14 Therefore, lo, I am adding to do wonderfully with this people, A wonder, and a marvel, And perished hath the wisdom of its wise ones, And the understanding of its intelligent ones hideth itself.'
And He saith, `Go, and thou hast said to this people, Hear ye -- to hear, and ye do not understand, And see ye -- to see, and ye do not know. Declare fat the heart of this people, And its ears declare heavy, And its eyes declare dazzled, Lest it see with its eyes, And with its ears hear, and its heart consider, And it hath turned back, and hath health.'
for it hath been written, `I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought;' where `is' the wise? where the scribe? where a disputer of this age? did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world? for, seeing in the wisdom of God the world through the wisdom knew not God, it did please God through the foolishness of the preaching to save those believing. Since also Jews ask a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom, also we -- we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a stumbling-block, and to Greeks foolishness, and to those called -- both Jews and Greeks -- Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God,
And Jesus said, `For judgment I to this world did come, that those not seeing may see, and those seeing may become blind.' And those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said to him, `Are we also blind?' Jesus said to them, `If ye were blind, ye were not having had sin, but now ye say -- We see, therefore doth your sin remain.
we have known that God hath spoken to Moses, but this one -- we have not known whence he is.' The man answered and said to them, `Why, in this is a wonderful thing, that ye have not known whence he is, and he opened my eyes! and we have known that God doth not hear sinners, but, if any one may be a worshipper of God, and may do His will, him He doth hear; from the age it was not heard, that any one did open eyes of one who hath been born blind; if this one were not from God, he were not able to do anything.' They answered and said to him, `In sins thou wast born altogether, and thou dost teach us!' and they cast him forth without.
because, having known God they did not glorify `Him' as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened, professing to be wise, they were made fools,
saying, Go on unto this people and say, With hearing ye shall hear, and ye shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and ye shall not perceive, for made gross was the heart of this people, and with the ears they heard heavily, and their eyes they did close, lest they may see with the eyes, and with the heart may understand, and be turned back, and I may heal them.
Even a stork in the heavens hath known her seasons, And turtle, and swallow, and crane, Have watched the time of their coming, And -- My people have not known the judgment of Jehovah. How do ye say, We `are' wise, And the law of Jehovah `is' with us? Surely, lo, falsely it hath wrought, The false pen of scribes. Ashamed have been the wise, They have been affrighted, and are captured, Lo, against a word of Jehovah they kicked, And the wisdom of what -- have they?
Tarry and wonder, look ye, yea, look, Be drunk, and not with wine, Stagger, and not with strong drink. For poured out on you hath Jehovah a spirit of deep sleep, And He closeth your eyes -- the prophets, And your heads -- the seers -- He covered.
Only, fools `are' the princes of Zoan, The counsel of the wise ones of the counsellors of Pharaoh hath become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, `A son of the wise am I, a son of kings of antiquity?' Where `are' they now, thy wise ones? Yea, let them tell to thee, I pray thee, And they know what Jehovah of Hosts hath counselled against Egypt! Foolish have been princes of Zoan, Lifted up have been princes of Noph, And they have caused Egypt to err, The chief of her tribes. Jehovah hath mingled in her midst A spirit of perverseness, And they have caused Egypt to err in all its work, As a drunkard erreth in his vomit.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 29
Commentary on Isaiah 29 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 29
This woe to Ariel, which we have in this chapter, is the same with the "burden of the valley of vision' (ch. 22:1), and (it is very probable) points at the same event-the besieging of Jerusalem by the Assyrian army, which was cut off there by an angel; yet it is applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and its last desolations by the Romans. Here is,
Isa 29:1-8
That it is Jerusalem which is here called Ariel is agreed, for that was the city where David dwelt; that part of it which was called Zion was in a particular manner the city of David, in which both the temple and the palace were. But why it is so called is very uncertain: probably the name and the reason were then well known. Cities, as well as persons, get surnames and nicknames. Ariel signifies the lion of God, or the strong lion: as the lion is king among beasts, so was Jerusalem among the cities, giving law to all about her; it was the city of the great King (Ps. 48:1, 2); it was the head-city of Judah, who is called a lion's whelp (Gen. 49:9) and whose ensign was a lion; and he that is the lion of the tribe of Judah was the glory of it. Jerusalem was a terror sometimes to the neighbouring nations, and, while she was a righteous city, was bold as a lion. Some make Ariel to signify the altar of burnt-offerings, which devoured the beasts offered in sacrifice as the lion does his prey. Woe to that altar in the city where David dwelt; that was destroyed with the temple by the Chaldeans. I rather take it as a woe to Jerusalem, Jerusalem; it is repeated here, as it is Mt. 23:37, that it might be the more awakening. Here is,
Isa 29:9-16
Here,
Isa 29:17-24
Those that thought to hide their counsels from the Lord were said to turn things upside down (v. 16), and they intended to do it unknown to God; but God here tells them that he will turn things upside down his way; and let us see whose word shall stand, his or theirs. They disbelieve Providence: "Wait awhile,' says God, "and you shall be convinced by ocular demonstration that there is a God who governs the world, and that he governs it and orders all the changes that are in it for the good of his church.' The wonderful revolution here foretold may refer primarily to the happy settlement of the affairs of Judah and Jerusalem after the defeat of Sennacherib's attempt, and the repose which good people then enjoyed, when they were delivered from the alarms of the sword both of war and persecution. But it may look further, to the rejection of the Jews at the first planting of the gospel (for their hypocrisy and infidelity were here foretold, v. 13) and the admission of the Gentiles into the church.