12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 2
Commentary on Isaiah 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Isa 2:1-22.
1. The inscription.
The word—the revelation.
2. Same as Mic 4:1. As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa. Hengstenberg on slight grounds makes Mic 4:1 the original.
last days—that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God of Jacob," namely, at Jerusalem, shall be the center to which the converted nations shall flock together (Mt 13:32; Lu 2:31, 32; Ac 1:6, 7); where "the kingdom" of Israel is regarded as certain and the time alone uncertain (Ps 68:15, 16; 72:8, 11).
mountain of the Lord's house … in the top, &c.—the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it.
flow—as a broad stream (Isa 66:12).
3. If the curse foretold against Israel has been literally fulfilled, so shall the promised blessing be literal. We Gentiles must not, while giving them the curse, deny them their peculiar blessing by spiritualizing it. The Holy Ghost shall be poured out for a general conversion then (Jer 50:5; Zec 8:21, 23; Joe 2:28).
from Jerusalem—(Lu 24:47) an earnest of the future relations of Jerusalem to Christendom (Ro 11:12, 15).
4. judge—as a sovereign umpire, settling all controversies (compare Isa 11:4). Lowth translates "work," "conviction."
plowshares—in the East resembling a short sword (Isa 9:6, 7; Zec 9:10).
5. The connection is: As Israel's high destiny is to be a blessing to all nations (Ge 12:3), let Israel's children walk worthy of it (Eph 5:8).
6. Therefore—rather, "For": reasons why there is the more need of the exhortation in Isa 2:5.
thou—transition to Jehovah: such rapid transitions are natural, when the mind is full of a subject.
replenished—rather, filled, namely, with the superstitions of the East, Syria, and Chaldea.
soothsayers—forbidden (De 18:10-14).
Philistines—southwest of Palestine: antithesis to "the east."
please themselves—rather, join hands with, that is, enter into alliances, matrimonial and national: forbidden (Ex 23:32; Ne 13:23, &c.).
7. gold—forbidden to be heaped together (De 17:17). Solomon disobeyed (1Ki 10:21, 27).
horses … chariots—forbidden (De 17:16). But Solomon disobeyed (1Ki 20:26). Horses could be used effectively for war in the plains of Egypt; not so in the hilly Judea. God designed there should be as wide as possible a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians. He would have His people wholly dependent on Him, rather than on the ordinary means of warfare (Ps 20:7). Also horses were connected with idolatry (2Ki 23:11); hence His objection: so the transition to "idols" (Isa 2:8) is natural.
8. (Ho 8:4). Not so much public idolatry, which was not sanctioned in Uzziah's and Jotham's reign, but (see 2Ki 15:4, 35) as private.
9. mean—in rank: not morally base: opposed to "the great man." The former is in Hebrew, Adam, the latter, ish.
boweth—namely, to idols. All ranks were idolaters.
forgive … not—a threat expressed by an imperative. Isaiah so identifies himself with God's will, that he prays for that which he knows God purposes. So Re 18:6.
10. Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (Re 6:15, 16).
dust—equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (Isa 2:19).
for fear, &c.—literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."
11. lofty looks—literally, "eyes of pride" (Ps 18:27).
humbled—by calamities. God will so vindicate His honor "in that day" of judgments, that none else "shall be exalted" (Zec 14:9).
12. Man has had many days: "the day of the Lord" shall come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God shall be "all in all" (1Co 15:28; 2Pe 3:10).
every—not merely person, as English Version explains it, but every thing on which the nation prided itself.
13. cedars … oaks—image for haughty nobles and princes (Am 2:9; Zec 11:1, 2; compare Re 19:18-21).
Bashan—east of Jordan, north of the river Jabbok, famous for fine oaks, pasture, and cattle. Perhaps in "oaks" there is reference to their idolatry (Isa 1:29).
14. high … hills—referring to the "high places" on which sacrifices were unlawfully offered, even in Uzziah's (equivalent to Azariah) reign (2Ki 15:4). Also, places of strength, fastnesses in which they trusted, rather than in God; so
15. tower … wall—Towers were often made on the walls of cities.
fenced—strongly fortified.
16. Tarshish—Tartessus in southwest Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, near Gibraltar. It includes the adjoining region: a Phœnician colony; hence its connection with Palestine and the Bible (2Ch 9:21). The name was also used in a wide sense for the farthest west, as our West Indies (Isa 66:19; Ps 48:7; 72:10). "Ships of Tarshish" became a phrase for richly laden and far-voyaging vessels. The judgment shall be on all that minister to man's luxury (compare Re 18:17-19).
pictures—ordered to be destroyed (Nu 33:52). Still to be seen on the walls of Nineveh's palaces. It is remarkable that whereas all other ancient civilized nations, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, have left monuments in the fine arts, Judea, while rising immeasurably above them in the possession of "the living oracles," has left none of the former. The fine arts, as in modern Rome, were so often associated with polytheism, that God required His people in this, as in other respects, to be separate from the nations (De 4:15-18). But Vulgate translation is perhaps better, "All that is beautiful to the sight"; not only paintings, but all luxurious ornaments. One comprehensive word for all that goes before (compare Re 18:12, 14, 16).
17. Repeated from Isa 2:11, for emphatic confirmation.
18. idols—literally, "vain things," "nothings" (1Co 8:4). Fulfilled to the letter. Before the Babylonian captivity the Jews were most prone to idolatry; in no instance, ever since. For the future fulfilment, see Zec 13:2; Re 13:15; 19:20.
19. The fulfilment answers exactly to the threat (Isa 2:10).
they—the idol-worshippers.
caves—abounding in Judea, a hilly country; hiding-places in times of alarm (1Sa 13:6).
shake … earth—and the heavens also (Heb 12:26). Figure for severe and universal judgments.
20. moles—Others translate "mice." The sense is, under ground, in darkness.
bats—unclean birds (Le 11:19), living amidst tenantless ruins (Re 11:13).
22. The high ones (Isa 2:11, 13) on whom the people trust, shall be "brought low" (Isa 3:2); therefore "cease from" depending on them, instead of on the Lord (Ps 146:3-5).