Isaiah 1:24

Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel,.... All these names and titles, which are expressive of the majesty, power, and authority of God, are used to give the greater

Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts - 'Adonaay (H136), Yahweh (H3068).

I will ease me, Heb. I will comfort myself; ease my mind, and satisfy my justice, by taking vengeance, as the next clause explains this. The same expression is used in the same sense . Of mine adversaries; of the Israelites, who, though they have called themselves my children and friends, yet by their temper and carriage towards me have showed themselves to be mine enemies.

Isaiah 1:24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:Ver. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord.] Dominator, Dεσποτης, Dυναστης, the great housekeeper of the world. The Lord of hosts.] Heb., Jehovah of armies. The mighty One of Israel.] Able enough to deal with them, and to punish their facinus maioris abollae. Ah.] Some render it Heu, alas, to show that God punisheth nolens et doleus - unwillingly and with grief. Others make it to be an expression of joy, to show what content he will take in punishing the obstinate; and so it followeth. I will ease me; I will avenge me.] As it is an ease to a full stomach to disgorge, and as to a vindictive person revenge is very sweet. “ Est vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa. ” So - but in a way of justice - God delighteth in the destruction of his stubborn enemies. Mine adversaries.] Such as, by a specialty, are corrupt judges, as Calvin here noteth. δΰψεζ. Heu dolentis. - Luther. Ah exultantis. Oecolamp. Animumque explesse iuvabit.

(24) Therefore saith the Lord.—The word for “saith” (literally, whisper) is that which always indicates the solemn utterance of an oracle. The solemnity is emphasised by the exceptional accumulation of Divine names. He who speaks is the Eternal, the Lord of the armies of earth and heaven, the Hero, the Mighty One, of Israel. The latter name is found also in Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16; Genesis 49:24; Psalms 132:2; Psalms 132:5, and not elsewhere. Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries.—In bold, anthropomorphic language, which reminds us of Psa 78:65, Jehovah is represented as waking out of slumber, and rising up to judgment. The words “ease” and “avenge” in the Hebrew have nearly the same sound (nicham and niqqam), and come from the same root, the primary thought being that of the deep breath which a man draws in the act of throwing off a burden. The weariness and impatience of Isa 1:14, the long-suffering that waited, had come to an end at last (comp. Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:13), and the day of vengeance had come. The punishment was, however, to be reformatory, and not merely penal.

Verse 24. Ah, I will ease me - "Aha! I will be eased"] Anger, arising from a sense of injury and affront, especially from those who, from every consideration of duty and gratitude, ought to have behaved far otherwise, is an uneasy and painful sensation: and revenge, executed to the full on the offenders, removes that uneasiness, and consequently is pleasing and quieting, at least for the present. Ezekiel, Ezekiel 5:13, introduces God expressing himself in the same manner: - "And mine anger shall be fully accomplished; And I will make my fury rest upon them; And I will give myself ease." This is a strong instance of the metaphor called anthropopathia, by which, throughout the Scriptures, as well the historical as the poetical parts, the sentiments sensations, and affections, the bodily faculties qualities, and members, of men, and even of brute animals, are attributed to God, and that with the utmost liberty and latitude of application. The foundation of this is obvious; it arises from necessity; we have no idea of the natural attributes of God, of his pure essence, of his manner of existence, of his manner of acting: when therefore we would treat on these subjects, we find ourselves forced to express them by sensible images. But necessity leads to beauty; this is true of metaphor in general, and in particular of this kind of metaphor, which is used with great elegance and sublimity in the sacred poetry; and what is very remarkable, in the grossest instances of the application of it, it is generally the most striking and the most sublime. The reason seems to be this: when the images are taken from the superior faculties of the human nature, from the purer and more generous affections, and applied to God, we are apt to acquiesce in the notion; we overlook the metaphor, and take it as a proper attribute; but when the idea is gross and offensive as in this passage of Isaiah, where the impatience of anger and the pleasure of revenge is attributed to God, we are immediately shocked at the application; the impropriety strikes us at once, and the mind, casting about for something in the Divine nature analogous to the image, lays hold on some great, obscure, vague idea, which she endeavours to comprehend, and is lost in immensity and astonishment. See De Sacr. Poesi. Hebr. Praeel. xvi. sub. fin., where this matter is treated and illustrated by examples.

24. Such men are adversaries and enemies of Jehovah, thwarting His wishes and purposes for His people. the Lord] “the Master” or the Sovereign. The title, used absolutely as here (hâ-’Adôn), is almost peculiar to Isaiah, and is used by him only in introducing a threat (ch. Isaiah 3:1, Isaiah 10:16; Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 19:4; cf. Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:23). the mighty One of Israel] Israel’s Strong One, a rare word in Hebr., first found in Genesis 49:24. See on ch. Isaiah 10:13. ease me] Better: appease myself, and so again, avenge myself. By a bold anthropopathy the divine Being is compared to a man thirsting for vengeance. 25 resumes the first figure of Isa 1:22, the judgment on Zion being likened to the smelting of impure ore. turn (or bring back) my hand] not in mercy, but, as usual, in judgment. purely] R.V. throughly, lit. “as with lye,” i.e. potash, which was used as a flux to facilitate the separation of the metals. The grammar is still suspicious. Some, by transposing two consonants, obtain the sense “in the furnace.”

Therefore saith the Lord ... - The prophet having stated the guilt of the nation, proceeds to show the consequences of their crimes; or to foretell what would happen.

24. But there is a Judge who sees all this, and who will recompense according to what he sees. The Lord of hosts — He commands from heaven to smite and to protect: in the one case as it deserves; in the other, as it needs.