Isaia 30:25 Commento

The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing chapter) to the approaching danger of Jerusalem and desolations of Judah by Sennacherib's invasion. Here is, I. A just reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and were all in a hurry to fetch succors from Egypt (Isa 30:1-7). II. A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake them (Isa 30:8-17). III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (Isa 30:18-26), and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. IV. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy times (Isa 30:27-33).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 30 This chapter contains a complaint of the Jews for their sins and transgressions; a prophecy of their destruction for them; a promise of grace and mercy, and of happy times, to the saints; and a threatening of utter and dreadful ruin to the wicked. The Jews are complained of for their rebellion against God, their slighting his counsel and protection, their trust in Egypt, and application there for help; whither they went with their riches for safety, but in vain, it being contrary to the will and counsel of God, Isa 30:1 next follows a denunciation of ruin and destruction for these things, rebellion, and lying, and vain confidence, as well as for contempt of the word of God, which, that it might appear sure and certain, is ordered to be written in a book, Isa 30:8 and this ruin is signified by the sudden falling of a wall, and by the breaking of a potter's vessel into pieces, which can never be used more, Isa 30:13 and seeing they rejected the way of salvation proposed by the Lord, and took their own way, first destruction is threatened them, which should be very easily brought about, and become so general, that few should escape it, Isa 30:15 and then promises of grace and mercy are made to them that wait for the Lord, Isa 30:18 such as a dwelling place in Zion, hearing their prayers, granting them teachers to instruct them, and the riddance of idolatry from them, Isa 30:19 and also many outward blessings, as seasonable rain, good bread corn, fat pastures, good food for cattle, and fruitfulness of mountains and hills, Isa 30:23 likewise an amazing degree of spiritual light and glory, and healing of the Lord's people, Isa 30:26 and the chapter is concluded with a threatening Of God's wrath upon the Assyrian, expressed by various similes, as of an angry man, an overflowing torrent, a tempest of thunder, lightning, and hail, and the fire of Tophet, Isa 30:27.

And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,.... Which were round about Jerusalem, and in other parts of Judea: rivers and streams of water; such abundance of rain, that it should flow in streams like rivers, from the higher to the lower lands, and water them. This may in a spiritual sense be understood of the great plenty of the ministry of the Gospel, in all the kingdoms of the world, great and small, signified by mountains and hills; and which may also intimate the open and public ministrations of it in them, Zac 14:8 or of the blessings of grace, and the graces of the Spirit, communicated everywhere; see Isa 41:18, Joh 7:38. This is applied to the times of the Messiah by the Jews (g) themselves, and respects the latter part of those times: in the day of the great slaughter; not of Sennacherib's army by the angel, as many Jewish and Christian interpreters understand it; nor of the Babylonians, at the taking of Babylon by Cyrus; but of the antichristian kings, and their armies, Rev 19:17. So the Targum paraphrases it, "for the ruin of kings and their armies, in the day of the great slaughter;'' and a great slaughter it will be indeed: when the towers fall; not the batteries and fortifications raised in the Assyrian camp, at the siege of Jerusalem, which fell when they were destroyed by the angel; or the great men and princes in that army, which then fell; though towers sometimes signify great persons, such as princes; see Isa 2:15 and so the Targum interprets it here; and may be true of the antichristian princes; for of the fall of the great city of Rome, and of other cities of the nations, with the towers thereof, is this to be understood, even of mystical, and not of literal Babylon; see Rev 11:13. (g) Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 212. 3.

(Verse 25.) On that day, the lamb will graze abundantly in your possession. And your oxen and donkeys, who work the land, will eat a mixture of barley and chaff, like it has been winnowed in the threshing floor. And on that day, your horses will graze in a fertile and spacious place. Your bulls and cows, who work the land, will eat the mixture of chaff and barley in the winnowed grain. In the abundance of all things, with heavenly rain descending, and with that bread which comes down from heaven, whoever eats it will never hunger again. The lambs will graze in the most spacious place, following the lamb wherever it goes, and those who are always on the right side will also graze. But the leaders of the herd, of whom we read: The congregation of bulls in the midst of cows of the people (Ps. LXVII, 31): and the foals of donkeys, on which the Lord sitting entered Jerusalem (Matth. XXI), who work the land, they will eat from the threshing floor in such a way that it has been winnowed, so that nothing mixed of course in their food there will be chaff, of which it is written in Jeremiah: What has chaff to do with wheat, says the Lord (Jerem. XXIII)? And those who are burned with unquenchable fire in the Gospel (Luke III). Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the animals, which are not yet full of reason and wisdom, and of which one speaks to God: I have become like a beast before you (Ps. LXXII, 23), will be fed in a rich and spacious place, which does not bring forth thorns and thistles, but flows like the land of Israel with milk and honey, and grants full freedom to those who feed on it. But the bulls and oxen that work the land, that is, the Apostles and apostolic men, of whom the apostle Paul also interprets the writing: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. And, is God concerned with oxen? But certainly He speaks about those who work their own land and of whom He speaks the same, we are God's agriculture, God's building. For the Father is the farmer, and Christ is the vine: they will eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley. We read that Isaac sowed barley, and because he was among foreigners, he received a hundredfold harvest of barley. And Hosea, having hired a coro and a half of barley, took to himself an adulterous woman (Hosea III). The Savior also, with five thousand men who still served the desires of the flesh and followed the Law of Moses, satisfied them with barley loaves (John VI). In another place, by breaking seven loaves of the Law and dividing them into pieces, he filled four thousand men with wheat bread, who followed the evangelical number (Matthew XV). People of this kind eat both the chaff and the grain. While in some respects they adhere to the letter, gradually they make progress through the chaff and barley, in order to pass on to the wheat.

(Verse 25.) And they shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill, flowing streams of water on the day of the slaughter of many, when the towers fall. In this place, the Jews attribute to the power of the Roman Empire the many who were killed and the towers that collapsed, about which the Apostle also speaks (2 Thess. 7): Only he who now holds it, let him hold it until it is taken away. That is, in that time there will be such great prosperity for the people of Israel that not only valleys and plains, but all mountains and hills will be irrigated by flowing waters. But we, let us understand the mountains and hills, those who are elevated in high virtues, who hunger and thirst for justice (Matt. 5), whom the Lord challenges to drink. For whoever drinks from His waters, will not thirst forever (John 4). Hence, in the psalm we read: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel (Ps. 67:27). And in the Gospel it is said that anyone who drinks from the waters of Jesus, rivers of living water will flow from his womb (John 7). And he speaks to God the Holy One, saying: For with you is the fountain of life (Ps. 36:10), from which the purest river flows, of which Scripture again mentions: The rushing of a river makes glad the city of God (Ps. 45:4). And in another place: The river of God is filled with water (Ps. 65:9); namely, the one who speaks through Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water (Jer. 2:13). But this will happen when they are killed or perish, many indeed are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16). And when the towers fall, whether they be the powers of demons, or the proud and arrogant and great of this world; of whom it is said in the Psalms: I have seen the wicked exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not, I sought him, and his place was not found (Ps. XXXVI, 35, 36). These towers desired to build (Gen. XII), those who moved their feet from the East, whose tongues were confounded in Babylon, and those on whom the tower of Siloam fell (Luke XIII).

681. Second, he promises abundance of water: and there shall be. The Jews say that these things are to be fulfilled literally at the end of the world; the slaughter of many, the Romans, according to them, which is preposterous. Or it may be metaphorical speech, so that the water signifies the consolation which they had after the return from captivity and the destruction of Babylon. Or, mystically, it may signify the teaching of Christ, below: I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains (Isa 41:18).

This and the following chapter must relate to a still future restoration of the posterity of Jacob from their several dispersions, as no deliverance hitherto afforded them comes up to the terms of it; for, after the return from Babylon, they were again enslaved by the Greeks and Romans, contrary to the prediction in the eighth verse; in every papistical country they have labored under great civil disabilities, and in some of them have been horribly persecuted; upon the ancient people has this mystic Babylon very heavily laid her yoke; and in no place in the world are they at present their own masters; so that this prophecy remains to be fulfilled in the reign of David, i.e., the Messiah; the type, according to the general structure of the prophetical writings, being put for the antitype. The prophecy opens by an easy transition from the temporal deliverance spoken of before, and describes the mighty revolutions that shall precede the restoration of the descendants of Israel, Jer 30:1-9, who are encouraged to trust in the promises of God, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:11. They are, however, to expect corrections; which shall have a happy issue in future period, Jer 30:12-17. The great blessings of Messiah's reign are enumerated, Jer 30:18-22; and the wicked and impenitent declared to have no share in them, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24.

When the towers fall "When the mighty fall" - מגדלים migdalim, μεγαλους, Sym.; μεγαλυνομενους, Aquila; רברבין rabrebin, Chard.; all signifying mighty sizes.

THE THIRTIETH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND CHAPTERS REFER PROBABLY TO THE SUMMER OF 714 B.C., AS THE TWENTY-NINTH CHAPTER TO THE PASSOVER OF THAT YEAR. (Isa. 30:1-32) take counsel--rather, as Isa 30:4, Isa 30:6 imply, "execute counsels." cover . . . covering--that is, wrap themselves in reliances disloyal towards Jehovah. "Cover" thus answers to "seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord" (Isa 29:15). But the Hebrew is literally, "who pour out libations"; as it was by these that leagues were made (Exo 24:8; Zac 9:11), translate, "who make a league." not of--not suggested by My Spirit" (Num 27:21; Jos 9:14). that they may add--The consequence is here spoken of as their intention, so reckless were they of sinning: one sin entails the commission of another (Deu 29:19).

Even the otherwise barren hills shall then be well-watered (Isa 44:3). the day, &c.--when the disobedient among the Jews shall have been slain, as foretold in Isa 30:16 : "towers," that is, mighty men (Isa 2:15). Or else, the towers of the Assyrian Sennacherib, or of Babylon, types of all enemies of God's people.

The plan which, according to Isa 29:15, was already projected and prepared in the deepest secrecy, is now much further advanced. The negotiations by means of ambassadors have already been commenced; but the prophet condemns what he can no longer prevent. "Woe to the stubborn children, saith Jehovah, to drive plans, and not by my impulse, and to plait alliance, and not according to my Spirit, to heap sin upon sin: that go away to travel down to Egypt, without having asked my mouth, to fly to Pharaoh's shelter, and to conceal themselves under the shadow of Egypt. And Pharaoh's shelter becomes a shame to them, and the concealment under the shadow of Egypt a disgrace. For Judah's princes have appeared in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive in Hanes. They will all have to be ashamed of a people useless to them, that brings no help and no use, but shame, and also reproach." Sōrerı̄m is followed by infinitives with Lamed (cf., Isa 5:22; Isa 3:8): who are bent upon it in their obstinacy. Massēkhâh designates the alliance as a plait (massēkheth). According to Cappellus and others, it designates it as formed with a libation (σπονδη, from σπένδεσθαι); but the former is certainly the more correct view, inasmuch as massēkhâh (from nâsakh, fundere) signifies a cast, and hence it is more natural here to take nâsakh as equivalent to sâkhakh, plectere (Jerome: ordiremini telam). The context leaves no doubt as to the meaning of the adverbial expressions ולא־מנּי and ולא־רוּחי, viz., without its having proceeded from me, and without my Spirit being there. "Sin upon sin:" inasmuch as they carry out further and further to perfect realization the thought which was already a sinful one in itself. The prophet now follows for himself the ambassadors, who are already on the road to the country of the Nile valley. He sees them arrive in Zoan, and watches them as they proceed thence into Hanes. He foresees and foretells what a disgraceful opening of their eyes will attend the reward of this untheocratical beginning. On lâ‛ōz b', see at Isa 10:31 : ‛ōz is the infinitive constr. of ‛ūz; mâ‛ōz, on the contrary, is a derivative of ‛âzaz, to be strong. The suffixes of שׂריו (his princes) and מלאכיו (his ambassadors) are supposed by Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel, who take a different view of what is said, to refer to the princes and ambassadors of Pharaoh. But this is by no means warranted on the ground that the prophet cannot so immediately transfer to Zoan and Hanes the ambassadors of Judah, who were still on their journey according to Isa 30:2. The prophet's vision overleaps the existing stage of the desire for this alliance; he sees the great men of his nation already suing for the favour of Egypt, first of all in Zoan, and then still further in Hanes, and at once foretells the shameful termination of this self-desecration of the people of Jehovah. The lxx give for יגיעוּ חנּס, μάτην κοπιάσουσιν, i.e., ייגעוּ סהנּם, and Knobel approves this reading; but it is a misunderstanding, which only happens to have fallen out a little better this time than the rendering ὡς Δαυίδ given for כּדּוּר in Isa 29:3. If chinnâm had been the original reading, it would hardly have entered any one's mind to change it into chânēs. The latter was the name of a city on an island of the Nile in Central Egypt, the later Heracleopolis (Eg. Hnēs; Ehnēs), the Anysis of Herodotus (ii. 137). On Zoan, see at Isa 19:11. At that time the Tanitic dynasty was reigning, the dynasty preceding the Ethiopian. Tanis and Anysis were the two capitals. הבאישׁ (= היבשׁ =( ה, a metaplastic hiphil of יבשׁ = בּושׁ, a different word from יבשׁ) is incorrectly pointed for הבאישׁ, like ריאשׁנה (keri) for ראישׁנה in Jos 21:10. הבאישׁ signifies elsewhere, "to make stinking" (to calumniate, Pro 13:5), or "to come into ill odour" (Sa1 27:12); here, however, it means to be put to shame (בּאשׁ = בּושׁ).