3) Israel's song of praise for the deliverance experienced (xxv. 1-5). 4) Zion as the place of the feast given to all nations in contrast to Moab that perishes ingloriously (xxv. 6-12). 5) The judgment as the realization of the idea of justice (xxvi. 1–10). 6) The resurrection of the dead, and the concluding act in the judgment of the world (xxvi. 11-21). 7) The downfall of the worldly powers and Zion's joyful hope (xxvii. 1-9). 8) The fall of the city of the world and Israel's glad restoration (xxvii. 10-13). 1. THE BEGINNING OF DISTRESS: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SURFACE OF 1 THE EARTH. CHAPTER XXIV. 1-12. 2 And it shall be, As with the people, so with the 'priest; As with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. 3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: For the LORD hath spoken this word. 4 The earth mourneth, and fadeth away, The world languisheth and fadeth away, The haughty people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, And they that dwell therein are desolate : Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, 7 The new wine mourneth, The vine languisheth, All the merry-hearted do sigh. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, The noise of them that rejoice endeth, The joy of the harp ceaseth. 9 They shall not drink wine with a song; Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. 10 The city of 'confusion is broken down : Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; All joy is darkened, The mirth of the land is gone. 12 In the city is left desolation, And the gate is smitten with destruction. 1 Heb. perverteth the face thereof. a Or, prince. Heb. the height of the people. Ver. 1. pp (comp. xix. 3 and ver. 3; Hos. x. 1; Nah. | also Nah. ii. 11, where only the word occurs again. xi. 3; Jer. xix. 7; li. 2), part. from pp to pour out, to empty, forms with p (devastare) a paronomasia, as pervertere, conturbare (comp. xxi. 3 Niph., Piel besides only Lam. iii. 9) is here applied to the surface of the earth in the sense of throwing confusedly together punctuation, has the force of a dash in our laneverything found upon it. guage. The application to personal beings of this predicate, that had been used previously of lifeless things, is thereby emphasized. : = Ver. 2. On as, so, ws üs comp. EWALD, 360. The abnormal employment of the article in is occasioned by the endeavor to produce an assonance with a hyd is creditor, and of like meaning with, but the idea of usury seems to be involved .נשה in Ver. 3. pian, an instead of pan, an may be regarded as forms borrowed from the related 1-stems, and are here chosen for the sake of conformity with the infinitive forms pan, man. Ver. 4. The half pause, which is indicated by the HAUSEN, Grarı., § 261. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. The Prophet transports himself in spirit to the end of all things. He describes the destruction of the world. He sees, however, that this destruction will be gradually accomplished. He here depicts the first scene: the destruction of all that exists on the surface of the earth. This destruction bears the closest resemblance to such desolations of countries and cities as even now occur in consequence of wars. Hence the Prophet borrows the colors for this his first picture of the destruction of the world from such occurrences in actual history. Jehovah empties, devastates, depopulates the surface of the earth (ver. 1), and the inhabitants are without distinction of person swept away (ver. 2); and this work of emptying and devastation is thoroughly accomplished (ver. 3). In consequence, inaniinate nature appears mourning, and every height and glory of creation has vanished (ver. 4); and this too is quite natural, for the earth has been defiled by the sins of men (ver. 5). Therefore the curse has, as it were, devoured the earth; therefore men, with the exception of a small remnant, are destroyed from the earth (ver. 6). Therefore the precious productions of the earth that gladden the heart of man have vanished, and with them all joy on earth (vers. 7-9). The head of the earth, the great city of the world is a chaos of ruins, its houses no man enters any more (ver. 10). In the streets nothing is heard save lamentations over the loss of what gladdens the heart of man. All joy has departed (ver. 11). Nothing remains in the city but solitude and desolation. The gates are broken to pieces (ver. 12). 2. Behold the LORD... do languish. -Vers. 1-4. 9, with a participle following, frequently introduces in Isaiah the prophetic discourse: iii. 1; viii. 7; x. 33; xiii. 9, 17; xvii. 1; xxii. 17 et saepe. In general, this usage occurs in all the Prophets. But it is peculiar to Isaiah, quite abruptly and without any introductory formula to begin the prophetic discourse with. The description of the destruction of the earth begins with its surface (comp. ver. 18 b sqq.). To it the inhabitants also belong, for they can exist only on the surface. If now all things on the surface of the earth are thrown confusedly together, the inhabitants, too, are naturally scattered. ', an expression which seems to be taken from the threatening words of Deuteronomy (comp. iv. 27; xxviii. 64; xxx. 3) is found besides in Isaiah only xxviii. 25; xli. 16. The LORD knows no respect of persons. When the great forces of nature by God's command assail our race, then all are alike affected. In a desolation wrought by human hands the case can be different. Then the more distinguished persons are often treated otherwise than the poor, and are reserved for a better fate (comp. 1 Sam. xv. 8 sq.; 2 Kings xxv. 27 sqq.). When " 'people" and "priest" are put in contrast, and not people" and "prince" or "king," the reason is to be songht in the fact that the priests in the theocracy form properly the nobility. The place, moreover, is a quotation from Hos. iv. 9. Any citizen may become a king; but he only can be a priest who is of the priestly race. Comp. Lev. xxi.; Ezek. xliv. 15 sqq.; JOSEPHUS CON. Ap. I, 7; Mishna Kiddushin iv. 4. [The rightful King of Israel must according to the divine appointment be of the house of David.-D. M.] The sentence ver. 2 contains six comparisons. As in the first half of the verse, the second and third comparisons are not specifically distinct from one another, so is it too in the second half of the verse. With a repetition of assonant sounds, which like waves or shocks succeed one another, the Prophet paints the emptying and plundering of the earth. We have already remarked that he depicts the devastation of the surface of the earth in colors which are borrowed from the devastation of a single country by an earthly enemy. For that the subject treated of is the devastation of the earth, and not merely of the land of Palestine, appears from the whole scope of chapters xxiv-xxvii., which are intended to depict the judgment of the world; and this point the prophecy. It might be asked: if is the comes ever more clearly to light in the course of earth, who then are the plunderers? But this is an idle question. For the Prophet sees in spirit an occurrence which appears to him at the first sight quite like the devastation of a country in war by a hostile military force. He sees great confusion, men shouting and fleeing, houses burning and falling down, smoke rising to heaven, etc. He sees no particular country; he sees no definite persons in the plundering enemies. It is a question if he really perceives plundering persons. For the whole representation is at first a comparatively indistinct picture which gradu 4. Therefore hath the curse-drink it.— Vers. 6-9. On the statement of the cause, ver. 5, follows anew with "therefore" the declaration of the consequences, so that ver. 5 serves as a basis both for what precedes and what follows. The same condition is described in the main by vers. 6-12 as by vers. 1-4. Only in so far are vers. 6-12 of a different import, as they prominently set forth not only the general, but the drawal of the noblest fruit, wine, and as they special experiences of men through the withfrom verse 10 direct the look to the great centre of the earth, the city of the world. Jeremiah has our place in general before his eyes (xxxiii. 10). The curse is conceived as the devouring fire of the divine wrath (Exod. xxiv. 17; Deut. iv. 24; ix. 3; Isa. x. 16 sq.; xxix. 6; xxx. 27-30; xxxiii. 14). The expression on (mark the assonance with ver. 4) occurs only here. D ally attains greater clearness and definiteness. | (Rom. i. 20). The Prophet indicates here the On the expression "For the LORD hath spoken," deep moral reason why our earth cannot forever which occurs more frequently in Isaiah than in continue in its present material form. the other Prophets, comp. on i. 2. The addition "this word" is found only here. It is evidently used in order to continue in the second half of the verse the play with words by means of lingual and labial sounds. The effect of the devastation is that the land appears mourning and exhausted (ver. 4). Here too the Prophet heaps together assonant words. to mourn, is used by Isaiah iii. 26; xix. °; xxxiii. 9. The description in Joel i. 9 sq. seems to have been here before his mind. 2, to all off, from being withered, is used by Isaiah i. 30; xxviii. 1, 4; xxxiv. 4; lxiv. 5. 2, the earth (either as terra fertilis, or as oikovμévŋ, never as designation of a single country) is a current word with Isaiah. Comp. on xiii. 11. Dy, an expression which Isaiah does not elsewhere employ, seems to denote here the inhabitants of the earth in general. This is the rather possible, as our place is the first and oldest in which the expression occurs. It has not here the specific sense of "common people," plebs, in opposition to people of rank, in which sense it afterwards occurs. Comp. my remarks on Jer. i. 18. is the abstract for the concrete, the height for the high and eminent. Not only inanimate creation, man too presents the sad look of decay. What among men blooms and flourishes, as well as the fresh green vegetation, becomes withered and languid. 3. The earth also is defiled- -covenant. -Ver. 5. This verse must be regarded as related to what precedes as the statement of the cause. For here the sins of men are pointed out. But sin has punishment for its necessary consequence. We must say, therefore, that there lies a causal power in the way with which this verse begins; as is not unfrequently the case. That the land is defiled through blood-guiltiness and other sin is declared Numb. xxxv. 33, which place Isaiah has probably in his eye, (comp. Jer. iii. 1, 2, 9). An is to be taken in the local sense. The earth lies as a polluted thing under the feet of its inhabitants. How could such polluted ground be suffered to exist? It is an object of wrath, it must be destroyed. The second half of the verse tells by what the earth has been defiled; men have transgressed the divine laws, have wantonly slighted the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant (xxx. 8; lv. 3). only here in Isaiah, is frequent in the Pentateuch: Gen. xxvi. 5; Exod. xvi. 28; xviii. 16, 20 et saepe. 2 of the law only here. Mark the assonance with 3. The radical meaning of the word is "to change," comp. on ii. 18; viii. 8; ix. 9; xxi. 1. Not only to the people of Israel has God given a law, not merely with this people has; God made a covenant; the Noachic covenant is for all men; yea, in a certain sense for all creatures on the earth (Gen. ix. 1 sqq., and ver. 9 sqq.). God has given witness of Himself to all men (Acts xiv. 17), and made it possible for all to perceive His invisible power and godhead (in Isaiah only here) denotes in this connection, not "to be guilty, to contract guilt," but "to suffer the punishment of guilt.' Comp. Hos. x. 2; xiv. 1 et saepe. The effect of that burning wrath which devours the guilty, extends first to men. These are parched by it, their sap is dried up (Ps. xxxii. 4). But where the sap of life is dried up, death ensues, and, in consequence, but few people remain on the earth. This surviving of a small remnant is confessedly a very significant point in Isaiah's prophecy (iv. 3; vi. 13; x. 19 sqq.; xi. 11, 16; xvii. 6). Isaiah uses the word more frequently than the other Prophets. He employs it six times beside the case before us; viii. 1; xiii. 7-12; xxxiii. 8; li. 7; lvi. 2. Of the other Prophets only Jeremiah uses it, and but once. In the book of Job the word occurs 19 times. is found only in Isaiah; x. 25; xxix. 17; xvi. 14. also is found only Isa. xxviii. 10, 13, and Job xxxvi. 2. n occurs only here. occurs 17 times in the Old Testament; of these 10 times in Isaiah; viii. 6; xxiv. 8 (bis), 11; xxxii. 13, 14; lx. 15; lxii. 5; lxv. 18; lxvi. 10. Ver. 8 the tambourine v. 12; xxx. 32. jixy eight times in Isaiah (v. 14; xiii. 4; xvii. 12 (bis), 13; xxiv. 8; xxv. 5; lxvi. 6); in the whole Old Testament 17 times. ry, save in two deIsaiah xiii. 3; xxii. 2; xxiii. 7; xxxii. 13 comp. pendent places in Zeph. (ii. 15; iii. 11), only in that uses is Isaiah; he has it five times: v. v. 14. The only Prophet save Ezekiel (xxvi. 13) 12; xvi. 11; xxiii. 16; xxiv. 8; xxx. 32. In observe the marking accompaniment. is used five times by Isaiah (xxiii. 16; xxvi. xxx. 29; xlii. 10). No other Prophet employs the word so frequently. 7, to be bitter, in Isaiah in different forms three times: xxii. 4; xxiv. 9; xxxviii. 17. intoxicating drink; with the exception of MICAH who uses the word once (ii. 11), it is used by no other Prophet save Isaiah v. 11, 22; xxiv. 9; xxviii. 7 ter; lvi. 12. Isaiah, after having foretold, ver. 7, the destruc- The Prophet declares that the inward chaos would tion of the vine, the noblest fruit of the ground, also be outwardly manifested. Every thing here depicts its consequence, the cessation of joy is in accordance with the style of Isaiah. which wine produces (Ps. civ. 15). 5. The city of confusion-destruction. is used very often by Isaiah (viii. 16; xiv. 5'; -Vers. 10-12. In these three verses the Pro- xvii. 25, 29; xxvii. 11; xxviii. 13; xxx. 14, et phet proceeds to describe the destiny of the great saepe). P is found sixteen times in the proworldly city, the head and centre of the kingdom phets; of these, ten times in Isaiah (i. 21, 20; xxii. of the world. It is not surprising that he gives 2; xxiv. 10; xxv. 2, 3; xxvi. 5; xxix. 1; xxxii. particular prominence to it, when we consider how largely Babylon figures in prophecy (comp. 13; xxxiii. 20). A occurs twenty times in the my remarks on Jeremiah 1. and li. Introduction). O. T.; of these, eleven times in Isaiah; one of the I would not, however, be understood as affirming that our Prophet had Babylon specifically before his mind. Isaiah intends just the city of the world kar' oxy, whatever name it might bear. I do not think that p is to be taken collectively as xxv. 3. (ARNDT de Jes. xxiv-xxvii. Commentatio, 1826, p. 10, DRECHSLER, etc.). For it is unnecessary to emphasize the cities beside the level country. No one looks for their specification; for every one includes the cities in all that has been previously said of the 7 or 3. But an emphatic mention of the city of the world, the proper focus of worldliness, corresponds to its importance. The place xxv. 3 cannot be compared; for there the context and construction (plural verbs) are decidedly in favor of our taking the word as a collective. That under this city we do not understand Jerusalem, as most do, is self-evident from our view of this passage. The city of the world is called the city of emptiness, [not confusion] because worldliness has in it its seat and centre, and worldliness is essentially places is admitted to be genuine (xxix. 21); the other places where it occurs are assailed by the critics. We might wonder how one could speak of closed houses in a destroyed city. We may not understand this, with DRECHSLER, of some houses that remained uninjured. It was rather the falling of the houses that rendered them incapable of being entered into. In the street too (ver. 11) the lamentation at the loss of wine and the departure of all joy is repeated (comp. xvi. 7 Judges xix. 9 and here. Its meaning is nigrum 27.10). occurs only twice in the O. T.; viz.: esse, obscurari, occidere. When all joy and life have fled from the city, nothing remains in it but desolation (ver. 12). If I am to state what future events will correspond to this prophecy of the first act of the judgment of the world, it appears to me that the description of the Prophet, as it refers solely to occurrences which have for their theatre the surface of the earth, corresponds to what our Lord in His discourse on the last things says of the signs of His coming, and of the beginning of xxi. 9 sqq.). And the beginning of sorrows corsorrows (Matt. xxiv. 6-8; Mark xiii. 7-8; Luke responds again to what the Revelation of John represents under the image of seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials (chap. vi. sqq.). i. e., vanitas, inanity, emptiness. is used in this sense (xxix. 21; xxxiv. 11; xl. 17, 23; xli. 29; xliv. 9; xlv. 18, 19; xlix. 4; lix. 4; 1 Sam. xii. 21). 2. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GLOBE. CHAP. XXIV. 13-23. 13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, And as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. 14 They shall lift up their voice, They shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, They shall cry aloud from the sea. 15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the "fires, Even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. 16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, Even glory to the righteous. But I said, 'My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. 17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And it shall come to pass, That he who fleeth from the noise of the fear And he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit For the windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the earth do shake. 19 The earth is utterly broken down; The earth is clean dissolved, The earth is moved exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall be removed like a cottage; And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; And it shall fall, And not rise again. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, That the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, 22 And they shall be gathered together, 'as prisoners are gathered in the pit, And after many days shall they be 'visited. 23 Then the moon shall be confounded, And the sun ashamed, When the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, Ver. 19. TT: is a substantive as TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. in ver. 16 and T Ver. 13. The impersonal expression is to be with 790N; but 'ON is really in apposition to the understood as ' xvii. 5. subject involved in DON. The singular O need not cause surprise; comp. xx. 4. The case before us comes under the category of the ideal number treated of, NAEGELSBACH Gr., § 61, 1 sq. stands in the signification DN in ver. 22; three examples in this chapter of the infin. abs. being represented by a substantive formed from the same stem. Ver. 22. Many would connect Tof. Comp. on x. 3. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. The Prophet depicts here the second stage of the world's destruction. This consists substantially in the shattering of the globe of the earth itself. The transition is formed by the thought, ver. 13, that only few men, a gleaning, as it were, will survive the first catastrophe. But these saved ones are the pious, the elect of God. These flee to the promised land, to Jerusalem. From the sea, i. e., from the west, the prophet hears the song of praise (ver. 14). He answers by calling on east and west to praise the name of the Lord (ver. 15). This summons is obeyed. We perceive from this, that the elect of God are hidden in a safe place (ver. 16 a). But that is just the occasion for the signal to be given for the occurrence of the last and most frightful catastrophe. The Prophet announces it with an exclamation of anxiety and terror. At the same time he declares why it must be so; the sin of men provokes the judgment of God (ver. 16 b). He characterizes beforehand the catastrophe as one which shall take place in different successive acts, each more severe than the preceding, so that he who has escaped the first blow will certainly fall under the second or the third (vers. 17, 18 a). For, as at the deluge, the windows of heaven will be opened, and the foundations of the earth will be broken up (ver. 18 b). The globe of the earth will then rend, burst, break (ver. 19), reel like a drunken man. The earth cannot bear the load of sin. It must, therefore, fall to rise again no more (ver. 20). But the judgment of God is not confined to the earth: The angelic powers that are hostile to God will, as well as the representatives of the worldly power on earth, be cast into the abyss, and there shut up for a time; but after a certain term has expired, they will again be liberated (vers. 21, 22). Sun and moon, too, will lose their brightness, so that only in one place of the world can safety be found, namely, in Zion. For, although the rest of the earth be shattered, Zion, the holy mount, remains uninjured. For there Jehovah rules as king, and through the heads of His people there gathered round Him will He communicate His glory to His people also (ver. 23). 2. When thus it shall be-treacherously.-Vers. 13-16. In the olive and grape harvest the great mass of the fruit is shaken or plucked off and cast into the press. Only few berries remain on the olive tree or vine. The few remaining olives are struck off with a stick. The few grapes remaining on the vine are after |