6 Then leap as a hart doth the lame, And sing doth the tongue of the dumb, For broken up in a wilderness have been waters, And streams in a desert.
Jesus saith to him, `Rise, take up thy couch, and be walking;' and immediately the man became whole, and he took up his couch, and was walking, and it was a sabbath on that day,
And as they are coming forth, lo, they brought to him a man dumb, a demoniac, and the demon having been cast out, the dumb spake, and the multitude did wonder, saying that `It was never so seen in Israel:'
and they bring to him a deaf, stuttering man, and they call on him that he may put the hand on him. And having taken him away from the multitude by himself, he put his fingers to his ears, and having spit, he touched his tongue, and having looked to the heaven, he sighed, and saith to him, `Ephphatha,' that is, `Be thou opened;' and immediately were his ears opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he was speaking plain. And he charged them that they may tell no one, but the more he was charging them, the more abundantly they were proclaiming `it', and they were being beyond measure astonished, saying, `Well hath he done all things; both the deaf he doth make to hear, and the dumb to speak.'
And a certain man in Lystra, impotent in the feet, was sitting, being lame from the womb of his mother -- who never had walked, this one was hearing Paul speaking, who, having stedfastly beheld him, and having seen that he hath faith to be saved, said with a loud voice, `Stand up on thy feet upright;' and he was springing and walking,
and Peter said, `Silver and gold I have none, but what I have, that I give to thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and be walking.' And having seized him by the right hand, he raised `him' up, and presently his feet and ankles were strengthened, and springing up, he stood, and was walking, and did enter with them into the temple, walking and springing, and praising God;
And in the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, `If any one doth thirst, let him come unto me and drink; he who is believing in me, according as the Writing said, Rivers out of his belly shall flow of living water;' and this he said of the Spirit, which those believing in him were about to receive; for not yet was the Holy Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
and one out of the multitude answering said, `Teacher, I brought my son unto thee, having a dumb spirit; and wherever it doth seize him, it doth tear him, and he foameth, and gnasheth his teeth, and pineth away; and I spake to thy disciples that they may cast it out, and they were not able.' And he answering him, said, `O generation unbelieving, till when shall I be with you? till when shall I suffer you? bring him unto me;' and they brought him unto him, and he having seen him, immediately the spirit tare him, and he, having fallen upon the earth, was wallowing -- foaming. And he questioned his father, `How long time is it since this came to him?' and he said, `From childhood, and many times also it cast him into fire, and into water, that it might destroy him; but if thou art able to do anything, help us, having compassion on us.' And Jesus said to him, `If thou art able to believe! all things are possible to the one that is believing;' and immediately the father of the child, having cried out, with tears said, `I believe, sir; be helping mine unbelief.' Jesus having seen that a multitude doth run together, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, `Spirit -- dumb and deaf -- I charge thee, come forth out of him, and no more thou mayest enter into him;'
and there came to him great multitudes, having with them lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and they did cast them at the feet of Jesus, and he healed them, so that the multitudes did wonder, seeing dumb ones speaking, maimed whole, lame walking, and blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
And he causeth me to turn back unto the opening of the house; and lo, water is coming forth from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the front of the house `is' eastward, and the water is coming down from beneath, from the right side of the house, from the south of the altar. And he causeth me to go out the way of the gate northward, and causeth me to turn round the way without, unto the gate that `is' without, the way that is looking eastward, and lo, water is coming forth from the right side. In the going out of the man eastward, and a line in his hand, then he measureth a thousand by the cubit, and he causeth me to pass over into water -- water to the ankles. And he measureth a thousand, and causeth me to pass over into water -- water to the knees. And he measureth a thousand, and causeth me to pass over -- water to the loins. And he measureth a thousand -- a stream that I am not able to pass over; for risen have the waters -- waters to swim in -- a stream that is not passed over. And he saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man?' and he leadeth me, and bringeth me back unto the edge of the stream. In my turning back, then, lo, at the edge of the stream `are' very many trees, on this side and on that side. And he saith unto me, `These waters are going forth unto the east circuit, and have gone down unto the desert, and have entered the sea; unto the sea they are brought forth, and the waters have been healed. And it hath come to pass, every living creature that teemeth, whithersoever the streams come, doth live: and there hath been great abundance of fish, for these waters have come thither, and they are healed; and every thing whither the stream cometh hath lived. And it hath come to pass, fishers do stand by it, from En-Gedi even unto En-Eglaim; a spreading place of nets they are; according to their own kind is their fish, as the fish of the great sea, very many. Its miry and its marshy places -- they are not healed; to salt they have been given up.
They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them. And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.
Lo, I am doing a new thing, now it springeth up, Do ye not know it? Yea, I put in a wilderness a way, In a desolate place -- floods. Honour me doth the beast of the field, Dragons and daughters of an ostrich, For I have given in a wilderness waters, Floods in a desolate place, To give drink to My people -- My chosen.
The poor and the needy are seeking water, And there is none, Their tongue with thirst hath failed, I, Jehovah do answer them, The God of Israel -- I forsake them not. I open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dry land become springs of water.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 35
Commentary on Isaiah 35 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Edom falls, never to rise again. Its land is turned into a horrible wilderness. But, on the other hand, the wilderness through which the redeemed Israel returns, is changed into a flowery field. “Gladness fills the desert and the heath; and the steppe rejoices, and flowers like the crocus. It flowers abundantly, and rejoices; yea, rejoicing and singing: the glory of Lebanon is given to it, the splendour of Carmel and the plain of Sharon; they will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendour of our God.” מדבּר ישׂשׂוּם (to be accentuated with tiphchah munach , not with mercha tiphchah ) has been correctly explained by Aben-Ezra. The original Nun has been assimilated to the following Mem , just as pidyōn in Numbers 3:49 is afterwards written pidyōm (Ewald, §91, b ). The explanation given by Rashi, Gesenius, and others ( laetabuntur his ), is untenable, if only because sūs ( sı̄s ) cannot be construed with the accusative of the object (see at Isaiah 8:6); and to get rid of the form by correction, as Olshausen proposes, is all the more objectionable, because “the old full plural in ūn is very frequently met with before Mem ” (Böttcher), in which case it may have been pronounced as it is written here.
(Note: Böttcher calls ûm the oldest primitive form of the plural; but it is only a strengthening of ûn ; cf., tannı̄m = tannı̄n , Hanameel = Hananeel , and such Sept. forms as Gesem, Madiam, etc. (see Hitzig on Jeremiah 32:7). Wetzstein told me of a Bedouin tribe, in whose dialect the third pers. praet . regularly ended in m , e.g., akalum (they have eaten).)
According to the Targum on Song of Solomon 2:1 (also Saad., Abulw.), the c hăbhatstseleth is the narcissus; whilst the Targum on the passage before us leaves it indefinite - sicut lilia . The name (a derivative of bâtsal ) points to a bulbous plant, probably the crocus and primrose, which were classed together.
(Note: The crocus and the primrose ( המצליתא in Syriac) may really be easily confounded, but not the narcissus and primrose, which have nothing in common except that they are bulbous plants, like most of the flowers of the East, which shoot up rapidly in the spring, as soon as the winter rains are over. But there are other colchicaceae beside our colchicum autumnale , which flowers before the leaves appear and is therefore called filius ante patrem (e.g., the eastern colchicum variegatum ).)
The sandy steppe would become like a lovely variegated plain covered with meadow flowers.
(Note: Layard, in his Nineveh and Babylon , describes in several places the enchantingly beautiful and spring-like variation of colours which occurs in the Mesopotamian “desert;” though what the prophet had in his mind was not the real m idâr , or desert of pasture land, but, as the words tsiyâh and ‛ arâbhâh show, the utterly barren sandy desert.)
On gı̄lath , see at Isaiah 33:6 (cf., Isaiah 65:18): the infin. noun takes the place of an inf. abs., which expresses the abstract verbal idea, though in a more rigid manner; 'aph (like gam in Genesis 31:15; Genesis 46:4) is an exponent of the increased emphasis already implied in the gerunds that come after. So joyful and so gloriously adorned will the barren desert, which has been hitherto so mournful, become, on account of the great things that are in store for it. Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon have, as it were, shared their splendour with the desert, that all might be clothed alike in festal dress, when the glory of Jehovah, which surpasses everything self in its splendour, should appear; that glory which they would not only be privileged to behold, but of which they would be honoured to be the actual scene.
The prophet now exclaims to the afflicted church, in language of unmixed consolation, that Jehovah is coming. “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and make the trembling knees strong! Say to those of a terrified heart, Be strong! Fear ye not! Behold, your God will come for vengeance, for a divine retribution: He will come, and bring you salvation.” Those who have become weak in faith, hopeless and despairing, are to cheer up; and the stronger are to tell such of their brethren as are perplexed and timid, to be comforted now: for Jehovah is coming nâqâm (i.e., as vengeance), and g e mūl 'Elōhı̄m (i.e., as retribution, such as God the highly exalted and Almighty Judge inflicts; the expression is similar to that in Isaiah 30:27; Isaiah 13:9, cf., Isaiah 40:10, but a bolder one; the words in apposition stand as abbreviations of final clauses). The infliction of punishment is the immediate object of His coming, but the ultimate object is the salvation of His people ( וישעכם a contracted future form, which is generally confined to the aorist).
“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame man leap as the stag, and the tongue of the dumb man shout; for waters break out in the desert, and brooks in the steppe. And the mirage becomes a fish-pond, and the thirsty ground gushing water-springs; in the place of jackals, where it lies, there springs up grass with reeds and rushes.” The bodily defects mentioned here there is no reason for regarding as figurative representations of spiritual defects. The healing of bodily defects, however, is merely the outer side of what is actually effected by the coming of Jehovah (for the other side, comp. Isaiah 32:3-4). And so, also, the change of the desert into a field abounding with water is not a mere poetical ornament; for in the last times, he era of redemption, nature itself will really share in the doxa which proceeds from the manifested God to His redeemed. Shârâb (Arab. sarâb ) is essentially the same thing as that which we call in the western languages the mirage , or Fata morgana ; not indeed every variety of this phenomenon of the refraction of light, through strata of air of varying density lying one above another, but more especially that appearance of water, which is produced as if by magic in the dry, sandy desert
(Note: See. G. Rawlinson, Monarchies , i. p. 38.)
(literally perhaps the “desert shine,” just as we speak of the “Alpine glow;” see Isaiah 49:10). The antithesis to this is 'ăgam (Chald. ' agmâ' , Syr. egmo , Ar. agam ), a fish-pond (as in Isaiah 41:18, different from ' âgâm in Isaiah 19:10). In the arid sandy desert, where the jackal once had her lair and suckled her young (this is, according to Lamentations 4:3, the true explanation of the permutative ribhtsâh , for which ribhtsâm would be in some respects more suitable), grass springs up even into reeds and rushes; so that, as Isaiah 43:20 affirms, the wild beasts of the desert praise Jehovah.
In the midst of such miracles, by which all nature is glorified, the people of Jehovah are redeemed, and led home to Zion. “And a highway rises there, and a road, and it will be called the Holy Road; no unclean man will pass along it, as it is appointed for them: whoever walks the road, even simple ones do not go astray. There will be no lion there, and the most ravenous beast of prey will not approach it, will not be met with there; and redeemed ones walk. And the ransomed of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasting joy upon their head: they lay hold of gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing flee away.” Not only unclean persons from among the heathen, but even unclean persons belonging to Israel itself, will never pass along that holy road; none but the church purified and sanctified through sufferings, and those connected with it. למו הוּא , to them, and to them alone, does this road belong, which Jehovah has made and secured, and which so readily strikes the eye, that even an idiot could not miss it; whilst it lies to high, that no beast of prey, however powerful ( p e rı̄ts chayyōth , a superlative verbal noun: Ewald, §313, c ), could possibly leap up to it: not one is ever encountered by the pilgrim there. The pilgrims are those whom Jehovah has redeemed and delivered, or set free from captivity and affliction ( גּאל , לג , related to חל , solvere ; פּדה , פד , scindere , abscindere ). Everlasting joy soars above their head; they lay fast hold of delight and joy (compare on Isaiah 13:8), so that it never departs from them. On the other hand, sorrow and sighing flee away. The whole of Isaiah 35:10 is like a mosaic from Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 61:7; Isaiah 51:3; and what is affirmed of the holy road, is also affirmed in Isaiah 52:1 of the holy city (compare Isaiah 62:12; Isaiah 63:4). A prelude of the fulfilment is seen in what Ezra speaks of with gratitude to God in Ezra 8:31. We have intentionally avoided crowding together the parallel passages from chapters 40-66. The whole chapter is, in every part, both in thought and language, a prelude of that book of consolation for the exiles in their captivity. Not only in its spiritual New Testament thoughts, but also in its ethereal language, soaring high as it does in majestic softness and light, the prophecy has now reached the highest point of its development.