Isaiah 32

being put for severity, and righteousness for mercy. So these words are plainly taken, Psal. xciv. 15. judgment shall return tcnto righteousness; i. e- God will change his severe proceedings into merciful dealings: and thus, perhaps, they are to be understood, i. 27. v. 1G. of this prophecy. And this sense, I think, best explains this verse. The prophet had said, (ver. 15.) that the wilderness should be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field into a forest, or wilderness: then it follows in this verse, God’s judgments shall be visible upon the wilderness (meaning the Assyrians, or, in general, the enemies of God’s church), and his righteousness or mercy shall display itself upon the fruitful field, i. e. Judea. With this explication the eighteenth and nineteenth verses very well agree.

Isaiah 32:2

And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, &c. And this prince shall be a refuge to us, when the storms of calamities overtake us, or the oppressions of *our enemies, like excessive heat, do scorch and consume us. (Compare iv. G. xxv. 4.)

Isaiah 32:3

And the eyes of litem that see shall not be dim; and Vie ears of them that hear shall hearken J. God shall plentifully afford men the light of his truth, and give them grace „ to make a good use of the instructions he vouchsafes unto them. When men are stupid and careless, they are said, by a contrary way of speaking, to have eyes and see not, and to have ears and hear i\6t, (vi. 9. Jer. v. 21.) That this promise chiefly relates to the times of the gospel, will appear by comparing it with xxix. 18. xxxv. 5. If it be objected, that other prophecies foretell the blinding of the Jews under the gospel; we may answer with St. Paul, that the children of the promise are accounted for the true seed of Israel, in whom the promises are to be fulfilled; (Rom. ix. 8.) and farther, thesame Divine Author assures us, the time will come when all Israel shall be saved, (Rom. xi. 26.) ■

Isaiah 32:4

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge. The word nimharim, rash, translated fearful xxxv.‘4. may signify, that those that are weak In faith shall come to more perfect degrees of knowledge. And the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.’] The most rude and illiterate, such as could not speak so as to be understood, shall discourse clearly and intelligibly 6f God and of their duty. The verb nalag is bear akin in sound and signification to lanag, which signifies speaking in a barbarous and unknown language, xxViii. 11. So the text here may be fitly expounded of the conversion of barbarous nations, and their giving praises to God in their several languages.

Isaiah 32:5

Tlie vile person shall no more be called liberal. Or, shall not have the style and title of prince bestowed upon him; for so the words in the original import. Under a prince that loves and honours’ virtue, unworthy persons shall riot be advanced to degrees of honour and dignity / Ver. G — 8. For’ the vile person tvill speak villauy, &c] The words shew the different temper and method of the base and narrow-souled man, and of him that is truly generous and public-spirited. The former hath no true sense, either of honour or conscience, but makes it his business, und6r specious pretences, to pervert judgment and justice: whereas the designs of the latter are truly great’ahd worthy of his character, and it is Ly these only that he seeks to support his dignity i

Isaiah 32:9

Rise tip,’ ye women that are at ease, &c. The prophet returns to the description of those calamities which should follow upon Sennacherib’s invasion: and he addresses himself to tlie nice and.delicate women, who would feel the greatest share in these hardships, not being used to any such before.

Isaiah 32:10

Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless ivomen. Some render the words, days above a year shall ye be troubled’, &c. and understand them of Sennacherib’s invasion; who came up against Jridea in. the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, (2 Kings xviii. 13.) and in the year following Gbd promised the king a recovery from his sickness, and that he would deliver him out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and prolong his life fifteen years, j (2 Kings xx. G.)* Now TIez6kiah" reigned but nincandtwenty years in all, so this promise of deliverance must have been made in the fifteenth year of his reign. Bnt Archbishop Usher supposes that there were two invasions by Sennacherib; the first mentioned 2 Kings xviii. 13. the other spoken of in the seventeenth verse of the same chapter, and xix. 9. and thinks that Hezekiah’s sickness happened between these two invasions, aboat three years before the total defeat of the Assyrian army. (See Annal. V, Tcstam. ad A. M. 3291. and 3294.)

Isaiah 32:12

TJiey sh&ll lament for the teats, &c. The sense would run easier and more agreeable to the original, if we alter the slops, and join the first sentence of this verse with what goes before, and the latter part of it with what follows, translating it thus, Gird sackcloth upon your loins, and upon your mourning breasts. Upon the pleasant fields, upon the fruitful vine, upon the land of my people, shall come up briers and thorns. The word sophedim, which our English translates they shall lament, is in the masculine gender, and therefore cannot be understood of the ivomen mentioned ver. 11.

Isaiah 32:13

In the joyous city. See the notes on xxii. 2^ xxiii. 7.

Isaiah 32:14

Because the palaces shall be forsaken. See v. 9. The multitude of the city shall be left.] Or, The city shall be forsaken of its multitude: this may relate to Jerusalem; or else the.word city may be taken collectively for cities in general. (See xxiv. 10. 12. xxv. 2. xxvii. 10.) Tlie forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.] Expressions denoting utter desolation. (See xiii. 21. xvii. 2. xxvii. 10.) For, ever is as much as for a long time; and it may be extended to the present condition of Judea and its cities, which have now Iain desolate for many ages. (See the notes upon the following verses, and upon xxvii. 10.)

Isaiah 32:15

Until the Spirit be poured upon as from on high. Until God gives us new life, and recovers us out of this forlorn condition, which may fitly be compared to the shadow of death. (Compare Psal. civ. 30.) Pouring out of God’s Spirit does likewise signify the plentiful effusion of his grace. (See Joel ii. 28. Zech. xii. 10.) And if we take the phrase in this sense, the prophecy will belong to that restoration of the Jews, which we are to expect in the latter ages of the world. And the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be accounted for a forest.] A proverbial expression denoting great alterations, that the places which were desolate before (see ver. 13.) shall again become fruitful; and those which were fruitful shall turn barren. It may mean, that the Israelites shall flourish again, and the Assyrians and other enemies of the church (see note on xi. 14.) shall he humbled: see an expression parallel to this, xxix. 17* oftly there the word Lebanon is used, as equivalent to the wilderness here;, both words being opposed to grounds cultivated and manured by art and care.

Isaiah 32:16

Then judgment shall dwell in the tvilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. Judgment and righteousness are often equivalent terms. (Seo the first verse of this chapter, xxxiii. 5. Eccles. iii. 16.) Taking the words so, the sense will be, that all manner of peace and happiness shall flourish in that place which was lately a wilderness, but is now become a fruitful field, or Carmel. But’Sometimes they are opposed to each other, judgment

Isaiah 32:17

And the work of righteousness shall be peace, &c. The effects of God’s goodness and mfen’s reformation shall be peace within, and freedom from a hostile invasion without.

Isaiah 32:18

And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation — when it shall rain, coming down on the forest. 2 God’s people shall enjoy all manner of rest and security, at which time his judgments shall come down in a very severe manner upon their enemies, expressed by the forest, orSvilderness, (ver. 15, 16.) The word forest is likewise taken metaphorically in the prophetical writings for a city, because its stately buildings, or its great and principal inhabitants, resemble tall cedars standing in their several ranks. (See x. 33, 34. xxxvii. 24. Ezck. xx. 46. Zech.xi. 1.) And if we take the word in this sense, the two sentences of the nineteenth verse are equivalent. By hail is meant God’s judgment. (See note on xxviii. 2.) And the city shall be low in a lotu place.] By the city may be meant Nineveh, or Babylon, whicli was built in a plain: (see note on xxi. 1.) or it may in general signify the society of infidels, as that is opposed to the city of God. (See the note on xxvi. 5.) The scope of the place is to signify in general, that, by (he same degrees (hat God’s people arc relieved their adversaries shall be abased.

Isaiah 32:20

Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass^ When these calamities befal their enemies, happy will God’s people be who may sow their land in peace, which before was desolate by reason of hostile invasions: and though formerly overrun with briers and (horns, (see ver. 13.) yet will now become a fruitful field, (ver. 15.) and yield as plentiful a crop, as is seen in moist and well-watered grounds. It was the custom of the Jews to plough with asses, as well as with oxen, as appears from xxx. 24. Dcut. xxii. 10. Spiritual blessings may here be implied under the promise of fruitfulness and plenty. (See the note upon iv. 2. xxx. 23.) •