9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day. Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 30
Commentary on Isaiah 30 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 30
Isa 30:1-32. The Thirtieth Through Thirty-second Chapters Refer Probably to the Summer of 714 B.C., AS THE Twenty-ninth Chapter to the Passover of That Year.
Jewish ambassadors were now on their way to Egypt to seek aid against Assyria (Isa 30:2-6, 15; 31:1). Isaiah denounces this reliance on Egypt rather than on Jehovah. God had prohibited such alliances with heathen nations, and it was a leading part of Jewish polity that they should be a separate people (Ex 23:32; De 7:2).
1. take counsel—rather, as Isa 30:4, 6 imply, "execute counsels."
cover … covering—that is, wrap themselves in reliances disloyal towards Jehovah. "Cover" thus answers to "seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord" (Isa 29:15). But the Hebrew is literally, "who pour out libations"; as it was by these that leagues were made (Ex 24:8; Zec 9:11), translate, "who make a league."
not of—not suggested by My Spirit" (Nu 27:21; Jos 9:14).
that they may add—The consequence is here spoken of as their intention, so reckless were they of sinning: one sin entails the commission of another (De 29:19).
2. walk—are now setting out, namely, their ambassadors (Isa 30:4).
Egypt—See on Isa 19:1; Isa 20:1.
Pharaoh—the generic name of the kings of Egypt, as Cæsar was at Rome. The word in Egyptian means "king" [Josephus, Antiquities, 8.6,2]. Phra, "the sun," was the hieroglyphic symbol and title of the king.
shadow—image from shelter against heat: protection (Ps 121:5, 6).
3. shame—disappointment. Egypt, weakened by its internal dissensions, can give no solid help.
4. his—Judah's (compare Isa 9:21).
at Zoan—are already arrived there on their errand to Pharaoh (see Isa 19:11).
came to Hanes—are come there. West of the Nile, in central Egypt: Egyptian Hnes; the Greek Heracleopolis: perhaps the Anysis of Herodotus (2.137); according to Grotius, Tahpanhes contracted (Jer 43:7-9); the seat of a reigning prince at the time, as was Zoan, hence the Jewish ambassadors go to both.
5. (Jer 2:36.)
6. burden—the prophecy as to, &c. [Maurer]; so the Septuagint, the fresh inscription here marks emphatically the prediction that follows. Or, rather, Isaiah sees in vision, the ambassador's beasts burdened with rich presents travelling southwards (namely, to Egypt, Da 11:5, 6), and exclaims, Oh, the burden of treasure on the beasts! &c. (Ho 8:9; 12:1).
land of trouble—the desert between Palestine and Egypt, destitute of water and abounding in dangerous animals (De 8:15; Jer 2:6).
flying serpent—(Isa 14:29), a species which springs like a dart from trees, on its prey.
will carry—rather, present, "carry," namely, as presents to Egypt (1Ki 15:19).
young asses—rather, "full-grown asses" [Maurer].
7. "Egypt is vanity, and to no purpose will they help" [G. V. Smith].
strength—Hebrew, Rabah, a designation for Egypt (Isa 51:9; Ps 87:4), implying her haughty fierceness; translate, "Therefore I call her Arrogance that sitteth still." She who boasted of the help she would give, when it came to the test, sat still (Isa 36:6). English Version agrees with Isa 30:15; Isa 7:4.
8. table—a tablet (Hab 2:2), which should be set in public, containing the prophecy in a briefer form, to be read by all.
a book—namely, a parchment roll, containing the prophecy in full, for the use of distant posterity. Its truth will be seen hereafter when the event has come to pass. See on Isa 8:1; Isa 8:16.
for ever and ever—rather read, "For a testimony for ever" [Chaldee, Jerome, Lowth]: "testimony is often joined to the notion of perpetuity (De 31:19, 21, 26).
9. lying—unfaithful to Jehovah, whose covenant they had taken on them as His adopted children (Isa 59:13; Pr 30:9).
10. (Mic 2:6, 11; 3:5).
See not—as you now do, foretelling misfortune.
Prophesy not … right things—Not that they avowedly requested this, but their conduct virtually expressed it. No man, professedly, wished to be deceived; but many seek a kind of teaching which is deceit; and which, if they would examine, they might know to be such (1Ki 22:13). The Jews desired success to be foretold as the issue of their league with Egypt, though ill had been announced by God's prophet as the result; this constituted the "deceits."
11. Depart from the true "way" (so in Ac 19:9, 23) of religion.
cause … to cease—Let us hear no more of His name. God's holiness is what troubles sinners most.
12. Holy One—Isaiah so little yields to their wicked prejudices that he repeats the very name and truth which they disliked.
this word—Isaiah's exhortation to reliance on Jehovah.
oppression—whereby they levied the treasures to be sent to conciliate Egypt (Isa 30:6).
perverseness—in relying on Egypt, rather than on Jehovah.
13. Image from a curve swelling out in a wall (Ps 62:3); when the former gives way, it causes the downfall of the whole wall; so their policy as to Egypt.
14. he—the enemy; or rather, God (Ps 2:9; Jer 19:11).
It—the Jewish state.
potter's vessel—earthen and fragile.
sherd—a fragment of the vessel large enough to take up a live coal, &c.
pit—cistern or pool. The swell of the wall is at first imperceptible and gradual, but at last it comes to the crisis; so the decay of the Jewish state.
15. returning and rest—turning back from your embassy to Egypt, and ceasing from warlike preparations.
quietness—answering to "wait for Him (God)" (Isa 30:18).
16. flee—not as fugitives, but we will speed our course; namely, against the Assyrians, by the help of cavalry supplied by Egypt (Isa 31:1). This was expressly against the Mosaic law (De 17:16; see on Isa 2:7; Ho 14:3).
shall … flee—literally, "before your enemies"; their sin and its punishment correspond.
17. One thousand—A thousand at once, or, "As one man" [Maurer].
rebuke—the battle cry.
shall ye—at the rebuke of five shall ye, namely, all (in contrast to the "one thousand") flee so utterly that even two shall not be left together, but each one shall be as solitary "as a signal staff" [G. V. Smith], or "a banner on a hill" (Isa 5:26; 11:12). The signal staff was erected to rally a nation in war. The remnant of Jews left would be beacons to warn all men of the justice of God, and the truth of His threatenings. Gesenius (from Le 26:8; De 32:30) arbitrarily inserts "ten thousand." "At the rebuke of five shall ten thousand of you flee."
18. therefore—on account of your wicked perverseness (Isa 30:1, 2, 9, 15, 16), Jehovah will delay to be gracious [Horsley]. Rather, wait or delay in punishing, to give you time for repentance (Isa 30:13, 14, 17) [Maurer]. Or, "Yet therefore" (namely, because of the distress spoken of in the previous verses; that distress will lead the Jews to repentance, and so Jehovah will pity them) [Gesenius].
be exalted—Men will have more elevated views of God's mercy; or else, "He will rise up to pity you" [G. V. Smith]. Or (taking the previous clause as Maurer, "Therefore Jehovah will delay" in punishing you, "in order that He may be gracious to you," if ye repent), He will be far removed from you (so in Ps 10:5, far above out sight); that is, He will not immediately descend to punish, "in order that He may have mercy," &c.
judgment—justice; faithfulness to His covenant.
wait—compare Isa 30:15, wait, namely, for His times of having mercy.
19. (Isa 65:9). The restoration from Babylon only typifies the full accomplishment of the prophecy (Isa 30:18-33).
weep no more—(Isa 25:8).
thy cry—(Isa 26:8, 9; Jer 29:12-14).
20. Rather, "The Lord will give"; the "though" is not in the original.
bread of adversity—He will not deny you food enough to save you in your adversity (1Ki 22:27; Ps 127:2).
be removed—rather, "hide themselves"; they shall no more be forced to hide themselves from persecution, but shall be openly received with reverence [Maurer]. Contrast with this Ps 74:9; Am 8:11.
21. word—conscience, guided by the Holy Spirit (Joh 16:13).
22. covering of … images—rather, "images" (formed of wood or potter's clay, and) "covered with silver." Hezekiah, and afterwards Josiah, defiled them (2Ki 23:8, 10, 14, 16; 2Ch 31:1; compare Isa 2:20; De 7:25).
23. rain of—rather, "for thy seed." Physical prosperity accompanies national piety; especially under the Old Testament. The early rain fell soon after the seed was sown in October or November; the latter rain in the spring, before the ripening of the corn. Both were needed for a good harvest.
increase—the produce.
fat—bread made of the best wheat flour (compare Ge 49:20; De 32:14).
24. ear—that is, till. Asses were employed in tillage, as well as oxen (De 22:10).
clean—rather, salted provender [Gesenius]. The Arab proverb is, "Sweet provender is as bread to camels—salted provender as confectionery." The very cattle shall share the coming felicity. Or else, well-fermented maslin, that is, provender formed of a mixture of various substances: grain, beans, vetches, hay, and salt.
winnowed—not as it is usually given to cattle before it is separated from the chaff; the grain shall be so abundant that it shall be given winnowed.
shovel—by which the grain was thrown up in the wind to separate it from the chaff.
fan—an instrument for winnowing.
25. Even the otherwise barren hills shall then be well-watered (Isa 44:3).
the day, &c.—when the disobedient among the Jews shall have been slain, as foretold in Isa 30:16: "towers," that is, mighty men (Isa 2:15). Or else, the towers of the Assyrian Sennacherib, or of Babylon, types of all enemies of God's people.
26. Image from the heavenly bodies to express the increase of spiritual light and felicity. "Sevenfold" implies the perfection of that felicity, seven being the sacred number. It shall also be literally fulfilled hereafter in the heavenly city (Isa 60:19, 20; Re 21:23, 24; 22:5).
breach—the wound, or calamity, sent by God on account of their sins (Isa 1:5).
27. name of … Lord—that is, Jehovah Himself (Ps 44:5; 54:1); represented as a storm approaching and ready to burst over the Assyrians (Isa 30:30, 31).
burden … is heavy—literally, "grievousness is the flame," that is, the flame which darts from Him is grievous. Or else (as the Hebrew means an "uplifting") the uprising cloud is grievous [G. V. Smith]; the gathering cloud gradually rising till it bursts.
28. (Isa 11:4; 2Th 2:8).
reach … neck—the most extreme danger; yet as the head, or capital of Judah, was to be spared (Isa 8:8), so the head, or sovereign of Assyria, Sennacherib, should escape.
sieve of vanity—Rather, "the winnowing fan of destruction" [Lowth] (Isa 41:16).
bridle in … jaws—as prisoners are represented in the Assyrian inscriptions (Isa 37:29).
causing … to err—(Isa 63:17). "People," Hebrew, "peoples," namely, the various races composing the Assyrian armies (Isa 5:26).
29. the night … solemnity—As in the passover night ye celebrate your deliverance from Egypt, so shall ye celebrate your rescue from Assyrian bondage. Translate, "the solemnity" (Ex 12:42).
goeth with a pipe—or flute. They used to go up to Jerusalem ("the mountain of the Lord," Zion) at the three feasts with music and gladness (De 16:16; Ezr 2:65; Ps 122:1-4).
30. Jehovah's "glorious voice," raised against the enemy (Isa 30:27), is again mentioned here, in contrast to the music (Isa 30:29) with which His people shall come to worship Him.
lighting down of … arm—(Isa 30:32; Ps 38:2). The descent of His arm in striking.
scattering—namely, a blast that scatters, or an "inundation" [Maurer].
31. The Assyrian rod which beat shall itself be beaten, and that by the mere voice of the Lord, that is, an unseen divine agency (Isa 10:5, 24).
32. grounded—rather, "decreed," "appointed" [Maurer].
staff—the avenging rod.
him—the Assyrian; type of all God's enemies in every age. Margin and Maurer construe, "Every passing through (infliction, Isa 28:15) of the appointed rod, which, &c., shall be with tabrets," that is, accompanied with joy on the part of the rescued peoples.
battles of shaking—that is, shock of battles (Isa 19:16; compare "sift … sieve," Isa 30:28).
with it—namely, Assyria.
33. Tophet—literally, "A place of abomination"; the valley of the sons of Hinnom, southeast of Jerusalem, where Israel offered human sacrifices to Moloch by fire; hence a place of burning (2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31). Latterly Gehinnom or Gehenna, that is, valley of Hinnom, was the receptacle of the refuse of the city, to consume which fires were constantly burning. Hence it came to express hell, the place of torment. In the former sense it was a fit place to symbolize the funeral pyre of the Assyrian army (not that it actually perished there); the Hebrews did not burn, but buried their dead, but the heathen Assyrians are to be burnt as a mark of ignominy. In the latter sense Tophet is the receptacle "prepared for the devil (antitype to the king, Isa 14:12-15) and his angels," and unbelieving men (Mt 5:22; 25:41; Mr 9:43, 44).