Isaiah 60:14 Komentář

This whole chapter is all to the same purport, all in the same strain; it is a part of God's covenant with his church, which is spoken of in the last verse of the foregoing chapter, and the blessings here promised are the fruits of the word and Spirit there promised. The long continuance of the church, even unto the utmost ages of time, was there promised, and here the large extent of the church, even unto the utmost regions of the earth; and both these tend to the honour of the Redeemer. It is here promised, I. That the church shall be enlightened and shone upon (Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2). II. That it shall be enlarged and great additions made to it, to join in the service of God (Isa 60:3-8). III. That the new converts shall be greatly serviceable to the church and to the interests of it (Isa 60:9-13). IV. That the church shall be in great honour and reputation among men (Isa 60:14-16). V. That it shall enjoy a profound peace and tranquility (Isa 60:17, Isa 60:18). VI. That, the members of it being all righteous, the glory and joy of it shall be everlasting (Isa 60:19-22). Now this has some reference to the peaceable and prosperous condition which the Jews were sometimes in after their return out of captivity into their own land; but it certainly looks further, and was to have its full accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, the enlargement of that kingdom by the bringing in of the Gentiles into it, and the spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ Jesus with which it should be enriched, and all these earnests of eternal joy and glory.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 60. As, in the two preceding chapters, the hypocrisy and formality, the profaneness and immorality, that should abound in the latter day, and even among professors of religion, are prophesied of; so, in this, a very ample account is given of latter daylight and glory; of both the spiritual and personal reign of Christ, with the latter of which it concludes. The light and glory of the church, in the spiritual reign, are described, Isa 60:1 the numerous conversions of persons to it from all quarters, east and west particularly, are prophesied of, Isa 60:4, the great usefulness those should be of unto it, in enriching it, and building it up, and in glorifying it, is declared, Isa 60:9, as also the subjection of enemies to it; the favours it should receive from kings, and the fame and renown of it through all nations and ages, Isa 60:14, its riches, prosperity, peace, and safety, Isa 60:17 and the chapter is concluded with an account of the more perfect state of the church in the personal reign of Christ, when there will be a perfection of light and righteousness; and the number of God's elect will be complete, and they will be all together, Isa 60:19.

The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee,.... The posterity of the Jews, who persecuted the first Christian churches, even those who say they are Jews and are not; these shall be convinced of the truth of the Christian religion, and be converted to it, and shall come and worship before the church, and in fellowship with it, and own it to be the true church of God; which is what is foretold shall be in the Philadelphian state, which is the same with the spiritual reign here described; see Rev 3:9 or the children of the Roman Heathens, their remote descendants, who formerly greatly distressed the Christians; or rather the posterity of Rome Papal, many of whom shall be called out of her at the time of her destruction, and be humble suppliants to the church of Christ, and be subject to the doctrines, rules, and laws of it, whose ancestors cruelly persecuted it: and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; a phrase expressive of great respect, veneration, and submission; see Isa 49:23, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel; instead of calling them heretics, schismatics, and fanatics, as their fathers did, they shall own them to be the true church of Christ; a city of his building, and where he dwells; the object of his choice, delight, and love, as Zion was; a holy people made meet to be the habitation of the God of Israel; which are so many names for the church under the Gospel dispensation; see Heb 12:22.

(Verses 13, 14.) The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the cypress, the fir tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet. The descendants of those who oppressed you will come to you bent low, and all who spoke against you will bow down at your feet and call you the city of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. LXX: The glory of Lebanon will come to you with the cypress, the pine tree, and the cedar tree together to glorify my holy place, and I will glorify the place of my feet. And those who have humiliated you, and have provoked you, will come to you trembling, and they will bow down at your feet, all those who have provoked you; and you will be called the city of the Lord, Zion. Sancti Israel. Many things are missing in the Septuagint, which I have placed under asterisks from the Hebrew, and what they have added, I have marked with an obelus. Mount Lebanon is a mountain in Phoenicia, planted with tall trees, which the Psalmist describes saying: I have seen the wicked exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 36:35). And in another place: The Lord will shatter the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 29:5). And many other things that I pass over for the sake of brevity. About this, once King Hiram of Tyre used to send cedars to Solomon in Joppa for the building of the Temple of God (3 Kings 5). Concerning this, Scripture also now promises the fir tree, the box tree, and the pine tree, or according to the Septuagint, the cypress tree and the pine tree, and the cedar tree, or according to Aquila, the fir tree, the thaadaor tree, and the thaassur tree; or according to Theodotion, the Brais tree, the Thadaar tree, and the Theassur tree, should be cut down together, so that the temple of Zion may be built (2 Chronicles 2). But if this is the case, where will the golden and jeweled Jerusalem be? Where will the Lamb's wife be? Where will the twelve gates, distinguished by a variety of precious stones, be? Unless perhaps it will be built with walls adorned with gems, and its foundation, and the Temple, which ought to be more beautiful, will be built with wood. By what means are we compelled to understand all things spiritually, that the fir, cypress, pine, and cedar, once lofty trees of Lebanon, have glorified the Temple of God, and made His holy place illustrious? So that I do not drag out the sense in a lengthy discourse, does not the holy and most eloquent martyr Cyprian, and the confessor Hilary of our time, seem to you to have built the Church of God like once towering trees in the world? And what follows: And they shall come to you bowed down, or returning, the sons of those who humbled you, and they shall adore the steps of your feet, all who detracted from you, we should understand this about those who are Christians not by choice but by necessity, and who, fearing the offense of the rulers, bend with fearful minds. Certainly, what persecutors believed later. Such was also the apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of God, and later was called a vessel of election (Acts 9). When this has been fulfilled, so that the fullness of the Gentiles may enter, then all Israel will be saved. And it will be truly called the city of the Lord Zion, Holy Israel, which stands on a hill and is gathered from both peoples.

Scripture likes to compare the multitude of the saints with trees of this kind.… Paul calls us in one place “the plantation of God.” Some interpreters say that Scripture calls the nations Lebanon (just as Carmel can mean Jerusalem, though it is a mountain in Samaria) on the grounds that it comes from another race. According to the historical sense it means those trees supplied for rebuilding. But according to the spiritual sense, it means the minds of the righteous ones. These are they who submitted themselves to those persecuting the church and with this transformation of mind worship God in it. Others think that it is Jerusalem that has been humbled and sings praises to Christ.

And the children of them that afflict you, shall come bowing down to you. Here he shows the manner of acquiring prosperity as to the subjection of peoples. And first, he sets out the subjection itself: and the children of them that afflict you, shall come bowing down to you, which was fulfilled in the time of the Maccabees, who subjugated many of their neighboring enemies. Mystically, this signifies the sons of tyrants that once persecuted the Church, who now serve her: until I make your enemies your footstool (Ps 109[110]:1), above: after this you shall be called the city of the just (Isa 1:26).

The glorious prospect displayed in this chapter seems to have elevated the prophet even above his usual majesty. The subject is the very flourishing condition of the Church of Jesus Christ at that period of the Gospel dispensation when both Jews and Gentiles shall become one fold under one Shepherd. The imagery employed is of the most consolatory and magnificent description. This blessed state of the world shall follow a time of gross darkness, Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2. The universal diffusion of vital godliness beautifully set forth by a great variety of images, Isa 60:3-14. The everlasting duration and spotless purity of this kingdom of Christ, Isa 60:15-21. A time appointed in the counsels of Jehovah for the commencement of this happy period; and when this time arrives, the particulars of the prophecy shall have a speedy accomplishment, Isa 60:22. The subject of this chapter is the great increase and flourishing state of the Church of God by the conversion and accession of the heathen nations to it, which is set forth in such ample and exalted terms, as plainly show that the full completion of this prophecy is reserved for future times. This subject is displayed in the most splendid colors under a great variety of images highly poetical, designed to give a general idea of the glories of that perfect state of the Church of God which we are taught to expect in the latter times; when the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and the Jews shall be converted and gathered from their dispersions, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Of the use in prophecy of general or common poetical images, in setting forth the greatness and importance of a future event universally, without descending to particulars, or too minutely explaining circumstances, I have already pretty largely treated in the twentieth prelection on the Hebrew poetry; and have more than once observed in these notes that such images are not always to he applied particularly to persons and things, and were never intended to be minutely explained. I shall add here the opinion of a very learned and judicious person upon this subject: "It is, I think, a mark of right understanding in the language of prophecy, and in the design of prophecy too, to keep to what appears the design and meaning of the prophecy in general, and what the whole of it laid together points out to us, and not to suffer a warm imagination to mislead us from the real intention of the spirit of prophecy, by following uncertain applications of the parts of it." Lowman on the Revelation, note on Rev 19:21 (note). - L. To this testimony I must add my own. This is one of the most glorious chapters in the whole of the Old Testament. The splendor, glory, and excellence of the Church of Christ are here pointed out in language which the Spirit of God alone is capable of using. But when shall this state of blessedness take place? Lord, thou only knowest.

ISRAEL'S GLORY AFTER HER AFFLICTION. (Isa. 60:1-22) Arise--from the dust in which thou hast been sitting as a mourning female captive (Isa 3:26; Isa 52:1-2). shine--or, "be enlightened; for thy light cometh"; impart to others the spiritual light now given thee (Isa 60:3). The Margin and GESENIUS translate, "Be enlightened"; be resplendent with posterity; imperative for the future indicative, "Thou shalt be enlightened" (Isa 58:8, Isa 58:10; Eph 5:8, Eph 5:14). glory of the Lord--not merely the Shekinah, or cloud of glory, such as rested above the ark in the old dispensation, but the glory of the Lord in person (Jer 3:16-17). is risen--as the sun (Mal 4:2; Luk 1:78, Margin).

The sons--Their fathers who "afflicted" Israel having been cut off by divine judgments (Isa 14:1-2; Isa 49:23). The Zion of the Holy One--The royal court of the Holy One. MAURER translates, "Zion, the sanctuary (holy place) of Israel" (Isa 57:15; Psa 46:4).

It is still night. The inward and outward condition of the church is night; and if it is night followed by a morning, it is so only for those who "against hope believe in hope." The reality which strikes the senses is the night of sin, of punishment, of suffering, and of mourning - a long night of nearly seventy years. In this night, the prophet, according to the command of God, has bee prophesying of the coming light. In his inward penetration of the substance of his own preaching, he has come close to the time when faith is to be turned to sight. And now in the strength of God, who has made him the mouthpiece of His own creative fiat, he exclaims to the church, Isa 60:1 : "Arise, grow light; for thy light cometh, and the glory of Jehovah riseth upon thee." The appeal so addressed to Zion-Jerusalem, which is regarded (as in Isa 49:18; Isa 50:1; Isa 52:1-2; Isa 54:1) as a woman, and indeed as the mother of Israel. Here, however, it is regarded as the church redeemed from banishment, and settled once more in the holy city and the holy land, the church of salvation, which is now about to become the church of glory. Zion lies prostrate on the ground, smitten down by the judgment of God, brought down to the ground by inward prostration, and partly overcome by the sleep of self-security. She now hears the cry, "Arise" (qūmı̄). This is not a mere admonition, but a word of power which puts new life into her limbs, so that she is able to rise from the ground, on which she has lain, as it were, under the ban. The night, which has brought her to the ground mourning, and faint, and intoxicated with sleep, is now at an end. The mighty word qūmı̄, "arise," is supplemented by a second word: 'ōrı̄. What creative force there is in these two trochees, qūmı̄ 'ōrı̄, which hold on, as it were, till what they express is accomplished; and what force of consolation in the two iambi, ki-bhâ 'ōrēkh, which affix, as it were, to the acts of Zion the seal of the divine act, and add to the ἄρσις (or elevation) its θέσις (or foundation)! Zion is to become light; it is to, because it can. But it cannot of itself, for in itself it has no light, because it has so absolutely given itself up to sin; but there is a light which will communicate itself to her, viz., the light which radiates from the holy nature of God Himself. And this light is salvation, because the Holy One loves Zion: it is also glory, because it not only dispels the darkness, but sets itself, all glorious as it is, in the place of the darkness. Zârach is the word commonly applied to the rising of the sun (Mal 4:2). The sun of suns is Jehovah (Psa 84:12), the God who is coming (Isa 59:20).

The prophecy now returns to the world of man. "The children also of thy tormentors come bending unto thee, and all thy despisers stretch themselves at the soles of thy feet, and call thee 'City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.'" The persecutors of the church both in work and word are now no more (Isa 26:14), and their children fell themselves disarmed. They are seized with shame and repentance, when they see the church which was formerly tormented and despised so highly exalted. They come shechōăch (an inf. noun of the form טחון, Lam 5:13; used here as an accusative of more precise definition, just as nouns of this kind are frequently connected directly with the verb הלך, Ewald, 279, c), literally a bow or stoop, equivalent to bowing or stooping (the opposite to rōmâh in Mic 2:3), and stretch themselves "at the soles of thy feet," i.e., clinging to thee as imploringly and obsequiously as if they would lay themselves down under thy very feet, and were not worthy to lie anywhere but there (as in Isa 49:23); and whereas formerly they called thee by nicknames, they now give thee the honourable name of "City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel," not "Sanctuary of Israel," as Meier supposes, since qedōsh Israel is always a name of Jehovah in the book of Isaiah. It is a genitive construction like Bethlehem of Judah, Gibeah of Saul, and others.