Isaia 24:7 Commento

It is agreed that here begins a new sermon, which is continued to the end of Isa 27:1-13. And in it the prophet, according to the directions he had received, does, in many precious promises, "say to the righteous, It shall be well with them;" and, in many dreadful threatenings, he says, "Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them" (Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11); and these are interwoven, that they may illustrate each other. This chapter is mostly threatening; and, as the judgments threatened are very sore and grievous ones, so the people threatened with those judgments are very many. It is not the burden of any particular city or kingdom, as those before, but the burden of the whole earth. The word indeed signifies only the land, because our own land is commonly to us as all the earth. But it is here explained by another word that is not so confined; it is the world (Isa 24:4); so that it must at least take in a whole neighbourhood of nations. 1. Some think (and very probably) that it is a prophecy of the great havoc that Sennacherib and his Assyrian army should now shortly make of many of the nations in that part of the world. 2. Others make it to point at the like devastations which, about 100 years afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies should make in the same countries, going from one kingdom to another, not only to conquer them, but to ruin them and lay them waste; for that was the method which those eastern nations took in their wars. The promises that are mixed with the threatenings are intended for the support and comfort of the people of God in those very calamitous times. And, since here are no particular nations names either by whom or on whom those desolations should be brought, I see not but it may refer to both these events. Nay, the scripture has many fulfillings, and we ought to give it its full latitude; and therefore I incline to think that the prophet, from those and the like instances which he had a particular eye to, designs here to represent in general the calamitous state of mankind, and the many miseries which human life is liable to, especially those that attend the wars of the nations. Surely the prophets were sent, not only to foretel particular events, but to form the minds of men to virtue and piety, and for that end their prophecies were written and preserved even for our learning, and therefore ought not to be looked upon as of private interpretation. Now since a thorough conviction of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to make us happy, will go far towards bringing us to God, and drawing out our affections towards another world, the prophet here shows what vexation of spirit we must expect to meet with in these things, that we may never take up our rest in them, nor promise ourselves satisfaction any where short of the enjoyment of God. In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of desolating judgments for sin (Isa 24:1-12), to which is added an assurance that in the midst of them good people should be comforted (Isa 24:13-15). II. A further threatening of the like desolations (Isa 24:16-22), to which is added an assurance that in the midst of all God should be glorified.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 24 This chapter contains a prophecy of calamities that should come upon the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, for their sins; of the preservation of a remnant; of the visitation of the kings of the earth; and of the appearance of Christ in his glory and majesty. The miserable condition of the world, and its inhabitants, especially all within the Romish jurisdiction, is set forth by various phrases, Isa 24:1 the causes of which are the transgression and mutation of the laws and ordinances of Christ, Isa 24:5 the effects of which are the cursing and burning of the inhabitants, Isa 24:6 cessation of all joy among them, Isa 24:7 and the destruction of their chief city, Rome, Isa 24:10 then follows a prophecy of a remnant that shall escape, and be brought into a very comfortable condition, and sing for joy, and glorify God in the midst of the earth, and in the uttermost parts of it, Isa 24:13 but it is intimated it shall go ill with others for their perfidy and treachery; fear and danger shall attend them everywhere, Isa 24:16 yea, in the issue, the world shall be shaken, and moved and removed, and be utterly dissolved, fall and not rise more, Isa 24:19 when the kings and great ones of the earth shall be taken prisoners, and punished by the Lord, Isa 24:21 and then Christ shall take to himself his great power, and reign with his people gloriously in the New Jerusalem state, Isa 24:23.

The new wine mourneth,.... For want men to drink it, or because spilled by the enemy; or the inhabitants of the land mourn for want of it, not having their vintages as usual: the vine languisheth; or is sickly, and so barren and unfruitful, does not bring forth its clusters of grapes as it used to do; there being none to prune it, and take care of it, and being trodden down by hostile forces. The Targum is, "all that drink wine shall mourn, because the vines are broken down.'' So the Romish harlot, and those that have drank of the wine of her fornication, and have lived deliciously, shall have, in one hour, death, and mourning, and famine, Rev 18:7, all the merryhearted do sigh; such, whose hearts wine has formerly made glad, shall now sigh for want of it; and such who have lived deliciously with the whore of Rome, and have had many a merry bout with her, shall now bewail her, and lament for her, when she shall be utterly burnt with fire, Rev 18:9.

(Verse 7 and following) The grape harvest has failed, the vine is weakened, all those who rejoiced in their hearts have sighed. The joy of the tambourines has ceased, the sound of the rejoicers has quieted, the sweetness of the lyre has been silenced, as those who do not drink wine with singing, bitter will be the drink for those who drink it. The city of vanity is worn away, every house is closed with no one entering. There will be a cry over wine in the streets, all joy is deserted, the pleasure of the land has been moved elsewhere. And the solitude was left in the city, and calamity will oppress the gates: for these will be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people. In the end of the world, the remembrance of past delights will be the material of torments. Wherefore even that rich man, clothed in purple at a banquet, who had received his good things in his life, lifting up his eyes from hell, sees Lazarus in rest (Luke XVI). And the Lord, reproving the rich and luxurious and laughing, speaks in the Gospel: Woe to you who are rich, because you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are now satisfied, for you will hunger. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep (Luke 6:25). Therefore, when the resurrection of the dead will have occurred, and the day of judgment will have come, then the wine and the harvest will mourn, of which Moses speaks: Their vine is from Sodom, their vineyard is from Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. The fury of dragons is their wine, and the incurable fury of asps (Deuteronomy 32:33). Then every drink, or as it is said in Hebrew, 'sycerah', that is, drunkenness, which overturns the state of the mind and does not allow people to stay awake, will be changed into bitterness, which deceives those who use it with its sweetness for a time, and in the end is found to be more bitter than gall. Then all the sweetness of those who rejoice and the sounds of tambourines and lyres will be turned into mourning and groaning. Let us present this testimony to those who in banquets not only indulge in gluttony and drunkenness but also in the luxuries of the ears, so that strength of the soul may soften through all the senses. The city of vanity is destroyed, that is, every city, or spiritual Babylon, which sits on seven purple mountains, whose punishments we read about in the Apocalypse of John (Apoc. XVIII). It is well said, the city of vanity. For if it is said of heaven and earth, and of all things that are earthly: Vanity of vanities and all is vanity (Eccl. I, 2); how much more should this be said of one city, which is a small part of the whole world! Then the houses, whose ceilings are now gilded, and the poor without shelter and dying in hovels, will be adorned with marble veneers and shining ivory panels, but they will remain empty. There will be clamor in the streets over wine, not on the narrow and cramped road that leads to life, but on the wide and spacious road that leads to death (Matthew 7). Their error is over wine and drunkenness, those who have fallen asleep in their slumber, and all the wealthy men found nothing in their hands (Psalm 75). For indeed the joy of the earth has been translated to the heavens, and the once famous solitude is left in the abandoned city, and calamity will oppress the inhabitants of the crowded gateways through which the streams of peoples used to flow. And in order that we may know clearly the news of the destruction of the whole world, it added, These things shall happen in the midst of the earth: in the midst of nations or peoples.

570. The vintage has mourned. Here he threatens the removal of joys as to the wicked; and second, he sets out the joys of the good: as if a few olives (Isa 24:13). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he sets out the ending of joy which came from three things: either in the fertility of things, the vintage has mourned, failing, that is, it was the cause of mourning, above: there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards (Isa 16:10).

Under the emblem of the good and bad figs is represented the fate of the Jews already gone into captivity with Jeconiah, and of those that remained still in their own country with Zedekiah. It is likewise intimated that God would deal kindly with the former, but that his wrath would still pursue the latter, Jer 24:1-10.

THE LAST TIMES OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL, AND OF JUDAH AND THE CHURCH IN PARTICULAR. (Isa. 24:1-23) the earth--rather, "the land" of Judah (so in Isa 24:3, Isa 24:5-6; Joe 1:2). The desolation under Nebuchadnezzar prefigured that under Titus.

mourneth--because there are none to drink it [BARNES]. Rather, "is become vapid" [HORSLEY]. languisheth--because there are none to cultivate it now.