Isaia 22:1 Commento

We have now come nearer home, for this chapter is "the burden of the valley of vision," Jerusalem; other places had their burden for the sake of their being concerned in some way or other with Jerusalem, and were reckoned with either as spiteful enemies or deceitful friends to the people of God; but now let Jerusalem hear her own doom. This chapter concerns, I. The city of Jerusalem itself and the neighbourhood depending upon it. Here is, 1. A prophecy of the grievous distress they should shortly be brought into by Sennacherib's invasion of the country and laying siege to the city (Isa 22:1-7). 2. A reproof given them for their misconduct in that distress, in two things: - (1.) Not having an eye to God in the use of the means of their preservation (Isa 22:8-11). (2.) Not humbling themselves under his mighty hand (Isa 22:12-14). II. The court of Hezekiah, and the officers of that court. 1. The displacing of Shebna, a bad man, and turning him out of the treasury (Isa 22:15-19, Isa 22:25). 2. The preferring of Eliakim, who should do his country better service, to his place (Isa 22:20-24).

The title of this prophecy is very observable. It is the burden of the valley of vision, of Judah and Jerusalem; so all agree. Fitly enough is Jerusalem called a valley, for the mountains were round about it, and the land of Judah abounded with fruitful valleys; and by the judgments of God, though they had been as a towering mountain, they should be brought low, sunk and depressed, and become dark and dirty, as a valley. But most emphatically is it called a valley of vision because there God was known and his name was great, there the prophets were made acquainted with his mind by visions, and there the people saw the goings of their God and King in his sanctuary. Babylon, being a stranger to God, though rich and great, was called the desert of the sea; but Jerusalem, being entrusted with his oracles, is a valley of vision. Blessed are their eyes, for they see, and they have seers by office among them. Where Bibles and ministers are there is a valley of vision, from which is expected fruit accordingly; but here is a burden of the valley of vision, and a heavy burden it is. Note, Church privileges, if they be not improved, will not secure men from the judgments of God. You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you. The valley of vision has a particular burden. Thou Capernaum, Mat 11:23. The higher any are lifted up in means and mercies the heavier will their doom be if they abuse them. Now the burden of the valley of vision here is that which will not quite ruin it, but only frighten it; for it refers not to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, but to the attempt made upon it by Sennacherib, which we had the prophecy of, ch. 10, and shall meet with the history of, ch. 36. It is here again prophesied of, because the desolations of many of the neighbouring countries, which were foretold in the foregoing chapters, were to be brought to pass by the Assyrian army. Now let Jerusalem know that when the cup is going round it will be put into her hand; and, although it will not be to her a fatal cup, yet it will be a cup of trembling. Here is foretold, I. The consternation that the city should be in upon the approach of Sennacherib's army. It used to be full of stirs, a city of great trade, people hurrying to and fro about their business, a tumultuous city, populous and noisy. Where there is great trade there is great tumult. It used to be a joyous revelling city. What with the busy part and what with the merry part of mankind, places of concourse are places of noise. "But what ails thee now, that the shops are quitted, and there is no more walking in the streets and exchange, but thou hast wholly gone up to the house-tops (Isa 22:1), to bemoan thyself in silence and solitude, or to secure thyself from the enemy, or to look abroad and see if any succours come to thy relief, or which way the enemies' motions are." Let both men of business and sportsmen rejoice as though they rejoiced not, for something may happen quickly, which they little think of, that will be a damp to their mirth and a stop to their business, and send them to watch as a sparrow alone upon the house-top, Psa 102:7. But why is Jerusalem in such a fright? Her slain men are not slain with the sword (Isa 22:2), but, 1. Slain with famine (so some); for Sennacherib's army having laid the country waste, and destroyed the fruits of the earth, provisions must needs be very scarce and dear in the city, which would be the death of many of the poorer sort of people, who would be constrained to feed on that which was unwholesome. 2. Slain with fear. They were put into this fright though they had not a man killed, but so disheartened themselves that they seemed as effectually stabbed with fear as if they had been run through with a sword. II. The inglorious flight of the rulers of Judah, who fled from far, from all parts of the country, to Jerusalem (Isa 22:3), fled together, as it were by consent, and were found in Jerusalem, having left their respective cities, which they should have taken care of, to be a prey to the Assyrian army, which, meeting with no opposition, when it came up against all the defenced cities of Judah easily took them, Isa 36:1. These rulers were bound from the bow (so the word is); they not only quitted their own cities like cowards, but, when they came to Jerusalem, were of no service there, but were as if their hands were tied from the use of the bow, by the extreme distraction and confusion they were in; they trembled, so that they could not draw a bow. See how easily God can dispirit men, and how certainly fear will dispirit them, when the tyranny of it is yielded to. III. The great grief which this should occasion to all serious sensible people among them, which is represented by the prophet's laying the thing to heart himself; he lived to see it, and was resolved to share with the children of his people in their sorrows, Isa 22:4, Isa 22:5. He is not willing to proclaim his sorrow, and therefore bids those about him to look away from him; he will abandon himself to grief, and indulge himself in it, will weep secretly, but weep bitterly, and will have none go about to comfort him, for his grief is obstinate and he is pleased with his pain. But what is the occasion of his grief? A poor prophet had little to lose, and had been inured to hardship, when he walked naked and barefoot; but it is for the spoiling of the daughter of his people. It is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity. Our enemies trouble us and tread us down, and our friends are perplexed and know not what course to take to do us a kindness. The Lord God of hosts is now contending with the valley of vision; the enemies with their battering rams are breaking down the walls, and we are in vain crying to the mountains (to keep off the enemy, or to fall on us and cover us) or looking for help to come to us over the mountains, or appealing, as God does, to the mountains, to hear our controversy (Mic 6:1) and to judge between us and our injurious neighbours. IV. The great numbers and strength of the enemy, that should invade their country and besiege their city, Isa 22:6, Isa 22:7. Elam (that is, the Persians) come with their quiver full of arrows, and with chariots of fighting men, and horsemen. Kir (that is, the Medes) muster up their arms, unsheath the sword, and uncover the shield, and get every thing ready for battle, every thing ready for the besieging of Jerusalem. Then the choice valleys about Jerusalem, that used to be clothed with flocks and covered over with corn, shall be full of chariots of war, and at the gate of the city the horsemen shall set themselves in array, to cut off all provisions from going in, and to force their way in. What a condition must the city be in that was beset on all sides with such an army!

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 22 This chapter contains two prophecies, one concerning the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem, not by the Medes and Persians, but by the Assyrian army, under which they served; and the other of the removal of Shebna, an officer in Hezekiah's court, and of the placing of Eliakim in his stead. After the title of the former of these prophecies, the distress of the people, through the invasion, is described, by their getting up to the housetops, Isa 22:1 by the stillness of the city, having left both trade and mirth; by the slain in it, not by the sword, but through fear or famine, Isa 22:2 by the flight of the rulers, and by the lamentation of the prophet, Isa 22:3 the instruments of which distress were the Persians and Medes serving under Sennacherib, who are described by their quivers and shields, their chariots and horsemen, Isa 22:6 the methods the Jews took to defend themselves, and their vain confidence, are exposed; for which, with their disrespect to the Lord, and his admonitions, their carnal security and luxury, they are threatened with death, Isa 22:8 then follows the prophecy of the deposition of Shebna, who is described by his name and office, Isa 22:15 whose pride is exposed as the cause of his fall, Isa 22:16 and he is threatened not only to be driven from his station, but to be carried captive into another country, suddenly and violently, and with great shame and disgrace, Isa 22:17 and another put in his place, who is mentioned by name, Isa 22:20 and who should be invested with his office and power, and have all the ensigns of it, Isa 22:21 and should continue long in it, to great honour and usefulness to his family, Isa 22:23 yet not always, Isa 22:25.

The burden of the valley of vision,.... A prophecy concerning Jerusalem, so called, because it lay in a valley, encompassed about with mountains, and which was the habitation of the prophets or seers, and the seat of vision and prophecy; and perhaps there is an allusion to its name, which signifies the vision of peace, or they shall see peace. The Septuagint version calls it, "the word of the valley of Sion"; and the Arabic version, "a prophecy concerning the inhabitants of the valley of Sion, to wit, the fields which are about Jerusalem.'' The Targum is, "the burden of the prophecy concerning the city which dwells in the valley, of which the prophets prophesied;'' by all which it appears, that not the whole land of Judea is thought to be meant, only the city of Jerusalem, so called, not from its low estate into which it would fall, through the wickedness of the people, and so rather to be called a valley than a mountain, as Kimchi; but from its situation, it being, as Josephus (h) says, fortified with three walls, except on that side at which it was encircled with inaccessible valleys; and hence it may be, that one of its gates is called the valley gate, Neh 2:13 and besides, there was a valley in it, between the mountains of Zion and Acra, which divided the upper and lower city, as he also elsewhere says (i). The burden of it is a heavy prophecy of calamities that should come upon it, or at least of a fright it should be put into, not in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, when it was taken and destroyed, as Jarchi and Kimchi, and another Jew Jerom makes mention of; nor in the times of Titus Vespasian, according to Eusebius, as the said Jerom relates; but in the times of Hezekiah, when Judea was invaded, and Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib: what aileth thee now? or, "what to thee now?" (k) what is come to thee? what is the matter with thee now? how comes this strange and sudden change? that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? not to burn incense to the queen of heaven, which was sometimes done, and is the sense of some mentioned by Aben Ezra; but either for safety, to secure themselves from their enemies; or to take a view of them, and observe their motions, and cast from thence their arrows and darts at them; or to look out for help, or to mourn over their distresses, and implore help of the Lord; see Isa 15:2 and this was the case, not only of some, but of them all; so that there was scarce a man to be seen in the streets, or in the lower parts of their houses, but were all gone up to the tops of them, which were built with flat roofs and battlements about them, Deu 22:8. (h) De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 1. (i) Ib. l. 6. c. 6. (k) "quid tibi accidit?" Vatablus; "quid tibi nunc est?" Piscator.

If, as I was saying, we are in the church, if we possess the faith of the church, of the apostles, of Christ, the truths of Christian teaching, we are the mountains of Zion. We do not want to be among the valleys of Zion; we want to be mountains of Zion. Zion, indeed, has its valleys; it has plains, too. The sinner is a valley of Zion, not a mountain. Someone may interpose, “You are giving us your own opinion.” Let us call upon the testimony of Isaiah when Zion had fallen into sin, in which after many visions, the prophet mentions one against Idumea, one against Moab, one against Edom and the sons of Ammon, and lastly, “a vision of the valley of Zion.” Because Zion had descended from sublime faith, it fell recklessly from the mountain into the valley.Before all else, then, let us flee from the valleys of Zion and come to the plains; from the plains, let us go to the hills, from the hills up the mountains.

“Gog” is a Greek word translated in Latin by “roof” (tectum) and “magog” by “from the roof” (de tecto). All pride and false knowledge, therefore, that raises itself against the acknowledgment of the truth is indicated by these words. And this is the roof about which Isaiah spoke in his vision against the valley of Zion: “What has happened to you now, that you have all gone up to the empty roof?” We shall understand “roof” to refer to the leaders of heretics and “from the roof” to those who accept their teaching. How beautiful it is, after so many mystical prophecies contained in this volume, to find at last a prophecy against Gog and Magog.

(Chapter 22—Verse 1) The burden of the Valley of Vision. Although it is not found in Hebrew, they translated it more clearly as the word "Valley of Zion". For this city is the seedbed of prophets, in which the Temple is built, and the visions of the Lord are multiplied. Therefore, because it is compared to other nations and considered one among many, it is not called a mountain, according to the prophecy: Its foundations are on the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Psalm 87:1); but it is called a valley, because it is humbled. In other words, Jeremiah himself says this: when he received a cup full of wine, he gave it to all the nations, and finally he offered it to Jerusalem to drink, vomit, fall, and go crazy, signifying the destruction of Babylon (Jeremiah 25). The history of the kings and Jeremiah explains this more fully. From this, we understand that the creator of all is equally God, and that he judges and dispenses everything according to his will, as he himself says through Amos: Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? The Lord says: Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom (Amos 9:7). So the Jews should not think that they have a privilege because they were brought out of Egypt, for God also says that other nations were transferred to other lands by his authority. What is also your concern, since you have ascended and fully entered the roofs, the city full of clamor, a crowded city, an exulting state? The Hebrew explained to me that the present Vision does not pertain to that time when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and led Zedekiah bound and blinded to Babylon, but to the times of Sennacherib when the high priest Sobna betrayed a great part of the city, and only Zion, that is, the citadel and the Temple, remained, as an example of the Roman city, which, while the Gauls were attacking, preserved the patricians and the flower of youth in the citadel. But we can also speak about the Babylonian captivity: although Eusebius refers everything to the coming of Christ and thinks that it was completed in the times of Vespasian and Titus. Let us take each point briefly, touching on the threefold explanation. What about you? What do you have, Zion, that you too have ascended all the roofs? When he says 'you too', he shows that others had already ascended. Have you also been counted among the nations that you are besieged by enemies and ascend the roofs filled with the wailing and lamentation of miserable women, once a royal city?

(Chapter 22, Verse 1) The burden of the valley of vision. LXX: The word of the valley of Zion. In the book of Hebrew Names, we have defined Zion as the watchtower that is situated in the heights and contemplates those who come from afar. Therefore, when Zion is referred to in accordance with the laws of tropology, it signifies the Church. This is written in the second psalm from the perspective of the Lord and Savior: 'But I have been set as king by Him upon His holy mountain Zion' (Psalm 2:6); and, 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion' (Psalm 125:1); and, 'The Lord loveth the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob' (Psalm 86:2); And the Apostle makes it even clearer: 'But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem' (Hebrews 12:22). Now we inquire why in the present vision, it is called the valley of Zion. And from the very sequence of words, we are led to spiritual understanding so that we may know that all the leaders of perverse doctrines, who have fallen from the sublimity of the sense of the Holy Scriptures and have descended to lowly things, are dwelling in the valley of Zion. I think that Solomon also says something similar in Proverbs, saying: 'The eye that mocks a father, and scorns to obey a mother, will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the young eagles.' (Prov. 30:17). For as soon as the heretics mock the Creator Father and despise the old age of the Church mother, they are dug into by filthy and unclean birds, which are drawn to opposing strengths. And they cannot say: I lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where does my help come? (Ps. CXX, 1): but they are cast down like the beasts of the earth. What is also true for you, because you ascended and you are all in the roofs? LXX: What happened to you now, because you all ascended into empty roofs? This, which is sought next to the interpreters of the LXX in the book of Kings, whether it was said by Elisha (4 Kings 2:14): Where is the God of Elijah Aphpho (), is more clearly stated in the present place, because the Seventy translated it as 'now'; in Hebrew it has Aphpho, which we also interpret as 'now', and Aquila, wishing to preserve the Hebrew idiom, put καίπερτοι, which the Latin language does not explain. But when he says, 'What is it to you also?' he asks why she ascends among others herself, and why she remains with the opinion of the lofty in lowly things. And the meaning is this: when philosophers swell, and all secular wisdom disputes about lofty things, despising the simplicity of the Church, why do you also follow lofty things? which the Seventy have interpreted as more important, 'vain dwellings,' that is, empty roofs, in order to show that there is another roof, from which the Savior prohibits descending (Matthew 24): which yet is not an empty roof. Finally, the apostle Peter at the sixth hour of prayer ascended to the roof (Acts X). Now, however, to demonstrate the great variety of heresies, he mentioned not one roof, but many roofs.

The burden of the valley. Here he threatens against those who were joined to the people of God by right of authority and yet were plundering their goods. And first, as to those to whom pertained authority in temporal affairs; second, against those to whom pertained authority in spiritual affairs: thus says the Lord (Isa 22:15). Now, authority in temporal affairs pertains to kings, and therefore in the first part he threatens against Jerusalem, which was the seat of the kingdom; and concerning this, he does two things. First, the inscription is set out: the valley, that is, Jerusalem, not because of the site of the place, which was on a mountain, but because of its baseness, for filth from every direction flowed together to it as to a valley, while they followed the act of the neighboring nations: this is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations (Ezek 5:5); or it is called a valley because of the lowest part of the city, which was handed over to Sennacherib by Sobna. Vision, because of the holiness of the temple: for in the temple visions came to the prophets from the Lord; or because of the prominence of the place, for it could be seen from distant places; or because of the name which Abraham gave to the place, as it says in Genesis 22:14: and he called the name of that place, the Lord sees. Second, the threat itself is set out. And concerning this, he does three things: first, he denounces the fault; second, he threatens punishment: your slain (Isa 22:2); third, he shows the pertinacity of their obstinacy in this punishment: and you have gathered (Isa 22:9). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he denounces a twofold sin: of idolatry: what ails you also, that you too, who rejoiced in the special act of holy privilege, art gone up to the housetops, to sacrifice to idols: if you play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Judah offend (Hos 4:15).

This section of prophecy, extending to the end of the eighth verse of the next chapter, is addressed to the king of Judah and his people. It enjoins on them the practice of justice and equity, as they would hope to prosper, Jer 22:14; but threatens them, in case of disobedience, with utter destruction, Jer 22:5-9. The captivity of Shallum, the son of Josiah, is declared to be irreversible, Jer 22:10-12; and the miserable and unlamented end of Jeconiah, contemptuously called Coniah, is foretold, Jer 22:13-19. His family is threatened with the like captivity, and his seed declared to be for ever excluded from the throne, Jer 22:20-30.

Art - gone up to the house-tops "Are gone up to the house-tops" - The houses in the east were in ancient times, as they are still, generally, built in one and the same uniform manner. The roof or top of the house is always flat, covered with broad stones, or a strong plaster of terrace, and guarded on every side with a low parapet wall; see Deu 22:8. The terrace is frequented as much as any part of the house. On this, as the season favors, they walk, they eat, they sleep, they transact business, (Sa1 9:25, see also the Septuagint in that place), they perform their devotions Act 10:9. The house is built with a court within, into which chiefly the windows open: those that open to the street are so obstructed with lattice-work that no one either without or within can see through them. Whenever, therefore, any thing is to be seen or heard in the streets, any public spectacle, any alarm of a public nature, every one immediately goes up to the house-top to satisfy his curiosity. In the same manner, when any one has occasion to make any thing public, the readiest and most effectual way of doing it is to proclaim it from the house-tops to the people in the streets. "What ye hear in the ear, that publish ye on the house-top," saith our Savior, Mat 10:27. The people running all to the tops of their houses gives a lively image of a sudden general alarm. Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place is as follows: "Dans les festes pour voir passer quelque chose, et dans les maladies pour les annoncer aux voisins en allumant des lumieres, le peuple monte sur les terrasses." "In festivals, in order to see what is going forward, and in times of sickness, in order to indicate them to neighbors by lighting of candles, the people go up to the house-tops."

PROPHECY AS TO AN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM. (Isa 22:1-14) of . . . valley of vision--rather, "respecting the valley of visions"; namely, Jerusalem, the seat of divine revelations and visions, "the nursery of prophets" [JEROME], (Isa 2:3; Isa 29:1; Eze 23:4, Margin; Luk 13:33). It lay in a "valley" surrounded by hills higher than Zion and Moriah (Psa 125:2; Jer 21:13). thee--the people of Jerusalem personified. housetops--Panic-struck, they went up on the flat balustraded roofs to look forth and see whether the enemy was near, and partly to defend themselves from the roofs (Jdg 9:51, &c.).

The prophet exposes the nature and worthlessness of their confidence in Isa 22:1-3 : "What aileth thee, then, that thou art wholly ascended upon the house-tops? O full of tumult, thou noisy city, shouting castle, thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor slaughtered in battle. All thy rulers departing together are fettered without bow; all thy captured ones are fettered together, fleeing far away." From the flat house-tops they all look out together at the approaching army of the foe, longing for battle, and sure of victory (cullâk is for cullēk, Isa 14:29, Isa 14:31). They have no suspicion of what is threatening them; therefore are they so sure, so contented, and so defiant. מלאה תּשׂאות is inverted, and stands for תּשׁאות מלאת, like מנדּח אפלה in Isa 8:22. עלּיזה is used to denote self-confident rejoicing, as in Zep 2:15. How terribly they deceive themselves! Not even the honour of falling upon the battle-field is allowed them. Their rulers (kâtzin, a judge, and then any person of rank) depart one and all out of the city, and are fettered outside "without bow" (mikkesheth), i.e., without there being any necessity for the bow to be drawn (min, as in Job 21:9; Sa2 1:22; cf., Ewald, 217, b). All, without exception, of those who are attacked in Jerusalem by the advancing foe (nimzâ'aik, thy captured ones, as in Isa 13:15), fall helplessly into captivity, as they are attempting to flee far away (see at Isa 17:13; the perf. de conatu answers to the classical praesens de conatu). Hence (what is here affirmed indirectly) the city is besieged, and in consequence of the long siege hunger and pestilence destroy the inhabitants, and every one who attempts to get away falls into the hands of the enemy, without venturing to defend himself, on account of his emaciation and exhaustion from hunger. Whilst the prophet thus pictures to himself the fate of Jerusalem and Judah, through their infatuation, he is seized with inconsolable anguish.