Jesaja 26:19 Kommentar

This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter, to do for his people against his enemies and their enemies are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be forward to meet God with our thanksgivings when he is coming towards us with his mercies. Now the people of God are here taught, I. To triumph in the safety and holy security both of the church in general and of every particular member of it, under the divine protection (Isa 26:1-4). II. To triumph over all opposing powers (Isa 26:5, Isa 26:6). III. To walk with God, and wait for him, in the worst and darkest times, Isa 26:7-9). IV. To lament the stupidity of those who regarded not the providence of God, either merciful or afflictive (Isa 26:10, Isa 26:11). V. To encourage themselves, and one another, with hopes that God would still continue to do them good (Isa 26:12, Isa 26:14), and engage themselves to continue in his service (Isa 26:13). VI. To recollect the kind providences of God towards them in their low and distressed condition, and their conduct under those providences (Isa 26:15-18). VII. To rejoice in hope of a glorious deliverance, which should be as a resurrection to them (Isa 26:19), and to retire in the expectation of it (Isa 26:20, Isa 26:21). And this is written for the support and assistance of the faith and hope of God's people in all ages, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 26 This chapter contains a song of praise for the safety and prosperity of the church, and the destruction of its enemies. The church is represented as a strong city, whose walls and bulwarks are salvation, Isa 26:1 it is said to have gates which are to be opened to a righteous nation, Isa 26:2 its inhabitants, being such who trust in the Lord, are promised perfect peace, Isa 26:3 hence the saints are exhorted to trust in him, Isa 26:4 then follows an account of another city, described as lofty, and its inhabitants as dwelling on high, who are brought down, and trampled on, by the feet of the poor and needy, Isa 26:5 when the prophet returns to the righteous, and asserts their way to be uprightness, because their path is weighed or levelled by God the most upright, Isa 26:7 and in the name of the church declares that they had waited for the Lord in the way of his judgments; and that the desire of their souls was to his name, and the remembrance of it; and that they continued, and would continue, to desire him, and seek after him, seeing righteousness was to be learned by his judgments, Isa 26:8 and though the wicked would not be brought to repentance and reformation by the goodness of God, nor take notice of his hand, yet they should see and be ashamed, and destroyed at last, Isa 26:10 but notwithstanding these judgments of God in the earth, the church professes her faith in the Lord, that he would give her peace and prosperity, from the consideration of what he had wrought for her, and in her, Isa 26:12 and rejects all other lords but him, Isa 26:13 who were dead, and should not live again, but were visited and destroyed, and their memory made to perish, Isa 26:14 but the righteous nation should be increased, though they should meet with trouble, which would cause them to go to the throne of grace, and there pour out their complaints, express their pain and distresses, and the disappointments they had met with, Isa 26:15 to which an answer is returned, promising a glorious resurrection, Isa 26:19 and calling upon the people of God to retire to their chambers for protection in the mean while, until the punishment to be inflicted on the inhabitants of the earth for their sins was over, Isa 26:20.

Thy dead men shall live,.... These are the words of Christ to his church and people, promising great and good things to them after their troubles are over, thereby comforting them under all their trials and disappointments; as that such things should come to pass, which would be as life from the dead; as the conversion of the Jews, and of great numbers of the Gentiles, dead in trespasses and sins; and a great reviving of the interest of religion, and of professors of it, grown cold, and dead, and lifeless; and a living again of the witnesses, which had been slain. And, moreover, this may refer to the first resurrection, upon the second coming of Christ, when the church's dead, and Christ's dead, the dead in him, will live again, and rise first, and come forth to the resurrection of life, and live and reign with Christ a thousand years: together with my dead body shall they arise; or, "arise my dead body"; the church, the mystical body of Christ, and every member of it, though they have been dead, shall arise, everyone of them, and make up that body, which is the fulness of him that filleth all in all, and that by virtue of their union to him: there was a pledge and presage of this, when Christ rose from the dead, upon which the graves were opened, and many of the saints arose, Mat 27:51 see Hos 6:2, or, "as my dead body shall they arise" (g); so Kimchi and Ben Melech; as sure as Christ's dead body was raised, so sure shall everyone of his people be raised; Christ's resurrection is the pledge and earnest of theirs; because he lives, they shall live also; he is the first fruits of them that slept: or as in like manner he was raised, so shall they; as he was raised incorruptible, powerful, spiritual, and glorious, and in the same body, so shall they; their vile bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. This is one of the places in Scripture from whence the Jews (h) prove the resurrection of the dead; and which they apply to the times of the Messiah, and to the resurrection in his days. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; this is a periphrasis of the dead, of such as are brought to the dust of death, and sleep there; as death is expressed by sleeping, so the resurrection by awaking out of sleep; which will be brought about by the voice of Christ, which will be so loud and powerful, that the dead will hear it, and come out of their graves; and then will they "sing", and have reason for it, since they will awake in the likeness of Christ, and bear the image of him the heavenly One: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs; the power of Christ will have as great effect upon, and as easily raise the dead, as the dew has upon the herbs, to refresh, raise, and revive them; so that their "bones", as the prophet says, "shall flourish like an herb", Isa 66:14, and the earth shall cast out the dead; deliver up the dead that are in it, at the all powerful voice of Christ; see Rev 20:13. The Targum is, "but the wicked to whom thou hast given power, and they have transgressed thy word, thou wilt deliver into hell;'' see Rev 20:14. (g) "quemadmodum corpus meum resurget", Vatablus. (h) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. 2, & Cetubot, fol. 111. 1. Midrash Kohelet, fol. 62. 3. Targum in loc. Elias Levita in his Tishbi, p. 109. says the word is never used in Scripture but of the carcass of a beast or fowl that is dead; and never of a man that is dead, but of him that dies not a natural death, excepting this place, which speaks of the resurrection of the dead; and, adds he, "I greatly wonder at it, how he (the prophet) should call the bodies of the pure righteous ones a carcass; no doubt there is a reason for it, known to the wise men and cabalists, which I am ignorant of.'' But the words are spoken of one who did not die a natural, but a violent death, even the Messiah Jesus; and so just according to the Rabbin's own observation.

Then too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says, “The dead shall rise again; those too who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from you is health to them.”

Unquestionably, if the people were indulging in figurative murmurs that their bones were become dry and that their hope had perished—plaintive at the consequences of their dispersion—then God might fairly enough seem to have consoled their figurative despair with a figurative promise. Since, however, no injury had as yet alighted on the people from their dispersion, although the hope of the resurrection had very frequently failed among them, it is manifest that it was owing to the perishing condition of their bodies that their faith in the resurrection was shaken. God, therefore, was rebuilding the faith that the people were pulling down. But even if it were true that Israel was depressed at some shock in their existing circumstances, we must not on that account suppose that the purpose of revelation could have rested in a parable. Its aim must have been to testify a resurrection, in order to raise the nation’s hope to even an eternal salvation and an indispensable restoration and thereby turn off their minds from brooding over their present affairs. This indeed is the aim of other prophets likewise. “You shall go forth,” [says Malachi], “from your tombs, as young calves let loose from their bonds, and you shall tread down your enemies.” And again [Isaiah says], “Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall spring up like the grass,” because the grass also is renewed by the dissolution and corruption of the seed. In a word, if it is contended that the figure of the rising bones refers properly to the state of Israel, why is the same hope announced to all nations, instead of being limited to Israel only, of reinvesting those bony remains with bodily substance and vital breath and of raising up their dead out of the grave? For the language is universal: “The dead shall arise and come forth from their graves; for the dew which comes from you is medicine to their bones.” In another passage it is written: “All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.” When? When the fashion of this world shall begin to pass away. For he said before, “As the new heaven and the new earth, which I make, remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed remain.” Then also shall be fulfilled what is written afterwards: “And they shall go forth” [namely, from their graves] “and shall see the carcasses of those who have transgressed: for their worm shall never die, nor shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh,” even to that which, being raised again from the dead and brought out from the grave, shall adore the Lord for his great grace.

Isaiah made it clear that Christ will raise up all people when he said, “The dead shall be raised up again; even those in the tombs shall be raised up. For the dew from you is healing for them.” That was not all. After his cross, after his slaughter, his glory will shine forth more brightly; after his resurrection, he will advance the message of his gospel still more.

We should love the dew about which Moses said, “May my words descend as the dew,” and about which Isaiah also said, “The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again, for the dew which is from you is their health.”

In the same way that the Lord becomes the light, the way, the truth, the bread, the vine, the fire, the shepherd, the lamb, the door, and many other things to believers, so also does he become the dew to us who are in need of his mercy and know ourselves to be feverish with sin, about whom Isaiah said, “The dew which is from you is their health.”

(Verse 19.) Let your dead live; let corpses arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to the shades. LXX: The dead will rise, and they will rise from the graves, and those who are on the earth will rejoice. For your dew is their healing, but the earth of the wicked will fall. To the holy ones who give birth and to those who bear the spirit, and to the inhabitants of the earth who fall down, because they have not done good deeds on earth, those whom the Apostle calls dead in Christ and who were killed for the name of the Lord, will rise in glory (I Thess. IV). And because their death is sleep, they are said not to rise again according to the LXX, but to wake up and awaken. Hence Lazarus, who was to be awakened, is called sleeping by the Lord (John 11). Therefore, all martyrs and holy men who have shed their blood for Christ, and whose whole life was a martyrdom, will rise again and wake up, and they will praise their Creator God, they who now dwell in dust, of whom it is written in Daniel: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will arise, these to eternal life, and those to reproach and everlasting shame (Dan. 12:1). And in the Gospel of John we read: The hour is coming, and now is, when those who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). For the dew of the Lord, surpassing all the herbs of Paeonia according to the fables of the Poets, will give life to the bodies of the dead. And just as the dew, when cast upon the earth, gradually causes the herbs to grow and bear fruit of their kind, so the dew of the Lord, which is placed for mercy, will be the dew of many lights, which in Hebrew is called Oroth. But the land, that is, the bodies of the Raphaim, namely the giants and the wicked, the Lord will condemn to eternal punishment. In fact, for the Raphaim alone, seventy wicked were transferred. And because we read above: The dead will not see life, nor will doctors raise them up, for which reason Aquila and Symmachus, interpreted Raphaim and giants, we inquire what the cause of the error is, that some have translated Raphaim as Hebrew, others as giants, and others as doctors. The Hebrew word Raphaim, if it has the letter Vau after the first letter, is read as Rophaim (alternatively spelled Rosim) and signifies doctors; but if it is written without the letter Vau, it is read as Raphaim and is translated as giants. Likewise, because he had said above that the dead shall not see life, to demonstrate more clearly that this is not said there of the dead according to the law of nature and the separation of soul and body, but of those who are dead in sin, now on the contrary he says to God: Your dead shall live, who have been killed for your sake, who are not absolutely dead, as the Septuagint translated, but according to the Hebrew [text] where it is said 'Jeju Metheca', they are called your dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms, close your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath is past. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. For behold, the Lord will bring wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will reveal its blood, and the slain will no longer be hidden. He had said above concerning the holy ones, The dead will rise, and they who are in the graves will rise; for the dew of yours is their healing: and on the contrary, concerning the wicked, the earth of the wicked will fall; now He speaks to the holy ones, because resurrection has been promised to you, until the wrath of God rages against sinners and the wicked: enter into your graves, and hide yourselves, for a short time until the indignation of God passes through. For the Lord indeed goes out from His place, because the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and the most gentle Father is compelled to strike negligent children, and in a way to change His own decision, in order to visit and bring His anger upon the inhabitants of the earth, of whom it is said in Hosea: 'Cursing and lying, and adultery, and theft have spread over the inhabitants of the earth' (Hosea 4:2). And in the Book of Revelation, we read in chapter 8, 'Woe to the inhabitants of the earth' (Rev. 8:13). Moreover, the righteous, though they may appear on earth, their conversation is in heaven, as those who can say: I am a stranger in the land, and a sojourner like all my fathers (Ps. XXXVIII, 13), and they enjoy the dwelling of the Most High, of whom the holy one speaks: He who dwells in the help of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven (Ps. XC, 1). Then the earth shall reveal its blood, of which God speaks to Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand (Gen. IV, 10, 11). This can also be understood about the Martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ, and under the altar of God cry out: How long, O Lord, will you not avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10) Of whom Moses also says in the Song: The blood of His children will be avenged and He will take revenge, and will render vengeance to His enemies (Deut. 32:43). The earth, which received this blood, will reveal it, and will by no means cover the slain of the Lord; but it will bring them forth to public condemnation, those who killed the Martyrs. This is about the simple resurrection of the intellect. It is commanded, according to the Anagoge of the people of God, that one enters one's own chambers or cells, for ταμεῖα signifies both: that one closes the door of one's chamber according to the Gospel precept (Matthew VI), and says with the Prophet: Set, O Lord, a guard to my mouth, and a door of protection to my lips (Psalm CXL, 3). And let one hide for a little while, until the wrath of the Lord passes by, so as not to do anything for the sake of glory; but let one enjoy the good of conscience, and await only the judgment of God. But there are cellars that must be closed and hidden from those who have become rich in works and words, with prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, so that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, so that we may enjoy the wealth of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. But since all the days of our life are short and small, Jacob, exceeding one hundred years, says: My days are short and evil (Genesis 47:9). But the anger of the Lord that will come is the anger of those who refuse to repent and store up for themselves; after it has passed, the storehouses will no longer be closed, but what is written will be fulfilled: Nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known (Luke 8:17). And what follows: Behold, the Lord will bring His anger from the holy place: this signifies that the anger of God begins with the holy ones, or that all His vengeance is just and holy, not stemming from a disturbance of the mind as is usual in humans, but from a desire to correct. But I think that land of inhabitants, of which it is written: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth (Deut. XXXII, 1). And: Hear, O earth, perceive with your ears (Isaiah, I, 2). And again: Earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord (Jeremiah, XXII, 27). For just as those who dwell on the earth cannot please God, so too those who are in the flesh cannot please Him (Rom. VIII). But in this place, the earth signifies the soul that lives in a carnal manner. And it will reveal its blood, if it scandalizes anyone, and it deserves to hear with Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood (Gen. IV, 10, 11). Therefore, all blood will be required on the day of judgment, and the earth will not hide its blood; and it will present in the midst those who have been killed, whether intentionally or negligently.

The first part [of the verse] concerns the resurrection of the just, but the last few words may be taken to mean “the bodies of the wicked will fall into the ruin of damnation.” In regard to the resurrection of the just, the attentive reader will notice some distinction. “The dead shall rise” refers to the first resurrection; “those in the graves” refers to the second; and in the following words we may not improperly find a reference to the saints whom the Lord will find alive on earth. As for the word “your dew is their health,” we are not wrong in taking “health” to mean “immortality,” that most perfect health which needs no daily medicine of ordinary food.

Isaiah the prophet says, “The dead men shall rise again, and those who are in the tombs shall awake.” And the prophet Ezekiel, now before us, says most plainly, “Behold, I will open your graves and bring you up out of your graves.” And Daniel says, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.”67And there are many Scriptures that testify of the resurrection of the dead. For there are many other sayings on this matter. But now, by way of remembrance only, we will make a passing mention of the raising of Lazarus on the fourth day and just allude, because of the shortness of the time, to the widow’s son also who was raised. And merely for the sake of reminding you, let me mention the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter, and the rending of the rocks, and how “there arose many bodies of the saints which slept,” their graves having been opened. But especially be it remembered that “Christ has been raised from the dead.”

Do not listen to those who say that this body is not raised up; for raised it is, as Isaiah witnesses, saying, “The dead shall arise, and they in the tombs shall be raised.” Or, as Daniel says, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.” But while rising again is the common lot of all people, the manner of rising again is not alike for all. For while we all receive everlasting bodies, those bodies are not alike for all. That is to say, the righteous receive such bodies as may enable them to join with the band of angels throughout eternity, while sinners received bodies in which to undergo through the ages the torture of their sins.

To remove all doubt about the resurrection of the body, take a single illustration from the course of nature. The apostle reminds us, “What you yourself sow is not brought to life, unless it dies.” Here you have a grain of wheat, dead and dry and sown in the earth. It is softened by the rain from heaven. Only when it decays does it spring to life and begin to grow. I take it that he who raises to life the grain of wheat for the sake of humankind will be able to raise to life the person himself who has been sown in the earth. He both can and wills to do this. What the rains do for the seed, the dew of the Spirit does for the body that is to be raised to life. Thus Isaiah cries to Christ, “Your dew is health for them,” true health, since, once the bodies of the saints have been raised to life, they feel no pain, they fear no death. They will live with Christ in heaven, who lived on earth according to the words and ways of Christ. This is the eternal and blessed life in which you believe. This is the fruit of all our faith and holy works. This is the hope on account of which we are born, believe and are reborn. It was on account of this that the prophets, apostles and martyrs sustained such endless toil and accepted death with joy.

Of the fulfilled promise (both believed and seen) wherein the bodies of the saints rose again at the death of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah said, “The dead will rise again, and all who were in the graves will be raised up, and all who are on the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from you is their medicine.” Matthew the Evangelist confirms this, saying, “The earth shook and rocks were split and graves were opened and many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised. And going forth from their graves after his resurrection, they came to the holy city and appeared to many.”

About this dew the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “Your dew is their salvation,” or, according to the Hebrew text, “For your dew is the dew of light.” Here is clearly taught that the dew of which he speaks is the light of wisdom and the healing of souls, which is the doctrine of wisdom and truth, without which the soul is sickly and blind.

Sacred Scripture … testifies to the fact that there will be a resurrection of the body.… Isaiah also [testifies that] “the dead shall rise and those in their graves be awakened.” And it is obvious that it is not the souls that are put in the tombs but the bodies.

618. Second, the promise of restoration of the people through resurrection is set out, either bodily resurrection on the last day or resurrection from the misery of captivity. Hence resurrection is promised: your dead men shall live, the voice of the prophet to the Lord (Ezek 37); the thanksgiving of the resurrected is announced: awake, and give praise: many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake (Dan 12:2); and the cause, or reason, of the resurrection is assigned: for your dew is the dew of the light, namely, of divine kindness (Hos 6:3). 619. Third, the destruction of their enemies is shown, and first, he sets out the destruction itself: the land of the giants, that is, of the proud and powerful, above: it shall be as a ruinous heap of stones (Isa 17:1).

Jeremiah, by the commend of God, goes into the court of the Lord's house; and foretells the destruction of the temple and city, if not prevented by the speedy repentance of the people, Jer 26:1-7. By this unwelcome prophecy his life was in great danger; although saved by the influence of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, who makes a masterly defense for the prophet, Jer 26:8-18. Urijah is condemned, but escapes to Egypt; whence he is brought hack by Jehoiakim, and slain, Jer 26:20-23. Ahikam befriends Jeremiah, Jer 26:24.

My dead body "My deceased" - All the ancient Versions render it in the plural; they read נבלותי niblothai, my dead bodies. The Syriac and Chaldee read נבלותיהם niblotheyhem, their dead bodies. No MS. yet found confirms this reading. The dew of herbs "The dew of the dawn" - Lucis, according to the Vulgate; so also the Syriac and Chaldee. The deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest depression is explained by images plainly taken from the resurrection of the dead. In the same manner the Prophet Ezekiel represents the restoration of the Jewish nation from a state of utter dissolution by the restoring of the dry bones to life, exhibited to him in a vision, chap. 37, which is directly thus applied and explained, Eze 37:11-13. And this deliverance is expressed with a manifest opposition to what is here said above, Eze 37:14, of the great lords and tyrants, under whom they had groaned: - "They are dead, they shall not live; They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise:" that they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from hence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was at that time a popular and common doctrine; for an image which is assumed in order to express or represent any thing in the way of allegory or metaphor, whether poetical or prophetical, must be an image commonly known and understood; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed. - L. Kimchi refers these words to the days of the Messiah, and says, "Then many of the saints shall rise from the dead. "And quotes Dan 12:2. Do not these words speak of the resurrection of our blessed Lord; and of that resurrection of the bodies of men, which shall be the consequence of his body being raised from the dead? Thy dead men shall live, - with my dead body shall they arise - This seems very express.

CONNECTED WITH THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTERS. SONG OF PRAISE OF ISRAEL AFTER BEING RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND. (Isa. 26:1-21) strong city--Jerusalem, strong in Jehovah's protection: type of the new Jerusalem (Psa 48:1-3), contrasted with the overthrow of the ungodly foe (Isa 26:4-7, Isa 26:12-14; Rev 22:2, Rev 22:10-12, &c.). salvation . . . walls-- (Isa 60:18; Jer 3:23; Zac 2:5). MAURER translates, "Jehovah makes His help serve as walls" (Isa 33:20-21, &c.). bulwarks--the trench with the antemural earthworks exterior to the wall.

In antithesis to Isa 26:14, "They (Israel's foes) shall not live"; "Thy (Jehovah's) dead men (the Jews) shall live," that is, primarily, be restored, spiritually (Isa 54:1-3), civilly and nationally (Isa 26:15); whereas Thy foes shall not; ultimately, and in the fullest scope of the prophecy, restored to life literally (Eze 37:1-14; Dan 12:2). together with my dead body--rather, "my dead body," or "bodies" (the Jewish nation personified, which had been spiritually and civilly dead; or the nation, as a parent, speaking of the bodies of her children individually, see on Isa 26:9, "I," "My"): Jehovah's "dead" and "my dead" are one and the same [HORSLEY]. However, as Jesus is the antitype to Israel (Mat 2:15), English Version gives a true sense, and one ultimately contemplated in the prophecy: Christ's dead body being raised again is the source of Jehovah's people (all, and especially believers, the spiritual Israelites) also being raised (Co1 15:20-22). Awake-- (Eph 5:14), spiritually. in dust--prostate and dead, spiritually and nationally; also literally (Isa 25:12; Isa 47:1). dew--which falls copiously in the East and supplies somewhat the lack of rain (Hos 14:5). cast out . . . dead--that is, shall bring them forth to life again.

Thus the second hymnic echo has its confirmation in a prophecy against Moab, on the basis of which a third hymnic echo now arises. Whilst on the other side, in the land of Moab, the people are trodden down, and its lofty castles demolished, the people in the land of Judah can boast of an impregnable city. "In that day will this song be sung in the land of Judah: A city of defence is ours; salvation He sets for walls and bulwark." According to the punctuation, this ought to be rendered, "A city is a shelter for us;" but עז עיר seem rather to be connected, according to Pro 17:19, "a city of strong, i.e., of impregnable offence and defence." The subject of ישׁית is Jehovah. The figure indicates what He is constantly doing, and ever doing afresh; for the walls and bulwarks of Jerusalem (chēl, as in Lam 2:8, the small outside wall which encloses all the fortifications) are not dead stone, but yeshuâh, ever living and never exhausted salvation (Isa 60:18). In just the same sense Jehovah is called elsewhere the wall of Jerusalem, and even a wall of fire in Zac 2:9 - parallels which show that yeshuâh is intended to be taken as the accusative of the object, and not as the accusative of the predicate, according to Isa 5:6; Psa 21:7; Psa 84:7; Jer 22:6 (Luzzatto).

But now all this had taken place. Instead of singing what has occurred, the tephillah places itself in the midst of the occurrence itself. "Thy dead will live, my corpses rise again. Awake and rejoice, ye that lie in the dust! For thy dew is dew of the lights, and the earth will bring shades to the day." The prophet speaks thus out of the heart of the church of the last times. In consequence of the long-continued sufferings and chastisements, it has been melted down to a very small remnant; and many of those whom it could once truly reckon as its own, are now lying as corpses in the dust of the grave. The church, filled with hope which will not be put to shame, now calls to itself, "Thy dead will live" (מתיך יחיוּ, reviviscent, as in המּתים תּסהיּת, the resurrection of the dead), and consoles itself with the working of divine grace ad power, which is even now setting itself in motion: "my corpses will rise again" (יקמוּן נבלתי, nebēlah: a word without a plural, but frequently used in a plural sense, as in Isa 5:25, and therefore connected with יקמוּן, equivalent to תקמנה: here before a light suffix, with the ê retained, which is lost in other cases). It also cries out, in full assurance of the purpose of God, the believing word of command over the burial-ground of the dead, "Wake up and rejoice, ye that sleep in the dust," and then justifies to itself this believing word of command by looking up to Jehovah, and confessing, "Thy dew is dew born out of (supernatural) lights," as the dew of nature is born out of the womb of the morning dawn (Psa 110:3). Others render it "dew upon herbs," taking אורות as equivalent to ירקות, as in Kg2 4:39. We take it as from אורה (Psa 139:12), in the sense of החיּים אור. The plural implies that there is a perfect fulness of the lights of life in God ("the Father of lights," Jam 1:17). Out of these there is born the gentle dew, which gives new life to the bones that have been sown in the ground (Psa 141:7) - a figure full of mystery, which is quite needlessly wiped away by Hofmann's explanation, viz., that it is equivalent to tal hōrōth, "dew of thorough saturating." Luther, who renders it, "Thy dew is a dew of the green field," stands alone among the earlier translators. The Targum, Syriac, Vulgate, and Saad. all render it, "Thy dew is light dew;" and with the uniform connection in which the Scriptures place 'or (light) and chayyı̄m (life), this rendering is natural enough. We now translate still further, "and the earth (vâ'âretz, as in Isa 65:17; Pro 25:3, whereas וארץ is almost always in the construct state) will bring shades to the day" (hippil, as a causative of nâphal, Isa 26:18), i.e., bring forth again the dead that have sunken into it (like Luther's rendering, "and the land will cast out the dead" - the rendering of our English version also: Tr.). The dew from the glory of God falls like a heavenly seed into the bosom of the earth; and in consequence of this, the earth gives out from itself the shades which have hitherto been held fast beneath the ground, so that they appear alive again on the surface of the earth. Those who understand Isa 26:18 as relating to the earnestly descried overthrow of the lords of the world, interpret this passage accordingly, as meaning either, "and thou castest down shades to the earth" (ארץ, acc. loci, = עד־ארץ, Isa 26:5, לארץ, Isa 25:12), or, "and the earth causeth shades to fall," i.e., to fall into itself. This is Rosenmller's explanation (terra per prosopopaeiam, ut supra Isa 24:20, inducta, deturbare in orcum sistitur impios, eo ipso manes eos reddens). But although rephaim, when so interpreted, agrees with Isa 26:14, where this name is given to the oppressors of the people of God, it would be out of place here, where it would necessarily mean, "those who are just becoming shades." But, what is of greater importance still, if this concluding clause is understood as applying to the overthrow of the oppressors, it does not give any natural sequence to the words, "dew of the lights is thy dew;" whereas, according to our interpretation, it seals the faith, hope, and prayer of the church for what is to follow. When compared with the New Testament Apocalypse, it is "the first resurrection" which is here predicted by Isaiah. The confessors of Jehovah are awakened in their graves to form one glorious church with those who are still in the body. In the case of Ezekiel also (Ez. Eze 37:1-14), the resurrection of the dead which he beholds is something more than a figurative representation of the people that were buried in captivity. The church of the period of glory on this side is a church of those who have been miraculously saved and wakened up from the dead. Their persecutors lie at their feet beneath the ground.