19 And `men' have entered into caverns of rocks, And into caves of dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.
And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and lo, a great earthquake came, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of the heaven fell to the earth -- as a fig-tree doth cast her winter figs, by a great wind being shaken -- and heaven departed as a scroll rolled up, and every mountain and island -- out of their places they were moved; and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich, and the chiefs of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains,
and it will come -- the day of the Lord -- as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up. All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons doth it behove you to be in holy behaviours and pious acts? waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt; and for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise we do wait, in which righteousness doth dwell;
`Speak unto Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying: I am shaking the heavens and the earth, And have overturned the throne of kingdoms, And I have destroyed the strength of kingdoms of the nations, And overturned chariot and its charioteers, And come down have horses and their riders, Each by the sword of his brother.
God from Teman doth come, The Holy One from mount Paran. Pause! Covered the heavens hath His majesty, And His praise hath filled the earth. And the brightness is as the light, He hath rays out of His hand, And there -- the hiding of His strength. Before Him goeth pestilence, And a burning flame goeth forth at His feet. He hath stood, and He measureth earth, He hath seen, and He shaketh off nations, And scatter themselves do mountains of antiquity, Bowed have the hills of old, The ways of old `are' His. Under sorrow I have seen tents of Cushan, Tremble do curtains of the land of Midian. Against rivers hath Jehovah been wroth? Against rivers `is' Thine anger? Against the sea `is' Thy wrath? For Thou dost ride on Thy horses -- Thy chariots of salvation? Utterly naked Thou dost make Thy bow, Sworn are the tribes -- saying, `Pause!' `With' rivers Thou dost cleave the earth. Seen thee -- pained are mountains, An inundation of waters hath passed over, Given forth hath the deep its voice, High its hands it hath lifted up. Sun -- moon -- hath stood -- a habitation, At the light thine arrows go on, At the brightness, the glittering of thy spear. In indignation Thou dost tread earth, In anger Thou dost thresh nations. Thou hast gone forth for the salvation of Thy people, For salvation with Thine anointed, Thou hast smitten the head of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation unto the neck. Pause! Thou hast pierced with his staves the head of his leaders, They are tempestuous to scatter me, Their exultation `is' as to consume the poor in secret.
Jehovah `is' slow to anger, and great in power, And Jehovah doth not entirely acquit, In a hurricane and in a tempest `is' His way, And a cloud `is' the dust of His feet. He is pushing against a sea, and drieth it up, Yea, all the floods He hath made dry, Languishing `are' Bashan and Carmel, Yea, the flower of Lebanon `is' languishing. Mountains have shaken because of Him, And the hills have been melted; And lifted up `is' the earth at His presence, And the world and all dwelling in it. Before His indignation who doth stand? And who riseth up in the heat of His anger? His fury hath been poured out like fire, And the rocks have been broken by Him.
What -- to thee, O sea, that thou fleest? O Jordan, thou turnest back! O mountains, ye skip as rams! O heights, as sons of a flock! From before the Lord be afraid, O earth, From before the God of Jacob,
Thou, fearful `art' Thou, And who doth stand before Thee, Since Thou hast been angry! From heaven Thou hast sounded judgment, Earth hath feared, and hath been still, In the rising of God to judgment, To save all the humble of earth. Selah.
In mine adversity I call Jehovah, And unto my God I cry. He heareth from His temple my voice, And My cry before Him cometh into His ears. And shake and tremble doth the earth, And foundations of hills are troubled, And they shake -- because He hath wrath. Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils, And fire from His mouth consumeth, Coals have been kindled by it. And He inclineth the heavens, and cometh down, And thick darkness `is' under His feet. And He rideth on a cherub, and doth fly, And He flieth on wings of wind. He maketh darkness His secret place, Round about Him His tabernacle, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness over-against Him His thick clouds have passed on, Hail and coals of fire. And thunder in the heavens doth Jehovah, And the Most High giveth forth His voice, Hail and coals of fire. And He sendeth His arrows and scattereth them, And much lightning, and crusheth them. And seen are the streams of waters, And revealed are foundations of the earth. From Thy rebuke, O Jehovah, From the breath of the spirit of Thine anger.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 2
Commentary on Isaiah 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Isa 2:1-22.
1. The inscription.
The word—the revelation.
2. Same as Mic 4:1. As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa. Hengstenberg on slight grounds makes Mic 4:1 the original.
last days—that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God of Jacob," namely, at Jerusalem, shall be the center to which the converted nations shall flock together (Mt 13:32; Lu 2:31, 32; Ac 1:6, 7); where "the kingdom" of Israel is regarded as certain and the time alone uncertain (Ps 68:15, 16; 72:8, 11).
mountain of the Lord's house … in the top, &c.—the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it.
flow—as a broad stream (Isa 66:12).
3. If the curse foretold against Israel has been literally fulfilled, so shall the promised blessing be literal. We Gentiles must not, while giving them the curse, deny them their peculiar blessing by spiritualizing it. The Holy Ghost shall be poured out for a general conversion then (Jer 50:5; Zec 8:21, 23; Joe 2:28).
from Jerusalem—(Lu 24:47) an earnest of the future relations of Jerusalem to Christendom (Ro 11:12, 15).
4. judge—as a sovereign umpire, settling all controversies (compare Isa 11:4). Lowth translates "work," "conviction."
plowshares—in the East resembling a short sword (Isa 9:6, 7; Zec 9:10).
5. The connection is: As Israel's high destiny is to be a blessing to all nations (Ge 12:3), let Israel's children walk worthy of it (Eph 5:8).
6. Therefore—rather, "For": reasons why there is the more need of the exhortation in Isa 2:5.
thou—transition to Jehovah: such rapid transitions are natural, when the mind is full of a subject.
replenished—rather, filled, namely, with the superstitions of the East, Syria, and Chaldea.
soothsayers—forbidden (De 18:10-14).
Philistines—southwest of Palestine: antithesis to "the east."
please themselves—rather, join hands with, that is, enter into alliances, matrimonial and national: forbidden (Ex 23:32; Ne 13:23, &c.).
7. gold—forbidden to be heaped together (De 17:17). Solomon disobeyed (1Ki 10:21, 27).
horses … chariots—forbidden (De 17:16). But Solomon disobeyed (1Ki 20:26). Horses could be used effectively for war in the plains of Egypt; not so in the hilly Judea. God designed there should be as wide as possible a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians. He would have His people wholly dependent on Him, rather than on the ordinary means of warfare (Ps 20:7). Also horses were connected with idolatry (2Ki 23:11); hence His objection: so the transition to "idols" (Isa 2:8) is natural.
8. (Ho 8:4). Not so much public idolatry, which was not sanctioned in Uzziah's and Jotham's reign, but (see 2Ki 15:4, 35) as private.
9. mean—in rank: not morally base: opposed to "the great man." The former is in Hebrew, Adam, the latter, ish.
boweth—namely, to idols. All ranks were idolaters.
forgive … not—a threat expressed by an imperative. Isaiah so identifies himself with God's will, that he prays for that which he knows God purposes. So Re 18:6.
10. Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (Re 6:15, 16).
dust—equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (Isa 2:19).
for fear, &c.—literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."
11. lofty looks—literally, "eyes of pride" (Ps 18:27).
humbled—by calamities. God will so vindicate His honor "in that day" of judgments, that none else "shall be exalted" (Zec 14:9).
12. Man has had many days: "the day of the Lord" shall come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God shall be "all in all" (1Co 15:28; 2Pe 3:10).
every—not merely person, as English Version explains it, but every thing on which the nation prided itself.
13. cedars … oaks—image for haughty nobles and princes (Am 2:9; Zec 11:1, 2; compare Re 19:18-21).
Bashan—east of Jordan, north of the river Jabbok, famous for fine oaks, pasture, and cattle. Perhaps in "oaks" there is reference to their idolatry (Isa 1:29).
14. high … hills—referring to the "high places" on which sacrifices were unlawfully offered, even in Uzziah's (equivalent to Azariah) reign (2Ki 15:4). Also, places of strength, fastnesses in which they trusted, rather than in God; so
15. tower … wall—Towers were often made on the walls of cities.
fenced—strongly fortified.
16. Tarshish—Tartessus in southwest Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, near Gibraltar. It includes the adjoining region: a Phœnician colony; hence its connection with Palestine and the Bible (2Ch 9:21). The name was also used in a wide sense for the farthest west, as our West Indies (Isa 66:19; Ps 48:7; 72:10). "Ships of Tarshish" became a phrase for richly laden and far-voyaging vessels. The judgment shall be on all that minister to man's luxury (compare Re 18:17-19).
pictures—ordered to be destroyed (Nu 33:52). Still to be seen on the walls of Nineveh's palaces. It is remarkable that whereas all other ancient civilized nations, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, have left monuments in the fine arts, Judea, while rising immeasurably above them in the possession of "the living oracles," has left none of the former. The fine arts, as in modern Rome, were so often associated with polytheism, that God required His people in this, as in other respects, to be separate from the nations (De 4:15-18). But Vulgate translation is perhaps better, "All that is beautiful to the sight"; not only paintings, but all luxurious ornaments. One comprehensive word for all that goes before (compare Re 18:12, 14, 16).
17. Repeated from Isa 2:11, for emphatic confirmation.
18. idols—literally, "vain things," "nothings" (1Co 8:4). Fulfilled to the letter. Before the Babylonian captivity the Jews were most prone to idolatry; in no instance, ever since. For the future fulfilment, see Zec 13:2; Re 13:15; 19:20.
19. The fulfilment answers exactly to the threat (Isa 2:10).
they—the idol-worshippers.
caves—abounding in Judea, a hilly country; hiding-places in times of alarm (1Sa 13:6).
shake … earth—and the heavens also (Heb 12:26). Figure for severe and universal judgments.
20. moles—Others translate "mice." The sense is, under ground, in darkness.
bats—unclean birds (Le 11:19), living amidst tenantless ruins (Re 11:13).
22. The high ones (Isa 2:11, 13) on whom the people trust, shall be "brought low" (Isa 3:2); therefore "cease from" depending on them, instead of on the Lord (Ps 146:3-5).