Isaiah 24:15

Wherefore glorify ye the Lord, in the fires,.... These are the words of the remnant, now triumphing and singing, calling upon others also to glorify the Lord in the fires of affliction and

Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. In the fires , [ baa'uriym (H217)]. Vitringa translates, 'in the caves.' Could it mean the fires of affliction?

Glorify ye the Lord: these are the words either, 1. Of the remnant, who being themselves delivered, do encourage and exhort their brethren to glorify God with them; or, 2. Of the prophet, directing and exciting God’ s people to glorify God in their afflictions, because of that deliverance which he had promised, and would assuredly give to them. In the fires; when you are in the furnace of affliction; although this word is never used in Scripture in this sense. Others therefore render the word, in the valleys; and others, in the holes, you that are now forced to hide yourselves in holes. Possibly it may be better rendered, for light or illumination; which may be understood either of the light of the truth which God would reveal to them, or for the comfort and felicity which God would confer upon them; light being frequently taken both ways in Scripture. For this Hebrew word, in all other places of Scripture where it is found, signifies that Urim which was in the high priest’ s breastplate, and which properly signifies illumination, as both Jews and Christians render it, whereof that was both a sign and instrument; of which See Poole "". Add to this, that this part of the prophecy seems to concern the days of the gospel, and that light which the Jews should then receive by the Messias, of whom the high priest with his ephod and Urim was a type. And so this is an exhortation to the converted Jews to bless God for the true Urim, even for Christ and the gospel. And some of the ancient translators had this signification of the word in their eye, as the vulgar Latin, who render it, in doctrines; and the Chaldee, who translate it, when light shall come to the just. But this I propose with submission. In the isles of the sea; in remote countries beyond the sea, which in Scripture are commonly called isles, as hath been formerly and oft observed; whereby he seems to imply that he here speaks not so much of a temporal felicity which the Jews should receive and enjoy in their own country, as of a spiritual advantage which they should have by the Messias in the places where they were dispersed.

Isaiah 24:15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, [even] the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.Ver. 15. Glorify ye God in the fires.] In ipsis ignibus, in the hottest fires of afflictions, "rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation"; praise God for crosses also: this is Christianorum propria virtus, saith Jerome. In the isles of the sea.] Quicunqui quocunque loco, et inter quoseunque sitis. Jun.

(15) Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires.—The last word, which is identical in form with the Urim of the high priest’s breastplate, has been very differently interpreted:—(1) Taking it in the sense of “light,” it has been taken as meaning the east, as contrasted with the “isles of the sea” as a synonym for the west, and so standing parallel to the familiar phrase “from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same” (Malachi 1:11; Isaiah 59:19), and, we may add, to the like formula in Assyrian inscriptions, e.g., that of Esarhaddon (Records of the Past, iii. 111). So Homer, “the dawn and the sun” (Il, xii. 239) as a phrase for the East; and our Orient and East have substantially the same significance. (2) It has been rendered simply “regions,” or “countries” (Cheyne). (3) It has been interpreted of the “fiery trial” of tribulation, or of the “light” of Divine truth. Of these, (1) has the merit of being more in harmony with the primary meaning of the word, and giving a more vivid antithesis. The “isles of the sea” we have met in Isaiah 11:11.

Verse 15. In the isles of the sea - "In the distant coasts of the sea."] For בארים beurim, in the valleys, I suppose we ought to read באיים beiyim, in the isles, which is in a great degree justified by the repetition of the word in the next member of the sentence, with the addition of הים haiyam, the sea, to vary the phrase, exactly in the manner of the prophet. איים iyim is a word chiefly applied to any distant countries, especially those lying on the Mediterranean Sea. Others conjecture ביארים biorim, בהרים beharim, באמים beummim, בעמים beammim, בחורים bechorim, באורים beurim, a באר bar, illustrate - Le Clerc. Twenty-three MSS. of Kennicott's, many of De Rossi's, and some of my own, read באורים beorim, in the valleys. The Septuagint do not acknowledge the reading of the text, expressing here only the word איים iyim, ενταιςνησοις, in the islands, and that not repeated. But MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. supply in this place the defect in the other copies of the Septuagint thus, ΔιατουτοἡδοξαΚυριουεσταιενταιςνησοιςτηςθαλασσης·ενταιςνησοιςτοονοματουΚυριουΘεουΙσραηλενδοξονεσται· "Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be in the isles of the sea: in the islands shall the name of the Lord God of Israel be glorified." Kimchi says, that by באורים beurim, in the valleys, is meant the cities, because they were generally built in valleys. The Vulgate has in doctrinis, and so my old MS., in techingis. Coverdale translates, Praise the name of the Lord God of Israel in the valleys and in the floodis. It should not be rendered in the fires; none of the ancient Versions understood it thus. According to which the Septuagint had in their Hebrew copy באיים beiyim, repeated afterwards, not בארים beurim.

15. The words are those of the hymn of praise from over the sea, as is shewn by the particle Wherefore, referring to the unexpressed cause of rejoicing. in the fires] This gives no sense. R.V. has in the east; strictly “the (regions of) lights,” which is the translation adopted by the majority of commentators. The idea would then be that the West calls on the East to join in the praise of Jehovah. But the form does not occur elsewhere and is not improbably written by mistake for “coasts,” which is repeated in the next line in accordance with what is called ‘the ascending rhythm.’ the Lord God of Israel] The singers, therefore, are in all probability Israelites. in the isles] in the coasts.

Wherefore glorify ye the Lord - The prophet, in this verse, calls upon the people to join in the praise of Yahweh wherever they are scattered.

15. Glorify… in the fires — This is a doubtful translation. Better, in the east, or, in the regions of the east. So lexicons by Furst and by Gesenius.