Verse 1
Isaiah 34:1. Come, &c. — Here
begins the third discourse of
the third part of Isaiah’s
prophecies, and is continued to
the end of the next chapter. It
is connected with the preceding,
and, Vitringa thinks, was
delivered at the same time. It
is divided into two sections:
the first, contained in this
chapter, exhibits judgments upon
the adversaries of the church,
and particularly upon Edom; the
latter, in chap. 35., the
jubilee of the church, and its
happy, flourishing state. The
events foretold are represented
as being of the highest
importance, and of universal
concern, and all nations are
called upon to attend to the
declaration of them. Thus the
prophet: Come near, ye nations,
and hear; hearken, ye people —
As if he had said, Let the
people of all nations take
notice of what I am about to
say, as that wherein they are
generally concerned, and by the
consideration whereof they may
be instructed and reformed, and
so delivered from the calamity
here denounced.
Verse 2-3
Isaiah 34:2-3. For the
indignation of the Lord is upon
all nations — Not only upon the
Assyrians, and those nations
which are confederate with them
in their expedition against
Judea, but upon all other
enemies of my people. He hath
utterly destroyed them — He will
infallibly destroy all of them.
Their slain also shall be cast
out — Into the fields, where
they shall lie unburied, and be
left a prey to ravenous beasts
and birds. In which words he
implies, either that such vast
numbers would be slain, that the
survivers would not be able to
find time or place to bury them,
or that they should be held in
such contempt and abhorrence
that none would be inclined to
do them that office: and the
mountains — About Jerusalem,
where they are supposed to be
gathered to fight against her,
like the Assyrians; shall be
melted with their blood — Shall
be covered with their blood,
which shall flow down abundantly
from them with great force, and
dissolve, and carry down with it
a part of the soil of the
mountains, as great showers of
rain frequently do. This
sentence upon the nations, which
thus exhibits a kind of general
judgment, to be executed upon
the enemies of God and his
people, by the sword of God, is
sufficient to strike terror into
every hearer.
Verse 4
Isaiah 34:4. And all the host of
heaven — The sun, moon, and
stars; shall be dissolved — We
have frequently had occasion to
observe, that, in the prophetic
language, the heavenly
luminaries represent kings,
empires, and states: see note on
Isaiah 13:10. The prophet here
foretels the overthrow and
dissolution of such states and
kingdoms as were hostile to his
church, whether under the Jewish
or Christian dispensation. Or,
alluding to a horrid tempest
raging furiously, during which
the heavens grow black, the sun
disappears, and the stars seem
to fall to the earth, and it
appears as if the whole body of
the heavens were about to be
utterly dissolved, he intends to
signify, that, during these
destructive judgments, of which
he speaks, the confusion and
consternation of mankind would
be as great as if all the frame
of the creation were broken into
pieces. Some, indeed, understand
the words as intended of the day
of general and final judgment,
but the context preceding and
following will not agree with
such an interpretation. And it
is very usual for the prophetic
writers, both of the Old and New
Testaments, to represent great
and general changes and
calamities in such words and
phrases as properly agree to the
day of judgment, and the
dissolution of all things: as,
on the contrary, they often set
forth the glorious deliverances
of God’s people by such
expressions as properly and
literally belong to the
resurrection from the dead.
Verse 5-6
Isaiah 34:5-6. For my sword
shall be bathed — In the blood
of these people; in heaven —
Where God dwells; in which this
is said to be done, because it
was there decreed and appointed.
Or, it shall, as it were, be
sharpened and made ready in
heaven, to bathe itself on
earth. It shall come down upon
Idumea — Upon the Edomites, who,
though they were nearly related
to the Israelites, yet were
their implacable enemies. But
these are named for all the
enemies of God’s church, of whom
they were an eminent type. The
people of my curse — Whom I have
devoted to utter destruction, as
the word properly signifies. The
sword of the Lord is filled with
blood — Shall drink its fill of
blood. The metaphor is taken
from a great glutton, who is
almost insatiable, With the
blood of lambs, &c. — By lambs,
and goats, and rams, he means
people of all ranks and
conditions, high and low, rich
and poor. Dr. Waterland renders
the verse, “When my sword in
heaven is bathed, behold it
shall sink deep into Idumea,
into the people whom I have
devoted to judgment.” For the
Lord hath a sacrifice — So the
prophet terms this bloody work,
because it was done by God’s
command, and for the honour of
his justice and righteous
government, and therefore was a
service acceptable to him; in
Bozrah — A chief city of Edom,
(Isaiah 63:1,) and a type of
those cities which should be
most hostile to God’s people.
Verse 7-8
Isaiah 34:7-8. And the unicorns
shall come down — The word
ראמים, reemim, here rendered
unicorns, is the same with that
used Numbers 23:22, where see
the note. Bishop Lowth renders
it here, wild goats; and Dr.
Waterland, stags. But many
learned men prefer the marginal
reading, rhinoceros. It is
impossible to determine
precisely what sort of a
creature is meant, but it is
allowed by all that it was a
beast of great strength and
fierceness, and that it is here
used metaphorically, together
with the bullocks and bulls, for
princes and potentates, which
should be brought down and
humbled, or should fall down, as
Bishop Lowth reads it, according
to the LXX. and Syriac, namely,
as beasts do when they have
received a deadly blow; that is,
they shall be sacrificed, with
the lambs, goats, and rams, the
inferior people, mentioned
Isaiah 34:6. And their land
shall be soaked with blood —
Hebrew, רותה, watered, as with
rain coming oft upon it, and in
abundance; and their dust —
Their dry and barren land; made
fat with fatness — With the fat
of the sacrifices, namely, of
the slain men, mingled with it.
For it is the day of the Lord’s
vengeance — This is the time
which God hath long since
appointed and fixed to vindicate
the cause of his oppressed and
persecuted people against all
their enemies; for the
controversy of Zion — Dr.
Waterland reads, for the
avenging of Zion. Upon the
whole, “the meaning of this
period,” from Isaiah 34:5, “is,
that on a certain day of
judgment, which is elsewhere
called the great day of the
Lord’s vengeance, a mighty
slaughter should be made of the
hardened enemies of the church,
(which had been a long time
oppressed and afflicted by
them,) with the effusion of much
blood, and the destruction of
many great, noble, and powerful
men. The figure is taken from
the master of a family, who,
preparing a great feast, and a
sacrifice, finds it necessary to
slay many lambs, rams, and
fatted animals, so that his
knife may be said to be
inebriated with the blood and
fat of the slain.” As to the
application of this prophecy, in
which the Edomites are
particularly mentioned, it may
be observed that they, together
with the rest of the
neighbouring nations, were
ravaged and laid waste by
Nebuchadnezzar, and the general
devastation spread through all
these countries by him may be
the event which the prophet had
first in view in this chapter:
but, as Bishop Lowth observes,
“this event, as far as we have
any account of it in history,
seems by no means to come up to
the terms of the prophecy, or to
justify so highly wrought and so
terrible a description. And it
is not easy to discover what
connection the extremely
flourishing state of the church
or people of God, described in
the next chapter, could have
with those events, or how it
could be the consequence of
them, as it is there represented
to be. By a figure, very common
in the prophetical writings, any
city or people, remarkably
distinguished as enemies of the
people and kingdom of God, is
put for those enemies in
general. This seems here to be
the case with Edom and Bozra. It
seems, therefore, reasonable to
suppose, with many learned
expositors, that this prophecy
has a further view to events
still future; to some great
revolutions to be effected in
later times, antecedent to that
more perfect state of the
kingdom of God upon earth, and
serving to introduce it, which
the Scriptures warrant us to
expect.” Vitringa is of opinion,
that Papal, as well as heathen
Rome, red or drunken with the
blood of the saints and martyrs
of Jesus, is here meant. And he
observes, that “Rome, which, in
the Hebrew, signifies
fortification, well answers to
Bozra, which signifies a
fortified city.” Is not the
destruction of the
anti-christian powers foretold
in the xviith, xviiith, and
xixth chapters of the Revelation
by St. John, here intended by
Isaiah? and especially the
destruction in Armageddon,
termed the great day of God
Almighty, Revelation 16:14, and
that described Isaiah 19:17-19?
Certainly these terrible
destructions are to prepare the
way for that millennial reign of
Christ, described Revelation
20., and which seems to be
intended in the next chapter of
this prophecy.
Verses 9-15
Isaiah 34:9-15. And the streams
thereof — The rivers, which seem
most secure from the judgment
here threatened; shall be turned
into pitch, &c. — The country
shall be dealt with as Sodom and
Gomorrah were, even utterly
destroyed, as it were, by fire,
or burning pitch and brimstone,
thrown down upon it from heaven.
From generation to generation it
shall lie waste — It shall be
irrecoverably ruined, and shall
remain a spectacle of God’s
vengeance to all succeeding
ages. The cormorant, &c., shall
possess it — The inhabitants
shall be wholly cut off, and it
shall be entirely possessed by
those creatures which delight in
deserts and waste places: see
Isaiah 13:21-22; and Isaiah
14:23. He shall stretch out upon
it the line of confusion, &c. —
He shall use the line, and the
stone, or plummet, joined to it,
not to build it up, but to mark
it out for destruction and
desolation. Thus the prophet
goes on to “paint, in the most
chosen figures, an image of the
land and city desolated by war,
wasted by fire, and devoted to
eternal desolation, by the
divine judgment; which should
not only be deprived of its
inhabitants, and left to impure
beasts and birds, but also, by
the desolations brought upon it,
should be rendered
uninhabitable, and present the
appearance of the infernal
flames, like another Sodom and
Gomorrah, sending forth
continually black smoke and
horrid smells. The desolation of
Babylon is set forth in similar
terms, Isaiah 13:19, &c. Though
Rome pagan and the Roman powers
have already suffered great
desolation from the Goths and
others, yet Vitringa is of
opinion that this prophecy has
not yet had its full completion,
but will hereafter have it in
the destruction of Papal Rome.
The state of Italy, and the
sulphurous soil in the vicinity
of Rome, render the probability
of this devastation greater.” —
Dodd.
Verse 16-17
Isaiah 34:16-17. Seek ye out of
the book of the Lord — Here the
prophet confirms the preceding
prediction; and, “to convict
hypocrites, and confirm the
pious, assures them of the
certain completion of his
prophecy.” He terms it, and his
other prophecies, The book of
the Lord. as being a part of
divine revelation; and he
supposes they would be extant at
the time of the completion of
their contents, and therefore
invites all men to seek into and
consider them in all their
parts, in order that, comparing
the events with the predictions,
they might be fully satisfied of
the truth of them, and thereby
might find their faith in them,
and all the other parts of God’s
book, confirmed. Not one of
these shall fail — No, not so
much as the minutest
circumstance, even respecting
the impure beasts now mentioned.
None shall want her mate — As I
have said that the vultures
should all have their mates, so
it shall be: for my mouth — The
mouth of the Lord; it hath
commanded — The direful muster
of the beasts and fowls; these
marks and evidences of
desolation; and his Spirit —
That is, his power; it hath
gathered — Shall gather all his
creatures together, as he
formerly brought the creatures
to Adam and to Noah, by an
instinct which he put into them.
And he hath cast the lot for
them, &c. — He hath divided the
land to them, as it were, by lot
and line, as Canaan was divided
among the Israelites. |