but still we have kept you in our memory; and we have not been false to your word. Our hearts have not gone back, and our steps have not been turned out of your way;
Have faith in the Lord, and do good; be at rest in the land, and go after righteousness. So will your delight be in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Put your life in the hands of the Lord; have faith in him and he will do it. And he will make your righteousness be seen like the light, and your cause like the shining of the sun. Take your rest in the Lord, waiting quietly for him; do not be angry because of the man who does well in his evil ways, and gives effect to his bad designs.
<To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> Will you for ever put me out of your memory, O Lord? will your face for ever be turned away from me? How long is my soul to be in doubt, with sorrow in my heart all the day? how long will he who is against me be given power over me?
For he has knowledge of the way I take; after I have been tested I will come out like gold. My feet have gone in his steps; I have kept in his way, without turning to one side or to the other. I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 26
Commentary on Isaiah 26 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 26
This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter, to do for his people against his enemies and their enemies are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be forward to meet God with our thanksgivings when he is coming towards us with his mercies. Now the people of God are here taught,
And this is written for the support and assistance of the faith and hope of God's people in all ages, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come.
Isa 26:1-4
To the prophecies of gospel grace very fitly is a song annexed, in which we may give God the glory and take to ourselves the comfort of that grace: In that day, the gospel day, which the day of the victories and enlargements of the Old-Testament church was typical of (to some of which perhaps this has a primary reference), in that day this song shall be sung; there shall be persons to sing it, and cause and hearts to sing it; it shall be sung in the land of Judah, which was a figure of the gospel church; for the gospel covenant is said to be made with the house of Judah, Heb. 8:8. Glorious things are here said of the church of God.
Isa 26:5-11
Here the prophet further encourages us to trust in the Lord for ever, and to continue waiting on him; for,
Isa 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
Isa 26:20-21
These two verses are supposed not to belong to the song which takes up the rest of the chapter, but to begin a new matter, and to be rather an introduction to the following chapter than the conclusion of this. Of whereas, in the foregoing song, the people of God had spoken to him, complaining of their grievances, here he returns an answer to their complaints, in which,