Isaiah 14:31

Howl, O gate,.... Or gates of the cities of Palestine; the magistrates that sat there to execute judgment, or the people that passed through there; or because now obliged to open to their enemies;

Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

O gate: the gate is put either, 1. Metaphorically, for the people passing through the gates, or for the magistrates and others who used to meet in the gate for judgment, or upon other occasions; or, 2. Synecdochically, for the city, as gates are commonly put, as , and as it is explained in the next words. O city: city is here put collectively for their cities, of which see . Dissolved, Heb. melted; which may be understood either, 1. Of the fainting of their spirits and courage, as ,24, &c.; or, 2. Of the dissolution of their state. From the north; either, 1. From Judea; which lay northward from some part of the Philistines’ land. But in truth Judea lay more east than north from Palestine, and therefore the Philistines are said to be on the west, , and never, so far as I remember, on the north. Or, 2. From Chaldea. as may be gathered, 1. From the Scripture use of this phrase, which generally designs that country, as ,15 6:1,22, &c. 2. From Jeremiah 47, where destruction is threatened to the Philistines from the north, , which all understand of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. And whereas it is speciously objected, That this suits not with the next verse, which speaks of Zion’ s safety at the time of this destruction of the Philistines, whereas Zion and the land and people of Judah were destroyed together with the Philistines by Nebuchadnezzar; I humbly conceive it may be answered, that that verse is added to express the far differing condition of God’ s people and of the Philistines in the events of that Babylonian war; and that whereas the Philistines should be irrecoverably and eternally destroyed thereby, and no remnant of them should be left, as was said, , God’ s people, though they should be sorely scourged, and carried into captivity, yet they should be strangely preserved, and after some years delivered, and restored to their own land and temple; whereby it would appear that Zion stood upon a sure foundation, and, albeit it was grievously shaken, yet it could not be utterly and finally overthrown. A smoke; a grievous judgment and calamity, which is oft signified by smoke, as , either because smoke is generally accompanied with fire, or because it causeth a great darkness in the air; for afflictions are frequently described under the names of fire and darkness. In his appointed times: when God’ s appointed time shall come for the execution of this judgment, not one person of all that numerous army, which is signified by the smoke last mentioned, shall retire and desert his colours, or lag behind the rest; but they shall march with great unanimity and alacrity, and none of them shall withdraw his hand till the work be finished, till the Philistines be utterly destroyed.

Isaiah 14:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, [art] dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none [shall be] alone in his appointed times.Ver. 31. Howl, O gate.] Philistines are elsewhere taxed for flashy and foolish mirth Here they are told they have more cause to fear than flear, to sigh than sing, to howl than hollo. “ Quis globus, O cives, caligiue, volvitur atra? Hostis adest. ” - Virg. From the north a smoke,] i.e., Hezekiah’ s army raising a dust, and setting all in a combustion.

(31) Howl, O gate . . .—The “gate,” as elsewhere, is the symbol of the city’s strength. The “city” stands probably for Ashdod, as the most conspicuous of the Philistine cities. From the north.—Here of the Assyrian invaders, as in Jeremiah 1:14; Jeremiah 10:22; Jeremiah 46:20 of the Chaldean. The “smoke” may be either that of the cities which the Assyrians burnt, or, more probably, the torch-signals, or beacons, which they used in their night marches or encampments (Jeremiah 6:1; Jeremiah 1:2). (See Note on Isaiah 4:5.) None shall be alone in his appointed times.—Better, there is no straggler at the appointed places: i.e., all the troops shall meet at the rendezvous which was indicated by the column of fiery smoke as a signal.

Verse 31. There shall come from the north a smoke - "From the north cometh a smoke"] That is, a cloud of dust raised by the march of Hezekiah's army against Philistia; which lay to the south-west from Jerusalem. A great dust raised has, at a distance, the appearance of smoke: Fumantes pulvere campi; "The fields smoking with dust." - VIRG. AEn. xi. 908.

31. As in Isaiah 14:29 the prophet had rebuked the premature rejoicing of the Philistines, so here he calls them to public lamentation in view of the advancing enemy. thou … art dissolved] Render as an imper. melt away, entire Philistia! Smoke may be either a symbol of war (Jeremiah 1:13 f.) or it may be a vivid picture of the burning villages that mark the track of the invader. The phrase from the north points almost unmistakeably to the Assyrians (see on ch. Isaiah 10:27). none shall be … times] Most critics render: there is no straggler in his battalions (cf. ch. Isaiah 5:27). The last word closely resembles that for “appointed times,” but is differently vocalised, and does not occur elsewhere.

Howl, O gate - That is, ye who throng the gate. The gates of a city were the chief places of concourse.

31. Howl, O gate — Ye who throng the gates; the chief place of concourse for trials of justice, for news, and for business. The gates here are those of Philistia’s fortress-towns.