Isaiah 30:6 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.

The burden of the beasts of the south,.... Some think this begins a new prophecy, and this the name and inscription of it. The Septuagint version is, "the vision of the four footed beasts in the wilderness;'' and Kimchi's note is, "this prophecy, which he prophesied, that the beasts of the south should go out, meaning the beasts of the wilderness, and devour those that went to seek help from Egypt;'' but it respects the same thing as before, as appears by what follows; namely, the messengers going down to Egypt, which lay south of Judea, as Jarchi and Kimchi, Ben Melech and Abarbinel, observe, with beasts carrying riches thither, either for safety, or to obtain help from them: into a land of trouble and anguish; as it had been to their fathers formerly, and would be no otherwise to them now, notwithstanding their high raised expectations of assistance from them; there may be an allusion to its name Mizraim: from whence come the young and old lion, the viper, and fiery flying serpent; creatures with which Egypt abounded, as historians relate, and where some of them, at least, were worshipped, and where also men dwelt comparable to these creatures, as for craft and cruelty; though some understand this not of the country of Egypt, into which they went, but of the desert of Arabia, which lay between Judea and Egypt, through which they went; which was a land of trouble and anguish, for want of water, and because of these noxious creatures, of which it was full; see Deu 8:15, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses; which were much used in Judea to carry burdens on, and which were laid chiefly on their shoulders; and this denotes the great quantity of riches that would be, and were carried into Egypt, either by the ambassadors, as presents to the Egyptians, to gain their friendship and assistance; or else by some of the principal inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea, who, upon hearing of the invasion by Sennacherib, gathered up their riches, and fled to Egypt with them for safety, making use of young asses and camels, as follow: and their treasures upon the bunches of camels; much used in travelling through the deserts of Arabia, and which have some one, some two humps on their backs, whereby they are better fitted to carry burdens. The word is of the singular number, and only used in this place; and has the signification of honey, as the camels hump is so called, as Jarchi from the Talmud (h) says, because, when hurt, it is healed by anointing it with honey; and upon these they carried their money and jewels they had treasured up: to a people that shall not profit them; the Egyptians, who were of no service to the Jews, to free them from the invasion of the Assyrians. (h) Bava Metzia, fol. 38. 1. Sabbat. fol. 154. 2.

(Verse 6a) The burden of the beasts of the south. In Hebrew it is called Massa Beemoth (Al. Behemoth) of the Negeb, which the Septuagint translated as 'The Vision of the Quadrupeds in the Desert'. The superior explanation, which we have extensively explained through the replication of the historical text, is the interpretation of this place, according to the prophetic custom, that the burden, that is, the weight and burden of torment and punishment, not only came upon Babylon and the Philistines, and Moab, and Damascus, and Egypt, and the desert sea, but also upon Edom and Arabia, and the valley of Zion, and finally Tyre; but it also came upon the beasts of the south, which the Septuagint translated as quadrupeds in the desert. But the tribe of Judah, which is situated in the southern part, is bordering the wilderness; and those who rejected Jeremiah's prophecy, upon the capture of Jerusalem, refused to dwell in Judah; but they fled to the Egyptians through the desert. And rightly are they called the beasts of the South, or the quadrupeds in the wilderness, because they rejected the knowledge of God, and despising His command, fled to the idols of Egypt, having hope in Pharaoh, to whom whoever leans on, is like one leaning on a reed, which, if broken, will wound the hand of the one leaning on it. Concerning these kinds of animals, the sons of Korah spoke in the psalm: When a man is in honor, he does not understand; he is compared to the foolish animals and becomes like them (Ps. 49:13). And what follows: This is their way; their folly leads them astray, which can rightly be understood in relation to the present chapter, that their way through the desert led to their ruin. I have read, I know, that the animals of the south and the quadrupeds in the desert, who left the borders of Judah and fled into the darkness of Egypt, are referring to the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places; and the rulers of these darknesses, who lost all the wealth and former riches of Egypt in their desire. He said this. We say, according to tropology, that all those who, having abandoned the Creator, have given themselves to the errors of the world, are like quadrupeds in the desert of this age, from which they hope in vain for help, since they have abandoned the true help of God.

(Vers. 6, 7.) In the land of trouble and distress there will be a lioness and a lion: there will also be venomous snakes and flying serpents. They will carry their riches on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a people who cannot help them. Egypt will be useless and in vain for assistance. LXX: In trouble and distress there will be a lion and a lion's cub: then there will be asps and flying snake offspring. They will carry their riches on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not help them. The Egyptians will be empty and useless for your benefit. For the lion, in Hebrew it is written Leis () (also Lehis), and for the flying ruler, which the Seventy translated as flying asps, in Hebrew it is called ἐμπρηστὴς and flying, which we can call the burner, and in Hebrew it is called Saraph (). Again, in that place where we have translated, carrying on the shoulders of the beasts, they have uniformly translated all the animals as foals, that is, the young of donkeys. But the land of tribulation and anguish signifies the very wide desert, through which the remnants of Jerusalem, along with John the son of Careah and the daughters of King Zedekiah, having taken away all they could have, fled to Egypt. Likewise, understand metaphorically the lioness and the lion cub as Jerusalem and its people, as Balaam says in Numbers: Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion; it shall not rest until it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. XXIII, 24). In Ezekiel it is also written: Take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel, and say: Why has your mother the lioness lain down among lions, and reared her whelps in the midst of young lions? (Ezek. 19:1-2). And lest we think that Holy Scripture truly speaks of the lioness and the lion contrary to the nature of things, that a viper and a flying basilisk should be born of a lioness and a lion, that is, that worse offspring should be generated from evil parents, of whom the Gospel also spoke: Brood of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matt. 3:7). And to the land of Israel it is said: You are a land where it does not rain, nor does the rain come upon you in the day of anger, whose rulers are in its midst, like roaring lions, seizing prey, devouring souls by their power (Above, V). These offspring of vipers, or flying asps, that is, the rulers of the people and the whole crowd of the wicked, went to the people who could not help them, as Jeremiah says (Jer. LVI), that the Lord delivered Pharaoh, the crafty king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of those seeking his life, and all the men of Judah, who were in the land of Egypt, were consumed by sword and famine, to the point that the Hebrews delivered Jeremiah and Baruch, before Nebuchadnezzar captured Egypt, from the imminent captivity, avoiding death. A certain lioness and her lion cub, a celestial lion, were deceived by Jerusalem and exposed the people. And a flying king, and vipers, and offspring of asps, of whom we read above (Above. XIV and XXVII), a twisted serpent, and of whom the Savior spoke in the Gospel: I saw Satan, like lightning falling from heaven (Luke X, 19): who is called the dragon in the Apocalypse (Rev. XII), he drew with him a third part of the stars to the earth, who, by the perversity of their judgement, lost their former riches, abandoning them to the Egypt of this age. Therefore I cried out concerning this: it is only pride: be silent. For this reason, I do not know what the Seventy Interpreters intended: Proclaim these things, because your consolation is in vain. Furthermore, Symmachus interpreted it as 'turbulence is to dwell', that is, they are tumultuous in their habitation. The Hebrew word Reeb, or Reheb according to some, is translated by Aquila as 'impetus and pride', by Symmachus as 'disturbance', by the LXX as 'vanity', and by Theodotion as 'latitudinarianism'; which is written with three letters, Res (ר), He (ה), and Beth (ב), and it is the same as what is read in the Psalms: 'I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon, those who know me' (Ps. XXVI, 3). And the meaning is: Since the Egyptians offer empty help, I commanded him, that is, Jerusalem, or I exclaimed, that the Egyptians only have the name of a kingdom, and without power they boast; and Israel should sit or dwell in their own land, and not seek help in vain from the weak.

670. Third, he describes the carrying away of goods: the burden of the beasts; he threatens first the destruction of Egypt. The burden, of the sons of Judah, beasts, because of their stupidity or because they bore their goods like beasts; of the south, because they fled to the south or because their dwelling was in the southern part. In a land of trouble, in Egypt, which in Hebrew is called "Meyrey," which is translated "trouble" or "distress": the sword which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt (Jer 42:16). Second, he sets out the condition of those who carry away the goods: the lioness, because of its ferocity, the lion, because of the presumption of its audacity, the viper, because of its cruelty, the flying basilisk, not because it has wings, but because it leaps on the face of men, because of its swiftness to do evil: her princes are as roaring lions (Zeph 3:3). Third, the carrying away of the goods: they carry their riches. Fourth, the vanity of their labor: to a people that shall not be able to profit them: vain is the salvation of man (Ps 59:13[60:11]).

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.

The burden - משא massa seems here to be taken in its proper sense; the load, not the oracle. The same subject is continued; and there seems to be no place here for a new title to a distinct prophecy. Does not burden of the beasts of the South in this place relate to the presents sent by Hoshea king of Israel to the South - to Egypt, which lay south of Judea, to engage the Egyptians to succor him against the king of Assyria? Into the land of trouble and anguish "Through a land of distress and difficulty" - The same deserts are here spoken of which the Israelites passed through when they came out of Egypt, which Moses describes, Deu 8:15, as "that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where there was no water. "And which was designed to be a kind of barrier between them and Egypt, of which the Lord had said, "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way," Deu 17:16. Shall not profit them - A MS. adds in the margin the word למו lamo, them, which seems to have been lost out of the text: it is authorized by the Septuagint and Vulgate.

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).

burden--the prophecy as to, &c. [MAURER]; so the Septuagint, the fresh inscription here marks emphatically the prediction that follows. Or, rather, Isaiah sees in vision, the ambassador's beasts burdened with rich presents travelling southwards (namely, to Egypt, Dan 11:5-6), and exclaims, Oh, the burden of treasure on the beasts! &c. (Hos 8:9; Hos 12:1). land of trouble--the desert between Palestine and Egypt, destitute of water and abounding in dangerous animals (Deu 8:15; Jer 2:6). flying serpent-- (Isa 14:29), a species which springs like a dart from trees, on its prey. will carry--rather, present, "carry," namely, as presents to Egypt (Kg1 15:19). young asses--rather, "full-grown asses" [MAURER].

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).

The prophet's address is hardly commenced, however, when a heading is introduced of the very same kind as we have already met with several times in the cycle of prophecies against the heathen nations. Gesenius, Hitzig, Umbreit, and Knobel, rid themselves of it by pronouncing it a gloss founded upon a misunderstanding. But nothing is more genuine in the whole book of Isaiah than the words massâ' bahămōth negebh . The heading is emblematical, like the four headings in chapters 21, 22. And the massâ' embraces Isa 30:6, Isa 30:7. Then follows the command to write it on a table by itself. The heading is an integral part of the smaller whole. Isaiah breaks off his address to communicate an oracle relating to the Egyptian treaty, which Jehovah has specially commanded him to hand down to posterity. The same interruption would take place if we expunged the heading; for in any case it was Isa 30:6, Isa 30:7 that he was to write upon a table. This is not an address to the people, but the preliminary text, the application of which is determined afterwards. The prophet communicates in the form of a citation what has been revealed to him by God, and then states what God has commanded him to do with it. We therefore enclose Isa 30:6, Isa 30:7 in inverted commas as a quotation, and render the short passage, which is written in the tone of chapter 21, as follows: "Oracle concerning the water-oxen of the south: Through a land of distress and confinement, whence the lioness and lion, adders and flying dragons; they carry their possessions on the shoulders of asses' foals, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation that profits nothing. And Egypt, worthlessly and hollowly will they help; therefore I call this Egypt, Great-mouth that sits still." The "water-ox of the south" is the Nile-horse; and this is the emblem of Egypt, the land of the south (in Daniel and Zechariah Babylonia is "the land of the north"). Bahămōth is the construct of behēmōth (Job 40), which is a Hebraized from of an Egyptian word, p-ehe-mau (though the word itself has not yet been met with), i.e., the ox of the water, or possibly p-ehe-mau-t (with the feminine article at the close, though in hesmut, another name for a female animal, mut = t. mau signifies "the mother:" see at Job 40:15). The animal referred to is the hippopotamus, which is called bomarino in Italian, Arab. the Nile-horse or water-pig. The emblem of Egypt in other passages of the Old Testament is tannin, the water-snake, or leviathan, the crocodile. In Psa 78:31 this is called chayyath qâneh, "the beast of the reed," though Hengstenberg supposes that the Nile-horse is intended there. This cannot be maintained, however; but in the passage before us this emblem is chosen, just because the fat, swine-like, fleshy colossus, whose belly nearly touches the ground as it walks, is a fitting image of Egypt, a land so boastful and so eager to make itself thick and broad, and yet so slow to exert itself in the interest of others, and so unwilling to move from the spot. This is also implied in the name rahabh-hēm-shâb. Rahab is a name applied to Egypt in other passages also (Isa 51:9; Psa 87:4; Psa 89:11), and that in the senses attested by the lxx at Job 26:12 (cf., Isa 9:13), viz., κῆτος, a sea-monster, monstrum marinum. Here the name has the meaning common in other passages, viz., violence, domineering pride, boasting (ἀλαζονεία, as one translator renders it). הם is a term of comparison, as in Gen 14:2-3, etc.; the plural refers to the people called rahabh. Hence the meaning is either, "The bragging people, they are sit-still;" or, "Boast-house, they are idlers." To this deceitful land the ambassadors of Judah were going with rich resources (chăyâlı̄m, opes) on the shoulder of asses' foals, and on the hump (dabbesheth, from dâbhash, according to Luzzatto related to gâbhash, to be hilly) of camels, without shrinking from the difficulties and dangers of the road through the desert, where lions and snakes spring out now here and now there (מהם, neuter, as in Zep 2:7, comp. Isa 38:16; see also Deu 8:15; Num 21:6). Through this very desert, through which God had led their fathers when He redeemed them out of the bondage of Egypt, they were now marching to purchase the friendship of Egypt, though really, whatever might be the pretext which they offered, it was only to deceive themselves; for the vainglorious land would never keep the promises that it made.