Isaia 35:2 Commento

As after a prediction of God's judgments upon the world (ch. 24) follows a promise of great mercy to be had in store for his church (Isa 25:1-12), so here after a black and dreadful scene of confusion in the foregoing chapter we have, in this, a bright and pleasant one, which, though it foretel the flourishing estate of Hezekiah's kingdom in the latter part of his reign, yet surely looks as far beyond that as the prophecy in the foregoing chapter does beyond the destruction of the Edomites; both were typical, and it concerns us most to look at those things which they were typical of, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. When the world, which lies in wickedness, shall be laid in ruins, and the Jewish church, which persisted in infidelity, shall become a desolation, then the gospel church shall be set up and made to flourish. I. The Gentiles shall be brought into it (Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2, Isa 35:7). II. The well-wishers to it, who were weak and timorous, shall be encouraged (Isa 35:3, Isa 35:4). III. Miracles shall be wrought both on the souls and on the bodies of men (Isa 35:5, Isa 35:6). IV. The gospel church shall be conducted in the way of holiness (Isa 35:8, Isa 35:9). V. It shall be brought at last to endless joys (Isa 35:10). Thus do we find more of Christ and heaven in this chapter than one would have expected in the Old Testament.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 35 This chapter is a prediction of the glory and flourishing estate of the Gospel church, and of the blessings received by it from Christ. Its flourishing state is expressed by the fruitfulness of the desert, being made like to Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon; and by the inhabitants of it seeing the glory and excellency of Christ, Isa 35:1 the ministers of the word are directed and exhorted to strengthen the weak, and comfort the feeble minded, by assuring them of the coming of Christ to save them, Isa 35:3 when miracles, both in nature and grace, should be wrought; and great alterations should be made in the wilderness, by the power of God, Isa 35:5 when a way should be cast up, described; and the persons that should walk in it are pointed at; and the end it should bring them to, everlasting joy and happiness, Isa 35:8.

It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing,.... A redundancy of words, to express the very flourishing estate of the church, and the great joy there shall be on that occasion, as well as because of the destruction of their enemies, and deliverance from them: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; a mountain in Judea, famous for its choice and tall cedars, which were the glory of it; signifying hereby, that the church of God, which had been in a desolate condition, should abound with choice and excellent Christians, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon. Jarchi interprets it of the sanctuary or temple; which may be so called, because built of the wood of Lebanon. This was an emblem and type of the Gospel church; and the glory of it lay not only in its outward form and building, but in those things which were in the holy places of it, especially the most holy, which were all typical of spiritual things in Gospel times; so that all the glory of the Jewish church state and temple is brought into the Gentile church, into the Christian or Gospel church state; and which will still more appear in the latter day, when the temple of God will be opened in heaven, and the ark of the testament; see Rev 11:19, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; two places in the land of Judea, famous for fruitfulness and pasturage; and so denote the very great fruitfulness of the Gospel church; the word and ordinances of which are as green pastures for the sheep of Christ to feed upon, and by which they become fat and flourishing: they shall see the glory of our Lord, and the excellency of our God; the Targum introduces this clause thus, "the house of Israel, to whom these things are said, they shall see,'' &c.; but not Israel in a literal sense is here meant, but the Gentile church, formerly in the wilderness; or, however, converted persons, be they Jews or Gentiles, in the latter day, who shall see the glory of divine power, in the destruction of their enemies; and the excellency and beauty of divine grace, in the blessings of it bestowed upon them; they shall see the glory of the Lord, which shall then be risen upon them, Isa 60:1 the Lord our God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Lord and God; the glory and excellency of whose person and offices, and of his righteousness and salvation, is seen in the Gospel, by those whose eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God; and will be more clearly discerned, when there will be a greater effusion of the Spirit, as a spirit, of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; and to this sight of the glory and excellency of Christ, the joy and fruitfulness of the church will be greatly owing. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "my people shall see", &c.

I believe the passage, “And my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God,” refers to the presence of our Savior at the baptism, because it was there that the glory of the Savior was seen.

(Chapter 35, verses 1, 2) The desolate and impassable will rejoice, and solitude will exult and flourish like a lily. It will sprout and blossom; with joy and praise it will exult. The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God. LXX: Rejoice, O desert, thirsting, and let the solitude exult and flourish like a lily. The deserts of the Jordan will blossom and exult; the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel. And my people will see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. Since Jerusalem has been turned into pitch and its smoke rises forever, and it is inhabited by the pelican and the hedgehog, the ibis and the raven, the dragons and the ostriches, demons and half-man half-horse creatures, lamia and hairy beings: and the Lord's fulfilled sentence is upon it: 'Your house will be left to you desolate' (Luke 13:35): therefore, what was once deserted, of which it is said in the Psalm: 'The voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness', and the Lord will shake the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord prepares the stags; and it reveals the thickets of the forests (Psalm 28:8,9), it will be transformed into the abundance of all things, and the beasts of the nations will be driven out from the fighting stags, from all the forests, which previously possessed them, so that what is said in the same Prophet may be fulfilled: Rejoice, O barren one, you who do not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who has a husband (Isaiah 54:1). This was previously thirsty, or impassable, not having life-giving waters, and the Lord did not walk (or enter) through it, which now will blossom into a lily, or as the Eagle expressed more significantly, an opening, which we can call a swelling rose with not yet expanded leaves. However, it will blossom, as the Apostle declares: We are the good odor of Christ in every place (II Cor. II, 15). And that from the Song of Songs: Flowers have been seen in the land; mandrakes have given forth their fragrance (Cant. VII, 12, 13). And what is placed in the LXX, 'and the deserts of the Jordan shall rejoice,' is not found in Hebrew, but we can say: in the Jordan river, the baptism of repentance was shown, which the Lord signed and confirmed with his washing. And because it is figuratively said about the wilderness, which refers to the nations, in which John was, it can be subsequently joined to the Jordan, so that through the desert of the nations we come to the baptism of the Savior. And what follows, the glory of Lebanon was given to him, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon, according to the previous explanation we must understand, in which we said that Lebanon or the Temple of Jerusalem is meant, as Zachariah says: Open, Lebanon, your gates (Zach. XI, 1); and Ezekiel: A great eagle with great wings and full of feathers, which has a direction to enter Lebanon and Carmel (Ezek. XVII. 3): the former meaning the people, of whom it has been said above: And it will be a desert in Carmel, and Carmel will be counted as a wilderness (Isa. XXIII, 9); and Sharon has the same meaning, Scripture saying: Sharon has become like a desert. Therefore, all brightness, worship of God, and knowledge of circumcision, and the most fertile and open places, which are called Sharon, for which Symmachus interpreted as fields, will be given to the once deserted Church, and its inhabitants will see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty or greatness of our God.

Observe how he names him Lord and calls him God, seeing that he speaks in the Spirit; note that he knew the Emmanuel would not be simply a man bearing God nor, of a truth, as one assumed as an agent. But he knew that he was truly God and incarnate.… For our Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to us having divine strength, and his arm with authority, that is, with power and dominion.

Because a multitude of Gentiles followed it after Judah came to faith in the Lord’s incarnation and an astonished partaker of the same grace hastened its own unexpected conversion, Judah exclaimed in surprise, “Who is this that ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon my beloved?” The church of the Gentiles ascends from the desert because the one who was deserted by its Creator for a very long time now arrives at his grace by the incremental steps of faith and good works, thus fulfilling what the prophet Isaiah said: “The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily.” Indeed, she is truly flowing with those delights about which the spouse spoke above: “How beautiful you are, and how lovely, my dear, with delights,” that is, with the delights of heavenly life. “Leaning upon my beloved” means leaning upon him without whose assistance she would be able neither to ascend above nor to rise again, for we are unable to possess either advancement in the virtues or the beginning of faith itself unless the Lord bestows them upon us.Therefore, Judah was even more awestruck by this grace of the Gentiles’ new conversion, a grace that it believed pertained only to itself and to those who were received in its rite through the mystery of circumcision, as the Acts of the Apostles made abundantly clear.

Second, he promises the fertility of the land: the glory of Libanus, that is, the fertility of various things, which is the glory of these places, will be found in the promised land: his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus (Hos 14:7). Third, the nearness of both of these: they themselves shall see, that is, it shall not be postponed to the time of their children, above: his eyes shall see the king in his beauty (Isa 33:17).

Jeremiah is commanded to go to the Rechabites, who, on the approach of the Chaldean army, took refuge in Jerusalem; and to try their obedience to the command of Jonadab, (or Jehonadab, Kg2 10:15, Kg2 10:16), their great progenitor, who lived in the reign of Jehu, king of Israel, upwards of two hundred and fifty years before this time, offers them wine to drink, which they refuse, Jer 35:1-11. Hence occasion is taken to upbraid the Jews with their disobedience to God, their heavenly Father, Jer 35:12-17; and a blessing is pronounced on the Rechabites, Jer 35:18, Jer 35:19.

Rejoice even with joy and singing "The well-watered plain of Jordan shall also rejoice" - For ורנן veranen, the Septuagint read ירדן yarden, τα ερηνα του Ιορδανου, "the deserts of Jordan." Four MSS. read גלת gulath; see Jos 15:19 : "Irrigua Jordani;" Houbigant. גידת gidoth, Ripae Jordani, "the banks of Jordan;" Kennicott. See De S. Poesi Hebr. Praelect. 20 note. Unto it - For לה lah, to it, nine MSS. of Kennicott's and four of De Rossi's read לך lecha, to thee. See ibid.

CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY IN THE THIRTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. (Isa 35:1-10) solitary place--literally, "a dry place," without springs of water. A moral wilderness is meant. for them--namely, on account of the punishment inflicted according to the preceding prophecy on the enemy; probably the blessings set forth in this chapter are included in the causes for joy (Isa 55:12). rose--rather, "the meadow-saffron," an autumnal flower with bulbous roots; so Syriac translation.

glory of Lebanon--its ornament, namely, its cedars (Isa 10:34). excellency of Carmel--namely, its beauty. Sharon--famed for its fertility. see . . . glory of the Lord . . . excellency-- (Isa 40:5, Isa 40:9). While the wilderness which had neither "glory" nor "excellency" shall have both "given to it," the Lord shall have all the "glory" and "excellency" ascribed to Him, not to the transformed wilderness (Mat 5:16).