9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
{A Psalm of David; when he was in the wilderness of Judah.} O God, thou art my ùGod; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh languisheth for thee, in a dry and weary land without water:
And it came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.
I will go away, I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their trespass, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
On my bed, in the nights, I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city; In the streets and in the broadways Will I seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: -- Have ye seen him whom my soul loveth? -- Scarcely had I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
I love those that love me; and they that seek me early shall find me.
At midnight I rise up to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.
And rising in the morning long before day, he went out and went away into a desert place, and there prayed.
But as surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah! for all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, shall in no wise see the land which I did swear unto their fathers: none of them that despised me shall see it.
By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin: when he shall make all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are crumbled in pieces, -- the Asherahs and the sun-images shall not stand.
I slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night. -- I have put off my tunic, how should I put it on? I have washed my feet, how should I pollute them? -- My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door]; And my bowels yearned for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself; he was gone: My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me; They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, ... What will ye tell him? -- That I am sick of love.
My soul [waiteth] for the Lord more than the watchers [wait] for the morning, [more than] the watchers for the morning.
When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after ùGod;
In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not; my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and I moaned; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
When I remember thee upon my bed, I meditate on thee in the night-watches: For thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings will I sing for joy.
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,