Chapter XXV
Ver. 1-12. Continuation or Chap. 24. Thanksoivino FOR THE Overthrow of the Apostate Faction, and the Settino Up of Jehovah's Throne on Zion. The restoration from Babylon and re-establishment of the theocracy was a type and pledge of this. 1. wonderAU 457
antithesis) to the "isJes of the sea," i. e., tlie west. [Mau-
God Praised for His JudymenU, etc. ISAIAH XXVI. IsraeTt Song of Praise for Resloration.
—(Ch. 9.6.) cownsels of old—(Ch. 42.9; 46. 10.) Purposes planned long ago; here, as to the deliverance of His
protector ; on " hand" in this sense, cf. Ezra 7. 6, 28. 3Ioab —whilst Israel is being protected, the foe is destroyed; Moab is tlie representative of all the foes of God's people, under him—Rather, in his own place or country (Exodus
people. trutU—Hebrew, Amen ; covenant-keeping, faith-
ful to promises ; the peculiar characteristic of Jesus (Reve-
10.23; 16.29). for tlie dunghill-Rather, in the water of the dung-heap, in which straw was trodden to make it manure (Psalm 83. 10). Horsley translates eitlier, " in tlie waters of Madmenah," viz., for the malcing of bricks; or as LXX., "as the threshing-floor is trampled by the cornclrag" (see Margin, Micah 4. 11-13). 11. he Jehovah shall spread His hands to strike the foe on this .side and on that, with as little effort as a swimmer spreads forth his arms to cleave a passage through tlie water. [C.'V^lvin.] (Zechariah 5.3.) Lowth takes "he" as Moab, who, in danger of sinking, shall strain every nerve to save him-
lation 3.11). a. a city . . . lieap—Babylon, type of the
seat of Antichrist, to be destroyed in the last days (cf. Jeremiah 51. 37, with Revelation 18., followed, as here, by the song of the saints' thanlisgiving in Revelation 19). "Heaps" is a grapliic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they now are. palace—Babylon regarded, on account of
Its splendour, as a vast palace. But Maurkr translates, a
citadel, of strangers—foreigners, whose capital pre-eminently Bal)ylon was, the metropolis of the pagan world. "Aliens from tlie commonwealth of Israel, strangers from
the covenants of promise" (ch. 29.5; Ephesians 2.12; see
self; but Jehovah (and "he") shall cause him to sink ("bring down the pride" of Moab, clr. 16.6). witl» the spoils of . . . hands lit., the craftily-acquired spoils of his (Moab's) hands. [Barnes.] Moab's pride, as well as t}ie sudden gripe of his hands (viz., whereby he tries to save himself from drowning). [Lowth.] "Together with t?ie joints of Iris hands," i. e., though Moab struggle against Jehovah hand and foot. [Maurer.] 12. fortress— the strongholds of Moab, the representative of the foes of God's people. [Barnes.] Babylon. [Maurek.] The society of infidels represented as a city (Revelation 11. 8).
in contrast, Joel 3. 17). never be touilt—(Ch. 13. 19, 20, &c.)
3. strong people—This cannot apply to the Jews; but
otlier nations on which Babylon had exercised its cruelty
(ch. II. 12) shall worship Jehovah, awed by the judgment
inflicted on Babylon (cli. 23. 18). city—not Babylon, which
shall then be destroyed, but collectively for tlie cities of the surrounding nations. 4. tlie poor . . . needy—the Jews, exiles from their country (ch. 26.6; 41.17). lieat— calamity (cli/ 4. 6; 32. 2). blast i. e.,un-ath. storm a tem-
pest of rain, a winter flood, rushing against and overthrowing the wall of a house. 5. Translate, "As the heat
in a dry land [is brought down by the shadow of a cloud,