2 Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in.
Your doors will be open at all times; they will not be shut day or night; so that men may come into you with the wealth of the nations, with their kings at their head.
This is the door of the Lord's house; the workers of righteousness will go in through it.
But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.
Giving praise to God, and having the approval of all the people; and every day the number of those who had salvation was increased by the Lord.
And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will have a new name, given by the mouth of the Lord.
Your people will all be upright, the land will be their heritage for ever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to be for my glory.
And you will be a kingdom of priests to me, and a holy nation. These are the words which you are to say to the children of Israel.
And their voices are sounding in a new song, saying, It is right for you to take the book and to make it open: for you were put to death and have made an offering to God of your blood for men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation,
My loved ones, while my thoughts were full of a letter which I was going to send you about our common salvation, it was necessary for me to send you one requesting you with all my heart to go on fighting strongly for the faith which has been given to the saints once and for ever.
But having faith in his word, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, which will be the resting-place of righteousness.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: It will again come about that when peoples and those living in great towns come,
And the doors of the town are to be named by the names of the tribes of Israel; three doors on the north, one for Reuben, one for Judah, one for Levi; And at the east side, four thousand five hundred by measure, and three doors, one for Joseph, one for Benjamin, one for Dan; And at the south side, four thousand five hundred by measure, and three doors, one for Simeon, one for Issachar, one for Zebulun; At the west side, four thousand five hundred by measure, with their three doors, one for Gad, one for Asher, one for Naphtali.
Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you.
So that I may see the well-being of the people of your selection, and have a part in the joy of your nation, and take pride in your heritage.
So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people. For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer? And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 26
Commentary on Isaiah 26 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 26
This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter, to do for his people against his enemies and their enemies are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be forward to meet God with our thanksgivings when he is coming towards us with his mercies. Now the people of God are here taught,
And this is written for the support and assistance of the faith and hope of God's people in all ages, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come.
Isa 26:1-4
To the prophecies of gospel grace very fitly is a song annexed, in which we may give God the glory and take to ourselves the comfort of that grace: In that day, the gospel day, which the day of the victories and enlargements of the Old-Testament church was typical of (to some of which perhaps this has a primary reference), in that day this song shall be sung; there shall be persons to sing it, and cause and hearts to sing it; it shall be sung in the land of Judah, which was a figure of the gospel church; for the gospel covenant is said to be made with the house of Judah, Heb. 8:8. Glorious things are here said of the church of God.
Isa 26:5-11
Here the prophet further encourages us to trust in the Lord for ever, and to continue waiting on him; for,
Isa 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
Isa 26:20-21
These two verses are supposed not to belong to the song which takes up the rest of the chapter, but to begin a new matter, and to be rather an introduction to the following chapter than the conclusion of this. Of whereas, in the foregoing song, the people of God had spoken to him, complaining of their grievances, here he returns an answer to their complaints, in which,