Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:1

An healer - A repairer of the ruins of the state.

Isaiah 40:3

The shew - Their pride, and wantonness, and impiety m manifestly shews itself in their very looks. They declare - They act it publickly, casting off all fear of God and reverence to men. Rewarded - Procured a fit recompense for their wickedness, even utter ruin.

Isaiah 40:4

Say ye - O ye priests and Levites, that God will be their safeguard and portion.

Isaiah 40:6

Women - Weak and effeminate rulers. They - Thy rulers civil and ecclesiastical.

Isaiah 40:7

Standeth - He will shortly and certainly stand up as a judge, to enquire into the cause, and to give sentence. To judge - To defend and deliver them.

Isaiah 40:8

Ancients - The princes or rulers; such were commonly chosen out of those who were in ripe years. Eaten - Destroyed instead of preserving the church and commonwealth of Israel. Spoil - The goods which you have violently taken away from the poor.

Isaiah 40:10

The daughters - The women; (hitherto he reproved the men). A tinkling - By some ornaments which they wore upon their shoes.

Isaiah 40:11

Secret paths - By giving her into the power of those enemies that shall strip her of all her raiment.

Isaiah 40:12

Cauls - It is agreed by all, that this and several words that follow, were ornaments used in those times. And it is of no concern, exactly to understand the nature and differences of them. The moon - There were in ancient times, and at this day there are some ornaments worn, which carry a manifest resemblance to the moon or half moon.

Isaiah 40:14

Tablets - He seems to mean boxes of perfumes.

Isaiah 40:15

Nose - jewels - Which were fastened to the head, and hung down upon the forehead to the beginning of the nose.

Isaiah 40:16

Pins - Of silver or gold, either used to curl the hair, or fastened and worn in the hair.

Isaiah 40:17

Glasses - The looking - glasses, as we call them, tho’ in truth they were not made of glass, but of bright and burnished brass.

Isaiah 40:18

Girdle - Which were fine and costly, and useful to gird their garments about them. A rent - Torn and tattered garments. Burning - By the heat of the sun, to which they are now commonly exposed, from which they used formerly to guard themselves with the utmost care.

Isaiah 40:20

Gates - The gates of Zion or Jerusalem, which, by a figure, are said to lament, to imply the great desolation of the place; that there would be no people to go out and come in by the gates, as they used to do. Shall sit - Like a mournful woman bewailing the loss of her husband and children.

Isaiah 40:22

In that day - In that calamitous time. Seven - Many. A certain number for an uncertain. One man - Because few men shall survive that dreadful stroke. Only - Own us for thy wives. Our reproach - Virginity was esteemed a reproach; children, the usual fruit of marriage, being both an honour to their parents, and a blessing of God, especially to that people, from some of whose loins the Messiah was to spring.

Isaiah 40:23

In that day - About that time: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of Zion, by those dreadful judgments now described. The branch - The Messiah. The earth - The land which for the sins of the people was made barren, upon their return to Christ shall recover its fertility. Under this one mercy he includes all temporal blessings, together with spiritual and eternal. For them - That shall survive all the forementioned calamities.

Isaiah 40:24

Holy - Shall be really holy. Jerusalem - Of the people living in or belonging to Jerusalem.

Isaiah 40:25

When - This shall be accomplished when God hath throughly cleansed the Jewish nation from their sins. The blood - The blood - guiltiness, and especially that of killing the Lord of life. Burning - This is opposed to the former legal way of purification, which was by water. The Holy Spirit of old accompanied the preaching of the gospel, and did this work in part, and will do it fully. This spirit may well be called a spirit of judgment, because it executes judgment in the church, and in the consciences of men, separating the precious from the vile, convincing men of sin, and righteousness, and judgment. And the same spirit may be fitly called the spirit of burning, because he doth burn up and consume the dross which is in the church, and in the hearts of men, and inflames the souls of believers with love to God, and zeal for his glory.

Isaiah 40:26

Create - Will in a marvellous manner produce, as it were by a new creation. A cloud - A pillar of cloud and fire, like that wherewith he directed the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt: whereby he implies, that God would be their protector, and their glory. The glory - Upon all that church and people, which God will make so glorious; upon all holy assemblies of sincere Christians.

Isaiah 40:27

And there - Or, he, the Lord, shall be a tabernacle, to defend them from the heat of the sun, and other injuries of the weather.

Isaiah 40:29

Now - I will record it to he a witness for God, and against you, as Moses did his song, Deuteronomy 31:19 32:1. To - To the Lord of the vineyard. Of my beloved - Not devised by me, but inspired by God. Vineyard - His church. Hill - Hills being places most commodious for vines.

Isaiah 40:30

He gathered - He removed all hindrances, and gave them all the means of fruitfulness. A tower - For the residence of the keepers.