4 For you have been a strong place for the poor and the crushed in their trouble, a safe place from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the wrath of the cruel ones is like a winter storm.
And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock. And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand; And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.
And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land.
Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?
Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind. And when the wall has come down, will they not say to you, Where is the whitewash which you put on it? For this reason, the Lord has said: I will have it broken in two by a storm-wind in my passion; and there will be an overflowing shower in my wrath, and you, O ice-drops, will come raining angrily down.
But the Lord says, Even the prisoners of the strong will be taken from him, and the cruel made to let go his goods: for I will take up your cause against your haters, and I will keep your children safe.
What answer, then, will my people give to the representatives of the nation? That the Lord is the builder of Zion, and she will be a safe place for the poor of his people.
And over every living-place on Mount Zion, all over all her meetings, the Lord will make a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all, the glory of the Lord will be a cover and a tent; And a shade in the daytime from the heat, and a safe cover from storm and from rain.
But he puts the poor man on high from his troubles, and gives him families like a flock.
He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.
And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame: for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to them. It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people.
But he keeps safe from their sword those who have no father, and the poor from the power of the strong. So the poor man has hope, and the mouth of the evil-doer is stopped.
And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places. But the tall trees will come down with a great fall, and the town will be low in a low place.
And the poor will have their joy in the Lord increased, and those in need will be glad in the Holy One of Israel.
Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me.
For you have not given honour to the God of your salvation, and have not kept in mind the Rock of your strength; for this cause you made a garden of Adonis, and put in it the vine-cuttings of a strange god;
I have been true to your unchanging word; O Lord, do not put me to shame.
He will have pity on the poor, and be the saviour of those who are in need.
All my bones will say, Lord, who is like you? The saviour of the poor man from the hands of the strong, of him who is poor and in need from him who takes his goods.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 25
Commentary on Isaiah 25 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 25
After the threatenings of wrath in the foregoing chapter we have here,
This chapter looks as pleasantly upon the church as the former looked dreadfully upon the world.
Isa 25:1-5
It is said in the close of the foregoing chapter that the Lord of hosts shall reign gloriously; now, in compliance with this, the prophet here speaks of the glorious majesty of his kingdom (Ps. 145:12), and gives him the glory of it; and, however this prophecy might have an accomplishment in the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity there, it seems to look further, to the praises that should be offered up to God by the gospel church for Christ's victories over our spiritual enemies and the comforts he has provided for all believers. Here,
Isa 25:6-8
If we suppose (as many do) that this refers to the great joy which there should be in Zion and Jerusalem when the army of the Assyrians was routed by an angel, or when the Jews were released out of their captivity in Babylon, or upon occasion of some other equally surprising deliverance, yet we cannot avoid making it to look further, to the grace of the gospel and the glory which is the crown and consummation of that grace; for it is at our resurrection through Christ that the saying here written shall be brought to pass; then, and not till then (if we may believe St. Paul), it shall have its full accomplishment: Death is swallowed up in victory, 1 Co. 15:54. This is a key to the rest of the promises here connected together. And so we have here a prophecy of the salvation and the grace brought unto us by Jesus Christ, into which the prophets enquired and searched diligently, 1 Pt. 1:10.
Isa 25:9-12
Here is,