Isaiah 30:28 Komentář

The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing chapter) to the approaching danger of Jerusalem and desolations of Judah by Sennacherib's invasion. Here is, I. A just reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and were all in a hurry to fetch succors from Egypt (Isa 30:1-7). II. A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake them (Isa 30:8-17). III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (Isa 30:18-26), and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. IV. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy times (Isa 30:27-33).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 30 This chapter contains a complaint of the Jews for their sins and transgressions; a prophecy of their destruction for them; a promise of grace and mercy, and of happy times, to the saints; and a threatening of utter and dreadful ruin to the wicked. The Jews are complained of for their rebellion against God, their slighting his counsel and protection, their trust in Egypt, and application there for help; whither they went with their riches for safety, but in vain, it being contrary to the will and counsel of God, Isa 30:1 next follows a denunciation of ruin and destruction for these things, rebellion, and lying, and vain confidence, as well as for contempt of the word of God, which, that it might appear sure and certain, is ordered to be written in a book, Isa 30:8 and this ruin is signified by the sudden falling of a wall, and by the breaking of a potter's vessel into pieces, which can never be used more, Isa 30:13 and seeing they rejected the way of salvation proposed by the Lord, and took their own way, first destruction is threatened them, which should be very easily brought about, and become so general, that few should escape it, Isa 30:15 and then promises of grace and mercy are made to them that wait for the Lord, Isa 30:18 such as a dwelling place in Zion, hearing their prayers, granting them teachers to instruct them, and the riddance of idolatry from them, Isa 30:19 and also many outward blessings, as seasonable rain, good bread corn, fat pastures, good food for cattle, and fruitfulness of mountains and hills, Isa 30:23 likewise an amazing degree of spiritual light and glory, and healing of the Lord's people, Isa 30:26 and the chapter is concluded with a threatening Of God's wrath upon the Assyrian, expressed by various similes, as of an angry man, an overflowing torrent, a tempest of thunder, lightning, and hail, and the fire of Tophet, Isa 30:27.

And his breath as an overflowing stream,.... Which comes with great swiftness and force, bearing all before it, breathing out nothing but the fire of divine wrath, before which there is no standing; nor could the Assyrian army stand before it, but suddenly, in a moment, was carried away with the force of it: thus our Lord will consume the man of sin with the spirit or breath of his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming, Th2 2:8, and this stream shall reach to the midst of the neck; which shows the extreme danger the army would be in, as a man that is up to the neck in water, and can find no way of escaping; and very aptly represents their state and condition, the whole body of the army being encompassed and destroyed by this overflowing stream of divine wrath, only their head, their king Sennacherib was saved; and he in a little time was cut off, when he had got into his country; as the Assyrian army served the Jews, they are served themselves; see Isa 8:7, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity; that is, the breath, wind, or Spirit of the Lord, compared to an overflowing stream, should be of this use, and have this effect, to sift the people of several nations, of which the Assyrian army consisted, so as to dash them one against another, and utterly destroy them; for they were to be sifted, not with a good and profitable sieve, which retains the corn, and shakes out the chaff, or so as to have some taken out and spared; but with a sieve that lets all through, and so be brought to nothing, as the Vulgate Latin version; and thus will all the antichristian nations be agitated, and shaken, and destroyed, ere long: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err; from the way they intended to go, namely, up to Jerusalem, and take and sack it, and obliging them to betake themselves another way for their retreat and safety; see Isa 37:29.

(Vers. 27 seqq.) Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar: His burning anger and heaviness to bear. His lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire. His breath is like a torrent overflowing to the middle of the neck, to destroy nations for nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people. It shall be a song to you, like the night of a holy solemnity, and the joy of the heart, like one who goes with a flute, to enter the mount of the Lord, to the mighty one of Israel. LXX: Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time: burning wrath with glory, the speech of his lips, full of anger, and the anger of fury like fire will devour, and his spirit like water in a valley, drawing will come up to the neck, and it will be divided to disturb the nations with vain error, and error will be cast aside, and it will take them in their sight. Should you always rejoice and enter into my holy things constantly, as if celebrating and rejoicing at feasts, to enter with a pipe to the mountain of the Lord to the God of Israel? Let us first speak according to the Hebrew. They depend on the preceding things which are said. The prophetic word had caught those who, despising the help of God, were fleeing to the Egyptians because of fear of the Babylonians, and it threatened that those who went down there would die. And again, after the punishments, he promises that those who wanted (or rather, didn't want) to hear him would not only dwell in Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, but also that he would promise greater blessedness to all who believe in the word of God, in the consummation of the world, when the rivers of waters will run through all the mountains and hills, and many will be killed, and towers will fall. The moon and the sun will also receive a brighter light when the Lord binds up and heals the wounds of his people. Some may argue that these things were accomplished to an excessive degree in the times of Cyrus, who released the captivity of the people and filled the land of Judah. Therefore, because rewards have been promised to the good and obedient, now on the contrary, punishments are declared for the wicked and contemptuous, so that the Lord may fulfill his plan and come to punish sinners after a long time, and pronounce judgment upon all, and destroy the impious with the breath of his mouth, whom he calls the bridle of the peoples: not to rule over them, but to draw those subject to him to ruin. He also uses the analogy of a river overflowing and reaching up to the neck to testify that the end of all things has come. Just as the river suffocates the one it reaches up to the neck, so too the judgment of God will not allow anyone to escape unpunished. But when He loses the bridle that was on the jaws of all nations, and has brought them to nothing, then, He says, there will be a song for you, O saints, who obey my commands, like the night of a holy solemnity, when you came out of Egypt and threw off the yoke of Egyptian slavery in the solemnity of the Passover, saying at the Red Sea when Pharaoh was drowned: 'Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified' (Exodus 15:1). And with such great joy in your hearts that you imitate those who, carrying the first fruits to the temple and offering gifts in the presses of God, go with their pipes, demonstrating the joys of their heart through song. I have briefly explained these things according to the Hebrew language. However, it should be noted in both editions that it is not the Lord, but the name of the Lord that comes after a long time, as it is said in the Psalms: 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord God, and he has shined upon us' (Ps. CXVII, 26). And he himself speaks in the Gospel: 'I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me' (John V, 43). It is said to come after a long time, with human impatience speaking: 'How long, O Lord, will you forget me? Forever?' How long will you turn your face away from me? (Ps. XII, 1). His burning fury also comes with glory, so that the one we despise in humility, we may fear in majesty. This very thing is also written in the psalms: God will come manifestly, our God will not keep silent. Fire will burn before him, and there will be a mighty tempest around him (Ps. L, 3, 4). He himself speaks in the Gospel (Luke XII, 49): I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Again in another psalm it is read: The voice of the Lord cutting through the flame of fire (Ps. XXVIII, 7), so that whatever is in the manner of hay, wood, and straw, the flame would consume. Hence, God is also said to be a consuming fire (Deut. IV). And it is inferred: The fury of his wrath will devour like fire, and many of our people interpret the fury of the Lord's wrath as the devil, to whom we are handed over for punishment, who, according to the book of Samuel, incited David to number the people of God (II Reg. XXIV). And the Apostle says: to deliver such a Satan to the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved (I Cor. V, 5). But this same fury, and so the fury of the Lord will do nothing by his own will, but what has been commanded to him. Hence it follows: The speech of his lips is full of wrath. His spirit also like water in a valley, drawing near even to the neck, to make punishments overflow upon sinners. He will be divided according to the quality of his merits, to destroy and trouble the nations which false error had deceived, so that they may understand themselves to be overthrown. When it is said of such people, who prevailed in the power of this world and delighted in their own error, that they will not always do this. And certain of our people think that this place and the whole content of the chapter is against heretics and all dogmas that are contrary to the truth, because when the time of judgment comes, they will not enter his holy mountain, that is, the Church of the Lord, so that they may not gather riches under the name of religion and indulge in luxury, as if celebrating the feasts of the Lord. The Jews understand concerning the nations of Gog and Magog, which they believe will come from the North, that is, from the regions of Scythia, about which Ezekiel speaks more fully (Ezek. 19).

He also sets out wrath in his work: his breath, that is, his indignation, overflowing even to the midst of the neck, that is, it will lead to their extinction, above: there shall pass through Judah, overflowing wrath (Isa 8:8). 686. Third, he sets out the effect of his indignation on the wicked, the destruction of the nations: to destroy the nations: Lord, in your city you shall bring their image to nothing (Ps 72:20[73:21]); and the cessation of tyrants: and the bridle of error: he has put a bridle into my mouth (Job 30:11).

This and the following chapter must relate to a still future restoration of the posterity of Jacob from their several dispersions, as no deliverance hitherto afforded them comes up to the terms of it; for, after the return from Babylon, they were again enslaved by the Greeks and Romans, contrary to the prediction in the eighth verse; in every papistical country they have labored under great civil disabilities, and in some of them have been horribly persecuted; upon the ancient people has this mystic Babylon very heavily laid her yoke; and in no place in the world are they at present their own masters; so that this prophecy remains to be fulfilled in the reign of David, i.e., the Messiah; the type, according to the general structure of the prophetical writings, being put for the antitype. The prophecy opens by an easy transition from the temporal deliverance spoken of before, and describes the mighty revolutions that shall precede the restoration of the descendants of Israel, Jer 30:1-9, who are encouraged to trust in the promises of God, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:11. They are, however, to expect corrections; which shall have a happy issue in future period, Jer 30:12-17. The great blessings of Messiah's reign are enumerated, Jer 30:18-22; and the wicked and impenitent declared to have no share in them, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24.

To sift the nations with a sieve of vanity "To toss the nations with the van of perdition" - The word להנפה lahanaphah is in its form very irregular. Kimchi says it is for להניף lehaniph. Houbigant supposes it to be a mistake, and shows the cause of it; the joining it to the ה he, which should begin the following word. The true reading is להניף הגוים lehaniph haggoyim, "to sift the nations." The Vulgate seems to be the only one of the ancient interpreters who has explained rightly the sense; but he has dropped the image: ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, "to reduce the nations to nothing. "Kimchi's explanation is to the following effect:" נפה naphah is a van with which they winnow corn; and its use is to cleanse the corn from the chaff and straw: but the van with which God will winnow the nations will be the van of emptiness or perdition; for nothing useful shall remain behind, but all shall come to nothing, and perish. In like manner, a bridle is designed to guide the horse in the right way; but the bridle which God will put in the jaws of the people shall not direct them aright, but shall make them err, and lead them into destruction." This latter image the prophet has applied to the same subject afterwards, Isa 37:29 : - "I will put my bridle in thy jaws, And turn thee back by the way in which thou camest." And as for the former it is to be observed, that the van of the ancients was a large instrument, somewhat like a shovel, with a long handle, with which they tossed the corn mixed with the chaff and chopped straw into the air, that the wind might separate them. See Hammond on Mat 3:12. There shall be a bridle in the jaws - A metaphor taken from a headstrong, unruly horse: the bridle checks, restrains, and directs him. What the true God does in restraining sinners has been also attributed to the false gods of the heathen. Thus Aeschylus, prom. Vinct. 691: - αλλ' επηναγκαζε νιν Διος χαλινος προς βιαν πρασσειν ταδε. "But the bridle of Jupiter violently constrained him to do these things."

THE THIRTIETH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND CHAPTERS REFER PROBABLY TO THE SUMMER OF 714 B.C., AS THE TWENTY-NINTH CHAPTER TO THE PASSOVER OF THAT YEAR. (Isa. 30:1-32) take counsel--rather, as Isa 30:4, Isa 30:6 imply, "execute counsels." cover . . . covering--that is, wrap themselves in reliances disloyal towards Jehovah. "Cover" thus answers to "seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord" (Isa 29:15). But the Hebrew is literally, "who pour out libations"; as it was by these that leagues were made (Exo 24:8; Zac 9:11), translate, "who make a league." not of--not suggested by My Spirit" (Num 27:21; Jos 9:14). that they may add--The consequence is here spoken of as their intention, so reckless were they of sinning: one sin entails the commission of another (Deu 29:19).

(Isa 11:4; Th2 2:8). reach . . . neck--the most extreme danger; yet as the head, or capital of Judah, was to be spared (Isa 8:8), so the head, or sovereign of Assyria, Sennacherib, should escape. sieve of vanity--Rather, "the winnowing fan of destruction" [LOWTH] (Isa 41:16). bridle in . . . jaws--as prisoners are represented in the Assyrian inscriptions (Isa 37:29). causing . . . to err-- (Isa 63:17). "People," Hebrew, "peoples," namely, the various races composing the Assyrian armies (Isa 5:26).

The plan which, according to Isa 29:15, was already projected and prepared in the deepest secrecy, is now much further advanced. The negotiations by means of ambassadors have already been commenced; but the prophet condemns what he can no longer prevent. "Woe to the stubborn children, saith Jehovah, to drive plans, and not by my impulse, and to plait alliance, and not according to my Spirit, to heap sin upon sin: that go away to travel down to Egypt, without having asked my mouth, to fly to Pharaoh's shelter, and to conceal themselves under the shadow of Egypt. And Pharaoh's shelter becomes a shame to them, and the concealment under the shadow of Egypt a disgrace. For Judah's princes have appeared in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive in Hanes. They will all have to be ashamed of a people useless to them, that brings no help and no use, but shame, and also reproach." Sōrerı̄m is followed by infinitives with Lamed (cf., Isa 5:22; Isa 3:8): who are bent upon it in their obstinacy. Massēkhâh designates the alliance as a plait (massēkheth). According to Cappellus and others, it designates it as formed with a libation (σπονδη, from σπένδεσθαι); but the former is certainly the more correct view, inasmuch as massēkhâh (from nâsakh, fundere) signifies a cast, and hence it is more natural here to take nâsakh as equivalent to sâkhakh, plectere (Jerome: ordiremini telam). The context leaves no doubt as to the meaning of the adverbial expressions ולא־מנּי and ולא־רוּחי, viz., without its having proceeded from me, and without my Spirit being there. "Sin upon sin:" inasmuch as they carry out further and further to perfect realization the thought which was already a sinful one in itself. The prophet now follows for himself the ambassadors, who are already on the road to the country of the Nile valley. He sees them arrive in Zoan, and watches them as they proceed thence into Hanes. He foresees and foretells what a disgraceful opening of their eyes will attend the reward of this untheocratical beginning. On lâ‛ōz b', see at Isa 10:31 : ‛ōz is the infinitive constr. of ‛ūz; mâ‛ōz, on the contrary, is a derivative of ‛âzaz, to be strong. The suffixes of שׂריו (his princes) and מלאכיו (his ambassadors) are supposed by Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel, who take a different view of what is said, to refer to the princes and ambassadors of Pharaoh. But this is by no means warranted on the ground that the prophet cannot so immediately transfer to Zoan and Hanes the ambassadors of Judah, who were still on their journey according to Isa 30:2. The prophet's vision overleaps the existing stage of the desire for this alliance; he sees the great men of his nation already suing for the favour of Egypt, first of all in Zoan, and then still further in Hanes, and at once foretells the shameful termination of this self-desecration of the people of Jehovah. The lxx give for יגיעוּ חנּס, μάτην κοπιάσουσιν, i.e., ייגעוּ סהנּם, and Knobel approves this reading; but it is a misunderstanding, which only happens to have fallen out a little better this time than the rendering ὡς Δαυίδ given for כּדּוּר in Isa 29:3. If chinnâm had been the original reading, it would hardly have entered any one's mind to change it into chânēs. The latter was the name of a city on an island of the Nile in Central Egypt, the later Heracleopolis (Eg. Hnēs; Ehnēs), the Anysis of Herodotus (ii. 137). On Zoan, see at Isa 19:11. At that time the Tanitic dynasty was reigning, the dynasty preceding the Ethiopian. Tanis and Anysis were the two capitals. הבאישׁ (= היבשׁ =( ה, a metaplastic hiphil of יבשׁ = בּושׁ, a different word from יבשׁ) is incorrectly pointed for הבאישׁ, like ריאשׁנה (keri) for ראישׁנה in Jos 21:10. הבאישׁ signifies elsewhere, "to make stinking" (to calumniate, Pro 13:5), or "to come into ill odour" (Sa1 27:12); here, however, it means to be put to shame (בּאשׁ = בּושׁ).