Isaiah 31:3 Kommentar

This chapter is an abridgment of the foregoing chapter; the heads of it are much the same. Here is, I. A woe to those who, when the Assyrian army invaded them, trusted to the Egyptians, and not to God, for succour (Isa 31:1-3). II. Assurance given of the care God would take of Jerusalem in that time of danger and distress (Isa 31:4, Isa 31:5). III. A call to repentance and reformation (Isa 31:6, Isa 31:7). IV. A prediction of the fall of the Assyrian army, and the fright which the Assyrian king should thereby be put into (Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 31 This chapter denounces woe to those that trusted in the Egyptians; assures the Jews of God's care and protection of them; calls them to repentance, and foretells the destruction of the Assyrian army. The sin of those that trusted in Egypt, with the reasons of their trust, and not looking to the Lord, and seeking him, is declared in Isa 31:1 and their folly exposed in so doing; since the Lord is wise, powerful, and unchangeable, and the Egyptians frail and weak; so that the helper and the helped must fall before him, Isa 31:2 whereas protection might be expected from the Lord, as is promised, whose power is like that of the lion, and whose tender care is like that of birds to defend their young, Isa 31:4 wherefore the Jews are called upon to return to the Lord by repentance, from whom they had revolted; which would be shown by their detestation of idolatry, the sin they had been guilty of, Isa 31:6 and the chapter is closed with a prophecy of the ruin of the Assyrian army, and the flight of their king, Isa 31:8.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God,.... Be it that they are mighty, they are not mighty, as God is; and indeed they are but frail, feeble, mortal, and mutable men, and therefore not to be trusted in, and depended on; or to be put upon an equality with God, and even to be preferred to him, as they were by the Jews; and of what use and service could they be unto them, seeing God was against them? and their horses flesh, and not spirit; only flesh, without an immortal soul or spirit, which man has; and therefore a foolish thing in man to trust in them, who must be entirely guided and directed by them; and much less angelic spirits, or like them, which are incorporeal, invisible, and exceedingly mighty and powerful, which excel all creatures in strength, and are called the mighty angels; these are God's cavalry, his horses and chariots; see Psa 68:17, Hab 3:8 and what mighty things have been done by them, even by a single one? Witness the destruction of the Assyrian army, in one night, by one of them; wherefore the Egyptian cavalry was not to be named with them (q): When the Lord shall stretch out his hand; as soon as he does it, before he strikes, and when he does this in order to it: both he that helpeth shall fall; or "stumble", take a false step; meaning the Egyptians, sent for and come forth to help the Jews; but, stumbling and falling themselves, would be but poor assistants to them. Aben Ezra interprets this of the king of Assyria destroying the Egyptians, when he came to Jerusalem: and he that is holpen shall fall down; the Jews, helped by the Egyptians, who should fall, and be destroyed, though not now; yet hereafter by the Chaldeans, as they were: and they all shall fail together; both the Egyptians and the Jews. (q) So Ben Melech interprets "spirit" of an angel, as he does the word "God" in the preceding clause.

(Chapter 31, verses 1 onwards) Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against the wicked nation, against those who help evildoers. Egypt is a man and not a God: and their horses are flesh, not spirit: and the Lord shall lay his hand upon them that help, and the helper shall fall down, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be consumed together. After the burden of the beasts of the south, and the treasures of their riches for the people of Egypt shall exhaust their aid, which shall be of no profit to them, but for a shame and a reproach. Look now towards the land of the north wherein is the king of Babylon: where is now the old king of Assyria? Where are their gods in whom they trusted? Who is the king of Hamath, and of Arphad, and of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava? And as for Hamath it had the beginning from Samaria: but Samaria and Jerusalem shall receive the reward of their trusting in him. For their God is with them and they glory in their king. With their horses and chariots they shall go up, and with their horsemen and their troops they shall come down, and they shall cover the land as a sea. And they shall pass through it unharmed: and they shall fall into captivity. And they that shall be gathered together against them, shall be confounded: and all the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of the air, and the birds of the sea shall be gathered together upon them: and the Lord will for them carry on a war, and will afflict them. Their strength shall be consumed with famine: and their birds shall be devoured with a burning heat, and with most grievous destruction: because they have despised the words of the Lord, and have depised the counsel of the holy one of Israel. And this is both the present and the past, where it is prescribed that the Jews should not go down to Egypt; here, because they have despised the Lord's command, it is prophesied that they will go down, and that both Israel and the Egyptians, both the fugitives and the helpers, will be slain by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jeremiah speaks at length about this (Jeremiah 42). Woe therefore to those who go down to Egypt and despise the Lord's command in fear of the Chaldeans, hoping in idolaters who boast of having the worship of God, and relying on the help of horses, not knowing the scripture: A deceitful horse brings salvation (Psalm 32:17); and they have confidence in chariots, horses, and riders, not remembering that song: He has cast chariots and their riders into the sea (Exodus 15:1). And they did not trust in the Holy One of Israel, who promised them help through Jeremiah for those who remained in the land of Judah. And they did not seek the Lord; not that they did not seek, but that they disregarded the words of the one they sought. And this is also said of the wicked priests: They devour my people and do not call upon the Lord (Psalm 52:5,6). But the wise one, that is, the Lord, brought evil upon them, and the worst, namely Nebuchadnezzar, or rather, he brought about evil as a consequence, not as a personal intention; and he did not take away his words that he had spoken through the prophets. How will it rise up against the tribe of Judah, the house of the wicked, and against the help of the Egyptians, who work iniquity? For Egypt, or the Egyptians as the Septuagint translated, is a man and not God; and their horses are flesh and not spirit. Therefore, it is written in Jeremiah: Cursed is the man who puts his trust in man and has made flesh his strength, and his heart has turned away from the Lord. And he will be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes (Jeremiah 17:5-6). And in another place it is written: The salvation of man is in vain (Ps. 59:13), or, as is better understood in the Hebrew, in man. And when the Lord stretches out His hand to punish, or turns away, under the metaphor of a charioteer, and loosens the reins of the horses that are running, the Egyptian helper will fall, and the help that was given to Israel. Indeed, we can understand this about those who, in times of persecution, tribulation, and distress, do not trust in the Lord, but in the help of the Egyptians, that is, of worldly men; not knowing that Abraham was in danger in Egypt, and that the people of God served in that region of mud and bricks, which is spiritually called the iron furnace. Wherefore also in the Apocalypse of John it is read: The place in which the Lord was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Al. Egyptian) (Apoc. XI, 8).

Second, against trust in human help, he sets out their weakness: Egypt is man: whereas you are a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay you (Ezek 28:9–10); and he adds the punishment: and the helper shall fall: they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation (Job 4:19).

The Jews again reproved for their confidence in Egypt, finely contrasted with their neglect of the power and protection of God, Isa 31:1-3. Deliverance and protection are, notwithstanding, promised, expressed by two similes; the first remarkably lofty and poetical, the latter singularly beautiful and tender, Isa 31:4, Isa 31:5. Exhortation to repentance, joined with the prediction of a more reformed period, Isa 31:6, Isa 31:7. This chapter concludes like the preceding, with a prophecy of the fall of Sennacherib, Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9.

He that helpeth (the Egyptians) shall fall and he that is holpen (the Israelites) shall fall down-together.

THE CHIEF STRENGTH OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMIES LAY IN THEIR CAVALRY. (Isa 31:1-9) and stay on horses, and trust in chariots--In their level and fertile plains horses could easily be used and fed (Exo 14:9; Kg1 10:28). In hilly Palestine horses were not so easily had or available. The Jews were therefore the more eager to get Egyptian chariots as allies against the Assyrian cavalry. In Assyrian sculptures chariots are represented drawn by three horses, and with three men in them (see Isa 36:9; Psa 20:7; Dan 9:13).

not spirit--not of divine power (Psa 56:4; Psa 146:3, Psa 146:5; Zac 4:6). he that helpeth--Egypt. holpen--Judah.

There is nothing to surprise us in the fact, that the prophet returns again and again to the alliance with Egypt. After his warning had failed to prevent it, he wrestled with it in spirit, set before himself afresh the curse which would be its certain fruit, brought out and unfolded the consolation of believers that lay hidden in the curse, and did not rest till the cursed fruit, that had become a real thing, had been swallowed up by the promise, which was equally real. The situation of this fourth woe is just the same as that of the previous one. The alliance with Egypt is still in progress. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely upon horses, and put their trust in chariots, that there are many of them; and in horsemen, that there is a powerful multitude of them; and do not look up to the Holy One of Israel, and do not inquire for Jehovah! And yet He also is wise; thus then He brings evil, and sets not His words aside; and rises up against the house of miscreants, and against the help of evil-doers. And Egypt is man, and not God; and its horses flesh, and not spirit. And when Jehovah stretches out His hand, the helper stumbles, and he that is helped falls, and they all perish together." The expression "them that go down" (hayyōredı̄m) does not imply that the going down was taking place just then for the first time. It is the participle of qualification, just as God is called הבּרא. לעזרה with Lamed of the object, as in Isa 20:6. The horses, chariots, and horsemen here, as those of Egypt, which Diodorus calls ἱππάσιμος, on account of its soil being so suitable for cavalry (see Lepsius in Herzog's Cyclopaedia). The participle is combined in the finite verb. Instead of ועל־סוּסים, we also find the reading preferred by Norzi, of על without Vav, as in Isa 5:11 (cf., Isa 5:23). The perfects, שׁעוּ לא and דרשׁוּ לא, are used without any definite time, to denote that which was always wanting in them. The circumstantial clause, "whilst He is assuredly also wise," i.e., will bear comparison with their wisdom and that of Egypt, is a touching μείωσις. It was not necessary to think very highly of Jehovah, in order to perceive the reprehensible and destructive character of their apostasy from Him. The fut. consec. ויּבא is used to indicate the inevitable consequence of their despising Him who is also wise. He will not set aside His threatening words, but carry them out. The house of miscreants is Judah (Isa 1:4); and the help (abstr. pro concr., just as Jehovah is frequently called "my help," ‛ezrâthı̄, by the Psalmist) of evil-doers is Egypt, whose help has been sought by Judah. The latter is "man" ('âdâm), and its horses "flesh" (bâsâr); whereas Jehovah is God (El) and spirit (rūăch; see Psychol. p. 85). Hofmann expounds it correctly: "As ruuach has life in itself, it is opposed to the bâsâr, which is only rendered living through the rūăch; and so El is opposed to the corporeal 'âdâm, who needs the spirit in order to live at all." Thus have they preferred the help of the impotent and conditioned, to the help of the almighty and all-conditioning One. Jehovah, who is God and spirit, only requires to stretch out His hand (an anthropomorphism, by the side of which we find the rule for interpreting it); and the helpers, and those who are helped (i.e., according to the terms of the treaty, though not in reality), that is to say, both the source of the help and the object of help, are all cast into one heap together.