Isaia 31:7 Commento

This chapter is an abridgment of the foregoing chapter; the heads of it are much the same. Here is, I. A woe to those who, when the Assyrian army invaded them, trusted to the Egyptians, and not to God, for succour (Isa 31:1-3). II. Assurance given of the care God would take of Jerusalem in that time of danger and distress (Isa 31:4, Isa 31:5). III. A call to repentance and reformation (Isa 31:6, Isa 31:7). IV. A prediction of the fall of the Assyrian army, and the fright which the Assyrian king should thereby be put into (Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 31 This chapter denounces woe to those that trusted in the Egyptians; assures the Jews of God's care and protection of them; calls them to repentance, and foretells the destruction of the Assyrian army. The sin of those that trusted in Egypt, with the reasons of their trust, and not looking to the Lord, and seeking him, is declared in Isa 31:1 and their folly exposed in so doing; since the Lord is wise, powerful, and unchangeable, and the Egyptians frail and weak; so that the helper and the helped must fall before him, Isa 31:2 whereas protection might be expected from the Lord, as is promised, whose power is like that of the lion, and whose tender care is like that of birds to defend their young, Isa 31:4 wherefore the Jews are called upon to return to the Lord by repentance, from whom they had revolted; which would be shown by their detestation of idolatry, the sin they had been guilty of, Isa 31:6 and the chapter is closed with a prophecy of the ruin of the Assyrian army, and the flight of their king, Isa 31:8.

For in that day,.... When deliverance shall be wrought; when men shall be convinced of the vanity and insufficiency of their idols to help them, and of their sin in worshipping them; when they shall be brought to repentance for it, and turn to the Lord as an evidence of it: every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold; with contempt and abhorrence of them, as the word (w) signifies; every man "his" own idol, and even those that were of the greatest value, which were made of gold and silver: which your own hands have made unto you for a sin; their idols were the work of their own hands, and were made by them in order to commit sin with, the sin of idolatry; or sin may be put for the punishment of sin, which is the issue and consequence of such practices: or it may be rendered, "which your hands of sin", or "sinful hands, have made" (x); it was a sin to make such idols, especially with a view to worship them; it was a sin to worship them; and the fruit of it was deserved punishment. (w) a "spernere, reprobare." (x) "manus vestrae flagitiosae", Bootius Animadv. Sacr. l. 4. c. 2. sect. 12.

(Verse 6 onwards) Return, as you have deeply strayed, O children of Israel. For on that day a man will cast away the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your own hands have made for yourselves to sin. And Assur will fall by the sword, not of a man; and a sword, not of a human, will devour him. He will flee not from the face of the sword, and his young men will become forced labor. His strength will pass away in terror, and his fleeing princes will be filled with fear, says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. LXX: Return, O children of Israel, as you have gone deep into sin. For on that day every man will throw away the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold that your own hands have made for your own sins. And Assyria will fall by the sword, not of a man, and a sword, not of a human, will devour him; he will flee, but not from the face of the sword; his young men will be defeated; they will be surrounded like a wall, and they will be conquered; but whoever flees will be captured. Thus says the Lord: Blessed is he who has offspring in Zion and who has a household in Jerusalem. While the Lord fights against his adversaries on Mount Zion and protects it like a rampart, O children of Israel, turn back! As Symmachus translated it: Repent, you who have strayed from the Lord due to deep counsel and sin. For if you do this, casting aside the golden and silver idols that have been a cause of sin for you, because of which your city was captured, Assyria will fall, from whose fear you now flee, not by the sword of men or the strength of an army, but by the power of God. But it signifies that an angel, by whom 185,000 Assyrians were destroyed in one night. Also, the Assyrian king himself will not flee from the sword of men, but from the wrath of God, so that his young and strong men will become tributaries to the Medes, of whom it is said above, in opposition to Babylon: Behold, I will raise up the Medes against you. And the might of Assyria will pass by with the terror of the Lord, and all its princes will tremble. For the Lord has spoken and promised, and what He has said, He has done: and He who has fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem, so that He may consume His adversaries like straw and wood coming out of Jerusalem. Another thing that is said: On that day, a man will throw away his idols of silver and the rest, it is interpreted in such a way that it testifies that after the return from the Babylonian captivity until the coming of Christ, the children of Israel never worshiped idols. Assyria is also signified in the present place, not by an angel, but by the Medes, because it was the most ancient and once powerful kingdom, which was destroyed after offending the Lord, and served the conquerors. The Nazarenes understand this place thus: O children of Israel, who denied the Son of God with wicked counsel, return to Him and His Apostles. For if you do this, you will cast away all the idols that were previously a sin for you, and the devil will fall to you, not by your strength, but by the mercy of God; and its young men who once fought for it will be subjects of the Church, and all its strength and rock will be passed to it; even the philosophers and every perverse doctrine will turn their backs to the sign of the cross. For the opinion of the Lord is that this should be done: whose fire or light is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem. Fire and light are written in Hebrew with the same letters Aleph, Vau, Res; if it is read as Ur, it means fire: if Or, it means light. This is said because for the fire, which Symmachus alone interprets, Aquila and Theodotion translate it as light. But I do not know what is meant by what is read in the Septuagint: They will be surrounded like a wall by rock, and they will be conquered: but whoever flees will be captured. Unless perhaps we can say this, that the young men of the Assyrian king who are to be conquered and captured, are surrounded like a rock, that is, by the strength of the Lord, just as a city is surrounded by a wall. Furthermore, what follows: Blessed is the one who has offspring in Zion, and domestic servants in Jerusalem, we can interpret it in such a way as to say that it agrees with the meaning of this place, that the divine word exhorts those who are fleeing to Egypt to return to Jerusalem and to bear children. To whom such great blessedness is promised, that it may be defended and protected by the help of the Lord. And in another place it is written about it: The glory of this last house shall be greater than the glory of the former (Haggai 2:10). Which can also be referred to the Church, the vision of peace and the watchtower, of which it is written: Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:2). And elsewhere: The streams of the river make glad the city of God (Psalm 46:3). For in it there is fire and a furnace that shall devour the sinners, and shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble; or it is a light and an oven, that the brightness of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, may be shown.

And he sets out the completion of the counsel: in that day, above: in that day a man shall cast away his idols (Isa 2:20).

The Jews again reproved for their confidence in Egypt, finely contrasted with their neglect of the power and protection of God, Isa 31:1-3. Deliverance and protection are, notwithstanding, promised, expressed by two similes; the first remarkably lofty and poetical, the latter singularly beautiful and tender, Isa 31:4, Isa 31:5. Exhortation to repentance, joined with the prediction of a more reformed period, Isa 31:6, Isa 31:7. This chapter concludes like the preceding, with a prophecy of the fall of Sennacherib, Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9.

Which your own hands have made unto you for a sin "The sin, which their own hands have made" - The construction of the word חטא chet, sin, in this place is not easy. The Septuagint have omitted it: MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 2 and Cod. Marchal. in margine, supply the omission by the word ἁμαρτιαν, sin, or ἁμαρτημα, said to be from Aquila's Version, which I have followed. The learned Professor Schroeder, Institut. Ling. Hebrews p. 298, makes it to be in regimine with ידיכם yedeychem, as an epithet, your sinful hands. The Septuagint render the pronoun in the third person, αἱ χειρες αυτων, their hands; and an ancient MS. has, agreeable to that rendering, להם lahem, to them, for לכם lachem, to you; which word they have likewise omitted, as not necessary to complete the sense.

THE CHIEF STRENGTH OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMIES LAY IN THEIR CAVALRY. (Isa 31:1-9) and stay on horses, and trust in chariots--In their level and fertile plains horses could easily be used and fed (Exo 14:9; Kg1 10:28). In hilly Palestine horses were not so easily had or available. The Jews were therefore the more eager to get Egyptian chariots as allies against the Assyrian cavalry. In Assyrian sculptures chariots are represented drawn by three horses, and with three men in them (see Isa 36:9; Psa 20:7; Dan 9:13).

In the day of trial the idols will be found to render no help and will therefore be cast away. Compare as to the future restoration and conversion of Israel simultaneously with the interposition of Jehovah in its defense, Zac 12:9-14; Zac 13:1-2. for a sin--that is, whereby especially you contracted guilt (Kg1 12:30).

There is nothing to surprise us in the fact, that the prophet returns again and again to the alliance with Egypt. After his warning had failed to prevent it, he wrestled with it in spirit, set before himself afresh the curse which would be its certain fruit, brought out and unfolded the consolation of believers that lay hidden in the curse, and did not rest till the cursed fruit, that had become a real thing, had been swallowed up by the promise, which was equally real. The situation of this fourth woe is just the same as that of the previous one. The alliance with Egypt is still in progress. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely upon horses, and put their trust in chariots, that there are many of them; and in horsemen, that there is a powerful multitude of them; and do not look up to the Holy One of Israel, and do not inquire for Jehovah! And yet He also is wise; thus then He brings evil, and sets not His words aside; and rises up against the house of miscreants, and against the help of evil-doers. And Egypt is man, and not God; and its horses flesh, and not spirit. And when Jehovah stretches out His hand, the helper stumbles, and he that is helped falls, and they all perish together." The expression "them that go down" (hayyōredı̄m) does not imply that the going down was taking place just then for the first time. It is the participle of qualification, just as God is called הבּרא. לעזרה with Lamed of the object, as in Isa 20:6. The horses, chariots, and horsemen here, as those of Egypt, which Diodorus calls ἱππάσιμος, on account of its soil being so suitable for cavalry (see Lepsius in Herzog's Cyclopaedia). The participle is combined in the finite verb. Instead of ועל־סוּסים, we also find the reading preferred by Norzi, of על without Vav, as in Isa 5:11 (cf., Isa 5:23). The perfects, שׁעוּ לא and דרשׁוּ לא, are used without any definite time, to denote that which was always wanting in them. The circumstantial clause, "whilst He is assuredly also wise," i.e., will bear comparison with their wisdom and that of Egypt, is a touching μείωσις. It was not necessary to think very highly of Jehovah, in order to perceive the reprehensible and destructive character of their apostasy from Him. The fut. consec. ויּבא is used to indicate the inevitable consequence of their despising Him who is also wise. He will not set aside His threatening words, but carry them out. The house of miscreants is Judah (Isa 1:4); and the help (abstr. pro concr., just as Jehovah is frequently called "my help," ‛ezrâthı̄, by the Psalmist) of evil-doers is Egypt, whose help has been sought by Judah. The latter is "man" ('âdâm), and its horses "flesh" (bâsâr); whereas Jehovah is God (El) and spirit (rūăch; see Psychol. p. 85). Hofmann expounds it correctly: "As ruuach has life in itself, it is opposed to the bâsâr, which is only rendered living through the rūăch; and so El is opposed to the corporeal 'âdâm, who needs the spirit in order to live at all." Thus have they preferred the help of the impotent and conditioned, to the help of the almighty and all-conditioning One. Jehovah, who is God and spirit, only requires to stretch out His hand (an anthropomorphism, by the side of which we find the rule for interpreting it); and the helpers, and those who are helped (i.e., according to the terms of the treaty, though not in reality), that is to say, both the source of the help and the object of help, are all cast into one heap together.

The first is, that idolatry would one day be recognised in all its abomination, and put away. "For in that day they will abhor every one their silver idols and their gold idols, which your hands have made you for a sin," i.e., to commit sin and repent, with the preponderance of the latter idea, as in Hos 8:11 (compare Kg1 13:34). חטא, a second accusative to עשׂוּ, indicating the result. The prospect is the same as that held out in Isa 30:22; Isa 27:9; Isa 17:8; Isa 2:20.