Isaia 29:2 Commento

This woe to Ariel, which we have in this chapter, is the same with the "burden of the valley of vision" (Isa 22:1), and (it is very probable) points at the same event - the besieging of Jerusalem by the Assyrian army, which was cut off there by an angel; yet it is applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and its last desolations by the Romans. Here is, I. The event itself foretold, that Jerusalem should be greatly distressed (Isa 29:1-4, Isa 29:6), but that their enemies, who distressed them, should be baffled and defeated (Isa 29:5, Isa 29:7, Isa 29:8). II. A reproof to three sorts of sinners: - 1. Those that were stupid, and regardless of the warnings which the prophet gave them (Isa 29:9-12). 2. Those that were formal and hypocritical in their religious performances (Isa 29:13, Isa 29:14). 3. Those politicians that atheistically and profanely despised God's providence, and set up their own projects in competition with it (Isa 29:15, Isa 29:16). III. Precious promises of grace and mercy to a distinguished remnant whom God would sanctify, and in whom he would be sanctified, when their enemies and persecutors should be cut off (Isa 29:17-24).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 29 This chapter contains a prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem by the Romans; the character and condition of the people of the Jews, previous to it; the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel; the ruin of antichrist, and the conversion of the Jews, in the latter day. The siege and destruction of Jerusalem are described in Isa 29:1 the disappointment of their enemies, notwithstanding their taking and destroying it, Isa 29:7 the stupidity, judicial blindness, and hardness of the Jews, which brought on their ruin, are predicted, Isa 29:9 the ignorance of their learned, as well as of their unlearned men, with respect to the Scripture, and the prophecies of it, Isa 29:11 their hypocrisy and formality in worship, Isa 29:13 a blast upon all their wisdom and prudence, who thought to be wiser than the Lord, and too many for him, whose folly and atheism are exposed, Isa 29:14, and a great change both in Judea and the Gentile world, by the removal of the Gospel from the one to the other, Isa 29:17 the effects of which are, deaf sinners hear the word, dark minds are enlightened, and joy increased among the meek and poor, Isa 29:18 the fall of the Jews, or else of antichrist, is foretold, Isa 29:20 and the chapter is closed with a promise and prophecy of the conversion of the seed of Abraham and Jacob, Isa 29:22.

Yet I will distress Ariel,.... Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters: and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city: and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum, "and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;'' so Jarchi and Kimchi.

(Chapter 19, verse 1, and following) Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city that David besieged. Year after year is added, the appointed feasts have come to an end. I will besiege Ariel, and she will be sad and mournful; she will be like an Ariel to me. I will encircle you like a sphere, and I will throw up a mound against you, and I will set up siege works against you. You will be brought low, and your speech will come from the ground, and your voice will be like that of a python from the earth, and your speech will mumble from the dust. And it will be like the fine dust of those who blow against you, and like the passing smoke of those who have prevailed against you. And suddenly, immediately, it will be visited by the Lord of hosts, with thunder and earthquake, and with a great voice of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire. And it will be like the dream of a night vision, the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Ariel, and all who have warred against her and besieged her and prevailed against her. As a hungry person dreams and eats, and when he has awakened, his soul is empty; and as a thirsty person dreams and drinks, and when he has awakened, he is still thirsty, and his soul is empty: so will be the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Mount Zion. Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city that David besieged! Gather together year after year, eat, for you will eat with Moab; for I will oppress Ariel, and her strength and wealth will be mine, and I will encamp around you like David, and I will send a rampart around you, and set up towers all around you, and your words will be humbled on the ground, and your words will be brought down to the ground. And your voice will be like that of those who speak from the earth, and your voice will weaken to the ground. And the wealth of the wicked will be like dust from a wheel, and like ashes that are carried away, the multitude of those who oppressed you; it will be sudden from the Lord of hosts. For there will be a visitation with thunder, and a great shaking, a powerful storm, and a devouring flame of fire. And they will be like a dreamer at night, the wealth of all the nations that have fought against Ariel, and all who have fought against Jerusalem and gathered against it, and afflicted it. And they shall be like those who hunger and eat in dreams: when they wake up, their dream is in vain, and like one who thirsts and drinks in a dream, when he wakes up, he will still be thirsty, and his soul will have hoped in vain. So shall be the riches of all the nations that have fought against Mount Zion. Because we have interpreted, Woe, in Hebrew it is written Oi (), which is sometimes used in the vocative case, so that Ariel may not mourn, but call out; although in the current context it should be understood as mourning. Ariel is also interpreted as the lion of God; and for the city which Aquila interpreted, πολίχνην, that is, a small town or village, is read in Hebrew as Cariath, which properly means a village, and in Syriac it is called Cartha, hence it is also called a village of forests Cariath Jarim. Finally, in the earlier passage (Isaiah 1:21) where we read: How has the faithful city Zion become a prostitute? for city, Cariath is written, that is, a village: which we can express as a translation of Aquila literally, as a little city. Therefore, Ariel, which means the lion of God, was once called the strongest Jerusalem: or, as others believe, the temple and altar of God that was in Jerusalem. And what follows: Which David conquered, as Symmachus interpreted it, the stronghold of David, and Theodotion, the encampment of David, is read in Hebrew as Hana, which the most learned Hebrews wanted to signify as dwelling place. So if we read: which David conquered, let us refer to that time when David captured the fortress of Zion, while the blind and lame resisted, and Joab, the first, ascended the heights. But according to Symmachus and Theodotion, it should be understood that David restored and fortified it, and a year was added to the year, or subtracted, as Aquila interpreted; and the festivals have passed. For when the temple was destroyed and the Jewish religion abolished, all their festivities perished. And the Lord says that He will encamp around Ariel with the army of Babylon, and it will be sad and mournful when it is destroyed by them. And again under Jesus, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, were Ezra and Nehemiah, when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied that it would be like Ariel, having the appearance of the ancient temple, but without its magnificence and adornment. Moreover, the Lord threatens that He will surround Ariel with a sphere, and cast a rampart against it, and set up fortifications for its siege, and fulfill what He Himself laments concerning Jerusalem in the Gospel: 'If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground' (Luke 19:42-44). And Jerusalem will be trampled by the nations until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. In other words, the same prophet now says that she who was humiliated will speak from the earth, and her voice will be heard from the dust. Her voice will be like that of a python from the earth, and it will murmur like sparrows, so that through these words he may signify the necromancy of the magi, by which they are said to summon souls and hear the voices of thin shades, or rather, of demons. Finally, regarding the python, Aquila interpreted the great one, which is called in Hebrew Cheb (), which the 70 interpreters translated as speaking of the earth. With these words, it is indicated that the ruin of the temple will last until the end of the world, collapsed into ashes and never to be raised again. And so, O Ariel, the army of Roman power will surround you, and they will be compared to an innumerable dust that flies through the air. Therefore, it is not the weakness of their opponents that the dust and ashes are compared to, but the multitude that is equal to countless grains of sand. And this will happen suddenly and quickly, so that in the midst of peace, wars will rise up under Nero, and the Lord of hosts will visit Jerusalem with thunder and earthquake, and whirlwind and devouring fire, which signifies the burning of the temple. But the Romans, after the Jews were defeated and Jerusalem was destroyed under Titus and Vespasian, offered the plundered vessels of God to the Capitol; and they thought that their own power and the favor of the gods, rather than the anger of God, was the reason for what they had done, as if in a dream and in a nightly vision, they will possess all riches. And just as someone who is hungry thinks in their dreams that they are eating, and someone who is thirsty drinks from dry throats, and when they wake up their thirst becomes even stronger, deceived by the empty drink: so the multitude of all nations, who fought against the power of Rome and subjugated to it, will have wealth like a shadow, and a cloud, and a dream of the night, which they will leave behind with their untimely destruction. In the place where we have been placed, all who have waged war and besieged and prevailed against it have been translated to seventy, and all who have fought against Jerusalem, which is not found in Hebrew. In this beginning of the chapter, where we said, 'A year is added to a year, or subtracted,' they are interpreted as 'gather the fruits or produce, year upon year;' 'eat, for you will eat with Moab.' And the meaning is, before the acceptable year of the Lord's preaching comes, indeed two years, of which we read in the Song of Habakkuk according to the Hebrew: 'In the midst of two times you will be known' (Habakkuk 3), 'sow for yourselves in tears so that you may reap in joy' (Psalm 126). It is written in the Gospel according to John that the Lord came to Jerusalem three times during the Passover, which makes two years (John 2:13). However, what follows, 'For you shall eat with Moab,' is not found in Hebrew. We can say that unless the fruits of repentance are gathered for themselves, they will begin to eat with those who do not enter the Church of the Lord forever. The other things in which they seem to disagree are obvious, and from what we have explained, their interpretation is easy. I know that I have read Ariel's interpretation, my light is God's, which is far different. Here the first syllable is written with Aleph and Res: lux autem quae Hebraice dicitur Or, inter Aleph et Res mediam habet litteram Vau, quae in praesenti nomine non habetur. And everything that is now said against Ariel refers to heretics, who consider their doctrine to be the light of God, and they must be fought by the true David: all their solemnities must be taken away, and present joy must be turned into future sorrow: to whom God commands to repent, lest they begin to eat with the Moabites, and be similar to the Gentiles. For he will attack Ariel himself, and he will surround all their power and wealth with his army. And with the towers, that is, the leaders of the Church, he will humble their words on the earth, so that they may not raise their mouth to heaven, but be written on the earth, speak of the earth, and be like dust scattered by the wind. And all the wealth of the wicked will appear in an instant, when he visits them in his majesty, descending in a whirlwind, storm, and fire of punishment; and they will understand that all their wealth, the pomp of their words, and the arguments of their verses, are compared in vain to a dream of someone eating and drinking: those who fight against Jerusalem, the vision of peace; or against Ariel, the strongest lion, and ultimately against Mount Zion, where the city of the Church cannot be hidden.

The siege: and I will make a trench, namely, by the Chaldees: and lay siege against it (Ezek 4:2); and he intimates the taking of the city from its sadness: and it shall be in sorrow: my sighs are many (Lam 1:22). 654. Third, he sets out the reparation made under Jesus the high priest and others, about whom it is written through all of Ezra. And it shall be to me as Ariel, as if to say: retaining a shadow of its former dignity. On the contrary: great is the glory of this last house more than of the first (Hag 2:10). And to this is to be said that this is said because it had been visited bodily by the Son of God himself.

This chapter contains the substance of two letters sent by the prophet to the captives in Babylon. In the first he recommends to them patience and composure under their present circumstances, which were to endure for seventy years, Jer 29:1-14; in which, however, they should fare better than their brethren who remained behind, Jer 29:15-19. But, finding little credit given to this message, on account of the suggestions of the false prophets, Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who flattered them with the hopes of a speedy end to their captivity, he sends a second, in which he denounces heavy judgments against those false prophets that deceived them, Jer 29:20-23; as he did afterwards against Shemaiah the Nehelamite, who had sent a letter of complaint against Jeremiah, in consequence of his message, Jer 29:24-32.

There shall be heaviness and sorrow "There shall be continual mourning and sorrow" - Instead of your present joy and festivity. And it shall be unto me as Ariel "And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar" - That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. See note on Isa 29:1 (note). Or, perhaps, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.

COMING INVASION OF JERUSALEM: ITS FAILURE: UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS. (Isa. 29:1-24) Ariel--Jerusalem; Ariel means "Lion of God," that is, city rendered by God invincible: the lion is emblem of a mighty hero (Sa2 23:20). Otherwise "Hearth of God," that is, place where the altar-fire continually burns to God (Isa 31:9; Eze 43:15-16). add . . . year to year--ironically; suffer one year after another to glide on in the round of formal, heartless "sacrifices." Rather, "add yet another year" to the one just closed [MAURER]. Let a year elapse and a little more (Isa 32:10, Margin). let . . . kill sacrifices--rather, "let the beasts (of another year) go round" [MAURER]; that is, after the completion of a year "I will distress Ariel."

Yet--rather, "Then." heaviness . . . sorrow--rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, "groaning" and "moaning." as Ariel--either, "the city shall be as a lion of God," that is, it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or "it shall be as the altar of burnt offering," consuming with fire the besiegers (Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30; Isa 31:9; Lev 10:2); or best, as Isa 29:3 continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come till Isa 29:4, "it shall be like a hearth of burning," that is, a scene of devastation by fire [G. V. SMITH]. The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib's time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zac 14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isa 29:17-24).