Isaiah 29

Isaiah 29:1-8

This prophecy is against the city of Jerusalem. 1. The sweet itself is foretold, that Jerusalem should be greatly distressed, ver. 1—6. but that their enemies should be disappointed, ver. 7, 8. 2. A reproof is given to three sorts of sinners: (1.) Those that were stupid and regardless of the prophet’s warnings, ver. 9—12. (2.) Those that were formal and hypocritical in their religious performances, ver. 13. (3.) Those politicians that unhesitively and profanely deposed God’s providence, and set up their own projects in competition with it, ver. 14—16. 3. Previous promises of grace are made to a remnant whom God would sanctify, and in whom he would be sanctified, when their enemies and persecutors should be cut off, ver. 17—24.

1. W/O to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt: add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. 2. Yet I will distre Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be unto me as Ariel. 3. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will

Or the chest in the prontypic place, and the barley in the appointed place. Or, and he beareth it out in luch fear in his God dwelt instruck him; Chap. xxiii, 7. Pl. 10, 9. Ibid. xviii. 3. Jer. xxiii, 19. 7th. 1. 1. The love of God, Or rerow and 4. Or several times year to year in hising, &c. xviii, p. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Raile forts against thee. 4. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the duft, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whilper out of the duft. 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small duft, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an infant suddenly. 6. Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hofts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempel, and the flame of devouring fire. 7. ¶ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her, and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night-vision. 8. ‘It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

The subject of this prophecy, is Jerusalem, the place where David derel, or recamped; it is called Ariel, the lion of God, some think in reference to the altar, that consumed the sacrifices as a lion his prey; or more probably as the mercupials of Judah, called the lion’s whelp, Gen. alix. 9. and whose standard was a lion.

1. The turn of it is foretold, which all their sacrifices, because hypocritical, cannot prevent. Vain were the oblations from your to year, whilst their iniquities were unreported of, v. 1. God threatens to distress them, to fill every heart with heaviness and sorrow, and make the city like the altar of God, surrounded with the blood and cascades of the dam, and for kindled in the midst of it, v. 2. The beleggers under a Divine support should surround it with mounts and forts without, v. 3. beat down the walls, and reduce them to the most object imposition; or bring them so low by famine, that their voices should through weakness scarce be heard, like those who pretending to familiar spirits, whispered and muttered out of the duft, v. 4. With marks of Divine dislocation, God would assist their foes with thunder, earthquake, and tempel, and give them up at last into their hands, who should consume their city and temple with fire, v. 6. Note, (1.) Formal services, whilst the heart continues unchanged and unhumbled, are but an abomination in the sight of God. (2.) We unto those against whom God contends, against him there is no defence. (3.) The proudest sinner will looner or later be laid in the duft, either in willing penitence, or terrible perfection.

2. God would disappoint their foes; they in their turn should suddenly be destroyed, v. 5. their vain hopes of success be as a vision in the night, v. 7. and their disappointment like the man who dreams of meat and drink, yet awakes hungry and thirsty, v. 8. Which some refer to the ruin of Sennacherib’s army, though that will not agree with v. 3. as they never raised any mount there: others apply the words to the Roman army, and suppose, v. 5. to mean their sudden irruption, and numerous forces rushing to the siege; and, v. 7, 8. their disappointment, when the spoil they promoted themselves would be so little answerable to their expectations. Some think the whole appertains to the Jews, expending the destruction of the succours they expected, v. 5. and the vanity of the hopes with which they hastened themselves, that their city would not be taken, till dreadful experience at last awaked them from their fatal reverie.

3. ¶ Stay yourselves and wonder, cry ye out, and cry: ’they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the fears hath he covered. 11. And the vision of all is become unto you, as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: 12. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. 13. ¶ Wherefore the LORD said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men: 14. ‘Therefore behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work amongst this people, from a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of

their prudent men shall be hid. 15. ‘We unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 16. Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Isaiah 29:9-10

Whatever fulfilment these words had in the men of that generation, it is plain, from Rom. xi. 7, 8. they refer to the times of Christ.

1. The prophet calls aloud with the voice of warning: Stay yourselves, consider your ways, and run no more madly in the way of sin and ruin, and wonder as the long patience of God, and cry ye out, and cry at the impending judgments of God, if yet there may be hope: or it may be read, delight yourselves; either mocking at their peril in the ways of iniquity, or by returning to God for his pardoning mercy.

2. The prophet describes their stupidity and judicial blindness. They were drunken; not merely with wine, but with corrupt principles, staggering, unfreely in their conduct, and ever turning aside from the right way, v. 9. And to this God had in righteous judgment given them up, because they refused the knowledge of the truth; proofs, prophets, and rulers, were all under this spirit of darkness and infestation, v. 10. The prophecies were as a failed book, the wife no more understanding them than the ignorant, v. 11, 12. Which was eminently verified, when, in opposition to the brightest evidence, and fullest completion of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Jews obstinately rejected the Lord Jesus, and the rulers and priests were the chief in the transgression; blind leaders of the blind, hardened themselves, and hardening others against conviction. Note, (1.) They who will not take warning, will be given up to their own hearts lusts. (2.) It is a wofal cafe, when they who should teach others, are blind and ignorant themselves. (3.) Multitude, in the midst of the plainest light of gospel truth, are still so overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cures of this life, that their eyes are closed in darkness, and they are led captive by the devil at his will.

3. He charges them with vile hypocrisy. They draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, giving him the formal services of the lip and knee, but have removed their heart far from me; their afflictions being supremely placed on the world, and the things of it, and their souls utter strangers to any inward heart-approach to God; and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men; their religion was mere educational, not derived from God’s word; and their worship desirute of spirituality, and suited to lull their souls asleep in stupid formality. Such was the case with the Jews, for Mass. xv. 3—9. and such is still the case with multitudes, who call themselves, and are counted by the world, good christians, whose prayers are as regular as the hour returns, whilst their hearts are utter strangers to converting grace and communion with God; and take away their books of devotion, they know no more how to draw near to God, than the confusion on which they kneel. Note, (1.) That is no prayer which is not the soul’s work. (2.) The prayers of the worldling and formalist, are no better than a solemn mockery of God.

4. God threatens them with condign punishment: a marvellous work he would work, at which they should be allotified.

(1.) The understanding of their wise men should perish, v. 14. Though their schemes were laid so deep against the Lord, and against his anointed, and so concealed, that they atheistically promised themselves not even God could see or disappoint them, v. 15. Yet we unto them! their politics were as absurd as wicked: their attempts to hide their counsel from him, and counteract his designs, were vain, since as easily as the potter moulds the clay, so could he mar their schemes, or fashion them after his own will; for shall the unself say of him that made it, He made me not? as it self-created; or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? which they in fact did, by such conduct, though the folly of it was so evident. Note, (1.) They who set up for wise men and free-thinkers, and discard their Bibles, will prove at last the most egregious fools. (2.) A disbelief of God’s all-being eye and universal agency, is at the bottom of every work of darkness.

(2.) The Gentiles should shortly be called into the church, and the Jews rejected, v. 17. Though the one was now like a foref, it should, by the preaching of the gospel, become as a fruitful field; and the other, though long favoured as a peculiar manner as God’s heritage, should be utterly laid waft for their impenitence, and especially for their rejection of Christ and his gospel: and this in the eyes of the Jews, and even of the apostles themselves, too partial at first to their own nation, appeared a marvellous work.

17. Is it not yet a very little while, and ‘Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18. If And in that day ‘shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and ’the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19. The meek also shall ‘increase the joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy One of Israel. 20. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all ’the watch for iniquity are cut off.’ 21. ‘That make a man an offender for a word, and ’lay a snare for him that reproved in the gate, and turn aside the jolt for a thing of nought.’ 22. Therefore thus faith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now was pale. 23. But when he teeth his children, ’the work of mine hands in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. 24. They also that erect in spirit shall come to understanding, and ’they that murmured, shall learn doctrine.

Isaiah 29:18-24

It having been foretold in the former verse, that the Gentiles should be called, and the Jews rejected; we have here the blessings the church should in that day of gospel grace enjoy.

1. They who before were deaf to God’s calls, and blind to any spiritual knowledge of the truth, should by the preaching of the gospel, in demonstration of the spirit and power, have the eyes of their mind enlightened, and be enabled to hear and receive the word of truth, v. 18. Note, (1.) Every soul is by nature spiritually blind. (2.) The preaching of the gospel is the means God uses to bring the soul out of darkness into his marvellous light. (3.) He must open the understanding to understand the scriptures, or else the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

2. Joy and gladness shall revive the meek and the poor in spirit. Such as are brought to a view of their own sinfulness, and humbly submissive to every dispensation of providence, silent under provocation, and in their own eyes poor and perishing; these shall increase their joy in the Lord, under the experience of his love and care of them, and rejoice in the holy One of Israel as their rich portion and exceeding great reward. Note, (1.) God hath in general chosen the poor among men for heirs of his kingdom. (2.) It is not external poverty, but internal lowliness of heart, to which the promise is made. (3.) Whatever injuries we receive, or wants we endure, if in the midst of all, our hearts are quietly stayed upon God, we have cause of abundant joy.

3. The erroneous shall be convinced, and they who murmured at God’s word at hard sayings, be silenced, and humbly submit to his truth, v. 24.

4. Their enemies and persecutors shall be destroyed, v. 20. By the people are may be meant the rulers of the Jews, or the persecuting power of the pagan Roman emperors; or it may have respect to antichrist, whose kingdom shall be brought to nought, as the former enemies of Christ and his gospel have been broken. The former signifies the philosophers of the Gentiles, or the Jews, that scoffed at the doctrine of the cross, whose inveterate enmity against Christ and his apostles, kept them always on the watch, v. 20. and any word which could be misrepresented, served for a ground of accultation: they laid snares for their faithful reprovers, that they might entangle them in their talk; and without proof or evidence condemned the just, v. 21. And this was abundantly fulfilled in the conduct of the Scribes and Pharisees, Must. xxii. xxiii. but they received their just doom, and were cut off according to the prophetic word in their iniquities. Note, (1.) They who are Christ’s servants, must expect the threatenings of the terrible, and the ridicule of the scorner. (2.) The enemies of religion are ever on the watch to catch at every slip or falling of the prophecies of it, as matter of railing accusation against them. Let it make us the more watchful to cut off occasion from those who desire occasion. (3.) We may not think it strange, to have a word dropped unadvisedly, confirmed into a heavy charge, or an innocent expression perverted to a most criminal meaning, when scoffers come to hear God’s misinform, not for edification, but to lay snares for their reprovers. So perplexed they the prophets that were before us. (4.) If in the faithful discharge of our office, we find a wicked word opposing, and with every base and malignant inkmalation seeking to blacken us, it is a confolation that we are the more like our Lord. (5.) Whatever successes at present may seem to attend those who oppose the cause of God and truth, they shall be cut off at the last.

5. The church should be gloriously enlarged, by the accretion at last of the seed of Jacob. Therefore thus faith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and out of all

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his troubles, till he obtained eternal salvation, concerning the house of Jacob his posterity, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, and his face were pale, as when his degenerate seed rejected and crucified the Lord Jesus. But when he teeth his children recovered from their apostasy, the work of my hands, by converting great fashioned anew, in the midst of him assembled together, they shall sanctify my name, by believing in the Redeemer, and receiving his gospel, and sanctify the holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel, returning to his worship and service. By Jacob here also the church of Christ may be meant, rejoicing in the conversion of all the spiritual seed, whether Jews or Gentiles, in the latter day, who shall then together unite in the praises of their Lord.