Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
Chfisl the Sure Foundation. ISAIAH XXIX. Coming Invasion of Jerusalem. that His judgments, being put off so long, would ne Ter come at all, ch. 5. 19); His object being not to destroy His people any more than the farmer's object in threshing is Itosea 2. 18; 1 Corinthians 3. 22). overflowing scourge— two jnetapliors : the lioslile Assyrian armies like an overwheltning flood, pass tliroiigh—viz., through Judea on to destroy his crop; this vindicates God's " strange work" their way to Egypt, to punish it as the protector of Sama- (v. 21) in punishing his people. Cf. tlie same Image, Jeremiah 24. 6; Hosea 2. 23; Matthew 3. 12. 24. aU day—emphatic; he is not nZtmys ploughing : he also "sows," and ria (2 Kings 17. 4). lies— 2Vipj/ did not use these words, but Isaiah designates their sentiments by their true name (Amos 2. 4). 16. Lit, Behold me as Him who has laid; viz., that, too, in accordance with sure rules (v. 25). do«li he open—supply aZway*. Is he always harrowing f 25. face —the surface of the ground: "made plain," or level, by harrowing, fltclies—rather, dill, or fennel, Nigella romana, with black seed, easily beaten out, used as a condiment and medicine in the East. So the LXX., "cummin" was used in the same way. cast in . . . principal wheat—rather, plant the wheat in rows (for wheat was thought to yield the largest crop, by being planted sparingly; Pliny, H. N. 18. 21); [Maurbr] ; "sow the wheat regularly" [Horsley]. But Gesenius, like English Ver-
In my Divine counsel (Revelation 13.8); none save I could lay it (ch. G3. 5). stone—Jesus Christ; Hezekiah [Maukek], or the temple lEyfAiA)], do not realize the full signiflcancy of the language ; but only in type point to Him, in whom the propliecy receives its exhaustive accomplishment; whether Isaiah understood its fulness or not (1 Peter 1. 11, 12), the Holy Ghost plainly contemplated its fulfilment In Christ alone; so in ch. 32. 1; cf. Genesis 49. 24; Psalm 118.
22; Matthew 21. 42; Romans 10. 11; Ephesians 2. 20. tried —both by the devil (Luke 4. 1-13) and by men (Luke 20. 1-
38), and even by God (Matthew 27. 46) ; a stone of tested sion, " fat," or " principal," i. e., excellent wheat, appointed barley—rather, " barley in its appointed place. [Mauker.] in their place—rather, "in its (the field's) border. [Maurer.] 26. to discretion—in the due rules of husbandry; God first taught it to man (Genesis 3. 23). 27. The husbandman uses the same discretion in thresliiug. The solidity to bear the vast superstructure of man's redemption. The tested righteousness of Christ gives its peculiar merit to His vicarious sacrifice. The connection with the context is, though a " scourge" shall visit Judea (v. 15), yet God's gracious purpose as to the elect remnant, and His kingdom of which "Ziou ' shall be tlje centre, shall, not dill ("fitches") and cummin, leguminous and tender grains, are beaten out, not as wheat, &c., with the heavy corn-drag ("threshing instrument"), but with "a staff;" heavy instruments would crush and injure the seed, cart wheel—two iron wheels armed with iron teeth, like a saw, joined together by a wooden axle. The "corndrag" was made of three or four wooden cylinders, armed with iron teeth or flint stones fixe<i underneath, and joined like a sledge. Both instruments cut the straw for fodder as well as separated the corn, staff—used also where they had but a small quantity of corn: the flail (Ruth 2. 17). 28. Bread-corn—Corn of which bread is mftde. bruised— threshed with the corn-drag (as contrasted with dill and cummin, "beaten with the stafl""), fail, because it rests on Messiah (Matthew 7. 24, 25 ; 2 Timothy 2. 19). i>»-eclous lit., of preciousness ; so in the Greek, 1 Peter 2. 7, He is preciousness. corner-stone—(1 Kings 5.
17 ; 7. 9; Job 3.S. G) ; the stone laid at the corner where two walls meet and connecting them; often costly, maltc Uaate—flee in hastyalarm ; but LXX. have "be ashamed ;" so Romans 9. 33, and 1 Peter 2. 6, "be confounded," substantially the same idea; he who rests on Him shall not have the shame of disappointment, nor flee in sudden panic (see ch. 30. 15; 32. 17). 17. line-the measuring-line of the plummet. Horsley translates, " I will appoint judgment for tlie rule,and justice for the plummet." As the cornerstone stands most perpendicular and exactly proportioned, so Jehovah, while holding out grace to believers In the Foundation-stone, will judge the scoffers (v. 15) according to the exact justice of the law (cf. James 2. 13). liall—Divine judgments (ch. 30. 30; 32. 19). 18. cUgaunailed—obliterated, as letters traced on a waxen tablet are obliterated by passing the stylus over it. trodden down—passing from the metaphor in "scourge" to the thing meant, the artny which treads down its enemies. 19. Prom tlic time, &c.—rather, " As often as it comes over or, "trodden out" by the hoofs of cattle driven over it on the threshing-floor [G. V. Smith], (Deuteronomy 25.4; Micah 4.13). because— rather, but [Horsi.ey]; though the corn is threshed with the heavy instrument, yet he will not always be thus threshing it. brealt It—"drive over it (continually) the wheel." [Maurer.] cart—threshing-drag, horseman—rather, horses: used to tread out corn. 20. Tliis also—The skill wherewith the husbandman duly adjusts his modes of threshing is given by God, as well as the skill (v. 26) wherewith he tills and sows (v. 24, 25). Therefore He must also be able to adapt His modes of treatment to the several moral needs of His creatures. His object in sending tribidation (derived from the Latin tribulum,a, threshing instrument, Luke 22.31; Romans 5. 3) is to sever the moral chaff from the wheat, not to crush utterly; "His judgments are usuallj' in the line of our offences; by the nature of the judgments we may usually ascertain the nature of the sin." [Barnes.]
(i.e., passes through), it shall overtake you" [Horsley]; like a flood returning /rojn. time to time, frequent hostile invasions shall assail Judah, after the deportation of the ten tribes, vexation . . . Iiear . . . report—rather, " It shall be a terror even to hear the mere report of it." [Mauker.] (1 Samuel 3. 11.) But G. V. Smith, "Hard treatment (Hor.si.ey, dispersion) only shall make you to understand instruction ;" they scorned at the simple way in which the prophet ollered it {v. 9), therefore, they must be taught by the severe teachings of adversity. 20. Proverbial, for thcj' shall And all their sources of confidence fail them ; all shall be hopeless perplexity in their afl'airs. 21. Perazim—In the valley of Rephaim (2Samuel5. 18,20; CHAPTEK XXIX.
1 Chronicles 14. 11), there Jehovah, by David, broke forth as waters do, and made a breach among the Philistines, David's enemies, as Perazim means, expre.ssing a sudden and complete overthrow. Gibeon—(1 Chronicles 14. 16 ; 2 Samuel 5.25; Margin.) Not Joshua's victory (Joshua 10.10). •trange—as being against His own people ; judgment Is not what God delights in, it is, though necessary, yet strange to Him (Lamentations 3. .«). work—punishing the guilty
Ver. 1-24. Coming Invasion of Jerusalem : its Failure : Unbelief op the Jews. This chapter opens the series of prophecies as to the invasion of Judea under Sennacherib, and its deliverance. 1. Ariel Jerusalem; Ariel means Lion of God, i. e., city rendered by God invincible: the lion is emblem of a mighty hero (2 Samuel 23.
20). Otherwise, Hearth of Ood, i. e., place where the altarflre continually burns to God (ch. 31. 9; Ezekiel 43. 15, 16). add . . . year to year—ironically; suffer one year after another to glide on in the round of formal, heartless "sacrifices." Rather, "add yet another jear" to the one just closed. [Maurer.] Let a year elapse and a little more (ch. 32. 10; Margin), let . . . Kill sacrifices—rather, "let the beasts (of another year) go round" [Mauuer]: (cli. 10. 12). -i'l. moc Jtcrs—a sin which tliey had committed (d. 9. 10). bands—their Assyrian bondage (ch. 10. 27); Judah was then tributary to Assyria; or, " lost your punishment be made still more severe" (ch. 24. 22). con Buinptlon—destruction (ch. 10. 2'2, 23; Daniel 9. 27). 23. Calling attention to the following illustration from husbandry (Psalm 49. 1, 2'. As the husbandman does his different kinds of work, each in its right time unA due jrroportion, so God adapts His measures to the varying exigencies of the several cases: now mercy, now judgments; t. e., after the completion of a year " I will distress Ariel." 2. Yet— rather. Then, heaviness . . . sorrow — rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, groaning and moaning, as Ariel—either, " the city shall be as a lion of Ood, now punishing sooner, now later (an answer to the scoff i.e., it shall emerge from its dangers unvanqulshed ; or