Isaiah 60:18 Kommentar

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.

Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,.... It shall be no more committed; no instances of it will be heard of, or any complaints concerning it; neither public nor private oppression: antichristian persecution will now be at an end; those that destroyed the earth with violence and oppression shall be no more; "there will be none to hurt in all the holy mountain", Isa 11:9, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; no more wars, nor rumours of wars; no more blood shed; no more depopulation of cities, nor destruction of the lives of men; the whore of Rome will have drank up her full cup; and the vials of wrath being poured out upon the antichristian states, there will be a profound peace, and the greatest prosperity everywhere; especially in all those places where the churches of Christ will be, who will no more be exposed to the cruelty of their enemies: but thou shall call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise; or, "call Salvation thy walls, and Praise thy gates" (h); having no need of any other walls but the salvation of God, temporal and spiritual; nor of any other gates but the praise that will be in the hearts and mouths of the saints, on account of it; though temporal salvation may be included, which will be for walls and bulwarks to the church: yet spiritual and eternal salvation is chiefly meant, which flows from the invariable love of God; is founded upon his unalterable purpose; secured in the act of electing grace; established in the covenant; and completely wrought out by Christ, who has vanquished every enemy, procured every blessing; and whose almighty power, as well as his divine Father's, is and will be concerned for the safety of his people; who will now be in great numbers in the gates of Zion; praising the Lord for electing, redeeming, calling, pardoning, and justifying grace; and for the privileges of the house of the Lord they are admitted to; and for the communion they have with him there; see Isa 26:1. The Targum is, "and they shall proclaim salvation on thy walls, and on thy gates there shall be they that praise.'' (h) "vocabis salutem muros tuos, et portas tuas laudem", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

Some give the definition that a city is an established community, administered according to law. And the definition that has been handed down of the city is in harmony with the celestial city, Jerusalem above. For there it is a community of the firstborn who have been enrolled in heaven, and this is established because of the unchanging manner of life of the saints, and it is administered according to the heavenly law. Therefore, it is not the privilege of human nature to learn the arrangement of that city and all this adornment. Those are the things “eye has not seen or ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of humanity, what things God has prepared for those who love him.” But there are myriads of angels there, and an assembly of saints and a church of the firstborn that are enrolled in heaven.… Therefore, having raised the eyes of your souls, seek, in a manner worthy of things above, what pertains to the city of God. What could anyone consider as deserving of the happiness in that city, which the river of God makes joyful and of which God is the craftsman and creator?

(Vers. 17 seqq.) I will bring gold instead of bronze, and silver instead of iron, and bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones; and I will appoint peace as your overseer, and justice as your ruler. No more shall iniquity be heard in your land, devastation and destruction within your borders; but your walls shall be called Salvation, and your gates Praise. LXX: I will bring gold instead of bronze for you, and silver instead of iron, and bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. And I will give your princes peace, and your bishops justice, and in your land no more iniquity will be heard, nor affliction and misery in your borders; but your walls shall be called Salvation, and your gates Praise. The same thing applies to places, some being foreign, others native. And lest I should seem to say anything about the arts of rhetoric and dialectic, I will give common examples that can instruct the average reader. My son, who resembles me and has my nature, has a son of his own. Let me also say something else: one is greater, the other is lesser. The centurion is greater than the common soldier, but lesser than the tribune. There are few compared to ten: more compared to one. Therefore, in the spiritual restoration of Jerusalem, wood will turn into bronze, and stones will be transformed into iron. That is, once brutish and insensitive men will be transformed into those materials that provide some utility to the city. And brass and iron will be changed into gold and silver through the growth of virtues, so that they may not only have the appearance of usefulness, but also value and beauty. We have often spoken about what gold and silver signify in the Holy Scriptures. 'I will set your rulers in peace, and your bishops in justice,' says the Lord. Concerning this, it is written in Hebrew: 'I will appoint your visitation as peace, and your overseers as justice.' In the Holy Scriptures, the marvelous majesty is evident, as it named the future rulers of the Church as bishops, whose entire visitation is in peace, and the title of their dignity is in justice. So that no partiality is shown in judgment, nor anything wicked is heard in the land of the Church, nor affliction and misfortune in its territories. Wherever there is iniquity and justice is not observed, and peace is lost, all these things will follow. But for these reasons, he says, salvation will occupy all your walls, whether the savior, who is called Jesus in Hebrew, which properly means the name of the Lord. For he is the strength of the walls of the Church, which has gates in praise of the Lord: so that those who enter it may first learn to praise the Lord, and confess his name. And what the Seventy have interpreted for praise as γλύμμα, that is, sculpture, we can say that the gates of the Church should be engraved with virtues, through which we enter it.

Everyone will see a truer fulfillment of these promises in the future life. That life is free from all injustice. That life is adorned with the highest justice. That life is in truth without sorrow and exempt from troubles. However, one also finds, as it were, a prefigurement of a similar state of affairs even now in the church of God. It has been freed from the error of idols, it continually extols the God of the universe in hymns and its leaders watch (insofar as it is in their power) over the interests of those who are victims of injustice.

And he also sets out the effect of justice as to the absence of wickedness: iniquity shall no more be heard in your land, because for some time the laws will be well observed (2 Macc 3:1); or iniquity, of idolatry. Mystically, this refers to the state of future beatitude: as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our iniquities from us (Ps 102[103]:12). And as to the absence of misery: wasting, as to their fields; destruction, as to men thus crushed by their enemies; your gates, in which the people assembled for judgments.

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).

(Isa 2:4). Not only shall thy walls keep thee safe from foes, but "Salvation" shall serve as thy walls, converting thy foes into friends, and so ensuring thee perfect safety (Isa 26:1-2). gates--once the scene of "destruction" when victorious foes burst through them (Neh 1:3); henceforth to be not only the scene of praises, but "Praise" itself; the "gates," as the place of public concourse, were the scene of thanksgivings (Ch2 31:2; Psa 9:14; Psa 24:7; Psa 100:4). "Judah," the favored tribe, means "praise."

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).