Isaia 4:4 Commento

In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of the paucity and scarceness of man (Isa 4:1), which might fitly enough have been added to the close of the foregoing chapter, to which it has a plain reference. II. A promise of the restoration of Jerusalem's peace and purity, righteousness and safety, in the days of the Messiah (Isa 4:2-6). Thus, in wrath, mercy is remembered, and gospel grace is a sovereign relief, in reference to the terrors of the law and the desolations made by sin.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 4 The "first" verse of this chapter Isa 4:1 seems more properly to belong to the preceding chapter, which declares such a scarcity of men, through the destruction of them in war, there predicted, that there should be seven women to one man; who, contrary to their natural modesty, would make suit to him; and, contrary to custom, propose to provide their own food and raiment, only desiring to be called by his name. After which, Isa 4:2, follows a prophecy of Christ, who is described by his names, the branch of the Lord, and the fruit of the earth; and by proper epithets of him, as such, beautiful, glorious, excellent, and comely; and by the persons to whom he is so, the escaped of Israel, to whom various blessings are promised; as the sanctification of them, the source of which is their election, and the means of it the spirit of judgment and burning, Isa 4:3 and the protection and preservation of them, by the Lord's creating, as for Israel of old, a cloud of smoke to rest upon them by day, and a shining of flaming fire by night, and by being himself a tabernacle to screen them from heat in the day, and a place of refuge to cover them from storm and rain, Isa 4:5.

When (n) the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,.... By Zion is meant the church of Christ in general, his mystical body, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, written in heaven, Heb 12:22 and by her "daughters" particular churches, that go by the name of Christian churches, who are called the reformed churches, being such as are separated from the church of Rome; among whom there is a great deal of "filth", and which will be removed in the latter times of the Gospel dispensation; by which are designed all false doctrines, such as are contrary to the deity and sonship of Christ, and the personality of the Holy Spirit; which derogate from the grace of God in election, justification, pardon, and salvation; which detract from the blood of Christ, and deny his imputed righteousness and satisfaction; and which exalt the power and free will of man, and tend to impurity and licentiousness; these will all be removed, and the true doctrine, which secures the glory of each divine Person, asserts the free grace of God, salvation by Christ, the operations of the Spirit, and influences and engages to holiness of life, will take place. This filth likewise includes all false worship; all ordinances and institutions of men; all corruptions in the ordinances of Christ, baptism, and the Lord's supper; all forms and modes of worship that are not of God; all offices and officers, except bishops and deacons, which are of the man of sin; and all immorality and profaneness; and all wicked men, even all that offend and do iniquity, shall be taken out of Christ's kingdom and churches; there will be a thorough clearing of his floor of all filth, dirt, and chaff. And shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof; that is, of the daughters of Jerusalem, particular churches, of which the Jerusalem above is the mother; for this is not to be understood literally of the city of Jerusalem, nor of the blood of Christ, and his servants, shed in it, purged away by the burning of it by the Romans; but of the bloodshed and persecution in Protestant churches; for a spirit of persecution has prevailed in some of them, but this shall be no more seen in the latter day; Christ's kingdom will be a peaceable kingdom, and of the peace of it there will be no end; as there will be no war in a civil sense, so neither in a religious sense; all animosities, disputes, and contentions, will cease; see Isa 9:7 and much less will there be any effusion of blood on account of religion, nor any that shed it; as the Targum paraphrases the words, "and they that shed innocent blood in Jerusalem shall be removed out of it:'' it is added, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning; the Targum is, "by the word of judgment, and by the word of consummation or perfection;'' by the former is meant a judicious spirit, which the Lord will give to his churches and ministers; a set of ministers will be raised up, having the everlasting Gospel, which they shall freely, fully, and openly preach unto all men; by which means the churches will be cleared of all false doctrines; clear and distinct light will be given to all the preachers of the word; the watchmen shall see eye to eye; and all Zion's children be taught of God; and this shall be universal all the world over; there will be a discerning of spirits of men and doctrines, whether of God, or not; by which good doctrines will be distinguished from bad ones, and good men from the wicked; and this will be part of the judgment which will be given to the saints of the most High, and will proceed from the Spirit of God; who will be poured out in a plenteous manner to guide the churches into all truth, as it is in Jesus; and by the latter, "the spirit of burning", is meant a burning flaming zeal; a zeal according to knowledge, against all false doctrine and worship, and for the pure doctrine and worship of Christ; which will appear in Christian ministers and churches, and also in Christian magistrates, who will hate the whore, and burn her flesh with fire; and who will be stirred up by the preachers of the Gospel to pour out the plagues on the antichristian states, Rev 15:6 and when the fire of God's word will burn up all the wood, hay, and stubble, which the day will declare; and then will be the trying winnowing time, and those that are left will be holy unto the Lord. (n) Or, "for the Lord shall wash away"; so Noldius, in Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 88. No. 428. which gives a reason why he "that is left in Zion, &c shall be called holy"; because "the Lord", &c. so the Septuagint version, ; and Aben Ezra observes, that "if", is used for "because."

The greatest cleansing is the spiritual washing that washes away the filth of the soul. The inspired word speaks of such a washing: “The Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Israel and shall wash away the blood from their midst.” This refers to the blood of immortality as well as the killing of the prophets. He means by this purification, seen from the added phrase, “by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.” The washing of the body, however, is physical and is accomplished only by water. In fact, it can even be done in fields far away from the baths.

Then the gospel says, "When the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought him into Jerusalem." The passage says, on account of "their" purification. Who are "they"? If Scripture had said, "on account of 'her' purification"—that is, Mary's, who had given birth—then no question would arise. We would say confidently that Mary, who was a human being, needed purification after childbirth. But the passage reads, "the days of their purification." Apparently it does not signify one but two or more. Did Jesus therefore need purification? Was he unclean or polluted with some stain? Perhaps I seem to speak rashly; but the authority of Scripture prompts me to ask. See what is written in the book of Job: "No man is clean of stain, not even if his life had lasted but a single day." The passage does not say, "No man is clean of sin," but "No man is clean of stain." "Stain" and "sins" do not mean the same thing. "Stain" is one thing, "sin" another. Isaiah teaches this clearly when he says, "The Lord will wash away the stains of the sons and daughters of Zion, and he will cleanse the blood from their midst. By the spirit of judgment he will purge the stain, and by the spirit of burning the blood."Every soul that has been clothed with a human body has its own "stain." But Jesus was stained through his own will, because he had taken on a human body for our salvation.

When one has recognized the differences in sins, one can see how the Lord says in Isaiah, "The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion and will cleanse the blood from their midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning." Filth is washed away by a spirit of judgment. Blood is washed away by a spirit of burning. Even if you have not committed a sin that leads to death, you have still sinned and have thereby become filthy. The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and he will cleanse the blood from among them. A spirit of judgment will be the recompense for filth, and a spirit of burning will be a recompense for the blood. Whenever we commit heinous sins, we do not need lye or washing with soap; rather we need the spirit of burning.

(Verse 4.) When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from its midst with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the remnant of Israel shall be saved when their sins are forgiven in the baptism of the Savior and that blood is cleansed, the blood that the wandering people invoked upon themselves saying: His blood be upon us and upon our children (Matthew 27:25). Hence, we read above: When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:15-16). And afterwards, provoking them to repentance, he brings forth this: Be washed, be made clean. And take note that the filth of the daughters of Zion will be washed away by the spirit of judgment, but the blood of Jerusalem will be washed away by the spirit of burning. For what is light is washed away, but what is heavier is burned up. Concerning this spirit of judgment and spirit of burning, John the Baptist spoke in the Gospel: I baptize you with water, but he who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). From this we learn that while man gives only water, God gives the Holy Spirit, by which both filth is washed away and the sins of blood are cleansed.

“When the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning,” then the remnant from Jerusalem will be saved—when their sins will be forgiven in the baptism of the Savior, and they will be cleansed by the blood of him whom the people invoked: “May his blood be upon us and upon our children.” Hence we read above: “When you raise your hands, I will not hear you, for your hands are covered with blood.” And later he attempts to move them to repentance, saying, “Wash, be clean.” Observe also that he will cleanse the filth of the daughters of Zion by a spirit of judgment, but the blood of Jerusalem by a spirit of burning, for what is light will be washed, but what is more heavily soiled will be scalded. John the Baptist spoke about this spirit of judgment and spirit of burning in the Gospel, when he said, “I baptize you with water, but the one who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” From this we learn that man provides only water, but God provides the Holy Spirit by whom both the filth is cleansed and the sins are purged in blood.

Third, the manner of sanctification: if the Lord shall wash away, that is, if yet before he shall wash away, the filth, of vices, and the blood, of the prophets poured out, out of the midst thereof, not in a corner, by which the public nature of their sin is noted, by the spirit of judgment, as to the equity of the punishment, and by the spirit of burning, that is, of tribulation as to its harshness. By the spirit, that is, the wind, metaphorically, by which an area is purged: a burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people (Jer 4:11), supply: to fan and to cleanse. 148. If the Lord shall wash away (Isa 4:4). Here the order of sanctification is set out. And first, through the washing of baptism: the filth, of actual faults, and the blood, of original sin; or the filth, of venial sins, the blood, of mortal sins: I washed you with water, and cleansed away your blood from you (Ezek 16:9). Through the distinction of penance: the spirit of judgment: but if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged [by the Lord] (1 Cor 11:31); but by his loving passion: the spirit of burning, that is, of his love, which none is greater than: greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13); for this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins (Matt 26:28).

Sequel of the exhortations and promises addressed to Israel in the preceding chapter, Jer 4:1, Jer 4:2. The prophet then addresses the people of Judah and Jerusalem, exhorting to repentance and reformation, that the dreadful visitation with which they were threatened might be averted, Jer 4:3, Jer 4:4. He then sounds the alarm of war, Jer 4:5, Jer 4:6. Nebuchadnezzar, like a fierce lion, is, from the certainty of the prophecy, represented to be on his march; and the disastrous event to have been already declared, Jer 4:7-9. And as the lying prophets had flattered the people with the hopes of peace and safety, they are now introduced, (when their predictions are falsified by the event), excusing themselves; and, with matchless effrontery, laying the blame of the deception upon God, ("And they said," etc., so the text is corrected by Kennicott), Jer 4:10. The prophet immediately resumes his subject; and, in the person of God, denounces again those judgments which were shortly to be inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 4:11-18. The approaching desolation of Jerusalem lamented in language amazingly energetic and exquisitely tender, Jer 4:19-21. The incorrigible wickedness of the people the sole cause of these calamities, Jer 4:22. In the remaining verses the prophet describes the sad catastrophe of Jerusalem by such a beautiful assemblage of the most striking and afflictive circumstances as form a picture of a land "swept with the besom of destruction." The earth seems ready to return to its original chaos; every ray of light is extinguished, and succeeded by a frightful gloom; the mountains tremble, and the hills shake, under the dreadful apprehension of the wrath of Jehovah; all is one awful solitude, where not a vestige of the human race is to be seen. Even the fowls of heaven, finding no longer whereon to subsist, are compelled to migrate; the most fruitful places are become a dark and dreary desert, and every city is a ruinous heap. To complete the whole, the dolorous shrieks of Jerusalem, as of a woman in peculiar agony, break through the frightful gloom; and the appalled prophet pauses, leaving the reader to reflect on the dreadful effects of apostasy and idolatry, Jer 4:23-31.

The spirit of burning - Means the fire of God's wrath, by which he will prove and purify his people; gathering them into his furnace, in order to separate the dross from the silver, the bad from the good. The severity of God's judgments, the fiery trial of his servants, Ezekiel (Eze 22:18-22) has set forth at large, after his manner, with great boldness of imagery and force of expression. God threatens to gather them into the midst of Jerusalem, as into the furnace; to blow the fire upon them, and to melt them. Malachi, Mal 3:2, Mal 3:3, treats the same subject, and represents the same event, under the like images: - "But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like the fire of the refiner, And like the soap of the fullers. And he shall sit refining and purifying the silver; And he shall purify the sons of Levi; And cleanse them like gold, and like silver; That they may be Jehovah's ministers, Presenting unto him an offering in righteousness." This is an allusion to a chemist purifying metals. He first judges of the state of the ore or adulterated metal. Secondly, he kindles the proper degree of fire, and applies the requisite test; and thus separates the precious from the vile.

(Isa 4:1-6) In contrast to those on whom vengeance falls, there is a manifestation of Jesus Christ to the "escaped of Israel" in His characteristic attributes, beauty and glory, typified in Aaron's garments (Exo 28:2). Their sanctification is promised as the fruit of their being "written" in the book of life by sovereign love (Isa 4:3); the means of it are the "spirit of judgment" and that of "burning" (Isa 4:4). Their "defense" by the special presence of Jesus Christ is promised (Isa 4:5-6). branch--the sprout of JEHOVAH. Messiah (Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15; Zac 3:8; Zac 6:12; Luk 1:78, Margin). The parallel clause does not, as MAURER objects, oppose this; for "fruit of the earth" answers to "branch"; He shall not be a dry, but a fruit-bearing branch (Isa 27:6; Eze 34:23-27). He is "of the earth" in His birth and death, while He is also "of the Lord" (Jehovah) (Joh 12:24). His name, "the Branch," chiefly regards His descent from David, when the family was low and reduced (Luk 2:4, Luk 2:7, Luk 2:24); a sprout with more than David's glory, springing as from a decayed tree (Isa 11:1; Isa 53:2; Rev 22:16). excellent-- (Heb 1:4; Heb 8:6). comely-- (Sol 5:15-16; Eze 16:14). escaped of Israel--the elect remnant (Rom 11:5); (1) in the return from Babylon; (2) in the escape from Jerusalem's destruction under Titus; (3) in the still future assault on Jerusalem, and deliverance of "the third part"; events mutually analogous, like concentric circles (Zac 12:2-10; Zac 13:8-9, &c.; Zac 14:2; Eze 39:23-29; Joel 3:1-21).

When--that is, After. washed-- (Zac 13:1). filth--moral (Isa 1:21-25). daughters of Zion--same as in Isa 3:16. purged--purified by judgments; destroying the ungodly, correcting and refining the godly. blood-- (Isa 1:15). spirit--Whatever God does in the universe, He does by His Spirit, "without the hand" of man (Job 34:20; Psa 104:30). Here He is represented using His power as Judge. burning-- (Mat 3:11-12). The same Holy Ghost, who sanctifies believers by the fire of affliction (Mal 3:2-3), dooms unbelievers to the fire of perdition (Co1 3:13-15).

"When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged away the bloodguiltinesses of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of sifting." "When," followed by a preterite (equivalent to a fut. exact. as in Isa 24:13; Ges. 126, 5), introduces the circumstance, whose previous occurrence would be the condition of all the rest. The force of the future yâdiach ("shall have purged") is regulated by that of the preterite râchatz, as in Isa 6:11; for although, when regarded simply by itself, as in Isa 10:12, the future tense may suggest the idea of a future prefect, it cannot have the force of such a future. The double purification answers to the two scenes of judgment described in chapter 3. The filth of the daughters of Zion is the moral pollution hidden under their vain and coquettish finery; and the murderous deeds of Jerusalem are the acts of judicial murder committed by its rulers upon the poor and innocent. This filth and these spots of blood the Sovereign Ruler washes and purges away (see Ch2 4:6), by causing His spirit or His breath to burst in upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, both male and female. This breath is called "the spirit of judgment," because it punishes evil; and "the spirit of sifting," inasmuch as it sweeps or cleans it away. בּער is to be explained, as in Isa 6:13, in accordance with Deu 13:6 (5, Eng. Ver.; "put the evil away") and other passages, such especially as Isa 19:13; Isa 21:9. The rendering given in the Septuagint and Vulgate, viz., "in the spirit of burning," is founded upon the radical meaning of the verb, which signifies literally to burn up, and hence to clear away or destroy (see Comm. on Job, at Job 31:12, Eng. Tr.). Nevertheless, "burning" in connection with judgment is not definite enough, since every manifestation of divine judgment is a manifestation of fire; but it is not every judgment that has connected with it what is here implied - namely, the salutary object of burning away or, in other words, of winnowing. The "spirit" is in both instances the Spirit of God which pervades the world, not only generating and sustaining life, but also at times destroying and sifting (Isa 30:27-28), as it does in the case before us, in which the imperishable glory described in Isa 3:5 is so prepared.