JEHOVAH shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, pass the night, to lodge for a night) means properly a temporary shed or lodge for the watchman of a garden or vineyard while the fruit was ripening. See Note ch. i. 8. Sometimes these cottages were erected in the form of a hut; and sometimes they were a species of hanging bed, or couch that was suspended from the limbs of trees. They were made either by interweaving the limbs of a tree, or by suspending them by cords from the branches of trees, or by extending a cord or cords from one tree to another and laying a couch or bed on the cords. They were thus made to afford a convenient place for observation, and also to afford security from the access of wild beasts. Travellers in the East even now resort to such a temporary lodge for security. See Niehbuhr's Description of Arabia. Those lodges were easily moved to and fro, and swung about by the wind-and that is the idea in the verse before us. The whole land was agitated as with an earthquake; it reeled like a drunkard; it moved, and was unsettled as the hanging couch on the trees was driven to and fro by the wind. And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it. Like a vast incumbent weight on a dwelling which it cannot sustain, and beneath which it is crushed. ¶ And it shall fall and not rise again. This does not mean, as I apprehend, that the nation thus agitated should never be restored to its former dignity and rank as a people— for the prophet immediately (ver. 23) speaks of such a restoration, and of the re-establishment of the Theocracy; but it must mean that IN those convulsions it would not rise. It would not be able to recover itself; it would certainly fall, and be prostrated. As we say of a drunkard, he will certainly fall; he may stumble often, and partially recover himself, yet he will certainly fali so as not then to be able to recover himself, so it would be with that agitated and convulsed land. They would make many efforts to recover themselves, and would partially succeed, yet they would certainly fall, and be completely prostrate in the dust. 23 And they shall be gathered to- | son, and after many days shall they be gether 2 as prisoners are gathered in3 visited. the pit, and shall be shut up in the pri 2 with the gathering of prisoners. 3 or, dungeon. New Translation. 4 or, found wanting. 22. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered together for the dungeon; And shall be shut up in the prison, And after many days they shall be visited. Heb. as in the marThe host of the high 21. In that day. In that future time; the time, as I suppose, of the captivity at Babylon. ¶ Shall punish, &c. gin, shall visit upon. See Note ch, x. 12. ones. There have been various interpretations of this expression. Jerome understands it of the host of heaven, and thinks it refers to the fact that in the day of judgment God shall judge not only earthly things but celestial; and especially the hosts of heaven, the sun and moon and stars as having been the objects of idolatrous worship. See Deut. iv. 19, Dan. viii. 10, xi. 13. Comp. Ps. xviii. 17, Jer. xxv. 30, where the words, " on high" are used to denote heaven. AbenEzra supposes that by the phrase is meant angels, who preside over the governors and kings of the earth, in accordance with the ancient opinion that each country and kingdom was under the tutelage of guardian angels. To this Rosenmüller seems to assent, and to suppose that the beings thus referred to were evil spirits or demons to whom the kingdoms of the world were subject. Others, among whom is Grotius, have supposed that the reference is to the images of the sun moon and stars which were erected in high places and adored by the Assyrians. But probably the reference is to those who occupied places of power and trust in the ecclesiastical arrangement of Judea, the High Priest and Priests, who exercised a vast dominion over the nation, and who, in many respects were regarded as elevated even over the kings and princes of the land. The comparison of rulers with the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, is common in the Scriptures; and this comparison was supposed peculiarly to befit ecclesiastical rulers who were regarded as in a particular manner the lights of the nation. Kings of the earth. Kings and princes of Upon the earth. Beneath, or inferior to those the land of Judea. who had places of superior trust and honor. The pricsts and ecclesi astical rulers are represented as occupying the superior rank; the princes and rulers in a civil sense as in a condition of less honor and responsibility. This was probably the usual mode in which the ecclesiastical and civil offices were estimated in the land of Judea. 22. And they shall be gathered together. That is, those who occupy posts of honor and influence in the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the land. As prisoners. Margin as in the Hebrew," with the gathering of prisoners." The reference is to the custom of collecting prisoners and captives taken in war, and chaining them together by the hands and feet and thrusting them in large companies into a prison. In the pit. Marg. "Or dungeon." The sense is, that the rulers of the land should be made captives, and treated as prisoners of war. This was undoubtedly true in the time of the captivity under Nabuchadnezzar. The people were assembled ; were regarded as captives; and were conveyed together to a distant land. And shall be shut up in the prison. Probably this is not intended to be taken literally, but to denote that they would be as secure as if they were shut up in prison. Their prison may have been the distant land of Chaldea, where they were secured and inclosed as in a prison seventy years. ¶ And after many days. If this refers as I have supposed, to the captivity at Babylon, then these "many days" refer to the period of seventy years. Shall they be visited. Marg. Found wanting. The word here used p Pâqădh, may be used either in a good or bad sense, either to visit for the purpose of reviewing, numbering, or aiding ; or to visit for the purpose of punishing. It is probably, in the Scriptures, most frequently used in the sense of punishing. See Job xxxi. 14, xxxv. 15, Isa. xxvi. 14, 1 Sam. xv. 2, Ps. lxxxix. 33, Jer. ix. 24. But it is often used in the sense of taking account of; reviewing or mustering as a military host. See Num. i. 44, iii. 39, 1 Kings xx. 15, Isa. xiii. 4. In this place it may be taken in either of these senses, as may be best supposed to suit the connexion. To me it seems that the connexion seems to require the idea of a visitation for the purpose of relief or of deliverance; and to refer to the fact that at the end of that time there would be a reviewing, a mustering, an enrollment of those who should have been thus carried away to their distant prison house, to ascertain how many remained, and to marshall them for their return to the land of their fathers. See the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The word here used has sometimes the sense expressed in the margin, "found wanting" (Comp. Isa. 23 Then, the moon shall be con- | Zion, and in Jerusalem, and 5 before founded, and the sun ashamed, when his ancients, gloriously. the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount f Eze. 32. 7. 5 or, there shall be glory before his ancients. New Translation. 23. And the moon shall be confounded, And the sun ashamed, When JEHOVAH of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And before the elders in glory. Xxxviii. 10, 1 Sam. xx. 6, xxv. 15); but such a sense does not suit the connexion here. I regard the verse as an indication of future mercy and deliverar ce. They would be thrown into prison, and treated as captives of war; but after a long time they would be visited by the Great Deliverer of their nation, their covenant-keeping God, and re-conducted to the land of their fathers. 23. Then the moon shall be confounded. The heavenly bodies are often employed in the sacred writings to denote the princes and kings of the earth. These expressions are not to be pressed ad unguem as if the sun denoted one thing and the moon another; but they are general poetic expressions designed to represent rulers, princes, and magistrates of all kinds. Comp. Joel ii. 30, 31. Ezek. xxxii. 7. Shall be confounded. Shall be covered with shame. That is, shall appear to shine with diminished beauty, as if it were ashamed in the superior glory that would shine around it. The sense is, that when the people should be returned to their land, the theocracy would be restored, and the magnificence of the kings and other civil rulers would be dimmed in the superior splendor of the reign of God. Perhaps there may be a reference here to the time when JEHOVAH would reign in Jerusalem through, or by means of, THE MESSIAH. ¶ In Mount Zion. Note ch. i. 8. This would take place subsequently to the captivity; and pre-eminently under the reign of THE MESSIAH. And before his ancients. That is, before the elders of the people; in the presence of those entrusted with authority and rule. ¶ Gloriously. He should reign gloriously when his laws should be respected and obeyed; when his character as King and Ruler should be developed ; and when, under his sceptre, his kingdom should be augmented and extended. On this glad prospect the eye of the prophet was fixed; and this prospect was the bright and splendid object in the "vision" that served to relieve the darkness that was coming upon the nation. Present calamities may be borne, with the hope that JEHOVAH will reign more gloriously hereafter; and the effect of all shall be to exalt JEHOVAH in the view of the nations. It may be added that when JEHOVAH, by the Messiah, shall reign over all the earth all the glory of the wisest and greatest princes and monarchs shall be dimmed; the celebrity of their wisdom, and power, and plans shall be obscured in the superior splendor of the wisdom, power, and plans of God in reigning through the laws of his Son over the human race. Come that blessed day; and speedily let the glory of the moon be confounded, and the sun be ashamed, and all inferior magnificence fade away before the splendor of the Sun of Righteousness. CHAPTER XXV. ANALYSIS. FOR the general design and scope of this chapter, see the analysis to ch. xxiv. It is a song of praise to God for the anticipated deliverance of his people from the bondage at Babylon. The desolation of Jerusalem and Judah had been described in ch. xxiv; that chapter had closed with an intimation that JEHOVAH Would again reign in glory on Mount Zion (ver. 23); and in view of this future deliverance the prophet breaks out into this beautiful song of praise. It was not unusual for the prophets to express by anticipation such songs of praise as should be celebrated by the people in times of signal deliverance. See Notes on ch, xii. This song of praise is one of the most beautiful that is to be found in the writings of Isaiah. The essential idea is, that which was hinted at in ch xxiv. 23, that JEHOVAH would reign with a glory that would obscure the brightness of the sun and the moon on Mount Zion. Filled with the idea, the prophet fixes the eye on those future glories, and declares what shall occur under that reign. He sees JEHOVAH reigning there for a long series of years; and during that reign he sees (ver. 6,) that he would provide a way then by which the darkness might be removed from all nations (ver. 7); that he would originate that plan by which death should be swallowed up in victory (ver. 8); and that there he would execute a plan by which all his enemies should be laid low, ver. 9-12. The hymn is designed, therefore, to celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of God in fulfilling his ancient promises, and delivering his people from their long captivity by the destruction of Babylon (ver. 1-5); and the future glories that would shine forth under the reign of JEHOVAH On Mount Zion, including the arrangements of redeeming mercy for the world. |