View Isaiah 30 in the note window.
The prophet threatens the people for their confidence in Egypt,
ver. 1 - 7.
And contempt of God's word, ver. 8 - 11.
Wherefore they shall be destroyed, ver. 12 - 17.
God's mercies towards the church, ver. 18 - 26.
God's wrath and the peoples joy in the destruction of Assyria,
ver. 27 - 33.
1: The rebellious - The Jews. Take counsel - That consult
together. Cover - That seek protection. But not - Not such as by
my spirit, speaking in my word, I have required them to do. That
they may add - That unto all their sins, they may add distrust of my
power and mercy, and put confidence in an arm of flesh.
2: Asked - Either by the priests or prophets.
4: His princes - The princes of Judah. Hanes - An eminent city
of Egypt.
5: They - Both the messengers, and they who sent them.
6: The burden - The treasures, which were carried upon asses or
camels, into Egypt, which lay southward from Judea. The land of
trouble - Egypt, so called prophetically. From whence - This may be
understood properly, but withal, seems to design the craft and
cruelty of that people. They - The Jews. Their riches - To procure
their assistance. Bunches - Upon the backs.
7: To her - To Jerusalem or Judah. Sit still - It is safer
and better for them to sit quietly at home, seeking to me for help.
8: Write - This warning. Before - In their presence.
Note it - So this was to be written twice over, once in a table, to be
hanged up in some public place, that all present might read it; and
again, in a book, that it might be kept for the use of posterity.
The time to come - As a witness for me and against them.
11: Cause, &c. - Do not trouble us with harsh messages from God.
12: And trust - In the wealth which you have gotten by oppression,
and in your perverse course of sending to Egypt for help.
13: This iniquity - Of trusting to Egypt, shall be like a wall
which is high, but swelling forth in some parts, which, upon the
least accident, falls down suddenly.
14: He - God.
15: In returning - To God. Quietness - In sitting still, and
quieting your minds. Confidence - Placed upon me, and my promises.
17: 'Till - 'Till you be destroyed, and but a few of you left.
18: Wait - Patiently expect your repentance. Exalted - He will work
gloriously. Judgment - Or mercy. That wait - In his way, with faith and
patience.
19: Shall dwell - After a set time, they shall return to Jerusalem,
and have a fixed abode. This was in part accomplished upon their
return from Babylon; but more fully in the times of the gospel, when
many of them were, and the whole body of them shall be brought into
Christ's church.
21: Shall hear - Thou shalt hear the voice of God's word and spirit.
Behind thee - A metaphor borrowed from shepherds, who use to follow their
sheep, and recall them when they go out of the way.
22: Defile - To shew your contempt of it. Covering - The leaves or
plates wherewith their images were frequently covered. Ornament - It
was a costly and glorious robe.
23: Bread - Which shall be the fruit of thy own land and labour:
and excellent for quality, which is called, fat, (De 32:14), and
abundant for quantity.
24: Clean provender - There should be such plenty of corn, that the
very beasts, instead of straw, should eat corn; and that not in the ear,
or with the straw, but the pure grain.
25: Hill - Which is commonly dry and barren. In the day - When
God shall destroy the enemies of his people. The towers - The mighty
potentates, who fought against God's people.
26: Sevenfold - As if the light of seven days were combined together
in one. Healeth - When God shall effectually cure the wounds of his
people, making Israel and Judah to be one, and making Jew and
Gentile to be one fold under one shepherd.
27: Behold - Here he gives them an earnest of those greater mercies
in times to come, by assuring them of the approaching destruction of the
Assyrian forces. The name - The Lord himself. From far - From a
remote place: even from heaven. Heavy - He will inflict heavy judgments
upon them. Indignation - He hath pronounced a severe sentence against
them, and will give command for the execution of it.
28: His breath - God's anger. A stream - Coming from him as
vehemently, as a mighty torrent of waters. To sift - To shake and
scatter, as it were with a sieve. The nations - The Assyrian army,
which was made up of several nations. With - Not with an ordinary
sieve, which casteth away the chaff only, but with a sieve, which
should shake them so long and so vehemently, as to cast away altogether.
A bridle - God will over - rule them by his powerful providence.
To err - Whereas other bridles guide into the right way, this shall
turn them out of the way, by giving them up to their own foolish
counsels, which shall bring them to certain ruin.
29: A song - You shall have songs of praise. The night - He seems
to have a particular respect to the solemnity of the passover, in
which they spent some considerable part of the night in rejoicing,
and singing psalms before the Lord. As when - Like the joy of one
that is going up to the solemn feasts with musick.
30: His voice - His thunder, metaphorically taken for some terrible
judgment. The lightning - Upon the Assyrian. With - With great
wrath; which is signified by heaping so many words of the same
signification together.
32: The rod - Heb. the founded rod, the judgment of God, called
a founded rod, because it was firmly established, by God's immutable
purpose. Him - Upon the Assyrian. With harps - Their destruction
shall be celebrated by God's people, with joy and musick, and songs of
praise. Of shaking - Or, shaking of the hand, of which kind of shaking
this Hebrew word is constantly used. God will fight against them, and
destroy them by his own hand. With it - With the army of the Assyrians.
33: Tophet - This was a place near Jerusalem, in which the
idolatrous Israelites used to offer up their children to Moloch.
It may be put, for any place of torment; and particularly it is put
for hell. For the king - For the king of Assyria. Fire - He
alludes to the ancient custom, of burning sacrifices, and particularly
of burning children to Moloch. The breath - The immediate hand of God,
or his word of anger. Brimstone - He seems to allude to that shower of
fire and brimstone, (Ge 19:24).
